We all wondered what kind of girl Kevin would find that would be willing to put up with his passion for fishing.  Along came Laura who loved fishing nearly as much as Kevin.  They were soon married and looked forward to starting a family.

After many frustrating years Kevin and Laura finally had a baby boy in 2006 who was their pride and joy.  Kevin & Laura were heavily involved in their church and they both had successful careers. 

All that changed 3 weeks ago on December 18, 2008.  Kevin had called Laura telling her he was on his way home from work near Detroit.  Kevin never made it home.  A suspected drunk driver fleeing the scene of another accident was driving the wrong way on the freeway and hit Kevin head on killing him instantly.

Fox News Fatal Accident 

Laura has decided to keep Kevin’s photography website www.knlmedia.com going as a tribute to him and to help pay for college for their son.  You can see his passion for photography and nature in the hundreds of photos available.  The one we bought shows the fireworks display celebrating the Mackinac Bridge 50th Anniversary. It is amazing!

Kevin Fairfield is my wife’s first cousin.
 
Please don’t drink and drive. 

How we think and feel about ourselves influences the way we react or respond to life stressors. A hopeless self-image can lead to suicide. Self-image possessing body strength and health can lead to wellness. A loving self-image can lead to a life full of loving relationships. An angry self-image can lead to a life of isolation. A fearful self-image can lead to a life of suffering. In these ways, self-image can determine the quality of our relationships with others.

How we imagine ourselves to be can be different from how we witness ourselves to be, but ultimately the two will become the same if our desire to be as we imagine is unwavering. Depending on the beliefs we gather throughout our life, our self-image can bring us success and happiness, or, on the other hand, failure and misery. But this image can change, if we start questioning our beliefs about our selves and our lives. When our belief system falls apart, we are ready to receive a greater truth, and resurrect belief, born anew with possibility.

What do YOU think?

I am not going to try to over analyze a simple topic

There is a common denominator with all homes that are currently selling…. they are priced at or below market value. They are priced like the bank owned and short sale listings. They compete with the best values in the market.

No amount of marketing will sell an overpriced house. None of the gimmicks, no talking signs, no flashing lights, no open houses, not even a higher commission to the selling agent.

In today’s market, it is all about the price. If the price is wrong, you loose.

The single most important item in determining if your house sells is the price. Don’t try to build in a little cushion in the price.  

If your going fishing in the Big Bear Lake housing market, you’ll want to have the best bait. 

Pricing your Big Bear home over market value will net you a stale listing.

So, when do you want me to start telling you the truth Mr. Seller?

As you can see, this is not a new topic for me. I would rather hammer my toes with a sledge hammer, than loose money for a seller that is chasing the market down.

Steve Hirschler

Associate, The Tim Wood Group

Coldwell Banker Mountain Gallery

42153 Big Bear Blvd.

P.O. BOX 6820

Big Bear Lake, CA 92315

stevehirschler@gmail.com

909 866-3481 EXT. 217 CELL 909 725-5889

Fax 909 866-3531

http://www.stevesellsbigbear.com

  Subscribe to the Big Bear Real Estate Blog

this year it’s the cookers turn..fan working in the bottom oven but no heat,

luckily enough I decided no turkey this year, fillet steak au poivre, green beans,  saute pots and a nice pavlova or sherry trifle to follow

so sod the oven, but please stay with us fridge freezer

I’m hosting a holiday cookie exchange. During December I’m asking for everyone to share their favorite holiday goodie recipes. It can be a traditional cookie, dessert bar, candy or fudge, any sweet that reminds you of the holidays.

Please leave your recipe in the comments, link to a post on your own blog where you’ve already included a recipe, or e-mail the recipes to me. I’ll leave this stickie at the top of the page for a while, then later I’ll add a link to this post in my side bar so you can join in the exchange. I’ll keep adding new recipes as they come it. Leave one recipe (or two, or three) and take as many as you like.

