Not Grateful for Bad Furnace Services

       
 This kind of post does not usually belong to my gratitude site, but I owe it to my neighbors not be fooled by furnace service owner, Jon, from Champion Heating Cooling and Plumbing in Westminister, Colorado. Do not trust his 90-day no breakdown warranty.

          Here it is.

          Lousy service, unprofessional, fiery furnace service owner/sole serviceman for his business who refused to honor the 90-day warranty of his own work and could not handle customer questioning and complaint. Jon from Champion Heating Cooling and Plumbing LLC in Colorado charged me twice for the same service 87-days apart. This owner of Champion Heating and Plumbing and sole technician first came out to fix my furnace in November 2015 to address a no heat service call. He charged me for furnace inspection, no heat service call, and evap coil cleaning. He recommended monthly filter change with 20x25x1 filter. I trusted him being the pro and had been replacing with that size ever since. I did not like his attitude being arrogant at that time. But he did get my furnace working.

        In October 2018, the same problem arose, "system tipping on high limit." I called the furnace business with magnet ad attached to my furnace mistakenly thinking that was the business I used prior to 2015 because I did not want to use the same service as 2015. That was my fault. I later found out that he was the same person/serviceman. I was desperate with a cold house at that time, so I used his service. Again he serviced the furnace with a 15-minute service call and evac cleaning with a 90-day no breakdown guarantee. Surprisingly, 87 days later, my heater broke down. He refused to honor his own handwritten warranty on top of the printed warranty on the service order invoice. I insisted on the guarantee. He got upset, was shaking, and called me a Pitbull. This is witnessed by my boyfriend, and my boyfriend told him to leave.

        This angry Champion Heating Cooling Plumbing technician and the owner still charged me for the repeat (same) services. My furnace is still not working, and I had to hire somebody else, so I do not have to use portable heaters. I was nervous writing this review but other consumers have to be aware. The serviceman insisted my furnace still works. My house is cold without the use of portable heaters as the heat keeps turning off by itself before it reaches 71 degrees where I have the thermostat set at. Also, the size of the filter he told me to get is wrong. It fell down because it was too small so it was his fault that I had the wrong size. My furnace was running without a filter. And then he changed what he wrote on the invoice about the size 20x25x1. He now said I need to order a customized size of 22x25x1 that is not available premade. He again placed the wrong size in my filter too small which I paid for and taped it to place which he did not do before so it will not drop out of place.

      There is good news. My furnace is working now after hiring another technician from a company that has been around in my area since 1956. After three an a half hours of coil cleaning (again), the right size/grade filter and other work like turning the high-limit switch right side up (it was backward),  my house is 71-73 degrees warm again, not 59. I paid $100 less with no fake "discounts" compared to what Champion Heating charged me for two visits of 1 hour combined. I should have checked Better Business Bureau (BBB) first to check for furnace business standing, reviews, and complaints last October 2018. Both businesses are mentioned there. One good, one bad. Guess which is which?

When Exercise Pays

Hello, hello fellow TToTers
I haven't forgotten to be thankful
It's just that the past month my schedule was full
You see, I again went back to school
To say, it's easy, that's just plain bull...

I have many things on my gratitude list
To share my joy, I can't resist
My dog, Velvet had a tumor removed
No cancer, cone removed
She's much improved

To make it fair, Snowball's pic is here
He's also cute, he made it clear
He's on my exercise discs to say, "mom, dear"
Stop exercising, stay off your gear

I have to thank our spring challenge
My family gained strength with exercise
And with participation fees we earned funds for college
Benefitting students with grades above-average

Of course, after workouts I thank God
For the food and energy He provides us
And for the people I get to invite
To share the grace with a company is a delight

Birthday 47 Gratitude

It is my birthday and I am thankful for

Some ten, not four

Or maybe more

Who's keeping score?

Not me for sure

But here I go

I am thankful for:

1. Gluten-free birthday cake from Whole Foods store
2. A pill organizer my daughter is actually using
3. Old picture of my son playing
4. A convenient place for car washing
5. An outdoor place for dog walking
6. A fave restaurant for birthday feasting
7. A selfie of me and daughter smiling
8. The church that inspires me to keep praying
9. A spring wellness challenge I'm participating
10. A silly shirt my daughter thinks is annoying 

(Sometimes parents should annoy their teens too!)

