Smile

Quote of the Week

Oh, she is well trained. She used to be a life guard. She can blow her whistle louder than any of the other teachers.
S, reassuring us on the topic of his first grade, first-year, teacher

Pass the Mustard

Hazards of Costco and helping your mother-in-law move:

One gallon of mustard, expired Jan 2010, never opened.

Things with OUR house are moving along and it looks like we'll be in at the beginning of next month. Really looking forward to our own space and unpacking all the boxes we packed up over two years ago, expired mustard and all.

Monopoly

UGH! Inspecting the inspectors findings, "initial fees worksheets" and "good faith estimates" that don't match up, looming deadlines, and Phil, who never gives up on numbers, who just gave up.

Remember how in Monopoly you could mortgage your property by flipping the card over? That sounds good.

Summer Break

So, in case you haven't noticed, and I really hope you have, I took a Summer break. I should have posted something notifying you of said break, but I didn't. That was all part of the break. But school's back in, we're no longer traveling back and forth between Salt Lake and my rural Utah location, the kids are in bed at a reasonable hour... I should have time to blog a bit.

The summer photo recap:

Hiking the Mormon Trail above Salt Lake City

Realizing that you went the wrong way and your ride is nowhere near

Hogle Zoo Classic

Baseball and Fireworks, July 4

More Baseball and Fireworks, July 24

The shipment from India came, but we still don't have a house, so it still looks like this.

And we saw so many of you as you passed through Salt Lake or as we passed through Dallas. It was a great, all-American Summer. I'm looking forward to the next one already.

Realtors! Honestly!

So, it looks like we're gonna take the plunge, you know the big one, the one we've so far avoided in our nine years of marriage. A house.
Somewhere in all the rentals and sublets we've gone and gotten all opinionated, which it turns out, makes it difficult to find something that we like. We went out with a realtor on Friday. Not my mother in laws realtor, his name is Jim Shorts. I can't even say it without laughing, how could I make serious decisions about my families home and financial future with Jim Shorts? If the Simpson's ever sold their house they'd list it with Jim Shorts.
No, not Jim, another realtor who took me to a few places I asked to see and a few of her listings. Nothing doing. Then we started discussing lots and building and she told us about a beautiful 3 acre parcel with a beautiful view she's just listed. It's out of town a ways. We drive out there. It did have a beautiful view, once you looked over the freeways and past the train tracks and turned your back on the substation. No joke. Three acres sandwiched between a freight train spur, the freeway and the regular tracks, bordered to the south by a electrical substation. Oops, I guess I just forgot to mention those drawbacks?

More of the Same

We are residing walking distance from an upscale little strip mall. Do those go together? I guess I should say upscale little shopping centre. There is a White House Black Market, Chico's, Subway, Asian-ish furnishings store, gelato place, charming children's store, fabulous toy store. Just like the last upscale little shopping centre that we lived within walking distance of. They both even call themselves "Something Village". Eerie.

And quite the opposite of the shopping villages sandwiched in between: