R was so disappointed he didn't win in a competition . He was presenting, as a mock sales man, a new make believe product. 700 students presented their ideas. Only four were chosen to go to state. R's idea was foam filled tires to prevent flats on bikes.
He borrowed his father's suit and tie. He made a big tri fold poster, with graphs and pictures. The problem, I felt , was the poster board did not look professional. He had cut out the words with scissors and it looked like a kid had put the poster together, which he had. I had seen it, but I am now in the hands off mode. I did not help. The end product was all R's work. They have to make this stuff up themselves.
I found out later that R forgot to close. He didn't ask for the sale in the end. That was the big difference between winning and losing the competition. Have to remember the end game is to get the sale.
Last year T did a poster for English. It came out looking really professional. He printed pictures off the computer and pinned them to his poster. He received an exemplary score for the work, which meant he could include the project in his graduation manual. Important achievement, as you need a couple exemplary works a year to graduate, theoretically.
I can't believe that you can't graduate without these projects, but when you start to look into all these layers of requirements you find that there are layers of graduation certificates. To get the highest certificate you have to jump through these exemplary hoops.
Graduation is not about taking classes and tests anymore, they want you to be sales men and artists and professional writers before graduating regardless of ability. Excel in several areas at once in High School. I pity the under achiever or the late blossom. Conceptually this seems like a great idea. It encourages students to strive for their best work. But the time flies by and they are eighteen and are missing graduation requirements.
The school district has a 51% graduation rate. I would love to see the drop out statistics to find the reason for the poor graduation numbers. Could it be all this exemplary work? Tracking all the requirements, when T can barely find where he put his shoes from the night before, is a lot to ask, and we are a functional family with a support network, and encouragement.
Imagine a child from a divorced family with two households trying to keep track of school work. Three out of five families are divorced these days. Though statistics are falling because families can't afford to divorce and maintain two households.
I do not remember having to jump through as many hoops as students today. We had year end projects, but we did not have to keep track of them for the four years of High School. Add volunteer requirements to the graduation list. Our district has a horrible drop out rate. We don't even target kids into trades as an option just to keep them viable. I would love some conversation on what ever happened to just teaching the basics. They don't even have time to teach world history anymore, only current events. Anything not related to the USA or older than this country is off the table. Crazy.
Sunday, February 10, 2013
Job
I haven't wrote in a while. Been busy and stressing. A friend called from my old shoe store job wanting to know if I would be interested working for the company she now works for, selling orthodics and shoes for diabetics, the cost covered by insurance. This is a home health service. They needed someone in the area I now live. The boss of the company called and I drove into the city for an interview the next week, was hired the next day and started work.
Meanwhile my tenant in the old house was coming to the end of his contract and told me he would be moving out. I asked if I could start showing the place and he agreed. I hyped up the house on face book and Craigslist and put it for sale on zillow.com. Craigslist, I had the house both for sale and for rent and for lease to own. A lot of calls and e mails came in inquiring. I set a date for the open house so I wouldn't have to drive back and forth all the time. I picked a Wednesday night as my tenant usually leaves town on weekends. Wednesdays work well for him in the evenings. I pushed it out until after bowling league was over. I wouldn't want to have to miss bowling night.
Wednesday, was my first day on the job visiting customers. My boss was coming up to supervise me ; I shadow him, He shadows me. We were seeing new patients and old patients and delivering shoes and checking on a fit. The day was full. I got us lost twice passing the right retirement center for the wrong one. We will stick to the maps next time. He was quick and efficient, liked my work, so we were done early. I can't speak to the visits as they are confidential.
I was able to head out of town to Canby and the open house scheduled for that night. I stopped to have the tire pressure checked on the car as the tires looked low in the front to me. Got the oil changed since we were at 5000 miles on a 3000 mile notification. Nice thing about small towns is you really don't put a lot of miles on your car even when you drive around a lot. My oil change was due in October and I was only now coming for the change in February. I had checked the color last month and the oil looked good so I was well within the car's happy zone. There was a long line at the jiffy lube so I sat for an hour waiting on my car before I could hit the freeway. Chatted on the cell with my mom and family and friends.
Work had gone so well that I even had time to swing by my moms house and help her do some computer stuff and have a quick bite.Mom and I split a $5 foot long subway sandwich for dinner. Then I raced off to Canby for the purpose of the day
As I came into Canby I stopped to fill up on gas in the car. I had been down to the little warning light but wanted to fill up in Canby as it proves for tax purposes that I was in town on the day I said I was so I can write off the trip for business purposes. I bought balloons at the store to identify the driveway. Since we are a flag log, people have a hard time finding the house.
