Spending more time than usual at home, we might be feeling as bored with our dwellings as with ourselves. The blahs can bring on an itch to redecorate. I had hardly changed anything in my South Loop condo after making it livable when I moved in seven years ago.

Before scratching the redecorating itch, though, I decided to get a fix on my criteria for a shipshape home. It didn’t take long to come up with a list; a six-month lockdown has tested how well our homes work for us.

My realistic criteria can be described with words beginning with the letter C:

Clutter-controlled: I finished a decluttering sweep just before the coronavirus struck, and although more could be purged, stuff is organized and boxes labeled. A home doesn’t have to be minimalist — unless that’s your preference. If I have a place for everything and know what I have, I’ve met my goal for controlling clutter.

Clean: My standards aren’t those of my mother, who washed walls and everything in the kitchen cabinets once a year. But I am antsy when the place looks like it needs cleaning. A couple of hours a week with microfiber cloths and the vacuum cleaner keep my antsiness at bay. Clean also required replacing the pet-stained bedroom carpet with hardwood flooring, a recent in-between-cats project.

Convenient: Several things fall into this category. Having suitable space for reading, desk work, cooking, entertaining a few people, and storage. Storing things so they’re findable and — especially things used often — reachable. Fixing things that break down.

Comfortable: Whatever one’s decorating style, everyone wants a comfortable home. For me comfort especially requires a back-friendly mattress, reading chair, and desk chair. Calming colors, good lighting, and the right temperature are also fundamentals.

Cozy: Differentiating cozy from comfortable, here it applies to decor. Cozy is an informal, lived-in style that invites relaxation. I put cozy last because decorating should come after clutter control, convenience, et al. are taken care of. My condo is never going to be the subject of a photo spread, but when visitors call it cozy, I’m happy.

Note that the five C’s are not a condo-shopping wish list. I was fortunate to get my main wants when I bought here seven years ago: a downtown location, a balcony, space for an office, and a controllable thermostat (missing in my previous radiator-heated building). The five C’s are about how you live in the space after you move in.

Also note that the C’s are not how-tos for a dream decor. They’re foundational, not cosmetic. An abode that wows isn’t my aspiration, and I doubt that I could achieve it if I tried. Besides, a condo that looks great but falls short on convenience or my other criteria would not be one that works for me.

Rather than reporting how I graded my place on each of the C’s, I’ll just say that making the list was valuable for putting expectations into perspective. Boredom is likely due to the circumstance of being confined. A home featured in House Beautiful might seem blah after six months of unrelieved gazing at its walls.

*****

ANTI-TRUMP COMMENTS: 128TH IN AN ONGOING SERIES

“I’m not surprised that the president cannot grasp the nature and quality of selfless service. It’s all transactional for him. It’s beyond comprehension that we would have to tolerate a commander in chief who behaves the way this president does.”
— Retired Maj. Gen. Paul Eaton

Nature of the beasts – similar yet different

Do you compare your kids when one frustrates you and wonder why one gives you a hassle and the other does not?

Do you ever think – or say – “I raised both of them the same – why are they so different?”

There is a myriad of reasons why one child is different from another – in both good and bad ways.

Parents typically put a lot of pressure on themselves these days – we know children aren’t “perfect” – and neither are we – but do we also somehow expect perfection? Or do we simply expect them to be what we would like, instead of who they really are?

In many cases, we just want our kids to be the best they can, even if it’s in very different ways – which is completely understandable.

From athletic to academic performance, choice of friends, ability to be “productive” (this is a loaded term and I’ll write a separate blog on that), emotions (this, too, could be another blog post), etc., there is any number of ways for parents to compare their children – and wonder what makes one so different from the other?

One morning as I sipped my coffee before the impending craziness of the day began at work, I noticed something.

My dog, a sheltie, was in the yard, running back and forth from tree to tree, barking madly – he would run up to each tree and then literally – attempt to run up the tree, biting the trunk and angrily barking up at two squirrels – on in each tree – as they looked down at him from the high limbs, jabbering away at him and apparently taunting him.

