Lots of Changes

Oh, boy.  Lots of changes.  Not so sure where to go with this blog.  Gotta think about it.  Yep. Evasive.

What to do?

Will get back with you.

Happy Fall, Yall

Bama football is doing good.  So far we are undefeated and have a bye week today.  Last weekend we played Ole Miss and they challenged us more than any other team.  Unfortunately, we had some injuries and two are season ending. 

We went to my high school's homecoming game last night.  Ugh.  When we left at the beginning of the fourth quarter it was 51-0.  So sad.  Maybe basketball will be better.

We had the pool cover put on last weekend and it looks so sad.  We really want to enjoy the pool more next summer.  We really had a few weeks this summer by the time the concrete yahoos finished.  We are now in the process of bringing in all the pool furniture and cleaning it.  We also need to find room in the basement for the supplies, furniture, and accessories.  We really hope to paint and complete the bathroom part of the basement this winter.  Within two years we want to have it completed with cabinets and such.

A few weeks ago we attended a required adoption "seminar" for domestic adoption.  Really glad that is done and we don't ever have to sit through that again.

The Niece has started kindergarten and absolutely loves it.  I am still amazed how much she loves it.  I am so glad.  She is learning to read and that thrills her.  She is making friends and enjoying the social aspect, too.

Gas prices have dropped to about $3.49.  Still scary.

We had the first presidential debate the other night.  Turns out the good guy won!!  Now he just needs to win the big contest in November.

 Well, time to get ready for a whole of of SEC football.  We are smoking two tenderloins on the Big Green Egg today.  Each marinated in totally different seasonings.  Can't wait to try them.

Happy Fall.
Tide Gal

Let's Play Football!!

We were able to go to Cowboys Stadium for the Alabama vs Michigan game.  It started off great, but Bama just blew them away and the second half was a bit boring.  The stadium is nice, but we were in the end zone and had no restrooms on our floor.  Yep.  Really.  A billion dollar complex and we had to go down stairs for restrooms.  And the only food for sale on our floor was corn dogs.  Honestly, I was floored.    And, they sold out of Alabama t-shirts.  Right now we are undefeated.  Also, our biggest competitive teams are falling apart.  Arkansas's quarterback is hurt.  LSU may lose four players due to grades.  And Auburn has lost their first two games and may be in the mist of a NCAA investigation in regards to grades being changed.  Are we on the road to a National Championship?  #15??

Our embassy in Libya was invaded and our ambassador was dragged into the streets and murdered.  Awful.  Lots of political aspects that I just won't address here.  Sadness.

The pool season is just about over.  We have had several cool nights and the water temperature is just too cold to enjoy. We have ordered a cover, but the leaves are falling already.

Last night we went to see Elton John.  A-M-A-Z-I-N-G.  He sang for 2 1/2 hours.  No drum solo, no guitar solo, and no useless talk.  Just singing the classics.  I would say everyone had a wonderful time.

Tide Gal

Roll Tide

We are off today for Alabama's first football game of the season.  We play Michigan at Cowboy Stadium in Arlington, Texas.  We will fly and now will have to possibly fly around Hurricane Isaac.  Lovely.  It should be a great game.

This could be another great season for us.  Some "experts" have predicted we could win another National Championship.  We will see in a few months.

The Olympics ended and the US did great.  We ended up with more medals and more gold medals than any other country.

Gas prices are going up.  I think it is about $3.59 or more a gallon.  Ugh.  Nuff said.

This is not a lot of information or much detail, but I have a plane to catch. 

Roll Tide,
Tide Gal

More Updates

We got our fingerprints done on Tuesday, May 28.  This is our last fingerprints in this program.  Not sure where we are headed now.  Hm....

The 2012 Summer Olympics in London are in full force now.  We are having a blast watching them, but having a problem staying awake late to watch the best events.

We are starting to get ready for football season.  We should have a decent team and our first game is against Michigan in Arlington, TX at the big house.  Should be fun.

