Curlz

This little cutey won't usually let me near her hair. No, really. She runs at the site of a brush. Once you catch her and start to brush, she drops like she's in an earthquake drill. Stop, drop, curl up in a ball, hold your head tight with your arms. Yeah, real fun. Especially when it's time to leave, the other kid is screaming about her shoes "itching", the dog is running around wild jumping on everyone and there's still five things I need to grab before we run out the door. Oh, and while she's cowering with her head in her arms, she's screaming too. You know, that banshee, high-pitched wail that only a three year old girl can achieve. If you happen to have a second pair of hands to hold her in place while you brush, then you get to dodge the kicking arms and legs. Oh, what to do, what to do. Seriously, what am I doing wrong?!

With Kenzie I would fight her until her hair was brushed. With Natie I've given up. She usually ends up wherever we're going with stringy, bed head hair. And the girl has given new meaning to the term bed-head. Since she was a newborn she has always woken up with that big huge rat's nest of tangled up hair on the back of her head. Real pretty. In order to brush that tangled mess out, you either have to spray her with detangling spray (and a lot of it) or dunk her in the bathtub and use lots of conditioner. Yeah, you should see me chasing after her with the detangling spray, spraying at her whenever I get close enough. Lovely. Seriously, Miss Kim and Miss Michelle must think I've given up trying to make her look presentable. I see all the other little girls walking into preschool with pigtails and braids and curls and I just know I'm a failure of a mother. :-) Especially when you see the outfits this kid can pick out. Stubborn, both my kiddos are just plain stubborn.

So, you won't be surprised when I tell you that the above picture is taken at 1:00 a.m. in the morning. Yes, really. See, sibling pressure is alive and well at our house and Kenzie LOVES to get the spongy pink curlers put in her hair at night. Natalie, not so much, but she does want to be like big sister still. So, she begs for them as well. Twice we've put her hair in curlers and twice now she wakes up around 1 a.m. begging for them OUT. The first time I took them out, she sobbed the next morning when her curls were gone and Kenzie had beautiful ringlets all around. So, the second time I convinced her to at least let me take a picture. I warned her she would be sad the next morning when the curls were gone, but she wasn't having any more of those sponges on her head. Fortunately, her hair had dried completely since I had put them in so early the night before and so she actually retained some curls the next day. It's a good thing the next day was preschool, at least we had one good hair day this year. :-)

11 Years Ago Today...

I was doing this...



Nate left for the MTC on January 22nd, 1997. Eleven years ago today. January 22nd is now one of those dates that will be forever burned into my mind. Isn't it funny how you can have those dates that aren't really anything, not a birthday or a holiday or an anniversary, but yet, you'll never forget them? Today is one of those days for me. Every month on the 22nd for two years, I would cross off another month done, another month closer to Nate's coming home.

We saw him off at the Portland Airport really early that morning. His family picked me up before it was light outside to make the trip. So bittersweet. He was going off on a mission to serve the Lord and I was saying goodbye. For two years. To this day, I can get that twisting, butterfly, nauseous feeling in my stomach when I think about it. After he walked onto that airplane and we watched it taxi away we all went to breakfast (that I couldn't eat) and then drove home. I curled up in the backseat of the car and tried not to cry the whole way home. Wow, it feels like another lifetime and yet I can feel it as if it happened yesterday. To this day, I have nightmares that Nate has to leave on a mission again while I'm at home with our kiddos alone. I don't know how single moms do it or wives who send their husbands off to war. We weren't even married yet and it never stopped aching. Not till he was home again.

Two months later I got to see him off at the Salt Lake City airport as he left the MTC for Peru. Seriously, it was one of the sweetest days of my life. We had an hour or so together, I got to meet his companions and talk with him about how life had been so far while apart. He even gave me the "forbidden" hug. No touching girls, remember? We both teared up as we talked about our future and then we waved goodbye again. We both KNEW we were going to be married, it was just a matter of time...and patience.

Happy 30, Nate!

Nate's birthday was January 11th. He turned 30. Yup, I'm 13 days older than him. :-) Since I wasn't able to blog about him on his big day, I'll do it now. Here are 30 things about my incredible man!