A woman arrived early while I was still setting up. The traffic kept coming after that. I was really happy with the amount of people coming through. One woman found our rent to be a bit steep for not having some serious up grades, but this house sells to families and it is all about size. One family came through with six children all under the age of 11. I was glad that the mom was not thrilled we were short a couple rooms for them all.
The woman that came early, her husband was out of town so she took pictures. In the end she texted me that they were going to pass. She had a short sale foreclosure tale of woe that made me think she should pass on our house.
.
A family from Arizona came through, a work move bringing the whole family to a new place for a new job. They took an application but at first just wanted to rent, as they still had their home down south. That put them in second tier as I wanted lease to own.
Another family came through at the same time. They had a worm farm out of town. They had bought it a couple of years ago with plans to build their home on the farm. When they put in the permit to build on the farm, the city denied the permit. Now they were looking for a home to own close to the farm. I really liked this family. I liked their story and they were local, and hard working. I recognized their oldest son from my years of subbing in the school district. I got good vibes.
I slept at my mom's house to save on the long drive home after the open house, which ended around 7:00pm. No one came through after 6:30 though. I was happy the first hour was well attended. We stayed up late watching Flight with Densal Washington. After that movie, I was glad I had not had a cocktail, even though the day had warranted one.
When we turned out the lights, my mom and I talked for another hour in the dark before trying to fall asleep. The dog lay down on top of the covers so I didn't have enough on my side and he was shoving me towards the edge of the bed. Probably not happy to have someone in his spot next to Mom. After tossing for hours my mom finally sent me to the guest room to sleep out the rest of the night. She has a little space heater in her room to help keep the temperature a little warmer as the rest of the house cools down and the furnace stays off at night. She put plenty of covers on me in the guest room so I wouldn't get cold, and we could all sleep soundly, undisturbed.
First thing, the next morning I got a call. The worm farm family wanted to sign the lease to own contract that day, and so did I. It would put my stress to bed and I wouldn't have to do the drive again. Having to put the same clothes on again, due to the spontanious sleep over, wasn't good. Mom told me I was a little stinky. I had pitted out my shirt working the day before.
The worm farmers and the Arizona family had both returned apps. I set an appointment for later in the afternoon, Thursday. As far as qualifying, everyone has their story. People wouldn't have to rent my house or do a lease to own if they can work within the system. All the people looking at my house had stories to tell. None were immune to the banks, or the economy and how they manipulate our lives, ruin good credit scores or down size companies.
I liked both families. Either would have worked, but the farmer family said they wanted to buy the house, They were local, with work history in the community. They wanted to do the lease to own right away, that put them first.
Mom and I worked on the computer in the morning. Mom has a dreadful fear of the computer, that it is out to get her, or that she will do something to make it freeze up. We sent out some e mails. We had time for a Costco run where I picked up two cases of soap for the family. You would think it would last a while but we go through soap fast and Tom likes a big new bar often. Probably why he is always so sweet smelling.
I met the family at Starbucks as the house really belongs to the tenant until the lease is over. He needs 24 hour notice for any intrusions. It is the law. I had a contract I had taken of the intranet when all this started, and doctored up to fit our needs. Tom read it over and said it was fine. We chatted. I explained each area and gave them time to read it over, see if they had any comments. They wrote the non refundable deposit check for $500 and we went to the bank to deposit the check and give them deposit slips for the rent. The bank made copies of the contract for us.
After Presidents weekend I am headed back to Canby to exchange the keys around, pro rate the tenant as a courtesy, even though his contract doesn't officially end until end of March. He was so nice to get the house ready for the open house, it was a win win situation. I only have an eight day gap between tenants.
I headed home Thursday night so I could make the scout fundraiser training meeting I had set up as the new Fundraiser district chair. We were meeting at a pizza parlor. 12 units of scouts, pack and troop are participating in the candy and cookie drive this spring. This is the big scout fund raiser. It pays for camp and other scouting events. I started scheduling group times for store fronts. We try not to overlap as that causes conflict. The girl scouts are also doing their cookies at the same time. Nothing I can do about overlapping with them. Hopefully, everyone will play nice. Any one wanting really good candy or beef sticks or cookie dough get in touch with me.
That was my 48 hours in mega drive. I spent the weeks prior surfing the net reading contracts and looking for notes on how to be a landlord. I am money ahead doing this myself. I couldn't
be my own landlord if we were much further away. The drive would be prohibitive. With the house getting new ownership and the new job, I am in a happy place.
