Happy Halloween! Okay, it's not really that scary, but I couldn't think of a better title for this post. It's been a couple of weeks so here's what's going on...
We went to Mr. Biggs for the boy's birthday. We thought about it and realized that we could either spend a bunch of money to have the neighborhood boys over and let them trash our house (which still has at least one box in every bed room) or let him pick a friend to take with us and go where he wanted to go. He'd originally said Dave and Buster's but we heard about Mr. Biggs and decided to check it out. It was just okay for us but the kids had a good time and that's the point, right? So we came home late and had a quick piece of cake and opened presents before off to bed. It's so hard to believe that we have an 8 year old. He and I are in Scouts now as well. He'll get jumped in officially at our next pack meeting. I should be able to have his uniform shirt done by then. If he was a little older I'd make him sew his own patches on and work on his arts and crafts badge at the same time, but my military side says that his uniform should look good so I'll do it for him... this time.
Jen was doing really well the week after my last post. The sun came out and the fall decorations sprang up all over the neighborhood. Then the snow came... and didn't leave! Seriously, it was all over the news back in my home town so you know it had to be big... or nothing else interesting was going on. Still, it snowed constantly for 2 days straight. I even got snowed out of work for a couple of days. In fact, the roads were bad enough that our kids' school even called off going to classes yesterday. Sheesh! Of course, today the sun is shining again and the white stuff is turning brown and black along the major roadways. The kids don't quite understand that it can be sunny and still be cold. They wanted to go out in their flip-flops and short sleeves this afternoon. How about... NO! While we were snowed in I got the garage cleaned up enough to get the Truck into it. That was good. Now here's the bad news.
I took the vehicle to our local dealer ealier this week. (Let me back up a bit.) As we were trekking across the mountains, our check engine light came on. I had just had the car serviced before we left San Diego so I ignored it thinking that the mechanic had just forgotten to reset the light and besides, we were planning to get the oil changed again soon after we got to Denver. So, I took the car in... told the desk guy that the engine light and battery lights are on steady. Also, there's a hiss under the brake pedal and the heater vent in the back doesn't blow hot air and there's a switch clicking whenever we turn it on. He says no problem... we'll take a look. I called back later in the day and he runs down a list of things wrong with the car. What's the damage? Oh... about $2800. That's not a typo. They wanted almost 3 grand to put in a new alternator (the one that's in there is fine) and install a new brake booster and pcv line (BTW, WTH is a pcv line?), new aux motors for the rear heater and nearly $1000 to change out the fluids for winter. I said thanks but no, would you just change the oil and give me a detailed write up? Sure. So we go pick up the truck only now it has a power problem. There's hesitation on acceleration and the check engine light is now blinking at me. The owner's manual says that means "misfire" which would explain the hesitation and rough idle. I took the truck back to Ford. Dude looks me in the eye and says, "We didn't do it." So now I'm waiting for the tech manual to be delivered and I've ordered a brake booster from Autozone. It should be here on Wednesday or Thursday which is fine since the manual won't get here until next weekend at the earliest. I do not like dealerships and this is just one more example of why.
So, in the spirit of the 'holiday' I've decided to just put that all aside for the afternoon and get the garage ready for tonight's trick-or-treat crowd. I'm planning to wear my flight suit and my new snow boots and try to look like a Ghostbuster. If that fails I still have the retro outfit that I bought for Jen's 30th birthday party and I can be Disco Dan or something. Anyway, hope your weekend is off to a better start. Don't eat too much candy and I'll see you next month. Bwahahahahahahaha!
Saturday, October 31
Wednesday, October 14
October... already?!?!
I'd ask the question "Where has the time gone," but then I wouldn't have a reason to post right?
The end of August was tense and boring at the same time. It was boring because there was a lot of waiting around and staring at each other (and getting on nerves) while we were stuck in our hotel room waiting for the home buying process to run its course. It was tense because there were a couple of times when it looked like the deal could have fallen apart. The house appraised for less than what we'd offered. The problem is that we used a VA home loan guarantee and they'll only approve up to the appraised value. Fortunately we were close enough that the sellers were willing to come down a bit. We also had a couple of issues from the home inspection. Did you know that even though radon is a naturally occuring phenomenon, it can still hurt you with long term exposure? Well, the inspection revealed that the level in the house was just barely above the federal limit, so we needed to install a mitigation system to address that. We got a credit from the sellers to cover most of the cost of putting in a system that will suck the radon out of the ground water (in the sump) and out of the dirt in the crawl space in the basement and pump it into the atmosphere. We were also advised that we may need a new water heater sooner rather than later. So far we're good, but we've been looking at bigger heaters and trying to figure out when will be the best time to get one. Ideally, it'll be before my folks come to visit for the holidays so my Dad can help me install it. Failing that, maybe we'll use a few of our tax return dollars next year to get a new one. Since we're first time home buyers, we're qualified for the tax credit from earlier this year. Even though I honestly disagree with the idea that it is the government's job to help me buy a house, I can also tell you that I totally plan to take advantage of the program. For the record, we did NOT apply this credit to any down payment. We were planning to buy a house back in CA last spring but with our orders we just changed the location and pushed the date back a little bit. So now we're home owners... Or at least we're making payments to become home owners eventually... like in 30 years!
