The last couple days have been rather hectic in my household. I've been going in to the office more lately to meet with various people who are trying to help me learn how to use the systems they have to my advantage (I'm all for that). I've also spent a few hours on the accounting job I got recently.
Yesterday, we spent a few hours with my Aunt and her boyfriend as they made final preparations to move from Florida to California. We ended up coming home with a few things they couldn't take with them and went back today for a few more things we couldn't fit in the first trip. Rather than sleeping on a double mattress on the floor, we now have a queen size mattress and box spring on a frame. We're too tired to unload it tonight, but I'm looking forwarding to an excellent night's sleep tomorrow.
This morning we got up very early so that we could pick up a wall unit that someone had listed on Freecycle. We've been looking for something like this and hubby had found something a week ago for $100 but it was just a little bit too tall (our ceilings are kinda low). This is such a blessing not only because it fits the space and our needs, but it cost us nothing but time. I really need the space it offers so that I can be more organized while working from home so I can't wait to get it all set up.
Top all of this off with the fact that today I got to meet my first clients! I took them to see two possible homes. Although they don't want to purchase either of them, they want to look at another house in the same neighborhood as one of the houses we saw as soon as we can get in (it's being painted right now).
Oh, and Sunday afternoon I'm doing an open house for a $1.2M house that is just GORGEOUS! Do I expect to sell the house? No, but I hope I get a few new clients from it. At a minimum I will be able to get all kinds of ideas on how I would like to renovate our house. It's a shame I can't move our house to a canal with an 80 foot dock.
Thursday, July 26, 2012
Wednesday, July 18, 2012
Lazy Me
I'm sorry I haven't been that communicative lately. Needless to say things have been a bit hectic. So here's what has kept me so busy:
1. My parents visited for just over 2 weeks and we got all kinds of things done while they were here. Among them, fixing a leak in our pool, cutting down and hauling away 6 or 7 trees, removing a couple sections of wooden fence that was starting to fall apart, preparing the area around the pool for my pineapple garden, and just doing some visiting (one of our favorite methods of relaxing was in the pool right after doing yard work - can you blame us?).
2. Starting my new career. When my parents arrived, I was studying for and taking my real estate license test. Since then I've been filling out paperwork and getting settled at the office. I think I will be ready to take calls and emails the middle of next week. Yay!
3. I've been trying to organize the house more, so that it will run a little more smoothly in my absence. I've also been showing hubby how to do some things that I usually do (like grocery shop using coupons).
4. I made these poor man's curtains. The blinds that were here before were cracked and would not open correctly, so I made these curtains out of table cloths found at the local ReStore. I added mattress covers to the back to make them a little thicker. With the thread, costs were less than $7.
5. We had to move our business bank account (again), because the new bank started charging us fees (you know the reason we moved from the last bank). I'm loving the new bank (a credit union actually) so we may move our personal accounts there soon too.
6. We've also been busy shuttling the kittens around. Saturday and Sunday they go to a pet store that is about 30 minutes away so that they can be seen and possibly adopted. One of the kittens also got hurt and has required a couple trips to the vet. None have been adopted yet, but a couple of them have gotten some attention so I think it's a matter of time.
1. My parents visited for just over 2 weeks and we got all kinds of things done while they were here. Among them, fixing a leak in our pool, cutting down and hauling away 6 or 7 trees, removing a couple sections of wooden fence that was starting to fall apart, preparing the area around the pool for my pineapple garden, and just doing some visiting (one of our favorite methods of relaxing was in the pool right after doing yard work - can you blame us?).
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| Dirty? Nah! Can you say pool time (after rinsing with the hose first) |
3. I've been trying to organize the house more, so that it will run a little more smoothly in my absence. I've also been showing hubby how to do some things that I usually do (like grocery shop using coupons).
4. I made these poor man's curtains. The blinds that were here before were cracked and would not open correctly, so I made these curtains out of table cloths found at the local ReStore. I added mattress covers to the back to make them a little thicker. With the thread, costs were less than $7.
5. We had to move our business bank account (again), because the new bank started charging us fees (you know the reason we moved from the last bank). I'm loving the new bank (a credit union actually) so we may move our personal accounts there soon too.
6. We've also been busy shuttling the kittens around. Saturday and Sunday they go to a pet store that is about 30 minutes away so that they can be seen and possibly adopted. One of the kittens also got hurt and has required a couple trips to the vet. None have been adopted yet, but a couple of them have gotten some attention so I think it's a matter of time.
