A Third Extension

Dear Mr. and Mrs. Stantchev,

We are so very sorry for the delays with Wells Fargo. We went with a big name like Wells Fargo because we thought we could avoid the runaround, delays and stress. Wells Fargo seemed to be the best choice for us all but perhaps we were wrong, and for that we apologize. We considered changing to a different lender but feared that would only cause more delays.

We have never been so nervous and stressed as we have been, thinking that you might change your minds about selling us the home because of the delays with Wells Fargo. We absolutely love your home and pray daily that it might all work out well. We are giving our best effort to make sure the purchase goes through fast and fair. We hope that the $200 dollars previously promised and the additional $300 dollars we are offering for an additional extension will help you cover any costs you have incurred because of the delay.

The delay is not either of our faults but we have heard that selling this home is difficult for you and hope that we can make it less of a trial. Please accept our additional offering and request for extension. Thank you for selling us what we hope to call our home.

Sincerely,

Joshua and Catherine Wells

P.S. Our last name is “Wells” but we share no relation to “Wells Fargo”. Which might be unfortunate because if we were related to the owners of Wells Fargo we probably could have just paid you cash for your home and just avoided this mess.

All’s Well That Ends Well -William Shakespeare

Ironic, “All’s Well That Ends Well” is actually one of Shakespeare’s “problem plays”, says Wikipedia, because critics can’t be sure it should be set apart as the comedy it was originally classified as. The title is a proverb meaning, that a good ending or result is worth all the work, trials and sacrifice one puts into it.

So Helena is a “gentlewomen” protected by the mother of Count Bertram, Countess of Rousillon. Helena is secretly in love with Bertram but he is a Lord and she a simpleton. Throughout the play, however, Helena proves herself to be anything but simple. Helena was the daughter of a brilliant surgeon; she saves the King from a terminal illness and in return is permitted to marry the Lord of her choice. Bertram didn’t stand a chance but runs off to war just after being married thinking death to be a better alternative to such a marriage. After leaving for war Bertram writes Helena, “When though canst get the ring upon my finger, which never shall come off, and show me a child begotten of they body that I am father to, then call me husband.”

The affable Helena easily obtains the assistance of Diana, a young maiden that Bertram confessed he would lie with. Like a champion of sales persons Helena successfully performs a “bait and switch” maneuver. Switching places with Diana at the last moment to obtaining Bertram’s ring and all other required items, Helena wins Bertram’s faith and love. So he promises to “love her dearly, ever, ever dearly”.

Gee Whiz, Shakespeare really was brilliant. He knew even then that men don’t stand a chance, but all’s well that ends well eh. :-)

Halloween spectacular!!

So last Sunday we decided to carve pumpkins for FHE. They turned out awesome! Take a look. Joshua Carved the one on the left. The symbol is our last name in Chinese, I told him that was too boring, so he decided to add eyes. The ones on the right I carved, the one with the red light is trying to eat the little one...thats why he has a scared face. Here's a few other pics. Here's our door. Why do I have a picture of our door you may ask? Well turns out our doors are always locked, so Joshua being the good husband he is, shut the door of our patio. While we were both outside, and neither of us had our keys. So we were locked out. It was pretty funny, cause as soon as he shut the door, we both just look at each other and say "Crap". It was funny. So we had to run over to the house of the Complex manager people, luckily I knew who they were and Joshua knew where they lived. So it all worked out in the end. Joshua loves his pumpkin. Now for the even more exciting part!!! Our Halloween costumes!!!!! Joshua was a snowboarder...and I was a Purple Octopus! Pretty sweet huh? And for all of you who are jealous of my purple pants, turtleneck and hat. I got them at DI for only $10.00 Can't beat that can you! I wont lie the pants were pretty amazing. They went up past my belly button and made the lower half of my body completely curvless. (Yeah I know I dont have much curve anyway but still, it was pretty attractive) But for some weird reason Joshua didn't seem to enthusiastic about them....Odd. These are our brave friends who agreed to spend Halloween night with us. Jessica and Yanis Rock are pretty much awesome. Yanis was a soccer player and Jessica was a umpire. We had a great time with them. We went to the Haunted House in provo and then went for dessert at the new Craigo's in Provo, we had the Cookie Monster. And Joshua and I finished all of ours...it was a pretty huge feat! After dessert we watched a movie at our humble abowd. It was a super fun night! Awwww, a snowboarder is kissing a Octopus. Could we be cuter? I submit that we could not!!!

