The Real Buzz in Real Estate

An article in today's Worcester, Massachusetts Telegram & Gazette, http://www.telegram.com/article/20100602/NEWS/100609953/1116 shows us how long we have yet to travel to overcome our intellectual snobbery.  Today many still view those who study Art, Music or Physical Education as less than desirable students or students who do not have or may not have the ability to pursue other subjects.  Physical Education is the most maligned subject in any country by far. More and more states are requiring Physical Education in Grammar Schools, Middle Schools, and High Schools.  The point of this article is that it so clearly demonstrates the damage done in the past by not teaching the legislative endeavors the basic facts and tenets of Exercise and Health. Exercise, like nutrition is a specific formula..  The pulse must be raised to a prescribed level according to studies -- for a minimum of twenty minutes a minimum of three times per week. No sooner do we get this down...

Glass Top Stoves.  Aren't they beautiful? Here's the low-down on these great appliances. Unlike the old coil stoves, where if you had a spill-over you could just ignore it until whenever you could get to it -- you must cleans spills before you re-use the top.  The worst thing you could do is start to bake on this mess. There are many products on the market but you don't need to spend an arm and a leg to keep your stove clean.  Water a ammonia will do the same a glass cleaner, or use Windex or any other glass cleaner. Make sure you use a NON-SCRATCH SCOURING PAD!  This is vitally important.  As the name suggests, if you use a Brillo pad or any other scouring pad you will permanently scratch you stove top. If the mess is a heavy buildup, use one of your spatulas that you use in non-stick cookware.  Use that as a scraper.  I did some shopping and I have one that is actually better suited as my scraper than it would be as a cooking utensil.  Ther...

So I've developed a brand-new seller-side website aimed at providing the Seller with information and allowing them to get as much help in their difficult process as possible. Many times moving from the family home is a traumatic experience.  Most people deal with this by putting themselves in denial.  That's one of the reasons we so encourage people to use a REALTOR®.  Their emotional attachment, memories, hopes and dreams are all bound up in that property.  Now they are moving on.  Even if they are moving to something better, and they feel they are happy to be leaving -- down deep there is still a profound attachment.  Sellers in this condition invariably find it easier to move than those down-sizing after having raised a family in the family home, for example.  There are in either or in any case factors at work upon the sellers that make it expedient to use a REALTOR® who can assist them in maintaining an impartial view of the listing price....

Getting Your Air Conditioner Ready for Summer By Sandor Nagyszalanczy Most of us don't give our air conditioners a thought till that first hot, insufferably humid day. But with a little cleaning and maintenance beforehand, you'll be sitting cool when everyone else is lugging their AC to the repair shop. Moreover, an annual inspection and cleaning ensures lower operating costs and a longer life for your cooling equipment, whether it's a central air conditioner or a window- or wall-mounted room unit. Room Air Conditioners You can leave room units in place all year long and cover them when they're not in use, but they'll last longer if you remove and store them during the cool season. Before you reinstall a room air conditioner in its window opening, inspect and clean the cooling fins and coils on its outside exhaust surface. (The unit should have an access panel you can remove to clean them; consult your owner's manual for instructions.) Because ...

Everybody doesn't like stone.  I know, I know, it's hard to believe, but some people really prefer the old-fashioned formica.  Formica is a brand name and we are speaking of laminate here. Every ten to twenty years stone needs a new sealer.  And, if one is not careful, laminate needs to be replaced. That may not always be practical economically speaking, at that time, so here's just a few ways to deal with laminate and keep it looking great for quite a few more years: Formica can be coated with many paints or clear finishes as long as it is absolutely clean and is very slightly sanded... 220 grit paper would be the roughest that should be used. Since you want to maintain the appearance but just lower the gloss, you could try a water-based polyacrylic coating. This is a durable, abrasion resistant product that should serve your purposes. Minwax is one manufacturer of this product. Apply it with a foam brush or lint-free roller... very lightly! Multiple coats are p...

Sometimes, I find an article or a page that is just so good, I can't go any further.  And, so in this Holiday Weekend, I am referring you to a site I found.  :  http://www.emmitsburg.net/gardens/articles/frederick/2005/spring_chores.htm Early Spring Garden Chores Annette Ipsan Frederick County Master Gardener Program All of us are anxious to see bulbs sprouting, buds unfurling and color splashed throughout the garden. And yes, even though it is a bit early to get your hands in the dirt, there is plenty you can do to gear up for the gardening season. March is a great month for trimming and tidying. Now is when you should cut back your ornamental grasses. Hand pruners do a good job on smaller clumps, but hedge trimmers are handy for larger clumps. Hold or tie the old growth with twine and ...

