Save me, San Francisco

OK, so... as previously mentioned, we are supposed to be going to India this week. I say "supposed to be" because a million and a half things have gone wrong leading up to this so until our feet are on the ground in India, I just don't think I'll be a believer.

So, first, we paid to expedite our passports. Those went as planned, and two weeks later, there they were in the mail. Then, we had to overnight our passports to Jon's mom, who was kind enough to go to San Francisco (more on that city later....) to turn in our visas for us. But, UPS lost my passport in the mail. So, that meant  paying an arm and a leg for 24 hour lost passport replacement through Travisa. We filled everything out, and then mailed it off to San Francisco via FedEx next day 8AM guaranteed delivery. Which, by the way, also costs an arm and a leg. So, by this point all I am is a head on a body with no limbs. Very inconvenient. At this point, my passport should have been mailed back to our house on Tuesday.
Except, when we called Monday morning to make sure that it went through OK, they had not gotten it on time. After a mild panic attack, I as assured that it would be done on time. If we just flew to San Francisco a day early, we could pick up my passport at 8:45AM, drop off our visas at 9AM, pick up our visas at 5PM, and fly to India at 9PM. Tight, but managable schedule.
So, we made sure our dog/house sitter could pull an extra day, thank GOODNESS they could, and made arrangements with work, school, airlines, hotel, and off we were 24 hours later. Off to San Francisco.
My mom gave us a ride to the airport.
"You'll love San Fran," she said.
"It's my favorite place in the world!" she said.
"It's such a neat place." She said.
"I'm so jealous you get to go there." She said.

Well. She lied. Yeah, Mom, you... you lied. San Francisco SUCKS. In fact, it is the worst place in the whole world. If the ghetto of the universe has an armpit, it's called SAN FRANCISCO. Not one thing about this city has been appealing. Not. One. Thing. We've seen street fights. We've seen drug deals. We've seen people crapping on the sidewalk. We've seen people shooting up on the street. It smells like smoke, urine, and body odor. It's loud. It's camped. It's scary. It's so so so so so ghetto. Oh man, at leat we're only here for one little night, right?
WRONG.
There was a hold on my visa and we got stuck a whole extra night. 24 MORE hours in the worst city in the universe. So, it's now 4:38PM. We have a car coming in one hour to pick us up, swing by to pick up our supposed-to-be-done Visas, and then off to the airport.
I can't wait to get out of this city. I hate big cities. Hate them. You know, when we went to New York, it was easy to simply appreciate the culture, and enjoy our visit. I genuinely had fun and the big city didn't bother me at all. But, San Francisco is different. It's lame. I hate it. In all fairness, we have not had the opportunity to go see much of the touristy part of the city.   Now, I won't even go into our hotel experiences much, other than Hotel Bijou was the worst hotel experience of my entire life, where I spent the night CRYING over how terrible it was and got NO rest, but the Prescott has been much, MUCH better. And I don't fear being shanked every time we walk down the street. We have had passport and visa meetings at certain time, and with limited funds, we have not been able to go very far from our hotel and NEED to stay within quick walking distance from the Travisa offices. Unfortunately these offices, and therefore our hotel as well, are in the Tenderloin. What the heck is the tenderloin other than a cut of juicy meat? It's a cut of one of the most ghetto, crime and drug ridden places in the entire country.

So, that's that. Here we are. In the tenderloin. Trying not to die.

In 4.5 hours, we will be on a plane to Germany, then to India.



OH, and also, this has nothing to do with anything, but I miss my water softner already. Hard water is so gross, I don't feel clean!

And I miss Annie. A LOT. Painfully so. :-(

Do not pass go, Do not collect $200

So much has been happening in the past couple of months it's hard to keep up with!

We were lucky enough to have Jon's mom come visit, which is always fantastic. It's a shame that everyone can't just live close by but we are blessed to get to see family as frequently as we do.

There was also a brand new baby welcomed into my oldest sisters family a couple weeks ago.

My sister from Texas and her little girl even made it out to Utah for a week this month, which was a special treat! While here, she also announced they are expecting a baby.

In even more baby news, Jon will be getting a new half sibling.

So, in conclusion, everyone in the world is pregnant but me. Everyone. In. The. World. I'm trying not to let it get me down, I think I'm doing a fairly decent job at it. Don't get me wrong, I'm incredibly happy for everyone, but at the same time, where's a dark hole to wallow in when you need it? But, alas, life goes on. (Great, now that mellencamp song will be in my head all day)

There's not a whole lot to report in the Lanman house these days. Jon is taking a huge load this semester but there's almost maybe kinda sorta a light at the end of the tunnel as we hope for an April 2013 graduation. I'm so proud of my husband. He's such a hard worker.

So, every now and then I think of things I thought were a really big deal way back when, and laugh at them. Something happened last week that maybe someday I will laugh at, but I'm totally not there yet:
We a supposed to leave for India in... Well, like... 50 hours or something like that. Three weeks ago, we had our passports expedited, which for the record isn't cheap, and they arrived in time. But, when we mailed all the junk out to get our Visas, my passport wasn't in the package when it arrived. So, we then had to pay for a 24 hour replacement... Except, that happened on Friday so it couldn't be processed until yesterday. Now I am anxiously awaiting my passport once again, which is supposed to arrive tomorrow. Tomorrow night we fly to San Francisco and bright and early we goo to the consulate to hopefully get our visas. There is NO room for error, because the flight to India leaves I kid you not, 3 hours after the pickup window for same day visas opens. Needless to say, I have not slept in two days and am totally freaking out. If anything goes wrong at this point, we aren't going anywhere. Not India, not anywhere.mshoot, we won't even pass go. (see that game reference there? I'm hilarious)
Perhaps some day a bajillion years from now Jon and I will sit and reminisce about "that one time he lost my passport less than a week before our trip" but somehow, I doubt it. The moral of the story, is never, under any circumstances, allow your husband to handle your passport. Ever. (Disclaimer: I have a dry, sarcastic sense of humor. Im not actually slamming my husband. Well, maybe a little.)

In other news, our house still isn't up for sale. Why you ask? Because for once we decided to actually stay put and wait until the ideal time. I probably already mentioned this but we won't be attempting to move until Jon graduates, and then hopefully finds work, so we know where to look. I absolutely positively hate living here, but we know it is the right choice because the next place we move we plan on making permanent. No more moving. We will start our family, and that will be that. And there will be a cow.i think I will name her Penelope. And you know what I won't have? Neighbors! How delightful.

Jon is snoring, and it's going on 6:30am which means I should probably get some shut eye.