My family needs a dishwasher

Problems in the house

My daughter is the only female in the house and her company keeps her very busy from Monday to Friday. The other 3 are myself and my 2 sons. One is in the college and another one has just started working and cannot afford to slack from his work. That leaves only me because our Cambodian maid has been taken by my daughter whose life now revolves around "youngest blogger" in the world. I am glued to the computer, hates housework, and don't know how to cook. So what can I do? Walk to the "chap fan" (literally "mixed rice" or sometimes referred to "budget rice") restaurant. I buy back ready cooked food for myself and my family. We eat the meals. Then what is left? The dishes. They need to be washed. Who is going to wash the dishes? That is a hard question to answer because dish washing is a chore that all busy people hates. More problems. My daughter has a simple surgery done on her sole, but it was not too successful and the problem surfaced again. This Friday, she have to do a second more extensive surgery on the sole. She is already limping around the house. Don't know what is going to happen after Friday.

Solution to "who is going to do the dish washing" problem

So what is an easy solution? The Dishwasher Reviews of course. Do some online window shopping, pick a choice, empty my bank account a bit or a lot depending on what the children chose (unfortunately the oldest in the house is no longer the sole decision maker), install the dish washer. Load it up with the dirty dishes, push some buttons, and withing minutes, the job is done. No more fighting over whose turn it is of do the dishes.

More problems in the house

What problem? Our house is 30 over years. I have no problems, but my children are not happy with the kitchen. They say they don't feel comfortable in the ancient kitchen. I agree with them that the kitchen needs renovation although I don't mind it as it is as I have a very high tolerance, but I cannot force my children to be like me. They want a modern, beautiful kitchen with built-in cupboards and built-in Frigidaire GLD2445RF Dishwasher like the one you see in the photo on the left.

Or perhaps the Frigidaire GLD4355RF Dishwasher. Both seem the same to me except the ranking and the price, but one photo showed something more elaborate and this one showed something more simple. I tend to go for simple stuff unless we need some essentials like extra storage space. But from the photo, it is not dependent on the dish washers, but on our choice of what kind of kitchen cabinets we chose to install. Both appear to me to be able to fit into either.

Playground equipment for my garden

What are gardens for? For grass lawns, flowers, plants, trees? For adults only? No, that should not be the case. Family often have young children. Even if the children have grown up, married and moved away, there may be grandchildren who come to visit. What are they to do? Only play within the confine of the interior of the home? No, the garden is for them too. They should be able to run around in the garden, play games, have fun. I have a grandson, the "youngest blogger" in the world and one more on the way. They need space to play when they pay me a visit. But a bare garden is not much fun to play in.



I would have to think about getting some playground equipment for the garden. Wonder what they would like. Let me think back to my childhood. I used to love to "fly" like Superman on a swing like the one below which is similar to those swings I "flew" on when I was a kid:



I should look around for suitable swing sets and perhaps consult my children which one might suit my grandchildren, my garden and my bydget.

However, over the years, I have seen, heard and read much about what is happening to our environment, the wasteful consumption patterns that have disastrous effects on our natural resources, I have become environmentally conscious and aiming for zero waste. According to the United States Environmental Protection Agency, in the year 2003, some 290 million worn tires need to be disposed. Used tires are very durable and due to the huge amount of waste tires generated, represent a major environmental problem. Used tires are hard to recycle. The best alternative to to find some way to reuse them. Why don't I do my bit for the environment and get a tire swing. I think my grandchildren will love them and the environmentalists will love me for helping keep one more used tire away from the landfill.

Sound proofing your home

Why would you want to sound proof your home?

They may be various reasons why one would want to sound proof one's home. The most obvious answer is for privacy, for it is not pleasant to have sound originating from one room filtering into another room. Some rooms which particularly need soundproofing are entertainment areas such as specialized music room or TV room and home theater. Children's rooms and play areas are also good candidates for sound proofing. If you happened to have a DIY enthusiast in your family with his own workshop with noisy equipments, that is another good candidate for sound proofing. Politicians would be the one who may be paranoid about getting good sound proofing for it would do them no good to have political rivals eves dropping on their conversations.

