Parents are not the enemy!

I am on both sides of the education triangle. Jamie is in first grade and Mike is a tenth grade World History  teacher.

For some reason there has been a rallying cry against teacher for the past several years. It's as if much of society sees teachers as lazy souless drones just going in and getting a paycheck for standing or sitting in a room with their students and not teaching them properly.  I know all too well how hard teachers work. I get it, I really do, I am married to one after all. He works from 6:30 am until at least 4 pm every day and then spends most nights working for several more hours. He sometime spends all night grading papers, writing lesson plans and preparing for the myriad of demands put on him not only by his own administration, but by the county, the state and national standards and personnel; and of course the demands of his own high standards of not taking shortcuts. Ex all of his homework assignments require lots of knowledge even to grade the work. I have rarely been able to even help grade papers because of this. He doesn't have multiple choice or fill in the blank work.

Anyway, now that I have a first grader I find myself confronted by the personnel in the small elementary school where Jamie attends. I feel like they brace themselves against me and other parents. That we are the 'thorn in their paw'...that their jobs would be SO MUCH EASIER if we didn't come in to the office or make calls into the office.

WTH!?? This is so much a part of our world today. Nobody wants to deal with anyone else's crap.  There is no customer service anymore with phone trees, long lines for everything we buy and no individualized attention from anything from getting a mortgage approved to trying to locate something in the store at Walmart.

We are all islands swirling around each other trying to find our way...

OK I went WAYYYY off on a tangent here. Here is what happened last week at Jamie's school:

I volunteer in Jamie's classroom every Monday morning for a couple of hours. I help with lesson preparation by cutting and stapling, I sharpen pencils, and fix the teachers bulletin board, I even move around the classroom helping kids and redirecting them to do their work each week.

So the office personnel know me well. Well last week was Jamie's Daddy Daughter dance. And I forgot to bring in the money by the deadline which was last Monday. So I asked if I could possibly bring it in the next day as they don't take a check or credit card, it has to be cash or a money order. The lady told me they needed a count, and I assured her I would bring it in that next day so she said it would be ok.

Then they wouldn't accept it. The principal had laid down the law and wouldn't allow any late payments.

Ok I get it. They have rules. And rules shouldn't be broken apparently in any case. I stood there pleading my case to not only the two office ladies but the principal but they wouldn't budge. ("What is it a sit down dinner? Why can't you take late payments, it's a fund raiser...Etc etc"

I left feeling like they had won and I had lost.

I just think there is another way to treat parents. Would it really be a big deal to take late payments? Perhaps with some sort of penalty. Such as $5 more per ticket or you need to bring your own snacks and drinks. I am not saying I should get special treatment...I am saying all parents should be accommodated if it's possible. Come on who's it going to hurt...and you know it just may help a kid and isn't that what it should be all about?

So Jamie missed her Daddy Daughter Dance.

Ok that is my rant for today.

My lovely Aunt Elaine

 My Sweet aunt Elaine is one of my favorite people in the world. Pictured above in snapshots from earlier times). She moved down to Florida about 8 years ago  with her husband Nelson- she lives on the other side of the state from me. She moved into a older adult mobile home community and she is the social maven of the neighborhood. She has card or board games at her house frequently, keeps a beautiful creatively eclectic house and is so much fun to be around.

She just found out she has stage four liver cancer. She was acting like she didn't mind. That she wouldn't pursue treatment. Apparently there is a chance for her with a liver transplant.

I hope it happens.

My daughter has had the occasion to be around her only once since she was a baby. She visited us at the beach condo we rented the summer Jamie was five and Jamie LOVED her. Aunt Elainedrew in the sand with Jamie, ran through the waves with Jamie and just generally cut up and stole my baby's heart. The cutest video ever of my sweet Aunt Elaine talking baby talk to my baby is here. Go see it and see how sweet she is...http://youtu.be/bDJqj7IyoBw

Pray for her...I love her so.

