HGTV channel

When I use to have my house before ...
I use to watch a lot of those shows.
I was a big fan of Trading Spaces.
Getting ready to purchase a home ...
I was thinking I should start watching HGTV again.

I was wondering how to get Randy interested.
Found out the other night he found it on his own.
Then he said to me we should watch more.
We watched Deserving Design,
Divine Design and Design on a Dime.

Check out all their tv shows
and the BEST of HGTV.com.
They also have a message board
and Front Door - real estate site.

Newer Homes

This week we checked out some NEW homes. These homes were constructed with radiant heat. The houses have a nice open concept but they were poorly located - there was a heavily traveled road yards from the houses. Now we can exclude these from our search.

The four above we have yet to see in person.
They are all three bedroom ranches.
Upper left: 1967, 1 bath, 1,288 sq feet, 3.5 acres
Pro: hardwood in most rooms - Con: garage under
Upper right: 2007, 2 baths, 1,344 sq ft, 2.7 acres
Pro: Deck/Water frontage - Con: not level ground
Lower left: 2005, 2 bath, 1,536 sq feet, 1.0 acres
Pro: open concept, low taxes (nearby town) Con: ?
Lower right: 1975, 1 bath, 1,142 sq ft (above), 1.1 acres
Pro: two tiered deck - Con: full finished basement

Interesting: the older homes only have 1 bath
while newer homes are built with 2 baths
oftentimes one bath is part of master suite.

Lower right is pretty much excluded when comparing
high price tag with limited positives and major negative.
I have difficulty using stairs so basement would be off limits.
Lower left is sounding more interesting ...
as I could not come up with a negative to include.
It is in nearby town which adds a little extra to commute.
Upper right may be excluded too. Price tag includes
water frontage which we do not really care about.
Also having no level ground for me to walk is not desired.
Upper left just on the market 2 days now.
Also has a deck. And familiar heating/water setup.
While moderate sq footage (in comparison) - price reflects that!!!

Not expecting to see these this week.
We need a little break from all the trips.
Trusting God to guide us to the right house ...
Everything in His timing (like our marriage)!!!

Home Hunt continues

Our house hunt continues.
But really we are looking for a "home".
A place we can both feel comfortable for some time.
I'd like a comfortable kitchen to do all my cooking.

Our newest possibility has a visual tour available.
More info in our entry Three Walk thrus.
We were pre-approved for a home mortgage
and somewhat understand Credit Report Info.

Trueworthy

This week we started looking at houses in Augusta.
The above house on Trueworthy we saw the inside of.
Looks decent enough on the outside but little space inside.
One of the bedrooms did not even have a closet and the
others were tiny - bedrooms all about the same size.
The "family room" was just the breezeway/entrance area.
After our visit we noticed the price went down by 10,000.

Some others we excluded with just a drive by:
South Belfast double wide on hill
Outlet Road double wide on unpaved road
Old Belgrade double wide on hill and multi-leveled
Eight Rod Road ranch on hilly driveway
Tiffany Road ranch on unpaved road and neighbors too close

Visit Maine

I found the Maine Office of Tourism Visit Maine site.
The Where to Visit section includes Mid-Coast
and Kennebec & Moose River Valleys.
Other sections include Where to Stay, Where to Eat,
Things to Do, Plan Your Trip, and Event Calendar Search.

Main(e) Street

My mother sent me a link the other day to
Visit Bath.com regarding this weekend's Mayfair.
It is Bath's Citywide Yard Sale to partially benefit charity.
It was the first time I had seen that site and surfed around.
I see there were some other Maine "main street" cities ...
including Gardiner and Waterville (both around Augusta).

Visit Bath Community Links
Gardiner Downtown Business Links
Waterville Area Links (includes state orgs)
State Link: Main Street Maine Program
National Link: National Trust Main Street Center

Maine Business Trends

Focusing on Maine trends since we are looking to move.
Trends 2008: A look ahead at Maine's economic future and key business sectors
These articles are from Feb 24th, 2008 but should still be valid.
FWIW - I am only posting links for some of the articles.
* Home prices may bottom out this year
* Retail, distribution sectors taking off
* Retail growth generating hundreds of jobs
* Projects help offset Navy base's closure

Engineer's Guide to Cats

Saturday Feature

I am thinking of renaming Saturday Humore.
When I started it I did expect to post more humor.
But it has become more about sharing our interests.
The regular blogging is mostly a journal of our life ...
Sometimes it can be very mundane aka boring.
The Saturday posts help you know us better,
where we live, what we surf on the net,
what tickles our funny bone.

