So I'm not really sure how much of this you all know, but Brian and I bought 3 acres of land in Duluth which we plan to build on in the spring of next year. This basically came about because I am a country/woods girl at heart and as much as I love our neighbors, I would rather look out my windows and not see or hear anyone. It also came about because I may or may not say things that embarrass Brian and I might say them loudly to which I am loudly and violently "SSSHHHH-ed" because the neighbors will hear me. Slightly dramatic, don't you think?
Anyway, we found a great piece of land at a great price and it is still in the city limits and is one block from a huge nature center/trail system. Pretty lucky. That said, I am very skeptical about building a house for several reasons. The main reason is that I have no clue what I'm doing or where to begin, but thanks to calming words from Brian, a handy dad, and good friends who have gone through this already, I guess we will make it.
We've had some trials and tribulations already (and we haven't even really got started!) including an elderly man who said he would not give us an easement but he would sell us his unusable 1/2 acre for $25,000 in order to have a driveway with easier access to our land. Ummm, thanks but no thanks. The latest update is that this past weekend Brian, Foxy, and I went out to the land and staked off our driveway and the house dimensions. That was super cool to actually have a visual of where things will be. Our plans are about drawn up too. We are buying a kit from First Day Cottage (www.firstdaycottage.com) and building the house ourselves, with a little help from friends and family. The goal is to put our house on the market in February and hopefully get it to sell by April or May. Then we will stay at our friends place while we build. I think we are going to get a cheap trailer (too bad the tree fell on the one Trudi and Paul left in Hayward!) to leave on the land while we are building too.
I'm sure there will be much ranting and raving to come on this subject.....I will be "cultivating" patience for that project. But for now, I am just hopeful and optimistic of a new house surrounded by beautiful trees.
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
Liars
Today was one of those days that I really wish I could drink. Working with small children is a wonderful thing and just the other day I was thinking about how lucky I am that I get to basically teach kids how to be good people and hopefully make the world a better place. Well today I thought, how can those little shits sit there for over an hour and lie to my face?!!? Never, ever have I been lied to like I have been at this new school that I work at. In my previous school, I dealt more frequently with rampaging, angry kids and their angry parents, which was no walk in the park either. Last year and now this year have opened my eyes to the frustrations of trying desperately hard to make a kid understand that the worst part of lying isn't the getting in trouble, it is that I will have no trust in you for quite a long time and that my friend is a big, big problem for you. After an hour of sitting listening to two second graders lie over and over (and I know they were lying because my new thing is to write down their first story and then every subsequent story they tell so I can go back and quote them) I actually started to chuckle....you know that kind of you are about to go crazy chuckle. One of the little angels thought I was laughing about his lying and started to smile at which time I had to oh so gently remind him that I was not laughing cause the situation was funny, but because I was going slightly insane due to his story telling. Why? Why do they lie? It's like you can tell them in a million different ways that lying will only cause you to get in more trouble and lose trust, but until they are in the situation they just don't get it. And some....well, some still don't get it. Job security I guess.....
Saturday, October 15, 2011
Toaster Anyone?
It happened. I fell prey to the beauty and ease of eBay. It all started this summer when going to garage sales and needing a toaster. I came across a beautiful vintage Sunbeam radiant heat toaster. This toaster is the kind that has no button or lever to press down. You just drop the bread in and the toaster then lowers the bread...kind of like magic. (Side note - I had no idea how to work said toaster in the beginning cause the lady at the garage sale just said, "You just drop the bread in" and having never ever seen this before was a bit skeptical and stood in front of said toaster for close to 30 minutes before calling my dad to ask if I had just been ripped off, when VOILA, the toast went down on its own when I dropped it in!)
Sadly this toaster must have been on its way out, because within about 3 months it quit working. I love toast and I loved that toaster even more (think cool, curvy, chrome) so I went on eBay to find another one. I found one, because what can't you find on eBay, and purchased it for $20. Oh, another side note....that garage sale toaster was only $2.50. Sigh. Anyway, my new toaster came and it didn't work. Thankfully, this was a very nice seller and I told her my plight and she refunded my money and said I didn't need to return it. So now I have two beautiful old toasters sitting in my entry because I can't seem to part with them and secretly hope someone somewhere will appear to me and know how to fix these toasters.
Back to eBay I went. Here is where it really went wrong. I found a bunch of old vintage toasters (not radiant heat ones because I think shipping might mess with that mechanism) and was trying to decide. Well, I have this issue with eBay where I bid on something and think, "I won't win with that bid, I'm sure." I must have had that thought on three days, however, because I checked my email a few days later and I had the message that I had won. Sweet! I checked my email the next day and saw another message saying I won. Why are they sending me another reminder? The following day I was checking email again and behold another message saying I had won. Ebay doesn't send three of the exact same "You won" message so I actually opened the email. Oh dear. I had won 3 different toasters. Shit. So now in my house I have 5, yes 5, toasters. They are all beautiful, old, chrome toasters, and thankfully one of the three is pretty close to my original beauty and works. I have two others though that would love a good home. So if anyone wants a vintage toaster for Christmas, you should let me know.
Sadly this toaster must have been on its way out, because within about 3 months it quit working. I love toast and I loved that toaster even more (think cool, curvy, chrome) so I went on eBay to find another one. I found one, because what can't you find on eBay, and purchased it for $20. Oh, another side note....that garage sale toaster was only $2.50. Sigh. Anyway, my new toaster came and it didn't work. Thankfully, this was a very nice seller and I told her my plight and she refunded my money and said I didn't need to return it. So now I have two beautiful old toasters sitting in my entry because I can't seem to part with them and secretly hope someone somewhere will appear to me and know how to fix these toasters.
