Susan Walters

I am a relative newbie to active rain but I have blogged on several occasions about the down market we are experiencing in Michigan. Auto industry woes, exodus of other major employers, the news just keeps hitting us one wave after another. Yet we hang in there, many of us, knowing that Michigan is not going to disappear off the map; our market will shift to the bright side again, this new year we hope.

During this time of price reductions and falling values, I have hesitated to look at my own property. Some of the biggest losses have been in the $300,000 and over price points and we definitely fit in there. (You California people can just look away - that can buy a LOT of house here in Michigan.) I put myself on a search to be on top of what my own home's value is, though we do not intend to sell soon. I am taking my own advice. In this buyer's market, if there is no reason to sell, don't sell! Easy!

Despite our decreasing household size and the temptation to downsize, I was reminded this holiday season why doing so now would be such a bad idea for our family. Yes, we will be just three people living in a ridiculously large home when our second child leaves for college in September. But this holiday season, we have had our oldest child home on and off during the break (apartment in Ann Arbor) to enjoy the family, the food and to entertain friends home from college. We have the big screen TV, the kitchen, and the extra beds her place lacks. One snowy night when a girlfriend slept over, I learned that the room is nicknamed the Siberian tundra or something like that since the heat doesn't exactly reach there. Wasn't it a small-scale adventure? Aren't you both planning on being writers? THERE! Fodder for your first novels! I froze in suburbia under 5 down-filled duvets - good luck with that!

More recently, and the cleanup continues, our second child hosted a "LAN" party. He has explained to me repeatedly what it means (I forget) and of course there are computers involved since every guest arrives carrying a laptop or the overbearing parts of a desktop. Everyone needs their own to be part of this soiree. It is an overnight event that culminates in collapse at about 6AM. This event was boy/girl like others before but the shear volume of laughter, food-seeking, and revelry suggested no one was up to no good. When the bodies grew weary, there were plenty of places to drop, in the media room adjoining the computer room (lower level) and in the family room with overlooking loft on the main level. Couches, window seats, hammocks - you name it and we have it. Bedrooms were strictly forbidden but when there is a crowd, there seems to be less of a worry there - no one wants to air their secrets, even to their friends. These are good kids out for a good time.

So for now we hold on with fingers crossed. This property will be home at least until the market turns. It will be home to our kids forever no doubt, the days of their youth, their memories of good times. If all goes well, it will be a home for their children too - over the river and through the woods. OK, I'm stretching now but who knows? The years have a way of slipping on by, just as the last 9 years have. I look forward to selling when we're ready, all of us; we're hoping for a seller's market by then.

Tomorrow my husband returns to work after a very, very long break. I sometimes envy him his corporate ways. He goes to his job, does not work overtime, comes home, and forgets about it all. He has ample vacation time when no one calls him for work purposes. There may be unfinished projects that someone else attends to in his absence. He doesn't check email outside of the work day - no one expects him to. His cell phone is not on unless he needs to call someone or I have told him to keep it on, situation specific. He is so "off" that he doesn't even answer the home phone except to me or our children.

Here's the problem. He works in the auto industry in Michigan. His income is ALWAYS at the mercy of someone beyond his control. My income is my own; my business is my own. That scheduled three o'clock? Could be my daughter's orthodontist appointment. A down day sucked away by unavoidable stuff? I may have been "in training". Am I looking to deceive my clients or anyone else - of course not. Years ago I read in an Emily Post manners book that what we do with our time is up to us and that those who demand to know what the appointment is or why we were unreachable deserve to have the same first response repeated. "I have a scheduled three o'clock; I was in training." None of their business, and we have that privilege when we run our own businesses. How hard I work and when I work is up to me, as long as the job gets done.

On beginning this new year of 2008, I will be readily available to both clients and colleagues, as always. Just don't try to reach me until after 2PM on January 2nd, 2008...scheduled meetings. (I'll be fine tuning 2008 goals with me, myself, and I.) My goals are for my clients' and colleagues' gain. An organized me benefits all of them. Time blocking, from now on, you are my master. This year I'm even going to schedule in vacation time, to coincide with my husband's. Live, learn, relax, enjoy. It's going to be a great year!