Leslie Bloss, Seattle Real Estate Professional

I have just gotten off of the telephone with an office worker at one of the Seattle elementary schools and she told me that the “open enrollment” for elementary school for the year 2008-2009 ends at midnight on February 29, 2008. The guidebook says: their fax machine will be on until midnight—postmarks do not count. Go to the guidebook link and you will find helpful information including checklists to help you do so. The first link is where you will find enrollment forms etc.

Schooling is one of the top concerns buyers have when they are searching for a home. Jesse and Kathy Clifton have a thoughtful post today talking about Fairbanks Education in Fairbanks, Alaska Education, talking about the North Star Borough School District and listing each school with a corresponding school district.

A woman called me yesterday that will be relocating here from Spain and wants to live within the boundary of the John Stanford International Elementary School, 4057 5th Ave NE, Seattle, WA 98105 (in the Wallingford District). She is drawn to the school because her children are currently bilingual and she would like her children to keep it that way. John Stanford teaches their classes (half the day) in either Japanese or Spanish. The language is chosen by a lottery.

I have written posts about schools in my area and mentioned that you can go to Greatschools.net for some excellent information on schools K-12, college planning etc.

I started this post because I was going to talk about how my daughter has been previewing co-op preschools for their son for next year. The one he attends this year is for one day-a-week and he is too old for their program next year. Things sure have changed since my kids were in preschool!

Seattle, Bellevue, Queen Anne, Wallingford, Green Lake, Fremont and Redmond, Washington Real Estate Property Listings. Just click on the blue "homes search" button and then click on the area you wish to view. You can also search by street address or the MLS number.

ABC News has an article today saying that Forbes.com has come out with their list of “America’s Brightest Cities” written by Alyson Papalia. Yippie Seattle is included!! The places are usually college towns or some of the country’s biggest “high-tech centers (Seattle and San Francisco).”

Here are the statistics for the Seattle Area:

Seattle-Bellevue-Everett, Wash.
Metropolitan Division

Population: 2,444,743

Ages 25 and older ...

with a bachelor's degree or higher: 35.92%

with a Ph.D.: 1.32%

with a professional degree: 2.47%

that graduated high school: 89.90%

Seattle, Bellevue, Queen Anne, Wallingford, Green Lake, Fremont and Redmond, Washington Real Estate Property Listings. Just click on the blue "homes search" button and then click on the area you wish to view. You can also search by street address or the MLS number.

If you like taking classes and you are a Washington state resident, aged 60 and older, you can audit University of Washington courses for $5 The students participating in this program are called "Access students" and may enroll for a maximum of two courses per quarter. Students attend classes on an audit basis and cannot participate in class discussions, take tests or submit papers. There are restrictions and there must be space-available in the course to attend.

I have known about this for a long time and can hardly wait until I get old enough to participate. To start with, I want to take an Astronomy class.

The Access Students program is also available at the University of Washington Tacoma.

Seattle, Bellevue, Queen Anne, Wallingford, Green Lake, Fremont and Redmond, Washington Real Estate Property Listings. Just click on the blue "homes search" button and then click on the area you wish to view. You can also search by street address or the MLS number.

I was out in Kent, Black Diamond and Covington this afternoon, handing out calendars to friends, former neighbors and clients and it was too late to drive back into Seattle without hitting rush hour traffic. So I pulled over into Rooter's Barbeque and Deli, 29030 216th Ave. SE, Black Diamond, WA 98010. I hadn't been into the restaurant since they had remodeled after a very large fire they had had.

I was very impressed with what they have done with the place. It has a very warm, cosy and a bit rustic decor. (If you don't like stuffed animal heads on the wall--it is not the place for you.) Since it was a little above freezing when I went, it felt very good to have a table right next to the fireplace.

I had a pork sandwich, with coleslaw, baked beans and potato salad (I brought half of it home). It really was good!

Back to the animal heads--I left a note for the owner that if he needs a cariboo head, I have one he can have.

Please visit my site for information and support. Seattle, Bellevue, Queen Anne, Wallingford, Green Lake, Fremont, Green Lake and Redmond, Washington Real Estate Property Listings.

Sarah Nopp has a post this morning entitled “Volunteering Opportunities in Olympia, WA”—after reading it I decided to see what volunteer positions are open on boards in the City of Seattle.

The following boards and commissions currently have openings in the City of Seattle:

Fire Code Advisory Board - Mayor Greg Nickels is inviting candidates to represent retail business to apply for appointment to the Seattle Fire Code Advisory Board. The 15-member board advises the mayor, the City Council, the Fire Chief and the Fire Marshal about fire code issues in Seattle.

City regulations require that board membership include specific business and industry representatives and two members of the public. At this time, the retail business representative is the only vacant position.

Mayor's Council on African American Elders - the Mayor seeks candidates who are active in African American community affairs and have skills and experience in health care, fund development and public relations, and who have contacts in African American churches.

The City of Seattle link is where you can check back occasionally to see if something opens up that you maybe qualified for and find interesting.

Please visit my site for information and support. Seattle, Bellevue, Queen Anne, Wallingford, Green Lake, Fremont, Green Lake and Redmond, Washington Real Estate Property Listings. Just click on the blue "homes search" button and then click on the area you wish to view. You can also search by street address or the MLS number.