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Post by beaglemom on Nov 29, 2018 15:03:32 GMT
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Post by beaglemom on Nov 29, 2018 15:02:37 GMT
For Christmas I signed dh and the kids up for sock of the month boxes. They are all in need of new socks and they are fun ones. I also signed dh up for a hard cider of the month club. I am super excited for that one! He is so hard to shop for and these are higher end exclusive ciders, so fingers crossed he likes it! Ooooh, do you have a link? Might be an idea for dh  |
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Post by beaglemom on Nov 28, 2018 20:12:55 GMT
For Christmas I signed dh and the kids up for sock of the month boxes. They are all in need of new socks and they are fun ones. I also signed dh up for a hard cider of the month club. I am super excited for that one! He is so hard to shop for and these are higher end exclusive ciders, so fingers crossed he likes it!
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Post by beaglemom on Nov 28, 2018 6:10:56 GMT
I sell something sort of weird, kind of more of a specialty item that I don't think would be hugely in demand here, so I wouldn't really think of bringing it here.  Now I want to know what!! |
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Post by beaglemom on Nov 27, 2018 7:01:29 GMT
We have Gravity Blankets and absolutely love them. We originally bought the 20lbs ones when they were on kickstarter. Then when they came out with the cooling ones we got 2 25lbs ones. I LOVE sleeping under it. We are headed to Cabo for 3 weeks for Christmas and I am already sad that I can't bring it. |
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Post by beaglemom on Nov 26, 2018 4:25:04 GMT
I'll admit I'm not as good about them as I used to be. We were concerned about not getting our wedding thank yous out quick enough for people. We left on our honeymoon, which was 2.5 months long, 2 days after the wedding. So we took our address list and sent everyone that came a post card during our trip thanking them for coming to the wedding. And then did the real thank you notes when we got home.
Dh's family is really bad about them so I stopped doing them for them. 2 years ago we got all the kids go-pros for Christmas and all the adults Google homes. We didn't get one thank you card.
I really need to get my kids in the habit of doing them asap!
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Post by beaglemom on Nov 25, 2018 20:12:47 GMT
This is why I am very glad we live states away from dh's family. I could totally see that happening if we lived nearby. Since we don't live close they do it on vacation instead. The time I put my foot down about it I got so much grief for it!
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Post by beaglemom on Nov 21, 2018 5:10:13 GMT
My mom is making a sugar free pecan crust cheesecake ( my bil is doing keto and is gluten-free). I did convince her to make a regular pumpkin pie because it is dh and my kid's favorite and mine never turns out as good as hers - even though I do her recipe! I don't like either and I should be good and just not have anything. But I really want to make my college roommate's mom's cranberry apple cobbler. I won't get to make it for Christmas since we'll be in Cabo. So now is my chance for the year, but I haven't decided yet!
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Post by beaglemom on Nov 16, 2018 20:07:33 GMT
My high school had one!
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Post by beaglemom on Nov 16, 2018 6:03:41 GMT
There was a local family that's daughter was dying from DIPG (brain cancer). They must have raised over a million between all the gofundme campaigns they set up. The parents were on the rocks when she was diagnosed. They flew her around the world to multiple experimental medical things. Mom was convinced that she would be the first child to beat DIPG. They divorced sometime during her illness. 6 months after she passed away the mom set up another one to pay for IVF because she decided she needed a baby to help her heal from losing her daughter - and she already had another daughter.
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Post by beaglemom on Nov 14, 2018 1:55:35 GMT
We have a friend that tries to get a crazy picture of himself every year during the Santa Cruz triathlon. He did that pose last year.
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Post by beaglemom on Nov 12, 2018 22:18:26 GMT
Quilted Leather Art Saddles by Cathy Wiggins.  This dragon saddle is incredible!!!! |
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Post by beaglemom on Nov 11, 2018 23:37:06 GMT
In our house, our favorite days are the ones where we can stay in our jammies all day long. We are all still in them and it is 3:30. Dh did get up at 8:30 and bike for 2 hours on the trainer this morning. And then showered and put jammies on. My fingers are crossed that tomorrow will be another all day jammies day too, since the kids are off school.
