It’s been a long time since I did an affordable housing post. Let’s see what kind of rentals are available in our fine boro of Brooklyn, shall we?

Clinton Hill Studio $980

The marble fireplace, the wide plank floors! It’s clean too, which for this price is difficult to find. The drawback? It’s the G train. Ugh.

Prospect Park South $1000

Meh apartment but location, location, location. Q/B train at Church? Not too shabby.

Crown Heights $995

A pre-war 1 BR along the #3 line. Yeah ok, I can deal with that.

Bed Stuy $1110

Brownstone 1 BR with what seems to be a back yard. They don’t SAY that, but why else would they take picture of it? Address is listed as Decatur at Macdonough. No clue where this is, since they run parallel.

  posted @ 7:18 am Comments (0)

Pet adoption and
rescue powered by

Common Questions About Pet Adoption

Q: Although there are millions of pets in shelters needing homes each year, many pet-owners-to-be don’t think about pet adoption when they’re looking for their new four-legged friend. Why do you think this is, and what can be done to turn that around?
A: Many people who want to get a pet just are not aware of how many great pets are available at shelters. They might also have the misconception that pets in shelters might be there because there was a problem with the animal. In fact, most pets end up in shelters not because of any problem with pet behavior, but because an owner died, moved, or simply didn’t have the time or money to care for the animal. In some cases animals are lost and never found by their owners. These animals are healthy and very eager to please. Rescued pets are wonderful- just ask anyone who has one.

Some people are seeking purebred animals or puppies and think these animals are not available in shelters. In fact, nearly a quarter of all animals in shelters are purebred. Often someone buys an expensive purebred animal and then attempts to breed that animal to recoup their money. Often these animals are not placed in homes, and end up in the shelter. Puppies and kittens often up in shelters as well, but it is important to note that puppies require a lot of work and training and can be quite destructive (peeing on the carpet or chewing shoes). Puppies are great, but often people are much happier getting a dog who is older, and whose size and temperament is a known quantity.

Through Adopt-a-Pet.com and without even leaving their home, people can search all their local shelters and see pictures and descriptions of the pets available for adoption. This way, they can find the exact pet they want, call the animal shelter or rescue group, and get information on how to adopt that specific animal.

Q: What are the 5 most important things a potential adopter should consider when choosing their new pet?
A: We actually have a blog post on this highlighting the top 10 things we believe are important when adopting. Here are five, the rest can be located by visiting this page.

1. You need to make a real commitment to care for your pet for its entire life.
2. Verify in advance that you’re allowed to keep a pet where you live.
3. Never adopt a pet on a whim or because you feel it’s love-at-first-sight
4. Provide sufficient exercise and stimulation during the first few weeks, this will help the pet adjust.
5. Make any necessary modifications to your yard and fence to provide for your pet’s safety.

Q: What are 5 positive aspects of pet adoption, and why it’s a good option?

A:
1. When you adopt an adult animal, you can see his/her size and temperament. This helps ensure that the pet is right for you and your family.
2. It feels great to know you have saved an animal’s life and everyone you meet will give you kudos for that for years to come.
3. Adopted pets are very loyal and know they have been given a new home.
4. Adopting a pet can be an important lesson to teach your children– both about the value of life, and also about civic responsibility and even recycling- in this case recycling a living and loving animal into a new home.
5. Choosing a mixed breed animal can help avoid many of the genetic health problems that have developed in purebred animals due overbreeding and inbreeding.

Q: If someone reading this isn’t in a position to adopt a pet right at this time, but still wants to help homeless pets, what are 5 things they can do to get involved?
A:
1. People can do Social PETworking and Twitter Critter! They can run a search on Adopt-a-Pet.com, find a pet they want to help get exposure for, and use the share tools on our site to post the pet link on their Facebook, Twitter, MySpace or other social network page. Or, they can email the link of a pet in need from our site to their friends.
2. They can place a link/graphic or even a search widget for Adopt-a-Pet.com on their personal website to encourage they users to see pets in need at local shelters.
3. People can add their info to our volunteer database so shelters who need volunteers can find them.
4. People can search Adopt-a-Pet.com to find a local shelter, and make a cash donation to that shelter to help them with the costs of housing, feeding and medical care of shelter animals.
5. People can encourage other pet owners to spay or neuter their pet to help prevent unwanted births.

*Guest post by Adopt a Pet

  posted @ 8:37 am Comments (0)

There’s a new kid in town ready to compete with Etsy. EFreeMe is a freshly launched, easy to navigate, craft and vintage shop that is totally free for sellers (except for the Paypal part). Right now they will also give you $5 if you create a store and list 20 items! Yes, THEY are paying YOU to list!

