So as it appears, it is not the easy to follow this blog...so we have made a new one that will be a bit easier to follow...
emberparkerwilson.wordpress.com
On this new one, you can hit the "follow" button on the bottom right and then you can get email notifications when we update the blog if you so desire!
Hope that you are all well and you find your way to the new blog :)
Amber and Emma
Monday, October 22, 2012
Thursday, October 18, 2012
Garage sale...Check, Move stuff to Oregon...Check
So the last three weeks have been a bit messy. Literally, messy. I went thru our entire house, deciding what to keep, what to sell, and what to store. The result was a living room and bedroom full of piles for three weeks!
Well, now the garage sale is done...made about $500...not too shabby. I was quite pleased as I nearly called the whole thing off, not thinking I had enough to even bother selling!
On Tuesday, Jack, my mom, and I loaded up the U-Haul in about 45 min of the rest of the piles and then went on to dinner. Coming back home was strange, as now there is an old basket for a coffee table, no book shelves, minimal photos around, and nothing on the walls. I will be practicing life as a minimalist for the next 3 months!
My mom and I drove up to Oregon in the beast of the U-Haul in a record 600 miles in 9.5 hours. My poor mom didn't know what hit her, no stops other then to get gas! But we made it to Oregon, unpacked the UHaul and still had time to watch the SF Giants loose :( I keep forgetting that this is the last time I will be in Oregon for quite sometime. I am looking forward to a couple dinners with family, but saying goodbye on wednesday is going to be difficult.
In less then 3 months I will board the plane to the UK. I am excited to start this new adventure, but more then anything, I am excited to get to be closer to my wife and to get to start OUR life together...well after a stay in Tanzania that is...
Well, now the garage sale is done...made about $500...not too shabby. I was quite pleased as I nearly called the whole thing off, not thinking I had enough to even bother selling!
On Tuesday, Jack, my mom, and I loaded up the U-Haul in about 45 min of the rest of the piles and then went on to dinner. Coming back home was strange, as now there is an old basket for a coffee table, no book shelves, minimal photos around, and nothing on the walls. I will be practicing life as a minimalist for the next 3 months!
My mom and I drove up to Oregon in the beast of the U-Haul in a record 600 miles in 9.5 hours. My poor mom didn't know what hit her, no stops other then to get gas! But we made it to Oregon, unpacked the UHaul and still had time to watch the SF Giants loose :( I keep forgetting that this is the last time I will be in Oregon for quite sometime. I am looking forward to a couple dinners with family, but saying goodbye on wednesday is going to be difficult.
In less then 3 months I will board the plane to the UK. I am excited to start this new adventure, but more then anything, I am excited to get to be closer to my wife and to get to start OUR life together...well after a stay in Tanzania that is...
Sunday, October 7, 2012
Wedding Albums
One of my great obsessions is photography and photo books and I have just completed our photo books from both our weddings!
So if you are interested in seeing how we celebrated the joining of our lives...check out these books!
http://www.mypublisher.com/?e=OHm3Q8zJl3RTQzYvkuUXUtwCdErVwv11
http://www.mypublisher.com/?e=OHm3Q8zJl3QIv89XEMXsXoFU40YD_Wld
Enjoy!!
So if you are interested in seeing how we celebrated the joining of our lives...check out these books!
http://www.mypublisher.com/?e=OHm3Q8zJl3RTQzYvkuUXUtwCdErVwv11
http://www.mypublisher.com/?e=OHm3Q8zJl3QIv89XEMXsXoFU40YD_Wld
Enjoy!!
Tuesday, October 2, 2012
Garage sale and storage prep is on!
So the last three days have consisted of me going thru every cupboard, drawer, shelf, and closet to find what I have to sell.
I have done well and stuck to my three bin limit as to what to store...they may be to heavy to lift down to the uhaul in two weeks...but none the less I did not exceed my self imposed three bin limit!
Now fingers crossed someone else will want my life's treasures and I can pay for the uhaul!
I have done well and stuck to my three bin limit as to what to store...they may be to heavy to lift down to the uhaul in two weeks...but none the less I did not exceed my self imposed three bin limit!
Now fingers crossed someone else will want my life's treasures and I can pay for the uhaul!
Tuesday, September 25, 2012
Chicago!
Em and I have spent the last week trying to keep our feet on the ground in the windy city of Chicago!
We came out here for a friend's wedding and decided to make it a week of exploring.
To be honest, the things we have explored the most have been restaurants! We have eaten at some yummy places over the last week and I think we have both expanded our waistlines in the process. One of our favorite shows is Top Chef Masters and we got to try two restaurants owned by contestants.
We have done lots of walking and have really appreciated how FLAT this city is compared to San Francisco.
We even got to see our friend Heather Hawkeye :)
The architecture here is really interesting. There are modern skyscrapers towering over historic buildings everywhere you turn. We went on a boat tour to explore the architecture, however, it was pouring down rain so we just explored the below deck bar instead! Our numerous walks made up for it though.
We even hit up the bowling alley!
