Roach Motel Update

Remember the Roach Motel? The motel we stayed in on our drive down to TN last month in Roanoke VA. I promptly e-mailed the corporate office of the Knights Inn after our awful stay. I got a form letter apologizing and telling me that the information was forwarded to the manager of the property. If I did not hear back in 10 business days I could contact the manager. Well, I didn't hear anything and I waited a month. Since clearly it wasn't important to the manager of the property I wasn't about to deal with him. So I e-mailed corporate back and said I heard nothing and how upset I was at the treatment and then I went and opened a BBB case on the Knights Inn. Today I got an e-mail from the corporate office of the Knights Inn. They said after reviewing my case they are sending me a $50 check for my troubles which I should receive in 2-3 weeks. Hey, that's actually $.49 more than what we paid to stay there for the night. I think I'll take it. I thanked them and told them that I will close the BBB case that I have opened once I receive the check. So see, being persistent and complaining definitely does pay off. Now if only the Subway I had trouble with in VA would send me those coupons they promised me.

Things Fell Through

I am kicking myself now for not getting anything signed before we left with the house we were renting. Wednesday night at 11:30 at night we got a phone call from the man we are renting the house from in TN. Two days after we left he apparently rented it to someone else. So I wanted to know why he waited weeks to call us. He said he had no way of contacting us. Ummm, then how did he call me Wednesday night? He says I must have called him recently, but I didn't. The whole thing is very fishy. He said he has other places, but we looked at the other house he has (drove by when we were down there) and we didn't like the looks of the neighborhood and the other places are town houses which we don't want. So now we have no place to live. So we talked to our landlord and they said it was fine if we stayed since they hadn't rented it yet. We sold Joe's car though and now need to find something else. We told EVERYONE that we're moving and now we have to tell them not yet. The job Joe was looking into (a truck driving job) was contingent on the address. Now we don't have the address. So we are stuck. We don't know if we'll move to TN or just stay in CT. We will probably have to stay for now. We still are looking to move though because our rent is high and our landlord doesn't take very good care of the property. And it's just going to get worse by the summer when he no longer has a job or income. Things definitely won't get done then. So we are in limbo right now which is not a good place to be. Everyone's happy that we are at least staying for now anyways. I was really looking forward to starting a new in TN though.

Random Car Pictures

Here are some random pictures taken of the kids throughout the trip in the car.

That's a goldfish in his mouth!


Kaitlyn completely knocked out when mommy got pulled over the 1st time!

On our way home! Look how thrilled everyone is, or maybe that's just sleepy.





There's more to come including a short video of CJ walking!

Hotel Pictures

Here are some pictures from our hotel room:

CJ liked the drawer so much he wanted to be in it!





CJ's bed. Night Night CJ!

Who's that baby in the mirror?

I like mommy's camera case.



Playing Cars.



More pictures will be coming soon. I have them all edited it's just a matter of putting them on here.

Week In Review: February 15 - February 21

Here is this weeks Week In Review for February 15 - February 21, 2009.

Sunday: This morning we were up at 7 to get on the road again. Joe noticed a roach in our hotel room. Ewww, gross. We couldn't get out of there fast enough being sure to shake everything out. We were on the road by 8. We made good time to TN. We arrived in TN at about 3 p.m. (central time). We are staying in the same chain of hotel where we found the roach. Thankfully this one is much nicer and cleaner. We were very ready to tell them we will not be staying if the room has bugs. We are all very excited to be here though and looking forward to searching around for a place to live and work.

Monday: Woke up early and my eye quickly became red. Hmmm, that's not good. I wonder if there were any pets in the room before us. So we got dressed and went up to the front desk for breakfast and to ask about previous tenants in the room. Yes it was a pet room so they said they'd move us, but we'd have to wait until 12 after check outs. So we went back to the room and were not able to get onto the internet. We went out exploring and ended up staying out past 12. So switching rooms was a huge ordeal, but it's done and we like the room better. It's a nice part of the hotel it seems and it's quieter too. We hit the mall where we bought all the kids new shoes. Natalie won us $5 off the shoes by guessing how many dots on a pair of dice. Okay she had help from us. I can't believe how much the TN state tax is though. I guess I'm spoiled in CT with no tax on clothing. Even still 9% tax is a lot!!! Natalie had a headache so we came back to the room and ordered pizza for dinner in the room.

