Right now I am caressing my old Formica countertops. I'm gazing lovingly at their knife nicks and flirting with their not-quite-tight seams. Suddenly their beige boringness is making me swoon. What's caused this love affair with my un-updated kitchen? This article in the New York Times. Accordin
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07/30/2008
If you're new to my territory, St. Louis' Illinois suburbs including Madison County and surrounding areas, you might not know about one of the most beautiful places on Earth -- the stretch of highway called the Great River Road between Alton and Grafton, Illinois. The scenic drive along the Missi
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07/19/2008
Last summer I helped two of my favorite customers, Kristin and Rob, buy their first home. It's a charming brick bungalow with spacious rooms and a lot of character, located in Collinsville, Illinois. Outside, the huge yard is complemented by an amazing deck. Now the 2-year newlyweds are in the pr
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07/10/2008
We all know that it can be hard for some buyers to get the cash together for a downpayment toward their home purchase. And now, with FHA downpayment assistance programs in jeopardy again, finding another way to help folks achieve the American Dream through home ownership is more important than ev
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07/10/2008
Greetings from the eastern shores of the Mighty Mississippi River where gas was $4.09/gallon today (yikes). As I was pumping Regular into the Freestyle's tank, thinking of the good old days when something less than a $20 was needed for a fill up, it occurred to me that maybe the gas crisis could
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07/10/2008
Remember the TV show, Green Acres? Among the cast of oddball characters was bumbling extension agent Hank Kimball who made life even harder for Oliver Wendell Douglas, the erstwhile New York attorney turned very bad farmer. That's probably as close as most suburbanites get to an extension office
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07/10/2008
One of the best things about living in Madison County, Illinois is underway right now -- the Sweet Corn harvest. Well, to be absolutely accurate, at this moment in time we have bi-color corn (that referes to a cob with a mixture of both the white and the yellow kernals, not the vegetable's person
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07/08/2008
What would America be like without a long list of the "World's Biggest" items? Over the years, I've seen the world's biggest rocking chair (in Missouri), the biggest 8-ball (also Missouri... maybe there's a trend), the biggest basket (Ohio) and too many more roadside oddities to name. Here in Mad
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07/07/2008
Since it's the time of year for fireworks, I thought I'd muse today about the explosion of restaurants here in Edwardsville Illinois (which is in Southwestern Illinois/Suburban St. Louis, Mo). A few years ago, Edwardsville and Glen Carbon residents had to drive miles to reach a variety of dining
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07/05/2008
