Archive: June, 2010

This morning I took Simon with me to Remlinger Farms to pick strawberries.  The weather didn't look very promising and it even started raining on the way there.  Luckily though, it was dry when we got there.  In a few years, it'll be lots of fun to take Simon there so that he can pick the berries himself.  I might have to take my niece there sometime soon.

Here's my take!  And for a whopping $0.89!!

Jeff and I have Amazon Prime, which allows us to get our goodies within 2 days without shipping charges for an annual fee.  It works out well since we do a lot of online shopping.  I made a purchase on Saturday and when checking out, a notice popped up stating that the particular product that I was ordering required a few extra days of processing.  That's fine, no problem.  In the estimated arrival date, it originally had a date range of June 24-July 1.  

Well, the first oddity was that I never received an email notification that my item had shipped.  Not that this is a problem since I'm on there often enough to see that it had shipped on Monday.  Being a prime member, I assumed that I'd have my package on Wednesday.  I saw that the package was in Redmond on Tuesday so was still expecting the package on Wednesday.  Wednesday came and went.  No package.  I looked online and this is what I saw:

Track your package

The package sat in Redmond, 20 minutes away, and never moved.  The estimated delivery date is now listed for June 30th.  You mean to tell me that they're going to make me wait over a week for something that should have arrived in 2 days???!  Not acceptable Amazon.  So I called them this morning.  For some reason, the shipping was changed to standard instead of prime.  They're not sure why UPS is sitting on it.  Usually shipping companies want to get things out of their warehouses if it's ready for delivery.  Unfortunately, Amazon can't control what UPS is doing.  They did, however, give me a $5 credit toward a future purchase.  Plus one for Amazon.

With all the distractions that the internet can provide, one's comments on the world around them can easily get lost in all the noise.  People blog for different reasons.  I've started to blog, mostly to share things with my friends and family.  It's my perception that my husband blogs not only to share his opinions/thoughts/musings with people, but also as a way of getting his thoughts out of his brain allowing him to process things in his daily life.  He recently made a post about me that made a bit of a buzz, from people telling him to get perspective to someone alluding to us having problems in our marriage.  

With the way things are so inter-connected online, one can directly link a blog with facebook.  That is what Jeff and I both do.  That way, people who want to keep up with us don't have to look in two different places.  On the flip side, people that are on facebook who would not normally follow our blogs (or know we even have them) can see the posts and can also comment on them.  But that doesn't always mean that you have to.  It's your choice to follow someone's updates/notes/musings and if you think that he/she is over-sharing then it's also your prerogative to not follow that person, or at the very least, remove him/her from your status updates.  It's all a matter of perspective.

Back in the midwest, there was the phrase "the dog days of summer" where it was so hot you could see the steam rising up off the pavement and there was the welcomed "whoosh" of cool air whenever you entered an air-conditioned building.  

That's not the case here in the Pacific Northwest.  We really haven't had much of a summer so far.  This weekend was cold and wet with temperatures barely reaching 60 degrees.  People kept telling us to wait until summer to really appreciate living out here, that the summers are absolutely perfect - not too cold, not too hot.  Still waiting people...

I guess the one up-side to this, is that when it's crappy out I don't mind living in the apartment so much.  When the weather is nice, I really miss the luxury of living in a house where you have windows on more than one side of the building and a yard to sit outside and relax.

Had the cutest conversation with my best friend's 3 year old son.  He was telling me about using his riding mower to cut the lawn.  He made a point to describe the tractor - it's a John Deere that's green and yellow, with a black bag he attached on the back.  He also explained the proper way to mow a lawn (first the back, then the front) - my guess is that he takes after his dad!

Here's a picture of him while talking on the phone to me.

Just when I think that this whole house debacle is coming to an end, another wrench gets thrown into the works.  I missed 2 calls from my realtor yesterday so I called him after Simon's 6am feeding to find out what's up.  Apparently my realtors and the buyer's realtor all received a call from a lawyer, stating that the buyer wants out of the contract.  WTF?  The buyer didn't even tell her own realtor that she'd had second thoughts and just got a lawyer to handle it?!  This is after 90% of the paperwork has been signed, the home inspection was completed, and the buyer's financing was approved and set up (as of yesterday, her mortgage application & paperwork were finalized).  The only thing left would have been to sign over the deed and give her the keys.

So, I'm not sure what's going to happen now.  I only have a week and a half before my short sale approval from the bank expires.  The last hope is that we can find a cash buyer and Wells Fargo hauls ass with the paperwork.  Yeah, right.  Not holding my breath on that happening.

My morning started off really well until I got a text from my husband saying that Will Koch, CEO and owner of Holiday World died unexpectedly last night due to complications from diabetes.  He was 48 years old.

I met Will in the fall of 2007, when I started going to their annual Fall Affair event and helping Jeff with prep and box office duties.  Holiday World is such a wonderful intimate amusement park and part of it's charm is it's atmosphere.  They make you feel like part of the family.  I had the opportunity to chat with Will on a few occasions and he was such a friendly, big-hearted man who really loved what he did.  It's heartbreaking to hear of his death, at such a young age, and with a family that's left to pick up the pieces.  This news is devastating to hear, but even more now that I'm a parent.  It just breaks my heart and makes me thankful for every day that I can spend with my family.

Rest in peace, Will.  My thoughts and prayers are with his family.

Before Simon was born I enrolled in PEPS and waited to get assigned to a group in my area (see my earlier post here).  My group started back in May and we've been meeting every week for the last 6 weeks.  Being a new mom in a relatively new city, this is always a highlight of my week.  I've met 12 other great moms and their children and we discuss anything and everything under the sun.  The program is for 12 weeks so we're at the halfway point.  To mark the event, we got all of the babies together for a group photo.  Can't wait to see what's in store for the next 6!

Since we got back from our trip to Oregon, I feel like Simon's been testing my sanity around nap time.  On Friday, I'd just about reached my limit with him crying.  Luckily, Jeff came to the rescue, leaving work early to give me a break.  Again today, he had a crying jag where he screamed for almost 30 minutes non-stop.  I even recorded it, since I couldn't believe it.  He made himself hoarse.  I can't seem to figure it out what's causing it.  He'll wake up after sleeping about 35-45 minutes just hysterical.  I hope this doesn't continue, especially since he slept for 9.5 hours straight last night.

I just discovered this bag online.  I think I need one.