JULIE GARDNER
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Puzzling the Pieces

2/26/2021

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On Wednesdays, Jill and I take turns visiting our mother in Sonoma to make sure she's got everything she needs. Given the limitations of social distancing, and now carless (as opposed to careless), our visits may be the only human contact Mom has all week. However, with one vaccination administered and the second scheduled for this weekend, we'll soon worry less about her ability to move around more freely. At 88, she's still got it (and then some), but none of us wants to see our loved ones fighting a Covid battle, or worse yet, losing it - especially so close to the end.

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Weighing Your Options

2/19/2021

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I've been weighing myself a lot these days trying to get rid of the "Covid 19" I gained in 2020 learning how to make homemade ice cream while stuck inside. Suffice it to say that the pounds are coming off more slowly than they piled on . . . Still, having turned over a new leaf, I'm committed to this healthier routine; I'm on the Peloton bright and early most mornings, I have adopted intermittent fasting, and I am living on food only a rabbit should eat. And yet, the results are slower than I would have liked OR expected . . . (Remember when you could shed five pounds before the weekend rolled around? Those days are gone.) ​

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Weighing Your Options

2/18/2021

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I've been weighing myself a lot these days trying to get rid of the "Covid 19" I gained in 2020 learning how to make homemade ice cream while stuck inside. Suffice it to say that the pounds are coming off more slowly than they piled on . . . Still, having turned over a new leaf, I'm committed to this healthier routine; I'm on the Peloton bright and early most mornings, I have adopted intermittent fasting, and I am living on food only a rabbit should eat. And yet, the results are slower than I would have liked OR expected . . . (Remember when you could shed five pounds before the weekend rolled around? Those days are gone.)

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Let There be Light!

2/12/2021

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"Are the new lights throwing you?" Jill asked. "I know they're big." (It's a BIG house and it called for over-scaled lighting in a few key areas.)

"Kind of," the homeowner replied, "They are just so different than what we had before."

(That's deliberate.)

"Wait until the staging arrives," Jill assured this lovely but slightly nervous Seller who had agreed to nearly 30 light replacements in his spacious home," and I think you'll see that it makes more sense." (Which is exactly what happened.)

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"Go to the Mattresses"

2/5/2021

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I'm a fan of "The Godfather" (and of "You've Got Mail"), but I've never understood the term: "go to the mattresses," so I consulted the Urban Dictionary:

"In times of war or siege, Italian families would vacate their homes and rent apartments in safer areas. In order to protect themselves they would hire soldiers to sleep on the floor in shifts. The meaning of the phrase turns on the association in Italian folk-memory of mattresses with safety in wartime. The phrase wasn't well known outside of the USA and Italy prior to the Godfather movies. It was used there, and later in The Sopranos television series, to mean 'preparing for battle'." (So now we know.)

The concept of going to battle is a discussion I'm having with nearly ALL of my Buyers these days.

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    Julie Gardner, has been writing The Perspective for 18 years and has published more than 775 humorous but always informative, essays on life and real estate. 

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Piedmont · Oakland · Berkeley
 510.326.0840
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​COMPASS

  • HOME
  • COMPASS
    • WHY COMPASS?
    • COMPASS CONCIERGE
    • COMPASS BRIDGE LOANS
  • LISTINGS
  • ABOUT
    • ABOUT JULIE
    • A DYNAMIC PARTNERSHIP
    • CONTACT
    • PROCESS
    • TESTIMONIALS
    • PRESS
  • PROJECTS
    • BEFORE & AFTER
    • GARDENS
    • OUR TEAM
    • VIDEOS
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • UTILITIES
    • SCHOOLS