#farm kids are absolutely obsessed with tractors

[thepropertylovers]

How I Really Feel About Living on a Farm

“What am I doing?”

This is a common question I ask myself out at the farm. I’m so out of my element here. I grew up in the middle of town (in the house we live in now, actually) so far from any kind of farm experience, and to be honest, I liked it that way. I had no interest in visiting or spending any amount of time on a farm, let alone live on one. The only “farm” I did go to when I was young was my grandma’s and it wasn’t even an actual farm- it was just a lot of acres.

Meanwhile, PJ grew up on a farm and spent every waking minute outside with his sister and cousins running around the pastures, swimming and playing in the creeks, climbing trees, and accruing just about every animal that has ever walked the earth. We couldn’t be more different in that regard.

So PJ, obviously, is very much in his element out here. He spends all day outside working on the land or taking care of the animals and it’s total bliss for him. Nature restores and relaxes him. It’s his happy place; a place he can be free to do whatever his creative mind and big heart desires. I’ve mentioned before how he always has to be doing something, and on a farm with a never-ending to do list, there’s always something for him to do.

On any given day, PJ could be burning brush, mowing the fields with his tractor and/or lawn mower (two machines he is obsessed with and for good reason: I drove the zero-turn mower a few weeks and that thing is so fun!), cleaning up the yard and trimming the trees, demoing the inside of Holiday House, installing lights, tending to the sheep and the geese, and calling a million contractors (who have been extremely difficult to deal with lately but that’s a story for a different day) to work on bigger jobs like building the fences and the ponds. My fingers are exhausted from typing all of that. I can’t imagine how he feels.

The crazy thing is, as he’s told me before: it’s not really even work to him. I mean it is, but it’s not. He enjoys it so much that I don’t think he considers it a chore or a burden that weighs him down, it’s just part of starting a farm and he isn’t (and has never been) afraid of putting in the elbow grease required to achieve his dreams.

Then enter me. For reasons mentioned above as to why I feel I am out of my element at OF (Ocoee Farm), I know absolutely nothing about starting a farm or caring for farm animals. I have read articles online about it and watched a few documentaries that inspired the hell out of us to actually do this thing, but I think I’ve determined I’m going to have to learn the old fashioned way: by experience. And of course, from PJ. I learn so much from him on a daily basis about the mechanics and workings of everything out here. He knows so much about so much (he swears he doesn’t but don’t believe him) that I never get tired of learning from him. Ever.

Though I feel out of place at the farm, I will be the first to admit, I love being here. I love living at our farm. I love the freedom and the space and the hills and the mountain (oh my god the mountain!) that is always watching over us from high above. I always thought I would hate living so far from town but I haven’t minded it one bit since we’ve been spending more time here. Now, that could change once school starts for the boys in the fall (and we have to drive 30 min just for school, which we may not even entertain that idea), but for now I am content; smitten even, with how far away from the outside world we feel. 

PJ’s mom and my mom keep checking in with me to see if I really do like it out here. They both admit they knew PJ would love it, but had their doubts about how I would feel not being in town anymore. They were relieved and maybe even a little shocked when I told them I was completely happy at the farm, and to be honest, I think I was a little surprised by how much I enjoy it out here, too.

All five of us just seem to function better at the farm. The kids have so much space to run and play and explore, and they’re so tired (and dirty) at the end of the day that they have no problem falling asleep at bedtime. And then there’s no need to go into anymore detail about PJ because you already know he is in heaven out here, so then that leaves me, and y’all, I am loving the new experiences that seem to happen daily at Ocoee Farm, for example, the other night I helped milk a goat (!) for the first time in my life. It was wild and different and beautiful and weird but the thing that made it so great was that I did it with PJ. Just the two of us and that beautiful, innocent animal. It’s hard to explain, but it was an intimate moment that I never would have gotten in town, and I’m feeling extra grateful for OF and for PJ today.

So after spending more than a month out here at Ocoee Farm and Holiday House, I’ve come to the conclusion that I know exactly what I’m doing here, even if I don’t always know how to do it. No, wait, that doesn’t make sense. Basically, I love it here because, well, I do, and my family does, and I’m 100% sure this is exactly where we’re all supposed to be right now.

This is our future, and I think it’s going to be a wild and different and beautiful and weird and great future for all of us.

