Vacation away from the home

Should one remain homebound or housebound all our life? This question is perhaps best addressed to a housebound housewife. An employed working husband gets to go to office every working day, plus probably all expense paid business or company (vacation) trips or incentive vacations. But a housebound housewife?

A house is a home, and a home has a family and I think a family should take time off for a vacation together. This is especially in these modern times where family members do not get together as much as they should as they are caught up with their work, studies, friends, sports, nightclubbing, etc.

I have traveled around, and as a family even when I was a married student in Belgium. I, my late wife, my eldest daughter, at one time, even our unborn baby, traveled together to London, Paris, various parts of Nederland, Germany, Switzerland and Italy. Sir Timothy John Berners-Lee only invented the World Wide Web in March 1989, well before we were in Europe, even before I traveled to the United States. And even if I had been traveling shortly after 1989, the World Wide Web wasn't as well developed as now. I believe initially, it was limited to the researchers. I work at a college (now upgraded to University). I had to do research. In those early days, I don't think that privilege was extended to me. Even after the
World Wide Web was opened to the public, I remembered the frustrations as searches turned up all kinds of irrelevant results. And online commerce or e-Commerce, was not well developed like they are today.

I also remembered having to waste precious (and expensive) tourist time hunting for suitable accommodation upon arrival at a destination. Tourist time is expensive because we have to pay for travel, for accommodation, for food, and the time is meant for touring the place we visit, not for hunting for suitable accommodation that fits our budget. The picture now is different with many online booking accommodation like Vacation rental homes. If you and your family is ever going to get away from your home for a well deserved vacation, I would advice that you book your accommodation before departure. This is speaking from experience.

Lake Tahoe, United States of America

Lake Tahoe is a large freshwater lake located smack between California and Nevada in the Sierra Nevada mountains of the United States. I had been there before, but traveling alone. The water in Lake Tahoe is crystal clear and views of the surrounding mountains is beautiful. It was winter when I was there and I went up to a ski resort, but did not ski. There are plenty of ski resorts in Lake Tahoe. Maybe I should have tried a bit of sled riding as there are public and private sled parks around Lake Tahoe. It seems some ski areas even have Snow tubing and Snowshoeing. I have an idea of what Snowshoeing is involved, but what exactly is snow tubing? I have also heard that now you can go Snowmobile riding, but I don't think I would want that. It is not environmentally friendly.

I understand there are lots of outdoor recreation and tourist attractions in Lake Tahoe in summer. Many go for water sports in from late spring to early autumn. Lake Tahoe's largest city is South Lake Tahoe on the California part of Lake Tahoe. This is where many of water sport enthusiasts head for, the other being the smaller Stateline, Nevada. Lake Tahoe even have its own Coast Guard to ensure visitors' safety.

I have never been to South Lake Tahoe, and if I ever have any plan to go there, I will probably book my accommodation online at South Lake Tahoe.

Whistler, British Columbia, Canadian

I have been to Switzerland thrice, and the best memories I have was my visit to Grindelwald, a winter resort. There is great similarity between Grindelwald and Whistler of British Columbia, Canadian, another mountain resort town in the Pacific Ranges of the Coast Mountains about 125 kilometer north of Vancouver. I would love to return to Grindelwald, Switzerland, but Whistler, Canada, looks like a better alternative, a change. It looks like Whistler vacation rentals lined up.

Why use a coffee maker when instant coffee is so convenient

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Handy sewing machine for my home

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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.

Address Plaques and Residential Mailboxes

House Address Plaques

I have been preoccupied with the inside of the house so far. An examination of the outside showed that the house frontage can do with some improvement. First is the house number. It used to be chrome, but that has tarnished to black. Not going to impress any visitors. The photo gave more credit to the blackened house number than what is really due to it, as it is more black than gray, and not very visible. Sure can do with some improvement.

This one looks more like what my house need. Not only is the house number shown, the name of the road is also displayed. I remember the time I have been utterly frustrated when searching for a house. Frequently, the road name is often missing plus the sign displaying the road name for the whole road (responsibility of the town council or city hall) is either missing or very well hidden. Caused one to burn up more precious and expensive fossil fuel than is necessary and leads to much wastage of time. Looks like I should get something like this for my house which is available from Address Plaques. However, I think I should look at more choices of Address Plaques. When you are shopping around, one big advantage is that you can take your time to browse through all the available choices and do some comparison shopping.