1. Nate grew up swimming his summers away. When he turned 16 he became a lifeguard as his first job. When he moved to Longview, WA (where we met) he got a job at the high school pool as a lifeguard by interviewing over the phone.
2. Nate has always been very confident of himself and his abilities while still maintaining his humility. I admire this quality and was attracted to this about him before anything else. Unfortunately, this attribute often equals cocky or smug to other teenagers. That would have been my first impression of him. He hung out with the other jocks that he worked with at the pool and he seemed full of himself and angry when I met him. I didn't like him at first.
3. Nate is lighthearted, easy-going and fun to be with. He won me over with his calm demeanor, love for life and silly antics.
4. Nate loves the outdoors. As a teenager he often spent most of his weekends off exploring some mountain. If no one would go with him, he'd go by himself. Being at the tail end of five older brothers, I didn't have many "outdoor" experiences under my belt. My parents were burnt-out in the camping and hiking department, I think, by the time I got here. My first real hike was with Nate on our first real date. He took me up to Mount Rainier and started me off walking on an ice and snow-covered ledge the width of my shoes. I tried for about five minutes to be brave to impress this amazing boy who actually liked me, but finally had to tell him I was scared and could we start out on something a little easier? We went to a lower altitude and ended up hiking ten miles that day in one of the most beautiful places on earth. We talked the entire time about our lives, our families, our dreams. I knew before we ever got home that day that I wanted to marry this boy.
5. Nate has always been very level-headed and logical. He makes smart decisions about his life and is always a steady influence on mine. When we met, I was floundering in all my life decisions. I was in a much-too-serious-for-highschool relationship that had been in the works for over two years. I was utterly floored at Nate's integrity and drive to do what is right. I had never met a boy my age who so willingly lived the gospel standards.
6. Nate is an incredible father. He struggles with his patience at times (who doesn't?), but he's always willing to try harder. He loves his girls with all his heart and they love him. He can make them giggle like no one else, he loves to take them outdoors and teach them new things.
7. Speaking of teaching, Nate is an incredible teacher. I have watched him countless times, patiently walk people through computer problems. I struggle with this, but he is a natural. He has a way of finding the right way to teach each individual that allows them to understand whatever it is he's talking about. He's always had more confidence in what our girls can learn than I do. I tend to treat them younger than they are. He believes they have the ability to understand so much more than I think and he's proven it to me time and again as he teaches them some new concept.
8. Nate has an incredible amount of patience and empathy for me that amazes me time and again. I'm always shocked to find out other husbands don't do the things that Nate does for me. Our relationship has been complicated from the beginning with my depression struggles. He has always been 100% by my side, NEVER has he blamed me or expected me to push harder than I can and yet he always manages to help me try a little harder and do a little better. He honestly sees who I really am inside even when it is covered by a dark mask of depression.
9. Nate has lived in countless states and homes. He's moved from school to school, but always managed to be a good sport about it in his family. He's lived in Rexburg, Idaho; Arizona; Oklahoma (is that right, Nate?); South Carolina; Vancouver, Washington; South Carolina (again); Longview/Kelso, Washington; Lima, Peru; Orem, Utah; Longview, Washington; and finally out here in the Tri-cities. Moving is now in his blood, he's ready to do it again. We've been here in the Tri-cities longer than anywhere else in our marriage.
   
