Thursday, May 17, 2012
The Rally to Protect the American Dream has real estate agents telling Congress that home ownership matters
The National Association of Realtors has a planned event today in Washington, D.C. known as the “Rally to Protect the American Dream.” Most people don’t know about the extra efforts many realtors put forth for their industry, livelihood, and most importantly, clients. Realtors across the country are gathering on Capital Hill to tell members of Congress that home ownership matters to people, to communities and to America. The goal of the rally is to make Congress aware that Realtors are focused on homeownership, housing and real estate issues amidst the election year rhetoric. The aim is to fight obstacles that make it more difficult for people to buy, own, and invest in real estate. The obstacles that many in the real estate industry …
Monday, May 14, 2012
Fall in love with your armoire all over again.
One of the most common pieces of antique furniture is the armoire or as it is called in Europe, the linen cupboard. They are beautiful storage pieces that have enjoyed a major place in the world’s homes since before the advent of the closet. Armoires have a varied history and have served as wooden storage lockers for everything from coats to coverlets since the age of the Renaissance. Today, many people are sad to learn that one of their most beloved pieces of furniture is not worth as much as it once was. For instance, many antiques lovers purchased large-scale armoires for big bucks in the 1990s, intended to use the piece in a bedroom. Many owners purchased armoires to hide an oversized tv set behind wooden doors. Now, the technological …
The chances for the heaviest rains will likely be from Monday night into Tuesday morning.
May is one of those months that can bring us summery heat, cool mornings, and sometimes frontal boundaries that like to hang out over the region as they lose their punch and run into the developing summertime Bermuda high in the Atlantic. We've had a few "slow moving fronts" through the region during the past three weeks. This week promises yet another front and another slow track through the region between Monday and Wednesday. It won't rain all day on Monday or Tuesday, but when it does, the rain could be heavy. Some spots could pick up a couple of inches of rain in the next couple of days. The best chances for heavier rain will be from Monday night into Tuesday morning. The main rain axis then shifts into New Jersey for the remainder …
Friday, May 11, 2012
Vesta, part of the solar system's asteroid belt, is a relic from the time when Earth and the other planets took shape.
Vesta was the Roman goddess of hearth and home, but there's nothing warm or cozy about her celestial namesake. That Vesta is a barren, airless "protoplanet" that circles the Sun between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter amid the primordial space debris of our solar system's main asteroid belt, where it is regularly pelted by its much tinier neighbors―and, as scientists have learned, occasionally clobbered by not-so-tiny ones. Vesta is in the news this week because of the initial published findings from NASA's Dawn space probe, which arrived at Vesta last July as part of its mission to collect information about the earliest days of the solar system, when the planets formed. Vesta is about 330 miles wide, which makes it the second largest …
Thursday, May 10, 2012
Not having to go too far, the best 5-year anniversary gift for the Montco Mommy was just being able to spend some rare quality time with her hubby.
It has been half a decade. It doesn’t sound long, but it’s a wide variety of peaks and valleys. This past week, I celebrated my fifth wedding anniversary with my husband. When you have two young children, getting a date in at all is pretty tough. We aspire to get out at least every other week, but that ends up to be more like once a month, at best. Between nailing down a babysitter, timing our work schedules and the cost of going out, we seldom take the time to do it. But, relationships take a lot of work. We try to remember, though it isn’t always easy, that time together can be the best way to “work” on it. Thankfully we have my college-aged sister in town for a few more days, so we took advantage of a free Aunt to get away for an entire…
Wednesday, May 9, 2012
Lisa Loper of the Scott Loper Team will be volunteering at the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure this weekend.
It used to be that I would make Mother's Day all about ME. Scott and our kids tend to spoil me on that special day and without any reservation, I would soak it all in. However, two years ago I tried something a little different on Mother’s Day. My daughter and I got up at 4:30am and headed to Philadelphia to volunteer at the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure. We served food to the nearly 50,000 runners and walkers at the Wawa tent (thanks to a very good friend who is a director with Wawa). I was so impressed and amazed at the number of men, women, and children who make Mother's Day about someone else. Every year, over 100,000 people attend this annual event in Philadelphia. So many participates wore shirts or carried signs saying who …
Monday, May 7, 2012
But this weekend is looking to be the nicest we've seen in a month.
Last week's forecast blew up in many a forecaster's face, including my own. A slow moving warm front moved even more slowly than anticipated, resulting in a couple of days of clouds and a dreary middle of the week. The warm front finally cleared, but after thunderstorms along a cool front that slid south through the region on Friday night, another round of clouds from the Atlantic took over. Frontal boundaries slow as they try to slip south of our latitude at this time of the year, thanks to the developing subtropical high pressure ridge of the Southeast. That ridge prevents colder air from sinking too far south, and as longer days continue to weaken influence of colder air masses with each passing day, the pattern can stagnate. Many …
Dr. Lori presents helpful facts on how to bring the most value to your antique valuables.
Did you know these basic facts about antiques? --- --- Celebrity Ph.D. antiques appraiser, author, and award-winning TV personality, Dr. Lori presents antique appraisal events nationwide. Dr. Lori is the star appraiser on the Discovery channel’s hit TV show, Auction Kings. Visit www.DrLoriV.com, www.Facebook.com/DoctorLori, or call (888) 431-1010.
Wednesday, May 2, 2012
Energy efficiency doesn't exist just within the four walls of your home
Energy efficient homes don’t end with the structural and interior elements. One of the most important factors to operating a more energy efficient home is the landscaping around it. Not to mention that landscaping is more of a long term plan that one day will affect the re-sale value of the home. It’s a topic we’re familiar with this time of year, as we make our trips (and more trips) to the local home improvement stores looking for that ideal combination of plants, shrubs, trees, and grasses. With the summer months approaching, we’ll soon be looking at cooling costs that air conditioners and fans bring to our utility bill. Did you know that all plants naturally lower the temperature through a process called evaporative cooling? …
Monday, April 30, 2012
The rising expense of children's photos breaking Montco Mommy.
Don’t get me wrong. I love capturing the rare moments of my children’s childhood on film. Er, should I say, on digital cards and websites. Regardless of the format, I realize that these young years are fleeting, and pretty soon my husband and I will be sitting her with an empty nest wondering where all the good times have gone. And, while you’ve already heard my rants over the challenges of having professional portraits of your children taken, I have one more unique bit of photography frustration to vent about here. The quantity of photos a parent is bombarded with in the span of one school year is pretty shocking to me. I grew up with school pictures. Who didn’t? And, as much as we’d like to forget most of them, they chronicled our …
Suzanne O'Rear
12:21 pm on Thursday, May 17, 2012
Excellent article! more ›