Grading and House Drama

What a whirlwind of a week.  I know it is Tuesday, but it feels like it is finally the weekend to me!

Chris and I are so blessed in our jobs.  We work from home.  When I was in undergrad, I knew I wanted to do something with English and at a college for my career, but I didn't think I could be a professor because I didn't think the right doors would open, yet here we are both teaching English for LUO.

Sometimes I think some people are under the impression that "work-at-home mom" is the same as a "stay-at-home mom".  Believe me, I'm not knocking stay-at-home moms.  They give up a lot and make sacrifices to stay at home, and if I couldn't work at home, I only hope I'd be able to stay at home or work part-time somehow.  Anyway, this week, I graded roughly 80 essays and 20 paragraphs in addition to all of the communication and supervisory duties I have.

Chris watching Eliot play in the dirt while I grade

With a toddler running around, I have a few instances when I can grade:  1. in the morning before Eliot wakes up at 7:30 am; 2. when Eliot naps (about two hours a day); 3. when Eliot goes to bed at night at 9:00 pm; 4. when Eliot plays by himself (but I feel guilty the whole time and have to re-direct him getting into trouble); 5. when Chris takes Eliot.  Finding a balance has been a year in the making and we're never quite there.  I'm not complaining.  I love working with my students.  I'm just saying it is indeed a situation that requires balance.

Grading break because Eliot woke up from his nap.  We're watching Yo Gabba Gabba on my laptop.

And when I get an email like this at the end of a course, I know I've done my job right.  And it is all worth it.  "Thanks for everything you did for me during this course of English 102.  I just wanted to express my gratitude and appreciation for working with me through a course that was filled with obstacles and trials.  I just want you to know that your professionalism and patience with me was second to none.  You are a special professor.  Thanks again and God's richest blessings."

So, that has been my week.  In addition to that, we have been showing the house.  We had three showings this past week, and our realtor suggested that we reduce the price.  At first, I was taken back.  Three showings seemed like a good amount of traffic.  It has only been up for two weeks and we realized that the first week was during a holiday (Easter).  Then I realized that some more expensive houses in the area had reduced their prices, so it was indeed time.  We dropped it by $5,000, which was our "bottom line" before.

It hurt at first.  We have put $15,000 and three years of work into this house.  We took two bathrooms back to the studs, re-built them, updated plumbing and wiring, and put in tile.  It took three months to do each bathroom.  And we have re-done the rest of the houses in ways you wouldn't guess.  A buyer wouldn't know that the kitchen had five layers of wall paper that I burnt my fingers scraping off with a steamer.  Or that we replaced all of the outlets, light switches, and covers.  Or that Chris and I cut in the flowerbeds out back with a shovel and a rake in the heat of August.  To someone else, all of those improvements are taken for granted in a way.  So, it is understandable if they don't see as much monetary value in a house as we do.

Then I think I found the house that would be perfect for us in Chesapeake.  I just have to hope that it stays on the market because it is priced well.  It is a "Great Bridge special" that you so often find in Chesapeake, but the full attic is like a cape cod.  It has a great screened-in porch and a nice deck.  The inside needs some work, but mostly just paint and a kitchen update (new counter tops--they're pink right now--and new appliances).  And I don't know the stories behind all of the work that they put into the house, just like I worry that people won't appreciate all of the little, time-consuming details we've undertaken.

Hopes of buying that new house helps ease the sting of reducing the price on our home.  I just hope that house in Chesapeake doesn't fly off the market, but if it does, I know we'll find another one we love too.