Im back....trying to blog and catch up.

Meander Cove in Germantown, a beautiful 1 br with soaring ceilings, balcony, and steps to the lake in a Lake Community ...still for sale, regular sale, price reduced.

Kentlands...sold.

Holmard St...Kentlands..sold.

LakeView from Waterside Drive listing.

Waterside Drive, Germantown. sold..but now improved and up for sale again..due to new owners job transfer.

Sold, close to Lakeforest Mall, Gaithersburg.

Sold, close to Shady Grove Metro.

8. The Spring Market arrived and kept us busy after all the down time of the winter. Busy busy working with buyers and sellers.

Top Ten Reasons/Excuses for My Delinquent Blogging

1. Snow Storms
December 19-20th winter storm cuts out power for a few days, internet and cable even longer. Lots to do to keep us busy though.

2. Getting Ready for the Holidays....adult "kids" returning from all over the place..need to plan menus and food for the holidays.

Multiple airport pickups of family and their significant others....at all hours of the day and nights.

Good times catching up, 12/23...lots to talk about.

Sadly, Paul started getting stomach aches after dinner..said maybe too many hot peppers. Others ate the peppers, but only he got sick. He got worse during the night..couldn't sleep, in very bad pain. Which led actually to calling the ambulance in the morning for him. He had a very bad night.

Here are our three "kids" at the hospital right before his operation..trying to be upbeat and supportive and consoling. He mad sure though that the hospital knew that he is an organ donor...he kept telling all the nurses and the doctors.

3. Acute Appendicitis
Paul has an emergency appendectomy at Shady Grove Hospital on Christmas Eve around 8 pm. Surgery goes well, appendix actually burst but he is in good physical shape and they caught it early and we had a very good surgeon. Paula returns from the hospital Christmas Eve around midnight on icy roads with fog.

Hospital releases Paul on Christmas Night around 8 PM. Hurry up dinner ensues very late, and family happily is reunited. Good health and being together again is our Christmas blessing this year.

4. Goodbyes too soon and Airport Trips
The days pass quickly and it's time to start saying goodbye to everyone again as they head off in their different overseas directions..which involves again multiple airport trips at all hours of the night and day.

Always smiles and tears are involved.

5. Snowmaggedon Part 2 February 6, 2010.
If you think the last storm was bad, think again. Power out, street closed for days, internet and cable out longer, again.

Lots to do around the house though..like shoveling, later calling tree crews to take away our downed trees. We have gas stove though so with a lighter we can cook soup and such. And sleep in the family room on the sofa near the gas fireplace.

Chagall Drive.

Shoveling our sidewalk... a civic duty. : ) Not that anyone was able to go to school or anything,

6. Daughter home for major surgery.
Our daughter returns from Panama in early March for major surgery on her wrist and hip..which was originally scheduled during the February snowstorm..so all new arrangements had to be made, from planes to hospital to surgeons and more. Again, terrific surgeons and all went well at Shady Grove Hospital, but we are getting to not like becoming so familiar there. Recovery was difficult, but in the end, she has healed and the surgery was successful. On the plus side, she was home with us for a few weeks and we got to tend to her in her very difficult time.

On the plus side, Skype is a wonderful free method of communication and while she was away (here) she was still in contact with her business partner and boyfriend .

6. Cherry Blossoms in DC.
Need to go down to DC to take in the springtime and the cherry blossoms for a day off from work every once in a while...which are few and far between. This is actually in front of the reflecting pool in front of the Lincoln Memorial. Anyway, we took a day off and just walked all around..along with thousands of other tourists and locals on this beautiful Spring Day.

7. Remodeling Projects.
We totally renovated and updated this very nice colonial on Ambiance Drive and a condo in Germantown on Swiss Circle, with the help of a trusted crew of professionals who we regularly hire, work with, and recommend to others, for two rental properties. Both were time consuming for us, but they turned out spectacular, in our opinion, and both were rented within days of being advertised. Cudos to Mr. Kim and his hardworking and professional crew.

Ambiance rental project.

TO BE CONTINUED SOON

Snowmaggedon

For Montgomery County residents experiencing Power outages, please call your local power company: Pepco 1-877-737-2662 Baltimore Gas and Electric 1-877-778-2222 Allegheny Power 1-800-255-3443 Residents needing to report downed trees can call the Storm Operations Center 240-777-6000.

Public Knowledge

Being in real estate, we have certain obligations to our clients and customers. Local crime statistics is not one of our professional obligations; in fact, federal law prohibits us from giving opinions or information that is not our expertise. Our expertise resides in real estate, it's local laws and making sure we offer the best advice to our clients when buying or selling a home in this regard.
There are however public sites on the internet where you can do your own research. We personally take a neutral or noncompliant view of personal prejudices and preferences...and treat all our customers with the same respect and concerns as we would members of our family. We want you to be happy with your housing decisions. We can direct you to school district sites, mapping, local ammenities, and more. Below is an email we received some time ago. You may find it interesting.

www.FamilyWatchDog.us

"When you visit this site you can enter your address and a map will pop up with your house as a small icon of a house. There may be red, blue andgreen dots surrounding your entire neighborhood. When you click on these dots a picture of a criminal will appear with his or her home address and the description of the crime he or she has committed.

The best thing is that you can show your children these pictures and see how close these people live to your home or school. This site was developed by John Walsh from Americas Most Wanted. This is another tool we can use to help us keep our kids safe. Please pass this on to everyone!!!"

Clifton E. Files,
Domestic Violence SpecialistDepartment of Family AdministrationAdministrative Office of the Courts
580 Taylor Avenue Suite A2
Annapolis MD 21401-2310

Bad bad blogger Anniversary

Hi all, Best wishes for the new year!

I've been feeling guilty lately, for the past few weeks, that I havent blogged, and yet, things were happening around here that I wanted to talk about. And then I realized that it has been a year since I've started this blog.
So for right now, I just wanted to post and say that some of the missing stories will come, when life/happenings slow down a bit around here. But all is well with us all. Today I am taking down our Christmas tree, it's freezing cold outside..in the teens. Yesterday we had a lovely dry and sparkling 3 inch snowfall. We also made airport runs yesterday in the wee morning to BWI and Dulles in the evening taking 2 of our adult "kids" and their SOs to the airports to faraway places.
Our 3rd(middle) "kid" left for faraway again on 3 January.
While we miss everyone so much, it was soooo wonderful having their enthusiasms, ideas, humor, intellect and opinions around here for a while. How energizing! oxooxPaula