Some Different & New Holiday Traditions

Here are some UNIQUE and fun Holiday Ideas to do with your friends and family.

1.  Christmas Lights Awards Night.  Most of us drive around town and look at Christmas lights. This year, do things a little different. Before you go, make treats and awards. Yes, awards! Such as “Most creative house”, “Best Christmas Lights in Town”, “Most Beautiful Nativity Scene”, “Best Santa.” You get the idea. As a family, come up with the awards, write them on tags and put one tag on each plate of treats. As you drive around looking at lights, secretly/or not secretly deliver your awards. It is so much fun. To make the trip even better, make everyone hot chocolate and take it with you to drink as you go. Put the hot chocolate in the “hot cups” with the lids to avoid spills in the car.

2.  Family Picnic Under the Christmas Tree.  Grab your picnic basket and pack it full of all your family’s favorite foods and eat dinner under the tree. Lay out a blanket, dim the lights, and chat while you eat. Use paper plates and silverware and don’t forget the treats. You can even make these INDOOR S’MORES to eat, no fire needed.  To add to the experience, ask each other fun questions about Christmas’s past. Share a favorite Christmas memory, etc…

3.  Holidays Around the World.  Read about holiday traditions around the world. Teach your children where their ancestors came from and learn about the traditions there. You could even make a traditional treat from the country. It is very easy to find recipes on line, as well as stories on traditions. You could even call family members and ask them to tell their traditional stories personally!

4.  Indoor Snow Making.  No matter if you live in cold climate, or warm, everyone loves playing with snow. Time to bring the snow inside for a little family fun. And all you need is a large box of Corn Starch and a can of Shaving Foam. Get a large bowl or container, and mix the two ingredients together until they are thoroughly combined and then play! Make mini snow men, mini igloos, mini anything. Parents and kids will all love this one.

5.  Freeze Dance: Christmas Version.  Turn on some holiday music and play Freeze Dance! You kids will love it. You control the music. When you turn it on, your kids dance around the room however they want. When you stop the music they have to freeze and stay in the position. Have everyone look around and laugh as they look at the silly faces and positions everyone has found themselves in. It doesn’t matter the age, all kids “feel” music and will move with it. Our kids could play this for hours. You can get active also. Instead of sitting while they play. Get up and dance with them.

What is your favorite thing to do with your families during the holiday season?


Original Blog Post from Heather Johnson at Family Volley

25 Homemade Candy Recipes

I just LOVE homemade sweets, don't you? The holidays have me enjoying baking and hunting for new recipes to try. I came across this GREAT blog post from Amy @ The Idea Room. Can't wait to try out some of these Christmas goodies. Leave a comment and let me know what delicious recipe you tried! I can't wait to try the dark chocolate salted caramels and the microwave caramels. Can you tell I like caramel?
And, Merry Christmas to you and yours.

Gift Ideas for Everyone on Your List

Looking for the perfect gift for family and friends? Try one of these gadgets and gifts for the home:

Matching Mornings – Give the couples on your list a set of matching or personalized mugs.

Tune Tech – Be the life of the party with a music docking station or wireless speakers.

Wine Accessories – Impress your sommelier friends with a gift for their wine cellar, like this red wine decanter and aerating funnel.

Endless Entertaining – Give the gift of entertaining with a cheese board and knife set.

Breakfast Basics – Make cooking up a batch of pancakes and bacon easier with a set of pancake rings and a cast-iron bacon press.

Coffee Caddy – Help keep your coffee connoisseurs organized with a Coffee Pod and Flatware Caddy or a K-Cup Carousel.

Vintage Charm – Give a piece of Americana with the iconic Fiesta Ware. Now back in vogue, this colorful dinnerware takes you back to Thanksgiving dinner at grandma's house.

Coffee To Go – Make rushing out the door with a java in hand easier with a single cup coffeemaker that brews coffee directly into a reusable go cup.

Personal Touch – Add that personal touch with a monogrammed wooden cutting board made from bamboo or maple.

Bathtub Bliss – Give the gift of relaxation with a bathtub reading caddy, like this one with a reading rack to hold your book.

