Switcheroo

I bought a Blu-Ray player. We don't have any blu-ray movies, and I will still probably buy most of our movies in the DVD format. But it will be nice to have for certain movies, and I like the idea of accessing Netflix and other things through the TV.

After an explanation of the differences from a friend (Shelley), I bought a player that had built-in Wi Fi (the same one she has). This meant the player should be all ready to access our home Wi Fi.

Only it didn't work out that way. As I was reading the instructions, I read that I would need a LAN adapter for the USB port in the front of the machine. And when we hooked up the machine, the message on the screen said I needed a LAN adapter to access the internet.

Shelley didn't mention anything about a LAN adapter. I was confused and gave up last night, deciding to call her in the morning.

This morning I was looking at the instructions again and noticed that they were for model number 380. I was pretty sure I had bought model number 580. I looked at the box, and sure enough, it said 580 on the front. So I looked at the Blu-Ray player itself.

Model number 380.

No wonder mine wouldn't access the internet while Shelley's would.

It wasn't the right model in the box.

I'm wondering. Did Sony mess up? Or did someone pull a switcheroo at Target?

I'll be heading back to Target this morning. I hope they don't think I'm trying to pull the old switcheroo!

A Small World

Today I had the opportunity to go see Gladys Knight and the Saints United Voices Choir. (That could be a post all on it's own. They were truly amazing.)

I was sitting next to an older woman. She turned and said, "You look familiar. I feel like I should know you". She didn't really look familiar to me (I'm terrible at recognizing people), but I told her my name.

She got an excited look on her face and said her name was Jeanette Matis. Her husband had been the bishop of our student ward at Texas A&M when I was there 30+ years ago!

When her husband turned to face us (he had been talking to the friend they brought), I immediately recognized him. He looks pretty much the same - just older.

It was so much fun to talk to them and catch up on their family. I told them about our family, and we talked about other students who had been there when Robert and I were there.

I have a special place in my heart for Bishop Matis. He made it a point to go to the weddings of any members of the ward who got married. Remember, this was when the closest temple was in Mesa, Arizona. So no wedding was close. That year at least 10 couples got married, and he made it to every wedding.

Our wedding was in Manti, Utah, so it wasn't easy for him to come to it. But he did. And I'm so grateful to him. My parents aren't members, so he was like a father figure for me there.

I told them both today how grateful I was that he had come to our wedding. I wanted them to know that the sacrifice he made, back when he had still had young children at home, was still remembered by someone - 30 years later.

I love how, in the church, you never know how or where you might run into someone from your past.

Refinanced!

Today I went down and signed the papers to refinance our house. We lowered our interest rate over 2% and cut 10 years off our loan, while only raising our payment $100.00 a month. I'm pretty excited about that.

I wasn't excited about signing all of the papers associated with refinancing. Any of you who have bought or refinanced a house know that there are a bajillion forms to sign. (Okay, I might be exaggerating - but only a little!)

If you look at the first sentence of my post, notice I said "I" went down and signed the papers. Not "we". Since Robert is in Salt Lake City, he had to fill out a power of attorney so I could sign for him. He got off MUCH easier than I did! Not only did I have to sign my name on every paper, but I also had to sign for him. But I couldn't just sign his name. I had to sign this:

Robert W. Clutter by Laura M. Clutter as attorney in fact thereof.

All of that! Every time!

And to make matters worse, I had to sign all of it in cursive! The only time I write in cursive is when I sign my name and when I write numbers on a check. That's it. I really had to stop and think how to write some of those words in cursive! It wasn't fun!

I think Robert owes me. Big time.

DPS Woes

So we're in the process of trying to get Scott his driver's license. As I've mentioned before, our year in Italy put us behind schedule.

Scott has finished the online class and his hours of required driving. Today we went down to the DPS to schedule an appointment for him to take his driving test. Yes, you do have to go down to the DPS to schedule an appointment. Seems a little crazy to me.

Scott is the first of my kids to have to take a driving test. In Texas, parents used to be able to sign a form saying they didn't want their child to have to take a driving test. You would just go down when all of the work was completed, and your child would be given a driver's license. Much simpler. But they changed that rule a couple of years ago.

So off we went to the DPS. Anyone who has been to the DPS knows that there's a very good chance you're going to wait one, two, or even three hours in line. I had a book and was prepared to wait. Imagine my surprise when we pulled into an almost empty parking lot. And walked into an almost empty waiting room. And waited only a couple of minutes for our turn.

Too bad the wait for an appointment for a driving test isn't that short. I knew we would have to wait, but I am still a little disbelieving as to just how long the wait is.

Is it one week? Nope.

Is it two weeks? Guess again!

Is it three weeks? I wish!

Is it four weeks? No sir-ee.

Is it five weeks? Getting closer.

Is it six weeks? Ding, ding, ding!

That's right. Scott's appointment is six weeks from today. SIX WEEKS!

Does anyone else think that's excessive?

I don't necessarily think it's a bad thing to make teenagers take a driving test. But if you're going to make that change - ADD MORE PERSONNEL!!

Okay, my DPS rant is now over. Until the next time I think about how long we have to wait and I have to keep driving Scott places...

