"The house"

Well, a couple days ago I decided to look at the state mls website to see what's available in smaller homes mainly to check the prices. If we were to get a house that were much less, then we could save more money every month. So...I looked, and saw a house that looked like it was in good shape on the outside. It was built in 2005 and said it was 3 bed, 2 bath, 2 car garage on .92 acres. The outside picture was all their was. Usually I don't even look twice at them, because if people really want to sell a house, they should post as many pictures depicting the house as possible. I would anyway. But something caught me about this house. It is a tri-level home, and the bottom level is unfinished. So I was curious what exactly "unfinished" means, as there are varying degrees to being finished. I emailed the real estate agent, and he sent me tons of pictures! I was excited to see what it looked like. So unfinished means, in this case, exterior walls have insulation and vapor barrier, interior walls have studs. There is a bathroom and laundry area plumbed but not finished. I wasn't quite sure what else was down there. I didn't know from the pictures if it had a bedroom and a den/family room, or just an open area. After viewing the photos, I was excited. Aside from the unfinished downstairs, what I was was...the kitchen. The kitchen to me, is probably the most important area of a home. I was blessed growing up with a pretty big kitchen, and when we moved into our house in Chugiak, the kitchen was pretty dysfunctional. Everything worked, but only one person could be in at a time and there wasn't much storage. If anyone knows me, they know storage is a good thing. ;-D So after seeing the photos of this kitchen...I was definitely interested in seeing more. The kitchen has a tile floor with a pattern in the middle to look like an area rug, maple 42" cabinets (nice choice...it's what we have too...). It looked pretty big, and from the pictures, I tried counting the cabinets, just to get an idea of what's there. Then there was the living and dining area. I was liking the maple flooring and white trim on everything. It was hard to see the size of the master suite from a photo because there's no furniture. I liked the look of the master bath (with jacuzzi and double vanity). So there was a lot that I liked about it, but in order to see if I had reason to be excited, I wanted to see it for myself. Then I debated, should I wait to see if Mike wants to see it or just go as soon as I can. (Mike is out of town.) I decided I should see it sooner than later, so I know if it's worth being excited over.

So why did I title this "The house"...because while I was looking at houses, including the one above, I found out that "the house" was no longer on the market. I did check the tax information on the borough's page and found that it's still in the same name, so I think they just took it off the market again and will probably put it on in the spring.

So anyway, I set up an appointment to view the house. It is located about 2 miles or so, closer to Wasilla than the daycare that I worked at. The girls and I headed out. I didn't know what to expect for the road there...it wasn't too bad. The directions said 6th house on the right...well, I counted 2 or 3 houses (not counting just driveways that looked like they went to open logs) and came upon a house that looked about right...and saw the house number and that was the one. Well...it was down off the road a little bit...a little hill. I thought, holy cow...this isn't good. It looked like on an icy day you'd have to have your garage door opened already just in case you couldn't stop. So that part wasn't a great thing. But I was still eager to see what was inside. I was excited to find out before we left that it had radiant/in-floor heating, and it was a foreclosure. Apparently it'd been on the market nearly a year now, and had been recently listed for $60,000 more than it is listed for now. So the bank is really wanting to get rid of this house.

The inside of the house was as I imagined it from the pictures, though I was even more impressed with the kitchen (minus the counter tops). The counters were laminate with a not so appealing edge or wood trim, and the backer against the wall was like a 1x3 of plain wood. That's ok though it would be fine to replace. The appliances were taken with the owners (though they were originally listed with the house), so we'd get to pick out what we want.

It has a good size breakfast bar, where I think 3 or 4 stools could sit comfortably. It does have natural gas, so it would use a gas oven/range. The living/dining area is transposable, you could have either room on either side of the area, as there is no defined area for either. The upstairs, in the listing, said it had 2 finished rooms and 2 bathrooms upstairs.

The picture above is from the dining/living area. The far left is one of the cabinets in the kitchen, then to the right of that is the front entry, mirrored closet and small storage closet, the obvious stairs, and to the right, out of the picture is a door to the back.

