At Cole Taylor Mortgage, a division of Cole Taylor Bank we are cranking out loans in record time.   In Ephrata, yours truly Brian Weems Williams will gladly assist you in the purchase or refinance of your home.  In Lancaster and elsewhere, reach out to me, Doris Good, Lesley Kuffel, Wayne Angelo or Mike Lafferty for a consultation.

As always, I’m a phone call away at 468-0130, or e-mail at broweems@ptd.net.

On the mortgage side, those of us at Beacon flirted with transitioning to mortgage bankers at the end of 2009.  We didn’t make the jump for many reasons…until the end of March.  We are now Cole Taylor Mortgage, a division of Cole Taylor Bank.  Cole Taylor Bank is based in Chicago, and has been around for 80 years.   The mortgage division is new, though spearheaded by industry legends from the legendary ABN-AMRO mortgage group.

We are the first retail branch in Pennsylvania for Cole Taylor Mortgage!  While there may be a learning curve with systems and processes, the end result is already phenomenal.  Local processing and in-house underwriting means quicker decisions on files and shortens the cycle to get a loan closed.  Local appraisers.  Excellent rates.  It’s made things fun again!

On other topics, I have been on QVC a few times selling the world’s best hose products, those made in Oregon by Water Right.

I am once again coaching Kate’s Ephrata U12 Girls Rec soccer team.  Got trounced in week 1, but every other game has been close, with 1 win and 1 tie to go with 3 losses.

Nate’s birthday goodies were a big hit, and included a set of poker chips.  Poker chips?  Yes, he and I and sometimes Kate play a lot of Texas Hold ‘em.  It is a lot of fun, unpredictable of course and makes the kids think about risk, reward, bluffing and reading people.

He got a dartboard, and is quickly kicking my fanny in Double in, Double Out.  After playing with a 3 dollar mini nerf football in WalMart a 100 times, we finally got him one.  It’s the small one that looks like an arrow is stuck in it.  Much easier for him to throw a spiral with.  I had plenty of balsa wood planes as a kid, and got him one with the propeller and rubber band.  They still fly great!  Available with hundreds of other nicely priced gifts on Main Street in Ephrata at the Fun-Est Toy Store Ever.   http://www.thefun-esttoystoreever.com/catalog/index.php

As a surprise we took Nathan, his friend Trent and Kate to go swimming at the New Holland Rec.  It’s very nice there, but 5 minutes after getting in the pool they had to get out because the staff discovered someone had pooped in the pool.  Doody!!!!  They closed the pool for 24 hours.  We got a refund and free passes too.  Excellent customer service on their part!

Sadly, though predictably, Nathan learned the truth about Santa this year.  I think Kate learned in 1st grade too.  There’s always some know-it-all brat in school that has to ruin the fantasy.  Nathan asked Lori about it one day after school, and she had to tell him the truth.  He cried and was pretty upset for a little while.  Though by dinner he was over it, and had already figured out the Tooth Fairy and the Easter Bunny were bogus too.  Sigh.

For the 2nd year we passed on the Elizabeth Farms Christmas Tree experience.  It’s fun, but 80 bucks for a tree is nuts.  Norka was short on Fraser fir, so we went to the old standby, Frysville Farms.  I think it was 35 bucks for a tree they cut down like 2 months ago…oh well.

Kate is suddenly hooked on Justin Bieber, whoever that is.  All she wants for Christmas is a cell phone.  We’ll see.