Ducks In A Tub

Feelin' good

noreply@blogger.com (CN) — Thu, 05 Apr 2007 13:58:00 +0000

Heard the heartbeat of darling #3 yesterday. It never ceases to amaze me what a thrill it is to hear the heartbeat like that. Listen to me; I sound like a grizzled old veteran. Geesh.

There's really not a whole lot to report. The Husband and I keep transcribing and kid-raising away our 2007. We're doing great in the business, and Blue Eyes is starting to take 4 or 5 steps on her own.

Now, I'm going back to bed. That sounds good just typing it...

I know, it's been so long...

noreply@blogger.com (CN) — Wed, 28 Feb 2007 05:56:00 +0000

Since I last posted. Between transcription, Blue Eyes and The Talker, and the yucky-yuckies from the first month of preggo, I've been up to my eyes in stuff.

Even the down times are busy. There's a huge Netflix queue of movies that the husband and I haven't seen yet, and it's calling my name right now.

But I'm too tired, and that's the other thing. I need to sleep. More. This daylight saving time change thing from April to March couldn't have come at a worse time.

Oh, well. At least, this is the most to gripe about. Nice, eh?

Quick note

noreply@blogger.com (CN) — Sat, 10 Feb 2007 02:12:00 +0000

We discovered some shocking and unexpected, yet delightful news yesterday. I'm pregnant again! This wasn't quite in the "plan," so to speak, but we're thrilled to welcome another member to our active and entertaining family. The kids are, of course, too young to understand that they will have another sibling, but once the wee one arrives in October I'm sure sounds of "bee-bee" will fill the house.

I'm feeling great. I just have to take good care of myself so I don't get confined to rest like I did with Blue Eyes. The Talker will be 2 1/2 when Little Precious is born, and Blue Eyes will be 20 months. As if we didn't already have our hands full...

I timed it

noreply@blogger.com (CN) — Tue, 23 Jan 2007 04:56:00 +0000

You ever feel pride at the silliest things?

So The Husband and I are taking a break to watch silly TV, aka Prison Break and Heroes.

And I timed the catch perfectly.

I called it 10 seconds before it happened. I counted down to it, 3, 2, 1... and it happened just like I called it.

So let it be written. So let it be done. I rule.

Success? No way!

noreply@blogger.com (CN) — Fri, 12 Jan 2007 15:17:00 +0000

Okay, so we decided to start this transcription business a little bit before Christmas. We didn't actually start the business at that point, we just decided to start it. We made a few preemptory phone calls in an attempt to start the solicitation process, but since it was "the holiday season" we didn't have much resonse.

During the first week of January we went full board and really hit the marketing hard. We are not naive - we realized that it takes a while to build some decent business.

Then ---- oh, then --- this week started.

We have acquired three clients this week, two of whom are HUGE and our calculations for this month show that we will make at least $2000, if not more. That's half our montly expenses! We can hardly believe how successful this little venture is turning out in such a short time.

There still remains a lot to be seen, but what a great start.

Oh, and by the way, we celebrated our three year wedding anniversary this week....happy us :-)

And the kids are practically all recovered from their first-of-the-year bout with illness.

January Not-So-Blues

noreply@blogger.com (CN) — Wed, 10 Jan 2007 15:43:00 +0000

You know, I love the holidays. I love when we all get together. I love the stories, and the food, and the specials, and even the games. (Yes, dear; I will watch football. You didn't have to twist my arm...But I digress-)

It's that period between New Year's and Martin Luther King that really kinda messes up everything for the first quarter of the year.

Everybody gets sick.
Everybody's mail gets lost, because it's picked back up again.
Everybody's kids go back to school, so most of them are miserable.
There are certain parts of the country that will be guaranteed to have strange weather.
It's really, really nice in Southern California.

I find these things happen in a recurring cycle every year. This year is different, though, because of Blue Eyes and The Talker. This period will be marked by The Talker's improved talking, Blue Eyes' standing (possibly, we'll see), and both of them finally getting over their cold blues. This year's going to be different. I like this different. A lot.

