What's Been Going On

I just realized that it's been a month since I posted a blog.  So here I am letting you know what we've been doing that's keeping us so busy:

• School for the kids.  We've had a couple field trips as well as regular school work.
• Preparing for the fair.  Not only are my kids both submitting things for the fair (food items, crafts, and even an original story), but my son completed two demonstrations a few weeks ago.  He got a blue ribbon for one and a red ribbon for the other.
• I've been busier for work lately too.  I've been showing houses multiple times a week. I also had a house close a couple weeks ago and I have another scheduled in the next two weeks.
• I'm taking a certification class for real estate.
• Hubby has been working on the house (the yard in particular) as of late.  This time of year is not nearly as hot and hard to work outside as the summer months so he's taking advantage.

Other interesting items of note:

• My son came up with a joke on his own a few months back.  His Oma and Opa were in town at the time and they told him he should submit it to a kid's magazine.  Yesterday we got a copy of the magazine with his joke in it.  For those interested, the joke is:  How does a yo-yo relax?  It unwinds.
• For years, we've had an issue with the kids cleaning their rooms.  They would clean it and then a couple days later it would be a mess again.  We had a really big cleaning push a couple weeks ago and they're still pretty clean.  Praying it continues.

Checking In

One of my dearest friends recently started grad school.  Needless to say, with her work/ school/ wife/ parent schedule, as well as mine, we don't connect as often as we'd like.  The other day she sent me a quick email seeing how things are going.   Then I realized.... she reads my blog and I hadn't updated anything in quite a while (almost 3 weeks now)!

I am SO sorry.  I realize my blog is the only way some of you hear about what is going on with me and my family so here goes.

In magical bullet form, here is a summary of what my family has done over the last 2-1/2 weeks.

• The kids and I have been working on a unit study (an in depth study of one topic) on dolphins.  My daughter is LOVING it of course and my son is even finding it interesting.  The next unit study we will be doing is my son's choice - robots.
• The kids and I attended an open house for a local homeschool group that we are seriously thinking of joining next school year.  Hubby and I are both thinking about becoming tutors (their way of saying teacher).  Not only would it help pay for the class, but I think it will help us be able to help them learn at home more.
• Hubby has been teaching the robotics class each week.  From what I can tell all the kids (and hubby) are having a good time as well. There are only a few more weeks left, so now he's trying to figure out the contest for the last day of class.
• Hubby is also working on 2 projects simultaneously for one client (they are similar so it's not a big stretch).  He was supposed to send one of them a while ago, but hubby wasn't happy with it.  The client said they would rather have a complete product rather than one that isn't quite right so they told him to take his time so he is still plugging away.
• The entire family volunteered at an Easter egg drop hosted by our church.  We helped at the booth where pictures were taken with the Easter bunny and Mrs. Bunny.  The kids had a great time helping and of course being able to participate in the egg drop at the end was a bonus. Note: watching plastic eggs dropped from a helicopter is pretty cool.
• We've also been getting some stuff done around the house.  My parents are in the process of packing up to move to Florida.  Hubby and the kids are planning a trip up to help them in a few weeks.  If I can get away from work, I might try to go and help as well.  My parents will move in with us initially while they look for a place to live (thus the need to do some work around our house).  The good news is that I know a really good Realtor who can help them find a place  ;-)
• Taxes, taxes, taxes - ugh!
• Today we took in 2 cats for an undetermined period of time.  Their owner is being evicted and needs a place for them to stay while he gets back on his feet and finds a place that will allow cats.  His story is so sad that we just felt we had to help him and his cats (he tried 30+ other shelters / rescue organizations before finding the one we help with).
• I have shown / previewed 36 houses for 5 different people and drove 442 miles and have more on the books this week as well.
• I have a closing scheduled for later this week.  This is the first one since the end of December.  Thankfully there is one scheduled for May as well.
• I've also been knitting each evening as I have time.  I have a project I was hoping to have done a while ago, but alas here I am still working on it.  I'm about half way done now, so that's progress I suppose.