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Post by beaglemom on Nov 9, 2018 6:07:22 GMT
We have the Gravity Blankets. The original ones we bought as part of the Kickstarter campaign. I think those were 20lb ones. And then when they originally came out with the Gravity Cooling Blankets we each got a 25 lb one. They are amazing. I have always liked having heavy blankets, but these are just incredible. I sleep so much better under it! They are worth every single penny. |
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Post by beaglemom on Nov 5, 2018 5:29:01 GMT
I got shorted last year on fabric that was $45 a yard!! I asked for 5 yards and it was just under 4 yards. When I realized it I called and they wanted me to bring it in before I cut it. I was livid, I live 45 minutes away and it was literally the day/nap time I had for making the dress and I needed to get it done. I didn't use the full width of the fabric, needed the decorative edge for the finish. So I took the other piece in for them to measure. I got my money back for the one yard, but no apology. And I don't shop at that Joanns any more if I can avoid it. Thankfully there are 4 in our area.
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Post by beaglemom on Nov 3, 2018 4:06:03 GMT
I think a realtor who will target employees at SV companies that are remote-friendly would be a good idea. I looked at this road to get into the Valley and think no way would I want to drive that twice a day. But if I only had to work in the office a couple times a week, not so bad. So, like, not Apple employees lol There are definitely ways to micro target like that, and I think that's what is going to be needed to sell your house. The realtor really needs to give thought to the kind of lifestyle that house lends itself to and figure out where to find people who live/want to live that way. It's a huge house and is pretty darn cheap for SV as a whole. My friend's 1450 sf home a couple miles from the FB campus was just appraised at $1.8 million. But they live there because they work A TON and work at FB and the proximity to work is the only way they can have a life outside of work. They'd never even consider living way out in Kings Mountain because they'd never be there and would spend way too much of their precious little time away from work on the road. I totally hear what you are saying. The thing is there are a ton of apple, facebook, and google employees up near us. They are up there so when they are not at work they feel like they are somewhere totally different. Dh has commuted to google for 10 years with no issues, he actually enjoyed coming up Kings mountain at the end of the day as a decompress. It takes about a week of doing the drive before it feels like nothing and is actually enjoyable. So we just have to find the ones that want to spend 15 minutes of their commute on a mountain road through the trees, rather than sitting in traffic. It only takes 35 or so minutes to get down to google/fb/apple which is a lot less than a lot of the areas - but again it is a mind block thing thinking it is farther away than it is. But you are right we have to find that right client. And I know they are out there, because we have a ton of friends up here that moved up for that reason. It's just finding them! |
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Post by beaglemom on Nov 2, 2018 19:58:59 GMT
auroraborealis Your comments are spot on! I just spoke with a pea's realtor husband and he had very similar feedback. We went with the realtor's stager because they swore up and down that she was the best. But I agree that while it looks "nice and clean" it doesn't highlight or make anything stand out about the house. We also discussed that it needs to not be marketed as a geodesic dome. Custom home and nice photos and then let people see it when they get up here. We have power washing and re-painting the exterior now on the list of things to do. I feel like while our realtors "love" our home, they were possibly in over their heads with the listing and didn't realize how much work it was going to be and just don't have the network of other agents that is needed to sell the house. I'm also annoyed because it looks like there was some issue with the listing and technically our contract is till Nov. 6th - based on when it went on. So they relisted the post this morning through the 6th. But our phones have been ringing non-stop with other local realtors calling asking if we want to relist with them. I just got the following in an email from the current realtor: "The listing contract we signed last year is set to expire next week; for some odd reason the MLS kicked it out this morning (early) but I caught it and fixed it immediately. I am sending over the extension for you guys so sign to get ahead of it. My apologies if you got any surprise calls from other agents this morning, we call those agents the vultures. We're getting a pretty steady 2-3 calls per week on the home, we do have low turnout at the open houses but the people who show up are specifically coming to see your home, not people just driving by, so that's positive. The feedback from our special twilight broker's tour was great. There's a Palo Alto agent whose been in touch with us and thinks her client might like it and a buyer from Santa Cruz contacted us yesterday so we're working on a showing for her (it's a bonus she already lives in the Santa Cruz Mountains so the drive will not be an objection)."