Nail fun

Source: blognailedit.blogspot.com via Ariana on Pinterest

I have been playing with nail art a bit. Jamie is rabid about fingernail painting. She had lost her privileges for 2 months (Until she was 7) and now that she is seven she has the privilege back. I did flowers on our nails last weekend. Mine lasted until today, hers lasted  not even one day.

Tonight Jamie went on an overnight visit to her good friend Emily's and Mike went to see Lincoln so I had a delicious night home alone. (Is it wrong to enjoy having the house to myself!?) And since I worked today and yesterday, yes another weekend working both days, but I still love it! I felt I deserved a 'me night'.

Love this design above but I don't have white. So I found this design online of rainbow animal prints.

Worked ok on the left hand (using my right hand to do it) but when doing the right hand it messed up a bit.The above photos is from this site  - http://www.sheknows.com/

OK this was my first attempt at the rainbow animal print nails. It was fun but they sure aren't perfect. For one thing I need black for the lines and spots but not bad for my first attempt eh?

Realtor Graduate Institute

I am learning how to be a better Realtor. Today I sat all day in class learning and listening to part one of 6 days of the GRI Course. There are three parts to get the designation of GRI and I am one 18th of the way through it. LOL

As a new agent we have to complete 45 hours of post licensing classes the first two years and my first two years will be up this year. I could have just taken the 45 hour class for much less ($130 instead of $380) but it wouldn't have given me any credit towards any of the many designations that are available for Realtors.

Here are a few of the many accreditations available for Realtros today. Yup - Alphabet Soup.
GRI = Graduate of Real Estate Institute 
ABR = Accredited Buyer Representative 
CRS = Certified Residential Specialst 
SRES = Senior Real Estate Specialist
CIPS(Certified International Property Specialist) 

I hope I will be able to get some of these as I feel it does make me look like more of a professional and knowing more helps my confidence level. You have to have confidence to do this job.

If you are a regular reader here tell me what you do to improve yourselves both professionally and personally. It's a new year after all.

Modern pants don't fit

Ok a little New Years Moaning...

My figure just doesn't fit well in these new pants that are cut low. My hips and butt are slim but I guess it's my tummy which has never been flat and is now beyond that possibility probably forever. I know, I know they call them 'Mommy Jeans' - the ones I feel more comfortable in that come up to your belly button or at least close. These that are cut low often fall off of me unless I cinch them tight with a belt and that's not always comfortable. What's up with that? Disclaimer -This isn't me or my belly...

It did occur to me that I have lost a bit of weight this year and maybe have moved down a size. I went out and tried on several pairs of pants in fourteens instead of sixteens and I loved how the smaller sized jean fit me until I tried to wear a knit top and my 'muffin' roll was too unsightly above the pants....

Christmas was great, but now I want to sleep until 8:30 or nine every day! Me and my family both slept in until 9 today and I had a 10 am appointment and Jamie had gym at the same time. Wish we were of the upper class nobility as in Downton Abbey where we didn't know what a weekend was. Where all days would be long and lanquid and filled with fun and relaxation.

I wish my body didn't feel so old. I use a heating pad every night and get a massage at least every other week. My bones are aching...(I was recently diagnosed with arthritis in my back. Not sure what that means other than - My bones are aching). Losing weight may help both with this issue and the pants not fitting, what do you think?

I wish selling real estate was easier or should I say simpler. I haven't had one 'gimme' deal. Every single one of the six deals that closed and the 12 or so others I wrote that are either in pending or where never accepted has been complicated and learning experiences. I am grateful that I was able to close 6 houses at over a million in production however as many new agents don't get this far. I am hoping to at least double my production and have 12 deals at 2 million for 2013. Today was a small snapshot of the ups and downs of the business. I met a new buyer at a house that her offer was accepted between the holidays this morning for a home inspection. The house was built in the 20s and is charming and lovely (Pictured above). It needs lots of structural work done though, both to shore up the foundation, replace the outer walls as well as some electrical and plumbing to the tune of probably $30,000. She may or may not move forward with this particular home purchase. Leaving the home inspection I met another customer who I just talked to yesterday for the first time who wanted to see one house. She liked it and made an offer today. We  have already countered to their counter offer and are waiting to see if they accept.

