Today was Matthew’s last soccer game for this season. The Tiny Tigers will be no more. We had a great two months with all of the kids, and it was great coaching them and seeing them change and grow in such a short time.

The game went really well. We were lucky to play against a team with a very easy going coach. We worked together to make sure some of the kids who generally didn’t really make goals during the season, were able to make one on their last day. Matthew made four goals, and at least two of them were for his team.

We had a little party after the game where we had cupcakes and handed out the trophies. It was sad to see some of them go, and thinking now that I won’t see most of them again is pretty heartbreaking. At least two of the moms have made plans with me to hang out and keep in touch. I’ll post a couple of pictures soon from throughout the season.

Recently I received in the mail, a free sample of Seattle’s Best Coffee. When I signed up for the sample, I was asked which level I’d like to try. I’ve had their brand of coffee before only at a coffee shop they have inside the base hospital in San Antonio. I don’t remember what I thought of it then, as it was a busy day and I was running back and forth between appointments. At the shop they didn’t have the levels, so I wasn’t aware of them. It was quite refreshing to have them, surprisingly, as rather than “light, medium or dark roast”, they have 1-5, each explaining the difference.

Level 1 – Mild, light, crisp.
Level 2 – Bright, lively, easy drinking.
Level 3 – Balanced, smooth, full-flavored.
Level 4 – Rich, elegant, complex.
Level 5 – Bold, dark, intense.

Each level also describes the flavor profile, such as chocolaty, medium acidity with a nutty nuance and clean finish, pleasing acidity with a little bit of sweetness, etc. It also tells you what it pairs great with. I chose level two, which explains “Spontaneous and fun, you’re a curious optimist. Fond of going off the beaten path, you enjoy creating your own adventures and seeing where your heart leads you.” It has a flavor profile of “Slight aroma of cocoa and lively acidity” and says it goes great with citrus fruit.

I chose level two because strong coffee upsets my stomach, but I wanted to have plenty of flavor and a smooth experience. I don’t like a lot of coffee, in fact I consider myself pretty picky. I loved this coffee. I added just a drop of coconut milk, and drank it this morning alongside 2 eggs and a few slices of avocado. It was smooth, full of flavor, and did not upset my stomach one bit. I definitely recommend trying this coffee, even if you think you’re not crazy about having a cup in the morning. It’s given me plenty of energy (in fact, I just scrubbed my kitchen floor!) and was a surprising experience.

I will be looking for this on my next grocery trip (2 days away!) and I highly recommend trying it for yourself.

Disclaimer: I wrote this review of my own will. I was not reimbursed. Everything in this post is purely my opinion and was not altered or influenced in any way.

So, the whole issue with the Thunderbolt? Yeah, making my blood pressure go way high.

Our two Droid Charge phones were mailed out earlier in the week. On Tuesday, Jeremiah’s phone came in the mail. On Wednesday, the two backs and two batteries for the phones arrived. On Thursday, I watched the post man come and go, and decided to call Verizon. I thought perhaps the order didn’t get done right or it was just delayed. They tell me the phone was signed for and activated the previous day. Um, no.

So Verizon calls USPS with me on the phone and turns out it was “received” at 9:47am on Wednesday. Our mail doesn’t come until at least 3pm, at the EARLIEST. So USPS filed an investigation and gave me a case number. Verizon reported the phone as stolen and overnighted me a new one. The girl I talked to verified 2 or 3 times what phone she was sending to me. I got the box today, and it’s another Thunderbolt. ARGH! I called them yet again, and they are sending a Charge Fed Ex overnight Saturday delivery. Problem, maybe solved?

Fast forward to today. My mom has also been waiting on a replacement phone. It was scheduled to come this week, and it’s Friday, so I told her she should call to make sure her phone didn’t disappear. Sure enough, she calls, they track it, it was “delivered” at 9:36am on Thursday, signed with the same signature. They are also shipping her a new one. When she talked to them she told them about my case, so that they can link the two together. USPS is supposed to follow up in 2 business days, so I’m hoping they can tell us they figured it out. Whoever is taking our mail should be punished. We did have a substitute mailman this last week, and today our regular girl is back from vacation. I talked to her and told her what happened, and she said it must have been taken from the post office or something, to have been “received” so early.

In the end, I’ll get my phone and mom will get hers, but the whole situation has been so frustrating! I don’t blame Verizon (except for sending me the wrong phone) and everyone I dealt with was super nice, but DANG, I just want a fully functioning phone!

About one week after Verizon’s first 4G phone, the HTC Thunderbolt, went on the market, I upgraded my phone. I was very excited about the purchase at the time and couldn’t wait to get it in the mail. Upon receipt, I was not disappointed. I counted the phone as a great purchase and was thrilled to have caught up with technology. Months later, I am very unsure. The first three weeks was hell. I called and went to the store numerous times trying to figure out a few problems the phone was having. Three weeks later, after convincing customer service that it was too early to already get a refurbished phone when we paid $250 for it and had records of calling with problems since day one, I was sent a new Thunderbolt. Now, a few months later and the problems continue. I don’t want to just keep getting refurbs when it’s not a hardware issue, but software because HTC is failing miserably at getting updates out. The last update was out for about a day before it was pulled because, who’da thunk it, it still wasn’t fixed.

So after all the drama, they are sending us refurbished Droid Charges. Oh, did I mention Jeremiah has the same phone with the same problems? Anyways, they should be arriving on Friday. The people at Verizon along with employees at Best Buy have highly recommended the Charge over the Thunderbolt, so here’s to a new phone, and hoping it doesn’t suck terribly.

For years Jeremiah has had his own company through emove, part of uhaul. Basically, you can hire someone to help you pack or unpack your uhaul, clean or do other things related to moving. He’s made pretty good money on some of his moves and it certainly helps either pay bills or give us some spending money. It helps that over the years he has accumulated things for material handling, like a furniture dolly, heavy duty dolly, tie downs and good straps. He is a great mover and very strong, so it’s easy enough for him. Sometimes I feel bad that I can’t help us monetarily since I have Matthew, but I know he enjoys doing the moves.

I posted.. months ago that we were remodeling our kitchen. Between taking it apart, putting the new kitchen together, and dealing with all the small details and ridiculous parts of assembling a kitchen that you’d never imagine when taking on such a project. Today I spent about 3 hours finishing up filling the gaps between the cabinets and dishwasher, and a few other spots, plus finishing the toe-kicks. I present to you, our awesome new kitchen!

BEFORE

AFTER

The cabinets are IKEA Adel Medium Brown. I made the curtains, my mom put the green fabric on the barstools. I did the tile backsplash (from Home Depot) by myself. New stove is from Lowe’s. Countertop is from.. I don’t know, I’ll get back to you later. It’s a high quality laminate.

Hope you like it! If you don’t, that’s fine, because I love it!