Numbers out

Thanks as always to Larry.

Bit of a mixed bag for us bears as you can see.

MOI is 7 for SFH, 5 for attached and 6.3 for apartments.

These are not crash numbers but should bring more downward pressure. I expect the Median to be lower and the HPI, if not too manipulated, to be lower too.

Had lunch with a realtor today who specializes in the higher end, (everything is higher-end at these prices!) who said the market was definitely much weaker. Psychology of sellers was shifting to 'what can I get', rather than 'what do I want'.

Big piece on CBC radio about the drop in sales and weakening home prices across Canada. Ground zero was reported as Vancouver. Calgary was bucking the trend. They had Le Poidevin saying banks have been pulling back from the more expensive, higher leveraged deals.

Here is why parties should not stay in power too long...

They think that a mail-out a smear campaign should be paid for by tax-payers.

The whole point of tax-payer funded mail-outs is to allow MPs to communicate with their constituents about important matters, and smearing a new opposition leader  for his youth or apparent lack of experience, doesn't seem to be to be one of them.

It is interesting that the main point of attack seems to be that he is a teacher. Mislabelled as a drama teacher- though he mostly taught math and french and it is doubtful there was a family more steeped in politics than Trudeau's from both his father and mother's side.

Anyway would it be so bad to have a PM who was a teacher?

I thought I would look at the professions of our previous PM's from Sir John A. MacDonald onwards:

Lawyer
Contractor and Editor
Lawyer
Lawyer and Educator
Lawyer
Editor
Doctor
Lawyer
Lawyer
Lawyer
Lawyer
Lawyer and Editor and Civil Servant
Lawyer
Lawyer and Educator
Lawyer
Lawyer
Diplomat and Professor
Lawyer and Professor
Lawyer
Lawyer and Corporate Executive
Lawyer
Lawyer
Businessman and Lawyer
Economist and Lecturer

Seems like one profession may be a bit over-represented and others need to get a foothold.


PS- away for the week-end, though I will put up the numbers this evening.  We will be back to RE next week.

Another interruption...

As you know what real gets my gall is the Government trying to cut sweat deals out of our pocket for their media cronies.

The Harper Government are masters of this ruse. They keep trying it...and we fought back. Remember when they tried to bank-roll the Canwest/ Global network of the Aspers which was floundering as they were sooo biased. We stood strong and they backed down.

Well now here goes another attempt. I wont go into details but just paste the e-mail I got from Avaaz which is a progressive organization well worth joining IMHO. If you do not want to subsidize a right-wing corporate elitist outfit, now is the time to say so.

For those of you who will point at the CBC and Knowledge Network as examples of our subsidies at work. Thank goodness for them- is all I can say... or we would be fed a constant diet of US sit-coms and reality shows...no proper news, no analysis of Canadian events, no Nature of Things, no programs which the advertisers will take offence to.

Our great media which was so biased and right wing they called one of the greatest Canadian ever, taliban Jack, funny how they pulled the article off line now.

Anyway here it is:

Dear friends, 

On Monday, a CRTC hearing will consider whether Canadians want to subsidize Sun News or "Fox News North"- a media outlet set up with the help of a top Harper crony. Both Sun News and Avaaz will appear before the hearing. We won this battle last time, but now Sun News has worked nonstop building a petition of 53,000 people over the course of months. Let's blow that out of the water in just days, with double that number saying no to paying for crony-media that corrupts our news and poisons our democracy:

In days, the CRTC could decide whether Canadians should be forced to pay for Sun News or 'Fox News North'. Both Avaaz and Sun News have been asked to appear at the hearing, and Sun News has built a petition of 53,000 over months. We have just a few days to blow it out of the water.

After Harper and his top spin doctor Kory Teneycke met secretly with Rupert Murdoch, Teneycke was involved in modelling Sun News after Murdoch's Fox News, the political propaganda network that has poisoned U.S. politics. It's Canadian crony-media -- run by a political crony, pushing a political agenda, and now seeking to be funded by a government handout, asking the CRTC to force it onto our basic cable packages.

