As often is the case when I am at a loss for the topic for a blog, I go to my Photo Bucket Account to look at the pictures I have saved. Invariably I see one that inspires a thought…Luckily this picture is a thought… All the more easy to get started on what is probably going to be my last post for 2011......

I really think this verbiage is the essence of acceptance or as friends of Bill will tell you that is close to what page 449 in the Big Book is all about.  I think when you REALLY GET IT right down in the marrow of your bones you come to understand acceptance is all about learning to be grateful for your blessing and your own sack of woes. I learned many years ago that a gratitude list was the best way to get me out of a “slough of despond!” It is being able to realize without walking in the other guys shoes that he carries his own sack and when you get to know him, his is far worse than your own.. Over the last few years I have had dear, dear friends that were subjected to terrible diseases…some have lived but many have died. I am at the age where it is beginning to occur all too frequently. Once I wrote a bit about all my newly acquired friends must be very young, very healthy and not prone to accidents. But that just is not possible in the times we are living. Any moment someone can be killed in a car accident…..get cancer. It happens these days all too often…

“So what?” you may snipe back at my musings. But each of us eventually comes to the point where we find out (especially us boomers) that the Doris Day movies were not going to be our reality. I mean Hello how often on the big screen did she fall for ROCK HUDSON? Perfection and more to the point perfect happiness is not something that does not come with out a ton of emotional sweat equity. For me getting a personal relationship to God has made the process less painful When you have that you begin to see that life is what you make it. And these awful events that at the time seem so ridiculously uncalled for just might make us wake up and get on with our own happiness. Acceptance is all about being comfortable in your own skin.

Far be it for me to tell you to get religion but it is one of the only things I know of that can soothe our troubled souls….I do ask that at least you try it ….Who knows you might like it!.

For questions about real estate I suggest you go to http://www.theguthrieteam.com/ and for complete IDX and more Realty info

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Christmas Ornaments and Home Inventories? I don't get the connection!

“Tis the season to be Merry“….

Yes, my Christmas Tree went up as close after Thanksgiving as possible. Each year when I take out all my little ornaments it feels like I am saying hello to old friends. Some of these beauties I bought over the years by up and coming artisans (Christopher Radko, Patience Brewster for example) are now quite collectible. But if these were lost there is no way I could possibly remember the individual pieces or the artist that created them! Replacing them heaven forbid ...

This made me start thinking about home inventories. As a Realtor I know the importance of keeping records in case of disasters....I continually tell my clients about this very fact.
In the coastal south our big fear, as you must know,are the dreaded HURRICANES …..A close friend who lives on the water has a bag always packed of irreplaceable photographs, so as soon as she needs to evacuate she has her prized memories ready to go in a moments notice. But it is not just storms that can wipe our personal possessions out …it can be a fire…burglary….in Louisiana floods.

Replacing Frames of this size are expensive!

Most insurance policies today do replacement value on most of your home goods. It is always good to check and see just what the terms and requirements are on your home owner’s policy so you know you are in compliance and just what they will require from you. But say you have a loss and you cannot  remember all that precious "stuff." If you are caught without an inventory of your home a good way to show loss is with photographs. And they do not necessarily need to be specific ones you have taken for this purpose but ones of the kids that might show Aunt Susie’s prized cake plate in the back ground at a birthday party. Another solution is asking friends for photos and videos they may have been taken in your home. In the case of theft you can use the owner’s manual of that flat screen TV the hooligans took for your documentation!  Purchase receipts of electronic equipment are great. Alas, is there nothing we can throw away?

But the smart thing is to be to be pro- active! Make an inventory of all those precious things you have accumulated. Ideally, you should do a written one and also have photos for items that really have extra value. An excellent technique, if you do not want to photograph each piece,is to at least walk through your home with a video slowly scanning each room so though you do not have written evidence you have enough in the video to jog your memory of just what all you did loose. 

If you are young and just starting out in a new home do this right now and it will become such a rewarding habit as the years go by. Use the link to my inventory(.pdf) and start your list today. Things of real value like art work and jewelry deserve an actual picture or an appraisal. A home Inventory is an excellent item to put with all of your important papers like deeds, warranties and manuals in a home safe or a safety deposit box.

Argh ! Now after creating this wonderful form my husband is insisting I get started on ours …what is the saying? No good deed goes unpunished!


For Great Information on any real estate needs go to http://www.greatercrestviewhomes.com/ orhttp://www.theguthrieteam.com/