House mailbox

My mailbox looks pretty worn and rundown too, don't you think? Maybe it might be worthwhile to change to something more attractive. Maybe that will make the postman more happy to deliver my mail to my mailbox and not go deliver to the wrong house and what has frequently happened before. And my poor neighbour have to take the trouble of doing the job for the postman and deliver my mail back to me. Wonder what is behind his smiling face. In his mind, was he really thinking of a dagger or something for putting him to all the trouble?

This one looks much prettier, plus it has the house number incorporated into the mailbox. Make economic sense. Buy one, get two. Special offer. I think I should go for one of these Residential Mailboxes. Perhaps they have something similar that is both a mail box plus a house number cum road address. Buy one, get three. That is what I call economic sense.

Whirpool Dryer for my home

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Dryer for my home

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Vacuum cleaner for my home

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Dishwasher in My Home

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Sewing machine in the home

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Modern Furniture for the Modern Home

Types of furniture

I was a lecturer in the Wood Technology Department but ended up in the Furniture Department when that was transferred to a remote branch campus. So I know a thing or two about furniture.

Furniture can be classified according to its function, such as furniture for storage, for seating, for providing a surface such as a desk, for dining, for sleeping, etc.

One may also use the raw material to make the furniture to classify them, such as wooden furniture, cane furniture, metal furniture, leather furniture, fabric furniture, even plastic furniture.

Furniture may also be classified according to periods such as classical furniture, neo classical furniture, modern furniture, colonial furniture, etc.

For a modern home, the Modern Furniture would be more fitting. Such furniture may be for the living room, dining room, bedroom, children room or the kitchen.

Bedroom furniture

My doctor said I need to get more sleep to stay healthy, so for the moment, let's focus on furniture for the bedroom. The focus of the bedroom will of course be the bed. I don't know about you, but for me, I like the sleek, clean and simple lines of the platform bed. Platform beds are beds are simple structure with a base comprising a raised, flat, hard, horizontal surface to support a mattress with slats or solid paneling. They do not use box spring or any mattress foundation. That is all I need and it looks modern, clean and nice.

Living room furniture

Here, the focus will be the lounge set. I have had a cane sitting room set that have lasted me 30 years and has served me well, but its bindings are coming off and the nails are getting loose. Perhaps it is time to get something new for the impending New Year. I am thinking of a Full Leather Sofa Set. I don't like fabric sofa as they are hard to maintain and easy to stain. I think leather sofa set like the Aida Ultra Modern Full Leather Sofa Set you see in the photo on the left is comfortable, elegant looking and easy to maintain. Leather also softens and improves with time.

Well, these are the two places I spent the most of my time in and is most important to me. I will leave the rest perhaps to another time.

Massage chair for your home

After much hard labor in the garden, or after a stressful day at work, it will be nice to retreat to a home equipped with a massage chair. Or perhaps some members of your family may experience some body ache, or over strained themselves at too enthusiastic exercises, etc. All can benefit from having a massage chair in the home.

What is massage all about?

A massage involves the manipulation of soft tissue which can cause a change in the surrounding tissue and structures or release the stiffness a too stiff joint.

Benefits of a good massage

A good massage can help alleviate body ache and improve range of motion. Some says it may even enhance body immunity by stimulating the lymph flow. The lymph system is one of the body’s defense system. A good massage my improve the condition of the skin, increase joint flexibility, reduce depression and anxiety, enhance tissue regeneration, pump oxygen and nutrients into tissues and vital organs, improve circulation, reduce spasms and cramping, relax and soften injured, tired, and overused muscles, release endorphins which are the body’s natural painkiller and promotes a sense of well-being and some claims it can relieve migraine pain.

How to massage

Massage can be manual using hands, sometimes even the feet and the body weight where a masseur thread on the person being massaged lying on the floor or on a bed. Some also use vibrators. But manual massage can be pretty hard work, and for a real massage, you may need a trained masseur.

