WAHOOO iPhone 4 in hand!

Meet Bobby. I love Bobby. Perhaps not as much as his girlfriend loves him, but....there is a feeling of love there. I'm sure my husband will allow me this because he helped us get our brand new beautiful phones. Wahooooo! 32 GB iPhone 4 in hand. =)

On Saturday I was outside in the garden and came back inside to a message on my phone. It was from our local AT&T store...hmmmmm. I listened to the message and then gave a shout of joy. Adam and I were expecting the phones to come in next month because that is what the store was told, that the 32GB phone would not be in until next month. Well, apparently they got 2 random phones in on Saturday afternoon. GRIN. BIG GRIN. He said that he only got 2 phones in and that I was at the top of the list so....did we want them? There was a note that I wanted a white one so he wanted to know if I would prefer the black one. Both phones were on hold until he heard from me, we just had to let him know if we wanted 1 or 2 phones. I had to think about it for a bit. I really did want a white one however, I decided to get a black one too. I mean, c'mon...like I was going to be happy watching Adam play with his phone while I waited for another month. Uh huh.....Riiiiight.

THANKS BOBBY! YOU ROCK!!!

Kahlan, our newest baby kitty

Yep, we have another kitty in our household. Meet Kahlan...all 1.75 pounds of her. We caught her yesterday in our yard. For the past few days we have seen 4 kittens and their mom running around our backyard. Nothing like stray kitties in the summertime. Adam called me to the dining room when he noticed them and I saw her and wanted her immediately. I knew she was a girl, because she is a Tortoise Shell Calico...she was also the runt. For those of you that aren't familiar with the breed, they are almost always female. We tried to catch her that day but failed miserably.

The next day, yesterday, Adam called me on my cell and told me to come out to the wall where the groundhog used to live. He was out there watering the plants and she ran into the wall. You have to look closely to see her in the above picture. She trapped herself in the wall. Hehe

Now before any of you start thinking that I should have let her stay with her mom, trust me, she is waaaay better off with us. Outdoor pets aren't allowed in Pointe Royale and they were obviously strays. She was also the runt and teeny so she wasn't getting the nourishment that we can provide her with. She's going to have a cushy life like the other two spoiled furballs.
We tried to get her and I put a few treats out that she kept eating. She was starving. Eventually she went down into the wall even more, about 2-3 feet down. I looked at Adam and asked how hard it would be to de-construct the wall. He said it wouldn't be too bad SO....cue big smile with puppy dog eyes. =) I have THE BEST husband when it comes to catching kitties. In the past he has helped catch the strays by our theatre. We were on our backs, on top of fiberglass, reaching under a shed, for 4 hours in order to catch 4 kittens. We then took care of them and found them homes. We've found homes for several more kitties since then.

Eventually we caught her after she trapped herself in the lower corner. This was around 12:50 PM and I had to leave at 1:15 PM for our show. I ran inside and gave her a quick bath while Adam put the wall back together. Then he proceeded to find the extra litter box and helped me get the baby set up in a bathroom while we were gone.

The other kitties aren't too thrilled. Tigger isn't as bad. He is putting up with her and doesn't hiss, he just walks away. Chewie on the other hand....yikes. PSYCHO KITTY. He is hissing at me and attacking both of us if we smell like Kahlan. I literally have to wash my hands, under my nails, my arms and THEN I need to change any clothing that may have her scent. That is the only way he won't attack me. LOL

As for her name. I am a HUGE fan of Legend of the Seeker. For those of you that aren't familiar with it....watch it or read the books that it was based on. There is a character named Kahlan. She is the Mother Confessor and is an amazing character. Almost all confessors are female, just like Tortoise Shell Calicos. So...there ya have it.

iPhone 4 Update

I talked to the local AT&T store that I am on the list for. They had not received their phones by closing but they will be coming in tomorrow morning. HOWEVER, they are only getting the black 16 GB ones in. BOO

Looks like we will both be waiting until next month to get our phones. ARGGGG

6/20/2010 Garden Update

I'm trying to remember to post weekly pictures of our garden but it's not quite working. Maybe I'll do this every two weeks or so until things really start taking off. =)

I didn't include a picture of the daikon radish plants in the ground this time BUT check out the one I pulled up today! It took a little bit of my non-existent strength to get this one out of the ground. It was almost 2 feet long! I cooked it up tonight and it was yummy. I stir-fried it with some squash from the garden, onion and bell peppers. Add a heated tortilla and cut tomatoes and you have a fast and easy dinner. NOM!

Here are the tomato plants so far. They've grown a couple feet since the pictures I posted 12 days ago.
The watermelons, cucumbers and other melons are starting to take over again.

Chechu Rubiera Signed card

I got a nice little surprise in the mail today. A signed card. Wahooooo. On the other side it is labeled #8 ( out of 50). I love mail!

iPhone 4 Madness

I decided to blog about the insanity that I went through when trying to pre-order an iPhone 4 for Adam and myself. Ahhhh, the 16 hours of insanity...gotta love it.

