What are the odds?

My husband and I have been married almost 14 years.  In that time, he has been called to jury duty 4 times now in 2 different states (and while we lived in 4 different houses).  The first time we had lived in our first house for a few years before he was called.  The second time he was called less than a year after we'd moved in to a house.  Same for the third time.  And the most recent time he was called (to serve today in fact) he received the notification less than a year after we'd purchased this house.

To put it all in perspective, I have been called once.  I spoke to my both parents and my mom has been called once in her life, and my dad has never been called.

Don't get me wrong, my husband likes to serve.  In fact, the one time he was actually picked to serve on a jury, he ended up being the foreman.  (Side note: If you ever want to hear an interesting, strange, and a bit scary story ask him about the "Village Idiot.")  He feels it's his duty to ensure that the jury pool has at least one logical person on it.

I'm not sure what sort of demographic he meets that the rest of us don't, but I don't think I've ever known anyone that's been called for jury duty more.  It's a shame these odds can't be used in our favor for something else.


UPDATE:  Opps!  Got a call from hubby. We forgot to call the special number.  Court was cancelled for today.

Arch Nemesis

I think I've made it abundantly clear in the past how much I dislike cleaning bathrooms.  Well, I think something has overtaken that dislike.  I could go so far as to say I HATE it....Cleaning my daughter's bedroom.

It's not the actual act of cleaning that bothers me either.  I like to organize and know that things are clean.  As far back as I can remember I have liked to have things organized.  Don't get me wrong... growing up, my room wasn't always spotless but I did get to the point where my room would get too messy for me and I would then clean my room.

My daughter doesn't seem to have such a compunction.  I could let her room get filled knee high with papers, stuffed animals, and books and she'd just climb over them.  And that's not even what bothers me the most.  I just can't seem to understand why she keeps some of the things she does.  I look at a small piece of paper and think "What is that?  Must be a scrap from something else she's made."  But no.  My daughter will then start on a discourse on how it is a sprinkle from the doughnut shop she made.  And that little piece of paper is cheese for the pizza kit she made.

I love how inventive she is.  I love that she uses things she finds around the house and pretends they are something else.  I just wish she has an inkling of the organizational bug that I have.  That way, I don't have to take a room like this

This was taken after we'd been working on the room for 30 minutes or so.

to this every couple weeks.

About 24 hours after we started and many breaks later...

It's not as clean as I'd like to see it, but I'm pretty happy with this cleaning session.  After all, she was willing to get rid of more things than I wasn't expecting her to.  Perhaps it's something she's growing into?

Oh, and I also cleaned 2 bathrooms today and although I still don't like to do them, they certainly don't take as much time as cleaning my daughter's bedroom.

The Accidental Experiment

My family is all about experiments.  We love simple experiments like mixing colors, complicated experiments like trying to grow our own coral, and everything in between.

But yesterday I got to experience an experiment that I didn't intend.  Last night, we went to church and I forgot my phone at home. AHHHHH!!!!

Obviously, I don't answer the phone while in church, but right after church we have small group and last night we planned on going out to dinner with some people from small group afterwords.  So I was planning on checking email in between each of these functions.

I was able to use my hubby's phone to check email once while we were out and things were fine.  I got home to my phone 4 hours after we left to find that just after we'd left I'd missed 2 calls from the same client.

First though... oh no!  After listening to their message, I thought... what difference would those 4 hours have made?  Not much if anything really.

So did something horrible happen?  No.  Is my client upset?  No.  Did I have a nice evening?  Yes.   So what did I learn?  Perhaps I should unplug (on purpose).  After all, the world will not end.

One Year Later

It's hard to believe that one year ago today we closed on our house and became official long-term Florida residents.  For those who don't know, we purchased a short sale that needed some work.  When we bought the house, we had all kinds of dreams and aspirations for what we were going to do.  Then money got tight.  And now that we are starting to make money again, our time is getting tight.

To say we haven't made it very far into the list would be an understatement, but we've gotten a few things off the list.  So here are pictures of what we've done over the last year.
Before pictures are posted first.

Front of house

Still more work to be done, but making progress.

Family / Dining Room

Yes it was left completely furnished.

Hallway

Perfection (and laying tile on the diagonal) takes time.

 Bedroom 2

If only the room would stay this clean all the time.

Bedroom 3

Another room that just doesn't stay this clean.

Master bedroom

Pool

Pool pump died right after buying the house = green pool

New pump = beautiful blue water.

Part of the yard

This is really the same area.  We removed an old fence and vines.

Which Way Did She Go?

This way.... No, that way.... No over there.

To say I have been racking up the mileage the last few days would be an understatement.

I have showed houses 5 of the last 8 days across 3 different counties which totaled close to 250 miles.  Add to that the fact that we took the kids to Orlando for a homeschool field trip to Sea World

(and Spacecraft Surplus for the boys),

They spent 1 hour in here and could have stayed longer I'm sure.

and it's been busy.

So what did I do today since it's been my first "day off" in a while?  Besides doing some school with the kids, I've watched my daughter swim (briefly), went grocery shopping, did a few loads of laundry, cleaned some of the house, and worked on taxes.   You know, the normal stuff that's been put off for WAY. TOO. LONG.  And I'm still hoping to do some knitting this evening.

Change of Plans

Anyone who knows me well, knows I am a planner.  I am a list person.  I like to know days in advance what I'm going to do.

I realize that sometimes that's not possible, especially during cold and flu season.  In fact, my plans have changed numerous times over the last few days because two members of the family had a nasty cold.  Saturday we were supposed to go to a birthday party for a cousin, but with 2 people in the house sick we didn't go.  After making that decision, I was asked by a client to show them a few houses Saturday.  Hubby (one of the sick ones) said he'd watch the kids, so off I went.  Today, I found out the offer we put in on a place we saw that day was accepted (Can you say hurray for that change of plans?!).

Everyone was feeling mostly better yesterday, so I planed to run some errands this morning that I haven't been able to do for a while (including grocery shopping).  But again, I had my plans changed for me.  This morning at 8:50, I got a call from the office asking if I was available to show a condo.  They had been trying to reach the listing agent but were unsuccessful.  And the buyer only had this morning available to see it.  So what did I do?  Change my plans.  I showed the house in the morning but was still able to get the grocery shopping and other errands done in the afternoon.  (For those of my friends who are coming over for the robotics class tomorrow, I'm sorry my house is a mess - that's the thing that didn't get done today).  And no word on the end result of that showing yet (they did like it so there's hope).

This afternoon I received an email from an out-of-town client who wants me to take some additional pictures of a place that was listed today.  The end of my week is already packed full of stuff and I'm pretty sure they will put in an offer if they like the pictures I take.  I don't want them to miss out on what on paper looks to be a great deal.  So what do I do?  Change my plans for tomorrow.  I will still be home for the robotics class, but again, the cleaning I would have done in the morning will be greatly abbreviated.

Oddly enough, I'm not stressing (too much) over these changes.  It's actually been a bit fun trying to juggle everything.  Another function of being a planner I think.