My New York Sister is headed to town to go skiing with me and the boys with her family. We are so excited. I will be the snow bunny in the lodge as I don't ski anymore with my bad knees, but it will be fun. I worry though as Trevor has a cold he is fighting and has now passed on to the rest of us. We have a week to blow through this cold. I am getting fresh oranges and drinking lots of fluids. Besides I can't see elderly patients with a cold.
I will be trying to schedule diabetes and healthy feet awareness seminars at the retirement homes and visit people who can use my services. These shoes and orthodics are paid for by insurance as a preventive measure for diabetics with complications in their feet. I feel good to be doing something worthwhile. Its been a while since I felt this up beat and useful.
Somehow I have to figure out how to spread out these activities though. I was swamped, having the new job, the open house, and the fund raiser all start at the same time. It does get the adrenaline going. I have even been doing exercises at a friends house twice a week. We motivate each other with a call in the morning around 8:00 am or 8:30. We see who calls first. She usually wins. If it is sunny we may walk. But mostly it has been too cold so we do aerobics in the living room to music for an hour. I can feel the difference. I can see my body toning up and getting back into shape. " Positive Vibes, Baby". Haven't said that in a while!!
Meanwhile my tenant in the old house was coming to the end of his contract and told me he would be moving out. I asked if I could start showing the place and he agreed. I hyped up the house on face book and Craigslist and put it for sale on zillow.com. Craigslist, I had the house both for sale and for rent and for lease to own. A lot of calls and e mails came in inquiring. I set a date for the open house so I wouldn't have to drive back and forth all the time. I picked a Wednesday night as my tenant usually leaves town on weekends. Wednesdays work well for him in the evenings. I pushed it out until after bowling league was over. I wouldn't want to have to miss bowling night.
Wednesday, was my first day on the job visiting customers. My boss was coming up to supervise me ; I shadow him, He shadows me. We were seeing new patients and old patients and delivering shoes and checking on a fit. The day was full. I got us lost twice passing the right retirement center for the wrong one. We will stick to the maps next time. He was quick and efficient, liked my work, so we were done early. I can't speak to the visits as they are confidential.
I was able to head out of town to Canby and the open house scheduled for that night. I stopped to have the tire pressure checked on the car as the tires looked low in the front to me. Got the oil changed since we were at 5000 miles on a 3000 mile notification. Nice thing about small towns is you really don't put a lot of miles on your car even when you drive around a lot. My oil change was due in October and I was only now coming for the change in February. I had checked the color last month and the oil looked good so I was well within the car's happy zone. There was a long line at the jiffy lube so I sat for an hour waiting on my car before I could hit the freeway. Chatted on the cell with my mom and family and friends.
Work had gone so well that I even had time to swing by my moms house and help her do some computer stuff and have a quick bite.Mom and I split a $5 foot long subway sandwich for dinner. Then I raced off to Canby for the purpose of the day
As I came into Canby I stopped to fill up on gas in the car. I had been down to the little warning light but wanted to fill up in Canby as it proves for tax purposes that I was in town on the day I said I was so I can write off the trip for business purposes. I bought balloons at the store to identify the driveway. Since we are a flag log, people have a hard time finding the house.
A woman arrived early while I was still setting up. The traffic kept coming after that. I was really happy with the amount of people coming through. One woman found our rent to be a bit steep for not having some serious up grades, but this house sells to families and it is all about size. One family came through with six children all under the age of 11. I was glad that the mom was not thrilled we were short a couple rooms for them all.
The woman that came early, her husband was out of town so she took pictures. In the end she texted me that they were going to pass. She had a short sale foreclosure tale of woe that made me think she should pass on our house.
.
A family from Arizona came through, a work move bringing the whole family to a new place for a new job. They took an application but at first just wanted to rent, as they still had their home down south. That put them in second tier as I wanted lease to own.
Another family came through at the same time. They had a worm farm out of town. They had bought it a couple of years ago with plans to build their home on the farm. When they put in the permit to build on the farm, the city denied the permit. Now they were looking for a home to own close to the farm. I really liked this family. I liked their story and they were local, and hard working. I recognized their oldest son from my years of subbing in the school district. I got good vibes.
I slept at my mom's house to save on the long drive home after the open house, which ended around 7:00pm. No one came through after 6:30 though. I was happy the first hour was well attended. We stayed up late watching Flight with Densal Washington. After that movie, I was glad I had not had a cocktail, even though the day had warranted one.