So I went up the stairs and was not impressed with the size of the first room. It was quite small, though I figured it would be good for Sarah, since I knew the other room up there was the master bedroom. Then I discovered there is a room attached to the master suite like a baby room, and has not other door to the hallway. Kind of strange, but fine nonetheless. A second or independent door could be made, or after the construction downstairs is finished, the dividing wall could be knocked down to increase the size of the master bedroom. So there are actually 3 rooms upstairs finished right now. So we could have both girls in 1 room, so Alexa has a room, or Cassie in Alexa's room since Alexa doesn't stay with us very often. And when Alexa is there, Cassie could either stay with her or stay in Sarah's room.

Now for the downstairs. It does have an unfinished bathroom (meaning it has the pipes and that's it), the laundry area, I think intended to be in a closet, an open area like a den or family room, and another area I think is a room. So...there is another room down their, and the family room, that could, if needed have a wall built and made into another room. So with the upstairs as it is with 3 rooms, the house would be a 4 bedroom house, or easily a 5 bedroom...again if needed down the road. I'd rather have the family room for now, so the kids have a play area.

The garage looks quite similar in size to what we have, it has a workbench and storage closet as well. The lot...other than the interesting driveway (which I think we'd have to have my father-in-law see if there's another way somehow to construct it), most of the property is behind the house. To the right of the house is a little bit of land...maybe 20 or so feet...I didn't really measure, just guessing from memory. I'm not sure how much is on the left side. But the area behind the house is quite vast. All that's there is a slightly unlevel, weedy area. It has potential. When I mentioned the backyard and driveway, Mike seemed a little concern that this house might be where all the water would collect during spring. I didn't pay attention to the neighboring properties to know whether or not they were lower or higher.

What I had originally thought, is that if we sold this house and took on a smaller loan, paying what equity we'd earned in this house toward the other one, we'd have a very small mortgage to pay, and be able to save more money every month. After I ran it by Mike, he thought it would be a good idea to keep the house we're in now, and rent it out. It is in a pretty desirable area, since it's near Anchorage for Valley commuters who want to move closer, but has land and a good neighborhood. So I was curious to see if people would be interested if renting a house of this size. I'm not very familiar with the renting market, so I posted an ad on craigslist. The ad listed all the features and the approximate cost we'd charge if there were no utilities, some utilities or all utilities included. I posted the ad at noon, and by 8pm, I had 8 emails from people who all expressed a sincere interest in renting our house if we did move and rent it out. So that was reassuring to me, that there seems to be a market for this size house in our location. So the next morning, I had another email expressing interest, but as that woman was on assistance, she wanted the price to be lower, plus electricity...that would be a total of about $200 lower than others are willing to pay. So 9 responses...and as I am writing this blog, another email has come in expressing interest.

The way I would see everything transpiring was for us to move out there and work on the downstairs as time allows, and rent this house out as soon as possible, to allow for the income to start so we wouldn't be paying 2 mortgages without help from renters. Mike had a different idea...not wrong, just different. He said we'd have to finish the downstairs there first then move. I thought it would work fine if we just put a baby gate across it and taped up a plastic sheet. He reminded me of how life was when we re-did our kitchen. We pretty much cooked at ate upstairs using a microwave. I think that situation is a little different mainly because that was a main living quarters and we did have a kitchenette area up there. In the house, if we moved while we did the finishing, there are 3 rooms upstairs that are finished, as well as the living/dining area and the kitchen and 2 bathrooms are finished. That to me is worthy of living in while construction is confined to the downstairs. The only stumble is the laundry area. It's not finished yet, but...we would have a couple choices, either finish it first, go to a laundromat, or drive about 9 or 10 miles to Vickii's and use their machines. I don't think it would be a big inconvenience to live there while we worked on it. Especially if we had to make both payments at the same time...where if we moved in, we'd have our current mortgage's monthly payment paid for by renters.

