PLAYGROUND COTTAGES HOME IS WHERE THE HEART IS.

Driving Safely – Do Not Drink AND Drive.Posted by admin on November 4th, 2011

Driving under the influence of alcohol is a big issue for me since it hits so close to home. When we were 15 years old, my friend (who is now my sister-in-law) was involved in a car accident that left her paralyzed from the waist down. The driver of the car was our friend and he had been drinking (all of them inside the vehicle were) before the accident. Witnesses said that they were driving down the dimly-lit highway way too fast. Imagine how life has changed for my sister-in-law just because of that one night and how drunk driving has caused all of that.

DUI law answers and regulations vary from state to state. However the regulations classifying drivers with DUI are pretty standard.

1. When you charged with DUI, it means that you were driving a motor vehicle regardless of its type, under the influence of alcohol or any prohibited/illegal drugs.

2. It means that during the time that you were caught driving on the road, your BAC or blood alcohol content was beyond the legal limit. Majority of the states considers 0.08% of BAC as the legal limit. Beyond the set percentage, you are no longer allowed to drive any motor vehicle.

Punishments vary too. In California, revocation of license is immediate and suspension will depend on the severity of the case. Although the amount of time that you’re going to lose your driving privilege can vary from judge to judge and depends quite a lot on the skill and expertise in your DUI lawyer, typically a first DUI conviction brings about a suspension of the driving privilege for four months. Your driving privileges may be suspended for 1 year when you have 2 or more offenses within ten years of one another. If you’re a licensed driver that’s younger than twenty-one years old, and the BAC (blood alcohol content) was in excess of 0.01% at the time you were arrested, then being found guilty of DUI will get your license suspended for one year without hope of obtaining a restricted license.

Planning and Designing Your Horse FencePosted by admin on August 10th, 2011

Living in the country has its clear advantages. One of them is having more land space to be able to house grazing animals like cows, goats and even horses. You would need to contain them though and this is where designing a strong and durable horse fencing solution comes in.

You can decide to do the horse fence yourself but hiring a company that specializes on installation might end up being cheaper. Whatever your choice, here are some steps on the planning stage that will help you decide faster and build the horse fence as soon as possible.

Draw. Put it on paper. One important thing to keep in mind when laying out your fencing is that any corner that is less than 90 degrees should be rounded or cross-fenced. You do not want a corner that your horse could get trapped in. Also mark your gates. Make sure you take into consideration your future needs when you plan gates. Have at least one gate big enough to get equipment through. Factor in fence posts. The closer the spacing, the stronger the fence will be.

• End, corner and gate posts need to be longer than the other posts as they need to be set deeper.
• Corners and ends should be braced.
• If you use t-posts with horse fence, buy t-post toppers. They cost under a dollar each, but help protect your horse from injury.
• Never use t-posts in small areas. They should only be used in large areas (if at all).
• For very active horses, space your posts closer to make the fence stronger.
• Do not put gates in a corner.
• If you have only one gate, make sure it is wide enough that your equipment will fit through.

Get costing. This will greatly depend on what material you decide – wood, electric rope, etc.

Having a Pool in Your Backyard.Posted by admin on March 22nd, 2011

My kids officially ended their school year yesterday and today is the first start of their summer vacation! today. The kids are excited to go to their swimming classes and hopefully a trip to the beach is in order too. This is not the first summer I have heard my son say how much he wishes we have a pool right in the comforts of our own backyard (as if we have a big yard!).

A swimming pool, though a great recreational center for the kids (and a great way to have some physical activity too), can be hard to maintain, not to mention expensive. For one thing, you would need to make sure that not only the construction of the pool is good, but you have invested on a great pool filter. A Pool filter is absolutely necessary for a pool, it keeps the water clean. The pool filters need to be working continuously, even if you have not been using the pool, to make sure the water stays clean, healthy and safe. There are three types of filters: Cartridge, sand and diatomaceious earth filters Cartridge filters are the commonly available pool filters. Since it cleans the pool, filters need to regularly cleaned as well. You would need to release it from its assembly and clean the dirt and debris and other solid materials by washing it down with water. You will also need a cleaning solution to kill any microorganisms that might have resided in the filter. Soaking can take up to 5 days. If you want low maintenance of a pool filter, then the cartridge filter is what you should go for. If you want an absolutely reliable, long-lasting filter, then the sand filter may be your best choice. If on the other hand, having the cleanest water possible is a high priority for you, then the diatomaceous earth filter just simply can’t be beat. A Pool heater is needed too, for the colder months, if you enjoy a season with four varieties.

See? While I absolutely would love to have a pool at home, resources do not allow us to have one just yet.

Securing the HomePosted by admin on February 26th, 2011

I am so happy for my friends who are in the process of building their dream homes. A friend even invested on one of those home automation systems for their security. I do not see any reason not to buy one because one’s home is an investment for the family. And what is more precious other than the house are the people residing in it – the family. Wouldn’t you do anything to make sure your family and your valuables stay safe?

A Safe Home, A Happy Home.Posted by admin on September 6th, 2010

As a mother of two kids, I strive to make our home not only a happy and clean one, but a safe home first and foremost. My kids are now past the toddler years but child-proofing your home never ends. My primary concerns are always electrical outlets, gas cooking ranges and making sure that all toxic materials (cleaning solutions and even medicines) are kept out of children’s reach. I have two children who have asthma and suffer from allergy attacks so we invested on air purifiers in their bedrooms and the family room. Any piece of furniture that has a potential to gather dust easily had to go too. A room air purifier is designed to cleanse the air around the house and to make the air dust and dander free. Air purifiers use reactive agents, which are not visible to naked eye view.

