Taken from the Holbrook Sun
By Leeanne T. Stronach Associated Press Wed Apr 18, 2007, 08:23 PM EDT

Holbrook - The Kennedy Elementary School will host its third annual art show next week, and all students have submitted a project to be displayed in it.

Approximately 400 pieces of artwork will be on display in the school gymnasium on Thursday, April 26 from 3:30 to 6:30 p.m. and Friday, April 27 from 12:15 to 2 p.m. (Friday will be an early dismissal day).

The school started the show as a way of raising money for its Laptops for Learning program.

The goal of this program was to be able to purchase laptops and a portable cart to give each classroom an opportunity to use computers.

Fifteen laptops were bought and are now shared among the classrooms daily.

Since the laptops have already been purchased with money from the sale of art works at the previous shows, the works will not be on sale again, but donations will be accepted to help purchase updated equipment to maintain the laptops, such as mice and printers.

The artist whose work was the inspiration for the students' artwork is French artist Henri Matisse.

Art teacher Joanne Sims explained that she chose Matisse because he lived into his eighties, and his artwork changed over the course of his lifetime.

Sims said that she wouldn't classify Matisse's style of art in one category and he liked to work with many different mediums.

Matisse enjoyed using bright colors and questioned why a tree couldn't be purple, Sims said.

The art projects that the pre-kindergarten and kindergarten students did included items that Matisse incorporated in his works, including women's decorative hats, goldfish bowls, and leaves.

First graders did expressive drawings, all based on Matisse's themes with colorful markers.

Matisse grew up around textile mills in France, so the students learned a lot about fabrics and prints and how he used them in his works, Sims said.

Second graders tried to replicate what Matisse did with cut paper.

Using several types of paper, including printed papers, tissue paper, and wrapping paper, the students made pictures. 

No drawing was allowed for this assignment, which many students weren't accustomed to, Sims said.

Third graders got to choose whatever they wanted to do as long as they were inspired by Matisse.

Many did paintings or drawings with markers or pencil, and some did their own plans for textile designs, Sims said.

Because they were able to pick what they would do for their assignments, the students were able to figure out what type of artwork they were best at doing and apply that to the project, Sims said.

"There were really no weak links," she said.

Sims was intrigued to see how well the students worked, how hard they worked, and how well-behaved they were.

"I'm really proud of them," she said.

With this show, every child in the school was involved, no matter what his or her age level was, Sims said.

All artwork will be returned to the students after the show.

I saw this interesting article on http://www.younglandlord.com/ and thought I'd share:

 STOCKS VERSUS REAL ESTATE?

Ever wonder who would win in a no rules slugfest between stocks and real estate? Who has the superior strength and stamina to go the distance and be the ultimate champion? Right now real estate is on the ropes trying not to hit the canvas. So, isn't the smart money on stocks winning the fight?

Imagine you had $20,000 to invest. You want to grow your investment over time into a large nest egg. You have narrowed the field down to an aggressive growth mutual fund or into a rental property. If I could guarantee you a 10% annual return on your mutual fund investment and only guarantee you a 5% annual appreciation on your home, what would you do? Seems like a simple choice right?

Let's first look at the stock investment. A $20,000 investment in a stock mutual fund with a 10% annual return would result in $2,000 your first year, $2,200 the second year, and so on. This is not going to make you an overnight millionaire but this is still a very good return on your money. If you have 40 years to let the money grow, you will be sitting pretty counting that money in your nursing home.
 
Now let's look at the same investment of $20,000 in real estate. For simplicity sake we will say you are buying a $100,000 property and putting 20%, or $20,000, as the down payment. A 5% appreciation rate on a $100,000 home would result in a return of $5,000 the first year, $5250 the second year, and so on. Assuming the property breaks even (expenses and income are equal) the $20,000 investment has more than doubled the stock market return each year. In addition, this simple comparison does not take into account the tax benefits of real estate nor the ability to buy a more expensive property with your money and increase your potential returns.  "What you owe today in real estate, you will be worth tomorrow" -unknown

Hi Everyone,

I was wondering what tactics you use when trying to sell a house FSBO-style? Which methods worked best for you and generated the most attention for your house? I bought a book on how to sell by owner and it mentioned putting flyers on the cars of apartment buildings nearby and on cars at malls and trainstations, does that work for anyone? Also how would you rate isoldmyhouse.com and forsalebyowner.com? Anyone have any experience with them?

Any responses would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks!

Here are some links to websites for information on Holbrook, MA

http://holbrook.patriotproperties.com/default.asp  - here you can find property assessed values

http://www.zillow.com/  - this link isn't holbrook specific but a great way to get a ballpark figure of a house

http://www.citytowninfo.com/places/massachusetts/Holbrook - statistics on Holbrook

 

http://www.townonline.com/holbrook/ - The Holbrook Sun, the local newspaper

 

If you need anymore information about Holbrook feel free to contact me.

If you are looking for affordable properties in Holbrook please let me know

I also pay CASH for your house and for referrals for people who want to sell, contact me for details.

So again it's snowing up here in the Boston area and AGAIN I cant work on the landscaping or paint the outside of my house. I'd like to know how you guys deal with adverse weather conditions when trying to sell a house? I know buyers tend to be more lenient on the external appearance during the winter (or is this a misconception?) are there any tricks to making a house look good during the winter season?