Here are some interesting points of interest, other than "the house" now being off the market. God took that one out of the equation. There's a little bit more that I'll say is interesting...the house is on Angel Drive...totally love that! The road before Angel is Potter Place...that's great too! And another bit of interesting information, the real estate agents name is Israel. ;-) LOL...and he's a missionary for the prison ministry, I believe for Palmer, but headed today actually, to start the ministry in Kenai too. (And a side note, last weekend one of our pastors was to speak and he was sick and they received a call from 2 missionaries in the Eagle River Prison Ministry...) So...these things could be viewed as signs...persay, but until further evaluation, they are all definitely interesting!

I am thankful for what I have. I want to get rid of something, and I know that if we moved, I would have the opportunity to be very thorough about this. We'll see what happens. We'll see where God is leading us. Thank you Lord for all of your blessings on our family.

Not for me...right now anyway...

Alright, some of you already know how my preschool teacher job is going. Let's just say, it isn't. :) I started on October 1st, which was a Wednesday. I worked through Friday, then Monday through Thursday the two following weeks. There was one glitch...Sarah was only able to go there like 3 of those days. Vickii (my mother-in-law) had to watch her all the other days. Seems pretty silly that I, while working in a daycare, would have to find someone to watch one of my daughters. Why? Because the daycare had not yet been licensed to have over 12 kids (a max of 5 under 30 months), so unless one was sick or sent home, Sarah couldn't be there.

Initially I thought it would be fine because the owner told me she was supposed to hear back from the state on the 1st of October...which came...and went. So after my first 3 days, the next Monday, I told my boss I would only be able to work if Sarah could come in because Vickii was busy. It turned out that a little girl got sent home for biting, so I worked from 11-2:30 that day. Then the next week, I wasn't sure if she'd be able to watch Sarah, and I wasn't thrilled about asking either. I didn't want to burden Vickii with watching Sarah every day for an uncertain amount of time. It just wasn't right. Vickii agreed to watch Sarah for the week of the 13th. But I could not just let it go unnoticed that this was an inconvenience and couldn't continue much longer. I knew I was already on the schedule for the rest of October, but I knew Vickii couldn't watch Sarah this week (of Oct 20), and I don't have a regular babysitter, and wasn't about to find one. So I wrote a conditional letter to my boss. It basically said that I would finish the week of the 13th and 5 more days when Sarah was allowed to come in, and then that would be my last day. That way, if she didn't get state approval for more kids, that would be at least 2 weeks notice. If she did get her approval, I wanted to be able to make the decision before she made November's schedule whether or not I would continue working there. I left that letter on her desk on Monday the 13th, and on Tuesday morning when I came in, there was a letter in my file indicating that they would not be able to accommodate the 5 days or working with Sarah able to come in, and that my last day was October 17th. I wasn't scheduled for the 17th...but through the 16th. So last Thursday was my last day. It was bittersweet and I got choked up as I told the little girl that before I met her didn't know how to read any letters, and after just 2.5 weeks, she could write all of the letters of her name (granted not understanding that we write left to right). She didn't seem to realize that when I said it was my last day, I wouldn't be back.

I silently prayed for each of those kids in my last days there, as well as the workers. I pray for the best for them, whatever their home conditions are. I pray that if they don't know who Jesus is, that they will learn and accept Him as the Lord of their life, and savior of their souls, and grow to love Him as He loves us.

So do I regret working there? Absolutely not. Do I think I heard God wrong, that that door wasn't for me to go through? Absolutely not. I truly believe that God will let us do what we want to do. I believe that through our experiences we learn from them what we choose. From that experience, I learned that being a preschool teacher is not for me, at least in those circumstances. When talking to Mike about the situation, he said something about whether I still thought it was God. I said yes, because He uses our circumstances to teach us a lesson, especially when we thing we want something. His response was, "In two weeks?" I said yes. It doesn't take long to learn. At least for me in that situation, things began to pile up on the side for me not supposed to be there.

