Recovery Week

Perhaps it was just a recovery few days.  After I got back from Bootcamp it took a few days to decompress. I spent part of a day reviewing my notes and deciding who I wanted to follow up with from Bootcamp.

I also had several emails and projects I’d put on hold while I was there that now needed to be dealt with. And of course I needed to record my expenses for tax purposes.

Tuesday I had a mastermind copywriting call.  Then I went to Midway to help Tom on the steps there.  He and Nathan had worked on them some last week— getting the deck in and putting up the basics of the stairs.  We added more support and did railings.  I’ll tell you, it’s a lot faster to envision it than it is to actually do the work.  Part of it is that we were designing it as we were building.  Still, it came out very nicely.

The picture doesn't show the 8x17 deck well. The steps are a good 3.5 feet wide.

Wednesday I had a call from a client I met at Bootcamp that seemed promising. And for the first time since coming home I took a walk. I had a great time feasting at Bootcamp on all the good food.  Unfortunately, a few additional pounds tagged along back home.  So it’s back to exercise and watching portion control.

Tom finished up the steps at Midway on Wednesday then turned his attention to Deborah’s house on Thursday. The carpet needed to come out of the two small bedrooms and we decided to put vinyl planking down instead.  Deborah bought it in Springdale and Miranda carried it here when she visited. Tom had ripped out the old carpet, but the floor was weak and uneven and needed a plywood overlay. So he worked on that.

Thursday was busy for me with some training calls and going visiting teaching.  Tom went shopping for materials for Deborah’s house than joined me for lunch with my writer friend Ammon. He is a WWII vet, a bit of a free thinker on religious matters, but wanted someone willing to speak at his graveside when he passed away. So he met with Tom to see if he would be willing to do that.  We shared a good meal and enjoyed Ammon’s rich stories about his life in Alaska, in the service, and other times.

Last week, Tom lost a bit of his tooth. He went in to his current dentist who said, that’s part of a porcelain crown. If I’d put it in, I’d replace it for free. So Tom went back to the dentist who installed it in 2012… and he agreed to replace it at no charge this coming Monday.  On Friday, as Tom was eating chips, the remaining 85% of the tooth fell off.  It’s a bit sensitive to cold, but hopefully on Monday they’ll put a temporary crown on it.

 Friday night Tom and I went to see the new Jack Reacher movie with Tom Cruise.  It was action packed and pretty good.

Saturday Tom and Nathan went to finish up the floor at Deborah’s house.  Nathan decided to take a look at the white river on his way home.  As he was going through a mud puddle… it ended up being deeper than he anticipated.  I took chains out and Tom hauled him out with the 4 wheel drive truck.

The car had water on the floorboards.  When it started it after it got towed out, water poured out the exhaust.. and nearly on our feed!

Nathan has been job hunting and had some interviews. It looks like he will start at Papa Johns and then perhaps work at TJ Max or maybe Harps. My goal is to have him start working on a free college math class so he can practice his study skills.  He mowed our neighbor’s large yard so she will come back to a leaf-free yard…at least for the next day or so.

Saturday evening we had a chili cook-off and fall festival at church. Good food (I took a pie.) and after games in the primary, the kids had a trunk-or-treat in the parking lot. There were lots of great costumes there. I saw a biker dude and thought, wow, we’re getting a lot of new people to these activities… then I realized it was a ward member who is a banker.

Today we had a great sacrament meeting and lessons. We have three lovely people who plan to be baptized next Friday. It’s exciting.