I love these kids!

Look at the cutest little birthday card ever!

Thank you Aubrey!

a boy and his doe

With the King County budget crunch and the lack of people/traffic in Ben's district, he and his district partner have round aboutly been instructed to keep the gas bills down by doing your rounds occasionally and then sitting still for a while unless needed. So Ben has this nice quiet little spot in a wooded area along one of the 'main' roads that he'll sit at for a while, either doing paperwork or waiting for someone to drive by (...Or scouting out the latest gunbroker.com and ebay deals!) The last few nights he's had a 'girl friend' come lay about 10 feet or so away, along the side of his truck and munch at the shrubs and grass. He took a cell phone picture of his Doe last night and sent it to me. He called and told me he'd decided that he'd go to the grocery store and pick up something for himself to eat and maybe grab her an apple, then later he'd come back and toss it out where she likes to lay. He got a few calls that disrupted his plans and was talking to his Sgt later in his shift (early this morning) and found out his district buddy messed up his car a little when a deer ran out in front of him... Right on Ben's road, right in front of where he parks. Ben confirmed with him it was a Doe, and is pretty convinced with timing and location that it was his Doe. I had one bummed out boy walk in from work this morning, "Steve hit my deer!"
...And he thinks he could be a hunter.

Working, Packing, and...

...Barfing! Sorry, it's gross but all I'm doing anymore! For the last 4 weeks, I have felt just awful! I know it's temporary but it's seriously getting in the way. At the appointment for the ultrasound the doctor asked how I was doing and assumed I'd say a little sick for some of the day but didn't like that it was 24 hours, and keeping me awake at night, especially with the buying/selling/moving stresses on top of that so instead of offering some meds that would help with the nausea - he asked me to take them, if nothing else at least at night, so I could get some sleep. He started off immediately at the top with 'the good stuff' Zofran... The same stuff my Papa took while going through chemo! I was excited at the thought of getting some relief but unfortunately they really don't work  for me! :o(   Such a bummer!

We've finally started packing around here though! Due to all this attorney letter garbage and really, really poor property management (they've been fired and will be replaced on the first - too late for us but good for our neighbors!) we've had to push back the closing on the condo from this Friday to the next. This meant that we could've had our own bed, and furniture for an additional week, spending only one week on an inflatable mattress up in the backyard shop apartment of my in-laws... but we're not! Ben is so done with this place, he wants out now! So the POD gets dropped off in a little less than 36 hours and we'll be loading little bits all week. I should say Ben will be with the help of whomever we can scrounge up. It's so hard packing a box and then having to leave it or not being 'able' to move the dressers because it's all 'too heavy' for me right now - I'm not used to being so useless! Especially during moving time - I'm a pro at moving!

Letting the cat out...

Today went really well! My Grandpa awoke from his procedure, they weren't able to 'fix' anything but cleared him for his neck surgery that will hopefully help him feel a lot better soon. Ben's appointment went well, he's got more tests in 4 weeks and then we'll know more but for now, we were told not to freak out... And as far as the one-year anniversary of Papa passing - we tried to lighten up the day a bit! Tomorrow is Chris and Jill's birthday (talk about bad timing for their Dad to pass) and Chris was at Gramma's house along with Aunt Cathy, Uncle Jim, Aunt Gayle and Uncle Les. I knew my Dad was at the house so we stopped there to pick him up first. Unfortunately he had to log into work so he couldn't come - but I had him check out Chris' birthday gift first... We headed up the hill and to Gramma's where we had Chris open her gift for herself and this is what she saw: 

Meet the little Blueberry... To appear in late March!

Where's the remote?

