Damn, thats hot.

Well, Crystal and Elliot are gone. They left yesterday to go up and visit Grandma and Grandpa (and anyone else she can track down) up in Washington. I took them to the airport just before noon. Did you know in today's high security crack down you can just walk up to a ticket agent, ask them for a "escort" pass and in about 30 seconds, you are on your way down thru security to the gate? They didn't even ask Crystal for her flight info to make sure she really was a passenger, just asked for my ID, and you know how hard those are to forge....man, all that extra money going towards all that security is money well spent in my opinion! Anyway, needless to say, I got to walk them down to their gate and say an extended goodbye. That was nice...sad, but nice.


After I left the airport, I had planned (conspired is more like it) with my dad to go and play golf that afternoon since I would be up on PHX anyway. So, I took off like a lightning bolt from the airport and made it to the course that is my dads retirement community (read that "old farts village") and off we went. When I got to the course at about 1:30, it was somewhere close to 105 degrees out. No biggie, drink lots of water, everything will be fine. Well, in my haste to get to the golf course on time, I failed to go get something to eat, which was my plan, but it slipped my mind, dreaming of making eagles and birdies and what not (I actually was on the green in 2 on a par 5 and was putting for eagle, but missed it and settled for birdie). So, 13 holes later, I had to quit. I was hot, shaky, and hot. I knew if I pushed it, I'd pay for it later, so I rode around in the cart with my dad for the remaining 5 holes and watched him continue to shoot the lights out. Its a good thing I quit when I did, he would have beat me so bad, I'd never hear the end of it. Probably still wont :)

So, I climbed back in the car, and the temperature gauge said 118!

Yes, that says 118 F'ing degrees!!!!! No wonder I was hot! God lord! My dad of course, called me a sissy though, for whatever reason, the heat just doesn't bother him. The only thing I could come up with as to why this is, was after spending some time in Vietnam as a youngster, he just got used to it, or, it was so much more worse there, 118 of dry heat, really can't compare to the hot humid jungles of Vietnam. Either way, he is like a machine, he just played on, and he was only drinking soda and part of a small bottle of water. Machine I tell you!

Anyway, today was a busy day. With Crystal and Elliot gone, I have nothing to rush home for, so I scheduled 5 jobs for today. 3 of them being repair jobs. One of them, had a pine colored bed frame. Anyone that does furniture repair will tell you, the lighter the wood, the harder to onsite repairs. There is just something about it, kinda like white colors. There are 31 million different shades of white, all of them nearly impossible to match. So, I did the next best thing...improvised!

Here is the before shot:



And the after shots:



Can you see the damage? It's actually where that new knot is, no its not a real knot, its one I "drew" on there using my color sticks. Turned out pretty damned good. The shipper even said to me, "I can't wait to show that to my husband, I bet he doesnt even realize that its not a real knot!". This was of course, music to my ears. Had her sign my sign off form saying that the repairs were good and I was off and running. That was my first job of the day. After that, I could do no wrong. Now its alittle after 7, I just finished my reports before I sat down to type this, now I think I'm going to grab some dinner, watch alittle TV, then sack out.

With any luck, we will be moving back up at the end of August, stay tuned for updates as they become available.

29 weeks to go, give or take 5

We went to the Dr. yesterday to get the first of many pre-natal visits done. They did a sonogram (I think its the same thing as an ultrasound, but sonogram sounds cooler to them I guess) and listened to the new baby's heart beat. Very cool stuff. I was amazed to see the difference with from this baby to Elliot as far as picture quality went with the test. It really is a great time to be alive, technology is changing the face of the earth in a big way. Anyway, here is a picture of our "new peanut", they measure exactly 1 inch long, I wish I would have had my phone out to record the heart beat, but I'll catch it next time. I'm putting my money down now that this one is a girl. I remember the way Elliot's heart beat was when we first heard his, and they say the boys heartbeat is usually faster than a girls, and this was noticeably slower to me. Crystal will likely tell you I'm full of poo...but who doesn't already know that?


It just looks like a blob now...but I'm sure its going to be a good looking kid, just has to cook for a bit longer.

The Dr. told us that since Elliot came early, there is a risk that this one will too, however, odds are that he/she will come later than Elliot did, usually by a week, maybe 2. Then they told us there was a shot that Crystal could start taking at week 18, deep muscle in the arse, that would increase the odds of the child being born closer to full term. Its a once a week shot, the side effects are pain and sometimes difficulty walking the day after the shot, and it gives you a whole 7% chance of extending the due date......7%? And pain for 20 weeks? I'm a gambler, and those are not good odds. Needless to say, I think we are going to take our chances.

