Don’t Forget About You!

 

It is at this time of year that we don’t eat right, don’t get enough sleep and let our exercise program fall by the wayside. 

So, my question is, What Are You Doing For You?

When was the last time you went to the doctor and had a checkup?

When was the last time you had blood work done to see if you are healthy? See if your glucose levels are correct? If your cholesterol is okay? If your blood work is indicating that you are healthy?

Did you know that some healthcare facilities offer low cost health screenings?

I just had blood work completed to check on protein levels, iron, glucose, lipids, cholesterol and more. It was a complete blood history for only $30.00 at a local health care lab, with a 20 page summary outlining my current state of health based on the findings.

Do you currently exercise at least five days a week?

Are you a smoker?

Do you drink?

Do you eat healthy?

This is the time of year to get focused and concentrate on what you are going to do for you in the upcoming year.

No better way to start 2009 than on the right foot; eating right, staying healthy, exercising and losing that extra weight.

Best wishes!

This article is authored by Sandy Shores, Melbourne FL REALTOR.

South Brevard County, Florida Space Coast.

Breathtaking Views of Lake Washington

Yesterday, my daughters and I headed out to Lake Washington here in Melbourne Florida.  We try and catch the sunset every chance we can, because no two sunsets are ever the same. 

We watched as the airboats came screeching in – you can hear them for miles around.

And we watched the crowds gather to catch a glimpse of the miracle of the sun fading into the horizon.

We live only 5 minutes from Lake Washington, so often we get on our bicycles and ride there.

We felt blessed to have been fortunate enough to have caught such an incredible sunset this particular evening.

This article is authored by Sandy Shores, Melbourne FL REALTOR.

South Brevard County, Florida Space Coast.

Customer Satisfaction is Still Alive and Well Today

Well, I was back at the pet store today, looking for another bag of dog food for my boxer, Bailey.  At the beginning of the month I bought a 40 lb bag from another store, after I broke a bag all over the floor of the store.  It wasn’t a pretty sight.

My boxer has a very sensitive stomach and once I find the proper organic food for him, I stay with it.  But, after a short period of time, it seems that they discontinue making that kind.  I don’t know why, but they do. So, the most recent bag I bought was the closest thing I could find to what Bailey used to eat. But, it made him sick.

So, I was headed into a different pet store, Pet Supermarket, to find a dry food with no animal by products in it, and no dried beet pulp. I had previously narrowed down the brands and I knew that I would only be reviewing the labels of a couple of different brands.

I wasn’t in the store for 2 minutes, before an employee asked if he could help me.  I told him I wanted a holistic/organic dry food and if he could just show me what they had, then I would read the labels myself.  The employee, Lee, walked me through the bags of food, and read each label with me.  He was very patient with me.  We spent 20 minutes reading labels.

I picked an organic brand.  And then Lee told me, if this food does not agree with your dog, within 10 days of purchasing it, bring the unused portion back, and we will exchange it for something else.  Well, I was tickled.  This was perfect for me, as my dog cannot eat many types of food.

Often times I find that stores today have forgotten that the customer is supposed to be #1.

I walked out of the store feeling satisfied.  The customer service I was provided was A+.  And, their customer satisfaction policy obviously was A+ also. It was nice and refreshing switch from some of the stores we visited over the holidays!

Hopefully, Bailey is 100% satisfied also!

This article is authored by Sandy Shores, Melbourne FL REALTOR.

South Brevard County, Florida Space Coast.

From Our Family to Yours…

From our family to yours…

Thanking all of you for such a wonderful year here on my blog. 

I have met so many wonderful people. So, many here have touched my heart.

I thank all of you for allowing me to be a part of your lives.

I appreciate so much having a place where I can share my thoughts, my views, my experiences and sometimes my frustrations. 

I thank all of you who come to visit my blog and take time to share your comments on my posts. This helps give me greater insight and helps to broaden my thinking.

I feel so blessed to be here!

I wish all of you a Wonderful New Year!

-Sandy Shores

A Letter to My Grandpa at Christmas…Love Stephanie

My 16 year old daughter, Stephanie wrote a letter to her Grandpa this Christmas.  This is the first year that Grandpa will not be able to be here spending Christmas with us.  So, Stephanie wanted to let him know how much he means to her.

She knows that he takes the time to read my blogs. So, she thought it would be special to express her feelings here… just one more reason that I love writing a blog.  We can reach out and touch the ones that are near and dear to us!

Dear Grandpa,

I thought I would take the time to write to tell you how wonderful I think that you are.  I know that there is not a single grandpa in the world like you.

How did I get so lucky?

