Thursday, May 30, 2013

Freaky Friday Part 2

We just had a wonderful visit with Mom & Dad coming up to Raleigh.  Bigun has been fighting this loose tooth for a while, and every day I've been checking trying to get it to pull out.  well finally we got this:



We got us a Leon Spinks impersonator.  Snaggletooth has made an appearance.  One of the big front teeth has gone under the pillow.  Today the other big tooth started getting loose, so we're going to have to start mushing up her food pretty soon.  ha! I actually tried to pull it at night and pulled a bit too hard (ouch!).  Then she went to sleep and the tooth was on the floor the next morning.  I couldn't believe she didn't swallow the thing!

Bigun has been studying bats in school recently, and got incredibly excited when we ordered a bat house kit. The kit came in, and it was just some cut up pieces of wood that barely had some instructions too.  Wednesday night we put it together; I let the kids drive the nails in.  Then thursday we hung it high in a tree in the front yard:



It is really cool.  Don't know if bats will actually like it or not.  But it was a great craft project to build with the kids.  If you're looking for one, try this guy: Amazon Bat House Kit (I bought ours, not a paid endorsement).  Bats like to eat mosquitos, and mosquitos like to congregate around our muscadine vines, so it should be pretty copacetic.

Then we actually got to Freaky Friday.  I knew it was going to be a wild day from the schedule. I've been hanging onto my sanity at work by a thread.  Being a contractor stinks.  No vacation days or holidays at all, and I had finally had enough of it.  So when I found out I would not get converted to a full time employee until next spring, or maybe the spring after that, if ever..... ok you see where this is going.  So Monday I started putting out a couple of feelers and Friday an offer came in.  The terms were agreeable and it's a direct hire, so I accepted!  Changing jobs is kind of scary but this is a really good opportunity for some fun software development.

Friday was also field day at the kids' school!  They had a blast.  Kelley was volunteering out there all day long, so she got to have fun too.  Our friends Joe and Gina were also out with their kids.  Fun times all around.  Tomorrow (friday) is the last day of school for the year.

Thursday night I got a call that my grandmother (dad's dad) had taken a turn for the worse.  Her heart was starting to fail and she was having a series of heart attacks.  Friday she was unconcious most of the day, and the hospice nurses did not expect her to recover.  She was 92, and had a  long and happy life.  She passed on Sunday afternoon around 2 pm.  Friday was so crazy I was just unable to process any emotions around it.  We are all really going to miss her.  It's not a surprise, we knew it was going to happen one day.  She went fast and didn't have to suffer, and was really happy until last week.  we should all be that lucky.

Friday at 4 pm we closed on a refinance of our house.  Doing the Dave Ramsey thing, and this is going to save us a couple hundred bucks a month.  Well worth it.  We did not tell the closing attorney I just accepted a new job earlier that day, but sitting in his waiting room was the first chance I had to tell Kelley about the details.

Then Friday and Saturday night we went camping with the afore mentioned Joe and Gina friends and all 6 kids.  And the field day?  Turns out Kelley kept planning on doing all of the stuff to get ready for camping on Friday.  So when I took off work at 4 pm, Joe took the kids straight from the school to the campground and we went to the closing.  Then had a mad dash to pack everything up after the closing and get to the campground in time to pitch our tent before dinner. 

So lets recap:
Job offer?  Accepted.
House?  Refinanced
Field day? dunking booth achieved.
Grandmother?  Not well.
Tent?  Pitched. 

And it turns out Gina had been smoking meat all day.  So when we sat down outside of their RV at a picnic table and cracked open that first beer over a plate of BBQ, the entire day just melted on me.  The kids exploded on the campground, we forgot half of the stuff we needed including pillows and blankets, but everything else came together.  Before you know it I was sleeping in a tent next to a lake and everything was ok.

There is actually more to this memorial day story to come, believe it or not.

4 comments:

Unknown said...

Holy smokes John... y'all had a crazy weekend!!!

Congrats on the new job. That's awesome that it worked out so well!

And great job getting the house refinanced! That's a huge $$ saver.

I'm so sorry to hear about your grandma - it's never easy to lose someone close to us, but I'm glad that she didn't suffer! And 92 - that's an awesome life!!!

You racing this weekend? I'm assuming you are - best of luck!

Unknown said...

A tent by the lake sounds so good right now.

Lisa from Lisa's Yarns said...

Holey cannasta. That is a CRAZY Friday. I am so glad you were able to find a new job so quickly - especially one with benefits and vacation time! Those are essential benefits!

I am sorry to hear about the loss of your grandma. I dread the day that happens to my grandma, although I know it is part of life.

Kyria @ Travel Spot said...

I am sorry to hear about your grandma, but happy about the new job and the Re-fi! Awesome!

I love the summer: smoking meats, tents, teeth falling out...oh wait, that doesn't happen... I am really having a good time hiking and enjoying the outdoors and can't wait for a hiking/camping trip later this month!