AT&T Unverse Installation Process and Review

Since April, we've had our setup of Roku, Over-the-Air (OTA) HDTV Antenna, and DISH, specifically the DISH America package. As the new season of "Mad Men" hit, the long standing DISH and AMC feud heated up, which originally had to do with a series of HD channels that were once owned by Cablevision and now AMC, that DISH bailed out on and dropped the channels. So, we lost AMC (we were on the DISH 200+ package before this happened) and it remains off of DISH. DISH does quite the number on the consumer when it comes to channel choices. We only wanted a few channels and those were almost all on the high-end packages. (See our prior post on the DISH and OTA stuff.) Our standalone Internet service has been provided by Comcast at over $70/mo., so Jennifer got one of these Uverse emails and after the endless barrage of promotional flyers in the mail, the numbers worked. 

In year one, we're going to be paying exactly what we were paying with Comcast and DISH combined for their services, while we end up with three receivers including a DVR and nearly 400 channels vs. the "55" that we were paying for with DISH. In year two, it'll cost about $28 more per month, but that doesn't include the fact that we were spending $15-20 a month buying TV shows through Amazon on-demand that we couldn't get because DISH dumped channels that we liked, and it also doesn't include pending rate increases with DISH that are to begin in February. Besides the fact, if AMC came back to DISH, we'd have to upgrade our programming package and pay even more with them.

Now, let me get into the whole AT&T Uverse setup and review.

The AT&T Uverse product is really interesting and technically very cool. We signed up for service on Monday and had the install scheduled for Tuesday. About two hours after ordering, I received an email stating that they would be unable to install until Wednesday. That's not bad considering the delays that I had read about on so many other places about Uverse. On Tuesday afternoon, the outside prep installer was working on tuning up the lines coming to our home, which includes the telecom box on the side of the house and if you're in a residential neighborhood, you'll have a green stick that is vertically out of the ground. I talked to the technician for a few minutes and asked him whether we'd have to have a paired connection.

How it works with Uverse is that you can only be a certain distance from the Uverse hub that AT&T has installed to service a particular area. If you're beyond that, which is generally 3000 ft., you have to get a 2 pair setup. All that essentially means is that they're combining two lines to get enough strength for your signal to get Uverse. Our technician clocked our incoming speed at 135mpbs! Unfortunately, we're throttled down and won't get anything close to that, but it shows that we have a truly high speed connection coming into the house.

Our appointment was scheduled between 9 and 11 in the morning and the installer showed up at 9:30 to begin the work. We talked about various setups, connection points, cabling, etc. On our hardwired devices, he would be installing Cat5 Ethernet cables to connect the Uverse throughout the house. We opted to get two wireless receivers for television in two of the rooms. One of the really nice things is that you can move the receivers around and put them on any television within range of the wireless router. The third unit, which is the DVR that they include with your subscription is hardwired with the Cat5 cable. I also had the installer add an access point in another room so that I could connect our Ooma VOIP system directly there and it also created the hub for all of the AT&T communication devices.

Here's what you'll get in the install:
AT&T Wireless Gateway (http://www.att.com/u-verse/explore/residential-gateway.jsp)
AT&T Wireless Hub Device
AT&T Power Supply and Battery
AT&T Receivers 
AT&T iNid (if necessary)
Installation of wiring: Request Cat5 instead of coaxial if existing lines aren't being used.

Package we opted for: 
U-300 with HD, HBO, 3 receivers (2 wireless, 1 wired DVR)
Uverse Max Internet (12mbps)

Promotions:
$36 discount on U-300 for 12 months
Free HBO for 3 months
$10 discount on Internet for 12 months

The wireless gateway is a wireless router, plain and simple. If you have a router currently, you're going to use this instead. If you have any trouble with weak signals (this is a Wireless G Router), then you can stack another wireless router on here for another level or area of your house, which we're lucky to not have to do, but it's an easy workaround if needed. You'll see a box with the AT&T logo on the front and this is the power supply and battery backup. In case of your electricity going out, this supplies battery power to your Uverse for three hours.

Since we needed a 2 pair setup, AT&T had to install an iNID on the house. The iNID stands for Intelligent Network Interface Device and it is mounted on your house next to or above you existing telecom box from the phone company. The device has coaxial and Ethernet connection ports to hook up your home and it essentially acts as your modem, just mounted to the side of your house.

The installation is generally targeted at taking four hours long and can vary based on many scenarios. In our case, we were using fresh wiring on everything and that made the install smooth with regard to the inside of the house. Problems can arise for people with Uverse using their existing wiring and that all depends on the age and quality of what is already there.

Our installer ran one Cat5 up the house, through our attic, and back down in our bedroom to hardwire the DVR unit. As I mentioned before, the other two units are wireless, and the only other Cat5 install was for the Ooma device and AT&T Gateway. We've seen OK installers, good ones, decent ones, but I can say with certainty that our installer was excellent. Having wired up the house for the OTA, I can say that he did a really great job and even took the time to match up the cabling with what I had installed, so that we wouldn't have wires in entirely different places, holes in other places, etc.

The installation ended around 2:20 in the afternoon, so just shy of five hours. It would have been completed in about two and a half hours, but our inside technician was dealing with an outside technician as there were issues with the connection from the Uverse unit down the road to our house. The outside technician essentially had to find where there was a small patch and get that fixed, otherwise, we'd be running off only one of our lines, not the two pair setup, and would have a major decrease in quality of Uverse.

Once all of this was taken care of, we were off and running! We chose the 12mbps speed for the Internet and it's been testing at 12-13, so as advertised. With Comcast, we were paying for the 20mbps, but were mired time and time again around 5. So, on the internet side, we're looking good and the wireless connections are high throughout our house.

I've not gone through enough of the Uverse TV to go see all of the features right now, but I can make some observations about the service. First of all, it has the best on-screen menu system that we've ever had. The boxes are small and quiet. We had a DISH DVR that would sound like a freight train at times. AT&T has remote controls that includes backlighting and the buttons are soft and comfortable. Very impressive. As for the picture quality, the compression is less than on DISH's HD and there appears to be absolutely no difference between the wired and wireless units. So, you'll get an HD picture that is better than DISH or Comcast, but is absolutely no match for OTA. We put on "The Office" on Uverse and then switched over to our OTA transmission and to be honest, it isn't even close. From the sharpness to the vivid colors, the old fashioned over the air antenna blows any of the services out of the water. You'll also be watching true live television and the transmitted signals to the services providers are a few second behind real-time. We're still wired with OTA on these sets and intend to still use them plenty along with Roku. Now we have hundreds of television channels and will barely watch any of them, but to be at the same price point as we are now to get the channels that we actually want, that works!

