Sunday Secrets
9 hours ago
02 July 2009
Ellie and Rem
Ellie got to see her good friend Remy a couple of weeks ago when they were in town. The kids always have a great time together, and play really well together. Here is a picture of the two of them playing Follow the Leader. Katy was the Leader.
29 June 2009
Parker Days
Every summer Parker puts on a festival that used to be called Parker Days. Now they refer to it as the Parker Country Festival. I still haven't figured out which part of it is country. Anyhow, there are games, rides, carni food, vendors, music, a parade, etc. This year, Ellie and Gavin had a great time riding the rides and sampling the carni food. However, by naptime, they were done, and so were the parents. Here are a few pictures of the kids at Parker Days. 
26 June 2009
Potty Training Update
I learned an important lesson in potty training over the past week. It is all about the right incentives. Apparently Ellie did not feel that the reward for going on the potty was worth the effort. So I went out and found new incentives in the form of gummy worms, gummy frogs, and gummy cherries. This made a world of difference. Over the period of a week, She has gone (3) full days with no "accidents", (1) overnight completely dry, and no longer refuses to go "stinky" on the potty.
After her first full day at school of no accidents we took her to Dairy Queen for a special treat.
24 June 2009
Harvesting the Peach Tree Already?
Tom and I planted a peach tree in our front yard this year. So far, it has done surprisingly well. We were not expecting to get any peaches from the tree this year, but when Tom went and looked, the entire tree was covered in tiny peaches.
The tree is only a couple of years old, so it isn't very big. After doing a bit of research, we decided that we needed to remove some of the peaches for a couple of reasons:
1. The tree couldn't physically hold this many peaches without breaking once they developed
2. The peaches would not fully develop and would be tiny peaches, which isn't what we were looking for.
So based on the CSU agriculture website, they recommend leaving (1) peach every 6" on each branch. So away we went, and we started pulling off tons of little peaches. They sure did smell sweet! By the time it was all said and done, we had removed 172 tiny peaches from the tree.
Now you may be wondering, did you leave any peaches to develop? We did, there were probably about 50-75 peaches left on the tree. However, (2) days later we had a massive hail storm in Parker. The hail was 1-1/2" in diameter. The hail shredded every plant, tree, flower, bush, and our entire garden. We aren't sure what will come of what's left - needless to say it looks a bit depressing in our yard right now.
Here is a picture of our 172 tiny peaches we pruned off the tree. They were so sweet smelling and fuzzy.
22 June 2009
Rental Car Disaster
Tom and I have had the WORST rental car experience known to man. This occurred back in March when we traveled to California to visit his family. Long and short of it - don't ever rent a car from THRIFTY car rental. This includes DOLLAR car rental as well, as they are both owned by the Dollar Thrifty Automotive Group. Here is our reason why:
We arrived in California late in the evening on a Thursday. IT was probably 8pm or later. So it was dark already. It took us almost an hour at the counter to get our actual car rented, because of a completely inept sales representative that could not understand that we did not want an upgrade. Then she screwed up the rental once, her computer froze up and she had to start again, and she got interrupted. This woman was working way above her skill set, and really should have considered a career change. We finally finished the rental process and went to pick up the rental car, a red Dodge Charger. Well, if any of you have ever been to a coastal city at night, you will notice that the majority of the outdoor lighting is provided by a source called a Low Pressure Sodium Light. Looks VERY yellow when looking directly at it, however, it makes everything else appear gray and flat. This is so the coastal lighting does not effect the mating and migratory patterns of sea life.
Tom and I both inspected the rental car very closely, due to the fact that we didn't even know it was red until the next day. We marked up all the scratches, dings, and dents and we were on our way.
We woke up Friday morning, and were on our way down to Monterrey, to visit the Aquarium. Tom's uncle suggested we stop for breakfast on our way. So we did. After breakfast we left the restaurant and went out to the car, and the key fob would not unlock the doors. We also tried the hidden key within the key fob, which happened to be for a different car. Nothing worked. Tom's aunt stopped and got us a new battery for the fob, and brought it to us. We replaced the battery, it still did not work. Apparently, the security system took over, and locked out the car.
