I had to be instructed to notice the number change on your website, and thought how clever! I’m happy to become a “great” aunt once more. May the sale of your house, the move, the addition – be all you want it to be. I’m in your corner!!!
Love – Aunt Pat
After being outnumbered three to one at home, help is on the way! Surely the third time is the charm and we will have a little Mick to continue the the Robbins line. I hope you two are as pleased as we are.
To start, yes, the rumor is true.
This week has been less than eventful only because I have been on a business trip to Orlando. I know, rough, eh? Well, actually it was. Every morning at 6:45 AM, I had breakfast with people I really care not to socialize with (being an introvert by nature and these people being well, IT folks) and then spent the day in sessions created by someone who obviously has 
never had to endure them. Then some evening event before being bused back to the Hotel around 10 or 11pm only to repeat the next day.
One day the fine folks at the Disney Institute put us through some sort of team building scavenger hunt. Again, all well and good except that the teammates I had are people I do not now, nor will in the future, work with. Top that off with a heat index of over 100 and you can feel (and smell) the love everywhere.
Finally on the last day, I had a little free time after a morning conference call. We went shopping and continued to buy more crap that we do not need. I did procure some new shoes that do not fall into that category. We went and played miniature golf before our trip back to pick up the kids. As usual, I dusted MA in head to head battle. We played the Disney Winter Summerland course. It was EASY in comparison to the Fantasia course, which beat both of us into submission on a recent trip. I might make a collage of the experience.
The Irish Pub in Pleasure Island has a happy hour from 4-6. I recommend it and a pint of Tucher for the hot days.
MA may have an alternative view of the week to share.
Mackenzie and Meghan spent time with the various grandparents. Unfortunately, she (Z) also got some sort of bug but it appears to have cleared out of her and into MA. There will be an extended August picture set when complete due to the additional photo opportunities. Look for it next weekend or soon thereafter.
One person has looked at our house since we left over a week ago. They did not get too far since while gone, one cat decided to cough up something disgusting in the front room. We have been told that August is primarily the slowest month and that things might pick up soon. In the interim, we need to go back to watering our grass. There is some green out there but it is mostly crab grass. Still thinking about the fence.
For those of you that care, Canon did release their new camera line this past week and the anticipated 40D was there. Of course, Nikon released theirs a day later with some excellent specifications. Of course, specs are just specs. I need to see some real world output and some reviews… I would very much not like to move to Nikon but if I am going to do it, now is the time before invest in a lot of lens…
Went to Costco today. That is a place I very much enjoy. They make an excellent roasted chicken.
Interesting new logo on the front page. 4 and 1/3? Sounds like good news!
It has been a little while since the blog was updated. Let’s see…
Mostly, we have spent a lot of time thinking about how to make our house sell. We looked at adding a granite countertop (since I hate ours) but ruled it out because 1) it costs $3000 and 2) our agent didn’t think that would matter too much to prospective buyers in our price range. We did buy a new faucet for the kitchen sink as a compromise. I have also been working to tidy up the ceiling in the basement. It is not what I would call a great job but covers most of the mess. To fully encase the vents and make it look professional would have required MUCH effort. Just doing what I have done was a pain. With the heat index over 100 everyday, I sweated my ass off more than Tiger Wood’s at the PGA Championship. Thankfully, it will all be DONE tonight.
We will also probably put up a privacy fence in the back. We are getting estimates now. They are from high to almost unimaginable. I am not sure why certain people believe their time is so valuable – especially for nearly unskilled labor. I might be doing it myself. Outside of digging the holes, it’s a pretty trivial activity.
Of course, I would rather be playing golf, which I have not done in eons. The annual Church fundraiser is coming up in September. So I will get to play at least once in the near future…
I upgraded my office system to Microsoft Office 2007. I am not sure I would recommend that to others. I’m actually really happy with the open-source openoffice.org applications I use at home. I would be happier if I didn’t run them on top of Vista. That is a bloated piece of software.
It is amazing how large companies whose job REALLY is billing or customer satisfaction, have systems that are just not capable of doing it. This is evidenced daily by anyone who has ever filed a health insurance claim or dealt with a cellular phone or cable company. Avis is currently on the “pissed me off” list. Don’t ask. I’m sure someone else will soon replace them. I really do sometimes understand those people who go “Walden” on society.
That’s it for now….
I love the picture of the week! They look so sweet and innocent.
I’m sure they are acting that way as well.
Maureen
Thought this might be of interest to you all as well. Part of her birthday suite.
Once again, our house came in second. The man from the very promising showing this morning decided to put an offer in on a different house, one within walking distance of his family. Ours was a few blocks away.
We are getting tired of our house’s continuous second place showing. This is now #6 (that we know about).
I, too, am disappointed. “Where in the World is… Mr. Right for your house?”
As a priest once reminded me, “It’ll happen in God’s time.” I’ll continue to pray that His time is SOON!
Well, after not having much hope for the week, things changed last night when we heard our house was in the running for a couple from Chicago. In fact, they came back to see ours today before they made their final decision this afternoon. Like last time, we were left with second place and utter disappointment. We just can not get over the hump.
On the plus side, we got some clothes yesterday both on sale and without paying sales tax (tax free weekend).
I am currently smoking 5lbs of baby back ribs on the old traeger while really not liking the real estate process or the fact that I actually thought this might be the one. Argh. Maybe I should have a cold beverage ? I think it plus some mighty fine BBQ will put me in a better mood.
I did get a chance to work on Meghan’s first year book while everyone was napping away. It is a good hobby. Mary Ann will finish it off over the next couple of months. I am currently working on the 2007 editions for each of them. Good thing I have taken lots of pictures….