Busy Times

Sorry I have not written in awhile. These are busy times at our home. Our family greenhouse is bursting with springtime---so the boys have work to get to every day after school. Homeschool is winding down as we are on the last few days of this school year. Everyone is trying to finish up with books that they certainly don't want to see next semester. Our daughter, Hannah has been very busy with speech competition and just qualified to go to the National Tournament in June with her very funny speech about out -houses! and we have re listed to sell our house.....again!



2 years ago my husband could see the economic slowdown coming, and to save money and cut back on expenses we decided to put our house on the market! Well, if any of you have had to get a house ready for market---you will know what I mean when I say I now have an ulcer! We had to repaint, de-junk and clean up around here. We have a large home, and guest house with 2 bedrooms and a very large horse barn with an apartment attached. We also have 10 acres of wooded land and many gardens and flower beds. Getting it all ready 2 years ago was a big job. but we did it----and then we waited.....and waited....and waited. For 2 years I had a nagging feeling in the back of my head that anytime we could get a call for a "showing". That meant that we had a short time to make it look like 9 people did not live, work and do school here every day---24 hours a day. It had to be picked up and tidy and look like a House Beautiful home in a matter of hours!!!



But in 2 years time we had a total of 3 showings....3!!!!!! So of course as time went by and there was not a flurry of activity, things kinda slipped back to "comfortable" around here. Books were stacked up beside beds. Lego castles were left out to admire. My desk was taken over by the paper monster that lurks under it somewhere. Things went back to being a home---not a "House Beautiful".



So this last week we decided to get serious again with selling this place. New cans of paint were bought, old floors were torn out and closets were de-junked again. The Realtor came for a walk-through of my beautifully clean, de-junked house that we all had worked so hard on again. Even my desk looked clean and organized! She did not comment too much on anything, but as she was leaving she mentioned that she would have her "stager" give us a call to come over and discuss a few things about what to do to make the house look "more sell able"!



What did that mean----"more sell able"? Does it mean that she doesn't like how I decorate! Did she not see how neat and clean everything was! Who is this intruder who will waltz in and tell ME what my home should look like!



As you can tell.....I have a pretty bad attitude about this whole thing...I am trying not to take it personally----even though every corner of my house reflects some aspect of me...every picture on the wall has been hand picked and hung by me..cherished photos of dead relatives smile at me as I pass them hanging on the walls.....I know what she is going to point out---I already know what she is going to say....but I am kicking and screaming about it already....



She comes on Tuesday....pray that I am reasonably civil to her and that I don't burst into tears when she says the old portrait of my dead great, great aunt hanging in the foyer has got to go!

My Voice

So last night I slowly lost my voice. I had gotten a little under the weather as the week had progressed since I was in Maryland with sick grand kids. And as the sickness got progressively worse---my voice disappeared. So this morning I could only whisper. Now this is not really good when you have 7 kids at home---6 needing to be home schooled---and lots and lots to do.

Today I was going to give an oral quiz in geography and also do spelling tests and math flash cards. I usually read for about 45 minutes every morning to the kids from a Bible story book, This Day in History book, and a novel----this month's selection is The Day No Pigs Would Die.
But since I could only whisper I decided to postpone the quiz, spelling tests and any other thing that would require talking on my part.

But I had this great idea to let the kids read out loud from the books I read from every morning. I did not think they would want to miss a chapter---esp. in the novel since they all seem to enjoy this particular story. But boy was I wrong! They all let out a collective moan and swore that they did not want to listen to someone else read---esp. since they would not get the voices right!!! They wanted to wait till I got to feeling better and to please not make them read!!!!

Awwwww! I was really touched by that. They DO like to hear me read. They aren't just sleeping or tuning out while I drone on and on for 45 minutes! What a bunch of sweet kids!

But I still made them read---cause I wanted to know what happened in the next chapter!!!

People

People are funny. I have tried to figure them out all my life---but I am always found lacking. My newest wonder with people is something that has puzzled me many times before---but always when it presents itself, I am always surprised!

Why would anyone take a job working with the public when they don't like people? Case in point----today while checking out at Walmart, the cashier helping me was a 20's something young lady. She was sullen and somber----rude actually----and even my 13 year old notice her behaviour. My question is always the same----if you dislike people so much why do you take a job that involves people ALL the time? I doubt it was just a bad day in her case---she just seemed like a sullen, somber person who was bothered that I had gotten in her lane.

I can bet you that if she was offered 1 million dollars to pick me out of a line-up---she would be unable--that is how little she looked at me. She grunted when I talked to her, and did not thank me for pointing out to her that she undercharged me for 4 items. She did not help with any of the bags and seemed put out that I needed to let her see my credit card. Now tell me this---where was her manager----where was the hidden camera monitoring her? In this age of unemployment and people out of work----don't you think that there would be a line of people willing to take her job and be kind and considerate to the customers?

I smiled at her and talked to her and will continue to be kind to sullen, somber cashiers....but I will still always wonder.....