Some possible renames include:
Saturday Feature, Saturday Special,
Saturday Express, Saturday ???.
I will post more when I think of them.

Renamed it Saturday - nice and simple!

Nubble Lighthouse

During our Belated Honeymoon Getaway we visited Nubble.

This lighthhouse is located off Cape Neddick in York Harbor.

Read The History of Nubble on their official website.

That site also has a page listing Maine Lighthouses.

For lighthouse enthusiasts: New England Lighthouses.

Even more links to Maine Lighthouse at about.com.

Considered M, R and E of HUMORE

Earth Hour

That's today - actually tonight from 8-9 PM.
It's a global effort to have everyone turn off their lights ....
to make a positive impact on climate change.



Links to read more about it:
Official Earth Hour website
Earth Hour 2008 Information Blog
World Wildlife Fund/Earth Hour
Google's part in Earth Hour
Universe Today: Countdown to Earth Hour 2008
Planet Green: Turn Off Your Lights for Earth Hour
Wikipedia (which includes more links)

Considered R and E of HUMORE

Weird Games of Maine

March 9th Maine Sunday Telegram:
Let the (weird Maine) games begin
I doubt that we are any weirder than others.
Just different people from different areas
do different things for fun and sport.
What some Mainers do by season:

Winter: Belt Sander Racing (2:04)


Spring: Maine Mud Runs (2:49)


Summer: Lobster Boat Racing (3:03)


Fall: Giant Pumpkin Regatta (no good video worth sharing)

Considered U, M and O of HUMORE

Women's History Month

March is Women's History Month

"On March 19, 1911, a German woman named Klara Zetkin organized the very first International Women's Day. In 1978, a California school district started Women's History Week to promote the teaching of women's history. The concept of studying women's history continued to grow in popularity and in 1987 ... Congress declared the entire month of March National Women's History Month."

Women's History Milestones by Time for Kids
Women's History Month at History.com
... Women's Hall of Fame (in Seneca New York)
... Firsts in Women's Achievements
... Did You Know? (statistics)
Women's History Month at Library of Congress

Considered R and E of HUMORE

Everywhere in Maine

I found this MUST POST video over at YouTube.
Especially the beginning with all the snow!

Three months!!!

In honor of our third month anniversary ...
thought we'd post some marriage humor ...

MARRIAGE SEMINAR

While attending a Marriage Seminar dealing with communication,
Tom and his wife Grace listened to the instructor,

"It is essential that husbands and wives know the things
that are important to each other."

He addressed the man,
"Can you describe your wife's favorite flower?"

Tom leaned over, touched his wife's arm gently and whispered,
"It's Pillsbury, isn't it?

The rest of the story gets rather ugly, so I'll stop right here.

WHO DOES WHAT

A man and his wife were having an argument about

who should brew the coffee each morning.

The wife said, "You should do it, because you get up first,

and then we don't have to wait as long to get our coffee."

The husband said, " You are in charge of cooking around here

and you should do it, because that is your job,

and I can just wait for my coffee."

Wife replies, "No, you should do it, and besides,

it is in the Bible that the man should do the coffee."

Husband replies, "I can't believe that, show me."

So she fetched the Bible, and opened the New Testament

and showed him at the top of several pages,

that it indeed says .......... "HEBREWS"

Jokes found at Jokes and Fun Stuff Page

Considered H and R of HUMORE

Maine Movies

We love movies and thought we would mention some Maine movies.
Randy has seen all from the top 10 list but I have not.
I'll mention some I liked or are on the "to see" list.

On the "to see" list:

Cider House Rules
filmed partly in Bernard and at Sand Beach in Acadia National Park

In the Bedroom
locations included Belfast, Camden, Rockland, Rockport, Wiscasset

Twelve Monkeys
One list says it was filmed in Maine - not sure.

Empire Falls
locations included Augusta, Waterville, Skowhegan, Kennebunkport
Like The Man Without a Face (below) dad drove their car in it.

