3 Down, 1 To Go

I really feel like we were just starting the school year. But here we are, three quarters of the way done. Only a couple of months and the kids will be out of school. That is just crazy. This year is flying by. I guess they all do. Report cards came home yesterday and then we went to parent teacher conferences last night. I feel like I always start with Quinn, so I will give the top billing to Keely this time. First though I should say that I am so proud of both of them. They had excellent report cards and reports from their teachers. Both either got better in, or stayed the same in each subject. Not only that, most times it was better.

Keely has made a remarkable improvement from 2nd to 3rd quarter. Her reading went from an S- (below 1st grade) to...C. She is now a fluent 3rd grade reader! She really has worked so hard on her reading and it shows. She's reading chapter books and loves to read. She still loves to make up the words, but she knows how to read too :) Her other subjects were all good grades. Her conduct improved too, and the only negative Mrs. C could find to say was that she rushes to be first in her work, often causing her to get things wrong. For some reason Keely thinks finishing her work first is more important than getting it right. Of course, she doesn't always get it wrong - obviously with her good grades and smarts, she can rush and still do pretty well. We talk to her about not being first, about taking her time...but this is Keely and unless she feels like she wants to make a change, it's not going to happen. So if that's the worst thing we're dealing with, then we are a-ok.

Now, Quinn. He got C's in all of his subjects...except for his conduct. That is an area where he continues to struggle, and sometimes makes some bad choices. Mrs. A is going to ask him to be her 'helper' (kind of like a 'teacher's assistant' as Quinn called it) so that he can be occupied with helping his friends finish their work instead of distracting them from it. He does make smart choices when he finishes his work, like free draw or reading a book from Mrs. A's library. But then he wants to show his friends his cool artwork, or an interesting thing from his book. And that's where the problems begin. We're going to be more consistent with talking to him about making better choices. I am sure he understands, but he gets caught up in having fun. As well he should at 9 years old. But he still has to learn self control. Overall, an excellent report and if some moderate misbehavior is the worst thing we are dealing with, then we are a-ok here too.

Onto the 4th quarter we go. In truth, we are probably more than 3/4 of the way through the year because the next month or so consists of a week off for Spring Break and a super long weekend for Easter. I'm sure it will fly by in the blink of an eye!

Well Traveled

This past weekend, my mom asked me how many states I have been in throughout my life. I used to keep track, but found that I did not know the current total. There are a number of free websites where you can check each state that you have visited and then it creates a colored map highlighting those you checked. I suspected my total was about 30, and sure enough I was close - 31!

This is what my map looks like at this point:


visited 31 states (62%)
Create your own visited map of The United States

I am only counting states that I have spent time in, not counting an airport (i.e. I have flown through Minneapolis, but that doesn't count as visiting Minnesota). We intended to visit Seattle, and looking at the map makes me want to go to there before we leave Utah so then I will have covered all of the West. But that doesn't look like it's in the cards, so I'll have to check that one later in life. My total is likely to increase by 3-4 states when we travel to Virginia in May. I would love to visit all 50 states in my lifetime, and it's good to know that I am well on my way :)

Even more impressive than my total of 31 states at the age of 34 is that the kids, primarily Quinn, have been in just as many states as me and James. They really are well traveled children and I'm happy for them to have those experiences.

Home Inspection Complete!

Well, it was not without drama but we seem to be successfully past the buyer's home inspection. They were here last Monday for almost 4 hours - pretty inconvenient for James and the kids (not me, since I was in Phoenix for work). Then the inspector wanted to come back on Tuesday and set up a 48 hour radon test, which is a bit out of normal but now is being requested on about 25% of home inspections. We didn't care because James has tested our radon levels and knew they were below levels of concern.

Initially, we heard that there were no major issues with the inspection but we received nothing in the form of a requested repair list as the week came to a close. And while it was all well and good to believe that there wouldn't be any list and they would take the house as-is, that is usually not the case, especially with first time home buyers as we are dealing with on this sale. But they dragged their feet and were pretty inefficient with their time, and we didn't hear a peep until 3 PM on Friday. Their due diligence deadline was 5 PM on Friday so they were really cutting it close. They requested a response from us by 5 PM Friday, and their list consisted of 5 things. The first two were very poorly worded, trying to get us to commit to a whole bunch of work for basically non issues (electrical and an ice dam on the roof). The next 3 were nit-picky but we agreed to two of them to make an attempt to appease their requests. All told, we responded with a counter offer that committed us to a total of maybe $100 in repairs to the home. We were very responsive and got the counter offer over to the buyer's agent by 5 PM. Our realtor spoke with their realtor and it seemed like the buyers would be amenable to our response. We requested that they respond by 5 PM on Saturday.