There is a good number of on-demand programming and I'd say that my biggest complaint is that AT&T (just like all the others) charge an extra $10 for HD programming, which is a joke, plain and simple. This about amounts to the dealer fee that car dealers charge consumers. Just another fee with no cost associated with it, just profit.

Overall, from the ordering to install, it was a very impressive experience, which has been about the exact opposite of our past times with AT&T. I think that AT&T has everyone beat in the value for your money with their service. Currently, Uverse is available in about 30 million homes and they're not going to be expanding for the foreseeable future as AT&T tries to get as many homes in that total that they can get. I was also told that by the end of the year, there should be an expansion of up to six wireless receivers from the maximum of two that there is allowed today.

AT&T Uverse

We're in the midst of having AT&T's Uverse service installed to replace Comcast, our remaining DISH subscription, and to accompany our OTA set-up. I'm going to do a whole write up when it's all finished up and hope that can help anyone going through the process!

Unsafe and Dangerous Graco Car Seats

When we needed to switch from an infant car seat to a larger car seat for our son, we ended up choosing the Graco Comfortsport Model #1762268. We had the Graco infant seat for Sammy and our twin boys had the Graco car and stroller system. What's happened over the past several weeks has been maddening and an example of failure in our corporations and government.

A short while back, all of the sudden, we notice that Sammy has his chest clip harness disconnected. Like any two year old, that was all it took to start the fun of undoing the clip time after time. At first, I thought that it must have broken in some fashion, as there was no-way that a company as large as Graco, which is owned by Newell-Rubbermaid, could be possibly selling a dangerous and faulty car seat. Jennifer immediately said that it was the clip and it wasn't broken. Although I'm skeptical of most things, I just didn't buy into it not being broken in some fashion. I looked at the clip and by the look of the design, I thought that maybe it was bent in some fashion. So, we went ahead and ordered a replacement chest clip from Graco for the car seat.

I installed the replacement clip, we put him in the car, hit the road, and not long after, he took it off, just like the original clip. Clearly, the clip was not broken, it was a flawed and dangerous design. Next, I contacted Graco to let them know about this problem. While sending an email to their customer service department, I came across this gem from their own blog:


http://blog.gracobaby.com/2009/11/12/faq-what-if-my-child-figures-out-how-to-open-the-chest-clip-on-their-car-seat/

The blog was published on November 12, 2009 and it clearly shows that the company knew of the design flaw and danger of the Graco chest clip. Take a look and read what their PR has put up. The tips are just insulting to the consumer. Some of the gems include, "It takes consistency and some discipline to help them understand that the chest clip needs to stay closed." Really? You can do that with a two year old? No, in reality, once a two year old figures out that he or she can do something, they'll keep doing it and it's difficult to get them to stop. Part of that has to do with their development and level of understanding. Either someone without a child or someone with no common-sense crafted that beauty of a statement.

In my email, I let them know that the clip had failed and that we were extremely disappointed in what had been occurring here. I received a prompt response that there was a new design and that they would be shipping it to us and that it would take 3-5 business days to arrive. They pointed out in the response that "This has more tension in the clip and maybe more difficult for your son to open." While doing more research of what appeared to be more than an isolated problem, I found a video on YouTube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=58o9NvcsMRA

In this video, the user shows his two year old son taking off the chest clip with ease. Exactly as what we've dealt with. The Graco baby blog listed above had many comments with children as young as barely over a year old doing this. Just keep searching, the material keeps flowing.

Here's an excerpt from my email:

"I'm contacting you as I'm quite disappointed and concerned about the safety of the car seat that our son has in one of our vehicles. The unit in question is the ComfortSport, model 1762268 with a date of manufacture of 2010/05/18. After using this car seat since he was an infant, all of the sudden, we turn around and see that he's no longer buckled in as the chest harness is unlatched. At first, I question whether I made a mistake and simply didn't click it properly. Low and behold, over the course of the day, there he goes, taking it off one time after another. I then removed the car seat from our vehicle and ordered a replacement chest clasp from your company directly. Besides the obvious inconvenience of moving the car seat between two cars for several days, what made my wife and I incredibly disappointed and downright upset is when the replacement came. Low and behold, we get the car seat back in and he's taken it off again!

From our original premise that maybe the clasp was bent and damaged, it quickly turned into a clear fact that the design of the clasp is defective and absolutely unsafe. What if we were in an accident and he had just unlatched the clasp before impact? You know what the impact of such an event would be."

Impressively, the new clip arrived the next day along with a sheet with how to properly install it, which only takes (once again that term) common-sense.

We had taken the car seat out of the vehicle as it had become obviously unusable. We then took it out of the garage and placed it outside to get setup for the new clip. I installed it and we told Sammy to come and sit down in his car seat. Next, Jennifer asked him to try to undo it and take it off. Literally, he did it within two seconds. He put his hand down and and undid the clip. Latched it back and forth so on. I became extraordinarily upset about this. The company has a known defective and dangerous product, yet it is on the market and has been for years. Their blog shows culpability. They know of the problem, but somehow they've evaded a recall of these chest clips. The cynic in me is screaming that this is yet another example of a large corporation buying off the government, who's watchdog agency is supposed to protect the consumer. We'll get back to that in a moment.

Here's our 26 month old taking off his Graco car seat chest clip with amazing ease:

http://youtu.be/JKDxkG-RMeY

Once we had Sammy on video, I uploaded the video to YouTube, so that I could present another piece of evidence of this product's failure. Once the video was live, I took to sending an email to Graco and here's portions of that note:

"We did receive the replacement harness clip promptly and I do appreciate that, unfortunately, this "new design" is no better than the prior clip. This is absolutely unacceptable. We're still sitting here with a car seat that is completely non-functioning and unsafe." "I can't help but think about what could happen to our son if we were in an accident and he is not restrained, let alone because of a fault clip design. I've now been going on a few weeks of having to shift car seats between two cars all because of this unsafe and unusable car seat."

"I have recorded a video of our son with the brand new clip and I've made a link for you to see this video. Your enclosed directions were followed completely to make certain that the clip was properly installed."

I expect a resolution of this matter, it's completely unacceptable."

I received an email quickly from Graco inquiring as to when the car seat was manufactured and also letting me know that we would receive a credit from our purchase with their store as I demanded a refund because the original replacement clip that we purchased is known to be faulty and was exactly what we had, unbeknownst to us when we first purchased it.

