Alligator Hunter

Wednesday of our trip to Miami was NOT a very fun day for me. I decided to go to the Everglade National Forrest. I drove approximately 1 hour from the hotel - got lost for about 1 hour - then drove back to the hotel area for another hour. When I found the Everglades, it was pouring down rain. So I decided to head back to the hotel and go to the mall. I ate lunch at the mall and then found something to purchase at Lady Foot Locker. When I went to pay, I realized that I left not only my debit card at the hotel in another purse but also my ID. Who needed yoga pants anyway. I was so disappointed by the day, I went back to the hotel & watched my soaps.

Wednesday night, I joined Jeremy & his co workers for dinner and after dinner drinks. We had a good time and all of his co workers were very nice.

Thursday was our departure day from Miami. And of course that was the only sunny day of our trip. So I went out the the Everglades again. And I am happy that I did. It was very hot thought - around 90. I went to this area that has a path through a swamp where wild life is just all over & there are no fences or barriers between you and the wild life. Apparently there are alligators on the road pretty regularly. The Forrest worker told me to just walk on the opposite side of the road if I saw one. I was pretty excited & scared at the same time. I did not see one on the road but I did spot this one like 5 feet from me in the water. I was on the trail by myself & I kept hearing all these animal noises and water splatters. It was starting to really freak me out, so I turned to go back & that is when I saw these eyes. I stood there for almost 15 minutes just staring at this thing & taking pictures. I kept debating if I should try to stir this thing, but I decided against it. I did move around a bit to see if it would move, but it didn't seem to interested in me.

This is the only other thing that I saw - a turtle - can't really see it in this picture. Oh, I saw lots of fish too.

The Miami Dade airport really has much to be desired. But it did have these cool fish designs on the wall.

Friday I went to see The Jane Austen Book Club. That was the first time that I have gone to see a movie by myself. Jeremy worked 1/2 day. It wasn't so bad except when I laughed I had no one to share the laugh with. But I liked the movie a lot.

Go Speed Racer

So, another thing that I don't like about this place is the 2 lane road that I have travel on regularly for 20 miles or more. Not just because it is a 2 lane road but because it is a BUSY 2 lane road. Where everyone going my direction goes 50 on a 60 and EVERYONE is going the opposite direction. Usually I go 8-10 miles over the limit and today I was able to pass 2 people going 60!! I usually do not get road rage but this road could give me road rage. Cody pointed out to me that I passed 12 people one Sunday on the way to church! Hey I was just happy that I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to pass those people.




Brayden started Cub Scouts this year & he had his first Den meeting tonight. We went on a hike. And he really enjoyed it and think that we were both a little surprised by that. I think he takes after me, he is not really too much of the "outdoors" type.


Today I was able to watch Dancing with the Stars for the first time this season. I love Marie Osmond on there. But what was really surprising was Jennie Garth from 90210. Who did not love that show? Ian was on Dancing last season (I think). Well he did a really good job and looked pretty good too. Jennie on the other hand wow! She has really aged. Her face looks thin and wrinkled but her body looks not so thin. I thought I was the only one aging!

Work is going really good. August was the best month of my career. Well September was just as good. I thought that October was going to be back down in the dumps and I was a little concerned. But today was probably one of the best days that I have had in this career. I made an appointment with someone that I have been working with for over 6 months. Then I made 2 other appointments and got about 8 referrals. It's amazing how fast things can change in this industry! I love my job!

Blog Revitalized

I came home this morning from a week trip that included 2 destinations - Miami & Chicago.

Jeremy & I went to see Into the Wild yesterday. We both LOVED the movie. I had two inspirations from that movie. First of all I am going to tell you about my trip working backward - so today's post will be from the end of my trip & I'll work to the first day. 2nd, I started to think that maybe I could journal more in my blog & be more insightful about my thoughts and feelings vs just actions of the day. But I'm not sure that I can be that honest in such an open forum and I'm not sure that the people that I blog about would like me to be that honest about them. So I am working on that idea a bit.

My bff Holly came to pick me up from the airport today. We had lunch & caught up on the week's events. And then I went to mow 3 of the houses. When I got home I realized that I left my phone charger at Jeremy's house, totally bummed about that!