[silverwhiteraven]

If I can ask for one more krypto au without annoying you, may I ask to see more about the Kent one too? Like the twins au and her being raised by the Kents! Would love to see how her and Clark grow up together if you have the time to write it out! If not no worries! And I absolutely love your writing!!!

Twin Krypto-Kents, Krypto-Mari AU [ Posted on Ao3 ]

(Good luck to Martha and Jonathan in raising TWO super-babies)

Twins AU, Marinette is Kia Jor-El, her brother is Clark/Kal-El

For this one, Kia and Kal are both saved in the same ship, so they both crash in the Kent’s fields where they are found by said Kents

The Kents have a little extra trouble creating two fake birth certificates and papers for their newly adopted super-strong alien children, but they manage, and are determined to protect these pure little beans with their lives

As one can imagine, it is very hectic to start with, at least until the pair of very strong toddlers get a handle on strength control

And, bonus, more help around the farm once they’re older and learn how to work the tools!

The Smallville TV series is the basis for most of this by the by, so if you’ve seen it, you know how chaotic it will be

Whenever Jonathan has to work on the tractor, or engines, or anything really, it really helps to have one kid keeping a tight hold on the chains holding it up, and another kid acting as a living jack to keep the thing propped up, if they're not both on the chain or both being jacks

It looks odd, funny, and certainly dangerous, and can be, but they're good kids and literally wouldn't take no for an answer when it comes to offering help

Both Kent parents thank their lucky stars that Marinette and Clark never space out at the same time, because if they did and they were holding something they definitely should not be dropping? Yikes, recipe for disaster

Heck, who they kidding, everything is somehow a potential recipe for disaster if they aren't careful

Especially once the rest of the powers start coming in for Marinette and Clark once they're in their teenage years

I imagine Clark and Marinette both develop their powers around the same time as each other, but, the same powers don’t start happening at the same time, they get them in a different order from each other

So while Clark is suddenly being very super speedy, Marinette is finding herself having accidentally bent the nails in a loose board she just stepped on

While Marinette is keeping her eyes tight shut after embarrassing herself in a blushing mess and discovering she has heat vision, Clark is having trouble comforting her when he can sudden see straight through literally everything

The only bright side is that they tell each other everything going on with the whole random powers showing up, so while one freaks out, the other one gets to prep for a power they’re eventually going to get

Speaking of siblings that confide their woes in each other, how about their social lives, huh?

They both have a tendency to crush on the same people, and will definitely gush to each other about their shared crushes

Sometimes they get different crushes, and then end up swapping who they are crushing on

But they still keep each other from getting obsessed because the whole ‘same crush’ thing means they realize it isn't a very feasible potential for a relationship for either of them

Even when they have different crushes, they can still watch each other’s backs by telling each other about all the things the other didn't see or know about their crush

They're a bit of an awkward mess, though, socially awkward dorks that they are, but they can still support each other and encourage them to get to know new people

Oh, and they really do have each others back when it comes to actual emergencies, too

Marinette and Clark get each other called out of class if anything happens during school, and if they can’t both go to fight whatever new Kryptonite-infected threat is out there, they can easily tag-team it

Even out of school they’re constantly tag-teaming whenever one has to run off, even for things not related to fighting evil

Constantly doing each others chores on the farm so that the other can go on a date of hang out with their friend groups

Sharing class notes and working on one of their homework that then gets copied because hey, they both did it together and got the same answers, it’s not cheating!

For the more serious things that go on, too, it really helps to have two of them

The whole alien past reveal really helps when you have someone to lean on, even if it means Clark and Marinette both leaning on each other

And they have someone to celebrate knowing a new piece of themselves with, too

And when one is in danger, the other can help, and vice versa

Like when Clark got infected by Red Kryptonite and became extremely self destructive and self-endangering? Or those things in the caves? Yeah!! Your twin has your back, Clark!!

And you know those few times in Smallville where Clark had to decide between going to one person he cared about versus another person he cared about because he couldn't exactly be in two places at once?

Well, now they don't have to chose, and both choices can be picked

Hell, Jonathan Kent’s life can be saved because of this, and honestly, that’s the best part

And hey, you know the whole Lana and Lex thing? I think it would help to have another person, like Marinette, in Lana and Clark’s corner, and Mari would be all for keeping Lex away and helping out those two

Hell, the entire thing going on with Lex might be helped a lot with Marinette being there to help her brother

Or it could go worse, because that's twice the amount of kids foolishly believing in the best in all people, forgetting that sometimes there’s an exception to every rule

But! Twice as many kids for the Kent parents to convince to be wary of the Luthors, so double the chances of them succeeding in keeping their kids safe!

Again, this is a mess, and I love all of it

How about when they go to college? Clark still studies to be a writer and reporter, and what if Marinette does the same

But what if her own goal is rather to own a fashion magazine, so she still studies fashion and creative courses, as well as majors in business and journalism

They both intern at the Daily Planet together, and always make sure their days off match up so they can both visit home at the same time

Marinette is the one to make sure Clark doesn't make a fool of himself when he decides to become Superman. She refuses to let him do any styles resembling any current trends she just knows are going to die and become a laughing stock in the future

And for heaven’s sake, Clark, put on that mask she made or so help her-!

She isn’t against being a superhero, either, but she wants to stay out of taking care of the more minor forms of evil and crime out there

But anything even slightly big or too out of place for normal people to take care of, and she will be more than willing to be there beside Superman to help him

Does she go by Superwoman when she’s in costume? For the sake of matching up with her twin, you can bet your buck she does!

I hope you enjoyed that! I didn’t want to get too into writing this out, because if I did, well, I’d just end up re-writing the entire Smallville series ^v^”

Let me know if I should be considering doing a Part 2 for post-college, during their time as full grown adults, taking on the world--sometimes quite literally! 

[the-and-sign-anon]

Hectic Hay Ride

Pairing: Michael x reader

Summary: You love going on hay rides, but this time you fall off and your friend’s sweet brother catches you

Word count: 1,749

Masterlist

A/N: This is an au, so Michael, Gabriel, etc. are all just regular people. Cas is reader’s brother, Gabriel and the Winchesters are his friends, and reader has only briefly interacted with Michael a few times

“Cas, come on! The hay ride is almost leaving!” You took off towards the open trailer full of hay with Gabriel at your side and Sam close behind. Dean and Cas were distracted getting donuts from the stand nearby, so you were absolutely prepared to leave them behind.

“We’ll be right there!” Your brother knew you were always excited about anything fall themed, but he wasn’t nearly as enthusiastic. He was content to watch his idiotic best friend shove four hot donuts in his mouth at once while wandering throught the groups of children to get to the trailer.

Gabriel jumped up onto the trailer, Sam climbing up next while you grabbed Gabe’s hand and jumped up beside him.

“Do you think they’ll make it?” Sam settled onto a hay bale as another small family joined you all.

“With your brother’s food obsession and my brother’s ‘relaxed walk’? No chance. We’ll catch up with them when we get back.” You took a second to breathe in the fall scents; hay, pumpkins, cows from the next field, and the cinnamon donuts at the stand Dean had run to immediately upon arrival. You couldn’t be happier in your flannel and knitted hat, your favorite boots and orange fuzzy socks keeping your feet warm. Gabriel had given you a bright smile upon picking you and Cas up that morning when he saw you wearing the candy corn patterned scarf he’d bought you last year. It was your favorite scarf, which you wore at nearly every opportunity.

When the tractor started pulling the trailer out to the field of cows and the driver’s voice came over the speaker to share fun facts about the farm, you turned around on your hay bale to watch the lumbering bovines.

“Hey, Gabriel; wasn’t Michael supposed to join us today?” None of you really saw much of Gabriel’s older brother, despite him being Dean’s age. Sam, ever the concerned friend, usually asked how he was doing and when he could join you all.

“Yeah. Dad had something come up, though. Michael had to help him out, but he said he’d come later if he can.” Mr. Shurley, Gabriel and Michael’s father, was actually a pretty nice guy. He was an author and ran a small cafe with his sister, which kept the whole family a bit busy. He always took a few minutes to chat with you about your own love for writing though.

Sam and Gabriel went on talking while you watched the cows intently. A few of them mooed at you, causing you to smack your friends’ shoulders and point to the loud animals with a smile on your face. Within ten minutes, the trailer wound back through the field to the gates of the farm so it could take another group. During the ride, Gabriel had gotten involved with some of the kids who were shoving hay down each other’s shirts and generally exasperating their parents. You smiled apologetically at them, but they just gave mildly amused expressions in return. Just when the trailer was stopping, Gabriel was gently shoved by a laughing little boy and, being the theatrical young man he is, threw himself backward, accidentally pushing you. You’d been in the process of standing up, so you were knocked off the trailer and would have fallen into the dirt and stray pieces of hay if it hadn’t been for the strong arms that caught you.

