End of the weekend

Well, it's late Sunday and another weekend is past. Friday we had a nice evening. After a vegetarian dinner, Ron and Marilyn came over and we drank a few bottles of wine and quizzed Steve on his experiences at Thousand Trails in Leavenworth and learned the details of why he left. Saturday, Steve and Dennis helped Ron and Marilyn move their broken down TV from the 2nd story to the 1st story of their house. Then, Dennis went to the Motor Home to get out the roof and windshield for the buggy. When he got home, he and Steve went for a buggy ride with Ron and Marilyn while I stayed home to watch the dogs and start packing for my trip to Dallas Sunday.

After the ride, we talked to Ron and Marilyn and decided we would have a potluck style vegetarian dinner Saturday night. I made tofu chili which was fantastic. Marilyn made some wonderful vegetarian meatballs that we had with pasta and red sauce. Marilyn also brought some garlic bread and Texas toast. It was a delicious, very filling meal! We had a bottle of wine with dinner, and watched the Barrett Jackson auction afterwards.

Ron and Marilyn left and we decided to watch the movie Juno as it was coming on one of the premium channels. Dennis surfed for a job while Steve and I watched the movie. I managed to finish packing before that so that I could go to bed stress free. I was up until about midnight and had to get up at 5am to be ready to be picked up by 6am. We had a nice journey to Dallas, and did some running around when we got here. We were away from the hotel during most of the Cardinals game so - thank goodness for Facebook - I received updates from Dave in San Diego and Ruthanne in Gilbert. I was very relieved to hear the Cardinals won the game! Woohoo!

Back to the hotel and it was time to open some wine. Did you know that you cannot bring your own wine into a hotel in Irving? We had to take it back out to the car and sneak it into the hotel in our bags. It felt like we were in high school trying to get away with something. I don't quite understand the law but I guess I don't have to. We had a nice dinner in the hotel restaurant and then came back to Lisa's room to inspect 200 binders to make sure the debossing was done right and the solar calculator inside worked. When we were done with that, we all came to our own rooms, and here I am. The next 3 days are going to be filled with a lot of hard work and long hours. I'm going to bed soon so that I'll be ready.

Take care, and have a great week! I most likely won't be able to blog much until the end of the week.

Thursday evening

We had a schedule change this morning. I slept in because Dennis didn't have to get up. Unfortunately, it's because he got laid off yesterday. His job was eliminated because the drug he was preparing to support was not approved by the FDA and was put on hold for 18 more months of human trials. Fortunately he got 8 weeks of severance and is hitting the job search trail. Keep your fingers crossed and say some prayers for him.

Steve Fischer is here for a few days with his cute dog Sadie. Steve left Washington state last month and made his way down the coast to San Diego. He spent a few days there with his brother, then headed to Tucson. He spent some time there with his mom and sister and is now here in Phoenix with us. It's great to see him. It's been 4 1/2 years since I last saw him and almost 3 years for Dennis. His dog is very well behaved and a real sweetheart. She seems to be getting along pretty well with the boys.

If you know of any job leads for Dennis, please let us know! He has 10 years experience in health care and pharmacy benefits and 15 years customer service experience. He spent the last 6 months in a QA role, monitoring calls and auditing cases. He's very familiar with the Witness program by Verint and has become very proficient with several Microsoft applications. He's eager to get back to work, even after just 1 day!

I'll keep everyone posted on his progress with finding work. Take care, and Happy Friday (by the time you read this)!