Thursday, July 12, 2012
Overload
Today I went into the real estate office where I'm going to work to speak to the broker who is going to be responsible for my actions. Makes sense to me that he would want to meet me before agreeing to be responsible for me. I was told the meeting would be about 30 minutes or so. He would talk to me, ask me a few questions, and then I would have a few papers to fill out to get my license activated.
Needless to say, it didn't go quite like that. I did talk to the broker for 30 minutes, but then he brought in an HR guy to go over the paperwork with me. I didn't leave the office for 2 more hours after that. Near the end of the paper signing I know I had a glazed over look in my eye (I was told I did). Part of it was that I was anticipating a 30 minute meeting and the other part was that my daughter had a playdate scheduled which I got home 1 hour late for. Thanks Mom for covering for me.
Now that the playdate is over, I've had a little time to contemplate all that was discussed during the 2.5 hours of meetings today. My life is about to change! In a big way. I'm about to get busier. I'm about to learn lots of new things. And it's going to require an outlay of money on my part, but hopefully I will be making some money soon too.
All of this is exciting (I get to act like an adult again), and a little scary (I HAVE to act like an adult again).
Right now, I think I'm just going to relax and spend some time with my kids. You know before my life gets even more hectic.
Needless to say, it didn't go quite like that. I did talk to the broker for 30 minutes, but then he brought in an HR guy to go over the paperwork with me. I didn't leave the office for 2 more hours after that. Near the end of the paper signing I know I had a glazed over look in my eye (I was told I did). Part of it was that I was anticipating a 30 minute meeting and the other part was that my daughter had a playdate scheduled which I got home 1 hour late for. Thanks Mom for covering for me.
Now that the playdate is over, I've had a little time to contemplate all that was discussed during the 2.5 hours of meetings today. My life is about to change! In a big way. I'm about to get busier. I'm about to learn lots of new things. And it's going to require an outlay of money on my part, but hopefully I will be making some money soon too.
All of this is exciting (I get to act like an adult again), and a little scary (I HAVE to act like an adult again).
Right now, I think I'm just going to relax and spend some time with my kids. You know before my life gets even more hectic.
Monday, July 9, 2012
His Eye Is On the Sparrow
Have you heard of the song "His Eye On the Sparrow"? It talks about how God watches out for little sparrows. If God takes care of sparrows, then how much more will He take care of His people? Well, I've gotten to experience that care recently. As my regular readers are aware, due to circumstances beyond our control I have had to look for work recently.
I decided to go into real estate because it gives me some flexibility with my schedule. The down side is that it will take a while to start bringing in some money. The good news is that I passed the state test last week and now I'm just waiting to finalize paperwork with my new employer so that I can start working.
Needless to say, the though of no income for a few more months is a scary prospect. I know God will provide, but not knowing how is a bit disconcerting for the planner in me. Well, a few days ago, I saw a post on Facebook for someone who was looking for a part-time bookkeeper who is familiar with an accounting program that I've been using for 8 years. A program that I've been wanting to get away from for over a year (the irony was not lost on me). I contacted them on Friday and found out on Sunday that they had picked me! I will only be doing about 5 - 10 hours a week for them, but I have 6 months of work to help them catch up on first and they want it done in the next few weeks. That means income in the very near future. Yay!
You can't tell me the Lord doesn't look out for His children, cause He's certainly looking out for me and my family.
I decided to go into real estate because it gives me some flexibility with my schedule. The down side is that it will take a while to start bringing in some money. The good news is that I passed the state test last week and now I'm just waiting to finalize paperwork with my new employer so that I can start working.
Needless to say, the though of no income for a few more months is a scary prospect. I know God will provide, but not knowing how is a bit disconcerting for the planner in me. Well, a few days ago, I saw a post on Facebook for someone who was looking for a part-time bookkeeper who is familiar with an accounting program that I've been using for 8 years. A program that I've been wanting to get away from for over a year (the irony was not lost on me). I contacted them on Friday and found out on Sunday that they had picked me! I will only be doing about 5 - 10 hours a week for them, but I have 6 months of work to help them catch up on first and they want it done in the next few weeks. That means income in the very near future. Yay!
You can't tell me the Lord doesn't look out for His children, cause He's certainly looking out for me and my family.
Thursday, June 28, 2012
What Were We Thinking?
Yep, we've gone and done it. We are fostering 5 kittens that are about 13 weeks old. We have been thinking about doing this for a couple years but knew we couldn't do it till we were no longer renting. I had contacted someone letting them know we would be interested as soon as we got the renovations done on our house but we received an urgent email looking for someone willing to foster 2 kittens. When I called the contact, I was asked if we'd be willing to watch 5 instead. We were reluctant to take 5 at first but we might as well; they needed a place to stay and we have the space.
