Window Shopping (pun fun)

We need to replace three windows in our house that have broken seals. As I mentioned a long time ago (when we first made an offer on the house), we nearly didn't close on the house because the windows are all old warped wood windows and some didn't open, and windows cost a booty-load to replace. We've resolved to replace them as the seals break, even though they all really need replacing. . .it's pretty pathetic how bad they are.

Anyway, we've been soliciting bids for new windows. Holy expensive! Even worse than I imagined. There's nothing like kissing two grand goodbye for three flipping windows.

Our awesome neighbor runs a group of contractors. They gave us a good estimate.

Just to be safe, we scheduled an appointment with Home Depot. It was entertaining, to say the least.

The guy was nice enough, albeit a touch cocky, and had an interesting past. (Literally, we counted 5 different careers he's had before this one-- EMT, Rugby player, working at the DA's office, insurance salesman, and Xerox salesman. Those are just the ones he mentioned. . .)

He went to his car and brought in a replica window of the type of windows he wanted us to buy. He demonstrated some of the neat features---did you know new windows flip down for ease of cleaning? Pretty slick. Then, he decided to demonstrate the strength of the windows by hitting them with the heel of his hand.

Big mistake. (Note - the guy tried to cover up the "Home Depot" label on the window when I took this picture. Lame.)


Glass and blood were everywhere. I grabbed the broom to pick up the tiny shards of glass and Matt grabbed him a paper towel for the blood.

The pathetic part of this story was that he tried to downplay his injury and continue the presentation! I ran and got Band-aids, but after he bled through two paper towels and starting dripping blood on the floor, Matt finally said: "Hey man, I think you should go get that checked out. You're dripping on our floor."

The estimate was about $1k over the other estimate. Not exactly a persuasive presentation.
I couldn't help but to burst out laughing the second he closed our front door. (Unfortunately, the windows were open. Oops)

Both Matt and I have stepped on tiny slivers of glass in the kitchen and cut open our feet this week. We're considering writing Home Depot a letter, but I kinda feel bad for the guy. . .

Oh well. Who knew window shopping could be so darn entertaining?

Love to you and yours.

Ew, football

Football season has begun.

I am officially a football widow.

Argh.

#6

It's 4:00 a.m. I'm not sleeping, nor have I since Fridayish, so please forgive the spelling/grammar errors. This is probably the first night I've dealt with insomnia this severe in 4-5 years. I had forgotten how frustrating it is to be wide awake when I so desperately want to sleep. Oh well, at least I have time to blog! :)

I celebrated 6 years of survival on August 11. Thankfully, it gets a little more low-key every year. Matt and I took the day off of work and went hiking in good ol' RMNP. We bought an annual pass this year, and have really enjoyed hiking up there! We came home and discovered that my mom made a yummy berry pie for me complete with hearts cut out for a crust. I kick myself for not taking a picture of it!



Other than that, we've been going to Rockies games(nothing new), hanging out with my wonderful family, working on the house (always), and figuring out post-burglary stuff.

Speaking of the burglar, we get to go to his sentencing this month. As you might imagine, I can't wait to go. Hahaaaaaaaa! JUSTICE is awesome!!!Ya know what'd be more awesome? Getting a check from the insurance company. Hopefully next time we chat, I'll have that piece of spectacular news to report so we can replace a few things (laptops, a couple pairs of earrings would be nice, etc)

Sans the insomnia and a few other blips, life is good. How can it not be when we live in Colorado?

Love to you and yours.

BUSTED!

Add one more note of thanks to the last post: they caught the guy who robbed us! He confessed to everything and has already been convicted. (Seeeeeee, I told him in my letter to him people were looking for him!!! GOTCHA!)

Sadly, our stuff is gone. He sold everything downtown somewhere, so it's just plain gone. What a jerk.

Oh well. I can't tell you what amazing closure this gives me. Major props to the Arvada Police Department. They even returned my vanity drawers today post-fingerprinting!

Hey American Family Insurance, do you want to be on my 'major props' list too? :)

Tonight, we're going to the Rockies game with friends. Such a great way to celebrate!!

Love to you and yours.

Thankful

I have a lot of thankful posts. I'm aware of that. Basically, if you don't already know, I'm a very thankful person and I don't take much for granted.