The best part of the day was about 10 minutes ago when the boys came home. I missed the boys like crazy. I am so happy to be home with them. I was explaining to Holly that I love this place and hate this place all at the same time. I love it because it is home but I just want to be home with my boys where ever that might be. I do not like Missouri or this area at least & I don't like the memories or the drama that come from this place either. So I do not look forward to coming here except to be "home" with my boys and back to normalcy, which I need in my life.

I'm also very happy that my shows are back on. I'm watching Housewives today & that is the only show that I've been able to watch all week. Traveling is much more fun when it doesn't interfere with my life...

Back to so called reality

For Labor Day weekend, I went to Oklahoma City to visit. I stayed with Mr T but also had a chance to see some friends and my other cousins, Ryan & Katie.

One of the many memorable moments of the weekend was when Mr T and I went to the grocery store. All of a sudden this Asian lady walks up to our cart, looks in & picks up a bag of new Pringles. In her broken English she tries to ask what the chips are, if they are good and where in the store we got them. So I tell her that we don't know about the taste because they are new (which by the way, they are good) and we tell her where to find them. THEN she proceeds to look through our cart & tell Mr T that the bag of lettuce he bought was too expensive and there was lettuce for $1.99. So Mr T goes over to get the cheaper lettuce as this lady continues to look at EVERYTHING else in the cart!! Mr T & I just walk away laughing & the lady finally walks away herself.

Vaca - the final chapter

I'm not sure if I've mentioned this or not, but we celebrated Brayden's 7th birthday in Oregon. He wanted a cookie but I could not find a big cookie so he got a cake that he did not eat any of.

On way home the pilot let the boys in the front of the plane. Cody flipped some switches & Bray got to make an announcement on the PA system announcing that he was pilot Brayden welcoming them on flight. Very cool.

Boys on farris wheel at Navy Pier.

Once back in Chicago, we decided to hang out a couple more days. Jeremy worked, again so I took the boys to Navy Pier. We had a good time (again a lot of walking). And the boys got to experience Buffalo Joe's, yummmmmm!

Vacation Part II

I'm so behind on blogging. But I did want to share some more pictures. And there will be more to come from our vacation. Most of these pics came from my phone because I left the charger to my camera at home and the battery died before we even got to Oregon.

One of the most exciting days during our trip was Brayden's birthday. We went whale watching and saw a Grey Whale but then we went further out and saw several Hump Back Whales that were migrating either to or from Hawaii. It was very cool. They were huge & the captain of our boat was so excited that he chased them to keep seeing them. All of those pics are on a disposable camera that has not been developed yet.

Jeremy was supposed to be "helping" the boys with a sand castle, but he got pretty into it himself. This was one of the only times that he was able to build a sand castle in his life.

Doing some kite flying.

We did some walking on the beach & this was the closest full crab that we could find.

Cody is on the right getting his kite ready. He almost gave up but he & Jeremy kept working on it & finally got it going. Then Cody loved it. Brayden is on the left doing cart wheels. Just enjoying the beach.

It's hard work flying a kite. As you can see, Brayden was really working hard. He did let go of it a couple of times & I lost it once. We had to go running down the beach after the kite.

I am in OKC right now for the weekend. I'm sure I will have things to blog about next week. But here is a quick review of other things going on.

The boys started school over a week ago. Cody is in football. He has practice every day until 6:15. This is the most physical activity he has ever had to do but he is finally adjusting to it. Bray is in the 1st grade and he is anxious to start flag football. He wants to join Cub Scouts too. They are in Indiana again this weekend. And more blogging next week (I hope).

Vacation Part One

The first part of vacation, the boys and I left home and drove to Chicago. The drive there was not too bad minus the fact that I had just gotten my iPhone the night before and could not get it activated until the morning we left. So I spent the drive trying to drive and play with my phone. I had to appologize to the boys a couple of times for hitting the rumble strips and almost running someone off the road.

We spent most of the weekend in Chicago Cody got sick and threw up a couple of times. He was got dehydrated from shopping (shopping?) yeah I wore him out running around Chicago. The picture below was taken while shopping before I wore him out. We did a lot of walking.

By Sunday he felt better so we headed downtown to the Sears Tower. I learned a lot of cool info about the Sears Tower. The observation deck is on the 103 floor.

I also let the boys do some swimming in Jeremy's pool/hot tub. Jeremy had to work and do some family things during the day. We went to dinner in the evening and left for Oregon Sunday night.

Props to Katie

My friend KATIE finds the funniest stuff for you to "transform" your face into.

