Schuetz

One of the things that works to keep relationships alive is spending quality time with each other. In this day of the information age, it is becoming increasingly difficult to carve out the necessary time to nurture our relationships. What with long work hours, helping kids with their homework, transporting them around to their extracurricular activities, getting dinner, cleaning up and going through the bedtime routine, what time is left?

Unless you orchestrate the time for your relationship, other less important things will crowd in and take what precious little time you do have. Pick a night that will be date night with your partner and make a game out of being as creative as you can be. Try to see how many things you can do without spending money.

To get you started, Ive come up with some suggestions to help you for the next year. What follows are 52 ideas for how to spend creative time together without spending money. Feel free to add or modify any of the items on the list to suit your particular relationship and circumstances.

WINTER

1.Take a drive to look at the Christmas decorations.

2.Play cards---perhaps strip poker.

3.Watch a movie together.

4.Go outside and have a snowball fight.

5.Get some finger paints and create your own body art with each other as your canvass.

6.Go sleigh riding.

7.Go ice skating.

8.Work out or exercise together.

9.Stage your own improvisation show.

10.Sing to each other.

11.Review or create a photo album or scrapbook of your memories together.

12.Play a board game---perhaps chess, Scrabble or Twister.

13.Go to a book store, get coffee and read for hours.

SPRING

14.Work on a remodeling project together.

15.Plan and complete a yard work project together.

16.Do the spring cleaning together---room by room. When done, reward yourself by making love in the room youve cleaned.

17.Put on old clothes and mud wrestle after some drenching rain.

18.Give each other a massage.

19.Play catch---football, baseball, softball or Frisbee.

20.Go to a car dealer and test drive the car of your dreams.

21.Shoot basketball together.

22.Dance together.

23.Take a shower together and wash each other---everywhere.

24.Take a free adult education class together.

25.Go to a mall and have a contest to see which one of you can get the most free samples.

26.Go rollerblading or bike riding.

SUMMER

27.Build a campfire and roast marshmallows.

28.Go swimming or skinny dipping.

29.Give each other a manicure or pedicure.

30.Go somewhere crowded to people watch.

31.Go to a free outdoor event, perhaps a concert.

32.Lie on a blanket outside and watch the clouds or stars.

33.Go on a picnic.

34.Watch a fireworks display.

35.Be creative and engage in sexual role plays. Be anyone youd like to be for the night who is also exciting for your partner.

36.Sit by the water somewhere.

37.Do a prolonged strip tease for each other.

38.Have a water balloon fight.

39.Sit outside and read poetry to each other.

FALL

40.Go for a drive together.

41.Go window shopping.

42.Incorporate food into your love making---chocolate syrup, whipped cream, fondue, strawberries---anything you and your partner enjoy.

43.Call or write to someone you havent had contact with in a while.

44.Cook something together.

45.Spend an evening just talking with each other. Talk about the things you have done, plans you have for the future, important people in your lives or current events.

46.Take a bubble bath together.

47.Go to a free movie or museum.

48.Take a drive and find the potential in old houses and their properties.

49.Create an imaginary story together---either orally or in written form.

50.Take turns being each others genie in a bottle by fulfilling your partners every wish and fantasy.

51.Play in the fallen leaves.

52.Create an exciting scavenger hunt that ends in your bed.

Now you have 52 suggestions for things to do with your partner for every week of the year divided by season. Certainly you dont have to follow my suggestions. Feel free to add your own or to repeat your favorites as often as youd like.

The main point is not to see how kinky you can get. The idea is to keep your relationship alive by making time together a priority. It is important that you find things to do as a couple that you can both enjoy. If you have vastly different interests then you can enter this with the spirit of taking turns and each agree to happily participate in the activity chosen by the one whose turn it is that week.

As long as you make a habit of making your relationship a priority and allocating time each week for rejuvenation of the feelings that attracted you in the first place, then you stand a good chance of staying together for the long haul.

Please dont let insidious boredom enter into your relationship through the back door. This is what frequently happens when we are busy placing other things ahead of our time for each other. You know what I mean---the job, the kids, our friend in crisis, etc. There will always be a competing interest for the time youve set aside for each other.

Other than natural disasters, threat of death or major crises, do not allow your time together to be invaded by any outside forces. Make sure to create opportunities for you to do things together without outside influence. With more than 50% of todays marriages ending in divorce, make this small investment in the longevity of your relationship. You have nothing to lose and everything to gain. Whats stopping you? Start today.

Kim Olver is a licensed professional counselor and a life/relationship coach. She helps people unleash their personal power by living from the inside out, focusing their time and energy on only those things they can control. She also helps people improve the quality of their relationships with the important people in their lives. She offers free chats, assessments, a blog and an eZine, as well as workshops, teleclasses, e-courses, counseling and coaching. Visit her website at http://www.TheRelationshipCenter.biz or contact her at (708) 957-6047.