I’ll start it off. My kids love these and it’s hard to keep them out of the kitchen long enough for the cookies to set:

Tara R. - If Mom Says OK

No Bake Chocolate Cookies

2 cups sugar
4 tablespoons cocoa
½ cup milk
½ cup butter
½ cup peanut butter
3 cups rolled oats, uncooked
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Place a piece of waxpaper on a cookie sheet. Combine sugar, butter, milk, and cocoa in a medium saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until mixture comes to a rolling boil. Continue to cook for 1 minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat; cool 1 minute. Add peanut butter, stir to blend. Add oats and vanilla; stir to mix well. Quickly drop mixture by heaping tablespoons onto wax paper. Cool completely. Store in cool dry place. (Makes approx. 24 cookies)

To join the fun, come by If Mom Says OK. Add a recipe, and feel free to take all you want. 

To gift, or not to gift: that is the question.
Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous economics,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles?

Magnet from Ann Taintor, Inc.`$4.95 (”2×2″)

The “R” Word

Yesterday the nation was finally given the diagnosis of being in a recession. While it comes as no surprise to most of us, this is not the news we need to hear this time of year. It is possible to maintain the Holiday Spirit by shopping smarter. Show them Consumer Confidence!

We have some great gift ideas that won’t break the bank.

Family Friendly Gifts

One way to stretch your holiday budget is to shift from individual to group gifts. Instead of buying each person in a family a gift, why not send a basket they can enjoy together?

One of our more popular family-style gifts is the Movie Time. where you can “Treat someone to an evening of fun and films with this popcorn bucket full of all the movie-watching essentials.”

The version on our website includes a $15 Block Buster gift certificate. For a more personalized option, you can bring us a special movie, game or gift certificate that we can add to the basket in lieu of the gift card.

Gifts with Attitude - Sign of the Times

Another “R” word is “Restructuring” or (Workforce) “Reduction”.

With the unemployment rate currently at 6.8% and climbing, we all most likely have a friend or co-worker that has recently been downsized.

Whether to soothe your survivor’s guilt or comfort a friend, it is a nice idea to show you care. You never know when the tables will be turned and this person will be in a position to help you!

A new trend in gifting is in “Job-Loss Condolence” baskets. While the most popular requests are for either “Comfort Food” or “Pamper” baskets, we came up with a special humorous choice for an attitude boost, the Job Loss Survival Kit.

To gift, or not to gift: that is the question. Let Baskets by Bonnie provide the answer!

Of Pictographs and Petroglyphs… [0:55m]: Hide Player | Play in Popup | Download

We first heard of the Freemont people as we hiked to Lower Calf Creek Falls in the Grand Staircase-Escalante region. The remains of their storage granaries perched at the edges of the high cliffs above us, and we were thrilled to spot their painted rock art, “pictographs,” on a distant canyon wall.

They also decorated many of the rock walls of Capitol Reef National Park to the east, but here the Freemont people carved into the cliff faces rather than painting upon them and created
“petroglyphs.” *

The Freemont culture farmed and hunted the Capitol Reef area from around 700 AD to 1250 AD. Their primitive art electrified our imaginations and created questions that can never be answered completely. Questions about ancient motivations and joys… about the death of a culture and the interpretation of its fragmented traces from centuries beyond.

*An easy way to remember the difference is to think: “paint a picture” for pictograph.

What I do want to put here is how excited I am that those that have read it so far, are really loving it.  I feel like Sally Field during her speech.  You love me?

Now I know there will be some critics who will not love Finding Kylie, but with only 2 1/2 weeks under it’s belt it’s doing well as far as feedback.  You can read a couple reviews here.

To put yourself out there, for all to read is intimidating.  To allow your heart’s song to be read and sung by who knows how many is a little crazy to me.  This story line is so personal to me, and the characters have been my babies.  To let it all out there for everyone to critique has been a little scary, but having people call me and email me or text me with their thoughts on it have been worth it.

So thank you to all of you who have bought it so far, and reached out to let me know how much you’ve enjoyed it.  To those that have no idea I even had a book, with a sequel following soon, I hope that if you’re a reader you check this book out.  Here’s the synopsis with a review that follows.  This site has my contact info if you want to reach out after reading it to give me your input.

