DO NOT call me.

I am a dinosaur.  No, I’m not just alluding to the reality of how old I’m starting to feel, I’m referring to the fact that I (yes it’s true, I admit it) still have a home phone.  I talked about my addiction to my desk calendar (Put it on the Calendar), and now I’m admitting to having a home phone. Dinosaur.

Because I maintain a home phone, I’m on the “do not call” list. Do you people who’ve gone cell-only know what this means? Absolutely nothing. You go on-line, you call, you put yourself on that thing six-ways-to-Sunday and it doesn’t matter, you still get telemarketers calling you.  Most days, at least a few times a day I end up checking Caller ID and do a quick pick up-hang up routine. Often this does nothing and they keep calling back.  They’ve gotten smart and sometimes Caller ID will show a State and a phone number.  If I know someone in that State I’ll answer.

I posted on Facebook about a recent call I recounted to my husband:

Me: "telemarketers are getting so aggressive"

Husband: "what happened?"

Me: "One just called, when I picked up he literally yelled at me "DO NOT HANG UP!"

Husband: "and..."

Me: "I don't know. . . guess what I did?"

I have to admit that I do cause some of my own problems.  Although I just said that I usually just pick up and hang up, I sometimes can’t resist talking to the ones that Caller ID identifies as “Unavailable”.  I’ve been known to wait for someone to come on and say “you know, I would have loved to have talked to you, I’m even in a buying mood, too bad you’re unavailable”, and then hang up.

Let me tell you something about telemarketers. Some of these guys are seriously dangerous.  I once angered one and he phone-stalked me.  One day, a few years ago, a telemarketer called for “Joe”.  First, anyone who knows him knows that “Joe" isn’t a nickname my husband uses. Second, Husband works and isn’t home during the day, again something known to anyone who might call him.  What particularly angered me about this guy is that he picked a nickname instead of asking for Husband by his formal name deliberately to mislead me into thinking he was a friend.  So here was my mistake: I said “there’s no one here by that name”.  He said something about looking for "Joe" and mentioning our last name, and again I stated that there is no one here by that name and hung up.  I guess he figured it out because this guy declared war.  He called 2 or 3 times a day.  Different phone numbers would show up on Caller ID but it was the same guy.  Not picking up just made the calls more frequent. When I picked up, many times he’d ask for Joe, other times he’d just hang up on me.  We went in circles like this for close to a year.  I don’t know why it stopped, I’d like to think he was fired for harassing people but since that was his job, I doubt it.

Cinnamon Cranraisin Pumpkin Bread

We all have cell phones, of course.  Mine is mostly turned off when I’m at home due to the aforementioned Dinosaur Phone. My kids rarely use their cells to call anyone, almost exclusively using them for web access and to text.  Pretty much the only time they call is when they pocket-dial (you know, the phone’s in their back pants pocket and they lean on something or sit down and a button gets pressed that calls the house).  I actually enjoy these pocket dials as I get to listen in on them, where they are, who they’re talking to and what they’re saying.  It’s like being a voyeur into parts of their life that I wouldn’t normally see. And they can’t blame me, I’m the pocket-dialee not the pocket-dialer.

 Lately though, they’ve been using their cells, like everything else, as a means of manipulation.  They’ll stay out late or not come home from school or do whatever they want to do. When I get angry and question why they didn’t call they generally say “I texted you”, knowing my cell wasn't on.

Just to make it clear:  
Telemarketers, STOP CALLING ME!   
Kids, CALL ME, and I don’t mean with your A$$ (butt)!

Cinnamon Cranraisin Pumpkin Bread
                                      ©www.BakingInATornado.com

Printable Recipe

Ingredients:

3 1/2 cups flour

2 tsp baking soda

1 1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp baking powder

2 tsp cinnamon

2 tsp nutmeg

3 cups sugar

2/3 cup water

1 cup oil

5 eggs

1 (15 oz) can pumpkin

1 cup cranraisins

3/4 cup cinnamon chips

Directions:

*Preheat oven to 350 degrees

*Grease two 9X5 loaf pans.

*Mix flour, baking soda, salt, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, and sugar.

*Mix in the water, oil, eggs and pumpkin just until incorporated. Gently mix in the cranraisins and cinnamon chips.

*Bake for approximately an hour or until the center springs back to the touch.