We contacted Thrifty, who then proceeded to walk us through these same exact steps. We went through them all again, with no luck. After 40 minutes on the phone, they said they would send a tow truck out and bring us a new car at the same time.
About an hour later, they arrived at the restaurant with the tow truck and the alternate rental car. The alternate rental car was this awful awful awful car that looked like an old police car. It had damage everywhere and was just plain old. The tow truck driver was finally able to get into the original rental car (so we were able to get our stuff), and he loaded it on the flatbed. Tom and I watched the loading of the rental car, because we were truly amazed that the bottom of the car didn't get scratched up because of the incredibly low clearance.
So we had our crappy rental car and we were on our way. Everything went well for the next couple of days of the trip, until we realized that the AC adapter did not work in the car. Normally not a big deal, but when you are depending on the car charger ability for your cell phones and GPS units, this becomes a big deal. Instead of going back to the rental car agency, we bought some new fuses and fixed the AC adapter ourselves. We were back in business.
At the finale of our trip, we were so happy to turn in the rental car and be rid of it. We were hoping that this was the end of our saga.
When we got back to Colorado, Tom and I were both still pretty ticked about the entire experience that we had with Thrifty, and felt that they should have at least compensated us for not having the same level of car that we paid for, and for the massive inconvenience of having to wait at the restaurant. So Tom decided to write a complaint letter to Thrifty about the entire experience. After writing a letter about the experience, Tom received an email back from them explaining how sorry they were, and of course, they would send us some sort of compensation for all of our troubles.
When we finally received the compensation, it was (2) $10 off rental car coupons for Thrifty. What a waste, and completely inappropriate for the heartburn that we had to deal with. Tom and I chalked this up to a lessons learned, and that we would NEVER rent from this company again. We thought that this is where our story would end. Unfortunately, this wasn't.
Last Monday, we had a voicemail on our phone that stated Thrifty was sending our account to a collection agency for lack of communication to resolve the damage to the rental car. Tom and I were both really taken aback by this phone call, mainly because it has been over 2 months since we have dealt with Thrifty.
Tom immediately tried to call them back, but of course they were closed for the day. He left a message for the person in charge of our account, and we waited to hear back. Tom finally spoke to the person in charge of our account the following day, and was able to clear up what the damage was for. Apparently, there was damage to the exhaust system to the original rental car. Needless to say, Tom made absolutely no progress with the dingbat that was in charge of our case. He had no idea how to handle the situation, and just referred us to his manager.
After playing phone tag with the manager for several days, Tom finally got in touch with him. Tom was able to get from the manager that the tow truck driver had towed the car due to damage to the exhaust system. Tom explained, that Oh, No... this was not the case. Went into the whole diatribe of what happened, and even referred to the complaint letter. Tom explained that we had a copy of EVERY rental agreement and documentation involving this rental, and no where was it documented that this was why the car was towed. Tom explained the low clearance of the car, and that we believed the tow truck driver damaged the exhaust system while unloading the car, and changed the paperwork.
Tom also explained that per our rental agreement, Thrifty was authorized to charge our credit card for any additional damage to the car, and that by not doing this, they were violating our contract, and we would not be required to pay the damages to a violated contract. Tom and I both realized that the reason they didn't charge our card was because we could refute the charges.
After much a do, the manager decided to believe us, and close our case. Mainly because he realized he didn't have a leg to stand on.
Tom and I have decided that we will NEVER rent a car from the Dollar Thrifty Automotive Group again, as we realize it may not always be best to go with the lowest cost option. You get what you pay for. I am sharing this story with all of you in hopes that you chose to do the same, or at least take caution from renting from the bottom dollar agency.
