Siam I know, cause Hubby will not be after I get back and they are dead rofl. Just kidding. I do my best every day and with the heat increasing...it is even hard for me to keep em all happy. Maddy and I sure will have a great time. I wish I lived closer to the other 2 grandkids. But not complaining. Pam my neighbors are all sickly and up there in age. I mean really up there. You know, like a little boy says to mommy at the store...look mom, this lady is REALLY old. Well...I guess through out life....when you look at someone who is a LOT OLDER....you just can not help yourself lol I like this Lantana too. Have a few other colors. But for Amadeus' resting place I found a white one at Lowes and not a plain purple one that I have already. But purple with pinkish white blooms also. Lucy

My take: it's a marketing ploy to get you to rent now. (And a goofy way to turn off prospective tenants in this economy. A lot of people bolt at high pressure tactics. I would. ) Just like a TV infomercial, "act in the next ten minutes and you'll get our special discount". Only the same infomercial runs for months on end with those "act in the next 10 minutes" terms. If complexes were going by "market demand", they would be charging (and getting) the higher price now. That's just good, common sense business practice. They wouldn't need to offer a reduction this week as incentive to rent. IOW, if the market says they can get price $YYY for rent next week, they have no need to offer discounted rated of $XXX today. And no one can realistically predict the market demand "next week". The economic ebb and flow within the housing market happens over a much longer period of time. The current real estate sales slump we're in didn't happen in a week and we're not going to pull out of it in a week. If they are pushing amenities on you first, they are using that to pump up the positives so that when the asking rent price is then given to you, the amenities help substantiate their asking price. That is a sound way to present a unit, but a lot of people do just want to hear the bottom dollar first. If I get a call, I typically provide basics: # of BRs, baths, has a basement, garage, no pets permitted and then give the rate. If it meets their criteria, the majority always want to hear about amenities next. But if there is something that won't work for them, such as not enough bedrooms, or they have a pet, we end the call there. Time saved for everyone. I've rented properties (houses) in good times and bad. My first time renting in the economic down turn came up a year ago. Times are especially tough in this area, where construction and manufacturing jobs are prevalent. It was tricky and I found myself making a small concession on rent on one house in order to get it occupied. But better occupied than vacant. Every month vacant is a huge hit to the budget. If you're running into complexes offering a discount if people act fast, it sounds like they're feeling the pinch too and want to to pressure prospective tenants from doing any further looking elsewhere. If that's the case, it just might give you the upper hand. Next time you're presented with that scenario, call them on it. You might reply with something like this, in a professional, even, business-like tone: "I'm definitely in the market for a place and shopping around. I'd like to look at your place too. Then if it suits my needs and is within my budget, I'd certainly like to submit an application. But like many people, I'm very uncomfortable making a hasty decision, particularly with a long-term contract involved. If you're able to assure me the rate you quote me today will still apply next week, after I've had time to give it some thought, I'd like to schedule an appointment. Otherwise, I'm afraid I'll have to move on down my list of other locations available." Don't let them know you've been looking for awhile. Let them think you've just started. Don't mention you're in a pinch and need to shorten your commute. IOW, don't give them any inkling that you need to act fast, because they'll just continue to pressure you to act fast. If they're serious about getting their place rented, they'll want to do what they can to get you in there to see it and not lose you to another complex or house in the area. Just make sure to let them know you're not willing to pay more because you need a few days to think it over. Just my humble .02, FWIW. ;)

Can't remember ever NOT having pork & sauer kraut, with some kinda potatoes, on New Years Day. Sister has long been transplanted from the SE PA area to the DC area, so she also has black-eyed peas. Ive never had them... no particular reason, just haven't. Decided to cook/eat my way outta 2013 and into 2014. Thought I had a decent sized hunka pork in freezer, but NO? Did find a half rack of baby backs... cooked them yesterday and have been picking at them since last night. Since hunka pork I had was small (about half of a single pork tenderloin) went out this morning for something more substantial... left-overs only seem to get better IMO... lunch for tomorrow when back to school after a LONG break. Have some frozen periogies getting ready to be boiled up and added to porl/kraut. I like to cook pork a LONG time... till falling apart.

g'day alison, ever since i've been on g.w i've never had to log on all the time, only at times when they had problems, it all comes down to saving their cookie. due to their insatiable appetite for the buck and those out of control pop-up's i have lots of problems trying to get replies posted, all sorts of problems occur, and usually at the time you forget to save your text, very very frustrating. and then when you submit a post nothing happens and when i click submit again i get told my post is rejected because and cop this hey? "i have already submitted a post", these problems are like 9 out of 10 times. len Here is a link that might be useful: lens garden page