proud to be my mother’s daughter =)

Last week Wednesday, I went to pull some ice out of the freezer for my water before going to bed around 10p and realized that the ice was soaking wet (slightly odd)! Upon further investigation, I realized that 1/2 of our freezer was defrosted and the rest was thawing fast. *a bit of background… the few weeks before the incident, our fridge was making odd noises at decreasing intervals and the day before the melt-down, the noises were occurring about ever two minutes.

We called our neighbors across the street (yes at 10pm!!) and they were able to take most of the freezer items. Thursday, the repair man came out and replaced the relay (which we thought might be the problem) which should have started the compressor, but failed. He gave me the bad news that because the compressor was bad… that means buying a new fridge. Bugger. The repair man suggested buying a Whirlpool and going to this scratch and dent store near by before going to Lowe’s to try and find a discounted one. (remember… we’re both Dutch so a deal is like finding gold!) We went to the store Thursday after work and picked out an Amana fridge which I loved. It was delivered Friday and installed.

It was the most noisy fridge I have ever heard!

I could hear it upstairs in my house. I called the store back and said this is not acceptable…  they offered to send out a repair man on Monday to try and fix it. Monday came and the repair man said there was nothing wrong with it, that it was just a loud fridge… great! we had just spend over (fridge, tax and deliver) $1,100 on a new fridge and it was loud!

Upon much thought and review, we decided to call and see if they would exchange the fridge for a different model and they agreed. We went in to pick out a new one on Wednesday of this week and the sales guy Greg knew our situation and was showing us this Whirlpool Gold model on the floor. I really liked it but w/o tax and delivery fee it was about 300$ more than we paid before. Mike said that was too much and I agreed. I told Greg, “this fridge is more than we paid for initially” and he said it was no problem and he would sell this one to us for the same price as the other and therefore do an even exchange. WHOOO HOO!! This second new fridge is a Gold model whatever that means and retails at like $2200. It had some major scratches on the handle but  Greg ordered us a new one free of charge! so not only was it discounted, we got new handles come in =) and we got it out the door for around $1100.

Here she is!! She was installed yesterday and she runs like a dream! super quiet

 

 

 

 

 

 

It pays to be persistent and hunt for a deal. We did not go out looking to swindle a deal like that but are totally fine with the results for sure =) and are satisfied with the product and outcome.

**Note: My mother is the master of all deals. She once got a patio furniture set (let’s say for example sake.. I don’t remember the exact figures) that retailed at $2500 marked down to 1500$ but asked for it to be discounted more because it was the floor model and hand some dings on it. After going round and round with the manager who wasn’t coming off the price much and mom offering around $800, the manager said… take it for $500… that’s my final offer!! Mom wasn’t even bidding that low! But let me tell you, she took the deal before he could change his mind. And after purchasing it, she even asked them to hold it for another week so she could come back and pick it up! thanks for the training mom!!

Summertime fun

Here are some pictures of what we’ve been up to on the weekends out on the lake.

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I even officially surfed behind the boat! let go of the rope and rode the wave for quite some time =) Pretty exciting! Next stop Hawaii!! (ok not really)

weekend with the fam in the mountains

So we spent last weekend in the Mountains of NC near Lake Lure with the family.  We stayed on the north tip of the lake on a smaller lake and enjoyed the amenities of the “resort:” a pool, beach front to lake lure and wish we had been able to play the putt putt course.

It was a great time hanging out at local restaurants, playing games in the evening, chatting on the screened in back porch, enjoying the dock and watching Avi chase bugs and fish and sticks and just mindlessly romp in the water. We even had the chance on Sunday of going to a river near by and “rock jumping.” Basically the river (its not more than 20 feet across and you can probably still touch at the deepest parts) has large rocks all in and around and through it. So we explored and climbed and slide down a few “rapids” areas and came out unharmed! It was so much fun for sure.

The trip was to celebrate my Mom’s birthday as well as my cousin Jesse’s and just to spend quality family time together. Here are some pictures from the weekend. Enjoy!

