Catch up because whoa, I've been busy

1. I attended our homeowner's association annual meeting a few weeks back. Once upon a time I too had sat at the board of directors table as the treasurer. I served for several years and enjoyed everyone I worked with, but when I finally said enough I rarely, if ever, saw these people. Which is pitiful seeing as we live in the same neighborhood and enjoy each other's company. But...life. That's my new saying because darn it it is so true. Life happens and in the midst of life we let things slip. SO at this meeting a few weeks ago I caught up with my fellow board members from back in the day. That led to three of us planning a dinner get together. That in turn led to one of them calling me about a job. Me! A Job! I met for an "interview" where I was hired on the spot and put to work. I work for a Realtor who wants to move her business into the world of websites and social media. I am working on her website and doing her social media like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Pinterest. I can work from home and go into the office once in a while when I need to. So far it has been busy while I work out the who, what, wheres, and how-is-this-going-to-translate-into-$$$. Then suddenly from that job I ended up with another client who needed a website done. Boom! Did a mock version and sent it off today. Third client came from my soon-to-be-although-he-is-mostly-gone neighbor. He causally asked me while coming back for another load from his garage if I knew about websites. Boom! Possibly client number #3. The best part of all of it? Getting to say, "I was working." or "I had to work." Last Monday while the kids were home from school for President's Day my husband came home for lunch. I was at the office and when he came in and looked around he asked, "Where's your mother?" And the kids said, "She's at work!" BOOM!
2. My kids school program's booster organization needs to raise money and I've been roped in to planning a talent show. (I already do their website too) We have given ourselves only three weeks to pull something together and while the main parent is all gung-ho I keep putting off doing much until we have the talent signed up. 
3. My mother's estate is still another job I've been dealing with mostly by lighting fires under the people I thought were working for me. I've listened long enough to my husbands moan about people not wanting to work, but boy, have I experienced it while trying to close this estate. I think when I'm all done with it all I will offer up my services for guiding people through the process.
4. Madison has been slowly receiving acceptances from universities and with that comes more applications. Last week she had to travel to Nova Southeastern University in Ft. Lauderdale, one of the colleges on her list, because she was a finalist for a scholarship. She got to spend Friday and Saturday with 32 other students interviewing, working tasks, and touring the campus. They slept in the dorms and she had a great experience. Four hundred students applied. They whittled it down to 100. They have three weekends with 33 students and will offer only 25 scholarships. Fingers crossed!
5. My relatives were visiting from Indiana and staying at The Condo. It was great having them here. The dilemma I faced was whether or not to bother them. Should I call them and invite them to dinner? Should I leave them be because they are here on vacation? We managed to hook up a couple of times to eat and chat. They didn't have the best weather all the time, but it was warmer than Indiana so they were happy. 

• After they left I went up to The Condo to get the keys and turn off the heat and discovered that my cousin had cleaned the carpets for me. OMG! It is the most awesome job of carpet cleaning ever. My mom had had the carpets cleaned twice in the last year of her life and both times the stains reappeared immediately. She had two really nasty areas where she had spilled liquids and where she had fallen and bled all over the place. After she died I threw her magic carpet over the worst stains and alerted my carpet guy that I would need some new carpet eventually. Now? Those places are GONE. G-O-N-E GONE. I can't tell you how happy it has made me. I just want him to come back down and do my house now.