Here's my thankful list re: the last post

1) I'm thankful my lil' 4-pound nugget is okay. She still hides a bit when anyone walks in the door, but she' s okay. There would have been a manhunt if she were missing or hurt or worse. . .
2) This is truly a God-thing (I think); there was one item that I was torn up about. I mean, I think it was 60% of the reason I couldn't sleep: my grandmother's ring. It's all I had left from her, and it meant the world to me. I had put it in a super secret hiding place (so secret, that even I forgot!) At about 4 a.m., I suddenly realized I needed to look in said super secret hiding place, and much to my delight, there it was. I bawled. So the thief took every piece of jewelry, sans my wedding ring (on my finger at the time) and my grandmother's ring. Incredible.
3) The banks were incredible working with us. So far, nothing has happened to our accounts, credit cards, etc. We had to cancel everything, but heck, that's doable.
4) I'm a bigger Rockies fan than pre-July 30, if that's possible. The Rockies not only reissued the tickets to our remaining games, but they put a freeze on the bar code from our tickets that were stolen. If anyone tries to use them, they're getting questioned by the police. Let's all pray the guy is dumb enough to sell them to friends or use them himself. (Plus, Matt and I are going to stake out our own seats for the first few innings, hehehe)
5) Our neighbors are incredible. Truly, I've never seen a group of neighbors as supportive and tight-knit as this.
6) It was just stuff. I was supposed to be working from home. I feel so stinking lucky. And ya know, this was a good reminder about how little "stuff" really matters. (For the record, I don't need more reminders ;) )
7) We have insurance. Okay, that sounds weird, because of course we have insurance. But I'm thankful for it anyway. Let's just hope it pays out enough to replace some things! (C'mon American Family, your reputation on our blog is on the line here. . .)

Thanks for the support over the past week. And if you see a guy with a lot of jewelry, poker chips, a Mac and a Toshiba, don't buy Rockies tickets from him :)

Love to you and yours.

A letter to the jerk who robbed us

A Lovenote To The Jerk Who Robbed Our House Today

Dear heartless jerkface,

Yes, I have much nastier words I've been calling you that aren't appropriate for publication.

Thank you SO much for robbing the crap out of us while we were at work today. I'm so pleased to know that while we were working hard for an honest living, you broke into our house and picked out all the awesome things your heart desired.

I'm sure you knew we lived in such a close-knit neighborhood. I'm sure you knew that our neighbors take such good care of us, and that we'd have dinner given to us by one neighbor, a bottle of wine from another (I'm on my second/thirdish glass and it's excellent --- I'm sure you'd appreciate a good glass of wine! Come try some!), and plenty of visitors. I'm sure you knew my parents lived nearby too so that they could come help out too. Gosh, you're so thoughtful.

Thanks for taking our Rockies season tickets. That was awesome of you to steal our date nights. I bet you're a HUGE baseball fan like we are. They're great seats. The people behind us are good friends of ours. Say hi to Roger and Dawn for us.

Thanks for the Playstation that you left under our bed that you stole from someone else's house. We turned it over to the cops in case you want it back. I guess our stuff was MUCH cooler and you didn't have room to take that with you too. And hey, I'm SO glad that you can sleep at night knowing you stole a child's toy. We all know that I'm not sleeping at ALL tonight, so I'm sure glad that you are!

Oh yes, and my grandmother's diamond ring. That was the only thing I had left from her, and I'm sure you'll give it to a nice girl that you pay by the hour/night. Thanks for taking the rest of my jewelry too. I was getting tired of it anyway (major sarcasm). Oh yes, and thanks for taking the ring box my husband proposed to me with. I'm sure it's of sentimental value to you, just like my husband's is to you too.

And thanks for taking our laptops. Gosh, I hope you enjoy them. Heck, maybe you could use one to put our Rockies tickets on Craigslist and get some cash! I know you have to support your drug addiction, so I'm so happy I could help you.

I'm glad you picked out the DVDs you liked and left the rest for us. P.S. you kinda have crappy taste. You took Ironman but left all of the Office and Family Guy? Seriously?

I'm so so sorry that Matt's car wasn't in the garage for you. I'm sure you threw his key fob on the ground in frustration when you figured that out. I hope that didn't hurt your heart too much. You poor, poor thing.

And thanks for opening all the drawers and throwing out stuff you didn't want on the floor. I'm sure you know how much I LOVE a messy house! It sure helps us know what stuff we own is crap. But really, did you have to search my unmentionables drawer?

*end sarcasm*

If you touched my dog, I will find you. You should realize how lucky you are that she seems to be okay.

Also, be thankful that I wasn't working from home like I planned today. You may have had a psycho woman to deal with. But as cracked out as you are, I'm sure you wouldn't even notice I was there.

*end of veiled threats*

Good luck with your drug habit, and just so you know, our neighborhood is watching for you, the cops are looking for you (with a K-9 --- his name is Rex and he looks kinda hungry), and the Rockies are watching for you.

You messed with the WRONG neighborhood and the WRONG homeowners, jerkface.

Remember: Jesus is watching. Just sayin'.

Kind regards, (sarcasm is back)
the homeowners

Hooray! Two years!

I may have to start a new blog soon. We've been married two years as of July 2! Wahoo!

We obviously had to work because it was a weekday, but we had a wonderful, chillaxing evening. We decided not to go out to dinner, but instead got filets from Costco and grilled on our porch. It was lowkey and fabulous! My wonderful hubby got me roses and a sweet card. 'Twas a good day!

Love to you and yours,

amanda