Category: Uncategorized
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Respect For Your Time
Are you late, early, or on time? I am basically an on-time person. It wasn’t always the case. I used to be late. The alarm didn’t go off. There was road construction. It took longer to get there than I thought it would. I couldn’t get off the phone. I got lost. Excuses, excuses, excuses.…
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Class of 2014
My daughter graduates from high school this week. There have been a series of events leading up to graduation including the Senior prom, a Senior trip, a Senior sunrise, a Senior sunset, a Senior hike, a Senior bar-b-que, a Senior camp out, and several other Senior adventures that I can’t remember the names of. Why…
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The World’s Best Plumber
Saturday evening my husband went into the downstairs bathroom and found it flooded with water, coffee grounds, noodles, and other items we won’t mention. Apparently we had a blocked sewer drain and it backed up into the nearest sink. Ugh. Sunday morning was Father’s Day but I called Tom, just in case. We refer to…
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3, 2, 1 . . .
Our stomach clenches. We feel tight. We know it will be okay, it’s the movies, but we get sucked in. Every. Single. Time. Perhaps it is an end of the world movie, perhaps an old war movie, it doesn’t matter, they are all the same. Total termination. There is a bomb that needs to be…
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Checking The Thesaurus For Love
As a child I was taught that the opposite of love is hate. When looking up the word love in a thesaurus, my childhood teachings are confirmed. The most common antonym for love is hate although dislike, ill will, enmity, and animosity occur as well. As I got older, I came to believe that the…
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Don’t Go There
When my grandmother was a little girl her dad was paid at the end of each day. He came home with a pocket full of coins. Those coins were sorted into old tea cups that sat on the window sill. One tea cup was for rent and one was for food. Every need had a…
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Guilty Pleasure
The house is warm. I have all the windows open and the birds are singing. Somewhere off in the distance I hear children laughing and playing. I hear a lawnmower. There is no wind, the chimes on the deck are silent, the aspen trees are still. My husband is off on his walk and my…
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What Is Home?
Home is where the heart is. At least that’s what “they” say. You know who “they” are, the ubiquitous “they”. I rarely trust what “they” say, “they” have lead me wrong on numerous occasions. Here’s a picture of my friend, we went on a hike today. She is getting ready to go back to Russia.…
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Impossible Life
Karen Joy Fowler said: “All parents want an impossible life for their children – happy beginning, happy middle, happy ending. No plot of any kind. What uninteresting people would result if parents got their way.” I watch the blue jays push their babies out of the nest. I watch the bear fight with her child,…
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Persian Woman
People ask me what it was like to be a girl and grow up with a Persian father. My dad was an immigrant from Iran, nearly 60 years ago, back before Iran was considered part of the axis of evil. Telling the whole story would be a book, perhaps even a trilogy, but here is…
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Snow Flower
This is a snow flower. Its scientific name is Sarcodes sanguinea. It does not use photosynthesis since it is actually a parasite, receiving nutrients from fungi that attach to tree roots. When I was a young girl there were dozens of them between my home and school. So far this year, I have only seen…
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Thank You Tourists!
We had a mild Winter. Mild is an understatement, it was virtually non-existent. A true, big-time drought. We skipped Spring, too, and went straight into Summer. It is warm, the lake is calm, and the flowers are sprouting. There are concerns about the water shed, and concerns about fires. It is a worry but it…
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What a Difference a Day Makes
Spring at Tahoe is snow, sun, rain, snain (that’s a mixture of snow and rain), wind, calm, breeze, and other weather patterns we don’t think of until they happen. This year we had a light winter but it doesn’t stop us from having what my friends call “daffodil smashing season” where a heavy, wet snow…
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Teenager Easter Baskets
My daughter graduates from high school this year and yet the types of things hidden for the Easter morning hunt don’t change. There is still the stuffed bunny, the chocolate bunny (or two), the plastic eggs – a bit more money in them now but the concept is the same, the silly putty, the chocolate…
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My Cousin
Today I called my cousin, Gina. We connect on Facebook but it has actually been years since we spoke, voice to voice. When we were little we were together all the time. Our dads are brothers and we lived a few blocks apart. I always believed that Gina was born to be my playmate and…
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A Drive
Yesterday I did a long drive. I left my house a little after lunch, drove four and a half hours, had dinner to celebrate a friend’s birthday, and drove home. The drive home was quicker, only three and a half hours, since there was no more traffic. Was it worth it? Yes. It was great…
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Is This Success?
The perfect job. She is so excited. She has worked for this most of her life. She was told to pursue her dreams. Set a goal and you can achieve it. Anything is possible. Dream it, do it! If you work hard enough, you will succeed. She dreams, she works hard. She applies for the…
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Ignore the Monkeys
Once I ask you to ignore the monkeys, you can no longer ignore the monkeys. They are banging on the window, they are making noise. If you leave the house they pull on you and try to take things from you. Often they succeed in taking things from you – they run off with whatever…
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Internet and Cats
The Internet probably has more videos and pictures devoted to cats than any other subject. A dog may be man’s best friend but a cat is the Internet darling. Our cat, Karma, is a talker. She starts talking about four in the morning, when she wants breakfast, and she talks on and off through-out…
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Coffee Tasting
This evening my husband and I went to a coffee tasting at Starbucks along with about fifteen other coffee lovers. There was plenty of information about the different types of coffee plants, the ideal coffee growing regions, single origin coffee, roasting methods, and fair trade. I found it interesting at the moment but I am not…
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Spring Activities
Spring is early this year at Lake Tahoe. People are paddle boarding, hiking, and spending lots of time outside. It is common to have plenty of snow on the ground in March and even April so we are all getting a head start on the summer activities. I began my day with a two hour…
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Math Days
My daughter called me on Friday with the all-important question: “Where can I get pie?” I gave her a few suggestions, along with my question, “why?” Friday was pie day, or technically pi day – 3.14 (without all the other numbers). Next year will be an even better pi day, 3.1415 and the celebrations are…
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My First Book
The first book I wrote was The Everything Homeselling Book, From the Open House to Closing the Deal, All You Need to Get the Most Money for Your Home! I wrote the majority of it in February of 2005 right here at this café in Luxembourg. Getting away from the day to day world and…
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Two Month Anniversary
It has been two months since I stepped away from being a full-time real estate agent to pursue other paths. When you have done something for 25 years, making that kind of change feels strange. Real Estate is a high alert business. Although more positive than war, it may be the same adrenalin rush. You…
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Incline Living Thoughts
Welcome to Incline Living. Please keep checking back for new information. Here is a picture of me in Istanbul, one of my favorite cities. Travel is one of my passions!