I turned 47 yesterday. My week is not over celebrating

Have a good weekend.

Please Save Me from "F"

It's February

It's a great time to be

Freely writing and word finding

Fun words for you to see

As often, the visual me

Have to find some inspirations

To add for considerations

To help with my creation

A flower collage seems like a good fit

With my daughter above 

Donning our fuschia knits

Below it is us sharing some food

To  the right are some flowers
That help boost my mood

And lastly, it's Snowball

Our furball who's small

He may not be that tall

But he sure can growl

------------------

From here I will stop

And boldly, I ask

If you're 65 and up

Will you help me out?

Please answer some questions

For around four minutes

I'll compensate you for  your time

(As you save me from getting an F)

For my college class online.

Here's the link: Survey
As of now, 2/14/2018, 5pm MST, I got enough participants. So thank you guys for reading.

Join the fun ABC Wednesday group!

New Year, New Gratitude

They are not really new

Just to be true

They are common gratitude

I had from last year

My cute dog Velvet

Is still here to give joy

She does not have to do anything

Like play tricks with her toy

Just laying down comfy

With toys that are fluffy

As she's looking so comfy

She is kinda funny

I am thankful for Fitbit

It inspires me, I admit it

I may not push as hard to get fit

If I am without it

It's a constant reminder

I have on my wrist

I am thankful for my bike

With a Kindle holder

I can read as I pedal

And stay in when it's colder

I am thankful for candles

I used with my prayers

I found that they make

The experience a little deeper

There is something about flames

That calms my brain

It eases some pain

And lesses some strain

I am thankful for abundance of food

Paul and I don't gamble

But we splurge on food

We like to sample

It's a simple pleasure to try different dishes

Japanese, Mexican, Chinese

Cooked and prepared by others

(No need to wash the dishes)

Oh there is something new I am thankful for

It's this cool eye pillow

I bought from FSA store

It relieves my eyes that are sore

And reduces puffiness

I use it sometimes

It feels good, also,  on my head

Happy Thanksgiving

At Into The Fire ceramic painting studio with helpful staff, Arvada

The Christmas season is here! 

Wait, it is Thanksgiving week here in the U.S. Some streets are already decorated with Christmas lights. I am not ready yet. 

"Can we put the Christmas tree up?"

"Not yet. Let's wait until this weekend," I told my daughter.

We have a small foil tree that literally takes only five minutes to put up and decorate, ready with its light and all. Anyway, it does not matter. It is too early to put a tree up.

I feel hurried. 

Can I take the time to be thankful first?

Of course, I can. It is the Thanksgiving week, anyway . .  .It will be Thanksgiving Thursday before the Black Friday Christmas shopping event. 

Moving on, I am thankful for:

1. The freedom I get to enjoy in America. "God Bless America, my home sweet home."
2. The approaching year to give me a chance to start anew. I want to be more productive. I already started a new planner, ditching an old one, and using two guidebooks for gratitude. I am excited about 2018.
3. Teens staying home and being good. 
4. Look at me painting ceramics with my daughter.
5. Food on the table; most I got on sale. 
6. Early turkey and ham? Oh, yeah!
7. A stable job.
8. Financial room to increase my retirement savings contribution by one percent. Baby steps!
9. A little pampering I get to enjoy with my daughter, relaxing yoga, for 10-11 dollars per class in one of the top 5 yoga studio in my area. That's a good deal!
10. The weekly (or twice weekly) acupuncture continues to benefit me medically, and my insurance reimburses me for it. 

That is it for now. I may not have ten pictures this week but I am indeed thankful.

Have a good week. 

Smile!

Join us! 

Times of Gratitude

It has been a good week, not perfect but good. Hey, I'm here and have the energy and time to post. My theme this week is -- you guessed it. Time!

This week I went to a co-worker's retirement party and enjoyed some nursing cake too. Levell retired after serving the hospital as a nurse for over 30 years. We met at the brewery and the place was packed with mostly her friends and coworkers. I kissed her goodbye and she had this tears of joy and maybe sadness as well that she is leaving. God bless her.

