The Sewing Mom

My daughter [tag]Elfed[/tag] herself and our dog Plinko. It is really so funny. I had posted this on my other site, but it’s worth repeating (at least it is to me). I’ll be sad when all of these holiday festivities, they are so much fun. I think there have been more creative outlets online this year too. Anyway, enjoy.

It’s that time again, time for my favorite meme, Four Foods on Friday.

#1. Hot chocolate. With marshmallows or without? No marshmallows, I prefer to put Bailey’s Irish Cream in mine.

#2. What is your favorite ice cream? My current favorite is Dryer’s Slow Churned Carmel Delight. Of course I do have to add Hershey’s chocolate syrup to that.

#3. What is your favorite candy bar? This is really hard because I like several. I don’t eat anything with nuts, so you can count all those out, buy I like Cadbury Caramellos very much.

#4. Name something you make with creamed corn in it, and how you make it Oh dear. There is only one thing I can think of that I’ve ever made with creamed corn in it and that would be a corn souffle. It’s been quite a long time since I’ve made it, but it has a can of creamed corn and a can of regular corn in it as well as a box of Jiffy corn muffin mix. I know there are some other ingredients but I can’t think of what they are. I might make it this year for Christmas dinner though, so I’ll hunt down the recipe and post it later.

This is a fun weekly meme and if you’d like to participate just head on over to my friend Valmg and copy the questions. Leave her a comment so she knows you’re participating!

I miss the snow at Christmas! It’s supposed to be 72 degrees here today, that is just not right! I should not be in shorts and flip flops 4 days before Christmas unless I’m on an island somewhere!

Next year I think we should plan on taking a trip to some place that not only has snow, but I’m thinking some pampering at a luxury resort would be great, like France! Let’s add some perfectly groomed ski runs to this vision while we’re at it. As for lodging, how about if we stay at a [tag]Courchevel chalet[/tag] which is beautiful and sleeps 10 so we can invite extended family to go with us! Each room has it’s own bath and they even provide warm, snuggly bathrobes for all of its guests.

[tag]Supertravel[/tag] provides tea for breakfast and has it waiting for you in the afternoon when you return from skiing.  What a nice way to warm up, hot tea and sitting in front of a fireplace in your own chalet.  Or, maybe you prefer hot cocoa, or how about my favorite, hot cocoa with some Bailey’s Irish cream to warm you up! 

Yes, this sounds like the perfect way to spend the holiday to me.

I am not the only crafter in my house, I thought I would share something my daughter has been making recently.  She has made several of these potholders and sent them to friends back in Illinois as gifts.  She even made one the other day for her Grandma who is coming to stay with us for the holidays. 

The other reason I wanted to show these potholders is because, while I haven’t talked much about Plinko lately, it is the loops that these potholders are made with that Plinko likes to eat.  Remember, what goes in, must come out!  (the rest is up to your imagination)

We relocated to Texas back in April of this year from the Chicago area. This was our fourth interstate move and our fifth home purchase. We’ve sold our first four homes, 3 using a [tag]realtor[/tag], one by owner. We are somewhat experienced at buying and selling [tag]real estate[/tag].

We purchased our first home on our own, no realtor involved. It was a new build in Southern California and we were so proud of that house. We did everything ourselves, including laying the sod and planting all the bushes. We were so much younger then and had so much more energy! Unfortunately, we were in that home only a few years before my husband took a job in Houston and we had to move.

We used a realtor to sell that home and we also used one on the other end, to buy our new home in Houston. We opted again to buy new construction, but this time, the builder threw in a lot of incentives, such as landscaping, so we didn’t have to do as much after moving in. I think we became spoiled after that one! We were in that house for 6 years before having to sell and move to Connecticut. We started out listing with a realtor, but then opted to sell by owner because it was a very tough market and we still had brand new homes for sale right across the street from us. In the end, that worked to our benefit as it was a man looking at those new homes who saw our “for sale” sign and decided to take a look. He bought it and we saved a ton of money on commissions.

All of our moves following that one, we have used realtors both to buy and to sell. It helps when the company my husband works for is reimbursing for the realtor commissions because they can be quite high. I know that [tag]realtors[/tag] work hard to market a home when they are the listing agent, but there are times that I don’t think the commission they are receiving is reflective of the work they did. That would be true of our home in Illinois.

I worked very hard for about 3 months getting our last home ready to put on the market. I cleaned out closet, storage, the basement, the cupboards. I had a professional cleaning crew come in to do detail cleaning and clean the carpets. I even had a painter come in to paint the two story entry way and had all the hardwood floors cleaned and re-polished. Our realtor was very happy with the results and the day, less than 18 hours actually, after she put our listing in the MLS, we sold it. She had no time to do any marketing other than typing the information into the MLS and yet, she received her full commission. If I hadn’t been being reimbursed by my husband’s employer, I would’ve been more upset about that.

I’m hoping we don’t have to move for a very long time, but if we do, or if we decided to sell this house for any other reason, I’ll be checking into [tag]ePERKS.com[/tag] to find a realtor to list with. Through their site I can find an agent who may be willing to accept a lower commission and/or provide other incentives. We could also receive up to $20,000 cash back after closing! I’d be crazy NOT to go through www.eperks.com to find a realtor.

For now, I’m just going to sit back and try to enjoy the home we’re in. That is, after I finish painting it, repairing it, cleaning it…