10. Nate served a 2 year mission for the church from 1997 to 1999 in the Peru Lima North mission. I saw him off at the airport when he left home, again when he left the MTC and was there when he stepped off the plane to come home 2 years later. We wrote and missed and loved each other through the whole thing. He was a wonderful missionary, he learned lots, he struggled more and we are blessed daily because he went.
11. Nate grew up fishing with his Dad on a boat. They went all the time together and his love for the water and being on a boat continue today. EVERY summer we go down to the water's edge and throw rocks time and time again and EVERY time he LONGS for a boat that we can't afford and don't have a car to tow. EVERY summer we hem and haw over just buying one already, but end up reserving it for next summer. Will this summer be it? If you have a boat and don't mind taking along a few passengers for a ride, call us up. You will make my husband's whole summer. :-)
12. Nate is one of the most determined people I know. He started his college education soon after we got married in 2000. He has had to take it VERY slow as my health has not allowed me to work outside the home much and during pregnancies I have become completely incapacitated. He has never shown signs of EVER giving up. He wants that degree more than anything else right now and will not let anything get in his way of achieving it. He's taking two classes right now. After they're done, he'll have just TWO classes left!!! 8 years later and we're going to finally get that Bachelor's degree!
13. When Nate and I met he wanted to be a doctor "when he grew up". :-) Months after we got married, after talking to my "then-in-medical-school" brother and realizing the difficulties our marriage faced with my health problems, he decided to go a different route. He didn't know a thing about computers then. He'd never emailed anyone, hardly even looked at the internet before. We both had jobs as security at Novell in Orem, Utah at the time. I worked as a security secretary and he was a security guard. He'd walk those halls, see those computer guys coming into work late with their shorts and flip flops on and decided this was the job for him. :-) I loved my computer and would barely let him near it. In time, he started ripping them apart, building his own, buying books and teaching himself everything there is to know about computers. He started his degree in Computer Science, but never stopped learning when class was over. He'd ask questions to those who knew more, he'd scour the internet for as much information as he could find, he bought a book and studied and took the A+ certification exam to become a computer techie. The day he passed me up in computer knowledge (a LOOOONG time ago) was a sad day for me. :-)
14. Nate loves to stop in the Gorge and watch the wind surfers. When he was a teenager his parents found him an old, gigantic wind surf board at a garage sale and he took it out to a lake in Vancouver to teach himself how to windsurf. He's just like that.
15. Nate has never been much of a reader...of fiction, anyway. If he had his choice, he'd read some book about a programming language rather than the latest fiction. He was like that even as a kid. Even his television watching is geared this way. He'd much rather be watching the Discovery Channel or Animal Planet than ANY of my favorite shows. Yeah, it makes for interesting t.v. wars at our house. :-)
16. Nate comes from a family of 9. He was the sixth child born (so was I). His family is loud and rowdy and loves a good party. Any reason to get together is a good reason. Our families are very similar, which makes our home an easy place to be as a married couple. His family immediately brought me into the pack as if I was one of their own. My family did the same for Nate.
17. Nate can come off as quiet and maybe even a little stern at first, but he's not that way at all once you get to know him. He's funny, silly, intelligent and witty. My favorite person to be with. :-)
18. Nate's knowledge of the gospel amazes me. I always think I know so much since I was the one reading my scriptures every day back when we were both 16 and he had barely cracked the book open yet. He slept through seminary every morning while I was busy memorizing to become a master scriptorian. But whenever he opens his mouth to talk about the gospel he ALWAYS says something that makes me think a little harder.
19. Nate's favorite dessert of all time is Mint Chocolate Chip ice cream. He loves chocolate chip cookies, too. Almost every year he asks me to make an ice cream cake for him. A german chocolate cake mix in 9" round pans. As the cake cools, I fill one of the pans with vanilla ice cream and let it freeze. I put it in the middle of the two cakes when frozen and then frost the entire thing in Cool Whip. It's his favorite, his Mama made it for him before I was ever around. :-)
20. Nate loves my cooking. It's too bad I don't do it more often. His favorites are lasagna, pizza, sausage braid, steak and potatoes and sticky chicken and potatoes. He loves homemade bread with all his meals. Homemade rolls, homemade focaccio bread, homemade biscuits, homemade french bread, if I make it, he's happy. My breadmaker is my friend. :-)
21. When Nate was in high school he was often found wearing some interesting outfits and hats. Hats with furry ear flaps, wide-brimmed safari hats, you know, those kind. He always wore two shirts together, often a short-sleeved one on top of a long-sleeved one. He loved pukey-colored green shirts that you'd find in the clearance section at Target cause nobody would wear them. When I would complain about his "non-conforming" appearance (because I was SOO incredibly self-conscious), he would just smile and tell me, "Girl, I got STYLE!" Yeah, that's Nate. You've got to appreciate a 17 year old boy who's got enough self-confidence to wear what he wants...and not to make a statement, just cause he likes to look that way. And you know what? It worked. The girls flocked to him...ALL the girls. The most popular to the least. Guess what? He only had eyes for me. :-) I know, how lucky am I?
22. Nate got a chocolate lab when he was 16 (or had you turned 17 already?). He would take that dog with him everywhere (even mutual). She was rowdy and would jump all over you, but he loved her. When I met him, I was petrified of dogs. I know, who at 16 is scared of dogs? I was. I hated how they would jump on you and get their hair on you and lick you and slobber on you and...well, you get the picture. I learned to love dogs from Nate's family and now we have one of our own again. Nate, on the other hand, would have hucked that dog to the curb if it weren't for me and the girls. He has no patience for her wet nose, shedding hair, jumping antics, etc. :-) There's a soft heart somewhere inside there for her, we just don't see it that often.
    