We arrived in California late in the evening on a Thursday. IT was probably 8pm or later. So it was dark already. It took us almost an hour at the counter to get our actual car rented, because of a completely inept sales representative that could not understand that we did not want an upgrade. Then she screwed up the rental once, her computer froze up and she had to start again, and she got interrupted. This woman was working way above her skill set, and really should have considered a career change. We finally finished the rental process and went to pick up the rental car, a red Dodge Charger. Well, if any of you have ever been to a coastal city at night, you will notice that the majority of the outdoor lighting is provided by a source called a Low Pressure Sodium Light. Looks VERY yellow when looking directly at it, however, it makes everything else appear gray and flat. This is so the coastal lighting does not effect the mating and migratory patterns of sea life.
Tom and I both inspected the rental car very closely, due to the fact that we didn't even know it was red until the next day. We marked up all the scratches, dings, and dents and we were on our way.
We woke up Friday morning, and were on our way down to Monterrey, to visit the Aquarium. Tom's uncle suggested we stop for breakfast on our way. So we did. After breakfast we left the restaurant and went out to the car, and the key fob would not unlock the doors. We also tried the hidden key within the key fob, which happened to be for a different car. Nothing worked. Tom's aunt stopped and got us a new battery for the fob, and brought it to us. We replaced the battery, it still did not work. Apparently, the security system took over, and locked out the car.
We contacted Thrifty, who then proceeded to walk us through these same exact steps. We went through them all again, with no luck. After 40 minutes on the phone, they said they would send a tow truck out and bring us a new car at the same time.
About an hour later, they arrived at the restaurant with the tow truck and the alternate rental car. The alternate rental car was this awful awful awful car that looked like an old police car. It had damage everywhere and was just plain old. The tow truck driver was finally able to get into the original rental car (so we were able to get our stuff), and he loaded it on the flatbed. Tom and I watched the loading of the rental car, because we were truly amazed that the bottom of the car didn't get scratched up because of the incredibly low clearance.
So we had our crappy rental car and we were on our way. Everything went well for the next couple of days of the trip, until we realized that the AC adapter did not work in the car. Normally not a big deal, but when you are depending on the car charger ability for your cell phones and GPS units, this becomes a big deal. Instead of going back to the rental car agency, we bought some new fuses and fixed the AC adapter ourselves. We were back in business.
At the finale of our trip, we were so happy to turn in the rental car and be rid of it. We were hoping that this was the end of our saga.
When we got back to Colorado, Tom and I were both still pretty ticked about the entire experience that we had with Thrifty, and felt that they should have at least compensated us for not having the same level of car that we paid for, and for the massive inconvenience of having to wait at the restaurant. So Tom decided to write a complaint letter to Thrifty about the entire experience. After writing a letter about the experience, Tom received an email back from them explaining how sorry they were, and of course, they would send us some sort of compensation for all of our troubles.
When we finally received the compensation, it was (2) $10 off rental car coupons for Thrifty. What a waste, and completely inappropriate for the heartburn that we had to deal with. Tom and I chalked this up to a lessons learned, and that we would NEVER rent from this company again. We thought that this is where our story would end. Unfortunately, this wasn't.
Last Monday, we had a voicemail on our phone that stated Thrifty was sending our account to a collection agency for lack of communication to resolve the damage to the rental car. Tom and I were both really taken aback by this phone call, mainly because it has been over 2 months since we have dealt with Thrifty.
Tom immediately tried to call them back, but of course they were closed for the day. He left a message for the person in charge of our account, and we waited to hear back. Tom finally spoke to the person in charge of our account the following day, and was able to clear up what the damage was for. Apparently, there was damage to the exhaust system to the original rental car. Needless to say, Tom made absolutely no progress with the dingbat that was in charge of our case. He had no idea how to handle the situation, and just referred us to his manager.
After playing phone tag with the manager for several days, Tom finally got in touch with him. Tom was able to get from the manager that the tow truck driver had towed the car due to damage to the exhaust system. Tom explained, that Oh, No... this was not the case. Went into the whole diatribe of what happened, and even referred to the complaint letter. Tom explained that we had a copy of EVERY rental agreement and documentation involving this rental, and no where was it documented that this was why the car was towed. Tom explained the low clearance of the car, and that we believed the tow truck driver damaged the exhaust system while unloading the car, and changed the paperwork.
