Friday, February 12, 2010

Works in Progress: Wedding edition

It was about the time that we were 90% moved in. I should have been thinking "wow, so close let me just go through these boxes and put some of these clothes away for winter storage and we'll be good to go! Instead I thought, "Gosh, I should really start working on some of the projects I want to do for the wedding!"

And so I did was was fun and not necessarily the most logical. Here are all the projects that are currently laying around the house. Most are in the "let's figure out how to do this" stage.

1) Crocheted shrug to wear with my wedding dress. If it's cold I'm not wearing a sleeveless dress or I won't remember a damn thing.
2) Painted clothespins. These are useful for everything and I intend to use them as favors. It just occurred to me a few days ago: stamps!
3) Flower girl purses. I spend all day yesterday (yes, played hooky from work) to figure out how to make one of these. I wasted lots of fabric, but I think I'm happy now. Just need to mass produce.
4) Ring bearer ties. Little boys in matching ties!! Still working on a simple process.
5) Cloth-covered tile coasters. Just finished my 2nd coat of polycrilic. Why did I used that instead of polyurethane? No idea. It's what we bought when Ellie and I started this same project two years ago.

I'd take pictures for you, but the camera is currently full from the engagement photo shoot the Manfriend and I had this morning.

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Redhead v.s. TxTag

I am an angry, angry lady today. Probably not the best time to resolve my TxTag issue. Oops.

So I moved from Austin on Dec. 14. This is the same day I set to arranged to cancel my TxTag account. Why let those bastards hold onto my money any longer than necessary, right?

I received a refund of $18.40 that day. I thought that was the end of it.

I traveled back to Austin for work last week. I stopped by my old house just to check it out. Well, the mailbox was totally full. And moldy. Nasty, nasty stuff. I took it all with me and let it dry out in the trunk of the rental.

Well, wouldn't you know there was a bill in there from the TxTag billing peeps. Not TxTag. No, that would be too easy. Apparently US 183A has its own, special billing service. Ain't that nice?

Apparently I used the toll road on Dec. 8 and 9. A full 5 days before my contract was canceled. The bill was for $8.80. But the total tolls were $7.80. Well, that's totally BS that they charged me an extra $1 when there was a full $18 in my account that they could have used. Chump change, I know, but it's the principle.

So I called today and was very, very bitchy to the poor woman. She tried to tell me that they don't have any control with TxTag. Well, I told her that their poor relationship with TxTag isn't my problem. As far as I can tell, I did nothing wrong.

She mentioned that maybe my TxTag could not be read and that's why they send me the bill. Oh...but the super-loud recorded message I listened to while I was on hold told me that the only way I should get a bill is if they cannot find a TxTag account with that license plate. And there should have been.

So she says she can take the $15 late fee charge off. (My bill had been increased to $23.80 since I had moved and they, by law, can only send the bill to the address on record, nevermind they had already checked and had my new address...can't you send two???) But is that good enough for me? No. I'm not paying you an extra whole dollar because y'all are idiots and didn't warn me not to cancel my account until 3 months or something later.

But she can't do that. "Company policy" says she can only remove $15. Ok, so let me talk to someone who can remove that extra $1.

So she puts me on hold for 5 minutes. I listen to this horribly loud "calming" music. And then suddenly she was given permission for this "one-time courtesy" to deduct the $1 service charge. I got my credit card and she got her $7.40.

And so I got my way and now I feel terrible that I was so nasty. I just don't know another way to handle this bureaucratic bulldoohockey.