My kitten sat in the window seat, oblivious to all of this noise, gently linking her paws. She didn’t give a hoot about squirrels.

When I brought my dog in he drank plenty of water and then collapsed on the floor, panting and gently blinking until he felt relaxed enough to start getting drowsy.

Outside, many birds began to twitter in the large, tall bushes near our patio. He didn’t notice them.

The kitten, however, had stopped cleaning herself and was staring intently at the flittering wings and chirping birds. She moved closer to the window – transfixed by what she saw, her eyes darting and head moving, monitoring every move of every bird.

My dog put down his head and fell asleep.

Later, I was enjoying some salt and malted vinegar potato chips. The kitten lives up to the reputation of being a curious cat, and she began to push her face into the bag of chips I was holding.

So I took out a chip and broke off a small piece. I set it on the desk in front of me – she cautiously walked up to the chip, sniffed, and then gently stuck out her tongue to try it – she instantly snapped her head back, shaking it quickly. Then she tried the chip again – the same thing – she walked away. Too much vinegar for her!

At that same time, my dog walked up to me and looked curious – he began sniffing the air, taking in the scent of chips, and sidled up to my thigh.

Now he is a sheltie – a small collie, sort of dainty compared to other, more lumbering breeds. He is a pretty neat eater and drinker from his dog bowls.

But he’s still a dog.

He’d never had one of these kinds of chips before either. I set it on the floor in front of him. He sniffed it briefly, if at all, and then just chomp, chomp, chomped it. It bypassed his tongue and went straight back to his molars, as he noisily crunched it to oblivion. I gave him another. Same thing.

Dogs don’t usually test out their food the way a cat does.

I was shocked to observe the difference between raising a puppy vs. raising a kitten.

Puppies quickly become strong, tugging on leashes, knocking into you while playing and such. They need help and it can take time to teach them things like going potty outside and climbing stairs, and they need to be crated when you’re not home.

As pack animals, dogs crave the attention of their pack. They don’t like to be left alone. Deep inside their brains, they long to be accepted by the Alpha of the pack – being part of a pack means life; being rejected means death, for pack animals survive best in groups.

And in modern dogs, it’s been demonstrated that they feel loving affection toward their human families. Dogs have learned how to understand human spoken and body language and use their own body and verbal language to communicate with humans.

Cats are agile and lithe. They are athletic and learn to climb things like stairs quickly – among many other things! They litter box train very quickly. They can be left to their own devices at a young age and are not so upset to be left alone.

Cats may live together in groups, but they are not truly pack animals. They do not crave attention in the same fashion as a dog but will come to you to cuddle and purr.

But, just as my human children did as toddlers, our dog and cat follow me from room to room. My dog is almost always at my feet, and the cat is usually in my lap or laying near me somewhere. And like my children as toddlers, I can’t escape them if they want to see me, even when I need a bathroom break or want to sleep!

So this all brings me full circle.

I realize of course that cats and dogs are separate species from each other, and so the differences between them as animals aren’t the same as looking at the differences between children.

But it’s interesting to note: I didn’t teach the dog to defend our home, or dislike squirrels, or how to whine to tell me he needs something.

I didn’t teach the cat to climb whatever she can and perch up high, or to be intrigued by birds or how to purr.

These are all things that came naturally to each animal.

They were taught where to eliminate, how to stop annoying habits like nipping, that open arms mean “come here, I’ll cuddle you and pet you,” and they taught themselves things through observation – such as the sound of opening cans can very well mean it’s mealtime.

It has been easy to accept that different creatures have different habits, and I find myself marveling at the strength and power of dogs and the agility and cleverness of cats.

I have watched two animals that started out wary of each other modify how they interact so that now they play together – not to mention that my sheltie is 10 years old and the cat is just 20 weeks old now, and the age difference also influences how they perceive and react to the world.

I do not expect my dog to be as independent as my cat, and I do not expect my cat to listen to my directives the way my dog does. My dog loves to be petted and talked to, but he does not particularly enjoy being held or carried. My cat crawls up to me, gently butting her head into my chin and sinks into me almost like an infant and wants to be held tightly.

