Buying Local

As promised from my tease in my last post, a story about buying local.

So about 6-8 weeks ago, Denise came home devastated because a baguette fell out of her ring. We headed down to Zales that weekend since that is where I bought the ring, 6 years earlier. After finding out that this was no longer under warranty because we failed to bring it in every three months or whatever their policy is, the manager quoted me a price of $360 to replace the baguette and tighten down all the other claws or backets or whatever its called! I was expecting this to cost somewhere in the neighborhood of $150, so I left ring still in hand, dejected and disappointed that I couldn't get the ring fixed at this time.

About a week later, my mom suggested I go over to Cedar Park Jewelry after seeing their ad in Community Impact Newspaper. I spoke to Denise's manager at work to find out who handled that account, hoping to use their name as a reference in getting a good deal. It turned out to be the other girl that teams with Denise to handle the Leander/Cedar Park paper that works with CP Jewelry, but at least I still could use the connection.

I walked in and spoke with George, the owner, who was as nice as could be. After talking a bit, I mentioned my connection to the paper and he raved on and on about what a good job they do. He told me, he could fix the ring as good as new for $125 and have it ready in two days! Needless to say, I left the ring with him and walked out happy that I chose local over the big national chains, something I think we all need to do more of.

Two days later, George himself called me back and said it was ready to pick up. When I got there that afternoon, the work he did was as good as advertised. It looked just like a bought it 6 years earlier!

So came the task of keeping this a secret until this past weekend so I could give this to her as an 5 year anniversary gift. I felt kind of weird giving her something she already had as a gift, but I figured with that, plus a weekend stay in Fredericksburg, I'd make out ok. I had almost a month to keep this a secret and it went great until last week. She suddenly thought of Cedar Park Jewelry too and wanted to take it up there to have them check it out. She panicked when she couldn't find the ring, I just played it off that I didn't know where it was and always tried to find something else to occupy her attention. Friday morning she started searching in our bedroom closet, where I hid it amongst my clothes. I got her out of there before she started going through my section. Later on that morning she called me while I was at work, she had to go up to the Jewelry store to drop some paperwork off and she wanted to bring the ring up there. I told her "let's just wait until after this weekend to see how we were looking money-wise." I could tell she was disappointed.

Finally Friday evening, after we settled in Fredericksburg, I pulled out the "new" ring and she was so happy to have it back and so relieved to know she hadn't lost it. So the morale of the story....BUY LOCAL, help the economy of your neighborhood not the pocketbooks of corporate America.

its been awhile

Well its been way too long since I have written anything. Life has been so busy lately that priorities have become well....priority. This time of the year is always jam packed with things to do and not enough time to do it all. It started a few years ago with weddings and pageants and while those are all done with it hasn't gotten any easier. These days its filled with work, injuries, and weekend getaways. Here is what you missed out on:

• May 23-25: Memorial Day weekend
• May 29-31: Denise took a trip to Dallas with Jaden while I got a quiet weekend and also attended a few birthday parties.
• June 3-7: I took a trip to San Fran to visit my great friends, Ryan and Bryn. We've been lucky enough to see each other usually about once a year even though we life so far a part. This was an impromptu trip thanks to Southwest having a great special. I made great use of it and had a blast. I even got lucky enough to get bumped on my flight out there, taking an hour later flight in exchange for $287 worth of travel vouchers so we can take another trip somewhere soon!
• June 13: Round Rock Express game!
• June 20: we are going to Burnet for a family reunion on my mom's side. We are definitely closer to my dad's side of the family, but for one weekend a year we hang out with the Dickens clan for a good time. Complete with BBQ, swimming, and laughs. If you want to hear good ol' country folk, this is the event for you.
• June 26-28: Denise and I will be celebrating our 5th wedding anniversary and taking a "romantic" trip to Fredericksburg sans Jaden, who will be spending the weekend with nana and papa. We booked a bed & breakfast out there and will enjoy a weekend away.
• July 4th: we got a bevy of options that we will be looking into. If it were me, I'd pick staying in town and enjoying time with friends, bbq, and fireworks.

So all this in addition to life has made for an exciting summer. Denise had a disaster with a chiropractor, my dad found out the pain he's been dealing with for a few months is actually two herniated discs in his lower back and is scheduled for surgery next week. We found out that Jaden might be allergic to peanuts. And work has been interesting. We now have 2 weeks left in the quarter and we have yet to receive a quota which is both shocking and not shocking knowing how Sony works. This is all while I have taken on a new territory that was left in shambles and a trainwreck by the guy before me.

Ok well that shall do it for now... I do have an awesome story about buying local but that has to wait a few more weeks for reasons that I can't discuss now...

playtime!

Easter weekend

I haven't had much lately to discuss, so sorry for the delay. We had a great Easter. Friday night we spent celebrating my brother's 23rd birthday with a crawfish boil. Saturday we did Easter with Denise's family and that night we headed over to the County Line for her brother's (Jeff) 40th birthday. Sunday after church we headed over to my parents for an Easter egg hunt and lunch over there. I was definitely grateful we were able to split this all up over the weekend, usually we try to fit this all in in one day and it doesn't end pretty!

Here is video of the Easter fesitivies at the Terry household. Video from the Seiler's to follow soon!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FpLTS7Hh5CU



And Easter at the Seiler's

Jaden's Haircut

We decided to give a haircut to Jaden last night. It suddenly became shorter than we expected! His previous haircuts were a little difficult, he'd either cry or try to grab the clippers, or they would scare him. This time he was great. He thought the buzzer tickled his neck and stood still for the most part.

Baking

So Denise got this wondeful idea to bake a cake the other night. She always has been a good cook. She decided on this colorful "funfetti" cake that is always delicious. But unfortunately a minor error at the beginning brought bigger consequences. She put the mixture into a square glass dish instead of the rectangular dish it asked for on the box. When she took it out of the oven, the outsides were done but the insides were pretty mushy. We decided to move it to the proper dish and try to keep cooking it.

it actually turned out pretty good. Because we cooked it longer, the outsides were pretty crispy but the insides were perfect, just not in traditional "cake" form. I still enjoyed it.

From the weekend...

10 things I have learned since becoming a dad

1. Everyone tells you how quickly it goes by, but you have no idea how quick until you get there. Time flies by!
2. The greatest thrill is watching them learn, explore, and discover something. Whether it be their his fingers, a ball, or to crawl. And those "firsts" are 10x cooler than you can imagine.
3. When getting him undressed for a bath and setting him in the tub always make sure his "tail" is facing away from you!
4. Its a chore to go anywhere, you always have to plan ahead and schedule your time, especially around naps. Don't forget: foods, diapers, bottles, clothes, you could go on and on.
5. No matter what, your kid is always going to get scared by someone and its embarrassing and funny at the same time. Hopefully its not a grandparent or something like that, because that is no fun!
6. The Video Monitor is the coolest thing ever, so much peace!
7. There's always competition. Between cousins and friends, it always seems there is pressure to make sure Jaden is progressing along.
8. Dinner time is fun if you can get past the mess. Watching them learn new foods (especially early on) is classic camcorder moments. But it always ends up in a mess and bibs are utterly pointless!
9. Every day I say something that I know my dad said 25 years ago. And Denise always calls me out on it!
10. The best feeling, bar none, is hugs!