Commence flaming....

You can get it all out now... flame away.


(from Wikipedia: Flaming is a hostile and insulting interaction between internet users. Flaming usually occurs in the social context of a discussion board, internet relay chat (IRC), by e-mail or on video sharing website. An Internet user typically generates a flame response to other posts or users posting on a site, and such a response is usually not constructive, does not clarify a discussion, and does not persuade others.)


You done yet? Good.


I know. I know I haven't blogged in a while. But please understand - we've been living in box hell. Surviving only on peanut butter and pumpkin pie. Proof:

So - since we've obtained internet service I've been catching up on some World of Warcraft time and have neglected the 3 of you who read this. Please accept my apologies.

Things have been going really really well. Clara's getting settled. We've done lots of shopping, unpacking, putting stuff together (God Bless Ikea), and running around. Harry (Clara's nephew) is here this week and he's been a huge help cause God KNOWS I'm not climbing up to the top of the entertainment center to put stuff up there! Dante has adjusted. We've been in the house 10 days now? He's already had a sleepover at the neighbors and been to a birthday party. The neighbor here has 4 children - a 9 year old girl and an 8 year old boy who Dante spends a lot of time with. There are ramifications to there being a 9 year old girl next door - TRUST ME. After the sleepover Dante and his new friends came knocking on the door to show us what they were up to:

I don't know. I think he looks good in a dress! The heels and the nailpolish did it for me :)


So - Clara and I will be leaving in the morning for a weekend in Vegas. WHO'S EXCITED!!?!?!??! I'M EXCITED!!!!!!!!!

Anyway - we had some fun blowing up the Steelers raft that Evelyn and Bill gave Clara when she left... (and by we I mean Clara and Dante)

Once that project was completed - we had some FUN with the Steeler raft. And by 'we' I mean Dante and I!

This is me owning Dante:

This is me lost in a Steelers raft:

And this is me being REAL classy with a wad of gum in my mouth and Dante impersonating the devil:

More from vegas! Good night ALL!

It's moving day!

We got up at 5:00am to try to pack up this disaster of a hotel room. Dante is SO excited to be doing that, let me tell you... (miserable does not even begin to describe his disposition this morning!) Anyway, the movers come at 8:00am, so I gotta haul my butt outta here. Internet/cable/phone won't be set up until sometime friday so try not to miss me too much!

Bye internet!

P.S. for the 6934 560346 people who have inquired about the 'ghetto mobile' no - the windshield has not yet been fixed. We're waiting on the insurance company to get back to us, because the one guy who looked at it said it was improper installation in the first place that caused this - so the last person to fix it should be responsible. Well, apparently insurance companies don't keep records handy that are 3+ years old.... so they have to 'research' it. Hell if they're going to pay for something that someone else may need to pay for! And the wait begins.....

As if this was not expected

Moving company just called. Truck broke down in New Mexico. Stuff won't arrive until Wednesday - possibly as late as Thursday. UGH! But, in retrospec, this is the first major hiccup we've experienced during this adventure. Guess we just have to roll with it!

The Ketchup Post

I am a bad blogger. BAD! BAD BLOGGER! GO TO YOUR ROOM!!!

It's been a busy few days and on top of that I'm feeling a bit under the weather, so I apologize profusely to the 2 of you who hang on my every word.

I am going to try to catch up here (get it? Ketchup...catch up? See what I did there?). It'll be a bit smooshed and a bit quick, but I'll try to get it all in.

Friday: Closed on the house! Clara is NO LONGER homeless!! We also took a trip down to the new house to check it out (at least from the outside).

(this is the signing at the Chicago Title Company and the kind man explaining a whole bunch of stuff Clara didn't understand)

After that we celebrated at the California Pizza Kitchen. Amazing. But that's old news - we have those on the East coast!

Our next adventure was a trip to ADOT. Yeah. That wasn't painful at all. (sarcasm intended) Dear dear ADOT. We spent several hours at Arizonas Department of Transportating making Clara and the Ghetto Mobile official residents of the state of Arizona. I also learned that a quarter can be used to remove a license plate from a vehicle. I feel like such a renegade.

Saturday: Pool time! We also did a major shopping trip at SUPER TARGET. Yes. I said 'SUPER TARGET'. Who of you knew they existed and DID NOT TELL ME??? This place is the stuff of my dreams!!! After we loaded up on about $175 in 'stuff' we traveled over to the new place and met the former owners who were very nice. Chris walked me through the yard and explained to me how the pool, the filter, the irrigation system and other stuff works. That way I could relay it to Clara who by that time of the day has a bit of a hard time getting around. I'm TOTALLY going to remember it all....right? Can I find this information online? Here's hoping!

We also hit up Home Depot and got the appliances Clara needed. Met the NICEST lady ever - Rosie. So - if you're looking for appliances and happen to be in Superstition Springs, AZ you should see Rosie. I'd be her friend if I lived here :)

Sunday: First stab at finding a new church. Ventured over to New Life church of the Nazarene. They're a small congregation - a church plant much like the church we came from. The music and the preaching was a lot more traditional than any of us were used to, but the people were super nice. In addition to that, the church is literally 3 miles from Clara's new digs....which will be a huge consideration after I abandon her in a few weeks. Spent some more quality time in the pool which is AWESOME when it's 105 degrees out.