Ahhh Real estate. I love this job and nobody ever said it would be easy!!

The Demise of Detroit

My Great-Grandma lived on Marlborough St in Detroit off of Jefferson and Chalmers on the East Side of the city near the border of Gross Point. When I was a young girl in the sixties and seventies we would go to her house for our family gatherings. She was the matriarch over four generations and our group was normally   about forty people or so. Her large house offered plenty of room for at least 12 at the dining room table and several more 'kids' tables set up in the living room and kitchen.

Speaking of the four generations: When I was 12 I announced to my mom I would have to have a baby girl when I was 20, because each generation in our family began with the birth of a first child/grandchild when the mother was 20 years old. My mom was 20 when she had me, my grandma was 20 when she had mom and Great Grandma was 20 when she had my Grandma.

My mom was horrified to hear of my pronouncement of motherhood at 20. She pulled the car over to a skidded stop on the side of the road to shake her finger at me and shreik "You will NOT have kids at 20! You will go to college and travel and do the things you want to do before you get married and have kids!"

Anyway back to Detroit. My Great Grandmother passed away in the seventies at the age of 76. She had long ago moved away to a Detroit suburb but the house she presided over her brood in still survives. And in the City of Detroit that is no small miracle. Many, many houses have been torn down or are still standing, as burned out shells of their former homeyness. 

It's a barn shaped house, and there are two empty lots to one side of it. (Pictured above) The next street over where my other great grandmother lived has only four houses left on the block she lived on.

There is a mega company wanting to buy 146 acres of Detroit city. They claim they will tear down all the structures that are abandoned and unsafe and plant a tree farm in all the empty lots. This is happening very near to a lovely old neighborhood named Indian Village which has even larger and more beautiful homes. Some say they are waiting to profit from the land grab someday when the economy shifts and Detroit emerges from the desolation it is experiencing now.

I sure hope it emerges. Detroit was a lovely city when I was a little girl. We had Boblo Island - an amusement park you would take a ferry to get to. Lots of people had boats, I went out on boats alot and loved the water. We had lots of lakes and the River and of course the great lakes. Detroit had lots of sports teams and culture - great punk and new wave bands never missed coming to Detroit for concerts. I lived in the suburbs during the riots and we continued to move to the outer belt of suburbia in search of a cleaner and safer way of life along with better schools for my brother and I. We grew up 30 miles west of Detroit in Plymouth- we moved there from Dearborn, which was just outside of the Detroit border, when I was four years old.

I later moved to Detroit as a young adult to rent houses at a more affordable rate than Plymouth would extend to a young single. I think our first house rent was only $350/month. The house was on the westside of the city near Five Mile and Lahser. We got robbed twice the first 2 months we lived there. The day after Christmas they broke in and stole our brand new TV. Four weeks later when we had replaced the TV they broke in again and this time took everything- TV's, Leather Jackets, my Iron, My entire Jewelry Box, a brand new custom pool cue with Ivory Inlay.

We moved to another house in Detroit where I was threatened a couple of times - one time verbally and another by a dead cat being thrown over the fence into our backyard. We immediately got two large dogs for protection. I never felt that safe there and moved back to the suburbs shortly thereafter.

Many hundreds of thousands have fled Detroit's crime and crumbling infrastructure. There were once almost two million people living in the city of Detroit during the boom years of the fifties when the automotive industry was flourishing and people flocked there for the well paying jobs.

Now there are only 700,000 remaining.

Many lots are empty, some entire neighborhoods have only a few homes remaining. 

Should Detroit keep supplying water, electricity, police and fire services to huge blocks of the city that only have a few houses remaining?

What is the answer? I sure don't know, but it's a sad situation.

I hope it can be resolved and Detroit and many other cities past their prime will live on to a second coming. Cites are the heart of our country. They are worth saving.