I haven't watched the Simpsons since I was a kid but hey I'll jump on the Simpson bandwagon. So, I've been Simpsonized. It's a stretch but what can you expect.

Star Spangled Banner

Courtesy of JibJab

iPhone

So we are back from a great vacation & I will be posting pics of vacation soon. You can see a great one of Brayden on my cousins blog: http://www.ryanandkatie.blogspot.com/

But before we went on vacation (the night before) I got a new iPhone. I love it and I hate it. Here are the reasons I love it:
1. It's cool
2. I like the touch screen
3. LOVE the internet on it
4. Like the ipod feature
5. Pictures look great on it

Here are the reasons that I don't:
1. Not navigation friendly - AT ALL
2. Can't use Bloothtooth for anything but a head set (no beaming either)
3. Was not compatible with my sim card so could not transfer numbers (can't beam them either)
4. Can't get ring tones or pictures sent to me
5. Can't buy ring tones
6. Can't copy & paste
7. Can't text message multiple people
8. When you do text message it keeps the conversation all together & you can't start a new one or keep part - you keep all or none
9. Still having a hard time typing with the touch screen
10. No speed dial, just favorites and you still have to scroll through those if you have more than 5 or so

So although the phone is cool - there are several things that I don't like about it but the things that I do out weigh the others right now. But there's some tips for those of you interested in it.

R&R

I'm off to the Oregon coast for some R&R for a week. But for now I leave you with a pic of my mom with a zucchini that I grew in my garden. More posts & pics when I return.

It's harder than it looks

So, several weeks ago I blogged about the NETI POT that was shown on Oprah.

Well, I purchased my very own Neti Pot to try out for myself. I went to the health food store & asked for one, surprisingly they had several. I asked the lady if she knew that it was on Oprah & she said yes. I asked her if they ever sold any before it was on Oprah & she responded that they sold very few & once it was on Oprah they sold so many that they could not get them in fast enough. Amazing what Oprah can do for a product.

Brayden & I both had some allergies bothering our sinuses. I did it on him first. It was fine, he did really well with it. I'm not sure how much it helped him, but he said that it helped. Then when I did it on me, I poured in one nostril & nothing came out the other side. But I started to feel all this pressure in my head & feel like I was snorting water. Still nothing came out the other side. So I removed the Neti Pot & all the water came out the same nostril. So apparently if you are too congested, it does not work.

But a couple of days later as I started to drain, I tried it again, and here is the picture (if I look like the blood it kind of running to my head it's because the blood is kind of running to my head). The lady on Oprah looked a lot better doing it! I'm not sure if it helped yet or not. I need to try it again because I can tell that my sinuses are acting up again, but I really did not notice any improvement the first try.

Another visit from the tooth fairy

Brayden lost his first front tooth. This is his 3rd tooth total, but each one is still a totally cool experience. The tooth fairy brings him a dollar & 2 quarters. The quarters are important because he has decided to save any quarter that he gets so he can see how much money that he can save - which makes this financial planning mommy very happy!

Mysteries Revealed

I guess now that The Suitor and I have been dating off and on for awhile now, he is no longer concerned about his identity being revealed. So I will now be posting pictures of The Suitor & calling him J for simplicity sake.

Two weeks ago, I went to one of my houses in Ozark & noticed that the air vent was pushed up and sitting on the floor next to it. I was a bit puzzled and thought to myself, "self, how did that happen, weird, the air must be really forceful." I popped it back in & thought nothing else of it. I sat down & called J. After being on the phone with J a couple of minutes I heard some kind of noise in the house. I immediately remembered the vent & said, "I think something is in the house!" So I looked in one room & saw that the vent was pushed up. I went to the other room & saw all was ok. I came to the bathroom, snuck around the corner to look in, saw a fluffy tail & went screaming my head off into the living room! Now J was on the phone the whole time. Long story short. I could still hear the mystery animal in the bathroom for a couple of seconds. But after sitting on the table for 30 minutes, not hearing anymore noise, calling 911, talking to the police, and then calling a critter control company I managed to go back to the bathroom & slam the door shut.

Well apparently Animal Control only takes care of dogs & they don't work on weekends. Critter Control only works during the week & charge a fortune & the police won't do anything about it.

So, I leave, but J insists that I go back & do I don't know what to this animal but make sure it does not damage the bathroom. So I take Mr.T to do it...

