Tips and Thoughts on Life and Living

Live local, buy local - That's a thought I had late in the evening while watching the news before calling it a day. The news had story after story about the economic challenges we face as a nation and as a world. Spending is down, debt is up, companies are downsizing, and the forecasts are for mo...

Touching old friends is something that is easy to do, but not so easy to do on a regular basis. The other day I had an appointment at an office in Detroit. The office is an hour from my home and not somewhere I visit on a regular basis. As I walked into the office, I heard someone's name from the...

Helping others this holiday is important, especially with the economic forcast. In my last entry, I wrote about the need to support the local economy by shopping in your home town. After I posted that entry, I realized that I neglected to mention the local food banks and non-profit organizations ...

Supporting your local economy is both good business and good for the soul. I live in a smaller Midwestern city. Our modest town is a good 15-20 minutes from the nearest box store and 20-30 from the nearest mall. Back when gas was over $4.00 a gallon, there was a good reason to shop local. The fac...

Cheap storm windows - is that an oxymoron? Those of us in the Northern regions struggle with new ways to stay warm in the winter. I've been adding storm windows to my double hung windows to add one more layer between me and the bitter winter winds now blowing across the region. As I was speaking ...

Winter driving tips - we all hear them and sometimes we even follow them! Here are a few I find useful, living in Michigan as I do. *Carry the basics - When driving on the back roads of Michigan, I find it helpful to have a shovel, a wool blanket, and a bucket of SSA (Sand, Salt, and Ash) in the ...

A great American Day - that's what we have today. I'm reading about my fellow citizens across this land standing in line for minutes and hours, waiting to cast their votes. There are no riots, no police, no violence, and only a few disruptions. Instead, we have comradarie, people working together...

Paying forward is a movie idea, but one that is good for the soul. There are benefits to acting on this idea and I'd like to share one with you today. For those of you who are not familiar with the movie, the plot has to do with a teacher challenging his students to come up with an idea that will...

Helping those in need is one of the most important things we do as members of the real estate profession. Be they sellers who need to sell a home, buyers who need to purchase a home, or members of the community who are hitting hard times, we need to do what we can. We make our living off our comm...

I am a Scoutmaster for a local troop and it was with a heavy heart that I learned of the news from Iowa. I am sure many of you felt the same way. I would like to take a moment and reflect on this tragedy and identify a few lessons we can learn from it.  As the story of the tragedy unfold, we lear...