Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Insurance Salesmen Strike Again!

We have had two insurance salesmen stop by our office within the past two days. They both sell cancer insurance (from two separate companies) and they are both looking for our Cancer Facts and Figures booklet that is published by our division office. Despite telling these gentlemen the booklets are not expected until the middle of May, they both came this week...the beginning of May.

Enter Duane.

When Duane first came to our office at the end of March, he was looking for information he could share with perspective clients regarding the statistics of cancer incidence for men and women. (Note: Duane reeks of cigarette smoke! He just walked into the American Cancer Society as a cancer insurance salesman seeking information about cancer. Hello? We stand for healthy life styles. Um, smoking...not so much.) As tempted as I was to give him information about smoking cessation or a Quit Kit, I refrained. We gave him a booklet full of facts from Illinois and told him this data was from 2006, but in May we should be getting a version with 2008 data. Duane ran to his car to get us some information about his fabulous insurance plan and since he was without business cards, he wrote his contact information on the brochure. One hour later, our office closed and as I was exiting the parking lot, I see Duane across the drive at another business. Duane was apparently finished purposing his spiel to the tax associates and he was in his car. However, as he drove out of their parking lot, he drove right over a tree stump! His car was stuck on top of this tree stump, which was about 15 inches high. As he tries to accelerate, his wheels just spin. Duane exits the car and surveys the situation. Both of his front tires are in the air and one of his rear tires is slightly off of the ground as well. Duane gets back into his car and floors it. His front tires spin vigorously, but his car remains perched on the tree stump. By now a line of cars had started to form behind me so I had to drive away. When I returned to work the next morning, Duane's car was gone, the tree stump was significantly marred and broken plastic and glass lay around the tree stump. A couple of weeks ago, Duane returned to our office smelling even stronger of cigarette smoke. He was checking to see if we had received our new data. Um, yeah...it is April and they are not going to be ready until May. MAY! After we assured him we still had his address and we could mail him a copy of it, he left...in a different car than what he had been driving in March.

Enter Dennis.

Dennis and partner in crime stumbled into our office about 3 1/2 weeks ago. Dennis somehow knew my name was Mary. They asked for information, so I gave them our last copies of the
Cancer Facts and Figures booklets. I told them we would have 2008 data sometime at the end of May. Dennis strikes up a conversation with me and proceeds to pretend he knows me. He asks me to write down my address so that he can come over and show me his "wonderful plan." He also asks me to write down my husbands name. Hmm...my husband? Dennis handed me a notebook and I promptly wrote down Billy the Beagle's neighbors address. (This neighbor has caused nothing but grief and all I can say is...he deserved a meeting with Dennis.) They tell us they will be leaving town a week from next Thursday, so they hope the information is in by then. Within four business days, Dennis returns to the office and he is looking for Mary (me). Luckily for me, I had just taken a package to one of the girls in a back office. I called the front office and instructed Eileen to tell Dennis that I was gone! She told him I was in a meeting. He sadly turned around and pouted as he left our office. Whew! I am completely out of the woods! Or so I thought...

Today, Dennis walks in the office. Unfortunately, I am sitting there, so I cannot pretend to be in a meeting or dead. Dennis asks about the 2008 data. I reminded him it would be the middle of the month or possibly even the end of the month before the books would arrive at our office. Dennis then tells me that wanted to meet with me, but he had the wrong address. Hmmm...the fake address I gave you was wrong? Hmmm...imagine that. After telling him I wasn't interested,
twice...he left.

Can we get a No Soliciting sign please?



Wednesday, April 22, 2009

One...two...three...JUMP!

I went over to our friends' house tonight to play with the kids while their mom teaches catechisim classes at church. They were already playing out side when I arrived, so we took advantage of the fantastic weather until dinner (chicken nuggets and tater tots) was ready.

Anna will be three years old at the end of the summer. Patrick is one year old. They would go over to this section of the yard where there was a slight hill. And by hill I mean six inches. Anna would stand at the top of this "hill" and after counting to three, she would jump off of the hill and onto the level ground at the bottom. Patrick cannot say one or two, but he would shout "THREE!" when the time came and then he too would jump. Although, he mostly just walked off the stair-sized "hill" and then ran.

Kids are funny.
Oh to be young again...


Tuesday, March 31, 2009

For A Special Princes...


Here is a birthday card I recently made for a three year old girl that lives in Florida and wears her "Belle" costume dress almost daily. (There is a strong Disney princess theme here...)

The outside of the card....



And here is one of the inside.
(Card rotates at top to show the inside...functional...ingenuousness.)

Now if I could just take better pictures of my work......Argh!

Saturday, March 21, 2009

Rest Stop

I take Rte 47 into Champaign each day for work. Approximately 5 miles North of Mahomet there is a rest stop atop a hill with a 360 degree view of the country and ample fresh air. Here is a photo...

Monday, February 16, 2009

Intruder!

Today began just like most days begin for me: hitting the snooze button on the alarm clock and finally staggering out of bed and into the shower. I have no exceptional plans; it is just going to be another drab day at the office.

As I stepped out of the shower and began to towel off, I hear this loud, clamorous noise that sounds like maybe part of our house has just caved in. Oh. My. God. Is someone in the house?

My hair is dripping wet, I cannot see without my glasses and I am naked. NAKED!

I stand there frozen for a moment and listen for any further disturbances. I hear nothing. Following a few moments of self-reassurance, I decide it is time to investigate and perhaps if there is indeed an intruder in the house, then seeing my naked body will probably persuade him to end his criminal career...or gauge out his eyes. Now that I feel the score is a bit more even, I decide to put on my glasses and open the door.

I opened the door just " a crack" and as the cool air from the hallway hit the warm air inside the bathroom, steam gathered around it. Then, as I looked up in the bathroom mirror, I could see him looking at me. Our eyes met in the mirror.

Ah! Then I notice that I have seen this smiling man before. Well, howdy do, Mr. Lincoln.

Yeah....Jeanette has a similar portrait of Abe hanging in the hallway.

Whew! It was freaky there for a second. I hopped into my room and finally put some clothes on. Upon further inspection of the house, I could find no evidence of an intruder or any other sort of destruction.

So what was that noise? Ah...half of Jeanette's closet shelf/bar fell down. =)