I decided to call a couple days ahead of time to make sure that we qualified for the phone upgrade. I knew that we did, because we bought them almost 2 years ago ( on my birthday 7-11)....but I wanted to play it safe. Adam and I had our phones as individual accounts but last year we created a small business account for several of the phones at our theatre. I wanted to make sure that the change in our account wouldn't cause a problem. I was told that we qualified so...all was well, or so I thought.

Then came Tuesday the 15th. At midnight I kept checking the site to make sure that we would be one of the first to order the phones. After a little while I decided to call AT&T to see if they got an update as to when we would be able to order. I was told that we could start ordering online at 3 AM CST or over the phone at 6 AM CST. She also gave me a 1-800 number to call in case I had any problems registering online with the Premier account. Around 1 AM I decided that I should make sure my online account still worked so that the order would go smoothly. I was able to log into my account but then it kicked me over to the Premier accounts, which I assume is for businesses. I kept trying to log in with my password and even tried creating a new account. Nothing would work. For the most part it kept just "precessing". Eventually it just said that I could not register my individual number for a premier account and that I needed to contact our businesses account manager. Ummm, hello? That's me. Argggg. By this point it was around 2:15 AM. The phone number I was given would not be up and running until regular business hours...of course!

So 3 AM rolls around. I decide to try ordering the phone on the AT&T site first, hoping that I would be able to do it without the Premier thing being an issue. Again with the processing and forever being stuck on the same page. I kept hitting refresh and then left it to process on my Firefox Window. I Also tried on my Safari window in case one worked better. Nothing. Nada. Then I decided to try the Apple site. I got as far as I could on their site. As soon as I entered my phone number to check if we could upgrade it got stuck. Both Adam and I tried this until around 4:30 AM. Tired and frustrated, I decided to set my alarm for 5:45 AM CST to call in my pre-order.

5:45 AM and I'm on the phone. On hold. Finally around 6:30 AM I get to a person. She checks all of the information and is verifying everything and trying to place the order. Then she starts putting me on hold several times for 5, 10 minutes at a time. Finally around 7 AM she tells me that she isn't able to place my order for some reason. Each time she tries, it keeps kicking the order out. She then tells me that she sent a ticket in to the IT department and that I would hear something by the 18th. ( Incidentally, I still haven't heard anything and it is now the 18th) She said that she would call me personally so I left it at that.

I tried to go back to bed but couldn't fall back asleep. I decided that I would try online again, just in case. After that pointless attempt I then decided to try calling Apple to see if they would be able to place my order. Silly Vikki. So I'm on hold for literally 1 hour and 1 minute before I talk to someone for a whopping 30 seconds. As soon as I mention that I wanted to pre-order the iPhone she tells me that orders aren't going through and that the one she just tried placing is still processing. She then tells me that I should try ordering online and asks if I needed help with something else. AHHHHHH. Do you honestly think I would be waiting on hold if I could place an order online?!?! REALLY?!?!? Oh yeah, and also.....Why yes, could you tell my about some calling plans? Thought I would wait an hour to ask THAT simple question. Arggg.

SO I finally try going back to bed again around 10 AM. Around noon I begin my efforts again. I decide to call that 1-800 number to see if they can help me with the Premier registration to see if that might work. Again, I am on hold for about 45 minutes and then am transferred to the online tech department. Finally, I think I am getting somewhere. Surely the tech will be able to tell me what is wrong and can help me. Ummm, NOPE. This is the wrong phone number he tells me. He says that I need to contact customer service. WHAT?!?! I pester him a bit because this is the same customer service that was unable to place my order earlier and I know I will be on hold forever. This is also the same customer service that gave me this number to help me register my Premier account. I am not even trying to order the phone at this point, just register. He then tells me that the only thing he can do to set up a premier account is sell me another phone. Huh? Huh? That makes absolutely no sense. Like...really makes no sense. Random comment type of makes no sense. I ask him how in the world that would help me register online. I try understanding his gibberish and think well, maybe he thinks I only have 1 phone on my account and I need at least 2 to make a business account? I told him we had around 20 phones on the account if that is what he is referring to. Nope. Not what he meant. Huh? OK FINE. I am so lost. After getting a tad snippy with him, he finally says he will transfer me to customer service so that I would not have to be on hold for several hours.

So on to customer service. I will admit that at least the lady I spoke to was nice. She tried to look at the situation and saw all the documentation of my attempts and is seemingly on my side. She then notices that my account seems to be locked out for some reason and unlocks something. After a few tries we still arrive at that same wall. That wall that keeps preventing me from ordering. I get her promise that she will follow up, even if they don't make any progress, she tells me that she will call me in 1.5 hours, 6 PM. If she is on the phone she will have someone in her department call me. I hang up feeling like at least I have someone that will follow up. Alas, I still haven't heard from this person.