23. Nate could schmooze his Mama better than anyone I've ever seen before. He would tell her we were going somewhere and what time we'd be home and she would sternly say no. Just as I would start to feel disappointed, he would sidle up next to her, put his arm around her and then start talking to her with his sweet, southern boy charm. Seriously, it would shock me how quickly she'd melt and he'd get his way. He did it over and over again while we were dating. Even his Dad would fall for it. That boy. We used to call him Golden Boy of the family. Even his brothers and sisters would call him that. You can now see him trying to practice this little move on me now and again, too. :-) And yeah, it usually works.
24. Nate likes to make up silly, nonsense songs about everything he's doing at the moment. The girls think he's so silly or else they yell at him to STOP! Too bad in a few more years they'll just roll their eyes at him in exasperation and embarrassment. At least I can appreciate it.
25. Nate came up with some of the sweetest, most romantic dates and presents for me while we were dating. Unfortunately, these ideas were from the minds of his sisters and mom and they don't extend to our married years. :-)
    
26. Nate's dream vacation is somewhere on the beach. A warm beach with clear blue water. Hawaii or Florida or the Caribbean. When we finally make it there, he will have me on the beach the ENTIRE trip and nowhere else. He grew up going to Myrtle Beach on the East Coast as a kid, spending his summers on rafts in warm, warm ocean water. I, on the other hand, know the beach as only the Oregon Coast. I have a hard time imagining ocean water as anything but COLD. Too cold to get in, cold enough to make your toes turn bright red and then finally blue.
    
27. As a child, I'm told Nate was the silly one of the family. Always giggling and making everyone else giggle. I can see that about him. For Halloween he was the cookie monster for years in a row. Our girls think that is so funny. To this day, he can do a great cookie monster song.
28. When Nate was 16 or 17 he and his Dad went out and bought him the ugliest, oldest blue Datsun truck. What year was it, Nate? Oh man, that thing was scary. The heater didn't work so he would have to lean his head out the window to drive to seminary in the morning. If you were his unfortunate passenger, you would have to unroll your side of the car and lean your head out to help him see on that side. It was also many different shades of color, it could only go like 50 mph max and it had some trick to getting it started or stopped (I fuzz on the details). But get this, He LOVED that truck. Not once did you see him ashamed or embarrassed to drive it. No, instead he will tell you how absolutely cool he was for driving it. Again, there's that confidence I fell in love with.
29. Nate has always wanted to move back down South. He wants to live somewhere beautiful and warm. Yeah, so why are we trying to get a job in New Mexico? That would be my doing. I need my family and he loves them too. It's a good thing there are mountains nearby, hopefully he'll forgive me after he gets to go 4-wheelin' with the boys and on lots of camping trips, too.
30. Nate is smart. No really, really smart. He does well in all his classes. Even the ones that give him pains and cause him huge bouts of procrastination. I'm incredibly proud of his almost perfect 4.0 throughout these years. A B here and there, but almost always A's. I couldn't do it as well as he has. Juggling school, jobs and a family and still always there for me when I need him. Always.

So, there you are. 30 things about Nate. Happy (really, really late) Birthday, babe! To 30 great more years with you. I couldn't be any more blessed. I really am the luckiest girl on the planet.

Google Reader Woes

Oh man, of course as soon as I hit the publish button and send out emails to everyone, Nate emails me to inform me that something is wrong with my feed. For some reason when I try to subscribe to my blog through Google Reader, nothing shows up. It's acting like I have a private blog, showing nothing there. I wonder if it has something to do with re-directing blogger to my custom domain name? So sorry to those of you trying to update your Google Reader. Between Nate and I, we'll figure it out. Stay tuned...