Stuff we've seen:

The Man Without a Face - we have both seen
Rockport, Cape Rosier, Bath, Brunswick, Portland, and Rockland.
My parents were hired to drive their 1961 Plymouth Valiant.
It was an old push button model from the right time period.

Peyton Place - celebrated 50 years in 2007
filmed in Camden and Belfast

Casper - I did not realize that it was set in Maine!!!
filmed in Camden even though story actually set in Friendship.

Steven King often sets his novels in Maine
and some are filmed here like Pet Sematary.

Links:
Top Ten Movies Filmed in Maine
Top Movies Filmed in Maine

(Considered M of HUMORE)

Freedom Writers

The first movie we watched Valentine's Day was Freedom Writers.
We thought it appropriate since it was about the love of a teacher
for teaching and especially for each of her students individually.
It is an amazing story of a first year teacher making such an impact.
Hats off to teachers everywhere especially those who truly care!!!
Teaching really should be a labor of love.

Erin Gruwell, the teacher portrayed in the movie, definately felt that.
She went the extra mile or maybe MILES for her students.
She took on her first part time job to pay for reading books.
And then a second part time job to defray field trips expenses.
She gave the students the learning experience they needed.
She and her students became family and still are today.

The journals she had them keep were turned into a book.
The script went around for awhile waiting for the right backing.
Hillary Swank got a copy and read it and wanted the part.
Many of the actors playing the students are first time actors.
But they truly could relate to the experiences they were acting.
The actors along with Hillary also became a close knit family.

Erin found out the students had never been taught the "Holocaust".
She took them to the Musuem of Tolerance in Los Angeles.
She also sent their dairies to Miep Gies who had hid the Frank family.
Miep and other Holocaust survivors met and shared their stories.
Erin and her students started Freedom Writers Foundation.

Maine connection: Patrick Dempsey played Erin's husband.
Patrick was born and raised in Lewiston, Maine.

(Considered MRE of HUMORE)

American Film Institute

In January Randy and I started watching a movie a week from the AFI top 100 movie list. AFI stands for American Film Institute. We are watching backwards from the original list put out in 1998.

Back on June 21, 2007 Roger Ebert blogged on AFI 100: Kane still #1

Randy was disappointed about some that made the new list which meant others fell off. After attempting to watch Pulp Fiction with its most foul language I have to wonder what the people making this list were thinking. And next week's is no better - Goodfellas.

The AFI also puts out other lists. The new ones coming out this year are 10 Top 10. Its the top 10 in 10 classic movie genres ... animation, romantic comedies, westerns, sports, mystery, fantasy, sci-fi, gangster, courtroom drama, and epic.

Where's the top musicals you may ask (as I did) ... In 2006 they had a list of the top 25 greatest musicals. Bottom line they have bunches of lists if you are interested in what others picks. I think they are fine to look out but remember everyone has different tastes.

(Considered R of HUMORE)

Anadama Bread

When Randy was out today he picked up some Anadama Bread at Wild Oats Bakery and Cafe. Anadama Bread is one of the breads it makes on Saturdays. I've had it before and liked it so wanted to share it with Randy. We used it for our sandwiches for lunch.For those that do not know Anadama Bread is a traditional bread on New England. It is made with white flour, cornmeal, molasses and sometimes rye flour. It's "very hearty, nice & dense, and just sweet enough" bread.

There is no clear cut answer as to where the name came from or when or where the bread originated. The most common story as to the name "anadama" is ... a fisherman, angry with his wife, Anna, for serving him nothing but cornmeal and molasses, one day adds flour and yeast to his porridge and eats the resultant bread, while cursing, "Anna, damn her."

While I have repeatedly read anadama bread "traces its roots back to colonial New England, the northeastern part of the US. It is characterised by its inclusion of cornmeal and molasses, which are two very American ingredients" I also read a story that suggested it came from California and it was miner's wife that was "damned".

Update Sunday: For breakfast I like it lightly toasted and buttered.

(Considered MO of HUMORE)

Maine Earthquakes

Yes, Maine has earthquakes!
We have blogged about it twice now ...
We didn't do it!!! and Again, it wasn't us!

Most are hardly noticed and do no and little damage.
Although I do remember when in high school ...
having a relatively big one that had aftershocks.
It caused a crack in the living room wall.

Here are some great links:
Maine Earthquake Information
Last Earthquake in Maine
Recent New England Earthquakes

(Considered MORE of HUMORE)