Back Home!

It has been a number of days since my last post so let me get everyone caught up...

Well, I am Home Again! The week in Raleigh went by rather quickly. It was actually a pretty depression week. While in Raleigh there were a couple rounds of layoffs. One round actually hit the Raleigh division. To say the least it was a very awkward day when it went down. My business partner and I accidently walked in on a employee who was in the middle of being laid off. Talk about awkward... I felt horrible! To make matters worse one of the people who got laid off went out of there way the previous day to get me an authentic southern sweet tea. Just terrible! The only thing that I could do was just to pray for those who lost there jobs! In all, there were 20+ employees who were laid off last week between the Raleigh and Charlotte divisions. I have been informed by more than one individual that there will most likely be up to 70 more layoffs before years end. The only division that has not been affected yet, is Columbus. I do feel this division will be next!

With all of this going down last week I decided to come home early from Raleigh. I was originally scheduled to fly back home late Friday, but decided to get an earlier flight. I actually was able to get on 7:15am flight out of Raleigh arriving back home at 11:00. Of course it cost me some serious mullah to change my ticket! Oh well, I should get reimbursed (hopefully)! While on my layover in Charlotte, I called Jen to let her know I was coming home early. I caught her while getting the kids ready to drop A.J. off at school. As I was talking to her, she attempted to start the van. No success! Battery was dead! She accidentally left the cabin lights on overnight, because she had to clean up spilled popcorn from the kids the previous night. Needless to say, Jen's day was not going well. She ended up calling my dad to come over to assist jumping the car. I am happy to report all is well! Jen was able to drop the A.J. off 40 minutes late and she was able to get off to work without any issues.

A.J. had early dismissal on Friday. It was very nice to see the boys when I got home. They both came up to me and gave me big hugs. It was very special moment. A.J. had to show me the pirate gear that Jen got him earlier in the week. He now officially has a pirate hat, hook, necklace, and sword. Oh! can't forget the eye patch. The funniest part about the pirate garb is the hat is about 2 sizes too small. I will try to get a picture of A.J. in his outfit and post on a future post.

Saturday's weather was miserable. Blustery cold with a rain/snow mix. I was really not motivated to do much yesterday. In the morning while Jen was leaving for work, A.J. noticed the worms on the driveway. With this being the case, he had to get his pirate umbrella (see a theme...) and look at the worms. Of course his younger brother, Daniel, had to follow suit and go outside too! So I spent about 30 minutes in the garage with the kids out in the driveway with their umbrella's looking at the worms. Let me tell you, that is some serious excitement! A.J. insisted we feed the worms bread crumbs! I just had to laugh. To be honest, I have no idea what worms eat! In the afternoon after the Buckeyes victory I decided to take the Jen and the boys to Lowe's and Target for some Christmas decoration shopping. I don't know why but, Jen and I are very excited about Christmas this year! We are both in the decorating mood. I already decorated the outside with lights (check out the earlier post) and Jen started putting up decorations while I was out of town. While we were at Lowe's I decided to splurge a little and get an inflatable Santa pirate ship (again, see the theme). I mostly got it for the boys, but must admit I thought it was pretty cool! After Lowe's we went over to Target to get some Christmas tree lights. Jen decided to get the newer style led lights. These are pretty expensive but pretty darn cool. It has 3 or 4 different style blinking funtions. When we got home last night, I promised A.J. that we would open the inflatable Santa pirate ship so he could read the instructions. Of course, we also had to test it out to make certain it was going to work. Pretty interesting to have a 7' tall inflatable pirate ship that expands about 10' long setup in our great room. Don't think I will do that again!

This morning, Jen started setting up and decorating the Christmas tree. It is looking pretty good! She does a great job doing this type of stuff. Of course the boys are extremely excited and want to help out! Jen has gotten a little frustrated with them getting in her way.

Well this is all for now. I will talk to everyone very soon. BTW... I look forward and enjoy reading everyone's comments on the posts.

Have a great day!