We all struggle with being motivated at times. My mentor told me that showing up was half the battle.

For more information please contact Lara O'Keefe at 972.838.9156 or visit Hunter's Creek.

Today I got a scary reminder to be safe in model homes and open houses! I was almost a victim of theft on Wednesday!

I was sent an email from several friends in new home sales at different companies warning of a thief targeting model homes in the DFW area. He was described as a middle aged, white man, 6'1", and heavy set with grey hair. He drives a black Ford Focus. He has been spotted taking purses and wallets out of the sales offices of model homes. He also took their car keys and stole items out of their cars. He has been seen in Melissa, Allen, Lucas, and McKinney.

He is part of an ongoing Collin County Sheriff's investigation and they sent out his picture.

After reading the description and looking at an attached photo I realized this man was in my model home last Wednesday pretending to be a prospect. His picture looked familiar, but it was the car that I recognized.

He had come in pretending to look for a new home and seemed polite and nonthreatening. He noticed that my builder was sitting just outside my office. He looked around very quickly and said that he was looking for something more "high end" and left quite abruptly. I remember joking with my builder about his not so "high end" car. He was in Melissa and hit another salesperson down the street the very same day!

This is a scary reminder not to bring valuables, purses, or wallets into model homes or open houses. Lock valuables in the trunk of your car and hide your car keys or keep them on you.

If you don't make it easy, then they will prey on the next less careful person.

For more information please contact Lara O'Keefe at 972.838.9156 or visit Hunter's Creek.

Things are exciting here at Hunter's Creek in Melissa! It's Spring in Texas and lots of people are coming out to buy new homes starting in the $140's.  

We are located just five minutes north of McKinney and are close to shopping, restaurants, medical care, and other conveniences. Melissa schools are exemplary rated and boast the highest test scores in Collin County!  

We have 3 homes ready for immediate move in and 7 homes which we are about to start that will be ready for a summer move in! We have just a couple of creek lots remaining if you would like to build your one of a kind home.  

DR Horton Homes is America's largest public builder. We have been building homes for 30 years and are looking forward to another 30 years!

For more information please contact Lara O'Keefe at 972.838.9156 or visit Hunter's Creek.

1. Texas is the only state to have the flags of 6 different nations fly over it. They are: Spain, France, Mexico, Republic of Texas, Confederate States, and the United States.
      
2. The King Ranch in Texas is bigger than the state of Rhode Island.
       
3. The state was an independent nation from 1836 to 1845. 
    
4. Texas boasts the nation's largest herd of whitetail deer.
    
5. Sam Houston, arguably the most famous Texan, was actually born in Virginia. Houston served as governor of Tennessee before coming to Texas.
      
6. The capital city of Austin is located on the Colorado River in south-central Texas. The capitol building is made from Texas pink granite. It served as the capital of the Republic of Texas in 1840-1842.
    
7. Austin is considered the live music capital of the world.
    
8. Texas is home to Dell and Compaq computers and central Texas is often referred to as the Silicon Valley of the south.
    
9. Professional sports teams include the Dallas Cowboys, Dallas Mavericks, Dallas Stars, Houston Astros, Houston Comets, Houston Rockets, San Antonio Spurs, and Texas Rangers. And Houston Texans.
    
10. Dr Pepper was invented in Waco in 1885. The Dublin Dr Pepper, 85 miles west of Waco, still uses pure imperial cane sugar in its product. There is no period after the Dr in Dr Pepper.
     
11. The first suspension bridge in the United States was the Waco Bridge. Built in 1870 and still in use today as a pedestrian crossing of the Brazos River.
       
12. Texas comes from the Hasinai Indian word tejas meaning friends or allies.
     
13. The armadillo is the official state mammal. 
         
14. The first word spoken from the moon on July 20, 1969 was Houston.
      
15. Texas possesses three of the top ten most populous cities in the United States. These towns are Houston, Dallas, and San Antonio.
     
16. El Paso is closer to Needles, California than it is to Dallas.
     
17. Texas includes 267,339 square miles, or 7.4% of the nation's total area. 
     
18. The state's cattle population is estimated to be near 16 million. 
      
19. More species of bats live in Texas than in any other part of the United States. 
      
20. The Tyler Municipal Rose Garden is the world's largest rose garden. It contains 38,000 rose bushes representing 500 varieties of roses set in a 22-acre garden.

