Whenever somebody tells me “Oh, it’s simple.  Don’t worry about it.”  I always get suspicious.

Especially if that somebody is:

a.  A family member
b.  My boyfriend
c.  A coworker
d.  An AT&T employee

After a rough night and a semi-rough morning, I self-soothed with:

A few weeks ago, I was notified by my company that the phone service that they pay for and provide to me was going to be shut off on September 18th (aka, tomorrow).  We were told that in the future we had to get our own phone service and then submit the costs for reimbursement.  Fine, no problem.  I already have Internet and TV service through AT&T, so just decided to add phone service into my bundled package.  I called two weeks ago and set up an installation appointment for last week.

Then, S decided that he wanted to get the NFL channel added to our TV package.  But of course, you can’t just add the NFL channel… you have to upgrade to the next highest cable package.  And of course you can’t just upgrade to the higher package, you also have to get a DVR which comes with it (which I have no need or desire for.)  So I called to add that service, but they couldn’t do it because I already had the telephone service order outstanding and set up for installation, and for some freaking unknown reason they are unable to have two service orders open for someone at the same time.  Yeah, that would be waaaaayyyy too complicated.

So the woman told me she would cancel the telephone service request and create a new service request combining the telephone and TV service.  But she said that the installation date would be reset and pushed out, and scheduled me for today – September 17th.  I emphasized to her that it was imperative that the phone was installed on this date, because my current phone service would be shut off on September 18th and I worked at home so absolutely had to have phone service without interruption.  She said she understood and it would be simple.  Ha.

Lunch wasa beautiful conglomeration:

• romaine lettuce
• broccoli
• cauliflower
• carrots
• onions
• egg whites
• Boca mushroom mozzarella patty
• cheddar cheese
• almonds
• olive oil/balsamic vinegar

To make a long story short, when the AT&T guy arrived this afternoon to install the services – he didn’t have any record of a phone order. He only had papers to do the TV installation.  And I almost had heart failure.

Over 3 hours and 100 gray hairs later, I was finally (supposedly) set up with phone service.  Except, there was an outage in my area at that very time (?!?!?!) so they couldn’t confirm it.  The technician left, telling me that he would call my cell phone first thing in the morning to check status and resolve any outstanding issues.

Upon him leaving my house, I realized I was starving and had cereal:

Arggggh.  I had planned for today to be a rest day, but at that point I felt that if I didn’t get out of my house and go to the gym, my head would explode.  So I went and did 30 minutes of intervals (varying resistance) on the elliptical machine.  I felt better already… and then when I got home, HALLELUJAH! My phone was working!

So not simple, but successful in the end

Before dinner, snacked on a pudding cup:

And some (three) small brownies that I made a few days ago:

And I started to prepare some red potato french fries for when S got home, because I had some potatoes to use up.  I used a recipe that I found on Smart Cookie, and it was delicious.

Roasted Garlic Parmesan Red Potato Fries
2 medium sized red potatoes
1 tsp dried garlic
pinch of cayenne pepper
1 tsp kosher salt
2 1/2 tbsp olive oil
2-3 tbsp grated Parmesan cheese

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Wash and dry the red potatoes, then cut lengthwise into fries. Place on a baking sheet and coat with the olive oil. Make sure you toss the potatoes so that each one is coated, then dust the garlic powder and sprinkle just a bit of cayenne pepper over, this will add just a hint of a kick to the taste. Toss again, the easiest way to do this I found was just using my hands. Try and make sure that all of the fries are evenly coated with the spices and oil. Place in your oven for about 30 minutes. Make sure depending on the size of the potatoes or slices that you make to check on them becasue they could bake up a lot faster if smaller, or take longer if bigger. After about 30 minutes make sure to turn the potatoes so that both sides will crisp up on the baking sheet, then sprinkle kosher salt and Parmesan over the potatoes, place back in the oven for 5 to 10 minutes. Make sure you don’t leave them in too long after the cheese is added, you just want to heat them with the cheese, and make sure the cheese has stuck to the potatoes by melting slightly.

Before I put them in the oven:

And the glorious after:

With the fries, dinner included carrots and egg whites with hummus:

And greek yogurt with a crumbled Kashi crunchy bar and a dollop of raw almond butter:

When S came home from work, he surprised me with…. drumrolll please…. KRISPY KREMES!!!  My favorites, kreme-filled, of course.  Today is our five-month anniversary, so I thought that was very sweet of him.  I polished one off right after dinner.

Finally, a before-bed snack of ice cream.

Now I leave you to have sweet dreams with some action (or lack thereof) shots of JB.  Am I the only person with a cat who just lays spread eagle in the middle of the carpet???

And some more giveaways:

Imadedinner is giving away a Gourmet Fall Cheese Tasting Party!

Nicci is giving away Dr. Kracker’s crackers and flatbreads!

G’night, ya’ll.