Friday fun

It is Friday and Fridays are for fun. I have been bombarded with emails for the last two weeks offering Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and Cyber Week discounts. I took advantage of one of the Cyber Monday deals and renewed a subscription for 60% off the regular price. Yesterday I got a half-price Cyber Week deal on some continuing education classes.

I just wish I could offer black or cyber discounts. I don’t get to decide how much my clients charge for their houses. I can make recommendations but in the end, it is up to them and so far no one is interested in offering seasonal discounts.

It is true. I have no control over the pricing or the quality of the products (houses) I sell. I don’t build them and I don’t control the inventory.

Happy Holidays!

It is Friday, and Fridays are for fun. Next week, we celebrate Thanksgiving, my favorite holiday. There is always something to be thankful for.

If you are hosting Thanksgiving this year and if you are planning on turkey, make sure you start thawing it on Sunday, or if it is a small turkey on Monday.

Did you know that you can cook a turkey without thawing it out? Just put it in the oven at 350 degrees. Put a foil tent over the breast. It will take much longer to cook a frozen turkey which is why it is a good idea to thaw it first.

I used to buy fresh turkeys every year until the year I messed up and ended up with a frozen turkey. I can’t believe I am saying this but the frozen birds are better tasting and moist if properly cooked and allowed to sit for a half hour or so before carving.  The Butterball website has tons of information about cooking turkey. Cooking a turkey is pretty easy.

Also, there is still time to sharpen the carving knives. Consult YouTube for sharpening tips. YouTube is a much better source of information than a Realtors blog.

 

It is Friday, and Fridays are for fun. I have started photographing grocery store receipts for fun. I’ll do the same next November so that we can see how our new president slashes prices. I started my collection with a picture of the gas station sign.

I’ll publish my results on this site a year from now. I am not looking forward to a new era of fascism, but I am looking forward to lower prices.

You can do this at home, too. Next time you go grocery shopping, use your phone to photograph the receipt.

It’s Friday, and Fridays are for fun. I am my own webmaster, which is a big mistake. Over the years, I have hired people/companies to help, which has, in most cases, been a bigger mistake.

For the most part, I have been happy with my hosting company. They have wonderful technical support but at least once a year my site is down for a few days or for a week. The most recent outage lasted a couple of days. The site was moved to a new server. Not my idea and as always I was told I wouldn’t have to do anything on my end.

I had to do a few things like change the name servers and find the control panel. I also ended up doing several upgrades which I should have done sooner. I’ll be doing some more tweaks over the weekend.

I look forward to writing about real estate and about St. Paul again soon.

It is Friday and Fridays are for fun. This weekend is the longest weekend of the year. We gain an extra hour by setting our clocks back one hour on Sunday.

I always have big plans for that extra hour. This year I plan on getting the snow blower ready for winter and I’ll put the Halloween decorations away. I could put the lights out on the porch for the holidays.

I’ll compost the plants I have outside in various planters and store the planters for winter. The car windshield needs cleaning on the inside and I should put the garden tools away.

I have a new recipe I want to try and I really should finish the sewing project I started a few weeks ago. The kitchen floor could use a good mopping and I have been meaning to sand and paint the window sills in the kitchen. I bought the paint and sandpaper last June.

Enjoy the weekend and use your hour wisely.

Tree leaves are not toxic waste. They do not have to be removed. In fact, dead leaves give cover for hibernators. I like to pile up some leaves next to my compost and mix them in with food waste.

Leaves can be chopped up with the lawn mower