After reply, a follow-up email came shortly thereafter letting me know that the product was out-of-warranty, but since we weren't happy with the product, they would allow us to send the car seat back at our expense and would then issue a refund for the MSRP of the car seat. Here's what I had to say:

"These car seats have been cited by consumers for years as having a failing chest latch. They are defective, period. This was known by Graco before we purchased this seat, it was known before this seat was actually manufactured. This isn't about satisfaction, this is about Graco selling an unsafe product, period. The so-called warranty shouldn't apply when the problem is the design to begin with. Your company can spend hours going online and searching out countless other consumers with the same problem and many have complained about getting the run around with this issue. This is the same design that was sued over (due to injury) from your acquired company, Century. It's publicly documented.

As you can see with this case, I cited your blog from 2009 where your company clearly acknowledged the problem. There are comments as recent as the past week from other consumers with the same issues. To be honest, this is extraordinarily frustrating. So, I'm supposed to pay roughly $20-$30 to package and ship the car seat back? This wasn't about wanting a refund, this was about wanting a properly functioning, and safe car seat. I would have no problem sending the car seat back with some sort of prepaid label if the company wanted to see it in order to examine it for safety issues.

I'd assumed that your company is now producing car seats that do not use this latch set-up, but I can't seem to find any models that offer anything other than this design.

What am I to do?"


I then received another response that they would send to us in the mail a prepaid shipping label to return the car seat and we would then receive the aforementioned refund in 6-8 weeks from the corporate office. And, we would have to provide the box to ship it back in, but I guess that's better than having to also pay to ship it back.....


Down in an area that we lived for quite some time, Orange County, Florida, a lawsuit was filed, Roman vs. Graco, as the plaintiff's child was severely injured in the spinal cord during a traffic accident and guess what happened? She was two years old at the time and undid the Century car seat chest clip. Century was purchased by Graco whose parent company is Newell-Rubbermaid as mentioned above in 1998.

Here is a quick story from the Times' Business Section.

http://www.nytimes.com/1998/05/20/business/company-news-rubbermaid-s-graco-unit-to-buy-century-car-seat-line.html



These unsafe chest clips have been in use for years by Century and Graco. In reading through the reporter's brief from the case of Roman vs. Graco, you find out that the two parties settled out of court. Newell-Rubbermaid is able to avoid being legally responsible, but that doesn't speak to the truth of the product here. From the amateur research that I've done here, it appears that this set-up had a one piece harness all tied in together, so my assumption is that this one piece held all the parts of the restraint together. So, today, the product that we have the problem with is the two piece harness. Regardless, the same problem is here, the child can easily become unrestrained and could suffer fatal consequences.



The case of Roman v. Graco

http://www.justice.org/cps/rde/justice/hs.xsl/15319.htm

Here's a listing of countless child safety seat recalls:

http://www.hsrc.unc.edu/safety_info/child_passenger_safety/child_restraint_recalls_list.cfm

Interestingly, there have been no recalls of the Graco child chest clips that they have been using for several years. Just putting a little effort and time, you can find many sources on the Internet of complaints whether it's consumer forums, videos, or notices.

Here's a link with some complaints provided online to The Office of Defects Investigation, which is a part of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Not surprisingly, similar complaints are found.

http://www.aboutautomobile.com/ChildSeat/Complaint/Graco/Comfortsport/Child+Seat+Harness+Buckle


As I was alluding to earlier, we have a failure of a corporation and the government. Complaints typically are a small fraction of the problems that are actually out there and there is a pretty large sampling to be found with this same issue. How many complaints has Graco had directly that they've buried internally? How can something so unsafe, dangerous, and potentially deadly be ignored by our government? Is it because of lobbyists? Are they bought and paid for by corporations and damn the consumer?

It think that it's rather fair for us as consumers to expect that something a basic as a car seat for a child is properly safety tested. For there to be a problem known by the corporation and for them to continue to go about their business as normal is disgusting. It's not a problem with the stitching on the seat fabric, it's not the color of the seat, it's the most basic of safety issues, which Graco is failing.

This is OUTRAGEOUS. We have no statistics as to how many vehicles have been in accidents with these car seats and the injury with relation to the Graco branded car seats.

So, here we are and here's what I'm hoping to do. I don't know if a blog can change the world, but by getting the word out, I'm hoping that we can get some good exposure on this dangerous situation and usher in a change.

Oh no, we have a leak!

There goes the idea of not spending money in June... On Wednesday, I headed down to our home gym for an afternoon workout and after finishing on the elliptical, my foot touched the carpet. I figured that one of the kids knocked over a cup of water on the floor, but I was so wrong. Instead, it turned out to be the expansion tank on the hot water heater had sprung a leak. Steam and water were all over the place.

Once Sammy got up, I took the kids over to Home Depot, got the parts that I needed to repair it and hoped that I could get the old unit off of our lousy piping. Of course, that didn't work. Our plumber came and had as bad of a time as I did in attempting to remove the expansion tank as well as not damaging the existing piping. Low and behold, it was fixed, but then we found water coming out of the patched up and terrible solder job(s) that the previous homeowner had done. So, we had to get the pipes replaced going into the hot water heater and just to cap it off, our pressurization regulator for the house was shot as well. There goes spending less, nearly five hundred and fifty dollars in repairs and we had a discounted price.

It's Not Working

So, I'm on simvastatin to lower my not high, but not ideal cholesterol level according to our health plan to keep us at the best rate for insurance. I've added back in a healthy dose of psyllium and other things that I used to do in order to have a good cholesterol number and after several weeks of consistent use of the drug (I'm no fan of taking prescription drugs to begin with), I believe that I'm having way too many side-effects.

As Jennifer will tell you, I've been complaining of getting headaches, which is something I don't usually have, I've woken up with a headache and just feeling depressed lately, and most importantly, I don't feel sharp, at all. I'd best describe it as brain-fog. Things just aren't clicking right and it all completely goes hand in hand with taking simvastatin, which is the generic for Zocor. When I first tried the drug in late December, I was having muscle pain, but it was difficult to tell whether that was related to having been sick or the drug. I additionally was having the brain fog problem. I believe at this point in time that the muscle aches were truly due to being sick, but the brain fog, it's just like before and it only takes a few days to really start causing a problem.

I've read through several medical reports on the subject, reports from users, and I've found a great resource at spacedoc.com, where former NASA astronaut and Dr. Duane Graveline and the team there have endless resources dedicated to showing with evidence of the ill-effects of these drugs. It's also interesting that the doctor notes issues with CoQ10 and statins. Our physician told me that as well, that there might be a need to use CoQ10 as there is a depletion issue that then leads to many side-effects and physical problems.

