It is the dog days of Summer with heat being omnipresent and the pool getting a good workout lately. Darla did end up having to take a medical leave of absence from work due to both medical issues and stress. She is working on clearing her head and getting her meds under control to better fight her diabetes. We went to the doctor together last Monday and her doctor gave her a two week leave and instructions to relax and get some additional exercise while she is off. She is getting in to the gym almost every day, walking the park across the street and trying to wind down and relax. If you know Darla, she is a person that is always on the go and slowing down and taking it easy is hard for her. I'm proud of her that she has been able to sleep in every morning and take a nap most afternoons and just relax at home and let the stress bleed out of her life.
She is a little needy at night as she is, at her core, a very social animal. She is ready for me to get home at night and wants to engage in conversation. I understand her and have no problem with this. The problem this week is that I had poker on Friday night and plans with the boys for a golf trip up to Squaw Valley. She was not on board with either of those activities this time around and hounded me about abandoning her. Friday night she had dinner with her parents and visited with Lucas and Alicia (Don is away at a convention in Vegas). Saturday, she got together with a girlfriend from work and went to see the movie, "The Heat". I had golf league on Thursday night and another of her friends invited her to dinner that night and she didn't get home until after 8 o'clock. I guess the pendulum swings both ways, eh?
I did head up to Squaw valley for our second go at the course at the Resort at Squaw. The first time was last Fall and the course whipped me with a 90. I gained a small measure of revenge with an 84 this time around. Neil and Darren both shot 96 and Boyd matched me with an 84. I was happy to have parred the last two holes, which were among the hardest on the course. The weather was incredible, about 82 degrees, but it felt like 90 degrees because of the high altitude. We met at the park and ride about 7:15 and were at the course before 9 o'clock for our 10:00 tee time. We had breakfast bagels at the resort and then went down to warm up. The course was crowded, but most of the players had already teed off and there was only one group teeing off before us and that was 9:50. We jumped at the chance to tee off early and left at 9:15, but made the mistake of teeing off on number 10 (The tee boxes are side by side with no tee markers). I figured it out when my sky caddie handheld GPS kept getting farther from the hole the closer we got. We figured it out fairly quickly and decided hole 10 was our practice hole. The day was great and it is always fun to do a road trip with friends. We were back home before 4 PM and I got home just as Darla was getting home from the movie.
There are some changes going on at work and a couple of promotions in the works. Harvey talked to me about them on Wednesday and I took the opportunity to remind him that the Branch Manager has had some tremendous success over the last six years and perhaps he needed some acknowledgement as well. My CEO will be in Roseville in October and Harvey said that a promotion to Vice President is on the table. I'm hoping that comes through as we have all worked hard and seen the success in my branch that we all wanted. We are ahead of last year's numbers in July and have three full workdays left this week to try to hit our budget number. We are about $50,000 in revenue shy of that number and about $400,000 in premium. I'm not counting my team out yet, but it is a hill to climb. (Neil Thomas always says: "It's no hill for a climber.")
Jennifer was in Vegas this weekend and planned to take Samantha out to see their new apartment. Jennifer has been offered a job with Alcatel Lucent as a project manager in Vegas and they are moving to a new apartment close to Samantha's new school. Samantha is ready for her Mom to be there. Jennifer bought her a "seed of happiness", some rock from a new wave store in Almanor and had planned to give it to her when they got back to Vegas, but had also bought one for Darla and gave it her. Sam knew she had bought one for her as well and was crying before bed that she wanted her "seed of happiness". I'm quite sure that you are not supposed to cry over the seed of happiness, but what do I know?
The pictures above were from Darla's parent's visit with Lucas this week and then Alicia's visit here on Saturday. Alicia's day care provider was on vacation this week and Earl and Frances stepped up and watched him during the day. Don works out of the house part time as a pharmaceutical rep and they wanted to get out of the house, so took him to the park a couple of days and then met at our place one day to swim.
Darla and I walked up to the shopping center this morning so I could get a hair cut. We passed a new business in the strip center that is Sister's Massage and they do foot reflexology for $25 for an hour session. Darla is suffering from neuropathy in her feet as part of her diabetes and is always looking for ways to increase the circulation in her feet. She popped in there and I went to get my haircut and to the store for some hooks to hold our swimming pool pole, net and brushes on the fence. I got done before Darla and had 25 minutes to wait for her at the Massage place. They seemed very nice, but neither sister speaks much English and it was funny trying to communicate with them. They know the language of money, however.
Well, that is it for this week. Jennifer contacted me this week and said that Sam will be in California the week of August 12-19. They plan to be up here on August 17 (Randy's birthday). that is the day of our Summer Picnic at work and I'll see if they want to join us. I may take a day off during the week and go to Pleasanton to stay with Samantha and have some fun. Jennifer has her booked at the YMCA that week for a Summer camp. You all have a great week and we'll do this again next Sunday. Ciao.
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