More later....
Tide Gal

Pool Update

Well, I looked at my blog and realized some of the posts as far as the pool timeline are gone.  Yep.  Not sure what happened.  All of June seems to be gone.  It may be a good thing because our concrete guys were a bunch of yahoos and jar heads.  Not days I really want to remember.  The first company was here for six (6!!!!) weeks.  They should have needed 2, maybe 3, weeks.  Disgusting.  Then as they tried to repair major mistakes, they would destroy something else.  It was a never ending process.  So, we fired them.  Period.  Do not come back.

Fast forward three weeks and we have a new company on site to do repairs.  Things started going in the same directions.  Like, it started good, then they got sloppy.  The day they should have finished I left for thirty minutes.  I had told them certain things that needed repaired, fixed, or cleaned before they left.  They were gone when I got back. Thirty minutes?  Really?  They had finished what they were working on, pressured washed, packed up, and were GONE!! Thirty minutes.  Yep.   I couldn't believe it.  And, I had completely wasted my breath because they did nothing I had told them to do.  Needless to say I was hot and not happy.  Tide Guy called the owner, gave him some really bad news and told him they better return or they wouldn't get paid one cent.  The owner was not happy to say the least.  But he did show up the next day with the same crew.  He called Tide Guy and told him he now understood why we were upset.  He would now be at our house and make sure everything got done correctly.  It took them another week.  So, we had concrete guys at our house for 4 months.  This job should have taken three weeks at the longest.

We are enjoying the pool.  We still need to put up a fence and lay sod around the area.  We also need to complete the patio with a ceiling, lights, and fans. 

Tide Gal

Prep Work

The concrete guys are here right now.  Two guys are working on the coping and the other two are preparing the ground for concrete.  It looks like they are doing a good job.  I'm not sure when the head guy is returning, but so far I'm happy with their work so far.  I hope they are done by the end of the week.

The Niece got the game ball at her game last night.  She played third base and did very good.  She got out four runners by catching a grounder and tagging her base.  They lost again, but the coach told them if they had fun then they won.  So, they all think they won the game.  So far, they have lost every game, and actually only got close in one. 

We have not received a notice for a new fingerprint date yet.  I mailed in the form last week, so maybe we will hear something in a few days.
Gas prices are dropping a little at a time.  Yea!  But we will take it.

Tide Gal

Just Too Cold

Yesterday, The Niece came over to swim.  Boy, was the water cold.  She finally got in and stayed about an hour.  She had fun, but it was just too cold. 

Thursday night her preschool graduation was fun to watch.   She did well and got her diploma.

We are supposed to get rain for the next few days, so I'm not sure about the concrete time line.

Tide Gal

No Concrete, No Fingerprints

The concrete guys came on Monday.  However, the lead guy will be out of town for about a week due to his grandmother's illness.  He turned over the job to another guy and told me he would make sure the new guy knew and understood everything before they left for the day.  I relayed the information to Tide Guy.  Later, Tide Guy spoke with the owner and told him we would like to wait for the lead guy to return before completing the job.  The lead guy is amazing, understands what needs to be done, and runs a tight ship.  This is a one time deal for us.  Once things are done, they can't be redone.  So, we will wait for him.  They did return Tuesday to do some forming and used a bobcat to level some areas.  Unfortunately, Tide Guy realized last night that in the process of leveling, they pushed excess dirt and rock over a sump pump line. Not only did they bury the line, they pushed over the stake marking the pipe.  If we had gotten a lot of rain this pipe could have backed up into the basement and flooded it.  So, last night, Tide Guy had find the buried pipe and dig it out.  Tide Guy was not happy. We hope the lead guy will be back on Monday or early next week to get this job done.  We are ready to have concrete around the pool rather than gravel, dirt and mud.

Our fingerprint appointment was this morning.  Yesterday, Tide Guy mentioned how he wasn't sure how he would be able to break away from work for a few hours for the appointment.  After a few hours of research I was able to contact someone and was told I could mail in the form and get a new appointment at a later time.  It will probably be in a few weeks. 

