I’m not writing this to make myself look good, but because I’m feeling a new confidence in doing the positive, whether it’s for friends, family, or acquaintences who would be encouraged by knowing they are being thought of and are important to me.

I found the quote below in Reader’s Digest and it has many implications for how we treat the people in our lives.  Too many times we think there is a “window of opportunity” for certain actions, when, in fact, doing the right, or positive, thing has no statute of limitations.

Did your new neighbors move in two months ago and you haven’t met them yet?  Bake some brownies and take them over as soon as you can.

Has it been more than three weeks since an acquaintance’s funeral and you think it’s too late to send a sympathy card to the family?  Send it anyway.  There is no time limit on comforting someone who is grieving.

Did you just find out that guy you see regularly and chat with casually on the golf course had surgery a month ago?  It’s not too late to send a get well card.

Did a niece’s award at school go unnoted?  Send an “I’m proud of you” card to her today.

Take a few minutes to think about what events in the lives of those around you you want to commemorate but thought it was too late – then act on them today.  Everyone likes to know they are are important to someone else.

When in doubt, do the positive. Can’t decide whether you should get all dressed up and go to that party? Don’t know if you should “intrude” on a new neighbor with a homemade welcome cake? Worried that an old lady would find you rude for offering to help her with her grocery bags? Do the positive! Go to the party, bake the cake, help the old lady. A life of doing is better than one of regretting what you didn’t dare to do.

1. Know the overlap

Say you sign up with Sincerity Realty.  After a month with Sincerity Realty your house has not sold, so you decide to go with The Selling Guide.  You house sells within the first week. 

Who gets paid?  Both.

The previous realtor has typically 90 days to claim that it was their publicity, and not your new company’s that made the sale.  This is also something that’s there to protect the realtor. 

Say that you went with Sincerity Realty, found a couple interested in buying such that they wanted to place an offer and you were there, tapped them on the shoulder and said, “Hold off on that offer.  I’ll take the house off the market and we can split the realtor’s fee.”

Unethical?  Yes.  Especially considering that realtors don’t typically get paid until there is a sale.

2. Rates are Negotiable

I live in a state where the seller pays the realtor, so this may differ depending on your state.  In either case, know that there are two percentages that make up the Realtor’s price—there’s the percentage for the selling realtor and a percentage for the buying realtor. 

You want to try to make the buying realtor portion higher if possible.

Why?  Because all rates show up on MLS as the portion that the buying realtor gets.  So, say that you make a deal to pay 6% of the cost of the sale to the realtor.  That realtor will then break up the 6% something like 3% for the seller and 3% for the buyer.  That’s not bad.

But suppose they did a 2.5% for the seller and 3.5% for the buyer.  That would give the buying agent more incentive to show your house in a positive light.

So, make sure you talk about the rates and see what you can get.

3. Know Your Area

Before you put your house on the market, you may want to do some house shopping.  By going around to houses in a specific price range, and in a specific area, you will better know what price is reasonable.

Yes, the realtor will come with a price in mind, but this will be predicated on how much they think they can get in a relatively quick amount of time.  The more time you have, the better price you can get for your house—it’s that simple.

4. Decide How Fast You Want Your House To Sell

Part of the dilemma when moving is that if you get the other house first, you may be pinched for money, and you may have to settle for a lower cost to get your house out faster.  If you wait too long you have the hassle of having people constantly coming through your house, but where do you go when your house is bought?  Do you really think you can find a place between the offer and closing?

5. Keep Your House Clean

Lots of little tips here:

• People that have been hunting for a while know when you’re hiding something.
• Don’t exaggerate what is in your house—is that really an eat in kitchen?  10 bedrooms?!
• Light colors are great on walls.
• Cut down on the clutter.
• Take down excessive family photos—they can be distracting.

Don’t get yourself stressed out trying to make it perfect.

Hubby, are you reading this?  Someone, send him a link. :p

Actually, hubby does make me melt.  All the time.  He’s an amazing man, friend, lover, husband, and servant.  I am so unworthy to be his wife.

