Last week my brother gave me a DVD of converted 16mm film home movies shot in the 40′s, 50′s and 60′s.  There were a lot of people I didn’t recognize and some scenery that I did.  I saw my uncle Jim and his wife, their baby daughter, other cousins, and grandparents I’d never met.  I gasped when I saw my aunt Bess in her wedding gown (the 50′s KNEW how to deck out a bride!).  I watched my teenage dad trying to balance on the top of a capsized canoe.  I saw my mom with her bouffant hairdo emerge from the house where I grew up, shepherding my brothers out the front door.  It was a wonderful trip back in time.

Finally, in the middle of the show, it occurred to me that there was another character involved that I didn’t recognize but had heard about before.  It was the house on Crenshaw that my dad had moved to when he was a child.  The house was a major player…Christmas mornings, rose garden tours, backyard barbecues, all with the same backdrop…the home.

At the end, the house where I grew up made a cameo appearance.  I pointed things out to my husband, who had never seen it  “That was my bedroom! – “That door led into the foyer and the dining room was to the right!” – “Oh, look at the backyard before all the tress grew and the family room addition was put on!”  I felt like I was introducing him to an old friend.

That’s what a home is – a major player in our lives.  It cocoons us when we dream, supports us as we pace and plan, and keeps the external elements at bay while we’re trying to deal with the internal drama we all face daily.

I’ve had a few houses not appraise because the appraisals are not keeping up with the pace of the market (which is another post for another time).  I’ve had clients go looking for For Sale By Owners because nothing was available on the MLS.  I’ve had a client make four different offers, three of which were very good, and he lost out on all of them.  But all of that is anecdotal evidence of a fast-paced market.

Finally, today, in black and white, CNN Money confirmed all of our suspicions  – our market is only moving up.

This is my favorite sentence -

The biggest winner will be the Kennewick, Wash., metro area, where home prices have ramped up 8.9% over the past three years and are expected to increase another 3.4% by June 2010.

Looks like breakfast will need to become the everyone-eating-together meal at our house for the foreseeable future.

I hadn’t encountered the man, but some of my real estate colleagues had, and were relieved to have him behind bars in time for the Open House Extravaganza on Sunday.

Apparently, the guy would walk in the Open House, explain that he was looking for a house for his relatives moving from elsewhere and then tour the home. While in the bathrooms, he’d close the door and search for drugs the homeowners had in their medicine cabinets or vanity drawers.

He never went into vacant or new construction homes, only those that were owner-occupied.

Set aside the fact that almost everyone I know stores their prescription medicine in the kitchen, because they don’t install medicine cabinets in homes anymore and because it’s easier to wash it down with some water or ‘take with food’ if you’re already in the kitchen. The point is that not everyone who tours your house wants to buy your house. Sometimes they come in for decorating ideas. Sometimes it’s to reassure themselves that they bought the right floor plan. Sometimes they want to see what you did with that awkward space by the entry which isn’t big enough for a cabinet, but too large for just an umbrella stand. And sometimes, they want to steal your jewelry or your money or your oxycontin.

Bottom line – when you put your house on the market, be sure to secure your valuable items, including prescription drugs.

So, this past week, what went down?

Well, the HUGE news was the mall closing down for three hours while they looked for the third suspect in a JCPenney break-in.  As a former employee at the Columbia Center Mall, let me tell you – they NEVER close that place down.  Mostly because they want to avoid stores suffering sales losses like this stories relates.  But, I, the eternal optimist and former store manager know that the two hours between 10 and noon are NOT teeming with people, especially on a Tuesday in February, and so I’m sure the stores’ bottom lines were not drastically affected.

Money for Hanford!  Money for Hanford! Hanford is getting $2 BILLION from the stimulus package. This can create up to 11,000 local jobs. Yes!

And not to be snarky, but perhaps the reporter who penned the story for the web site might need one of those new jobs, either due to his or her unfamiliarity with the subtle nuances of English language, or just a typo -

“I was calling my friends yesterday telling them to get there resumes ready because a lot of my personal friends have lost their jobs,” said Rebecca Holland, from Washington River Protection.

It should be THEIR resumes, shouldn’t it be?

People in Olympia talked up our future and tried to lower taxes in the present.

And that’s what I’ve got, people.  Have a great week!

My favorite memory of Santa-tracking took place about five or six years ago; my son (somewhat unnerved by the thought of a corpulent, red-suited man breaking into our house in the middle of a cold December night, even if he did nothing more harmful than eat the cookies left out for him), heard that Santa was about to land in Nova Scotia around 5pm.  He promptly high-tailed it to his room, yelling as he went, “Santa’s in North American airspace!!!!  I gotta get to bed!!!!”

Have a joyous holiday.  God bless us, everyone.