“Y/N! You okay?” Michael was looking down at you with an expression that was half amused, half concerned. Gabriel was already watching over the side with Sam while the rest of the families climbed off.

“Crap; sorry, Y/N!” Your friends scrambled off the trailer while Cas and Dean caught up with you all.

Michael carefully set you on your feet again, making sure you were okay before taking his hand off your shoulder. You’d forgotten how cute he was, but luckily you couldn’t dwell on it for long before he turned to his brother with a scowl on his face.

“Gabriel, what were you doing? Y/N could have gotten hurt.” He had a stern tone, one that had Gabriel looking down at his shoes letting his shoulders sag.

“I was just playing with the kids; I really didn’t mean to.”

“It’s okay Gabe, really. Michael was there to catch me, so I’m fine.” You gave both brothers an encouraging smile, silently asking them to drop it. Thankfully, they did so and the rest of you caught Michael up on the plan for the day.

“Dean, you’re planning on sharing the donuts; aren’t you?”

Sam gave his brother a disgusted expression when he lifted his head to show a mouth full of more donuts.

“Do I have to?”

“Dean…” Cas gave him a judgemental stare and he held out the box to the rest of you. You grabbed a handful and started walking backwards in front of Gabriel to throw chunks of donut into his mouth. Michael put a hand on your elbow and walked just ahead of you to make sure you didn’t trip while Cas and Sam passed the box of donuts back and forth and tried to keep Dean from eating too many.

“I’m glad you could join us, Michael. Gabriel said you were busy.”

“I was helping our dad, but Aunt Amara said I could go early to make sure I could catch up with you guys.” Michael stopped you for a moment as a pair of twins went racing by throwing corn at each other, then gently tugged your forward to start walking again.

“Well, you’ll have to tell your aunt I said thank you. How’s she doing by the way?”

“She’s good. She’s working on a fall painting I think you’d like.” When you ran out of donuts, you turned back around. Michael let go of your elbow for you to do so, then instinctively linked his arm with yours to keep moving.

As you continued the conversation, the rest of the boys started running around to see all the animals and see how far they could throw the remaining donuts and still catch them. You and Michael kept up a leisurely pace, chatting and stopping from time to time to fawn over the animals. No matter how many times you got to come here, it always felt like the first time. It took a little convincing, but Michael soon agreed to sit in the goat pen with you and let them climb around on you.

“Michael, are you fully appreciating this? Because this is the greatest thing you’ll ever experience.” You spoke in a matter of fact tone, like there was no arguing with that point.

Michael didn’t want to argue anyway. He adored the look of pure joy on your face as you lay in the dirt, hay and donut crumbs in your hair and hat with a baby goat on your chest. Another one was sniffing around your head, then pulled your hat away and tried to run to the other side of the pen. You tried to move the goat on your chest to get up and grab it, but Michael gestured for you to stay down before taking a few big steps over to the offending goat and carefully retrieving your hat.

“Aw… My hero!” You sat up, settled the first goat in your lap, and smiled brightly as Michael plopped the hat back on your head. He sat down beside you again and let a fluffy little gray goat climb on his shoulders, bowing his head and hunching over so the goat wouldn’t fall off. You couldn’t help but laugh softly at the sight, then helped him with the goat and continued chatting away.

It took nearly an hour for the two of you to find the rest of the boys. Dean had bought some kettle corn form a different stand and was trying to get pieces stuck in Sam’s hair; Gabriel was trying to find Cas, who had gotten lost in the corn maze; and Sam had started a conversation with one of the farm employees about the chickens and bunnies. When the sun finally set, you separated into the two cars to go home. Dean climbed into the Impala his dad gave him for his sixteenth birthday with Sam in the front seat and Cas in the backseat, while you helped Michael lead a half asleep Gabriel to his own car. By the time you wrestled Gabriel in his seat and buckled him in, Dean had taken off.

“Come on, I’ll give you a ride home.”

Michael held open the passenger side door for you, closed it behind you, and walked back around to the driver’s seat to start the car. The drive passed rather quickly with the radio playing softly, Gabriel snoring quietly in the back, and the windows rolled down so your hand could hang out in the cool night air. When you got back to your house, Michael opened your door for you again and walked you to the front door.

“Thank you for driving me, Michael. I had a lot of fun today.”

“I did too. I’m glad I could join all. Sorry again for my brother knocking off the hay ride.” You couldn’t stop your soft laughter.

“It’s fine; I can’t say I’m too surprised, honestly. But Gabriel’s still pretty great. I’m lucky to have you guys for friends.” You were watching your friend as he shifted and slid over in his seat, now folded in half where he’d certainly feel sore when he got up.

“‘You guys’? I didn’t know you really considered us friends. I haven’t spent nearly as much time with you as Gabe.”

“Of course we’re friends, Michael.” You gave him an incredulous look, “I know you’re usually pretty busy, but you’re always welcome to join us and you’re absolutely a friend; one I’m very very lucky and glad to have. Now,” You gave him a quick hug and left no time to respond, “goodnight Michael.”

You went inside and and met Cas waiting at the window, obviously having been watching you.

“What were you doing?”

“Watching you say goodnight to your boyfriend.” He had a smug look that he usually only gave to you.

“He is not my boyfriend.”

“But you want him to be, right?”

“Goodnight Cas!” You ran up the stairs to escape your brother’s teasing while Michael drove home enduring the very same teasing from his own brother.

[nightmare-afton-cosplay]

Home Sellers Use Bonus Items to Sweeten the Deal

Bob Stefko for The Wall Street Journal

George and Sandra Valassis were delighted with the offer they got on their $14.495 million waterfront estate in Florida—until they realized that the buyers were asking for more than the house.

“They wanted everything—including the two Bentleys in the garage,” said Mr. Valassis, founder of Valassis Communications, a media and marketing company.

His agent saw the bright side. “I had to talk them off the ledge and say, ‘This is a good thing!’” said Michael Costello, a sales associate with Douglas Elliman in Palm Beach, explaining: “You’re moving into a new place. You are probably not going to need a lot of this furniture anyway. Go through the whole house with Post-it Notes and put them on the things you absolutely want.”

In the end, Mr. Valassis sold the seven-bedroom manse for $11.5 million, public records show—and took his Bentleys with him. The Texas buyers, who remain anonymous, acquired most of the home’s contents—everything from antique furniture and artwork to the pots and pans—for an additional seven-figure sum.

“Two days later I got a call—they were looking for the keys to the jet ski,” said Mr. Costello.

Jenna and Pradeep Raju paid $1 million for their Woodstock, Ill., house and another $260,000 for almost all the furnishings, including a vibrant silk Turkish rug in the living room. ‘That rug was hard to part with, but we did—it just fit the room so well,’ said seller Ken Meyer.

Bob Stefko for The Wall Street Journal

In the world of luxury real estate, multimillion-dollar deals can hinge on throw-ins: broker-speak for covetable items like furniture, art or sports cars that prospective buyers want thrown in with the sale. Throw-ins can help lubricate a deal when buyer and seller get stuck on price, real-estate agents say—or provoke an acrimonious tug of war. Deals have fallen apart over drapes, pinball machines and chandeliers.

Many brokers advise their clients to negotiate major add-ons after they have settled on the price for the house, and to do so in a separate transaction to avoid higher property taxes and capital-gains taxes. But in some cases, a well-timed freebie can clinch a deal—or serve as a consolation prize.

“I always tell my buyers, ‘If you see something you like, let’s keep it on a side burner, because if you get stuck on the price this can give you a win,’” said Judy Gibbons, a broker associate with Jameson Sotheby’s International Realty in Chicago. “Like, ‘I’ll do this price, but to wrap this up today I also want the bar stools.’ Or say you have home-inspection issues. You can say, ‘You know that tractor you have in the barn? I’ll take that and a $500 credit.’”

The Rajus’ master bedroom. The gold birds were made by street artists in Nepal, and individually mounted on the wall by Cindy Meyer, the previous owner.

Bob Stefko for The Wall Street Journal

Once the contract is signed, buyers may be in a better bargaining position when it comes to acquiring hard-to-move items—saving the seller a call to Dr. Sofa to chop up custom couches and other intractable furnishings. Haggling over window treatments and light fixtures is considered bad form; sellers who want to keep their chandeliers should replace them with new ones before they show the house, said Gary Gold, executive vice president at Hilton & Hyland.

“They’ll go, ‘That’s a $30,000 chandelier!’ And I’ll say, ‘Yeah, but this is a $30 million house—what do you expect, something from Home Depot?’” Mr. Gold said.

Buyers sometimes try to sneak their must-haves into the contract. When Sally Slater, a real-estate agent based in Bedford, N.Y., sold a horse farm that she owned with her husband there for $4.9 million five years ago, she was startled to read a last-minute addendum.

“The cat was in the contract,” she said.

The buyer’s children, who stabled their horses there, had fallen in love with Ms. Slater’s barn cat, Belly. “She was really fat and really sweet and the kids were obsessed with her,” said Ms. Slater. “But at night she kinda turned into a vampire—in the morning there’d be dead bats and dead birds and chipmunks.” She let the buyer have the cat.

Exceptional throw-ins can add value to a listing. When Max Ember, a screenwriter and art collector, decided to sell his classic 1936 home in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Hollywood Hills, he included a slew of unusual artifacts that he had incorporated into the design and landscaping—including a fountain that he says was owned by Eva Peron and metal “clouds” from Hollywood’s famed Cocoanut Grove nightclub.

This 6-foot sculpture, which Mr. Ember says was a prop in ‘The Ten Commandments,’ was moved from his Hollywood Hills home to his Manhattan penthouse apartment. ‘The reason we were able to take her is because she’s light,’ Mr. Ember said.

Dorothy Hong for The Wall Street Journal

“I don’t believe in hoarding—you put these things in your home, and sooner or later the home sucks it in,” said Mr. Ember, 66, who has homes in Manhattan and New York’s Hudson Valley.

Advertised as a quintessential Streamline Moderne, the three-bedroom home with a guesthouse sold for $2.4 million in September—believed to be a record sale for its location, according to listing agent Ben Belack, residential estates director at the Agency. “We could go for that aspirational price, because when agents and buyers came in we could say, ‘You’re not buying a property, you’re buying a piece of history,’” Mr. Belack said.

Real-estate agents caution overeager sellers against throwing in extraneous luxury items—a Rolls-Royce or a Porsche are popular suggestions—to lure buyers to high-price listings. “I say, ‘The house is $3.3 million—you want to narrow down [potential buyers] to people who also want to buy a $50,000 Porsche?’ Why don’t you include a nose job, too?’ ” Mr. Gold said.

Alicia and Remberto Del Real bought an 1891 landmark redbrick house in Chicago’s historic Wicker Park district for $965,000 in 2015.

Sally Ryan for The Wall Street Journal

When Alicia and Remberto Del Real bought an 1891 landmark redbrick house in Chicago’s historic Wicker Park district for $965,000 in 2015, it was filled with antique furniture. The home’s previous owner had lived there well into her 90s. After her death, her heirs listed the house and planned to auction all the furniture. But the Del Reals, who have three small children, were smitten with the heavy Victorian dining table, picturing family dinners and holiday celebrations there.

“It was a family heirloom—it goes with the house,” said Ms. Del Real, 37, a partner in a leadership-development company. “It has six chairs, and only one of them has arms—my husband calls it the ‘pre-women’s suffrage table.’ ”

The heirs sold the Del Reals the entire dining-room suite, including a matching buffet, for just $400. “They said she would be so happy that a young family is moving in,” said Ms. Del Real.

During a $250,000 home renovation, Ms. Del Real reupholstered the dining-room chairs and hung the original needlepoint seat covers in the entranceway. The baronial dining room table gets plenty of use. “Our kids are playing Legos on it right now. It would probably make antiques collectors crazy,” said Mr. Del Real, 42, a marketing executive with BMO Harris Bank.

Remberto and Alicia Del Real with 9-month-old Andres, Rafael, 3, and Remberto, 6.S

Sally Ryan for The Wall Street Journal

Sometimes an obscure object of desire can sink a sale. Cindy Meyer, 61, an executive with Denver-based health-care company HealthOne, was willing to sell her Woodstock, Ill., home fully furnished. But she balked when the buyer also demanded her white baby grand—a custom Yamaha��piano with a matching bench.

“I can’t even put a price on it—for me it’s irreplaceable,” said Ms. Meyer, who now lives in Arvada, Colo. “We went back and forth and back and forth and eventually they did not buy the house.”