Tomorrow is shaping up to be a day I'd like to just fast forward over... It marks the one year of my Papa's passing. Which in and of itself is just really weird, doesn't seem like that long ago. I am however blown away at my Gramma, her strength this year has impressed me!
We also had to make Ben an appointment for tomorrow based off of some concerning results from a blood test last week regarding his liver... And to top off the cake: my Grandpa is going in for some tests on his heart. His heart is absolutely incredible! He's had issues for years with it, and a concerned (or stubborn knowing him) decision 25+ years ago to 'wait' to correct blocked arteries forced his body to take care of it on it's own! Pictures of his heart show that 3 arteries, are just pretty much gone - instead his body has completely re-routed it's own blood supply to support the heart. Good news for the last 20 years, not so hot now that they need to do surgery on his neck - but his heart can't pass the test. The 4th artery is got quite a bit of blockage and they'll go in tomorrow to see if they can open it up at all. Due to the fact that they really aren't certain how his heart works... they've got no clue how to fix it if something happens while he's on the table. They actually told him that it's very possible he may not wake up... I get they have to tell the all the possible risks, but I also understand why he's at a greater risk than most others.
Tonight Ben and I are going out to have dinner with him and Grammy... The pause function would be nice to have then!

Wednesday

I took yesterday off, primarily because I had to... I'm working Saturday to upgrade a few programs on our servers and because we're not really supposed to be getting overtime this time of the year, I had to take a day out. Why Wednesday you ask? Only because the other chick that would cover for me has had today through next Tuesday off.

Anyway, it was probably really good that it worked out like that. We've hit another fairly decent road block in the sale of the condo. Apparently with all the bad loans, Fannie Mac and Walter Mac have decided to REALLY tighten down on their loan restrictions. There is a piece of documentation that must be part of EVERY condo association's paperwork (as of August 1st) and of course - we don't have it! It's called an 'Attorney Opinion Letter' and the kicker is that, up until yesterday, we couldn't find a single person who knew what it was or why we would need it - NOR a single attorney that would even touch it! Talk about stress! Thankfully yesterday morning (after sleeping in just a little) I got on the phones and finally found someone who would write it - now the trick is finding out who's responsible for paying for this $1,200 piece of paper? A piece of paper, mind you that will contain only the information that can already be found on the Public Offering Statement and the Resale Certificate, to which our buyer's lender already has! GRRR!

We've got conflicting info, because it's SO NEW for answering this question. Our agent and the lender think that it's the HOA's responsibility because it needs to be a part of the Condo Docs now. I and the attorney (that hasn't written one for this purpose, but has for ligation's) think it's the buyers responsibility as it's a condition of her loan. However, the buyer and her agent believe that it's our responsibility because it's 'like' the resale cert - and we had to pay for that as just a cost of selling a condo. Ben was confused and on his work computer looking for overtime shifts, just in case :o) Bottom line, if no one wants to pay for it - we gotta sell the condo so we're going to have to figure it out! Ben's pretty much going to walk into the HOA meeting tonight and tell them that if we pay for this, when the other guy in the development comes asking for it (he's close to selling his unit as well)... Don't even think of asking for a copy!

And if you think this is a gripe fest - look above again... I FOUND SOMEONE TO WRITE IT! I'm merely setting up the scene of how ridiculous the last week has been! While the whole $$($$) deal is still up in the air, the fact that someone is willing to write this darn thing was answered prayer for the day. We ran some errands and then ended up at the store where we decided to treat ourselves for lunch and bought these yummy looking (already packaged) kabobs!

A little olive oil, garlic, pepper, and of course Johnny's... threw them on the BBQ and YUM! I cut up some other veggies we had in the fridge and got out our Costco Ranch for dipping, set it all out and before I could take a picture of the spread, Ben was already chowing down :o)

All in all, I'm chalking yesterday up as a success :o)

4 weeks from today

We have to be completely out of the condo (and into the POD) in 4 weeks! We're set to close on the 29th of August! Ben's parents have been gracious enough to let us bring our cats and stay in the apartment above the shop for the 2 weeks until our house is done. We decided on a POD instead of storage. It's going to be so much easier! No moving trucks and a few days to load/unload at each place... Score!

Now I just have to get up the motivation to pack! This weekend is my only available (full)weekend - that also just hit me - before the move. Unfortunately, I have a huge workbook for some continuing ed class that I have to complete before my license expires this month. Though I'm not practicing, I'd still like to stay licensed (still paying the loans - might as well). I chose a prenatal class with an intro into pediatrics. If I ever go back to massage, in any capacity, that's where I've always wanted to be.