My daughter takes guitar lessons from a gentleman who owns his own studio. She been taking lessons from him since last July and is progressing very nicely. Last week, when we went in for her lesson, he informed me that the young kid who had been working for him quit. He was in a quandry about what he was going to do. He even went so far as to ask me if I wanted the job! I told him that I didn’t read music, so it really depended on what the work entailed and we sort of left it at that.
Today we were back for this week’s lesson and he brought up the job again, this time though, he had made a list of job duties. It’s basically filing, printing documents and music from his computer, answering the phone, ordering supplies, etc. This, for the most part, I can do. The only thing that is questionable are the hours. This is not an 8-5 kind of job. It would mostly be working a few hours a day, a few days a week, but in the afternoons. This could create a scheduling problem for me because it would mean my daughter would either have to come with me or she’d stay at home by herself.
Basically, today I told him that I’d like to meet with him when he doesn’t have a lesson going on so he could show me in more detail what he wants, the programs on his computer, etc., and we could come up with a schedule that would work for both of us. We haven’t talked money yet either, so I’m interested to see what he thinks this job is worth.
Right now I’m still mulling this over. The extra money would sure come in handy. I’ll keep you posted.
I wrote a post about title insurance companies yesterday and I received several emails asking for more information. I feel it’s pretty important as a home buyer to know what you are getting, not just in the house, but in the land it sits on.
A title company is responsible for ensuring there are no outstanding liens on the property. You wouldn’t want to purchase a home and find out later that the company that installed the swimming pool is holding a lien against it. If that were the case, you’d become responsible for paying off that lien. Having a title insurance company prepare and issue a title insurance policy on the property gives a property owner piece of mind. The policy gives a history of the property and any liens that have been made against it and what rights or easements anyone else may have. For example, on our home in Houston, our title insurance policy stated something to the affect that if oil were to be found under ground, the oil rights would belong to a specific utility company.
The title policy on our current house shows me who, specifically, had liens or ownership rights to the land in the past. The policy also provides dates of when those rights were relinquished. I always pay the extra money when purchasing a home, not only to to have a title policy, but to have a copy of the actual title insurance policy in my possession. I think it’s very important as a home owner to know what my legal rights are regarding the property.
So, I hope I’ve not been repetitive, but I think it’s an important issue that any home buyer needs to be aware of.
This week I decided to tackle something that’s been annoying me for quite some time, the kitchen island. There are so many days that I wonder where all the crap that lands on the island would go if we didn’t have an island at all! This is definitely something I need to keep up with on a daily basis or it will look like this again, in a hurry. If you really look in the picture, you can see that the counter had actually overflowed onto the stools, we couldn’t even sit down!
It really did take me all week to get it looking like this. There were a lot of papers that needed to be filed and items that needed a home. I didn’t just want to move the mess, I wanted to eliminate it. Plus, every time I would get it partially cleared, somebody would drop something new onto the counter. It’s definitely an ongoing, never ending tackle.
If you have a project, big or small, that you’d like to share in Tackle it Tuesday, head over to 5 Minutes For Mom and join in.
Since moving to Texas, we’re all ready having to think about sun care, it was almost 80 today and I couldn’t get over all the people working in their yards outside! Not to mention, I’ve been considering going some place warm and sunny for Spring Break in a few weeks.
My daughter came home from school this afternoon and was chatting with a friend on her cell phone when, due to lack of a good sunscreen, her lips did something really funky. I decided to grab the video camera to capture it on film. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing! You might want to check this out so the same thing doesn’t happen to someone you love.
I’ve decided to enter this video in the Spring Break contest, the Xtreme Spring Break Challenge, sponsored by Ocean Potion. The Grand Prize winner will receive either $5,000 or an Xtreme Dream Vacation, I could use either one of those prizes! They really do carry some terrific sun care products, after sun care and tanning lotions, even for kids. They even carry a self tanner. Their products contain high SPF’s and aloe vera for skin conditioning, plus, all of their products are PABA free.
If you have an interesting tanning story, you may just want to enter this contest yourself!
I want to say that I am very sorry I haven’t been posting much about sewing over the last week or so. I’ve been so busy trying to get tax paperwork done, health benefits updated and generally managing my daughter’s Destination Imagination team, I haven’t had much time to sew. In fact, I’ve had no time to sew.
I did make it to the fabric store last Saturday and stocked up on thread, it was all half price. That’s the closest I’ve come to fabric or anything sewing related in almost two weeks.
I am attending a class this Thursday to re-familiarize myself with the embroidery function on my machine. Hopefully that will motivate me to get busy. I’d really like to make some shirts for the DI team to wear to the tournament, which, by the way, is less than two weeks away.
I’m rambling here so I will end this post, but I wanted to say that I hope to get back to my sewing very soon and will have more to post on that subject when I do.
I finally got myself started on sorting through all of our tax information, I’ve been procrastinating. I just have to organize it, fill out our tax questionnaire and then send it all off to our accountant. Every year, I think I have everything ready and then it happens, I have to go digging through my files for something else. This year is no different.
As I go through the questionnaire that our accountant sends us each year, I ensure I have all the back up documents. As I check things off, I make a list of missing paperwork. This morning I was doing my search for the missing papers. Probably the most important document that was MIA was the closing document from the sale of our home last year. I know it was provided to us by the title company and I was sure it was with our home sale documents. I just had to sort through to find it.