These are not only cat and dog differences but differences in the personalities of each of these two beings.

So too, each child truly has their own unique gifts, perceptions, and reactions to the world. Some they learned. Many they are born with – both good and bad.

Isn’t that true of all of us?

To be sure, humans can make a choice to modify behavior. To teach a child to change their behavior, it’s imperative to understand that person’s base nature and what would make enacting change something that child would want to do.

Sensitivity, a willingness to see what someone’s nature is, and learning what motivates that particular child is key. There is actually a lot more to figuring out what makes a person tick than this simple statement, but it’s a start.

And for me, seeing it play out in nature between my two pets helped affirm what I was thinking.

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Well, August wasn’t too bad for the Chicago real estate market. Home sales were up 10.6% from last year but, frankly, I expected more, given that July contract activity was so strong. You can see where August fell relative to history in the graph below which has all previous Augusts flagged in red. This is the highest level of closings in 4 years.

If you look at the light blue 12 month moving average line in the graph you can see where sales fell off the cliff and are trying to come back but we have a long way to go to make up for all the lost sales from the Covid-19 fallout during April – June. I don’t think it’s going to happen.

Oh…and in two weeks the Illinois Association of Realtors will come out with the official Chicago real estate market statistics. They will report an 8.0% increase in sales due to their flawed methodology.

Chicago home sales have been declining now for several years but the Coronavirus really tanked the market in May and June. The market returned to more normal levels starting in July.

Chicago Home Contract Activity

Check out the contract activity graph below. Remember that July was up 30.6% from last year but now August is up 26.0% to another record level for this time of year. You can see the cumulative effect in that light blue moving average line and it looks like we are making a lot of progress. That’s why I think September should show a much larger increase in closings than August. As I’ve pointed out before, the 2020 Chicago real estate market has been shifted out a couple of months.

Chicago home sale contract activity hit another record high for this time of year after plummeting to record lows because of Coronavirus issues.

Pending Home Sales

If you have a lot of contract activity that doesn’t quickly translate into home sales what happens to all those contracts? Well, those contracts can either fall apart or they can sit in pending home sales. When I report the contract activity above I already allow for a normal rate of termination so it’s no surprise that pending home sales are surging right now. If you look at the graph below you’ll see that we just hit the highest August level in 7 years. It’s up from last year by 1030 units. So that’s just further evidence that September closings should be really strong and we’ll probably continue to see that effect into the remainder of the year.

After hitting historic lows the backlog of homes likely to close in the next 1 – 2 months has reached the highest levels in 7 years.

Distressed Home Sales

The distressed home sale portion of the Chicago real estate market managed a further decline in August, sinking to a mere 3.4% from 5.1% last year. Of course, that’s another record low, as dramatically demonstrated in the graph below.

Since the housing crisis the percentage of home sales that are distressed has steadily declined.

Chicago Home Inventory

The available inventory of homes for sale in Chicago is developing into an even more interesting story. We knew inventory was tight but now we are seeing a dramatic divergence between the inventory of detached and attached homes.

Remember that, since this whole Covid-19 fiasco, I switched to my own calculation of months of supply so that I could more accurately reflect what’s going on right now. In the graph below I calculate months of supply by dividing available inventory by contracts written during the month. This is critical because, while inventory has recently surged, so has contract activity. Again, the real estate market has shifted out a couple of months.

Consequently, what we see in the graph below is that detached inventory hit another record low of only a 1.7 month supply while attached inventory is on the rise. While attached inventory hit 4.7 months that’s not a record for this time of the year and it’s actually lower than last year’s 5.1 month supply.

What does all this tell us? Well, it basically confirms what the news has been telling us. Condos are out of favor as people stuck at home want the larger space afforded by a single family home. Later this week I’ll expand more on this topic when I show you some data about how the suburbs are doing relative to the city.

After a big Coronavirus induced spike in April the inventory of homes for sale dropped back down. Detached inventory hit a record low in August while attached inventory returned to normal levels.

Chicago Home Sale Market Times

The graph below shows the average market times for attached and detached homes in Chicago. There hasn’t been much change from last year with attached flat at 68 days and detached up from 70 days last year to 74 days this year. That’s rather surprising, given how low detached inventory is right now.

