The fence is finished! Hooray!

I left for work on Tuesday morning and this is what the backyard looked like:

I came home on Tuesday afternoon and this is what it looked like:

And by Wednesday, the fence was finished! Its great and much more private than the chain link! They fixed the portion of the wall that was damaged and added a layer to the existing wall. Very nice:

Now we need our gates put up! Nick was nice enough to bring them down:

And then we'll need a little landscaping....

Farewell Aunt Gen

I got some sad news this week. My Great Aunt Gen has died. Aunt Gen was 93 and in recent years she suffered from Alzheimer's dementia, but I will always remember her as part of a duo. She and my Great Aunt Jessie spent their entire lives together. Neither married, and they lived and worked together for most of their lives. Aunt Jessie passed away several years ago and I think that Aunt Gen wasn't the same without her.

When I was young they lived fairly close and came to visit for holidays with my Grandpa and Uncle Ted. I remember the big hugs and how they doted on me and my brothers. I also remember when we all went out for pizza one night, but we had to rush home so Jessie and Gen could watch an important episode of Dallas! And the Christmas they sat giggling on our couch reading "Real Men don't Eat Quiche" and drinking wine.

I fondly remember spending two weeks with them one summer when my parents and my brothers went on a trip to look at colleges in the west. My aunts took me to see the musical Peter Pan and to a Fourth of July parade. I realize now what a change it was for them to have a 10 year old living with them for two weeks. They taught me to knit those two weeks. I made a small blanket to use for my dolls. It was pink and my aunts really made most of it, but its a nice memento of that stay. I still have it.

The first picture is of Jessie and Gen with my parents at my wedding. I always appreciated that fact that they and Uncle Ted made the trip to see me get married. Jessie is in the ivory and Gen is in the blue. Its a big trip from Illinois to Arizona when you're in your 80's. The second picture is of Aunt Gen a few years ago. I'm a little ashamed that its the last time I saw her. It was so hard that she didn't really remember who I was.

Rest in peace Aunt Gen. and Aunt Jessie. I miss you. I hope you're both on a couch in heaven watching Dallas, or drinking wine and giggling!

Our new Fence! Finally!

We are so very excited that they started putting in our new block fence today!! The chain link will soon be gone and we will have a lovely (and private) wall in its place. Check out the pictures Rob took today:
I know it doesn't look like much, but it will be soon! I'll keep you posted!

Happy New Year! (and a little ranting)

Happy New Year!!!! I can't believe its 2010!

I took a little break from the blogging, but I'm back! I've been working quite a bit these past few weeks. I have a new job and I'm trying to wrap my head around all the new stuff on my plate.

Anyway- Here's an interesting story. I've always been a Target shopper. I like Target better than Walmart. When the time came to order some gifts for my nephews for Christmas I turned to Target on-line. I selected and paid for two toys and had them gift wrapped and shipped to my nephews. The packages arrived and my sister in law placed the wrapped presents under the tree for the boys. Chrsitmas morning arrived and my first nephew opened his present and was delighted with his toy. My second nephew opens up his present, says "Oh." and tosses it aside. He was already on to the next gift when my brother said- "Hey- what was that gift?" My nephew says "I don't know. It has a bug on it."

Turns out Target wrapped and sent my nephew a screen cover for a garage door!!! My nephew handled it pretty well. Thank goodness! I could have been responsible for long lasting Christmas morning trauma!

So I called Target customer service. They were the most unhelpful people. Their 'solution' to the problem was to give me my money back. I didn't really care about the money- I wanted my nephew to get his gift. All I got was "Sorry. That item is out of stock. Can we help you place another order?"

No! I want you to FIX the order! I barely even got an apology.

It ended up that my brother and my nephew went to Target and returned the garage door screen. They were given a credit for the amount of the gift. (Turns out the bar code sticker stuck on the garage door screen was actually for the toy I ordered.) So my nephew will get to pick out his own toy.

But I will not be ordering from Target on-line again!! Buyer beware!!!