Oh Yeah! That's What I'm Saying . . . The favorite expression: "Oh Yeah, That's what I'm Talking About" is grammatically incorrect, ending as it does, with a preposition. Hence, I use: "Oh Yeah! That's What I'm Saying" (With the emphasis in "I'm") Anyway . . . Today's blog is about that small icon you see up in the address bar of Facebook and any other site you visit. Have you ever wanted one of those for your site? Well, it's pretty simple. First you need to download and install one small program on your computer:  Go To: http://www.picture2icon.com/ So, you take any JPG picture and open it with this program. Save the file with filename. 'flavicon'  MAKE SURE YOU ONLY USE THE 16 X 16 PIXEL CHOICE ON THE RADIO BUTTONS. . . Now take this script: link rel="shortcut icon" href="favicon.ico" And don't forget to put the LEFT-HANDED SIDEWAYS BRACKET:  CAPS FOR COMMA ON YOUR KEYBOARD ...

♦ Family Values ♦ Community Involvement ♦ Information Put Into Action ♦ Keep Yourself Centered Homeowner Oil Heating System Upgrade and Insurance Law Introduction This fact sheet contains important information for those who heat their homes with oil.   By July 1, 2010, you must upgrade your home heating system equipment to prevent leaks from tanks and pipes that connect to your furnace. By making a relatively small expenditure now, you can prevent a much greater expense in the future. Massachusetts has a new law to address oil leaks from home heating systems (see Chapter 453 of the Acts of 2008 ).  This law has two major provisions that require: the installation of either an oil safety valve or an oil supply line with protective sleeve on systems that do not currently have these devices; and insurance companies that write homeowner policies to offer coverage for leaks from heating systems that use oil.  Most homeowner policies do not curren...

It doesn't really matter how you approach the Spiritual Aspect of your life.  Wars have been fought and millions have died for "Religion" when, in the end, everybody is saying exactly the same thing.  Muslim, Christian, Jew, Buddhist, Transcendentalism, and all the others. How?  Let's take one aspect of Spirituality:  Breathing. The holistic benefits of Yoga , for instance, are about breathing -- how attaining a peaceful, recollected state, will affect your pulse and your breathing rate.  A heart at peace gives life to the body, but envy rots the bones. Proverbs 14:30. What does it mean, "A heart at peace?" -- well that is a question that one has to answer for oneself and the true answer comes with wisdom.  The the effects of a heart at peace are a lowering of the heart rate, and a deeper breathing.  These states may be almost as important as sleep to our well being.  Studies also indicate that these states affect or influence ...

A recent study conducted in America's schools indicates that our Nation, as a whole are becoming worse and worse at Spelling.  The study attributed the decline of our Nation and of our Students and Children to our Word Processors' Spell Checkers. The Answer is not with our Computers.  The Answer is within Ourselves.  Every time that the Spell Checker corrects your mistake you can "Just Let It", or you can be eternally grateful for the onset of technology in Education.  This is the "Mind" part of Wellness. !!! Here is a list of 100 most-misspelled words: http://www.yourdictionary.com/library/misspelled.html It is not that how the spell checker corrects our mistakes, it is how we respond to that correction.  I think of Doctor S. Checker, PhD in English.  Every time the Doctor Checker corrects me, I use it as an opportunity to learn.  The more it goes, the more I improve, the closer I become to being just as efficient as Dr. Checker. Think about ...

Check out the moss plantings available to you -- you know, a small corner that's now indistinguishable rendered distinctive. http://www.mossacres.com/shade-plants.asp . More! Check out http://tispaquin.blogspot.com/2009/05/planting-baby-ferns-in-your-yard.html where more fern information is available. Plant some strawberries, rhubarb, sage, in amongst the garden path.  Place a bench surrounded by at least ten different yet coordinated species.  Even amongst every-day plants like Hostas -- strive for at least three distinguishable varieties. This is a yard of an educated person -- one where thought and love, care, research are involved.  Don't follow the neighborhood and just make a nice arrangement of three or four different shrubs (the same ones everybody else has because these gardens were mass produced -- so to speak.  Homes of Distinction are exactly that.  Homes of Distinction.  Unless you wallpaper will actual ten-dollar bills, distinctive homes a...