 

top row from left to right: my mom, papa, mike, jesse (and phil was working at the red roofed hotel behind)

front row: sandy, me, oma, and kristen

 

 

 

this is the view from Sandy/Phil and Oma/Papa’s new properties up over Lake Lure. On a clear day (not picture b/c its off to the left more) you can see Chimney Rock!

 

 

the family =)

 

 

and the cake is below!

 

Bunnies are friends, not food (or are they?)

(reference to Finding Nemo)

So I guess all that the little innocent Avi needed was a little encouragement. Here’s what happened.

 

Mike let Avi out in the back yard to her last business trip of the night last week. Mike saw some beady eyes in the yard (a teenaged bunny as described to me). The bunny saw Avi and Mike and began a slow hop to safety but then stopped and changed directions. Mike whispered three simple words, “go get it” and Avi sprung into action! She snatched up that bunny and tossed it into the air as if it was her Tigger toy and began playing with it. Mike thought, “Katie’s going to kill me.” Mike then told Avi to leave it and after a nice pee in the yard, she came inside. The bunny did not survive the incident.

 

Mike then confessed to me about the event and with a heavy heart… I told him he must burry the bunny in the morning. The next morning when he went out to perform the ceremony, he noticed that the dead bunny did not suffer any from Avi’s gentle playing.

 

So is it a good or bad thing that she snatched the bunny? I guess she did save my veggie patch from its eating habits (even though I have veggies coming out of my eyeballs).

 

**sorry the blogging is behind! I will do my best to post from this weekend’s trip to the mountains soon!**

swim…bike…AND…run!!

Just wanted to share a few stories from our first triathlon this past weekend.

I was a nervous wreck the night before and the morning of the race. And Mike was totally fine. Now when we got to the race and started to set up, my nerves totally quit and I was ready to go. Mike was the opposite and that’s when he started to get nervous.

So here’s how it goes… First you set up your transition area with all the gear you will need for switching between the Swim and Bike and the Bike and Run. Then all the racers get lined up in swim time order. So basically you swim with people about your same speed. We all jump in the pool 3 seconds apart so it allows for space between each person and not TOO much swimming on top of each other. I was further back in line than Mike who’s swim time put him around top 10 of the racers! It was neat being able to see him finish his swim before I got in the pool.

So I got in the water and was pleased to note that I did not get passed in the water nor did I pass which means I had placed myself well within my time. After finishing 8 lengths of the pool, I got out of the and ran down barefoot to the transition area where I began preparing for the bike. I put on my bike shoes, helmet, got some water and set out to start the 6.5mile bike.

The bike was successful and I had to make sure not to push myself too crazy hard so that I had energy left for the run! It was a great ride and although I got passed some, I knew that I was making good time from where I thought I would be in practice. (I had a stop watch on and was able to pace myself that way!) The “dismount” from the bike is always tricky esp. with clip in shoes… see previous bike story =)

I then headed into the transition area one more time to switch from the bike to the run. Let me tell you that when you first get off the bike and switch to running… you look like a baby giraffe trying to walk for the first time. Your legs just don’t work right. I was pretty tired heading into the run and of course the first stretch is uphill. I told myself just to keep running. Then..you know on TV if you’ve ever watched a race you see them get water while running and stuff… well its not as easy to drink and run at the same time. Mike and I both about choked on our water!! I definitely was sputtering!

Well I was still pacing myself well and was hoping to finish the race under 1 hour. I finished off strong and almost at a dead sprint and was pleased to discover my time was 53:53!!! I was so excited to not only beat my goal but by quite a bit! I also finished 3rd in my age group out of six racers and Mike finished 7 out of 12 in his age group with a time of 47:08! I won a mug for my 3rd place finish.

Here are some pictures!

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We’re planning to do our next on on August 7! Can’t wait. Its going to be a 200m swim, 9mi Bike, 3.1 mi run… a little longer than the last one but we’re pumped!