Tuesday: Went out to breakfast at Shoney's. It wasn't the greatest, but it filled us up for the day. We drove up to Clarksville to look around and do some job searching. It's nice up there. Headed back to the hotel and had dinner at A&W. CJ wasn't interested in eating. Got some shakes from Steak and Shake and came back to enjoy them in the room. Gotta love Steak and Shake shakes.

Wednesday: We got up a little later today. CJ started walking. Joe called some of the places he put applications in. We waited for them to call back and then decided to go check out some houses in Clarksville. So we went back up there. We liked one and ended up finding another one we liked in our driving around. So we called. We got in to see one of them and it looks like we are actually moving. The man who showed it to us really liked us and said he wanted to take a chance on us. So now we just have to find a job and we're good to go. That shouldn't be too difficult now that we'll have a residence. Things are falling into place. We then met Renee and her Special K's at O'Charleys for dinner. We had a very nice evening. Good food, good company. We headed back to the hotel and crashed from the very long day.

Thursday: I was up very early. While everyone slept I did some research on schools for the girls where we'll be moving to. I found out which school they would go to. Once everyone woke up I made a bunch of phone calls including to their new school so I could take a tour. We decided to have a fun day and drove down to Chattanooga. We went up Incline Mountain and then to the Chattanooga zoo. It was a very nice day and I'll have plenty of pictures to share of our adventures.

Friday: Time to head home. We were up by 6:30 and on the road by 8. We first went up to Clarksville to tour the girls school. It was very nice. Then we met with our future landlord to get all the paperwork before getting on the road. It was a long drive. You can read about what happened here.

Saturday: Finally made it home. Stopped off at the local pizza place to grab a pizza and came home. We are glad to be home and can't wait to sleep in our own beds.

Remember, be sure to check back next week for the pictures from our trip.

Check out more Weeks in Review posts.

Finally Home

Ahhhh, it's good to be home! We left yesterday morning from TN at 8 a.m. Central time. We had a few things to do before we actually got on the road home though. So we didn't actually get on the road heading home until 11 a.m. central time. I got a speeding ticket a few hours into our drive back in TN. Not cool! We didn't get to our hotel in Roanoke VA until almost 9 p.m. Eastern time. We were supposed to have a crib for CJ at this hotel, but there wasn't one in the room. So I went to the front desk and had to argue with the guy about the crib. He said there was a $10 charge. No way was I paying that when I was given a price which included the crib. He kept telling me my computer doesn't show a crib. I said okay well my confirmation e-mail does. We went back and forth and I was going to show him my e-mail. He had called the manager while I was getting my computer out of the car and I guess he said to just give it to us no charge. Well, we didn't even use it because it was about to fall apart. This was the nicest room we had the whole trip though I must say. Anyways, we hadn't eaten dinner yet so we walked over to the Subway next to the hotel. We got there and some kid was standing outside and told us it was locked. There were people in there though. We tried all the doors, but nothing. The sign said it was open and the window said they were open until 12 a.m. so we waited for the employee to notice us, but that didn't happen. So I knocked on the window and the customers were telling us they were closed. I said the sign says they are open. Finally the girl behind the counter comes out and lets us in saying I'll let you in the dining room, but where closed. I said well that's not what your sign says. She said the drive through was open and she couldn't do both by herself. Now mind you there was another girl behind the counter so I said well you're not by yourself and if only the drive through is open that's what your sign should say. She was so slow too making sandwiches. We didn't get back to the room until 10. We ate, showered, and went to bed. Got up at 7:15 this morning to get on the road again. Left shortly after 8 and guess what??? I got a second speeding ticket!!! I literally had just gotten on the highway. I had said to Joe I don't know what the speed limit is here and was trying to find signs stating it when I saw a police officer He was coming off the median. So I moved over. He didn't have his lights on and seemed to be going after the car in front of me, but as he passed me he motioned for me to go over to the side. Grrrr! So I did and he did pull over the car in front of me too. He asked me if I knew why he pulled him over and I said no. Turns out the speed limit was only 55 there and I was apparently going 73 :(. Not good. So now I have two speeding tickets. Needless to say the rest of the ride home was slow going because I was very cautious about my speed. So we didn't arrive home until 7 p.m. It's good to be home though and I can't wait to sleep in my bed. We had a good trip though. I will have plenty of pictures to share so check back. Oh, and I haven't forgotten about my giveaway. I'll post a winner tomorrow.