A clever, but financially strapped college student discovered that he had spent all of his room and board money on less academic pursuits. Quickly, he telegrammed his dear old parents for cash. However, he was so destitute, he could only afford three words. By an amazingly serendipitous stroke of fortune, he was able to send his request, the total amount needed, and the breakdown in this simple message: SEND + MORE ------ MONEY How much did the poor student need, and how much were the two portions for room and board? Substituting numbers for letters -- solve Answer: SEND + MORE ------ MONEY This cryptogram is amusing in that it spells out a meaningful message and has a unique solution. Deciphering the solution takes some persistent logical reasoning, although inspired guesswork can speed up the process. The obvious initial assumption is that M equals 1. From the fact that SEND #+ MORE is greater than 9,999 we can conclude that S is either 8 or 9, because S + 1...

A Three-Week Series:  Body, Mind, Spirit True success and attaining real happiness has three aspects.  So, if you are making more money than anybody else in your office but you are chronically overweight and patently unhappy -- what have you really achieved? No one aspect is easier or more difficult than another.  One thing is certain.  And know this to be trued:  The world is a very large place.  On life's journey there are people on every imaginable path.  That means if you don't want to exercise, it will be easy for you to find a very large community with which to identify.  If you don't want to pray, meditate, or center yourself the same will be true -- you can find an enormous community to support you not do what will bring you success and happiness.  And, if you want to work 24/7 and are certain that it is necessary, and you have no time to improve your mind -- you will answer:  all of the above -- meaning -- your support syste...

DOC?  ODT? If you need to send your client files by email, then you should know:  Open Office is totally free and can open (and create) any type of Microsoft Office document:  A growing number of Colleges and Universities that still use Microsoft Windows software, are opting out of Microsoft Office in lieu of the free and equally powerful Open Office.   Complete documentation, history, and downloads are available at: http://www.openoffice.org/ . PDF ? Adobe just keeps getting larger and larger.  Although it's free for download, it is an extremely large and ungainly program.  FoxIt Reader is a small file, and a very quick download and has as much functionality as is required to open, interact with, read, and print PDF files.  It can be downloaded at:  http://download.cnet.com/Foxit-Reader/3000-10743_4-10313206.html?tag=contentMain;contentAux AVG FREE ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE McAffee and Norton Anti-virus software more or less have corne...

Check out this podcast:  Motivation to Move .  Motivation starts with you! As you aspire to be more successful in life, your attitude towards yourself and others will play a huge role. Positive people learn how to handle life's challenges differently and use these opportunities to grow. So can you! Everyone wants a better life and if you are constantly working on self improvement, you will develop more self-confidence, better self-esteem and greater internal motivation to be the best. When you learn the secrets of teamwork and leadership, interpersonal communication skills and service, you can apply them to all aspects of your daily life. Get Motivated! Believe in Yourself - Believe in Others! " If I have to swim across the sea to get what I want, I will learn how to swim, then I'll swim it. If I have to climb the highest mountain to get what I want, I will learn how to climb, then I'll climb it. If I have to dive the deepest ocean to get what I want, ...

Trellises and Arbors A trellis is generally an architectural creation of interwoven wood or metal used for garden ornamentation and to support plants.Depending on your garden's needs, a trellis or an arbor can add some visual diversity with an otherwise flat lawn or rectilinear hedge. Usually, a landscape designer will choose a trellis  to add height to walls, increase privacy, separate different parts of the garden with a spacer that's permeable to air and light, or specifically to support a vine that cannot grow upright on its own. A trellis looks like a decorative fence: a few aligned posts joined with latticework or other cross pieces. It can attach to an existing structure or independently mounted with a poured cement base. Trellises made of wood, such as teak or cedar, will naturally weather and look more organically integrated with the rest of your landscape. For those wanting a more colorful finish, polyvinyl and metal offer another possible material. Although a tre...

Pressed lumber fences, and privacy fences are one thing and a charming picket fence is another.  Today - - - all about Picket fences. There are vinyl picket fences which have the allure of no maintenance -- permanent good looks, light and easy to handle and install and the traditional wooden picket fence. The first issue I can tell you that you need to consider is:  Just how well-behaved are the children in your neighborhood?  Because unless they have halos and wings and sing praises to God all day long, your beautiful vinyl fence will get vandalized one day or the other and there you'll be with a broken picket or more.  If you want to put your house up for a quick sale and you are 'staging' it, then a vinyl fence is a quick fix.  But remember that this type of fence is just a quick fix and it's permanent beauty 'as advertised' is highly over-stated. [RIGHT:  The Garden Club of Virginia project was presented on April 27, 2005 in Danville at the Sutherli...