The Making of a Giving

I selflessly took my wife to work at 9am on a Saturday morning. She hadn’t eaten breakfast so I graciously thought to get her some Jamba Juice and something warm at the next-door harvest garden bakery. While standing in line for the juice my sister called and asked if I could drive her to a community action service project so she wouldn’t be late.

The desire to serve is in the blood, I guess. I quickly dropped what I was doing and altruistically drove my sister and her friend to their service site. After daring to risk life and limb in Provo City traffic I thought only to fulfill my previous quest to quench my beloved wife’s thirst for morning nourishment. I proceeded to press forward baring the ominous gloom preceding this nights BYU football game.

As I approached the cash register to purchase a Jamba Juice with my $10 gift card, a remnant of my wedding gifts from three months earlier, I thought of the gentlemen behind me in line. He was dressed to exercise but still “well dressed”. Obviously he was not in need but I couldn’t help myself, after purchasing my wife’s juice I good-naturedly left the remaining amount on the gift card for the gentleman behind me.

I thanked the cashier then quickly left the juice shack and after taking my time buying some freshly baked goods, came out to find the gentleman just exiting the juice shack. He threw me the keys to his new Jaguar and asked me to pay it forward. I genially accepted his gift, sold it at a near by dealership and donated all the money to the poor.

Actually the man had already left and I have now idea what he thought about my making of a giving. I did enjoy a few bits of the cinnamon role and muffin I got for my wife before dropping it off to her. Then I spent the next hour trying to get home through the ESPN game day mobs and a homecoming parade. Didn’t they realize the great things that I had just done?

Soapbox

So its midterm time, and i'm not gonna lie, I'm thinking I am going to kinda suck up a couple of my tests because they are crazy hard and they cover so much material! How in the world am I supposed to memorize 6 weeks worth of lectures and homework and readings? Its pretty much impossible and then you always have the issue of how each professor is completely different. So some of them test your understanding of the theories and ideas and such, while others test that you have memorized every chapter and every word they have said in class, so when you go take the test and you have studied for hours and hours on the theories and ideas and you go in feeling pretty confident and then you sit down and look at the first question, you dont recognize the question or any of the answers at all, nothing rings a bell, and then the confidence you had disappears like water in a strainer and you do awful despite your long hours of studying. It drives me crazy! I enjoy learning, I love understanding things I have always wondered about and learning things I have always wanted to know, but I don't like being tested on those things, because its hard and frustrating and doesn't really show what you understand or don't understand; and really all they are doing is comparing me to someone else. How is that ok? For some people their very best no matter how hard they try or how long they study will never be a 90%. When others don't have to study at all and they get a 99%. Why is it that students who get an 80 or a 70% are called average? They don't know what else is going on in their lives. For example: I am a full time student, I am taking 6 classes, I work part time, and I am a wife. I know many people before me have done the same thing and have been very successful in school, but I have to study long and hard to do well, and I don't have time. To me it is more important to be a good wife, so most of my free time is filled with spending time with my husband, or cooking, or doing dishes (which takes forever! because we don't have a dishwasher), or cleaning. Whenever I don't do these things and focus on homework, my life gets much harder because then I have a house that is a disaster, no dishes to eat on, which I guess doesn't matter to much because there is no food to eat anyway, and a cranky husband because the house is dirty and we have nothing to eat. So I have decided that we should all be graded separately because it is unfare for me to be graded on the same scale as a person who still lives at home with a mother that will cook and clean for them, with no job and only school to focus on. I am pretty sure that if I was graded on just me and what my life involves and my learning capacity I would be a pretty darn good student. So anyway, just had to vent, better get back to studying for my tests :(

~ Catherine

Guess what!!!!

