What are your Labor Day Plans?

What do you have planned for this Labor Day weekend?  If your stumped check out a few of the things I found that are going on around town.

• Beat the heat and get in one last day at Hawaiian Falls. This is your last weekend to enjoy until they reopen next summer.

• Check out Legoland’s new Star Wars Display. http://www.legolanddiscoverycenter.com/dallasfw/our-attractions/attraction/355/star-wars-miniland-model-display-episode-4.aspx

• Enjoy a free Concert by the Creek at Watters Creek in Allen TX from 7-10 Saturday evening.

• Escape the Heat and Check out the Perot Museum. http://www.perotmuseum.org/visit-the-museum/index.html

• Bring the family out to enjoy a great train robbery on the Grapevine Vintage Railroad on Labor Day. Train departs at 1:00pm from the Grapevine Cotton Belt Train Depot and returns at 6:00pm.  http://www.grapevinetexasusa.com/grapevine-vintage-railroad/events/

• Watch a real cattle drive and a gunfight! Summer Gunfight Shows with The Legends of Texas – FREE, family friendly show. Show times are right after the Fort Worth Herd Cattle Drives! Sat Aug 31 & Sun Sept 1 @ 11:45 am and 4:15pm

Hope you have a safe and Happy Labor Day Weekend!

2012-2013 School Rankings…How Does Your School Measure Up?

How are the schools? We want good schools for our kids? Have you heard anything about the schools there?  As parents having our kids in the Best Schools we can provide is hugely important.  Questions in regards to the quality of schools is one of the top questions I am asked, not just by parents by most homebuyers.  Many people realize that even if they do not have anyone in the home that will be going to the neighborhood schools that the quality of schools around them impacts their home’s value. Click on the link below for  the latest findings telling you how DFW Metro schools fared in 2012 -2013 rankings.

DFW Metro School Ratings 2012-2013

Dealing with Dirt….

8 am and my house is silent… not because everyone is still asleep but they are all at school.  As I sit down do enjoy a few moments of silence I start looking around and assessing the damage done while my 3 kiddos were home for the summer.  Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE summer time: kids home, calmer schedules, sleeping in, fun trips and late nights.  However, my house is a wreck!  One thing that drives me NuTs is dirty walls and base boards. It is something I often encourage clients to handle before putting their homes on the market.  Clean walls and base boards, no matter what the paint color, makes the home feel clean and well cared for.

Here are a few ideas and pointers to freshen up your walls and baseboards.

1. Dust FIRST… wipe down walls and base boards with a dry dust cloth
2. Test a spot of your paint, that’s not noticeable, to see how it holds up to cleaning. Paint should be 30 days old before doing anything.
3. Start with a natural colored cloth or sponge and water.  You can add mild dish soap if needed but the soap needs to be rinsed off after or it acts as a magnet to dirt.
4. For stubborn spots try a magic eraser… they are MAGIC:)
5. If you need to touch up paint I have had GREAT success with taking a paint chip to Sherwin Williams.  So often after paint has been on the wall for a few years it does not match the paint in the can. (I have had clients 10 year old paint matched by simply taking a chip of paint off the wall.)

 

Well enough chatting about cleaning… I’m off to handle the dirty hand-prints heading up my stairway.