I'm going back to treating this with natural methods like I used to and I hope to achieve the desired numbers for the next annual testing. What's even more frustrating is that their research along with many others show that cholesterol numbers aren't actually accurate benchmarks for heart issues and that it's all basically a bunch of garbage sold to doctors by the medical industry all in the name of profit. It's so frustrating. All I know is that I've woken up yet again feeling terrible and it goes hand in hand with the use of the medicine.

Taking it all Back?

I feel as though I've lost my way. I've let an unhappy job situation cloud every judgment I have when it comes to health, rest, finance, and content living.  Even blogging!  So I've taken some control back.  I've updated my resume, posted all new information at monster.com and will be passively keeping an eye on new opportunities.  But until that time comes, if it does or doesn't, I've got take back control over myself and my life.

I've made a meal plan, or rather a list of meals when can made each evening.  That way there will be no scrounging around looking for a meal.  It'll just be picking a meal and cooking. It's a small step, but an important one for us.

Monday starts the wellness challenge at work and I will be participating.  I'm excited for the tasks ahead.

And right now we are trying to tie up the loose ends with our antenna project.  It is all kinds of crazy! Missing channels and a thousand trips to the attic. But thankfully not for me. ;-)

Here's to more writing and just letting it go.
Jennifer

It All Adds Up

We've wrestled with the idea of downgrading our DISH service for quite some time, but $10 here or there basically led us to lose the channels that we actually watched. Month after month, it's $105 for us to basically watch five channels plus the locals out of over two-hundred that we could be watching. When we decide to do something, we do it. End of story. Period. So, here's where we are now: a majorly downgraded DISH service, a Channel Master aerial antenna, and streaming through Roku, iPad, XBOX 360, and whatever other gadget we have in our house with Hula Plus and Netflix, which we will be dropping.

The big question is where does this get you? Saving a lot of money is where. Our out-of-pocket monthly expense is going to be $8.99 for Hulu Plus and $50.00 for DISH. Our DISH service was $105.50 per month, so we're saving $55.50 for the service plus indirect costs. With DISH, our bedroom constantly had the churn of the VIP612 DVR, which not only made constant noise, but is also an energy hog that consumes more energy than a refrigerator each month! By removing the DVR receiver and a second, we're saving around $6.00 per month in electricity. When you do the numbers, we're saving $52.51 overall each month. Not too shabby! On top of the savings, we're going back to watching a bit more high quality television as our DVR became almost shameful with the junk that was being recorded.

Getting our house wired with coaxial cables has been a mess because the original installer made a complete mess and has so many splitters, it's a surprise that certain rooms even get a signal. The house wasn't built with coaxial cable running throughout and was retrofitted later on. The Channel Master antenna cost us $59.99, various cables and parts about $40.00, and the Roku was $99.99. We'd been planning on getting a Roku, so I guess you don't look at it so much as a cost here, as it was going to be bought anyhow.

We downgraded from the America's Top 200 package on DISH to the DISH America (HD programming only) package. We have the 222 dual room receiver, so even though we're paying for TV on one set, we actually get a second television that gets DISH programming with the ability to watch different channels. (The signal can be split to another TV that would get a mirror image of one of those.) The only negative is that it's a standard definition feed, but we are getting more than fifty over the air HD & digital signals as well. We could lower the DISH cost even more by getting rid of HBO ($16/mo.) or DISH all together, but I think this works. We get programming, but have halved our monthly cost.

This evening will be more time spent getting everything set-up properly throughout the house. I've grown quite accustomed to our attic and cables. :)

E

Endless Torture

Yes, it has been some time since I last wrote.  That's wrong of me.  But every time I thought about writing I just got too tired.  It has been a non-stop beating-fest at work.  Egos can only take so much, especially when they are small to begin with!  I know no one loves every aspect of their job, but I always felt I had a career before.  Now it has been deduced to a job and I'm just adjusting.  Friends and co-workers say just to let it go, do what they want and go home.  And that is what I'm trying to wrap my mind around.  I feel like I'm not being a good employee when I take that attitude.  But I guess it is no different than anyone else at any other job.  So I will continue on, not taking any of it home.  It's just not giong to affect me anymore.

So cheers to my new take on working!
Jennifer

GM and the Traverse

I've already been processing and preparing orders for two hours this morning, so I figure that it's time to take a little break and I have so much on my mind after buying our new car. In this post, I'm just going to review our prior vehicle, the Chevrolet Traverse.

In 2009, we purchased a Chevrolet Traverse 2LT, which was the first year of the vehicle, which is on the LAMBDA platform of vehicles that included the Saturn Outlook, GMC Acadia, and Buick Enclave. The original intention was to buy the then brand new 2010 Chevrolet Equinox as a V4 with 24/32 MPG. Unfortunately, that early in the cycle, GM was basically producing the V6 model and barely any V4 Equinox cars as an 1LT or 2LT. This foreshadowed what has continued with the company. So, Jennifer told me to test drive the Traverse as well, and the car was stunning. Well finished (or so we thought), loaded, amazing. The dealer had to drive to the shores of Alabama to get our car. The 2LT Traverse was a desert brown metallic with options including leather, navigation, 10 speaker BOSE sound system, dual moon roofs, three row seating, heated seats, you name it. We thought that a big car would be enjoyable for us and with the notion of having a baby to join the twins. The fuel economy was rated 17/24, which for a car of the weight and size was decent, but I was bothered by the (lack of) fuel economy to start with.

In the end, the Traverse was a disappointment. GM quality has a long way to go. In two and a half years and 46,000 miles, here's a list of the problems: Broken lumbar support, broken seat cover (due to the dealer, though), replacement of all the vehicle's timing chains, which resulted in not having the car for a week, broken power adapter cover in the second row, leaking rack, terrible driver side leather wear, unexplained over burn of engine coolant, the inability to perform a standard alignment and additional cost to revise factory settings, and error code errors including the Air Bag system, which amounted to nothing. Talk about a headache.

That's a hell of a list for a $40,000 car of that age. It took three tries to get the timing chain issue settled, which countless '09 owners have dealt with, as GM used a supplier with a lesser quality part. All said, the car had (some under warranty, some not) about $4,000 worth of problems, already. How would it pan out in quality after five years? Who knows, but the trajectory was awful.

The positives were the wonderful ride, silent cabin, space, comfortable seats, heated seats, and features including folding the seats down to create the cubic space of a truck bed. Besides the aforementioned problems, little things were bothersome like the lackluster navigation system's inaccuracy and the necessity to buy a replacement DVD yearly to update the system.