Week in Summary

I apologize for not sticking with the blogging thing as often as I should intended, but alas life seems to get in the way.  For example, my week has looked something like this:

• Last Sunday: relaxing day at home with the kids recovering from my son's birthday party the day before
• Monday: My son's actual birthday.  That meant time spent with him.  We had library books due so in addition to dropping them off we got some new books.  My favorite thing... I think we found an age-appropriate series that my son likes (for those interested "My Weird School Daze" series by Dan Gutman).  He even reads these on his own at night in his bed  :-)  After the library we went to MOTE aquarium.  Not only did we get to see all kinds of marine animals but we got to see the new sea lion show they have right now.  For my local peeps...Very cute and worth the time.
• Tuesday: Robotics class in the afternoon meant preparations in the morning.  After class a few friends stayed a little while longer so the kids could actually play.  Then we went out to dinner for my son's birthday (hubby couldn't make it Monday night).
• Wednesday:  The kids had their Lego and K'Nex class and while they were at class I made phone calls and ran a few errands (much faster without the kiddos).
• Thursday: We went to the property appraisers office to file for our homestead exemption.  For those who are not aware of what that is, when you own and reside in a home in Florida you get a discount on your personal property taxes.  But in order to qualify you have to gather documentation and get it to the property appraisers office.  You only have to do it once and this is the first year we are eligible so we had to file before March 1.  I didn't want to wait till the last minute and there was a chance hubby would be out of town next week so Thursday it was.
• Friday:  Hubby had a conference call in the morning trying to get a new client.  They want him to make a few additions and then they are going to present it to the end client hopefully the end of the week.  We also found out they don't think they will want him at to fly up for a meeting this week after all (a big sigh of relief for me because I'm not sure how I would handle a real estate career and homeschooling 2 kids at the same time even if only for a few days).
• Saturday: church and small group in the evening.  

Add to all of these: reading with my kid, making phone calls for work, getting stuff together to file taxes, trying to get quotes for homeowners insurance, dishes, laundry, etc and I have a busy life.

What's planned for today?  A morning spent playing games and reading with my kids and a couple hours showing houses in the afternoon.

What We've Been Up To

WOW! I just realized it's been over a week since I posted last, and for that I appologize.  Looking back on the last week I realize why I didn't find the time.  Here is a little bulleted list (to make things easier and in homage of my friend J who loves to use bullets in her blog):

• I showed a few houses last Sunday afternoon to the brother of a client from out of state.  The client decided to fly down a few days ago to look at houses themselves.  That had me busy Friday and again today.
• Monday, the kids and I went to a local beach with a homeschool group and did some beach clean up.  Then the kids played on the freshly cleaned beach for a little while before I head to get back to show a house to someone.
• Tuesday, hubby taught his second robotics class to homeschoolers.  Although I don't teach the class, I have to be home to watch our daughter since she doesn't participate.  There are also other families with children that don't participate so I find myself trying to come up with things for those kids to do (not to mention cleaning the house before they come in case they wander into the house for a bathroom break or something to drink after running around our yard for 2 hours).
• Wednesday the kids have their Lego / K'Nex class.  This week, rather than going, I stayed home and made LOTS of phone calls.
• Thursday, I closed on my first house for this year.
• Friday, I showed houses to my client that I mention in the first bullet. On my way home I spent $90 on $175 in groceries (that took planning on Thursday night).
• Saturday I did some stuff around the house, did some stuff for work, and went to church and small group in the evening.
• And today I am taking out my clients from Friday again to look at some more houses.  Hopefully I will get home in time to go out to dinner.  Dinner out on Super Bowl Sunday?!?  Yep.  It's a bit of tradition.  My birthday is always around the super bowl and my hubby and I don't like football.  We used to watch the super bowl for the commercials, but now that they find their way on youtube the next day, there is no need.  So instead we go out to dinner to a restaurant where there is no TV in the hopes that it won't be crowded.

