Spring is here...

May has turned into a crazy month these days... May 2, 3 and 4 we have Anthony's Bellas and Dave jr's birthday. May 8th Kelly & I celebrate our 29th wedding anniversary, It's hard to believe I'm that old, but Kelly??? for sure. UPDATE - Kelly just noted it is 28 years not 29. I suppose now I am going to need the extra year to save up for the really nice trip I'm going to have to plan for our 30th to make up for my poor math skills :0)
May 9 is Moms day (in case you haven't bought your cards yet, and May 27th Jessy's birthday (not to mention Memorial day). All this activity is one of the reasons the blog is a couple days delinquent... sorry about that.

I was going to blather on about the history of Cinco de Mayo, but I missed my opportunity by a day. Besides I was informed by a cab driver in Puerto Vallarta a couple years ago that it's really not a national holiday in Mexico. From what I can gather on the internet, it is celebrated in one state in Mexico, and at numerous bars in the U.S. Any reason for happy hour and a buritto I suppose.

Gordy is still living with us. I haven't reached the end of my rope with raising a puppy quite yet. Although, if anyone has any suggestions for curbing his need to dig all the plants in the back yard up, I'd love to hear it.

The countdown to the wedding is well under way. A shower this month, another in chicago next month, then the big day For Anthony & Jessy in July. Jessy is feverishly applying for work in Chicago. She has had a few interviews already, and feels pretty confident with her prospects.

Dave, Lauren, Bella and Austin are great. Bella has really accepted her new brother into the fam with open arms. She's lightened up on G-diddy a bit. I can even walk in and say hi to Austin first without being shunned. Sorry no new pics this month, we had sort of a snafu on the computer... all my files mysteriously disappeared (pics and all). I was able to recoup the important ones, and I had backed up a bunch of stuff last month, but we have about a one month vortex.

Golf league started this week, and Dave jr and I have a softball team that has a record of 2 - 1 already. Just trying to keep up with the young guys, but it's getting harder each year.

As for Real Estate... The first time home buyer credit expired April 30th. There was a huge flurry of activity for about 3 weeks prior to that. Needless to say I am off to a pretty good start for 2010. It doesn't appear that there will be an extension of the credit, so the industry has a wait and see attitude right now about the affect the expiration will have locally.

The good news is, I think we saw a pretty good amount of homes flushed from the system. Now if we can just keep steadily improving, we should be in good shape moving forward. I picked up 3 new listings this week, and still have buyers in the pipeline... all is good with the world.

As always, I truly appreciate the referrals you graciously give me. Hopefully you know by now, your family and friends are my family and friends.

See you in June.

Happy Ostern everyone...

While I was with the family yesterday celebrating the defining day for Christians around the world, someone asked what the word Easter meant. In keeping with last months definition, I figured i better look into it. That's what old age does to you, you start to actually get concerned with things you've never given much thought to.

There are two relatively accepted potential origins of the word Easter... as with many holidays, it looks like there is a pagan root to the word as well as one not associated with the pagan term.

Eostre - was a pagan Anglo-Saxon Goddess. The mythical figure is said to have been the goddess of the sunrise and the spring. The direction of the sunrise, East, is named for her. In Norse mythology, the name is spelled Eostare. Another considered the Norse/Saxon goddess of spring is Ostara. Eastre is believed to be an ancient word for spring. -OR- Another idea involves the history of the Frankish church (Germans who settled in Rome during the fifth century). There the celebration of Christ's resurrection included the word alba, which means white (the color of the robes worn during the resurrection festival). Alba also meant sunrise. So when the name of the festival was translated into German, the sunrise meaning, ostern, was selected, likely in error. One theory is that Ostern is the origin of the word Easter.

So there you have it.

We also celebrate April Fools day in our house... It has become a little tough around here to fool anyone since they all live so darn far away. Phone gags just don't have the same flair. I am always a little nostalgic for a couple of the pranks I pulled on the kids this time of year. Like the one year I stopped at Little Caesars to pick up a couple empty pizza boxes on my way home from work. As I drove by the kids playing in a neighbors yard, I raised the empty boxes and slowed down so they could get a good look... they raced me home that night, and needless to say, Kelly & I had to pack the fam up and take them out for pizza that night. They still get a chuckle out of it though... memories.

Oh yeah... what about real estate? Well it has been very busy lately. Mortgages are getting tough to obtain, and the first time home buyer credit expires in just 25 days. If you want to take advantage of the credit, this is literally zero hour... call me today.

FYI, Senate Bill 395 was introduced in Michigan recently, it requires property tax assessment notices to be sent to property owners at least two weeks before the meeting by the local Board of Review. Last week, the Bill passed out of the Senate, and is now awaiting a hearing in the House Intergovernmental and Regional Affairs committee. This bill would allow us property owners sufficient time to gather the required information necessary to fight our assessments. I'll keep you updated on this one.

For the family... all are doing great, Jessy & Anthony are starting the countdown to the wedding (late July). Looks like everything is in order. Dave Lauren Bella & Austin are doing well, Austin is growing... what an eater. I had a three day stretch with him wrecking my shirts while I tried to burp him... I think I'm leaving that task for the professionals from now on.

Kel & I have had the motorcycles out a couple times... the recent string of great weather has been very encouraging. Golf and softball, look out, here we come.

Thanks again for all your referrals, I appreciate you passing my name on to your family and friends. See you in May.