Selling my house...

It started innocently enough.

When the email came through, I knew it wasn't intended for me, so I ignored it. Emails came once every couple weeks, and I continued to ignore them. Until yesterday.

The emails were between a husband, wife (me) and their real estate agent. The first emails were about getting their house ready to go on the market, what needed to be fixed, or what they will ask for the house. I ignored them. I didn't want to respond initially in case it was some sort of weird virus, but then I didn't respond because I was intrigued.

Yesterday apparenently they held an Open House for other agents and brokers. Everytime one of them left, he/she filled out a report with what he/she liked or disliked, and I got all the reports. My inbox flooded with these reports, so I looked at them. Then I got really intrigued, so I went to Remax (dot) com and typed in the MLS number that was on the reports. I even did a Google map to find the house.

The house is in a suburb of Philadelphia, is 4 bedrooms, 2.5 bath, 2 car garage, finished basement. The pictures looked gourgeous! They are asking $335,000, which, according to the reports, is a little high for that area. The driveway looks small, and the street is very narrow.

I'm also intrigued that the husband hasn't noticed the email address is wrong. His wife and I share a first name, but our last name's are different, and I'm not sure how my email address was put in there. And why hasn't anyone noticed that I haven't responded?

I'm not going to respond now, because I want to see what happens.

Like, it's stupid.

On a day like today, it is easiest to start class with a five-minute discussion about what Christmas presents were received, how many times they went sledding, and so forth. I have learned that if you don't, they will have the converstation regardless. It is easiest just to be the leader of that conversation. Thus, the following conversation:

Girl: "So, I was pulled over on New Year's Eve at 3:00 am. "
Me: "Ok, Do I want to know why?"  (Stupid question. I should have just left it alone.)
Girl: "Well, see, I was drinking and so I was weaving all over the road. They pulled me over and since I had  like, alcohol in the car, I was arrested. I think it's stupid."
Me: "Well, I'm sorry you made a bad decision. Why was it stupid?" (Now I had to dig myself out of this hole)
Girl: It's stupid because there shouldn't be a drinking age. Like, anyone should be able to drink anytime they want. And the cops didn't arrest the others in the car even though they were as drunk as I was, just lucky me because I was driving. So I'll be gone Feb. 12th, YEAH! A day off school! while I go to court. I hope they don't take my license away, because that would just bite.
Me: PAUSE.... Thanks, Girl, for sharing that with us. I'm sorry that happened to you. Maybe you will be more careful next time. Did you learn anything?
Girl: Yes...don't get pulled over when drinking and driving.

Such a fun conversation.I was watching the other students during her little speech to gauge their reaction, and they were all looking at her like she had three heads, and shaking their heads. If they had been cheering her on, I would have have handled that differently. I also didn't feel a lecture on underage drinking would have accomplished much.

Back to reality tidbits

After a crazy three-week-long Christmas break, we are all back to school tomorrow (hopefully!). They are fighting bedtime tonight, so the early wake-up call is going to hurt for them.

I updated my blog with some of the blogs I read on a regular basis. Some are friends IRL (in real life, those of you not up on blog slang) and others I have found through various places. A couple of them I have read for just about two years.

Friday night we went out with firefighters on Bobby's shift, along with their wives. We went to a local Japanese steakhouse. I share that with you to tell you that my husband tried shrimp. Granted, the chef flipped a small piece into his mouth and he swallowed it without chewing. But still.

There's a six-year-old birthday coming up this week! Must go shopping for make-up and nail polish soon.

Project 365 and Twitter

Thought I'd share a project I've started, in the hopes that by sharing this with others, it will force me to continue.

I'm doing Project 365--the goal is to take one good picture a day for a year. That's it. Simple, right? Not so simple. I've succeeded so far, although  2010 is only 7 days young. I'm probably going to focus on my children, although I will branch out here and there. I've already branched out once, because I remembered after the girls were asleep. I'm also trying different angles, etc. to try to get good pictures, not just ones of my kids smiling at the camera.

I'm using Flickr for the time being, although I might end up changing. You can access my 365 Photostream here. I'll let you know if I change spots. Check out my pictures sometime. I hope to keep it updated every day. So far so good!

And in case you haven't noticed, since I got my iPhone, I update my Twitter a lot more. I also attach pictures sometimes. Something to keep an eye on, if you are interested. The five most recent ones are listed on my Twitter feed, but you can always click on the link to see more.

And that completes Snow Day #3. Snow Day #4 is up tomorrow!

Snow Day # 2

Finishing Snow Day #2. Here's what I've done today (since I know you are dying to know)

Slept late
Took the kids to our church's gym to run around with friends for a couple hours
Went to Mr. Goodcents for free lunch
Took a nap
Read
Figured out newspaper things
Played with the girls
Made cookies
Cleaned up the kitchen

Snow Days #3 and #4  will probably be similar.

On to my contest--which obviously failed miserably. Maybe it was the lack of a real prize, or maybe you guys just don't love me. Sunday 20 people visited, Monday saw 30 people, Tuesday saw 29, and today has 34.

Winner for most creative goes to my brother--oh, how I love that wacky, crazy brother o' mine. His suggestion?

Sham Wow Higgs Blog Now!

He says, "Sham Wow Higgs Blog is a revolutionary, multi-use cleaning BLOG that holds over 20 times its' weight in liquids."

I think I will just stay with Life With Higgs.

June, here we come

Seriously. I love me some snow days. What good teacher worth his/her salt doesn't love snow days? That's why we become teachers. Tuesday and Wednesday already, and I'm sure Thursday and Friday will be snow days too. I've never had 4 snow days in a row. I'm not quite sure what to do with this.

But now we will have to go the week after Memorial Day, and maybe into June. I know I'll be cursing these snow days come then, but now it's fun.

Love my newspaper kids--we still have to put out a newspaper in January, so we are doing some work on these snow days with no complaints. Good kids.

Still need suggestions on names for my blog! C'mon, people! Help a snow day lady out!

Something New for 2010

I need a new name for my blog. When I started this back in 2007(wow!), it was on a complete whim and all I could come up with Life with the Higgins Fam. Really creative for an English teacher, I know. The name just stayed. I shortened it to Life with us at some point, but I don't like that either.

I read a lot of other blogs, and they have cool names. Why don't I? For the same reason my newspaper kids don't ask me for help anymore on headlines: I am not good at it.

So I'm offering a contest. Help me come up with something cool, creative, different for a name for my blog. I have nothing to give you, except 50 free points of admiration from me, and a name mention on my blog.  According to my handy statcounter, there are about 25 people a day who visit my blog, sometimes more. Good time to come out of hiding and suggest something!

I'll give you creative people until midnight on Tuesday to give me something.

Oh, and did you notice that today is a palindrome? 01 02 2010

Love it!

Happy New Year!