Water fun:

A soaker hose is a great way to have water fun right at home. Add water guns and balloons and let the games begin. Nothing is more refreshing than a good run through the sprinkler with a water fight in the backyard. If you have a hill in your yard, cover it with black plastic and run the hose over it to create your own slippy-slide. Your kids with have a blast!

Go to a nearby lake or river. Splashing around in the water will cool them off and wear them out. Put on your suit and join them as they swim, dunk and dive. Buy a few water toys at the dollar store and, if you have your children, buy floaties. Remember to keep your eye on the children at all times.

Go fishing. While you are at the lake or by the river, give each of your children an inexpensive fishing pole and teach them how to fish. Even if they are vegetarians, they will have fun catching and releasing their fish.

Buy a summer pass for the local swimming pool. While it seems a little pricey up-front, a family swimming pass will allow your family to go swimming every day that the weather is good. Families that cannot afford the pass still have plenty of fun water options.

Movie fun:

Afternoon matinees are reasonable and, during the summer, most theaters have a line-up of movies for children that are sure to thrill your kids. Some theaters even offer movie passes for the entire summer. Check out the possibilities at a theater near you.

Hang a sheet on the garage and project your favorite kids’ movie on the sheet. The entire family can set around in yard furniture or setting on sleeping bags and munch on popcorn while the huge pictures flash on the screen. Invite a few friends and turn it in to a party.

Buy a used or inexpensive digital movie camera. Let your kids make their own movies. If you are technologically gifted or have a simple program you can edit their work. If not, just watch the raw footage. Watch their creations during family fun night time.

Quiet fun:

Sign your kids up with your local library. Story-hour is not all they have to offer. Summer reading programs offer your kids a chance to win prizes while they enjoy the books they chose. Some libraries offer free movie afternoons, craft classes and other special activities.

Get out all the supplies and call the kids in to the kitchen. Spend the afternoon baking cookies or other delectable goodies. Summer is also a great time to teach the children how to cook wholesome meals.

Give them each $3.00 and take them to the dollar store. They will have a blast browsing for the perfect toy. When they get home, they’ll have more fun playing with the toys they carefully purchased.

Creative fun:

Create a craft box and save odds and ends all year long. On rainy afternoons, bring out the craft box and let your children go crazy designing and building whatever their imaginations can conjure up.

Supply a dress-up box. Encourage the kids to use their imaginations. The clothing in the dress-up box are perfect to use when they are making their own movies too.

Have a theme day each week. Read a book like “Little House on the Prairie” and then spend the day doing things Laura and Mary would have done. Learn to sew, bob for apples, climb trees or play checkers. Use a different book each week.

Outdoor fun:

Every Monday, go to a different park in town. Check out the playground equipment, play catch or through a Frisbee. Take a picnic lunch and enjoy a day outdoors.

Take a hike. If you live near a National Park, that would be a great place to hike. If not, just take the kids and head out for a hike through the country or around the neighborhood.

Camping activities are not only fun, they are very reasonable. The upfront costs will be amortized as you camp over the next few years. There is just something about sitting around a campfire with a stick holding hot-dogs or marshmallows over the flame while someone tells a story that kids love. If you can’t get away to a campground, pitch the tent in the backyard and hold your sticks over the barbeque fire.

Teach your kids how to have fun on a budget this summer. They will be content and you will know that they are having a summer worth remembering.

Borrow free movies from your local library. They have a special section in the children department as well as more offerings in the adult section to choose from with no cost. Just be sure you take them back on

By Joan Collins

Summer is the time of outdoor fun. Splashing in the swimming pool can help to cool off the heat in the summer months. It can be a fun family activity to clean the pool during the beginning of summer so the entire family can enjoy swimming the whole season.

Since the swimming pool remains unused in the winter season, there might be traces of mold, fungus, scum or algae that formed on the walls of the pool. Further, the water might become cloudy due to the accumulated dirt, leaves and other natural factors. It is important to make a thorough check for all the grime, dirt and bacteria in the pool and clean them using pool cleaning chemicals.

It is a good idea to empty the water in the pool to check for any visible cracks or required repairs. Any leaks can also be fixed manually or by calling for professional pool fixing agency. Using a manual or automatic vacuum pool cleaner can further help to get rid of the debris and dirt that has been sitting on the pool floor for long time.

Using organic and mild pool cleaners, some amount of gentle detergent mixed with hot water can ensure eliminating all the scum and slime in the pool. This should be done only after the swimming pool is drained and emptied. Using brushes and scrubs with cleaners can effectively clean the pool.

The swimming pool filter and pumps should also be carefully inspected to check their performance. It is advisable to clean the filter and check the pumps before using the pool in summer. If needed, the pool pumps should be given a back wash. In case the filters are defective, they should be immediately replaced.

Once that the pool is properly cleaned and the pumps and filters are also working fine, the pool should be filled with new water. It is important to ensure that the water balance and ph level is correctly maintained. For this purpose, it would be ideal to opt for a pool shocking exercise. This ensures proper chlorine balance in the pool to prevent any allergies and algae growth.

The water should be tested for 24 hours after a pool shocking process before splashing into the pool. Shocking the pool frequently in summer is essential part of swimming pool maintenance because of the high pool usage in summer months. It is also a great idea to shock the pool before and after a pool party in summer to ensure safety of the bathers and the pool.