The Traverse of today is essentially the same as the '09 model. While in the Toyota showroom, the Venza, which we considered along with the Traverse, has improved a lot with a wonderful interior. Take a look at the Camaro. The exterior is beautiful, the interior is a colossal disappointment.

Is this the end of our GM buying? Very likely. We take pride in buying American, but when the quality doesn't measure up and the American manufacturers don't offer the technology like the Prius, there is no choice, but to go elsewhere.

Without question, I feel regret for buying the 2009 Chevrolet Traverse. It's a mixed bag of why, from the fact that we saw that the style of car didn't really fit us, having every option under the sun isn't a priority for us, and it's fuel economy among other issues. When the car gets 50% of the sticker price in a trade two and a half years later, that's not impressive, either. If it was a Toyota or Honda, we wouldn't of had that problem.

Stay clear of the Chevrolet Traverse and LAMBDA platform vehicles because odds are that your long-term cost is most likely going to be astronomical.

How about a redux?

A couple of weeks have gone by since our visit to the local Ford dealer, which didn't work out. Well, after that, it was time to bring in the Traverse for some needed maintenance and repairs. Unfortunately, it's even worse than what we anticipated. First of all, it's terrific to bring your car to a local shop that does quality work, is fair in their pricing, and attempts to save you money. It's like taking the whole car shop business, turning it upside down, and doing the exact opposite of what the majority of car shops do, which is to run a quality, honest business. So, a big thank you to Midway Automotive Repair. We needed two more tires replaced, a very much needed alignment, rotors resurfaced, and then came the leak. Since Chevrolet did a replacement on the timing chains for what was only a two year old vehicle, a small leak has developed. Where's the leak? The rack. So, there will be another $1,000 repair on the Traverse in addition to another two tires at some point sooner rather than later.

The car has been a real disappointment. Jennifer and I purchased a car that was basically twice the cost of any other car that we've ever purchased and in twice the cost, there has been way more than twice the amount of problems of the other cars. Between the warrantied timing chain mess, seat issues, and now the rack, this two and a half plus year old car has about $3500 worth of problems. That's absurd. You can't even get a standard alignment on it based on the factory settings, which adds to even more cost.

After ditching the Ford idea, we decided to do something at the end of the year with the Traverse. That timeline doesn't work now, rather now. It's time to part ways with the big tank. I know you have every gadget you can imagine from dual sunroofs, to automated everything, and the best sound system we've had in a car, hands down, but you're expensive, and you're only going to get more expensive over time.

There are two cars that I've had on the list of cars to buy for several years. They are the Cadillac CTS and Toyota Prius. They're at opposite ends of the car spectrum, but are both awesome vehicles in their own right. With the Traverse, I don't think we're all too high on GM right now, even though a certified CTS could be had. No, how about 50+ MPG, high tech, and environmentally right car? Yes, that sounds right. So, now it's off to visit the Toyota dealership and test drive the Prius. They have two 2011 models left that are the Prius Four trim and they're discounted $3,200 to get them cleared out of the inventory. We're coming for one of 'em!

Blog Forgotten

It’s been two weeks since I last wrote.  I just forgot!  Maybe because I didn’t have much to blog about.  We’ve had a good few weeks.  We’ve figured out we have to be better parents and deal with a lot of issues that we didn’t know existed.  All in all it has been quite all right.  Work is work, I guess.  It isn’t perfect but I’m taking a different approach where I am just letting everything roll off my back.  The negatives will not take the energy away from me.  I just won’t let it. 

So now our days will be much more structured, not that it is a free for all now.  Everything has to be regimented to make sure that everyone stays on task.  And it all starts today!  We are going to sit down with the kids today and make sure they understand our expectations and what will provide to them.  It will be hard work and I hope it is worth it and I hope it works.

We have a great “single life” weekend with no kids!  It is amazing how fast you can get in and out of places when you don’t have any kids to drag around.  Or a screaming toddler who only wants to walk and pull you around. 

So, happy belated St. Patrick’s Day!  I had to share the wreath I made.  Sadly it is down now.  I’m pretty proud of this one!

Tired,

Jennifer

Totally Different Tuesday

Now that I'm back to being a full-time 5 day a week worker, I'm really trying to be positive.  And I will be, because I do see a few ok side-effects to my working from home day being taken away (mostly bs points).  I shouldn't complain, I know.  I have a good job.  I have a job.  But, when you have to spend 50 hours a week there, you want it to make you happy.  I'm still in the process of making sure this job does make me happy.  Or should I not look to a job to make me happy?  Maybe that is the answer.

Jennifer

That Didn't Work Out

Sometimes things don't work out and that's just the way it is. So, today I went up to the car dealer meeting my father there, who was actually there having a car serviced, and we met with the salesman from last time. Last time, Jennifer and I thought he was terrific, this time, not so much. Not so much is actually kind, more like not at all. The idea of trading my car in was in the theme of blog of having less and saving more. I was excited about the replacement, even though the present car has virtually every bell and whistle you can imagine.

The used car evaluator came back with a price that wasn't even in the same area code, zip code, or same region of the United States. This guy ends up skipping over all the vehicles like ours in metro Atlanta, which had a higher value here, pulls vehicles from the midwest, where they sell for less, all have 25k-30k more miles, and aren't even the same model! His trade-in value was 4,500 less than what we were looking for. We had to hear all the b.s. about book value, actual selling value, etc. So, while they were working on improving the trade, thanks to something called the internet, I magically find a few vehicles being sold within 20 miles of here that totally validated my trade-in value. They ended up at 1k less than we wanted, but that could have been workable if the new car price worked. It didn't.

The salesman, who was so good last time, kind of checked out. When I verbally smacked down the car evaluator, I guess he thought it was all over. This drama took over 2 hours and then the discounting on the new vehicle was 1,000 less than several other dealers around. It's amazing that they remarked how we've bought multiple cars there and want to keep us happy and have a sale.

It's was a terrible experience, but I have to be honest, when someone is full of garbage and you call them out on their nonsense, it feels quite good. When they throw out invoice pricing and all that nonsense, I swear you just want to tell them to drop. Instead of the good purchase last time, it was good ol' boy magic today. Our salesman checked out and was ready for the next customer.

So, we're not replacing my car, which isn't a problem. It's a terrific vehicle and I'll have to live with the crazy high-end Bose sound system. I could care less about all the other features it has, but the sound system, that's something else. Now we're on to having this paid off this year and removing the remaining bill.

New Month, New Perspective

We've made it through the first two days of the month. That is awesome.  And one of those days was a "no spend day."  How stupidly awesome is that??  Little to no drama at work and I can say the same for home too!

