Career Issues...

I really like my job. But is there something better out there? That is always the question.

Since my residency graduation, I have worked at a hospital, worked for a county health agency, and for myself. Of these three, I think I really like working for myself the most. I like the autonomy, the flexibility, and the wide range of patients I work with.
Second on the list was my job with the hospital- I loved the people there. The nurses, the other doctors, and did I mention, the lounge. It was a magical place- always stocked with drinks, breakfast, and lunch! Newspapers too! And a HUGE TV. Lots of computers to do work, and phones to dictate. I also loved the compensation I got from the hospital for being on call. Basically, I got paid for using the lounge! (Although, my hospital admitting privileges required a fee, and I believe that fee paid for the lounge.)

Unfortunately, my least favorite job was working for the county health agency. My colleagues were awesome, the patients were challenging, however, the system made it hideous. I despised the fact that there were grievances against me for practicing sound medicine- because I didn't ask how high when the patient told me to jump. I found the powers-at-be yielded too much power...

It is a blessing, really, that I have had these opportunities, and well, new opportunities present themselves to me frequently! Thanks to my awesome colleagues from the past, I am now having to figure out, "Is this what I really want? Or should I seriously consider a new opportunity?" Hubby says that he doesn't know anyone else who starts a job and wonders what the next job should be. (I really have only been in mu current job for six months...)

It is tricky, to consider this in light of the needs of A&Z, and Hubby. After all, we are in escrow for a house, does it make sense to change now? Probably not, but I like to keep my options open.

Who Has Time?

There is always so much going on with Aidan's class. We like his teacher, she is down to earth, no fuss, kind of teacher. Her curriculum seems so fun- for instance, they had a Teddy Bear Picnic yesterday, as the kids learned about various species of bears. However, all this requires quite a bit of parent involvement. I go to his class to volunteer once a week- it is not entirely clear if I am of any help, as Aidan is rather clingy when I am there. On the other hand, I have been indoctrinated in the use of the Ellison Machine- it is so cool, I want one for myself!

Today, the kids had a field trip to the local library- because state law now requires adults to be finger printed if they would ever be alone with a minor, other than their own kids, and the hassle of all that, the field trip was a walking trip. There were 10 adults for 22 kids, plus the teacher.

There will be a Fall Festival in a few weeks, again, requiring adults to assist.

When are parents suppose to get their work done?!

Of course, for us, we are trying to pack up the house. All members of the household also need haircuts. These two events are of equal difficulty, in my mind...

Of course, this mother's work load is not helped since she is busy blogging. Gotta go do something, something, what should it be, laundry, cleaning, returning phone calls...

Resurrected...

No, this isn't a post about the Ultimate Resurrection. But a miracle nonetheless.

Offer #5, the offer that we were most excited about, was made about 2 weeks ago. When I saw the house with my little sister, who happened to be visiting us, I really thought loved it, even though we were in process of writing another offer (which ended up being offer #6.) Hubby and I actually went back that same afternoon and looked at it again. We loved it so much, that we made an offer in the asking price, that evening. I know, I know, we were utilizing the method of "Here is $5, no? Ok." It was not working so well for us. For this house, we switched our strategy.

Anyway, we thought it was a shoo in. But no. We got beat out in the last minute by a pregnant couple. (Yes, I spent the last two weeks speculating which pregnant woman made the offer.) When we heard the news, I cried. I cried, and cried, and cried some more.

Then we went to bed. And moved on. Then we made offer #6, and that didn't work out. We had made house viewing appointments with our agent to see about offer #7, and possibly a remake of offer #3.

Our agent called last night after texting us a message of, "I have news. It is not about offer #6." We were shocked to find out the pregnant couple had backed out during escrow. We could not be more excited.

Now, we are waiting for the sellers to actually sign our offer, and well, start begging for money from various banks. Pack. Run around like chickens, and move.

It is a miracle, because we were so sure it was over. Just like the disciples. While not as good of news as the Ultimate Resurrection when Christ paid for my sins, but still, pretty awesome!



By the way, offer #1 closed a few weeks ago. Offer #2 and #4 (the same house, the one that we backed out...) is still for sale. Offer #3 is still for sale- it is the most gorgeous house I have ever seen. Offer 6 is still for sale too. This market is crazy.

Rigged

Offer six was not accepted. We offered, they countered, we countered the counter. And well, that was it.

We think the whole system is rigged. Agents want to buy/sell ASAP, and mortgage broker also wants to close the deal. They are incentivized when the deal closes, not when we have the best deal. We can also see why all those people got into so much financial trouble. While we would like to think that we exercise good insight about money, we are still swayed to offer more than we should.

Where is offer #7 going to go?

Friends and family have been so encouraging- we know a family that looked at over 100 homes before they bought 'the one.' I don't know if I have the fortitude, strength, energy, time, endurance, to do this for much longer. We might never move...

Rained Out!

We were so disappointed. The Opening Day ceremony for AYSO in our town got thundered/lighteninged/rained out!

