Surprise, your lifes changing!

Here we go again; I was able to put a house into escrow for the third time. Ugh. Appraisal killed the deal last time. Let's hope it comes together this time, as I've spent a record amount of time on this, for a deal that should be a no brainer. Because of the economy and the real estate disaster, new laws have made some simple things difficult for everyone. Oh well, it is what it is.

Interesting thing happened yesterday with Lili. After watching another season of So You Think You Can Dance and America's Best Dance Crew, all of which she goes crazy over, she let me know she no longer wants to do dance class but go back to competition cheer. Huh? I thought she'd be all fired up for dance to start up again, but no she got a bug in her and was all on fire for cheer.

She did all kinds of research online she found a bunch of places between Santa Rosa and Vacaville she wanted to check out. We went back and forth about it all day, me mostly trying to tell her how unlikely it will be that we could do something like this right now between time and expenses. It's difficult when you have five kids and no money to spread the opportunities around. However, Lili has been focused on competition cheer (or the like) for most of her life. None of the others have shown much desire for activities other than to do what someone else is doing for the sake of playing with others. This gives me reason to feel maybe this is the one thing she should get a shot at. I don't know where it could go, but I do want to teach the kids to follow their dreams and this appears to be her dream.

After half a day of negotiation and research, she talked me into checking out a place in Petaluma. We went and I have to admit I was impressed. This is no school cheer team. This is the stuff you see on ESPN. It still seemed unlikely she could get in as their training season starts in April and goes year round, according to their website. It turned out they only started actual rehearsals last week and felt like Lili could catch up. They sounded like they wanted her, and she certainly wants to join. This would be the beginning of many schedule and lifestyle changes for the family. Are we up for it? Where are we gonna find the money? Will the schedule work with all we have going on now? Not sure, but this is what Denise and I talked about after we finally got the kids to bed. Still not sure, but I think we're going to give it a shot.

This year will Cosette and Gracie will be in Girls On The Run, a cross country style running group at school. Cosette and Lili did it last year and it was great, and more than enough extra activity. Paris is still not interested in much of anything nor is Asher, so I think we have everyone covered for another year.

Band is going good. Music is getting...I don't know. I should be getting better as it seems I have the opportunity but I'm not spending enough time with it. Not as much as I'd like for sure. It'll be better once school starts. Real estate still feels like a crap shoot. I've been able to spend most of the summer with the kids but now that school is starting I'll be able to focus more on real estate and take on more business.

I'm thinking about going back to school. Thinking. I do think I'll speak with a school counselor and see what they have to say.