Hello!

Sorry to be gone for so long. Sometimes I just run out of interesting things to share. Or, by the time I get to the computer to share the interesting things, I've forgotten them!

Business, this week, took off for us and Sam is out today signing 2, possibly 3 contracts with another one coming in on Tuesday. It's wonderful that we are seeing this kind of response to our little business. We've learned a lot about pricing and marketing this past month and I'm confident that we will be able to build our little company up to a more moderate size. 4 to 5 contracts at a time is about our limit, I think, as far as the work load we can handle here. I think if we bring more in, we'll start having subcontractors join the team. For now, though, we'll be just fine as we are.

Sam is now officially an inspector for a disaster relief service who subcontracts for FEMA. He passed through all of the training and background checks just a couple of weeks ago. He was warned, however, that new inspectors are called for the first time only when something big happens and there are plenty of veteran inspectors on hand to help. There are currently 5 disaster areas in the US.

Sam was put on alert for Hurricane Gustav and we are keeping our eye on his movements and the projections. According to the most recent information (they did a fly over at about 7:00 this morning) Gustav is a cat. 3 and growing. Hurricane Hanna will likely feed Gustav and encourage greater growth and slower movement, potentially causing a great deal of trouble.

His job as an inspector, now that he is on alert, requires that he stay reachable 24 hours a day. If Gustav causes even half the havoc predicted, Sam will be put on stand-by, which means he better pack his bags. Not everyone put on standby actually goes out, so he then waits for the last call. If deployed, a package of specialized equipment is overnighted to him along with a plane ticket and he has a maximum of three days to get on sight. There he will stay for three weeks, inspecting damaged property for 16 - 18 hours a day. Then he comes home and, if work still needs to be done, a week later he'll be re-deployed for another three weeks.

So, on top of signing all these contracts, we are preparing for Sams potential deployment this month. This means that we will certainly have to get a subcontractor or two to at least start the drawings for our clients so Sam can finish the design work when he gets back.

The kids are doing very well. Sarah, though she had a few weeks where she felt the need to make her undies messy, is now completely potty trained! We recently went grocery shopping and did a little dance at the end of the diaper aisle in celebration. And we had a banana chocolate milk shake. Yum.

The landlords will be renovating our kitchen at the end of September which coincides with a nice trip we will be taking. So I'm currently working on packing up all but the bare necessities in there. I get to get rid of some things, too. The new kitchen will have more cabinet space, a single sink (I'll miss my double sink), and a new range, which I hope will have a slightly larger oven than the little wall oven we currently use. And maybe the stove top will be a little bigger . . . Right now, if I put any of my larger pots or pans on one burner, I can't use any of the other burners! They'll be taking down the ancient wall paper and painting it a nice light brown color. The counter top will be a similar color and the cabinets will be white. It should be fun to come home from our trip to a new space. I'm rather looking forward to the whole thing.

I'm off to chat with a client again. Love you all!

Sandie