R Family Update (In Words)

All about life right now:

~ I have an eye appointment tomorrow. Not a huge piece of news, and I understand that, but it is noteworthy for a few reasons: I think my vision is worse than a year ago (and a year ago the nice optometrist inquired why I was driving without glasses or contacts), I think that I am going to join the eye jabbing contact wearers, and I must get my super cool glasses adjusted (because last week, when C FINALLY went with me to see Harry Potter SIX, I knew that the zombies were going to pop out of the lake, C knew they were going to pop out of the lake, and I jumped and smacked myself in the face, while wearing said glasses and now they are a little off). Very exciting all around, wouldn’t you agree?

~ C’s job is going well, although a little slow at times due to the inordinate amount of rain in the last few months and a few projects at a standstill. My job, on the other hand, is not going well. The great big medical center I work for is transitioning to an all encompassing outpatient scheduling system and I was kind of thrown under the bus with the resultant changes. I have a job, which is nothing to sneeze at right now, but it is an unwelcome change to a glorified call center from all the patient interaction I have now. I am in the process of checking out my options both within and outside of this particular medical center. Unfortunately, this change in process brings with it little revelations each day that are disappointing, revealing, and mostly unpleasant. The giant transition to a new location and a new position was recently postponed for the third time to early November.

~ In the midst of the job upheaval, I saw the postponement as an opportunity to get as much out of my current health insurance as possible. It is neither good nor bad insurance, but it does have some coverage for a diagnosis that a) most often goes uncovered by health insurance, and b) I can utilize. Therefore, I have a minor diagnostic surgery scheduled for Friday, October 16. The doctor is fantastic and this type of surgery is the next step on our journey with a few nagging issues I am experiencing. I’ll have the weekend and Monday (Tuesday if needed) to recover and then I should be back up and around.

~ C is sitting for either the national or state specific portion of his LS exam on Friday, October 23. I forget which one. He knows what to expect in testing this time around and the test should go well. We should know in about eight weeks whether or not he passed and is a LISCENCED SURVEYOR! And that is super cool. I am so proud of all C has done within his profession. His LS should only help him in the future, especially when all of the building and rebuilding picks up again.

Truck Time

In other projects, we sold our (my) blue Jeep Wagoneer (1987?) after C spent an entire weekend swapping out transmissions with the maroon one. So when we sold the blue one, it ran, was tagged and titled, and had insurance on it. We also made a nice little profit, since the blue one sold for a couple hundred dollars more than we bought the both the blue and maroon ones for. I find it really cool that the guy who bought the blue one is driving it around town and intends on fixing it up the way we were. We also kept all of the fancy parts and accessories that we pulled out of the blue Wagoneer, since someday we still plan on fixing a Wagoneer up – C would just prefer one that needed a little less work. We still have the maroon Jeep Wagoneer “parts” truck, but that one is not in my driveway, so we really can part it out as the demand warrants. It’s in rough shape, but there is enough there if someone really wanted to work on fixing it up, so that is another option – either for us a long way down the road, or for a sale opportunity.

We are living and breathing Jeeps these days (refer to the three previous posts about our Jeep adventures in CO). Even though one Jeep is sold and a million others are in pieces all over the garage, we still have Jeeps coming out of our ears. The awesome projects that are happening now involve rebuilding three Jeeps – all CJ-7s, I think. One is going to stay fairly stock, and I think that is the one that C’s boss’s daughter (little L) may get to drive when she is sixteen, and C’s boss’s fiancé (double LL) may drive until then (I really don’t know that situation and a lot of this stuff changes each day with new ideas, but I think one of the three CJ-7s is staying stock). The other two are ours (temporarily green) and C’s boss J’s (temporarily red). The boys think they are going to do some serious fabrication and stretch both Jeeps lengthwise about fourteen inches, depending on drive shafts and other assorted parts. They are dreaming big, but are committed to making this an awesome success. C has had drafting paper and pencils out on the coffee table for most of this week just to work up some different measurements and ratios. J was saying last night that on the internet he hasn’t seen anyone stretch a CJ and make it look nice – so I think that is one of the goals. Stay tuned for pictures and stories!

I’m trying to think if there is anything else to mention. I know that C and I are keeping AM, R, and the family in our thoughts and prayers as R is deployed until mid November. We are also hosting my mom and dad’s dog, Abby, at Camp R for two one-week periods over which they are going on vacation in October and November. The three dogs love to rough-house, so both of those weeks should be a lot of fun. The weather is getting colder and that fall crisp is in the air, so it is about time to change out summer clothes for winter gear. I am slowly decorating our bedroom . . . not much else is happening, but I figure all that I mentioned before is more than enough for us.

As always, our lives are busy and full and our happiest times are spent with our families and our close, dear friends. Oh, and we stay amused at the dumb antics of Boris and Bella.