A walk in the park around the lake is great with dog Velvet and best when my daughter tags along too even though she stays on the concrete with her skateboard. Going back, she offered to hold V's leash. Velvet ran pulling her. It was funny to look at. Velvet seemed to really like pulling my daughter like pulling a kid on a sled. We had a great time.

I finally tried acupuncture that I had been dreading to do to alleviate some aches, anxiety, stress, and overactive bladder. My daughter tried it too and she took that picture with the paper-fan decor on the wall. She is still afraid of needles and has not tried the therapy again. I, however, like it and already had my session for the fourth time. My symptoms are fading. I also checked my tongue just now and the teeth marks on the sides disappeared which suggests I do not grind my teeth in my sleep anymore.

It is colder now, so my vegetables outside are dying except for the kale. My daughter took some potted vegetable plants indoors. Look at this pepper plant surviving.

I donated one hour of my vacation time to charity being run at work and they gave me a color-changing cube alarm clock in return. I love it. The color-changing is supposed to help boost mood.

I thank the daylight savings time today for the extra hour of sleep. Fall back!

My favorite chocolate is on sale!

I recently refinanced my home and replaced my 11-year old gas-hustling van with a new economy car Jetta. My daughter is posing  ala-The-Price-is-Right model. 

I thank my dogs for forcing encouraging me to walk. Look at Snowball waiting at the front door. How could I not make time?

Post and read more about gratitude 

with the Ttot group!

The Quality of Life

At work, we talk about this often—quality of life. What is the quality of life? It varies from person to person, where we are at right now, where we have been, what we've been through.

To me, life is good, when I see my children smiling when they are successful in school or at work, and eventually when they become self-sufficient. It can be most of the parents' dream. Quality of life is good enough for me if I am free of life-changing illness that prevents me from providing for my family, free of severe pain, free of severe anxiety. I had been there and can't imagine going back.

At work, in intensive care unit, many families and patients face the situation of whether to go on and on with aggressive medical treatment. What is the best possible scenario? How much suffering does it take to have a chance of 5 percent or so in life and live with, maybe breathing through a tracheostomy, feeding through a tube, not being able to walk again, and be bedridden? Often times, the patients are too sick to decide so families decide. Sometimes the patient has a living will, a health-directive set up ahead of time. Sometimes, the family changes this, which they can do.

What is the quality of life for someone who cannot speak?

Do Without Complaining

Can we go for a walk now?

I complain that my teens are messy in their rooms, that they don't help enough around the house . . . that . . .

Wait, two years ago, they were not even in the house. They ran away many times, etc.

I can clean up their rooms, do most of the tasks. The true peace in my heart is knowing where they are, hearing their voices, watching them eat, hearing their stories. . .

I am not going to allow complaints to invade my day. I close the door on it. There is no room for it in my heart.

Today, I will go to work thinking about what I can do to help my patients and their families. I will listen to their complaints with an open mind and help them.

It's gonna be a cold day. But for now, I have to tend to my dogs before I leave the house. They are watching me now craving for attention.

Philippians 2:14
"Do all things without complaining and disputing."

October Gratitude

Hello, hello. I have not posted anything or read my blog for three months. I just found out tonight than my paid domain has been deleted. *gasp* I am still here though, back with my old Blogspot name.

However busy I had been, in the back of my mind, I kept thinking I have to post my gratitude. I owe it to you to share my good news. Life is not always bad. I don't want to write just when I have something to complain about. But forgive me, I have to get this one thing out of the way. I was pretty bombed that someone really closed to me would say hurtful things about me when she thought she has hung up the phone after leaving me a voicemail. She was talking to someone else and her words HURT.

Today, after church, my daughter and I went to a store. She is picking up a dress for senior picture taking (fun) and it was taking a long time. So I went to the book section and got a book by John Hagee--Daily Truth, a daily devotional book. For today, he wrote that many times people attack...others deflecting their own shortcomings . . . shine the spotlight on  your [my] mistakes..." He added, "Rather than fretting, focus . . . fully expect.. the blessings of heaven . . . "

I found ten pictures above I am thankful for. I thank God for:

