The beauty part is that once you’ve shredded all those records and privacy information, you’ll be in the perfect place to get a little organizing advice! Then do a little shopping to get some great storage containers!

And aren’t we all looking for the perfect containers, boxes and organizers?

Master suite with Carerra marble, granite slab counters, bamboo cabinets  and stainless appliances in the kitchen, cherry hardwoods and built-ins in the living room are just a few of the well chosen details.

Well priced at $300,000 view photos and more information at the website 2393SWParkPl305. You’ll also have a more extensive look at the condo and details by viewing the  Virtual Tour.

Call for a private showing, 503-869-1295.

Alexsandra Stewart, Broker

Re/Max equity group 7886 SE 13th Ave, Portland OR 97202

This is a true story that happened in Japan.

In order to renovate the house, someone in Japan tore open the wall. Japanese houses normally have a hollow space between the wooden walls. When tearing down the walls, he found that there was a lizard stuck there because a nail from outside was hammered into one of its feet. He saw this, felt pity, and at the same time he was curious. When he checked the nail, he remembered it was nailed 10 years ago when the house was first built.

What had happened?

The lizard had survived in such a position for 10 years! In a dark wall partition for 10 years without moving, it is impossible and mind boggling. Then he wondered how this lizard survived for 10 years without moving a single step–since its foot was nailed!

So he stopped his work and observed the lizard, what it had been doing,
and what and how it has been eating. Later, not knowing from where it
came, appeared another lizard, with food in its mouth.

Ahh! He was stunned and at the same time, touched deeply. Another lizard had been feeding the stuck one for the past 10 years…

Tears welled up in the man’s eyes.
He set the nailed lizard free

Such love, such a beautiful love! Such love happened with this tiny creature…

What can love do?
It can do wonders!
Love can do miracles!

Just think about it; one lizard had been feeding the other one untiringly for 10 long years, without giving up hope on its partner.

If a small creature like a lizard can love like this…
just imagine how we can love if we try.

You can sign up for the weekly Inspiration Line Newsletter at their web site.  Take a minute to browse their archives, you might find another story to share.

A few of the constants on the scene include such NE galleries as 23 Sandy Gallery (623 NE 23rd Ave), B. Rogers Gallery (2415 NE Broadway) and Brian Marki Fine Art (2236 NE Broadway). Southeast galleries that almost always particpate include Tilde (7919 SE 13th Ave), 12×16 Gallery (8235 SE 13th Ave), Bite Studio (2000 SE 7th Ave) and Studio 2507, Annie Mery Artwork (2507 SE Clinton).

A complete list of the participating galleries can be found on the First Friday Gallery Guide website.  You’ll also be able to discover which galleries are offering live entertainment and where the artists receptions are being held.

Additional information, fun facts and information about the artists, the galleries and varying points of view at the First Friday Blog.

Most galleries are open 6 til 9pm – but you will want to check before you head out.

The same survey reported that the typical home was on the market for eight weeks, and sold for 96% of the listing price. 57% of the sellers had reduced their price at least once.

In order to attract buyers, 44% of the sellers offered incentives.  These incentives most often took the form of assistance with a home warranty and closing costs. 86% of the sellers were at least somewhat satisfied with their home selling expereince.

91% of sellers reported that their home was listed or advertised on the internet.

As for sellers who were unrepresented in the sale of their home, half of them knew the buyer prior to the sale. The total number of persons who sold without the use of an agent was 9%. 28% of the unrepresented sellers took no action to market their home, and 56% offered no incentives. About a quarter of the unrepresented sellers reported that their most difficult task was getting the price right.

And the buyers of those homes? Their use of real estate agents increased from 69% in 2001 to 83% in 2010.  Looks like buyers are searching on the internet, and also having an agent – usually found via a referral from family or friends – assist them through the multi-faceted process of negotiating, inspecting and closing the purchase on their new home.

 77% of the buyers purchsed a singe family, detached home. 11% of buyers who were 50 plus purchased homes in senior related housing or in an comumunity for active adults.

The first step in the home buying process was to look online for properties. Before their home was purchased, 90% of buyers had used the internet to search. 

The vast majority of buyers, 83% used the services of a real estate agent or broker.  Four percent bought a home in foreclosure and six percent a short sale. 87% of the buyers would use or recommend their agent for future purchases. 48% of buyers found their agent through a referral from a friend or family member.

Do you fit the numbers? Do these catogories describe you?  If not, you may find yourself in a catogory not described above: one in the couple, partnership, or commited relationship demographic.  Yes, they too buy homes – approximately 18% of buyers fell into that catogory if I did the math accurately. 

Doesn’t matter which category you fit.  The real story is that all kinds of people are interested in purchasing homes for a variety of reasons.  Will you be one of them in 2011?

The Walls of Heritage, Walls of Pride: African American Murals, and  the Marking Time: Voyage to Vietnam exhibits close on the 13th of February.

The web site for Walls of Heritage, Walls of Pride: African American Murals reminds us that African Americans have a long standing tradition of mural making, and were denied access to main stream museums and galleries.  The exhibit showcases murals from all over the country with a special emphasis on work by local artists.

Marking Time: Voyage to Vietnam is a national tour­ing exhibit, featuring artifacts from the troopship General Nelson M. Walker. Graffiti, personal items left on board and other items of interest from the era are on view. It also includes personal stories of sol­diers and Marines who made voyages from late 1965 to the end of 1967, which can be heard at audio stations.

