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The housing crisis isn’t really a crisis for everyone — many people have managed to benefit from the low prices and low interest rates.  For instance, an article that just showed up the other night announced that banks were planning on cutting interest rates.  If you are on top of the financial news, you can take advantage of everybody else’s crisis by buying now while the rates are low.

Another way to take advantage of the housing crisis is to buy foreclosures and other homes that are priced to sell quickly in a depressed market.  My horse trainer and her husband recently bought a foreclosed house for a fantastic deal — and it’s the kind of house they can keep forever, because it’s big enough to give them room to grow.

If you are looking for foreclosures Texas is a good place to look.  Houston real estate is full of opportunities to make someone else’s crisis your great deal!  All you have to do is be smart about how you do your real estate search.  Many sellers are getting desperate, and there are deals to be had if you know how to play the game.

Technorati Tags: foreclosures Texas, housing crisis, Houston real estate, interest rates, real estate search

If you are considering staying and a New England B&B, you are not alone — tons of people do it every year.  Here are a few of the top reasons to stay at a Massachusetts bed and breakfast or Vermont bed and breakfast.

• You are interested in New England history.  There are plenty of sights to see in New England, many of them historical.  Visit a New England inn and take a step back into history as you tour the historical landmarks!
• As a romantic getaway.  What can be more romantic than a cozy room at a little bed and breakfast?
• You need to relax.  A bed and breakfast is the best place in which to relax.  The entire atmosphere is different than at a hotel or a big resort.  Life slows down at a B&B… yet it will be over way too soon!
• You love B&Bs.  There’s no better reason to stay at a bed and breakfast than simply because you love them!

I’m sure I could go on and on, but you get the picture.  Really, is there any reason why NOT to stay at a New England B&B?

Technorati Tags: Massachusetts bed and breakfast, New England B&B, New England history, romantic getaway, Vermont bed and breakfast

I was so grateful that we started looking into college options years prior to my daughters’ high school graduations! As we began our search for answers to questions we knew we had, those answers seemed to almost always lead to more questions!

Online Associate Degrees certainly seemed appealing. They were short term, convenient, highly regarded academically as well as professionally and, in most cases, more cost effective as compared to attending classes on campus. It wasn’t until we discovered the Bachelor Degree programs online that we began to understand the differences between the 2 degrees and the overall effect these differences would have on future career goals.

A Bachelor Degree typically requires 4 years or more of full time study. The idea of spending more than two years furthering their education was an idea that my daughters were not fond of. Although at this point they did understand the importance of obtaining more than a high school education, it was also our consolidated opinion that they could enter the work force and earn an a good salary with an Associate Degree.

The biggest difference we found between those who were currently working with an Associate Degree and those who were working with a Bachelors Degree was related to salary. U.S. Census Bureau statistics showed us that those with a Bachelor Degree were earning more on average than those with an Associate Degree, in addition to the benefits of the additional education and the knowledge that went along with it. However, because obtaining an online college degree at any point in their lives was an option, we initially considered a Bachelors Degree something that could obtained at any point later on in their lives if they so chose, unless they were already definitive about a career choice that required a Bachelor Degree.

Technorati Tags: bachelor degree programs online, online associate degrees, online college degree

When I first started doing landscaping around my yard, I was surprised at how much the simplest landscaping materials, such as topsoil, cost.  It turns out, though, that there is a perfectly good reason why topsoil costs so much.

In order to function as topsoil, the soil needs to be fine, rich earth, with no rocks and other random objects.  This requires that a soil be run through dirt screening plants or topsoil screeners, machines that screen out large particles to make the dirt useable as topsoil.  A portable screening machine isn’t cheap, so it costs something to put the soil through this process.

Topsoil also has to be embued with the decaying organic matter that is found naturally in topsoil.  This matter works as fertilizer and is a necessity for the health of the plants.  This is often added using compost, which is decomposed organic matter, usually manure or organic trash from households.

When you figure all these things in — the time and equipment it takes to screen the soil and the compost, the time and money it takes to make the compost, etc. — it’s easy to see that topsoil isn’t “just dirt,” and to understand why you have to pay for good topsoil!

Technorati Tags: compost, dirt screening plants, portable screening, topsoil, topsoil screeners

Yes!  I am so excited!  I may have lied a little bit to get into this, but I know I will be the best exterior decorator that anyone has ever seen.  The job is with this great interior decorating company that is seeking to expand their image, and they’re looking for an innovative exterior decorator for backyard and landscape design.  They were looking for a portfolio, and I sort of took credit for my mother’s garden and my cousin’s in addition to my own garden, which is really my work.  I also got somewhat bogus recommendations.  Anyway, tomorrow is my first job, and this woman wants an entire out door kitchen.  I’ve spent the past two days pricing and checking out outdoor fireplaces, outdoor sinks, tiki torches and flooring options, in addition to weather proofed patio furniture.  I am going to be so amazing at this.  I’ve put together a presentation that would totally earn me a spot on one of those HGTv shows, and I am ready as I’ve ever been.  I can’t wait!  This is obviously the start of a new and fabulous career.  I think I may have finally found what I will really be good at.

Technorati Tags: HGTv, out door kitchen, outdoor fireplaces, outdoor sinks