In the state of Illinois, home sales are handled by real estate attorneys, but the closing documents are prepared by the title company. In Texas, closings are handled without the attorney, everything is taken care of between the mortgage companies and the title insurance companies. Either way, I think that besides handling a home sale closing, it’s important to have title insurance on any property that you own, don’t you? It ensures that nobody is going to come out of the blue and try to lay claim to your land. Title insurance policies can be interesting to read if you live in a location that has any history. I remember our title policy on our home in Houston had a lot of facts regarding oil claims. It really was a fascinating read!
Anyway, I did manage to find the necessary document this morning and I am getting closer to being ready to send it off to the accountant. That will be a big weight off of my shoulders. If you’ve never actually read your title insurance policy, you might want to some time, you just never know what interesting facts you’ll find in that document.
I was tagged by Angela at Unexpected Art for this 4×4 meme. I’m a little bit slow getting this one up, but I like the idea of it and wanted to get it going. Basically the meme is answering 4 questions on 4 topics (thus the 4×4) and then tagging 4 people. So, here it goes.
4 Jobs I’ve Had in My Life
My very first paid job (besides babysitting) was working in a dry cleaners. This was an interesting job, but I have to say, I did not enjoy the smell of all those dirty clothes!
In college I worked two jobs, but my favorite was probably working in intramural sports. I was a referee for volleyball, assigned racquetball courts, and checked out equipment. I got to do a lot of studying while getting paid!
I have worked at all levels of retail, sales associate to store manager. I would have really enjoyed my last retail position as Operations Mgr. for Old Navy had the General Mgr. not been such a complete ass to work for. Let’s just say it really peaked when he wanted me to come in and work while I was on maternity leave!
My most recent job was working as a classroom and one-on-one aide in our school district. I learned a lot about autism and I gained a lot of respect for school teachers.
4 Shows I DVR (TIVO)
Lost
Las Vegas
The Apprentice
Desperate Housewives
4 Places I’ve Been
Kenya - I got the rare opportunity to go on a photo safari with my parents many years ago. I have and will never forget it. I hope to be able to do the same thing with my daughter some day.
Switzerland - This is one of the most beautiful places on Earth. I would love to go back someday.
Niagara Fall, Canada - One amazing trip, and the first real vacation we ever went on with our daughter, she was two at the time.
The Grand Canyon, Arizona - We were fortunate enough to travel with my parents in their motorhome and traveled to the North Rim. This side of the canyon is less crowded with tourists and it was a beautiful drive from the south side
Now, I have to say that is was very difficult only choosing four places that I’ve visited. My parents lived overseas when I was in high school and I was given the opportunity to travel the globe. I filled up 2 passports with visas and entry/exit stamps. I would give anything to give my daughter the same opportunity. 4 Favorite Foods
Seafood - In particular, I have to say that I love shrimp and fish.
I love all things Mexican, especially cheese and chicken enchiladas.
Pasta - Who doesn’t love pasta?!
My mom’s beef stew. I’ve come close, but no matter what I do, my beef stew isn’t quite the same as hers. I usually ask her to make it when she visits. It’s my comfort food.
4 People I Tag
As someone who recently made the decision to try to make a living online, I know he is wanting to build traffic, so I am tagging The Random Forest and hope you will go visit him.
I’m also tagging Laura’s Daily Life because I know she enjoys telling us stories of her children and I hope she will enjoy telling some things about herself.
I would also like to tag fellow stitcher and crafter extraordinaire Fatiah at Sew My Name who also has taught me a thing or two about blogging!
And last but certainly not least, I am tagging one of my newest blogging friends, Ellen, from All In A Day who is not only a fellow blogger, but a fellow crafter as well. She has some wonderful bags for sale at Etsy.com so be sure to check out her blog and her shop.
It’s late and we’re off to bed. My daughter and I both love to read a good book in bed before turning out the light. I think it’s an amazing way to unwind and tune out everything that’s going on in our minds. It helps me relax and I typically sleep much better after I’ve spent some time reading.
I’m currently reading “The Spyderwick Chronicles”. I wanted to read them before we go see the movie, it allows me to use my imagination instead of simply envisioning what the move producers want me to see. I’m enjoying the books, they’re a pretty quick read and very creative. I just finished reading the third book tonight.
I didn’t want to start a new book so late at night, so I decided to head over to check out the Weekly Shorts at Before I Am Famous for a quick nightcap of reading.
Her latest short story, The President of the United States, is very creative, although, it does sound a little too much like “Men In Black”. I think I would have enjoyed it even more had it been a bit more of her own ideas, more original. I know Jen is a very creative thinker and writer and I do enjoy her blog very much. The site sponsors a Weekly Shorts meme which allows readers to leave a comment with any character or theme idea they have and Jen will write a short story using that information. It’s really a fun way to be involved in the creative side of writing. As a bonus, if your idea is used in a short story, she will give you a link back. What blogger can’t use one of those?
When she’s not authoring short stories, she also writes poetry on her blog. She has quite a few short stories and poems to be read on her site. They cover a why range of interests, something for everyone. I for one, visit her site several times each week and find it to be quite entertaining. So, if you’re looking for a good read, be sure to check it out.
I’m sitting here organizing all of my tax documentation and I noticed a line on our accountants annual tax questionnaire under miscellaneous itemized deductions: Hobby Expense. I had to stop and ask myself if perhaps I’m now allowed to deduct the cost of all the fabric I’m buying? This would be a huge help considering that buying fabric is something I am addicted to.
Speaking of addictions, I can think of 3 addictions that I currently have.
Buying Fabric
Blogging
Entrecard (my newest addiction)
Feeding my new Entrecard addiction would be easier if I could win the Entrecard Credit Giveaway from Mummified Times Five. The contest ends on February 29, so I’m keeping my fingers crossed that I will win on of the 2 x 1000 Entrecard credit prizes!