1. My personal clown, Paul, for putting laughter in my life, Halloween or not.
2. Funny friends who can also be clowns.
3. Yummy Halloween cookies and fun decors.
4. Velvet, who can put a serious picture on her face while playing.
5. Velvet, who makes my loyal walking companion, unlike Paul.
6. Props from Facebook. Who needs to buy expensive Halloween costumes when they are virtual props for free?
7. Old pictures from 7 years ago of my kids and their friend, one day in October. Aren't they're cute with their arm tattoos?
8.  Many days of warm-enough day to walk with my dogs.
9. A reminder that my kids (now teens) were very helpful raking leaves eight years ago in Fall. 
10. My health that I have the strength to rake the leaves, walk the dogs, and go to a Halloween party (and be a dark Morticia for a night). I really tried to look white like Morticia but I am not good at this at this makeup thing.

***

A schoolmate of mine passed away recently. She was 47, still young, but had chronic illnesses. I pray for her soul and her family. At the same time, I have so much gratitude I still have my health. I will never take that for granted.

***

I am so excited to hear from you and read your blogs. Thank you all!

Forcing Myself to Express Gratitude

Hello. Hello. Here I am again this week. Back with a thankful post, I did not feel like writing.

My oldest child (18) surprised me with an old car he bought a few days ago--a Dodge Stratus 2003, sedan, with a sportsy look. Never mind the paint that needs to be redone. That is just cosmetics. But the windshield has cracks in two spots. In addition, the front tires are bald, and the first time he introduced it to me, it did not even start.

"Oh, I must have left a light on."

Maybe.

The car is operable again but I am still nervous. He was supposed to work today at 4 pm, I thought. At 3:45 pm, I got hold of him. He was about to drive from a park to home. He said he'd go home to change his shoes before work. Half an hour later, I could not concentrate. My head is hurting and I was almost certain he got into some kind of trouble.

He came home for a couple minutes. He seemed OK. He works at 4:30 pm, he said. I wished he would have told me earlier.

Communication. We need to talk more.

I told him about the dangers of driving with two front bald tires for the minute I had with him before he left for work. He was already late anyway. His work was ten minutes away.

Anyway, for my sake, I should avoid thinking negatively automatically. He was not answering the phone earlier because he was driving. He knows he is not supposed to use the phone while driving, maybe, just like I told him.

What should I be doing? Be thankful. Think positive.

I took this week off. I planned this ahead as, during summer, my hospital unit is slow. So I am thankful I can do some fun things I enjoy like watching my dogs get silly and jealous with each other as my daughter pet each one.

I decided to declutter my home so I can actually see and use the things I want to use. Plus, I boxed several things for donation. My kids let go of their bikes as well that they have not touched for more than a year, so more room in the garage for my son's (very old) new car.

My daughter and I did some gardening. I have a small backyard that my three dogs use as a toilet so no more vegetable gardening there. I cheated and bought a tomato, squash, peppers, rosemary, and basil already in pots, some already with flowers. My daughter likes planting the flowering perennials so I let her do that.

I earned an Amazon card for participating in healthy activities at work so I used it to but a small electric mower. I have a small lawn and only a manual mower, but boy, the electric made the job a breeze. Oh, that reminds me, I am donating my old mower as well. That may have been easy pushing a manual mower ten years ago, but not anymore.

We had a good time watching Paul's son play high school basketball this summer. I still want to complain, though, about the entrance fee of $8 per person for adults. This is high school, geez.

Isn't Velvet, my brown dog so cute? Who said Pitbull (mix) dogs are fierce?

I am thankful for Blue Apron meals my aunt let me try for free. I have made gourmet-hotel-good home cooked meals because of the service.

Okay now, the sky is dark, and it might rain. I am worried about my son again driving his car with bald tires. Soon, I hope, he'd change them.

Do yourself a favor and express your gratitude with this fun team.

Amazon Fresh Review

Join us in ABC Wednesday in its new home.

The letter of the week from ABC Wednesday is the letter A. For the lack of ideas, I am writing about the new (to me) grocery delivery service through  Amazon called Amazon Fresh. I promise I am not getting paid by Amazon for writing this post.

How timely is that that I have just received my first grocery today with Amazon Fresh. What did I order? See the picture below including five grocery items not included.

Here is a review based on my first try with Amazon Fresh Grocery Delivery by Amazon in Denver, Colorado.