As any regular reader knows, my daughter loves all animals. She has
talked about how she wants to be a vet or work at an aquarium. We
figure that fostering will give our daughter an idea of what it's like
to care for an animal (physically and emotionally) and then have to give
it to it's (new) owner.
Hubby and I agree that we need to do everything we can to help our children focus their learning on the thing God has called them to do which we'd like to this is also something they enjoy doing. That means we first need to help make sure they REALLY know what they want to do.
Hubby has been teaching our son computer programming with programming robots as the ultimate goal. So far our son is still very excited and gun-ho about robots as his future vocation. This allows us to make sure that everything he does is focused on making sure he is moving toward that ultimate goal. Why send him to horse camp if he'd be better served by $200 in cash to spend on parts to build a robot (or robot camp in a year or two when he's old enough)?
So how can we help our daughter determine if she really wants to care for animals? That's simple, let her care for animals. If she enjoys caring for kittens and can part with them once they are adopted, then maybe we can move on to something else like talking to someone who works at the local aquarium or talking to a vet, or someone at a zoo (or all three). The woman from the rescue said that if these work out well, she would even consider letting us take younger ones to let my daughter get a more full experience of the kitten experience.
All I know is that these kittens are SO cute and sweet, I might have trouble parting with them too.
Oh, and we found a bonus too. We had a couple days notice before the kittens were dropped off so we convinced the kids to do a REALLY good job of cleaning up their toys so we didn't have any kitten hazards out when they showed up. I must say, the house ended up pretty clean. :-)
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| The skittish one |
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| The playful one |
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| The reluctant one |
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| The friendly one |
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| The loving one |
Hubby and I agree that we need to do everything we can to help our children focus their learning on the thing God has called them to do which we'd like to this is also something they enjoy doing. That means we first need to help make sure they REALLY know what they want to do.
Hubby has been teaching our son computer programming with programming robots as the ultimate goal. So far our son is still very excited and gun-ho about robots as his future vocation. This allows us to make sure that everything he does is focused on making sure he is moving toward that ultimate goal. Why send him to horse camp if he'd be better served by $200 in cash to spend on parts to build a robot (or robot camp in a year or two when he's old enough)?
So how can we help our daughter determine if she really wants to care for animals? That's simple, let her care for animals. If she enjoys caring for kittens and can part with them once they are adopted, then maybe we can move on to something else like talking to someone who works at the local aquarium or talking to a vet, or someone at a zoo (or all three). The woman from the rescue said that if these work out well, she would even consider letting us take younger ones to let my daughter get a more full experience of the kitten experience.
All I know is that these kittens are SO cute and sweet, I might have trouble parting with them too.
Oh, and we found a bonus too. We had a couple days notice before the kittens were dropped off so we convinced the kids to do a REALLY good job of cleaning up their toys so we didn't have any kitten hazards out when they showed up. I must say, the house ended up pretty clean. :-)
Wednesday, June 27, 2012
The Big Reveal
In my last blog post I mentioned that I had been in a self-imposed hold for my life. I told you that I was trying to accomplish a goal I had set and that I was working on my next goal and would probably be in another sort of hold for a while.
Well, today I'm going to tell you what this is all about.
I have decided to become a licensed realtor. This is not a decision I came to lightly. In fact I've been thinking about it for about 3 years but wanted to wait till the kids were older. Technically, I'd like to wait till they are even a few years older, but life has necessitated that I do this now.
You see, a month ago my husbands hours were cut dramatically and for an indefinite period of time. He is working on a new idea that we think will be able to bring in enough money to pay the bills, the only problem is that it will not be to that point for a few more months (maybe as many as 6 - 12). So in order to help pay the bills without eating up all our savings till we get to that point, I decided I would try to find some work. I still wanted to be able to have pretty flexible hours so of course I thought real estate.
When I contacted the realtor who helped us buy our new house asking her what I needed to do to get the process started, she asked me to come in to her office so we could talk about it. When I got there, her partner was with her and I was offered a job working as a buyers agent once I got my license. This is awesome on multiple levels: 1. My realtor was AWESOME! She is the kind of person I want as a mentor and now she's going to be! 2. I got a job offer based on the way I bought our house (first time ever I think that's happened), and 3. I feel this was God's way of saying that this is the right thing for me to be doing right now.
So, what has been taking up all my time. The licensing process of course. In order to take the state test, you have to take a 63-hour state-approved class. At the end of that class there is also a test. Well, this last weekend I wanted to complete the class and take the end of class test. All I needed to do to successfully complete the course was to get a 70% or higher on the test. How thrilled was I when I got an 89%!