So for the time being, I will concentrate on getting our home in order, and on the sideline, see what else is available in the job world. I may decide to watch a kid or two...or infant on a part-time basis. I know how difficult it can be to have part-time infant care, so that may be something for me to look into. That way I'm not overwhelmed with 5 other kids, and under pressure to teach them, when two want to do whatever they want. It was a great experience to teach the little ones that were ready to learn. It was amazing to see them learn something that I taught them. I did have fun with them (even when they were grumpy and I had to put them in timeout).

Though that job was in a great location, to position us for "that house"...I believe it wasn't right. It's not meant to be, at least for the time being. I still believe God is moving in my life, and I'm eager to see where that is. I joined up with Love INC. (Love In the Name of Christ) of Eagle River. I went to my first function on Friday. I look forward to helping those who need it around the community. I am also pretty sure I'm going to be taking over the nursery at church. I will be in charge of making the schedule and overseeing the supplies, cleanliness and security of the nursery for services.

I am thankful for the opportunity I was granted. For the record, I think I would be ok doing before and after school care. I just can't handle so many kids all day. I can handle a few all day, in addition to mine...just not so many. It's hard to get 5 to 7 kids, all interested in going different directions, all in the same direction.

I am very thankful for my kids, and I appreciate them so much. Thank you Lord for the blessings you've given me.

Me, a preschool teacher?

Alright...I've got 1 official week down as a preschool teacher. And let me tell you, what a week it has been. I've had the range of emotions from excitement, to sadness, and frustration, and joy. I do a lot more than just teach. I help with the meals and clean ups, diapers, and whatever else needs doing. My first couple days were pretty good. I have, in addition to Cassie (4-1/2), a little boy (4-1/2), a little girl (5 in December), and occaisionally a couple others. The little boy let's just say, he's has an attitutde that surfaces quickly. He doesn't sleep much at night because he's afraid of the dark and his parents refuse to leave a light on. So...this week...after putting him in timeout multiple times, I was hit and kicked. Not cool. He is aware if he does it again, he'll be going home. He is there in the a.m. and goes to regular preschool at 12:30. The little girl comes anywhere from 10:30 to 12-ish, and is there for the rest of my day there (2:30pm). The first day, I realized that her speaking skills were zero indication to her comprehension. She could draw 2 letters of her name, but couldn't tell me what they were. Her parents wouldn't put her in Head Start because they supposedly didn't have time for that. That broke my heart. I guess they want their kid to learn, but don't want to help facilitate that. So I've had my challenges this last week. Enter in another little boy. This one is 3 and 3 months, and doesn't talk or understand directions for writing a letter, speaking, saying his name or anything. And to top it off...he's very quiet, sneaky, curious, and hard to manage. He's not there everyday, or all day, everyday, but when he's there, not much else gets done. Then there's another little girl that talks a little bit more than him, but doesn't do much else...especially if she doesn't want to do it. And there is another girl that will be there when her mom does paper work. She's pretty quiet, but pretty compliant. And lastly, there's another boy that is in preschool for part of the day, but his parents have rotating schedules, so he's not there very often.

Monday, I had Cassie, the first boy and girl, the rambunctious one, the independent little girl, the rambunctious one's brother because he had problems at school (1st grade), Sarah (because she was having separation issues, and me chasing the rambunctious one all over, she kept seeing me), and I think there was another one, but I can't remember. I thought I had 7. I was so close to saying..."This isn't for me."

In the center, there is one other person on shift to work with the babies/younger toddlers. I don't know much about daycare centers, or the adult/child ratio, but it seems to me that their needs to be another person. Some of the time, the owner is in their, but she only oversees, she doesn't really help with things. I'm not complaining at all about that. Bravo to her for opening and running a successful and growing daycare. More power to her. But, when 2 kids won't sit still long enough to learn, and distract all the other kids, but are too big for the baby/toddler side, there should be another person to interact with them. I can't chase them all day if I'm supposed to be teaching the kids who need it and are ready for it. Following directions, along with some other skills are key to being ready to learn.

