Evergreen Machine

We have been out here for three months now. It has gone by so fast-just August and September left. We have been out knocking in some of the crappiest weather, all to bring the residents of New Castle County these beautiful babies. Seriously. Have you ever seen better looking trash cans? I think NOT!

The pictures below are from one of the silly things we did during one of our training meetings. Its called "Bear, Hunter, Hooker". Similar to "Rock, Paper, Scissors" but a little more interesting. Its almost impossible to play without laughing. Bear kills the hooker, hooker kills the hunter, and hunter kills the bear. The winner got $$$. Kyle won.

We went a few weeks without hitting our dinner goal, but luckily the last 2 weeks we made it! Its always more fun getting to go out on someone else's tab! Hopefully these next two months just fly by as quickly as the first couple. I'm sure they will. And before we know it, we'll be back in the cold of Idaho.

Heat Wave

So its been really hot lately. The thing that drives me nuts is how much the news is covering this heat wave. Its SUMMER time. It gets HOT. We don't need every news channel on every station at every hour of the day to remind us that we don't want to open our doors or windows or even THINK about leaving the comfort of our air conditioned homes.

Sincerely,

Mikki Young

Day at the pool

Yesterday was our first time trying out the pool at our complex. We told ourselves that if we could hit our sales goal for the day as an office, we would skip our training meeting the next day and go play at the pool and get pizza. Thankfully we hit our goal so we were able to go play a little!

I've never felt so white! I have the weirdest tan lines from wearing capris every day. It was the first time my shoulders have seen the sunlight in over a year, so needless to say, they got a little toasty. We played in the pool for about 2 hours and then stuffed ourselves with pizza. We had a great time and I can't wait till we can have our next pool day.

Our sales team:

Mike, Chelsea, Mikki, Greg, Matthew, Jared, Lindsay, and Kyle

New Addition

This picture is super old, but I'm so excited my little brother is out here finally. He flew in last Monday night at like midnight. He made it through his first week of sales and has done awesome so far. Its already been more fun since he's been here. AND next Friday Matthew will be out here so it will be even better. Greg and I love having our family around!

We have been running into a lot of other door-to-door salesmen lately while we've been out knocking. That makes for a frustrating day. One because they are kind of jerks (I won't mention which ALARM company) - harassing us about licensing and they have even called the police telling them "There's a suspicious-looking person wandering the neighborhood in a bright fluorescent green shirt." The cops don't do anything when they stop us, but its still frustrating to have your day interrupted. The funny thing is that we service a TON of cops in this area with our trash pickup anyway. Whatever. And two, nobody wants to talk to more than one sales person on the door in a single day. On a better note:

Ever heard of Water Ice? Well if you aren't from the east coast that makes sense. I've heard of ice. I've heard of water. I've even heard of ice water. But not "water ice" Now let me introduce you to ....

This place is so so GOOD! This was our first experience with what everyone in Delaware calls water ice. Its like a thick slurpee but better. And they have delicious flavors: Swedish fish, juicy pear, strawberry margarita, key lime, the list goes on and on. You can even mix them with custard to make them creamier. When we hit our daily goals for sales Rita's is our reward. It's the perfect end to a hot, humid day. Well, that and a cold shower.

This Week

Well this is our new Delaware ride. For now. . . Hopefully it will last us at LEAST until the end of the summer! We left our 4-Runner in Utah (trying to sell it) and flew out here. It was so weird not having a whole car full of stuff. We thought our apartments from previous summers seemed empty, but they are nothing compared to this summer. We have hardly anything out here with us. Its been interesting trying to improvise without things I would normally have. Even something so simple as having the lid to a pot to help steam vegetables.

Anyway, we bought the car from this Asian guy who has been going to school out here and apparently decided to upgrade to a much newer car. This is a 96 Acura. It leaks oil which makes it smell awful, like something is burning (oil) but like I said, hopefully it will last the duration of the summer. And it is finally registered, thanks to Bryce back in Idaho!
The tan lines have begun! We haven't even had that many days of full sunshine, but already I can see a definite sock line. Much different from the flip flop line I'm used to from the summer. Yesterday was super sunny and I actually got burned on my forehead and arms a bit. I tried to drink lots of water but couldn't keep up with the heat of the sun. It won. I got so hot and had an awful headache. Next time I'm wearing sun screen and a HAT!
We've hit our dinner goals two weeks in a row! As an office we set a goal at the beginning of the week and when we hit it on Saturday we go out to eat courtesy of the owners. We went to Roadhouse last week and Red Robin yesterday. It is super fun since the rest of the week we don't do anything except work, come home, eat gross food (frozen burritos, frozen pizza, or something else equally unappetizing), and sleep.

Greg has been doing awesome. Yesterday was his first double digit day. He was so, so happy! Hopefully there will be many more days like it for him :) Days like that help boost his confidence and then there's no slowing him down!

MOTHER'S DAY!

It seems like the last mothers' day I can remember getting to actually spend with my mom was quite a few years ago. We were at my sister's house, and all of us had pitched in to get her this cute little decorative table. So it would have to have been at least 4 years ago. SAD. And this year is yet another that I will spend away from my dear Mum. But she has been on my mind.

So one of the small benefits I've received from being married the last 4 years is at church every Mother's Day they count me as one of the "mothers". I remember getting a big Symphony bar in Minnesota, a begonia in Kentucky, sadly I can't remember what they gave us in St Louis or last year in our ward in Idaho, but this year...

Pepperidge Farms Milano cookies! So delicious! Thank you Wilminton 2nd Ward!

Honey Smacks

So weird, random little fact about Honey Smacks-or at least the generic version. They make your pee smell just like them! Its weird and a little gross. You should get a bag and test it out haha!

We've been here for one week as of yesterday. I was surprised that it had already been a whole week and then at the same time sort of shocked that it had only been a week. I didn't realize how homesick I would get. I really miss Idaho. But I'm trying hard not to think about it, so I won't dwell on it. I want to make a paper chain with all the days left in the summer and write little uplifting things on some links and then incentives on some others to make things a little more fun.

I've decided that sales is definitely one of the toughest jobs ever. But its been going pretty well so far. In fact, we've surprised the owners with how well we've done this first week as beginners, well, Tim and I anyway. Greg is not a beginner. As of right now, we have 2 girls selling and 2 guys. In a few weeks we'll have a couple more sales people. I'm excited for my little brother Jared to get out here after his graduation. And Greg's brother Matthew will come out sometime in June for a few weeks to earn extra $$$ for his wedding! Super excited for him! And super excited for money. Just have to stay focused on goals...