We rearranged the furniture in the master bedroom, which allowed us to mount the TV on the wall and give the boys our dresser, so that was a nice savings.  In two weeks E will be painting the bedroom a nice grey (we are such a grey family) and we will get a black and white comforter set and grey sheets.  We'll also find some nice decorative wall pieces which is something our bedroom has always lacked.

A good start to turning this ship around!
Jennifer

March Can't Come Fast Enough

It's the end of February, and if this were a normal year, today would be the last day of the month. But because it is a Leap Year we've got one more day to go.  And I can't wait until it is over.

The kids were sick, Eric was sick and I just feel like junk.  So that was a minor setback on saving money when we had to take Sammy and Josh to the doctor.  We did fill the prescription at Publix and that was free for the antibiotics. But on the good side, I earned a great bonus and merit increase which hits March 9th!  We'll be heading to the car dealership on that Friday to get Eric's new downgraded car.  And it is all the better for us.

I finished a very nice St. Patrick's Day wreath and the small amount of decorations I have are up.  I foresee buying a few more things when they hit the clearance isles at Michael's and Target. 

We took the boys to Target this past Saturday for the Read Across America Dr. Seuss celebration and they each received a cute bag, food and coupons.  And all for free!

I can feel that March will be better.  I'll make every effort to make it so.  Just gotta get through one more day in February.

Jennifer

Josh and Sammy's Trip to the Doctor

Say It's So

Even though the theme of blog is improving our lives, finances, etc., writing about other stuff is fun as well. So, since Sammy has woken up so early this morning, I've only been able to work in the office for a little over a hour and while I have a lot more work to do when he goes to sleep later, I feel like doing some writing and then I'll do my regular work on the laptop.

So, last night was the 2012 NBA All Star Game in Orlando. First of all, the facility in Orlando is beautiful. We went down and saw the Amway Center in December and you can't even compare it to the old Amway Arena (or what we as locals still called the O-Rena, the Orlando Arena) that it replaced. Central Florida has many pros and many cons, but I still can't shake the place. It's more than just theme parks there, it's this Florida lifestyle that is hard to define. The combination of the weather, the water, and the many things to do, I absolutely love it and at times greatly miss living there.

We watched all sorts of coverage of the All Star Weekend, which began on Friday. I usually watch the coverage on NBATV, but watched a more than usual because it was going on in Orlando.Overshadowing the whole event is Dwight Howard's trade demand and whether he's going to stay or leave Orlando. Much with his obsession of being called "Superman," Dwight seems to want to be a superhero and even though he's very likely to be traded or bolt Orlando, he just keeps talking up the city and the fans. In all honesty, it's rather patronizing. He's among this clump of "stars"  now that are part of what I consider the whining generation. LeBron James and countless others that act like spoiled narcissistic brats. D12 wants to "win a championship," yet the guy wants to go to the (soon to be Brooklyn) Nets. So, even if he goes there and plays with Deron Williams, the team still most likely won't get any farther than the current Magic team, who is 3rd in the East, 5th overall in the NBA.

The guy is completely disingenuous. This most likely is about ego and money. He wants to feed his ego with the larger market, his face plastered on a buildings, and most of all, satisfy adidas in a top sized market. If it was about winning a championship as he claims, he would have resigned last season when he could have done an extension and helped the Magic get the final pieces to get back to the Finals.

What I thought was most interesting last night was what happened when the players were introduced. When the Eastern Conference starters came out onto the stage, Dwight and LeBron (and Dwayne Wade to a lesser extent) were all jumping around, doing a show like they were in the WWE, and just looked, well, like the spoiled brats that they are. To their right and our left was Derrick Rose. This guy eats and breaths basketball. He's old school and insanely good. As all the four other players were dancing up there, Rose stood there almost stone cold and clearly embarrassed by what was going on around him. When he was introduced he smiled a bit, waved the the crowd, and just stood there. All the while, the baby man club next to him was jumping around and just feeding into the brat stereotype that these guys have on them. It's not about not having fun, it's the All Star game, but it's always interesting to see the ones who endlessly have their wanting to win championship mantra and they don't ever seem to. Maybe, just maybe it's because of their acting like the brats that they clearly are and they become the characters that have been created, not athletes competing at the highest level in the world.

Emerging from the Ooze

It seems that anytime you try and get your act together, something comes along to sabotage you.  This time it comes in the form of a cold- starting with Sammy, now in Eric and running right up to me. I can feel it!  But in all, we've done well.  We went to Zaxby's, our favorite chicken joint, and Sammy just lost it. So we are back to bringing food in.  We've had two no spend days this week too.

And we are very close to trading the SUV in.  That is a big step in reversing our heels and getting to what we value.  Not only will it be better gas mileage and a smaller car, but it also gets rid of one entire bill. Yay!  And then leaves the bonus wide open for paying down some other bills.  I can almost feel the debt freeness coming soon.

So now it's off to nurse the sick and try to ward it off myself.

Jennifer

Starting Over, Yet Again

At this point it is safe to say that we have fallen off the wagon.  We've eaten out more times than I can count in the last two weeks.  And we've spent money every single day. It just goes to show you how mind over matter doesn't work without the right mindset.

But we just have to pull up our bootstraps, get back on the horse and start over!  We've got so many plans going that are so good for us that we just have to change our perspective.  Yes, we've had some setbacks and some sad moments but that shouldn't stop us from our ultimate goals.

I mean, we ran a 5k!  That is something I never thought I would be able to do.  So now we've all got to get back on the treadmill and just keep going!  February 20th is a brand new day.

Jennifer

Yup, that's a Dryer

You read it here, we have a new dryer. While removing the old dryer, it most likely left a lasting impression by cutting my hand and will ultimately scar or rather scar on multiple fingers. :) One last memory of the leaky dryer that just needed to go! It's been replaced by a terrific new "front loading" Whirlpool that we bought for essentially half-price along with not having to pay for it to be delivered or installed. It's always more gratifying to install, build, or repair things by yourself.

Our first 5k was a winner! Well, not literally, but we finished and we weren't at the end. There were people still running when we left, so it was a good run. I'm glad that Jennifer thought that we should start doing these runs. It shows you that we'll literally do anything for us to get away from the little people and be by ourselves. It's been quite different doing cardio heavy training versus weight training. I spent more than a decade doing intense weightlifting and now while I'm still doing what most consider to be heavy weights, I'm much more focused on the cardio. The results are just as good and I feel physically better, so it definitely works. I don't go for massages anymore to help fix what seems like a weekly disability. :)

Josh, Zach, and Sammy went to grandma and grandpa's house to stay over on Saturday night and that didn't work out too well. Before eight o'clock, they were back with us. Grandpa was having another health issue and she wasn't comfortable with him and if he had a problem that night. He didn't and we were stuck with them, so we still have not had a night alone since December. On top of that, Sammy had a bad night sleep and I was in his room at 5:10 AM calming him down and getting him back to sleep. They can truly tire you out.