Roach Motel

This is where we stayed last night. Well, we wouldn't have stayed if we had spotted the roach last night instead of this morning. On our drive down to TN we stopped in Roanoke, VA last night and stayed in a Knights Inn down there. I do not recommend staying there. I can't say all Knights Inns are bad because we are in one now in TN and so far we haven't had any major problems. However, this one in Roanoke, VA was awful. The curtains didn't close all the way. They gave us two towels for five people and couldn't give us anymore than that!!! And then this morning Joe discovered a roach. We packed everything up as quickly as possible after giving it all a good shake. And we got the heck out of there being sure to cancel our reservation which we had made for Friday night. Even before we discovered the extra guests in our room we had booked a different hotel for Friday night. What a relief we did that. It's a AAA rated room too so hopefully that will mean no roaches!!!

Week In Review: February 8 - February 14 2009

Here is this weeks Week in Review for February 8 - February 14, 2009.

Sunday: Well, as usual it was laundry day. Joe had to work so me and the kids just hung out at the house. When Joe came home he made banana bread with the girls. Awww, a husband who bakes. It would be even nicer if I didn't have to get after him to clean up the mess he made so I could cook dinner. And when he cooks I swear he uses every dish in the house. But really, I'm not complaining, it's sweet and my house does smell like banana bread. And honestly this was the highlight of my day; laundry and banana bread. So can't complain about that. A quiet laid back day.

Monday: I thought this day would never end. After bringing the girls to school Joe, CJ, and I went to Denny's for breakfast. All seemed fine until we were almost done CJ started becoming very fussy. He was up early, but still didn't seem early enough for him to be this cranky at this time. We had to bring my new car back to have something fixed on it so we did that. He cried the whole way there. We got a loaner. He cried the whole way home. We put him down for a nap, he pretty much fussed and cried for an hour and a half in his crib. We got him out and took his shoes off and eureka he stopped crying. He had lunch. Claudia from the FRC came over for our PAT (Parents As Teachers) visit. He was happy go lucky for that too. She left and shortly after we had to go pick the girls up from school. I had fundraiser instructions which I needed to make copies of to pack the fundraisers tomorrow night. That took forever and I didn't even finish. I was there until 4:30 (the girls get out at 3). Then we went to the grocery store to get a few things and finally home to cook dinner. We got a phone call that our car is all fixed.

Tuesday: After bringing the girls to school we picked up my car. The speedometer is working again. It's so nice to have my car back. I called my credit card company to find out why the payment which I made on Friday is not available to me yet in spite of it having cleared my bank. Now my funds are available for me to book our trip for next week. I debated on whether or not it would be best to drive 17 hours straight or stop halfway through. Well, it came down to which would be cheaper. And surprisingly stopping halfway through was the cheapest way to go. So I booked us a hotel in Virginia for a night on the way down and back and then five nights in Murfreesboro, TN. Now all that's left to do is pack and leave. Once that was done I picked the girls up from school, got homework going, filled out the Friendly's ice cream certificates for the winning Box Top class, got dinner, and went back to the school to stuff envelopes for nearly two hours. Fundraisers are now all set to go out to the whole school tomorrow. Kaitlyn helped seal envelopes while Natalie ran around and did everything but what I asked her to do. Sometimes I wonder which one is the older one.

