Feeling sad today

My "real job" is in a nursing home. In my job I get to know most of the residents and their family members. This is a good and bad thing. It is good because you always have someone who smiles at you and talks with you during your shift. Sometimes they even ask you to marry them daily because you remind them of their late wife. The bad thing is most of the residents are ill or elderly. Their circle of life is coming to an end.
Today the latter happened... Sigh. I know death is part of life, but it still makes you sad. This resident always made a point of saying hi to me. He would bring me coffee to my desk when I worked in the mornings. He hated the time my husband brought me dinner until I offered to let him try some of the smoked meat. 
Rest well my friend. I will miss you and your kindness.

Here is what I am smoking today 100% solo

Today in Arkansas Tom's Razorback BBQ: brisquit, chicken and sausage.

My Review of Gluten Free Bisquick

May is Celiac Awareness month.  Since I suffer from Celiac Disease and was diagnosed later in life, I am always happy to see items to replace what I once enjoyed.  Today I walked down the baking aisle in my local Stop and Shop store and saw Gluten Free Bisquick. Even though the box is smaller and more expensive than a normal box of Bisquick.

The texture of this Bisquick was a really fine powder.  I was worried that I would not have fluffy pancakes due to this texture. I was really surprised when I had normal looking and tasting pancakes.  Yummy!

My only complaint about the Gluten Free Bisquick is the package size. 10 pancakes took 1 cup of mix, as do most of the recipes. Once I used one cup of mix, I had half of the box gone. I was expecting a bit more use from the package.  

What Ever Happened To Customer Service?

I hate calling Sprint's Customer Service!

Today is definitely a bang my head against the wall day when it comes to Sprint's Customer Service.  I would rather go to the dentist voluntarily and have a root canal on all my teeth than speak to the customer service. Please solve my issues. I want off of this merry-go-round!

Let me give you some of my 7-8 year history with Sprint.  The Sprint cell service started out as promised.  I am in a "good" service area as shown by the coverage map given by Sprint. See the Sprint Coverage Map.  I consistently had the 2-3 bars as promised by Sprint on my contract. I rarely roamed to the Verizon cell phone tower. Over the years this has changed to roaming a bit more to roaming almost all the time with the occasional 1 bar of Sprint service. They sent me new phones, same issues. I have been told that towers where down, but told that wasn't true.

I'm sure you are wondering why I stayed with Sprint all of these years.  I'll be happy to explain.  First off I am locked into a contract. Contracts suck when the service provider limits the service. I would have to pay the break contract fee for three lines on my account. We are talking upwards of $600-$1000 in fees. I have been promised numerous times the towers will be fixed.

Today I finally made headway with these issues with Sprint. Here is what I did.

• Don't forget to take notes of the people names, badge number if given, and all of the promises they make you.
• Call in (1-888-211-4727) and start having Sprint document the issue.  
• Let them finish their script. Let's admit it, Sprint asks the same questions in the same order each time you call. They use a script.
• Ask to speak to a manager to "resolve your issue." 
• Be prepared to go around and around and around and around in circles. Stick to your guns filled with facts.  I would recommend having a glass of water nearby.  
• If that does help keep asking to speak to their manager.
• Have the manager file a ticket.
• Get that number!  They do not like to give you that number. Keep pushing to get it. It will help you in the long run.
• Here is the secret Sprint does not want you to know about!  Email okcqc@sprint.com with your Sprint phone number and that really important ticket number. This goes straight to the engineers who actually solve the issues.

I will keep you posted when my issues are finally solved. Hopefully my dead tower near my home will be resurrected soon.

Happy Mother's Day

Just a quick post today to wish all the mothers a Happy Mother's Day. Don't forget to spoil all the mothers and grandmothers today for all the things they do for you everyday.

Today is a Wow day!

Like I said earlier I am sitting on my patio enjoying the day, but I neglected to say why.  Tom, my husband  and owner of Arkansas Tom's Razorback BBQ, actually let me run the smoker from start to finish.  I asked him the other day if he thought it would be a good idea for me to practice working with the smoker and his fancy fan/computer system. We have been talking about become street vendors, so it would be a good idea for me to be trained on the entire set up and operations of the smoker, just in case I need to cook at home before a big event. I have learned all about the magic orange box that houses the controls and modem for the fan.  I have taken charge and built, and kept the fire going all day long.  I also seasoned our pork shoulder and ribs, but I have done that numerous times for our other smoking events.   The picture is from this morning showcasing my pork shoulder which turned into pulled pork, ribs, and sausage. I love running the smoker.

While I was smoking our dinner, I was keeping my husband company as he created a new warmer box for the smoker. Do you see the rounded box on top of the square box in this picture? The rounded box is the warmer box we had before.  The square box is the fire box.  Tom made the smoker box bigger to hold a bigger warmer box so it will be able to hold several of our warmer trays. He hopes to have it done by next Saturday when we have a catering event. Yikes! I hope it is done in time.

I am very proud of what I have accomplished  today. I smell like smoke, but my husband says it is sexy. I made delicious food. I have enjoyed chatting with the neighbors and watching the birds at our feeder and bird bath. To end the day we are watching the Darlington night race cuddled on the couch. A very Wow day indeed!

Thanks for stopping by...

As I sit here on my patio, I had a thought.  There are so many blogs out there why not create one with my random thoughts. I'm not talking a blog that is totally off the wall, but instead gives me a place to share my thoughts about a wide variety of topics instead of just crafting, gardening, or the like. That best explains my chosen title of Take A Peek Into Carol's World.

I hope you find my random topics engaging.  Pull up your computer, laptop, iPad, or mobile phone,  find a cozy spot with the drink of your choice and enjoy.