So...I'm not sure if this is supposed to simply be a learning experience for me, and be a stepping stone to something else, or if I'm supposed to stick it out.

Oh yeah, I forgot...I've had a little stress in working there. I worked last Wed, Thurs, Fri, and then Mon, Tues, Wed. This week. Last week Sarah had to stay at Vickii's Wednesday through Friday. Cassie was with her on Thursday and Friday because she was sick. But why was Sarah there?? Because the owner has not received her license to have more kids in the center from the state yet. On Friday, I asked if she had any suggestions because my mother-in-law couldn't watch Sarah on Monday. She said well, I already made the schedule, can you get a babysitter? Uh...no. I am my children's provider. I was hired under the condition that I could bring my children with me to work. I did not say those things, but I told her that I wouldn't be able to come in on Monday, unless they found out one of the other little kids wouldn't be there. She told me to call in Monday a.m. I did. She called me back and said there was an opening. We already knew that Tuesday and Wednesday there was an opening, Thursday (today) I had my concert, so I wouldn't be there, and then I was only scheduled M-Th for October, so I have Friday off anyway. So, we went in. I was only there for 3.5 hours...and it was easily worse than the other days combined. Mainly because of the little guy that is supposed to be on my side (meaning in the class), according to the owner. I'm so thankful that my mother-in-law was able to watch the girls when she did, but I shouldn't have to rely on her when I'm a daycare employee. Is that an oxymoron or what?

Part of me wants to ask if I have a 2 week trial period with this job...meaning that after 2 weeks I can decide if I want to continue, or not. At this point...I'd say, I think I'll pass on the job. If I have even 1 day a week like this Monday was, I don't think I want to continue this job. I don't mind the drive. The pay is good considering I get to bring my kids...when I get to bring both of them that is.

Then as I'm walking out the door yesterday, the owner said to me, you do know there's a meeting on Sunday right? I said no, what time is it? She said at 11-1. I said I don't get out of church until 12:30 usually. She said "It's a SIDS/Shaken Baby class. Everyone has to have it, and I paid for everybody to take it." Very kind of her to do that, however, would it have been inappropriate to make sure they would be there first? She said it's mandatory for every worker to take it. Well clearly, no one else had taken it, and the daycare has been in business for over 3 years, so I think I'll be alright for now. I asked if there were community classes for it. She said few and far between. God, is this your way of telling me I should learn my lesson and move on?

The owner was supposed to have the state licensing on October 1st...my first day. She said she is to have a meeting with the state again on October 15th. We'll see what happens.

Oh yeah, another thing we'll see what comes of is my kids vaccinations records. The owner asked for my kids' shot records on Friday. I got them and gave them to her on Tuesday. I have no problem with their records, but the state might. They do not have all of their vaccines, as Mike and I do not believe we should bombard our little people with so many things at one time. Not to mention that I have to get Cassie another appointment with the immunologist to have her officially cleared of her egg allergy in order to get her next MMR shot.

On Wednesday, the shot records were still in the same place on her desk (over the keyboard), as I left them on Tuesday. I don't think she saw them. But I don't think she's going to accept the status of them. To which I will say, Thank you Lord for this opportunity, thank you for opening and closing this door, and for the next open door that will come.

Let's see...I think that's it for now. I am so thankful I wasn't scheduled for Fridays...so I have 3 more days off. And I've yet to decide if I will be skipping church for the meeting.

Ok, I remembered one more thing...on my way home from Choir last night I had an epiphany...well...maybe. Mike's boss's wife is prego and due on the 18th of this month. She is a hospitalist, he is, as I said, Mike's boss in the Aviation Department at UAA. They want one of them to stay home with their baby...but she makes more than he does. So he would probably be the one to leave the work force. So my epiphany is...maybe they would hire me as their nanny. We, the whole family, would drive Mike to work, pick up his boss's son, come back to our house, then all go back into Anchorage to drop off the boss's son and pick Mike up. We'll see if that door is opened or not.

God bless you all!