McLean Musings

There are days I think everyone I know needs me to help them with something because I am a Realtor and what does a Realtor do all day? I mean, the kids are in school, who looks at properties during the day and how many signs do I need to put up anyway? 

One thing I learned from this: I probably need to smile more during the day, too!

Are you a Landlord? Whether you own one or many properties that you rent to others, there is a change in the tax code that may affect you this year. Since it is almost the end of January, you may need to do some backtracking to make sure you comply with the new regulations.

Beginning this year, you must track all expenses paid to fix or maintain your property; and report to the IRS any person or business you have paid more than $600 in a tax year. In the past, you may have relied on independent contractors to report this themselves. However, there are rising concerns that some independent contractors are not fully reporting their income, thus, not paying their full tax burden. 

So, what does this mean for you? You must track payments to each

 service person or company you hire to provide service at your rental property. Before making your first payment, you should have the contractor fill out a W-9 and keep that information with your records.

Track each payment, and once the payment totals have surpassed $600 for the year, you will have to report to the IRS and to the service person or business the amounts paid by the end of January of the next tax year. You will be able to report these on 1099-MISC, the current instructions are dated 2010, so check back for updates before the end of the tax year!

Thinking of investing in a Rental Property? Give me a call and we can talk about what it takes to become a Landlord.

Welcome to my Light The Night Walk homepage.

Light The Night Walk is The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's evening walk and fundraising event. It is the nation's night to pay tribute and bring hope to thousands of people battling blood cancers and to commemorate loved ones lost. Please look at my team page for more information about The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS).

My first introduction to LLS was when I was in Junior High. My father worked for the phone company, and they organized the phone operator volunteers for the WMAL Leukemia Telethon. Being a teenager, any reason to stay up all night was cool, so my dad let me volunteer for the night shift. I had quite the education that night. The next year, a friend of mine had lost her father to AML. She came with me to volunteer and told me it was the first time since her dad got sick that she didn't feel helpless.

If only that was my only experience with blood cancers! I have heard that if you meet one child with Leukemia, there is almost no chance of randomly knowing another. It is supposed to be as rare as a lightning strike.

In 1992, my first nephew was born. He was a gorgeous baby with white blond h

air and huge blue eyes. In 1994, I had my first son, Scotty. In

 December of that year, my nephew was diagnosed with Leukemia. We had just been to see Santa together the week before he was diagnosed. It was such a shock to see him in the hospital - just 2 years old - with all the tubes and wires and my sister struggling to make sense of it all. I brought a picture for his room of him at the zoo balancing with fall foliage  framing his sweet face so the doctors and nurses would remember he was a little boy and not just a disease. He will turn 18 next month.

I had my second son in 1996. In 1999, we moved from our home in Silver Spring to Damascus, Md. Ben started nursery school at the Damascus Children's Center that fall. I will always remember the instant friendship he developed there with Christopher. Whenever anyone took a picture in the class (or the 4's class, or kindergarten); Ben and Christopher would be sitting or standing together. His mother was the warmest person I had ever met and his baby sister was always all smiles. Dave, his dad, was Ben's only coach until first grade - regardless of the sport. Samantha, Christopher's older sister, was always so smart and mature for her age. Right before Ben started 1st grade, we moved to Virginia - back home near mom for me after my divorce. I hated splitting the two up by moving away!

What a shock it was a few weeks into the new school year when Darlene called to tell me that Christopher had ALL. It still hurts to remember that day. Ben immediately wanted to be with his friend. Being born after Cameron became ill, though, Ben understood neutropenic - Christopher didn't have a high enough white cell count to fight infections, so he couldn't be exposed to other kids. Ben and I went shopping instead and Ben made him a bear to keep close. He dressed the bear in a soccer uniform; by chance the same colors as Christopher's team. Although we still live far away, Ben loves getting Christopher's family picture each year at Christmas. He keeps a picture of the two of them at the last "Fun Day" in Kindergarten - getting ready to slide down the slip and slide - to this day. Ben will be starting High School this year.

Unfortunately, Cameron and Christopher are not the only people we have known who have had to fight blood cancers. Another Cameron, the son of our local elementary school principal, lost his battle against ALL. My good friend’s mother lost her fight as well.

The first time we walked for Light the Night, we walked for Christopher's ALL-Stars in Gaithersburg. Both Scotty and Ben worked hard to help raise money, and we raised $750 that year. We are going to walk here in Virginia this year. Please come and join us in our support of The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. Let's beat blood cancers once and for all!

 Please make a donation to support my participation in the Light The Night Walk and help save lives. Be sure to check my Web site frequently to see my progress, and thanks for your support!

My Fundraising Page

It's that time of year again! The Sports engine at McLean High School is revving up with coaches starting to hold tryouts and forms being turned in, meetings scheduled. Finding your way through the system can be confusing, missing tryouts or practices can be upsetting to your student athlete. All athletes will be required to have a Virginia High School League Physical Form completed after May 1, 2010 by a physician. All four pages must be compete, signed and dated. DON'T TURN IN THE ORIGINAL! If your student athlete plays more than one sport, you will be turning this in again. The second required form is the Emergency Care Card. Once again, don't turn in the original! This form will be required by the school, too, so you might as well keep copies for the first week and save on filling out a new one. Both forms can be turned in before the first practice as well. 

Bookmark the link to McLean High School Activities and Athletics website, because you will want to check back frequently about changes. Try-out dates and practice schedules can be found there for all Fall Sports. While you are checking the schedule, don't forget to sign up for EMAIL ALERTS. Sign up for the sports your student athlete is interested in playing for the entire year, not just the fall season. Often, there are opportunities to participate with the teams off-season in training, conditioning and tournaments. EMAIL ALERTS will keep you up to date with changes and sports requirements. Don't forget to sign up for BOOSTERS as well as your team alerts. You wouldn't want to miss the Varsity Awards Banquet or other fun activities!

Save the DATES!

• First Annual General Booster Meeting is August 16th at 7pm in the Cafeteria. 
• Fall Sports Parent Information Meeting is August 23 at 7 pm in the Cafeteria. General Meeting is at 7pm, with breakout meetings for all fall sports to follow. 
• Fall Sports Picture Days are August 25-26.