Pros:

1. One advantage of using the service is the convenience. I ordered online without having to walk the isles of the store and standing in line waiting for the cashier. The groceries are delivered right to my front door--kinda like the Uber or Lyft for my groceries. This service can attract home-bound adults, busy folks, or some people with transportation issues, like, maybe college students who do not have a car. I am thinking I can do this to friends who are sick or old who may have trouble getting to and from the store.
2. They have enough choices of brands to choose from.
3. I can choose to shop local from the "local" tab. This is especially useful for me when shopping for produce as I like being able to eat locally grown foods when I can if the price is right.
4. I don't have to live with the guilt of not tipping. Compared to Instacart app, another service I used in the past (with buttons for 10-20% tips), there is no tipping option when you finalize and pay for your order. I really don't have much room for tipping in my budget in addition to member fee.
5. It has a sales tab where I can buy the deals for the day. This makes their food more affordable to me.
6. The groceries are well-packed and came in great condition. The frozen foods remained frozen and the refrigerated items stayed cold. Frozen spinach frozen? Check. Juice cold? Check.

Cons:

1. I have to choose thru delivery time that does not necessarily fall the same day I ordered. I had to schedule for the next day six to eight a.m. My first choice was 6-8 pm the same day I ordered. I am hoping this will improve when the service gets more popular in my area and they hire more helpers to deliver.
2. If I choose to extend my service for another month after the trial, I have to pay $14.99 a month for membership. Also, if the total of my order is less than $40, I get charged the delivery fee of $9.99. Keep in mind, the service is for Prime members that I already pay an annual fee for. Anyway, I love Prime and use it more than once a month so I cannot complain about that.
3. The groceries are well-packed with one-way packaging, alright, but maybe with too much packaging. I think some items can be combined in one bag, for example. Imagine, each bag is paper-bagged, metallic-insulated bagged, masked-taped, cardboard-lined, and packed with ice packs or with additional dry ice. I am not sure if the metallic insulated bags are recyclable in my area here in Colorado. I am guessing not. And, I can only use so much ice packs. Perhaps my donation station would take them. 

Conclusion: So after all these cons, would I buy from Amazon Fresh again? You betcha. The pros still outnumber the cons. I am sure I'd use the service for a month during the free trial. After that, maybe so. I already just ordered the Amazon Dash Wand that goes with Fresh so I can scan items at home that I want to buy again or vocalize my order through the wand that automatically lists to the virtual Amazon cart. It costs $20 and I heard that I will get $30 credit for it. Plus it comes with Alexa (another "a").

What did I do with the extra time instead of grocery shopping today?  I went to a nursery instead to get the plants below--annuals, perennials, ground cover plants, aloe vera, rosemary, lavender, squash, bell peppers, and hot peppers! I love the extra free time!

Nurse Carlos and Mrs. P

I am joining Six Sentence Stories for the first time. The prompt word is skip. I just realize it is more challenging to write a story in only six sentences. For my son, who would type 1.5 pages out of required 2 for a high school assignment, this would have been a breeze. :)

Anyway, I am writing another story of a fictional character, Carlos, RN. My first one is here.  With similarities to my experience with patients, this stories will give you a glimpse of what a shift in intensive care unit looks like. It is gross a lot of times, and not for the squeamish. I apologize.

It is another day. I am once again assigned to Mrs. P who had bleeding on two areas in her esophagus. The areas where embolized yesterday, and she has been stable ever since. She did not throw up any more blood. There is no need to keep her intubated.

We were about to extubate her (remove breathing tube and take off ventilator support)  when bright red blood started coming out of her mouth like water from a hose. 

F! I almost said the word but I just thought it in my mind. 

Immediately, I got her head to the side so she does not aspirate any of it. I  suctioned her mouth with a Yankeur. It is like one of those aspirators they use in the dental office.

We are skipping extubation this morning for sure.

Hours later, after more blood transfusions I rapidly administered, and another endoscopy and interventional-radiology-guided procedures, more spots of her esophagus are coiled and embolized to stop her bleeding.  

Poor Mrs. P. I am sure when she finally fully recovers, she will never take mega home doses of Advil ever again.


I keep her calm and sedated. I hope she stays stable. At least, she made it through my shift without any more blood gushing out of her mouth . .  . yet.