And it starts...

noreply@blogger.com (CN) — Sat, 06 Jan 2007 15:31:00 +0000

A side business, that is.

The Husband and I are determined to do our own thing. We've taken several transcription gigs off Craigslist in the last couple months, and we've decided we're going to run with this.

Take a look at our website. www.nobletranscription.com.

No voice

noreply@blogger.com (CN) — Fri, 05 Jan 2007 14:08:00 +0000

The worst part of recovering from a cold has GOT to be the body ache at the end of it. Robbing you of any energy you feel like you should have, the body ache makes my joints tense, my back tighten, and my mood swing - from lazy to lazier. I'm surprised I can even type, with the way I feel.

Now comes the worst part, though, which, not 28 seconds previous I thought was the body ache: I've lost my voice. Impossible! I need my voice! How dare something (one) take it away from me! Now, my husband thinks I'm a low talker, and my kids look at me funny.

This had better all clear up soon, before it starts up again.

Getting over things (?!?)

noreply@blogger.com (CN) — Wed, 03 Jan 2007 17:26:00 +0000

The true test of any serious relationship really, really, is -

Will your significant other be able to deal with the things I like that they don't? And will their reaction be satisfactory to me?

I expect The Husband to understand that I'm not going to rush over to the TV except a run is scored, or a field goal is kicked (kicked, yes, that's right), and all that other sports stuff. After almost five years of knowing him, I feel he's finally getting the hang of it. I call it maturity. Also, I am satisfied with his pleasant "How cute!" when he looks at a new outfit that I just bought Blue Eyes. I know he doesn't care, really, but at least he doesn't say "I don't care", or "I'm ambivalent." I call that maturity, too.

What about yourselves? Do you think this is maturity, or maybe complacency? I'm just wondering.

Happy (???) New Year

noreply@blogger.com (CN) — Mon, 01 Jan 2007 23:50:00 +0000

Well, geesh, what's so different? Both the kids are still sick. The Husband isn't permanently employed.

Rose Parade? Heh.

Bowl games? Don't mention it. Please.

The weather? Don't want to hear it.

I'm fine, really; it's just a downer when the kids get sick. You're practically doomed to getting sick yourself. But, here's a nice family pic from The Husband's side.

Come and count with me

noreply@blogger.com (CN) — Wed, 06 Dec 2006 15:35:00 +0000

"Let's count," I say to The Talker several times a day.

I hold up one finger at a time as he says, "Whaaa...Choo...Fo,"

"Three," I correct him.

"Fee," he dutifully repeats, then continues, "Fo...Fie!" When the final number has reached its exclamatory conclusion we wrap up the lesson with a hearty high-five.

Blue Eyes observes from her seat and patiently waits to be included in the hand slapping portion of the fun.

Learning our numbers. I'm a proud parent!

Weekend review

noreply@blogger.com (CN) — Tue, 05 Dec 2006 02:34:00 +0000

The weekend's events went perfectly smooth. My sister's bridal shower was a huge success. We had a nice turnout, the food was good (if I do say so myself), and everyone enjoyed the games as far as I could tell.

One celebration followed the other and in the evening we had a birthday party for my 4 year old sister. She was so cute opening her presents and everything she unwrapped was warmly welcomed as a new treasure. She got all sorts of fun stuff: dress up hats with matching gloves, miniature cooking utensils (including a just-her-size muffin pan that is oven safe!), a bucket full of pretend food...I watched the wrapping come off her gifts and I yearned for Blue Eyes to be a little older so that I would have a reason to buy all these fun toys. For her. Yeah, her. Not me...

Anyway, yesterday (Sunday) I typed all day to reach my 20 page goal for the book I am ghostwriting. I sent the first submission to the guy I am working for and I have waited all day to hear back from him. I'm a bit anxious to find out if my style is acceptable for the project and I'm on pins and needles to know if I'll get this break into a new possibility for at-home work. More updates later...

Putting it together

noreply@blogger.com (CN) — Sat, 02 Dec 2006 16:00:00 +0000

Busy day today. I'm off to my parents' house bright and early, with the kids (hubby has the day to himself before a job this evening). I'm going to have a great time hosting my sister's bridal shower.

