Another week of Split Days off

Today is Shannon’s Saturday. This is the second week in a row of split days off since we moved. We’re hoping he’ll get his days off together again soon.

He brought home two bottles of wine from a banquet from a few nights ago. The group said that they could keep any leftover wine and there ended up being 8 bottles left. They were all split among the managers and supervisors of the Front Office.

The last few days have been overcast and raining! But today seems to be nicer, the sun is out.

We are finally getting our landline phone tomorrow. It will be nice to have a home phone again. We have a pre-paid cell phone, but that is really for emergencies and quick phone calls to each other. I love that Shannon has a work cell phone so I can just call him directly and not have to go through the hotel operator. I also figured out how to send him a text message last night! I didn’t know our cell phone had that capability.

Shannon had to deal with a bizarre incident at work this week. When he came in on Thursday, a bellman came up to him and said he needed to talk to someone. The bellman told him he was up on one of the hotel floors when a housekeeper asked if he could help her with something in one of the rooms. Well, when he walked in, the housekeeper grabbed his crotch! He then told the housekeeper that he was leaving, and when he did, the housekeeper grabbed him again! So anyway, the bellman filled out a statement and Shannon had to tell the housekeeping manager. They ended up calling the temp agency (the housekeeper was a temp) and the temp agency said that she will not be back to their property. The housekeeper that was involved with this is actually a man who dresses as a female. The bellman does not know this either.

Not only that, earlier that day, another incident happened in housekeeping. A female housekeeper said a houseman pulled her into one of the hotel rooms and started touching and grabbing her where he shouldn’t. The houseman was let go too.

Will he ever listen?

Every time I have suggested a new idea to Shannon, he seems to turn it down right away or it goes in one ear and out the other. Plus, it doesn’t help that he has ADD and I usually have to repeat myself 5 times (or more). LOL

I have a few examples of when he hasn’t listened to me and it’s more of a joke between us now. Back in early 2003, we had recently moved to Northern Nevada and we were both working at the same hotel/casino. I saw some brochures and I suggested that we go up to Virginia City on one of our weekends. He said no. Well, we had recently met a co-worker who was our age, who was also married. He and Shannon got along well since they both loved playing video games. LOL We had talked about getting together and do something outside of work. I suggested Virginia City to him and he then brought it up to Shannon and all of a sudden he was all for it. LOL

Most recently, we had an incident occur today. The week we moved in, Shannon had said that the dumpster is quite a distance away. Well, I saw where one of them is located and it’s about a street or two away within our complex. So I suggested that we use a black basket we have (it has wheels) to drop off our garbage when needed. Apparently he didn’t hear me because he came up with this (brilliant) idea today! LOL I told him he was an “idea stealer.”

Another incident happened today. Last week, we were talking about potty training our son. I told him that I have read that other parents tried the method of having their child wear no diapers at all! He immediately said no! Well, just today, he said a co-worker of his had her child wear no diapers at all and she did that for a week straight. Then I told him that I had suggested that already and he had turned it down! Sheesh! Another fantastic idea from me.

For some reason, he never listens to my ideas or suggestions even though they are pretty awesome! I am surprised he hasn’t learned his lesson yet…listen to your wife!

In conclusion, listen to your wives, girlfriends, and significant others because they know what they’re talking about.

Good Company

Shannon and I are very happy as a couple and as parents. We would have to credit that to his awesome job that he has. Last night, he realized that he doesn’t come home bitching about work like he has in the past. He loves his job and the company he works for.

I am happy that we finally got our own place and are settling in. I love our new place. We are so close to all the shopping we could need. The complex is quiet overall, which we appreciate.

Shannon said that instead of building another tower (of rooms) to the hotel property he works at, they are instead, going to build a whole new hotel right next to them. It is owned by the same company so if anyone wanted to, they could transfer to that property. This is great news, since it brings more jobs to our city as well as more opportunities for everyone. Not only that, they are looking to build another hotel in a nearby city, so there are a ton of opportunities for people to transfer and/or get promoted.

