Category: Home & Garden

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Going Green?

Everyone is talking about going green. Well we have been green for the past 25 years at my parents home. Behind our house we have a building that has our Radiant Heating system in it. It not only heats our house but also all of our hot water we use.

There are 55 gallon barrels at every downspout from our guttering so when it rains, the barrels fill up. At the bottom of each barrel, there’s a spigot that is attached to soaker hoses that go through our landscaped plants and if it doesn’t rain enough, we just turn the soaker hoses on and water everything. There’s stuff you can put in the barrels that keeps mosquitoes from breeding in them and it also won’t hurt the plants either .

All the junk mail we get is sorted through, shredded and added to our compost bins along with any scraps we have like banana peeling or any other fruit or vegetable peelings. We always have rich dirt for my flower boxes on Moms porch rails.  It’s not that hard to most of what we do so you might want to take some of these things we do and do them too.

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A lot of places still have water restrictions

The drought we have been going through the past couple of years has made a lot of people more water conscious.  Did you realize that you could save enough water to fill a swimming pool by changing your old toilet to one of the  low flow toilets?  Well you can.  You’ll also save yourself a lot of money if you pay a water bill.

Just imagine this.  A regular toilet uses about 3 and a half gallons of water to flush your toilet while a dual flush kit uses only 2.1 gallons of water.  You conserve over a gallon of water that way.  Now on the average, you probably flush your toilet about 10 times a day.  You’re saving over 13 gallons of water a day.  That adds up quick.

Here’s the best part, you don’t even have to buy a new toilet to save that much water.  The dual flush retofit on most standard toilets saving you even more money.  I like saving money, and conserving water too, don’t you?

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Remodeling is good I guess

I haven’t said anything to my mother yet but I really wish she would leave the beach house alone and not remodel it.  That was Daddy’s favorite place in the world and I can still smell him there.  When I really miss him and need to feel close to him, that’s where I go.  He did a lot of the work on the house himself and it has his special touches like that plug that’s half way up the wall in the middle of nowhere.  I think that’s what you might call a home having character.  I call it what makes a home a home even if it is a vacation home.  I bet that plug is one of the first things Mom will do away with too.

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Now Mom wants to remodel the beach house

My parents had a house in Virginia beach that we have had some wonderful times in.  Well Mom is redecorating her home and now wants to remodel the beach house.  She found someone to do the work on Virginia Beach remodeling after I helped her find someone to do her remodeling on her house.

She’s a pretty smart cookie and figured out how to find someone there if they had a site for around here, then they must around there. She was right.   I’m pretty proud of her being able to find someone on the computer like she did.  I also checked them out and they are not ripping Mom off so she did good.

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Another friend moving away

A good friend of mine lost her job here and found another one in Massachusetts so I now have another friend moving away.  She does have some family up there but needed an apartment.  Luckily she found out about Central Mass apartments from one of her family members.  This web site is helps people to find not only apartments but also to find homes to rent.  One thing I found most useful on this site, as did she, is the fact that you can search for an apartment by area, or by size, or by price and even by price range too.  That way you don’t have to go through a lot of places that you wouldn’t be interested in.

She only needs a one bedroom apartment since she’s single and is open to a couple of different areas.  Luckily she knows something about the areas she wants since she has been there before.  They tell you about the area too just in case you don’t know anything about it.  I found the site quite easy to use which also is a huge help since some web sites like these aren’t nearly as easy to maneuver around.  If you’re planning a move to central Massachusetts, I suggest you check these guys out.  I bet you’ll find an apartment easily there.

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Mom’s going all out

I suggested to Mom that maybe she needed to get some new clothes and possibly some new furniture since Daddy had passed and she had walked around the house for the past couple years missing him something awful.  I thought it might help her to move on.  Well it must have done the trick because now she’s going all out.  She’s even doing some remodeling too.  Thank goodness  she called Richmond remodeling to do the work because at least with them, I don’t have to worry that they will rip her off like some would.

That’s a shame that there are people that will take advantage of a woman alone and just take advantage of her and overcharge or simply do shoddy work.  Well that won’t happen with them.  They are a highly reputable company and when they do a remodeling job, they do it right the first time.  If you aren’t satisfied with their work, they’ll make it right to suit you too.  That’s hard to find in this day in time.  They will do anything from a simple paint job to a complete remodel job.  They will also work with your budget too which is great.  A lot of companies aren’t like that.

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I found another furniture site you might like too

I have been looking at all sorts of furniture web sites and have found one that you just might like too.  They have modern furniture that is absolutely gorgeous!  I was amazed at some of the pieces they have on their site.  Beautiful furniture really makes a house a home and if you like modern furniture, this will definitely make you house feel more homey!

Your bedroom should feel more like a sanctuary from the hard cruel world and with their bedroom furniture, you’re almost certain to find just the right style for you.  I like for my bedroom to be not only comfortable but beautiful too.  That is what makes my bedroom my sanctuary and I bet your the same way.  How can you get a good nights sleep in a ugly bedroom?  I sure couldn’t.

Well here’s the cure for the ‘ugly bedroom’ for sure.  Just take a look at some of the platform beds they have to offer and you’ll see the cure.  Absolutely beautiful beds that I can see myself curled up in the middle of with a cup of coffee and a good book.  I’m so glad I decided to shop around a little longer before I decided to buy.

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I need help!

There is nothing worse than having a totally unorganized house.  I hate it.  My house has gotten so disorganized that I can’t hardly find anything when I need it.  My closets, well they are all disaster areas.  I can’t find my clothes that I know are supposed to be in there but are hidden in the clutter.  I need help!  Well I found exactly what I needed and it’s new york custom closets.  They custom build what ever it is that you need to totally organize your closet and it’s built the way you want it.  Not a kit like you can get most anywhere that doesn’t even fit and takes a scientist to be able to put the darn thing together.

They not only specialize in custom closets but they are professional organizers too.  They will even custom build kitchen cabinets that are designed to be organized so everything has a place and you can actually find what is in your cabinets almost at a glance.  I love that.  They will design custom storage for your garage to your specifications and just about any other space you need to be organized.  My pantry is now even organized instead of just having everything shoved in it.  The prices are surprisingly affordable too.

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I hear the birds singing

The birds are everywhere again and singing their wonderful springtime songs.  I love sitting at my window watching all of the different types of birds eating out of my bird feeders.  It’s amazing just how many different types of birds come to share a meal.  You have to watch the darn squirrels too or they will figure out a way to climb up my pole and shake all of the food out for themselves.  I have a squirrel feeder on a tree.  It has a screw on it that you take a corn cob and screw down on it for them to eat but they want the bird food too.  Oh well, such is life and do love to see all of the springtime critters out my window.

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Spring is almost here

With spring around the corner, I’m hot and heavy into ‘spring cleaning mode’ if you know what I mean.  I am so sick of the clutter that seems to accumulate every winter.  Why is that?  Is it in our nature to gather stuff for the long winter like animals do?  Maybe but I hate clutter and my house is over cluttered now and I’m doing something about it.

I’m not quite sure how but all of a sudden I have shoes everywhere.  I have been looking for shoe racks to help me keep my shoes organized so I can find both of the same shoe at the same time instead of having to dig like I have lately.    I found some great ones online.  Another thing that has really helped me with all of the clutter is bed risers.  My mother has used  these for years.  Under the bed is a great place to store your winter clothes that you won’t be wearing anymore until next year that is.

But you will never guess what I have found to be one of the best for hiding clutter.  Room dividers.  Imagine that.  You can take a room divider and put it in a corner to hide what ever you don’t want seen and it looks like you have dressed your room up instead of just hid something.