Tom also explained that per our rental agreement, Thrifty was authorized to charge our credit card for any additional damage to the car, and that by not doing this, they were violating our contract, and we would not be required to pay the damages to a violated contract. Tom and I both realized that the reason they didn't charge our card was because we could refute the charges.
After much a do, the manager decided to believe us, and close our case. Mainly because he realized he didn't have a leg to stand on.
Tom and I have decided that we will NEVER rent a car from the Dollar Thrifty Automotive Group again, as we realize it may not always be best to go with the lowest cost option. You get what you pay for. I am sharing this story with all of you in hopes that you chose to do the same, or at least take caution from renting from the bottom dollar agency.
19 June 2009
Miss S and her new hat...
I am still making baby hats for all of my friends and family members that are having babies. This has been something that I really enjoy, and it has become pretty mindless. So, here is a picture of Miss S in her brand new hat.
Thanks for the picture Irene!
16 June 2009
Frustration at its finest
One thing that has been consistent from pregnancy to pregnancy (and even part of my normal "non pregnant" life is my patience and tolerance for things, or lack there of. It does appear to get worse during pregnancy, and I honestly feel bad for some of the people I work with (a little bit at least).
One thing that I don't understand is why Blogger doesn't understand what a RETURN is. I enter returns in my blog post, however, they don't seem to appear when the item actually gets posted. Case in point - the 20 week 1/2 way pregnancy post. There was probably 15 paragraphs / returns in that post, and do you see a single one? Me either. It frustrates me to no end why blogger insists on making me look like an idiot by not acknowledging my returns. Oh THANK HEAVEN!!! I figured out what box needed to be checked to fix this!
Second point of frustration with Blogger - the information at the bottom of my blog site. This is all of the crazy mumbo jumbo that is necessary to make my blog look as cool as it does. However, it didn't used to be there. When I changed from (1) theme to another, this suddenly appeared. I would like it to go away. So far, I deleted it, and my blog layout has stayed the same.... we will see how this goes...
I work with (2) young men (neither are married), I like to call them the millennial twins....
If you have never heard of millennials... check them out here: http://www.abanet.org/lpm/lpt/articles/mgt08044.html
Here is a little paragraph that I found interesting:
All Millennials have one thing in common: They are new to the professional workplace. Therefore, they are definitely in need of mentoring, no matter how smart and confident they are. And they'll respond well to the personal attention. Because they appreciate structure and stability, mentoring Millennials should be more formal, with set meetings and a more authoritative attitude on the mentor's part.
Personally, I think this is the nice way of saying they need to be babysat.
I have no patience or tolerance for either one of them. My boss put it nicely by saying that one of them is a "dry sponge", unable to retain anything that you give him. The other one, well, yesterday, I lost it and told him to stop talking. I explained that by talking constantly, he wasn't listening, therefore, he wasn't learning. I also explained, that really, he didn't know what I was going to say, so STOP finishing my sentences. We are not equal. SHUT UP. OK, so I didn't tell him to shut up, but I wanted to. Needless to say, my bosses have given me a vacation from mentoring the (2) millennials until after I have a baby. This may be reason enough to get pregnant again immediately following the birth of Baby #2.
Fortunately, my patience with Ellie is really growing. I realize it doesn't help to argue with a 2 year old. What does work you might ask? Bribery, threats of certain death, and more bribery. We have found a new method of bribery - this would be the "Gummy Donuts" as Ellie so kindly refers to them. The rest of us, know them as Gummy Life Savers. She savors those (5) little life savers for hours. Until she forgets she has them, and Cammie eats them.