Our First Night

I still have more boxes to go through and unpack for today. Kyle’s clothes are unpacked and put away as is most of our clothes. The kitchen is done, but we may need to rearrange our things. There’s plenty of cupboards (yet there isn’t) but the shelves are so close together that they don’t even have enough room for a regular box of crackers to stand upright. Some of our cups can’t even fit upright so I have to lay them on their sides. LOL

Tuesday is our big day. We’ll get our washer and dryer delivered and we’ll have our cable, internet, and home phone.

Kyle looked a little confused when he woke up this morning. He looked around our room as if he didn’t recognize it and then he came out into the living room and looked around and then in the other bedrooms. I reminded him where his toys were to make things familiar for him again.

I am just happy that Shannon can actually sleep in and we can go into the living room without bothering him. He also doesn’t have to leave an hour and a half before work either. We’re only about 15 minutes from his work. This all means more time together!

The only thing that is a little bothersome is that our doorbell doesn’t work and all it does is buzz -- non-stop! Other than that, we are happy to be home and start our new beginning in a new city.

A Pockeful of Rocks, half a Bottle of Urine and Orange Fingers

Shannon and I woke up early today. Shannon still had to get the car packed, while he was doing that, I had to take care of Kyle and get him ready. However, Kyle still wasn’t up at 9am so I took a shower and by the time I was done, he was up and just playing around. When I got dressed and ready for my day, I took him downstairs for his breakfast. Since he was busy eating, I did a little last minute packing and cleaning up.

Since we had so much we were bringing in the car, my in-laws offered to drive over too. Keep in mind ~ we have a cell phone and they do not and we have the one set of keys and they do not. Not 5 minutes into the drive over to our new place, Shannon noticed the temperature gauge on the car was at “H.” So we pulled over to the first gas station and he poured water into it. Unfortunately that didn’t work (this has worked a few times before) because after only a few more minutes, we had to pull over at another gas station because the car starting humming and the temperature gauge was past “H.” Just before we pulled into the gas station, the car starting smoking. Luck must have been on our side because the gas station we pulled into had a “Complete Car Care Center attached! While this is going on, Shannon kept saying he wished that Kyle and me weren’t with him with all this car trouble. He didn’t want us to have to be stranded there since he didn’t mind waiting all day, he just didn‘t want his family to have to wait too.

Initially, the auto tech guy told us to wait 15 minutes while he cooled the car, then it was an estimated hour wait. It turned into 2 hours overall, they had to wait for a part that was 45 minutes away.

We were both worried this whole time because we had no way of calling my in-laws directly and also we had an appointment with the cable guy at noon. By 11:30am, Shannon suggested calling 411 to get the number to the apartment office (he left the papers with the phone numbers at the apartment). LOL I ended up calling the toll free number for 411 and quickly got the number to the apartment office. We told them to tell the cable guy we need to cancel our appointment with him and also to leave a note on our door (for my in-laws) that we had car trouble and would be late.

Thank goodness Kyle was really good during this whole ordeal. A little stubborn at times, but no tantrums no crying! Shannon and I took turns walking and holding Kyle in the parking lot. Kyle had a chance to sit with his dad on a pile of gravel and of course Kyle had to play in it and try to eat it. Nearby, there was a pile of broken cement/rock slabs so I sat on that. I saw a few rocks that I liked and put those in my pocket. They are to remind us of our journey over to our new place, plus they look really cool. I even saw a half a bottle of urine near where we sat down. LOL Finally, we pulled out the stroller and he sat in it--quietly, which is surprising because Kyle didn’t seem to like it last time I tried. Kyle also saw some caterpillars for the first time! Then he wanted to pick them up. LOL

Shannon and I never ate breakfast and it was near lunch time, so he suggested buying some chips and sodas so I told him to get the bugles (the chips that look like tornados). We let Kyle eat most of the bugles, Shannon only had a handful and I had a few as well. He bought nacho cheese flavor and that turned our fingers orange and Kyle had his mouth and hands covered in orange! LOL We ended up giving Kyle some of our soda, which we didn’t like doing and decided this would be one of the few times we would do this.

