Fun in the Waves and How We Lost a Buyer

This is us. The one showing lots of shoulder (in her Chengdu, China Marine Ball ball gown!) is the EFM who writes this blog. The one wearing a tux (James) is the employee who moves her (and their two sons) around all over the world. The red link, below, is how you can get in touch with me...

The time in Chengdu, China

Chengdu: city of fabulous food and beautiful Buddhist monasteries!

In Our Same Boat (with State)

Beyond the Cornfields
Brand-new State Department family in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Love their two little girls (she just recently had a baby while being posted in Dhaka), horticulture, traveling and adventure!
Email From The Embassy
State Department family formerly in Beijing, China, and recently posted to Amman, Jordan. A trailing spouse, she's also a writer, and frequently publishes articles with major news sources. A very experienced State family, this new post is something like overseas post number six or seven for them.
Just US
A beautiful family of seven - they have arrived at their new post: Jerusalem! They just finished off an unaccompanied tour to Iraq and are very much looking forward to sightseeing around the middle east.
Our Life
State Department family on their second post...Tijuana, Mexico. It's their first overseas assignment and they have two little boys. They love Tijuana so far and post pictures frequently! They also get to enjoy the best of both worlds for they can sneak over the border into San Diego when they want to!
The Dinoia Family
State Department family formerly in California, now in DC for a DC tour. Next, the husband will do a one year unaccompanied tour. A very experienced State family (formerly in Iceland and Caracas) with a blog that has been around quite a while and has great archives. Jen has a sweet heart and a lot to give!
The Perlman Update
State Department family formerly in Chennai, India, who then did a year-long unaccompanied tour in Iraq. They are now on a DC tour and after that will do another unaccompanied tour (Afghanistan). She totally tells it like it is and doesn't sugar-coat what life is really like. Witty, snarky, funny and down-to-earth. Look elsewhere if you want fake. Read if you want REAL.
Where in the World Am I?
State Department family formerly in Bujumbura, Burundi and now in Hyderabad, India. They just had their first baby this summer - a beautiful little girl- (there's a separate blog about this) and she also eats gluten-free (with a separate blog, also).

One of the most intriguing things about Chengdu is that it is a seamless blend of ancient and modern... all together, side by side.

Can't Live Without (non-State)

Crass-Pollination: An ER blog
The best ER nurse blog EVER!
Doctor Grumpy in the House
The best doctor blog EVER!
In Which...
My IRL friend, a stay-at-home, homeschooling Mama of seven. Her darling daughters are, goshdarnit, probably too young to be hoped for as my future daughters-in-law.
The Crib Chick
My IRL friend, a stay-at-home, homeschooling Mama of five. Hopefully two (Any two! I'm not picky!) of which are my future daughters-in-law.
the underwear drawer
An anesthesiologist who is possibly the most talented & entertaining writer ever. I've read her blog ever since she started medical school. No, don't know her in real life. Wish I did.
The Bloggess
This blog is both hysterically funny and hilariously irreverent. I actually let my 17 year old son read it (who loves it as much as I do!), but wouldn't even CONSIDER letting my 12 year old son read it. Which is about all the description it needs!

The grounds of Chengdu monasteries can be very, very peaceful...even though they are smack dab in the heart of a city of millions of people.

Specifics

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07/17/2010

Fun in the Waves and How We Lost a Buyer

Not sure which to start with - family newz or pictures?

Guess I'll start with newz.

I'm still here in Florida at my parents' condo, and James is still (stranded) up in Virginia being a good little breadwinner and training for our new assignment (Chengdu, China, in fall of 2011). Our house in Houston (our previous post) is still for sale - I think we're around Day 12 on that or something.

Speaking of our house- an interesting story. Out of nowhere the other day, we had an interested buyer. They were in a crazy, crazy hurry to know: could we be out by (a date certain a few weeks in the future) so they could close on our house by then?

Well, in order to answer that question, our Federal Government family needed to contact The Federal Government Moving People. "Hi, Moving People," I said on the phone to them. "I have a rush-rush-hurry-hurry-potential buyer for my house, but they would need me to have moved by (date certain). Can you please tell me if that's possible? They need an answer quickly or they'll move on to another house they like."

I think you know how this story ends, right?

The Moving People couldn't/didn't get back to me about the dates (not from my lack of calling and asking for updates). The Moving People even went so far as to REFUSE to tell me who the local moving company in Texas would be so that I could call the movers myself and try to coordinate the dates.

(Well, actually, it's worse than that. The Moving People told me that they would tell me who the local moving company would be IF I SIGNED A DOCUMENT STATING THAT STATE NO LONGER HAD TO PAY FOR ANY OF MY MOVE. Um, yeah. I didn't sign that document.)

Bottom line: the Potential Buyers walked and found a different house.

The End.

