Happy Friday to all! I hope your week is wrapping up nicely.  Here is my selection of quotes for this week.  Enjoy and I will see you next Friday.   ...geri   ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.     -Martin Luther King, Jr.       The difference between what we do and what we are capable of doing would suffice to solve most of the world's problems.    -  Gandhi       Have the courage to act, instead of react.    -Earlene Larson Jenks       Behold the turtle.  He makes progress only when he sticks his neck out.   -James Bryant Conant       04/24/2009

Have you ever had this happened to you? Change a bulb - while you are unscrewing it, the bulb breaks and the base is stuck in the socket base because of rust. GREAT!! It happened to me and now I have to write about it or at least gives me something to write about. There is no best way to remove it except to use a pair of nose needle pliers. To remove the broken base, first make sure the power is off. Wear eye protection if you don't want stuff flying into your eyes. Protect the immediate area from broken glass, because it can get very messy with broken glasses that remain from the base. Use the needle nose pliers to grab the metal rim of the bulb and twist it. You can aslo jam the nose of the pliers into the base of the bulb to get a grip. You can even try jaming the pliers inside the ... 04/21/2009

The City of Covington has an aquatic center AKA swimming pool. For those who didn't know that. It is located next to Tahoma High School. The Covington Aquatic Center offers swimming lessons as well as a place for everyone' needs to lap swim as an alternative to exercise. Click on the link for the pool schedule. I remember when it used to be the Tahoma Pool years ago when my children went there regularly for their swim lessons. The indoor swimming pool makes it perfect for all year round activities. You can rent the pool for birthday parties, swim lessons, or group exercise activites.  Public swim is Monday - Friday at 12 - 1 pm and Family swim is Saturday - Sunday 12- 1 pm. 04/20/2009

Create good habits by taking your children to the Library regularly. Reading books creates  a good writer in you. Your local library has FREE programs and events to help you and your family get interested in reading on a daily basis. Here are this weeks Covington Library weekly events for week April 21, 2009. Wee Ones Story Times Event Type: Children's Story Times Date: Tuesday, April 21, 2009 Start Time: 10:05 AM Library: Covington LibraryDescription: Newborn through prewalkers with adultEnjoy bouncy rhymes, familiar songs and a wee bit of story in this 20-minute session. A fun way to bond with your baby through books.Age(s): Children & Families Other: Story Time will be held in the Story Time room.   Young Toddler Story Times Event Type: Children's Story Times Date: Tuesday, April 21,... 04/20/2009

There is a question that often comes up when a seller decides to do a short sale process. The question that comes up often is "if a lender agrees to the short sale option on my property, can the bank still proceed with a foreclosure?" The simplest way to summarize this answer is that both processes are parallell to each other. Here is why. The foreclosure could be considered as a separate and distinct action taking place, even though the lender has agreed to the short sale proposal. This can easily occur when different departments of the same lending institution are seeking different outcomes, or simply because the bank, after agreeing to a proposed short sale outcome, but before signing a contract, believes that foreclosure would represent a more favorable outcome for the lender. The s... 04/18/2009

In today's tough market, anything an everything you can do to prepare your house for sale is very important.  Here are some tips that I am going to be dividing into 2 blog posts as not to overwhelme the reader. ~Stimulate buyer’s imaginations by setting scenes throughout the house, such as a chess game in the corner of your family room. ~Create a spacious feeling while showing your house; open all doors fully. ~Use folded quilts, bright colored pillows and fresh flowers to draw attentio to the positives. ~A bright colored umbrella on the deck invites buyers to use the backyard as long as it doesn’t block any good views in the backyard. ~Disguise unsightly views. Remove dark, heavy drapes and replace with light sheers; let breeze blow in and move sheers.  ~Place 3 to 4 inch glass shelves... 04/17/2009

  Happy Friday to All!   I hope this finds you having a nice day.  It is rainy and dreary in my neck of the woods, but they are promising an amazing weekend.  Yahoo!!  Bring it on!!!   Have a great day, enjoy this weeks selection of quotes and I will see you again next week.   ...geri     ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~   Until you value yourself, you will not value your time.  Until you value your time, you will not do anything with it.     -M. Scott Peck       Great minds discuss ideas.  Average minds discuss events. Small minds discuss people.                           -Eleanor Roosevelt       It's not what you are that holds you back, it's what you think you are not.    -Denis Waitley       People will forget what you said, People will forget what... 04/17/2009