There has been a considerable rise in the use of hidden spy cameras and surveillance systems in workplaces over the recent years. Spy cameras today are more affordable, less sophisticated and convenient to use. Security cameras or hidden cameras are very essential for your workplaces and houses because it provides protection for your loved ones and precious things. It has become much more easier for bosses to track down their employees and keep a tab on them all the time they are at work. It is very important for them to keep tabs on you, in order to be sure that you are not causing any harm to the firm.

This new advanced technology is making it easier for the management in offices to trail your every move and hence more and more offices are getting surveillance systems installed. According to a recent survey, more than 60% of the employers used electronic surveillance to keep an eye on their employees and more than 90% of employers admitted to have carried out electronic monitoring of some sort. Tabs are kept on every employee all round the clock and his every move is keenly monitored. Right from the moment the employee enters the office, till the time he leaves the place, he is under complete scrutiny.

This does cause a bit of anxiety amongst the employees, who are not all that comfortable about an eye kept on their every move or action. They are curious to know, as to what all things their employers are keeping a tab on? Majority of the employers keep a tab on their employees net browsing and what all websites they visit. They monitor the emails exchanges and also check their computer files. There are some employers who even track the amount of time spent on a computer, the data entered based on keystrokes, etc. Keeping a tab on employees through a surveillance camera is getting very popular these days as well. This helps employers know what you are up to every second you spend in the office.

Copyrights protected article written by Andrew Stratton for http://www.surveillancetechnology.com More articles and information about the spy camera and security products can be viewed easily altogether at this location http://www.surveillancetechnology.com/security-camera.htm Please be free to explore the website for more information on every surveillance products and their features.

Please be free to copy and paste the article in your website with resource box.

Note: Do not use the article without resource box.

If you have a large car wash fundraiser in the community to raise money for your youth nonprofit group then it will take a lot of coordination and help from local business people. For instance you will need a location and you probably need to print flyers and maybe you will borrow a pressure washer. All these things can be donated by the small businesseses in your town.

Any time a small business in your community helps you it is wise to give them a thank you letter and you might be surprised how many of the small businesses will frame that thank you letter and put it in their shop. On your thank you letter you should therefore have a very big logo, because this advertises your group and will help the small business owner when other members of your group go in to shop at their store.

By giving thank you letters to those small businesses that help your car wash fundraiser you will note that next year's car wash fundraiser will receive equal participation and the small businesses will go out of their way to help donate things you need for your nonprofit group.

You may even find that if you do a silent auction the same small businesses may come to your rescue with items for that fund raising event. Community goodwill works both ways so please consider this in 2006.

"Lance Winslow" - Online Think Tank forum board. If you have innovative thoughts and unique perspectives, come think with Lance in the Online Think Tank and solve the problems of the World; www.WorldThinkTank.net/

When

Often we have to ask ourselves, does he/she really love me? Is he/she really in love with me? Am I in love with him/her? Do I really love him/her? These are questions of the heart and only you know the answer. However, there are indicators to help us understand the answer to our question of being in love and knowing when someone is in love with us.

When there is a question, there is undoubtedly an answer. It may not be the answer we are looking for, but there is an answer. The key to receiving the answer is being able to accept the truth. Sometimes we dont want to know the truth because it hurts. It hurts because we want things our way, just like we dreamed it up. Unfortunately, life cannot always be the dream that we want it to be. Sometimes, maybe most of the time for most of us, life is not the dream we want at all, not anything close to it. Its important to understand that love does not love anyone, it just loves love. This is why it is so easy to fall in love and so difficult to stay in love. Love is! And that is it. The Bible says that there is no greater love than this, than a man lay down his life for his friend (John chapter 15 verse 13). If this is an indicator of someone being in love then we must be able to answer the question: Would I die for him/her? and would he/she die for me?

Often in relationships people neglect to embrace the truth of who they are and therefore cannot understand themselves enough to answer questions of love. For example, I have often asked this question of someone whom I was very interested in, What did you not know about the person you just broke up with that you learned later in the relationship? If a person is really truthful about this, they would say exactly what they learned down the road that they did not know in the beginning of the relationship. Often it is these things we find out later about a person that makes us change our mind about being with them. The response I typically get is, I cannot answer that question. Or I have to think about that? This indicates that there is nothing that they did not know from the beginning. The next question I typically ask is even more provocative and to the point, Did you pay attention to what you knew about the person or did you think you could change them or they would change later on in the relationship? The answer for this one is always, I just thought things would change. The point here is if you are honest with yourself and the person you are interested in, and truly pay attention to who you are and what you are about, you would not allow yourself to get into relationships where you had to change something about someone or wait for them to change something about themselves. This goes to that old clich Be true to yourself. This is not to say that people dont change, rather the change should be for the better, not the worse.