When we turned out the lights, my mom and I talked for another hour in the dark before trying to fall asleep. The dog lay down on top of the covers so I didn't have enough on my side and he was shoving me towards the edge of the bed. Probably not happy to have someone in his spot next to Mom. After tossing for hours my mom finally sent me to the guest room to sleep out the rest of the night. She has a little space heater in her room to help keep the temperature a little warmer as the rest of the house cools down and the furnace stays off at night. She put plenty of covers on me in the guest room so I wouldn't get cold, and we could all sleep soundly, undisturbed.
First thing, the next morning I got a call. The worm farm family wanted to sign the lease to own contract that day, and so did I. It would put my stress to bed and I wouldn't have to do the drive again. Having to put the same clothes on again, due to the spontanious sleep over, wasn't good. Mom told me I was a little stinky. I had pitted out my shirt working the day before.
The worm farmers and the Arizona family had both returned apps. I set an appointment for later in the afternoon, Thursday. As far as qualifying, everyone has their story. People wouldn't have to rent my house or do a lease to own if they can work within the system. All the people looking at my house had stories to tell. None were immune to the banks, or the economy and how they manipulate our lives, ruin good credit scores or down size companies.
I liked both families. Either would have worked, but the farmer family said they wanted to buy the house, They were local, with work history in the community. They wanted to do the lease to own right away, that put them first.
Mom and I worked on the computer in the morning. Mom has a dreadful fear of the computer, that it is out to get her, or that she will do something to make it freeze up. We sent out some e mails. We had time for a Costco run where I picked up two cases of soap for the family. You would think it would last a while but we go through soap fast and Tom likes a big new bar often. Probably why he is always so sweet smelling.
I met the family at Starbucks as the house really belongs to the tenant until the lease is over. He needs 24 hour notice for any intrusions. It is the law. I had a contract I had taken of the intranet when all this started, and doctored up to fit our needs. Tom read it over and said it was fine. We chatted. I explained each area and gave them time to read it over, see if they had any comments. They wrote the non refundable deposit check for $500 and we went to the bank to deposit the check and give them deposit slips for the rent. The bank made copies of the contract for us.
After Presidents weekend I am headed back to Canby to exchange the keys around, pro rate the tenant as a courtesy, even though his contract doesn't officially end until end of March. He was so nice to get the house ready for the open house, it was a win win situation. I only have an eight day gap between tenants.
I headed home Thursday night so I could make the scout fundraiser training meeting I had set up as the new Fundraiser district chair. We were meeting at a pizza parlor. 12 units of scouts, pack and troop are participating in the candy and cookie drive this spring. This is the big scout fund raiser. It pays for camp and other scouting events. I started scheduling group times for store fronts. We try not to overlap as that causes conflict. The girl scouts are also doing their cookies at the same time. Nothing I can do about overlapping with them. Hopefully, everyone will play nice. Any one wanting really good candy or beef sticks or cookie dough get in touch with me.
That was my 48 hours in mega drive. I spent the weeks prior surfing the net reading contracts and looking for notes on how to be a landlord. I am money ahead doing this myself. I couldn't
be my own landlord if we were much further away. The drive would be prohibitive. With the house getting new ownership and the new job, I am in a happy place.
My New York Sister is headed to town to go skiing with me and the boys with her family. We are so excited. I will be the snow bunny in the lodge as I don't ski anymore with my bad knees, but it will be fun. I worry though as Trevor has a cold he is fighting and has now passed on to the rest of us. We have a week to blow through this cold. I am getting fresh oranges and drinking lots of fluids. Besides I can't see elderly patients with a cold.
I will be trying to schedule diabetes and healthy feet awareness seminars at the retirement homes and visit people who can use my services. These shoes and orthodics are paid for by insurance as a preventive measure for diabetics with complications in their feet. I feel good to be doing something worthwhile. Its been a while since I felt this up beat and useful.
Somehow I have to figure out how to spread out these activities though. I was swamped, having the new job, the open house, and the fund raiser all start at the same time. It does get the adrenaline going. I have even been doing exercises at a friends house twice a week. We motivate each other with a call in the morning around 8:00 am or 8:30. We see who calls first. She usually wins. If it is sunny we may walk. But mostly it has been too cold so we do aerobics in the living room to music for an hour. I can feel the difference. I can see my body toning up and getting back into shape. " Positive Vibes, Baby". Haven't said that in a while!!
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