Check out this artist http://www.jamesgriffioen.net/index.php?/prairies/lost-neighborhoods/ James Griffioen - He has many photos of the Demise of Detroit - remember all of these photos are of city streets that were once filled with houses, stores and industries.

I have borrowed just two:

SPOOOOKTACUUUUUUUULAR!

This is an annual Halloween tradition for our family and the two families of her 2 besties from Preschool.

 It's an overpriced trip to the zoo, not to see animals but to see and be seen. And get a paltry amount of candy - I think the girls netted about 20 pieces of penny candy each. and it isn't cheap - $30 for a family of three. But my girl shines at night and she loves the dancing and comradery.  The dancing photos are to the song 'Thriller' by Michael Jackson. Apparently she has been YouTubing him and she had all the moves down.

We also do a Christmas outing with them at this place called Winter Wonderland that has fake snow which amazes our Florida born kids and a toboggan run and ice rink.

I am glad we have kept in contact with these two families as the girls have moved on to separate elementary schools. Now they are talking about a Spring Cruise. Not sure we can swing that as a new Realtor really doesn't bring in the big bucks! Let's see what the next few months brings and hope we acn pull it off.

Coldness

First - 
the Weather

When we left today we both needed sleeves and more. This is an exciting time here in Northeast Florida as we have months of days in the nineties. Both of us had light sweaters and really couldve used light jackets as it was about 50 degrees when we left the house. BRRRRRR

Feels good to put on cozy PJ's tonight. There will be no more pool time until April so that's kind of sad. Too bad we can't afford to heat the pool but our electric bill is already between $300 and $400  a month.

We are thinking we need to replace the back wall in our living room which is a 'wall of windows'. Windows from 1959 that are single paned and not at all energy efficient. Do we really want to refinance or get a home equity loan though? The rates are really low right now so this is probably a good time to do it.

2nd - 6 year old naughtiness

Now what to do about Jamie's talk talk talkiness.

She hasn't fared well in the First Grade Good Behavior department. Last yeat she had mostly 'E's or S Plus's for Excellent or Satisfactory plus behavior. This year has been alot of 'S'es and even some 'S' minuses. MOstly for talking and not focusing.

We have taken TV/Video screen priviledges which seems to really bother her. I also was going to let her get a new Abby Abominal (From Monster High) costume for Halloween if she got 10 'E's in all of September through the 3rd week of October and she managed to get 7. I almost caved and got her a different new costume at the Store closing sale this weekend.

Finally - K-Mart is going down I am afraid!

I have been telling my friends and family that K-Mart is probably going out of business if we all don't buck up and shop there once in a while. Sadly two more stores in our area are closing. This doesn't bode well for consumers. As we all know when there isn't competition there isn't enough incentive for prices to stay low. Or for stores to treat consumers as customers.

Think about shopping at the Big K at least once a month or more often if you can. We can't let the ENORMOUS W take over the world. Not just yet.

Crazy Hour and the hubby is 'unavailable'

Mike has been pretty 'unavailable' this fall because of being a teacher and being so bogged down with grades and lesson plans. Also because the school he is in is now failing or a 'D' school they have many layers of administration, school, district, state and federal...all seeming to have their own agendas and their own game plans for getting the school back on track.

All of which depend on the teacher to do all the work of couse. So...he spends most evenings down in the den working. Good thing right now I am not working with buyers who want to see anything at night right now.

Come to think of it I am not really 'working' actively with any buyers right now, they have all either actually bought something or changed their mind. I have one nurse who works nights who I have shown houses to but she is waiting for the deal of a lifetime so who knows if that will ever come to pass.

What is 'a deal of a lifetime' here in Northeast Florida right now in 2012? A red brick house that has at least four bedrooms and at least 2 bathrooms and at least 2400 sf with a garage and a large backyard for under $200,000.

I have another buyer I have been working with since June and they put an offer on a house on Friday. The seller countered only changing a couple minor things. They didnt respond to my calls today so they are making me nervous.

And I have a couple of deals on short sales which may not close until 2013. Short sales are when the seller owes more than the house is worth...so the negotiating process can take months. So you have a buyer in limbo not knowing if the bank will accept their offer.