I decide to check Twitter again so that I can read about my friends' frustrations with ordering. I also see a few that have been able to get through. SO happy for you ( sarcasm, heavy sarcasm). Then a friend mentioned that they were able to do it through Best Buy. SO, I then call our Best Buy and am told that yes, they can place orders. I am thinking, WOW, finally! So he proceeds to check my account and then...WALL. It again shows that this individual account can't buy a phone. ACK. ACK. ACK. Very close to throwing something.

A couple minutes later I decided to call the local AT&T store to see what is going on with our account. They are the ones that set it up so I figured that they might have a bit of insight. At this point it is now around 5 PM. As soon as I mention what is going on she tells me that people with small business accounts aren't able to pre-order phones. I told her that I was able to order phones in the past for our account for various employees. She points out that yes, you can do that but not PRE-orders. Seriously?!?! I had called the store earlier that week and was told that they were getting the iPhones and that it would be first come first served so I mention that to her. I asked her if that was the only way I could get a phone, to get there early with the other crazies, and wait in line? She said, no. They are taking names and putting phones on hold for people. *crickets Excuse me? What? She repeated what she had just said. I am close to tears as I slowly begin to realize I could have saved myself 16 hours of madness by simply calling their store to see if they updated their policy. She told me she would put me at the top of the list because of all the crap I had been through and just to remind her of what color phones we wanted. She told me they should get plenty because they are the HUB in our area. Ironic seeing as they didn't even start carrying iPhones until this year.

I went into the store yesterday just to confirm that I am on the list for 2 phones. She pulled it out and sure enough, there was our name. She said I would get a phone call on Wednesday and to get there at 8 AM on Thursday. There will be a line but they will call those names out first. WAHOOOOO

So....VERY long story short....too late, hehe...We are going to get our phones, barring any other complications. Fingers crossed. Knock on wood.

6/8/2010 Garden Update

Here is the garden update so far. This year I tried to start things from seed. The tomatoes didn't work out. I had seedlings growing and put them outside to harden for a little bit. I had to run an errand that day and they died. DOH! The wind picked up when I was out and they were not so happy when I got home. Ah well. I had to buy 3 plants at Home Depot. The rest of the plants in the picture are plants that came back from last year's seeds. Wahooo! We actually pulled out about 60 plants....literally....because there were just too many. It looks like most of them are the cherry tomatoes: Sweet 100s and the yellow pear shaped ones. Hopefully we will have a few regular sized tomatoes. If not, there are always the 3 that I bought. Everything else in our garden was started from seed.
These are the turnips and the carrots. We already harvested our radishes last month. We also have beets and onions.
I always love taking pictures of our watermelons when they are small. These are all from direct seeding into the mounds. I planted 5 different kinds of watermelons, a green melon, cucumbers and cantaloupes.
It's been nice picking spinach every day for salads and sandwiches.
Here is one of out bush bean plants. If you look closely you can see a few beans. There are also pole beans, Sugar Snap Peas, and Daikon Radishes in this bed.

Seriously?

I passed this on the way home from church yesterday. How in the world do you actually do something like this?!?!

My New Jersey

Here is the picture of the jersey my brother got for me at the Tour of California. Wahoooo!!! Once again, thanks to my friend who helped him out. Now I just have to get this one framed as nicely as the GORGEOUS Liquigas Jersey that I posted earlier.

Now I have TWO jersies with Team Liquigas signatures. This time I have a nice little birthday message from them AND my name is spelled correctly.

Francesco Bellotti
Davide Cimolai
Manuel Quinziato
Peter Sagan
Ivan Santaromita
Brian Vandborg

Thanks again for my early birthday gift! I'll post pictures when I get it framed. =)

Turtle Soup anyone?

This past weekend we were working near the pond when Adam noticed a big ol' turtle in our lower pond. Normally this would be ok, however, we now have fish in our pond. They are in the level that is right above this one. If one of the fish decided to swim a little too close to the waterfall.....turtle food! So... As cute as he was, all 12 inches of him, he had to go! No killing my new Koi fish!
We had been lounging around so Adam was still in his PJs. Hehe. It took a little while because Adam had to move a bunch of the rocks. For some reason the turtle didn't want to be caught. *snicker
Success with the shovel!
One of the great things about living in Pointe Royale....there is a path that leads right to the lake. This is his new home. MUCH better than our pond.
GOOD RIDDANCE!

Our new Koi Fish

This week we finally bought a few fish for our new pond. We have a total of 8 Koi fish. Yay! Half of them are around 4 inches long and the other half are around 5 inches long. Hopefully they will grow quickly so that we can find them more easily.

We also decided to get a few feeder gold fish for one of the more shallow ponds. I bought ten of those for a whopping 28 cents each. Those ones are koi wannabes - white with red spots. Unfortunately, several of them are now in the middle pond with the Koi. Apparently they pull of the waterfall was a bit too much for them. Oops.