Crazy Good Negotiating Skills

Saturday saw the end of the car search. It's been a two-year saga of looking, test-driving, nit-picking every little detail, not being satisfied for some small reason, and walking away. Everyone was thoroughly exasperated with my search. I was fed-up with always being dissatisfied with every potential car. And then a lightbulb went off in my head and I realized the source of my dissatisfaction...I was looking for the wrong type of vehicle.

I thought I wanted another SUV since we were going to trade-in the Mountaineer. But I really didn't want an SUV, I just didn't know that. It took me two years to figure it out. Once I had the moment of clarity and realized that what I really wanted was a sedan, the right car seemed to just find me.

I still don't think the guys at Parker Subaru know what hit them. Dave and I went up on Saturday afternoon and test drove the 2011 Legacy that they had advertised. At the end of the drive the salesman asked if we liked enough to spend an hour or two with him. I told him "You have one hour." and then I turned it all over to Dave. It was a whirlwind of activity from that time forward, which is an amazing feat at a car dealership considering most things move at a glacial pace once the negotiating process begins. Seriously why does it take so long? It only makes people irritated and grumpy. Dave and I once walked away from a deal because they kept us waiting...the sales manager was out smoking a cigarette that's how interested he was in our business.

Anyway, Dave has some crazy good negotiating skills. He has a great poker face and he knows just how to say things so he winds up getting his way without the other person really realizing it. He managed to negotiate the price of the vehicle down about $6000.00. He's pretty awesome.

The negotiating process took just a little over an hour. The actual signing of the papers took a little longer because they kept trying to sell us about a million different warranties and factory extras. Honestly people, how many times and in how many ways do we have to say "NO" before you will let us sign the papers?

But like I said, the process was successful and now I'm now driving around in a silver 2011 Subaru Legacy 2.5i Limited. It has 11,5000 miles. It's a pretty sweet ride.

Look What the Box Man Brought Today

eBag Mother Lode Weekender TLS Convertible Backpack

The UPS man delivered this bag (and one in green) to my doorstep this afternoon.

Now I say..."Watch out Europe, here I come!"

This summer's family vacation will find some of us touring Germany, France and Switzerland while others of us are cruising down the Danube. We'll all meet up in Paris.

I can't believe that I'm going to pack 10-days worth of stuff in this bag, but that is the goal. I don't want to pay the checked luggage fees and my dad swears that it is possible to fit enough clothes in this bag (well the Rick Steves version). The only problem I might run into is this bag is fitted more for someone of average size. I'm not so much of average size...more like on the negative end of the bell curve. Dave says I just can't tip over backwards with the backpack on. I'll look like an up-side down turtle. He also told Carson he better be prepared to carry it for me. But I said I'm not a wimp and I will be able to carry my own bag. Thank you very much.

I still can't believe we are going to Europe. I never thought we'd ever take a trip like this but I'm so excited we are.

Monday's Happiness

Today's happinesss...

The blue, blue sky behind the cherry tree in my front yard

Blossoms on the cherry tree in my front yard

Palouse Falls

From the observation point

At the Falls' level

Yesterday was a very busy day.

I ran 20 miles in the morning and then in the afternoon (after Dave finished his 50 mile bike ride), we drove down to see Palouse Falls.

Ever since reading about a kayaker who purposelly chose to go over these Falls, we have wanted to drive down and see it. So we decided yesterday was the day.

It was a beautiful day and the Falls were spectacular. I wish the hike to get down to the Falls' level wasn't a two-mile descent, but I'm glad we did it.

Along the way we saw some funny marmots

We let Josie play in the river...on a leash and a ways up river from the big falls

Carson thought about jumping in...just kidding, but this picture does kind of give that impression

The trail was single-track in parts so Dave, Josie and Carson waited up the trail while I hiked down about 10 yards to get the picture at the Falls' level. Josie didn't like not being able to see me so she kept peeking around the rock to find me.

My knee hurt and my right foot was completely numb by time we finished the hike, but I am so glad that we finally went to see Palouse Falls.

Where was Katelyn? Well she was at a choir festival. We decided that while she would have enjoyed seeing the Falls, she definitely would not have liked the hiking down to get a closer look. The trail was rough and steep. The temperature was a little hot. While the rest of us thought it was great, she would have hated it and would have complained the whole time. So while we missed her, I know she was probably relieved that she had another commitment that kept her from joining us on our outing.

Marathon?

In January I decided to train for a marathon. It sounded like a good and fun challenge at the time. After all, I was already running 13 miles on my long runs so I knew I had enough time to follow a good training program. I also was toying with running a marathon in the fall so it wasn't a complete spur of the moment decision to join my friends in their training.

The training has been going pretty well. Not too many bumps or set-backs along the way. I'm enjoying the program I'm following. The intervals, tempos & long runs have been tough, but challenging and I can feel myself getting stronger. Like I said, I've been liking the training.

