Easy Come, Easy Go

If it wasn't almost September, I would be convinced that I am living an April Fool's joke!

As I posted earlier this week, we received notice last Thursday that our missing air freight shipment had been found in Baltimore and would be submitted to Customs for inspection and then delivered to us. Well, THIS Thursday, we received notice that the agent for our air freight shipment is having great difficulty in getting the paperwork for our air shipment appropriately modified so it can be submitted to Customs. The agent "advised" us to submit a claim and write off our air shipment as a lost cause. Unbelievable! It was a good thing Kevin was in meetings that afternoon and unreachable because, not surprisingly, I hit the roof. I responded with a very direct email stating that declaring the shipment a loss is not an option at this point (especially since it is definitely NOT lost and is being held at BWI airport, less than an hour away from us) and the agent is to do whatever is necessary to get the paperwork modified and our shipment processed. So incredibly frustrating! 

And, if that wasn't bad enough...this morning we received an email notifying us that there is no record of the household goods that we had packed and sent to storage when we moved from Miami to Thailand two years ago. Fortunately, I have all of our move-related paperwork from the last 8 years and I can easily document exactly what was put into storage. Unfortunately, the items we stored were mostly very important and expensive stuff - all of our furniture, appliances, Kevin's power tools, my great grandmother's china, our wedding crystal & silver and the like. I am just so thankful that I thought to hand-carry all of the paperwork with me when we left Thailand. I would be beyond furious if I had packed the paperwork and it was sitting at BWI or on a ship somewhere. I am trying not to think about this too much (don't want to completely ruin my weekend) and I will deal with this latest mess on Monday. 

At this point, given how *well* everything else has been working out for us lately, I would not be at all surprised if the ship carrying our sea freight sinks somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean. (I hope I just didn't curse us with that proclamation!). 

We bought a grill and a patio set last week and have enjoyed eating dinner outside on the patio several evenings this week. The weather has been beautiful - sunny and cool with no humidity. In fact, it might even be a little too chilly for my liking! We are going to Mass tonight and then Jim and Jan are coming over for dinner. A preview of the very loosely-themed Asian menu...

Sweet and Sour Cucumbers (using my mom's recipe). 

After I planned the menu and invited Jim and Jan, I realized that my award winning recipe (really!) for Thai Turkey Burgers is in our sea freight shipment so I had to improvise. A lot. I thought of pretty much anything with an "Asian" flavor and threw it all in the bowl with the ground turkey and mixed together. Lemongrass, ginger, garlic, cilantro, scallions, soy sauce and fish sauce. We will shape the mixture into patties, grill and serve on a toasted kaiser roll. I have sliced tomatoes, lettuce and a lime & chili mayonnaise (also an improvisation) to be used for toppings. I can't wait to see how these turn out - it will either be an epic fail or a fantastic win. 

For dessert...mixed summer berries (blackberries, blueberries and raspberries) topped with a homemade balsamic glaze and cream. Yum!

My boys. They spend so much time together and follow each other (and me) around. 

Have a great Sunday!