Oh the joys of this career...I know it sounds like I am not enjoying it but I am...

To spend each day differently...To have to go outside and take photos or go see several houses...to do an Comparative Market analysis using my brain and my tech skills.To use my selling knowledge to talk with people and help them to the right decision. To make people happy both by selling their existing house or finding a new house or hopefully someday both sides of the transaction.

It's all very rewarding. I love what I do.

So I can't complain too much about Mike not being 'available'. At least I have a flexible career where I can be here with Jamie during the 'crazy hour'....You know the hours between getting dinner on the table and the kids in bed.

Off to read the bedtime story.

Sneakiness

I sleep with my Ipad. I have always been one to read before going to sleep. Now with my Ipad, I read a digitalized book on it rather than the old fashioned book with covers and paper pages. It's so much more comfortable, it's lit up, don't have to worry about how I hold it to the light etc etc.

So - the other night when I couldn't find my Ipad you can bet I kept looking for it...for more than an hour.
And funny thing was Jamie was still awake while I was looking for it. In fact I went in her room looking for it more than once.

Mike even stopped grading papers to join in on the hunt for at least 10 minutes. I grabbed a regular book and tried to read it...when it occurred to me that it was strange Jamie was still awake at 10pm. I had gone in there twice and she replied that she hadn't seen it.

Also it was strange that Jamie had wanted the door to be left open the last few nights with the hall light left one. We have been putting her to bed with the door closed since she came to us at four months old. All of a sudden hmmmmm....

I went into her room for a third time and she immediately said, "No mom it's not here, I don't have it." She was lying flat on her back and seemed to lean back into the bed harder.

Yup, she was lying on it...Hiding it.

She is being punished with no screen time...no Ipad, Iphone, Computer or tv for a week. Til next Thursday.

I allowed a little tv today, but only what I wanted to watch which was Haley Mills  in Pollyanna and The Parent trap.

She is jonesing for her screen time. (As I know I would)...But it feels like the right punishment for the crime.

I think so anyway...I am just so concerned about the lying and the sneakiness.

I killed Mickey

So I had some folks over for dinner and games on Sunday. (We are big board game geeks. We play European designed strategy games called Setters of Catan and Ticket to Ride). Anyway I had prepared a Roast beef by marinating it in my special marinade using garlic, EVOO, herbs, honey, vinegar, oil and ketchup.

I do my roasts on the grill outside indirectly...I turn the burner on one side and Put the roast over a 'grease pan' of tin foil on the other side and cook it like it's in the oven. It gives it a yummy taste and doesn't heat up the house, a biggie hear in always 90 Degree plus weather in the summer.

Anyway, I reached down and turned the gas on underneath, turned the burner on and flicked the ignitor...I heard some thumping around and opened it up to find a huge mouse in there...and he was burnt! He fell out and convulsed underneath until I screamed for Mike.

Mike had to take him off the side of the house and dispose of him. He had to drown him to put him out of his misery...

Gross I know...and believe it or not...after letting the grill bake off the grossness we went ahead and cooked the roast.

Hope that was enough to disinfect the mouseness off the grill...*SHUDDER* It was so gross!!

Skating is a lot harder than I remembered!

I took Jamie skating yesterday and boy am I sore today. I recently found out I have Osteopenia, a precursor to Osteoporosis. One of the things I need to do now is regularly do some 'Weight bearing exercises' Well I hate to run, Aerobics wrecked my feet (Heel spurs and Morton Neuroma) so walking is about it. Swimming, biking and rowing are all not considered weight bearing and those are my 'go to' exercises.

But Jamie had been begging to go skating, so I thought, skating sure seems like it's weight bearing, so off we went. She did pretty well, she had gone a month or so ago with our church group (While I was working) so this was her second time.

I however haven't skated since 2000 or so...My first time around the rink too about 6 or 8 minutes. But by the time 2 hours passed I was able to get around pretty quickly, even faster than Jamie.

It was fun...But I am a bit sore.