The Niece graduates from preschool this evening.  She is so excited.  Mostly that she won't have to go there and do "rest time" anymore.  Rest time is putting heads on the table for 15 minutes during the day.  The only problem she ever had at preschool was this rest time.  Last year she got in trouble for not keeping her head down for the whole time or making noises during this time.  I finally got her to admit she was afraid during this time because the lights were off.  With that said, I don't know how she will handle "rest time" at kindergarten which is longer and on a mat on the floor.  She thinks she has it all figured out.  She will tell us she does not have to close her eyes and she can hold her head up.  I have a feeling this may end up with some funny and interesting stories.

Tide Gal

Let's Swim

Saturday afternoon I added all the salt to the pool and a few hours later the pool guy arrived to all the chemicals.  We were ready to swim the next day.  We did not swim as we were preparing for the concrete guys to come today and worked until after 7 pm.  We had to pull wires through conduit for the lights in the steps, clean under the deck, and various other tasks.  The concrete guys are to begin preparing the area underneath the deck.  Unfortunately we are supposed to get a lot of rain tomorrow and possibly today, so the work will stop for a day or so.

We go Thursday to have our fingerprints done for the last update until we travel to China.  We are doing our last free update just in case China changes and allows us to follow the same path we are now on.  If not, in 18 months we will be forced to change to the I-800.  Also on Thursday is The Niece's preschool graduation.

Gas prices are dropping a bit and at our local gas pump, the price is $3.55.

Tide Gal

The Pool is Full

Yes!! The pool is full. Water ran about 4 1/2 days. Of course, we haven't had rain in a few weeks, but woke this morning to rain. I wish the rain had come earlier when we were filling the pool.

The electrician is coming this afternoon to look at what he needs to do. Friday he will hook up the pump, lights, and do a few other things. On Saturday the pool guy returns to start the pump, add the salt, and get things going.

The concrete guy came and everything will be brought up to our standards. His crew will return on Monday (weather permitting) to begin forming for the decking and area underneath the deck.

Tide Gal

Cosmetic Surgery

After looking at the newly poured edge we realize it isn't exactly what we want.  We paid a lot of extra money for this look.  We will have to have some cosmetic surgery done on it to get it to our standards.  The concrete guy is coming tomorrow to look at what is done and plan the changes.

The pool now has about 4 inches of water in the shallow end.  We have turned off the water and now the pool guy will return to make sure the liner has no wrinkles and is lined up correctly.

Tide Gal

H two O

Well, the coping concrete got poured.  Then the forms were removed.  After some issues with the bands used for the forms, the pool-crete was put on the bottom.  The concrete guys returned Saturday morning to remove the bands.  The pool guy now has the liner in and water is going in!!  Sounds good, right?  Except when the bands were removed, the underneath of the edge of the concrete coping which overhangs the pool are now very pitty, uneven, crumbling, and has big holes in it.  The concrete guys says he can repair it by filling it.  Of course, the fill won't be exactly the same color.  So, I am not sure how that is going to look. 

So, yes.  We now have water.  The pool guys told us we have low water pressure.  The water has been running just over 12 hours and the hole isn't even half full.  Tide Guy just put a second hose in the pool to see if that would help. 

Yesterday, I went to a funeral of our tailgate friend, Terry.  He was 87 and the first one of our group I meet.  What a great man.  He was a high school football coach and some members of his teams were there.  They loved him so. 

Tide Gal

Straightened Out

The pool guy came yesterday afternoon and dug down into several spots in the gravel.  He turned some things which straightened the walls.  The gravel was pushed back into place.  Now, the coping forms can be placed on the walls and they will be straight when the concrete is poured into them.  The guys are coming to install the forms this morning and should pour the concrete tomorrow.

Freak out over.

Tide Gal

Uh Oh!!