Sun News have been pushing their petition non-stop for months. If we can double it in a few days, it will send a powerful signal to the CRTC about where Canadians stand -- click below to sign and share this email with everyone who cares about Canadian democracy:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/stop_fox_news_north_2013_crtc_2/?bCRrJab&v=24555

The CRTC is the government agency that implements and enforces Canada's broadcasting laws. Among other things, it has the power to require all Canadian cable providers to carry certain channels. But it rarely does this because it would prefer to let consumers choose what channels they want. Canadians aren't choosing to pay for Sun News, and it's losing millions of dollars. So Sun is asking the CRTC to order all cable providers to carry Sun News and pass the cost on to us -- even if we don't want it!

In 2010, tens of thousands of us banded together and helped stop "Fox News North" from getting a similar deal -- even contributing to Harper's aide, Kory Teneycke, resigning as head of the network! But then, the network sneakily hired him back and now they are launching a similar application, hoping we won't speak up while they try and recoup their $17 million in losses from our pockets!

Fox News fuels hate. While constantly claiming to be “fair and balanced,” it has allowed hysterical anchors like Glenn Beck to compare President Obama to "Hitler." Bill O’Reilly, another anchor, has threatened to boycott Canada, and Anne Coulter has said on its network that Canada is lucky the US allows it to "exist on the same continent.” The network has cunningly fuelled the tea party movement in the US, a mobilisation of the fringe right with members who threaten violence upon its opponents and wear guns to political rallies.

This is a fight for the soul of Canadian democracy. Our media is not perfect, but a ‘news’ network that slavishly serves a political agenda through mass manipulation and fear threatens the fabric of our democratic society.  And while such a network has the right to offer its views, it doesn't have a right to demand we subsidize it.

Canadians don't like watching "Fox News North", which is why they are losing millions and need a sweet government deal to survive. But we can stop the CRTC from taking money from our pockets to pay for right-wing news. Click below to stand with Avaaz's representative at the live hearing and help us build a big enough call to hammer home our best legal arguments:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/stop_fox_news_north_2013_crtc_2/?bCRrJab&v=24555

"Fox News North" threatens to make the country we love look more like the U.S. Thankfully, the CRTC and their public process stands in the way -- let's use this chance to be heard and stop Sun News's grab for our dollars for good.

With hope,

Jeremy, Ari, Emma, Ricken, Mélanie, Laryn and the entire Avaaz team

SOURCES

Sun News Must-Carry Application: CRTC Sounds Skeptical About News Network's Bid (Huffington Post)
http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2013/04/23/sun-news-crtc-hearings_n_3141932.html

Sun News On Basic Cable? CRTC Opens Hearings As Channel's Losses Widen (Huffington Post)
http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2013/04/23/sun-news-basic-cable-crtc_n_3133898.html

Hating the Jew, hating the ‘gypsy’ (National Post)
http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/2012/09/25/bernie-m-farber-et-al-hating-the-jew-hating-the-gypsy/

Sun News Network viewership lags on first anniversary, controversies continue (Canadian Press)
http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2012/04/18/sun-news-network-turns-first-anniversary_n_1433521.html

Sun Media breaches Code of Ethics (Canadian Broadcast Standards Council - CBSC)
http://www.cbsc.ca/english/decisions/2012/120613.php

Investigation into alleged racist comments against blacks (CBSC)
http://www.cbsc.ca/english/decisions/2012/120620.php

Warning: This column contains scary Sun News scenes unsuitable for some readers (Globe and Mail)
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/television/warning-this-column-contains-scary-sun-news-scenes-unsuitable-for-some-readers/article5215962/

Engagement Party

This past weekend, I had the honor of helping put together an engagement party for a very sweet friend's nephew. It wasn't supposed to be at her house originally, so when I got the call, we had to put all crafty gears into over drive.

I had her email me a few pictures of things she wanted to see at the party and ran with it.

I'll provide some of the details, but I'm going to let the pictures do most of the talking.

