A new report from data firm RealtyTrac has confirmed what I knew all along - foreclosures in Florida are up! In fact, Florida is only 2nd to California with foreclosures, thanks to the foreclosure rate here being up 77% from last year. I’m thankful that not only are we not trying to sell right now, but that we don’t have an adjustable rate mortgage, so we’re set on our payment and not in danger of it going up. Yes, we may be in the hole a bit for some equity, but that will return to us eventually.

Our neighborhood recently cracked down on overnight street parking, and will be towing violators.

This is me, clapping from inside the safety of my house, where the neighbors can’t see me. HA! Seriously though, if you know the rules of the HOA when you move in, why do you get ticked off when you break them repeatedly and get told not to break them anymore? All of the homes in our neighborhood have 2 car garages. We park my SUV in the garage, and Jim’s car in the driveway, which has room for 4 cars. The same people in trouble for parking on the street overnight are also in trouble for parking a commercial vehicle in the driveway. Look, slap some truck covers on your plumbing truck or whatever the heck all of the letters and logos covering your truck are for, and be done with it! If we can’t see the logos and such, then the problem is solved, right? You can buy car and truck covers online, they’ll help you avoid a nasty-gram from the HOA, and they’ll protect your car’s paint. Win, win, win!

First it was John Lynch, and then Sapp. Now Simeon Rice is gone. Pfft. Apparently Gruden has no heart, and thinks nothing of cutting the heart and soul out of the Bucs. We can’t win games, so Gruden’s solution is to cut the people who have done a great job for the Bucs all along, and pay rookies who haven’t proved themselves yet crazy sums of money.

Lots of luck Chuckie. You’re wearing thin on Tampa Bay fans.

We have friends in town who own a plumbing business, and recently went through the hassle of trying to find affordable health insurance for their business. While they don’t have any employees, they do have three small children, and health insurance was a must. I recommend a strategy that worked for us when buying homeowners insurance. Rather than going to the company, like Blue Cross Blue Shield directly, go to a broker - it’ll save you time and money. Instead of giving your information out several times to agents for each company, you can give all your information to the broker for a family health insurance quote. You’ll be provided with a range of quotes, at no change, from companies like Blue Cross Blue Shield, United, and Aetna.

My birthday is Saturday. I’m sure that it will be a much more low key affair than it was last year, when I turned 30. 31 just isn’t as exciting.

I got to thinking about another birthday party I had, I think it was my 7th or 8th birthday. At that time, my parents, along with another couple, owned a small ice cream shop on Patricia Avenue in Dunedin, FL. If you ever went into Gee Whilikers (it might have been spelled G. Whillikers, I’m not sure) around 1983, or 1984, I was probably there. When you’re that age, having your birthday party in an ice cream store that your parents own is pretty darn cool. My parents gave us unlimited credit on the video games, which were Centipede, Tron, and Ms. Pac-Man. We had a coloring contest and ate a lot of ice cream.

The store was never a big hit, and it was a lot of work, so they sold it pretty soon after that. I’m happy I got at least one party there, and it’s probably why I still prefer ice cream cake on my birthday!

I got a postcard in the mail today from a local realtor telling me that they sold a house down the street. Actually, they were a buyer’s agent, and the house isn’t built yet, they just happened to “sell” their client on our builder. I sure wish it had been one of the empty, already constructed homes that had been sold. It’s a shame that so many investors bought and walked away, and now are possibly declaring bankruptcy because they couldn’t sell the homes they bought to flip. Should you be in the same boat, and you’re not sure about your options, a bankruptcy legal professional is who you need to speak with. Don’t do anything rash until you find out all of your options!

A few years ago, my friend Laura had a scary experience involving carbon monoxide in her home. Thankfully, Laura and her husband had installed carbon monoxide detectors in her house, and they were able to evacuate in time. I’m pretty sure that most carbon monoxide issues inside homes normally come from furnace issues, which obviously, isn’t an issue in Florida. But in the paper this morning, there was an article about a Tampa family being treated for carbon monoxide poisoning after they left a car idling in their garage for EIGHT HOURS! (Ok, accidents happen, but how the heck do you forget to turn your car off?) Salvatore Gagliardo is still being treated, but his wife and child are home safe. The couple woke up when the 2 year old awoke crying and saying he didn’t feel good, and they got out in time. That is one lucky family, because the story could have had a much more tragic ending.

It proves that we should ALL have carbon monoxide detectors in our homes - furnace, or no furnace!

Florida isn’t exactly the right kind of climate for Christmas trees. Even when the trees are shipped to tree stands right after Thanksgiving, they risk being damaged by the heat before you ever get one home. I personally don’t want to put my tree up immediately following Thanksgiving, but sometimes, that’s your only choice. Otherwise, you can get your tree closer to Christmas, but chances are, it’s one of those trees that was delivered back in November, and it’s been drying out in the heat for weeks now. Did you know that instead of buying a dried out brown tree locally, you can have fresh, green Christmas wreaths and trees shipped right to your house, from the tree farm?

We typically buy our tree at the local home improvement store, and pay anywhere from $75 to $125 for a tree. And then we stuff into the back of my SUV and drive home. You can get a tree online from ChristmasFarms.com, starting at $89, with FREE delivery to your door. The trees are coming from a farm in Michigan, and it would only take 3 days to arrive at my house in Florida. So let’s see…a fresh tree cut down just 3 days ago for me, or whatever the local place has…dried out and brown. Tough call! HA!

I missed hearing about Sam Santilli last week when he was hit by lightning in Treasure Island. We don’t typically get news from that area in my paper, but I was saddened to learn today that Sam, who was a 16 year old Hillsborough High student, has died from his injuries. Sam was at the beach with his mom last Friday when he was struck.

That’s a somber reminder for us all. If you see lightning, get inside. Stay away from the water, the pool, high objects, don’t hide under a tree - just go INSIDE. Unfortunately, it sounds as if this all happened to quickly for Sam and his mom to seek shelter inside.

Here are some tips for lighting safety:

• Watch for storms. They can spring up and move in very quickly in Florida, especially in the summer time.
• If you’re outside swimming, on the water, playing sports, at the beach, etc, and hear thunder, it’s time to pack it in. If you can hear the thunder, you’re close enough to be struck by lightning.
• Stay computers and avoid using other electronics during storms.

It’s only July, but being the obsessive planner that I am, I’m already thinking about my Christmas card pictures! Last year’s picture is still on my fridge, in fact, it was taken a year ago this week! It was the night of my birthday and we went to Homosassa Springs for dinner, and had someone take our picture out on the dock. Sunset and water behind us, all the kids smiling, all 10 eyes open - it was a winner! I think this year’s picture will be one of our snapshots from Niagara Falls. I’m really liking the Christmas photo cards. They’re not the cheesy photo cards you normally see, where the photo IS the card. These are real cards, printed on nice stationary, with your photo, and you can get matching address tags to really show your friends what a Martha Stewart you are!

My husband’s high school reunion is in a week. I’ll be spending the weekend with him, schmoozing the Gulf High Class of 1987 at a resort on Clearwater Beach. Jim suggested riding the bike from our house to the beach for the weekend, but as fun as that sounds, I vetoed it pretty quickly. One, if it rains, we’re screwed. Two, I will have too much stuff packed for the weekend to tote on my back on the motorcycle.

It will be my first time out to Clearwater Beach in a LONG time. I don’t think we’ve been since they opened the new bridge! I heard they did away with the roundabout out there, is that true?

As the Tampa real estate market continues to slow, I’m getting the impression that a lot of investors failed to have a plan for failure. Yes, we never plan to fail, but it’s a good idea to have a contingency plan if things happen that are out of your control. We’ve got investors walking away from homes in my neighborhood…literally, walking AWAY from the home. Declaring bankruptcy. Losing whatever equity they had, or selling the home for pennies on the dollar. Obviously, those people failed to plan. This financial investing blog shares information on how to plan your financial strategy in 6 steps. Step 6, adapting, is where many real estate investors planned. Faced with a slumping market, they had few options, or perhaps didn’t act soon enough on the options available, hoping that things would turn around.

If you’re interested in knowing more about investing, the blog has articles on stocks, investing in gold, and of course, real estate investing! And of course, while everything is purely the opinion of the blog author, he makes some excellent points, he doesn’t use too many technical terms, and he presents information on all types of investing.

If you know what song I got the above title from, you might just be interested in a concert this Saturday, July 28th! Several bands will be performing at the Lost ’80s Live Tour, one of whom is Flock of Seagulls. The show is at Jannus Landing in St. Petersburg and starts at 8pm - tickets at $19.99.

Other bands scheduled to perform at Dramarama, Gene Loves Jezebel and When in Rome. (I’ll admit, I don’t know who they are, but I’m sure I’ve heard songs from those groups at one time or another.)