I have lived in Texas for 24 years now and love it! I have lived in many places, but Texas has stolen my heart as home!

For more information please contact Lara O'Keefe at 972.838.9156 or visit Hunter's Creek.

Even some actors are feeling the housing crunch. Eight apparently wasn't enough for Willie Aames.

The star of Charles in Charge and Eight Is Enough, after filing for bankruptcy last year and whose house is in foreclosure, has been reduced to holding a garage sale at his Olathe, Kansas, home to raise some money.

Among the items on sale Thursday, March 26^th were antiques, artwork, a piano, leather couches, a TV set, a mounted lion's head and other stuffed wildlife the 48-year-old had hunted, and movie memorabilia.

Aames also signed autographs while a film crew recorded the event for a TV documentary about his life.

After his stints on TV and a self-admitted addiction to cocaine, the former child actor became religious and visited schools in a superhero costume as "Bibleman."

He moved to the Kansas City area in the 1990s, after filming a syndicated fishing show there.

For more information please contact Lara O'Keefe at 972.838.9156 or visit Hunter's Creek.

That's almost true ...

When you see fast-motion studies of cats, they rotate their heads and find the ground and twist their body into position.

The one thing they do that is remarkable is that right before they reach terminal velocity, they spread out like a flying squirrel and relax right before impact so they don't hit rigidly, they hit with flexibility.

We actually had a cat who fell chasing a bird out of a 4 story window and only fractured a couple of teeth and her pelvis. We think a delivery truck broke her fall. She used up a couple of cat lives on that fall!

But not all of them land on their feet. Every once in a while, a kitty klutz comes along.

You'll see a pile of kittens out there playing and climbing up something and falling or jumping off. Several of them land on their feet and then one of them clunks down on its head.

Kids, don't test this at home! 

For more information please contact Lara O'Keefe at 972.838.9156 or visit Hunter's Creek.

That only makes your dog afraid of you.

Instead of learning to potty outdoors, it will find hidden places to go in the house and avoid relieving itself in front of you, even outdoors.

Punishment is often overly harsh and used incorrectly. The best way to train any animal is to reward the appropriate behavior.

To successfully housetrain a dog, always take it out on leash so that when it potties outside, you will be right there to reward it with a treat, praise, a favorite toy or playtime afterward.

Crate training for the first two years also helps to stop any accidents while you are out or at work. Some say that it's mean, but the dogs think of the crate as their den and a safe place to sleep while you are not there.

It also helps to cut down on the chewing damage during the puppy brain years!

For more information please contact Lara O'Keefe at 972.838.9156 or visit Hunter's Creek.

Don't count on it. Tail wags have lots of different meanings, some friendly and some not.

You have to look at the body posture of the animal and everything else it's doing. Is the dog growling or bearing its teeth? Is the fur standing up rigidly on its back?

How is the tail wagging? Stiffly, tucked and wagging, nice and flowing, is the whole body wagging? That all has to be taken into consideration.

Some signals to consider:

• Relaxed, comfortable dogs generally have a gently wagging tail held horizontally or slightly lowered.
• Confident dogs carry their tails up.
• Dogs with their tails down may be stalking prey, feeling cautious or indicating friendliness and respect to the one they're greeting.
• Together with a lowered head, direct stare, closed mouth, ears held back and eyes wide open, a lowered tail is a clear warning to back off.
• A tucked tail indicates anxiety, avoidance or caution.

The biggest lesson is, never approach a strange dog unless you are sure that it is friendly. It's just safer that way!

For more information please contact Lara O'Keefe at 972.838.9156 or visit Hunter's Creek.

A healthy pet has fresh breath. Just as in people, bad breath is a sign of a serious health problem.
Periodontal disease is the number one most commonly diagnosed problem in veterinary medicine.

By having good oral health, pets can live up to 15 percent longer, which is an average of two years.
Brush your pet's teeth regularly, making sure to use a toothpaste that's intended for your dog or cat. Daily is best, but even weekly is better than nothing.

Now eating something disgusting and coming over to you and burping does not count as this kind of bad breath!

For more information please contact Lara O'Keefe at 972.838.9156 or visit Hunter's Creek.