Written on Tuesday July 15, 2008 at around 5 AM
So we had this brainiac idea to get away again this past weekend and man did it go south. We left early afternoon to go to Las Vegas with the kids and we were halfway there and the alternator belt went. Of course at the time we weren't sure if it was the alternator or just the belt but either way the lights were on and it wasn't home. We finally stopped at a gas station in Wikieup, AZ and the kids were very good but it was a long and boring wait for the tow truck to show up. You see, we were half way to Vegas and so that means we are now 112 miles from home and another 134 mile from the Nissan dealer in Lake Havasu City, AZ. So since the Nissan Roadside Assistance was on the car for the first 100,000 miles we thought this should be easy. WRONG!!!!! Come to find out that Roadside Assistance is a huge scam that is put on cars and I'm going to give you the lowdown right now!
You see, Roadside Assistance is the name of the company and the have signed deals with all of the car manufacturers which means if you are more than 10 miles from a dealer, you are going to be screwed. Do you want to know how? Ok, I'll tell you how. Just so you know how to look at roadside coverage when buying it you need to find out if it pays per mile or per dollar. If it pays for $100 then you will have a hefty two bill like we had. If it's paid per mile then the rate will be better to handle. We were stuck in a Shell station in Wikieup and there is absolutely nothing around and after talking with a not so helpful roadside assistance we found out how screwed we were. To go from the Shell station in Wikieup to the Peoria Nissan dealer it was 112 miles and minus the $100 the Roadside paid the bill still came to $700. Pretty nice huh. So do you see why you need to find something that pays per mile and not just a dollar amount? If we were to have had the middle of the road AAA plan we would have been out less than $100. The bill for the broken alternator belt was only $179 which is sad because it was way cheaper than the stupid tow.
Anyway, the tow truck gets there at around 7pm and we have been waiting since 4 or 5pm and the kids were good up until that point but shortly after the Murano was put on the truck and the kids were strapped in, it all went downhill because we now had a two hour drive back down the mountain and was waiting for The Man's friend at the dealership. All said and done after all of the temper tantrums and things, we were home by 10pm and ready to kill the kids.
I actually had a glass of beer after I put the kids down and then Saturday morning started calling babysitters because the kids we not helping at all. We had to get the truck in the shop and run the keys back down and wait for the diagnosis. After I dropped him back off at the dealership there were some choice words spoken because of the whole situation. That being the scam price of the tow being more than the cost to fix the truck. Yes I understand that things break on a vehicle and I'm fine with that, I'm not fine with the way I'm treated by being way over charged for the tow and then the service department blaming us for the broken belt. Had the dealership just kept their mouth shut and just listened to the gripe, there wouldn't have been choice words and we might have gone back there to buy another Nissan. Now we are selling the Murano (there are many reasons why, it's worth way more than my car and we want to be down to one car when we move to Chicago, etc.) and refuse to go to Peoria Nissan ever again. I'm debating on ever buying a Nissan again just because of the scammy roadside they have. I guess time will tell.
(permalink)Written on Wednesday July 09, 2008 at around 2 PM
I had this awesome post for yesterday but because I wasn't paying attention and didn't save the post, my computer decided to reboot and not save it. It happens so oh well.
We did go to Flag for the holiday weekend and for the most part we had an awesome weekend. No I'm not going to bother with specifics because it is in the past and today for the most part is a good day all around. I woke up on time, unlike yesterday when my alarm didn't go off and I slept in until 7:40am. This morning I woke up at 6:30am, did my yoga, ate breakfast with the kiddies and I even took a bath. I really wanted a nice shave and I really have no time at night to do it anymore. So I was all said and done, ready to go to the movies by 8:50am and that even included me having to change my whole appliance for my stoma. That's so not bad!
This weeks movie is Alvin and The Chipmunks and it was ok. Today it was just me and B since G was being a pain in the butt. Since he was a pretty good boy I decided to let him have a Kids Popcorn Combo. I normally don't let the kids have stuff like that but I figured that we probably should start some sort of rewarding. He was the quietest kid in the theater. He's so awesome.