Anyway, we finally closed at the end of August and got our keys at the document signing. Since then we've received shipment of our stuff from TMO (another military perk), primed two rooms upstairs for paint, got Comcast to install our home bundle, registered my car for new liscense plates (Jen's are still good), unpacked most of our boxes, and have tried to settle in a little bit... Then I had surgery on my martial arts damaged right shoulder and I've been in a sling for the last month. I just got cleared to take off the sling and I should be starting physical therapy soon.
The kids are in school full time now. They're in a year round track system and they seem to like it. They also have a BUNCH of new friends here in the neighborhood. We've also found a church that we like and Jen's joined a small group that started right after we started attending. It's based on a book, "After the Boxes are Unpacked" and the class is called "Moving on After Moving In." It's been good for her. She's already met a couple of new friends and even though she really misses her friends in San Diego she's adapting a lot better than I feared she would... and then the snow came.
Last week brought snow and cold temperatures for pretty much the whole week. Did you see the Phillies/Rockies game 3 and 4? That was here. It was cold. Then we went to a pumpkin patch on Saturday to find some decorations for Halloween. Do you know what we did? We found our pumpkins by kicking the SNOW off of them! Even for a guy from Ohio that's just cold.
This week the weather's getting warmer and this coming weekend is supposed to be in the upper 60's to low 70's... and I have to work. A down side to working with reservists? I have to work during their drill weekend. A plus side? The work during non drill periods is usually pretty slow so I can take off a bit early and get back to school. I'm looking into area community colleges that will take my credits and transfer to a four year school. I'm hoping to start up in January with a goal of being very close to my degree by the time I retire in just a couple of years. I guess that means I should figure out what I want to do when I grow up. Dangit! I don't want to make a mistake with a family to support. What to do? What to do?
So that basically brings you up to speed. I'm sorry for having to put the comment moderation on, but I've gotten a few spam comments. Now that you know what's up with me... What's up with you?
The end of August was tense and boring at the same time. It was boring because there was a lot of waiting around and staring at each other (and getting on nerves) while we were stuck in our hotel room waiting for the home buying process to run its course. It was tense because there were a couple of times when it looked like the deal could have fallen apart. The house appraised for less than what we'd offered. The problem is that we used a VA home loan guarantee and they'll only approve up to the appraised value. Fortunately we were close enough that the sellers were willing to come down a bit. We also had a couple of issues from the home inspection. Did you know that even though radon is a naturally occuring phenomenon, it can still hurt you with long term exposure? Well, the inspection revealed that the level in the house was just barely above the federal limit, so we needed to install a mitigation system to address that. We got a credit from the sellers to cover most of the cost of putting in a system that will suck the radon out of the ground water (in the sump) and out of the dirt in the crawl space in the basement and pump it into the atmosphere. We were also advised that we may need a new water heater sooner rather than later. So far we're good, but we've been looking at bigger heaters and trying to figure out when will be the best time to get one. Ideally, it'll be before my folks come to visit for the holidays so my Dad can help me install it. Failing that, maybe we'll use a few of our tax return dollars next year to get a new one. Since we're first time home buyers, we're qualified for the tax credit from earlier this year. Even though I honestly disagree with the idea that it is the government's job to help me buy a house, I can also tell you that I totally plan to take advantage of the program. For the record, we did NOT apply this credit to any down payment. We were planning to buy a house back in CA last spring but with our orders we just changed the location and pushed the date back a little bit. So now we're home owners... Or at least we're making payments to become home owners eventually... like in 30 years!
Anyway, we finally closed at the end of August and got our keys at the document signing. Since then we've received shipment of our stuff from TMO (another military perk), primed two rooms upstairs for paint, got Comcast to install our home bundle, registered my car for new liscense plates (Jen's are still good), unpacked most of our boxes, and have tried to settle in a little bit... Then I had surgery on my martial arts damaged right shoulder and I've been in a sling for the last month. I just got cleared to take off the sling and I should be starting physical therapy soon.
The kids are in school full time now. They're in a year round track system and they seem to like it. They also have a BUNCH of new friends here in the neighborhood. We've also found a church that we like and Jen's joined a small group that started right after we started attending. It's based on a book, "After the Boxes are Unpacked" and the class is called "Moving on After Moving In." It's been good for her. She's already met a couple of new friends and even though she really misses her friends in San Diego she's adapting a lot better than I feared she would... and then the snow came.
Last week brought snow and cold temperatures for pretty much the whole week. Did you see the Phillies/Rockies game 3 and 4? That was here. It was cold. Then we went to a pumpkin patch on Saturday to find some decorations for Halloween. Do you know what we did? We found our pumpkins by kicking the SNOW off of them! Even for a guy from Ohio that's just cold.
This week the weather's getting warmer and this coming weekend is supposed to be in the upper 60's to low 70's... and I have to work. A down side to working with reservists? I have to work during their drill weekend. A plus side? The work during non drill periods is usually pretty slow so I can take off a bit early and get back to school. I'm looking into area community colleges that will take my credits and transfer to a four year school. I'm hoping to start up in January with a goal of being very close to my degree by the time I retire in just a couple of years. I guess that means I should figure out what I want to do when I grow up. Dangit! I don't want to make a mistake with a family to support. What to do? What to do?
So that basically brings you up to speed. I'm sorry for having to put the comment moderation on, but I've gotten a few spam comments. Now that you know what's up with me... What's up with you?
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