The Big Day Finally

Wednesday, April 30.

I will drive to Fort Wayne to take the Indiana Appraiser Trainee Licensure Exam! Finally! It has taken literally weeks for the state to respond to my completion of the required education hours and exams and give me the "pass" to schedule this exam. I will spend any spare time I come across studying. Hopefully I will successfully pass it on my first attempt, but if not there is no shame in trying again.

As soon as I do pass this exam, then I get the highly coveted trainee license I have been seeking, thus allowing me to break free from the office and go along on home inspections. I am looking forward to getting back out and about.

The next couple of years are going to be tough, need to acquire another 120 hours of appraisal classes and I also have to obtain an associates degree in business management or something of similar relevance. Not to mention the mass amounts of appraisals that I have to complete 75% of in order to obtain my certified residential appraiser status.

The requirements to become an appraiser have gotten much more difficult, but I think we can all agree that there is definitely a reason why. I look forward to each and every challenge as I face it and the sense of accomplishment I am feeling upon completion of each step is a great feeling. I am hoping this sends a positive message to my kids also,

SUSPENDED

I came home for lunch yesterday and got my mail. I had a letter from the Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles. The nice little letter told me I would be eligible to get my driver's license reinstated in May for the incredibly low fee of $150! (if you read my previous post it won't surprise you to learn I have been battling with some high blood pressure issues lately)

I called the BMV in Indianapolis to find out what this was all about and they informed me that they suspended my license for lack of proof of insurance for a wreck I had in November. I informed them I didn't have a wreck in November I had one in December. Upon further investigation and retrieval of my accident report dated December 18, it turns out someone "keyed" it into the sytem for November 18, thus making my date of insurance inaccurate. I am sure you can guess how many phone calls and faxes and aspirins later it was before I had cleared my license....

Now this is where it gets even better. They suspended me at the end of December with no notification. I renewed my license plate in March with my driver's license for identification. Not a word about it being suspended. I took my daughter in to take her written exam twice and driving exam twice - each time I had to present my driver's license and registration, as the responsible custodial parent I had to have a "valid" license in order for her to get hers. Again, no mention of a suspension. Then two weeks ago I took my son in to get his learner's permit, once again presenting my license and registration as the responsible adult for him. Again, no mention of a suspension!!!

WTF!!!! If i had been pulled over for any type of traffic violation or incurred any incident, I could have gone straight to jail.

sOCceR mOM

I am really not sure if I even qualify as a soccer mom, but yet I think maybe I do. I am not "38", I am not "eye candy" nor a "trophy wife" and I don't drive a big SUV. However I am "29" for several years running now, presentable in public, a single mom with three kids, I drive an SUV wannabe, and I work full time and take classes online in my spare time in an effort to improve the overall quality of my life and the life of my kids. My cell phone is an extension of me and I am rarely without it. Yes, I think perhaps I do qualify as a soccer mom.

OH, and my youngest son plays soccer and I carry my portable chair and umbrella in the back of my vehicle at all times thus making me available to sit thru the pouring down rain and watch my son play soccer.

I was recently discussing the local dating scene with a good friend of mine. (Lately, my own personal dating life has been non-existent). He told me that "soccer moms" scare the heck out of him thus leaving him to choose from much younger women or much older women. Apparently these options aren't quite what he had in mind. He said he thinks the "soccer mom" is borderline crazy, trying to be everywhere and be everyone to everybody. He is right.

For example, last Saturday I had to figure out how to get my son to driver's ed at 8 am (20 miles from home); get back home, get thru the shower, get breakfast for my other two kids, get my youngest back into town for his soccer practice at 10 am; leave him there, get back home and get my 16 yr old to work at 11 - not too far from home but not within walking distance, back into town to pick up oldest son at driver's ed at 11 and then back to the soccer field to watch my youngest play in the pouring down rain. Only to see my ex leisurely stroll up midway thru the game without a care in the world, pat my son on the back and leisurely stroll away with much less than a care in the world. Only for us to hit the road running full speed ahead, soaked to the skin directly after the soccer game....

Tonight's schedule looks quite daunting as well. I will spend the day in the office on my own for most of us while my mom and my sister attend continuing education classes. Somehow I need to slip away before 4 and take my daughter to work, get back to work and be home shortly after 4:30 when my youngest gets off the bus so that he won't be coming home to an empty house. I will ask him to get off the bus at my office, but he always forgets, so then I will make the mad dash home. We will gather our things and head to town for his soccer practice and game. (Any rain in the forecast?) As soon as I get him settled in I will run over to the highschool to meet my oldest son and his driver's ed teacher for my "ride along" progress report during which his instructor will give me the lowdown skinny on how my son is doing and what he needs to work on and all that jazz. Then where? Back to soccer of course! Then home to make dinner and do homework. I refuse to take these kids out to fast food....I am making a financial point to them in these days of high gas prices and high food costs and living on a budget. We plan our meals for the week on Sundays and shop accordingly and are not doing the fast food thing every night. So dinner and homework should be completed in time to shoo the youngest off to bed and leave my oldest son in charge while I slip away and pick my daughter up from work.

Life isn't easy over here in bumkinville, but I wouldn't trade these days for anything....well maybe a day at the spa would be nice!

An Engineer's Guide to Cats

Sadly funny and true

The day the earth moved...

And I slept right through it!

From today's online edition of the Journal Gazette. There was indeed an earthquake early this morning and it could be felt in this area. I awoke to a phone call from my sister saying that she was awake and felt it.

What do you do?

I picked my daughter up from work tonight and came home to find a skunk sitting by our garage door. We didn't turn into the driveway, we stayed out in the street and watched it go on around to the side of the house. It was dragging itself as if it were injured. We waited til it was far enough around the side that we could put our truck in the garage and get into the house. We watched from the window as it moved around to the back of the house towards the deck. I called a friend who is a county officer, he is on duty tonight and his wife said she will have him call if he gets home soon. I called the sheriff department and they referred me to the DNR who had an answering service. So now I guess we just hope it goes away without getting irked and spraying.....

Whew

I passed my last test that I took this week. Six weeks, 75 hours, 3 exams. Now tomorrow I have to call the Professional Licensing Agency and turn in all of my information so that I can get my Appraisal Trainee License. Its good to feel as if I have finally accomplished something!