It is Spring time. Is now the right time to buy home? Even though there is so much fear in the market right now? One way to determine whether the time may be right for you to consider buying a home is to start looking at the rents in your community. When paying for a full mortgage begins to equal or fall lower than rental rates, the market is typically near the bottom, and you should see housing begin to stabilize. In many parts of the country, we have already seen this occur. According to the National Association of Realtors, median home prices nationally fell 15.5% in February from the previous year. The median price, not the average price, represents the market price for a given period of time where half the homes sold for higher and half sold for less.  While the general media would... 04/12/2009

It is a new week and many things to do at the newly remodeled Covington Libray. Why not take advantage of these free events. Take your children to the Library, because it is story time. Take advantage of a beginners computer class to learn to use Microsoft Word or improve your English  for the non-English Speakers.  Wee Ones Story Times Event Type: Children's Story Times Date: Tuesday, April 14, 2009 Start Time: 10:05 AM Library: Covington LibraryDescription: Newborn through prewalkers with adultEnjoy bouncy rhymes, familiar songs and a wee bit of story in this 20-minute session. A fun way to bond with your baby through books.Age(s): Children & Families Other: Story Time will be held in the Story Time room. Young Toddler Story Times Event Type: Children's Story Times Date: Tuesday, Apri... 04/12/2009

Feng Shui is the art and science of living in harmony with nature. The word Feng Shui means "wind, water". Wind is the invisible force and water is the visible force. This symbol is called the yin yang symbol. It is the two primal forces of nature: Hot & cold; dark & light; moon & sun; passive & active; feminine & masculine, heaven & earth. An example of a yin environment is a cozy cabin. A yang environment is light, open, airy, and bright such as in your business, work and the beach. The goals of Feng Shui is to achieve harmony, unity, and balance in life by using the 5 elements. They are fire, earth, metal, water, and wood. In a productive and balanced environment, fire creates earth, earth creates metal, metal produce water, water feeds on wood, wood fuel fire. In Feng Shui, energy i... 04/11/2009

Foxwood is one of the desirable neighborhoods in Covington which is walking distance to Kentwood High School and Suncrest Elementary. It is a desirable neighborhood in Covington, because of his easy access to HWY 18 and walking distance to downtown Covington. There are Khols, Walmart, Costco, Home Depot, Fred Meyer, Safeway, QFC, and so much more that it will take up a very long list. I am not kidding when I tell you that you can live in Covington and not have to go outside the City. The round abouts have given Covington a unique feel and look.  Covington is a great small city to live in. 04/11/2009

Everyone seems to be speculating when we are going to recovery from this market condition mess. Yesterday, I heard that we in Washington State are about 6 months behind whatever is happening in California regarding market conditions. So what is the market condition in California today? Today I read an article in the Realtor® Magazine Online about Housing Recovery. To summarize it inshortly, it's not going to happen unitl the next decade-so they say. Have we bottomed out? The majority I've heard is that we have, but who knows. It is always interesting to hear what everyone's opinion are about our market condition in the State of Washington as well as in our local cities. 04/10/2009

  Happy Friday to everyone!  I hope your week has been wonderful.  Ours started out with beautiful sunshine and temps in the upper 60's to low 70's!!!!!!!!!!!  Ahhhh so nice :)     Now we are back to normal... rainy and very cool - in the 40's out there.  Have a wonderful day and I will see you again next week. ...geri ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Do not look where you fell, but where you slipped.  -African proverb       Life is not measured by the amount of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.      -Unknown       Kindness is the language that the deaf can hear and the blind can see.    -Mark Twain       Life isn't about finding yourself.  Life is about creating yourself.  -George Bernard Shaw 04/10/2009

