a farewell to our area

our original move was scheduled for the week after school let out for the summer.  sadly, due to appliance delivery issues, we've spent the month of june still living in two places.

since we still sleep at the apartment, we do our errands and chores around the apartment.  the first, a minor, but none-the-less sad change was the closing of the auto shop we had billy's car inspected in last year.  in the words of radar "i was only there once, but i really liked it".  not too big of a deal, but these things add up.

one day billy came home after making a trip to one of their project sites, and informed me that they had closed cici's!  i was shocked. 

when we first moved to houston and visited this particular location for the first time, i asked whether or not they served chocolate pizza.  his answer was yes, they were one of only two left in houston that served it!  (i was so excited since the ones in lubbock & waxahachie stopped serving it years ago). = ) 

billy and i enjoyed cici's particularly, because they are very child friendly, and so it didn't matter if alice started making a little bit of noise.  we would go at 11am, 2pm, 7pm, it didn't matter they were always busy!  so naturally i was very sad when he told me this.

i feel someone relieved knowing that the cici's (very close to our house) still serves the chocolate pizza.  now, of course i believed billy, but it didn't add up, and seeing is believing.  so the next time we drove by, sure enough the sign was gone = (

the third and final closing that has really encouraged me to make this post is one of my 'mini vacation spots,' komart.  komart was an asian grocery store we would visit once every 2-3 months to stock up on billy's spicy mustard, my potstickers, and various other interesting souviners we would find.

since we don't frequent the store we had no idea that they were closing for buisness, until one day we drove by on the interstate, and the building was half demolished

so i end this post by saying adios auto repair, au revoir cicis, and sayonara komart.

we have a refrigerator!

billy and i bought our house in april, april 13th to be exact.  that friday just happened to be the start of the state incentive energy star appliance sale.

so, we went to home depot and ordered our refrigerator and dishwasher, then headed to lowes for our washer and dryer.  our washer and dryer came with in a week, on time and perfect!

since we were ordering on the incentive weekend, there was a wait for our refrigerator and the dishwasher would be delivered when the refrigerator came. about 4 days before our refrigerator and dishwasher were due, we measured our kitchen, and found out we wouldn't be able to open the door of the refrigerator we had ordered all the way! (oops)  so we had waited a month for a refrigerator only to cancel it at the last minute. 

so we went into home depot and cancelled our refrigerator that night.  our dishwasher was due to arrive the next monday, but when the delivery driver called billy, he wanted to deliver the refrigerator instead of the dishwasher.  something went awry and we didn't get our dishwasher.  so we cancelled the order and waited to get our money back.

once we had the money at our disposal, we ordered a new shiny refrigerator from best buy.com.  we had to wait another two weeks, and it was due the sunday before memorial day.  the delivery service called billy saturday to confirm, and then we waited at the house for the whole four hour window sunday. 

billy called them two or three times, and they kept saying it was late but still "out for delivery." at around 8pm billy called the delivery service and they told him it was in the warehouse, never made it to a truck.   when billy called back at 10, they said the driver had gone to the address, but couldn't locate our house (after telling us they came by and there was no one home).  in any case, they had spliced together our old apartment and our house in a way that made no sense.

so, billy arranged with them to come the following morning.  billy met them in the driveway, and they had brought the wrong refrigerator!  we ordered one with a silver colored front and sides, this one had black sides.  so billy sent it away.  we were both unhappy by this time.

later that day, billy called customer service to make sure we would be getting the correct refrigerator.  they apologized and fixed the order (and our address). 

so the next weekend we waited again, still no refrigerator, though billy had called and called and called after our previous experience.  3 hours after our delivery window had passed, billy finally had the customer service rep. go to the warehouse and check the color agian.  wouldn't you know it was the wrong one.

needless to say we cancelled our order with best buy (as well as black listing their appliance department), and again waited for a refund. 

after we had the money refunded, we headed to lowes (since they seemed to have no problem delivering the washer & dryer), but by this time, we are moving in less than 2 weeks, and it will take 21 days before it even gets into the store.  then, we have to set up a delivery date.  = (

since we can't live without a refrigerator, we explored our options (renting, borrowing, buying a 'mini')  and finally opted to buy a mini.

