PLAYGROUND COTTAGES HOME IS WHERE THE HEART IS.

Summer Clothes.Posted by admin on March 10th, 2010

Hello Summer!

The summer heat is unbearable, as much as winter has given record-breaking temperatures in the East, this summer is giving us record-breaking temperatures as well. The highest recorded as 37C and it is only the start of summer. We need summer clothes fast! Well, the kids have complete clothes (too much clothes in fact!) I need summer clothes – shirt dresses, shorts (I dont have any!), tank tops! I need to buy a new swimsuit too. I need a women’s style guide to buy these things because I am not trendy when it comes to fashion.

But for me to be able look nice in all the summer clothes I plan to buy – I need to work out first and lose weight. My friend recommended I try running or yoga and the thought of fitting into yoga clothes scared me!

Let’s try running first!

Impending Car WoesPosted by admin on March 10th, 2010

The husband surprised me last weekend when he told me that from now on, he will be leaving our vehicle at home and he will just commute going to and from the office since he doesn’t go anywhere except there when he is in the city. If you know my husband, you would be shocked to hear this – he hates commuting via public transport. He would rather postpone an errand than commute if our car is in the repair shop of it’s number-coding day. So I didn’t stop asking him why the sudden change of heart. Well, it turns out he still hasn’t renewed his license (and he was supposed to have renewed it two months ago), and he thinks our car is going to give in anytime soon, so he thinks it would be best for it to stay here and be used for short travelling. He told me it also would be a great opportunity for me to finally learn how to drive, most especially now that we have so many plans for the kids’ activities. It will also help me a lot when I do errands when he is not around.

It doesn’t keep me from worrying though because it means that we really need to find a new car to replace it with soon. We are still saving for one and based from my projection, we can only afford to buy one at the end of the year but if the car breaks down, we are going to have a hard time going places. The husband said we just need to have it checked for repairs and schedule it for maintenance every now and then. There are jeep accessories we can replace it with too. But part of me doesn’t want to even try to restore it because I just want a new car already – we could just direct all the expenses to the new car we will be buying. Living in the suburbs really puts the need for a car on top of your list.

House Plans for Us.Posted by admin on March 10th, 2010

We might just push through with the impossible dream after all.

That is how determined the husband is to have us move out into a home we can call our own by next year. He is right, we are not getting any young and we need to make sure that whatever we invest now we can finish before we die. I do not want to burden our kids with loans we never got to fully pay. So we have been talking (sometimes, debating to be honest) over home plans and how we want to execute our house plan. We do not take this lightly, this is our home, something that we will be living with maybe for the rest of our lives!

And we are seriously considering doing that. We love talking about future plans. The things we like in a house, the style, the type of furniture. In fact, the husband even got architectural magazines for us to pore and browse over.

There are very nice prepared house plans at HousePlansandMore.com – you wouldn’t need an architect for it!

I really hope our house plans will push trough next year. If not next year, the year after next.

Summer AccessoriesPosted by admin on March 9th, 2010

Summer is here and everybody can’t wait to hit the beach! While most people want to swim and enjoy the sun, most women see it as a chance to parade their swimsuits and get a tan! So what do you need when lazing around the beach? A pair of sunglasses of course! It does not only keep your eyes protected from the harmful rays of the sun, it lets you do people watching discreetly too. From the aviators, rimless, Jackie O, cat eye, oversized glasses, sunglasses has become a fashion accessory! For summer accessories, a big beach towel (maybe for sharing), a wide brimmed hat, a pocketbook for light reading, flip flops and tanning lotion of course! Do not bring jewelries to the beach – funky hoops or dangling earrings can be OK, just don’t bring the real stuff – it has big chances of getting lost!

Beautifying your Garden With ChimesPosted by admin on March 9th, 2010

A sprawling lawn with beautifully landscaped gardens and trees can be your own paradise right in the confines of your home. This is one of the reasons why most couples with kids prefer to invest on a house and lot than a condo unit. Surrounding yourself in open air, with greens around the house is not only therapeutic, it can make a refreshing and peaceful view.

A cousin of mine recently had their built and they decided to keep the huge mango tree in the middle of their lot. They built their house on the side and had the rest landscaped. We go there for picnics all the time. The tree has been a huge relief during summer and heat is unbearable. During Christmas, it is adorned with Christmas lights and lanterns. They even bought wind chimes to make the tree more attractive. Garden wind chimes are an excellent way to provide character and charisma to outdoor spaces. Not only are they pleasing to the eyes and music to the ears, they are considerably cheaper than most garden accessories. For example, bamboo wind chimes are very cheap because of the material used. Yet they remain to the be the most popular choice among wind chimes because the bamboo provides a great accent and blends with garden surroundings.

But if you would like to invest on them you should consider getting metal or aluminum wind chimes. They produce more harmonious sounds (some are even programmed to produce certain keys or notes) and metal ones do not rust, a plus when placed outdoors where they will be subject to extreme weather conditions.

In summary, having your patch of green right inside your house is not only eco-friendly, it is aesthetically pleasing and refreshing to the senses. Adding one more visible element, the element of air through wind chimes, is just icing on the cake.

Go For Gold!Posted by admin on March 9th, 2010

This seems to be the mantra of investors these days. The usual investments are too risky: stocks and foreign currencies like the US dollar and Euro. It seems that the best investment these days is to buy gold coins. Gold has always been in demand, with its values never depreciating but it has taken a surge in value since the dollar depreciated. Gold and the US dollar have always been inversely proportional with each other. Remember how in ancient times Egyptians and Romans gauged wealth and traded with using gold? I see we are going to be going back that route very soon.

Go For Gold!Posted by admin on March 9th, 2010

This seems to be the mantra of investors these days. The usual investments are too risky: stocks and foreign currencies like the US dollar and Euro. It seems that the best investment these days is to buy gold coins. Gold has always been in demand, with its values never depreciating but it has taken a surge in value since the dollar depreciated. Gold and the US dollar have always been inversely proportional with each other. Remember how in ancient times Egyptians and Romans gauged wealth and traded with using gold? I see we are going to be going back that route very soon.

Mobile Homes – New Trend of Houses?Posted by admin on March 6th, 2010

It seems that mobile homes are the new trend for houses given that the real estate market is still in bad shape. Actually, you would be surprised about the new mobile homes out these days, they really are in with the design trend of houses done on site. Take a look at the sample mobile homes from AZChampion:

Most of the time your payments on the home, and the lot rent combined are less then that of the area rental market. I think that is the main advantage. The mobile homes for sale are still sold a lot less than actual homes on real estate property. There are also a lot of misconception that mobiles homes are a bad investment.

Mobile homes in parks do go down in value, but mobile homes on privately owned land usually go up in value, particularly if the land is in demand. In certain desirable areas, in fact, you’ll find a lot of of mobile homes: property around lakes, for instance, where people have been living in mobile homes as vacation or retirement homes! Mobile home are movable – that’s the main advantage of it especially if you want to retire to a new place. Mobile homes also serve as vacation houses when families are on vacation – they just lug their homes around. Isn’t that neat? In case you would want to sell yours, make sure to keep it on great shape and you still can sell it for the amount you paid for within five years.

Sale on FurniturePosted by admin on March 6th, 2010

One of my friends work for the Canadian Embassy and every year they get rid of items in their office from computer tables, computers, desks, sofas even refrigerators and microwaves and put them in a garage sale. We are always notified when this happens because there are always great items in the sale. The scanner they use is Symbol LS2208 because it can scan light industrial equipment too.

I have not been able to go the two years past but I heard there were awesome steals. I will be taking note of that in the next year.