30 Things I've Learned...

So, I missed blogging on my birthday. This sweet friend of mine posted the nicest birthday blog for me. I did continue to write out some posts while my internet was down that I could publish later. Here's one of them.

30 things I've learned in my 30 years of life, in no particular order:

1. Some things in life you just can't control. Let go and enjoy the ride!
2. Pregnancy is far worse than childbirth could ever be...I'll take 12 hours of hell over 9 months of it any day. Oh, and all of the sudden they let you have drugs to put you out of your misery...how can this be worse than the non-drug induced misery of pregnancy?
3. A pretty Mac with a big glossy screen really CAN make you happier. :-)
4. Being a web site designer is like doing the laundry, but funner. The job is never done, there's always some new-fangled tools and gadgets to getting it done, everyone wants it done but doesn't want to do it themselves and mixing the wrong colors together CAN be fatal.
5. Every day you get to be a mother is a blessing, extraordinary and amazing.
6. Every day you get to be a mother is another day you wonder what in the heck you were thinking that crazy night when you convinced him to "just start trying" already.
7. Having a dog is like the mother of all love/hate relationships. They adore you, they're simple and stupid, they're easy to please, they give the most simple affection, they're cute and cuddly and soft. They're annoying, loud, messy, smelly, destructive and a huge responsibility to not be entered into without a lot of thought. Unfortunately, most of the people who do get them don't tend to do much thinking before they pick one out and bring it home. The same can be said for children. :-) Except for maybe the stupid comment (although, I reserve the right to take that back once my girls hit puberty).
8. Family, when it comes right down to it, is really all that matters. What is more beautiful than a relationship where the other person just HAS to love you no matter how big of an idiot you are? This goes for good friends, too.
9. I reserve the right to change my mind at any given moment. So does life. If you were counting on it happening, chances are it won't happen the way you wanted.
10. Chocolate really does cure everything, well, at least for five seconds.
11. A sincere and honest girlfriend can make your whole world a better place to live in.
12. Some people in life not only won't, but physically just CAN'T understand depression. Instead of stressing about what "they" think, be grateful that you have experiences that can allow you to be sensitive and willing to relate to others who struggle.
13. One of the best people you can become good friends with is a "computer geek". This relationship will serve you well and save you lots of money. Heck, marrying one is even better.
14. You can never have too many sets of measuring spoons and/or measuring cups.
15. Scrapbooking paper has the ability to make you feel like all is right in the world.
16. Some things in marriage just aren't worth fighting over. He just doesn't care if there's spit on your newly polished bathroom faucet. Let it go.
17. There isn't anything better in this life than your husband being your best friend. It's worth the time, pain and energy to keep it that way. Laugh a lot.
18. A doctor isn't God. A doctor is a man or woman who happened to go to a lot of school and knows a lot about a small fraction of the human experience. Trust yourself, trust your instincts about your health and then keep switching doctors until you find one that "fits".
19. Sometimes God won't cure you, no matter how much faith you have. Sometimes the cure is in the experience and the lessons that you gain from your trial. Knowing that probably won't make it any easier, but it can make you sound wiser. :-)
20. Is it really that bad? No, really? A little perspective can go a long way.
21. Yard work is for other people. $5,000 to have someone do all the work for you, have the yard done when you move in and only make your house payment $30 or so more...so worth it.
22. If Nate and I lived regretting every stupid decision we made, we'd be piled in regrets. Mourn it, laugh about it, learn something from it and try to do it better next time.
23. DON'T take your under five year old children with you to buy a car. Just don't.
24. That fight you had with your sister? That annoying habit of your in-laws? That spanking you received when you were five from your Momma? The way your brother pulled your hair and called you a baby when you cried? Seriously, let it go. Family is too important to hold grudges over. If not for them, for yourself.
25. Therapy is for everyone, not just us "crazies".
26. Reading can make the whole world fall away. There will never be "nothing to read" in my world.
27. A magazine subscription is one of the best gifts to receive. It just keeps coming all year round, it's like Christmas in a mailbox over and over again. :-)
28. Same goes for a movie rental subscription. I love good mail!
29. Finding a good deal, no, a really good deal is like free candy to a kid in a candy store. That one really good garage sale find is so worth all the early saturday morning driving. That said, there's always another deal. You don't HAVE to have it today.
30. The simple things can be so liberating. A trip to the library, theater popcorn with extra butter and salt and a Dr. Pepper at a good movie, a favorite smoothie, a date with your hubby, a trip to the bathroom with a good magazine and no pounding on the door, a phone call with your best friend/sister...it's worth it to give yourself these moments as much as possible.

