With all the emotion I have in my soul, I have tirelessly embarked upon a journey of frickin artistic discovery. Richmond American, I dedicate this ode to thee.

For four long winters

I trembled on icy, frigid nights where heat escaped me.

For forty-eight unending months

I stumbled on our driveway, falling, trying to protect my Nordstrom shoes from gravel marks.

For one thousand, four hundred days

I wiped away tears of frustration over a dryer-vent that whipped through the air mercilessly, unable to be attached to the outside vent.

For 33,600 hours

I cursed the plastic covering our main floor fireplace, prohibiting its use.

For 2,016,000 minutes

I glared at my windows, wishing they protected me from heat and cold.

For 120,960,000 seconds

I swore I would never buy another Richmond Home.

Now, I shall change my song and begin a count anew.

Well, here we go! Below is the investigative report by Kelli O’Hara with ABC4.

In Richmond’s defense (who knew I would ever start a sentence that way!) the following items have now been fixed:

- Insulation. Apparently there was insulation between the garage and our floor, but there was a large portion of the attic above our master bedroom with ZERO insulation. Richmond American took care of this problem yesterday. Below is a picture of the contractor blowing in the needed insulation. (Thank you!) They also increased the amount of insulation (brought it up to code) above the entire 2nd floor. I am excited to report that our home was so warm last night! We didn’t even need the space heater in our room. WOW, What a difference!

- Garage ceiling. The drywall on our garage ceiling has been replaced, so there are no obvious signs of water damage from our leaky roof, now. Yes!

Today we are expecting:

- Fireplace repair
- Window seal repair
- Back porch repair
- Laundry room repair

UPDATE:  2:00 p.m.

What an amazing day! Our window seals have been repaired. Apparently there was an issue with a lack of weather stripping. (Read Richmond’s response to our leaking window request three years ago. They have a very different attitude now.) Richmond American went the extra mile and inspected/repaired every window in our home -not just the three we mentioned earlier. NICE WORK!

The fireplace was serviced, as well. There is no more plastic covering our fireplace, and I don’t feel a breeze anymore. They are also going the extra mile on our fireplace and are going to add insulation up in our eaves where there are some unintended vents. (Richmond, feel free to correct me if I explained that incorrectly.)

Our back porch is as good as new. It no longer sags. I don’t believe this item was mentioned earlier on the blog, but it was a safety concern. They replaced the steps and the support system, and even offered to paint it.

Finally, I have a normal laundry room! My washer and dryer both fit in the room comfortably now. In addition to having a professional contractor work on the vent, Kevin Jensen personally addressed this issue and worked some additional magic. End result- the problem was rectified and it looks fantastic. Thank you!

The only item left to be fixed is our driveway. I am pleased to report that Richmond American is going to fix every RA driveway in our neighborhood that is spalling. (Attention neighbors–  submit the request immediately. They are measuring the driveways next week.) Way to go the distance, Richmond! I am no longer hopeful; I am ecstatic and appreciative. Poli and Kevin, you two are frickin awesome. Thank you.

Good news!

I just got a call from Kelli O’Hara at ABC4. The story on Richmond American will air tonight at 10:00 p.m. Mountain Time. I am so appreciative to utahscams.com for making this happen. If you are aware of a scam in Utah, submit it to utahscams. It was this action that brought us the press of ABC4, and the attention of Richmond American.

Great news!

Richmond American is following through on their promises. Right now, Superior Insulation is busy insulating our home. They found a large portion of our attic (above our master bedroom) that did not have any insulation at all. Apparently there was no access to the attic above our room, so when the home was insulated, this entire space was neglected. Also, the rest of the attic was not at code, so they blew-in insulation to rectify the issue.

