Kristin's Blog: December 2008

San Antonio has a burn ban in effect for Bexar, Guadalupe, Kendall, Medina, Uvalde and Wilson counties.  It's a bummer but it's necessary.  Without any rain for quite awhile such dry conditions can cause multiple, out of control fires.  The only county surrounding San Antonio that is still selling fireworks is Atascosa County.  Atascosa still has fireworks for sale minus the aerial ones which have been banned. 

If you want to see fireworks on New Years Eve and are in San Antonio, head downtown and leave it up to the professionals.  They put on quite a show right at midnight and it's spectacular!  Celebrate San Antonio, the city's official New Year's Eve celebration, will have its 15-minute Valero Fireworks Extravaganza over the Tower of the Americas at the stroke of midnight.  250,000 people are expected to be downtown to celebrate and watch the show. 

Photo courtesy of Flickr.com

Live in San Antonio but sound like an out of towner?  

We've either all heard it or done it ourselves.  Mispronouncing counties, cities and streets isn't anything new.  In San Antonio it seems it's common from out of towners as well as native San Antonians. 

 

San Antonio has some funky pronunciations from the streets to the counties to the cities that surround it.  If you have been to San Antonio recently you will see signs for streets, counties and cities that don't sound like they are spelled so, here's some help.  If you are an out of towner (or a native from SA) but don't want to sound like one, this posts for you.   

Let's start with streets:

We have common names like Bandera, Wetmore & Thousand Oaks BUT, some of the harder street names that don't sound like their spelling are:  

Blanco -          Commonly heard pronounced - Blan-ko, it's Blank-o.

Bulverde -       Commonly heard pronounced -Bul-Ver-they, it's Bul-VER-DEE

Nacogdoches - Commonly heard pronounced -Nacog-doah-chis, it's Naco-Doches.

Toepperwein -  Commonly heard pronounced -Toe-per-whine, it's Topper-Wine  

 

Make sense? 

Now let's talk about counties:  

Bexar - Commonly heard pronounced - BECKS-RRRR, it's BEAR.

Comal - Commonly heard pronounced - Co-muul, it's Co-Mal

Guadalupe - Commonly heard pronounced -Gwada-loop, it's Gwada-loopi  

 

 

Good?  Ok, next is CITIES!:  

Cibolo - Commonly heard pronounced -C-Bolo, it's Cib-O-LO

New Braunfels - Commonly heard pronounced -New-Brunsfels, it's New Brawn-Fulls.

Schertz - Commonly heard pronounced -Cherts, it's Shirts

Helotes - Commonly heard pronounced -He-Lotes, it's Huh-low-tiss   

Easy enough?  Great!  I hope this post helps someone who is questioning the true pronunciation of the above words. 

Remember, we all said at least one of them wrong @ one point or another!   

___________________________________________________________________________________________________

Kristin Moran 210-313-7397.  KristinMoran@Satx.RR.com

 

Merry Christmas from the family!   

We made a quick & fun video for all of ActiveRain to enjoy from our house to yours! 

Wherever you are and whatever ya'll are doing make sure to spend some good quality time with your loved ones!  

Happy Holidays or Hanukkah or whatever else ya'll are celebrating from San Antonio, Texas with love! 

 

Recently we bought the RE/MAX office we work out of, after moving some furniture around one day we all went to dinner.  My 10 year old nephew was sitting next to me and engaged me in this conversation:  

10 year old (very smart) nephew:  "So, Aunt K, you bought the office with mommy, right?  "You bought RE/MAX?"  

Me:  "Yes, we bought the RE/MAX office together"  

10 year old (adorable) nephew:  "So, now, you own that office and all of RE/MAX?!"  

Me:  "No, not quite, we bought the RE/MAX franchise of RE/MAX Access but we are renting the office space...."  

10 year old (very wise for his 10 years) nephew:  *disgusted look* turns around to his mother and says "Your RENTING?!!"    