So, the concrete guys show to install the coping of the pool.  Turns out the edge of the pools shifted with the installation of the gravel.  After a fairly major freak out, they left and now I am waiting on the pool guy to show.  He can do some adjustments to straighten the walls and we will be ready for the concrete guys again.

Agh!!
Tide Gal

I-600 Paperwork Mailed for the Last Time

Well, I mailed our China adoption paperwork for our last renewal.  Well, the I-600 renewal.  Once approved, it will be valid for 18 months and we will get an appointment for fingerprinting.  After the 18 months, if we are not matched things will change.  At the current rate of approvals, 18 months will be a few years short!!  So, we will then have to begin approvals in a different way called the I-800.  This process is much more invasive.  We will have to provide more referrals and information on every single place we have lived since birth.  Tide Guy was in the military for 20 years and I was a military spouse for 10 years.  We have no idea how difficult it will be to complete the paperwork with all the moves.  We will have to have contacts for all these places.  Really?  Come on.  In many cases, any contacts have moved on long ago.  I think we also have to confirm through the local sheriff's office that we do not have a criminal record there.  So, I don't know how that will work out.  Luckily, once the 18 months are over, we do not have to renew our paperwork immediately.  This new process only has to be completed just before our referral.  We also will not have to renew fingerprints until that time, too.

So, there we are.

More Things Done....

The gravel was delivered yesterday. The truck's back wheels kept spinning in the mud trying to get out of the lot. Ugh. There are mud tire tracks all the way to the end of our road. I know the neighbors love driving through our red mud tracks. Today the pool guy is coming with his bobcat to spread this last load of gravel. He will prepare part of the surface for the concrete. I think the concrete will be here on Monday. We are supposed to get a lot of rain tomorrow and Saturday, so we'll see how that turns out.

Well, I have to go buy some hay to put on the tracks in the lot and temporary drive which now is muddy.

Tide Gal

Rain

Well, the gravel was never delivered on Monday....or Tuesday. It is supposed to be delivered today before noon. Okay....we'll see. Oh, and we have had rain for two days. The delivery truck should really tear up our lot. Lovely. The electrician did come on Monday and ground the pool. The bobcat is supposed to be here tomorrow to spread the last load of gravel. Due to the gravel disaster we had to put off the concrete guy a few days. Hopefully he can come and get that done before the rain returns on Friday.

I have all the paperwork complete for our extension for the China adoption. I just need to get Tide Guy to sign the papers and mail them. This will be the first time we got them in the mail without having to do some kind of express mailing due to waiting until the last minute.

Tide Gal

5-6-7

Well, the backhoe guy came Saturday. Tide Guy estimated we needed 5 loads of gravel for back fill, so we ordered 6. Turns out we needed 7!! Ugh. Waiting today for another load. However, just before finishing on Saturday one of the bobcat's hoses broke. Now, we have to wait on spreading the gravel until that is repaired. Of course, it is now pouring rain and should rain into tomorrow. Our temporary drive and lot will be muddy and torn to pieces with the gravel delivery and heavy trucks entering.

The concrete guy is planning to come Wednesday and begin the concrete around the pool. We are still planning the layout and we are hoping the concrete guy can provide some help with ideas.

The retaining wall is done and so is the planter. The pipes are run for the pump and the electrician is supposed to come today to ground the wiring. Not sure how that will work with the rain.

Oh, and we will not be getting water in the pool tomorrow. I don't know where I got that, but we might get water next week. Maybe.

Tide Gal

Pool Update

Well, the retaining wall and new (huge) planter would be done if the bobcat didn't have a flat tire. TWICE! Yep. Had one early in the day. Got replaced. Then another goes down a few hours later. They tried to fill with air, but it didn't work. They should complete their job today and be gone. All the walls look good, but I'll be glad when I don't have to think about the huge retaining wall that costs an arm and a leg.

The plumbing has been installed on the pool and the lights were put in yesterday. The backhoe guy is coming Saturday to do some back fill and we may have water in 5 days.

Tide Gal