Sunday, February 13 offers free admission in celebration of Oregon’s 152nd birthday. It will be a great opportunity to see the two exhibts described above before they close.  There will also be a special exhibit for children at  the “What is It?” table , an opportunity for hands-on exploration of artifact replicas. Birthday cake and frozen yogurt samples will be provided as long as supplies last. Yogurt samples are from Lucky Spoon Yogurt. Be sure to thank them for their sponsorship.

February 19th is Family Day.  Two children will be admitted free with one paid adult admission.

Paula Madden will be the featured speaker at the Sunday Lecture on the 20th.  Her topic is “Historic Homes of Patriots and Presidents, ” and will showcase some of the greatest architectural triumphs, inventions and treasures from American history, featuring notable homes like Kenmore House, Mt. Vernon, Monticello and Montpelier.

A complete list of exhibits can be found at Oregon Historical Society.

The people behind the site – a great resource for lots of techie type and life style information – have pulled together a seasonal buying guide.  They first published one last year, and this year’s is now ready.  It’s been pulled together from their research, comments from their readers and with additional information from the book, Buy Ketchup in May and Fly at Noon: A Guide to the Best Time to Buy This, Do That, and Go There, by Mark Di Vincenzo.

The buying guide is broken into what’s best bought for each the four seasons as well as with additional specific items for each month, and reasons why that particular item is best purchased in that month. Some of the reasons are obvious, as chocolates are a better value after Valentines Day. Guess that makes sense!  Luggage is the best value in March because it’s halfway through the traveling seasons. Stores often have sales to move their inventory at that time.

One less obvious, at least to me, best time was when to buy a wedding dress.  Life Hacker says that would be after November 15th, before the cutsey December engagement season starts.

They even get into the best tme to buy a house. 

That would be during the second quarter and say this about it: “It’s a tricky thing, house buying, but if you do it early enough to see how the house survived winter, but not at the height of warm-weather open house season, a good deal can be found.”

Seems like a good time to get your saver’s hat on, and make your buying plans fit the seasonal guide’s recommendations.  Maybe you’ll be able to take advantage of the cruise deals they say are great in the month of April.

A recent article, “How Can I find Out if Someone’s Stealing My Wi-Fi”, is pretty technical – at least I found it to be –but has lots of tips on checking to find out if someone is piggy-backing on your signal.   If a bit too techie for you, it would be great to hand the url to your personal, favorite techie and ask them to check out your securuty and encryption.  I have had an open wi-fi, but am setting up a password as soon as I finish with this post!

There’s also a great article on improving your google searches, “The Best Way to Tweak Your Search When Google Doesn’t Give You What You Want.” I am a little lame when it comes to putting in search criteria, and tend to use all the little words like will, do, and, what — a definite no-no, not at all helpful for the search engine!

One of the fun articles has to do with carmelizing onions in half the time it usually takes. This results in a shorter time in the kitchen and still have tasty dishes like a yummy home made French onion soup.

Life Hacker also has tips for Windows and Mac users that are easy to find. They’ve set up tabs for each. There’s a tab for Linus too, and one for Gismodo.  I’ve no idea what Gismodo is all about as haven’t had a chance to check it out yet.

Of course you can follow them on Facebok, catch their Tweets, and subscribe to their feed.  Check the site out - you may love it as much I as I do!

Here, today, in Portland, I can feel it in my bones and in my heart; spring is on it’s way.  The sun was almost summer hot as it shone through the car window on the way back from showing property in Happy Valley.  The days are longer, it’s light at 530. The long, twilights at the end of day will soon arrive. Iris shoots are green and inches above their nurturing corms.  Crocus, daffodil and other spring bulbs are poking through leafy winter blankets.

Garden Fresh

A truly important sign though, has been the arrival of the seed catalogues.  Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds, the 2011 Pure Seed Book, so beautifully illustrated arrived a few days ago.  It’s the most beautiful one I get now, the others pale in comparison. The tomatoes alone are worth several hours of browsing, and dreaming. 

Can’t help but dream of the tomatoes in shades of purple, deep chocolate, terracotta pink, purple-pinks and deep caramels with hints of red and chocolate, just a few of the many varieties in the purple category. Varieties from Russia, Siberia, Kazakhstan, North Africa, Thailand. 

Cozy Carrots

On other pages, our own Kentucky, Virginia, California heirlooms float from photos, gently singing plant me, raise me, enjoy me.  All promise to be the best, the most flavorful, colorful and heat resistant.

Icicles, zebras, oxhearts, moonglows, sunrays, green velvets: the names alone create a vision poem that can’t be resisted.

Peppers

All that emotion and there are still the peppers, the squash, the radishes the eggplants to scutinize. Salad greens and melons, cukes, peas and beans, and beets.  I’m planting beets this year: golden, pink striped, albino white, early reds. I plan to have them all summer with goat cheese and a light vinaigrette dressing.  Along with the sliced tomatos, that will be my new summer staple.

Eggplants and More

I know that February is yet to come, that ice storms are possible, sleet and rain, or rain and snow may yet keep us trapped at home on an early March morning.  I know. 

 I also know that the seed catalogue will be a fine companion, with tea and toast and my spring dreams of summer’s harvest.