Oh, and of course there's the laundry, dishes, cooking, homechooling, and the occassional sleep at night thrown in to the week too.

Here's to hoping the next week is busy enough  but not too busy.

Things that Make you Go Hmmmmm...

My Facebook friends are probably aware that I have been having a rough week at work.  I've been called a liar and been threatened with a lawsuit for the supposed lie.  Anyone who knows me knows I don't lie.  In fact, growing up, lying was punished more severely than anything else I can remember.  Although I know I didn't lie and I know they don't have a case, it still hurts that someone accused me.

This year we signed our kids up to participate in 2 group classes.  One was science and the other was also a bit science related but was based around Lego's or K'Nex.  This week it was decided the science class was going to be cancelled for the rest of the year.  Apparently a few of the families who were participating just couldn't make it anymore and we couldn't hold the class with the few people remaining.  The group is still going to try to get together once a month but it's going to be a bit more laid back.  A part of me is sad and another part of me is happy because my schedule only seems to be getting busier.

This week I ended up teaching my daughter's Lego class and my husband ended up teaching our son's K'Nex class.  I've taught the Lego class last year so it wasn't that big of a deal.  Technically it was the second time my husband filled in for the K'Nex teacher, but it was the first time he actually taught the lesson rather than just helping the kids build something with K'Nex.  Not only did he enjoy himself, but the kids he taught enjoyed the class too.

My husband is also in the process of figuring out the feasibility of teaching a class starting in January about building and programming robots.  They wouldn't be competing with other schools or groups like some of the robotics groups out there, but this would be the first step toward that (we hope).

One night this week, my daughter and I were reading a book.  I read a page and then I had her read a couple pages.  Then my son volunteered to read!  Not only was that a surprise in and of itself, but his reading has improved.  I know he's been reading in his room at night and I was hoping it would help his reading improve.  It was nice to actually witness it.

I don't know what's going on, but my husband is really getting into the whole stay-at-home Dad thing.  He's been enjoying the time with the kids.  He's volunteering to teach their classes if needed.  He enjoys cooking and he's getting good at it too.  He's even getting to the point where cleaning is becoming part of his routine.

A little over a week ago we let my daughter's hamster go free.  It was a hard decision to make, but his brother (from the same litter) passed away suddenly a few months ago and the remaining hamster seemed to be getting sick.  He had a growth on his neck that kept getting bigger and bigger.  He only cost $5 so taking him to the vet just wasn't in the cards.  We though about putting him out of his misery but no one was willing to do it and no one wanted to watch him slowly die.  So my daughter decided to let him go in a secluded and safe area in the back yard so that he could live out whatever life he had left in the wild.  We have seen no sign of him since and that's particularly important since we have an outdoor cat that likes to leave us presents.  In fact, the first few days after we let the hamster go, part of my morning routine was to check the present location before the kids might stumble across something.

I think the lack of small furry things has finally hit us.  We got a call from a woman who runs a cat rescue the other day asking if we would be willing to take a litter of kittens.  Being the suckers that we are, we said yes.  They will be joining our family this coming week.

Working Hard For the Money

The hectic, non-stop pace that I endured over the weekend hasn't really stopped.  Luckily most of the busy, has been work I can do at home.  Being able to read to my daughter at bedtime today was the first time in many days and boy did I relish it.  Not to mention the cuddle time I got with my son. That's probably been months because he's getting to old.  Maybe Mommy being gone some makes it more ok.  Whatever the case, I'll take it.

What do I have going on right now?  I have been working on hashing out a sales deal since Sunday evening.  I hope that wraps up tomorrow.  I've also been showing 3 other eager buyers homes on a very regular basis.  We were in the process of getting a contract together when I found out the seller had just accepted an offer.  I have another buyer that wants to buy a property if only they can get the financing in order before someone else scoops it up (there were other people there when we were looking at it today and they seemed just as interested).

Add to that, trying to get regular stuff done around the house such as grocery shopping, laundry, and keeping up with the kids.  Oh, and I worked in my pineapple garden for a couple hours (boy did it need to be weeded).