We have been walking the dog almost every day, and I need to add something fun to my routine. I am just not a zumba /dancercize type person. I am so uncoordinated! But I can get into the rhythm of skating so we may go more often.

I want to live a long healthy life. I don't want to be a painful cripple like my mom is and like my dad was the last years of his life. So I am taking my Calcium Citrate with D and trying to move this body...the weight bearing way.

I hear strong is the new skinny after all.

Putter uppers vs Leave Outters

I am constantly looking for something in this house. It doesn't help we have so much crap everywhere but often it has to do with my husband and his way of being a 'Putter Upper'. Put not putt. If he sees cupboard doors open he closes them, if he sees a lettuce bag on the counter he throws it away, if he sees a book he shoves it in the bookcase.

Often without thinking or even knowing he did it.

Where is that lettuce bag? I have washed the lettuce and it's been draining in the colander..Now its time to wrap back up in the lettuce bag (Did you know it keeps better in the original bag they package it in?)...anyway nine times out of ten he has thrown it away.

Or closed the cupboard (which sometimes I leave open when using Worcestshire or Oregano... or face it just while I a cooking)

Or files random books away in one of our many bookcases.Not such a problem til it's a library book. We have paid for many a library book to find it months or years later in a bookcase mixed in.

But what can I say? He puts up with me and I am a Leave Outer, Leave Opener...So which is worse?

Losing teeth, and loving friends

 almost topless!

 At Dog Days at the Ball Park

Life is whizzing by, I can't believe half the summer is gone, or almost gone. I wrote a contract yesterday and a customer just called to make an offer on the houses we saw today so business is good.

Jamie is done with her 3 week summer camp, they had a little skit in which she had one line that she knew upside down and sideways...we were shocked when she had a bout of Stage Fright. Stood there like a deer in the headlights, finally said the line but wtih no aplomb. I was disaopinted but didn't share it with her. I just know she is so capable of delivering...I was shocked she didn't do it.

So now a few weeks home with dad and then mid August she goes to YMCA Camp for a week so Mike can get back to work and get his room in order.

How is your summer going?

The Highs and the Lows of selling Real Estate

Every sales job has it's peaks and valley or highs and lows. But I am here to tell you real estate has HUGE mountains and valleys. The first several months I wondered if I had made the right choice. I knocked on HUNDREDS of doors and spoke to dozens of people. Most were nice, some were not so nice.

Not one of those doors knocked on resulted in any business. I did win a few hundred dollars in a sales contest and a few thousand direct mail pieces to send out as I wish to.

Not that I have arranged for that as of yet.

At about the three month mark, things started to click and I got crazy busy and actually closed some business... I have sold four houses and closed two.

My third sold house was supposed to close last Thursday but didn't. We will see if the appraisal can be adjusted or if the builder will lower the price next week. My buyers are pretty upset as they were to be out of their rental this weekend.

Of course so am I. It sucks to not get paid when you think you will get a check.

But I still love it!

I grew up swimming in Michigan Lakes

I learned to swim in a small lake that was filled with muck except where the very small beach was. It was west of Plymouth Michigan a small town west of Detroit. I think it was Millers Lake...

My dad took us to lakes often. We didn't have a pool or know too many people or neighbors with pools so we went the 'the lake' often. The names changed, Silver, Half Moon, Crystal, Chemung...but the experience was usually the same. Very cool (almost cold if you were swimming in June) water with minnows nipping at your toes, friends or siblings to play with and splash and a picnic lunch under the tree. Remember! Don't swim for 30 minutes after you eat!

My parents got me swimming by age five so there were no worries about me drowning.

Learning to swim in a much filled lake sure gets your feet off of the bottom and kicking and swimming!

RIP Dad

My dad died on Fathers Day after a battle with Cancer. He was 81. This photo was from about thirty years ago when he was about 51.

I didn't go up to Michigan to his bedside. I visited him last summer and saw him daily for over a week. That was my goodbye, last year when he was still independent and living his life.

We didn't have the closest relationship so this is hard.

