Weekend musings

Its been a fairly busy weekend for us - Northwood Academy Varsity football game Friday, soccer and a wedding Saturday, church and AWANA today. I still need to unpack and do not feel like doing that at all. Fall is finally here and all I want to do is open my window, get under my blanket and take a nap. It doesn't help that I think I am getting a sinus infection: head aching, teeth hurt, and my nose and throat hurt as well.

And they vote...

From Politico:

Senators who voted No

Here's the quick list of the senators who voted NO on bailout/economic rescue.

Allard (R)
Barasso (R)
Brownback (R)
Bunning (R)
Cantwell (D)
Cochran (R)
Crapo (R)
DeMint (R)
Dole (R)
Dorgan (D)
Enzi (R)
Feingold (D)
Inhofe (R)
Johnson (D)
Landrieu (D)
Nelson (FL) (D)
Roberts (R)
Sanders (I)
Sessions (R)
Shelby (R)
Stabenow (D)
Tester (D)
Vitter (R)
Wicker (R)
Wyden (D)

He'll definitely get my vote when he is up for re-election. Our rep Henry Brown has got to go though...

Jim DeMint - My favorite South Carolina Senator

Here is a link DeMint's comments on the bailout. He made these last week. I found it on the Hill's Briefing Room blog.

I wish we could clone him and get rid of Lindsey. Though, I will say that Lindsey was the perfect choice to go head to head with Meredith Viera and Chuck "gimme your gun" Schumer on the Today Show last Friday. Meredith Viera tried to interrupt him a few times and he just talked over her :)

I Love New Car Smell!

t 147,500 miles the saga of the GTP is over...



I really loved that car when we first bought it. However, it was one problem after another. That car has had 3 EGR valves, the tranny had to be replaced almost immediately after the extended warranty ended, replacement of the positive battery cable, replacement of the main engine gasket, two replacement AC compressors, replacement coolant sensor, and the list goes on and on. Of course, I'd be remiss if I did not add that I did rear-end someone on the Fairfax County Parkway necessitating a cool aftermarket hood.

The straw that broke the camels back though started with the fuel pump. Two weeks ago I went to leave work for lunch and the car wouldn't start. I knew it wasn't the battery as I could turn on the AC and the radio. I had the car towed to the dealer and 2 days later they called and said I needed a new fuel pump. 1061 bucks (fuel pump and oil change) later I had the car back. I took it in 4 days later to get the fuel system serviced and get a replacement overflow hose (got a hole rubbed in it from the supercharger belt). Not even 24 hours after picking it up it started making what sounded like a ticking noise. On the phone the dealership service manager said it could have been because the belts were still wet. The noise got louder and so I took the car in. Mind you this was the Friday before Labor Day. The mechanic that had done the work heard it and diagnosed it as being a bottom end motor noise. He said it was more than likely a rod. At this point, I cried for a bit and then looked at my options: buy a new/used motor or buy a new car.

So, Saturday we set out to look at cars. The lasted about 5 minutes until we got to the entrance of the neighborhood and a guy towing a boat ran into my mom's Honda. Yeah that was fun. We did eventually make it out after several hours at home. I drove several Accords and a CR-V. At that point I decided I wanted an Accord. I liked the CR-V but not as much as the Accord. I couldn't buy the car that night as I had to deal with the GTP first.

On Monday we were suppose to go close the deal on the Accord at the first dealer. We decided to go to another dealer first. We ended up being there for 8 hours. We tried to leave twice. However, they ended up getting me the car I wanted, with a few less demo miles on it plus they knocked some off the extended warranty and gave me a loaner until my car would arrive. The used car manager also offered to buy the GTP for 500 sight unseen (that is all the Chevy dealer would offer) but gave me time to contact the mechanic who had worked on the car since he had also offered to buy it. The car had to be driven from Savannah, since that was where they found an 08 with exactly what I wanted on it. And, the dealer had already put window tint on it so I got that for free.

I love love love this car. Priss was not happy at first that it was not a minivan and that it did not have a DVD system in it. In fact, when she discovered that there was no DVD her exact response:

That is completely unacceptable!

However, she is quite please with the XM radio since it has Radio Disney. At the dealer when I took delivery the kids were more interested in the showroom Odyssey than my car.

Some of the options it has:
* One touch moonroof
* Heated front seats
* leather interior
* XM radio (free for 3 months)
* Bluetooth Hands Free interface for my cell phone
* tinted windows
* Navigation system

Its a good thing I really love this car because it has to last for at least 15 years! Oh yeah, and the mechanic bought the GTP for 1000 so that almost reimbursed me for the fuel pump costs.

15??? Old Enough to drive...

Yep, the boy will be 15 tomorrow. Where does the time go?? It seems like just yesterday he was starting kindergarten. Now he is a 15 year old high school freshman.

He had the follow-up appointment for his shoulder on Tuesday. As he is still in pain the doc wants him to keep using the sling and come back in 5 weeks for another follow-up. So, football is out for the year. He'll turn his equipment in at the beginning of next week I guess. I'm hoping to get him to pick up his trumpet again.

