I was poking around in my twitter account today and came across this article posted on The Norwalk Hours website. What a great reminder to do the simple things. I can remember running around in my own backyard with a glass jar with a screw on lid that my father had poked holes in. We didn’t need a fancy bug catcher or a plastic box with a breathable top made just for this purpose.

KISS. Keep It Simple Stupid.

Tomorrow will be Firefly Thursday. Firefly Friday has a better ring to it actually but why make the boys wait a day just because Firefly Friday has a better ring to it.

I got pretty deep into my website http://www.quartz-countertop.info website and made a page about comparing a couple more countertops as well. I probably should have had the kids outside and held off on the writing for a couple hours. It would have been worth it. Sometimes I get a little selfish and get wrapped up in what I think I need to do when it’s really just something that I want to do.

So that means that many of the links I my site go nowhere. I’m way too lazy to fix all of those.

He did have a backup plan in place though. I’m all set up and using his stratford ct listingbook account. I’m not happy about my links but this is actually a way better search function than ct home hunting. I’m only just scratching the surface here but there are open houses, pictures, addresses, school information, tax info, and lots more.

I am able to mark properties as my favorites so that I can easily find them. I have marked about a half dozen so far. I’m trying to figure out a way to share them with you. Dunno if I can do that yet without making a mess of things. Time will tell.

Anyway if you want to sign up to search Stratford CT homes for sale you can sign up here. Scott’s main website is still the same with the foreclosure listings and all that jazz. CT home hunting is just gone. Maybe in time I wont care about all of the broken links on my site. Right now, not so much.

50 Johnson Lane In Stratford CT

This house is absolutely gorgeous. Not only is it handsome but it’s also on a huge piece of property. It’s nearly two and a half acres. It has over 2,300 modest square feet. I don’t need a huge house and this would be perfect for me.

• garage
• fireplace
• front porch

All of the things that I want for my next house in Stratford CT are already included. Check it out!

This cape in Stratford is big compared to most capes in town. We are looking at 2,500 s.f. on nearly a half an acre. The back of the house has a large shed dormer that really opens up the second floor into useful full size living area.

There is a dining room with a fireplace off of the kitchen with a french door that leads out to the good sized deck out back. The kitchen appears to have been recently updated with new cabinets and granite countertops. The tray ceiling and cove lighting in the kitchen are a nice touch.

There’s a formal dining room as well. I hesitate to call the dining room off of the kitchen an eat in kitchen. It’s too large to call it an eat in kitchen and the fireplace in there really puts it over the top.

The bedrooms are large and so is the garage. This is another house in Stratford that I would love to have for myself.

Not only have prices dropped but now mortgage interest rates are very low. I don’t know much about mortgages, just what I read in the paper, but apparently we are at record low rates.

I really wish that I had waited to buy a house. I love our home here in Stratford CT but if I had waited and bought a house now I could have really gotten a smokin’ hot deal.

Water under the bridge I suppose. I still got a really great deal but of course I wish I could have taken advantage of this real estate buyers market that we are in right now in Stratford and the rest of the country.

Dormered capes like this one in Stratford were selling for upwards of $300k not all that long ago.

Thank goodness for dead ends and small blessings. He ran right down Blakeman Place. He froze in his tracks at the end of the road, completely confused as to what to do. I guess he forgot to put on his off road paws. It was the strangest thing.

He ran out of blacktop and just froze there, turned and looked at me and waited for me to put his collar back on. He just surrendered. Good thing too as I just about gave up on catching him. One of these days I’m just going to call the dog catcher and have them put out an apb for him.

On our way back down the street, after cinching his collar up good and tight, we passed by another house for sale in Stratford that I liked. I found the listing too on Scott’s website. You can see it here: 45 Blakeman Place Stratford CT. Nice house I thought. I liked the front poch and the new siding looked god too. The large chimney clued me in to possible fireplace on the inside. I just love fireplaces!

You can sign up to find more houses for sale in stratford CT here at Scott’s site.

There are so many houses for sale around Stratford right now. It seems like every street that I drive down lately has multiple for sale signs. Another interesting observation is that there are hardly any for sale by owners around Stratford. It seems like when the going gets tough the going just pack up and get going. I wouldn’t want to sell a house in this market either.

Rorin is more my mom’s cat but then there is Chloe. She is an Australian shepherd mix and so cute. She showed up on my doorstep as a very small puppy. She had no tail and no home. I scooped her up and made her mine. She was about 3 months old and I have now had her for a year. She is just a big old baby. She goes everywhere with me. Every time I leave in the car, she goes too. I even take her to work. She’s very well mannered and a total momma’s girl. Those are my babies and I love all of them.

Thanks to Debbie for telling us about her cats. Check out the new rss feed at You Special Cat. RSS subscribers get benefits that email subscribers do not. RSS cats

The Stratfordite is back and this time he does not want to talk about houses.

I have been working on content for a new website I am making. I have written lots of articles and have even paid some people to write articles for this website. There’s some pretty good stuff in there for cat lovers.

We are even offering regular prizes to our subscribers. The sign up is right there on the home page. If you want to know the best cat coupons I can find, win a gift certificate to a local store, or have your cat featured on our website check us out at Your Special Cat.

Nicely Landscaped Colonial

The outside pictures of this one are really nice looking. Wood siding and fresh paint really caught my attention. What I liked the most though is the covered porch. I have always talked with my wife about having a house with a covered porch with columns and a railing. Of course we want the porch swing as well. Our swing would look great here too.

945 Riverton Stratford CT

Big Colonial In Great Neighborhood

This place needs to be updated from top to bottom but that is what appeals to me about it. The house is “A Very Brady House”. You can often snatch these homes up at a good discount and by doing the work yourself add a lot of equity. Even if you hired a contractor for the updates I think you would still come out way ahead with this house. The price of this house was just reduced.

1205 Warner Hill Stratford CT

Remodeled Cape Close To The Water

Honestly, this place was remodeled as inexpensively as possible. I think the location is great and the outside is a blank canvas. (I would like to do my own landscaping here.) The inside though leaves something to be desired for me. The listing says granite counters but it looks like some other sort of solid surface counter top. Formica maybe? Wood paneling and too much brick in the living room for my tastes. This house has a second fireplace. What room is that? Some sort of den?

It is freshly painted and the bathrooms look new. I don’t like those slip in showers though. I like tile. Lots of new windows and a two car garage out back. I really like the pool.

The listing says beatifully remodeled. I think nicely remodeled is a word we can use here in some parts of the house. Other parts not so much. Beautifully might be a strong word.

I think I am being to hard on this house. Was it a flip? It’s nice but it’s just not for me. I would hate to rip out some of those brand new fixtures and toss the kitchen in the trash. Much of it is new but it’s not my taste.

182 Washington Stratford CT

Anyway, I digress because the point is that it seems so easy. He brought up some really valid points and has some ideas that I had never thought of before.

I chuckled to myself a bit when I got to the part about the sign in the front yard at for sale by owner properties. When I was looking for a home, I can’t tell you how many times I saw people making this very mistake. Countless times I had to stop the car in the middle of the road, back the car up, go around the block again to get a better look, or slow down to a crawl just to get the faded phone number off that sign.

So if click here you are interested in selling your home without an agent or just want to get some ideas. This webpage is even worth a sixty second distraction from you day.

I want to leave you with this house as well before I log off this morning. This house in the Greens Farms section of Westport CT just looks and sounds crazy. The picture is a computer rendering but look at all that stone work that is going into this home. More than 10,000 square feet with six bedrooms and even more bathrooms. Crazy!

5 Devon Westport CT ( Greens Farms )