Category: home improvement

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How many of you knew this?

I had no idea of this and can’t swear it is true but it sure has changed the way I eat.  Only butter for my family from now on!!

Pass The Butter …. Please. This is interesting . … .

Margarine was originally manufactured to fatten turkeys. When it killed the turkeys, the people who had put all the money into the research wanted a payback so they put their heads together to figure out what to do with this product to get their money back. It was a white substance with no food appeal so they added the yellow coloring and sold it to people to use in place of butter. How do you like it? They have come out with some clever new flavorings.

DO YOU KNOW.. The difference between margarine and butter?   Read on to the end…gets very interesting!

Both have the same amount of calories.

Butter is slightly higher in saturated fats at 8 grams compared to 5 grams.

Eating margarine can increase heart disease in women by 53% over eating the same amount of butter, according to a recent Harvard Medical Study.

Eating butter increases the absorption of many other nutrients in other foods.

Butter has many nutritional benefits where margarine has a few only because they are added!

Butter tastes much better than margarine and it can enhance the flavors of other foods.

Butter has been around for centuries where margarine has been around for less than 100 years .

And now, for Margarine.. Very high in Trans fatty acids.

Triple risk of coronary heart disease.

Increases total cholesterol and LDL (this is the bad cholesterol) and lowers HDL cholesterol, (the good cholesterol).

Increases the risk of cancers up to five fold.

Lowers quality of breast milk.

Decreases immune response.

Decreases insulin response.

And here’s the most disturbing fact…. HERE IS THE PART THAT IS VERY INTERESTING!

Margarine is but ONE MOLECULE away from being PLASTIC..

This fact alone was enough to have me avoiding margarine for life and anything else that is hydrogenated (this
means hydrogen is added, changing the molecular structure of the substance).

You can try this yourself:  Purchase a tub of margarine and leave it in your garage or shaded area. Within a couple of days you will note a couple of things:

* no flies, not even those pesky fruit flies will go near it (that should tell you something).

* it does not rot or smell differently because it has no nutritional value; nothing will grow on it. Even those teeny weeny microorganisms will not find a home to grow. Why? Because it is nearly plastic. Would you melt your Tupperware and spread that on your toast?

Here’s to a healthy drug-free life!
Dr. Steven Alff, D.C.

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We’re putting in an ADT Alarm System

My wife decided that we needed to check on having an alarm system put in our house.  Unfortunately, just because you’re trying to help someone doesn’t mean they won’t do anything wrong to us like break in when we’re not home.  I can’t imagine anyone doing something like that but could be someone they know that has been over to visit or something too.  You just can’t be too careful and that’s why I called ADT.    In fact, I might even have an ADT Alarm put in each apartment too.  That way we don’t have to worry about anyone breaking into one of the apartments if it’s empty too.

ADT Alarm Systems have long been known as one of the best security systems there are.  Not only are they wireless but they monitor your home 24 hours a day and 7 days a week.  You can’t ask for anything any better now can you?  ADT Security gives you just that, security.  Get this, you also get a digital keypad, key chain remote access, a motion detector, 3 points of protection, high decibel alarm siren to scare off most people before they even get in. Plus you also get battery backup, yard sign and window decals to make sure they know you have an alarm system and best of all, free standard installation.

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Apartments coming right along

We have the floor down in the upstairs and all of the walls in except for the wiring and the drywall.  We decided to put registers in the floor for the heat to come upstairs from the downstairs and you can close them off in the summer and open the vents on the wall to let the cool air in the room.  I just hope the people will do that.  It will save a lot on the electricity.  One of the men from one of the churches is an electrician and he’s donating everything including materials and labor to wire everything.  What a great thing he is doing.

We also have the garage doors off and the walls and doors framed in.  We have already but up the outside walls and have the siding on them along with the front doors installed.   Of course everyone took the weekend off and will be back bright an early Monday morning.  I’m amazed at how fast everything is coming together.

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Got a wonderful idea

As much as it has rained lately, I decided to get some rain barrels to harvest the rain water for the dry days when the garden needs watering.  I found a great selection of rain barrels at simplyrainbarrels.com.  They have some that have a faucet in the bottom of them that you can hook up a hose to so it’s easy to water the garden.  They even have some that look really nice to put at your down spouts from your gutters.  They look nice enough to put on the front of your house.  Now watch it stop raining as soon as I get them!  That would be my luck.  No not really, I am a very lucky man!

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It came through!!

I was absolutely amazed that I got the building permit.  I figured they would come up with some sort of ordinance or something but they didn’t.  Then what came next was even more surprising.  I don’t know how it got all over town like it did but there are churches that have called with volunteers to help with the construction and even donating some money to buy the supplies.  Several people in the community are donating used refrigerators, stoves, furniture and just about anything else you can imagine.  I can’t explain what that has felt like.

I have a long list of supplies and will be heading out to Lowe’s Home Improvement Stores to make the purchases I’ll need.  I was told that if you talk to the manager and they have things that have a scratch or whatever and it’s going to a good cause, they will cut the price a lot.  I just hope what I heard is right.  Man do I have a list of building supplies!!!  But you know, even if they don’t give me big discounts on damaged items, they still have the best selection and prices in this town.

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It’s going to take awhile

Well I went down to the permit office and you know how slow the government works.  They aren’t sure if I can do that or not because of the zoning and all sorts of bull like that.  All we want to do is help those less fortunate than we are.  We have been blessed an just want to pass that blessing along.

Until they figure out if I can do this or not, I’m going to get a jump start on it for when they say I can do it.  All I’m going to do is put a floor in the upstairs part and put a regular set of steps in the end.  They can’t say anything about that.  Then I’ll go ahead an make the separations for each upstairs room.  I just won’t close them in until I get the go ahead.