Monday: DANTE'S FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL!!! After dropping him off at the crack of dawn we went to the house to immediately turn the a/c down as far as humanly possible. I also took some photos of the new abode:

And my favorite. The conveniently placed peephole in the front door.....

After that we did some shopping and checked out the local mall which was very nice. We then travelled to the airport to pick up AJ who was able to visit for a few days and then got Dante from school. He did not kill anyone, nor did anyone kill him so BONUS! He actually had a very good day which was awesome! He's already been invited to a birthday party which is excellent. After that we hit Old Chicago for lunch - it's a local place that is AWESOME! Twice now I've had their pepperoni, mushroom and black olive calzone and it's so very good! (better the first time when i could actually TASTE it sans this awful cold i have.) Now we're back in the hotel relaxing before the next wave of craziness hits - which is in approixmately 17 hours when the moving van pulls up! Cheers!

Mastercard - for your everyday life...

7 days at LaQuinta Inns and Suites: $490

Complimentary breakfast: free

Convincing the hotel staff that Clara fell in the hallway because she was drunk at 7am (and that it was not because her legs went numb from the MS): Priceless


My kingdom for a camera at that moment! :)

I've been warned.

APPARENTLY this blog is a bit of a joint venture! I've been warned by Clara that if I don't update her following regarding some stuff going on w/ her, she's going to hijack this thing and COMPLETELY derail it! So here goes.

• The package has been delivered. We are now in possession of countless chargers and the CPAP machine. Apparently Clara also had some laundry in there, because just as this picture was snapped she uttered the line 'Eww. It smells like dirty laundry.' It's been a while since I've laughed this hard.
  

• Also - she is closing on her house today. Yay for not being homeless! It's scheduled for 10:00am Phoenix time....so what's that in Pittsburgh? Like 4pm next tuesday?

• Movers are scheduled to arrive Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday. (and you thought time estimates from the cable company sucked.)

• Utilities have all be straightened out and THANK THE LORD there will be cable/internet/phone service a week from today. (Hotel interwebs SUCK)

• I am amazed at the number of e-mails and comments I've received about this topic. The windshield. Oh the blessed windshield. Here's the saga with that one. Yesterday we decided to do laundry. (Ironically it was before the bag w/ the smelly laundry and now stinky CPAP arrived.) The laundry place I located on the interwebs was, well, interesting. I guess not so much the laundromat itself - more the location of said laundromat. Anyway - I was trying to be as inconspicuous as possible while cleaning our clothes but somehow the FLAMING BLUE PAINTERS TAPE caught the eye of the laundromat attendant. Go figure - he also worked next door at the auto garage. Before I can even say 'hey, where are the dryer sheets' he's got his boss on the phone who is gonna jog over and give me an estimate on the windshield. ::sigh:: So before you know it, sketchy man #1 and 2 are poking around the car, freaking Clara out. (remember, she's in the car - i'm in the laundromat). So - sketchy man #2 says he could fix it for $125. There was a lot of spanish going back and forth - and I can't help but think shady deals were being drafted. I say thank you and we'll let him know then we GTFO. (for you non 'internet' people that's short for 'Get the F out'.) On the way back to the hotel we find a safelite auto glass place. There we meet JJ. (somehow I have a lot of information about JJ. I don't know how I got it - but I seem to have a knack for that. Maybe it's the 8 years in social work?) JJ moved here in 1992 from Virginia and fell in love with the Phoenix area. Is a big Arizona Cardinals fan which means that just based on the amount of Steeler garb on this car, our estimate is guaranteed to be marked up at least 10%. He says that it appears that the molding came out due to poor installation in the first place. And technically he cannot replace the molding without replacing the entire windshield. UGH. He gave us an assignment. Call the insurance company and find out who replaced the windshield last. If it's a national company - like safelite - it will be under warranty. If it's not national the insurance company allegedly could get some kind of referral repair deal and we can get it fixed for nothing. (as opposed to the $250 he guesses it's gonna cost to replace the whole shabang.) Worst case scenario - he said come see him on Saturday and he'll figure out a way to fix it without it costing an arm and a leg. JJ is my kinda guy. Also - I suspect that since Pittsburgh beat Arizona, JJ will be all too happy to hook us up. (Sarcasm intended)

So - all that to say - more info on Windshield-Gate will be available Saturday.

Okay - gotta get ready to go close on a house. Cheers!

And on the 7th day God created....

Yeah. Amazing.

I know that I've promised blogs on a few things - and it's coming! But between adjusting to a 3 hour difference, running all around kingdom come to get stuff done w/ Clara, and being talked up by some scary people at the very sketchy laundry place TomTom sent me I've been a bit distracted. Oh - and don't forget all the rays I still wanna soak up by the pool. Speaking of...