Back in my youth, I spent quite a few weekends at the beach wearing nothing but a bikini and some tanning oil. Yes, tanning OIL. It’s a wonder my skin doesn’t look like leather from all the sun damage I inflicted on it in my youth! I’m smarter now and use a sunscreen with a nice high SPF in it when I go outside, but I can see fine lines and wrinkles on my face that could be from aging, or they could be the start of that leather face. I’ve seen a natural skin care line called Shira in my salon. The product line is sold through spas and high end salons and the line can help with acne or wrinkle reduction. It contains natural products like sea weed and chamomile.

Spa and salon owners, as well as estheticians can take Shira classes at their NJ location so that you can return your spa and pamper your customers in style!

During one of the local Harry Potter parties in the Tampa area last week, one lucky boy was ushered to the front of the line, ahead of 100’s of other people, to be able to buy the 1st book sold at that particular store. How did Josh Maraman get to be so lucky? Well, for starters, he looks very much like a young Daniel Radcliffe, the actor who has portrayed Harry Potter in 5 films so far. What do you think?

Apparently, it’s all about the eyeglasses, because Josh said when he got his first pair 2 years ago,
people started commenting on his resemblance to Daniel and Harry Potter. Congratulations, Josh!

We are HUGE hockey fans.

Jim has season tickets to see the Lighting play, and both Jim and our son play hockey on a team. I’ve sat a many a game and wondered if my son could be the next Brad Richards! We were so proud when the Tampa Bay Lighting won the Stanley Cup - is it any wonder that the highlight of our trip to Toronto in June included a trip to the Hockey Hall of Fame?

I found a neat hockey website I’ll be emailing to Jim today. Even though there aren’t any games going on right now, there’s still an NHL draft to be excited about! The site includes a draft review for each of the teams - I found a great article on my Lightning playing it cool during the draft, and another reviewing the performance of our rookies. The site is getting me all fired up for another season!

Let’s go Lightning!

I just read that Marilyn Manson and Slayer will be in concert this Friday, July 27th, at the Ford Amphitheatre. Count me out! I think we saw Marilyn Manson YEARS ago at the fairgrounds (before the amphitheatre was built) along with Green Day and Nine Inch Nails. Not my cup of tea - not when I was 18, and not now. And Slayer - I didn’t realize they were still touring! All of the “metal heads” at Tarpon High in 1993 loved Slayer.

If you’d like to go, tickets are still available and start at $33.50. I’m actually shocked at how much they cost, considering we paid about that much for Jimmy Buffet (who has a HUGE following from upper class middle aged people) and we only paid $10 for lawn seats to see Gwen Stefanie.

The real estate slump in Tampa isn’t just affecting those trying to buy and sell homes - it’s affecting people who are offering properties for rent, as well! There are so many homes and apartments and townhomes for rent right now that buyers have their pick of any number of homes. A friend of ours who is renting had her choice of several different homes in the same neighborhood, and they got not only a great deal on rent, but included utilities and pest control too!

People all over the US can turn to Rentals.com to check out houses for rent - instead of a bland black and white ad, like you’ll find in the newspaper, you’ll get to see a full listing for each rental, and pictures too. I took a look at the Tampa listings to see what was out there, and found a TON of great homes to choose from. Pools and fenced yards and all sorts of added perks. The site is getting so much traffic right now, I can’t even access it - wow! You can search by state and then narrow down your results to a metro area, so that you won’t miss a single home for rent when you’re doing your search.

I think this rental home in Tampa is my favorite. I love the dormers and the metal roof, the hardwood floors and the water views.

What the heck was the problem on the Veteran’s Expressway this morning? I got stuck right around Gunn Highway and it was slow all the way through the Waters Avenue toll booths and up to Hillsborough, where I finally gave it up and got off. It took me 35 minutes to get from Waters Avenue to Hillsborough, too! I turned on the radio to listen for a traffic update, but all they said was “heavy volume”. Duh! What’s the reason for it? I hate it when there’s not a reason for that kind of traffic.

Jim and I renewed our car insurance this week. Our car insurance provider has a new plan where if you pay for 6 months up front, you save quite a bit of money. We saved $260 by doing that, instead of paying every month for the next 6 months. Not a bad deal! I only wish that our homeowner’s coverage offered the same payment plan. We paid it up front a few months ago, and it sure would have been nice for the home insurance agent to have knocked a couple of bucks off for us! The only deal they offered was a package discount if we purchased our auto insurance and life insurance from their company. Eh, thanks, but no thanks.