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Post by beaglemom on Nov 2, 2018 17:10:40 GMT
Well, our phones have been ringing off the hook this morning with agents wanting to pick up the listing. We will be interviewing at least 4 and see what their ideas are and going from there. Thank you for all of the advice!
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Post by beaglemom on Nov 2, 2018 6:14:01 GMT
Okay so I scrolled past this post so many times tonight and couldn't figure out why anyone would want an electric rooster. I think it is time for bed.
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Post by beaglemom on Nov 2, 2018 6:09:48 GMT
Thank you for all the feedback. We haven't gotten much tangible feedback. For the general area, square footage, and acreage it is priced low. It isn't in what is considered the "best" school district (right next door), but it is still a pretty good school district. But the K-5 is a California Distinguished school. Even in the best school district many people still go private for high school. Homes in the area do tend to take a little longer to sell than the general Bay Area, mostly because people have a mind block over the drive, even though it really is shorter than many other parts of the Bay Area. We have been tentatively talking to two new realtors. The feedback from the one we are leaning toward using is that we need to re-stage it in a way that reflects the mountain feel, rather than the "condo" feeling that it currently is giving off. That the photos need to be redone and the main photo needs to be different. And that we may need to paint the exterior. And then relist after 30 days to reset MLS at slightly lower than current listing to drive traffic. The other realtor hasn't seen it in person (the other one took it upon herself to go see it to give us feedback). Her only suggestion was that we lower the price. We originally listed the house and the adjoining lot (which we also own, but we never formally had the lots combined with the county) together. They convinced us to split the listing for Labor Day to drive interest. So we did, the website still has the original price for the combined listing, not sure why they never updated it. HouseIn retrospect, we were stupid. Our plan had been that in Feb 2018 we were going to move into a rental, get the house ready to sell, sell it and then buy something. I was watching local listings when our current house came on the market and watched it. It is much better for our family and in the "best" school district. We saw it in person for the first time Nov 4, put in an offer Nov 8, closed Nov 20th. We love the house and the realtors didn't have to do that much to help us buy it and got a very large commission from the sale. We then hired a local contractor to do a bunch of work that the realtors suggested. We had a ton of issues with the contractors and the realtors ended up causing issues by calling the contractor out on his mistakes. The house was supposed to go on the market in March...but due to the issues with the contractor, it didn't go on the market till July. I'm rambling....we just want the house sold. I just send proposal requests to two other realtors and we'll see what they say. Since I feel like we didn't do due diligence in picking the realtors this time (they are a husband and wife team, her mom is our babysitter). The only other time we sold a property the realtor was recommended by a friend and took care of everything - found someone to make all necessary fixes, managed the project, and sold it. So we don't really know what we should be looking for! What should I be asking prospective realtors? |
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Post by beaglemom on Nov 2, 2018 0:03:17 GMT
I think the fact that they haven’t even gotten a single offer even in your ballpark range says they are not marketing very well. Have they held an open house? Brought by many people? Offered suggestions as to quick updates that might make a huge difference? Suggested a professional stylist or have one on staff? They've been holding open houses, but not getting a lot of traffic (other than labor day weekend). We have paid a small fortune for their stagger. We also spent a bunch doing all the updates they suggested before putting it on the market. The last call we had with them they asked what they should be doing differently. To which we replied, we don't know, but that they needed to get more agents in to see it. They arranged a broker event with some other realtors that have listings in the area and still only got 3 agents. |
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Post by beaglemom on Nov 1, 2018 23:27:32 GMT
We have decided to not renew the contract we have with our current realtors to sell our house. It's been on the market since July and we have yet to get a offer. I'm sure there are lots of reasons for it ( unusual home, location...) but we also feel that their marketing or lack there of are also party of the problem. The MLS listing expires today. A couple weeks ago they mentioned that we needed to chat about it since the contract was expiring, but nothing since.
I have all sorts of guilt, but keep telling myself that they didn't have to do much when we bought our new home with them last November and they got a huge commission from that.
I know they are going to be upset/hurt. And it's going to suck. But any suggestions on how to break it to them?