Shannon said the auto tech guys were really nice the whole time. So that was good. By 1:15pm, (two hours later), we were able to hit the road. We finally reached our new home an hour later. We found out that my in-laws never got the note! Shannon and I KNOW the office never left a note, we already know how flakey they are! =( They said they waited around for about an hour and after we never showed, they left to go eat and drive around a bit. When they returned and we were still not home, they stopped by the office and they ended up giving them the keys to our place (because they recognized my father-in-law from yesterday) -- which is probably a BIG “no-no” to do. We had just arrived when they were unloading their car. So they had no idea what happened until the office told them about the (so-called) note they left at the door. They unloaded the last of their car and ours and left a bit later. Since Kyle was confused as to what was going on, he was standing at the front door ready to leave. LOL So I pulled out some of his toys and let him play. He eventually got the idea that this is his new home. He ended up running and playing around with his toys all night. Shannon and I were unpacking here and there. I did most of the unpacking (which I did not mind doing) tonight since Shannon was exhausted from the move. He ended up making a quick trip to Walmart for some food and basic items we needed for our new place. Once the groceries were put away, he went to go pick up his sushi. We had agreed to have sushi for our first night in our new place.

Soon after my in-laws left, I called the cable guy to reschedule and he’s not available until Tuesday at 1pm. So we will be without cable/internet/home phone until then!

My in-laws ended up giving us their microwave and a set of lounge chairs and matching little table stand. They look perfect in our living room. The microwave came in handy because we were going to buy one.

After Kyle went to bed, Shannon wanted to hook up the TV to see if we get any cable channels. Luckily we do! We have about 100 channels, so at least I have something to do until Tuesday.

One more night

*As told by Shannon

Shannon and his dad loaded up the last of the boxes this morning and hit the road around 10:30am. They got there about 11:45am and the rental office didn’t have the lease agreement ready! They made some lame excuse that the person who was supposed to have this ready never did it and a new person just started working there... blah blah blah.

Anyway, in order to fill out the lease agreement, she had to put the paper in the TYPEWRITER. Hello!? Have you heard of a computer? You fill out the form on the computer and just print. I guess half way through her typing, another lady told her to just handwrite it out. While that’s happening, 3 (of the 4) ladies in the office leave for lunch and say they “will be back in a minute.” They were gone for an hour and a half, even though they KNEW my husband was waiting. How rude is that? Apparently this is how they do it in the SOUTH! And they wonder why they never get any work done!

Meanwhile, the one girl helping my husband was apologetic and wondering where they were because she was getting hungry. She couldn’t do the walk-through because she was the only one in the office. I am just confused as to why all 3 of them had to leave, knowing my husband was going to do the walkthrough.

On the way back from their lunch, the manager told my husband that our place wasn’t quite done yet and there were last minute maintenance to finish up! My husband called them this morning asking if it was ready and they told him yes! I do admit, it was nice of the manager to make the effort to see if the place was ready for us. But that was the only nice thing they did for him. Shannon did say that all the staff was really nice and apologetic.

So he finally gets the keys at 2pm and they were done unloading the truck by 3:30pm. They didn’t get home until a little after 5pm. Basically, they could have gotten home around 2:30/3pm had EVERYTHING been ready! They took the truck back tonight and got home around 6:30pm.

Since it’s been a long day, we are going to move in tomorrow. We have to be there before noon since the cable guy will be there at that time.

Truck is Here

The truck is here! Shannon and his dad picked up the truck this morning. Shannon’s been loading our stuff into the truck throughout the day. I packed up our clothes in our room and bathroom. I have all of our stuff packed except for the clothes and other things we need to use for tomorrow. I will finish packing up everything else tomorrow and do a few loads of laundry.

Shannon and his dad will drive the truck to our new place, unload it and then drive back here. Once they drop off the truck, the three of us are going to spend our first night in our new place.

We are scheduled to have our cable, internet, and phone service set up on Saturday afternoon.

Overall, it will be good to be moved into our new home. We can finally relax and settle down for awhile. Shannon will be closer to his job. We’ll have more time to spend together. We are both looking forward to this move.

