Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Irritation

Two and a half weeks ago when I arrived in Wisconsin, I called AT&T to set up Internet service. The lady told me that since we were currently without service, we would be top priority. And even though the soonest she could guarantee that someone would be there to set it up was July 26th (2 weeks from when I called her) she assured me that within the next few days someone would arrive. Sweet, so I thought.

Of course we were disappointed a few days later when someone called to say that the outside of our house wasn't installed properly, so we would have to wait the full two weeks until July 26th when someone would able to fix the outside.

So we waited. Our house hunting has been slowed without the Internet. Paul has had to go back into work a few times to finish up some work that he could have done from home if we had had Internet. Needless to say, it has been annoying. Our iPhones have been great but they can't access all the sites we need.

They called July 24th to say there was still something wrong on the outside of the house so they would be coming July 30th instead of the 26th. Ugh! So I waited all morning yesterday. The technician called to say he was on his way. Then he called again to say he had a problem with some key and wouldn't be there, but someone would call to reschedule. Ah! Of course no one called, so I called, more livid I had been in a while. She said they couldn't make it today but will be here Friday.

Again, livid. Why should I get pushed back 4 days because a technician had a problem? You would think they would put in extra time to get the work done. Like if a doctor or dentist is running slow he doesn't skip a patient to catch up. He pushes through and gets it done. Grrrrr.

So, three and half weeks after ordering and three installation appointments later, we will hopefully get Internet on Friday.

Is it horrible that I still have hard feelings? I negotiated some fees to be waived and some months of service paid for, something that I never do because I hate asking for stuff like that. But I felt completely justified. I would NEVER have gone with AT&T if I had known it would take 3 and a half weeks.

And for all I know, they won't show up Friday either. I'm not getting my heart set on it this time. I'm tried of being disappointed.

Thanks for listening. Needed to vent.

Saturday, July 21, 2012

The Diaper Store

Since we will hopefully only be in our rental home a few months, I have tried to limit the number of boxes that we open. Every day Hattie asks for more boxes but I encourage her to be creative with what we already have out. Hence the rebirth of 'The Diaper Store.' She did it once or twice back in Lubbock and now it's a daily event. She unloads our diaper basket and creates piles of Niels' and Anna's diapers for me and Paul to purchase. And then she asks for them back so she can resell them. She has recently added a diaper hunt to the party, resulting in a competition between Paul and I of who can find the most diapers. It also means that I randomly discover diapers in the oddest places throughout the week. I am glad I have such a creative daughter who is contented to play with diapers.

Thursday, July 19, 2012

Checking in

(note: i wrote this on my phone so the formatting may be a bit funky)

We've been in Wisconsin for just over a week now, finally rejoining Paul after three and a half weeks of separation while he got his feet wet as an intern at St. Luke's Aurora Medical Center. The kids and I stayed behind at my parents house in Oregon (a post on that is yet to come) so we were thrilled to finally arrive at our new home. So far, so good. Plenty of awesome thunderstorms, lots of using the GPS, and loads of house hunting. We are renting currently, and after owning our home in Lubbock we are hoping to buy again. Paul has been working nights all week which means that after sleeping all morning, his afternoons are open to hunt around with me. So far, no luck but I am hopeful we will find something soon. And I hope the Internet people come soon to hook us up. It's crazy to realize how much you depend upon it when you don't have it.

I am by no means sad to be living here - both my sister and Paul's brother are relatively close, the people here seem friendly, and I have always been one who enjoys and anticipates change. But leaving Lubbock has truly been hard for me. I find myself checking in on Facebook far more than I ever did before, actually staying current on reading others' blogs, and longing to call old friends and catch up. I know I'll make friends here and am excited to do so. But Lubbock will always be a special place for me. A place where I made some incredible friendships, a place where I began to develop into the type of mother I want to be, the place where I received that vision. I feel like I became an adult in Lubbock. I finally stopped feeling the 'youngest sibling complex' where I felt like I had to catch up with my sisters. I understand better what I personally have to offer the world as I have seen the affect I have had on others and that they have had on me. I achieved a new level of confidence in myself. I feel empowered that I can make any city as magical and special as Lubbock is to me. I grew so much there.

And for some reason, the people in Lubbock are especially nice, amazing, friendly, and spectacular. I found numerous friends willing to go to the park at the drop of a hat, ladies who love the same movies, books, and tv that I do, friends who will talk til 2 am, and even a friend who knits, bakes bread and clogs like I do! (except she is FAR better than I) Certainly there were women with whom I had less in common, but there was something about Lubbock that it didn't matter. We were friends anyway because we were both on the adventure of living in Lubbock. I never would have expected, when pulling into town for the first time four years ago, that I would come to love it so much - dust, wind, flat terrain excluded.

So leaving is hard. My friends there are amazing. Hattie always prays for our friends in Texas and asks when we'll be able to visit. Anna still expects to see her friend Lilly at church every week. All these things make being gone difficult. And although I'm not depressed or lonely, I am saddened to know that my friends still gather for play group and book club and presidency meetings and I'm not able to be a part of it.

I hope that you all have a place that means as much to you as much as Lubbock means to me.

Sunday, July 1, 2012

Our recent adventures: Utah

After driving through Rocky Mountain National Park all day, we drove all night to arrive in Lehi, Utah at 1:00 am. Our friends the Petersons welcomed us into their home for the week, and spent the week playing with us. We met the Petersons while we were in Lubbock, but they moved two years ago. Our girls are the same age and they are also board game fanatics. So we had a lot of late nights of Puerto Rico, Le Havre, Cities and Knights, and Stone Age. We hope to find similar game playing friends in Milwaukee!
We went back to Thanksgiving Point to let the girls ride ponies like last year. Again, it was their favorite part of the trip.

Hattie was reunited with her buddy Callie, and Anna learned to love Reese
Paul's favorite thing to do in Utah is go up American Fork canyon, start a fire, and roast hot dogs and marshmallows. Anna likes going because it's another place she can sit in her camp chair.

The girls loved climbing on the rocks and splashing in the river


Paul also wanted to revisit his favorite mini golf course, where we went for multiple ward activities back in our singles ward. It was amusing to watch the girls try. Paul started off trying to instruct them properly, but in the end we were just glad that Hattie learned how to properly hold the golf club. We'll work on stance next time.







The girls' favorite part of the time was simply hanging out with Reese and Callie. They woke up in the morning and disappeared until lunch time. They could have played there forever.

The morning we left I actually remembered to take a picture of Paul and I with Shawn and Chelsea. Hattie did a decent job of being photographer!

Thanks Petersons for a wonderful week!