There are three key things that you should remember when staging your home to sell. Odors Noise Control Lighting OdorsPet, unusual cooking spices, and smoking odors can take up to a month to eliminate. Smoke odors can be tough to erase. Give yourself the necessary time for the odors to dissipate. Clean your carpets or change it (don't forget changing the pads too), drapes, linesn, air filtes and clothing. If it is cooking odors, you want to clean the cabinets, floors, and stove top to remove spice residue. Sometimes drapes need to be cleaned or replaces. A fresh coat of paint is your best defense, but don't forget to wash the wall first if it is from cigarette smoke. Avoid the musty smell of a vacant home by strategically placing a few plug-ins around the house. Make sure the scents coo... 04/10/2009

Well, this  may sound like of a strange Title, I didn't know what else to call it except just that. When putting a home on the market, this is the first thing you notice when entering a home. As a listing agent, I have dealt with pet odors, and very strong cooking odors. I usually recommend leaving carpet freshner in the carpet for 24 hrs, then vaccuum it up, and repeat process. This has worked for my clients always. On the other hand, smoking odors in a whole different entity by itself. I am always hearing stories from other agents about smoking odors being the toughest one of all to get rid of. I just know that the carpet freshner isn't going to cut it. First of all, if you are going to change carpets, don't forget to change the pads too. Second, if you are going to paint the walls, d... 04/10/2009

The Treasury's Making Home Affordable Plan is designed to help more than 9 million homeowners refinance or modify their current mortgage loan to a payment that is more affordable now and into the future. There are basically two parts to the Making Home Affordable Plan.  One of the initiatives in this program is aimed at helping responsible homeowners "refinance" their loans to take advantage of historically low interest rates.  The other part of this initiative is aimed at helping struggling homeowners "modify" their loans to avoid foreclosure.       REFINANCING INITIATIVE - You might be eligible if:  •           You own and currently occupy a one-to-four unit home. •           Your mortgage is owned or controlled by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac (I will help             you determine if y... 04/09/2009

It is that time again to take advantage of the FREE Networking Breakfast in the City of Covington. Join Chamber members as they network and listen to fun, interesting speakers. Location:  Radcliffe Place, 13510 SE 272nd Street. Date & Time: April 15, 2009. 8:00 am  - 9:00 am. Cost: FREE Hosted By: City of Covington Chamber of Commerce Members.   04/09/2009

There are some new great events here for you to take advantage of at the Covington Library. Check it out.   Wee Ones Story Times Event Type: Children's Story Times Date: Tuesday, April 07, 2009 Start Time: 10:05 AM Library: Covington LibraryDescription: Newborn through prewalkers with adultEnjoy bouncy rhymes, familiar songs and a wee bit of story in this 20-minute session. A fun way to bond with your baby through books.Age(s): Children & Families Other: Story Time will be held in the Story Time room Young Toddler Story Times Event Type: Children's Story Times Date: Tuesday, April 07, 2009 Start Time: 10:45 AM Library: Covington LibraryDescription: For walking babies/young toddlers (or waddlers) up to 24 months with adultEnjoy bouncy rhymes, familiar songs and a wee bit of story in this... 04/06/2009

        Happy (almost Friday) to all! To those of you who check in every Friday for my new list of quotes, I am sorry that I am running late this week. My daughter is in town for a few days, and I am happy to say I have been enjoying my time with her greatly and yesterday just slipped away on me.   She returns to NYC tonight, but that is ok, it won't be long now and she will be back home for good!!   Have a wonderful day, and here are my quotes to share this week.   ...geri                   ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~   I am not afraid of storms, for I am learning how to sail my ship.     -Louisa May Alcott       Life does not have to be perfect to be wonderful.   -Annette Funicello       When you are in deep water, the best thing to do is shut your... 04/04/2009

Covington Wastemobile Event The Wastemobile is coming to Covington soon to provide household hazardous waste disposal services for King County residents. Dates Friday, May 08, 2009 - Sunday, May 10, 2009 Hours 10am - 5pm Location 15635 SE 272nd St Kent Fire Station #75  Covington, WA 98042   Details The Wastemobile accepts a wide variety of materials. The pilot project to accept business waste from conditionally exempt small quantity generators (SQG) has been extended throughout 2009. For more details and to find out if you qualify as an SQG, contact the business waste line at 206-263-8899 or see the website for more details. Restrictions No latex paint accepted. There is a limit of 50 gallons total liquid hazardous waste per customer per day at all Wastemobile events. No more than 30 g... 04/01/2009