For those of you that know me, you know that I am a huge fan of shopping. As far as I am concerned, they can create a paying career for shopping. I would be applying for it today. Something else that I like to do that would rival my desire to shop is eating. This might run neck to neck in things that I love to do. And, specking of neck, some friends of mine were recently in Great Neck, New York.

Apparently they went to Long Island to visit some friends over the holidays. One day, their friends decided to take them shopping in Great Neck. From the sounds of the stores and restaurants, it is just the place that I would love to go. Not too busy and not to sparse, but just right with shoppers. Plus, from the way that I understander it, Great Neck has that Town Center feel to it. This is the perfect type of setting in my book.

I am going to have to get up to New York and visit the friends that I have living there and get out to check out this potentially great shopping. I wonder if this is where Kathy Passarette gets all the stuff for her staging jobs.

I have a very good friend that bought a house not too long ago. In buying the home, he knew that he was going to have to do some improvements to it. Now, I do not know about you, but Washington DC is a very busy place and not a place that you can just jump in the car and run to the local home improvement store and be back in 5 minutes.

We were talking just a week or so ago and I told him that home improvement in Washington DC is best left up to the pros. The last thing that you want to do is spend your entire weekend stuck in a basement remodel that you are going to end up getting half way done with. Couple that with the fact that he now has a 3 year old, a 18 month old and another one on the way and that spells disaster. So, when he told me that he hired Michael and Son services to do the job, I was glad for him. he had found them online @ http://www.michaelandson.com/ and they gave him the best bid for the job.

I was kidding his wife that he would end up on one of the HGTV shows as the person that got in over his head. Personally, I am glad to see them sinking some money into the house to fix up what they have and make it bigger for the entire family. Making home improves that will add value to the property is one of the smartest things that one can do.

Over the last several months, I have developed a friendship with Robin Green out of South Carolina. We both write for Today.com and we belong to a few other social networking sites. A few days ago, Robin asked if I minded joining a site that would help support her daughter. When it comes to kids, I have that weak spot so anything that is going to help them out, I am all for. The fact that it is free makes it even better. So, let me get to the point of this whole post.

Nikki, Robin's daughter is going to race this season in the Young Guns Divison at TR Speadway in Greenville, South Carolina. With any start up, there are huge cost involved in it. Well, fortunately, they found a sponsor called Starving Racers. The way the sponsor works is the racers have to create a profile and a blog page. Then, they have to get people to sign up and comment on the post that they write. So, this is where I come in.

You see, for me, anything that is free to benefit a child is something that I can take 5 minutes out of my day to participate in. Now, I know that what I am asking is a stretch, but I am appealing to the parent in you. With times being tough as they are, deferring these cost is a huge help. Having someone that is willing to pay for the parts and other equipment for the return of writing a blog a day and getting people to sign up and comment on post is an arrangement that I can support.

ActiveRain is a huge community. One that has shown a lot of compassion and support for children in the past. Once again, I am goingto reach out to our powerful community and ask that you support this cause. Imagine the joy that you will be suppling this young lady each and every time that she wins a race. Image the joy that you will receive just knowing that you had a hand in it.

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About the Author

If you are in the market to purchase a home or even refinance an existing loan and you want a loan officer that will walk with you every step of the way, then contact Danny or Rich of the Thornton Team at Home America Mortgage today. We can have you pre-approval in as little as 4 hours. You can visit our website or send an email to thorntonteam@homeamericamortgage.com or call us @ 865-951-0522.

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