This week has been producing some remarkable sunsets. We have a lot of clouds that make each day grey and a lot of rain – sometimes a bit of snow. A typical January for this area.

But rather than the clouds making each day gloomy, the grey has enhanced the natural colors, such as the bright red berries of the dogwood tree, the red cardinals, and the green grass that is trying to poke through the muddy lawn.

This sunset last night had a touch of pink and I happened to have my camera with me, so I got a nice shot. I think I should carry my camera with me more often. I like nice sunsets – especially when they do not involve an endless horizon of water. I think the dark tree branches make a nice frame and the darker hills in the background give the photo depth.

I’ve got a Cincinnati home security system at my house and the kids keep setting it off. I don’t think they’re trying to sneak out because they’re only 8 and 10 but I put them down to bed and not 2 hours later they’re up at one of the doors or windows trying to get it open! I don’t know what’s gotten into them and I’ve been trying to work with my husband to get it all under control but you know, I guess it’s not the worst thing to deal with this now rather than when they’re 16. If they had boyfriends or something I would be worried but I think they’re just being kids and getting into mischief like kids tend to do and it’s really hard to get mad at them for that, you know what I mean? I love my children but sometimes they push my buttons too far when I’m at home – guess that’s what I get for being a stay at home mom!

Well, as they say, the best laid plans of mice and men . . . when I got to the U-Haul store I was astounded to see the price of cardboard boxes. Every box was at least $5 and some were selling for as much as $30. That is just crazy for cardboard boxes! I can buy plastic tubs for less than that and not have to worry about water damage, mildew and rodents getting into the cardboard.

I went to K-Mart and bought 8 large plastic bins for under $35. After the yard sale this spring, I can still find a use for the plastic bins – they are almost a lifetime investment for storage whereas cardboard only lasts until it gets wet, torn, or starts to naturally degrade.

I have helped him put together a resume and showed him how to search for product fulfillment jobs posted on the local jobs boards. There are always a dozen or so openings posted, all over town. I really thought that he would be able to get a job within 6 – 8 weeks.

I ran an order fulfillment department back in the 1980′s and I know a lot of things have changed since then. For one thing, we can use bar codes and computer printed manifests for shipping. That saves a lot of time and avoids errors from bad handwriting on shipping labels. Even packaging has changed a lot since then, and running a warehouse is much easier, with conveyors, rollers and motorized forklifts to help workers find the inventory items and get them pulled for packing.

In all these years that my neighbor has had this swing, I have never seen her sit on it and actually swing. But we do have a lot of squirrels and birds who love this swing. I wish I could have snapped this photo with a couple of bright red cardinals on the swing with it sprinkled with fresh snow. I really like red cardinals and they look especially bright against the dark brown of wood and the white of a fresh snowfall.

I’ve always like the idea of garden arbors and started investigating them online. I was surprised to find so many different styles and sizes available. I guess I need to start my search by deciding on whether I want a wood arbor or a vinyl one.

Of course wood can be painted, but I think the point of wood is to have a more natural feel. If you are just going to paint the arbor, you should probably get one that is vinyl and have it factory painted in the color of your choice.

Everything in my neighbor’s yard is a natural wood – I am pretty sure it is all cedar. Even the siding and roof on her house are cedar and the whole effect is very rustic. My house’s exterior is a red brick veneer, so it is not as rustic as hers, but I still like the idea of wooden arbors for a natural look rather than a color.

While inspecting a property out in the country, my client took me around to the back of his house and showed me his little backyard retreat. He had fenced a section of the yard to separate it from the rest of the farm, installed a shallow in-ground pool, and put up this quaint wood arbor. I thought it was very artistically done, especially considering he is an auto mechanic.

We got started with some serious overhauling of the landscaping last summer and I think if the weather allows, I can get an early start on planting both a vegetable garden and relocating the shrubbery in the front of the house. I want to put in some raised beds and add some windowboxes across the front of the house. I have two windows in the living room, one window in the dining room and one window in the front bedroom that I use for my home office.

The one window in my home office is not suitable for window box planters because it is centered on the wall along my front porch. But the other three windows along the front would be great if I planted flowers that do well on an east facing wall.

I have imagined a row of three window flower boxes with lots of bright green foliage and perhaps some bright red geraniums. I know geraniums come in several different colors and shades of red. I want to get something bright, that shows up well against the red brick of the house and the fireplace.

Somehow it is just not as satisfying to rake the leaves from the backyard into a pile and then have to dump them into oversized brown paper bags and wait for the county yard waste truck to drive through collecting the bags. It’s just become another mindless, isolated chore that has to be done. I miss the good old days of leaves burning and all the neighbors gathered around, telling stories and jokes and being part of a close knit community.

I was very much against the brokers getting into selling businesses. There is a unique segment of our industry that specializes in business brokerage and there are very good reasons why it is considered a specialty. For one thing, there is an incredible amount of time spent by the broker on valuing the business and preparing an extensive marketing package. To prepare the marketing package requires a lot of paperwork gathering and analysis, and a lot of research.

The amount of data that is collected for any type of business sale is staggering and it is confidential data that must be safeguarded while parts are being made available to potential buyers. A good solution for storing and managing this data is using an online resource, such as the professional VDR solution for IPO process.

