Oh really I didn't know that...I am so glad you told me!

I am getting the to age where I would love to impart my wisdom unto others.

I remember the first time, I had recently graduated from college and my cousin was still in high school. I realized I could save him some pain and expense if he would take my advice about Math. "Take math in high school and learn all you can while it is free," I told him. I had had to pay for 3 college courses in math, Beginning Algebra, Intermediate Algebra and College Algebra so I could take Statistics which was the required course for my major.

I don't know that he took my advice on that topic, but he recently told me I turned him on to some cool bands in the 80's most notably Gang of Four.

When I was at the paper I loved helping folks and showing tips and tricks to get work done quickly.

I used to attend Alanon meetings and loved telling things that would help others, like "He who angers me controls me" or "Resentment is the poison I drink hoping the other person will die."

Then there is my favorite Computer shortcut I want to share with everyone-Window D...I just love that quick trick to reduce all windows down to the bottom so you can see your desktop - See I even want to impart wisdom while writing this post - LOL.

For some reason when my mom has wisdom to impart I cringe inside and don't want to listen. I feel like she constantly wants to tell me the right way to be...

"You know you aren't supposed to tell the child to clean her plate, it could lead to obesity..." (and she is obese and I have been flirting with it for years)
or
"When I cook I always do it this way..." (She never cooks anymore)
or
"Do you measure your cat's foods each day so they won't get fatter" (Her cat is fatter than my cats)
or
"Have you ever cleaned out your garbage disposal/dishwasher etc. etc etc?"

I will quit here, enough said...I just wish I didn't get so defensive and reactive.

If I could just smile gracefully and say "Oh! I didn't know that! I am so glad you told me!" it would be so much better.

Wish I could be the patient loving nuturing daughter...

Our winter is outside time

Jamie hasnt learned to ride without training wheels yet. To tell you the truth I may ask a younger more fit friend to run alongside her and help her learn. Pitiful I know, but I just can't run more then 30 feet or so and she won't do it without one of us beside her.

She did get a new scooter for Christmas and that does seem to be helping her balance. She just isn't interested in giving the bike another try without the training wheels.

I take her and Samson to the park quite often and the scooter is what she chooses to bring. Lots of folks at the park which is good in some ways but not so good for Samson. I don't feel ok letting him off the leash when there are others at the park, as dogs are not supposed to be running free.

Some mornings when I don't go in right away, I take Sammy to a small park that is fenced in and I walk the sidewalk while encouraging him to rip and roar around.

We really do spend more time outside here in the winter than in the summer. In the summer it's so hot I either want to be in my pool or inside. Winter is the out and about time.

How is your winter going?

Walking the walk and Talking the Talk

I am learning to be a realtor...and what I have learned is you just have to do something...anything. The key is to get in front of people every day and let them know you are in real estate and could help if they would like to buy or sell their homes.

So I am out getting in front of them. Now that I have a listing in my neighborhood I decided I need to let folks in the neighborhood know that I am an agent and am doing business here. I have my name on the sign now, so now to reinforce it somehow.

But how?

Yes I could mail them all something... There are 702 houses in our neighborhood. And my brokerage doesn't pay for postage. But they do let you make color copies...hmmmm. So why not walk it around? They say face to face is best for meeting folks anyway.

So I developed a newsletter, called it My Neighborhood's Real Estate Journal and wrote an article about how great the neighborhood is, got another article from our local Realtors association and finally a small article about my new listing. Then on the other side I put 3 larger photos of the new listing with the information about it...

I started my 'Door Knocking' Campaign yesterday, did 20 houses yesterday. Today I did 30 houses this morning and another 30 this afternoon. For each 30 doors knocked on I typically talk to between 6-8 folks. So ninety down, 612 to go.

They say Rome wasn't built in a day.