Over the past 16 years I have learned so much from you.  You have taught me so many things while working at the rental houses we own.  I enjoy it when you, Dad, Mom, Sam and I work together to get a house ready for the next tenant.  There are so many things to get done and you help me learn how to do things I never knew how to do before.

I can’t imagine having grown up without you in my life. 

Grandpa, you are amazing and wonderful in so many ways.  I love you more than words can express.

Merry Christmas, Grandpa. I miss you!

Love, Stephanie

 

The Keen, Smart Salesman was Nonjudgemental…After All People are Just People

I remember a story here locally about a small, frail haggard looking man.  He was poorly dressed, he hadn’t showered in many days and his hair was unkempt. 

He was the person that you might find yourself stepping to the other side of the road if he were coming towards you.

You may move away from him in a grocery store line. 

In looking at him you may find his appearance distasteful and pathetic.

One day this kind, gentle, smelly man headed out to buy a brand new car.  He knew exactly the type of car he intended to purchase. He stepped foot into one car dealership after another, with a wrinkled old sack in his dirty jacket. Each time he approached a salesmen he was shooed off the lot, as a transient, a vagrant, a menace, a pest.

Until one day he stepped foot onto a special car lot.  A keen, sharp salesman spotted this bedraggled, ripe old man and immediately stepped up to cheerily help him,  “And what can I do for you today?”

“Well, I’d like to buy a car and I know exactly what I want.”

“Well, step right this way and let’s see if I can’t help you out with that today.”

The rumpled man walked right over to the car of his choice, put his hand on it and said, “I’ll take this one now.“

The salesman wanted him to take a test drive.  “I don’t need a test drive, I want this car, right here, today.”

The kind, unkempt man reached into his jacket pocket, pulled out his torn, rumpled brown sack and handed it to the salesman.  Here, I’m paying cash.  The treasure he was carrying was hidden in the wrinkled old lunch sack tainted with grease stains.

The kind, gentle, patient old fellow paid cash for the full purchase of his brand new car and drove off the lot that day. 

The keen, sharp salesman smiled as he watched the wrinkled man proudly drive away in his new vehicle. This was the easiest, quickest sale he had ever had in his 7 year career as a salesman.

The salesman had a gift, the gift of acceptance.  He was accomodating and nonjudgemental.  He treated people as if everyone was the same. This salesman would continue on to make alot of money in years to come because he was true and geniune.

This is a true story that happened here locally in Brevard County Florida, some years ago.  And it has always stayed with me.

Often times we are so quick to judge people by their appearance, their clothes, their shoes, their cleaniness.  But remember, people are all just people.

This article is authored by Sandy Shores, Melbourne FL REALTOR.

South Brevard County, Florida Space Coast.

Quality Time with My Girls Over the Holidays = Priceless

School is officially out for the Winter Break! YAHOO! My girls are tickled!

Brevard County Florida schools are off until January 7, 2009.

No more homework.

No more studying till 11:00 every night and starting at 5:00 each morning!

No more mid term exams.

No more school dance team practice.

No more regular dance classes.

No more powerlifting meets.

No more running from 5:00 in the morning to 11:00 at night.

No more stress.

It seems like I wake up on Monday morning and when I lay my head down in bed it’s Friday night.  Time flies for us with two teenage daughters, our own businesses and rental houses. It seems that we never stop!

Tonight my girl’s traveling dance group is performing at an elder care facility.  We travel throughout Brevard County putting on dancing and singing shows for churches, hospitals, elder care centers, clubs, and libraries.

We will finish up our season on Monday with our 18th performance of the Christmas season.

Then, there are no more dance shows, either.

This holiday season more than anything else, I want to spend quality time with my daughters, Stef and Sam.

We have talked about the things we plan on doing.

We want to:

- bake cookies and fun goodies for Christmas

- watch movies and eat popcorn

- play board games

- do our hair and nail, ourselves

- have a girl sleepover

- have a picnic at the park and play on the playground

- take a trip to Orlando for the day and stop at Walt Disney Village

- spend a day in St. Augustine

- spend a day looking for shells on the beach

- get on our bicycles and start riding again

- get back into a regular exercise routine

I love my girls and sometimes I feel that life gets in the way of living. 

So, what I want most for Christmas is to spend quality time with my girls. 

To me this is PRICELESS!

This article is authored by Sandy Shores, Melbourne FL REALTOR.

South Brevard County, Florida Space Coast.