As I write this, I'm alternating between working and helping a kid with his math homework. I continue to think that Harvard, Yale, and any ivy league school isn't going to ever happen with the two of them. They also stink. I still hold out hope that the baby is the winner. :)

E

It's cheap, but it'll cost you!

We got a phenomenal deal on our new dryer.  We held out as long as we could because we didn't want to spend the money to replace our dryer.  See, we had to turn the gas on to use the dryer and turn the gas off after using the dryer... otherwise the gas would leak in the dryer.  Probably not the safest option in the world, but it worked for a few years.  But we found a nice Whirlpool gas dryer for $399.00 and now E is going to pick it up and bring it home.  He only had to lose some skin and blood in the removal of the old dryer.  No biggie, I guess... unless I have to take him to stitch that up, which will cost us too.  But for now we're calling this the deal of the year.

We're also considering doing a car swap which will wipe out what we owe on the big fancy car.  It would be a downgrade but it would be for a good cause... good gas milage and one less debt.  So we will play that one by ear and pounce when the time is right.  Hopefully it won't cost us anything and we will be paying one less bill a month.

It's the 7th and we've only had one no spend day.  We've got to get on that!  And we only have four more days to the race.  I'm nervous and excited at the same time!  And the boys are spending the night with their grandparents Saturday so we will have some much needed alone time.  Can't wait!

Jennifer

It's February Already?

The chapter has closed on January 2012 and we ate out 14 times, 2 of which were paid for meals and had 7 no spend days.  I think we did a great job and we will only improve as time goes on.

However, it seems that February has already started off rocky.  We got the word at work that our work from home day has been denied, so there goes the nice Tuesdays I have enjoyed for over three years.  Yes, I have a job, but I have to mourn the loss of this perk, with not too many new ones on the horizon.  So we will just deal but it will take me some time to go back to working in the office 5 days a week.  I expect to be very tired for the first few weeks!

And then there was the Vicodin incident where I accidentally took 2 Vicodin on an empty stomach!  So, make sure you read those labels!

But we have filed our taxes and as soon as our refund comes back we are buying that new dryer!  No more having to turn the gas on and off every time we use the darn thing.  And the leftover money will be used to pay off some small bills that have been hanging around.  We are still feeling very positive about 2012.  I still have a bonus and pay raise to look forward to.

So, if we could just somehow win the Powerball we would be set.  But we aren’t banking on that one… too much!

Jennifer

Rick Steves and I...

are in Normandy tonight!  Him in the flesh and me in the mind.  But it keeps the spirit alive.  I've never been fond of France but Normandy is looking like the place to go!

What a crazy interesting week we've had.  There were two "no spend days" and we ate out three time (one of those being footed by my in-laws) and even Sammy was great during out dinners out.  Tonight I made a pepperoni pizza monkeybread dish and it turned out great.

I started a new cross stitch project which is a wee little stitches pattern of my favorite Futurama characters, which is all of them.  My timeline is to finish it within two weeks and then possibly have my last project framed professionally at Michaels!  I haven't framed anything in a long time!

E and I even signed up for our 5K and saved money doing so.  We signed up at Totally Running and saved $7.00 a registration.  And of course the kids said they wanted to run too but these are kids that are so lazy they don't want to stand.

We're nearing the end of January and I can't wait to recap the month.  I feel we've accomplished a lot and set a lot of habits in motion that will just get better throughout the year.

Jennifer

Unwind the String

This week was a hard work week with a lot of stress that was pretty harsh on the ego.  It's just work but when someone takes your words and changes them (that could potentially get you in trouble) then it hurts in a career kind of way.  But there is always a silver lining and that silver lining came Friday during my annual review.  It was amazingly great and I know I will be rewarded.  There was no better feeling at my job than the feeling of a job well done.  And I pat myself on the back for that because it can only benefit my family.

And so I finished week two of couch to 5K and although I should be running tonight, in order to make my upcoming week run smoother, I'm skipping today and going at it tomorrow.  It will be tough but I think I'm ready!

E and I have spent some wonderful alone time with the Joshy.  Of course the Sammy was there too but Josh got us without his twin brother and I think that is going to make a world of difference with him.  He gets lost in the shadows of his brother's issues and behavior. 

And we even had a "no spend day" this week!  With hopes for more next week!

Now it's off to have a wonderful cupcake and a nice glass of wine!

Sweet dreams!
Jennifer

Not Totally Unseen

Whether they are spambots or real people, apparently, our little slice on the Internet has begun to be seen, as our stats show some views. I'm still very excited about us going to the Atlanta International Gift Show at Americasmart on Tuesday! It's always fun to go to trade shows, but Jennifer and I haven't gone together in many years. I miss just us doing things by ourselves, which segues into this one: the narcissistic kid. It seems to be no matter what we do, you can't cleanse him of that personality trait, or rather, failure. There's nothing like starting the day off and him blaming others for his own shortcoming(s) in what he did. It's exhausting and it tends to make you cold towards him even though you keep going on and on like eventually maybe the light will turn on and he'll stop this behavior, but there is too much genetic predisposition to make that seem likely. 

Even though it can be maddening, you can at least feel sympathetic to the other one when his attention deficit issues rear their ugly head. You can work on that issue and at least make progress, although it always revolves around highs and lows. Maybe all of this says something of having premature twins.

I'm off to work with Adobe CS5 Illustrator today, which is way exciting! I can't wait to do character design on this and hopefully I can get things polished enough that we don't need to hire an outside artist right now. :)

E

Running Uphill

Today was the second run in week two of "Couch to 5K."  I must say, today was a struggle, but I made it through.  My legs feel rock hard and like lead but I made it through one more workout.  E and I hit up the America's Mart International Gift Show so we did a lot of walking today.  We had lunch at Hard Rock Cafe and visited the gift shop at World of Coca Cola.  It was so much fun to hang out together and look at all the new products.

But back to yesterday!  I found a great quiche recipe on Pinterest (awesome site) and baked it up all nice and pretty and it was received pretty darn well- much to my surprise.  But then I did serve biscuits with the quiche so that must have helped.  I had it for leftovers today and will have it for lunch tomorrow too.  I just love leftovers.

It has been a great four day weekend but back to work I must go tomorrow.  Only a three day week!