We have been doing our research for the move, we've found that our insurance will not transfer up to the Pacific NW, however, we can start with a new insurance company once we get up there, and they will count the insurance we currently have, and waive the wait time for maternity coverage, so really, I guess we are waiting for the lease to be up, and to sock away enough money to live on for 2 months. Hopefully that will be enough of a cushion to get us by til we are up and running up there, if its not, and we know you, be prepared for us to come over for free dinners...alot...no scratch that, gas will be expensive too, be prepared for us to invite you to bring us dinner...alot :)

I gotta go shower and get on the road. Hope everyone is doing well and in good health. For those of you in the Pacific NW, I cant wait to see you.

News

Well, its been a long long time since I got around to making an update on here, Crystal has had the reigns on that for awhile, but no more!

Things have been stirring around here for sometime now, and for the most part, no major disasters have occurred. Sure there is the occasional diaper that blows out (Elliot gets that from his mother), and last night he tried to pee on my arm while he was in the bath, but thats about where the drama ends....sorta.

Crystal isn't doing so well adjusting to the Desert a.k.a face of the sun (and the real heat isnt even here yet), missing her family (I do too actually), our friends (even those idiots we like so much), and we've decided enough is enough.

Last weekend, I was back in Atlanta, GA for a Weathersby Guild Conference. My Dad and I flew in Thursday afternoon (after I left our house at 3:00 am to get to his house and pick him up, then off to the PHX airport) at 2 pm. We had a casual dinner that night with everyone at the Fudruckers near the Hotel where we were meeting. Now, I don't know for sure it was something I ate there...but I was sick the entire weekend. When I say sick, I mean ED was visiting from out of town, and he always brings way too much luggage for his stay...enough on that. Anyway, I pulled the head honcho Kent Weathersby aside and had a little chat with him. A brief play by play of how that went:

Kent: Hello Michael, how is Crystal doing?
Me: She hates Tucson, its too hot, and shes too far from her family.
Kent: Well, perhaps its time to show her physically and mentally, that you are ready to be her Champion, her protector, her provider, and move her back near her family, we talked once before that if you wanted to move your Guild to the Portland/Seattle area, I'd love to have you go there and represent the Guild with a presence, its something we've wanted for along time to be up in the Pacific NW.
Me: Well, I need to sit her down and have that conversation, cause I'm missing my friends and family too, and its really starting to take its toll.
Kent: Well, lets get some research done and look into it, get in touch with some of your adjusters you do work for and see if they could use you up there.
Me: I think I will.

So, anyway, I got home just before Midnight on Saturday, and Sunday morning when I woke up, Crystal and I had a good talk about moving back. When I first mentioned it to her, she looked in my eyes and I could tell right then, if I get her back home, I'll never be able to do any wrong the rest of my life so long as I did this for her. So, we are moving back home! There are still some things we have to iron out, but its a done deal.

We are in a lease on this house until August 31st, so thats the earliest we can go, then, we have to check with our insurance to see if we can move our policy up there, or if we have to start a new one. If we have to start a new one, we have to stay until January sometime...and thats cause our current policy covers maternity stuff...since Crystal is PREGNANT again and expecting January 7th. :)

So, things are coming along nicely. I have spoke with many adjusters and the resounding response from them is "hurry up and move". So thats a nice burden lifted wondering if there is work there. Many of them have told me that the Seattle area is where the majority of their need is, but I'd like to get Portland/Vancouver up and running first, open my own refinishing shop, and then see about getting a business loan to open Seattle. Will then look for someone to run that branch for me, I can travel too and from to help out with big repair jobs, and be more of a manager in that area. Thats putting the cart in front of the horse just a touch, but I'm trying to get a time frame down for my vision of where I see this thing going. Like Kent said to me when he heard this plan, "thats not a bad idea, you don't want to be going out doing service calls when your 60". And he would know, cause I think he is rapidly approaching that age and still working in the field, but, he is damned good at what he does, and I think maybe just a pinch of a work aholic, much like my Dad...and me, who am I kidding. This work has quickly become a passion for me, I love taking something broken and making it whole again, or taking something ugly and old, and giving it new life, very rewarding stuff.

I'm going to miss my Dad and Step Mom very much, but I'm hoping with us being so close to the Beach, and them in the warm weather all year long, we will both have reasons to travel and see each other more than we have in the past. Even living as close as we do (hour drive time), we don't get to see them all that often. I'll also miss the sunny warm winter weather here, but, to be honest, I'm really missing the rain and the cold. Not so cold that I can't feel my own butt cheeks, but that cool brisk fall air...oh baby, poppa is coming home!!!!