I just finished the book Keeping Faith by Jodi Picoult. I chose this book because I read My Sister’s Keeper, and enjoyed it.  Keeping Faith was not quite as soul wrenching as My Sister’s Keeper. Both involved children with medical conditions. Both had court cases with custody battles and both were on controversial topics.  I think I had higher hopes for Keeping Faith.  It was alright, but I was disappointed in the end.  You get so wrapped up in these characters and have so many questions. There are a lot of things left undone and unanswered. She gives you just enough to use your imagination to end it how you wish. But I spent 400 pages worth of reading. I don’t want to use my imagination, I want to know what happened. Was Faith really seeing God or was it in her head? Yes, we know how the judge ruled but we were never told what was actually true.  Yes, Mariah and Ian end up together, but do they get married? Did Ian turn into a religious person? Did his show actually get canceled? 

Maybe I’m missing something. If anyone out there has read this one, I’d love to hear your thoughts on it.

Next on the reading list is A Walk to Remember by Nicholas Sparks. 

Don’t forget to wear green today!

I wish you Lots O’ Luck on this Irish holiday!

Did you know that each leaf of a clover means something different? 1st leaf means hope, 2nd leaf means faith, 3rd leaf means love and the 4th, of course, means luck!

But the odds of you finding a 4 leaf clover, as opposed to a 3 leaf, is 10,000 to 1.

Wish me luck today, I’m going to the dr about my knee. I’ll let you know what they say.

• 1 Box cake mix (any flavor)
• 2 T water
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 2 eggs

Mix ingredients together. Bake at 350 for 11 minutes.

This is a favorite at our house. It’s good to keep a cake mix on hand and you can have cookies in a snap. If you need to take a treat to a friends house, or if someone is sick.. this is a good one to keep around.  I’ve even been known to take someone’s favorite cake, turn it into cookies and give it as a present for their birthday. This would even been great for a little one’s birthday party (much easier than cupcakes)

Lemon or Orange make a really good cookie. But you could go as far as to do Red velvet and ice the cookies with cream cheese icing. Carrot cake and strawberry turn out nicely as well.

Since I’ve been off, I’ve realized something. We have a lot of stuff. Just stuff in general. This is mainly my fault.  You see, I love to shop. Doesn’t matter for what  doesn’t matter for who.  If I get bored, or if I need a girls day, we go shopping. I may not need a single thing, but I come home with BAGS of stuff. Eventually, this stuff will get worn for a season then taken to Goodwill. The cycle will continue.

The question is, how do you break the cycle and but not give up one of your favorite pass times?  I’ve tried replacing this hobby with another. I actually went to the library last week and got a library card. I haven’t been in a library in over 10 years! (And then I HAD to go for school)  I figured this was a good idea for a couple of reasons. I like to read (when I have time, which hopefully I will have more of with this job change of mine). It’s free. Plus, I don’t have to store the books.

I’m currently reading Keeping Faith by Jodi Picoulot. It’s really good so far. I read My Sister’s Keeper a while back, and it made me cry!

Anyway, I’ve also tried to change my mindset when I go shopping. When I go to a store, I’m there looking for something in particular. When I walk through the store, I only let myself look for whatever it is I’m shopping for. It seems easy enough in theory. But you fellow shopaholics out there know how hard this can be. I was so proud of myself when I came out of Penney’s yesterday with nothing but my new Easter dress! Yah me :O)

I challenge you to make a plan, and stick to it. Try to limit impulse buying. When you go to the grocery store, have your menu for the week already planned out and your list made. When you go clothing shopping, only buy what you are looking for. It’s a good form of practice for self discipline.

Okay, y’all are stuck listening to me talk about Star Wars until we finish the series. Lucky for you we only have 5 and 6 left. 6 will be awesome because it has Ewoks in it, and who doesn’t like Ewoks?

Episode 4… wow. If this was the 1st movie that came out representing Star Wars, I can’t believe it took off. I think part of it is our fault. We watched 1-3 first. They have AWESOME graphics and apparently we messed up the shock factor of some big reveals. Not only that, we went back 30 years in animation and graphics between 3 and 4.

My main beef with Episode 4 is no Yoda!! How can you not have Yoda?!

Josh and I have started watching the Stars Wars movies (we are watching them in order, 1-6) We are about to watch #3.  My question to all the Star Wars peeps out there is, what’s up with Yoda?  He totally kicked some evil Jedi booty. He did jump kicks and light sabering all over the place and when he gets done, he grabs his cane and hobbles out.  Hello!! If you can jump, kick etc, why do you need a cane to walk?  Is it mental? Is he wanting his enemies to think he’s weak and he’s really not? I don’t get it. 

Its always interesting watching movies with Josh he came up with way too many light saber jokes when Ani and the Queen were all in love and getting freaky.. I heard the typical "Want to see my light saber?" etc for about 15 minutes.

As a side note I saw a Toyota truck the other day and on the tailgate Toyota was spelled "Toy Yoda" I thought it was cute.

Let the Force be with you this week.

