Historic charm and an open floor plan make this row home at 3301 E Baltimore St. ideal. For instance, there is storage galore with original architectural details peppered throughout...

Thanks to L. K. Benson for sharing this blog on year-end charitable giving.

The end of the year is a very popular time to give to charities. There are many deserving organizations out there that could use your help. This is especially true in light of the challenges we’ve all faced during the COVID pandemic. While your primary goal in giving to charity should be finding a cause that is important to you, there are many tax advantages to charitable giving that should also be considered. Some of these rules have changed in recent years. We thought we’d highlight a few things you should be thinking about as you do your 2021 year-end giving.

Don’t Miss the Above-the-line Deduction

For 2021, everyone is eligible for an above-the-line deduction of up to $300 for single filers or...

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many rules and regulations are fluid. Verify hours and safety protocols with each event you plan to visit beforehand when you check out these events for December 2021.

Now through December 19:

Women Behaving Badly: 400 Years of Power & Protest. At the Baltimore Museum of Art, 10 Art Museum Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218. Click here for more info.

Now through December 24:

Christmas Village in Baltimore, at West Shore Park/ Inner Harbor from 11:00 am-7:00 pm daily

Now through December 31:

MIracle on 34th Street, 726 West 34th Street, Baltimore, Maryland 21211. View the lights and Christmas displays. Click here for more info.

My 2021 Pie Party was a drive-through event.

Each year I show my gratitude to my clients by having a Thanksgiving Pie Party...

In this issue of my Monthly Item of Value learn digital ways to show your gratitude.

Looking for way to show gratitude to people you aren’t seeing in-person this season? The digital world has plenty of options for sending caring messages to family and friends! You can be grateful without ever having to leave your home to do it.

In addition, you don’t have to be a techie to to use these digital ways to show your gratitude. Things like digital gift cards have directions along the way to show you how to use the website. Sending an inspiring quote is easy. Just copy the quote you like and paste it in a text message or email to a friend. You’re finished in just a minute or two.

The information below offers a few heartfelt ways to tell another person you’re thinking about them when y...

Thanks to the University of Maryland/Maryland Grows this informative article on perennial vegetables.

Most of us plan our gardens each year with abundant annual vegetables to harvest and enjoy. There are, however, several perennial vegetables you may want to consider adding to the mix, some familiar and others, perhaps, less so.

Perennial vegetables have some attractive benefits: they tend to be low maintenance, are generally easy to cultivate, high-yielding, and often more pest and disease resistant than their annual brethren. On the downside, they can be slow to establish and, if they do succumb to disease, will often need to be removed.

One critical consideration in planting perennial vegetables is location. These are perennials and once established some will not be easy t...

Thanks to Cindy Bernstein of Aim4Order for this episode of Tips from the Pros with her blog about becoming organized.

Becoming organized doesn’t have to take over your life the way clutter can. Take these seven steps and watch your home transform. Before you start, be sure to give yourself enough time to organize at least one clutter zone.

Make a plan

Answer the following questions and you’ll start to hash out a plan. 

Why is this spot as cluttered as it is? 

Does everyone in the house use the area as a dumping ground? 

How can I change my habits to make this space work better?

How long will it take to organize the space?

Identify problem zones

Problem zones can be anywhere in your home from the entryway to the attic crawl space...

In this issue of my Monthly Item of Value learn how to do a digital detox and feel better afterwards.

These days, we’re spending a lot more time behind our screens. In 2021, we’ve been clocking five to six hours of phone time a day, according to the data site Statista. And this doesn’t even factor in Zoom calls, television time and the other times where we swap the “little screen” for the “big screen.”

Are you feeling the effects of this tech on your mental health — think brain fog, poor sleep, low productivity, etc.?Then you should consider a digital detox! While it’s impossible to unplug completely, the information below will help you take a 24-hour break from your devices to reset and improve focus.

Follow the six steps to your digital detox in the infogra...

Thanks to the University of Maryland/Maryland Grows this informative article on plants not behaving as expected.

Vegetable crops

Two of the vegetable crops I grew this year are known for loving the heat: okra and eggplant. I grow eggplant in pots on my deck, to avoid flea beetle infestation, and okra directly in the ground in my community garden plot. Both of them produced adequately over the summer. Now it’s fall; we’re having days in the 70s and nights in the 50s, and there are fewer hours of sunlight in the day. Time to pull the summer crops, right?

Except – boom! Both the okra and the eggplant are going gangbusters. More flowers, more fruits than in the hot summer months, by far.

So why aren’t these plants following t...

Thanks to Cindy Bernstein of Aim4Order for this episode of Tips from the Pros with her blog about time management.

In order to make the most out of your time, you need to take matters into your own hands. You make time for the things you have to do. What you do with the rest of your day and the quality of your actions is the question.

Make a schedule

Create a schedule for your day and stick to it. Put everything in there, including breaks and driving time. Write everything down. Cross things off as you do them and you can track your progress.

Get rid of distractions

You might have to put down the cellphone and ignore texts to get the job done. You can put your phone on vibrate so calls won’t interrupt you...