Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Purple Ribbons


A couple weeks ago, I had the chance to take two of my students to the regional ITEC competition in Cedar Rapids. I had blogged about this project earlier, but as you can see, these girls took their project to the next level.

We were all a little nervous as to how they would measure up compared to the competition. This wasn't something our district had ever participated in before.

The girls came back purple ribbon winners in their division (video) and qualified for the state competition next fall.



I won't say much more, as I think the video speaks for itself. I hope that I can meet up with them at state next year.


Sunday, April 19, 2009

SOLD!

I was driving home from my grandparents' house on Friday when a little white dog ran in front of my car. I almost hit it, but Dottie was hanging out the car window in my lap, and the dog stopped, intrigued.

I didn't recognize the dog, so I got out to take a look at it's collar. I was only a block from home, so I figured I could return it to a neighbor. I looked, no collar. I petted the dog, and tried to shoo it out of the middle of the street as a big red truck came driving up.

"Is this your dog?" I asked.

"No, but is that your house for sale down the street?" the man driving the truck asks.

"Yes."

Out of the truck pops an excited 23 year old girl wearing a UNI t-shirt.

"I'm buying your house!" she announces.

She had been driving by showing her new house to her family. We proceed to talk more about the house, my neighbors, and her situation. I come to find out she walked through it the first day it was on the market, fell in love, came back the next day, and had just made an offer.

My dad advises me to keep the emotion out of business, but I could not be more thrilled to sell my house to this girl. She reminds me so much of myself 3 years ago looking for my first house. Yah, sure, the house is a little more move-in ready than it was when I found it, but I swear we share the same excitement.



(This is what the house looked like on Christmas Eve when I found it 3 years ago...)

There's something special about buying your first house, and I'm so glad that the person moving in will love it just as much as I have.


Oh, and the dog? I never saw what happened to it. No one saw it run off, but I'm sure it found it's way home.

Saturday, April 18, 2009

This Old House...


Meet BeeBee. Short for "Beautiful Bungalow".

She officially went on the market 7:30 PM Wednesday night. I didn't give her her proper name, my realtor did in the marketing fliers she created. How personal. Because of that, I felt she needed a nickname. BeeBee seemed to fit her.

BeeBee has had a lot of action in her first 2 days on the market. 10 potential buyers have traipsed through her and analyzed her every detail. I'm sure she feels violated.

The interest in BeeBee makes me excited and hopeful. It gives me affirmation that the hours I spent to make a beat up old house into a home will be enjoyed by someone in the years to come. Maybe it will be that girl who came through the house the first day and then again on the second. You know, the one who was pre-approved and made an offer?

Yes, hmm, maybe. : )