It’s Almost Time

Today is Shannon’s Friday. This morning, he was even talking in his sleep saying “ It’s Friday.” He was half asleep when he was saying this so I assumed he didn’t remember. Tomorrow he’s going to pick up the moving truck with his dad. We reserved a 16’ truck, and his dad is going to drive it since he has the experience. I made all of the calls I needed to today to get things set up. I ordered our washer and dryer, which will be delivered on Tuesday. I also called the cable guy and we’re going to have cable, internet, and phone hooked up on Saturday afternoon. I really missed the DVR, so I can’t wait to get that going too. We are really looking forward to high speed internet again. We both love using the internet for different things and sometimes we are online at the same time. So we need high speed.

Our first couple of nights in our new place will be spent unpacking, organizing our things in the appropriate rooms, and letting Kyle explore his new home. We already have a list of the things we will need right away. We have a Wal-Mart down the street from us, which is convenient.

I’ve been catching up on letters these last couple of days. I have a bunch more letters to write, but some can wait a little longer, which I plan on getting to after the move.

Tomorrow, while Shannon is loading the truck, I will be packing everything in our bedroom (clothes, Kyle’s toys, etc) that we’ve taken out to use these last couple of months. I also need to do last minute laundry and cleaning.

Setting into motion

We decided this week about when we want to move. Once Shannon had those days off for sure, we took the time today to start the process of getting our things together. We had planned to go to the apartment today to do the walk-through, sign the papers, and get the keys, but they said the apartment wasn’t ready! However, the last time Shannon talked to them, they said we could move in anytime! So why isn’t it ready? We did let them know that we are moving up the move in date a week early and they said they will have it ready by then. They have to have maintenance go in, clean the place, and clean the carpets.

I called the utilities company to see if we could have our water and electricity switched into our names. That’s when I found out that we will be charged for an additional utility that we weren’t originally informed on by the complex. I am more than a little ticked about that. Not only that, they also said it would be easier for us to come in, since they need us to fill out an application form. So we ended up driving all the way there (which is 60 miles away)! We get there, and there was NO application form and the whole process took all of 10 fucking minutes, she did it all on the computer. It was pretty much something that could have been done over the phone, at least they did that in Nevada. Get with the times North Carolina! Not everyone has all the time in the world to drive out to places to do something that can easily be done over the phone. We also saved $150 on the deposit, just for having our former utility company fax over a letter stating we were in good standing.

I still have a few more phone calls to make this week to set up our cable/phone/internet, as well as set up a delivery for our washer and dryer. I did the research on which rental truck company we should use. Shannon set up a reservation for a moving truck as well.

We should be moved in by Friday or Saturday of next week. We hope to spend our first night there on Friday night but if not, Saturday will do. We are thrilled that we’ll have more square footage we’ve ever lived in! Once we get in there, I plan on re-cleaning everything with Shaklee products. I also plan on unpacking and getting things set up, that way Shannon won’t have to worry about the little things.

I also received my Shaklee kit today! I can’t wait to play with them in our new place!

New Business!

Well, I joined a new business today! Well, technically my husband did. I was unable to sign up under my own name because of some company policies and I would have had to wait until July. Since I didn’t want to wait that long, I thought of signing up under my husband’s name. I didn’t fraud anyone either, I asked my husband first and he didn’t have a problem with it. Plus this business will benefit our family. The products that this company offers is for the entire family.

I should receive my shipment in about a week! I am so excited. All the cleaning products are all natural, organic, and green friendly. I also love knowing that using these products aren’t harmful to us or the environment. I have only had the pleasure of trying 2 of the cleaning products, so I am really looking forward to trying more.

Split Days Off

Shannon has split days off this week. This won’t be happening all the time, thankfully. He is off tomorrow which will probably be a relaxing family day.

We are looking at moving in a few weeks. We are literally going over whether or not we’ll have enough to pay the bills once we move in. I am looking forward to having our own place and space.

All you have to do is ask!

I received our credit card bill today (which ALWAYS brightens my day) and our APR shot up to OVER 18%! Which added an extra $100+ to our bill. So I called them up and asked for a lower APR. She said they don’t have any special promotions going on but she can lower to 0% for 6 months! Of course, I said YES!

So, it doesn’t hurt to call your credit card company and ASK for a lower APR. It works!