I was going through some old emails, and found correspondence from my husband to Richmond American over three years ago regarding the temperature of our home:

From:	Tim Gilson (timothygilson@hotmail.com)
Sent:	Wed 1/17/07 9:32 PM
To:	XXXX.XXXX@mdch.com

Thank you for your response.  I understand your explanation on the windows,
however, I feel that the cold air coming in through a couple of them is more
than a small amount.  I've lived in several houses, apartments, and condos;
new and old, and this is the first house where I've had to set my thermostat
at 78 just to keep the house at 68.  As you can imagine, it's taking a toll
on the gas bill.  On three of the windows (1 in the kitchen and 2 in the
master bedroom), you can place your hand in front of the window and feel the
cold air streaming in.  More particularly on windy days of course, but also
when there is no wind.  In any case, we'd appreciate you checking it out for
us.  The best time to stop by would be on Thursday morning around 8:30am or
Saturday (if you work on Saturday's?) in the mornings.  Let me know what
would work best for you.  If you cannot make it either of these times, let
me know and we can arrange our schedule.

Thanks again!

(Below is the email from Richmond American to Tim)

It is an expected finding to feel a small amount of around the windows.  The
windows have weep seals built into the frame to permit any condensation
build up to exit to the outside of the house.  The weep seals also allow a
small amount of air in and out.  Single hung and vent windows are sealed
with a dual felt and rubber seal.  The felt seal cannot keep out 100% of the
air, but is necessary to permit opening and closing of the window.

I will have to come and take a look.  Let me know when you are available.

--XXXXX

At the time, we did not know we had an insulation problem- we just knew our house was BEYOND cold and our windows were leaky. It is interesting to me that neither issue was ever addressed by Richmond. Our windows still leak (leaking is probably an understatement. The wind BLOWS through.) Instead of getting results, we received an email telling us why we shouldn’t be concerned. Absolutely ridiculous, if you ask me. It wasn’t until we had our insulation evaluated by SunRoc (about a year later) that we found it was significantly below code.

My question is, was it a policy for Richmond to ignore or dismiss warranty requests at that time?

What is their policy now? Poli Peters is delivering on his promises to us. Will he deliver to other home owners?

A bigger question may be related to Eagle Mountain City. How did our home even pass inspection?

As a reminder, if you have outstanding warranty issues, submit a request on their website, and reference frickinmom.com. AND- tune in tonight for the ABC4 Richmond American Investigation at 10:00 p.m. It should be really interesting (and you get to see my smiling face. What is better than that?)

ALSO- they are measuring driveways between now and March 12. If your driveway needs replacing, contact Richmond American ASAP so you can be included in this group of repairs. To submit warranty issues, go to RichmondAmerican.com/homecare, and submit a customer service request, or call 801-743-7440. The Home Care Specialist for our division is Kevin Jensen. You can also ask for Poli Peters, who is the Director of Construction for Richmond American Homes. Again, for some extra leverage, be sure to mention that you were referred by frickinmom.com.

So, I thought I would take a break from the Richmond American drama and tell you a little story. The moral of this story: Make sure you are texting the right phone number- especially if you start using multiple exclamation points and all caps.

I woke up this morning to my phone buzzing, alerting me of a text message. I picked up the phone and read:

Hurry! Call 407-843-0924 Charles re: job when you get a chance. Don’t forget!

I thought, “Who the frick is Charles?” So I write:

I am sorry, Charles who? I think you may be texting the wrong phone number.

In less than a minute, I receive a reply:

DUMMY!!! the RECRUITERS name is Charles!

I have to admit, at this point, I thought about pretending to be the appropriate party, and telling her I wasn’t going to call Charles, and I was enjoying my time off. I thought this would be pretty funny. But, I was worried that the party on the other end of the text would have an aneurysm, so I wrote:

Ummm, you are texting Lori Gilson. Are you meaning to text someone else?

Then, to give myself a giggle, I added:

Who is the dummy now? 

I thought I might have gone too far, and was regretting the dummy question, when I received the following:

PAT!!! R U INSANE? IT’S ME, EILEEN. THIS IS NOT COMPLICATED!!!

At that point, I called Eileen. Now THAT was a frickin fun conversation! I love texting.

I love the Olympics. I really, really love the Olympics. By the end of the games, my DVR is full of great moments in time, which I refuse to delete for months. There is something about watching athletes perform amazing feats as I sit on my couch and eat ice-cream. It is comparable, although significantly better, than watching The Biggest Loser while eating potato chips.