Because financing has been so difficult to obtain from American banks and investment companies, some of our buyers are turning to foreign banks and investors. The problem with dealing with banks in China or the Mid-East is that many of the legal documents must be translated for the foreign banks to review, analyze and present to their loan committees. For those kinds of deals, we can use the Merrill Brink translation services and have a high level of confidence that the data maintains its integrity.

I’ve worked with a technical translation services provider before and it can be very difficult or it can be very easy. I think the first time you try to do an international deal it will be difficult. But once you learn the process and get a deal done, the next ones are much easier.

The talks and presentations continue as we finish our lunch and then right before we adjourn, the President invites the attendees to take turns standing and declaring any wants – such as looking for a particular type of property – or any haves – such as a listing just signed since the last monthly meeting.

The announcement of haves and wants is a great advantage to people with hot properties or anxious buyers. This is when we hear about deals that are underway or have just been signed. We hear about the deals before they hit the internet and we also have the ear of the brokers involved. Access to this type of information is invaluable and there is no better way to get an edge on the competition then eating lunch with and rubbing shoulders with the dealmakers.

I would not think there is that much work for actors in Philadelphia. But actually, it is not far from NYC and is a lot cheaper to live in Philly than to live in New Jersey or New York. So when he gets work in NYC he gets a short term apartment in New Jersey. New Jersey is actually nice once you get away from NYC and the banks of the Hudson River. In fact, most of New Jersey has nothing to do with New York City.

My favorite spot in New Jersey is Atlantic City. Most people probably think of Atlantic City as a min-Las Vegas, but i think of it as the beach and the boardwalk. I spent many summer weekends on the beaches of the Jersey Shore, swimming is the surf and walking for miles up and down the boardwalk and the beach looking for seashells. And I promise you, my summers at the beach were nothing at all like the TV series, Jersey Shore.

Keith’s parents live in rural New Jersey, about an hour east of Philadelphia and that is too far for him to commute to NYC for acting jobs. They have a small dairy farm and we were out there visiting his family over the holidays. I flew into Philadelphia and Keith picked me up at the airport. Then we drove out to his family’s farm in Jersey. That was a nice drive – nothing but open fields and a lot of cows. It was nothing like the opening scenes in “The Sopranos” when Tony is driving from his home in New Jersey across the river into the city.

I’ve know Keith and his family since college and they are like a second family to me. I’ve been to their farm several times and they always make me feel like I am one of the family and very welcome. On this visit, we hung out with Keith’s dad a lot, while his mom was busy shopping and baking – getting ready for Christmas.

Keith’s dad was telling us about Arosa Energy, a company that helps homeowners, farmers and businesses with New Jersey solar power. He says that there are a lot of ways to be able to afford switching to solar power or adding solar power to your property. Now there are federal tax credits and rebates from the state, which really help with the initial cost of installation.

His dad is planning to work with Arosa Energy to add solar panels to the dairy barn and the farmhouse. He was told that there will be so much energy generated from that many solar panels that he can actually sell the excess energy to the electrical utility provider company. I think that New Jersey solar energy is going to prove to be a great investment for his dad and the farm. We might end up back at the farm in April to help with the solar panel installation. I wouldn’t mind going back to help – I think I would learn so much from working on it – and it would be great to spend time with Keith and his folks, too.

Thankfully, we citizens do have the ability to get help with our taxes. There are people who are trained and licensed to help us prepare taxes, and they have to stand behind their work. If someone other than the taxpayer prepares the tax forms, that person has to sign the form along with the taxpayer. If you were smart and hired an enrolled agent to help you prepare your taxes, the enrolled agent can appear before the IRS if you get audited, and they can even negotiate with the IRS on your behalf.

Becoming an enrolled agent requires formal training, which is available online now. You have a variety of courses that you have to take, such as the enrolled agent ethics course and about 50 hours of study on a list of required courses.

A lot of people like to file their taxes as soon as they receive their W-2s in the mail, around the end of January. These are usually the people who are expecting a refund. However, a lot of other people wait until the first or second week of April to even look at a tax form and try to figure out whether they will get a refund or have to pay in. I know that I need to get busy organizing my home filing system and get the receipts sorted so that when my W-2 comes in the mail I can do a rough estimate and find out if I need to start saving up to pay in, or if I can expect some money back for a change.

Farewell to 2011 and HELLO to 2012! I’ve been looking forward to this year, and we had a nice party last night to properly welcome 2012 into our lives. I hope this new year is kind and generous to us all!

Moving wasn’t something we really did because we wanted to, we had to for my husband’s new job. I really miss my family but I went to http://www.wildbluedeals.com/satellite-internet/oklahoma/m/muldrow/ after we got settled to ensure I’d at least be able to email them and keep tabs with my sister’s blog (she’s got a new baby so she posts pictures all the time.) I actually like this new town although it’s smaller than I’m used to and I’m going to start looking for part time work once the boys start school. I don’t think I’ll have trouble making friends through church and all that but I think the biggest challenge is going to be finding a way to fill the void that I feel now that my family is so far away. I love them so much and they were such a big part of my daily life it’s really going to be an adjustment getting used to them not being around as often as they were when we lived just down the street, you know?