In February, she and her husband, Ken, sold their house to Pradeep and Jenna Raju for $1 million. The Rajus paid another $260,000 for almost all the furnishings, including a vibrant silk Turkish rug, folk art and decorative ceramics.

“It was the easiest move in the world,” said Ms. Raju, 29, a physician assistant who is expecting her third child with her husband, a sports-medicine doctor. They have kept almost every room in the house exactly as the Meyers left it—with a few exceptions. A kiddie slide and a play table now claim the spot once held by the baby grand.

“I told them from day one—the piano’s going with me,” Ms. Meyer said.

The post Home Sellers Use Bonus Items to Sweeten the Deal appeared first on Real Estate News & Insights | realtor.com®.

from https://www.realtor.com/news/trends/home-sellers-use-bonus-items-sweeten-deal/

[susantregre]

You Can Get A John Deere Ground Loader For Your Kids That Actually Scoops Stuff Up

What is it about construction and farm equipment that kids love so much? Whether its a tractor or a bulldozer, my youngest is absolutely obsessed with all things that go go go. That’s one reason why I know he’ll love the John Deere Ground Loader from Peg Perego. It isn’t some stationary toy; rather, with...

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The post You Can Get A John Deere Ground Loader For Your Kids That Actually Scoops Stuff Up appeared first on Kids Activities Blog.

from Kids Activities Blog https://ift.tt/332g5Mg

[vaassen92]

Short Horror Story Part #2

Green corn stalks and orange tiger lilies flashed by Simon’s driver side window as he and his new bride made their way across the rolling fields of the great prairie state. Simon spent his whole life surrounded by the tall buildings and sidewalks of Chicago, not dairy farms and tractors. He grew up memorizing street signs and train schedules instead of learning how to drive a stick and shucking corn. The only woodsmen-like quality Simon possesses is his knack for building things. Since he was a little boy when a simple Lego set first sparked his interest, carpentry seemed to flow through his veins as easily as blood, and became his first full-time job after graduating high school. Thirteen long years of building and installing kitchen cabinets and nailing up siding, and he still enjoys it. Although getting rather complacent, Simon liked the hard work, and he didn’t mind the hours either. However, he still couldn’t ignore the growing notion that he was completely and utterly bored. Simon knew he needed a change, and it wasn’t until a week before that Simon decided to quit his routine carpentry job and move far away from his beloved city of Chicago to the sleepy town of Charleston, Illinois where he’s due to open-up his very own woodworking shop‒a dream of his since he was ten. Of course, Charleston wasn’t at the top of Simon’s list of places to start his new business, but it was the place that worked out the best for him and Rebecca at the time.

Rebecca’s father was born and raised in Charleston, and after the sudden death of his beloved wife, Milly, Henry packed up a six-year-old Rebecca and all their belongings and moved back to Charleston and has stayed there ever since.

Luckily enough for the young bride and groom, about a month before their marriage, Rebecca’s dreadful grandmother passed away, and, to Rebecca’s surprise, left her big farmhouse in the Charleston countryside to her only surviving granddaughter. “She couldn’t have left me that house,” protested Rebecca the night they first learned the news, “She was a mean, old woman to me who absolutely hated my little girl guts.”

With Rebecca’s disbelief aside, a deal like that was too perfect for them to pass up. Opening a new shop isn’t cheap‒especially for the salaries of a well-seasoned carpenter and an elementary school teacher. So, there they were, both twenty-five, married for only two weeks, and moving their entire lives three hours away.

Simon meet Rebecca three years ago during Rebecca’s junior year at CSU. She was living in a large four-bedroom apartment with three other roommates when a certain carpenter came to reface their bathroom cabinets‒a mandatory fix-up made by their landlord. Rebecca was coming out of the shower with a towel wrapped loosely around her body when her roommate was leading an unexpecting Simon down a hall to take a look at the cabinets. They turned a corner and startled Rebecca causing her to almost drop her towel. ‘Oopsies!’ was all Rebecca proclaimed as she quickly scampered to her bedroom. Simon, however, caught a quick glimpse of an ample buttocks as the towel fell to the floor and the door closed shut with a snap.