Hubby and I had gotten up at the crack of dawn, sort of got dressed, and made jelly sandwiches for breakfast, then Aidan was up, then Zoe got up. We couldn't find his matching socks for this season and convinced him to wear those old ones from last year, and made it to the field at 7:30. It was great fun catching up with friends, and then, shortly after the ceremony began, lightening struck. The whole day of activities got canceled! We sat in the car for about 20 minutes just to leave the area, and felt the day was woefully ruined!

Then we found out that Zoe's school picnic was canceled due to rain.

For the record, it didn't rain that hard. What is going on with these Californians? It is just a little bit of rain! (Not that I was looking forward to a picnic in the rain, but you know, these kids should get toughened up!) But I guess being struck by lightening would have really sucked...

After a long nap, I offered Hubby a few hours of peace and quiet for him to do some work and took the children for frozen yogurt and an errand. Sadly, these kids are so ENTITLED. After Aidan ate his cup of goodness, he looked sullen, that he simply wanted more. I felt so disappointed. This wasn't the first time he expressed negativity after a treat, and we had already discussed the appropriate attitude and behavior. Namely, thankfulness and showing of appreciation. But no, those weren't in the cards today.

It went further south while we went to the framing shop to get all my important documents framed- board certification (it came today!), diploma, licensure, blah, blah, blah. The kids were not a good reflection of a psychiatrist's offspring, and let's leave it at that.

By the time we got home, I was FUMING. The children were then appropriately disciplined, and Hubby took them out for a long talk. Apparently, Aidan finds a fuming mother very scary- well, that was the point.

When they came home, with flowers (my husband is brilliant), they were appropriately remorseful, and I was ready to forgive them.

What a day.

Thankfully, when they are cute, they are so cute.

ER

Last week, while filling out Aidan's reading log for school, it was clear: Our children don't read enough, enough variety at least. And probably, not enough in time either. We went to the library and got some awesome books. Stuff like SpongeBob and the UFO, SpongeBob and Birthday Party. Truly quality reading. As we were checking out, I saw DVDs of ER. Had to get at least one season, obviously! ER, was what dreams were made of when I was an undergrad.

We would gather at 10 pm every Thursday night, after InterVarsity fellowship meetings, and watch. If there was an organic chemistry review session, Dr. R adjourned the review sessions so that we could all go home to watch ER. It was awesome.

It is STILL awesome! I love it! Of course, now I realize it is totally ridiculous. For instance, physicians do not just give verbal orders at bedside. No nurse would take it! One has to go to the computer, enter in all those orders by selecting from the options available, click enter, and wait. If someone was bleeding all over the place, sure, certain things were done immediately. Then, the physician would walk over to the computer, enter in those orders, yup, just to reconcile records.

However, who can resist the boyish charms of Dr. Carter and Dr. Greene? The grumpy Dr. Benton? The Know-it-all Dr. Weaver? Love it.

It is also a good escape from our ever extending house hunting process? There was that PERFECT house last week- we didn't get it. The market has very few houses. In our town, there are currently 21 listings. That's it, people! Stop hoarding your properties, and let's get it on the market!!!

Meanwhile, Aidan is learning how to read, doing more work sheets than most humans should be doing (long story...), Zoe is speaking a lot more, and Hubby is being as cute as ever. And I am off to bed.

Stuff

I am neglecting this blog. Life's priorities are like this:
1. Try to get children fed.
2. Try to get the adults fed.
3. Keep people clean.
4. Remember that Jesus already died for all my short comings.
5. Try to not yell.
6. Get to work.
7. Sleep.
8. Remember that Jesus already paid for my sins.
See, the blog isn't on the priority list.

Kindergarten is HARD! Hard for me!!! We are still trying to find our routine- when will it ever come!? Aidan is learning to cope with homework better these days, and I am sad to admit that he has a lot. Between school homework, Kumon (he is suppose to do 2 sets of worksheets EVERYDAY... I can't do that myself, how can I make him do it?), and soon, Chinese school homework. This Mommy can't deal. He is also suppose to keep a reading log. As I wrote out the one for August, I realized how repetitive our reading is, which means this Mommy will be taking these cute kids to the library, something else that is NOT on the priority list. I can't believe Aidan has 12 more years of schooling that I will be held responsible for.

Zoe switched schools this week. So far, she is doing well, as well as can be expected. A little tearful in the morning but stops after about a minute and goes through her day. She is becoming more verbal, and her personality is showing more and more. For instance, she LOVES to fly high and go the sky when she is on the swing. Who would have thought?! She is the more timid of the two, yet she sure is blossoming. I also think she has the most perfect haircut in the entire world! It frames her face so nicely without any effort from this Mommy. I need to find where her stylist works for adults and schedule a time. =)

We have made offer #5, and now, we are just waiting. Waiting, and waiting. I had started to pack up the house when offer #4 was ratified and before we dropped out of contract (about day #14). Thus, the bookshelves in the living room are half packed. The garage is a disaster. Will we even move this year? Beats me.