when we were at walmart, we found the mini fridges, they had one for $75.  billy loaded it into the cart, and wouldn't you know, two checkers & a manager couldn't get it to ring up.  by this point i'm laughing, it is just to ironic that we can't even buy a mini refrigerator! = )  finally, the manager did an override, and we checked out to head to the house.

billy set it up, and it's all we've got for now, but at least it'll keep our milk & alice's formula cold!

i guess we'll just have to handwash our dishes

about two weeks ago, we ordered our new dishwasher from lowes.  since it was the state-wide tax free weekend, and samsung was an additional 10% off, we knew we'd have a wait.

our dishwasher arrived in the store last friday, they called billy to let him know the installers would be calling tuesday.  they didn't call.  so billy tried to call them, and finally on wednesday, i was able to set up an appointment with them for thursday (today).

alice and i waited for them to come.  i took a before picture of our dishwasher, which i was super excited to have hauled away.

they came about an hour into the four hour window they had given (not too bad = )), and were professional and fast.  when they took out the old one i snapped another photo.

it only took them about 35 minutes to remove the old one and put in the new one.  after he had tested it, he showed me how to open the soap drawer, how to press various options, and where the time remaining display was.  he closed the door "tada" it was our new dishwasher.

but it was the wrong one. = (  this was a frigidaire, we ordered a samsung, not to mention this one was black and whe had ordered a stainless steel one.  all i could think was that billy was going to freak out!

so, he called out to the store, they confirmed that we had ordered a samsung, which he had on his truck, but the labels had been switched.  so we had someone elses dishwasher.  he apologized many times, and started to uninstall the frigidaire.

then his coworker called him outside.  i knew something was up.  yeah, so there was a huge dent in our dishwasher!  sad times = (

the installer called the store again, the contact on their end ordered us a new one, but it was on back order, so we still have no idea when we'll be getting our new dishwasher. 

since our move in date is set for the 28th, we'll probably be handwashing some dishes = (  so what's there now?

 you guessed it, it's our old friend = (

cheap prices, but not today

today i went shopping at a new consignment store that is near our house, i'm sure i'll be back several times this summer.  today their yellow tags were 75% off and their purple tags were 50% off. 

while shopping i came across this dress

it was a little pricey ($15!), but good dresses are hard to come by, so i thought i'd try it on first then decide.

i thought it was very cute, but could not commit to spending $15 on a single dress, even if it did have the original label on it.

i looked at the label one more time, to make sure it was really $15, and to check and see if i had the luck of picking up a purple or yellow tag.  the tag was green, and this is what it acutally said

i could not believe my eyes!  i thought that there must be a mistake, because this is a consignmnet store, not a boutique!  but the original tags were on the dress, so i looked at those for reference.

i almost passed out.  a $450 dress?  i was deliberating whether or not to buy it at $15.

needless today, i did not buy the dress, i'll leave it to someone who thinks that $150 is a good deal.

photo software

since i am supposed to be getting a real camera next month (july), i decided to start researching photo editing software, so that i can do cool things with my photos = )

this site allowed me to read about free software, inexpensive software, and professional software.  so right now i'm testing out the waters on the free end.

with picasa i've created this image:

photoshop  helped me create all of this fantastic photos:

and with a little help from both applications i created this one of my cutie & her pink (actaully blue) bird, tweet tweet.

summer chores - a week long saga

the last week has been my first week of summer!  in this short time, i got quite a bit accomplished = )

the first day of summer was technically my last day of work.  on this day i went to breakfast with m7 (all of us) and sammy = )

after breakfast alison, melissa and i went and had our nails done at bora bora.  this place was awesome!  melissa and her manicure:

at alison's request i'm not posting her manicure & pedicure.  my pedicure was the result of billy's whim and my taste. = )  i asked for stars and stripes.  the woman painting my toes asked if my husband were in the military, or maybe if i were.  i said no, i just felt patriotic.  either way, they turned out great!

after the pedicure i had a quick lunch at mcdonald's with billy.  it was sprinkling, which made traffic crazy!  i took billy back to work and headed to my 1:15 hair appointment at the paul mitchell school.  my hairdresser was cassi, and she did  a marvelous job!

she dyed my hair a red/violet mixture, trimmed it, and gave me layers.  all of this only cost $63 (before tip)!  i was so impressed.  and i will be going back, if i ever have the better part of 4 hours to have my hair done.