Whatever gift you get ~ make it unique and special and have a WONDERFUL Holiday Season!

Original Blog Post from Matt Pickett

Brass Door Knobs Could Improve Your Health

Did you know that brass (an alloy made of copper and zinc) has antimicrobial properties and is believed to suffocate germs, not allowing them to spread? Some hospitals are even outfitting rooms (including hospital beds) in antimicrobial copper. So, if you are upgrading or renovating your home, consider changing out your door knobs to be all brass.

Happy Thanksgiving

Wishing you and your loved ones a very happy and safe Thanksgiving. Enjoy!

Amazing Real Estate Fact: Warren Buffett

When I came across this interesting fact, I felt I had to share. I think this is pretty cool.

Quick Tips for Home Holiday Readyness

Preparing your home for the holidays can be fun and, at times, stressful. It’s the 
season of extravagant dinner parties, pie cook-offs and family potlucks. In a 
nutshell, it’s a time where many of your loved ones will be spending lots of time in 
your kitchen. So it’s no surprise that you are wanting your kitchen to look 
top-notch when the festivities begin filling up your calendar. Getting your kitchen 
up to par, does not mean your holiday season has to become the season of 
headaches. Here are some easy tips to ensure your kitchen is fine-tuned for 
hosting the perfect dinner party and bullet proof for major cleanups or accidents 
later.

 

 
Give your appliances a good touch-up. 
Checking your microwave for spaghetti sauce splatters or remnants of Easy Mac 
is a simple clean that is often overlooked. To avoid a self-clean cycle going 
extremely wrong, use a wet rag to clean inside your oven. Test-run your 
dishwasher to make sure it can handle a large amount of dishes. Use white 
vinegar and a sponge to remove any residue left on the door and door gasket. 
 
Double-check your home’s safety mechanisms. 
If small children will be attending your events, you’ll want to make sure your 
kitchen is not only party ready, but childproof as well. Ensure all electrical plugs 
are covered, glass items and lamps are placed away from table edges, and 
stairways or other potentially accident-prone areas are blocked off. Make sure 
your fire extinguisher is stored nearby, your smoke detector and CO2 batteries 
are good, and your first-aid kit is fully stocked. 

Why A Red Front Door?

Have you ever wondered why some homes have a red front door? Do those owners just love the color red? What is the meaning behind it? I was curious and so I did some research and wanted to share with you my very interesting findings.

The red door tradition has many connotations and claims to invention. I find each reason interesting and appealing.

Red doors are more commonly associated with Feng Shui, which claims a home’s entrance is the “mouth of Chi”, where all good energy enters a space. Good fortune and welcome are the Feng Shui terms popularly linked with red front doors.

A red door provides protection. In Biblical times, the Hebrew slaves were instructed to smear blood of a lamb on their front doors to protect their first born from the angel of death. In old Catholicism churches painted the doors of the church red to represent the blood of Christ. Passing through the door would mean that you were on holy ground. Some believe a red door protects the occupants from evil.

In Scotland, homeowners paint their front door red when they pay off their mortgage!

During slavery red doors were used by the Underground Railroad to symbolize that a particular home was a safe haven.

In early America when people traveled long distances by horse and buggy, private homes with red doors alerted weary travelers that a meal and a bed were available for a small fee.

One odd red door rumor stems from the Fuller Brush salesmen days. It was believed that if you painted your door red, travelling salesmen would read it as a sign that “no sale” was possible and would pass you by.

Many Chinese paint a fresh coat of bright red on their front doors annually before the New Year to attract good luck and fortune.

Do you have a red door? What's your reason?




Images taken from here and here. Information gathered from several sites including this site.

Wallpaper: Old Fashioned or Trendy?

I recently read the below article online and wanted to share with you. Do you like wallpaper? 

In recent years, wallpaper played a minor role in home décor, relegated mostly to powder rooms and otherwise pushed aside by paint, which has been considered the cheaper, faster way to freshen a room.

Wallpaper also didn’t fit the more modern aesthetic that gained hold in the last dozen years or so, says Paula Berberian, creative director at Brewster Home Fashions, a fifth-generation family-owned wallpaper manufacturer in Randolph, Mass. And some buyers considered it far too personal a choice, as well as problematic to install and later remove.