Yep, that’s right. I passed both my tests!! Which is good, because otherwise I would have had to make 10 phone calls and tell them I failed. I was dreading that worse than the possibility of sitting in a classroom again going over all that information. I have my licenses, now what? Well, I have a couple of weeks off before I start my job. My brain still feels like jello.  I still don’t know the first thing about insurance. The training I will take next month is supposed to tell me everything I need to know.

We went to dinner last night with my boss and his wife. They are super nice people. I know I’ve made the right decision in that aspect. I just hope I like the industry.  Our teacher last week brought up a good point.  He said that his goal was to get you a "Pass" but if you didn’t have "Pass-ion" it didn’t really mean anything.

I’ve noticed that people look at me funny when I tell them I quit my job. I guess because I’ve been doing title for so long.  Then they ask me what I’m going to do, and they give me a really crazy look.  Selling insurance? No, I’m not a used car salesman.  I really think this is a good way for me to help people. Insurance is one of those things you don’t think about it until you need it. It can be overwhelming. You want enough coverage to take care of you in your time of crisis, but you don’t want to pay for something you don’t need. I’m looking at this as an opportunity to help someone, not sell them something.

We shall see.. I got all kinds of licenses now.. driver’s, title, property and casualty, hunters safety.. Next I’m thinking handgun permit ) 

For those of you who aren’t in the biz.. P & C stands for Property and Casualty Insurance.  I am currently in class to get my Property and Casualty license. The proximate cause of this action is due to my recent career change. I’ve made some observations while in class.

Day 1 – Everyone is dressed very nice. We are all cordial to each other, and are excited that we are the future of the insurance industry!!! I think this is going to be easy. Most of this stuff I covered with my title producers license, so I’m one step ahead, awesome!

Day 2- Everyone is dress nice still, but not as nice as yesterday. First impressions I guess.  As the day goes on, we realize we have gone over a LOT of numbers. There are 2 different charts, 30 days, 60 days.. 80% DP1, DP2, DP 3.. what? I’m sure the professor (if he wasn’t delusional by the fever he had) thought we looked like a bunch of deer caught in some headlights. I go home and think if it’s too late to change my mind.  I go through, break up the info and memorize it. Ok, it was intimidating, but I’m good to go.

Day 3- We are dressing more for comfort at this point. After all, we were up late last night memorize charts and percentages (why I don’t know, we are computer systems at the office to figure this stuff for us..) The class cuts up more. We know each other a little better now. After all, misery loves company. We know the personalities of the class (the nerds, the joksters, you get the picture) The teacher has a little fun, to try to lighten the mood (by telling a suicide story none the less- probably not smart at this point, as some of look like we could understand why someone would jump off their car to hang themselves – which by the way would be covered under automobile ins.)

Day 4- At this point, we are lucky we have clothes on. Some of us are sporting the same clothes we’ve already worn. Everyone is so worried about the test, no one will notice. We all try to look brave, red bulls in hand. Someone makes a joke about they are ready for the test to be over so we can get our life back, everyone agrees and all admits how overwhelmed and miserable they are. Thankfully, at this point, this stuff is repetitive. Yeah yeah, subrogation okay, limited liability, uh huh. The problem is, if you didn’t get it the first time, you aren’t going to get it the 4th time.  The teacher is starting to sound like Charlie Brown. He promised us we’d be out today by 4pm. That’s all I’m clinging to right now. At 3:59, my stuff will be packed and I’m outta here!!  Unfortunately, I will go home, play with the dog, maybe bake some bread, ( I bake when I’m stressed) and start studying.

I am going to have a book burning on Saturday (provided I pass the test) I hope I never have to look at it again. I’m sick of pencils, highlighers and all except questions. I get the chills when I hear a kid sing the ABC song.. I can’t get past A B C D, which is the right answer? If I knew I wouldn’t be in this class!!! AHHHHH!!!!!!!

Friday morning, 8 am. They swear the quicker you take the test after the class, the better off you I’m going to get up at 5 am, take my tired, stressed rear to the testing facility and get religious on it. At that point, it’s in God’s hands whether I pass or not.  I’ll let you know how I did, depending on how I did

How we did it, I don’t know. I am currently in a 4 day class for my Property and Casualty license from 8 am- 5 pm.  I don’t know how we sat in a classroom for 8 hours and listened to someone talk in high school. I about died today! The bad news is this is the same stuff I went over in the title class. Tomorrow starts the new info. Eek! I don’t know that I will be able to concentrate on that much new info for that long! Wish me luck!

Man, I hope so.  For those of you who don’t know. I quit my job last  week. I have decided, for my sanity, to get out of the title industry.  The hours and the stress were killing me.  With the market like it is, if someone needed to close at 6 pm, you had no choice but to do it.  With me not having any children, I was the only one that could stay and close. A typical closing takes an hour or so, so I was looking at not getting home until 7:30. I could never plan anything at the end of the month. We had to give up free box seats to the Predators because I had a closing. I offered my boss two weeks, and he gave me two days. (actually 6 hours notice)

My new boss wants to take me and Josh out to dinner next week. He is SUPER nice. I’ll keep you posted on how things go.

Pray for me. I will have class Mon-Thu and then Friday I take the exam to get my Property and Casualty Insurance license. Then April 9th I start training through Allstate.

If you need insurance, let me know. I’ll try to hook you up (or at least I will once I figure out what I’m doing)