Tuesday, April 24, 2007

"I Gotta Call Your Dad"

My hubby is downstairs watching the Rockies baseball game. He just ran upstairs, almost giddy, grabs the phone, and starts running back down the stairs and as he goes he yells out, "I gotta call your dad!" It makes me smile that the two men that I love the most in the world have such a great relationship. And I have been thinking that I need to do a layout about that relationship. It is amazing! They love a lot of the same things: baseball, football, golf, hunting, fishing, etc... And they have so much in common. And now that dh has been hanging around my family for about 20 year they both know all of the other person's friends. In fact I often tease them about how well they share friends. For example, my dh goes to lunch with one of my dad's good friend when he is here on business. He also calls many of his friends on a regular basis just to chat and catch up. Another example, when my dad was in AZ in Feb my hubby's best friend was there with his two boys for a week. So my dad (along with a number of his friends down there) entertained dh's friend. They went to a baseball game and played golf and had dinner together.

It really would be odd to many people how close the two of them are and how they have basically merged their groups of friends and now they all get along and do things together. And I am so thankful for that! I would imagine that having a difficult relationship with an in-law can be really hard on a marriage and I am so blessed not to have that hurdle to deal with!

Oh, and by the way, when I asked dh why he had to call my dad. Apparently the guy pitching for the Rockies boks every time and it is not getting called. DH says my dad is the only one who will understand - and I guess he is right because while I understand what he is saying, it really is not that big of news to me. LOL!

Monday, April 23, 2007

Heaven Sent???

**Warning, work related rant ahead. You may want to just skip this entry entirely. But there is a happy ending. LOL! ***

Leaving our former lives behind and joining our family business has been an amazing thing and if we had to make the choice again I know we would do it the same. It has allowed our family opportunities that we never would have had before and time together as a family that we never would have had. But the down side of our own business is that we are the bottom line. If something has to get done we are the ones to do it. And by "we" I really mean my dh. He works really really hard. And while I think a lot of what my brother does when it comes to the nitty gritty of the bad icky stuff of business it is my dh that ends up having to do it.

Through the years we have been here we have gone through a number of mechanics. In a lot of ways I can't blame them - we don't pay as much as others, the work is really hard work, and there is a lot of outside work - even in the winter. Also we seem to have a knack for attracting employees that are less then great. So, the end result has been that we have been without a mechanic for quite sometime and my dh has been the one that has done this. He has not minded and he is one that gets in there and does what needs to be done. And he is also a "bit" hard headed and would never admit how hard it is on his body. Until recently, and then still only to me. But he comes home with an exhausted and aching body everyday. He gets along really well with my brother but over the years as dh has done move of the hard labor and my brother doesn't really pitch in as much that has grated on me a lot.

A while back the rest of my family was really up on hiring a new salesperson and while that is something that we need I would not back down to the need for a mechanic. I finally just laid it out there that we had to have a mechanic or I was not sure how long dh could handle all the hard labor (plus all the other icky and unpleasant jobs that he has to do cause no one else wants them - like collections). So we basically ended that conversation in an impasse and whenever a salesperson is brought up I let them know my feelings.

Well, then the other day a guy that is part of a religious group here in town that rents trailers from us got to talking to dh. He was saying that while he "works" for this other place they don't really pay him and his family was running out of their savings and he was trying to pick up some work. He told dh that he has his CDL so he can drive our tractors. He has been a mechanic before and has owned his own business. But he chose to give it all up and dedicate his life to the Lord's work. But now he really needed to just be realistic and get some money coming into his family. So my dh and brother interviews him officially and hired him. The three of him agreed that since he was still working for this other place he can have time off to work for them when he needs it.

He has turned out to be this amazing worker! He has learned everything that they teach him. He jumps in to do anything that they are working on - even the hard things that no one but my dh usually does. And my dh gets the break and does not come home hurting everyday. And I think he feels better because his time is freer to do other parts of his job not just maintenance.

When dh and this guy were talking the other he was telling my dh how thankful he was for the job. He told him that his family was worse off then their last dollar and he is so thankful for the job. And he said that he really thinks that God made our paths cross when he really needed it. As dh was telling me the story I was thinking that actually I think God crossed our paths to save us! Isn't that amazing how that works???

Sunday, April 22, 2007

Sunday night with Food Network

I love the food network! My skills in the kitchen are only slightly above average and most of that "slightly above" is as a result of watching the Food Network. When there is nothing on and I want to have the tv on for background noise, Food Network is my channel of choice. And lately I have this little ritual going - Sunday night after everyone is in bed and I have watched the first half of the 10:00 news. I turn over to the Food Network. A new (usually) episode of Iron Chef America is in progress at that time. I love to see what the chefs do with the "secret ingredient". And I really love the fancy foods on the menu. I love to see how they present their dishes. Great fun! Although tonight is battle garlic and at this exact moment they are showing garlic roasted squab (not too sure about eating that!) and especially because they left the talons on which are holding a garlic clove with the squab head sitting next to it with the head split open so the brains could be eaten (that is almost an exact quote of what the chef said). Ok, now I have eaten my share of exotic meats, but that is just downright frightening. See, where else would I ever get to hear of a menu like that!! Love the show even though I don't understand half of what they are making and eating. LOL!

Iron Chef America is followed by Challenge. The challenge changes from week to week. This week is speed cooking. Should be interesting to watch here in just a few minutes.

And the best part of my little Sunday night tradition is that I get to hang out and scrap in my scrapping room and watch Food Network. Fun stuff in my book.

Saturday, April 21, 2007

Accomplishments for Remi

**Play along with me as I am just going to jump back into blogging as if there had not been a two month break. ;) **

Remi had quite a day today. After just short of two years in karate, Remington tested for his brown belt today. The test started last night with an hour of sparring. He came home tired and very stinky and sweaty!! LOL! Then this morning he got up and had an omelet and toast and was off to his karate test today. It started at 8:00 am and finished with him earning his brown belt at 11:30 this morning and in between that time was a totally physical test. I am so impressed with him.

He has always said he wanted to do karate so when a karate school moved in literally around the corner from us there was not much I could do to protest. He spent the first "trial" month going about 5 out of 7 days! He loved it! And was actually given an award that first year for the "Most Enthusiastic Karate Student". He loved karate from the beginning. So after that first month the Head Instructor sat him down and asked HIM if he was ready to commit to participating in karate. Remi agreed and he has not looked back. I am amazed that in the almost two years he has been in karate I have not had to beg, plead, or cajole him into going. And not he is one step, albeit a big step, but one step from his goal. He wants to be a black belt by the time he is in middle school and he is on track to do that. It takes about a year and a half to get to black belt and that is about how long he has until he in in middle school (Oh, my!!! My body just shuddered at the thought that my boy is only a year and a half away from middle school!!!). So I was one proud mama as the Instructor was talking about how much dedication it takes to become a brown belt and I was so pleased that Remi has done so well.

The second part of his day was a baseball game. Yes, it is lucky he was young, because after 4 very physical hours of exercise he came home, ate a quick lunch and then headed out to an hour of baseball practice followed by a baseball game. Again, I love to see him play! He is such a great kid and gives his all to what he does. And he is into baseball this year! His dad loves it! He got a hit every time he was up and while he did not have much action in the field today he was out there and his head was in the game.

You might expect after all that he would come home to collapse. But nooooo. He ran outside and played with the dog - wrestling and playing ball for an hour. LOL! Ahh, to be a kid. LOL!