Congrats to Us!

Within days, Adam and I both got jobs :-)  He had interviewed with FLSmidth back in April for a Field Engineer position.  Because of the poor job market right now, they had to get approval for the position, which took close to two months!  This is the company Kurt has worked with for close to 35 years.  Adam did an internship with them during the summer in between his sophomore and junior year.

This job will have him traveling A LOT!!  He will be the on-site engineer for building projects.  It will entail him traveling in and out of the country.  He could be on a job for six months up to a year. They've indicated to him his first 'job' will most likely take him to Brazil for half a year.  He's already trying to learn Portuguese!  He's very excited about the travel aspect of it-he'll get to see the world 'on the company.'

He starts his job on Monday, June 30th.

And then there's me :-)  I applied for this job back in January, never heard anything from them, and pretty much forgot I had even applied!  About a month ago, I received an email from them asking me to do an on-line assessment for them to get to know me and for me to get an idea as to what the job entailed.  Within a week, I got another email asking me to set up a phone interview with someone from their HR dep't.  I talked to that person within the next day or so, she told me she'd forward my info to the clinical dep't and if they felt I might be a good fit, I'd be asked to set up an interview with a clinical supervisor.  Within 24 hours, I got that email asking when would be a good time to have a phone interview with the supervisor.

I spoke with her on a Friday, I had to do an online typing test (they wanted to assure I could type at least 30 WPM) and then took a ~40 question clinical test.  I got one wrong on that test. I had done the online typing test the night before and typed 50 WPM.  When I did it for them I only got 37 WPM!!  I think I was nervous!!  The interview went really well, she promised me I'd hear something the next week.

By Monday, I had a message waiting for me to call them and they offered me the job!!  It's a full time job...I haven't worked full time since before Alyssa was born in 1989!  That'll be different, for sure!

I start Friday, 6/27/14 (They start their training/orientation on Fridays).  I'll be taking up to 70-90 phone calls per day authorizing diagnostic tests for insurance companies.  And the best part of it all--I'll be working strictly from home!  There is absolutely no travel involved at all!!  My hours will be 10:30-7 pm the first two weeks for training and thereafter I'll be working 9:30-6 pm.  I'm not a morning person, so I'm totally fine with those hours!  At some point, if I get the chance I may bid on a bit earlier shift if it's available, but for now, I'm good with these hours.

I have to work in an enclosed room (HIPAA), so the only place available is our spare room, which currently has Alyssa's college desk (no drawers) and chair in it.  I'm not gonna go right out and replace them, because I want to make sure everything works out, but I don't think it'll take me too long to pick up at least a new chair, since I'm gonna be in it all day long!  The only claim to fame for her chair is that it's PINK!  I don't think it'll be all that comfy for an eight hour shift!! Now that Adam's graduated, he brought home his room air conditioner, so they'll put that in the room for me so it's nice and cool.  I'm also hoping to pick up a small fridge to keep in the room. I feel like with taking up to 90 calls per day, I may not even have time to go pee, let alone go downstairs and get myself a drink.  I'll have to see how that all plays out.

I'm excited, yet nervous.  It's been 14 years since I started a new job and this is so totally different than what I've done!  But I know I'm a fast learner, so feel confident I'll be fine :-)

Looking back on this whole thing, I think everything that happened was in God's plan.  Being off these last six months, enabled me to work on our new pictorial directory at church (which was A LOT of work!) with Kathy, our church secretary.  (She and I are definitely going out for a drink when the final copies come in!!).  In addition, Pastor Elizabeth asked Alyssa and I to direct our VBS this year.  Being off allowed me to do planning, ordering, purchasing, etc.  It's been a long time since I've spent so much time at Hackman's and ACMoore!!  Finally, my unemployment runs out at the end of June.  When do I start my new job?  June 27th.  Word.

Tacos!

