A peek at a recent vacant staging.....

Well, back in July, my business partner and I worked on a home with a real estate agent we do a lot of work for. We have worked out a staging deal with him for vacant homes he has where we use his furniture, but our accessories. It's a win win for everyone.....he pays us our time and rents our accessories for only 30 days, he moves in his heavy furniture he owns--so his staging costs are a lot less......and every time we do this with him, he calls us to come get our stuff well before the 30 days is up. This particular property was under contract in 5 days, with 35 showings and 5 offers--over asking. Usually in these properties, there is quite a bit of work to be done prior to staging, so really these pictures don't capture what all went into it. But, we come in and help determine what definitely needs to be done based on budget....flooring, paint colors, cabinetry, hardware, light fixtures, etc. The final staging part can be a little "trying" since some of the furniture may be dated (i.e. basement furniture), a little ruff around the edges (i.e. kitchen table, not to mention it had no chairs!)...however, he did purchase a newer couch and chair for this property we were much pleased with. You can't understand the seriousness of that until you see the pictures of the living room furniture he had us use in the first property! We learned from that first property, that we can even make "crap" look good...well, that will have to be another posting!! But, even that property was under contract in less than 2 weeks...but it just goes to show, not everyone has "showy" furniture, it's all in how you arrange it and present it (or in this case, how many throws and pillows you can use to hide the flaws in the couch!!!! :o) ) Not all properties can be brand new rehabs or new model homes or the budget isn't there for a full out staging with all the brand new furniture. But, this property is another perfect example that Staging helps to sell properties of all values.......it's all in the merchandising! (and don't forget price too.....can't forget that.)

By the way, I'm still searching for my before pictures of the outside of the house and the living room.....those are just as dramatic, but you can't tell that now...so just enjoy the shots!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Girl Scout Camp memories

Well, what can I say, it's September 9 and I'm updating you on girl scout camp from June......it's been a busy summer, but yet I couldn't even begin to tell you what made it go by so fast either!!!

Jacque has been in girl scouts for 3 years now, with the same group of about 7 girls. This was their second year to go to camp, and my second year to go with them as a chaperon. Being the troop's cookie mom comes with it's privileges--I'm a registered Girl Scout myself, so I get to attend these events!

We went to camp over by Forest Lake, MN--only about 45 minutes from home. Our cabins this year were without all forms of electricity---and the toilet outside by us had a glow necklace hanging around it at night so you could find it. You can only imagine how much the girls looked forward to that!!! At the other end of the camp, however, there were some really nice shower houses with really nice, fully functioning toilets complete with all the lights you wanted.....we just had to hike to it :o) So, in the middle of the night, we were hiking....even though the glow in the dark toilet was only about 100 ft. from our cabins :o)

We had 2 cabins...attached with a deck and picnic table between them. So we were up on a platform basically. My one picture below may not show that very well. We were at camp for 3 days and 2 nights and the girls had a blast......especially after I showed up from a "sneak" trip to the local walmart in town for a battery operated lantern :o)

The girls got to pick out activities as a troop they wanted to do....canoeing, pottery, archery, swimming, and the last one I just can't think of, it is September, not June......the mind has a way of just forgetting things!

I stayed in the cabin with Jacque and 2 other girls, the 2 troop leaders and the other 4 girls stayed in the other cabin. We had a blast and are looking forward to next summer already!! We have our eyes on the Yurts (circular tent) for next year, one huge round tent on a platform with 6 bunk beds all around the edge--sleeps 12 girls/moms. Hey, now we won't have to take turns with my battery operated lantern at night! One for all, all for one!!!!




Jacque and her bunk mates, Maddie and MacKenzie

The troop!

The troop leaders and cookie mom :o)

Only in Minnesota do you go swimming with your stocking cap on, and it really doesn't bother you or anyone else!!

Before Jacque and her bunk mates board their canoe........

Off they go........................

Hard to tell, but they kept getting stuck in the weeds, and this is about the 4th time they were getting pulled out...................

Jacque and Mom in Pottery class

Our cabins, home sweet home......

The girls just hanging out inside one of the cabins

Jacque in Pottery Class.....she loves anything crafty

We had no idea how good Jacque would be at Archery, she loved it!!!!! Now she practices at home....at a target, not her brothers :o)

The troop and their leaders on the last night....heading out for S'mores in their PJ's!