This is my first Thanksgiving without my dad.  I hadn’t spent Thanksgiving with him since 1990, so it’s not like the day will be flooded with memories of recent celebrations.  But that 1990 Thanksgiving was one of the most fun holidays I’ve ever experienced.  My brothers were there, too – Jon with his new wife and Jim with a girlfriend.  My dad and his wife, Robin, were still technically newlyweds just 18 months into their marriage.  I was engaged to the estimable Matt McGee and was looking forward to the following Thanksgiving, when I’d be his wife.  I had lost about fifteen pounds and was feeling pretty good about myself.  After living in jeans and sweatshirts for the eight years of high school and college I was finally venturing into professional clothing and I discovered I liked dressing well.  So, it was one of those rare moments when everything in your life is progressing smoothly and your family is happy, too.

But the biggest take-away from that Thanksgiving day was the memory of the laughter.  To this day, no one makes me laugh as my dad could and brothers can.  That day, I laughed so hard I could hardly eat the feast.  My sister-in-law and my stepmom looked on with bemusement at this person in the family (me), who found quite ordinary humor, extraordinary.

I spoke with my brother Jon yesterday; he has hit a rough patch in his life.  My stepmom is still mourning the passing of my dad.  Jim’s ok, I’m ok, Matt and the kids are fine.  But for all of us, today will be at least a bit difficult.  I know that for me, the echoes of the laughter from November 22, 1990 will be with me now as I create new Thanksgiving memories for my kids.

A friend e-mailed me and included a quote from something she read today in The Arizona Republic . In a list of things to be thankful for, the author listed this as number five -

5. Nostalgia

We share a reverence for memories, too. Just about everybody will miss someone today. It’s a bittersweet reminder of how much a life can matter, how important it can be to simply do the day-to-day tasks of living, loving and letting the dog out.

The irony of it all is that we got a dog this year.  My dad HATED dogs. After I said we could get one, I realized I had always said no before because of my dad.  When he visited I wanted him to feel comfortable in my house, and he wouldn’t have if I’d had a canine.

So this year, as our dog Sparky prowls around the dinner table, hoping for scraps, I’ll be thankful for him, too, and what he represents. In letting go of making things right for my dad, I let in an opportunity for more fun and more laughter and more memories.  Thanks, Spark.

But, in honor of 17 years of marriage, I’m including this montage of the couples from When Harry Met Sally.  My all time favorite line is “….I knew, I knew the way you know about a good melon…”

Here’s to seventeen years again, and again, and again. I love you, Matt McGee!

Rain City Guide had a post about the changes.  It’s like those moments in life when you KNOW something bad is about to happen, like the car in front of you runs the red light, or your accident-prone brother carries his glass of soda into the kitchen where your mother just waxed the floors and your brother is wearing socks, or when (insert moment of impending doom from your own experience here)…you just KNOW it ain’t gonna be pretty.

And if my monthly stat posts get you all excited, you’re going to love this NYTimes chart.  It’s all about the changes in the financial markets from almost a year ago to just a couple weeks ago.  If you love numbers, you’ll love it.

Amidst the economic implosion,  I was giving my husband a hard time last week about leaving his steady-paycheck job and heading out on the potentially bumpy consulting road- but then the wonderful Seth Godin penned this, helped me see another perspective, and now I’m not razzing dh anymore!

Locally, we thought we had a contract in the bag, but someone protested, and it’ll take at least 100 days to figure it out.  And Saturday we heard about 180 layoffs at Fluor.  On the bright side, these kinds of layoffs happen all the time out in the THE AREA, and it will work out like it always does.

And because someone always has it worse than you do – just thank Heaven you weren’t this guy this week.  I understand communing with nature and all, but that is just too scary.

Have a great week!

And this company in Kennewick got a lot of attention this week in their efforts to make going green cost less.

You might already know that the Tri-Cities is the least expensive place to live in Washington, but did you know that we also have the lowest cost of living in the entire Pacific Northwest?

Heading out to the Benton Franklin Fair and Rodeo on Thursday? Bring a can of creamed corn, or something similar, and get in to the fair for less.

I traveled a lot earlier this year, and now I’m staying put, thankfully. BUT, for those of you still jetting around the country/globe, these ways to NOT get sick despite your extended time on airplanes, might come in handy. Yes, OF COURSE It’s from The Comsumerist!

And that’s it! G’night!

And I kept choosing the wrong curtain here.  Many Let’s Make a Deal watchers are cruising out of the desirable ad demographic, into a sort of no-man’s-land audience (we’re shelling out the money to our children so they can buy and stimulate the economy instead of us buying fun things for ourselves).  But even if you never watched the show, it’s good to know the psychological whys and wherefores.

When I worked at a major retailer, one of the questions we asked during the interview was the following: “Is it okay if someone you work with steals $5.00 from the  register?”  The ‘correct’ answer is no, because if someone thinks it’s okay to steal $5.00, what’s to stop them from thinking it’s okay to steal $500.00?  Theft is wrong, regardless of the amount.  These guys in California would not have gotten the job.

And because I am nothing if not helpful, even if it’s just about chocolate, I offer this guide for ensuring optimum confectionery freshness.

Have a great week!