Pikes Peak

And every time I see it, I am amazed at its beauty.

One day as I was being amazed at the beauty of Pikes Peak, I thought to myself, “I should take a picture of this every day and post it on my blog so everyone can enjoy it as much as I do”.

So the next day, I took this picture:

Pikes Peak (again)

And the day after that, I took this picture:

Pikes Peak (yet again)

And I realized that Pikes Peak pretty much looks the same everyday, give or take some snow. And clouds. And sunshine. Which I guess is what makes it look so amazing every time I see it.

It’s something I’ll never get tired of looking at.

Yeah, I had heard all that, but didn’t pay much attention. The whole thing was very overwhelming to me and once in a while I would stumble across an article that would say it didn’t really make that much of a difference.  That would calm my worries for a time.

But every so often, I’d get a nagging feeling that there really was something to the idea that organic fruits and veggies were better for my family. You could say I had just enough information to be dangerous. I didn’t really know what I was looking for, yet didn’t know what I didn’t know.

One day, I drove past an organic farm not too far from our house in New Jersey. I saw that the farmer had set up a stand and was selling ears of organic corn.  Organic or not, farm stand corn is one of the joys of summer. I slammed on my brakes, tires squealing, and did a u-turn Miami Vice-style and pulled up to the stand.  I bought a dozen ears of the organic farm stand corn, feeling very proud of myself for my healthy, yet delicious find.

You can imagine my disappointment when I grabbed the first ear to husk for dinner and discovered a little tiny worm had helped himself to some of the corn. I tried the second, third, fourth ear and sure enough, each had its own little visitor. All twelve of my organic ears of corn had worms still aboard when I brought them home.

I am not scared of spiders or most other insects. However, the ONE creepy crawly that gives me the heebie geebies is the lowly worm. I HATE worms and caterpillars. I’m not too fond of butterflies, either,  because they used to be caterpillars.

I’ll pass on the organic worms and take an extra helping of chemicals, please.

That experience killed any interest I had in organic produce. If eating organic meant I had to deal with bugs in my food, I’ll take my chances.  Thankyouverymuch.

While I felt organic veggies were dead to me, I still had an interest in healthy eating and I recently read two books that have changed the way I think about food.  They are “Real Food” by Nina Planck and “In Defense of Food” by Michael Pollan. I don’t want to get into the books here, but the gist of both of them is that organic is the bare minimum standard for our fruits, veggies, and meat to maintain our health.

So, I’ve bitten the worm bullet and given organic fruits and vegetables another chance.

And, as luck would have it, I recently discovered a cool company to help me in my organic pursuits.  It is Door To Door Organics. Every week, they deliver a box full of organic produce right to my front door. I get to choose the size of the box as well as the contents. I haven’t done a head to head comparision between Door To Door and my local grocery store or Whole Foods, but someone else did.  The results were that the same produce bought at Whole Foods were more expensive and the variety was better through Door To Door.  Since my local King Soopers has a miniscule organic section, Door To Door is the clear winner there, too.

And, so far, no insects.  Bonus!

Door to Door Organics did not ask me to write this post. I use them and enjoy their service and I wanted to share it with you here for Works For Me Wednesday.

Door to Door Organics is available in several locations around the country. Check the website to see if they will deliver to you!

I think I am beauty-product challenged. Let me explain.

We had two weddings, two weekends in a row back at the end of September. I conveniently used the excuse of having to be all fancy for the weddings to justify getting acrylic nails.

Then I used the excuse of looking professional to keep them.

See -

Before

Although I never realized that my pointer finger nail was so crooked, I loved my acrylic nails. I loved everything about them. I loved how they look, I loved how they felt, I loved how strong they were.

But, I’ve had to say goodbye to my new love.

It turns out I am allergic to the acrylic.  Everytime I would go for a fill, my fingers would itch from the bottom of the nail to my first knuckle for 2-3 days. I mentioned this to the nail tech and she compassionately said, “You’ll get used to it.”

Well, I never “got used to it”.

I posted my plight on Facebook, and one of my friends (who owns her own salon in Indiana) diagnosed my condition as contact dematitis. She also told me that I should go with either silk or gel nails.