What are suitable materials to be used for sound proofing?

There are a number products that are used for sound proofing among which is Sound engineered drywall (SED). Sound Engineered Drywalls (SED) are flexible in use and can either be used in place of regular drywall or for existing homes, applied directly over existing drywall surfaces. According to Supress Sound Engineered, their trademarked Supress® Sound-Engineered Drywall™ are of safe, non-metallic construction and will thus not interfere with cellular reception, wireless network, SmartHome, or Home Theater wireless (RF) operation and equipment links. This is important for me and I believe, for many other households, who have computers networked with wireless connections. Supress Sound Engineered also claimed easy score, snap and install operations which require no specialized equipment, meaning low labor cost. They are also Fire-rated (ASTM E 84 and ASTM E 119). ASTM short for American Society for Testing and Materials, a reputable international standards organization for standards for a very wide range of products. It is important to use sound proof drywall that comply with internationally recognized standard organizations like ASTM. Non-toxic, biodegradeable, anti-mold properties are also claimed for their dry walls although no mention had been made if they comply with relevant standards.

A side benefit of sound proofing your home with sound proof drywall include covering old, rundown walls and ceilings which may need repainting or refurbishing with fresh, new materials and save you the expenses of refurbishing and repainting the walls and ceilings.

Decorate your walls with decorative wall decor

I have been writing stuff about the garden, the little backyard organic farm, the home frontage, electrical appliances, blinds for the windows, furniture, bathroom fittings, all kind of stuff. What did I miss?

The one that most home owner missed. I have left out the wall!!! What is a home with a blank wall? Simple answer, no fun home. A wall cannot be blank. It needs to be decorated. A wall can tell story. A blank wall tell a very dull story. But a wall decorated with imagination and creativity tells an exciting story and makes the home more comfy and pleasant to come home to. So let us decorate the wall.

But how? Here are various possibilities:

metal wall decorations

There is something about wrought iron. It exudes an atmosphere of the good old times. History. Wrought iron is pure iron with a very small carbon content and some slag. It has a "grain" similar to wood, and who don't like wood?

That is one possibility. Others are decorating your wall with architectural elements and metal wall art or iron wall grilles.

Wall candle holders

>Ever had a power failure, when you have to grope around in the dark because some careless contractor dug at the wrong place and broke some underground electrical cables, or some switch tripped at some electrical transmission station? Scramble around for candles, light them up and stick them of some sardine cans for emergency lighting. Well, a better idea may be to get some wall candle holders. Not only will they decorate your house, they will come in mighty useful during an electrical outage. Don't you think the wall candle holder looks pretty? Maybe I can even use it for the Digital Candlelight Vigil for a good cause. At last I now have something that may equal or exceed that of my Australian friend Mike who started a digital candlelight vigil for cancer victims.

Decorative Wall Mirrors

Is your home cramped? Staying in a tiny apartment or condominium maybe? Want to get rid of the cramped feeling and create a sense of spaciousness. Easy. Get some decorative wall mirrors. If you have opted for the wrought iron wall decor for a rustic look, the decorative antique mirror you see in the photo will complement the wrought iron wall decor plus the reflected images will create a sense of space. If you have furnished your home with modern furniture, etc., you can opt for modern wall mirrors. they will all achieve the same objective. Make a cramped apartment into a home that has the atmosphere of a spacious bungalow.

If you have been reading my previous post, you will know that I am environmentally conscious and prefer to shop online using my 24 hour broadband environmentally friendly Internet. In any case, I have no car as all my cars have been given to my children who needs it for their work. When will we ever get a new economic model where one don't need to travel so much for work? Anyway, all the above are either online merchants you can purchase what you want without stepping out of your home, or if you want to promote a cause with a candlelight vigil, you also don't need to travel. It can all be done in the comfort of your home, and in an environmentally way too.