I have a High Schooler in the family!

Ranger started high school this year. Yep, he is a freshman. It is bit scary for me actually though he seems to be taking it all in stride.

His school schedule is a bit daunting :
Honors Algebra II
Honors World Georgraphy
Honors Biology
English I - If he does all outside reading he'll get Honors credit
CP Spanish I
Computer Science/Keyboarding

So, with a schedule like that he is bound to be busy this year. His summer reading was : Orwell's 1984, Orwell's Animal Farm, and Lord of the Flies. They are already halfway through To Kill A Mockingbird. Once they finish that they will move on to Edith Hamilton's Mythology. He also is playing JV football again. And, Royal Rangers starts back up at the end of this month as well.

He made it through a week and a half of football practice before an injury. I do expect that any 95 lb kid playing nose guard on the JV football team for his high school will more than likely get injured at some point or another. This injury though may end his season. He was hurt on a Friday but didn't tell anyone until after practice on that next Monday. So, off to the doc we go. One x-ray and an exam by an Aggie later we were given a consult for an ortho. The ortho saw him the next day and is treating the injury as a fracture of the growth plate in his left shoulder. He has a followup at the beginning of September. However, considering he is still in pain I am not holding out much hope on the football season this year. He is, of course, pretty sad about it.

And the thing he is probably looking forward to at school this year is the big 9th grade field trip. They take the class down to Sea Camp in the Florida Keys.

So we've moved...

We moved on July 19th. Thanks to the folks from church/Royal Rangers/work that came and helped out. My co-worker (he drove the truck) and I got the truck to the old place by 8:30AM. It was unloaded at the new house by 1130AM!

Now if I could just get some breathing room at work so I could spend some time unpacking and organizing the house!

We're Buying a House!

Yep, we are moving again. I'm buying a townhouse on the other side of town. I close on Tuesday and we couldn't be happier!

Click on the picture for the slideshow

The house itself is great - 3 levels, 3 bedrooms, 3 1/2 bathrooms, living room, dining room, kitchen, one car garage, a huge storage room under the garage, rec room that opens to the back yard, and a deck off the main level. Its 2060 sq feet. I'm not sure if that sq footage includes the storage room or not. It backs up to some protected wetlands, so there won't ever be another house behind ours. The regime covers all lawncare and outside issues. There is also a really nice pool in the neighborhood. Our townhouse is towards the back portion of the neighborhood, so there is next to no traffic.

Ranger will certainly enjoy running around behind the house and in the woods playing airsoft with his friends. Though I seriously doubt Miss Priss will be doing much stomping around in the woods. Too much dirt and too many bugs out there for her! Priss has already decided that her favorite part is the window seat in her room. I think Ranger's favorite part will be that his room is on the bottom level off of the rec room. My favorite part is that the kitchen has a lot of cabinet/counter space and the rooms all have HUGE closests. Well, that and the fact that I got it for a really really great price! And yes, Priss is getting the Master bedroom but only because she currently occupies two rooms (her bedroom and the playroom) and in the new house she will have all of her stuff in her bedroom.

For now the kids will stay at their current school. However, the neighborhood is in a great school tier (minus the middle school). The schools for our neighborhood are Devon Forest Elementary, Westview Middle, and Stratford High.

Let the moving begin :)

The mortgage broker I used was CommonPoint Financial. Sonya Pitt did a great job and helped make the process of securing the loan relatively painless. There is a program in SC for first-time buyers that are single parents. This Single Parent First Time Buyers Program is sponsored by the South Carolina Housing Finance and Development Authority and is pretty awesome. I qualified for a decent interest rate and also get some grant money towards the downpayment. Half of the money is forgiveable after 5 years in the house and the other half has to be repaid. However, the repayment is at 4% and its interest free for the first 3 years. So, as long as I pay that off in 3 years it was basically free money for me to use for 3 years :)

Jeannene Ondrasek of Carolina One is my realtor. She's been great. I've had her meet me back at the house numerous times since the contract was accepted to look at it, take measurements, show my family, etc. She certainly has gone above and beyond the call of duty.

It is a bit daunting signing on the dotted line for a home mortgage. When I looked at the line that details the actual amount of payout if you make your one scheduled monthly payment I almost fainted. Yeah, I'm hoping to make extra payments and knock some years off this loan.

Let's try this again...

I tried it once and failed miserably so maybe the 2nd time is a charm...

We moved back to the Creek in the Spring of 2006. Its probably taken at least that long to recover from living in NoVA. Life here is definitely different to say the least. Most days though I'd be hard pressed to not comment on how much better it is.

So here is a quick run down of the constant cast of characters in this drama known as our lives:

Me - blog author and geek mom

Ranger - the ever inquisitive 14yr old














Miss Priss - the 7yr old princess













Grandma
Grandad
Sugar - Grandma's cat who seems to prefer the company of Miss Priss these days

Life is never dull around here. We stay pretty busy between work, school, homework, AWANA, Prims, Royal Rangers, and gymnastics. Luckily Grandma and Granddad are around to help out with transporting kids where they need to go. Otherwise kids wouldn't get to where they need to be.