Window guy and FBI, class, travelers

While Mama was at Sam’s on Tuesday, she got roped into a sales pitch about windows. That discussion led to a sales meeting at the farm the same evening. I was a little disappointed that I had to give up my entire evening but we have been looking for a window replacement company to tackle the retrofit of the very poor quality windows in our house. Before the meeting we took about seventy pounds of meat to the Chinese family and ate a small dinner at the restaurant, picked up external speakers for my computer and got potting soil at Lowe’s. The only bad part of the hurry was that I had set aside a package of ribeye steaks for me and Mama and it got taken along with the other meat. When I mentioned that to Mama she set the package on the floor at the back of the truck and I found it this morning – after two days sitting in a very hot vehicle. Most unpleasant.

The young man that gave the very lengthy sales pitch for the windows was an impressive young man. Somehow, we got into all the places we had lived and all the places we have traveled internationally. That, coupled with Mama’s mention of our FBI classes, got rolled together in his mind and he started teasing Mama about being in the CIA. He mocked looking around the house for cameras. Started speaking in very quiet tones. It was quite entertaining. (Victoria mentioned to Mama that she thought he was cute – unusual for her.) We have been through all this before so I knew he would have to measure the windows, allow us to choose a style and color, discuss payment options, present the “Initial sales meeting only price”, etc. After rejecting the first price outright but promising to keep this company in mind, the dickering started. By the time is was all settled, the price was so near the amount Mama and I had agreed upon that we agreed to the installation. This all started about 6 20 pm. By 10 pm I left the discussion and started prepping for Wednesday’s training class.

The hilarious part of getting all the contract paperwork done was watching Mama sign her name on the iPad he was using. I think she went through three stylus’s before finally trying her finger as the writing instrument. That did not work well either because she had a bandage on her left index finger because she had cut it on a binding strap on a case of water bottles at Sam’s that morning. She finally got a signature done and proudly displayed the finished product to me and the salesman - and then touched the “CLEAR” button instead of the “DONE” button. The salesman was on the way to grabbing the iPad from Mama because it looked like she was going to throw it across the room. But then Mama laughed at her blunder and started over. Replacing those 14 windows is not a cheap project but it really needs to be done, especially since we are dealing with the beginning of black mold on the seals of several of the windows. If our credit is not a problem, the project should be underway in six to eight weeks. Mama is beyond excited about the thought of having new windows; ones she can actually clean.

Class yesterday was a good one. There were twenty-nine people in the class and at least half of them spoke up at some point during the day. That is unusual. At one point during the morning, I got the impression that I had lost my connection with the class and I stopped the presentation to say so. That changed the tenor of the class for the rest of the day. I think that all but a couple individuals came up to me and talked with me throughout the day, which is also an unusual circumstance. All-in-all, it was one of the best classes I have been involved in. I was worn out from talking for six plus hours, but still had enough voice to lead the singing at church last night.

Nate, Cori and the kids seem to be having a great time in Honduras. The boys were catching poisonous frogs and tarantulas on their first day. Nate loved that. Cori, not so much.

The meter base for the shop has been set in place and I will get it wired in tonight. We should have power for the camper by the time our travelers get back from Honduras.