In fact, they seem to act that, "If half of my success is just showing up, I don't really have to do anything and will get by just fine."

You may be thinking that's totally insane! But what else could they be thinking? For, here are 10 reasons why people distrust, hate, and avoid in-home service professionals like bubonic plague:

REASON #1: THEY DON'T RETURN PHONE CALLS--well, hey. Maybe that's even too generous. Half time you can't even get someone to answer phone. You'll find that only 90% of service business don't even answer their business phone. Most rely purely on voice mail or answering machines to take your calls. And you'll be lucky if ANY of those even return your call!

Just a few weeks ago I was in need of a new lawn mowing service. I called EVERY lawn mowing service in yellow pages. I got an answering machine for every phone number except one. On each answering machine, I left message that I need weekly lawn service for my home and to call me to set up a time or let me know if they needed to see place first.

Did I get a call back? NO. Not one of them called me back and it's been over two weeks.

And then, one that I did get a "live" person--you know how that went? I called number and got a "hello?" I thought maybe I had wrong number. So, I asked if this was such and such business. The lady acted like she never heard of it. I double checked phone number with her and it was right number. I apologized and told her I was calling from yellow pages and that they had wrong number listed.

"Oh." She said. "He be back soon."

You've got to be kidding me. Needless to say, I didn't invite them out to my home. But any other service that would have just CALLED ME BACK would have gotten my business. That's a shame.

So, I decided to my service industry: carpet cleaning. I started down list of 98 carpet cleaners in my area--after 20 answering machines. I just gave up.

Why should anyone put with that? And for those that do finally call you back, why should they be PAID for such rude, inconsiderate, selfish, "I-Know-You-Need-Me-So-I'll-Call-You-If-And-When-I-Feel-Like-It" attitude?

REASON #2: THEY DON'T SHOW UP ON TIME When's last time you had a service professional show up on time? After all, aren't you one that re-arranged your whole schedule--had to take off work, have someone else pick up kids from school, or whatever--just so you could have "honor" of having them show up at your home when it's convenient for them?

After all, that's how they act. Like it's somehow a privilege for you to have their service; rather than how it should be--a privilege for THEM to be serving YOU.

But, again, I've been too generous. It's hard to even GET an exact appointment time for someone to show up on time.

Don't you just love it when you call someone for service, and they say, "O.K. We'll be there between 1-5 p.m. on Tuesday." Geez, like you have nothing to do but take a whole unpaid day off just to get your stuff taken care of?

My cable company--which happens to be ONLY cable company in Anchorage--told me this when I needed service for a repair that was a problem with THEIR cable box in my home: "The tech will be there between 10a.m.-5p.m., so you'll need to be there when he arrives or you'll have to reschedule your appt." So, on day appointed--I had to run to store real quick. A 10 minute trip. I even called cable company to let them know that I would be back in 20 min. Still, I returned home to find a tag on my door that I had missed service and to call to reschedule. I WAS TICKED!

For all money you pay, why should you have to but up with that?

REASON #3: THEY DON'T SHOW UP AT ALL I'm sure that exact thing has happened to you more times that you can count on your finger and toes--even if you have four sets of each.

Nothing is more aggravating than to go through all you have to just to be home for appointment--and they never show up!!

I bet this one has happened to you like it has me. You buy new carpet. You schedule with installer for Tuesday--sometime during day mind you, no specific time--and he never shows up.

So you call at end of Tuesday. After 5 tries, you finally get to him on his cell phone. "Oh," he explains. "This job took me much longer than I expected and I'll be there tomorrow for sure." No apology. No specific time for next day.

What, are you supposed to give your two weeks notice at work just to have service done?

REASON #4: THEY SHOW UP LOOKING LIKE A 'JUST RELEASED' PRISON INMATE Let's face it. Most women end up scheduling service appointments because they tend to take care of stuff in home. But man is present at appointment 99% of time. Why? Because most service professionals look gnarly and untrustworthy. Women just don't feel safe being alone in their home with them.

And since so many professionals show up looking like felons, TWO people have to take off work. The woman so she can show what she wants done and make sure it gets done to her satisfaction; and man to act as most advanced "protection" and "anti-scam" technology.

CANVAS

Canvas is my favorite option. The muralist can work off premises and paint a beautiful custom mural without ever entering your home. The best part is that mural can be removed and saved for other children in your family or to take with you when you move. The mural can be adhered to your wall with heavy wallpaper paste, and once attached to wall it appears as if it was painted directly on wall surface. Here is one artist who paints on canvas:

AllKidsMurals.com - http://www.allkidsmurals.com/ - All Kids Murals specializes in custom child murals, and starting at $500 per wall, this is cheapest around.

PAINT BY NUMBER MURALS AND KITS

There are kits available that allow you to be artist. The detail level of a custom painted mural is not available but there are some nice designs that I think your child will love:

Wall Art - http://www.wallartdesigns.com/ - Each mural comes with a color guide and acrylic paint, so you don’t have to worry about getting colors right. You can be sure your mural will look just like ones you see here.

Wall Nutz - http://www.wallnutz.com/ - Paint-By-Number Mural Kits and even more kid decor!

Mural Magic - http://www.dreamroomcreations.com/ - With our kits and some simple instructions you don't have to be very artistic to create a work-of-art... anyone can do it.

Mural Design - http://www.muraldesign.com/kits/index.shtml - The kit includes easy-to-use patterns which you can trace and paint onto any wall, headboard, or canvas.

WALLPAPER

Wallpaper is most inexpensive option, but it is also least creative. However, there are some options out there that are pretty nice. Take a look at below sites: