Curb Appeal (even if your not selling)

I'm busy running errands today, But as I was driving around town I noticed a

number of homes for sale. The topic had already been addressed by Great falls
blogger Josh Hutchins , So it was fresh on my mind.

A lot of the homes I am seeing offer very little in the way of curb appeal, sure
many have well mowed yards and the edges have been trimmed. What I am
talking about is going the extra mile to "draw" in your buyers. A few welcoming
plants or shrubs at the corners of your driveway, The overgrowth on trees trimmed,
a fresh coat of paint on the patio. These are all cost effective ways to bring in the
buyer and even make a little more then to begin with.

I will be studying for my real estate license soon and afterwards I will be joining
a Seattle team of real estate agents, I look forward to my new career. The knack
has always been there however. I have worked in various ends of real estate and
I have loved every moment of it. So what can you do to make you home appealing
even if you are not selling.

1. (as Josh states) Mow your lawn!! It's like a palette waiting to be used,
but no artist starts with a dirty palette!

2. Pull the weeds (including the ones in the cracks of sidewalks and driveways.

3. Plant some low maintenance flowers or shrubs.
(my neighbor across the road just planted some tall ornamental grass
and added some rocks to the corner of her driveway
I can't believe how little effort and cost it took her to make her
home just POP like that, it's very appealing.)

4. Look at your porch, doors, window panes and trim..Is the paint peeling?
Add more paint a fresh coat can do wonders!

5. Trim the trees! Pine trees especially can grow into nasty looking knots
that destroy the grass they grow over, trim them back into a nice shapely tree,
your giving the tree the ability to grow "up" while saving your grass.

6. Remove eye sores! Old cars can be towed for free by the city, Last summers
kiddie pools are not nice to look at, If there is a swing set and it's peeling paint,
add a coat to it, You can grab a few cans of specialty spray paint at Aces.

It's really not a lot to do in the scheme of how much you will make from
your home. if your not moving, it gives you house a higher appraisal as
well as your neighbors homes. It is worth your time and effort.

Reaching for the skies with minimum wage!

• OK, not really. But a minimum wage increase was approved for 2008. Now don't
  go filling out applications for a new house or car yet, the approval was only for 10 cents.
  According to KFBB TV the change comes in response to a cost of living increase.
  
  I'm not sure about the rest of you but the cost of living far outweighs the minimum
  pay in Montana. In my opinion I don't think 6.25 is near enough to cover the 495.00
  rent on most one bedroom apartments these days. Let alone cover, Utilities, transportations
  and the multiple insurances we need to survive and be law abiding.
  

Are Great Falls schools failing in more then one area?

As a parent and a writer, Education is at the top of my list of concerns.
Recently I had to send my eldest son to live with my sister so that he could
attend a better school. Why would I do such a thing? Whats wrong with the school
I was sending my son too?

The school my son attended is Lincoln Elementary school. The problems started very
early in his academic career. From being assaulted with books and rocks by an older
student to being left to deal with his reading block almost by himself. I feel the school
has failed my son miserably. Now at Sacajewea my son is doing much better and reading is
now his strong point.

For a long time I felt alone in the struggle with Lincoln. Until I learned of other parents
who felt the same way. One parent has a child who has a host of mental challenges, one
of which is symptimatic of distractions and outbursts. At one point the child misbehaved
he was made to go home for the day, the principal drove him and then took him to Ice
Cream at Dairy queen, unknown to his mother. That is not the way to handel a
situation that required being sent home.

Another circumstance tells of a teacher (same child) who made the class raise their hand
if they didn't want to be in the specified childs class. When children raised their hand the
teacher asked the students to tell the child why. My son came home crying telling me how
cruel the teacher had been to this other child, So I called the childs mother promptly.
The principle told the mother she would have to take the problem up with the teacher.
The teacher admitted the event saying she had a migraine and just couldn't deal with
the child. (lets put a little rewind on here) WHAT? Isn't that what teachers are trained
for?

I myself have a son who is being tested for autism. He had an IEP from Headstart and
those papers were lost when he went into kindergarten, My copies lost in a basement flood.
I requested a new Iep and was refused or given the run around. Only this week (my son is
now a first grader) did the new school psych happily agree to help me. A year later.

Lincoln promotes a slogan of no bullying, yet the some of the teachers are bullies themselves.
How well can a child learn in an enviroment where they feel threatened by peers and adults?
When our children (numerous younger children) were assaulted by 2 older
boys with text books, It was left to us to contact police and the parent. At the end of the
school year 2006, lincoln was met with no less then 2 bomb threats. I will follow up that one
with an interview of Mrs. Kathy Johnson. I have been told that she did not deal with the
problem because the childs parents were somewhat threatening...but we will see what the truth is on that. While i am interviewing Mrs. Johnson I am going to ask questions pertaining to
other issues. If anyone has any questions they would like asked in the interview, I would be happy to ask for you and keep your name anonymous, simply mail me at tatjannam@gmail.com.


On a side note, I want to say that not all of Lincolns teachers are misguided. I want to throw
out a big thumbs up to teachers like. Mrs. Haines, Ms.Spragg. Ms. Combs, Ms.Vansickle. Ms, Thornton and there are others who I have not had the pleasure of meeting, I'm sorry I missed you on this list. There are teachers who make a good difference and ones who do not. I think that it is pointless to keep the ones who do not.

Great Falls Summer 2007 photo review.

In my writing , I try to bring attention to things that are normally taken for granted or are
common but need a different outlook. Photography is the same way for me. Here are some
pictures I took (some just snaps) over the summer. Enjoy!

A cool storm brings in much needed respit from heat, the storm also brought several fires.

July's sweltering heat brought a car on my block disaster.

My son plays at the Civic Center after the parade

Boys will be boys

Children rush for the cool of a fire engines spray

Arianna, a friends daughter smiles for the camera (4th of July parade)

A small girl shows her pride (4th of July Parade)

A bee takes a fragrant last breath before finding a beautiful resting place.

Sunflower at Gibson Park

A mother shows her child the fire safety dog (relay for life)

Rod Miller of the band Recoil decides he stage set up for relay for life.

Where the cars park (in style!)

Sunset over the Missouri river





Stray wheat alongside the Missouri.






All pictures By Janna Miller 2007

Give em some "credit"!

A few years ago when applying for a job at Citi Mortgage here in the "Falls", I came across an
interesting question on my application. Will you allow Citi corp to review your credit before employment? I was a little taken aback, not to mention nervous, I had just come out of a
divorce where alot of our debts accrued were placed upon my head, I was looking for work after being a housewife for 2 years to pay off those debts.

Citi did accept my application and I joined the workforce happily. However my job there
was under contract as a temporary position. 9 months later my job came to term and I was
left seeking a permanent full time job. With a substantial amount of the (credit card and utility)
debts paid off, I was happy to find something I enjoyed. I'm a "rocker" at heart, I love music
in all it's forms. My friend was a manager at Hot Topic up in the mall and suggested
I come work for her. I put in my application , went through the meet and greet process and only minor sign on paper work was needed to be an employee.


After a time, the district manager took me aside and explained she could not employ me
because of my credit history. I explained about my divorce and that I had worked the last
9 months to pay off over 85% of those debts. She shook her head and referred to medical
bills that were accrued by my sons visit and stay at Benefis due to having RSV. Only
half of the bill was covered by my insurance the other half unknown to us had made it's way to credit.

The reason I was not employable is that I was a liability to the store. Never mind that
before staying at home with my kids. I had been a store manager for circle K and came
with good references (extremely dependable, comes in when needed, covers other shifts when no show) were only some of the references given by the district Manager, All of my registers
were always on and never a shortage. I was now a liability because of an illness.

Apparently this is a popular trend about 64% of the nations companies do it.
But what about the backlash? I can understand high tech and banks doing it. But in the
service industries where people who tend to have more debt (because of lower wages)
makes almost no sense. Most people are employed to pay off debts. Not everyone who
has debts are thieves or book roasters.

We have credit checks run on basic needs such as rentals and Jobs. What happens when
we start denying both of these because of credit? Will this trend lead to more unemployed
people living off tax dollars, low income housing and shelters? When does the government
put a foot in and say there are other ways to judge character? I am a little bitter because I
was denied, but I am no longer in a single family household and I supplement cost with
photography. But it is a worrisome thought when you think about it.

Addition to KFBB Story

When I posted the KFBB story a few days ago, I was not aware of a third person departing that day as well.
KFBB also says Goodbye to Julie Klesh , Anchor woman, reporter and News Director.
Julie will remain in the area and is pursuing other endeavors as well.

BLOGTOBER CHALLENGE!

David at Greaterfalls.com has presented bloggers as
well as non-bloggers with a celebration called Blogtober.
Well I for one love celebrations and any reason to have
a fun time and decorate or chat with friends is a good
reason!

Here are the ways that David suggests we celebrate
Blogtober!

1. Create your own “Happy Blogtober” button or graphic for your site
2. Get one (or more!) of your buddies to become a blogger
3. Invite some guest bloggers to post
4. Spotlight a blogger that you admire, and explain why
5. Implement some nifty new blog-tool or plug-in
6. Give some pointers about blogging (writing, design, etc) so that new bloggers can better understand what it’s all about
7. Explain why you are a blogger: what it means to you, how it has affected your life, etc
8. If you’re not a blogger but have thought about creating a blog, now is the perfect time! If you need help, just let me know and I’ll walk you through it!

(from Greaterfalls.com)

You don't have to blog about the news or important community issues, Blogs can be a journal of your life, recipes, poetry, short stories and thoughts.

Best of all, your already at a blog site. There are many choices out there. Blogger.com is only
one. So come join us in the celebration of blogtober! Once you have created your blog
send me an email at tatjannam@gmail.com and I will list your blog with my site!