We really enjoyed our time in the windy city on the shores of lake Michigan and are looking forward to the next time we see each other in November in the UK. Emma is headed back to the UK for a week and then on to South Sudan for 4-5 weeks while Amber is going back to SF to pack up the apartment, have a garage sale, move stuff to Oregon and then come back and live in a near empty apartment for 3 months!
Until next time...
Tuesday, September 11, 2012
Nothing is clear cut...
So, I have found myself in this situation before when I worked at the Baby Home. Painstakingly taking time to think of and write fair, reasonable and manageable company policy, only to be faced with the day to day reality of what that means for people's lives.
Can you imagine a time in the UK, US, Canada or whichever developed place you were lucky enough to grow up in, that you would go to your boss mid-month and ask for an advance on your salary...or more than that, a loan. Well, that is commonplace here. It happens regularly, and depending on the size of your staff it happens daily. It is not sustainable to have $10,000 out in small loans to your staff, it is not helpful to them as they often borrow and spend beyond their means because they have not been taught otherwise, and it means that in some cases a large amount of your expenditure budget is tied up in loans - on which you make nothing.
I have sat for hours thinking of the best way to approach this, only one loan a year, no more than twice their monthly salary, a 'loans budget' which the company/organisation has set aside for loans and the individual must apply and be awarded on merit, only given for death and funeral costs. No matter how much time you spend on it, no matter how much you think you have developed a fair system, the reality is much harder to deal with.
Today one of my staff came to me to ask for a loan. We have a no loan policy, it is a dangerous route to take and before you know it everyone wants a loan. Here is his story:
Last night three men broke in to his family home where his wife and three young children were sleeping, he was away working for us out in the bush. The beat up his wife and threatened to kill her. They stole anything of value and all their money, a total of $35. The door is now broken, there is no secure wall, and he is worried that because he is always away working for us, his house will now be a target and his wife and children are in danger of this happening again, or worse, being killed in a robbery. Can I please loan him $2000 to build a wall and get a new door?
So, what do you say? 'I'm sorry, we have a no loans policy...I am quite happy for your family to be at danger and it will not weigh on my conscience should anything happen to them in the future'...
Can you imagine a time in the UK, US, Canada or whichever developed place you were lucky enough to grow up in, that you would go to your boss mid-month and ask for an advance on your salary...or more than that, a loan. Well, that is commonplace here. It happens regularly, and depending on the size of your staff it happens daily. It is not sustainable to have $10,000 out in small loans to your staff, it is not helpful to them as they often borrow and spend beyond their means because they have not been taught otherwise, and it means that in some cases a large amount of your expenditure budget is tied up in loans - on which you make nothing.
I have sat for hours thinking of the best way to approach this, only one loan a year, no more than twice their monthly salary, a 'loans budget' which the company/organisation has set aside for loans and the individual must apply and be awarded on merit, only given for death and funeral costs. No matter how much time you spend on it, no matter how much you think you have developed a fair system, the reality is much harder to deal with.
Today one of my staff came to me to ask for a loan. We have a no loan policy, it is a dangerous route to take and before you know it everyone wants a loan. Here is his story:
Last night three men broke in to his family home where his wife and three young children were sleeping, he was away working for us out in the bush. The beat up his wife and threatened to kill her. They stole anything of value and all their money, a total of $35. The door is now broken, there is no secure wall, and he is worried that because he is always away working for us, his house will now be a target and his wife and children are in danger of this happening again, or worse, being killed in a robbery. Can I please loan him $2000 to build a wall and get a new door?
So, what do you say? 'I'm sorry, we have a no loans policy...I am quite happy for your family to be at danger and it will not weigh on my conscience should anything happen to them in the future'...
Monday, September 10, 2012
Where to even begin
Well, today I have the day off and need to start packing a bag that can be taken to the UK by Emma next week. The problem is, I am not quite sure where to start when it comes to packing things up. I know that it is all just material things and can all be replaced, but this apartment has been my home for 9 years and the thought of packing it up suitcase by suitcase over the next four months is quite a daunting thought! I think it would be easier to just do it all in one go and then be finished...alas, that would be a very expensive way to do it. So instead, every time one of us goes to the UK we take an "extra bag" full of my stuff that I want for my life in the UK. The thing is, what am I going to want for my life in the UK?!?
Our eventual plan is to return to San Francisco, so there will also be things put in storage...but what does one put in storage for an undetermined amount of time?And then there is the stuff that is part of my everyday life, but not going to come with me and not going to go into storage that I have to sell off piece by piece over the next couple months.
This will be a very cleansing process the soul I am sure, but I am not too sure I am ready to be clean yet!
I am very excited for the next chapter in our lives together and all the adventure that will come, I just wish I could open my eyes one morning and this packing thing would be complete.
Our eventual plan is to return to San Francisco, so there will also be things put in storage...but what does one put in storage for an undetermined amount of time?And then there is the stuff that is part of my everyday life, but not going to come with me and not going to go into storage that I have to sell off piece by piece over the next couple months.
This will be a very cleansing process the soul I am sure, but I am not too sure I am ready to be clean yet!
I am very excited for the next chapter in our lives together and all the adventure that will come, I just wish I could open my eyes one morning and this packing thing would be complete.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)