Massage Chair

Here is the easy way out. Get a massage chair. No hard manipulating with the hands. No hard work. Just sit in the massage chair, switch it on and relax. What other can be easier than that?

Here is one you may want to consider - Panasonic Massage Chairs. Most of my electrical appliances are under the Panasonic brand. My Panasonic television lasted my for ages without problems. My microwave oven is Panasonic, so is my refrigerator. My son bought a Panasonic digital camera - SV-A510. It produced pretty sharp photos. Only problem is, you got to have a steady hand. Shake and you get a blur photo.

I recently purchased another digital camera for myself. I would not mention the brand or the model for fear of being sued. I took some photos. It was supposed to be a 5 megapixels camera. Plus anti-shake compensation. Pretty impressive. But the first few photos I took in its original large format is all very grainy. However, for my use, it is enough because I have to resize it down to upload to the web. When resized downward, it is sharp enough. But my children are not satisfied. So I took it back the camera shop to complain. They told me Panasonic digital cameras uses the Leica lens, the best. The one I bought uses the manufacturer's own lens. Anyway, here is another case where getting a Panasonic brand product turned out to be better.

You may want to take a look at the new Panasonic EP30005 massage chair. If you are the type who like to check out various option first before making a purchase decision, look at Panasonic EP series of massage chairs. Take your time. Good habit to do some researching before putting your money down.

Home, Humidity, Dehumidifiers and Products Review

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Plasma and LCD flat panel televisions

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Use gift cards to avoid waste and prevent headaches

Buying gifts for family, friend, relatives, colleagues. It is a task I hate. For one, I have to scratch my head for a suitable gift to buy. For another, I would have to drive around to shop for them in shopping malls, etc., burning up precious depleting fossil fuel which result in green house gas emission and contribute to global warming. If you are a regular visitor of my blogs, I have a soft spot for the fragile environment, our one and only Spaceship Earth with no lifeboat. Where can we go if something bad happens to our only Spaceship Earth with no lifeboat. Migrate to the moon? That is science fiction and beyond reality.

Some people like shopping for and receiving gifts. I don't. I don't have even a tiny talent for gift ideas and would be hard press to come up with some very good gift ideas. If I need to get gifts for people, I would rather pay for it and leave the choice to them, for after all, they are the ones who are going to use it, and will have a much better idea of what items would be of use to them. Further, there is no need for gift wrapping, for that means using paper, which also means cutting down trees to make the paper. And after unwrapping the gift, what do they do with the gift wrap paper? I used to unwrap the gift slowly, trying my best not to damage the gift wrap paper, and keep them for reuse. But I don't really know how many people on the receiving end will appreciate my effort at conservation and reuse.

You may also know I hate waste. One of the reason I hate buying gifts is because I can never tell if the gift I buy will be of use to the receiver, or if it will be left in a corner to languish, unused. In fact, I have an issue with receiving gifts as you can see from this post: My first grandchild at his grandfather's 58th birthday gathering.

But popular gift cards may be a different story. In the first place, the gift receiver gets to choose his own gifts. In the second place the gift cards merchant has taken the trouble to take into account the preferences of his customers and the gift cards listed the popular ones there which is there as a result of the decisions of a wide spectrum of customers and would thus probably represent collective wisdom, and thus ending up with a gift card that are of use to the receiver is better.

Of course, you are free to search the whole selection of all gift cards available. Not only that, at this site, on the left sidebar, you will see gift cards categorized according to price range and store.

Have a particular preference for a particular store like Amazon Gift Cards? Amazon, the most successful online merchant I believe is one with the widest selection of gifts, and thus the best chance of your gift recipient will be able to get something that he or she needs.

The gift cards merchant also have provided a search box for you to search for gift cards according to the search terms you input. Plus you can do all this online from the comfort of your home right in front of your computer. No driving around to shop for gifts in shopping malls, etc., burning up precious depleting fossil fuel emitting green house gas emission and contributing to global warming. ZERO WASTE.

So many products: Product Reviews will help

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Flat Panel Televisions Review

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