Charter Pains

I know, I know...where have I been already? I blogged a few weeks ago about our imminent change in utilities to Charter, "the cable company". We got sucked in for the 3 services for $99 deal. Phone, internet and cable. We added in DVR for $15 extra and thought we were good to go. Everything changed over with a few glitches, but we kept our phone number and I had unlimited long distance.

The Moxie DVR box was a bit to get used to, quite a bit different than my Dish DVR. We ended up buying an external hard drive to give it some more space to store all the shows. Still, it had some stupid setting that would mark all your shows as "about to be deleted" after one day. If I changed the settings to only allow deletion when I specified than it would only allow me to save about ten shows to my "Queue" and then say the hard drive was full. Even though none of those shows had actually been recorded yet. It would allow room for the "expected" space those shows would take up. What a pain!! So, I just had to stare at the exclamation icon next to all my shows as it would mark them for deletion...even though it never actually did delete anything. Even with a 250 GB external hard drive connected to it. Bugged me to no end. The other thing that made me crazy was that we could only get our "extended" channels on one television. All the rest of the t.v.'s in the house just got the expanded basic programming. You have to purchase more boxes to get all the channels you're subscribed to. Dish gave me a dual tuner when we signed up that not only allowed me "all" the channels I subscribed to, but gave me DVR in both rooms. So, it wasn't that big of a deal, we only have one other television and it's small. We watch it in the kitchen when doing dishes, etc. Some times we move it to the bedroom when someone is sick. But when you're used to being able to pause television wherever you are, or the kids want to watch Noggin or Disney and you don't get those channels on the "other" t.v., it gets a little annoying. Anyway, I wasn't totally pleased with the whole package, but I wasn't totally convinced that I should cancel and go back to Dish either.

Fast forward almost a month and I've yet to cancel Dish. I know, I know, I'm paying for a service we're not using anymore, but I just couldn't seem to "let go" of the option to go back to it. Our 30 day "trial" of Charter is days away from being a 2 year contract and I need to get on the phone and cancel my services with Dish and "commit" to Charter for good. So, first I call Dish to cancel. They are uber-nice to me. Ooozing with the offers. "We just want you to stay with us, you've been such loyal customers..." She offers me deal after deal after deal, until I can't argue that Charter is a better deal anymore. I get off the phone without canceling, promising to "discuss it with my husband". After talking it over with Nate, he decides to give Charter a call. We'd just gotten our first bill with them for $205 and change. Our $99 deal isn't looking like such a deal anymore. We were giving them the benefit of the doubt, supposing there must be a mistake that will be explained and fixed after a phone call. Almost immediately, Nate is yelling at the guy on the other end. There is no explanation for the extra fees. That's just what they are. There's nothing they can do about it. Go ahead and cancel, they tell him. As he's trying to switch Nate over to the people who handle the canceling, he gets dropped. AGAIN. As Nate's dialing them again, I'm profusely trying to understand the one-sided conversation I just heard. Nate says the guy was an idiot. He literally COULD NOT explain the extra charges. Finally Nate gets on the phone with a lady who seems to know what she's talking about. After calming words from me, Nate is speaking with a little less MAD in his voice. Still, the only explanation for the extra almost $100 in charges? Proration. Seriously, that's it. They're pro-rated charges. Granted, we did sign up towards the end of November, so there are a few days that needed to be prorated. On our bill, the only indication of billing for a "partial month" is in the phone section. That would be the basic telephone package that is supposed to be $29.99 a month. They charged us $112.79 for a partial month of service. What the heck is that?!? No matter how much yelling and cussing (yes, I finally had to escort the girls from the room. Nate's temper was getting the best of him), that lady was 100% positive that this is how the bills go. She said it's pro-rated. Over and over again. She said all the bills are like that the first month. She said everyone calls and gets angry, but that's the way it is. No, there is no way to "fix" it. Finally, Nate told her we want out. And just like the man before her, she told him to go ahead and cancel, then. Seriously?! And this is after my Dish phone call where they oozed with customer service, tripping over themselves to keep us.