No! I'm not pregnant, but we are going to be home owners shortly!!!!! We have had an offer on a home accepted for a while now, and have kept it on the DL because we were nervous that it wouldn't appraise and the contract would fall through. Well! Good news! We got the appraisal back Monday and the house appraised for MORE than our offer! It was soooooo exciting. Joshua and I are just thrilled and are starting to relax a little and believe this might actually happen!!! We have been house hunting since June and trust me, it has been very fun. There were lots of times where either I or Joshua got very discouraged, so to finally reached this point is a huge blessing! We are both still pretty stressed out because we want the process to go as quickly and smoothly as possible, but getting the appraisal done was a huge step!! So we are going to go look at the house again tomorrow, so I will take some pictures and post them asap! YAYAYAYA!!

Dear Calphalon Customer Relations Representative:

We love our brand new 13 piece contemporary stainless pots and pans. My wife convinced me that this is the set we needed saying that we would get a free “Calphalon” wok with the purchase. I have lived in China for nearly four years of my life, so I know the importance of having a good wok in every home. However, it wasn’t until after we made the purchase that I realized the wok was not contemporary stainless like the rest of our pots and pans. I use only metal cooking utensils to fry my rice and noodles. I need a stainless steel wok. We are planning on making our new pots and pans part of the décor in our now seemly new kitchen by hanging them up, but a nonstick wok would have to be left out, hiding in some lowly cupboard with all its plastic utensils. Please send us a contemporary stainless wok and bill us for the difference if needed. You could even keep the knife we qualified for as well.

Calphalon LR155P - Contemporary Stainless Steel Flat Bottom Wok

SKU #: CPH1056

Apple Juice

Do you know why apple juice is so special? Because it's the only thing besides water that you can drink before surgery.

Family Apple Cake and Other stories

So I made Grandma Flandro's Apply Cake tonight for dessert and it is really good!!!! I love that I have this recipe book that Mom made me for my bridal shower, it's so fun to try new recipes, especially when they turn out delicious!

So last Wednesday I went out on a date with Abby! OK so maybe not a date but a girls night out. We had such a good time, it was nice to hang out cause I have been feeling a little friendless lately and Abby made me feel better. But anywho, we went up to Salt Lake to see "Chorus Line" at Utah State because Mike was doing the lights for the play and he gave us free tickets. So we get there about 15 minutes before it starts and of course I wait till the very last second to realize that I need to go to the bathroom, So I go and when I get back the play is already started and they wont let me back in and sit by Abby, they made me wait outside for like 20 minutes and then I had to sit in the back by my self for the rest of the play....I was so irritated. Abby and I drove all the way up there to go the the play together and we can't even sit by each other. The play was good though, the only thing was at times it was a bit...risque. Lol so it would have been nice to be sitting by her so we could exchange glances during those parts. But the lighting was awesome! :) And it was a really funny, really different kind of play. I enjoyed the whole evening very much!

Lastly, Joshua and I talked to my parents about Thanksgiving and got our tickets to go to Omaha for a day or two and spend some time with my Grandma and Grandpa! We are so excited, my whole family will be there, it will be a great Thanksgiving! I'm also very excited for Joshua to meet my grandparents, I was worried that he would never get the chance, they are getting quite old, and my grandma just had a minor heart attack last week, she is doing very well now, but it just reminded me that they probably wont be here much longer, and I really really want Joshua to meet and, and them to meet him. So I am very excited for this coming Holiday season!! Well thats all for now. Oh and if you didn't already figure it out, Joshua won the fight and we will be combining blogs (well more like I am moving onto his) So if you follow my blog sorry their wont be much action on it anymore....Love you all!!
~Catherine

Air-Soft?