We have this thing called "Ihatephoenixitis" and it's getting really bad. It's now to the point where The Man sleeps in the living room, we hate leaving the house, have headaches constantly and hate the heat. Don't be surprised when I don't post for a little while because you never know when we just might pick up and move there. We agreed that the house cannot have carpet, has to have a wood burning fireplace, and within 2 blocks of the L. Nothing too crazy.
The time is coming for my surgery and yet it feels like it's forever away. It's less than a month but still. After my crazy accident this past weekend with my appliance that it can't come fast enough. My seal completely gave out while we were at the grocery store and luckily it didn't leak to badly until after we got back to the hotel. I then had to go to the laundromat to wash the clothes so it wouldn't stink up the car on the way home or stain them.
Since the weekend we really haven't gone out much and haven't gone out to eat either. We're trying to save money for our move and also to pay for the Mercedes smart fortwo we put a reservation in for. If the car comes in before we're ready we'll just pass on it or just take the money we saved and just move. I guess we'll just see with time.
Speaking of thyme, I watch the season finale of Hell's Kitchen. I love that show and also Kitchen Nightmares. It was pretty good and The Man knew halfway through the season who was going to win. At first I didn't like this season because of the amount of games but it finally did calm down and become a better show. I won't tell you who one in case you still haven't watched it.
I'm starting to get really tired so I guess I better finish all my stuff so I can go downstairs and do yoga so I can wake up. Have a great rest of the day!!!
(permalink)Written on Wednesday July 02, 2008 at around 1 PM
Yesterday I read that Starbucks (I'm sorry, Fivebucks Coffee)is finally closing stores. Who knew that it would take gas to be over $4.00 a gallon to make some people stop going there and wasting money on really bad coffee. Luckily since I have no colon, I can't have caffeine so oh darn, can't have coffee. It just dumbfounds me that people can't just brew their own coffee OR go to the gas station and get a cheap cappuccino there. You get more for your money. But I guess for those of you who just have to have Starbucks, I really don't feel for you. But I guess if you want to spend your money on stupid things (too big of a house, H2, Starbucks) more power to you but don't ask for help when you need it because you could have saved so much money by getting the right size house, a crossover SUV, and just brewing your own coffee.
Ok so to tell you about my update. My surgery has now been scheduled for Thursday August, 7 2008, that means three months and one day from my first surgery. This one will not be as intrusive as the first and I'll only be in the hospital for 3 days compared to 5 days the last time. After this surgery, and I've healed, I can go back to eating whatever I want, nuts, popcorn, etc. I won't though because I am down to a size 2/4 and I really don't want to go bigger. I have been told to NOT do a whole lot of abdominal workout until six months after my surgery, can get a hernia. So for now I will only do yoga once a day, on the Wii Fit and try to run for at least a half hour a day working up to 5/K by December.
My surgeon was quite impressed with me running and doing yoga. I hated my examination though. After you have a J-Pouch constructed you don't actually poop out of your rectum, instead you still produce mucous and so from lack of use a "web/scab" grows above your rectum and to safely stick a scope in he had to stick his finger in and break it. OMG that was just as painful as giving birth. Then he had to stick the scope up and while that's being done, they are also pumping air in to inflate the small intestine and that's quite painful. So after the five or so minutes of him looking I laid there for a few minutes waiting for the pain to subside and went to the bathroom. I had never thought that the air that was used would also blow up my bag. Well now I think about it, of course it should because my small intestine is looped right now and of course the air should fill the bag since the bottom half of the intestine leads into the bag. It's still a weird and smelly process.
Here it is mid afternoon and I am dead dog tired. It takes a lot out of you when a "scab" is being broken inside your body, then you get the scope with the whole lovely air up your butt too. At least the end is near and I can see it. No more being embarrassed taking the kids to the bathroom with me because they say loudly, "Mom did you poop in your bag?" Or something to that extent.
Hating Arizona more and more every day. We have wildfires going on all around us, smoke up the butt, horrible air quality days. Because of all that I feel like crap and I can't get the phlegm out of my throat. Plus it's super hot out (103°). It felt so nice this morning as we were walking into the Mayo Specialty Building at 8:30am. The cool doesn't last for long.
I'm going to rest for a little bit then get to scanning my pictures, packing for our holiday and finishing up laundry. Have a great afternoon and cut back on the Starbucks and Coffee Bean, save for your retirement or better yet, kids college fund so they don't have to go in debt.
