Out with the sheep and in with the corn

How to start? Well, Joe and I were getting a little tired of waiting for the sheep farm so we thought we would expand our circle of interest. On Friday we toured a few places and found a new place to hang our dreams. It's on M-57 just East of Showboat Autosales and it's just beautiful. The house isn't really in the best part of the property and we are trying to figure out what's the best plan for the future. Sell the house and a small amount of land, rent it out, see if our house in town sells first. There are a lot of variables but the possibility to build our own home farther back on the property is an amazing dream that didn't even exist before we stepped on the premises. The 5 bedroom farmhouse was built in 1909 and last updated around 1960, but it has a lot of character. There are 2 barns, a garage and a rental house on one side of the front and a wide open space that opens up to the back and 14 acres of woods. The big red barn is by far the coolest and my mother-in-law is already ready to plan a party in it. (sheesh, Greenfelders!)

We got the call today at 3:10 that our offer was accepted and so in a couple of weeks we are going to have to figure out what's going where and what we need to start working on, painting on, cleaning up. The kids went out and saw it today and were really excited, but a little confused. "So we're buying it but not living in it? huh?" Brendan actually said "It's like an adventure, isn't it?" So true baby. Life is never dull and just when you think you've figured out what you want a nicer, cheeper piece of excitement comes your way.

Canon Saves the Week!

This post is brought to you by the nice people at Canon Cameras! Thanks to them this week is not a total loss. I sent my poor tired camera to Canon on Monday via UPS and today they emailed me the situation. $107.00 to fix my 8 month old camera. YIKES! I was, to say the least, a little bummed, but the people at Canon have yet to let me down so I took another turn at the 1-800 crap shoot and dialed up the service department. One of the things I have liked about this company is their employees who talk on the phones speak, well, American. I've quit using all hp products because their tech support is as easy to understand as the speaker in the drive thru at Burger King.

A very nice rep listened to my tragic tale of 2 cameras.... same error message.... 8 months apart... I spent $127.00 in December.... She was sympathetic and put me on hold for a few muzak seconds to speak with her supervisor. I didn't even have to ask her to. Then the happy news! They will replace my camera at no cost as a one time courtesy. Alleluia! There are companies out there who still care if you are a loyal customer and want to do the right thing! A few minutes later I received email confirmation of this same fact. So I made myself this promise right then. Make sure they get the thanks and credit they deserve.

There are a LOT of digital cameras out there, and there are probably some a TON nicer then the one I have, but I think service makes the sale every time. So if you are thinking about getting a digital camera anytime soon, might I suggest a dependable Canon?

Hope Springs Eternal

My first experience with Microsoft tech support went pretty well. I told Jason, the tech guy, "I'm much more of Mac girl, but don't tell anyone." He replied "I hate Steve Jobs". I tried to stop the next words but through my bitten lip said "Well, Bill Gates isn't my favorite either." Thank goodness Jason took it all in stride and maybe figured, she's just cranky 'cause her kid's computer game won't work. But I'm a little afraid I may have been added to a list out there. Bill is probably going to subscribe to my site just to make sure I'm not sending him viruses.

We think we narrowed the problem down to the AV cable and because my warranty is WAYYYYY over, I will have to spring for a new one to see if this fixes the problem. (Dear God, if ever I needed a wish granted). The funny thing was, as helpful and nice as Jason was, he kept trying to get me to use xbox support along with him and instead of him in the future. Can you image having a job where you spend all of your "sales time" trying to put yourself out of a job? I mean, instead of this mom gig who TRYS to make them self obsolete? He also found it funny I was getting all of my "data" from an 8 year old. Pretty much every question he asked I had to reference Brendan to make sure the sounds sights and ultimate death were what he witnessed. Brendan's last statement was, "Let him know it was blinking red like every other day, then, bam! Nothing. Oh, and is he coming here to fix it tonight? I really want to play Transformers."

Maybe next week kid.

Football Fever!

For any of you who, like myself, can't get enough youth sports....

The parks and rec website does a good job of getting information out to parents and spectators about schedules, forms and pictures. If you go to Chesaning Parks and Rec and click on the top left 2008 schedule it will give you a list of Brendan's football games. Scroll down the pdf to find him on John Keys and Brian Lewis' 3rd & 4th grade team. Only 4 days until the scrimmage!

Kids Know Stuff

How cool is this? Many of you already know Abby Aldrich and her technologically smart girls. They have a new site called kidsknowstuff.com. They showcase things they like and things my kids would probably love! Check them out!

No Love for Microsoft!

