Christine Emmick

So, if you are like me, you may be wondering exactly what caused the housing problem, who's responsible and why I have to pay for it. As I understand, basically ACORN, and other polictical active organizations forced the banks, with legal action, to loan money to those who otherwise would not qualify for loans, then Fanny Mae and Freddy Mac repackaged these loans into a faulty investment vehicle. Then when too many of these loans defaulted, the banks went bankrupt. Now the government is bailing out the banks, so they don't have to close, with our tax dollars.

I found these videos that explain the housing crisis in clear understandable terms. When you view all three you get a haunting picture of the full-circle effect of what is really to blame for the financial mess we're in.

This first one is long, but WELL worth the time. http://www.hulu.com/watch/59026/cnbc-originals-house-of-cards

Here are more KEY elements of the story. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ivmL-lXNy64

Here is an important projection of what might be in store for our country.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lqkMfToY9Pk

Please watch all three videos. The first one does not give a complete story and does not address the ACORN involvement at all. The second does not go into detail about the complex investment strategy required to fund these "ninja" loans, and the third is commentary that ties everything together and forces you to look at the ramifications of such unethical practices.

Now, what will fix this mess? I believe it is buying homes we can afford. Most of my out of town relatives cannot believe it, but you can find a home for less than the price of a used car in the Pittsburgh suburbs. Most of the listings my husband and I look at are in the 10 to 15K range. That my friend is AFFORDABLE housing. not these 250 to 500K mansions sitting on a postage stamp sized lot cut from what used to be farmland. Not only that, zillow.com shows favorable home values in the Pittsburgh area and Business Week reports Pittsburgh as one of the best places to ride out this recession.

Are these ten-thousand-dollar homes pristine? No, but they certainly are livable. Most need very little in the way of upgrades and can be presentable by throwing as little as 2 or 3 grand at them. Do they have pools? No. Do they have new infrastructure? No, but people are living and working in them.

The simple fact is that you spend more for a newly build house. If you really want to go green, reuse what is already here and buy a used house. That keeps way more cash in your pocket, and saves way more natural resources than tossing your Dasani bottle in the recycling bin.

Recently one of our AR family posted a gleaming representation of technologically enhanced communication and the great benefit it was to society. I wanted to show another side of this, so I responded like this

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Spencer,

Perhaps I am one of the only ones that sees this new way of communicating as a detriment rather than an asset. Here's why...

Studies show that our children are now shutting off the parts of their brain required for face to face social interaction. Bombarding them with TV screens and video game consoles gives them an unreal sense of reality. They don't have the people skills they need to be socially complete. I could allude to the possible ramifications of this, such as autism, ADD and ADHD and the rise in violent criminal behavior, but not enough studies will be or have been conducted to connect the technology use to the behaviors. From my own experience with my three young daughters, the more they watch, the worse their behavior gets, and the more detached they become.

No deep life changing conversation can happen in a text message. There is simply something missing in the translation. You cease to really know the person on the other end. It is a way to communicate in a one sided fashion while still getting the benefit of a response. Take your post for instance. If you were in a heated face to face discussion with your wife about the issue of technological communication, you would have to listen, take in her side of things, and compromise your view. This ultimately brings about the best, most "real" result. Isn't this why we developed action teams?

Technological communication gives us the ability to isolate ourselves from the people whom we are supposed to be the most connected. Take for instance the internet porn problem. A man (or woman I suppose) gives up the intimate time and energy that should be devoted to his (or her) spouse, and instead pours time and energy into something that is one-sided, un-reciprocal and unchallenging. Looks easy enough until the divorce papers show up because they don't know each other anymore.

There is something irreplaceable about the tone and pitch in someone's voice, the intensity and form of someone's handwriting, and the depth and strength of someone's embrace. It's fading away. I can feel it, can you?

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Now you may say I am over dramatizing the situation and it's really not that bad. That may be true, especially since I have a particular liking for the dramatic, but you cannot deny the isolation this new communication technology brings. It completely detaches us from the warm embraces, awkward glances and tender whispers we enjoy from face to face communication.

My point is communicating with technology removes the "real" from reality. For all you know, I could be a 400 pound transvestite with a horrible flatulence problem. Not that I have anything against overweight, sexually ambiguous gassy people, but you get the point. It's like buying a house and living in the virtual tour. You never get to feel the carpet, smell the damp basement, hear the creak in the floor or feel the warmth of the fireplace. The real is missing. Can we find it?

By Christine Emmick

I'm a successful homeschooling mother, business owner and college graduate. I've always done well with the higher maths and have even taken college Calculus. But I have a dirty little secret, I never memorized my times tables.

It's not that I didn't try. I remember sitting at the desk in my bedroom with my mother while she struggled to pound them into my head. But when I moved to the next fact, I'd forget the one before. There was nothing to make it stick, until now.

A short time ago someone introduced me to City Creek Press. I watched as my second grader clicked through the web page and played the demonstration. I was impressed with how they combined visual, auditory and story clues to help remember facts. I decided to get Times Tables the Fun Way, hoping that my daughter's math memorization experience would be different than mine.

When it came in the mail, I let her read it for about an hour. "I like it," was her response when I asked her about the book. We then sat together and read some of the full color stories depicting trail blazing sixes, snowmen eights and soldier sevens. "This is fun!" was the exclamation from my daughter. This was in stark contrast to my mother's begging and my tears of frustration while I did multiplication drills as a child.

