Saturday, October 29, 2011

Race For the Cure 2011

Today was a big day.....that started at 6:30am....and that was when we LEFT the house, which meant on a SATURDAY we were up at 5:30.  AM.  Yes, my friends, you read that right.  We.   :)


It was 40 degrees at our destination...and we met up with Andy's coworkers, as his company had paid everyone's entrance fee.

We had to go so early to get decent parking, but the race didn't actually start until 8am.  We had 2 choices....1K or 5k....so....I said let's go for it.  Last year, Andy did the 1K by himself (I was still reclined and unable to do such things....)..

Layers are your friend!


My mom was diagnosed with breast cancer at the age of 38....it was a shock to all of us.  She was very lucky....had surgery but did not need chemotherapy or radiation.  26 years later, she is still cancer-free!  Praise God!  We walked today in celebration of her life and for all breast cancer survivors!

We had a great time...even if we were freezing.  Afterwards, we checked out the appliance vendor for upgrading the new house...along with other errands.  Fun day!

Did you participate in the race in your area?






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Friday, October 28, 2011

A Day in My Life

On the subject of building the house and being married to a detail guy....thought I'd share what happened yesterday....



Hubby wanted to run back by the builder spec of the floor plan we are building....and frankly, you'd think we live there already.  Anyhoo...he disappears in to the attic to "check something".  (We are truthfully stalking all the new builds our company has going on....we've been asked by neighbors if we are the homeowners.....ummm.....no......just one of us has to watch the building process one board at a time.......)

Turns out:

He noticed the copper tubing coming looked too small...so he had gone on to research and found out that in fact, the contractor DID use the wrong size tubing on that home. He will now alert my builder (boss) to this mistake and make sure it doesn't happen to our home.  (May be an honest mistake....who knows...but the future homeowner will likely have issues with the air conditioner if that isn't corrected.)

And the shocker of the evening:

I am the visual one....it's widely known if something needs to be explained to me, SHOW it to me.  Don't just verbally explain it....draw it, show it, have a video?  lol

So, hubs has been wanting to put the home theater type sound in the Hearth room and I kept saying it seemed too small....we'd be right up on the TV and shouldn't we put it in the living room?

He just seemed to ignore this.

So last night, we moved the spec home's couch exactly where he'd put our couch and guess what he said?

"Oh, wow...this is too close!"

Am I in the twilight zone?  MY husband had to be shown something visually?  lol  We had a good chuckle but finally did make a decision on where to put the home theater wiring.   Yay!

See, I have always been very obvious with my "high standard" ways.....and hubs just sat back and APPEARED easy going.....but only those who live with him or know him well KNOW he rivals me in high standards....just different topics.  lol   One of sons told me recently, "Mom, you have ruined me....I can't handle incompetence at work...it's like I'm a freak".  Seems like I heard something similar from my best friend a few years ago...LOL.  Everyone just just do their best....just sayin'.....

And to think our company has clients who just walk in, sign a contract for a certain home plan, and then smile when it is done.  :)

Are you more visual or more detailed?  Or both?



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Saturday, October 22, 2011

I Love My Job!

I love people.

I have a connection...an intuition....

I love when I matter...when my job makes a difference.

I've been this way since my first job....at the Corn Dog....yes....I wore those short shorts and strange hat..  Just not a lot of ways to perfect frying a corn dog.  lol  (I made darn good lemonade, though!)  And anyone remember Corn Cheese???  Fried cheddar cheese on a stick........oh my.

Closest picture I could find...I am talking early 1980's here....but cheese on a stick, dipped in batter and fried like a corn dog.......add mustard...YUM!
Image Credit





Whether frying food or working with folks making the biggest financial decision of their lives, I bring my best self...my best intention... I don't know how to do anything less... really wish more folks in sales had this attitude...maybe we'd have a better reputation, huh?
In real estate, I thrived.  Could work as hard as I wanted, set my own hours....and have missed most of it.   Especially working with families..  Never dreamed I'd be working exclusively for a builder.