So for all of you innocent people out there, I am apologizing in advance. If I happen to snap at you, bite your head off, or give you a look that makes you turn to stone, I am sorry, but really, don't get on my nerves :)
One thing that I don't understand is why Blogger doesn't understand what a RETURN is. I enter returns in my blog post, however, they don't seem to appear when the item actually gets posted. Case in point - the 20 week 1/2 way pregnancy post. There was probably 15 paragraphs / returns in that post, and do you see a single one? Me either. It frustrates me to no end why blogger insists on making me look like an idiot by not acknowledging my returns. Oh THANK HEAVEN!!! I figured out what box needed to be checked to fix this!
Second point of frustration with Blogger - the information at the bottom of my blog site. This is all of the crazy mumbo jumbo that is necessary to make my blog look as cool as it does. However, it didn't used to be there. When I changed from (1) theme to another, this suddenly appeared. I would like it to go away. So far, I deleted it, and my blog layout has stayed the same.... we will see how this goes...
I work with (2) young men (neither are married), I like to call them the millennial twins....
If you have never heard of millennials... check them out here: http://www.abanet.org/lpm/lpt/articles/mgt08044.html
Here is a little paragraph that I found interesting:
All Millennials have one thing in common: They are new to the professional workplace. Therefore, they are definitely in need of mentoring, no matter how smart and confident they are. And they'll respond well to the personal attention. Because they appreciate structure and stability, mentoring Millennials should be more formal, with set meetings and a more authoritative attitude on the mentor's part.
Personally, I think this is the nice way of saying they need to be babysat.
I have no patience or tolerance for either one of them. My boss put it nicely by saying that one of them is a "dry sponge", unable to retain anything that you give him. The other one, well, yesterday, I lost it and told him to stop talking. I explained that by talking constantly, he wasn't listening, therefore, he wasn't learning. I also explained, that really, he didn't know what I was going to say, so STOP finishing my sentences. We are not equal. SHUT UP. OK, so I didn't tell him to shut up, but I wanted to. Needless to say, my bosses have given me a vacation from mentoring the (2) millennials until after I have a baby. This may be reason enough to get pregnant again immediately following the birth of Baby #2.
Fortunately, my patience with Ellie is really growing. I realize it doesn't help to argue with a 2 year old. What does work you might ask? Bribery, threats of certain death, and more bribery. We have found a new method of bribery - this would be the "Gummy Donuts" as Ellie so kindly refers to them. The rest of us, know them as Gummy Life Savers. She savors those (5) little life savers for hours. Until she forgets she has them, and Cammie eats them.
So for all of you innocent people out there, I am apologizing in advance. If I happen to snap at you, bite your head off, or give you a look that makes you turn to stone, I am sorry, but really, don't get on my nerves :)
15 June 2009
Bike Ride
Tom and I have been wanting to get a bike trailer for Ellie since last summer. However, we didn't want to spend a small fortune on one. So we have been stalking them on Craigslist. This weekend, we found one that was close to the house, in really good shape, and not very expensive.
Personally, I think that this is a great idea! Due to the fact that I have fallen on my bike 3 times while not pregnant, I have decided that it would be in my best interest (and the baby's best interest) to not be riding my bike right now. So, Tom takes Ellie out in the bike trailer, and I get to stay home and enjoy the peace and quiet.
Best part of all, Ellie loves it. She threw a massive fit when Tom brought her home the other day because it was raining. She didn't want it to end.
12 June 2009
In the famous words of Bon Jovi, "Whoa! We are half way there!"
It's hard to believe that we are 20 weeks through pregnancy #2! In all actuality by the time you read this we will be well over the 1/2 way mark. 20 weeks down, and only 19 to go. For a couple of reasons my OB Dr has given her blessing to deliver at 39 weeks in lieu of waiting out the whole 40. I think that the main reason was that Ellie was born at 8lbs 8.8 oz, and she thought that I had suffered enough the first time.
So far this pregnancy is going well. Seems to be a bit more relaxed then the first, but the symptoms are the same, the way I am carrying the baby is the same, and my hormone swings are the same. Everything is the same, except kicked up a couple of notches. The poor boys I work with that have never been around a pregnant lady before will probably never be the same again.