There aren’t tons of sellers on there yet. The site is brand spankin’ new.

The image above is from Atozillusions. Look at real close, like. It spells out the word “music”. How cool is that?

So, how does EFreeMe make money? No clue.

  posted @ 5:46 am Comments (3)

Converted Church. Holy crap, that’s f*in gorgeous! Zillow

Rotating House. Bob Vila

Before and After Back Yard. Design Sponge

Ten Little Houses. Web Urbanist

Share your DIY with Thrifty Decor Chick

  posted @ 5:43 am Comments (1)

As promised, welcome to part II of my Brooklyn Blogfest post. No matter how good the planned program, my favorite part of the evening is the schmoozing at the end. I get to put faces with the blogs and get to hear about new blogs-a-launching. Most of these are food blogs, as my break-out session was “food, crafts and home”.

So, I met….

Paula from Undomesticated Me. I believe we bonded (She friended me on FB!). Like me, Paula can’t cook, clean or entertain. But unlike me, she is learning. And that’s what the blog is all about. It’s witty, charming and she uses some cool 1950′s imagery. What’s not to like?

So Good TV is another established blog. Heather and her husband are professional filmmakers and do cooking videos on the blog. There are recipes and such, but I couldn’t find the menu and call-for-delivery section. Heather does, however, have a wine section for those of us whom just refuse to cook but want to know all there is to know about the drink.

Historic Cookery. So, as if cooking in 2010 isn’t difficult enough, Carolina Capehart cooks using early 19th century techniques, ingredients and recipes. That means her microwave is an open fire hearth. She mentioned to us that she didn’t own a blender or mixer. I was like “Yeah, neither do I. But I own a phone and microwave.”

A Cake Bakes in Brooklyn. Susan LaRosa doesn’t reach quite as far back in time as Carolina, but she too, uses old recipes for her baking…and reports about it on her blog. Susan obtains her early to mid 1900′s recipes from flea markets and estate sales. Everything looks so yummy on her blog! Weird thing is…she was pretty thin.

I met Ameet from Rice of Life last year. Now, HIS recipes are right up my alley! They’re all vegetarian! And they look good! Now if I could only get someone to cook them for me. Note to self…work on the husband. PS: Gluten free too.

Miss Masala joined us in the group, as did freelance writer Julie Knapp who blogs about fitness. I had a good 10 minute look at her blog this morning in lieu of working out.

The gals from Brooklyn General Store stopped by because they will be launching a blog and wanted to learn the ins and outs.

But the new blogs! Exciting and awesome!

OMG, OMG, OMG, you have to check this out! Brooklyn Flea vendor Lon Black (whom I know as “the postcard guy”) started a Bad Postcards blog. Awesomely funny mid century kitsch.

I saved Dinevore for last because I have a feeling it’s gonna be BIG! The web application is currently in Alpha now (yeah, that’s before it gets to Beta….I never knew the lingo) so to get a preview of the site, you would have to email founder Jeremy to receive your username and password. It’s kind of like Yelp and Facebook combined for restaurant reviews. You can see where friends ate and what they thought of it. Huge database of restaurants! I didn’t comprehend half of the computer geekiness Jeremy was spewing, but all I’m gonna say is that he’s the next Craig Newmark. Just search Dinevore on FB or Twitter to get updates if you don’t want to join yet.

  posted @ 7:35 am Comments (0)

Brooklyn Boro President, Marty Markowitz trying to steal the show.

The Brooklyn Blogfest was super professional this year! Not that Louise Crawford aka Madam OTBKB didn’t do a fabulous job in the past, it was just totally streamlined last night. Of course, having Absolut Brooklyn as a sponsor and Spike Lee to launch the new vodka flavor might have had a little something to do with it.

There was a performance by Aaron Costa Ganis, Charlotte Maier and Natalie Paul for starters. “Blogs Aloud” was adaption of posts from several Brooklyn blogs through the years. Video: Part 1 and part 2.

After a photo blogger video tribute by Adrain “Brit in Brooklyn” Kinloch, Lemon Anderson came out to rap his ode to Brooklyn. I didn’t realize it at the time, but it looks like that’s the Absolut Brooklyn ad.

Then it was time for Spike. He skirted the issue of gentrification and let us know that Fort Greene was fine just the way it was back in the day. He only hinted at the divisive issue and spoke mainly of Absolut, his relationship with Brooklyn and took questions about breaking into film.