However, oddly enough, median market times (I’m not going to throw another graph at you) are down pretty significantly from last year. Half of attached homes sold in 23 days or less this year compared to 36 days last year while half of detached homes sold in 27 days or less compared to 34 days last year. So properties priced well are selling much faster now but overpriced properties are lingering on the market much longer (because the average is about the same).

When the pandemic first hit Chicago market times rose but now they are close to being where they were last year.

You can also find additional data on the Chicago real estate market on our Web site.

#RealEstate #ChicagoRealEstate #Coronavirus

Gary Lucido is the President of Lucid Realty, the Chicago area’s full service real estate brokerage that offers home buyer rebates and discount commissions. If you want to keep up to date on the Chicago real estate market or get an insider’s view of the seamy underbelly of the real estate industry you can Subscribe to Getting Real by Email using the form below. Please be sure to verify your email address when you receive the verification notice.

Offshore, the world’s largest rooftop deck located at Navy Pier, has announced it will be the one establishment on Navy Pier to remain open after September 7

Fans of Navy Pier and its one of a kind views of the city and lake don’t have to wait until spring (when the Pier is scheduled to reopen) to enjoy the view along with some good eats and drinks.

Offshore which debuted a little over a year ago in June of 2019 will remain open when the rest of the Pier closes at the end of today.

“We are excited to announce we will continue to operate as normal amid the Navy Pier closure on September 8,” said Stephen Stoll, COO of  Maverick Restaurants. “With safety for our patrons at the utmost importance, we hope to continue to welcome in locals looking for a fun way to socially distance while also enjoying all that Offshore has to offer, with events lined up throughout the month that has something for everyone.”

HOURS

Open from noon until 9 p.m. every week day, 11 a.m. until 10:30p.m. on Saturday, and 11 a.m. until 9 p.m. on Sunday, reservations are available via OpenTable for parties of no more than 6 to keep patrons and staff comfortable and safe. 

GETTING THERE

With the rest of the Pier closed, access to Offshore is available through the Pier with parking at the East Garage

SPECIAL EVENTS

Offshore will be hosting special events throughout September including sunset paint and sips and morning fitness classes with mimosas, with more to be finalized in the coming weeks. 

SAFETY

With their large outdoor and indoor spaces, Offshore is in a good position to ensure social distancing.  With safety and sanitation standards in place, along with the current additional measures outlined by the City of Chicago guests should feel at ease.

All guests are required to wear masks upon entry and exit, tables will be spaced at least 7 feet apart and indoor tables within eight feet of a window, and all staff will be temperature checked prior to every shift as well as wearing face masks for the protection of customers. 

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By Corrie Johnson

Ms. Bella Jones is going viral for all the right reasons.

“I don’t know who needs to hear this, but somebody does,” Bella says in her explosive FB Live video that has also gone viral on Twitter.

DID SHE LIE???

DID SHE LIEEE?????

DID SHE FUCKINGGGG LIEEEEEEEE???????!?!!!!!!!! pic.twitter.com/DbQjiPTmC9

— GUNNPLAYYYLEXIII (@its__Alexis) August 22, 2020

And she’s right; in her video, Bella gets candid about the trauma of dealing with a serial cheater and what she learned from her own experience.

These are Bella’s words (edited for strong language) and her advice for handling a serial cheater.

Let me tell you something; when you love yourself, darling, you love yourself before anybody.

A lot of you don’t love yourselves; you love the fact that somebody else might love you.

When you really love yourself, it’s going to show–you’re going to have boundaries and standards. Certain men won’t approach you because they’ll know that they aren’t even on your level. You must understand, when you have a certain move, a certain aura, and you hold yourself higher than anyone else walking, men have no choice but to treat you like what you are. What do you look like walking up to me, like I’m a whore, when I carry myself like a queen?

The Law of Attraction is real; you are what you hang around.

I used to think back in the day, that I would never find a man that would help me and love me, that I’ve got to always take care of my man. This is what I was used to; having to take care of a man. Having to get cheated on, taking mental abuse, catching a man at another woman’s house and still getting back with him. Getting dragged through the dirt feeling like I’m nothing.