This system uses a story instead of just numbers. The full color illustrations, methods and story elements of the book stick with you, and if you get the companion CD, Songs to Remember, you've got a tune to go with each fact as well. With the CD's bouncy songs you could even do PE and math class at the same time. Another worthwhile investment is the Times Alive!^TM software. This program has lessons, tests and activities to reinforce the stories found in the book. The CD and software really should be purchased with the Times Tables the Fun Way book as the one reinforces the other, but the software could be used alone as a sort of introduction to the methods.

All of these products plus other materials covering multiplication, addition and story problem learning can be found at the City Creek Press website at citycreek.com. They have kits custom designed for classroom, homeschool and special education settings and also offer their products individually also. I'll be getting Addition the Fun Way for my younger students next.

If you are tired of the struggle with your student's math fact memorization and are looking for help, City Creek Press may have your answer. With the help of Times Tables the Fun Way, and my second-grader, now I can say I have finally memorized my times tables. :)

Christine Emmick is a freelance business, real estate, homeschool and foods writer located in the Pittsburgh area. She is also the author of "Mommy, Where is Pap Pap?" due to be released this fall. You may contact her through her blog site at www.activerain.com/cemmick.

Search Real Estate Property the Easy Way by Taking a Ride with Staged for Success on the Pittsburgh Foreclosure Bus

By Christine Emmick

In today's economy, foreclosures are inevitable, but the current market is great for Pittsburgh. In February of this year, Pittsburgh was named one of the best places to ride out the recession by Business Week. With a solid job market and plenty of affordable housing, Pittsburgh and the surrounding tri-state area could see home prices actually increase over the next decade. This is good for the local real estate market, especially since real estate is on sale right now. The market plunge has caused the Pittsburgh real estate value to dip slightly, about one percent according to real estate market reports found at Zillow.com. With news like this now is the time to buy.

Real estate foreclosures present exciting buying opportunities for first time home buyers and those interested in investment property. You could comb through the real estate property listings filled with bargain basement money pits or go to one of those questionable real estate auctions requiring thousands of dollars cash up front to find foreclosures. Or you could take a ride on The Success Bus. Staged for Success, the premier staging company in the Pittsburgh region, is hosting real estate bus tours in many Pittsburgh regions. This hassle-free way of looking at real estate from Staged for Success takes you on a comfortable bus ride, using their gasoline, and lets you examine properties that are worthy of your time and money, with no pressure to buy any of the houses they show.

A ride on The Success Bus lasts from about 10am until 4pm and features full viewing of approximately twelve foreclosure properties. These real estate listings are hand selected so you won't waste your time looking at houses that need torn down and made into a parking lot. The real estate tour also includes advice from experts in the Pittsburgh real estate markets and experienced negotiators to help get the best price for the home. Not only that, Staged for Success provides lunch, including chips, drink and sandwich. For those that choose to make a purchase, take any of the classes available on their website or use any of their staging services, they offer 25 to 50 percent off their services. The cost of the tour is only 50 dollars per person or 90 dollars per couple and you receive a full refund of the tour admission when purchasing a home through the program. For upcoming tour dates and Pittsburgh neighborhood locations, visit www.thesuccessbus.com or call 724-757-9291. For any questions about the online home buyer's class, visit the Staged for Success website at www.mystagingpros.com.

It's time to get on the bus!

Content sponsored by Staged for Success, a full service home and business staging company serving the greater Pittsburgh area. For more information about Staged for Success, visit their website at www.mystagingpros.com.

Christine Emmick is a freelance business and real estate writer based in the Pittsburgh area. You may contact Christine through her blog site at www.activerain.com/cemmick.

Mountain View Elementary to Receive Over 20,000 Labels for Education^TM from Morella's Route 30 Shop-n-Save

By Christine Emmick

Since February 2007, the owners of Morella's Route 30 Shop-n-Save have donated over 26,000 Campbell's^® Labels for Education^TM to Latrobe area schools, and they are set to do it again. Through a partnership with the company, the Latrobe Shop-n-Save will donate over 23,000 more Labels for Education^TM certificates to Mountain View Elementary School in Latrobe.

With these points, the school can select anything from Crayola^® art supplies, Merriam-Webster's^® reference books and Math Blaster^®learning software, to playground equipment, a MiniDV camcorder or a wireless PA system. The program also includes earning points for video projectors, iMac^® and Dell^® computers, flat panel TVs, educational games, science kits and models, microscopes and even an electronic scoreboard.

The Morella's encourage members of the community to join their efforts by simply donating Labels for Education UPC codes from the products they use. Just drop them off at the box located at the front of the service desk. Many Campbell's^® soup UPC codes qualify for the Labels for Education^TM program, and Labels for Education^TMpoints are also found on selected Spaghettios^®, Franco-American^®, Prego^®, Pepperidge Farm^® and Swanson^® products. Selected V8^® juice caps and certain Campbell's^®Food-service products are even accepted. For more information on what to collect, visit www.labelsforeducation.com and click on View Eligible Products.

For more information about the Labels for Education^TMprogram, weekly specials or other sales promotions, contact the Morella's Route 30 Shop-n-Save at 724-532-3939. Look for Morella's on the web at www.rt30shopnsave.com. Click the Jobs & Community sidebar to learn more about what the store does for the Latrobe area, and click Special Promotions to find out about their specials.

Christine Emmick is a freelance foods and business writer based in the Pittsburgh area. You may contact Christine through her blog site at www.activerain.com/cemmick.