Simon smiled to himself as he signalled to turn left down a dusty country road. Rebecca always claimed that the early timed towel drop was a total mistake. Simon begged to differ. “What are you smiling about, goofball?” asked Rebecca from the passenger seat. Simon gave his head a tiny shake and answered, “Ah, nothing, just taking a walk down memory lane.” He flashed her one of his spellbinding full-toothed smiles. Bits of gravel pelted the guards of Simon’s truck creating hundreds of tiny ticking noises as they drove along. “We’re almost there, babe.” said Rebecca with a reassuring smile, “Just another five minutes on this road and you’ll see the house here on the right. You can’t miss it.” Rebecca reached out and grabbed Simon’s shoulder with a firm but tender grip‒a final push of encouragement. God, I love this woman! As a young man, Simon thought about love all the time. This constant state of guessing when it’ll finally happen to you‒if it’ll ever happen to you. Until one day, after many, many tires, it does, and just like that you have a person you can lay in the grass with and watch as a summer evening sunset paints a gold rim across the horizon and runs off as far as you can see.

“Here it is. This is the place. The Evil Queen’s castle.” said Rebecca, her words dripping with sarcasm. Snickering, Simon pulled into the driveway of a white two-story farmhouse with navy blue shutters and a sturdy white picket fence surrounding a beautiful, lush lawn. The place looked perfect and bright; a wonderful place to raise a new family. Simon stepped out of the truck and crunched down onto the gravel below. He gazed at the vast blue sky as it shined that special kind of light‒a light that makes you feel like the sun and all its happiness will never go away. Yeah, thought Simon with a confident smile, I think I can get used to this.   

Although charming in all its glory, the farmhouse proved to be more spacious than Simon and Rebecca had originally thought. “I swear this place looked a lot smaller when I was little.” remarked an awe-structed Rebecca as they explored their new empty home. “Although it was hard to tell with all those damn decorative plates and antique cuckoo clocks my grandmother was so fond of.” Downstairs the kitchen is easily five times larger than their dinky one back in Chicago, and the living room at least ten times the size with a connecting dining room. Upstairs is the master bedroom, an old rustic bathroom across the way, and, at the far end of the hallway, a room they especially reserved. Simon and Rebecca talked a lot about their future as parents. Rebecca was very adamant about becoming a mom. It was something she always wanted to be since she was a little girl in pigtails playing house. They picked the room at the end of the hallway because of the beautiful view from a window that displayed a beautiful scene of a thin creek with colorful wildflowers dotting its banks. “Our kid’s imagination could go hog-wild in here!” exclaimed a very excited Rebecca, “It’s very important to exercise a child’s imagination as much as you can when they're young, you know. Makes them a more confident and creative adult.”

This left them with two more rooms upstairs to be done with as they pleased. Ultimately, a decision on a rose-themed guest bedroom was made for one leaving the last, smaller room for Rebecca’s rather large collection of antique porcelain dolls‒a collection she started when she turned five. “My mom collected dolls, too,” Rebecca told him on their first date together. The dim lighting in the restaurant reflecting amber in their wine glasses making Rebecca’s eyes gleam greener than ever, “So, naturally, I wanted to copy her. I guess that’s how the whole thing started.”

Rebecca absolutely loved those dolls and treated them like they were her own children, and even made Simon build a large shelving unit that wrapped all the way around the room for her dolls to be properly displayed...all forty-seven of them. Sufficive to say, Simon hated this room with every fiber of his being, and avoided it whenever possible. The dolls gave him the creeps. Their small, unblinking eyes had a way of following you around the room, leaving you with the discomfit feeling of being watched.

There was one doll in particular that Rebecca favorited amongst all the others. This doll was a gift from her father when they moved into the old farmhouse that day. “It was your mom’s favorite,” said a teary-eyed Henry, “She never let it out of her sight...especially near the end there.” Henry paused and took a deep breath. “I had to give it to you, pumpkin. I think Mill would have wanted you to have it. And look! It looks exactly like you, see?” And indeed it did with its pink thin lips, wavy brown hair, and brilliant green eyes. Rebecca thought this was the cutest thing in the world while Simon secretly felt it was a little disturbing.

Instantly after receiving the doll, Simon began to notice how Rebecca’s tiny obsession with the doll grew stronger and stronger over time. She even made the doll the main attracting of the creepy doll room by propping her up on her own wooden pedestal right in the middle forcing all the other dolls in the room to stare down at her like some kind-of satanic ritual. Rebecca named the doll Hannah and, little did Simon know at the time, Hannah the doll was about to play a very large part in his life.