The House is No Longer Available, But Show it Anyway…But Tell Me that First

 

I just got back from an appointment with one of my buyers. I was meeting her and her husband to show them a house for sale

They called me a couple of days ago and asked for additional information on the property.  I did the research. Then I called the listing agent’s office to set up the appointment.  “Is it still available?” I asked.  I was told, that, “yes it is.”  I was given showing instructions and we had a set time to look at this vacant property that has been on the market for over 9 months. 

Then, I called the list agent directly to confirm the availability of the property. I left a voicemail  and did not receive a return call by appointment time. These days, I typically follow up with the listing agent directly, as sometimes the listing offices are not always aware of an offer coming in, or an accepted offer immediately. 

On my way to the property, the buyer called me.  They had arrived at the house 10 minutes early.  “Sandy, we are at the house and we are standing here with the new owner of the property. He said he is closing on the property next week.”

“What?” I asked. 

“Yes, he said that he is here to have the water turned on and will be closing on the property next week.”

“Let me call you back,” I said.

I dialed the listing agent.  He told me that he had a written offer on the property.  The bank had already given him a verbal acceptance on the offer, but nothing was finalized yet.  So. I asked him if the contract was going to go or not.  He indicated that he had no reason to feel otherwise that it would not go as the bank had already approved it verbally and he was waiting on the fully executed contract to come back from them.

Ugh… my buyer was already out, standing at the house, based on the information I had been provided by the listing office. I had been told that the house was indeed still available.  The listing agent had not returned my previous call to confirm availiability.

I passed the information along to the buyer.  I told them that if they would like to see it, I would be more than happy to show it to them, however, there was a good possibility that it was no longer available.  Ugh again!

I really hate when this type of thing happens.  I also don’t like showing houses that are under contract or already have verbally accepted contracts on them.  I know that things can happen, and the contract can fall, but invariably it always seems that the houses that are under contract and are being shown for back up, are those that the buyer falls in love with. 

But, I do appreciate when I am told that the house can be shown, but it may be no longer available, BEFORE I get to the house. Let me know that first and then let me know if they will accept backups.

The buyers opted not to look at the property as a back up.  They said they did not care to. 

I apologized profusely and turned around and headed back to the office.

This article is authored by Sandy Shores, Melbourne FL REALTOR.

South Brevard County, Florida Space Coast.

 

Is It My Imagination or Did I Fall off the Do Not Call List?

 

The last I heard it was an $11,000 fine to call a phone number that was listed on the National Do Not Call List.  I have been on the list since it started. And, for the most part I really haven’t been bothered by telemarketers. It’s really never been a problem at all, until October of this year…just before the Presidential election.  Then, the calls started flooding my home.  Hmmm,,, I thought, very peculiar.  I probably got about 5 a week. 

So, I checked my registration at the Do not Call website and confirmed that my information and phone numbers were in fact still registered.  The information indicated that a registration does not expire.

The calls continued to flow in, even after the election.  Each new call I received, I told the solicitor to please not call me any longer as I was on the Do Not Call Registry.  So, I reregistered.  I know that it takes 31 days for the telemarketers to take you off their lists.

I waited my 31 days, and STILL I am receiving sales calls, from all different types of places.  I verified my registration and I am in fact registered. 

I just don’t get it.

Why am I receiving telemarketing calls when I am on the National Do Not Call Registry?

Has anyone else had this problem before?

This article is authored by Sandy Shores, Melbourne FL REALTOR.

South Brevard County, Florida Space Coast.

Do You Have Money Needlessly Flying Out the Window?

In today’s tighter times we are all looking for ways to keep more money in our pockets and keep less from needlessly flying out the window.

Did you know that in the winter it is 2 to 3 times more expensive to heat your home than to cool it in the summer?  So, there’s no need to run the heat at full blast while you are away at work. Use your programmable thermostat and adjust your heat so that it is not running all day.

Studies have proven that people typically take longer warm showers in the winter rather than the summer.

Did you know that some types of electronics pull power even when they are not turned on?

-Devices such as televisions.  Large plasma TVs use more electicity and produce more heat than regular TV’s

-Stereos

-DVD and DVR players

-Cell phones and battery chargers

House guests can help run your electirc bill up – more laundry, showers, cooking, doing dishes, watching TV, lights on and computer usage.

Often times the length of your billing cycle can make your bill go up. you may have 2-3 more days in the cycle compared to last month’s bill,  That can cause a variation in your bill.

Call your local electric company, most are more than happy to give you a survey or run a free energy audit for you on your home, to show where you are using excessive electricity.

So, this Winter be sure to keep your eyes open, so you can needlessly keep money from flying out the window.

This article is authored by Sandy Shores, Melbourne FL REALTOR.

South Brevard County, Florida Space Coast.