Hostas (synonym:  Funkia) are a very popular plant here in New England  This plant originated in China.  Traditionally these are a favorite food of slugs, snails, deer, and other wild animals.  There are several varieties; one of the most common is the "August Moon" variety.  They can become extremely large -- to the point of being unruly -- completely blocking the walkway along which they are planted. Although the best time to separate these plants is in the Fall, if your plant is way, way, way too large, you can do it in the Spring as soon as the earth thaws enough. What you have to do is completely un-root the plant and place it on a drop cloth or a large piece of heavy mil plastic.  Being careful for your own safety, use an ax or a large sharp knife and literally cut the plant, roots and all in half, or in quarters or in eights if it has really become enormous. Here is where you suddenly become very popular with your friends and neighbors. ...

Dealing all the Cards The warm weather is here.  It's a good time to evaluate the deck.  Check supporting structure.  Be certain the supports are sound and free of rot.  Do an inspection of banisters, guides, and any and other restraining structures.  Shake the banister -- made certain that it is not loose.  Make certain, if you need to effect any repairs you use aluminum nails or screws or anything that will not rust away. This is a good time to evaluate your design and add or subtract from it.  Would you like to create platforms on the deck -- various spin-offs from the deck shown on the left. If you wanted to add planters (make sure you have a water-proof liner) or create parquet [both shown right] add banisters, guides.  A great blog on deck designs can be found at: ACCENT DECK DESIGNS When you are certain that your structure is sound and you are OK with your design, you may want to clean and seal the deck.  Before you begin cleanin...

Your New England Cactus Garden   Cacuts and the plural is cacti.  -- You can't have a cactus garden outdoors because you live in New England --WRONG!  Having a formidable cactus garden here in New England is not only feasible, it is attainable.  Granted it involves a lot of work -- but so does trimming and maintaining the more winter-hardy plants. First of all, as you suspect, cacti need to be moved indoors in the winter and gently re-introduced outdoors in the Spring.  So let's begin at the beginning.  If you've never been to Tower Hill Botanical Garden in Boylston, MA then you've missed out on a lot.  And, secondly, you are going to have to create a place where the cacti can winter -- this repository will be about 50 degrees Fahrenheit,  and have some light.  You will not have to do much during the winter season -- not even water them -- not until Spring -- and when the warmer weather breaks, you move your garden outdoors and there you...

Mow, Larry & Curley Today, we are going to examine mowing techniques.  Techniques?  It's certainly time to get the blade sharpened, and do yourself, or get the mower tuned up, oil changed, painted, if needed, cleaned up.  Also, it's time to clean and inspect the edge trimmer and/or the line trimmer, make certain with the latter you have plenty of spare line.  It's a good time to get the debris of the winter off the lawn with a gentle raking but too early for thatching.  Certainly, bare spots should be seeded, and as I mentioned in a previous blog, weed control should be kept away from  newly seeded areas until the seed sprouts, as the week control will kill the new grass.   Mowing should be done, ideally in the evening.  The fact is that mowing damages the plant and it will take a day or two for the grass to fully recover. Mowing in the evening provides about 12 hours of respite for the grass from the sun. Mowing in the morning means ...

UCR, a California University offers an excellent Search Engine. INFOMINE , for research.  There is an excellent Adobe PDF report compilled by Marcus P. Zillman, M.S., A.M.H.A., Executive Director -- Virtual Private Library entitled:  " An Internet MiniGuide Annotated Link Compilation."   This document has links not only to search engines, but to search with results yielding scholarly articles not generally available in the traditional search engines we use every day. There is the " Academic Search Engine Colossus " with a hefty list of search engines with criteria for various disciplines. Naturally, you can get the Wikipedia article " List of academic databases and search engines" .  And, here is an About.com portal to Curriculum Resources: Curriculum Resources Enrich your lesson plans with these carefully selected resources. Use these links to find materials which will stimulate and challenge. Books for Students (12) Italian Resources (3) African ...

Free Libraries Online For Research, Diversion, Education The University of Pennsylvania provides an enormous library of books free to you and to your college student sons and daughters.  Online electronic text libraries can be downloaded or read online.  The advantage to this type of electronic text is, of course the price (free), but actually, that is incidental to a serious student.  The greatest advantage of electronic text is its searchability.  A student can search and find instances of key phrases and create hyperlinks (that in another blog later) that link one work to another. UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA          ONLINE BOOKS PAGE            Of course there are Google Books.  This is another source of books available for research.  Google actually lets you build a small online library so that you have all your books in one place.  For instance, "A Treat...