To Be (Blond) or Not To Be

While growing up I have always struggled with my curly hair. I hated it when I was a teen. Somewhat disliked it when I got a little older. Now I find it okay, but would prefer to wear it straighter.

But I have never had any issues with the color of my hair. (Well actually once I dyed it red when I was getting over a devastating break-up with my first boyfriend. It looked pretty good too, until my hair started growing out and the roots were blond and the rest wasn't.) Anyhow, lately my daughter has been telling me that she likes me, but doesn't like my hair color. She mentions it several times a week. Tonight Katie turned to Rob at the dinner table and said to him, "Daddy, I like the color of your hair."

I was contemplating getting light blond highlights in my hair, the ones that look like I've been hanging out at the beach all summer. But now I'm wondering if darker would look better?

Nah, I don't want dark hair. It's dark enough as it is. Maybe I will go for those sunny highlights!

Last week Jonathan said it looked like I have gray hair....Sigh!

Looking Forward to Friday!

It's been an interesting week. Tomorrow my second listing is supposed to close. Unfortunately I am learning the realities of Real Estate early on...

Anything can come up to interfere in a transaction.

That is what's happened this week. I am not certain that this transaction is going to actually close tomorrow, or at all. Each day is a waiting game. Basically some things came up in the transaction that will make it hard for the title to clear. (That's real estate lingo that means something isn't right and the Buyers aren't going to go for it.) My wonderful Principal Broker, who with his vast experience and slick negotiating skills, is trying to work out a deal. While he has been doing that, I've been praying for God to help in this situation. I'm excited to see what happens tomorrow.

I've been on the phone a lot today trying to find people interested in using my services. It is the hardest part of the job for me. I hate calling people up. I'd rather have people come to me. So...if you know of anyone who could use the services of a great real estate agent, please send them my way. (I think I have mentioned this before in my blog, but it bears repeating again.)

Tomorrow the kids have a day off from school! I am excited because we can sleep in and not rush around in the morning. What a treat! Sometime I wish school didn't start until 9:30 every morning. I would love to sleep in every day if I could.

I Don't Wanna Be a Techno Wimp

I like technology. I think the things that we have these days are great. However, I am not very techno savvy. I am usually riding 3 to 5 years behind the wave. I don't have an i-pod or an mp3 player (I wouldn't know what to do with one if I had one). I can't envision myself wearing a bluetooth headset. I just recently got myself a palm centro (it's like a palm pilot, but also a phone.) I only use it for making phone calls, even though it is equipped to do internet things and videos and synchronizing with my computer.

Starting this blog several months ago was a big step for me. I like it! So today I took another leap and joined Facebook. The funny thing is, I have no clue what to do on Facebook. I think I need someone to come and teach me. When I get on the site I feel lost. I'm not quite sure what a "wall" is, and I don't know how to do anything. So...I humbly admit my weaknesses, and ask for some help from any of you.

I NEED Chocolate Today...

It's just been one of those days... A handful of Hershey's chocolate kisses would be great right now. (or maybe a bagful.) I have been dealing with difficult children today, my own. I just got a cold last night, so I don't feel good, and my darling kids are not being very darling today.

I can't believe that my son would rather spend an hour fussing and fighting with me about making his lunch for school tomorrow instead of doing it right away and then having time to play. And my daughter would rather spend time in the time out chair than giving a toy back to her brother. I guess I don't understand kids!

Saturday Summary

I had a fun day today. We went to the Teddy Bear Parade in downtown Gresham this morning. Katie and I sat and watched the parade while Jonathan and Rob were in the parade with Jonathan's classmates. The Montessori school had a spot in the parade. Jonathan rode his bike. (I will have to post pictures later.) I think he had a fun time.

Later on in the day I took Jonathan to Target to get a birthday present for a party we are going to tomorrow. Nothing like shopping at the last minute! He had a blast looking at all of the toys. I picked out what we were going to get his friend. He just looked at each and every toy and said, "Oh Mom, look at this! Look at this! This one is neat too! Wow, this is neat..." I'm embarrassed to say that half of the stuff he looked at was in the "girl aisle". While at Target I noticed that they were having a 75% off sale on back to school items. I was able to get Jonathan a new backpack for just under $4! He needed one too. I also got he and Katie new lunch boxes for $3 each. These were things I wanted to get before school started but didn't have the money for. What a blessing to find them so cheap today! On the way home Jonathan couldn't thank me enough for the backpack and lunch box. He was so happy and lovey-dovey! At home he even told Katie that he loved her!!! I couldn't believe my ears!

Tonight Rob and I went out to the movies. We saw the new movie called Fireproof. It was a good movie. If you want to know what the movie is about check out the website http://fireproofthemovie.com. I am not that up for describing the movie right now. I'm kind of tired. If you end up seeing it, let me know. I'd love to hear what you think of it.

Learning A Lot in Real Estate

Well, if any of you went to the garage sale this weekend looking for all of the kids clothes that I had to sell, you probably noticed that the clothes weren't there. That's because I had NO time to even take a glance at the boxes of clothes let alone do something with them for the sale this weekend. Oh well, I will try to sell them some other way.

I am still in the midst of the Sandy home sale. Doing the run-around with lenders who want to take their own sweet time, not really thinking about the needs of others. I was told on Wednesday that I would be receiving a fax within 24 to 48 hours, and as of this morning, I still hadn't received it. On Friday when I called to check on the status of the fax they said I should be receiving it soon. Hmmm...

I had my first experience with taking Buyers to look at a home and them having an argument in front of me today. Now that was interesting. Guess I am going to have to learn what to do when that happens again. (Because I'm sure it will.) I felt a little awkward to say the least.

But I love my job still. I have a great time with the other agents in my office. I've had a full week. Somewhat stressful, but fun too.

Where I've Been

It's been several weeks since my last post. I wish I could tell you I've been basking on the warm sands of some tropical island. But I have not. I have been deep in the chaos of my home and life. It's a fun chaos though, although a bit busier than I can handle.

Jonathan and Katie both started school several weeks ago. Jonathan is in 1st Grade and Katie is going to Preschool two mornings a week. They both like it. Katie's teacher is Mrs. Strong, but with the way Katie talks she calls her Mrs. Pong. Jonathan doesn't like going to the after school care program at his school, so we have some pretty big crying spells on the day he has to stay late. That is hard for me.

I closed my first transaction at my job, and I was very excited! To celebrate we headed to the Golden Arches (I let the kids choose where they wanted to have our celebration dinner) and I splurged and bought myself a milkshake with our meal. I hope in 5 years from now my pay day celebration meals will be a bit fancier! Anyhow, I am in the very middle of another transaction. It is definitely a learning experience. After this home sells I won't have any more listings, so I will need to find some more ready and willing clients. If any of you know someone interested in buying or selling, send them my way. (Please)

We had a yard sale on Saturday, which was a ton of work! We had quite a few people come, but not enough. We still have lots of stuff left. We are going to take it to a friend's garage sale this weekend in hopes that we can sell off more of it. I've got 8 large boxes of kids clothes for sale. Rob is selling at least 100 books. Then we have the usual assortment of rare and eclectic items for sale as well. Let me know if you want info on where the sale will be this weekend.