...status quo...

I realize there hasn't been a post in a while. That's because there is nothing going on, yet lots going on, at the same time. It seems we are home a lot in order to avoid spending money since Jim is still on strike with Boeing. But we have been keeping busy at home. Here is what we have been up to:

1. Baby. Lemon is fine and getting more active by the day. I still love feeling her in there.
2. Painting. While on strike, Jim has been a busy bee. He finished painting the baby's room & bathroom yesterday... SO LONG nasty peach and sponge painting, HELLO nice, clean, soft, antique white.
3. Next project up: installing molding around the bottom perimeter of the baby's room. Hopefully this will be the last labor intensive project up there.
4. Curtains. I have been a sewing-machine lately and these are almost done. I found an adorable fabric that matches the bunny bedding perfectly. I sure hope this kid takes after her mama and loves orange, too!
5. Furniture. I made a trip to Ikea and have chosen all the furniture we need to finish out the room. Hopefully this strike is over soon so we can get this stuff purchased.
6. Football. Jim has organized a football pool for the season so we have been watching as many games as possible on Sundays. I have to say, participating in the pool has been making this season tolerable at least so I am going in the right direction in terms of accepting one of the things my husband is passionate about... I have to try seeing that there is no way I am ever going to love his other two passions (Mexican food and beer. EW and EW). BTW, props to Rhonda for winning this week's pool. Can't wait for you to come back to collect your prize (a pint of Guiness at Doyle's pub)!
7. Gardening. This has been more of Jim's project seeing as I am not really allowed to garden (not only because of the pregnancy, but also because the meds I am on for my Crohn's disease further kills my immune system and puts me at extra risk for infection from the particles in the dirt and compost we use). Anyway, we have finally been yielding a steady stream of tomatoes and zucchini. Good thing as it has been getting COLD around here and pretty soon we are just going to have to call it good and pull the plants up.
8. Blogging. Between this blog, the Seattle Center for Book Arts blog I run, and our brand new Uncommon Envelope blog, I am gettting carpal tunnel. Who knew I had so much to say??

And that's it. As I said, not a lot happening, but so much at the same time. I have to say I love having Jim home all day. Times like these I wish we were independently wealthy and didn't have to work so we could spend all of our time together. A girl can dream, can't she...

Dear Amazon: We're Pissed.

When a company runs a promotion, we think it should clear, run smoothly and a consumer should not have to jump through hoops for what is fairly theirs when following the rules of said promotion. So how and why has a company like Amazon.com dropped the ball?

After we got "comfortable" with our pregnancy (after the first trimester) we started looking at all the baby items we will need and shopping around to get the best prices. It became clear that Amazon.com was a clear winner, especially when most items are eligible for their free super-save shipping - one of my favorite features of Amazon. And then when we saw them advertise their Seventh Generation diaper promotion, we knew this was the place to center our registry/to-buy list...

As the promotion is running, all we have to do is purchase $750 worth of stuff off our registry by September 30 and we will receive a $250 credit towards Seventh Generation diapers (about 6 months worth). This was a diaper brand we wanted to test out anyway as it is one of the more earth-friendly options, so it seemed that it made complete sense to buy stuff we'd need anyway in order to walk away with a ton of free diapers (from what I hear we'll need 8-10 per day, people).

So we made a list, checked it twice, and started buying a little at a time. Then we got a big boost with the purchase of our crib, almost 1/3 of our purchase requirement, by Jim's parents... or so we thought. Immediately there was a glitch in the system. Although they purchased directly through our registry, it was not showing up as purchased at all. Rhonda emailed Amazon and asked about the error, and got less than an answer. So, she resorted to calling Amazon. We thought they misunderstood the problem because the item then appeared on our registry as "Additionally Marked As Purchased." What does this mean??

Apparently this is what you can do to manually change an item to "purchased," but it means you purchased it elsewhere and just want to let people know to not buy it. In other words, we were NOT getting credit for this purchase towards the promotion!!