A darling friend of mine, Noelle Pikus-Pace, is competing in the skeleton at the Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver. In honor of her awesomeness, I am going to dedicate this post to her, and encourage all of my faithful readers to support her by buying a really cute hat at snowfirehats.com. Noelle designed the hats herself. They are super cute (this pic is of Noelle sporting one of her designs) and help her with the costs of training, travel and gear.

So, to pay tribute to Noelle, and the entire Olympic Team, I have come up with:

The Top Reasons Team U.S.A. Will Win the Olympics

We have the cutest Olympians. Our team is H-O-T HOT. Seriously. When you add beauty to sheer talent, how can you NOT prevail? Don’t believe me? Check out the picture above of cute Noelle, and compare that to this weight-lifting Big Mama from the Beijing Games. She didn’t win and I doubt her picture would ever grace the front of a Wheaties box. Never, never, never would our Women’s Team look like this.

We dress for success. I recently checked-out the official uniform for the U.S. Snowboarding Team. It is denim and plaid– pretty stylin. Although, I think a close runner-up is the uniform my brother suggested- a viking helmet and a skater belt. (I think Brian pulls this look off quite well. See below.)

We’ve got the moves. You know you are going to be good at more than skating with a name like Ohno. I can see it now. Contenders from other countries are probably saying, “OH-NO! Look who is up next! I don’t stand a chance at winning against this Dancing with the Stars Winner/Greek God.” I seriously love the fact that Apolo’s parents named him after the God of Arts. With a name like Apolo Ohno, we are sure to take the gold. I think all of our Olympic athletes should be named after Greek Gods.

We have Colbert. When Colbert is on your side, you can never lose. I still can’t see why he didn’t make the team. He definitely has my vote. (Warning. Do not watch this video while drinking milk. I learned the hard way.)

I work with over 40 men. We have started to even the odds by hiring a few women lately, but we gals are still considerably outnumbered. From time-to-time, I hear the guys talking about their marriages and women in general. As a member of the superior sex, I realize at times we are hard to read. In an effort to educate all you men, I am offering the following guide to understanding the female language.

She says, “It has been a long time since we’ve gone out.”
He hears, “Thanks for taking me out last month.”
She means, “Take me on a frickin date!”

She says, “I am so tired of cleaning the kitchen.”
He hears, “I am going to clean the kitchen, enjoy watching the game.”
She means, “Stop watching that stupid game and clean the frickin kitchen!”

She says, “No problem, I will just do it myself.”
He hears, “No problem.”
She means, “If you don’t take care of this immediately, you will receive the ice-queen treatment for the next three days.”

She says, “I wish we had money for a new outfit.”
He hears, “I am so glad we are being careful with our spending during the recession.”
She means, “I want that frickin outfit. Make it happen.”

She says, “I am fine.”
He hears, “Nothing’s wrong.”
She means, “You have sixty seconds to figure out why I am so unhappy right now.”

She says, “I am so tired.”
He hears, “I am so tired.”
She means, “It is your night to stay up with the baby, or else.”

She says, “Oh look, there’s a Wendy’s”
He hears, “Oh look, there’s a Wendy’s”
She means, “I want a frosty. Turn the car around.”

Well, there ya have it. As I am always super-easy to read, my husband never has difficulty understanding me. I mean, wait… hmmm… nevermind.

I was enjoying a bite of charbroiled chicken paradise this evening, when I beheld something I never thought I would see.

When you have just made the biggest decision of your life and promised yourself forever to your soul mate, where do you go to celebrate?

Yes, you go to McDonalds. In your frickin wedding dress. And your veil.

You also bring your wedding party. To make sure they are easily recognized as your guests, have them all wear leis. Yes, that should do the trick.

Another tip: Be extremely loud. This will aid in getting you the attention you deserve. After all, it is your frickin day.

Go ahead, order the milkshake. All those weeks of crash dieting are behind you. It is time to reward yourself for all the times you chose salad over pasta. However, when it comes time to choose your drink, go with the diet. This cancels out all the calories in the fries and double cheeseburger.

Debate over whether you should take your feast to go, or dine in. Ultimately, choose to stay. You have a captive audience now. Relish it.

Dining at the Golden Arches may not be as wonderful as actually saying “I do” next to a statue of Ronnie, but it is definitely a great way to end your night. After all, isn’t that what we all dream about when picturing our fairytale wedding?