You see, answering the above questions honestly will give you power to embrace the truth about you. When you know the truth about you, it will allow you to deal with others with more honesty and truth as well. Now here is the touchy part, can you ask this question of someone you are in love with and accept their answer? When you make up your mind that you are in love with someone, does that mean that they must be in love with you? If so, then you are not really in love, you are in need of a hug. You cannot force anyone to be in love with you. This is what makes many marriages fail, people try to force each other to be in love and it ends up destroying the relationship. Being in love is something that must be voluntary. Some of the books on the subject of relationships and finding someone to fall in love with and have them fall in love with you are nothing more than a cookbook for a bad relationship. The famed game of love is just that, a game. You should take note, that as in all games, there are winners and losers. However, you should also know that Love is not a game, it is a life style and you need to be able to commit to that life style like a religion, with your mate, and like wise your mate must be able to commit to you in the same way.

How

There is nothing more to knowing if that man or that woman is in love with you or if you are in love with them. There is no secret, there is no game, there is only the truth. The truth is being willing to die for that person and that person being willing to die for you. In a since that is what marriage is all about: Two people dying as individuals and becoming a new person together. Working together, pulling together, pushing together and being in love together for ever.

Now the term die does not mean that you will actually go through with it at some point and end your life. God willing both of you will live a long time and be happy together. However, it does mean that when it comes to satisfying each other and making each other happy that you would put your inhibitions aside (kill your fears and worries) and do what is necessary to make your mate happy and like wise your mate must be able to do the same for you. If there is no reciprocity, then there is no love. Reciprocity does not mean a quid pro quo. In other words, never get into a situation where you only will do what your mate will do for you. This is not love. Sometimes you will give more then your mate and other times your mate will give more than you. This is how it will always be. There is no such thing as 50/50 love. Forget that Teddy Pendergrass song from back in the day, it only sounds good. When you find yourself giving more than your mate, just remember, this is the person you are in love with and this person is in love with you. The Bible says that charity covers a multitude of sins (I Peter Chapter 4 Verse 8 KJV). The definition of charity is: lenient judgment of others. You must be willing and able to have lenient judgment of the person you are in love with. Be willing to grow with your mate through communication when mistakes are made. This is an on going thing, it never ends as long as you both live.

Why

The Bible explains the greatest thing is charity: And now abide faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity (I Corinthians Chapter 13 verse 13 KJV). It also says And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing. (I Corinthians Chapter 13 verse 2 KJV) When you consider what charity brings to a relationship, if you cannot show charity between each other, but everything else is simply wonderful, your relationship really is nothing.

Last, but not least, a clear indicator of someone being in love with you is when they can keep other people out of your personal relationship with them. Your friends and family may mean well, but you are not in love with them and they apparently cannot be in love with you like your mate. Otherwise, why do you even need to be with your mate? Keep your friends and family, but keep them out of your relationship when it comes to making yourself and your mate happy. A good Bible scripture for this is Mathew Chapter 6 verses 3 and 4: But when you do a charitable deed, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, that your charitable deed may be in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will Himself reward you openly.

Everyone does not need to be a mentor or counselor in your relationship with your mate. Learn how to keep most intimate things between you and your mate to yourself. I am not talking about abusive things, just personal things that should only be between you two.

You can tell when someone is in love with you when they are willing to consistently show charity and demonstrate unselfishness toward you and your needs. This does not mean that you should take kindness for weakness. This would be a big mistake. Often people show charity and love for their mate, but the mate takes it for granted and begins simply ignoring the truth of true love. Love just loves love and if love does not receive love back, then it will soon find another love. This again is a form of being able to die for them and they should reciprocate willing to die for you (die in the sense of putting there own selfishness aside to make you happy and you being able to do the same for them) with cheerfulness.

Pastor Ethan is a character based on Author, Nevada York from her novel, Mahoganys Revelation. Pastor Ethan resides in the Bay Area of California. http://nevadayork.com

As Realtors, our fiduciary relationship with our clients requires a high level of good faith, loyalty and confidentiality. We have a duty to protect our clients' best interests. Here are some tips to improve the representation of your seller clients. Please note that these are only based on my personal experience as a Realtor, and are not intended to be legal advice. If you have a legal question about your duty to your clients or your clients' disclosures, you should contact an attorney.

Get to Know the Property

It is crucial to take notes while you inspect the property that you will represent. Make sure the sellers understand what will convey with the property under the sales contract. Clarify items that they do not wish to convey. Ask about porch swings, fountains, play structures, mirrors, speakers, pot racks, etc. Understand the property lines, and find out about adjoining properties. Check the ownership of nearby land that the sellers believe is a greenbelt. A thorough inspection and understanding of the property is fundamental to good representation.