Mr. T preparing to enter & see what awaits him behind the bathroom door.

Mr. T checking out the bathroom & coming up with nothing but a clue...

The escape path. Thank goodness my bff's husband works for the conservation department & they handle wild animals. So the next day he went by the house to check in the crawls space to see what it was, and as he opened the door to the crawl space there stood a SKUNK!!!! How on earth had there been a skunk under the house and in the house & it never sprayed who knows & who cares. Better yet why did it not spray when it heard me screaming for my life? Who knows but thank goodness it didn't

Another agent in the area that handles skunks set some traps. He has caught 2 babies so far & he thinks that the mom got squished in the street a couple of days ago. Let's hope. I will keep you updated. Especially since he left the traps for me to "take care of" this week. But here are some pics of J searching the house again to make sure none were in there & then pics of one of the babies in the trap.

Getting cocky now! But I bugged him & bugged him to get close for a picture.

Reunion

Some of my readers are family members that do not access the family web site so I am posting some news for you here:

Many of you inquired about additional shirts. If we order more than 12 the shirts will be $8. Less than 12 the shirts will be $10-$15. Let us know if you want one & then depending on the amount of orders we will let you know the .

I have the group photos on the family web site but if you would like them another way please let me know.

Sorry for not family that have to read this.

We DO see color here

As many of you know, I am adopted. This is my 2nd cousin Mia, she is not adopted. Well this weekend was the start of our by biannual Winn Family Reunion & Mia stayed with me. Along with Edward, Mr. T and OBD. One day Cody (yes, Cody NOT Brayden - I have had to clarify this multiple times) asked Mia if she was Korean. Mia replied, "no I am Mexican." Cody says, "oh, well all I knew is that you weren't white." We had a good laugh.

More reunion news to come.

Lazy Weekend

I seriously had one of THE most lazy weekends ever. Saturday it rained a lot here, like many other days recently. So, I slept in, ate, took a nap, ate, took another nap & finally got up some where around 5 PM. 5 PM - that's crazy - I seriously could not believe it.

Then I went to Springfield to El Chico & one of the servers there had a seizure. It freaked me out. She had it in the kitchen so luckily we did not actually see it. But she screamed & I thought she either saw a rodent or cut herself. I really did not want it to be a rodent & I really did not want to see any blood. They called the EMT & they said she seemed to be ok by the time it was all said & done. Pretty crazy but thank goodness she was ok. Then I went to see Blades of Glory. Pretty goofy but better than I thought it would be.

Sunday I sat in a house all afternoon & did not have a single person visit my open house on that nice rainy afternoon.

But on a random side note, there are so many movies out that I want to see so here is a list of them: The movie with Mandy Moore & Robin Williams where he is doing the premarital counseling, Ratatouille, Transformers, and Fantastic 4 - don't know when I'll get them all in but that's my list. What good movie have you seen recently - what will be the next movie that you see?

Oh, and today I bought some fireworks from a friend that sells them wholesale - I got a TON of fireworks including a huge package of the big ones, some big cakes & other stuff for around 60% off. Most of them will be used at the family reunion next week - so the fam is in for a treat.

Update

I have not been "inspired" to post lately so here are some random things going on in my life since the last time I posted.

1. The suitor came and spent a week here a couple of weeks ago. It was nice but it rained most of the time that he was here & that stunk.
2. We had VBS this past week at church. It was good. I did hear a good joke (twice) that was funny - There was this old man that loved his money so much that as he got old, he went to the bank & took all his money out, put it in a suit case & stuck it in the attic above his bed. He said this was so he could grab it on the way up to heaven. Well one day the man died & the wife sent someone up to the attic to look for the suit case & sure enough it was still there. The wife said, "I knew it, he should have put it in the basement!" Ha, Ha - VBS was about heavenly treasure.
3. I have seen Shrek 3, Spiderman 3 & Knocked Up recently. I will see Ocean's 13 & 300 this weekend (300 is still on the cheap theater here). Knocked Up I thought was pretty funny!
4. Work is still good, a good time in the market for me.
5. Had someone almost buy one of the houses but we could not agree on price.
6. I have put a for sale by owner sign in my yard. May move to Ozark we will see what happens.
7. Putting final touches on things for the reunion.
8. Helped my cousin find a house to move here & helping them with jobs.
9. Boys are with Shannon this next week in Indiana. I've already cried missing them.
10.My veggie garden is coming along & I actually was a success in having roses this year. But not a success at getting pictures of them yet.