Wednesday: Boy, this day started off great. Last night the girls stayed up late even after we had put them to bed at a decent time. I knew when they were still up at 10 they were going to be miserable. So we had a talk with them about their behavior and in particular Natalie because she had goofed off at school while we were packing fundraisers. Natalie is into this arguing phase. She's also very much into this selfish it's all about me phase right now too. So it's hard to get her to understand where we are coming from. I hate starting off the day arguing though. But it is playgroup day! Every week there is a theme and this weeks was Valentine's Day. CJ wasn't getting too into all of that stuff though. Oh well he left with a ton of candy. And as always playgroup completely wipes him out and he takes a good long nap. And when I say a looooong nap I mean a looooong nap. He slept right through lunch and if I didn't have to pick the girls up from school he would have continued to sleep. Ahhh, I love playgroup day! It was so peaceful. Fundraiser packets came home from school today. I haven't seen enough of those things yet. I better get used to it though, I will be seeing much more of the Avon fundraiser all the way until the beginning of April.

Thursday: Another crazy day. After dropping the girls off at school I went to Walmart to get some things I needed for Kaitlyn's brownies for her party tomorrow, stuff to make Bee Mine Valentine's, and stuff to make Conversation Heart Fudge. That took a few stops actually. I had to go to the grocery store to get some of the stuff that Walmart did not have. Then I had to stop at the bank and finally went home and put CJ down for a nap. I made the Conversation Heart Fudge while CJ napped. We were supposed to have that recall taken care of on my new van, but we couldn't find the service place that the dealer we bought the van from set up the appointment for. Turns out they gave us the wrong address. And the service place wasn't answering their phone when we were trying to call to find out where they were. So looks like we'll have to schedule another time to get that taken care of. So after driving around aimlessly for an hour we came home and I started on Kaitlyn's brownies. Then I picked the girls up from school. I had scheduled an appointment to get Kaitlyn's bangs cut so I brought her to that. We were in and out of there. Home for dinner and to spend the rest of the evening working on the girls Valentines, Kaitlyn's brownies, and those Conversation Heart Fudge. And then before I forgot I made sure to write my guest post on my friend Renee's blog.

Friday: We had breakfast at school this morning. The FRC (Family Resource Center) hosts a free breakfast once a month for families. This month the PTA helped fund this breakfast. So I had to attend. Not that the kids would let me miss it. The girls got a chance to hand out a bunch of the Conversation Heart Fudge I had made to some of the people there. It was a nice breakfast. CJ ate half a bagel, some pop tart, and come coffee cake. And apparently that wasn't enough because we came home and he ate some more. We went to his Cranial Tech appointment. Our next visit will be our exit visit! Woohoo. Then we needed to pick up some pediasure at the store for our trip. We went to lunch, then to Sprint to update my phone since I've had a broken charger for a few months now, then picked the girls up from school, went to Rent a Center to rent a lap top for our upcoming trip, and home so Joe could go to work. The lap top wasn't ready when we got there so we had to go back to pick it up and while out I picked up some snacky stuff for the ride tomorrow, filled up with gas, and grabbed some Micky D's for dinner. I know I know, but I was in a hurry and still needed to do laundry and pack. I learned that a 9 and 6 year old have no clue how to pack. So after packing everyone, but myself I had to repack the girls bag. I cleaned the bathroom so I have a nice clean toilet to come home to. Washed dishes of course so we have nothing stinky when we come home. And I'm sure I forgot a million things that I'll be kicking myself about next week.

Saturday: We were up at 6:15 this morning. Packed the car with everything and were on the road by 7:45. It was smooth sailing all the way to VA where we were stopping for the night before heading on to TN. We actually got in earlier than expected. CJ did well in the car for the most part. Natalie felt car sick a few times, but she was okay. We checked in by 4:30. The hotel we are staying in is a bit of a dissapointment though. It's very run down and we are only able to get two towels. Our curtain doesn't even close all the way. So after we went and got something to eat I looked up a different hotel to stay in on our way back next week. We found one that's hopefully a little better and only about $5 more than where we are staying. It's got a AAA rating so that's always a good sign. CJ won't settle down though to go to sleep. Hopefully we'll all get some sleep before having to be on the road again in the morning. All in all I can't say this is a terrible trip so far though. We are very much looking forward to getting into TN tomorrow. Only seven more hours to go! I hope everyone had a happy Valentine's Day!

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Road Trip Booked

Well, it's official! We are spending the girls upcoming winter vacation in Tennessee! Hotels are now all booked for our upcoming trip. We can't wait.