The Cutest Cake Ever!!!

This summer, our neighbors had a niece visiting that lives in Canada, and the girls in the neighborhood really took a liking to her and played quite a bit with her while she was here for a few weeks. The day before she went back home, Jacque and another friend wanted to have a going away party for her.....and look what we found at our local Walmart bakery!!! Yum!!!! It was a hamburger made out of cake and frosting.....and it was as good as it looked! As soon as the boys came in, the cake was gone before the sun set!!!!

YUMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Here Fishy Fishy

Den took a friend out on the Rum River the other night in his little river boat....they had some pretty good luck! These two walleye were quite a catch, unfortunately, since all our fileting knives are up at...you guessed it, THE CABIN!.....we really couldn't do much with them. Being the good man Den is, ahhhh-say it with me, Den let Todd take the fish home with him to enjoy. Hmmmm, I wonder what Den will get for Fathers Day this year???

Look Mom, No Training Wheels!!

So, little Ben, our creature of habit, who likes no change......well, he finally started riding his bike this spring, with training wheels of course. Dad always like to challenge him a little quicker than I do.....Wil would probably still be on training wheels if it were up to me LOL....anyway, after having a few weeks of enjoying the safety of riding his bike along with the training wheels, Den decided to "bend" the training wheels up, vertically I would say, but about 2" he would say. I was furious, kept my mouth shut and went inside. Last I saw, Den was hanging on to the bike, trying to talk Ben into going down the drive, and Ben was adamantly saying no. About 10 minutes later, Dad and Ben come in, Dad says there was no luck. I smirk, to myself. Then Ben comes up and asks me to come out, he wants to show me something. Sure, no problem. This time of year, Ben always has something to show you, be it a new rock, a worm, a bug, a turtle, something he built, who knows!! So, I go out, needless to say, I come back in to get my camera.....and this is what I saw.......

30 minutes later, the training wheels were removed, permanently. Ben's favorite thing to do is hot rod thru the yard and stand up on the pedals as he speeds down the hill, past our house, giving his mother a heart attack.--but with a helmet on.

I must say, I was very humbled, no more smirking to myself, and had to admit, Den was right. This time :o)

A Day at the Aquarium at Mall of America

One of the perks of the Mall of America is the Underwaters Adventure Aquarium. It is really neat to go thru, and you are in tunnels that go right thru the aquarium. So all the animals are swimming all around you, except below. This is all in the basement of the Mall. So, one day when the kids had no school, I signed them up to help feed the sharks! We went in for a tour, "Behind the Scenes" where they show you their lab, above all the tanks (which is where they feed the animals) and the kitchen, where they store and prepare all the food. This was really interesting, and they only take 4 people for the feedings. I snagged that opportunity up quick! No camera's were allowed down there, as it was the basement of the mall for security purposes, so the only pictures I can show below is from when we were finished and went thru the tunnels.

We were feeding the sharks mackerel and squid. They gave us long tongs, and we tapped the water to get the sharks attention to come eat, and when they would, we would hold the tongs down, and they would come up and snatch the food away--just 3 feet separating us from them. All 3 tried it, however, I did hang on to the tongs with Jacque and Ben just to make sure they didn't get tugged in!! As we were feeding them, this VERY large sting ray clinged to the wall below us, and kept lifting itself up and out ( so you could see him mouth underneath him) and would slide up to the open air a good 10 inches, trying to get the squid from us. So weird. They said that is how they feed the sting rays, and this one was still hungry!

So below are some pics of the kids as we finished up going thru the aquarium......

Typical teenage grin :o) Don't ya just love em' !

A sea turtle swimming by.....

It's a little freaky seeing a shark swim over you....

Some very large sting rays and sharks.....

OUCH!!!!!

Well, a few weeks ago, we were over at a friends house for dinner, and the kids took their scooters to play on. This is a fairly new neighborhood, so all the sidewalks are new, however, where the road meets the sidewalk, that has not been leveled out smooth. Point is, there is still about a 3/4-1" rise from the pavement to the sidewalk edge. Obviously, from this picture, Ben was unaware of that :o) He took a pretty good fall, head over the handle bars and ended with this skid mark. He wasn't very happy, unlike this picture, which was 1 week later. Wil did come to his rescue and brought him to us, and after that, Daddy worked a little magic on him and made him feel better. All is well now.........