Now, to be fair, Potential Buyers were sorta basket cases. They had their own particular brand of Crazy going on. But gosh, folks - a buyer is a buyer, especially in this economy. And buyers like to know if they can close by a certain date. So The Moving People failed me in this instance. And I lost a buyer.

~ ~ ~

Now it's time for pictures! Because poor James, stuck up in Virginia alone, being a good little breadwinner, isn't feeling left out enough by looking at the pictures I posted a few days ago.

I have titled the following pictures:

"Thank God None of Them Got Eaten By a Shark"

(because that is, actually, my constant fear when people I love are floating in the ocean.)

The other day, somehow Zachary got Matthew dragged into the ocean. Glad I was there to take pictures; it probably won't happen again!

But, after being dragged into the ocean, Matthew started enjoying it. Really enjoying it. In fact, I now have pictures of my sixteen-year-old-son leaping through the waves.

He gets ready...

...and leaps!

...until he's nothin' but feet.

He did this leaping thing over and over again.

At one point, chatty little Zachary is standing around having what he thought was a conversation with Matthew. But, I guess it wasn't. Since Matthew wasn't really holding up his end of the discussion.

"Blah blah blah," Zachary is saying to no one in particular.

"And then blah blah blah..." Zachary continues.

All that's left of Matthew are his feet. And Zachary is still holding a conversation with them.

Guess Matthew's feet are thrilling conversationalists.

Over and over again my daredevil 16 yr old leaped about in the waves. And his mother was there, with her zoom lens and plenty of sunlight, capturing the whole entire thing.

Goodbye, Matthew's feet.

My father needs his computer back now. Since he works from home and all.

Posted on 07/17/2010 at 06:50 AM in Matthew, Moving with State, Photos of Which I am Proud, Vaycay in Florida, Zachary | Permalink

Comments

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So glad that Matthew enjoyed the ocean! I'm sorry you lost your buyer.

Posted by: Sara Roy | 07/17/2010 at 07:00 AM

SURELY you wouldn't malign our beloved office of Transportation! You know, the ones who wouldn't even let me book an appointment to ship my car overseas until I had one tiny piece of paper that takes a month to acquire, despite having every single other document needed! And SURELY not the office that told me once I had that sheet of paper it would take four weeks to find a day when a moving company could get my car!

Seriously. I could have driven it here faster. Urrrrrgh. Sorry!! But good photos of wavehopping... didn't you join in? ;-)

Posted by: hannah | 07/17/2010 at 07:01 AM

Looks like amazing fun!

(And, dealing with crazy buyers? Probably providential that transportation stonewalled. . . Just sayin'.)

Posted by: TG | 07/17/2010 at 08:10 AM

Wow ... that ocean looks SO MUCH warmer than ours on the other coast. Such clear, crisp photos of the wave jumping - you need to give some photography lessons on your blog!

Sorry about your lost buyers... what a pain in the tush! Like this is what you needed right now...

Posted by: Jill | 07/17/2010 at 08:34 AM

That's so terrible about the buyer! Maybe it makes sense to hire somebody to empty your house and put it in storage the next time someone comes along? Especially if you can't rely on the Office of Trans to act in a functional manner. Best of luck on the sale! At least Texas is still seeing home sales (unlike most of the country).

Posted by: FSOwannabe | 07/17/2010 at 01:31 PM

sorry about your buyer, but i will agree w another poster that crazy buyers are not usually worth it. they probably would have walked over something else anyway.

love the pics! amazing how you can capture that.

Posted by: bfiles | 07/18/2010 at 03:40 AM

Hmm, I too have been screwed by transportation. Also, I am perhaps more afraid of sharks than is natural and I was GOING to go to the same place that this happened, until, well, this http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/37003327 happened. YIKES!! My colleagues had to go deal with this. A week earlier and it would have been me dealing with it. Yikes again!

Posted by: Angus | 07/18/2010 at 06:10 AM

*sigh* tis the life, eh? Actually, I do know of at least one awesome person in T & T...if you run into the same situation again, let me know, I am sure she could help!

Posted by: Jen | 07/18/2010 at 02:56 PM

It looks like the boys are having a great time! I love the one with Zachary talking to the feet.
Sorry about the house. So frustrating.

Posted by: Emily | 07/19/2010 at 08:20 AM

That really sucks you lost a buyer!! Yuck!! The State Dept. did the opposite to us. We got the okay to move and they showed up on our doorstep the next morning to pack and move us. I was very frustrated and overwhelmed!!

Well, Houston is a good area so hopefully you'll have another buyer in no-time!!

Posted by: Bryn | 07/19/2010 at 11:32 AM

The comments to this entry are closed.

James loves me. And our sons. And his job. But not having his picture taken. In 2011 he finished up over a year and half of training, and in the fall of 2011 we got to our first overseas post - Chengdu, China!