Friday, August 20, 2010

At least they are both resting comfortably.

I found K- napping on the couch like this yesterday afternoon.  Apparently, the cat felt the need to join her.

Enjoy your weekend!

Thursday, August 19, 2010

Barnes & Noble has some issues.

I found this as I was reading today.  Frankly, as a result of the issues that I came across with the free ship weekend that they had, I wasn't at all surprised.

When Barnes & Noble had their free ship weekend, I placed three different orders.  I mean, I kept finding more things!  When it came time to actually receive the items, I kept getting e-mails from Barnes & Noble.  Things were delayed.  Things were out of stock.  Then, things were canceled.

The four books that they canceled?  They were two different gifts for Christmas.  I e-mailed them to ask if they could flip me a free ship coupon code to make up for their lack of being able to deliver that which they promised.

I heard nothing.

Really, I didn't think that my request was that unreasonable.

Then, you would have thought that they would ship pieces of the order together.  Generally, almost every single piece of the three orders that were received came separately.

I don't think that sounds very financially sound, nor is it that environmentally helpful, though they do use small corrugated  wrappers on the books.  Still . . .

I hope the best for Barnes & Noble, but know that I certainly will not be purchasing from them online ever again.  It was just too disappointing an experience to want to repeat again.

Post number 2 for today.  Read on, my friends!

We've been dumped, but it's a good thing.

Miss Barb, K-'s summer bridge tutor, called me on my cell to tell me that she was sorry about the late call, but she was calling about our last tutoring session tomorrow.

Miss Barb got a job with the district that she has been tutoring for and she will be teaching 1st grade. 

I told her that we were very happy for her and to certainly keep us on her summer schedule for next year.  She was such a wonderful bridge tutor for K- and she taught me some wonderful things.  She will be a fantastic teacher!

Congratulations, Miss Barb!  We're so proud of you!

Smiles in my day:
-  Above.  :)

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

This evening.

Hubs is watching a movie, no doubt some Rambo thing, and the stereo is thunking in the background.  Hey, if Rambo is what works for him, have at it.  He is a man that truly requires very little.

The crickets are chirping and it sounds so beautiful.  It makes me smile.

There is a breeze blowing.  The temperatures have cooled and I will, once again, be able to sleep with the windows open.  Such a sweet delight!

K- was out at my sisters today.   There are 5 acres to run, explore and enjoy.  My daughter's head hit the pillow and she was out.  Fresh air is exhausting to little people!

I have freshly laundered, line-dried clothes awaiting their placement into their proper creature homes.  The wash is run and waiting for a repeat performance on the line tomorrow.  How much I love that I'm able to pin my clothes up in the AM before work and can come home to fold the laundry as the hummingbird moths and butterflies are busy nectaring at the butterfly bushes just in front of me. 

K- and I have started rolling back to every evening homework.  She is really concentrating on doing a nice job on her work and on coloring.  We'll have her summer bridge homework book done in no time.

As I sit here, I've begun a case of the yawns.  So thankful to have a roof over my head, a bed to lie down on, my people to occupy this little box with me and all the other incidentals that we insist are necessary but probably aren't really when it comes right down to it. 

Good evening, all!

Smiles in my day:
-  Above.

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Tales from the Trenches: The 5-Minute Fan

I bought a Hunter 5-Minute fan for our kitchen.  Now, I wasn't under the impression that it would only be 5 minutes to install it, but I thought that it would be maybe a half hour or so.

It took 2 hours and 15 minutes.   

Hubs worked on it yesterday for about an hour just doing prep work.  He purchased a box to hook it into so that it is held up by more than wires and one drywall screw.  (True.  That's how the homeowner installed our bedroom fan and the kitchen fan.  Quite a craftsman, I tell you.)

In the end, it is up, it is beautiful and we love it.  We had a teeny weenie little fan that the original homeowners had put up.  I think it was something like a 30" fan or something tiny like that.  This one is 44" and much larger than our other one. 

Still, we like it.  Hooray.  One more little kitchen project checked off the list.

Smiles in my day:
-  Though my in-law's flight from Milwaukee was canceled by Air Tran due to mechanical problems, the airline put them up on a very comfortable bus with snacks and drinks and they are having a nice time.  Sure, they are going to get in a lot later than they anticipated, but they'll be home soon.  They took it in stride and all will be well soon enough.
-  Because of the above situation, K- will be going to my sister's house tomorrow to be cared for while I go to work.  This week's barter for child care is a school supply trade.  I need child care, my sister's kids needed some more school supplies that I managed to find for them (she lives in the middle of nowhere, so stores aren't really around) and I'll pay her with that.  She didn't want me to pay her at all, but I insisted, as it is only right considering that she'll be watching K- all day long.
-  Visiting Staples again today for another dose of cheap school supplies. 

Have a great day!

Monday, August 16, 2010

Quick! Summer is coming to a close.

In a few weeks, we'll be sending our daughter off to 1st grade. 

We've tried on all the uniform parts (except for shirts) to make certain that everything fits.  What didn't fit either went to a friend or the uniform swap the other day.

We went to a church school supply giveaway carnival and had a great time.

We went to take advantage of the rockin' school supply sale that Staples has this week. 

We filled the pencil box with all the new things, only after mommy wrote K-'s name on everything.

K- will be wrapping up with her summer bridge tutor this week.  It was the best money spent, as between the library group, the tutor and the 3 weeks of summer camp, it kept K-'s momentum up regarding reading and still wanting to "do homework."

New shoes are awaiting wear.  Lids tightly fastened for now, but soon the shoes will show wear from heel dragging on the swings. 

Shirts still have tags and and the sticky size label on the front.  Got to remove those before wear!  (We were able to re-run ALL! of the jumpers from last year and I scored some skorts on resale.)

We have one more day at the pool before it closes.  (I was surprised to find that the last day is August 22, despite our starting school on Sept 1.)

We've been starting to tweak with the bedtime and morning schedules. 

We have a birthday party to attend.

We have a birthday to celebrate.

We have soccer that will begin.

Are you starting to wrap summer up?  Do tell!

Smiles in my weekend:
-  Lots!