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Post by beaglemom on Oct 30, 2018 19:47:50 GMT
The bacon wrapped corn sounds great - and the muffins from Good Eggs - how were they? They were amazing! Good eggs is my new obsession. We can't get door dash or delivery at our house, so anything I can get delivered is helpful. Since grocery shopping with 4 kids is no fun. Good eggs has awesome prepared stuff. Everyone in our family requested I order them again soon. They came as frozen prepared dough and I just had to throw them in the oven! I'm planning to order a dinner kit for next weekend! |
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Post by beaglemom on Oct 30, 2018 5:34:11 GMT
Thank you!!!! I made this for dinner tonight and it was REALLY good. The spices were delicious. I don't do hot spicy, so I skipped the hot sauce/harissa part, but the yogurt sauce was tangy and yummy. I might make my rice that way all the time. Hey beaglemom how did your dinner turn out? It was good! Dh smoked a brisket, bacon wrapped corn, and coleslaw. I ordered cheddar biscuits from good eggs (they arrived frozen) so baked them fresh. We did a cheese, cured meats, and crackers spread for appetizers. The couple was very sweet. This was the first time they had been out to someone's house since the baby arrived (4 weeks ago). They were very cute and put up with the chaos of our 4 kids well. And I was able to give them a bunch of baby stuff that they were super excited about. They also brought some amazing desserts from a local place that were a huge hit! |
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Post by beaglemom on Oct 29, 2018 17:41:24 GMT
I don't have a large Facebook to start with (around 100 "Friends") and I know or am related to all of them. Two of them are SO negative and are close relatives... so if I deleted them they'd find out. So I started a private Instagram account (and don't post/link it to Facebook) and am much more selective about who I follow/ let follow me. So far it's working... My facebook has people from high school and college and now people. I rarely post on my own page. I am in a ton of sewing groups and that is what I am most interested in. Photos I post on instagram, that account is private and I am much more selective of who I follow and who I let follow me! I have a separate craft instagram that I follow crafty stuff on and post craft stuff to. My personal is just that, personal! |
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Post by beaglemom on Oct 26, 2018 16:16:39 GMT
I am probably totally overthinking this. But dh has invited someone from work over for dinner. This is the first time ever. They have worked together for at least 3 years. She just had her first baby and they are bringing the baby (we have 4 kids). The thing that is throwing me off is the husband doesn't eat fruit, tomatoes, or peppers. All the seasonal recipes that I keep pulling have fruit of some kind! It will be 4 adults and 3 of my kids are of eating food age. I want something not too complicated, but nice!
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Post by beaglemom on Oct 25, 2018 14:41:23 GMT
About 5 years ago we decided to go expensive and bought 3 Tumi suitcases. I large and 2 medium. They are hard sided with 360 wheels. We fly 5-10 times a year. They still look brand new! No issues at all and they come with a great warranty.
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Post by beaglemom on Oct 11, 2018 18:34:36 GMT
We have these gravity blankets and they are amazing!! We bought the original ones when they were on kickstarter and then this summer bought the cooling ones. They are incredible and I love sleeping under it! We each have our own I think our original ones were the 20 lbs and then we got 25lbs ones. Now you can just get a second duvet cover for them to switch between regular and cooling. I have noticed for me that the less sugar I have the better I sleep. I can't do caffeine, so sugar is my drug of choice when I'm sleepy. So when I limit that I sleep much better. |
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Post by beaglemom on Sept 27, 2018 22:36:39 GMT
We started with a ring, after less than a month it stopped working. Now we have the Nest one. I love it! I can see when we are having packages delivered, I can talk to people that are at the front door when we aren't home, it announces over our Google homes that someone is at the front door, you can have it save the video feed. Very happy! I only know people who have Nest and they say the same thing as you, but I don't have an iPhone and I understand that's how it works best? Couldn't you do all those same things with your Ring? We don't have iPhones, it works great with our Android phones. I don't know about the ring details, it didn't work long enough for me to figure it out. |
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Post by beaglemom on Sept 25, 2018 19:22:57 GMT
We started with a ring, after less than a month it stopped working. Now we have the Nest one. I love it! I can see when we are having packages delivered, I can talk to people that are at the front door when we aren't home, it announces over our Google homes that someone is at the front door, you can have it save the video feed. Very happy!
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