This little sign was at the base of the stairs as you walked up to the front porch. It's made of balsa wood. The sign was stained and hand painted with their names and the date of their wedding.

 In the front entrance, there was an heirloom Bible for guests to sign or highlight their favorite verse along with photos of the bride and groom when they were children.

The gift table

Aren't the flower arrangements beautiful? I love hydrangeas and blue mason jars...you can never go wrong with either of those:o)

There was additional seating outside.

 Here are the center pieces for the tables. Battery operated votives and tea lights were life savers for this outdoor affair.

This was the drink station. I thought it was pretty lucky that we share the same last initial...The mother of the groom made the little flags for the paper straws. I wish I had taken a closer shot of them. They were adorable. 

I had a lot of helpers in putting this together, and it wouldn't have happened without all of their help. 

I was so grateful to be apart of making this sweet little couple feel extra special and I wish them great joy and happiness in the years ahead! 

Wash, Rinse, Repeat-Free Bathroom Printables

Here are the bathroom printables I promised. I have wanted to use the old phrase from the back of a shampoo bottle "wash, rinse, repeat" for quite some time now, but I was waiting for the right fonts to come along. I have fallen in love with all of the chalkboard fonts available. I think they are so fun, and they look really cool. 

I found exactly what I was looking for at A Nest of Posies, and played around with the fonts until I got the prints just right. I am so excited with the results, and happy to share. They are set to print as a 5x7. 

To download each print, just click on the names below.

Wash

Rinse

Repeat

Enjoy:o)

To see the full bathroom reveal, click here

Partying Here:
Six Sister's Stuff

What's up in the Okanagan?

Not a lot...except for MOI.

High MOIs based on the latest March numbers.

Central Okanagan has a sales inventory ratio of 10.02%. ie 10.02% of the houses listed got sold...or a MOI of 10

Shushwap/Revelstoke has a sales/inventory ratio of 4%. MOI is 25

North Okanagan 7%. MOI is  14.

Now for the Ok sales grind to a halt in late fall and winter. We are however coming into peak buying season, so if the MOIs do not drop down soon, I would expect even more pressure on their market.

The sales are well down from last March as you can read from the rather sombre President's comments. The only thing that saved them from critically high MOIs was the fact that inventory declined 5% from last March.

Cottage Style Kids' Bathroom

Last Saturday, while the hubs was hard at work in the backyard, I was wasting the day away indoors. It dawned on me that I have started SEVERAL projects over the last few months, and haven't finished ANY of them. 

I decided that since hubs was working so hard, I probably should get with it, and do something myself:o) So, I finally finished the kids' bathroom.

Our kids' wipe their little paws all over the walls, and leave the paw prints behind. We needed a solution where we wouldn't be using a Magic Eraser on our walls every other day.

I had noticed a lot of magazines using horizontal boards as a wall treatment, and I knew that would be the perfect solution to our dilemma. 

I happened to be in Lowes one day, and these boards were marked down significantly...and in my van they went!

 I have gotten the hubs do so many wood working projects over the last 10 years, that he has gotten really proficient at it;o) Mad skills I tell ya.

He's not a fan of miter cuts, but he did a fantastic job in this bathroom!

There is a lot of storage space in this Jack and Jill bath. This closet was only holding towels, so I decided to make it into a little nook for taking shoes off. 

 It was full of wire shelving, so we had to rip those out and patch a lot of holes. I really like how cute it turned out. The fabric for the seat cushion and curtain came from Hobby Lobby. The basket was a Marshall's purchase.

I found this cute little hook at Hobby Lobby. They were 50% off this week, so it was around $4. This is where the kids hang their towel while taking a shower. Notice that awesome mitered corner?...mad skills..I'm telling ya, mad skills;o)

 I spray painted this coat rack a metallic silver, and now it serves as a towel rack.

The art work is something I came up with. I'll share how I did it in my next post, so stay tuned!

I'm so glad to be able to check this bathroom off the list. Now to finish S.R.'s quilt, and the playroom!!