The biggest complaint that I have is heartburn. I can look at food and get heartburn from it. This was very similar to Ellie, and no, she wasn't born with a ton of hair. In fact, you should remember the joyous occasion last fall when we were FINALLY able to get her hair into pigtails. I think that this is because with both Ellie and the new baby, I am carrying everything fairly high in my abdomen, so my esophogus is feeling the crunch. The Zantac seems to be helping (Thanks Leah!), which is a good thing, because I was burning threw Tums like they were my food source for the day. In fact, I wonder if the Tums were actually giving me heartburn.... hmmmm.
We had our 20 week ultrasound this week. Everything looks perfect, and healthy. We found out that we are having another girl! Tom and I both excited for this, as we have all the girl "stuff". So that will be nice. We are looking forward to the hair pulling screaming fights to start as soon as Baby #2 is old enough to walk and talk. I think Tom will be a little lonely being the only male in the Thorpe household, but he mentioned we could get a boy dog. I told him absolutly NOT. They pee everywhere. So it looks like Tom will be the only Man holding down our fort!
I think that I am going to design a custom t-shirt. The t-shirt will have the following items listed:
- No! You can't touch my belly
- I am due the end of October
- It's a Girl
- Yes, we have a named picked out.
- No, I won't tell you what it is.
- This is my second.
- Feeling fine.
- It's none of your business if we are having more kids.
Some of you have come up with your own good ideas for this t-shirt to make it more universal, to make it more like a checklist and ship it with a sharpie. I will get right on that after I finish designing my progressive brake lights, the new black box for airplanes, the stupid vacuum, and a couple other things on my To Do list.
So below is a photograph documenting the joyous 1/2 way point in the pregnancy. I was looking through pictures of when I was pregnant with Ellie, and there are not a ton, so I thought I would try and get a few while pregnant with this baby. 
So far this pregnancy is going well. Seems to be a bit more relaxed then the first, but the symptoms are the same, the way I am carrying the baby is the same, and my hormone swings are the same. Everything is the same, except kicked up a couple of notches. The poor boys I work with that have never been around a pregnant lady before will probably never be the same again.
The biggest complaint that I have is heartburn. I can look at food and get heartburn from it. This was very similar to Ellie, and no, she wasn't born with a ton of hair. In fact, you should remember the joyous occasion last fall when we were FINALLY able to get her hair into pigtails. I think that this is because with both Ellie and the new baby, I am carrying everything fairly high in my abdomen, so my esophogus is feeling the crunch. The Zantac seems to be helping (Thanks Leah!), which is a good thing, because I was burning threw Tums like they were my food source for the day. In fact, I wonder if the Tums were actually giving me heartburn.... hmmmm.
We had our 20 week ultrasound this week. Everything looks perfect, and healthy. We found out that we are having another girl! Tom and I both excited for this, as we have all the girl "stuff". So that will be nice. We are looking forward to the hair pulling screaming fights to start as soon as Baby #2 is old enough to walk and talk. I think Tom will be a little lonely being the only male in the Thorpe household, but he mentioned we could get a boy dog. I told him absolutly NOT. They pee everywhere. So it looks like Tom will be the only Man holding down our fort!
I think that I am going to design a custom t-shirt. The t-shirt will have the following items listed:
- No! You can't touch my belly
- I am due the end of October
- It's a Girl
- Yes, we have a named picked out.
- No, I won't tell you what it is.
- This is my second.
- Feeling fine.
- It's none of your business if we are having more kids.
Some of you have come up with your own good ideas for this t-shirt to make it more universal, to make it more like a checklist and ship it with a sharpie. I will get right on that after I finish designing my progressive brake lights, the new black box for airplanes, the stupid vacuum, and a couple other things on my To Do list.
So below is a photograph documenting the joyous 1/2 way point in the pregnancy. I was looking through pictures of when I was pregnant with Ellie, and there are not a ton, so I thought I would try and get a few while pregnant with this baby.
10 June 2009
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