The class I took was an on-line class. That way I could fit it into my busy schedule but also because the earliest classroom class doesn't start till July 10. During the online class, I had a few technical problems accessing the book so I ended up getting a study guide off Amazon so I could make sure I would meet my goal of taking the test when I wanted to. After ordering the book the technically difficulties went away so I never really needed it.
Once I finished the class I scheduled my state test for the first available date which is July 3. Since I have over a week to wait, I decided to take the practice tests in the study guide I bought to make sure I didn't forget any information. I've taken 2 of 5 sample tests and I barely passed one and failed the other. Not because I forgot a lot of information but because the book covered more information than apparently the online class did. AAAAKKKK!!!
So now I'm freaking out that I'm not going to pass the test next Tuesday. My parents are planning on coming down in a few days to bring a 15' sail boat for us to store (and use - yippy!) so I know I will have them watching the kids some while I cram some more.
One more thing that I know will be really helpful. Prayer. If you could please do me a favor and pray for me I would appreciate it.
Well, today I'm going to tell you what this is all about.
I have decided to become a licensed realtor. This is not a decision I came to lightly. In fact I've been thinking about it for about 3 years but wanted to wait till the kids were older. Technically, I'd like to wait till they are even a few years older, but life has necessitated that I do this now.
You see, a month ago my husbands hours were cut dramatically and for an indefinite period of time. He is working on a new idea that we think will be able to bring in enough money to pay the bills, the only problem is that it will not be to that point for a few more months (maybe as many as 6 - 12). So in order to help pay the bills without eating up all our savings till we get to that point, I decided I would try to find some work. I still wanted to be able to have pretty flexible hours so of course I thought real estate.
When I contacted the realtor who helped us buy our new house asking her what I needed to do to get the process started, she asked me to come in to her office so we could talk about it. When I got there, her partner was with her and I was offered a job working as a buyers agent once I got my license. This is awesome on multiple levels: 1. My realtor was AWESOME! She is the kind of person I want as a mentor and now she's going to be! 2. I got a job offer based on the way I bought our house (first time ever I think that's happened), and 3. I feel this was God's way of saying that this is the right thing for me to be doing right now.
So, what has been taking up all my time. The licensing process of course. In order to take the state test, you have to take a 63-hour state-approved class. At the end of that class there is also a test. Well, this last weekend I wanted to complete the class and take the end of class test. All I needed to do to successfully complete the course was to get a 70% or higher on the test. How thrilled was I when I got an 89%!
The class I took was an on-line class. That way I could fit it into my busy schedule but also because the earliest classroom class doesn't start till July 10. During the online class, I had a few technical problems accessing the book so I ended up getting a study guide off Amazon so I could make sure I would meet my goal of taking the test when I wanted to. After ordering the book the technically difficulties went away so I never really needed it.
Once I finished the class I scheduled my state test for the first available date which is July 3. Since I have over a week to wait, I decided to take the practice tests in the study guide I bought to make sure I didn't forget any information. I've taken 2 of 5 sample tests and I barely passed one and failed the other. Not because I forgot a lot of information but because the book covered more information than apparently the online class did. AAAAKKKK!!!
So now I'm freaking out that I'm not going to pass the test next Tuesday. My parents are planning on coming down in a few days to bring a 15' sail boat for us to store (and use - yippy!) so I know I will have them watching the kids some while I cram some more.
One more thing that I know will be really helpful. Prayer. If you could please do me a favor and pray for me I would appreciate it.
Monday, June 25, 2012
Life Off Hold
The last week it's felt like my life was on hold. I admit it was self-imposed. You see I had set a goal for myself that I wanted to complete something before the end of the weekend (yesterday) so I did everything in my power to make sure I did what I needed to accomplish that task. Unfortunately, it meant some other things have not been taken care of as well as I would have liked. Today I got to work on all of that.
So far today I've:
So far today I've:
- done laundry (lots of it),
- swept the house (I love having tile and pergo - no need to get the vacuum out all the time)
- caught up on paying the bills
- sent in paperwork to change our address for voter registration
- made numerous phone calls I've been needing to make for a while
- moved stuff from the camper to the house (we all start sleeping in the house beginning tonight). All the noise from the wind and rain last night meant I hardly slept at all so I just decided tonight I would not endure it again.
- listed to my daughter read to me (my favorite thing, I must admit)
- spot mop the kitchen and dining areas
- get my grocery list together
- make dinner
- clean up some branches that fell on our driveway
- research how to prop up our poor banana tree (it didn't like the wind and rain either)
- and after the kids go to bed, I'm going to start working on my next big self-imposed, time-sucking goal. It has a deadline of July 3 so it won't last too long. It's completion will bring some definite changes for my family. More to come on that soon :-)
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