I have a friend that owns a saw mill that has already donated the 2×4’s I’ll need to do the framing in.  My wife is going through the house to see what we don’t need anymore that could be put in the apartments or sold in yard sales to make the money to help pay for the supplies we don’t have on hand.  I sure hope they don’t drag their feet too long.

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I have a wonderful wife

My wife and I were discussing the issue of so many homeless people around here and she came up with an idea that I thought was wonderful.  We have a three car garage that is separate from the house that we don’t even use in all honesty because there’s a two car garage attached to the house that we park our cars in.  The other was built for the kids cars.  It’s tall enough to make a room upstairs in too.

What my wife wants for us to do is to close in each bay of the garage and take down the garage doors, close that in and make three small apartments for people that have become homeless.  She said that we could give them the first month free to help them get back on their feet and then just charge $100 a month to cover the extra electricity that it will cost us.  It wouldn’t take very much to do just that.  The upstairs could be the bedroom easily.  Now all I have to do is check with the county and see if I can get a permit to do what we want.  I really hope we can.  I bet I can find a lot of help with it too from our neighbors.

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Here’s something to help our own

I received this in an email and I had no idea until I read it.  This is what I keep talking about when it comes to helping our own instead of everyone else in the world.  This makes sense!

In our current economic situation, every little thing we buy or do affects someone else and perhaps even their job. So, after reading this email, I think this lady is on the right track… Let’s get behind her!!

My grandson likes Hershey’s candy. It is marked made in Mexico now. I do not buy it anymore. My favorite toothpaste, Colgate is made in Mexico now. I have switched to Crest. You have to read the labels on everything.

This past weekend I was at Kroger. I needed 60W light bulbs and Bounce dryer sheets. I was in the light bulb aisle and right next to the GE brand I normally buy was an off brand labeled, “Everyday Value”. I picked up both types of bulbs and compared the stats – they were the same except for the price. The GE bulbs were more money than the Everyday Value brand but the thing that surprised me the most was the fact that GE was made in MEXICO and the Everyday Value brand was made in – get ready for this – the USA in a company in Cleveland, Ohio.

So throw out the myth that you cannot find products you use every day that are made right here. So on to another aisle – Bounce Dryer Sheets….yep, you guessed it, Bounce cost more money and is made in Canada. The Everyday Value brand was less money and MADE IN THE USA! I did laundry yesterday and the dryer sheets performed just like the Bounce Free I have been using for years and at almost half the price!

So my challenge to you is to start reading the labels when you shop for everyday things and see what you can find that is made in t he USA – the job you save may be your own or your neighbors! If you accept the challenge, pass this on to others in your address book so we can all start buying American, one light bulb at a time!

Stop buying from China. . . . . (We should have awakened a decade ago……)  Let’s get with the program….Help our fellow Americans keep their jobs and create more jobs here in the U.S.A. !!!

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My wife is mad at me

I guess it should come as no surprise that my wife’s mad at me.  After all, isn’t that what most men say from time to time?  See, she has been working around the house and took down some old curtains in the dining room and put up some new ones.  I didn’t notice!!

Hey, I’m a man and I have had a lot on my mind lately.  Plus the curtains she took down were sort of a cream color and the ones she put up are a pale olive green.  That’s not a lot of difference other than the new ones are longer than the other ones too.  I just didn’t notice.

She was all happy because she had gotten them at JC Penney’s at a great discount price and wanted a pat on the back I guess.  Instead, I missed my chance and now she’s mad.  Guess I may as well just tell the dog to move over because I’m moving in the dog house with him.  I sure hope it’s only a one dog night and not a two dog night.  He’s a big German Shepherd so he should be able to keep me warm even if it is a two dog night.

Do you understand that expression, the one and two dog night?  It’s an old expression on how many dogs it would take to keep you warm overnight out in the elements.  A three dog night is a cold night!!

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What to get my wife for Christmas

I really made a bad mistake yesterday.  I asked my wife what she wanted for Christmas.  I thought I was all finished with the Christmas lists we used to get from the children…………..who am I kidding?  I should have said I’m used to getting Christmas lists from the children but this year, my wife handed me a list of what she wanted.

It started out simple enough, she wanted a gift card to go buy her some new clothes.  That sounded easy enough until I noticed that it said $500 should just about cover it.  Next was a new necklace.  I thought “I can do that” until i noticed off to the side that it should have at least 1 carat worth of diamonds in it or just a 1 carat diamond would work.

I was afraid to read any farther after that but I am a curious sort of guy and I just couldn’t resist.  The next item was to totally redo the bathroom in our bedroom.  HUH?  She wants a new Jacuzzi tub, new fixtures, new vanity, new mirror, new everything in there.  Of course after that came that we would have to redo our bedroom to match the new bathroom because the two rooms have to FLOW, as she put it.  FLOW!!!!  OKAY!!

She said if I wanted to really make her happy, I would redo the kitchen with stainless steel appliances, granite counter tops, tile floor, new cabinets, new sink, new fixtures and a totally new kitchen in other words.  My thought then was “Who does she all of a sudden think she’s married to?  Bill Gates or Donald Trump?”

While I’m sitting there reading this unbelievable list of what she wants, she comes into the room and just stands there and looks at me.  I looked at her with total disbelief when she busted out laughing.  She said she only wanted for us to go on a cruise somewhere, just the two of us and have a second honeymoon.  That wasn’t on the list and then it hit me.  Yeah, she got me but good!!!!!  The list was a fake.  I have a great wife!!!!  Cruises are really cheap now so I’m cruise shopping.