Welcome to my July 2026 Newsletter!

It Came Down to I Needed to Hire an Organizer

I’ve talked about paper decluttering, electronics disposal, managing your collection of too many things, etc., but when it came to organizing my own kitchen utility pantry (actual photo here), I had to bring in the big guns and hire a professional organizer. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve stood in that utility pantry trying to make sense of what should go where, and in general have it just not look like a disaster area. READ MORE

Elevated Physical Therapy & Fitness: New Business Profile

I'm excited to bring you another local business profile--this time it's Elevated Physical Therapy & Fitness in Westminster. I had seen their sign on Main Street in Westminster and was curious. Then one day I was at a listing appointment, sitting with some potential sellers and the wife mentioned that they had an appointment with Tinos so they needed to watch the time. Who was Tinos, and why were they both going? Well, it turned out that the 70+ year-old couple goes for personal training at Elevated Physical Therapy & Fitness. They talked about how much they look forward to their sessions and the results they’re seeing. That motivated me to find out more, and was actually part of the impetus for me doing my now regular local business profile stories. So, two things here. 1. I decided to do a Q&A with David Frasier, owner of Elevated, which is located at 51 Main Street in Westminster. 2. I also decided to investigate the possibility of committing to sessions with a trainer. Stay with me here, since I’m not the type, but it’s working! READ MORE

Road Trip Games of our Childhood
We didn’t have cell phones back in the 70s and 80s, so when we went on a road trip – – we had road trip games. When my kids were young, and I haven’t thought about this in forever, we invented a game called STAR AND X. Here are some of the games we played, and I'd love to add more that I missed out on, if you have any to share. The reason I’m even thinking about road trip games right now is because my assistant Amanda and her family recently drove to Florida–and that just sounded awful to me. I told her that I once went on a very long road trip as a child and my parents gave each of us a roll of dimes at the start of the trip. Every time we asked, “are we almost there yet?” or “how much further?”, we had to give up a dime. Funny me asked if we were almost there yet before we even left our own driveway, and that cost me a dime. Unfair, but those were the rules. I lost by one. READ MORE

Class Reunion: Oakmont Regional All Years!
Did you go to Oakmont, anywhere between 1960 and 2026?…GREAT! You will not want to miss the upcoming OAKMONT REGIONAL HIGH SCHOOL REUNION! All are invited to spend a fun, relaxing day reconnecting with old friends and making new memories. Come enjoy great music, delicious food, and the beautiful atmosphere of Wildwood Farm. Oakmont Regional Alumni, faculty and staff (past and present) are invited, all years from 1960 to present! READ MORE

Ash-West Classrooms Receive $55K+ in Grants from Ashburnham Westminster Foundation for Academic Excellence

Back in 2009, a very small group of dedicated community members, myself included, got together with a grand idea to create a non-profit organization—an education foundation, to fund over-the-top ideas in the name of academic excellence in the Ashburnham and Westminster schools. The idea was hatched by Superintendent Mike Zapantis and community icon and business person Ron Hurd. They then asked me (Westminster) and Chris Wells (Ashburnham) to join them–and we’ve been soliciting donations and funding grant applications from educators in the Ashburnham Westminster Regional School District ever since. In fact, we just granted over $55,000 in to the schools in our most recent grant cycle! READ MORE

Jen Shenk Client Appreciation Event: Mulligan's Mini Golf

I'm hosting my second-ever client appreciation event, and this time, we're playing mini golf. The idea actually came from my orthodontists, who hosted a similar outing last summer. I don't golf and I'm not even good at the miniature version, but I signed Jay and I up for it and we had a nice time. So now it's my turn to host — and I'd love for you to be there. If you're a past client, a current client, or someone who's thinking about working together...if you've ever referred someone my way or supported my business in any way...consider this your personal invitation. READ MORE

More Picnics, Yes Please!

What is MORE PICNICS? It’s easy. One day a week (ideally), lunch outside. That’s actually simpler than it is. Sometimes one of us is in charge of the basket and the other surprises with the venue, but easiest is to alternate where one person chooses the picnic spot and the other coordinates the food. To be honest, I like things to be ‘just right’, so in the past, I’ve always arranged both the food and the venue. I’m up for a challenge–and at the end of this summer, I’ll report back on MORE PICNICS/LESS CONTROL FREAK. *Shown above is the picnic basket I bought 25+ years ago at a Longaberger Basket party, and to this day everyone knows when they see it coming, that we don’t carry it by the handles when the basket is full. Except Jay, he doesn’t like to be told what to do. So, one day, it will just be a decorative basket with no handles. READ MORE