So, as my brother-in-law Chad likes to call it, it was time for Amazon to get "Campolong'd." We Campolong women learned from the best when it came to giving a piece of our minds. I had to get on the phone with Amazon, over the course of 2 weeks, not once, not twice, not even three times... four times I had to talked to different people on different customer service levels to work out this problem. Each time they told me they understood the problem, would submit the paperwork to get it fixed, then get back to me. To no avail. Eventually I decided to back-up and try email again. Eventually it lead to this response on 9/1:

Greetings from Amazon.com.

I apologize for any frustration that you have experienced with the seventh generation diaper promotion.

I can confirm that the DaVinci Jenny Lind Baby Crib was purchased from your registry and that the $227.99 should normally apply to your $750 benchmark of purchased item to receive the promotional discount.

Unfortunately there is a technical error that is preventing this amount from being added to your total items purchased. Those responsible for fixing this error have been informed, and they are working diligently to correct this. However they have not provided us with an estimated time that this will be completed.

I have annotated your account that your corrected purchased amount should be $269.45, you still have $480.55 worth of purchases to go until you qualify for the free diapers. The error should be corrected before you reach this amount. If not, simply contact us again and we will make sure the diaper promotion is properly applied to your account.

I apologize for any additional inconvenience that this may cause. Thank you for your patience while we fix this problem. We look forward to seeing you again soon.

Best regards,

Robert Stacey
Amazon.com Customer Service

As of now the error has not been corrected, but at least I have this email to back me up. I just can't believe the amount of time I have spent trying to get this handled. I truly feel like this hasn't been a promotion and that I have earned those diapers at this point. As of now we have $399 to go before the promotion times out at the end of the month. We will hit that, no problem, and then I fully expect to have to still fight for Lemon's diapers. We'll see how it goes.

This experience just reaffirms to me that being consumer saavy and frugal sometimes takes more work and determination. This could easily have happened with a smaller $20 item which could have easily gone unnoticed and resulted in a total loss on the promotion we thought we had fulfilled. So check your reciepts, follow up on promotions and make sure you get what is promised to you.

Mia Hamm, are you in there?

Seemingly overnight, Lemon got the hang of this kicking thing. 

Over the past few weeks I have been feeling her off and on - but they were the little flutters, or a short pounce on my cervix (ouch!). Nothing I could prove to anybody. But yesterday, out of the blue, while I was eating a Key Lime flavored yogurt (SEE - I'm not kidding about the citrus thing!)... WHAMMO! Mid-tummy, she started thomping on me. I put my hand on my belly and... POW! She kicked me square in the palm. I was shocked. I ran upstairs to Jim (to the nursery which he is so lovingly painting while on strike from Boeing) so he could feel for himself. But it was too late. She found her comfy spot and settled down.

Last night while we were watching the premier of Fringe (very promising new show, by the way) she started again, and this time Jim caught it... He felt his very first kick last night. It was very exciting!

And can I just say, it feels SO COOL! I say that now while she is still tiny. I reserve the right to change my tune as Lemon starts to stack on the weight - which is what I hear she should be working on now.

A place to lay her head...

The crib, mattress and bedding have arrived! Jim and Bailey worked hard as partners putting the crib together. If you can't tell, we've gone with a classic white Jenny Lind crib, but left the gaudy brass wheels off. And the mattress is a firm, foam Colgate Classica II.


Also, the aforementioned bedding, Meadow by Amenity, was delivered today! It is as perfect as we had hoped! We tested it out on Jersey since she is the only one in the house small enough to fit in the crib. As you'll see from the pic below, she was less than thrilled to be the guinea pig. She growled the whole time she was in there. Maybe that is why the bunny is staring at her...


Now that we have the bedding, it is time to pick paint swatches so we can get the peach off our walls! We'll keep you posted on overall design of the nursery as it starts to come together.