Well, aren't these kinda' sexy!?!?  They were certainly much easier to eat than the regular shaped tacos.  I'm the only one in the family, however, that prefers HARD tacos.  I generally get the ones that have half hard, half soft.  But when I saw these, I decided everyone else was going to have to deal ;-)

Our New Deck :-)

Before:

The first of many trips to Lowe's:

The progression:

This was the ONLY thing Kurt did in the building of the deck!  Adam did everything else by himself! He accidentally hammered in to an electrical wire, Kurt needed to fix that:

Well, this was interesting!  He'd meow like CRAZY when we were outside and he wasn't.  The kids bought him a harness and a 'leash'.  As soon as they'd put the harness on, he acted like he was paralyzed!  He would not move!  So we'd put him back in the house.  Within minutes he'd be crying to come back out...LOL!!

The sorta finished project.  He still has boards to nail down and Kurt does want to put a 'roof' of sorts under the deck so it doesn't rain down in to the patio.  Also, he plans on replacing all the wood on the balcony deck.  I, personally, would be fine if it went away totally :)  I think I may have sat out there once back in the early 90's when he built it.  And now I'll really have no reason to go out there.  PLUS, I won't even stand on it-Kurt assures me it is strong enough to take my weight, but I just don't trust it.  The most I use the balcony for is to open the door for fresh air, or to shake rugs out!  I've actually suggested to him that he shorten the length of it, but am letting that decision up to him based on whatever ends up being the easiest for him.

And as far as this deck goes, Kurt's been talking about building a deck for YEARS!  I never thought I'd see this day.  I am sooo proud of Adam for doing this....and all by himself for that matter!  He did a fantastic job!  PLUS, he did it in less than two weeks!  I have been out on the deck almost every day since it's been 'sittable' and not raining!

And then there was this surprise on Father's Day!  Adam bought us a new gas grill for our new deck!

Making our first meal on the grilll...marinated rib eyes!  Yum!!

And, as if, building ONE deck wasn't enough, he just spent the last week and a half building this deck for his Uncle Chris and Aunt Fiona!

Way to go, Adam!!

Congrats Kieran!

This nephew of ours graduates tomorrow from Parkland High School. He's off to Pitt in August majoring in neuroscience (I know, we tried to talk him out of it....it didn't work! He'll figure out the error of his ways...LOL!!).

Congrats Kieran-we love you!!  (And we're just teasing you about your decision to go to that inferior school...hee hee hee!)

Besties!

Jossie came to meet Samson today (well, Jamie came too, Joss doesn't drive yet...LOL!). She even brought him a gift ;-)  They had a ton 'o fun!

Sam's a character; when we are sitting out on the deck, he'll stand at the window and cry his little heart out cuz he wants to be outside.  The kids bought him a (dog) harness the other night so we could bring him outside.  Whenever they put the harness on him, he turns in to a limp washrag!  We've had him outside twice and he just sits wherever he lands and doesn't move! Then as soon as we take him in, he's back at the window crying and wants to be outside with us!  There's just no pleasing him...LOL!!

**We had to get him a dog harness because he's too big for the cat ones!  This little darling weighs 17.5 pounds-the biggest cat harnesses apparently were for 8-12 pounders!  And they couldn't even get him the XS dog harness....they had to get the SM one!!

Adam's Memorial Day

Adam spent Memorial Day with Nate, his roommate from this past year. Nate is in the Navy ROTC and was on assignment for a few weeks, one of which included 'Fleet Week' in New York City. He got a tour of Nate's ship, they went to the new 911 Museum that just opened, and went in to Little Italy.

This is Nate's ship:

This is called the Sea Whiz and is a weapon for detecting short range incoming missiles:

Also a Sea Whiz:

These are missile launch tubes:

These are torpedo launch tubes:

Just a shot from Staten Island looking into NYC:

New York Stock Exchange:

Some other building:

Panoramic shot of a quilt in the 911 Museum with all the names of those who lost their lives:

This is an elevator motor:

 This is a butterfly valve that was used to hold back water from the Manhattan River:

The bull at the New York Stock Exchange: