I'm Back...

I've decided to start blogging again. It's been 3 and a half months, wonder if anyone will notice that I'm back?

Summer was fun. We went on a vacation as a family, which we hadn't ever done before. We spent 4 days at Yachats, which is on the coast near Newport. We had a great time.

After nine months without a paycheck, I finally closed some home sales in June, July and early September. It is nice to not only help others with their real estate needs, but to get paid too! My real estate business has had its ups and downs, but I'm hanging in there.

I've enjoyed my kids a lot this summer. They've been so fun. (Trying at times, too, but also fun.)

Here are some photos to share:

Here's the Scoop!

After catching up on my friends' blogs, I realize that I am not the only one who has put off blogging for some time. Whew! I guess spring is a busy time for everyone! Mainly what I was going to blog about what how Real Estate is going.

Let's see...my last paycheck was October 11th. (That right there should tell you a lot!) I have two different clients that I have written offers up for that are waiting to hear back if they are accepted because they are short sales (that dreaded word that brings shivers up and down the spines of all but the strongest of Realtors). Hearing back on short sales can take up to several months. One of those buyers is someone who walked in while I was at the office on a Saturday, visiting from Las Vegas, wanted to find some river front property. I gave him some printouts of possible places and on the following Monday I showed one to he and his wife. They came back to the office and wrote up a cash offer! I can't wait for this to go through.

I have also been trying to sell three homes. My most popular listing, the fixer on almost an acre in Boring, (which brought in calls almost daily), ended up being foreclosed on because the seller and the lender could not work out a deal together. (Another short sale situation.) One other listing is also a short sale (deep sigh), and I have been waiting three weeks now for the final approval-which has taken them months to even get to that point. I'm about to strangle someone at US Bank! I'm afraid the buyers for this house are going to give up waiting and find a different house. Actually that already happend for this house--these are the second set of buyers. My third listing has been a puzzle. I thought it would be a simple home to sell. But it is proving to be otherwise. It's a good price for a starter home, but for some reason I am not getting much activity on it. I'm hoping we don't have to reduce the price further.

Last week, when I was the broker on duty I received a call from an agent in West Linn who had a buyer interested in a home in Sandy. They passed the buyer on to me because they didn't want to come out to Sandy. So I showed this family a few homes and it looks like possibly next week I might help them write up an offer on a home that they like! Yeah!

Real Estate life is definitely a roller-coaster kind of job. I am having fun on most days. I am learning so much, too. I hope I can just make it through this difficult time soon so that I can pay my bills, and my babysitters!

A Little About Katie

May already? I really need to post more often. Trying to catch up for the last month is impossible. One fun thing to share is Katie's recent birthday. She turned 4 last Monday. We have a tradition of breakfast in bed on our birthdays, so here is Katie just moments after we woke her up. Then, I took the day off and took her to Starbucks for hot chocolate. We met Christine and Daylynn there. She got to go play at Daylynn's house for a few hours too. I also took her to my office for a few minutes so I could print out some color flyers. Susan, our receptionist put her birthday on the reader board outside for everyone to see on HWY 26.

Katie got quite a few books for her birthday. She LOVES books! My mom made her a neat quilt too. It is made from "Brown Bear, Brown Bear" material. It looks so cute. I don't have a picture of it yet to post, but I will try to take one.

Katie is also enjoying climbing trees now. It makes me very nervous, but she sure loves it! I usually stand right near her incase she should slip. I can't believe how fast she is growing up!

Where did the month go?

I've just spent the last 45 minutes catching up on all my friend's blogs. Instead of commenting on each of them, I'll just let you know that I enjoyed hearing about what has been going on for each of you. My job has been keeping me very busy and it is sad to think that I don't really have a lot to show for it yet. Sometimes I wonder if I'm crazy. Working hours and hours, weeks and weeks, and not making any money. I'm hopeful it won't always be this way, though.

I've had a lot of roller coaster emotional moments this last month, too. Some ups, lots of downs. As I neared my 1 year anniversary at John L Scott (March 11th), I seriously contemplated whether to continue on. Yet, I'm still hanging in there. (thanks to Rob's encouragement. I think he'd like me to make the big bucks so that he can stay home and be the "home-maker").

So, in case any of you wondered if I had fallen off the face of the earth, I haven't. I'm still here. Trying to balance (if one can) family, work, friends, volunteering, housekeeping, blogging, returning people's phone calls and e-mails....(sorry for any of you that I didn't respond to recently.)

February 27th 2002

That's the day my baby boy was born. He's turning 7 on Friday. I thought it would be fun to put in some photos of him. The early baby pictures aren't on the computer, so these pictures are from 18 months on...Enjoying the beach. Giving his little sister a hug.

All of his animals.

Taking his bear, Fred, for a hike.

Proud cookie maker!

First day of 1st Grade.

I could go on and on. There are so many fun pictures of my boy. Hope you enjoy them too!

This is an I Don't Think I Will Ever Be Able to Catch Up Post

The days are whizzing by...I have been working a lot, and trying to manage being a wife, mother and housekeeper as well. I've been tired. The kids have been sick. Katie has had a cold for over a week, (Jonathan almost a week), and today Katie started throwing up. Jonathan went to school one day last week (Friday), I only worked two days.

That kinda sums it up.

I did enjoy just sitting on the couch holding my girl today. Sick kids bring out the nuturing in me. She looked so pitiful. I'm hoping tomorrow is a better day for her--and that we don't get what she's got.

"Rock On!"

A fun thing happend to me on Tuesday. At our weekly Sales Meeting I received a trophy. It was in recognition of getting a major price reduction on one of my listings that needs to sell soon. It is actually this silly little statue of a hand doing the "rock on" sign. When fellow agents walk past my office, they give me the "rock on" sign as encouragement. (This happens to be a new motivational technique that one of our principal brokers has come up with.) And indeed, it has been a fun and encouraging week.

Showing Homes

Today was a fun day. I got to take some friends out to look at homes (you know who you are). I LOVE looking at houses. Maybe that is one reason why I got into real estate. Maybe that is also why I have been the one to instigate moving each time we bought a house!

Anyhow, since I was with friends, I took the kids along with me. (One great perk about this job is the flexibility. I would never take my kids with me when going out with clients I don't know.) So Jonathan and Katie got to hang out with me.

The first house was very interesting...a major fixer. The second house was also very interesting...a total dump (the house was loaded with stuff.) Trust me, if you want to SELL your home, clean it up first, and get rid of clutter.

The third house was cute inside, but you could scratch the back of the neighbor next door through your window. The fourth house was okay. The 5th house was a lot more promising. We were going to look at a sixth home, but I forgot to call the realtor ahead to get the key. We'll try again.

All this time the kids are doing great, mine and theirs. Jonathan is going to be a great salesman someday. I should take notes from him. As we were leaving the third house he turned to my friends and said, "So far, I think this is the house you are looking for." What a line! Maybe I'll use it on other clients! Maybe I should just bring him with me when showing homes. He is very cute and charming!

Catch Up Post

Rob's mom was with us for Christmas this year. The kids really enjoyed that. She actually drove up here from San Jose several days before Christmas (in all the snow)!

Jonathan and Katie had a great Christmas break, and holiday. It was so much fun to play in the snow, and just hang out at home as a family. For Christmas, we gave Jonathan a Magic set. He absolutely loves it. He has been trying to practice all the tricks and gives performances to everyone who comes to our house. Katie got some fun gifts too, but the thing I will remember the most is something she said while opening a gift from my parents. One of the gifts my parents gave Katie was new "Princess" underwear. Katie could not contain her excitement. As she unwrapped each individual pantie, she would exclaim, "Look, I got bigger underwear!" Now that is not something you would hear most women say, that's for sure!

My Christmas gift from Rob's dad just arrived today. It got lost somehow with all the crazy weather, and UPS not delivering in the snow. According to the tracking information on the internet, the package arrived in Portland on Dec. 24th. Hmmm. Well, I'm happy it has arrived. (It's a gift card to Bed, Bath & Beyond.) Can't wait to go shopping.

Jonathan is back to school, Katie is back to her routine with the sitters, and Rob and I are back to work. It's good to be back. I'll have to add pictures to my next blog post.

Today's Numbers

0-How many times I went outside today.

4-How many times Rob went outside today (to take care of our chickens, and for other reasons).

8-How many steps Jonathan took outside before he turned around and came back in the house because the snow was too deep.

2-How many steps are now showing leading up to our front porch (out of 5).

5-How many people I saw walking on the street in front of our house today.

10-How many snow mobiles drove past our house today. (Now that's the way to go!)

25-The number of laps Jonathan ran around the inside of our house.

55-The number of books Katie "read" to herself.

15-The number of books Katie wanted me to read to her.

20-The number of times I sat down to rest and then remembered something that I needed to do right away.

8-The number of times I sat down to rest and then two children climbed up on me to be tickled.

1-The number of times I sat down to rest and actually rested.

100-The number of times I blew my nose today (this stupid cold!)

45-The number of times Katie asked me what was wrong, and if I was sick.

24-The number of times Jonathan sneezed and I had to remind him to get a tissue.

1-Train set around our Christmas tree.

20-Days it will probably stay out.

2-Map makers planning where to put the other train track around the house. (I will keep you posted on this.)

9-Days that I have been enjoying this winter weather. It's been a lot of fun!

25 Hours Without Kids

We were able to take Jonathan and Katie over to my parent's house yesterday afternoon so that they could stay overnight. That is always a treat for them, as well as for Rob and I. So how have we been enjoying our 25 hours without kids?

I had a raging headache all day yesterday, which did not go away until late this morning. (I still have a slight headache.)

We ventured out to the craft store and to the bank after dropping off our kids.

Had a quiet dinner together (of breakfast cereal since I didn't feel good).

Went for a very fun drive through the area looking at Christmas lights. The homes look so fun in the snow!

Foot massages!!!

Sleeping in until 9:00 (for me). Mostly because of my headache.

Watching the snow blow around and feeling so glad that I can be inside where it is warm.

Rob and I working on our own individual projects around the house. It's amazing how much more you can get done when all persons under 7 years of age are not present!

We were hoping that maybe the kids could get snowed in at my parents so we could get another day home alone, but they only live 3 miles away, so that's not going to happen. (Plus they have a huge 4-wheel drive truck that I'm sure could handle the snow if we can't pick them up. sigh.) I guess I'll be grateful for what we got!

Snow Days!

We've been having a fun time at home on our snow days. We played out in the snow on Monday. (I made an incredibly good snowball throw at Rob, that left him with snow stuck in his glasses!) We've been working on a fun wintery puzzle.

Today the kids and I made things from flour and salt dough. We'll paint our creations tomorrow. They are going to be gifts for the grandparent's.

It's been fun having Rob home every day too. We celebrated our 13th anniversary yesterday.

The Twelve Days of Christmas

Rob and I finally discovered why there are 12 Days of Christmas. That's how long it takes to decorate!

Day one (Tuesday evening): Pick up toys in living room, vacuum and then move the furniture around and around to make a space for the tree.

Day two (Wednesday evening): Jonathan and Katie help me hang up glitter covered snowflakes around the house, and colored tinsely garland on the stairs. After dinner we put "together" the tree.

Day three (this evening): We can't figure out how we managed to plug in the Christmas tree lights last year because our outlet has only two holes, and we have a three-pronged plug. After Rob spends 10 minutes rearranging cords and such, I begin winding my way around the tree. First, a string of colored lights. (Jonathan wants the tree to have colored lights, but that is the only sting we have.) Next, a string of white lights. Next...string numbers 3, 4, and 5 all don't work! That's all we have for tree lights. Since it is bedtime by this point, and the kids are begging to decorate the tree, we let them decorate the parts that already have lights on them. So the bottom half of our tree is decorated, but the top half is still bare.

We still have 9 more days to decorate!

Thanksgiving Fun

We had a nice Thanksgiving. Grandpa Don, (Rob's Dad) was up for a visit. He lives in California. With him came model trains and train track. So our home became transformed on Thursday into a Railroad Layout. Jonathan and Rob had fun setting up things too. The track went around the house-through the entry, dining room, kitchen and then into the living room.

Katie watched them set up the train. When she tired of that, she helped me in the kitchen. I was making my favorite dessert: Pumpkin Pie Cake. It turned out great! Here's a picture of Katie being cute.

Later in the afternoon we went to my Grandma's house for Dinner. We had a great time. Jonathan was very excited to entertain us during dessert. So he, Katie and their cousin Daylynn sang a few songs to us adults. They also did some very energetic dancing to music too. I think my son is going to be a performer when he grows up.

We finished the evening off by playing a rousing game of Yahtzee. Jonathan's first time playing it.

I am very thankful for my family!

Copy Cat #4

Something fun I copied from my friends' blogs: Just to get in the Christmas mood

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Wrapping Paper

2. Real tree or Artificial? Artificial (I’ve had spider issues in the past with real trees)

3. When do you put up the tree? As soon as possible after Thanksgiving!

4. When do you take the tree down? Rob insists we keep it up until Epiphany (Jan. 6th)

5. Do you like eggnog? Nope!

6. Favorite gift received as a child? Possibly my Cabbage Patch Baby

7. Hardest person to buy for? My Dad and Brother

8. Easiest person to buy for? My Mom, and my kids

9. Do you have a nativity scene? Yes, we got a really nice one for our wedding. We also have a playmobile set for the kids

10. Mail or email Christmas cards? Mail—on the years that I do send them out.

11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? I can’t think of one off hand.

12. Favorite Christmas Movie? It’s a Wonderful life

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? Usually last minute—Sometime in December

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? I don’t think so.

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Fudge, and some cookies that I make that have an almond flavor

16. Lights on the tree? yes

17. Favorite Christmas song? O Holy Night

18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? Travel a few miles to my family’s home

19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer's? Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner, Blitzen, Roudolf---only when I sing the beginning of the Rudolph song.

20. Angel on the tree top or a star? Star

21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? I grew up opening them on Christmas eve, but now we do it on Christmas morning

22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year? Advertising consists of Buying, Buying, Buying!

23. Favorite ornament theme or color? I don’t have one

24. Favorite for Christmas dinner? We’ve always had different things for dinner each year.

25. What do you want for Christmas this year? Money to help me pay for my Real Estate bills!26. Who is most likely to respond to this? I'm not tagging anyone so whoever wants and easy way to post a blog!

Grace

I’ve been reading a great book. It is called Putting a Face On Grace. It’s written by Richard Blackaby (the son of Henry Blackaby (the guy who did the Experiencing God Bible Study).) This book has really given me some things to think about. How often do I forget the Grace that God has extended toward me? Many times! How often do I extend Grace toward others? Not as much as I could, I admit. Here’s an excerpt that I think does a good job communicating the premise of the book:

Grace: What It Is

Most Christians have a basic understanding of grace as the undeserved favor or mercy of God toward us. We know we have been saved by grace (Ephesians 2:8). But after salvation, many professing believers have little or no idea how grace impacts their daily lives. Grace is not a onetime gift from God. Because Christians continue to struggle with sin until the day they see Jesus face to face, we need God's grace every day of our lives. He continually supplies grace to His people in countless practical ways. Moreover--and this is where so many of us miss the point--He expects us to be channels of His grace to others.

We are not called to just bathe in grace; we are called to shower it upon others. Grace has not been fully experienced until it is fully expressed to others. The deeper our understanding of grace, the more we see the necessity of making it the fabric of our Christian life.

So, what do you think? I know that this book has really struck a chord with me. Not only am I trying to understand God’s grace toward me better but I am trying to be that grace to others. It’s not easy sometimes. Especially to members of my family. Understanding God’s grace and living it out has really deepened my worship of God. If you get a chance, try checking out this great book. (I got it from the Library). Let me know what your thoughts are.

Real Estate Update

I'm excited to say that I have two new listings! I am going to have my work cut out for me because they are both short sales. For those of you who aren't sure what a short sale is, it just means that the owners owe more on the house than they can sell it for. I will be doing quite a bit of negotiating with Lenders to see if they will reduce what is owed so the owners can sell their houses. (Short sales usually are not short in duration! They could take several months longer than a regular transaction.)

This is a neat job. I feel like I can make a difference in people's lives by helping them sell their homes. I really want my focus to be on helping my clients, not just making money.

More news later!

Halloween Fun!

Dressing up for Halloween is fun! Here are the Jonathan and Katie, with their cousin Daylynn.

We didn't do much on Halloween. We visited a few people, and had a yummy dinner at my parent's house. My mom made carmel apples! It was fun watching the kids trying to eat them.

Now the Jonathan and Katie are obsessed with CANDY! It's all they want. I guess they got my sweet tooth!

Well I did it. I took a risk and not only decided to have my hair highlighted, but I went to the Mt. Hood Community College Hair Salon and had it done there! It was fun! I went with Heidi. She had her hair highlighted too. Her hair turned out absolutely stunning!

So here's a really gross picture of me before I left to get my hair done that morning. I washed my hair and let it dry naturally. I didn't even do my hair before I left. (How embarrassing!) The gal who did my hair is a student in the cosmetology program. She loves to do hair coloring. So she was pretty experienced at it. Afterwards she trimmed my hair and flat-ironed it straight. I looked like a different person when I walked out of there, as you'll see from my next photo.

I probably won't be wearing my hair this straight very often. It takes a long time to do (which is something that I don't have.) But it's fun to look this way for a few days. Once I wash my hair my curls will come back. I like the highlights too. They are subtle, but give me a feeling of newness.

I'd highly recommend going to the college's hair salon. They do a good job for a great price! Check them out:http://www.mhcc.edu/pages/2951.asp

Big Celebration!

My second transaction closed today!! This one was a lot harder than the first one. I've learned a lot. I took a huge sigh of relief when I got the confirming phone call this afternoon. God has been so good to me and to the Sellers of this home. I'm absolutely sure that He brought just the right Buyers to this house. They were so accommodating and patient with all the rigamorole.

Now on to the next transaction....hopefully soon!