When one of our lenders came to our sales meeting last week and knocked my socks off, I was energized for days.....so excited to be partnered with that level of excellence.  Andy just sat at lunch listening to my excited jabbering...lol.  He LOVES seeing this joy in me.  Some days, he just looks at me....lacking words....speechless that his wife went from "then" to now.  Who could have ever guessed?

When this job literally dropped out of the sky, I knew it was an answer to prayer and affirmations.

I had no idea HOW perfect it was going to be.

Everything I love....wrapped in to one job...

People

Excitement

Amazing product

Connections with others.

On days like this, I come home SO energized...It isn't about the homes or the money...it is about the people....

I would ask "How did I get this lucky?" but I know the answer.

Faith.

"I have a wonderful work in a wonderful way.

I give wonderful service for wonderful pay."

Say it.

Mean it.

Believe it.

Then Enjoy!

Joy is contagious.....


Do you love what you do?  Are you filled with joy?


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Monday, October 17, 2011

Home Building and Humor..

First, where have I been?  Getting ready to build a house.  ARGH!!!  With an engineer.  That's just about enough said, huh.   And building with my new employer...so that's been interesting.....

We finally picked the house plan.....then...the tweaks/changes/additions started.  We're 3 meetings in and up to items totaling 60+.     Detailed folks are SO fun......

Here is the plan we chose BUT there are several huge changes...one of which is a side load garage (required by our new neighborhood but no problem with our 3/4 acre lot)....and hubs cannot handle that dormer over the garage, so an entire new elevation has been designed for him....bumping out the garage and adding a gable...

Westin Homes


We are gathering the estimates and will then decide just what we are going to add....so far, almost everything.

Things like:

Full granite backsplash
Under cabinet lighting
Exterior lighting under the eaves
Lights in all closets
Choosing a different mantel than standard
Choosing a different front door glass insert

I could go on and on and on.....60+ times......  We WILL have a fabulous house when it gets done...

Anyhoo...I am WORN OUT and we're not even done yet.  As soon as we get this stuff figured out, I then have to pick color selections - which hubs says I have FULL control....I am putting this in writing so he remembers that!  I have been SO good....really....being in the middle isn't fun (an employee and a client???)....I've tried to stay mostly out of it...

Here are photos of our new street:




But I will have an opinion on colors....from brick to roof to wall colors to tile to hardwood...  Thankfully, we agree on everything so far.  Wonder if that will continue.  lol

Meanwhile, after I washed my hair tonight (after our walk at the park), I couldn't get my slipper on fully.  I walked all the way to the living room, trying to force my foot in that slipper.  It didn't work.

As I got to the couch, I supported myself so I wouldn't fall over (balance issues with the nerve damage) and pulled my slipper off.

Guess why my foot wouldn't go in?

A hair clip was in my slipper!!!!!!!!!



Can we say "Numb feet"?

Andy about fell over dying laughing.  It was funny, but then it wasn't too.  Kinda sad.  Bet he'd feel a large plastic hair clip in his slipper!

I needed some levity tonight....so had to share.  lol

Anyone else build a house and have great advice other than "stay out of it"?





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Thursday, October 6, 2011

Lip Plumper Gloss - Wow

I will admit that I have never believed the "lip plumping" products...thought it was a gimmick. However, while watching a video from LovePeaceandLipGloss on You Tube the other day, she raved about the Physician's Formula Plump Potion lip gloss,  ($8.95 at this link) and that it was at Tuesday Morning right now for $3.99 ($11.99 at drug stores....).


We were out running errands and I looked for this at our local store and they had one shade - Berry Potion.  I purchased it thinking it was pretty even if it didn't officially "work" to plump my lips.

My first impression was surprise at the mild stinging on my lips....like when lips are numb after going to the dentist.  After about 15 minutes, I felt my lips were actually "fatter", so I looked in the mirror.  I was SHOCKED.  So was my husband, although he was now scared to kiss me as he did not want his lips stinging.  lol

Here is a photo I took to show you:



This looks really pink, but yesterday I put it over a more neutral lip stick and it looked entirely different....more neutral.

I am in love with this gloss!!

My coworker just told me today that she ran out and bought it as well and her lips looked FABULOUS when I saw her today.  She is going out to another Tuesday Morning to see if they have additional colors.

Enjoy!


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