Back to eBay I went. Here is where it really went wrong. I found a bunch of old vintage toasters (not radiant heat ones because I think shipping might mess with that mechanism) and was trying to decide. Well, I have this issue with eBay where I bid on something and think, "I won't win with that bid, I'm sure." I must have had that thought on three days, however, because I checked my email a few days later and I had the message that I had won. Sweet! I checked my email the next day and saw another message saying I won. Why are they sending me another reminder? The following day I was checking email again and behold another message saying I had won. Ebay doesn't send three of the exact same "You won" message so I actually opened the email. Oh dear. I had won 3 different toasters. Shit. So now in my house I have 5, yes 5, toasters. They are all beautiful, old, chrome toasters, and thankfully one of the three is pretty close to my original beauty and works. I have two others though that would love a good home. So if anyone wants a vintage toaster for Christmas, you should let me know.
Saturday, October 8, 2011
A Day Made Better
Whoa. Almost a month since the last post....yikes. Well, this is a good news post. Two good things in two days this week have prompted me to sit down and put the experience to words so I don't forget.
On Tuesday, I went to the doctor and received the happy news that everything seems fine since the surgery and my body is back to normal. I still haven't had a visit from my monthly friend however and I was a bit concerned about that. The Dr. put my mind at ease and said I really should even expect it for another two weeks. Whew. After that she said that I am free to "try again" (although to be honest I really hate that term, so I'll say "see what happens" instead.) Good news #1.
Then on Wednesday, I was teaching a 5th grade class when two guys from Office Max and my principal show up (along with the teacher of the class and a student teacher who were already in my room for the lesson). I am very confused at that point, especially when Brett (my boss) has a camera pointed at me. One Office Max guy says, "Are you Lori?" Oh....and he's holding a bouquet of flowers too. "Yes...." I say. "We are from Office Max. Have you heard of A Day Made Better?" "Yes," I say....although I really didn't but I was so stupefied at that point I didn't really know what I was saying. "Well, we are here to present you with $1,000 worth of supplies for your classroom. A Day Made Better is Office Max's program to try and erase teacher funded classrooms." HOLY SHIT!!! This was awesome and a very aptly named program because my day was INSTANTLY better. He and the other guy then wheel in (on a dolly) an ENORMOUS box (like big enough where I could it comfortably in it and put the lid on) full of classroom supplies. So he tells me to open it up and look through it and inside with the supplies are a new color laser printer and a new digital camera! AWESOME! Then they roll in a super sweet new office chair which is way nicer than any chair our school has or would provide. Then we took pictures with me and the Office Max guys and then with my class that was there witnessing the whole thing. One student asked, "Is your day better?" "Ummm, YES!". And then what was really cute was that the Office Max guy says that it was his first ever delivery for this program and he kept asking if I was happy and excited. He was pretty excited too I think. After they left, I asked a teacher why the hell I got that stuff and she said that you have to be nominated and she thought that Brett nominated me. I asked him later and he said yes that I totally deserved it cause I make so many other people's days better.
If you google a day made better office max, you will get the webpage with the info. They take one day a year to donate $1000 of supplies to 1000 teachers nationwide. If you search for my name, you'll see the entry from Brett. It's pretty basic to be honest, but nice nonetheless. Good news #2.
On Tuesday, I went to the doctor and received the happy news that everything seems fine since the surgery and my body is back to normal. I still haven't had a visit from my monthly friend however and I was a bit concerned about that. The Dr. put my mind at ease and said I really should even expect it for another two weeks. Whew. After that she said that I am free to "try again" (although to be honest I really hate that term, so I'll say "see what happens" instead.) Good news #1.
Then on Wednesday, I was teaching a 5th grade class when two guys from Office Max and my principal show up (along with the teacher of the class and a student teacher who were already in my room for the lesson). I am very confused at that point, especially when Brett (my boss) has a camera pointed at me. One Office Max guy says, "Are you Lori?" Oh....and he's holding a bouquet of flowers too. "Yes...." I say. "We are from Office Max. Have you heard of A Day Made Better?" "Yes," I say....although I really didn't but I was so stupefied at that point I didn't really know what I was saying. "Well, we are here to present you with $1,000 worth of supplies for your classroom. A Day Made Better is Office Max's program to try and erase teacher funded classrooms." HOLY SHIT!!! This was awesome and a very aptly named program because my day was INSTANTLY better. He and the other guy then wheel in (on a dolly) an ENORMOUS box (like big enough where I could it comfortably in it and put the lid on) full of classroom supplies. So he tells me to open it up and look through it and inside with the supplies are a new color laser printer and a new digital camera! AWESOME! Then they roll in a super sweet new office chair which is way nicer than any chair our school has or would provide. Then we took pictures with me and the Office Max guys and then with my class that was there witnessing the whole thing. One student asked, "Is your day better?" "Ummm, YES!". And then what was really cute was that the Office Max guy says that it was his first ever delivery for this program and he kept asking if I was happy and excited. He was pretty excited too I think. After they left, I asked a teacher why the hell I got that stuff and she said that you have to be nominated and she thought that Brett nominated me. I asked him later and he said yes that I totally deserved it cause I make so many other people's days better.
If you google a day made better office max, you will get the webpage with the info. They take one day a year to donate $1000 of supplies to 1000 teachers nationwide. If you search for my name, you'll see the entry from Brett. It's pretty basic to be honest, but nice nonetheless. Good news #2.
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