At this point in the conversation, Nate tells her we're done and would she please cancel us. She proceeds to tell him that in order to keep phone and internet (we didn't want to lose our internet and phone on a Friday, right before the New Years holiday), but cancel cable we would have to pay $35 to change our account. Seriously. So Nate asks how much we'd be charged to cancel EVERYTHING. Nothing at all. So, it's cheaper to leave them altogether than it would be to stay with two of their services and lose one. Yup, she wouldn't budge on that fee either. Nate wasn't budging either. He was so ticked at this point, he told her to just cancel everything. He wasn't about to pay one more dime to them. So, he goes through the process of canceling only to be told they can't come pick up the equipment until AFTER the New Year's holiday. That would put our cancel date AFTER our 30 day trial is up, therefore, placing us within the 2 year commitment, THEREFORE, making it so we would have to pay the enormous fees to cancel our contract. And the yelling begins again. It doesn't matter that we're canceling on the phone before our date is up, until they have the equipment in hand our account is still active. It's our fault, we should have thought of this BEFORE and called to cancel EARLIER. And, yes, I actually heard her yelling that at Nate over the phone from across the room. Seriously! So, she finally tells Nate he could take the equipment back to Charter himself if he wants, but he has to get it back there by 5. It was 4:30 when she told him this. Charter is in Kennewick. Thus begins the mad dash to make it to Charter in time. He downloads a Google map and then proceeds to literally RIP the equipment out of the wall as he runs out the door. He told me later that he practically drove 80 the whole way there. Wonderful, dear...risk your life and someone else's for a few hundred dollars.

After he left, I frantically searched the internet for all the internet and phone deals I could find. At 5:09 p.m. the internet stopped working. Well, at least I knew he made it on time. They barely let him in the door, the guy was locking it when he got there. He begged and the guy showed mercy on him. The first and last bit of humanity from Charter we got.

So, now you know why we've disappeared from our internet presence for so long. Oh, and the phone too. We haven't had a phone for a few weeks either. Thankfully, our neighbors know how unbearable it would be without internet and allowed us onto their locked-down network. With a few wireless antenna's and two guys who know what they're doing with all that equipment, I had a measly connection until we got hooked back up with Qwest. Speaking of Qwest, they also bent over backwards to give us a good deal for coming back. Unfortunately, because we canceled our phone without signing up with Qwest first, we lost our phone number. It is now the property of Charter and they couldn't get it back for us. The rep that was helping Nate, though, spent a good ten minutes trying to find a number as close to our old one as possible. Our first three digits are the same, the last four are different by one number. Instead of 3669, it is now 3663. Pretty good, huh? Still, no one knows how to get a hold of us anymore. I have to call every service, school, bank, credit card, etc. to fix our accounts. It's like we moved, but we didn't. :-)

Lessons learned? Don't mess with something unless it's really broke. The deal seemed too good to be true, and it turned out it was. Maybe some of you have had better experiences with Charter, but I think that's our last time going back to them.

I also decided to switch my blogger account back to their servers. We have far too many "outages" on our own server to justify hosting my blog at home. Besides, since blogger upgraded to the new template styles I've been wanting to see how they work. You can't use them if you're hosting on your own server. Turns out, I still ended up just messing with the code to get the look I wanted. Even then, it's not exactly what I was going for. It's a change anyway. I also bought a new domain to put my blog on by itself. Update your reader links. Just go to the URL (the box where you type an internet address) at the top of your browser right now, click on the little antenna icon and choose Add to Your Google Reader or whatever reader you subscribe to. That is, if you want to keep reading my blog. :-)

Now, back to the regularly scheduled programming...