Victory(s) for this week!

I got Joe to agree to buy generic diapers and wipes.
I got Jordy signed up and ready for day care.
I actually got some documents scanned and emailed.
Applied for life insurance.
Had date night with Joe, we went out for sushi (yummy).
Planted an avocado tree in our yard.
Got the builders to remove a palm tree from our yard (it was dead).
Celebrated our 8 year anniversary!

Changes

Changes are afoot!

This Monday Jordy will be starting day care. Not because we need someone to watch him, but b/c I think it will be good for him....and Joe agreed (after much nagging and cajoling).

I was beginning to get worried about Jordan's speech, after all his is 2 and hardly says 15 words. We had him evaluated and he was diagnosed with speech delay, and if you have had the opportunity to see him with Joe you will understand why. Those two have some sort of freaky ESP thing going on. Joe will look at Jordy and say, "He's thirsty". Then hand Jordy a drink, which he will happily take. I don't know how Joe knows these things, but somehow he does! The kid doesn't need to speak while Joe is around, Joe can read his mind!!

So Monday will be his first day at daycare. He is going to go to the one on base, right across from my clinic. I hope that it is a smooth transition and that he (and Joe) can survive the separation!

Ashley's Furniture Sucks

Well, not their actual furniture. But their business practices are just awful!

This actually happened about a month ago, but since we have been busy as all heck since then I just haven't had time to write about it. Finally I have a moment, and I think others should hear about this.

We shopped around for a couch. I wanted a large sectional, in a earth toned color. We found one I loved at Rooms to Go, but it was 3000.00! Much more than I wanted to pay considering we have a messy little boy, a dog, and let's face it- I'm messy too!

We shopped around and found one that I liked, not loved, but liked enough at Ashley's Furniture. The price was 1200, which included delivery. The lady said it was not in stock, but would be delivered to us in 9 days. I paid for the couch, was give a simple hand-written receipt, and left the store.

About three days later, a fancier receipt arrived in the mail. I didn't pay much attention to it, other than it had our order number on it.

For nine days, we sat on our uncomfortable tile floor to watch tv. Finally Joe bought a bean bag and we would all pile in that. The day before the couch was to arrive, I hadn't heard from the delivery people to know my "three hour delivery window", so I called the store.

They explained the couch wasn't even in stock yet. I was irritated as the lady assured me that it would be delivered on that specific day. Plus my ass was hurting from sitting on tile!

The couch was supposed to arrive three days later, and they once again assured me that the couch would be delivered on that coming Friday.

Once again, I was all excited to get the couch...of course you can see where this is going- the damned couch didn't show up!

I called and was told that the delivery truck broke down and that the soonest the couch could be delivered now would be Tuesday. The delivery trucks were already loaded for Saturdays deliveries, and those deliveries couldn't be bumped!

Now I was livid. I called my mom to assist me in a good 'ol fashioned hell raising, and we (me, Joe, my mom, and reluctantly my father) all went to Ashley's. We were told again and again that there was no way we could get the couch on Saturday as blah, blah, blah....

My mom really came through here. I finally said I just wanted my money back and that I would buy the couch from the friendly folks at Rooms 2 Go, who had successfully managed to deliver an entertainment center to our home at the appointed time. The manager then said that to return the couch we would have to pay a 20% restocking fee.

My mom literally exploded all over this stupid manager lady! "Are you serious??" She repeatedly screamed at the woman. "You want them to pay for your inability to fulfill the obligations of the contract?"

Then the manger lady directed me to read the fine print of the receipt that was mailed to me three days after the purchase was made- in small print on the back of the receipt it explains that Ashley is not responsible for delays in shipping!!! So literally you could wait for months and months and they don't care!

Finally to get rid of us, they guaranteed delivery the next day- and they actually did it too!

Well I do enjoy the couch, it is comfy and looks great in the room. But I will never purchase a stick of their furniture again due to their poor customer service!