I remember a part in my life when I was so low and not loving myself that I had the audacity to ask God, ‘What’s so wrong with me? Why can’t he love me?’

That was toxic. And I know women are out here like that; women will question their worth [because of a ] man. A woman will break herself down for a man: Can’t eat, can’t sleep, don’t want to be around her kids. Don’t want to go to work.

You must get it together. If that man can’t love you at your worst, he doesn’t deserve you at your best, sis.

If you must beg that man to be with you, he doesn’t deserve you.

Posed by professional models. Photo: JD Mason/Unsplash

You NEVER have to force anything that’s already yours.

That’s one thing I learned. When you know what you bring to the table, you don’t have to do all that. Let those other women have him, and his problems, and his cheating, and his lies. We as women get so low that we feel like, “oh, if I let her get him, she won.”

WON WHAT? What did she win?  What did she win, other than the sleepless nights you went through? The lies? The cheating? The embarrassment? The betrayal? The Unfaithfulness? What is she winning?

Let her have that cheater and all his drama. I can do bad by myself.  I can lay in a bed by myself before I lay in bed with a man and STILL feel alone.

I have those ‘wanna have a man’ days, but those ‘gotta have a man’ days are gone. I don’t need one…there’s nothing out here that a man can get me that I can’t get myself. I hold myself down.

All I want from a man is loyalty. And if he can’t give me that, then he can move on. We’re out here competing with the next woman so he won’t go back to her, let him go back.

Men do what you allow, as long as you let them bounce from house to house, they will bounce from house to house. As long as you let him come back and be your man, he will come back and be your man. No man is going to get rid of his FOOL.

If she’s out here paying for sex, letting him drive her car, you can call it a wrap: she’s got that man and you can’t compete with a stupid woman. There’s no need of trying. She’s going to always have one up on you sis because whatever you won’t allow, she will. So you will always wonder if he’s still messing with her; and, he will always still mess with her because she will always let him.

That’s because her self-worth is low.

And she knows he’s going to come back and sleep with you, it’s just up to you if you let him.

Either you’re going to be stupid like her, or you’re going to get up and move on, and be with a man who is okay with just having one woman.

Period.

Learn more about Ms. Bella Jones on BellaBayou.shop

Happy Labor Day Weekend!

Since the weather outside sucks, let’s spend some time discussing death.

What? Too morbid? Just grab a beer, man up and listen.

The CDC, ever the source of joy these days, just announced that if we do not quit fucking around, up to 401,000 people may die from corona virus.

Now, here’s the thing: As an oncologist, death does not really perturb me, however, numbers fascinate me.

See, here is the problem. While this number will cause many to grab their heads and start screaming, “Oh my God, Oh my God!”, what is missing is perspective.

Each year, EACH YEAR, about 480,000 die from smoking related illnesses.

Each year.

It’s been over 450,000 for years.

And, it is due to the use of tobacco products that can be legally purchased nearly everywhere.

So, why then do we freak out about the potential corona virus deaths (which are not certain to happen) and we do not freak out over the significantly larger number of smoking related deaths each and every year?

I believe this is partly due to the manner in which the information is being presented.

See, with smoking (including second hand), the feeling is you brought this upon yourself (and maybe whomever you’ve been blowing smoke at).

On the other hand, with corona virus, you can be portrayed as the careless victim if exposed to someone not wearing a mask, or as a cold blooded killer if you are not wearing a mask.

You see, you are at fault no matter what. You either didn’t avoid it, because you are stupid, or you spread it, because you are stupid.

But, why are these lives more important than the ones dying from tobacco?

Black lung lives don’t matter?

No, they do, yet we allow smokers to die, because they are “free’ to smoke.

Yet, corona has curtailed many of our freedoms. Why the dichotomy?

I think that we misunderstood the reason for lock down.

It was started to stop the disease from overwhelming our health care system, and we were very successful.

Now, we simply have got to emerge from our cocoons.

