Happy February... Punxsatawney Phil saw his shadow...

Legend has it that means six more weeks of winter is in store. I don't know about you all but I'm not sure I can take another six weeks. You know it's bad when the temp hits 34 degrees and you're o.k. to go outside with a sweater on. Talk about being conditioned for winter.

Between all the women in our house now and the constant battle of the thermostat, I just can't shake the chill.

January was pretty uneventful around here. We are settled in with Jessy and her dog and Dave Lauren & Bella... our routine is pretty much established. Kind of fun at dinner time with three families performing our own version of Iron Chef Hendo. Jessy is somewhat of a stir fry freek, Dave & Lauren seek out the occasional fish dish, I stick with the meat & potato's, and Kelly forages through the fridge for her typical salad or chicken... rotating in an occasional pot roast or pork tenderloin... No wonder I can't shake the last 8 pounds from Christmas.

Jessy is full throttle into her internship at Beaumont... she has her good days and her stressful ones... three more months and she's free of this phase of school. Anthony has popped over from "C" town a couple times this month to make sure Louie stays in line... and to get all of his vehicle maintenance taken care of at Hendos garage.

Dave has settled into his position at TACOM... he entered the superbowl pool this weekend from work and won the 4th quarter for a cool hundo. Lauren & Bella continue to amuse the whole house... Bella has enough energy for all 6 of us... I don't know how Lauren keeps up.

Kelly & I are plugging away at our jobs... no big news to report there. The pic you see this month is of David his cuz Cody and Gramma Nancy. I added it there because Cody is leaving in about 7 days for the Air Force. We had his going away party this past weekend. His brother Keith joined last year, and is currently stationed in Alaska. Just can't keep those McDonald genes out of the service...

Real estate seems to have stalled a bit. It looks like the $ 700 billion bailout hasn't trickled down to us common folk yet. Mortgage rates are still low, but it seems like the banks only want to sell money to perfect credit scores these days.

I'm sure 12 feet of snow on the ground, the new administration, and general economic "good news" daily is having an effect on sales as well.

Spring is just around the corner... lets hope for a quick thaw, and a fast start to a boom 2009 real estate season.

As always, thanks so much for your referrals. My business depends greatly on them. See you March 1st... hopefully we'll have the motorcycles rolling by then.

Happy New Year... Let's start '09 out with a bang.

Hey all,

I know most of us are breathing a big sigh of relief that '08 is a memory. The New Year holiday is a time to reflect on all the great things we lived in the past twelve months though. I won't bore you with all the details... if you're interested, scroll through the past few months of blog entries to see why '08 was full of great changes for Kelly & I.

Although the house is jammed these days with kids and stuff, it is a far cry better than the empty house we've had for the past 5 - 7 years (for now anyway :0)).

Bella was asked to skate at a boys hockey team practice that was short a few players over Christmas break. When she got there Mema Kelly discovered they were skating with Chris Draper. She did very well with a little help from David & Kelly... Grampa as usual was pretty much useless on his skates. Got a few good pics though.

Christmas was very nice... we all pared back on the gifts a bit but it was the best Christmas in a few years having the whole family back for the holiday. We kept the Christmas Day tradition alive having dinner at Kubla Kahn, even though Jessy ditched us heading to Chicago to ski with Anthony that afternoon. Anthony made it up to me by getting me footie pajamas though... all is forgiven :0)

I'm sure I'm not alone in making New Years resolutions... The biggest one I made is the one about not breaking my new years resolutions before January is over. Naturally I'm going to eat better, exercise and lose a little weight, be a better husband, father and grandfather, and focus very hard on making my real estate business excel past the last three years.

Fortunately I can keep the first few without much outside intervention. The last one is going to require the same gracious efforts of all of you as usual, and possibly a little help from above :0).

We're days away from a new president, and economic issues and global unrest loom over our heads. Ronald Reagan understood like no one in recent history that a happy population is a prosperous population. My wish for the new year is for all of us to find the happiness and peace within us, so we can fight 2009 back into prosperity.

Real Estate is starting out well so far... We were able to end 2008 strong, and I'm working with several buyers currently, and some of my listings are seeing pretty fair amounts of traffic (even in January). A good first quarter is a great way to set the stage for the remainder of the year...

Thanks again for your referrals, I promise next month to publish a blog with substance :0)... stay tuned, and have a fantastic 2009.