It is a very unhappy day in the Greenfelder household. We have 2 electronic devices that have failed us this week. Anyone who knows my family knows I love my camera as much as Brendan loves his stinkin' Xbox 360. They both died this week and I am at a loss for the sorrow my tech happy child and I are de-toxin'. A call to the Owosso game center confirmed what I was fearing. The AV port on this Microsoft monster has probably failed. Ok, I get that, let's fix it. What? There's no fixing it? You're telling me a $300 piece of equipment is unfix able? Toss it. Get a new one? I'm sorry, I live in the Mac world where we don't buy equipment built for destruction in a little under 2 years. I don't care how much someone has over used their Madden '07, this stinking piece of junk should last at least as long as my child's fascination for it is still alive. Now we are hosed. We have a $150 memory drive and over $300 worth of games to look at and now G.D. game system.
The other problem is so horrendous I can barley type it. MY. CAMERA. IS. NOT. WORKING. Does anyone get the gravity of this situation? I spoke with a very nice lady at Cannon and she promised she can help. When my camera broke last year I was totally understanding. A camera is only meant to endure so much and I put mine through the mill. It finally said "Lady, I'm spent. I've been looking at these 3 faces for long enough. I quit." The people at Cannon exceeded my expectations of customer service. They were friendly, compassionate even, and helped me with my 4 year old camera and the repair center did the best with what they had to work with. When they could not find the parts to fix my beloved elph, they sent me a re-furbished 10 mega pixel beauty that I have carried with pride. (my old camera was a 2.5). Now with under a year a use it has the same error message as my first camera. Lens error. Please restart camera.
Drat!
I have high hopes that everything will be ok soon. I will borrow a camera and life will continue.
Keep me in your prayers. Don't be surprised if I ask any of you to step it up with your own cameras for a couple of weeks. Bear with me.

Defying Gravity

Friday date night was really nice. A great meal in Lansing with nice grown up food and martinis (plural) and a wonderful show. Michelle and I had already seen the show and Pete had seen parts of it, but Joe was seeing this for the first time and I was a little worried. If you ask him he'll say, "I like musicals. I went to Phantom of the Opera and really enjoyed it. Why are people surprised?" Let me tell you why Joe. It's been 10 years since we were in Toronto (remember we were on our honeymoon and that was 10 years ago?). For one to say they enjoy the theater, you may need to go more often than once every decade. To be fair, I do usually book the tickets and don't include him so I can go with girlfriends or girl family.

It's hard to pick my favorite part, but this time I pick "Defying Gravity". The song makes you feel ready to fight. Elphaba just had her dream of meeting the Wizard turn into the nightmare that he is responsible for all the things she's looking to get fixed and her friend has chosen to stay behind and try to work within the system. Elphaba is now being painted as a criminal and for the first time slandered for being a "Wicked Witch". The actress who played Elphaba had an amazing voice and I was near tears.

Ok, time to get back to work. :)

Wicked

Joe and I are going to see Wicked on Friday. (my second time, his first). And as much as I want to emulate the substance of the main character Elphaba there is a part of me who can not get over my inner Glinda (or Galinda). I wish I could gloss over facts and just believe if your dressed right and act happy everything in the world will turn into a Disney happy ending. The truth is always way more complicated and things don't always go they way I want. That's usually when the pouting starts.

The book was hard for me to get through. The images were strange and the story was complicated, leaving the reader to work hard to get to the finish, who really was wicked in this story? The person vilified by the crowds or the friend who let you down, or the ruler who pulled all the strings?

The movie was much more gratifying probably because of the change at the end. The music and the sets, the wonderful costumes all make me feel, for a few minutes, like there really is an Oz and we are all taking a look inside this magical place. My sister's favorite song is "Defying Gravity", I think she cried all the way though it when we saw it last year.

So if you see me on Saturday sporting a new pink t-shirt with the word "Popular", please know it's from a great date night spent watching green people get the just reward.

Happy thoughts

The beginning of football season and a very excited third grader!

Brendan has spent every night (and most days) gazing at his football equipment recently issued. He has the gloves, socks, helmet, pads, cleats and mouth guard. Now all he needs is a mother who won't freak out on the sidelines when her baby boy is being chased after by the other team. I should send apologies in advance to his team mates parents. The tendency to get carried away with the game is a problem I've been trying to overcome.

Here are some other exciting summer and literary events....

Fun times camping with cute cousins....

New swimsuits and playing in the rain.

Learning to "take care of business" in the lake with daddy. This has saved us about a million trips back to the restroom or motorhome.

Going to the fair and riding new big rides. Both Claire and Brendan tried the Ferris Wheel this year. That was a big step for two people who enjoy the train and the bumper cars only. Way to go big kids!

It can't be said enough! The beer tent girls were awesome this year! We have the system down cold. If you need women to run a special event liquor tent in your town, call us... we work cheep. Usually a few beers each and we're good for the night.

All of these pictures explain why my 2008 pictures are in the photo box and not a scrapbook. Yikes someone needs to take the camera away from me. Like seriously, if you see me at an event with it tell me to "AMP IT DOWN!"

And finally....

Before I can catch up on any photos, I need to get and read the last installment in my vampire series. Now if only I could FIND it anywhere. Let me know if anyone sees a copy in a store, I'll totally pay you back.

Don't forget to vote today!

Whatever your political affiliation or inclination..... remember how important it is to exercise a right so many people and more recently women, have died for the right many of us take for granted. I not sure how our ancestors would feel that voting has become so common place that it can be forgotten or pushed aside because we have too much to do in a day. So go on, take those few minutes to remember the gift we have been given and the responsibility we bear.