 

He was so disturbed you would have thought my sister had announced Christmas was cancelled.  We all thought it hysterical though that his 10 year old brain got it that it was a much wiser decision to buy vs. rent (he is exceptionally smart though and NO, I am not partial).     

So, we all agree there are exceptions to when it's best to rent vs. buy, right?  The obvious reasons are 1.  When it's not for sale, 2.  When it's way too expensive.    

BUT, what are the obvious reasons for buying? 

I count way more than 2.    

1.  Mortgage Interest deductions

2.  Appreciation - although Real Estate moves in cycles, it has appreciated consistently.

3.  Property Tax deductions

4.  Pride of ownership - you can do WHATEVER you want to the house (within reason if you have an HOA), it's yours!

5.  Building equity versus flushing your money down the toilet

6.  Up till July 1st, 2009 the $7500 interest free tax credit (loan)  

These are just a few of the many, many reasons to buy vs. rent in my opinion, what are yours?

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________  

Looking for information on San Antonio Real Estate or property management?  www.KristinMoran.com to search for homes in San Antonio or anywhere throughout South Texas. 

Kristin Moran, RE/MAX Access - "Sisters that sell", (210)313-7397, KristinMoran@satx.rr.com

 

I post so frequently to Texas Information I thought it important that San Antonio and the surrounding cities have it's own place to hang it's hat. 

I created a group called San Antonio Information. I hope you will join!

So, calling all Bandera, Boerne, Castroville, Cibolo, Converse, Fair Oaks, Helotes, Pipe Creek, Seguin, Schertz, New Braunfels & Universal City ActiveRainer's, here's a new spot for us all to call our posts home.

http://activerain.com/groups/SanAntonioInformation 

Did I leave anyone out? 

 

Thanks to Keith McMullin (http://activerain.com/kmcmullin) for giving me the Group idea!   

If you were to ask anyone who lives in San Antonio where the best neighborhood is to see Holiday lights they would say Windcrest .  Located on the North East side of the city, Windcrest has been a hot spot for thousands of visitors and San Antonians for years to check out Holiday lights.    

This year marks the 51st year of the Windcrest Light up which has contests for the most beautifully decorated holiday lights and numerous other categories.  Light up begins mid December and lasts through New Year's eve.   

The competition is fierce, the lights are aplenty and some would say overdone, just a tad.  

Is there such a thing as over the top decorations?  You'll have to be the judge.

    

Recently I came across a post by Clint Miller with a recipe for Chocolate truffles (yum-o!) then a couple of days later I find a post by Rita Burke about her easy to make fudge (count me in!) and thought to myself, what evil, evil people. 

How DARE they post these desserts that are 1.  Delicious, 2.  Easy to make and 3.  Not on my diet?    

The nerve!  Today I tried both recipes and one of my own so I thought I would add to the evilness of the Holidays, chocolate and sugar.  Mmmmmmmmmmmmm, sugar and post it for ya'll to enjoy!  

I have been making these bon-bons for years, they are so magnificient and easy to make and give to clients, everyone loves them!  

Chocolate Bon-Bon's:  

1 Cup Peanut Butter

1 Cup Powdered Sugar

1.5 Cups Rice Krispie Cereal

Chocolate (I use milk chocolate chips - you can use bark or semi-chocolate, whatever you like)  

Here's how you do it:  

Mix all ingredients together (spoon or with your hands) when all is mixed, roll the mixture into small balls.  Refrigerate for about an hour.      

You will need a double boiler (if using chocolate chips, if you don't have one you can put a small pan inside a larger pan with about an inch of water in it) to melt the chips. 

Melt on low heat slowly (don't let it burn or else your chocolate is ruined) roll the balls one by one in the chocolate mixture and get them out with a slotted spoon.  Then put them on a cookie sheet lined with waxed paper and put in the fridge to cool.   

These little guys are sooooo good and always a hit with whomever I give them too.  Enjoy!

<