FSBO! 2009 Kings Dr, Flower Mound, TX ***SOLD***

Update: We sold our home in less than 30 days and for full price! Flower Mound is a beautiful area to live. Hope the new owners love the house and the area as much as we did!

Yes, this blogger is moving! Relocating to another beautiful city and blessed to get to see another part of this country. Exciting times.

With that said. We need to sell this beautiful house in Texas we've had the privilege to call home.

FOR SALE BY OWNER: 2009 Kings Dr, Flower Mound, TX 75028
4 bdrm/2.5 bath/3 car garage detached - Hard to find 1/2 acre lot - Pool!
$334,900.00

This home features a beautiful private yard with 1/2 an acre to enjoy with family and friends! A sparkling pool, extended patio and decks, lush trees that provide shade and comfort from the hottest summer days, 3 car garage with extended storage, and a fully decked attic floor with 6' 1/2" of clearance space. The home is very functionable with the mater bedroom, office and family room down, and 3 additional bedrooms, bath and second living space up. Open concept is bright and light. Kitchen has been fully remodeled with painted cabinets, granite countertops, subway tile backsplash, and Bosch stainless steel gas cooktop, double ovens, ss Frigidaire microwave and a custom farmhouse table island. Home has updated lighting, new interior paint and new carpet. This home is well maintained and ready for a new family to love it.

Please email: havey.family6@yahoo.com with questions or to set an appointment.

So long farewell...

If you are from Dallas, TX or have lived in the area very long chances are that you are very familiar with the name Kidd Kraddick. He's been a staple in the radio industry since 1984 where he started with his teen parties and evening show. He quickly moved up to the morning show and changed the morning commute for many of us from drudgery to time spent laughing, crying and sharing the issues of the day or at least poking fun at many of them. He challenged us to reach beyond ourselves with Kidd's Kid's and his annual support through Secret Santa type programs and picking up the tab for Thanksgiving and Christmas for many who wouldn't celebrate without his help. He was fortunate to have a radio show and it's industry behind him to raise the funds needed but it was Kidd's spirit and enthusiasm that made it all work.

I was one of those Dallasite preppy teens who spent hours listening. Went with friends to the concerts he sponsored and grew up with him through the years. I was pregnant with my oldest daughter the same year he and Carol were expecting Caroline and most of our doctor appointments just lined up with each other, it was fun to share those moments.

This morning there were a lot of tributes and it was heartbreaking to listen to his fellow morning crew, Kelly, JC, Big Al, Jenna & Psycho Shannon share their memories.

But, JC summed it up beautifully with this poem.

“You can shed tears that he is gone, 
or you can smile because he has lived.
You can close your eyes and pray that he'll come back,
or you can open your eyes and see all he's left.
Your heart can be empty because you can't see him,
or you can be full of the love you shared.
You can turn your back on tomorrow and live yesterday, 
or you can be happy for tomorrow because of yesterday.
You can remember him only that he is gone,
or you can cherish his memory and let it live on.
You can cry and close your mind, 
be empty and turn your back.
Or you can do what he'd want:
smile, open your eyes, love and go on.”  ~David Harkins

Chose to honor those who have gone on by living life and taking the best of that person and what they contributed to your life with you.

You will be missed Kidd. I'll be "...looking up because that's where it all is."

Teresa Stephens Harvey loves Bluebonnets!

Bluebonnets are upon us! Love this time of year in Texas.  Everything is blooming and looks so inviting and the dog days of summer are still in the distance. 

Brings reminders of how fortunate my life is.  Always makes me thankful that I'm blessed with a terrific husband and beautiful children.  I know, I know I'm the wife and mom, but, I've earned bragging rights. ☺

Our family is preparing for the next exciting phase in our lives. College, new houses, new states, city's, schools, etc... CHANGE is a good thing and we have a lot of it going on. Thank you to those who have been praying for us. We covet your prayers and continued support.

We LOVE Texas and leave behind amazing friends and family that will always make this part of the world home. We will be back often. Now we look forward to all the new friendships and experiences we will find.

"There's always room for improvement, it's the biggest room in the house."

Louise Heath Leber

Hope this Spring is a great one for all of you!

Cyberbully, how they work. Even in small town USA.

Cyberbullies are not any different from a normal bully.  They are unhappy, blustering, overbearing, small minded individuals whose intent is to cause malice and harm through badgering and intimidation. The goal is to discredit and harm others through lies, intimidation and misuse of information.

You can stop their their mischief by not supporting their cause. Reporting the abuse using the "report" buttons, removing them and blocking them from your online sites.  Doing nothing does give them a sense of success and feeds the personal high they achieve by harming others.

A cyberbully has a whole arsenal of supplies to achieve their goals.  They can use social networking sites, online information data bases, online video and picture sites to target an individual. There are blogs and websites that automatically pull from YouTube and other websites any content based on descriptions and or tags - so information can be spread and shared at warp speed.

How?