Finding Kylie by Kimberly McKay

What if… after laying your mother to rest, the mother who has been the only real family you’ve ever known, you discover her secretive past in a set of hidden journals? What would you do if she was the only link to the father you never knew?  A father you’d been told was dead, but was indeed very much alive…

Twenty-five year old Chastity searches through her mother’s belongings in hopes of finding any shred of evidence that leads to her father.  A man, she’d always felt was out there…somewhere. Any glimmer of hope is dashed when she reads one tiny line scrawled across the back page of her mother’s notebook.  One traumatic sentence is all it takes to unravel her life long desire in a matter of seconds.

Chastity uncovers the sordid truth, a truth that her mom, Kylie, tried to hide at all costs.  This newfound information plunges Chastity into a new world of control, power, and hurt.  With the help of her mother’s best friend, Cheryl, and Timothy, a handsome attorney hired before her mother’s death, Chastity sorts her way through her new found family ties and the costs that come with it.

Finding Kylie

Reviews

I would just like to put a view on the American election result from a back water in darkest Yorkshire.  That a black person should win would have been unthinkable as little as 5 years ago when you look at America’s history. If somebody had asked me five years ago whether I thought there would be a black president of the USA in the next 50 years and I would have said, ‘ very unlikely’ in fact I would have probably said, ‘not a hope in hell!’ because of America’s history. I still find it difficult to believe that this has actually happened. 

 In the middle of the last century Billie Holliday sang a song called ‘Strange Fruit’. http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=h4ZyuULy9zs

 “Strange Fruit” began as a poem written by Abel Meeropol, a Jewish high-school teacher from the Bronx, about the lynching of two black men.

 I in a deluded sort of way still consider myself quite young but I remember how things were like in America in the 1960s and it wasn’t so long ago that somebody was brought to justice by the American courts for a murder he committed back then.

I know the United Kingdom has had a woman prime minister but this is in a different league. I believe Margaret Thatcher was really a man!  Well she showed plenty of male traits anyway. I believed there was an inherent racism in the American people.  I know there is in Britain.  I didn’t think that America was ready to have a black president.

So how the hell did Barack Abama manage to do it? He is definitely an eloquent speaker but it’s what comes out of his mouth that matters.  He has definitely captured the mood of the nation.  Media stars decided to back him, Bruce Springsteen and Neil Young to name but two.  Neil Young came out with an album called, ‘ Living with the War’ in 2006.  In it there was a song called ‘ Lookin’ for a leader’ with the line     ‘maybe it’s a woman or a black man after all?’.  Prophetic or inspirational? http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=ioQqUwuN4N4

  The American election seems to have been going on for an age.  His epic contest with Hillary Clinton for the Democratic nomination just seemed to go on and on.  At one point she offered him vice president but only because he was winning and unsurprisingly he refused.

 Next he  came up against John McCain for the presidency.  To me John McCain seems a nice chap but he made a mistake nominating Sarah Palin for vice president.  She energised already committed republican voters but pushed any people sitting on the fence over to the Democratic side.  He was also from the same party as a very unpopular president which didn’t help him.

 Then there was the collapse of the banks weeks before the election, the credit crunch.  Everything conspired to make the impossible possible!

I know that in America socialism is a dirty word but my head has always been on the side of socialism.  Compassionate socialism has always been the ideal for me. Barack Abama is the closest thing to a socialist there has ever been in the United States so I had always wanted him to win. Even if he had been white I would have wanted him to win so I am happy!

He even made George W. Bush sound gracious when talking about the transferal of power which is something I thought would never happen.

  Listening to him speak for the first time in many years I actually believe things could be on the up.  For the first time in a long time I am optimistic.  Maybe in time I will be disillusioned but at least I am allowing myself the opportunity to be disillusioned.  Let us hope he is well protected and doesn’t go the same way of other charismatic leaders.