I Run These Towns

I really enjoy the show House Hunters even though there are lots of reasons to not enjoy it. (Ex: I raise butterflies for a living but our budget is $1.5 million!) One thing that I notice on almost every show is the buyers say "This space will be great for entertaining." It begs the question of how many people actually entertain. I love to host. LOVE it. I love to have people over and cook. I even have friends and family where I've hosted at their house. However I know most people don't host. The concept of buying a house with great entertaining space is probably lost on a lot of people, and that's okay. If everyone loved hosting I'd lose my role. However there are responsibilities on both the part of the hosts and the guests. I'm flummoxed by the lack of expectations and rudeness of both hosts and guests. Let's discuss. So you're the host. Properly hosting takes a lot of work. And let's be real - it's expensive. Unless you've expres...

Michigan winters can be brutal. When I first moved here, in February of 2006, the temperatures did not rise above freezing the entire month of February. Harsh. In fairness with climate change our winters have generally become more mild, but this one has been tough. It's been cold and icy without any of the things that make winter fun (like snow one can actually play in).  Yesterday I got up to walk my dog at 6 am like I do every day. I checked the temperature, and it was 17 degrees. I hesitated because I had zero motivation to go outside in the dark with temps in the teens to walk the dog. But then I thought about the busy day I had ahead of me. I wouldn't have another good opportunity to walk her. She needs exercise and so do I. So I sighed and bundled up to walk the dog. You see the winter I've had ZERO motivation for any of the things. I don't feel like walking the dog. I don't feel like exercising. I basically don't feel like going outside. The winter blues ...