After one happy event is over, we are sticking around for the second joyous occasion of the day. My little sister's 4th birthday. (No, that is not a typo, I do have a 4 year old sister.)

One place to go, lots of things to do, and many smiles to photograph! :-)

How do single moms do it?

noreply@blogger.com (CN) — Sat, 02 Dec 2006 03:59:00 +0000

Sometimes I really amaze myself. It's too bad that such beauteous accomplishment comes at an exhausting price. I put the kids to bed a few minutes ago, a relieving end to a day full of activity. Let me explain. I am hosting my sister's bridal shower tomorrow...at my mother's house. So, not only did I have to get all the food and games put together today, but I had to assemble them all in neat little packages to take over to my mom's in the morning and set up for the party. Here's a little list of what I did today:

Go to Wal-Mart for stuff, with the kids
Go to Sam's Club for stuff, with the kids
Drop the cold food off at home and (thankfully) leave the kids home with Husband
Go to Albertson's for a few items
Get home and take care of lunch (Husband helped feed kids, but I made him a sandwich while juggling the rest of it)
Put kids to bed
Assemble games and prizes for the shower
Say goodbye to Husband, who will be gone the rest of the evening
Kids get up from naps too early and are still cranky
Arrange all party food in the kitchen for easy access
Kids are still cranky so we have early dinner
Yeah, dinner for two helpless miniatures...use your imagination
Make brownies and accidentally leave vegetable oil container badly sealed and in reach of The Talker
Clean up vegetable oil mess
Trim and cube 5 pounds of chicken breast
Cook chicken on the stove (for yummy chicken quesadilla lunch tomorrow)
Get brownies out of the oven
Bathe Blue eyes
Bathe The Talker
Wash a sink full of dirty dishes
Play with kids for a few minutes
Put kids to bed
Sigh -- deeply --

Oh, and did I mention that someone has hired me to ghostwrite a book? They need to turn a screenplay into a novel and I'm the person for the job. The first 20 pages are due for review on Monday.

The more funner things

noreply@blogger.com (CN) — Fri, 01 Dec 2006 05:36:00 +0000

I'm sorry I haven't been more posty of recent. It's been really busy around here, what with the Thanksgiving long weekend, and the recent bout of coughs and colds that just shuttled through here. But, here I am, onward.

Do you remember when you first experienced something really cool, like when your first child learns something unexpected? You just want to hang on to that moment as long as you can, before it becomes just a memory. Of course, you'll retell the story of that moment over and over again, but you very rarely will feel the same.

The Talker loves the Dr. Seuss book, "Mr. Brown can MOO! Can You!" There is a page where Mr. Brown can make the knock of a door sound. The Talker always makes a fist and hits the cardboard book, and smiles and laughs. Yesterday, the Husband was reading Mr. Brown with The Talker and Blue Eyes together, in the other room. As I was writing an e-mail, the Husband yelled to me, "April! Get in here! And don't let them see you!" I rushed in, apprehensive but excited. I snuck up on the kids and Daddy behind the couch. As Hubby read the knocking page, The Talker did his commonplace knock...

and Blue Eyes reached out and open-hand knocked on the page.

I was stunned, and even more so when the Husband told me it wasn't a fluke, because she had just done it two minutes before. In a moment, I had the joy I felt when The Talker first knocked on the page. It came back in a thrilling rush, and I won't forget it for a long time.

I hope everyone gets to experience something like this. It sure made my November.

Hold on to your shopping cart!

noreply@blogger.com (CN) — Fri, 24 Nov 2006 17:31:00 +0000

The mass of humanity!!

I really, truly, honestly do NOT like the day after Thanksgiving shopping frenzy. Seriously. Don't get me wrong, I go out and grab my "deals" just like the next penny-pincher, but I don't like it. Who do they (the store corporations) think they are? They lead us to think that we are getting the steal of the century, when in reality they are still making money off our disillusionment. When I see the low prices set specifically for a few meagre hours, it only makes me more conscious of the fact that I get ripped of the rest of the year.

