Catching Up

So I don't have a strong, valid excuse. I spent the majority of my time in June studying for another CLU (Chartered Life Underwriter) test that had to be taken before June 31. Some of the information that was in the course was a bit tough to get through. There was a lot of discussion about net premium and gross premium and how insurance companies come up with them...and reserves and such. Fun and interesting the first time through, but a little tougher to have a thorough understanding. So anyway, because I would spend several hours a day studying, I really didn't take the time to write. I figured I should spend at least a little time with my family when I wasn't studying, rather than writing.

There is no way I can remember everything that has happened in the last month, so I won't even try. I'll just mention some of the highlights I can think of off the top of my head, in no particular order, and then fill in as necessary.

Shena's "Lasting Impressions" business is officially open. She got a business license the first part of the month. She also was able to track down the person in charge of the "take home" kits that they give out at The Women's Hospital, where all the baby's in Greensboro are born. It isn't free to get your flyer in their stuff, but hopefully it will be well worth the price. It hits her market directly (new babies born in the Greensboro area) because no other hospitals in Greensboro deliver babies. And according to the hospital, they deliver over 6,000 babies a year. Her first flyers will go into packets this week, so we'll see how effective it is. She also will have flyers in the packets at High Point Regional, which is the closest city of significant size to Greensboro. They deliver 2,000 babies a year. We'll see. She's in the hole a couple thousand right now. It makes her nervous, but I'm confident that she will be happy with the results and that she will have to limit her appointments because she has too many people trying to get an impression done.

We spent a night in Quantico Thursday (July 6th). My brother Adam spent six weeks up there at "Officer Candidate School" (OCS) and his graduation was on Friday. We went up with mom and dad and Adam's wife, Melissa, and his kids. It was a fun trip. The boys were pretty good. About twenty minutes into the trip Cade started asking "are we there yet?" At first he was just trying to be funny, then an hour later he really wanted to know how much longer we had (3 more hours at that point). Analise was her usual self. Hardly said a word, slept the majority of the time.

She has a new alter ego, too. "Watermelon Woman." She has an outfit that somebody gave her (Christian Hines maybe?) that has a collar that is shaped and colored like a watermelon, and she likes to make raspberry's with her lips. The boys think it is hilarious and when she starts making the noises they giggle and run around going "Oh no! It's Watermelon Woman!"

While we were in Quantico, we were lucky to NOT have Shena sniped. We were driving past the airport there on base and there were 2 great big C-5 planes on the tarmac. One had just taken off and the other was just sitting there. Shena got excited and started taking pictures as we drove past. Window rolled down, practically hanging out the window as she took them (she disputes that, but I thought she was hanging out the window). After she took a couple, we drove past a yellow and red sign that we noticed said "No Admittance, No photography." We laughed about that for a minute, then didn't think anything of it. The next morning as we were driving to Adam's graduation ceremony, we had to go past the airfield again. This time, there was tons of traffic and so we were moving very slowly. We got to one of those signs again and noticed what it said at the bottom..."Lethal Force Authorized." Shena's lucky she didn't get taken out, apparently.

We've been driving a rental van for the last couple of days because Shena's paint job was being worked on. They apparently still didn't do it right after the passenger side door got dinged. Shena got the Service Department Manager on it and he has been very nice to get it done. It is supposed to be finished by noon today. Driving the rental van has made us feel good about the decision to buy the Odyssey. We hate driving the rental because we feel like it is a piece of crap compared to Shena's van. Once you are spoiled with certain ammenities, it's hard to appreciate anything less.

Marcos is going through that a little bit with his 2nd internship. He was in Atlanta with a big, international law firm, living it up. He got used to how they do things down there. Then he came up to Greensboro for his 2nd internship and it sounds like there is really no way to compare the two. Like I told him, he got to drive the Porshe before he got into a Camry. The Camry is a nice car by most counts...but just doesn't compare to the Porshe. And it's hard to appreciate the Camry when its driven AFTER the Porshe.

We've made plans for a Thanksgiving trip to the Asheville area that we are excited about. We talked about going to the beach and renting a house for a week this summer, but Shena wanted to wait and do something fun in the fall when her parents might be here. Last year the Great Smokey Mountain Railroad had a "Polar Express" train that gave rides and since our boys love the Polar Express, we wanted to take them. Problem is it is about 5 hours away and not exactly a "day trip." Long story short, we decided to take them this year (if you see the boys, please don't tell them they will be going on the train. They don't know yet and I don't want to have to hear them ask me a hundred thousand times between now and Thanksgiving) and spend a couple of days in the area. Turns out the only way to rent a cabin up there is by the week during Holidays (especially Christmas and Thanksgiving). We found a sweet place (brand new place, big screen TV's, pool table) that we were going to get for $1,500. Turns out they wanted $2,000 for the week because it was a holiday. So we found another place, "Mountain View Chalet," that we got for $950 for the week. We are excited to get up there. It's about 1.5 hours from the Polar Express train, but of course that is much better than 5 hours and we are closer to Asheville, where there is more to do during the week if we want. This new place is also more of a "mountain" type place. The "sweet place" was just in a small grove of trees off a highway, across the street from a fire station, and didn't look like it would feel like we were in the mountains. The "Mountain View" says it is isolated on 2 acres and you can't see any other houses at all. Looks like nicer views, too. Right now it sounds like we will have at least 10 of us there on Thanksgiving, possibly as many as 12. Of course my family and I will be there, Shena's mom and Dad, her brother Ryan (who will be there Wednesday to Sunday), and my parents. Should be a good time. I hope I don't build this thing up too much and wind up being disappointed.

Adam taught the lesson in Elder's Quorum on Sunday. Topic was journals. I felt guilty for not writing in here for so long. I'm back on track.

I also quit getting up at 5:30 most of the month of June, while I was studying. While I was getting used to it, I still had a hard time staying awake during the afternoon (at work) if I had to do a lot of reading, and I wanted to be able to read as much as possible. I'm back on track with that, too

This week is kind of a perfect storm of craziness at our house. Shena's Lasting Impressions getting started, her van in the shop, Lettie's wedding on Saturday (which Shena is VERY involved in setting up, etc), all the family in town, Heather (our admin assistant at work) is on vacation this week, which means a double load for me there). Wo is me. It will be Thanksgiving before I know it.

Marcos and I went and ate lunch at Natty Greene's yesterday. He's got bucks, so he picked it up. Nice of him to do that. I guess I owe him now. It was kind of cool to be able to go to lunch with him during the workday, while we were both being adults and going to work. Too bad he won't be working here next year.

That's it for now. As I remember things I will pop them in.