Okinawa

Today court got done early, so we actually got to explore a bit. We went over to Kadena AFB. They have a huge Bx- two floors. I bought a few things for the house, and a toy for Jordy.

Then we (me and two other witnesses testifying in the court case) went to a place called American Village. Kind of a touristy place. We ate a delicious tempanyaki lunch. They weren't up to trying sushi :(

Some family pics

Another thing to check off the list....

I can now check of my mental to do list of life; testify in court martial hearing, go to Japan, sit in a room for 9 hours with three total strangers and discuss nothing for the entire time.

Actually none of those things were on my to do list of life, but that is what I have done for the past two days.

After much speculation, I did indeed get called to testify. It wasn't too bad. I was really nervous, but answered the questions honestly- which is pretty easy b/c all I kept saying was "I don't recall". Really do they expect me to remember one drunk guy that I saw nearly one year ago?

In case you were wondering where your tax dollars go to, here is a brief run down of how the government wastes tons of money. My ticket cost 3500 to get me from Florida to Okinawa. Plus the cost of me not seeing patients in my own clinic, so at least 100 patients had to go off base to have their medical needs met (I have no idea how much that costs). There are 4 witnesses for the prosecution, all at least 3500 per ticket, plus lodging, per diem (food,etc). There are 7 witnesses for defense. You can see how it adds up very quickly.

Now for the ridiculous part. This is all over a DUI!!! Retarded! I don't understand why it is such a big deal?

I got here Monday, and get to leave on Sunday. I hope I get to see some of the island before I have to leave...

Here we go again....

High of the sense of accomplishment that installing the ceiling fan incited in me, I dashed back to Lowe's and bought a new stainless steel sink and faucet for the kitchen. Joe was hesitant about his ability to install such a flashy new item, so I made him watch a video on Youtube, which made the job look ridiculously simple. He agreed it wouldn't be so bad...plus Lowe's charges 450 dollars for installation of a sink and faucet...

Our sink wasn't in bad shape, it was just so shallow that one plate made it look filled to the brim. That combined with the fact that the faucet was so low, made washing anything incredibly annoying. So for the new sink I picked one that was super deep...but this created problems.

Today while on my way home from work, I called Joe to tell him to get ready to install the sink...I was on my way and we would tackle the project. Turns out he was already working. He had called my mom over to watch Jordan while he worked. Well he tried to do it without someone watching Jordan, but realized when Jordan kept stealing tools and pipes and running away laughing something had to be done.

Joe ran into many problems along the way, but fortunately after several trips to Lowe's, he got them worked out. Because the new sink was so much deeper we had to cut pipes, reroute them, and it wasn't easy. Finally around 11pm we were finished. We stood back to admire our work...then saw that damn leak!!

I went upstairs and went straight to bed. I was too tired and too frustrated to deal with all that! Joe pushed on and fixed the damn thing. Thank god for his persistance- I would have called a plumber!

Joe says this is by far the worst thing I have ever made him do...he isn't jumping up and down to do anymore home improvement projects. I may have to give him a rest for a while...

We did it!

The ceiling fan was a success! After about 4 hours we finally got it all on the wall- sure it was supposed to take less than an hour according to the box....but we were beginners!

Now I feel like we can tackle the world. I am thinking about replacing our kitchen sink. The one the house came with is about 2 inches deep! Well not that bad, but just about!

Crazy....

Life is so crazy since I have been home. We are busy all the time! The house still isn't completely unpacked. We have projects going everywhere; painting, installing ceiling fans, planting stuff in the yard, curtains, mini blinds.... I don't think we will ever be finished!

Today we trimmed some trees in the yard. Later I am going to try to take out one of the dead ones in the front yard. We'll see how that goes....

Now that Jordy is down for a nap we are going to put a ceiling fan in our bedroom- neither of us has ever installed one before....hopefully we don't electricute ourselves.