And yet, I succumb. Every year I dash out with the rest of the hordes to face the parking nightmare, the traffic congestion (in the store!), and rude line-cutters, all to save $10 on a widget. Oh, well, I guess that's life.

In the meantime, I left Husband home this morning so I could attack the price-reduced products single handedly. He sprained his ankle playing basketball with the men of the family yesterday...yeah, now I'm taking care of 3 helpless people for the next few days...ah, me, what's Christmas-star-studded and energy-surplussed gal to do?

Turkey day? No, turkey week!

noreply@blogger.com (CN) — Wed, 22 Nov 2006 21:14:00 +0000

Thanksgiving is more than a day. It is a whole season!! We are having Thanksgiving dinner at my parents' house tomorrow night and all my siblings and their significant others will be attending. My dad is the chef for the event and he is treating us to stuffed cornish game hens.

I love cooking. While growing up, though, I had sisters who were more aggressive than myself and I always got kicked to the bottom rung in the kitchen...peeling potatoes or something equally non-creative. When I started to live on my own and then got married I enjoyed spreading my wings and discovered all sorts of fabulous recipes that made my husband's mouth water and kept him coming back for more :-) Actually, I pride myself that we don't feel the need to go out for dinner very often because we end up being disappointed in the quality of food. Most restaurants just are not up to par compared with my cooking.

Since I am missing out on the preparation of the most anticipated meal of the year, I have made this week my week of tantalizing menu items. Lately, because of unemployment and needing to save money, we have been eating alot of pasta and refried bean burritos. Not much variety. However, in honor of the season (and the great sale prices at the grocery store) I have splurged. This week's dinners include steak fajitas, ham with pineapple, szechwan chicken, and (you guessed it) I'm making my own turkey. Well, it's realy a boneless, skinless turkey breast, but that works good enough for us. Oh, and let's not forget the pumpkin pies I'm baking!!

Mmmmmm....

What's on your menu for the big day?

Hope all of your Thanksgivings are filled with the blessing of familial love, the happiness of friendship, and the peace of God's protection.

But the couch is so comfy!

noreply@blogger.com (CN) — Wed, 22 Nov 2006 00:53:00 +0000

Laziness. It is the bane of my existence. I had a perfectly good day today with plenty of opportunity to start sifting through all of our *ahem* junk in preparation for our move. I know "the move" is a few months away, but I figure the sooner I start to purge the unnecessary items from our possession, the sooner I can breathe easy about the reality of living in much smaller surroundings. My slothful side got the better of me, however. For the - hmmmm - 32nd day in a row (?) the quiet part of my day when the kids are both napping has been wasted. I sit, peacefully immersed in a book and enjoying my moments of blissful silence. Needless to say, I have accomplished exactly nothing. The ironing has piled up for weeks, my kitchen junk counter is more impenetrable than ever, and the piles of useless items are still scattered throughout the house, instead of being neatly arranged in preparation for a garage sale in the indefinite future.

One day soon I hope to force through my natural tendencies and actually DO something with my afternoons. Until that day arrives, I remain sleepily yours...

Chapter 4: The House

noreply@blogger.com (CN) — Mon, 20 Nov 2006 23:06:00 +0000

Here it is. The story of mistakes made and lessons learned. I am talking about the house that we recently left and has caused us such trouble. We closed escrow today, so the story is mostly finished. There are still some consequences for our rash behavior, but I won’t be able to explain those until tax time. I guess I’d better start at the beginning…

When we found out that I was pregnant a mere 2 ½ months after The Talker was born, we were quite nervous because of how close in age our children would be. Our condo had two bedrooms and I was quite sure that we needed to have three bedrooms to comfortably fit ourselves and two babies. The lazy part of me said that it would be too much hassle to deal with two kids in the same room when they are still at an age to need naps. We started to look for a house. The county where we lived was quite expensive, so we expanded our search to the next county over. After a couple months of searching I found my dream house. It was a pleasant 4 bedroom house on a half-acre lot in a quiet cul-de-sac. I could see us spending many, many years raising our family in this ideal home. We placed an offer of $605,000 (a real deal for Southern California!) and the offer was accepted.

As escrow progressed, there were problems with our loan. We had decided not to sell the condo. Instead, we deeded it into a land trust with my aunt. Basically, she was going to take over the payments while renting the place out for a few years, then sell it at a profit and we would receive our portion of the proceeds. It was a good plan, except that having two mortgages on our credit was no easy task. We had to jump through all sorts of hoops in order to get the new bank to approve the loan on the house. The first plan for financing failed, then the second plan failed, and we were finally approved by our “Plan C” lender. We should have seen the red flags. The loan that we wound up getting had a higher interest rate (almost sub-prime) and the payment was $4000 per month. That is a lot of money, but keep in mind that, at the time, my husband was collecting his short-term guaranteed paychecks grossing $15,000 a month.

We were short-sighted and naïve. Somehow, we got it into our heads that, once we were in the house, we would re-finance the loan to a better rate and everything would be fine. We closed escrow in August 2005 and everything started off great. We got settled quite comfortably. I bought new furniture and curtains, had the cottage cheese scraped off the ceilings, and we even painted a couple rooms. In fact, I was over-zealous in my home-making efforts and I wound up getting pre-term labor and had to go on bed rest for the last couple months of my pregnancy.

We made an attempt to re-finance the house and it did not work, so we were stuck with our high payment loan. After a few months, the paycheck took a huge hit and we started to take money out of our savings every month in order to pay the mortgage.

As I wrote in Chapter 3, H lost his job in January 2006. We saw this as a sign to get out while we still could. In an effort to save money and hope to sell the house for a better price, we placed an ad that we were selling the house by owner. H used his creative skills to develop a great flyer and we spent the last two weeks of my pregnancy calling realtors, visiting open houses and offices, and spreading the word that we had a house we wanted to sell and we would be happy to pay a buyer’s commission. We were not trying to make any money off the house, we just wanted to sell it and break even. Like most people who try to sell by owner, we finally broke down and hired a realtor. In the two months that he worked for us, hardly anyone came by to see the house.

Our next door neighbor was interested in buying the house for her son to live in, but she was only offering $550,000, which would leave us with a loan balance of $50,000. That’s when H realized that we were going about this all wrong. It was time to ask the bank for a short sale. A short sale is when the bank accepts less money than they are owed. Basically, we send a bunch of paperwork into the bank trying to prove to them that we are in financial difficulty and cannot make our mortgage payment. When someone makes an offer on the house, the bank reviews the offer and decides whether or not to take it. We did all of our part, but the next door neighbor, for all sorts of personal (and dysfunctional) reasons did not hold up her end. She has been dubbed by us as “the crazy neighbor” because of this incident.

It was the end of March. Two months had passed since we first tried to sell the house. We fired our realtor because we became impatient. We moved in April, and we made a huge decision. On May 1, 2006, we did not pay our mortgage. Those $4000 a month payments were draining our savings account and we had a choice. We could either keep paying the mortgage until we had no money left and risk that the house still had not sold, or we could stop paying and hope the bank accepted a short sale offer before they took the house to auction. With two babies, it was much more important to us to have emergency money on hand, so we chose the latter.

You can debate the morality of this decision (I sure did!) but it was the best way to keep our family’s finances somewhat secure.

We have left that house vacant since April and we hired a new realtor to try and sell it. There were a couple offers made on the house, but none of them were suitable to the bank. Meanwhile, in August the bank filed notice of default on our loan. We were starting to think we might suffer a foreclosure on our credit. By California law, the bank has to wait at least 90 days to file a notice of default and then at least another 90 days to take a house to auction.

Finally, about 2 months ago we received a good offer, the bank approved it, and we entered escrow. When the time came to do the home inspection, there were some problems that came up (likely the result of sitting vacant for several months). The buyer changed his offer to a lower amount and the bank did not re-approve it. We were quite worried. However, it was also about this time that a new buyer came into the picture. This person is a contractor and did not mind doing the work that the house needed. He offered $550,000 and the bank approved.

After a series of bumps during the course of escrow (including $1600 of termite damage repair and $6000 septic work that the bank agreed to pay for) we are finally done. The loan funded last Friday and it is being recorded in the county today. We are free of the house. (And it only cost us $4000 to bring the property taxes up to date.) And not a moment too soon! We went to the house one last time over the weekend and there was a notice taped to the front door. The bank was planning to auction the house on December 12.

So now we have to repair 6 months of delinquent payments on our credit, but that it not nearly as bad as a full-blown foreclosure that could stay with us for years.

We no longer own the House of Learning, but it will be with us for a few more months. See, the bank does not do a short sale without repercussions. After realtor commissions and all costs are paid, the bank is taking a $120,000 loss. By California law, we are going to receive a 1099 from the bank at the end of this year and we will be responsible to the IRS for the taxes on this money. They see it as our gain and we will have to pay up. BUT, there are ways of proving hardship and insolvency, so we will see. That part of the story does not have an ending yet.

Actually, we consider ourselves as getting off easy. California law also states that if a house is re-financed and then goes into foreclosure, then, in addition to having tax penalties, the bank can also sue the owner for the remainder of the loan…and they will win their judgment every time. Thankfully, our attempt to re-finance the house failed and we are only stuck with the tax issues.

After such a difficult experience I am quite convinced that I will never want to own another house again! Or, at least, that I will pay closer attention to the red flags and not jump into a situation I can’t handle. Maybe one day the time will be right…but that time is not now!

Update...more to follow

noreply@blogger.com (CN) — Sat, 18 Nov 2006 01:45:00 +0000

I apologize for my absence the last couple of days. So much has been going on! We are definitely closing escrow on the house Monday, so stay tuned for my re-telling of the dramatic and harrowing experiences that led up to this momentous occasion.

My husband and I have been toying with the idea of starting our own business. Last week, someone found an ad that I had posted on Craigslist asking for typing work. I've been looking for ways to make money from home and typing happens to be something that I am good at (bet you never would have guess that one, huh?). Well, anyway, this particular job was pretty difficult, but it got me and Husband thinking about the business possibilities. We are centering our efforts around starting a transcription service. You know, someone talks into a tape recorder and we type it out for them. We've only been working on this little project for a few days, but the prospects are out there and we are trying to see what we can make of this little scheme.

As we develop more, I'll keep you updated :-)

In other news, my sister had a baby today! A little girl. I am finally an aunt, since my kids are the first grandkids on both my side and my husband's side of the family.

I know I'm rambling a bit tonight, but I only had a few minutes and my thoughts had not quite worked themselves into a comprehensible form by the time I sat down at the keyboard.

More next time...

A Go for Homeschooling

noreply@blogger.com (CN) — Wed, 15 Nov 2006 01:21:00 +0000

I'm a big supporter of homeschooling. I did it (8th grade and up). My husband did it (7th grade and up). We plan on doing it with our children (at least in the beginning and we'll see how it goes). We have our own reasons for wanting to continue in our parents' footsteps of home educations, but those reasons are a topic for another day.

This is a great article, written by a 28-year veteran, award winning public school teacher that shows several difficulties of the school system in educating and molding the youth of today. Some of these complaints are perfect arguments in favor of homeschooling, that I had never even thought of. Teaching at home does not solve all of the difficulties the author presents, but I have to admit, he makes a compelling point about the troubles that face today's children in their education.

What do you think about his points?

Perfect Sunday

noreply@blogger.com (CN) — Tue, 14 Nov 2006 02:22:00 +0000

Going to church on Sunday, while being a wonderful spiritual re-kindling, is not without its difficulties. Our typical Sunday entails rushing through breakfast, getting the kids ready, and hurrying out the door. Once at church, we take turns juggling Blue Eyes and The Talker.

Blue Eyes is still too little to sit by herself on the pew. She bounces and plays and makes occasional noises of glee which, though cute by themselves, are distracting to those of the congregations sitting around us. If our efforts to silence her sounds have no effect then Husband usually takes her to the back, or outside, where she can be happy and playful without distraction. This lee-way will only last a few more months before we start to teach her (like we taught The Talker) to stay quiet during the liturgy.