Are you Emo?

I had my first experience with one of my children saying a slang word that I did not know what it meant. Cody was telling me about a girl that is Emo.

I've seen kids like this at the mall. I did not know that is the name for them. I am so happy that I learned this. You learn something new every day.

Vroom, Vroom

Brayden learned how to ride his bike this week without training wheels. I hate to brag, but I think the is a genius. I took the training wheels off on Monday, he practiced for like 10 minutes. Then on Tuesday, he tried 3 times & he was off like a flash, riding like a pro.

More About Cody

Cody has been working on a project with his class for the past two years. They have finally seen the project to completion. Last Wednesday he and some other classmates spoke about the project to the school board. The news was there & interviewed him. Check it out at this link:

http://www.ozarksfirst.com/content/news/archive?sid=5f4efe9ae9cecd0f291bb79fe1629b10&archive_stories_page=4 His story is called The Spineless Webquest and aired Wed May 16th.

He has gone 2 times to the capital to speak about this bill. He has learned a lot & I'm super proud of him.

Cody

I’ve had a pretty busy couple of weeks lately with Cody or I guess Cody’s weeks have been pretty busy. He was in the school play. He had practice every Monday after school for a couple of months. He had a speaking part in the first production. The school did 2 productions. So the Suitor and I went to the first production, that was cut short & they cut out Cody’s speaking part because it was held during the school day & they ran out of time. But they are to add a 3rd production, and Cody will have his speaking part. It is in a production of Treasure Island & he is a pirate. He would make his Uncle proud.

Last week he had 2 field trips. Monday he went to the Springfield Cardinals game. Then on Thursday we went to a band concert at Exotic Animal Paradise. They were supposed to perform and then go on a hayride to see the animals. Well right when we got there, the tractor/trailer had an accident & rolled over. So, the park closed down the rest of the day. The news was there & everything. So we performed and then took them to the mall. Then when we got back to school the students got in trouble & questioned because one of them or two of them as the case may be, prank called the Principal & left her nasty messages.

But the best part of the day was when we were on the bus, my bus was parked next to the other bus. The bus driver of my bus kept trying to call the other bus driver, but he was too busy picking his nose to answer. We both looked over & got totally grossed out, and she gave up & just took off.

Brayden had a field trip yesterday too, to see Space Station at the IMAX. The rest of the day got cut short due to weather. And Cody went on ANOTHER field trip to the bowling alley!

Next week Brayden gets a Field Day and a Beach Day and Cody gets to speak in front of the school board Wednesday. He will be speaking about a bill that his class got passed in the state. He made 2 trips to the capital and now he gets to make the presentation to the board next week! PLUS they both have baseball. But so far no practices because of rain.

Amazing Human Tricks

What else can I say about this? Can you do a weird trick? If so what? I am double jointed in my arm so I can twist it around & I can flip my tongue over but nothing too abnormal or interesting.

The Neti Pot

Dr Oz was on Oprah again Thursday. He has very interesting topics when he is on. Well this show was no different & it was very helpful too. But the most intriguing part of the show was the Neti Pot shown in action below & a blurb from the show. But the Neti Pot is a nose bidet. For more info click HERE

Before you try pouring water into your nostril, Dr. Oz offers some neti pot pointers.

First, mix warm water with a quarter teaspoon of salt."You never want to wash [human] tissue without having saltwater in them," he says. "Your own cells like it more."Dr. Oz says washing out your sinuses with regular water can be irritating. Cold water may make you feel like you're drowning in a pool.

Amy, an audience member who suffers from sinusitis, demonstrates the proper way to use a neti pot. "I thought it would feel like drowning, but it feels good," she says.It may look strange, but Dr. Oz says this treatment may be more effective than medication. "The [ear, nose and throat] doctors who are specialists in this area will often say this is a better treatment than a lot of the other drugs that we try to offer folks, because it mechanically cleans out the problem," he says.

Neti pots are available at health food stores and most drug stores.

Have you ever used a Neti Pot? Have you ever seen a Neti Pot before?

Hello recycling car

I parked next to this car the other day & I have several questions for the driver of this car:

Why do you have so many papers in this car?

How do you drive with papers falling in your lap?

Are you taking those somewhere?

