We're back to the weekday routine once again! The weekend was quite relaxing and very enjoyable - we were able to take it easy but still accomplish a lot. Now comes a shortened week at the house as we will be leaving Thursday evening to fly to Seattle for the weekend!
The morning went very well and our routine continues to work well for us. Both girls made it off to school in pleasant fashion. After talking with my wife, we decided that the training manager job with the travel load wasn't right for us. I sent the supervisor an e-mail early this morning so they could move to their second choice and give them the chance to spend Tuesday at the ERT. She responded in a very complimentary manner - said she would think of me each time she laced and tied her shoes!! No news from the nonprofit position yet.
The first contractor came over a little earlier than I anticipated - he would have been here much earlier if he had been able to follow simple directions. Finding our house is not that hard but talking with him on the phone turned it into an event! I did not have a warm fuzzy about this. His wife drove him here, evidently he had lost his driver's license or failed to renew it or some story I'm not too terribly interested in. We had already discussed in length over the phone exactly what I wanted but I guess he is a more concrete thinker and he needed to actually see my garage and go over one more time exactly what I wanted. He was able to create a materials list and then gave me a quote for his labor - it was exactly what I expected him to say so that is a good sign. We agreed I would get the materials per his bill of materials and he would do the work - I have found when dealing with contractors, or guys that need their wife to drive them to job sites, the less opportunity you give them for increasing the cost, the better. I'll get all the materials and have them delivered to the house. So, we agreed on our deal as well as the terms and shook hands on it. Once I get back from Seattle, I'll call him and remind him of the deal, get the materials and let him go to work.
A little later the gutter guys showed up. Our landscaping has taken a serious beating over the past few months and it is going to take some work to get it back to where it needs to be. The gutter estimate was very good - once we return from Seattle I'll pay for the work and they'll install it shortly afterward. The guy giving me the estimate was from Kentucky and he noticed the UK sticker on the side of the car - always good when you have that bonding in situations where you want someone to do work for you - in this case I'll use my wife's Kentucky roots! As we were standing on the porch talking about the estimate, of course it started raining! The weather here certainly isn't postcard material.
I also worked a little with getting estimates for a roman shade over the bathtub in the master bathroom. That window is a series of those glass blocks stacked in a large square pattern 46" x 46" - you get a ton of light and heat into the bathroom from the sun for almost the entire day - I want to knock down some of that heat before the summer sun arrives again. That one bathroom can heat up the entire upstairs and if you forget to close the door, it can have an impact on our cooling bill.
The dog now has an appointment for doggie daycare while we are gone. The thing about doggie daycare is they always get you for something - this time she has to have a dog flu shot before they'll board it. As with everything else, it will cost more than a human flu shot PLUS she needs a booster in two weeks thus the cost doubles! She'd better start fetching something and bringing it to me to make up for all this!!
The girls both had productive days in school. The youngest one worked ahead in her homework a couple of days - they have a structured program for their spelling words. The teenager picked her classes for her senior year and we talked about it for a little bit to make sure her plan was solid, then I signed it off.
We started the process of finding summer camp for the little one. I've been watching a couple of them for the past few weeks and today the Girl Scout book arrived with their camp information in it. The good thing about that is it is just around the corner and we get a nice discount if we schedule prior to April 1st. Each week has a different theme and her t-shirt population will explode as well!! Each week the campers get a new t-shirt based on the camp of the week. I did remind her going to camp was based on continued good school performance (which won't be an issue with her) and if I'm working or not. It looks like they are doing some neat things each week - Art Explosion, Camp Beverly Hills, Dance Up A Storm, Fun by the Pool, Girl Power (great, just what I need!), Go Green Art Week, Virtual Competition, Wacky Water Holidays Week, Wild Life Week and You Go Girl! Week. They also go swimming, canoeing, do arts and crafts, cookouts and other fun camp activities as well. Those ten weeks will get her through summer if we need it.
The teenager got a call from her job that she passed her drug test and the supervisor is going to call her tomorrow to work something out for her to start her computer training.
We had a chance to talk with my wife's parents tonight and they are doing good. I also had a chance to talk with my wife between classes this evening and she had a productive day - she qualified on today's weapon - the squirrels out back should probably enjoy their last peaceful year before she gets back!
Supper was outstanding or horrible, depends on who you talk to. If you are 8 years or younger, it wasn't so hot. 9 years and above thought it was great. I fixed pork schnitzel, corn, bread and scalloped potatoes. Actually the little one liked everything but the potatoes - I asked if she tried it and she said she didn't like it; when I asked if she took a bite, she said 'no' then took a deep breath and a bite - I knew I was going to get the thumbs down as she had already convinced herself they weren't good. No problem, she had eaten all of her pork, corn and bread so it was more potatoes for the rest of us!
The girls devotion tonight was "Serena's Shoes" referencing Matthew 6:25-33 - what do you do when you feel alone? My devotion was "the discipline of spiritual tenacity" referencing Psalm 46:10. It talked how tenacity is endurance combined with absolute certainty that what we are looking for is going to transpire. I like that definition.
Day Twenty-Two is in the books! Here's looking forward to Day Twenty-Three!
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