(permalink)Written on Monday June 30, 2008 at around 2 PM
We went to Flagstaff on Friday night for The Man's race Saturday morning and we had fun. I mean when the B wasn't acting like a spoiled jerk. We ended up renting a car so we didn't have to put the miles on either one of ours and the Audi A6 is a pretty nice ride. I played with it a little bit but we really didn't play with until we were on our way home trying to get the car back before 3pm.
I think we got to the hotel around 6pm and went downstairs to their restaurant and I had a pretty tasty dinner (lamb with mashed potatoes and asparagus) and of course B was pitching a fit because he wanted ice cream and since he kept throwing a fit we didn't get either of them dessert. After dinner we ran to Target since I forgot the digital camera and picked up a few disposable ones to take pictures of the race. While at Target we picked up some snappers and let B throw some. G took awhile longer to figure out how to make them "Snap".
We get back to the hotel and they have Sleep Number beds and I have never slept on one before and that night I had one of the best nights sleep, even though B talked A LOT in his sleep and the fact I had to get up around 5am for the race. It was funny because the kids slept through all of the alarms we had set and then a train blowing it's whistle woke B. It really wasn't close but it was pretty funny. So that made for a long day since we were all up by 5:30 and ready to go by 6:15am and the kids didn't get any naps until on our way home.
Anyway, we get to the race which was less than a mile from our hotel and I didn't plan on letting B run in the kids race since I didn't have any running stuff and I didn't have any place for G to go. So he was getting ticked off because he didn't get a medal and so we had to explain to him throughout the day that since I didn't let him race that he didn't get a medal. A hard thing for a 5 year old to understand. So we promised him that starting with the next race that he'll be able to do the Kids Race from now on. After the race we went back to the hotel and The Man showered and then we walked around downtown Flagstaff for a few hours before heading home and having a friend come over later that night.
It was a really long day and we were all super tired, ready for bed. We woke up and went to church on Sunday morning and I put G in the 3 year old room finally since now she's potty trained and she was pretty excited. B was in a foul mood and because of him we almost had to leave since he would pick a color room since he wanted to go to 1st grade and not be in the Kindergarten class anymore. He's mad because they don't give him snacks anymore and I think he was still tired from Saturday. After church we ran to IKEA and tried to get G into the play area since she's potty trained and since she was 3/4" too short they wouldn't let her and she was so mad. I was too actually. We still put B in and looked at drawing desks for The Man and found one but we couldn't get it home with the kids in the car. I really hate IKEA because you can't get anything in the car unless you have a huge SUV and/or no kids in the car. Plus now their service sucks along with everything else.
So I decided that I'm going to start running too. I already have a race picked out and The Man and I are doing it together and it's called Midnight Madness. We have to be there by 10:30pm December 31, 2008 and we are doing a 5/K race. I'm hoping that my step-mom will come out for a few days so we can do the race. I'm not sure if I'll be able to really do any races before my surgery but I'm going to start competing probably in October to November of this year. It should be fun and even more fun trying to find sitters for the kids.
We are going back to Flagstaff for the 4th. Come to find out that they don't do fireworks anymore, but there are other fun things that we are going to do instead. I think that we are going to spend at least one if not two nights up there for the holiday. We have also decided that we aren't going to do the "Family Vacation" but rather the vacations are going to be the races that we compete in. This way it's all broken up instead of taking one big long trip away from home. I think it will cost more than the vacation but it'll be more fun!
So here it is late afternoon and I was working on my other sites, dealing with the garage door company and the kids and I still haven't taken a shower. I planned on going for a run this morning but after the guy didn't show up when he was supposed to, I didn't get everything I needed to done today. Either way tomorrow I am going to the gym for a run!!
(permalink)Written on Friday June 27, 2008 at around 10 AM
I know I'm bad, I'll try to post more later but I wanted to tell you to have a great weekend. I'm trying to get the house cleaned, laundry done, stuff packed, yoga done, showered and fix up my sunless tan (I'll explain later). Fun times call for busy times right?
Ok well I'll explain my fun and exciting night last night after I get a few more things done today! Enjoy the day!!!
(permalink)