Bullies can keep it personal and use email, phone calls & text. But with the popularity of the internet, digital photography, videos and smart phones bullies can now take photos, edited video clips, or out of context pictures, video and information then add malicious statements and comments to spin a story that will suck in an audience.  It doesn't have to be true, doesn't have to have any truth in it - but if it has a picture attached it draws people in to look and to possibly believe what is stated. Some bullies will even use a shred of truth that is manipulated, i.e. "I have a stalker that drives slowly past my house 6 or 7 times a day". The bully leaves out the fact that the "stalker" is really a neighbor that lives next door and drives the residential speed limit past their home every time they leave the neighborhood. But,  not everyone will not stop and ask themselves if the picture or video really add up or know any of the personal players involved. A bully is well adept at the art of editing and altering both the facts and the images they are promoting. A picture or video, are easily altered with photo shop and/or other online editing sources. The altered image can then be used to support the verbiage attached.  A bully will ensure they never show the information and actions that helped insight a response or what was really going on when the images were captured. The bullies will only create a response to support their cause by using the tools of the trade to alter, add in or take away sound bytes, totally manipulating the information so that the situation will draw in an audience to support or victimize based on the bullies agenda. 

OK, so what, you say?  Not many people will see that. Or will they?
The art of online marketing is now used by our bullies.  Using catchy or trendy search names like "Jennifer Anniston", "Green Living", "Space Aliens", etc...help their content pull up in search engines.  Now they have a bigger market.  A prime example is the Jennifer Aniston Video to market water.  The video is set to play automatically anytime someone clicks on it - so even if you don't want to promote the video it will play & gain attention and support. More plays the more popular!

Marketing a video to get attention


But not everyone will know who they are talking about, will they?
Tags. You don't have to outright use a persons name & address to target them. Tags are identifying features you can use on almost all websites that allow you to add content.  A bully can learn personal and identifying information about you then add those tags to their content so that it will be linked to your online presence and/or personal information. Your name, address, work, etc., even in random order will now link back to their target.

Is that legal?
Yes. Anyone can take pictures of you, videos of you & use your information. Internet crime laws are vague and stalkers and bullies know this. Unless it is a crime or exploitation of a child the crimes are few and far between.   That being said there are some laws that prevent some of this as outlined in an earlier post, however, a lot of it is open to interpretation.  Also, anything put on the internet takes time to remove. The sites have to be checked, the information provided has to be researched and proven, then the laws have to be reviewed so the content can remain for weeks or even months before it's gone.  Also, if it is only reported by the person who is targeted then it will get little notice. Most sites require a minimum amount of complaints before it's even reviewed.  Making it more difficult is the fact that some sites only allow you to report an abuse if it is a violation against you. Also, as with the Jennifer Aniston video on some sites or videos when you click on them to report them they play & gain attention through viewings. This causes a Catch 22.

Now what?

Report, flag for abuse, block and request content to be removed.  Report the information to teachers and counselors if you are a student. If you are an adult report it to the proper authorities, police, internet crime services, and actual websites. You may have to do this more than once.  Take screen shots of the offending material. Send links to the authorities. They can document and make a report, even if there isn't an actual crime yet.  This helps protect you if it becomes a civil matter or the criminal lines get crossed. Just printing out the material isn't good enough - remember photo shop and/or editing services?  They can be used both ways so courts don't allow information that can be easily altered as evidence. However, having it witnessed and documented by the proper authorities does make for credible evidence. There are also online information storage companies that can protect and encrypt information as it was on a certain date & time.  Remember the bully can go in and alter, add to, take away or delete the information at anytime.

Keep things in perspective. Remember when viewing information online that just because someone uses words like:

Jealous, stalking, weird, unhappy, crazy etc...that the person using those words is most likely the one who is the perpetrator not the victim.  Be proactive and don't support malicious activity online.

Online and everywhere in your life be responsible and thoughtful.

More information against Cyberbully and online Harassment:

Family Safety
Steps on reporting abuse.
Kids & Teens - steps to know
McGruff puts a bite on bullies!

When things turn out RIGHT.

I met a young energetic family a little over a year ago.  Stylish, good looking couple that were raising 3 adorable little boys.  Just another day right?

Until you realize that this family has a child with special needs.  Cystic Fibrosis.  He's their middle son and he is wheel chair bound. Tyler is his name & he's an adorable dark haired little boy with a precocious grin.  They wheeled him into our yard that first day where we are having a neighborhood meet & greet.  The tight little group quickly maneuvers him to see the bounce house and then over to the patio to enjoy a drink.  Tyler's brothers stop to meet the various kids that are around the yard and slowly bring them over a few at a time to introduce their brother.  Mom & Dad take turns caring for their son while keeping up with the other two boys and steadily talking to the adults in the group.  They never miss a beat.  This is just another day in their life.

This young family realizes their son is disabled but they treat him with the love, care and respect, you would find towards any child.  They don't hide him or exclude him. They don't show bitterness or resentment.

It was a terrific day and I loved getting to see this families sweet spirit.

As the time has gone by we have been blessed to see this family in full swing. They have more energy than I can imagine.  The mom is a marathon runner and advocate for health and fitness, the dad owns his own business that often takes him away from home. However, that does not stop him from coming in and picking up or from being dead tired and still smiling and loading up the crew for one of their beloved hockey games or sitting along side his beautiful wife while watching a 4th grade program sing helplessly off key.

These are the times you see God's grace truly at work.  You know that with faith, love and optimism that you can live the American dream.

This family honors their young handicapped son by participating in the annual White Rock Marathon and donations to Scottish Rite...if you ever want to help support a worth cause donated to their fund raiser. A fund raiser that supports many disabled children.

Learn more about this wonderful young man who will touch your heart and this family that will inspire you...

Run 4 Tyler!