A New Job

So, it's been a while since I've updated. I'm now a full-time High School Choral Director. I love it!! It's also taken some adjustment. I did close my private voice and piano studio....but we added 5 days a week of soccer with the boys and I'm still a Realtor. Does anyone remember where my bed is? Can you point me in the direction of my room?

Do you want to know the best way to be successful in Real Estate? Try to get out.

As soon as I took a full-time job and began to contemplate putting my Real Estate License on 'inactive' for a while...I got three new clients! I'll have had more closings this semester than I had last year. Crazy.

And somehow...in my other world...I've formed a new booster club and I'm putting on a full show with my choir every month this semester. Am I superwoman? No...I'm a crazy person. There is a very important word I need to learn...that word is "NO!" I'm such a people-pleaser. That is going to be my resolution this year....protect my own time...

I am looking forward to Christmas Break...and some oh sooooo needed treadmill time at the gym. One surprising discovery that I made this year is that I love running. I never thought I would say that...this is the girl that couldn't run the mile in gym in less that 20min, but I have really come to love it. I can now run for over two miles! Running has become my me time, my detox, my mental, emotional, and spiritual refuel. I really recommend it for anyone with a high-stress life....plus...I'm down 40lbs since last Christmas! A friend once had a great idea, Do a prayer run...if you have access to a track, use laps. If not, miles on the treadmill, adjust to your level. Use A.C.T.S. as your guide....one letter for each lap/mile. Adoration - Spend a lap praising Jesus for all the wonder that He is. Confession - Spend a lap making yourself right with God...cleanse your spirit. Thanksgiving - Spend a lap thanking God for the blessings in your life! Supplication - Spend a lap laying your needs down before the Lord - Even the flowers of the field are finely clothed.

For all of you Superwomen out there juggling too much....keep praying, and know that you are not alone! Leave me a comment so that I can remind myself that I'm not alone. What are you up to? How many things do you juggle and still manage to have your lipstick match your shoes? Keep it up! You can do all things through Christ who strengthens you! :-)

Between Jingle Bell Rock and a Hard Place

So...the music teacher in me is already teaching students Christmas songs so that we can be ready for recitals and musical performances galore....but the thought of staging my listing with Christmas decorations just seems weird on this balmy day in October. If I have the same luck I had last year....I'll finally have a closing come through the week of musical. If only I could choreograph my life the way I choreograph my shows. Sometimes things just don't work the way we plan....Grandma always said, "The best way to make God laugh is to tell Him your plans."

We missed church yesterday....my oldest has not been feeling well, and he was finally getting a good sleep. We didn't want to wake him, so we let him sleep. Already dressed for church, we decided to take the Bible out on the front porch....the sky was an amazing blue....God's sanctuary. It was a fantastic time of reading verses and God reaching down to touch our hearts. We realized a few things...it is hard to be where we are...a Builder and a Realtor with two small children in these times sounds like a bad headline...but God is sustaining us. Each day we get up, we breathe, we eat, and we have what we need. We learned to look around and recognize our blessings. It's like the verse in Job, the most precious of metals have to be refined by fire...we are precious to God, and if we keep trusting, we will all shine with His glory!

Maybe I can be my own agent and get a rental space.

Frustrated that I lost a few students because I live so far out. I would love to rent a more central lesson space, but who has the money for that? Someday I will have my contractor husband build me a beautiful building to teach my music lessons in....maybe that will be my last transaction as a Realtor....then I can hang up one of my hats and just juggle the other two. A girl can dream, right?

You know you're a Realtor Mom If...

So...I have two piano/voice students left to pick a time slot....my part-time music job at the school will have a set schedule by Friday....now I just have to potty train my youngest and find a house to sell...anyone? No? In the meantime...enjoy this laugh....I wrote it a while ago, but all of these still apply! :-)

Just a laugh for any of you that have "assistants" on your team at home! :-)

 1.)    If you have ever had your toddler say, "Look at my picture, Mama!" and looked up to realize that his new piece of art was on the back of p.3 of your latest Offer To Purchase and Contract.

2.)    If you have ever had your baby crawl over and turn the computer off in the middle of writing a contract.

3.)    If you have ever had to hide in the garage during a phone conversation with a client so that they couldn't hear your kids screaming in the background.

4.)    If you have ever had your sitter bail on you right before an inspection and had to hold your child back from crawling under the house with the inspector.

5.)    If you have ever searched the house for your name tag before a listing presentation only to find that it had become the latest teething toy.

6.)    If you have ever shown a house to a young, expecting couple and couldn't help but make a mental list of everything in the house that would have to be baby-proofed.

7.)    If you have ever shown a house where there was evidence of toddlers and you wanted to find the mom selling the house and just hug her because you knew the pain she went through to have the house ‘show' that well.

8.)    If you have ever arrived at a meeting with a client, pulled their folder out of your briefcase and had a graham cracker fall out.

9.)    If you have ever had your child color postcards for you in a creative approach to farm a neighborhood.

10.) If you have ever come home from a rough sales meeting, had an offer not be accepted, etc. and came home feeling down, but right away two pudgy, sticky hands wrapped around you and a little voice said, "I love you, Mama."

 

To my fellow Music Teachers

Check out this great site! I use it for my private piano lessons and for my general music classes at school!

http://www.makingmusicfun.net

Enjoy! :-)

Feel like a piece of taffy.

It isn't always easy to juggle a family and a job, let alone multiple children and multiple jobs, but God helps me through it. I love my boys and I'd do anything to get as much time with them as possible...that's why I let myself get pulled in all directions...so my center stays with them. If you're a Realtor, a Music Teacher, or just a mom struggling with life's up and downs, I hope that my blog will offer you some help and let you know that you are not alone! :-)