5 Tips for Fall Yard Spruce Up

Summer is over and most homeowners are winding down the yard maintenance, however if your house is on the market for sale, your work has not ended.

Your front yard is the first impression a potential buyer has of your property and the following tips just might be the finishing (or should I say beginning) touch that you need.

1. Pressure wash your driveway and front walk. Pressure washing is a great way to remove years of grunge and grime that builds up on concrete, pathways and patios. It will eliminate ugly oil stains and the danger that someone will slip on slick yuck or mud. Sometimes, you will need a cleaner to remove extra difficult stains, but the effort is worth it.

2. Remove cobwebs from porch ceiling, light fixtures and patios. Fall is the mating season for spiders and cobwebs are abundant. Be sure to remove any that you find, inside or outside of house. It can suggest "differed maintenance" to a buyer, which tends to start a negative feeling in a buyers mind.

3. Place Fall Blooming Perennials at Front Entrance. Everyone gets the flower planting craze in the spring but don't forget about the Chrysanthemum flowers, ornamental kales, flowering cabbages and dusty miller. These will provide the landscape with color well after frosty weather arrives. But don't be afraid to mix in some tender annuals, too. Their contribution will be brief, but spectacular.

4. Rake or Blow Away Falling Leaves . Yes the sound of yard blowers can be extremely annoying and as soon as you finish and look back you can often feel like you need to do it again, but this job has to be done. If you are trying to cut back on your "carbon footprint", then grab the rake and get to work. At our house, this is the final chore with the biggest pay off. We love to see the clean driveway and lawn and potential buyers will notice more if you DON'T remove the debris.

5. Mulch Your Flower Beds. Mulching is a job that makes other garden chores easier because, as well as making your beds look neat, it does a lot of other neat things. Keeping weeds at bay is one of the other advantages. It's hard to think of another job that gives so much garden payback. But be aware that Cocoa Mulch smells like chocolate and contains theobromine, an ingredient used to make chocolate - which is toxic to dogs.

Hopefully the above 5 tips will get you started in making that Great First Impression to your potential buyers.

Beebo Goes To Disney

October is my birthday month and to celebrate my 50th, my sweet husband took us all to Disney World. You see, I've never been to Disney and I wanted my first visit to be with my Grandson, on his first visit to Disney.

We woke up early (4:30 am) on the 8th (my b-day) and jetted our way to the Magic Kingdom with out a hitch. We arrived at our hotel, The Polynesian Resort and there was a fountain as you walk into the building on both sides of the walkway. My Grandson wanted to throw a coin into the fountain and make a wish. Once we found some coins, we both did just that. He asked me w

hat my wish was and I told them that my wish had already come true...to be in Disney World with him. We checked into our rooms, took a little rest and then hit the pavement.

To see Disney World through a child's eyes was indeed Magical. As we saw characters walking around, he would say "they are just suits", but he eventually got caught up in the magic and started talking to them.

One of our favorite memories was at Epcot in The Seas with Nemo & Friends Pavilion. There is an interactive show called The Turtle Talk with Crush Show. According to the attraction description, it is a live show where kids of all ages can have a conversation with the totally tubular turtle from Disney·Pixar's Finding Nemo. Well, Crush singled out our Grandson and had a conversation with him. Once he found out it was my birthday, I was serenaded with a personal Happy Birthday song from the infamous Crush. We were ecstatic....you couldn't have planned and paid for an experience like that.

We all had a great, magical and exhausting visit with Mickey and his friends. My mother is always saying "building memories, building memories" and this trip was a great experience in "building memories".

Thanks Eggin!