It has been a while since our last post and we thought we should share some updates. Nothing too exciting....Dan is still working on the west side and hating his commute, so we've put our house up for sale on our own and are hoping for a miracle. We haven't taken the route of using a realtor to avoid paying seller commission fees, but we have received a lot of advice and help from a ward member friend of my parents who is a realtor in Scottsdale. We've basically only gone as far as listing our house on owners.com and craigslist and put a sign in our front yard. The only calls we've received have come from realtors wanting our business....We aren't holding our breath that any buyers will surface soon, just hopeful that we'll figure out what to do in the near future. Lots of decisions to make! So as a plea, if anyone knows of anyone looking for a house to buy or rent in Arizona, PLEASE let us know!
I don't think I ever mentioned that I started working, "quarter time" (not quite enough hours to be considered "part time") at Sylvan Learning Center. I am a teacher there for Math, Study Skills, and recently Reading. So far I have about 12 scheduled teaching hours which equates to more like 18 hours with required prep time, etc. Just 6 years post-graduation and I'm finally putting my degree to real use! It can be overwhelming at times when you have 3 kids all requiring your attention at the same time for different things, but this is the first job I've had where I can say my work matters. The satisfaction it gives outweighs the stressful days, so I feel fortunate to have this opportunity. My original motivation to work in a tutoring environment was to gain experience with professional methods so that some time in the future I can use that to perhaps do tutoring out of our home to bring in some extra income and give me something else to do with my days. We'll see what comes of it! So far I'm happy to have the experience and the distraction while we wait the 10 MORE WEEKS for our baby girl to arrive. Wow time flies!
This coming weekend Dan and I will be taking one last "vacation." Destination: Albuquerque, NM. Impressive eh?? Don't be too jealous. We both had vouchers to use up and didn't want to spend too much out of pocket, so that is where we came up with. We've been reading up and there seems to be a lot of things you can do and see. So it should be a nice weekend. We'll spend some time in Albuquerque, Santa Fe, and perhaps Taos. Any suggestions of things to see or do?
Other than that life is just moving right along. I had some heart concerns recently, and was hooked up to a monitor for 30 days. My cardiology appointment on Friday revealed that there is no bad news! I have a valve disorder that I guess I've had since birth, also a slight murmur and lung compression which is probably due to the pregnancy, so all of that investigating just to give me peace of mind. Which I will definitely take over the alternative!
More updates to come on the baby blog, but that's it for now until we return from our New Mexico adventures!
2 Comments
Heather Blinzinger
1/27/2008 06:46:14 am
Good Luck on the house renting/ selling. AND enjoy your 1 last vacation before your baby comes.
I am so glad to hear you are working at Sylvvan (sp?) What a great thing. I am in 1 of the last 2 semesters I have before getting into the teaching program. I hope to start in Fall. In one of my classes i will be doing observation. I am excited and hope that I find as much satisfaction as you seem to have found.
Scott
1/28/2008 06:01:02 am
Don't buy jewelry from stores, it's a rip off. If in Albuquerque go to "Old Town" and you'll see authentic hand-made and cheap native jewelry and whatnot.
Same in Santa Fe though Santa Fe will be more costly.