So many things have happened, it is hard to know where to start. With the economy in the toilet, our flooring store is making it just fine - with the caveat that there are less people to do the work, and more of it falls on the ownership. In addition to the maintenance that falls to the owners, questions about the books, customer issues, installation questions, merchandising decisions, what seems like 100 emails a day... I have the honor of running our insurance program - which is to say that when a home in Santa Clarita loses their floor to unexpected water or fire damage, Famers -State Farm- Allstate, and a number of other insurance companies use us as their flooring vendor. That means that we show up when their house is destroyed by emergency water services (cutting drywall, ripping out anything wet like cabinets, walls, flooring etc) and we (by we I mean... I) make a perfect diagram of the home in the insurance software (down to the inch) and detail in the software what is damaged, what needs to happen to return the insured to their prior state, if the flooring can be repaired or why it needs to be replaced, and then I enter into the software every little thing we will have to do on the way. I cut up a piece of the old floor, and send it to a company that evaluates it for value, and then when I receive the number (value) I input it into the software and upload the completed estimate to the insurance company.
The entire process in the home takes from 1-4 hours, we wait 2-5 days for the value from the company that evaluates the floor, and we usually have the insured in the store picking out new flooring within 1-2 weeks. At any rate - those cabinets I was making more than a year ago are still unfinished, and my wife is happy when I get home in time to help put the kids to bed. It has been a hectic time, but the business is doing fine, and our home is running wonderfully thanks to my beautiful wife. It is hard to complain when we are so blessed.
Soooo, since I last wrote, we had another child, ANOTHER boy... and named him Ashton Ree. Ree is Natalie's Grandpa's name, and a better role model for our boys we could never find. He is the man who has been there and done that, from teaching math, driving trucks, woodworking - he built a cabin @ Bear Lake, and then expanded it... all with his own 2 hands. I will never forget some of the hunting stories he has told us, much less time with him on wave runners, quads, and snowmobiles. I digress...
The holidays season came and went, and life continues to be crazy. Amidst it all, my friends have kept popping up on facebook (its like online crack) and I have to say, it has been wonderful to see you again.
At the end of the year, Nat and I cleaned out our home office, and changed our setup - we got rid of the space taking desk (now the guest bedroom is JUST a bedroom) and mounted an all in one hp to the wall between the kitchen and the dining room. Now Nat can do her building management in sight of the kids, and the kids can play online learning games under our watchful eyes - the last thing we want is our kids hidden away in a bedroom online!
While cleaning out our desk, we found 2 old cameras with undeveloped film in them. Nat's didn't turn out (remember those days?) but I got about 4 pics off mine. They were from 1997, a trip from Rick's ID to the dunes with some friends. Campfire, s'mores, root beer, and good friendship. Can't ask for more than that. I will upload and tag them, but here they are for you guys first.