And hubby has been pretty busy lately too.  He's obviously stepping up (and waking up) to watch the kids when I have to go out in the middle of the day.  This is a big thing especially since he's been working at night lately for one of his clients.  He's also been very dedicated when it comes to going to the kids homeschool classes.  He's also been working on helping the kids with there handwriting and math.

A Whirlwind

Have you ever had those days where it was so busy it felt like a whole week?  Well, I've had 3 of those days back to back.  Add that to the 4 other days this week and it's made for one busy couple of weeks this week.

This week:

•  I've had 4 days with showings.  One of which had 18 houses and another day with 14. 
•  I taught my daughter's Lego class.
• We attended 2 different small group meetings from our church to try to pick one
•  Tonight we went to a church-wide party where we got to spend some time with the group we decided to join.  After a wonderful picnic dinner we got to listen to Christian comedian Bob Smiley.  What a wonderful way to end such a busy week.  It was glorious to laugh for pretty much 1 hour straight... to the point tears were flowing down my cheeks.  Look him up on Youtube... you will not be disappointed.
• Apparently my picture was in the local paper today.  One I my local clients told me about it.  I didn't get a copy though.  Probably a good thing since I wasn't a big fan of any of the pictures they had to use.
• And the buyers who saw the 18 houses (and 7 of the ones on the day with 14), are in the process of putting in an offer on a house.  So nice to see all that hard work and time away from my family the last couple days is paying off.

Week in Summary

Not much to share for this week.  Here goes:

• I've had a lot of showings this week, but no new contracts.  
• The kids had science class where we got to make plastic out of milk.
• We have been watching 2 cats while a couple we were put in contact with were out of town (the lady we fostered for recommended us as people to board their cats).  They are going to be picked up this week.
• I've almost gotten the books for the company I've been bookkeeping for to the point I've been shooting for since I started.
• Hubby was finally able to diagnose a problem with our pickup truck so now we have 2 vehicles again.
• Have I mentioned how much my hubby enjoys cooking.  It's been great for me!  He cooks dinner and I get to make phone calls for work.
• After closing on the house a little over a week ago we went out to celebrate at a Japanese steak house.  We knew it was risky with our picky eaters but the novelty of the chef cooking in front of you made them willing to try numerous things I didn't expect them to.  They even claimed to like some of them (yippy)!  It's extended to our meals at home too.  Maybe they've realized that trying different foods might help them find something new they like.  Or maybe they think Daddy is a better cook... hmmm.....

Week in Summary

Let's do this shall we:

• I got my picture re-taken for work, this time inside so I wouldn't be squinty.  Honestly, I think the picture my husband took looks better.  Glad I didn't pay for it.
• Hubby dropped off me and the kids at Sea World in Orlando while he went to a surplus store that happens to have stuff from NASA.  He spent hours there.  I was amazed at his self restraint.  Perhaps it was because we took the Fiat and not the pickup truck.  :-)
• I went to a homeschool mom's night out where I heard a WONDERFUL speaker and got to know other homeschooling moms in the area just a little better.  It is so nice to get pointers and to know you are not alone in your struggles. 
• My nephew turned 1 last Sunday and was admitted to the hospital on Thursday with a serious infection.  He's still in the hospital but he seems to be getting better slowly.  Praise the Lord!
• My little brother had a birthday this week.  You know that speaker who I said was wonderful?  Well she was talking about brain development a little and said that boys don't usually outgrow that stage where they have no concerns for danger till they are about 23 or so.  My brother didn't get the memo.  He's older than that and he jumps out of perfectly good planes for fun (on a regular basis I might add).  I guess I should just be happy he made it one more year, huh?
• I had a pretty good week at work (more on that in another post soon).
• And my son submitted his first lab report for his K'Nex physics class this week (you know the one another mother said he was too young to be in) and his lab was used as the example of how to do it.  Can you say proud Mama?!

