Sheron Cardin - how2homestage.com RESA

Inspired by a recent post of mine: Help! Where Should I Post Promotions in Active Rain...Anyone Know? I have seen stagers et all sharing bargains, sales, finds, web sites, and I have seen Realtors show off their beautiful listings, and I have read time and time again about who is the best this and that. What do I do when my business is international.

My business is on the web, I run discounts now and then because I know many people are on the fence and it gives them the push they need. I like your suggestion and will consider a new group. I have neglected American Bandstand which I started a few months ago so I don't think I should be the one to start another one. Are you up for the challenge Virginia? I know localism is hot so as a sister group, how about...

The Price is Right!

Any ideas?

Anyone can follow instructions, right? Well, save a few people who are completely intimidated by a cooking recipe, but really, we have all followed footprints in the sand when we were kids and we still follow footprints in our lives today.

Perfect for real estate agents who want to help their clients prepare their homes and perfect for FSOB's; Here is what you will find at www.how2homestage.com to prepare a home for a successful sale...

• Home Staging Evaluation Checklist Forms (21 pages) - Leave your worries behind! This is a complete 21 page checklist that identifies every aspect of a standard 5 bedroom home from the mailbox to the door pulls. All the work has been done for you...all you do is circle the action to be taken and it becomes your to-do-list. The checklist also helps you establish a budget by selecting what needs to be done to the home and property to get it resale ready.

Here is a recent testimony from a from one of my clients:

I bought your how2satge DIY program last year and follow your blogs. Your'e great!!! I love activerain, it is a great way to learn from around the country. I have been in interior design for 22 years and we staged before it had a label. Best of the Day to you! Debby Altitude Designs

• Do-It-Yourself Home Staging Instructions (48 pages with 4 phases) - A complete step-by-step tutorial holds your hand through the detachment phase, resurfacing and updating phase, and the all important room identification and decorating phase.

• How To Stage Your Vacant House (27 pages)- You don't need to rent a truck load of furniture...that is costly and can be repititious with all the other vacant homes in the area...boring. Staging vignettes throughout the house as well as hosting open houses from the kitchen puts life where there was only sadness. Used as a companion to the Home Staging Instructions, any of the ideas in this ebook can be implemented into the staging of any home with unique ideas and attitude.

• All from a decorator's point of view! - 27 plus years of decorating model homes, resale homes, high end homes, and everything in between is put into these pages. The premise is "Learning is by doing". Follow in the footsteps of the professionals and achieve a professionally staged home maximized for resale. • Tools, inspirational tips and ideas for room arrangements, outdoor groupings and themes, and everything you will need to do-it-yourself. Save your money for other things! Download your Complete Home Staging Package today!

*** PLUS when you visit www.how2homestage.com, you will find designer links on what to do and what not to do when staging, 100's of photos, tips, and ideas you can use right now in your own home. Don't forget to use the easy tools in the right column!

I know, you don't want to do it yourself. Great! Give me a call or any of the professional home stagers in your area to do the work for you. Just remember that you won't know if they are going a great job for you if you don't know what to expect.

Right now, the Home Staging Evaluation Checklist is on sale!

Selma...I Love Living Here!

There, I said it! May the comfort gods find peace at last...at least for the moment...

My problem? Perfect weather vs. ultimate convenience;

As an example; I picked my brother up from his new little house is Selma to take him to the bank. In those days I was still smoking so he lit up a cigarette in the car and when I pulled up to the bank, he looked at me and asked "Are we here already? I smirked and replied with "Yep!" Then without any warning he coined a phrase for Selma I have used over and over again, He said "Man, this is a two puff town!"

Size is relative, I know, and so is the level of convenience on experiences. I come from Los Angeles and there, convenience was the freeway and the beach. Living in Denver; snow plowed streets early in the day meant convenience. When living in San Francisco, having your own parking space is convenience. Now, convenience to me means walking in to pay a parking ticket with no waiting and 2 minutes back to the house. That's what I'm talking about.

I took these pictures while walking my dog Buddy downtown Selma this last January and I think it is time to share them. I hope to convey the calm quiet feeling of my town as someplace that sounds really good to meander in, live in, and grow in.

<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<WAKE UP>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

I can't tell you how stunned I was when a forty something woman said she had never heard of global warming And quite honestly, I believe she would never have found out had she not dropped by my home Saturday night.

All my lights were out and candles were glowing all over the house. She asked "whats up?". When I told her that it was Earth Hour, you would think I just told her they found a new planet with people on it and she was the last one to know. She came in and sat down anxious to hear all the details.

How could an American with two children not know the plight of the polar bear or what the new squiggly light bulbs are for? How can this be!!!

My friend said she does not watch TV...nor does she read the newspaper. (I wondered how many people really don't know about global warming?) I happily explained in the warm candlelight all that I could to help her understand. We had such a nice time sharing what ever popped into our heads after the initial update that our girls said they want to do it again...every Saturday. We settle for every other Saturday.

Earth Day is a world wide event where large cities as well as individuals live without electricity for one hour a year. Why once a year I thought! Why not as often as we can...?

Because of this experience, my family and friends are going to have an ongoing opportunity to share with each other and help the planet at the same time.

Today is the day I weed out what I want to write about and what I will just toss. I have always had piles of torn pages from decorator and food magazines but now, because of my awareness gained through Active Rain and the Eco group, I have a GREEN pile and it is the tallest of them all.

At the top of this pile of greenness is an article from one of my AARP magazines and have been hanging onto it for a few weeks now. The photo depicts a tree standing on the side of the road with it's suitcase in one hand and the other with a thumb out. It speaks volumes to me of our grave global warming situation even though it makes me laugh every time I see it.

I often think about our early blooming trees here in the San Joaquin Valley and how fragile fruit and vegetables are. The farmers fear frost every winter and early rainfall in the spring. The weather spells out success or failure every year for them.

This picture epitomizes the fear for the future of our farms and landscapes in general...

I know what you are thinking and I suppose vegetation has been moving around since the beginning of time, but what used to be a gradual migration has accelerated dramatically and never before were there businesses and families/towns/cultures so dependent upon what is produced on their land for survival.

The article points out the concerns of the ranchers wanting to know if there will be grass for grazing...how hard will it be to move those cows? How about nursery owners and botanists who make a living growing flowers for special occasions, what will they do when the land is too hot...use the empty cow pastures? How IS this all going to work out???

What I hadn't considered was how extreme weather conditions give adaptable plants an edge, and some of the most adaptable plants can be trouble. Hundreds of plants are on U.S watch lists because of invasive tendencies. Among them:

1. Kudze - Visitors to the 1876 Centennial Exposition if Philadelphia found this Japanese cousin to the pea charming. It's now rampant in the South
2. Purple loosestrife - Its blossoms may be hard to resist but loosestrife is reviled in most of the nation, where it invades wetland and crowds out native vegetation.
3. Pampas grass - Dramatic plumes make this a real prize in Connecticut, but in southern Californa it spreads vigorously and catches fire easily.
4. Spotted water hemlock - It looks like Queen Anne's lace, but this carrot relative spreads rapidly in waterways and exudes a toxic sap. In most of the Southwest it's considered a noxious weed.

Footnote: 28 states could lose an official flower or tree to climate change, according to the National Wildlife Federation.