How long did it take you to load those papers in your car?

OR how long did it take you to accumulate those papers in your car?

How long will you keep those papers in your car?

Where did you get all of those papers?

Do you ever have passengers? If so where do they sit?

Inquiring minds want to know. If you could, what would you ask the driver of this car?

Sunday

The Suitor says that in the past 6 months we have had 6 jobs: investors, loan officers, lawn care professionals, marketing gurus, investment consultants and most recently realtors. A couple of months ago The Suitor and I bought real estate together. Not having an exact plan about the homes except to sell them. During the winter we sat on the homes and did not do a whole lot to market them. Since March, we have spent countless hours marketing & brainstorming on what to do with these homes. Sell them, rent them, lease them on a contract for deed? all possibilities.

This has not always been a fun process for the two of us, but so far we are still talking to each other and actually able to laugh still during the process.

This past Sunday we held our first open house. It went ok – we had our first and only looker. One of the houses that we have, we refer to as the “big house” is the one that we held the open house in. It was too big for the people looking and most of the people that call on it. BUT we are not discouraged to the contrary we are encouraged by the one looker. So we move forward to next Sunday – our next open house!

Anyone want to relocate to Ozark, MO?

Recreational Hazards

This past weekend was just full of excitement. But let’s concentrate on one day at a time here. On Saturday The Suitor and I went bowling. He explained to me about how these girls next to us were doing these fancy bowling moves where they started swinging the ball before they even started walking and in some smooth long motion release the ball at the line. Contrary to us walking to the line and then starting our release of the ball.

In an effort to improve my not so great score, I tried this technique. The results are below. As I swung to release the ball, I hit myself in the leg with the ball. Apparently pretty hard. It hurts as bad as it looks. On a brighter note, The Suitor would like it to be know that he bowled one of his best games ever. I'm going to blame my poor score on fact that it was dark in there & only black lights were on.

Where do I sign up for a league??

Next post : SUNDAY!

What the ---?

So there is this guy on my radio station that has this segment called What the Fotsch? Fotsch being his last name, which I do not find the name of the segment clever at all. In reality it makes no sense. ANYWAY, the segment used to be on in the afternoon at the same time that I picked up the boys from school and after hearing this 3 or 4 times I avoided that station at that time. I hate the segment because all he does is chose something small and insignificant to complain about. I do not think that I have ever really heard a legitimate "complaint" on his segment.

To make it even better, now he is on in the morning and seems to have multiple 5 minute segments to whining about life. Not only does he whine and complain about the littlest things he seems so judgmental of people that are "annoying" him. What a way to start the morning on such a negative note.

But that is what I get for listening to the main stream radio - so to complaining about every little thing in life "what the (insert last name here)?"

Life

I have nothing TOO exciting to post about but here are some highlights since the last time I posted.

1. Cody turned 12
2. We went to see Meet the Robinsons which I really liked & compared to Premonition which I also saw recently & Meet the Robinsons is better
3. Cody has been sick
4. Brayden has been sick
5. Cody started doing scripture reading at our new church of Union Hill Church of Christ
6. I'm working more & business is starting to pick up for me.
7. My poison ivy did not go away & I was not on the medicine long enough, so spots are still breaking through, but I am not going to do anything about it.
8. Cody mowed his first lawn last weekend. He said it was harder than he thought.
9. I got my hair highlighted & it's ok but I have decided not worth the money
10. We went to mom's for Easter & had a nice meal, the boys colored eggs nothing too eventful.
11. I drove 3.5 hours to Kansas City today for a 3 hour meeting and then drove back in the same day another 3.5 hours!

That's it in a nutshell.

I love a good deal!

So I had to buy a mower this weekend. Mainly for the investment properties that The Suitor and I own. I’m not expert on mowers but I knew that I wanted a self propelled with that mulched & bagged. Easy start would be nice. So we headed off to mower shop. We went to the usual places Lowes, Home Depot and Sears. We found the one that we wanted at Sears.

After mowing all 4 lawns, the mower seemed to be having some problems. So we took it back. Well while looking around and being my nosey self, I realized that at 6 PM Sears was having a sale – 10% off. But they had a coupon for the weekend for 20% off that no one told us about the day before. It was 4:30 at this time. So we returned the new/old mower and hung out until 6 PM and got a new mower (upgraded even) for $70 LESS than the day before!! NOW that’s a good shopping day!