That is a really great plan, however, my husband and I have also decided that 2011 is the “year of no spending”.  Our goal is to pay down our mortgage as much as possible. So, we are cutting back on everything but the essentials.

Unfortunately, acrylic nails are a non-essential.

However, God knew what He was doing by striking me with contact dermatitis. He knew I was being sorely tempted to keep my nails (that I loved SOOO much) as a businiess expense. It would have been so easy to just keep on going every two weeks for my fills at a cost of about $25 per visit.

But when I actually had to make the decision to get the acrylics off and put silks or gels on, I knew what the right thing to do was.

And off my beloved nails went.

After

Sigh.

And to add insult to injury, I also had a reaction to my new lip stain.

A few weeks ago, my beautiful sister-in-law and I were Christmas shopping for our daughters at Ulta. And as women often do in beauty supply stores, we each bought ourselves a new lip stain.

Although I loved my acrylic nails more, I was growing fond of the new lip stain, too. Then one day I woke up and my lips were hurting. Hurting like they were severely chapped. Which would make sense living in a dry climate such as Colorado.  But it didn’t make sense because when you live in a dry climate like Colorado, you quickly learn that lip balm is your best friend 24/7.  There was no way that my lips were simply chapped.

Over the course of the next few days, the entire top layer of my lips peeled off and were very sensitive to spicy food. Because of all the peeling, I didn’t use much of anything but lip balm on my lips.

I was puzzled over the mystery of the peeling lips.

Once all the peeling was done, which left my lips incredibly soft, BTW, I started using my new lip stain again.

And the peeling started all over again. At this rate I will be completely lip-less for the new year. So, bye, bye, Lip Stain.

I know all this is not exactly earth-shattering or life-changing news, but the older I get, the more I need to rely on beauty products to hold myself together. At 46, this is not a great time in my life to become beauty product challenged.

I think the safest way for me to go is to become Amish.

You can see more of what doesn’t work well today at We are THAT Family.

Pumpkin Roll

• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 3 large eggs
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 2/3 cup pumpkin (canned is fine)
• 1 8oz package cream cheese, softened
• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 6 tablespoons butter (I use unsalted)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• extra powdered sugar to sprinkle on the towel (I’ll explain later) and for on top of the finished roll

1. Preheat oven to 375. Line a 15×10-inch jelly roll pan, line with wax paper. Spray the wax paper with Pam.
2. Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves, and salt in a small bowl.  In a large bowl, beat eggs and sugar until thick. Beat in pumkin. Stir in flour mixture. Spread evenly in prepared jelly roll pan.
3. Bake for 13-15 minutes until the top of the cake springs back when touched. Immediately turn cake onto prepared towel (a kitchen towel sprinkled generously with powdered sugar). Carefully peel off wax paper. Roll up cake and towel together started with the narrow end. Cool on wire rack.
4. Beat cream cheese, powdered sugar, butter, and vanilla in a small bowl until smooth. Carefully, unroll cake; remove towel. Spread cream cheese mixture over cake. Reroll cake. Wrap in plastic wrap and freeze. Defrost a few hours before serving. Sprinkle with powdered sugar if desired. Cut into 1/2-1-inch slices and serve.

The Cast of Characters

Mix the dry ingredients together

Mix the granulated sugar and 3 large eggs

Egg and sugar mixture

Meaure the pumpkin with one of these do-hickeys - great for measuring peanut butter, too!

Add the pumpkin to the egg and sugar mixture

Mix in the dry ingredients

Line your pan with wax paper and spray with Pam

Spread batter evenly in wax paper lined pan

Bake 12-15 minutes at 375 degrees

Meanwhile, prepare a kitchen towel by sprinkling generously with powdered sugar

Immediately after removing from oven, turn cake onto prepared towel and carefully remove wax paper

This is what happens if you forget to spray the wax paper with Pam. So don't do that!

Roll up in towel, starting at narrow end. Allow to cool completely. Trust me on this. Don't rush it.

While roll is cooling, beat together cream cheese, butter and vanilla until smooth

When COMPLETELY cool, carefully unroll from towel

Spread cream cheesy goodness evenly on roll

Roll back up again, wrap in plastic wrap and freeze. Defrost before serving.