Yes, more people will get sick, more people will die, but even with lock down, that is happening.

We just need to watch that the health care system does not get overwhelmed again.

I don’t think it will. We know who is at highest risk, and we know how to protect them.

The vast majority of the remainder will survive it just fine.

Death is a part of life. As my mother would say, “We all have to die of something.”

This will not be the last pandemic. There are certainly more to come.

We have to realize that we simply cannot hide in our bomb shelters for the remainder of our lives.

We need to be careful, within reason, just like we are when we drive (and occasionally, also get killed).

We need to start getting out, because this is taking it’s toll in so many other ways.

I firmly believe the rage expressed in protests, while justified, are a result of the stress and anxiety built up over these past six months.

People protest, because they can get outside.

So, yes, be careful, wear a mask in stores, but otherwise, get out and get some fresh air before another lousy Chicago winter sets in.

And, if people try to spook you with Halloween worthy corona virus tales of horror-STAY SKEPTICAL!

Please like, share and comment!

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President Harry S. Truman handed out the first Medals of Freedom in 1945 to recognize contributions made by civilians during World War II.

In 1963, President John F. Kennedy changed it to the Presidential Medal of Freedom and expanded it to include cultural achievements.  Recipients selected by President Kennedy received their medals from President Lyndon B. Johnson after Kennedy’s assassination.

President Kennedy received a medal posthumously during that ceremony.

While most recipients of the Presidential Medal of Freedom are American, that is not a requirement. The overriding criteria is that the recipient have made an especially meritorious contribution to the security or national interests of the United States, world peace, cultural or other significant public or private endeavors.

President Barack Obama honored such individuals as Sally Ride, Tom Brokaw, Ben Bradlee, Sidney Poitier, Maya Angelou, Warren Buffet, Rear Admiral Grace Hopper, Sandra Day O’Connor and Newton Minow.

President Obama awarded four medals in the field of Medicine in just his first term. He awarded eleven medals to members of Congress in a bipartisan fashion.

Those medals used to have meaning. They used to have value.

Like many other things in America, this president has cheapened the Medal of Freedom to the point where it is just another worthless, political handout.

Trump has made no awards in the field of Medicine because it would blunt his effort to discredit science. In the Congressional field, he has only awarded one medal, which went to Republican Senator Orrin Hatch.

Donald Trump will probably not be handing out any medals in the field of Journalism for obvious reasons, although if there was a medal for hysterically shouting at the camera, Jeanine Pirro would be a lock.

In the field of Racist TV Anchormen, Trump has his pick among Tucker Carlson, Sean Hannity, Steve Hilton and Mark Levin.

The field of Odious Radio Personality had some strong competition, but race baiting, pill popping, conspiracy theorist and Trump supporter, Rush Limbaugh took home the prize.

Limbaugh received his medal in February at the State of the Union address.

Curiously, Trump hinted that Limbaugh’s crowning achievement may have been getting diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer.

Another of Trump’s awards went to Miriam Adelson, wife of Trump mega donor, Sheldon Adelson, who is also the mega-ist of the Republican mega donors (yes, I made up the word “mega-ist”).

Trump’s latest misuse of the Medal of Freedom will benefit Louis Leo “Lou” Holtz, one of the most winning football coaches in America.  His tenure at the University of Notre Dame (1986-1996) was his longest stint.

Holtz did two things last week to earn his medal.

First, he declared that Joe Biden is “Catholic in name only,”  which he might have stolen from the Tea Party, which called moderate Republicans RINO’s – Republicans in name only.

Without doing a whole If-you-don’t-know-now-you-know thing, it’s hard to imagine anyone saying that an amoral, sacrilegious, corrupt man like Donald Trump is more faithful or devout than anyone.

His life has been one of decadence, thievery, immorality, infidelity, lying and greed.

Joe Biden has lived his life in the public eye and has always shown himself to be a man of deep faith, compassion and humility.  You can hate his politics, but you have admire his decency.

The second thing Holtz did was to endorse Donald Trump for reelection.

In one fell swoop Holtz flipped off the pope and fellated Donald Trump.  Could Vladimir Putin have asked for more?

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