Room air purifiers have been proved to reduce the amount of allergens, dust mites, and pet dander that travel freely in the air. If your family members have been facing health problems like bleeding nose, sinus infection or any other respiratory problems, then an air purifier might be what you need. They are easy to install and cleans the air in very less time.

Safe Home Products offers air purifiers and furnace filters. And I like the specific portion of their site called Ask Barbara where I can ask Barbara questions about home safety. Barbara Staib, President of Safe Home Products, is an expert on child safety, emergency preparedness, pet training and even pest control. She has personally helped thousands of customers since SHP started in 1999.

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.

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.

Building Houses with Green in MindPosted by admin on March 2nd, 2010

We are at the age of realizing that we need to be doing long-term investments now and risk more. We should be ready to retire in 20-30 years so now is the best time to invest on things that matter: a house to call our own, trust funds for the kids, insurance (if we don’t have one). On top of our lists is building a house we can call our own. We have looked at a sprawling village near where we live and my husband wants to buy our house there, the townhouse we specifically saw has three bedrooms and most importantly, fits into what we can afford right now (and pay 10 years down the road). As with other housing programs, work doesn’t start until you have paid the downpayment since you get to choose the colors, tiles and other customizable features in your house.

I also am leaning towards contractors who use Cemex Air Quality to build their houses. The company (CEMEX) is the largest building materials producer and one of the biggest cement companies in the United States. With their reputation untainted (even with their millions of customer), CEMEX is also very eco-friendly. They use alternative fuel to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. Just recently, they began using a 6.5 million (in British pounds) dust abatement system which cuts emissions by 80 percent. CEMEX produces blended cement which reduces carbon dioxide level and landfill emission.

With all that is happening with us right now (global warming, floods, droughts, tsunamis and earthquakes), I am sure we need a bit of green in mind in everything we do.

Going GreenPosted by admin on February 5th, 2010

One of the things we are actively doing at home is make compost pits out of biodegradable stuff we have at home, that way, it will be easier for us to make sure our gardens flourish. It’s just hard to dig up a pit as we need to have one made that is not too near where the kids play because it must be deep enough for the chickens, cats and dogs not to dig into it. A compost tumbler should solve our problem!

Here is what they have to say in the site:

As an alternative to traditional compost bins, a compost tumbler can speed up the composting process due to the ease of being able to turn and mix the compost.  Additionally, the enclosed container helps with odors or preventing unwanted critters from rummagin around in an open pile. Just 7 give it a spin once a week to aerate the mixture and you could be compost-ready in just 21 days!

I think we we will be getting this!

Cars and Gasoline PricesPosted by admin on January 7th, 2010

One thing I am thankful, even if we are in a global financial crisis, is that gas prices have drastically gone down since August of last year when it came to shockingly 60pesos a liter. The husband travels a lot by car because it is essential for work and their field was drastically affected by the gas price increase. It was a good thing that their company was efficient enough to increase their daily allowance to at least 30% more, that already includes their transportation and food allowances for the day. Still, it was still a heavy burden for us, especially since where we live, basic commodity places like the hospital, school and market are very far. There is no traffic but we cover a lot of miles.

Fast forward to November last year, gas prices went steadily down. Until it became 30pesos a liter. Now we can breathe a sigh of relief. We can even go and travel back and forth to Manila without having to think about the gas consumption. The husband can now reconsider the car option and payment plan of the company (We were second thinking about it since we cannot afford the ride the car on gasoline so the car will be useless). He just hopes the auto allowance program that comes with it is big as well so we will no longer worry about cars and transportation.

Here’s hoping *crosses fingers*.

This is a sponsored post.

Wheels.Posted by admin on January 7th, 2010

You call it car, auto, wheels, transpo.

When did the car become a basic need for us to beyond me. All we know is that when we were commuting to Amadeo every weekend, the transportation allowance was draining a hole in our pockets already. And that commuting is very very tiring. We also need the flexibility of time – coming and going as we want to as we keep odd hours with work and with life at the province. We decided, well, realized is the term, that we need a car. A second-hand one, a jeep-type, we dont care. We just need to save more and cut back on commute expenses. I actually blogged about it a few days ago.

It can do for now.

But what about our dream car? Well, I really would like an SUV for the family. We travel big – and Id like to have relatives and my family inside one vehicle when we travel out of town. I want it to be comfortable. (And cheap on gas). So you can see I really dont have any requirements for a car, specifically that is.

Now, Edil, if he wasnt married, would like an Eclipse, BMW (who doesnt?), Jaguar or a Corvette. Too bad, his company’s Car Allowance doesn’t cover it. With his work and his extensive field work, the company has given cars to its employees as a benefit, with the option of selling it eventually to the employee with tenure.

This is a sponsored post.

Holiday partiesPosted by admin on November 23rd, 2009

As early as now, we have been receiving Christmas party invitations left and right, and everyone in the family is invited! Almost all our friends are already married and have kids so parties now are planned with kids in tow. It is harder to organize and since we live so far, every party becomes an outing for us. I pack so much stuff. I am not complaining though. The parties are so much fun and the kids get a lot of gifts so everything is worth it.

Our HummerPosted by admin on November 23rd, 2009

Our vehicle is a simple jeep. It was originally owned by my father-in-law who gave it to my husband when we moved to the suburbs. It’s pretty beat up and there are times when I actually hate it especially when its maintenance costs are too high and it drains our already empty pockets. But I am grateful we still have a mode of transportation and it takes us places. Our goal before the second quarter of the year is to buy a new one and as early as now I am looking for auto insurance quotes that we can have it applied under.