My Daughter's Nail Designs Can Become a Reality!

My daughter is 9. She loves fashion. She loves art. She creates dresses from paper and creates them ON paper. Lately she fell in love with Jamberry Nail Wraps just like I did and decided to create some of her own. Check them out! The great part about Jamberry is that you can create your own nail design and make it a reality! My daughter could wear any of these designs on her nails, usually within a week!

Check it out through my Jamberry site! I also have a half sheet that I traded for from my friend Suzanne of some cute, pink, cable-knit yarn she made into a nail design!

Runs/Walks in Kansas City: Mother's Day 5K May 11, 2014

Don't freak out on me here, but I am getting excited about exercising. I used to love to walk all the time as a stress reliever and to stay in shape. I want to share my excitement with you dear readers all over the world. Specifically, though, in Kansas City. I'll be posting upcoming walk/runs for 2014 as I find them. This does not mean I'll be participating in all of them, so don't show up expecting me to sign autographs or anything. I MIGHT or MIGHT NOT be there, depending on household funds at the time (it costs to enter a race), Mr. Kerrie's travel situation, my sanity level, etc. Enjoy the race info, and go out and find some in your town!

Check out the Mother's Day 5K Run/Walk for Women in Kansas City

Where? Corporate Woods

When? May 11, 2014 at 8 a.m.

Why? Because exercise is good for you and why not treat yourself to the Mother's Day gift of taking care of yourself?

Here's race day info and everything you need to know about this race

On a personal note, here's my walking story for National Walking Day a couple of years ago with an update.

When you're all done, you'll be hungry! Grab a copy of my Tater Tot Casserole Cookbook and whip up a batch of happiness for dinner!

Find the Right Realtor - Knowing Your Estate Agents from your Con Artists

The real estate market might not have been in the best of states recently, but a resurgence is almost certainly on the horizon so the time if rife to either move up the property ladder or mount the first rung. If you are looking to buy or sell a home you have two options; go it alone or hire an estate agent. Of course there is no right or wrong way, but the housing market is in a complicated, conflicted place at the moment so hiring an estate agent to 'do the dirty work' is probably the most logical option. You should also take into account the fact that estate agents will already have a network of potential buyers on their books and will have more insight into what properties are worth and what people are willing to spend.

Estate agents are not miracle workers though and even the best of them can struggle in a tough market. Therefore it's of paramount importance that you choose the right realtor for you. Ultimately it should be an estate agent who knows what they're talking about, has a successful track record and has your best interests at heart. Consider the following points.

Your schedule

It doesn't matter if you're buying or selling, it will take a lot of time and effort to close a deal on a property. Especially if it's your first time at this particular dance, you might believe it takes little more effort than placing an advert on a website and waiting for the offers to pour in, but this is not the case. There are numerous platforms from which to promote your property, but they will cost money.

A good estate agent should cover all of these costs in their commission rate though and will not only know all of the various avenues through which to push your property, but have at least 8 hours a day in which to push it. A good estate agent should have now more than a few clients at any one time, and should be available to answer phone calls and emails 24/7. They should also be able to cater to your schedule, if they expect you to cater to their schedule; they are not very good at their job.

Negotiation

Estate agents earn their keep through commission and their final fee will vary dramatically depending on your country of residence. Realtors can expect between 1% and 3% of the final fee in the UK, whereas in the U.S, 6% or 7% is more common. Either way, the final price will more than likely be higher if you hire an estate agent, so in most cases, the fee is negated to a certain extent.

Taking a U.S perspective, if you want $200,000 from your home sale, you will want the realtor to list it at around $215,000. The fees charged will vary wildly from agent to agent and some might even charge a flat fee for completing a transaction. There might also be dreaded 'hidden fees' to consider, so do your research and make sure you're not being swindled! Ultimately, just don't be afraid to negotiate with your realtor and make sure that you leave yourself a fair amount of wiggle room. And ALWAYS read the fine print!

Use their knowledge to your advantage

Ultimately, though they might try to dress it up, estate agents are salesmen. Their job is to represent you and sell your home, but they are licensed professionals too. They will have vast reserves of knowledge at their disposal on everything from real estate law, market trends and contract ethics, knowledge they should be putting into effective use when selling your property to prospective buyers. Don't be afraid to ask your potential estate agents questions and quiz them on their methods, as the more you understand about their job, the more you can do to help them do it. Because two heads are better than one and even though you might have a busy life to live, you should be working with your agent to sell your property.

Check their references

When you're embarking on something as serious as selling your home, you should do as much homework as possible. When vetting potential estate agents, don't be afraid to ask questions concerning their track record, or questions that might make you seem uninformed. You can also use online sites such as Agent Harvest to check up on your agent, making sure they are who they say they are and that there are no legal complaints against them. You should also ask them for references from clients they have working with in the past. If they refuse to give you any references, chances are there is a reason!

Don't be afraid to change agents

Finally, before you sign anything, make sure that you are not locked into the agent as even if things look fantastic from the get-go, a few months down the line when things are not going well, you might want to consider a different perspective.

Linda Short has been through numerous estate agents in her time as a property investor. Some of them she wouldn't trust as far as she could throw, but the good ones really are good!

Wordless Wednesday: Valentine's Night

A Trip to Lawrence, Kansas with 6 Kids

Thursday of Spring Break we met up with Tom and Lucy, fellow homeschoolers, since they moved to Lawrence (Lucy's mom is in Pharmacy School at KU!). We grabbed our Plus One, Julia, and headed out for the 30-minute journey to Lawrence.

Cool school park at Highland and Yale where we finished off our Long John Silver's and Burrito King

I'm  prepping my kids to go to KU if they choose to go to college. It's close!

Sam says the snakes and tigers are his brothers. (at the Natural History Museum)

How did Joel get that owl to perch on his shoulder?

Two hours later ... we are all beat.

Time for some DQ, a Lawrence trip tradition. We usually make this trip with my mom, Tutu, but we'll go again soon.

Then we hit the nature center park to finish our ice cream. It was a gorgeous, windy day filled with play.