My last serious (by serious, I mean more than a few words) blog post was around this time last year. I have found that the busier I am, the harder it is for me to write even though it seems the opposite would be true. If I’m busier, it would be logical to think that I have more to write about.

However, I have found that when my brain is full of  ”stuff I need to do” the creative section takes a back seat to the busy section. If I don’t have much going on in my life, the creative stuff has room in my brain to grow and develop into ideas and a story or blog post.  Is it like that for you, too?  Or am I just weird?

Wait, I think I already know the answer.

My lack of writing would mean that my life has been very busy and full since moving to Colorado in July of 2009. And that’s a good thing, but I miss writing and I miss you. So, it is my intention to start writing this blog again. Here’s hoping anyway.

Ok, back on topic – what have I been up to?  Hmmm, let’s see…

In the fall of ’09 I got my Colorado Real Estate Broker license. You can read about that here and here.  I loved it when I first started and I still love it. All in all, I am very happy with how my first year in the business has gone. I have a fantastic mentor who is generous, honest and wise. She is teaching me so much more that I would have learned on my own this year. I am happy to be working with Keller Williams Realty. It is a real estate company whose founder, CEO, and president are Christians and run the company on Christian principles.  I am working on getting a couple of professional designations to keep up my education and help me serve my clients better. And I even have a few transactions under my belt!

On the family front, Darling Daughter left for her freshman year of college this past August making Dear Hubby and I empty nesters. I was a mess when College Son left in the fall of ’07 – so much so that Hubby was very worried about what my mental state would be when my baby left. After all, she was just in kindergarten last year.

But I surprised both of us by mostly being ok with the whole empty nest situation. I think it is easier the second time around, but I attribute it to the fact that Hubby and I are in a much better place in our marriage than we were in 2007. And that is a very good thing!

As hard as it was to leave our friends, church, and home in New Jersey after we had lived there for 10 years, I am loving life in Colorado. We live very close to my husband’s brother and his family. They have become our dearest friends here. I just love their kids (it helps with the empty nest thing) and my sister-in-law is the absolute best! My mother-in-law lives nearby, too. This is the closest we have ever lived to family our entire married life of almost 25 years. And to be completely honest, while it does have its challenges, I have to say that living near family is better than living far away. 

 Also, jumping right into real estate almost as soon as our last box was unpacked, forced me out of my comfort zone and opened the door for me to meet many, many wonderful people both in and out of the real estate world. I tried (unsuccessfully) to start a business networking group, and even though it didn’t take off the way I’d hoped, I am very thankful for the contacts and friends I made through that attempt.

So that’s really it. That’s what I’ve been up to. Nothing really earth shattering or super exciting, but I am thankful and happy and look forward to our second full year in Colorado.

And I look forward to a new year of blog posts

I’ve learned there is something good about every where we’ve lived!

One of the teachers in my licensing class had me scared silly. She warned us about being alone in empty houses with strangers. And I thought, duh, isn’t that pretty much what real estate people do every day? And she told us about random attacks on real estate agents.  By the time she was done, I was ready to sign up for a martial arts class. I’m not a person who is scared very easily, but I do believe in being prepared.

So, Santa, just a can of mace or pepper spray in my stocking would make my day.

And seriously, other than that, I don’t really need or want anything else. I have been blessed beyond measure.

We have a home to live in, food on the table, clothes to wear (although if anyone wants to nominate me for “What Not to Wear” – I’m game ), jobs, health, and family close by.

I have two friends that have each lost a child this December (Pray for Hope and Melanie). I have a friend whose husband just got laid off right before Christmas (Pray for MaryBeth). I have a friend whose wife has left him and just filed for divorce before Thanksgiving. Please pray for their family.

So, no. I don’t need anything for Christmas. I have all I need in the gift of Jesus Christ and all He provides. Any thing more than that is icing on the cake.
Merry Christmas!

So far, I am really loving real estate. I realize it is early in the game, but I am enjoying every part of it. I even enjoyed my real estate licensing class.

It felt so good to learn something new, and actually pass the tests. It made me feel better about the days I worry about early Alzheimers because I can’t find my keys.

And now that I’ve joined an office and am going through their training, I realize that this is a career that I can’t image ever being bored with. Burnt out, possibly, but bored? No.