Some things hubby has done to make me melt:

•  Brought a cat, Bouncer, home for Valentine’s Day.  He hates cats.  He thinks the perfect companions for cats are potato guns.  Yeah.  But since he loves me and I miss my parents’ cat, he got me Bouncer.
• Sacrificed his all-time favorite mattress for a bed I love, but he hates.  His sacrificial love always amazes me.
• We have a date night each week and the 1st of each month.  Our date nights mean so much to hubby and the fact that he prizes these nights with me makes me swoon.
• Two words: Baby.  Fever.  Hubby wants to be a daddy.  This is a new development as infants scare him.  (He’s okay once a child can talk and tell you they’re hungry or they have an owie or whatever.)  Some days I think he wants a baby more than I do.  And that’s a whole lot.
• Pouring into youth – especially those without father figures.  He is the dad some of these kids never got to have.  I love watching him around teenagers, especially teenage boys.  They’ll go to the movies or to the gym.  He’ll go to their games.  He urges them to become men of God.  It’s absolutely beautiful.

So that’s why my husband’s amazing.  Boy sometimes, compared to him, I feel like a shmuck.

I sure do love him. :)

And the best part? They’re so easy!

AG’s White Girl Enchiladas
Servings: Theoretically, six. Realistically, two. They’re scrumptious.

Ingredients
6 boneless skinless chicken breasts.
1 or 2 26 oz cans green chili. I like Stokes brand a lot and I use about a can and a half, depending on how I’m feeling that day. I think the chili makes or breaks this recipe.

1 or 2 1lb bags pre-shredded mexican style blend cheese. Again, I usually use about a bag and a half, depending on my mood.
6 burrito size white tortillas.
Any hot sauce, salsa, lettuce, tomatos, sour cream, etc., that you’d want to put on top.

Directions (Brace yourself… this is too easy!)
Preheat oven to 350ºF. Place oven rack toward the middle of the oven.
Cook chicken in a skillet over medium high heat until outside is cooked. Slice breasts into strips. Cook chicken strips until completely done.
Spread a few tablespoonsful of green chili in the bottom of a 9×13 (I prefer glass) baking dish to prevent sticking.
In each tortilla, spoon about two tablespoonsful of green chili, top with 1/6 of the chicken, and a good-sized handful of cheese.
Roll tortilla and place enchilada with the loose end face-down into the baking dish.
Once all six enchiladas are in the baking dish, spoon the remaining green chili on top. Spread the chili out so no little corners of tortilla are sticking out as they will burn if they don’t have chili on them.
Cover entire dish with cheese – lots of cheese. As much cheese as you dare.
Bake at 350ºF until it smells so good you can’t stand it. (Usually between 20 and 35 minutes, depending on the oven. And if you forget about it or not.)

And remember – the meals you eat with your family are automatically only half the calories.

This week’s topic is “If I could change one thing about them…” But I think the tables need to turn.  Our whole culture teaches us to look at them and blame them.  My husband has plenty of flaws and I could write pages and pages about them.  But that would hardly improve my relationship with him.  And isn’t Weekend Kindness all about building relationships?

God’s been speaking to me lately.  Sometimes I really hate what he has to say.

Turns out, I don’t want to focus on changing something about my husband, but I need to focus on changing things about me.  Darn it.

Hubby is upbeat, energetic, motivated, responsible, and everything I’m not.  I’m lazy, disorganized, easily flustered, and everything hubby isn’t.  I know God brings opposites together to balance each other out, (Hubby teaches me to be adventurous and I teach hubby to relax once in a while.) but extremes of one thing or another are rarely good.

So, if I could change one thing about myself, I would become a better bride to my groom.  This involves getting motivated and organized, staying current on housework, being frugal, and prioritizing better.

I think my priorities should be:

God

Husband

Fellowship with other believers

Home business

Home-making

Church ministries

Part-time job

What do you think?