Back at it on a Sunday night. First off, congratulations to Darla for promoting to Leader in her new jewelry venture, Opulenza. The owners of these companies love her as she brings her teams over from one jewelry company to another. Hopefully this will be home for awhile. It is a small company, likely underfunded, but growing quickly and if they manage their growth appropriately, they have a good shot at being tremendously successful. Darla joined the company mid May and pulled off becoming leader in barely a month and a half. Many of the "first in" consultants from 2016 haven't reached that level yet as their are just a handful of Leaders in the company. Darla LOVES the jewelry as it so much like Silpada, but loves being in on the ground floor and can see herself being a superstar with this company. I can see her eventually being a Sales Manager for the corporate side as she knows how to recruit and train reps and that is invaluable in any sales organization. I would love to see her in a role like that.
As the title indicates, Sam was here for a flash and gone gain. She flew in with Darla at 6:30 last night and we dropped her off at the airport this morning at 10:30 for her flight to Dallas with Diane's husband, Bob. Darla flew out at 3:15 Saturday and was met at her gate by McKenny, Jennifer and Sam and they hustled over to from Gate C2 to gate C10 for their 5:20 flight back to Sacramento.
I dropped Darla at the airport at 2:30 for her 3:15 flight and was sweating her making it. She said it was DEAD at Security and there were only a handful of people on the train to the terminal. I drove home, relaxed in the pool and then headed back out at about 5:30 to stop at Dan and Becky's to deliver a game to Alicia that she left at our house last weekend. Dan was throwing a 30th birthday bash for Becky and they had a house full of people. Becky was surprised that I was there so early and wanted to know where Sam was. I drove on to the airport and picked up Sam and Darla. I brought a bouquet of flowers for Darla and a rose for Sam. Not completely because I'm a great guy, but I was stressing on the drive to the airport about her missing the flight and was driving like a maniac. It took me 15 minutes to get to the airport on the normal 25 minute route.
From there we drove back to the house to drop Sam's things and get some drinks and sandwiches for the party and then over to Dan's place. The party started at 4 PM and we were late because of the Vegas trip. They were all in the living room playing a game and we ate some dinner, talked to a few people and then Darla had to get home to put in some orders and get her promotion.
Darla had spent Saturday morning at a salon selling her jewelry and coordinating with her team sales and orders. She was $4000 in sales short of her goal Thursday afternoon and hit her goal by Saturday night. It was an amazing display of teamwork and sheer will by Darla and her team and it all paid off in the end. She spent a good portion of Saturday night in our bedroom putting in orders while Sam and I watched a movie called Oddball, a true story about a golden retriever in Australia that helped to eradicate a pack of foxes that were playing havoc with a penguin preserve. It was well done and entertaining and Sam and I enjoyed it.
We did manage to get in the pool and cool off from the 104 degree heat of Roseville Saturday night . Sam was in the pool for a grand total of maybe 40 minutes and managed to turn Samson into a water dog. He had been off his float and in the water a few times, but did not jump into the water. Sam changed all that and coaxed him into the pool. He now gets on the steps and floats out in to the water like he owns the joint. I bought a 20 pack of skimmer filter bags that help trap the hair and keep it from getting into the filter. I would have had a mess if Pete hadn't tuned me on to those.
The pictures. The top two are from breakfast this morning. Sam was not a ray of sunshine when we got her up this morning and she had stayed up until 11 watching the movie with me. She had her phone in her room and who knows how late she stayed up playing games. The top shot is of Gramma stealing one of her French fries. She wasn't thrilled. The second shot was the face she gave me when I asked her to smile for a picture. The next two are of our pool fun Saturday night and a picture of Sam and I in the spa. It was a bit warm for the spa, but she wanted to go in and, hey, I'm her Papa, I couldn't say no. The next two are of the pool itself, which is in as good shape as it has been in months and one of Darla's new clock for the backyard, which is done in a windmill theme. The final picture is of Sam and her cousin, Ella as they were at the airport this morning. I think Ella had just come from the Royal Wedding or something. Sam is 10 and Ella is 7.
I had a couple of golf outings this week and will likely be taking about a three week break from the game as we get Sam here and then are off to SoCal for a short vacation. We received word this week that one of our long time members, Andy Ortiz, had passed away. He was suffering from cancer and was on hospice. He was 83 years old and one of my favorite people in the club. Andy was a sharp dresser and played very good golf into his late years. He always had a smile on his face and a kind word for anyone. I used to tease him about what a "handsome man" he was and he kept himself in great shape. Andy was an amateur boxer in his youth and he married a professional dancer. He and his wife were avid dancers and very active at the Sun City resort here in Roseville. I say this because our weekly golf league will be cancelled on Thursday so we can attend his services. We played this past Thursday night, I had a continuing education class on Friday followed by a scramble golf event at Rancho Murieta. I played with Pete and Phil. We were mostly horrible and had one of Pete's agents who plays twice a year with us. We shot a 75.
Ken in a Razor 4WD at Golf event
Saturday morning I had a 9 hole charity event at the Indian Creek golf course. It was the Loomis eggplant festival golf tournament. It is a 9 hole facility with four par 3s, four par 4s and a par 5. We teed off at 9 AM and lunch was 11:30. I played again with Phil, Doug Brown (Phil's partner at his insurance office) and a friend of Doug's. THIS was the worst run golf tournament I have ever encountered. When we got there to check in they had to write down our names because they lost the entry information. They had to meet and decide which groups were on which hole. They should have limited play to about 15 foursomes, but had 22 foursomes and it was a zoo. We finally teed off at 9:30 and every hole had a plea for more money. $20 for this outfit and $40 for that. You could have dropped $250 just on the course. We ignored most of the pleas. When I say it was the worst golf tournament I've ever played in. Our events at Diamond Oaks run at most 4 hours and 30 minutes for 18 holes. We finished 6 holes in 3 and a half hours and I was ready to go home. Unfortunately, Phil had driven me and I was stuck. It was brutal. We got to the par 5 after 6 holes and there were 5 groups at the tee box. FIVE! It took us another 60 minutes to play the last three holes. a par 5, a par 3 and a par 4. Somehow having the hold up on the par 5 moved play along, although several had only one or two holes left to play and we had three.I finished the round completely lacking in any spiritual health. I was pissed off and in a bad mood. We ate some lunch and Phil got me back home at 1:30.
Darla had misplaced her phone and was not home when I got home. I was panicking as the flight was 3:15. I called several of her team and they all said she was on her way home. I had planned to leave at 1:30 and Darla thought it was 2. She rolled up at about 2:10 and I was not in a good mood. Remember the flowers?
We finished the month really strong at work. We did not hit budget, but were ahead of 2017 handily. Pete's team grew about 12% to $101,500 in revenue to the office. I had several teams that were down and lost large accounts. Pete really helped save the day, which is not the first time and won't be the last.
We get Sam back Friday night and look forward to a fun week with her and her camp experience. I have tickets to the local AAA baseball game Thursday night and hope to take her girlfriend, Jordan, from next door and Jordan's dad, Jeremy. They have been in Hawaii for two weeks and get back tonight. That's it for now. I'll be back next Sunday with more tales of the Samantha child. Ciao.
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