Succombing to massive amounts of peer pressure, I’m now on Twitter. If anyone knows of interesting folks to follow, please share.  And, if perchance, you’re curious as to when I might drink coffee or check the MLS listings, you can follow along by clicking on the silly little gadget down below on the right.

Also, I’m hoping to add some video tours of the foreclosures and other lovely homes for sale around here. Meaning, all my loyal readers will be subjected to random videos of JoJo jumping for scraps and kiddies running about doing… stuff…. until I get this thing figured out.

The Reindeer had a rough time this year…

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Josh Dorkin over at BiggerPockets shamed me into it. He says the first rule of Real Estate Blogging is  (drumroll, please)…

Having a Way to Contact the Blogger

Being a Highly Suspicious Person, I’ve kept contact information to a minimum. I like posting the occasional picture of The Mister and don’t want any stalker types sending email saying how lovely the mister’s bald head looks in a certain light. Nor am I searching for business partners or trying to sell the latest e-book with 100 Ways To Make A Million In Any Market. Therefore, it seems to me that contact info is superfluous and anyone who wants to chat can leave a comment.

But I like Josh and tend to be a bit peer dependant with special needs. So as a little experiment, the contact info now has its own page…which will be pulled the first time some yahoo calls the office and asks for Prince Albert in a can.

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I’ve just finished 3 days of blood-sweating, head banging bliss completing our personal financial statement for Commercial Bank. Highly recommended right up there with Cat-in-Heat Serenades with Fingernail-Chalkboard Accompaniment.

 Do not talk to me– I’m off to decompress with chamomile tea and Turner Classics.

(Much Screaming…)

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This is Ike:

And this is where Ike is heading:

Projected path…

That would be us in the crosshairs.

Ugh….

If past history is any indication, we’ll probably be without electricity and therefore out of touch for awhile. Our home is on high ground and we have plenty of gas for the generators and a hand-pump well just in case. Still, this one is making me nervous probably because, for the first time, all the little Brz chicks will not be in the nest with us.

I’ll keep posting as long as possible, but if we disappear for a bit, don’t worry.

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Tags: Hurricane Ike, hurricane prepardness, hurricane watch, hurricanes

The grand experiment is over… and the focus of the blog has returned to real estate investment and building family wealth. Over the last few weeks I’ve learned a few things…

Sewing is a joy, but I seriously don’t want to write about it.It’s a hobby, a relief, a pal. And while there may be a picture or two posted from time to time, deconstructing the minutiae of grading a pattern or problem solving a sticky fitting issue reintroduces stress into my stress-relief.

Sawdust is in my blood. Thanks Dad. Can’t get away from it and don’t really want to anyway. Houses can be homes. The rehab process is fascinating, full of cool stuff to play with and the entire process is a huge three dimensional puzzle with a big, fat payoff at the end. Paint, flooring, hardware, cabinets… it’s what we do for fun around here.

Teaching others how to build family wealth as the road to financial and personal freedom is a passion. I truly believe it isn’t how much you have, but what you do with it that matters and anyone, in this or any economy can prosper.

I can sit again. Seems like a minor detail, but the chronic pain in my hip and lower back had built to unendurable levels… and now it’s gone. Details at some point, but for now, enjoying this new-found liberty takes precedence over writing about it.

And now for something completely different….

JoJo has killed 2 chickens in 2 days. If anyone has any ideas for breaking a dog from loving him some chickens to death, please share.

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The magic number has been reached.  New themes are downloaded, uploaded, etc. Many things continue to appear and dissapear at random whilest I play with various froo-froo colors and pix. If you arrived looking for something in-particular, fear not! It’s probably around here somewhere as nothing’s been deleted just yet. The background check manual will be available for a while longer until it’s moth-balled once and for good.

In the meantime, here’s a little Ebay Eye Candy… bought for 99 cents, sold for $120 by yours truly back in the day:

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The mail brought a very pleasant treat today~

Clifford over at Changing My Direction spent New Years galavanting about France… guess who won the chocolate contest??

BWAHAHAHA~ The chocolates are MINE! (much evil chuckling…  )

Time to find a child-proof hidey-spot

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 Our agent called and left a message–seems she’s been gallivanting around Europe and South Texas. Anyway, I’ve got the street address to the 10K lot and trailer and will do a drive-by tomorrow while I’m out buying another gallon of paint for the kitchen cabinets. Hopefully, I’ll get some good pictures and post them tomorrow night.

The tile floor installation’s been postponed until a week from Monday to give a few extra days for the paint to cure. Marc says he’s coming by this weekend to help us glaze the cabinets-something new which should be a lot of fun, although Mr. Brz is a bit skeptical about making new paint look old and has been the instigator of many eye-rolling maneuvers. He says he’s only going along because Marc says glazed cabinets wear much better than paint alone-as long as they get 30 days cure time before anyone moves in. Since the holidays are sneaking up fast, that shouldn’t be a problem.

I found this entry on the Litemind blog, Tackle Any Issue With a List of 100. It seemed like a great idea, so decided to try a list of 100 Ways to Make Money in Real Estate (very original, I know ). When I got to #56 and saw myself writing,  ”Charge the Kids Rent”… well… it just seemed like a good spot to call it a day.

JoJo is still in the doghouse. My new lamp sits on the floor instead of the table. It’s not near so lovely as the bowling-pin lamp, but everyone’s a critic and even JoJo can’t break this one as the base is cast iron and not going anywhere.

Pictures of the other dogs to teach JoJo a lesson.

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Some mysterious rhinovirus decided to pay the Brz Clan  a long-term visit this holiday season and while I’ve always enjoyed company, this is getting silly. Several articles are waiting in the pipeline, ready to publish just as soon as the fog clears long enough to do some serious editing, but in the meantime, this cold is a good excuse to look for other real estate and/or investment blogs.

Unfortunately, the search has been a little disappointing. So– if you have a recommendation, could you please comment below and post a link? Or send an email to cmbrz@conniebrz.com.

And I bet you thought I wanted Kleenex

Tigger’s the only one without the sniffles…wouldn’t be so bad if he didn’t keep rubbing it in.

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Tags: blogs, investment, real estate