The Talker is VERY good in church. We have taught him to sit still either on the pew, or in one of our laps. He “reads” the music book very quietly on his own. Sometimes he will talk out loud and a quick look from Mommy or Daddy reminds him to whisper. We have not had to take him outside since he was about 14 or 15 months (he is now 20 months). While he earns the name “The Talker” outside of church, in this blessed place he is quiet, and still, and as perfect as any parent could wish. Even though he is well behaved, Husband and I still leave church exhausted every week from holding one or the other child for an hour straight.

Yesterday’s Mass, however, was perfect. The Talker sat very still and Daddy only needed to hold him a few times. When he was being held he sucked his thumb, and looked around, and kept his good behavior on.

I held Blue Eyes through the whole Mass. She squirmed a little at the beginning, but towards the middle and end she wanted to snuggle. Her head rested perfectly under my chin, while she sucked her thumb and relaxed. *sigh* I am ashamed to say that I do not cuddle with my little girl nearly as much as I wish I could. First of all, she does not generally like to cuddle. Second, I’m usually balancing both kids at once, or hurrying Blue Eyes through her bottle so that I can deal with The Talker’s latest needs. So when I was able to enjoy a full half hour of warm, soft, loving attentions to and from my daughter I was the happiest mama alive. I probably should have paid more attention to what the priest was saying, but I don’t think God minded…

Halloween - I know it's really late

noreply@blogger.com (CN) — Sun, 12 Nov 2006 19:10:00 +0000

I do not usually post on Sundays, but I was so proud of myself for managing to get pictures into my submission yesterday that I figured I was long overdue for displaying Halloween photos. I know, Halloween is practically ancient history now, I mean, it was almost two weeks ago. But, here I am, technologically slow and invoking my parental “right to brag.”

Here is The Talker in his Batman costume. We did not go trick-or-treating, but that did not stop me from dressing him up per the custom of the day.

I neglected getting Blue Eyes a costume this year, but she looked so darn cute in this picture that I thought I would post it just to show her off…

Holy Sunday!

A Family Legacy worth Repeating

noreply@blogger.com (CN) — Sat, 11 Nov 2006 20:44:00 +0000

I recently had the privilege of being present at a landmark event. My great grandmother turned 100 years old. And she is still pretty independent, believe it or not. To celebrate this momentous occasion, the family all got together. Well, not everyone was there, but those who were able to attend added up to about 150 people. Pretty big, huh?

My Great Grandma T is the family matriarch. She is my mother’s maternal grandmother. Or, another way, my mother’s mother’s mother. This great woman and her husband of almost 60 years (my great grandfather passed away about 20 years ago) started their very own empire of descendants. They have 4 children, 31 grandchildren, 84 great grandchildren, and (at last count) 28 great-great grandchildren --- with more on the way! Add in spouses, step children, and significant others and you can imagine what a crowd showed up to celebrate the event of the century.

I have never met so many complete strangers that are my blood relatives! While I was growing up we pretty much stuck to the closer family (like most people do, I think). We would see my parents’ siblings and their children, and maybe a great aunt or great uncle at Easter or Christmas. The “family” celebrations never reached beyond to second or third cousins. It was quite mind-boggling to meet my mother’s cousins and their children, then “do the math” (so to speak) about what our relationship is. Better yet, what their relationship to my children is. I think we got as far as my fourth cousins, which would be my children’s fifth cousins, if you can believe it!

Yes, I even got a picture of me and my husband, our kids, my mother, my grandmother, and the lady of honor my great grandmother. Five generations in one place at one time.

At one point I was approached by one of my mother’s cousins. I had written my maiden name on my name tag so that people would know which part of the family I belonged to. This particular cousin, however, had not seen my mom since she was 10 years old and he did not know her married name (my maiden name). He said, with a smile, that he would only know me by my mother’s maiden name because that is how he remembers her. Wow! Talk about family you haven’t seen in a while.