i picked up my sweet baby for summer vacation just before 4:30, then we headed home to have dinner with daddy.

on the first full day of summer, alice and i got up, ate, then took a nap (awesome!).  my first chore was to get my car inspected & oil changed.  the mechanic was able to change my oil, but i had to wait close to an hour and a half for the mechanic to come back and inspect my car.  alice was very good most of the time.  toward the end she got bored and fussy, but i can't complain at all!

after my car was finished we went to mam to do some thrift store shopping, then stopped at sonic (it was happy hour) on the way back to the apartment.  i had a coupon to take a survey, and they would give me a code for a free route44.  now, i am totally addicted to sonic, so this was quite a deal!  a free route44 for purchasing one during happy hour? yes, please!

my evenings always include dinner with my wonderful husband, and a trip to the house (to check on things & drop off a load of recycling).  i won't put that on each day, but i wanted you (the reader) to be aware that it was going on = )

monday i took on my next chore which was getting my driver's license changed.  in waxahachie and lubbock (the only other two places i've gone to the dps) the lines are annoyingly long, but if you are patient they will get to you.  here in houston, 1/365th of the population must have been at this very dps office!  alice and i were there for 3 hours.

alice was great the first hour, slept the second hour, then by the third was hungry and wet.  i had called billy at about 10 til 5 to see if he would come pick her up, but they lock the doors at 5, and you have to exit through the back door!  so we were stuck, me, my baby, and 70+ other people waiting for our numbers.  my number was 55 (just in case it ever comes up again).

on tuesday, alice and i headed to the tax office to get the titles of the cars we own (= )) changed over to our house address.  as we were driving there, i could see a storm rolling in.  i decided that i didn't want to do it later, so we pushed foward.  as we pulled in the rain started.  once inside, i expected to be in line again, and we were, behind 1 other couple! after monday's torment, i was so relieved! we didn't wait long, and the government worker was very friendly and helpful = )  i was also happy that i had done my license first, because she used it to change over the titles ; )

when we went back to the car, it was pouring!  in the 30 seconds it took us to get out to the car, we both got drenched.  since my car rides so low, and houston floods in random areas, alice and i waited out the rain in the car.  she didn't seem too bothered by it all. = )

after the tax office we went to smashburger, so that i could donate some food to the food drive (the mail carrier didn't pick it up on stamp out hunger weekend!).  the staff there was so friendly!  they helped me carry in my donation (even though the window had ended the day before), brought alice's high chair, and even fixed my dr. pepper for me (this is more like a mcdonald's then a resturant, so this is not a typical service)!  during our meal, someone checked on us no less than 5 times! then, because i had donated food, the manager gave me two $5 gift certificates to their establishment!  i will be going back, and not just because of the free food ; )

wednesday we took it easy.  we had lunch with billy, then headed out to our 'new thrift stores' near the house.  i didn't find much, but coyt & cali have a new veggie tales stash = )

thursday was the day i got billy's car inspected.  now, since billy's car is older, he doesn't have to do the emissions testing, which means we take his car to a garage with the 'old test'.  the one we used last year had closed, so i took it to the one i had gotten the purple cadillac done a few years back.  this place is very ghetto, but they are nice and helpful, and get the job done. 

their waiting room is the second bay of the garage, so you are less than 5 yards from where they are doing the inspection.  there is no air conditioning, but a giant fan (which alice thought was just too cool).  i loved the juxtaposition of my sweet clean baby, against the rough, dirty garage wall, so i took some photos.  

the inspection really didn't take long, though he tried to sell me a car w/ air conditioning when i left. = )

from there we went to a place with an air conditioned waiting room (fancy) to get billy's oil changed.  now, this place just happens to be across from one of my favorite thirft stores, so alice and i did some shopping (even though i only had $6).   we walked back to pay for billy's car, then went to mam again, and spend the remainder of the $6 on fabric for the background of my pictures of alice this summer.

friday was a very lazy day.  alice and i stayed in all day, and i worked on upgrading this blog, from it's neglected, forgotten self.  i'm happy to be back, blogging away!

polka dot project

as of late, i've been taking pictures of alice in polka dots.  she is such a delight to photograph, i just have to share our photo shoot!

revamp

i have revamped my old friend,  since my old journal is not working.  i will begin blogging here, so stay tuned for new posts!