Jennifer

Running Into Week 2

I completed the first week of the Couch to 5K program and we are signing up for our first 5K ever tomorrow!  February 11th Valentine's Day Race here we come!

We did the ultimate frugal act today.  Yogurtland, our favorite frozen yogurt shop ever, had free yogurt from 11-2.  And that wasn't even the best part.  We also got $10 in gift cards for our next time and 4 Hello Kitty Yogurtland t-shirts.  And it fits me!  I'm shipping one off to my friend Ellen who collects Hello Kitty stuff.

We've had no "no spend money" days this week but it wasn't like we were out spending willy nilly.  On Wednesday we took Zach to get some candy for his very good report card and Friday, well, let's just face it- Mommy needed some wine.  It's been a crazy work week.

Tonight we are off to a basketball game (the four big ones, not the little one).  Free tickets courtesy of my friend Kelly who works for Turner.  It is great to have connections and such awesome friends!

And it is a four day weekend for me.  Golden Globes and the Gift Show.

Very good times!
Jennifer

Week One in 2012

We had a great week.  We ate out (at home) twice, which was pretty cheap and we had three days where we spent no money.  We took the boys to Monkey Joe's which didn't cost a dime because it was a Living Social deal I bought way back in February of 2011 and even Sammy had a great time.  I can't seem to shake this endless cold and congestion but I'm sure hoping it gets better soon because E and I have decided to do a 5k!  I am so excited!

This is the Valentine's Race on February 11th.  Our goal is not to run the entire thing of course.  We just want to get out feet wet and complete the darn thing.

I am looking forward to a great second week to 2012, although it includes a visit to the dentist for a new shiny crown.

All the best!
Jennifer

OCD for one please!

I'll be honest, I don't think I'm OCD enough because if I were, everything around me would be spotless and clean to perfection.  But there are certain days where I know my OCD is just enough, like today.  My skirt, made of a very thick cotton kept sticking to my tights when I walked.  This caused the skirt to bunch and not lay flat in the front.  I spent most of my day walking to and from the bathroom tugging on the front or side.  At one point I almost ran into people as the mental anguish from the bunching poked away at me!  Will I wear the skirt again?  Most likely, as the nice comments were numerous!

So I figure if I can just move that OCD into other aspects of my life, like discipline (mental and physical) I'd never have to deal with my own shortcomings being the cause of the mental beatings I give myself.  Outside issues wouldn't be a problem because those are things I have no control over.  Not all OCDs are bad, I just need to control the aspects that I can and let the rest just be.

Jennifer

What Direction Works?

No matter the year, no matter the economy, between the week before Christmas and New Year's Day, business slows down to a crawl. I was pleased as 2011 wrapped up and business was much better than last year. So, as the year ended, we were hit with a business bomb. If business bomb isn't a real term, well, I'm coining it right now! Over the past several years, we've used eBay is a big selling tool for our business. For me, it doesn't make me proud. Our business started in 1998 and over time, we moved from online auction type of marketplaces along with our website to our business being fully run based on the website, catalog, and phone. As the economy has tanked, we became reliant on eBay, once again. The percentage of business coming from there has honestly been too high for too long and with so much of our marketing budget going to eBay, it has limited overall growth potential of the business, once again. We run on a cash basis, so in good times, there is a lot more to work with in the marketing department.

Well, less than eight hours before the New Year, I get an email that our account has been temporarily suspended and we can't sell on there at this point in time. Does this have anything to do with our successful business on there? Nope. It has to do with an account that we had selling radios, vacuum tubes, and television components from my grandfather's store over five years ago. Somehow, there appears to be some small balance on this long defunct account, of which I have no idea about, but they are telling me that issues with that account have to be fixed in order for us to have our business back on their site.

I'm hopeful that this will be resolved within the next day or two, but regardless, this will radically change how business goes, once again. When we can use their service again, the amount of product offered through there will be dramatically reduced to 25% of what was available as of Saturday morning. We're back to radically changing the business model, tripling our AdWords, AdCenter, and BizRate account spending. In all honesty, it's the only way to grow the business in big numbers, once again, but it's disconcerting to basically have a sizable sum of your business income taken away overnight. This has always been the fear with eBay. They dicate the terms, their absurd fees, and can take businesses off of their system for no reason except that they choose to do so. I've read countless stories of businesses our size and ones bringing in literally millions of dollars to only see eBay shut their businesses down or to limit the dollar value of sales on their system. It didn't use to be like this, but when Meg Whitman took control, the business began to cater to big business and changed all the rules. If you're hurting a big enough client on there and causing them to not make enough revenue, well, beware as your business could be simply shut down.

So, here I sit on the 2nd day of the year. I expected slow business, as is standard this time of year, but not only do I have that, but a giant project to not only save this business, but to get it growing properly once again.

Eric

No Spending Days

The second day of the year and I've already blogged twice.  I'm pretty proud of myself.  To start the year off right, we had a family no spending day.  We went nowhere, spent no money and just relaxed all day long.  As a family, we are very proud of ourselves.  This is a very important part of the life that we want to lead.

And to top it all off, I managed to get myself on the treadmill for 30 whole minutes.  It's certainly not up to my husband's speed yet, but I've been there before so it shouldn't take too long.

So for the second day of the year we did something as a family that we've always wanted to do and that's free to boot.  We geocached.  And that was fun!  We even got a little trinket to take home.  Which can only mean now that we are going to set up our own geocache here just to see how many people we get.  Eric has a grandiose plan, of course, but we should probably just keep it simple.

We are off to a good start this year!
Jennifer

New Year's Day 2012

And it's finally here, New Year's Day.  I'm starting out my blog on a milestone day because it always makes for a great resolution.  One of those resolutions being to blog, write (or whatever you call it) about our journey as a family to move away from the rat race and the money chase to being more happy and content in ourselves.

My blog is called "Reversing the Heels" because that is what we're doing.  We're jumping off the train to follow our own path and I hope to share our triumphs and joys on a regular basis.

As I'm writing this, we have "House Hunters World Edition" on.  It is a dream to live in another country in a different lifestyle but that just isn't possible... yet!  But we can change how we live our life together as a family, which is our number one goal or resolution this year and to carry to all years in the future.

To start off this wonderful year, I am finishing up "A Tale of Two Cities."  And what better way to propel ourselves into the future by visiting the past of other countries, worlds and paths?  Later today I'm cooking the traditional collard greens and black eyed peas for luck and prosperity in 2012.  I'm setting our new traditions up with love for us all to enjoy.

I hope anyone who reads this has a Happy New Year!
Jennifer