We all exist because of the love between Great Grandma and Great Grandpa T. They started their own thread of life which we continue and pass on to the next generation. Imagine all the lives that have been affected, the new lives created, and the deeds accomplished. I am proud to be part of such an amazing legacy!

P.S. For those of you who are waiting with baited breath for the next chapter in the Saga of my complicated life, you will have a wait a little longer for the next installment. "Chapter 4: The House" will not be completed until next week...at least, I hope that's when it ends...it is out of my control, but trust me the story will be well worth the wait!

Chapter 3: 2006 Job Hunt

noreply@blogger.com (CN) — Fri, 10 Nov 2006 17:41:00 +0000

We will always remember the year 2006 for two reasons. One, our daughter was born – a great blessing. Two, it has been the year of trials. I would like to say the year of trials and triumph, but that last part has not happened yet.

In January 2006, H was fired from his job at the title company. For a couple months we had already been struggling with making our mortgage payments and, to us, the job loss was a sign. We immediately started to sell the house. (Much more on that later…it’s another loooooong story…)

This was our first experience with unemployment. Naturally, H looked for work. His first step was to call all the people he knew and see if they were hiring. H’s uncle manages a sales department of a title company. At first, H did not think he wanted to get back into title insurance. He thought that he would just call it quits and find something else to do. But, he’s not a very patient man and within two weeks he thought he was desperate and he took a job working one of the sales territories under his uncle. My determined husband made the 50 mile drive to and from his territory every day, often times not getting home until it was time to put the kids in bed. The drive was too much, and he missed so much family time that in April we decided to move closer to the territory. (The house had not sold yet, but, remember, that is another story.)

Just a few weeks after we moved, H told me that he was quitting the title company to take a job selling gold. I was quite shocked. After all, we had moved so that we could be closer to his work. The new position he was taking was 30 miles away in heavy traffic. After quite a bit of discussion, I decided to back off and let my husband make the decision. He lasted two weeks at that job. Why did he quit? Because he cannot hard sell. (Title insurance sales is mostly based on having a good relationship with the client. You get the business because the other person likes you. The gold sales were over the phone and it required a pushy, hard sales tactic that H could not muster in order to be successful.)

This was round two of unemployment. H could not go back to his uncle. He had decided that he was done with real estate and that the market would not support him at this time. So, the job hunt began. We discovered a scam company that claims it helps you get a high paying job at the postal service. (Of course, we discovered that it was a scam AFTER they had taken our money.) H decided to go to bartending school thinking that he could surely get a good job, with great tips. The school even offered a placement service. Well, he finished school, learned a lot, and then learned that reputable high traffic bars will only hire people with high traffic experience. No-go on that one. But, the school did place H with a party staffing company. He worked private and corporate parties as a server and a bartender while looking for full time employment.

Once again, H is not a very patient man. After about 4 weeks he panicked again. That is when our landlord called and asked H to work for him selling payroll. H thought this was a great idea, after all, the guy was offering a salary, not just commission like most sales positions. That was in July.

While working for the payroll company, H had to continue working parties on the weekends in order to make ends meet. Even so, we had to take some money out of savings each month to pay a few bills. We feel blessed to have our savings account left over from the “good days” of title insurance.

Four months after starting in payroll, at the end of October, H’s boss decided that H wasn’t cutting it. H tells me (and I believe him) that he and the owner have different approaches to sales. H feels that his bosses approach is unethical and he refuses to adopt this manner of business. Meanwhile, the boss felt that H was not doing everything he could to secure new business.

And, gosh darn it, October was the first month we finally broke even on the income. We did not need to pull out of savings to pay any bills, then the hammer drop of unemployment.

So, that leaves us where we are now. Unemployed for the third time this year. My husband and I have had many conversations lately and I think that now he realizes that a good job will just be given to him overnight. He seems to finally be realizing this and his approach to a career change is looking good. No more sales for us! It is time for stability, regularity, and dependability. If that means that it takes 2 or 3 or 4 months to find the right position, then so be it. Meanwhile, H continues to serve and bartend at parties to make some income. It does not pay all the bills, but it helps enough to keep us going until he find the right career position.

Please pray for us during this difficult time.