I guess it's always hard.

Immediately following my parents divorce Dad moved in with my step-mom and her four kids and married her. I was 10, my brother was 8. The 'kids' as my brother and I have always called them were between 6 and 10 and were all very cute and blonde to boot. Dad never called me his princess again, or so my mom said I cried to her as a hurt and angry 11 year old.

First we saw him on Saturdays, then every other Saturday and by the time I was 15 it was just birthdays and Christmas.

Then there was a family estrangement over a piece of property that got sold that my brother and I had a share in when I was 17.

I didn't see him again until my mid twenties.

During my adulthood I tried to stay in touch but it was hard when I moved to Florida. At first he came down to Naples once per year for business and worked down there and I would try to get down there for a long weekend. That was the early nineties and I was still single and childless.

When I was newly married in about the year 2000,  Dad had a bad medical scare and I went up there and stayed by his bedside every day while he struggled out of a medically induced coma. He went home from the hospital after 3 weeks and was told not to smoke or drink anymore.

Despite the Cumadin he had been prescribed he went back to both drinking and smoking.

Since Jamie came to us in 2006 we visited him 3 times, first when she was 7 mos old; then again at three years old and last year when she was five.

All three times we had to 'visit him' in his bars he frequented. Last summer he had been recently diagnosed with cancer. And he had his daily routine down, First restaurant/bar at 11am for Eggs and Hashbrowns. (Same as I like.. Over Easy with Whole wheat toast) then on to the second place around 2 for a late lunch. Then on to the last place for dinner and drinks then home at 10 or so. We met him at the first and the last place for some conversation almost every day. Although we stayed at his house, I couldn't hang with him much at home as he chain-smoked and it bothers my asthma...as well as Mike and Jamie's asthma. So we huddled together in the bedroom when he returned at night, all three of us and the dog.

Last summer I kind of knew it was our last visit, in fact I told my step mom and my cousin that it may be the last time I see my dad.

When he went into the hospital the end of May I considered going up there. But how? I am in the middle of trying to get my real estate career going. Mike teaches high school and starts his day there at 6:45 am. What would I do about Jamie? She was still in Kindergarten but I could have taken her out of school...But then what? Take Jamie to the hospital every day? Find someone up there for her to be with?

So I didn't go.

I thought I was OK with that decision. But then he died. On Fathers Day. I cried a little on Sunday.

I cried a lot more today.

I loved my Dad.

Group Camp at O'Leno

Watching the Mommy turtle lay her eggs\

Every year our church does an annual 'retreat' at O'Leno state park. The park has cabins and a group kitchen building where we prepare meals and clean up. There is electricity in the cabins but no AC and in Florida no AC is a huge sacrifice for me. (Luckily we go the end of April when it isn't too terribly hot yet...and I still bring three fans!)Although it's a retreat, there isn't too much in the way of Sprituality, it's more about communing with nature and fellowship with the rest of the folks. We do square dancing on Friday night, Childrens' time on Saturday morning (which equates to Parents Time out!) and then drifting down the Ichnetucknee river on Inner Tubes on Saturday afternoon, then a Group social event Saturday night and a service on Sunday morning before brunch.During our Sunday Service a large turtle made her way to a grassy knoll right near the river where we were having our outside service. She proceeded to lay her eggs as she must do every year in that same spot.How cool is that?

No more upper teeth!

Jamie's last upper tooth went last night. We had our family portrait taken and then went to Bonos for dinner. Now that I have sold 3 houses and closed 2 I feel a little less stressed about money!

Anyway she said her tooth was getting in the way so I got it out of the way. Much blood but no tears later she was smiling for this picture and eating her barbeque sandwich.

She is ashamed of her legs

What are we teaching/training our kids? My child has decided she doesn't want to show her legs so she is wanting to always wear pants/jeans or leggings or tights.
We live in FLORIDA!! It's soon to be June. This isn't an option.

Someone apparently told her her legs were ugly because she has bug bites on them.

She is in KINDERGARTEN! She is SIX!! WTH!