Insurance. Bah.

When we moved back to Houston, my husband's company changed him from their international division to their domestic division. In the process, they dropped our insurance. But they didn't tell us. We found out when Robert went to the doctor. Nice, huh?

Fortunately, after some phone calls to HR, Robert was able to get us insurance - retroactive back to the date we came back to Houston.

Unfortunately, we didn't get the chance to check things out closely and ended up with dental insurance I'm not happy with. The coverage is good, because it's a DMO. But I'm not happy with the choice of dentists. I don't like going to the dentist and I feel comfortable with very few dentists. Therefore the chain dental places are out of the question. And the chain dentists make up probably 95% of the dentists in the plan.

I did find one that looked promising. Then I went to his website. When a dentist's personal statement, which he has posted on his practice's website, has misspellings and grammatical errors, that's a serious red flag for me. I'm funny that way!

Fortunately, benefits selection is coming up soon. I think we're going to put off going to the dentist until January. Hopefully their other plan choice will be better.

A List

I have been an absent blogger lately. So here's a list of stuff going on in our lives:

1. Instead of going back to Milan and then on to Abu Dhabi, Robert has been assigned to a new project. Not foreign this time. Instead he'll be spending the next 16 months in Salt Lake City. Yep, Salt Lake City. It's kind of funny that the Mormon randomly was assigned to the Salt Lake City project! He's okay with it, but he's not looking forward to winter. We would, of course, prefer to have him here in Houston. But in his profession you go where the work is, and lately it's not been in Houston. At least we won't have to deal with major time differences and communication hassles.

2. I got a new car! It's a 2011 Toyota Venza in a really pretty blue color. The Venza is kind of a cross between an SUV and a station wagon. It's very comfortable and surprisingly roomy. It's also a good height for ease of getting in and out of. That was a main criterion of mine. After driving a small car in Milan for a year, I knew I wanted something a little taller than a sedan. I actually went around to different car dealers and asked to just get in and out of certain cars. The Venza passed that test, plus many others. I'm really loving it.

3. Our year in Milan threw Scott behind as far as getting his driver's license. We're working really hard so he can get his license in the next couple of weeks. They've changed the requirements since our other 3 kids got their licenses. They all had to have 14 hours of driving time. Scott has to have 34 hours of driving time. That's a big difference! Robert drove with him the first 17 hours. I refuse to get in the car with the kids until they've driven for a while with Robert. But yesterday Scott and I went out for the first time. And he did really well. He's a good and cautious driver. I didn't get scared any time! That's always good! As Robert said, now it's time to work on the little things that make driving more comfortable for the passenger. We plan on driving an hour or two every day so we can go get him his license soon!

4. Once Scott starts to drive, he will have the privilege of driving my 2003 Honda Odyssey. Won't he be the coolest kid at the high school! He doesn't care, though, he's just glad to have something to drive. We are having a disagreement though. He has named my Odyssey Phyllis. I don't think she looks like a Phyllis. I think she's too sporty a minivan to be called Phyllis. That's more the name for a Dodge Caravan. What do you think? Is Phyllis a good name for Scott's ride?

5. Kimberly just got back from her four days at Dragon*Con, which is a gigantic Science Fiction convention held in Atlanta. She went with 8 friends, and they had a great time. She met some celebrities and got a couple of great pictures taken with two of them. I still find it amusing that my daughter is such a lover of Science Fiction conventions. And Monster Truck rallies. And hockey games (especially if fighting is involved).

6. Jeffrey has been on his mission for over 16 months. 2/3 of his mission is over! How can that be? Didn't I just drop him off? He is really loving serving in Veracruz. Time is flying for him too, which is always good. I'm glad his mission has been such a postive, growing, spiritual experience.

7. I'm getting ready to make calls to home repair people. We have a ballast in the kitchen that is going out. For a while the light wouldn't work, and then one day it randomly came on. We haven't turned it off since (and that was about 2 weeks ago). I really need to call an electrician and get that fixed. Plus our garage door is acting up, so I need to get that checked out. I also need to call a chimney guy. We have a nice gas fireplace, but I'm afraid to use it. We sometimes hear birds in the chimney, so who knows what is in there. It needs to be cleaned out before we can use it. I'll probably wait until October or November though. No point in making the chimney guy swelter. And finally, I need to call an exterminator. I've been seeing ants in the house, and they need to go! Anyone have any good recommendations for an electrician, exterminator, or chimney guy? I think we have the garage door guy covered.

8. I'm hating my kitchen right now. I hate my white laminate countertops and ugly pickled cabinets. I really want new cabinets and countertops. Plus a new oven and dishwasher. And new flooring. And new lighting. Too bad I don't have the money needed to get all of that stuff. Darn kids in college or nearing college!

9. Our front yard is dead. In fact, it's just dirt in some places. Scott and I have decided we should just give up for now. In the Spring I think we'll put in a sprinkler system and resod the front yard. Just start over next year.

10. I miss playing canasta. While in Milan, I had met a group of American women and we were playing canasta once or twice a week. I miss that.

There you go. An update on us. And finally a new post!