And I get bored very easily.  The only “thing” that has been able to keep my attention for any length of time is my husband. He is definitely NOT boring! Anyone who knows him IRL can verify this for me!

In real estate, there is always something to learn and no two transactions are alike.

However, as I mentioned in my last post, in spite of “thinking” about it for about 15 years, I still almost chose not to try a career in real estate.

Earlier this year when I knew we would be moving to Colorado, I decided that a new move would be a good time for me to make a career change. I my past lives, I have been a teacher, a pharmaceutical sales rep, a pet sitter, a stay at home mom, and an office manager. I knew that when we got to Colorado that I didn’t want to continue any of those careers.

Well, except for stay at home mom, but I soon will be involuntarily retired from that when when Darling Daughter goes off to college next year.

Knowing there was not much I could do from New Jersey to start my real estate career in Colorado until we moved, I decided it was a good time to do some research. I bought several books about real estate careers. One may or may not have been a “Dummies” book.

I really liked everything I read about the “business” of real estate, yet, something didn’t sit right with me when it came to how the authors recommended prospecting for new clients, and dealing with the clients they did have.

The advice seemed condescending and disrespectful to their clients. And as for prospecting, as they say in Jersey, Faggettabouttit!

Let me tell you something about me. I am a very nice person. However, if you are a telemarketer and you call my house, one of two things will happen.

• I will either screen your call on caller ID and just not answer (but if you keep calling I will eventually answer because I will be so angry).
• I will answer the phone and tell you to never call me again and then hang up on you.

Recently, one company kept calling and I got so tired of hearing their message on my answering machine that the next time they called I asked them if they were familiar with the consequences of calling someone on the “do not call” list. They stopped.

If you are my friend calling me and every time we talk you are either trying to sell me something or ask me for a referral, I will simply stop taking your calls.

Yet, this (cold calling and bugging your friends and family) is what most real estate “experts” recommend for finding new clients. Add door knocking (blech) and other equally unpalatable ideas and I’m out. Sadly, I resigned myself to the fact that as interested in real estate that I was, I could not in good conscience do what the experts said I had to do to be successful in real estate.  And I’m not in this to fail. So, I guessed that a career in real estate wasn’t for me after all.

Fast forward a few months and we’re all moved in our new home in Colorado. Our real estate agent is also a personal friend and we become Facebook friends. One day, L, our agent posted a link on her page to an article written by Jennifer Allan, real estate agent, author, trainer, and speaker, about (not) asking for referrals. I clicked the link, read the article and a light bulb went off in my head.

There was someone out there who feels the same way I do and yet is successful in real estate. It can be done! Her book, Sell With Soul advocates attracting business to you by being competent and caring about your clients more than your paycheck.

What a concept!

The subtitle of her book is what sold me: “Creating an Extraordinary Career in Real Estate with Losing Your Friends, Your Principles, or Your Self-Respect”.

That was exactly what I was looking to do! My hope in a real estate career was restored and I signed up for my licensing class.  And the rest, as they say, is (recent) history!

“Because we’re crazy!” I answered.

I think the question came more from his own frustration with the market than from his concern for our sanity. But once I got him to smile, I explained that it was just the right time in my life to start a new career and I’d rather start while the market is slow, so I have time to learn to do things the right way, one transaction at a time, rather than when the market is going crazy and I feel like I’m drowning from lack of experience.

Real estate is something I’ve been interested in for a long time. About 15 years ago, when my kids were still very young, I attended a real estate career seminar offered at a local office. I don’t remember too much about the meeting except that the room was packed (it was the mid ’90′s and the real estate market was booming). The man leading the seminar said something like, “if you are willing to work hard 7 days a week, 24 hours a day, you will have a successful career in real estate”.

At that point my desire to remain a stay-at-home mom very involved in her kids lives kicked in big time. I stood up, made my way through the crowd and walked out. I think I remember the speaker looking at me like I had two heads as I waved goodbye.

However, I remained very interested in real estate.

And here we are today. I am a few months away from being an empty nester, we just moved to a new state, and I need a job. The timing is right for me to start a new career.

And yet, the move to real estate still almost didn’t happen.

To be continued…