What it all comes down to…

Well, it’s hot as h-e-double hockey sticks here in the North Georgia Mountains and I’m about five months pregnant.  Things are going well.  I have some of my energy back and my brain seems to be seeking the business world again.  Eating still remains to be an issue.  As I told Randy the other day, it’s a curse and a blessing.  The curse is that food is not as fun as it use to be and I can’t pig out like I would like to, using pregnancy as an excuse to taste and consume everything.  The blessing is that I am not gaining much weight (in fact I lost one pound since my last weigh in two weeks ago).  It should be pretty easy to get back to my pre-pregnancy state.  Although I’m really not sure how my stomach can possibly stretch more.  My stomach muscles already feel stretched to the max!  But, Doc says baby is doing great!

We are having a girl, and her name is Lilly Kathleen (Kathleen is my grandmother’s name).  Lilly is already squirming around like crazy.  I think she is just as excited as I am!  We are almost done painting her room.  It is pastel green.  We’ll decorate it in Winnie the Pooh.  Not because I think she’ll like it, but because I will like it.  I’ve wanted a Winnie the Pooh room for so long, Lilly just has to deal with it (and Randy, too, for that matter).   I already have a collection of new-in-the-box Pooh stuff that is just waiting to be put in its place.

My business brain has been shut down for five months and I can feel it coming alive again.  So far since the beginning of July I’ve come up with at least five new business ideas.  Even though I know I will have an infant to take care of in a few months I can’t seem to stop the need to do something with myself.  Of course I don’t want a full time paying position because I don’t want to lose the freedom of being home with my baby when she’s born, despite the fact that if I did find a position like that it would make a huge difference in our current way of life.  I’ve always wanted a business that allowed me to be with my children.  I usually pictured it as a restaurant.  I’ve seen it over and over, the owner’s kids in their own little room watching TV and doing their home work.  That won’t be happening anytime soon, so…what else?  Why can’t I just relax and wait for the chaos of having a newborn?  Hmmm…at least two reasons I can think of:

1. This is the first time in my adult life that I have not made my own money.  I do not like it at all.  I am too independent to constantly ask my husband for money, to be chaperoned at the grocery store or to be stuck at home because the car has no gas.
2. I feel terribly useless!  At a time where we need more money now than ever, I’m not contributing, financially at least.  If I were making money we could buy more fresh vegetables and less cheap packaged crap.  I could enjoy lunch with my friends occasionally.  My husband could be less stressed all of the time.  I have about a million more examples, but I won’t list them all.

Now I find myself struggling daily over what I should do.  Finding part-time temp work is not as easy as it once was.  And any business idea I have needs money to start it, some waaayyyy more than others.  I also suffer from F@#k it! Let’s Pack Up and Move syndrome.  Because you know its gotta be better somewhere else!  Even though I know its not, my brain won’t believe me.  So, I sit here, starring at my computer, day in and day out, like it’s going to tell me what to do.  I check my email (only junk 90% of the time) and I check Facebook (only junk 90% of the time).  I do help my dad’s company with some minor social media marketing.  I cook unappealing meals every night, dreaming of a life where I cook inspiring meals, make my own baby food and am wildly famous for it.  I yell at the reality show contestants on Hell’s Kitchen and Masterchef, because I know exactly what to do, how to do it and why it’s done that way (not!, well…yeah I kinda do).   And I continue to wish that I had gone to Culinary school.  Despite everything I’ve done, learned, tried and have coming in the future, it all comes down to that.

Once again, I’m back to food.

Getting Back to Normal

As you can tell by my lack of posts I have been extremely busy since my last post.  So here is a quick recap:

I did pass my license exam on the first try!  That was exciting.  I immediately (with the help of my Broker) listed a local Dairy Queen for $1.999 Million, then an Italian restaurant for $400,000.  What a great start!  I went on to list a few more properties including some investment cabins, 28 acres and a house for lease (since people are losing their homes and their credit leasing is getting big!).

Dairy Queen Grill and Chill, Blue Ridge, GA $1,999,000

Investment Cabins in Blairsville, GA starts at $76,000

Now things have settled and I am no longer the Admin Assistant at the office.  We have an awesome new Admin and I am in my “big girl” office as a Realtor!  I’ve involved myself with a great local program called Leadership Union.  This is a 3 month class put on by North Georgia Tech and the Union Chamber of Commerce.  This has been an amazing class and I’ve learned so much in the last few weeks.

So, my plan as a Realtor is to get really involved in the community, start networking with investors and work hard to become an outstanding Real Estate Agent.  I still have many other things in my life I’d like to accomplish and now that I am done with my initial training I can get back to some of the things I love.

A Feel Good Story

My mom sent me this story and I just really wanted to share it with everyone.  It made me feel good.  🙂

Fish Story………

A guy who lives at Lake Conroe

(50 miles north of Houston ) saw a ball bouncing
around kind of strange in the lake and went to
investigate.

It turned out to be a flathead catfish that had
Apparently tried to swallow a basketball which
became stuck in its mouth!!

 

The fish was totally exhausted from trying to
dive, but unable to, because the ball would
always bring him back up to the surface.
The guy tried numerous times to get the ball out,
but was unsuccessful. He finally had his wife cut
the ball in order to deflate it and release the hungry
catfish.

You probably wouldn’t have believed this,
if you hadn’t seen the following pictures:

Be kinder than necessary because everyone bites off more than they can chew sometimes in life.

My First Day of School

After a long wait I finally got the login information from my online real estate school.  When I saw the email in my inbox I was so giddy I actually yelled, “Yes!”  Then after a full day of technical issues with the school I started my learning yesterday.  I’ve been reading a coworker’s book so I was able to breeze through the first 3 modules.  Still loving real estate!

One of the requirements for applying for a license is a criminal history report.  They are only good for 60 days.  In an effort to keep me on the ball I went a head and got mine.  That was a month ago!  I have until Oct 26th to finish school, take the big test and apply for my license!  Typical Shanna, making things harder than they need to be.  🙂  If I do 3 modules a day for 12 days I can make the deadline.  3 down, 33 to go.  Here we go!!!