We heard nothing all weekend. It was pretty annoying, and it stinks not to be in control as the seller. I forget how frustrating that is for us. I feel like the other time we were seller in Tucson though that the buyer was very responsive and met all of their deadlines. This buyer just seems to be dragging their feet at every turn, and that obviously leaves us a little nervous that they may want to walk away from the deal. They are just not responding like people who really want to buy our house. But their realtor seems to indicate that they love the house and are still excited about it. So far, we would have lost 2 weeks on the market and it's tiring to think we would have to start over with another buyer. But I would rather that happen sooner than later.

In any event, they finally signed the counter today and agreed to our suggested repairs. Next step (for the buyers) is to arrange financing and an appraisal, and that deadline is March 31st. That seems right around the corner so I know I will be using every nagging bone in my body to make sure that happens on time :)

Aging

Back in January, I wrote about a pinched nerve in my neck and how it was pretty painful for me. I thought I had it licked with rest, ibuprofen, heating pads and a new discovery of Tiger Balm (like Icy Hot but not as bad of a smell). Well, it's not gone though entirely liveable with pain ranging from nothing to minor to more major (but nothing like the initial hit). So it's been 6 weeks + and I finally decide a trip to the doctor would be in order to make sure there's nothing else I can do to make this go away. I saw a general orthopedist yesterday and it was a good visit, actually I am sorry I didn't go sooner. It is indeed a pinched nerve, most likely caused by a bulging disc in my neck. X-rays showed nothing except a perfectly healthy spine with good curvature and joint spacing :) I do have the pain though, and the doctor noticed I have some decreased muscle tone in my lower arm most likely from the nerve pinching and not flowing blood properly to the muscle. Definitely not a good thing. So he prescribed 10 days of Prednisone, a steroid that should help reduce the swelling in the disc and thus release the pressure on the nerve. I've never been on a steroid before, but I think I am seeing its effects after only one dose (definitely increased appetite!). I'm glad it is only a short time and hope it does the trick. The next step is a return visit to the doctor in 10 days, and then if it hasn't helped he will send me for an MRI to see exactly what's going on with those discs. I'm hoping we don't get that far.

So I know I am only 34, but when I asked the doctor what I did to cause this, he said it could have been nothing. You are just aging! :( I definitely don't like the sound of that. I do suspect it has something to do with sitting poorly in front of the computer since I started working from home - so I have taken steps to improve that. I constantly work on my posture, and I have set up a better home office (albeit in the dining room). At least we are not still showing the house because it looks pretty ugly. But it seems to be helping - and while I would love to have a job that does not require me to sit in front of a computer all day, I know that's not a reality so I will work with what I have. And count the days until I get back to an office at least most of the work days so I can get back to a normal desk, and have people to visit with and a printer and copier and water cooler to visit :)

Book Review: Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother

I hosted this month's book club meeting and chose Amy Chua's new book about her decision to raise her two daughters the Chinese way as a 'Tiger Mom'. I figured with us all being moms, it would make for interesting conversation and I was correct! This is a very quick read, which was a welcome change after the length and depth of our last choice, 100 Years of Solitude. The book centers around the author's parenting style and how it affects her two daughters. She makes some very controversial choices for her daughters and interestingly enough, the moms present at Book Club actually agreed with some (i.e. no sleepovers). I'd say the worst part of this book was the end, because she really didn't seem to know how to end it. So it was a pretty weak wrap up, and some would say not a wrap up at all. But all in all, I would recommend reading this book. It gives an interesting perspective on another type of parenting, and certainly incites some interesting discussion about parenting styles and childrens' personality types. Let me just say that Chinese parenting might work with Quinn, but I do know that I would struggle with Keely as the author did with her younger daughter!

I enjoyed hosting my second book club. In honor of the book's theme, I made Asian Inspired dishes for us to munch on...Asian Lettuce Wraps and Asian Cole Slaw. I served fortune cookies and strawberry shortcakes (yes, I know I broke from theme here) for dessert. We had our typical attendees and it was a lovely evening. I will miss these ladies. A book club is something I have always wanted to be a part of, and I have enjoyed this last year or so a lot with our monthly meetings, vastly different book choices and interesting conversation (some about the book, some not). It's just so nice to have a group of friends that you have easy conversation. We've talked about having me on Skype when I am in Virginia, but that's not the same as being there in person. There are certainly things I will not miss about Utah, but these friends and this book club are definitely among the things I will miss!