Yeah right! My first experience with air-soft, a game of tag with fully-automatic weapons shooting small hard plastic BBs at 350 to 460 feet per second, was great! The only thing “soft” about Air-soft is the impact it has on one’s wallet, the cost being 1/3 or even less than that of paintball. I was an avid Paintball player before my mission but Air-soft was just as if not more fun. The fun of it relies entirely upon the honesty of those involved but the pain involved in getting tagged by a bb motivates most to quickly declare they have been tagged saying “HIT!”, standing, and holding their weapon over their head with both hands. So I hope to get with a group of honest individuals to play the game often.

I went 6 and 2 my first game; i.e., I tagged 6 people and was tagged twice. Domination was the game I was tagged in, sacrificing myself to capture two of the points of domination. The first time I just dropped by weapon because I couldn’t see anything but the flag anyway, then crawled as low as possible to the flag and jumped up to pull their flag down, lifting our flag to victory. I was shot just after capturing the last point of domination so technically we had won before I was tagged so maybe I shouldn’t count it. The second attempt at capturing a domination point was unsuccessful because there were 4-5 opposing team players almost directly on the flag. I army crawled as close as I dare but knew I would be seen if I tried to crawl through the opening in the grass to the flag. So after pushing my limits of invisibility I sprinted for the flag but was tagged several times in my torso under my arm as I reached for the flag. At least two of the players cried, “surrender” because I was so close that they didn’t want to hurt me. However the one or more players, that were too surprised to call surrender, blasted me with 5-10 bbs in a fraction of a second and, unfortunately, before I could reach the flag. Playing this advanced game of tag with friends in the beautiful mountains of Utah was a great way to spend a Saturday morning.

Sharing Cookies

My wife made some super delicious oatmeal chocolate chip walnut cookies then brought a bag of them to me at work. Wow! They really were amazing and she even brought me some milk to go with them. I have always felt that it is important to share all the good things in our lives with those around us. There is even a saying in Chinese that says something like that,“有好东西要跟好朋友分享”. So I decided to share a cookie with a co-worker, however, by then someone had eaten every last one, selfish bastard. No offense Dad.

Hiring Fair

I had the opportunity to help conduct interviews for a hiring fair we had at work. It was one of, if not the, biggest hiring fair we have had. I enjoyed the learning experience and look forward to more in the future but it was tough trying sift though the many good people. I didn’t enjoy giving grades that would ensure a person did not get hired. I knew some would cry upon being receiving their denial, but most, if not all would at least feel some of the pain that comes with rejection. Every applicant could have done very well there, given the right training and leadership; however, the needs of my employer were only so big. Many were more educated and mature than myself, so it was a humbling experience for me. The humbling experience caused me to realize again what a great blessing my employment is and look past all my minor complaints. I often think of this when my minor complaints tempt me to find another job, quit or give less than all of my effort when being paid for my time.

MCOMM 320 1

I once attended a Creative Writing class in high school that I thoroughly enjoyed. My teacher’s philosophy was great. It was simply to get us students to express ourselves through words. The assignments were many, but completion was all that was needed and you got bonus points for being creative. Completing the works wasn’t always easy though because he would require us to correct all grammar and spelling mistakes before he would mark the work as completed. I thought it was a great way to learn. We would write fearlessly, our teacher’s continued praise and encouragement only fueled our courage. I recall one of the first assignments we received was to write a lawless poem, meaning he wouldn’t be making us correct the grammar errors; the only law was it had to be 30 lines. I procrastinated and ended up writing a 30-word poem, a word for each line, he loved it.

I am currently attending a Business Writing class at BYU.

Lesson #1- 101 ways in which you suck at the grammar, oh boy…. 102, 103, 104 hmm shouldn’t the number be decreasing? It is like going slowly down stream while swimming up. I have always enjoyed swimming in rivers though, so sink or swim I’ll be happy.