Westminster Neighbors Helping Neighbors is Sunday, August 9, 2026

Westminster's Neighbors Helping Neighbors Town Benefit Day is coming up on Sunday, August 9, and it's always one of my favorite days of the year! You do not need to live in Westminster to participate. All proceeds from this annual event go to the Westminster Benefit Fund, which is a non-profit with the sole purpose to help Westminster residents in crisis situations beyond their control. I can't write the story of the day better than the hardworking group that works year round on it~~so here's what they posted on the Neighbors Helping Neighbors Facebook page. Please follow their social media pages, donate prizes, participate in the day~~anything you can to support this wonderful cause! READ MORE

Central Massachusetts Real Estate Market: July 2026

What's the Central Mass real estate market like in July 2026? It's a whirlwind. All over the place. There's quite the range. And — my least favorite answer to give and yet the most honest one — it depends. Here's what I mean. I've had several listing appointments, buyer consultations, listings and sales in Central MA over the past month, and the very local conversation keeps circling back to there are more houses for sale in Westminster right now than I've seen in the last 14 years. That's not a complaint, and it's not really a surprise either. When you look at what's actually driving my sales over the past few years of rate uncertainty, it's rarely "we just felt like moving." It's downsizing. It's estates. It's parents relocating to be near their adult children. It's people leaving Massachusetts for more tax-friendly states. It's upsizing because of the need for a multigenerational living situation. And, unfortunately, it's divorce. That's a lot of very different reasons for a lot of very different people to end up in the same place — deciding to sell. See what I said about all over the place? And then you've got days like this: I listed a $1 million log cabin, it got a ton of activity, and it went under agreement almost immediately. Or a different listing that pulled in 14 offers. Meanwhile another perfectly good house takes its time finding the right buyer. READ MORE

I Make the Best Chicken Salad. No, really...

I really actually do make the best chicken salad. It's taken years of fine tuning, but I'm in a spot now where if I make a batch and put it in the fridge for general consumption, people in my house eat it so quickly because they don't want to miss out. READ MORE

Fireworks in Central Mass and Beyond

I don’t want to brag, but I was at SkyBlast, an amazing night of fireworks (in July 1982–I was 12) at the Worcester Airport. This was an INCREDIBLE display, set to music, something I had never imagined, having only seen Baldwinville fireworks before that! READ MORE

Favorite Ocean Beaches

I asked some friends and readers to tell me their favorite ocean beaches within reasonable driving distance, and the list below is based on feedback received. Am I missing anything–or do you like to keep your favorite beaches a secret? READ MORE

Free Outdoor Summer Concerts in Central Mass

Look at this LIST of free outdoor Summer concerts in Central Mass! You could literally spend 3-4 nights a week enjoying live music by local performers at venues close to home, for FREE! Check them out and let me know about your experience. READ MORE

Playgrounds in Central Mass and Beyond

Let me tell you what our playgrounds were like growing up in Central Mass in the 1970s. First, everything was made of metal, with no protective safety coating on any chains or bars. The only thing I remember being not metal were the seats of the swings. Speaking of the swingsets, anyone who went to Baldwinville Elementary School can correct me if I’m wrong or exaggerating, but I clearly remember the legs of the oversized swing sets being only partially attached to the concrete that was intended to hold them on the ground. READ MORE

Summer Reading Programs in Central Mass

Summer’s here, and nothing like a good beach read! Don’t you wish the kids were enthusiastic about Summer reading as you are? In this story, I’ve got a list of Summer Reading Programs in Central Mass. READ MORE

All My Resource Stories: Your Complete Guide to Central Massachusetts, through July 2026

I was just thinking--I wonder how many Resource Stories I've put together since starting my newsletter in 2023. I think the number is close to 75 at this point. What is a Resource Story? They are stories that contain a list of helpful links by category or by city/town. For example the Certified Pre-Owned Vehicles Resource Story is a list of links by vehicle manufacturer, where my Town Wide Yard Sales Resource Story is a list by city/town. Over the past few years, I've built an extensive collection of Resource Stories to help make life in Central Massachusetts easier, more fun, and more connected. These guides cover everything from where to find the best farmers' markets to how to properly dispose of hazardous waste. Each one is a labor of love, updated regularly based on your feedback and contributions. Here are all my Resource Stories, organized chronologically from oldest to newest.  READ MORE

Baldwinville Elementary School: Touring the New Apartments

I grew up going to Baldwinville Elementary School, and a few weeks ago I got to walk its halls again — this time as a member of the Princeton Housing Implementation Committee, on a guided tour of a building being converted into apartments. The nostalgia was fascinating to me–they kept the original stairs, the hallways are the same and a lot of the original flooring is being refinished. And the in-progress apartment we toured? Straight up Mr. Macdowell’s classroom — plus some extra space, since it’s going to be a three-bedroom unit. I told our tour guides things they probably didn’t need to know, as memories came up: that during my time at Baldwinville Elementary if you were going home sick from school, they’d send you to sit on the front steps until your mother came. That the Otter River used to run different colors depending on what the paper mill was dumping that day. That the building across the parking lot — the parking lot that was our playground — was our third grade school, not to be confused with our fourth grade school, which was over in Otter River. READ MORE