I guess that's about it.  Did any of you do anything particularly interesting last week?

Week in Summary

What did we do this week (besides the normal boring stuff):

• Hubby ended up helping teach / facilitate my son's K'Nex class because the regular teacher was out with a sick child.
• I got a professional head-shot taken.  It was taken outside and I have a serious squinting problem as a result of an eye problem I was born with.  That means we will be taking the pictures again inside tomorrow.
• I got my Realtor pin.  Guess that makes it official somehow.  Doesn't feel like it.  I think the interactions I've had have made it seem more real than getting a pin and a certificate.
• We went on a field trip to a local newspaper.  This is a rare opportunity.  It just so happens that my son's K'Nex teacher works there so he was able to get a group of people a tour (pays to know the right people).
• Hubby has made more progress on getting our closet floor done.  I'm hoping I can unpack my luggage of dress clothes by next weekend.
• I had the scariest home showing to date this week.  I took my client to what appears on paper to be a very nice neighborhood.  It is gated and the condos look very nice.  Unfortunately, it backs up to a less-than-nice apartment complex.  As we were walking back to our cars they were explaining to me that in their line of work as a local prosecutor they have learned that (in our area anyway) a white t-shirt means the person has more than likely been in jail.  (Apparently in the jails they are only allowed to wear white t-shirts.)  Anyway, they further explained that the longer the t-shirt the worse the crime or longer their time in jail.  I guess it gives them some sort of street-cred.  All I know is that as I'm walking next to this prosecutor, an SUV with 2 big guys with white t-shirts drive past us very slowly while looking at us.  The fact that the prosecutor was between me and the car didn't ease my mind at all.  Needless to say, I will be hyper-vigilant about where I take this client in the future.
• Looks like this coming weekend is going to be busy but in a good way.  Can't wait to update you all on how things went.

Week In Summary

I think I'm going to try something new.  I'm going to do a post on either Saturday or Sunday of each week that is going to summarize the different things of importance or interest that our family has done during the previous week.  To make seeing the different things easier I'm going to use bullet points and perhaps a few pictures if I have them.

• Besides continuing to find current clients the home of their dream or trying to pick up new clients, I had my first home inspection this week.  I still technically don't have a completed contract (long story), but I hope to have that early this coming week. 

• The kids had their science class and Lego / K'Nex class this week.  After the K'Nex class one of the other parents walked up to my husband and suggested that our son be moved to an easier class (he is 2 years younger than the recommended age) because he didn't know how to do division (they were figuring out speed using distance and time).  So what did we do?  We sat down that night and in about 10 minutes our son had figured out what division is and how to do it (using a calculator at this point, but that's ok because everyone else in his class is using a calculator too).

She tried to copy the picture.  She did not only the fence but a tree.

• We went to Cheeburger, Cheeburger for the first time since the kittens were all adopted (the pet store was right next door).  The kids had been asking for a while but it's all the way across town.

• We made use of the trip to Cheeburger, Cheeburger by also going to the Trader Joe's that had opened only days before (OK so this was really the reason we were in the area.  It just so happened that it was around lunch time).

• The kids and I went to a bee keeping seminar where we learned about bees and raising them.  We also bought some local raw honey after taste testing a few different kinds (yum!)

• The whole family went to the Suncoast Primate Sanctuary where we got to see lots of various monkeys and apes, as well as some birds and alligators.  And the kids got to hold a baby (just under 1 year old) alligator too.

• On the way home from the primate sanctuary we passed a Krispy Kreme so of course we had to stop.

• In addition to working on a programming project he's been trying to get to a point where it can be sold, my husband has also had the time to work on installing the last of the Pergo flooring in our master closets.  He still has one more closet left (there are 2) but I'm guessing that will be done very soon.  

• My husband's also been doing a lot of cooking lately.  Not because I've been gone at dinner time but because he realized that he likes to cook.  I can sense a battle in the near future.  Perhaps when we upgrade our kitchen it will be to a gourmet kitchen where we can both work together.