But tastes change. Many younger buyers don’t remember their parents’ and grandparents’ homes covered in floral, striped, and velvet papers and are now gravitating to wallpaper as a chic update choice. “They consider it quite cool, along the lines of Mid-Century modern,” says Berberian.

It’s even catching on in parts of the country far from the trendsetting coasts.

“We just finished a Parade of Homes in Boise, Idaho, and Provo Utah, and most of the high-end houses incorporated some wallpaper—often big, bright, bold, large-scale geometrics,” says Robyn Shea, a salesperson at Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate in Boise who retails several wallpaper brands under her other business, Design Source 101.

There are other reasons for wallpaper’s growing appeal:

Easier to hang and remove: Papers have been vastly improved, and are easier to hang and remove without damaging walls. Some are fabricated on a nonwoven substrate, so they make it easier to hide surface imperfections, too, says Berberian. Jackie Just’s Murals Your Way, based in Minneapolis, are made to peel and stick, making them easier to apply, remove, and reuse elsewhere.

More environmentally friendly: Many wallpapers today are made from eco-wise materials, such as water-based prints that breathe. Some with new vinyl coatings hold up better to bathroom steam and can be wiped free of dirt, grease, and fingerprints.

Patterns are hipper and fresher-looking: Buyers should focus on overscaled geometrics including kaleidoscopes, Asian-inspired themes, trompe l’oeil photorealism shots of materials such as weathered wood and brick, horizontal and chevron patterns rather than traditional vertical stripes, and faux leathers, says Jon Sherman, owner of manufacturer Flavor Paper in Brooklyn, N.Y.

Colors are brighter: Think aquas, oranges, purples, greens, yellows, hot pinks, metallic silvers and golds, and contrasting white and black combos, says Jill Wagner at New York-based manufacturer Osborne & Little. Midtone pastels have made inroads, and, of course, gray, the hot neutral, makes the cut.

Texture has become more pronounced: Metallics and crystals are being incorporated, as well as bits of suede, gels, beads, and cosmetic-style powders that change with light and as people move past them, says Sherman. Even ’50s grass cloth has returned, but with a contemporary edge and in more than earth tones.

More inventive installations: Wallpaper is going beyond just a room’s four walls; nowadays, it’s viewed as a possibility for one accent wall, the ceiling, or in between ceiling beams or coffers, says Berberian. And it can be used to expand space, make it more intimate, or camouflage a problem, says general contractor Beverley Kruskol of M.Y. Pacific Builders in Los Angeles. Santa Monica, Calif.-based designer Kimball Hills of Rumba Style hadn’t used wallpaper in years, but is doing so with white grass cloth to brighten a client’s burled wood wall.

Price points vary: Some companies like Berberian’s offer single rolls from $40 up, and Just provides a fully customized 8-by-0-foot feature wall mural for between $500 and $800.

But since not all buyers yet are fans of wallpaper, professionals recommend that home owners weigh choices carefully unless they plan to stay for years.

Here are more tips:

Dip a toe in slowly: If your clients are new to using wallpaper, they might want to start small, such as an accent wall in a bathroom, says Chicago designer Lisa Wolfe, who is a huge wallpaper fan. She also recommends it to break up large areas, or in a bedroom, entry hall, cozy den, breakfast room. Using it in a kitchen requires restraint since many equate to the dated kitchen paper of the past. Today’s buyers are still more inclined to tile backsplashes or paint. But if a home owners likes the idea, they should consider a perky, modern pattern.

Wallpaper borders are out, says Wagner of Osborne & Little.

A wallpaper whitewashing is a no-no: If an entire house is wallpapered, sellers might consider removing some before they list. And they should defin


itely clean or take down dirty, worn, or torn wallpaper, which is a huge turnoff.

This article is from Realtor Mag, the official magazine of NAR OCTOBER 2014 | BY BARBARA BALLINGER

Reminder Again About End of Daylight Saving Time

Just another quick reminder to turn your clocks back an hour as Daylight Saving Time ends at 2 a.m. tomorrow, November 2, 2014.