Andrea Bernstein of WNYC was the moderator for the panel discussion. Panelists included Heather of So Good TV, Atiba from Visual Stenographers, Brokelyn‘s Faye, Jake from Gothamist and Petra of Bed Stuy Blog.The question was posed to the panel “Why does Brooklyn breed creativity?”Some nice anwers…. (I’m putting them in quotes but they’re not the exact words. My bad.)”It has attitude.” Heather”Newcomers feel we must live up to the reputation.” Petra

“People have an attitude problem 2 minutes after moving here. We’re always giving advice. We wanna tell people how to live.” Jake

“We’re full of ourselves.” “Everybody gets a chance to show their stuff.” Faye

“Brooklyn made NYC in 1898…..People will defend Brooklyn to the death.” Atiba

Towards the end of the evening, we broke up into smaller groups. I’ll post part II tomorrow and fill you in some awesome new blogs in the works!

  posted @ 9:16 am Comments (2)

Head’s up: Doors open at 6:30 and pre-registration is closed. There is seating upstairs, but you can only see it on video from up there.

I’ll be hosting the break out group on house blogs afterward. Better see you there!

Brooklyn Blogfest 2010

  posted @ 6:30 am Comments (0)

A Republican in Chelsea. Curbed

There are still artists in Williamsburg? City Room

The “Blind Side” house. Hooked on Houses

Greening your outdoor space. Re-Nest

Become an Apartment Therapy blogger. AT

  posted @ 6:23 am Comments (0)

1. Volunteer for surveillance and clean up with National Wildlife Foundation.

2. Get a haircut! They take pet hair too.

3. Adopt a bird.

4. Text 20222 to donate $20 to NWF.

5. Donate to Sierra while giving Rush Limbaugh a what for.

BP is getting much of the blame and rightfully so! Let’s not forget that we’re all guilty of oil consumption. Just like poachers and fur trappers wouldn’t be killing innocent animals if there wasn’t a market for it, oil drilling wouldn’t be necessary if nobody was buying.

The obvious thing to do is cut down on driving. Walk, bike, take the train. But FYI, there are sooo many things made from oil….it’s pretty scary.

Are you ready for this? It’s gonna blow your mind….

1. Plastics. This means your water bottles, TV, phone, the computer you’re looking at right now, condoms….CONDOMS!

2. Pills. That’s right, honey. That Advil you take for cramps? Oil.

3. Faux Fur and Leather. I’m guilty. Don’t want to kill the animals, but I’m helping to kill the environment.

4. Ink

5. Dog Toys

6. Paint

7. Floor Wax

8. Soap, some of which has animal fat too. Dr. Bronners is safe, y’all!

9. Cosmetics. Yuck! Keep painting your faces, you harlots.

10. Breast Implants

So, what to do? It’s impossible to live without oil by-products. There are alternatives and solutions, so consumption can be cut down significantly. Shut lights and a/c when not in use, refill your water bottle, wear natural fabrics or vintage clothing, shop for eco-friendly cleaning products, um…use the pull out method.

Every little bit helps. And can you imagine if each of us did one little incy wincy thing to cut down? It would make a difference!

  posted @ 6:09 am Comments (0)

So, after just 4 weeks, we’ve decided to reduce the price on our Beacon house. We are motivated sellers! Although, not so motivated that we’ll go down much more because we haven’t left ourselves with wiggle room now.

A 4 BR friggin drop dead gorgeous Queen Anne Victorian for $379,900. We already hate the people who are going to buy it because they’re ripping us off. But it was our decision to make. We’ve moved on, so holding onto the house for several months just to make a few more bucks isn’t going to do us any good.

This Sunday will be the first (hopefully the only) OPEN HOUSE! So, if you’re thinking of moving to Beacon but didn’t want to bother realtors because you’re not ready yet, here’s your excuse to check it out.

I’ll even plan your day for you….

Take Metro North.

Go to DIA.

Walk up to Main Street. Lunch @ Homespun. Continue to walk through the crappy mid section of town….there’s more at the other end. Make sure you get to the waterfall on the east side of Main.

Ok, so if you’re too tired, take the loop bus back down Main because the house is back on the west side.

Hit the open house. Put in a really, really high offer because of the bidding war that will undoubtedly be going on.

Walk back to train. Feel superior to all the people in their cars because they don’t live within walking distance to public transit.

The Deets:

When: Sunday June 6th, 1-4pm

Where: 1189 North Avenue (that’s Rt. 9-D south side) Beacon, NY 12508

How: Metro North to Beacon station. Front of train (That means walk to the back at Grand Central). Walk up the hill to W. Main, take left, then left on 9-D. House is third in from corner of Tompkins. There is a 33 on the door, but no 1189. JonCar Realty sign out front and if the agent is any good, there should be balloons or something.

Driving? 9-D South from Rt 84. Park on Tompkins (beyond the house) as it’s a tight driveway for too many cars.

* Don’t forget to bring your mortgage pre-approval and check book!

  posted @ 7:11 am Comments (0)

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