Prepare Complete Disclosures

In most cases the sellers are required to fill out a disclosure form, answering questions and disclosing facts about the property. After the sellers have completed the form, take the time to review it and ask questions. The sellers may not have understood a question, or were reluctant to say something negative, or may have forgotten an item that needs work. For example, a seller forgot that, years ago, he had replaced some damaged wood floor with plywood under an area rug. Ask the seller to think carefully about repair items that will not be easily noticed.

Sometimes the sellers have copies of inspection reports or previous sellers' disclosures. These documents are a part of their knowledge of the property, and should be a part of their disclosure. If the property has been rented, the seller may have a log of repairs that have been done.

Disclose Significant Repairs

Sometimes sellers ask if previous repairs need to be disclosed. Of course, it is not necessary to write down every repair that was done during the sellers' ownership. However, it is prudent to disclose repairs related to water, fire, structural integrity, or termites. In addition to these types of repairs, all major construction should be noted. By disclosing these items, the sellers give the buyers an opportunity to investigate them further during the inspection period if they wish.

Put the Sellers' Interests Ahead of Your Own

The disclosure process may require that we make recommendations that sellers do not want to hear. For example, the sellers mentioned that a beautiful tree is diseased, and will die in a few years. Our obligation, as their agent, is to recommend the safest position for the sellers, and that position is to disclose the defect. Ask the sellers to think about what they would want to know if they were the buyer.

Thorough and complete disclosures are a risk reduction measure for sellers. If the sellers knowingly concealed a defect, or appeared to have concealed a defect, they might be vulnerable to a serious claim by the buyer after the closing. If you think that the sellers might have a duty to disclose something to a buyer, advocate for disclosure. This is a part of your obligation to represent the best interests of the seller, both for the short term and long term.

Recommend Inspections

Inspections are a protection measure for both the seller and buyer. Although inspections are normally obtained and paid for by the buyer, the inspection protects the seller as well as the buyer. The inspection will reveal items that the seller was not aware of, or did not think to disclose. (Yes, water runs into the garage, but we never considered it a problem.) Sellers should consider getting a pre-marketing inspection. This will help them to get prepared for marketing, avoid surprises later, and build buyer confidence in the property.

Avoid Acting as an Inspector

During visits to the house, avoid attempting to assess problems for the seller. (Those cracks are not from settling. All homes in this area have some slope in the floors.) All questions of this nature should be referred to an inspector, engineer, or construction specialist. You are not the interpreter of maladies. Home inspection is a difficult job to do perfectly, even for trained professionals.

Include Service Contracts

I often recommend that the seller and buyer have a service contract included in the contract. These policies provide a one year repair service for the buyer. They can often reduce the potential that a future repair issue will cause them frustration and anger toward the seller.

Do Not Allow Misinformation to Stand

Be alert to potential problems that could result from a misunderstanding of disclosure requirements or of the property itself. For example, the sellers may mention something that they do not consider to be a problem, and have no intention of disclosing. (We fixed all the sheetrock cracks. Or, it flooded once a long time ago.) If you let this pass, your silence may be taken as approval of the non-disclosure. In the event of a problem later, they might feel that you advised them not to disclose the item. A common response by sellers to a lawsuit by the buyers is - My agent told me not to disclose this.

Similarly, speak up if you feel that the buyer is making an erroneous assumption about your client's property. (We love the greenbelt behind the house.) The best representation for seller is proactive.

Open Communication

An open line of communication during transactions is a good defense against misunderstandings. No matter who complains, a quick response is more likely to resolve the problem before it escalates. People need to feel that their concerns are being heard. Many problems can be avoided and anger kept to a minimum by simply being in communication. Emotion often drives the escalation of a problem.

The communication and file storage power of email is a great tool to help you fulfill your duties to your clients. It is a good idea to save the complete file of messages relating to a transaction. If a decision has been made verbally, it is easy to send a quick note by email to place it into the email file. When new information about the property is delivered to the buyer, an email follow up will document the file. While it is important to provide accurate information, it is also important to document.

Set Standards

Set your own standards, and do not allow other people to run your business. This includes clients, other agents, lenders or any other party. Walk away from deals, rather than get entangled in unethical or imprudent activity. Not all clients are a good fit for your business. Select good clients; walk away from bad ones. Good business practices include a proactive attitude toward property disclosure, and a system of communication and documentation. They will help you to fulfill your obligation to put the best interests of your seller clients first, as well as to treat other parties fairly and honestly.

Roselind Hejl is a Realtor with Coldwell Banker United in Austin, Texas. Her website - Austin Texas Real Estate - http://www.weloveaustin.com - offers homes for sale, market trends, buyer and seller guides. Let Roselind help you make your move to Austin, Texas. Austin Real Estate Guide