ShannonAlbert.com - June 2009

Day 1 @ Disney - dining @ Chef Mickey's

we'll be off to the airport for our Disney vacation! Payton and I had a girls' evening together and had Chinese food for dinner. My fortune said "You are going to take a vacation." Why, yes, I am! I'll be posting a picture a day while we're gone and then will have a full report when we return. See you then!

So the last time I posted about the house, it appeared that we were done w/that house (and we might still be) but the sellers surprised us by coming back and saying they'd make the repairs. Wait, if they have money, why weren't they maintaining the house better in the first place or even better....why weren't they making their house payments? They want to use their own contractors to do the work and our realtor has some personal experience w/some of the contractors and it didn't work out well. So they are basically trying to make the repairs for as little as possible so they will appear to be ok but we doubt they'd be done correctly.

The sellers and realtor have a lot on the line. If this sale doesn't go through, the realtor loses commissions and the sellers will go into foreclosure. While that's terrible for them, it's not our responsibility to make sure it goes through.

Andy and I are still in discussions about it and will post an update when we have one.

On the job front, I had 3 hours of interviews w/the ad agency that went well. Some people apologized for the interrogation style interview since there were so many people throwing questions my way. The people were nice, smart and it felt really good. The main guy that I've been dealing with is out on business right now but I'm hoping to hear back from them sometime this week.

I ran a mile today! Anybody reading this probably already knows that I have very severe asthma and running is hard for asthmatics. I workout 6 days a week and do cardio and weightlifting each time but I typically vary the intensity throughout the workout which works very well for an asthmatic. Occasionally I try to just jog/run to see how far I can go and today? A whole mile! I'm beaming so much because it's not something I ever, ever thought I'd be able to do.

Funny thing is that I called Kami (marathon runner who sometimes runs 18 miles on a weekend jog for training) and she was just as excited as I was knowing my history. Next goal: running a mile fast enough to compete in the mile race w/Andy's family next year!

We had the inspection today. I went in thinking "it's going to take a lot for me to say we won't buy this house" and well.....we got a LOT of negative news from the inspector. To the tune of around $20k. Our last ditch effort is to ask the bank to pay for some of the repairs. It's not all that likely and it's not likely to happen in a timely manner. We may be renting by next week or soon thereafter. We'll keep you posted.

If all goes as planned (inspection goes fine tomorrow, appraisal comes back in time, etc.), we will be closing on our house on Tuesday! We'll have a busy next couple of weeks:
9/19 - inspection
9/21 - 3 hours of interviews for me
9/25 - close on house
9/26 - parent/teacher conferences for Blake
9/27 - Blake and I leave for WDW

All good things going on but just a lot happening all at once. Wish us luck that everything goes according to plan!

Today was the last day of the Kansas State Fair so despite the heat, we headed out.

A sand sculpture that reflects the fair's "Hang with the Hogs" theme this year...


A ride on the mini-train. The kids rode several rows ahead of us....


Then we took a ride on the Sky Ride which was like a ski lift that crossed over the fairgrounds. Blake was terrified but loved it and wanted to go on it again. Boys rode in front of us...




Then, just as our sky ride was going over the race track, a race started! I've been going to sprint car races my whole life because my mom loves them and they are so loud and this made me so happy! Payton asked if the wings were for solar power....oh....to be a child in this century. ;)


And then a modified race started...(this sky ride was long!)



Ok, off the sky ride and onto Payton getting a henna tatoo...


While the boys cool off in the shade with a drink...


What better way to end a day at the fair than with a pig race!


Overall, it was on ok day and the kids did well despite not sleeping much the night before and the high temps. It wasn't as nice or fun as the Texas State Fair but it was nice to get out and do something fun for a few hours.