Until today. Today was my first ever 20-miler. In. My. Entire. Life. And I did not enjoy it. Matter of fact, by mile 15 I was questioning my ability, and truth be told, my desire to run a marathon. I was tired. Things were starting to hurt, especially my right foot, which I'm pretty sure has a stress fracture as a consequence of my sad, and incredibly maddening, shoe saga.

I'm not sure what the next 4 weeks will bring. When I was talking this over with Dave he said "You just ran 20 miles certainly you will be able to run 26.2" Thanks for the vote of confidence, Babe, but I'm just not sure. If I run this race, I want to be able to run it and feel good about my performance. I hope that today's performance was not an indicator of what my 26.2 would look like.

I know I can do hard things. I just don't know about this hard thing.

Awhhh Teen-agers

If I had written this post a couple of days ago when I thought of the title, it wouldn't have sounded anything like today's post. That post would have been a little more ranting; a little more unappreciative of the two teen-agers that live in our house. It would have shared a text I received from one of the teen-agers blaming me for her speeding ticket because I (quote) pissed her off (end quote). And of course I would probably have shared my feelings of frustration with the other teen-ager because he refused to completely fill out a summer job application.

But I have had several days to just let it go. I thought about what the problem was and realized that it was my attitude. So I prayed that I might feel my attitude turn around. Then I started to look for ways that would help me fix my attitude.

As I was thinking about my teen-agers and looking for solutions I read a blog from a mom with several kids and she had written a letter to each child expressing her appreciation for their unique qualities/characteristics that enhance their family. It was truly a "light bulb" moment for me & I realized where my problem lay--there was way too much focus on the frustrating moments and very little light shining on the good.

I'm grateful that I was reminded what I need to do. I need to try harder to see the positive and let the negative go. I need to make sure each day that I find at least one positive quality/experience about the kids. And, really, it's not difficult to do that. I just need to take the time to do it. The feelings of frustration tend to creep in when I have been too busy to notice all of the good in Katelyn and Carson.

Maybe I'll take a cue from Momza's House and write a letter to each kid.

Warning to Katelyn and Carson: The letters might be mushy. Because sometimes I'm really not a drill sargeant and I do love you.

Adjustment Spells Relief

Our trip to Utah for Spring Break was fabulous. It was sunny and relaxing. The drive home was not so fabulous. And it was far from sunny and relaxing. Matter of fact, it was several hours of white-knuckle driving from Logan to Missoula. It was snowing, foggy & windy with many sections of road with slush and snow. It was like a trifecta of bad.

Consequently I arrived home with huge knots in my neck and upper back. Dave offered a massage but I opted out of that. I just tried stretching & heat. I thought I was on the mend. By Tuesday afternoon I could tell that I wasn't making much progress releasing the kinks, but I didn't think much about it.

My body, on the other hand, was not happy with being ignored. At 2:00 Thursday morning, I woke up out of a dead sleep with such horrible neck pain, I immediately started reviewing body systems to make sure everything but my neck was in working order.

Can I tip my chin to my chest? No. Uh oh what does that mean? Let's ask some more questions.

Did I have a fever? No

Did I have a horrible headache? Headache, yes, but not horrible. It definitely felt like it was due to the tension in my neck muscles

Did I have a rash? No

OK, no menigitis so take some ibuprofen & go back to sleep. I know, totally irrational to jump to menigitis, but it was 2:00 in the morning & I wasn't thinking rational thoughts.

Anyway, the pain continued for the rest of the day & kept me up again last night.

I had tried everything that I could think of...
stretching, heat, BioFreeze, more ibuprofen than I really should have been taking.

The lack of sleep & the inconquerable pain was starting to make me a whee bit cranky. And nauseous.

Cranky & nausea are my qualifiers for seeking professional help.

So I did something I had never done before.

I went to a chiropractor. He is a guy in our ward & he has treated Katelyn before. I really liked how he treated her so I made an appointment to see him today.

Oh my gosh the adjustment & crunching was wonderful. It released the tension enough that I could actually sit up from a laying position without pain & assistance. He gave me some stretching exercises to do at home over the weekend & I'll follow up with him on Monday.

Thanks Dr. Kash Merrill.

You fixed the cause of the cranky & nausea.

My family thanks you too.

And Now, Scenery from Bryce Canyon

Thor's Hammer

The Sentinel (It reminded me of the Angel Moroni statues on temples)

Ice formation in Mossy Cave

"Windows" in the cliff face behind the trees

Found It

To me, this winter has seemed especially long and grey. I was in desperate need of some natural Vitamin D and warm weather. So when Spring Break came I loaded Carson up in the car and headed south. Our first stop was Logan, well actually Clarkston, but Logan is a better-known city. It was sunny, but definitely not warm. Fortunately that was just a pit stop for a night.

The next morning we added 6 to our group of 2 and headed south again. It's a long drive from Logan to Bryce Canyon but oh so worth it. We found the sun and some warm weather.

Now for the boring scenery pictures from Zion National Park...

Stay tuned for boring scenery pictures from Bryce Canyon National Park.