All these tips should help you in getting your pool easily ready for the coming summer months. Lots of tutorials and help in this regard are available online. Several reviews about pool cleaners, pool shocking process can be studied online for better idea. Hope this helps in caring and getting the pool ready to splash in summer.

By SRekha

As a Real Estate Agent, I help people everyday who thinks that there is no way that they can afford to own their own properties. Sometimes it seems impossible, but in nearly every market and every town, there is some place for everyone. The first thing that you need to understand is what type of market that you are trying to get in to.

If you are a young couple with a small amount of money, you should probably choose a location where there are affordable options for housing; for instance, you probably don’t want to try and move to Beverly Hills, but you might be able to find a nice place nearby in Van Nuys. I am a Realtor in a cute little beach town on the California coast, and believe it or not, I have helped many young couples who don’t have a lot of money find wonderful starter homes. Here are some tips:

1. Think of your first place as a “starter home”, you probably aren’t going to find that perfect little house with a white picket fence and four bedrooms the first time around, but if you get your foot in the door now, someday you’ll be able to afford that dream.

2. Realize that Real Estate is an investment, and there is always a time and a place to “move up” once you are in the market.

3. Condos, Town Homes and Fixer-Uppers are NOT bad investments for the first time home buyer.

4. The money you “waste” on rent, is usually close to what you could get a mortgage on an affordable place for.

5. Understand WHERE you live, and think about the housing possibilities. You might end up having to live a little farther from your job and commute to find that perfect home, but it’s better than renting.

So, remember to think about your money and your prospects. Budget is important, so try to have one in mind when you go to meet your Realtor, and it’s always a good idea to get “pre-qualified” by a loan agent for what you CAN afford ahead of time.

It is not impossible to find a great starter home, even if you don’t have a lot of money to spend, just be ready to spend some time looking and learning about the market in your area.

By Sarah Williams

When choosing the right method of heating for a home; climate, availability, efficiency, and size are the top determining factors. The climate the home is based in will determine the amount of heating needed. The availability of various heating means will limit the choices to what is local and affordable. The efficiency has to be considered or the heating method won’t be thorough. Finally, the size of the home and the area of open space needed to heat have to be compared with the previous factors.

Before getting to anything else, the most important factor to determining the heating for a home is its insulation. No matter the climate or difference in outdoor and indoor temperatures, proper insulation will keep both as separate environments. Properly insulated homes will have insulated walls, lofts, roof rafters (with adequate ventilation for moisture control), double glazed windows, and doors with efficient weather and temperature seals. Improperly insulated homes will have drafts, higher levels of heat loss through all of the above mentioned, and maintain little difference in temperature when comparing the outside to the inside.

Climate:

The location and the yearly temperature difference is a chief factor when choosing the right method to heat a home. Temperate regions with little fluctuation in temperature extremes will have limited exposure to cold temperatures that would require any substantial heating. These homes could get away with as little as a small fireplace or a space heater, that is just enough to get a room up in temperature and leave the rest as is, especially if there is no danger of freezing to plumbing and pipe networks.

The homes above temperate regions and further into the north will have to worry about their plumbing and potential freezing worries, even if there are rare cases of cold.

Availability:

Whether or not there is a heating method that is properly applicable to an area is the next worry. Although virtually any system can be connected to a home anywhere in the world in thanks to the high degree of transportation means and capable people, not just any system will work. Wood stoves for one, may be a good source of potent heat, but are just about useless without a steady supply of wood to keep them going. It would be nonsensical for a suburban or city home to try to bring in flats of wood. Such a system would be better where the trees were plentiful. Heating oil is a similar case, and more suitable for those out of the country.

City heating systems are more likely to run on electric or natural gas systems, where the distribution grids and supplies are higher and more accessible. Being close to a fuel supply is crucial. Other systems involving solar, geothermal, or another renewable means  would be better in the rural environment as well, though can be adapted for city homes if the case of installation exists.

Efficiency:

A heating unit’s efficiency is another great determining factor. Will the system provide for long hours with little attention, or will there be a requirement of the operator to constantly feed it in order to keep up with the demands? A home trying to use a fireplace or wood stove would not be heated well if the systems could only be stocked seldom at odd times of the day. Instead, electric, gas, and heating oil systems can be left alone for weeks and regularly via thermostats that keep temperatures variable and at preset levels. Such systems that use waste heat or renewable energies may not be capable of producing steady heat for around the clock needs, and may require a back up system. It all depends on the demands of the home itself.

Size:

It’s a fact that large homes require larger systems and more fuel to heat, and small homes require much less. While a small home built at ground level with only one story exposed to the elements could get away with convection heating around its floors based on oil, electric, coal, or other means of boiler heat, it could also use a simple fireplace or wood stove within a centralized area that keeps the essentials from freezing, while radiating enough heat to reach its walls and fill the living areas. Such small scale systems on a medium to large sized home might not work on any floor but the one it is located on.

Medium to large sized homes may require more floor level heating on the lower floors and less as it goes up due to the principle of rising heat, but will still require heating for the upper levels. While a single gas heating system could accomplish this by itself, gas, electric, and other forms of heating may be used together to lessen the economic impact should one fuel source become more expensive than the other. Also, compensation with a space heater can go long ways to regulating various household temperatures by adding only what is needed to a certain area, rather than heating the entire structure more than what is required.

Remember that the interior of a house will have a lot of impact as well. Carpeted floors will retain heat better than wood and stone, curtains on windows will keep heat from escaping faster, and even the outside trees and shrubs will block various winds that would otherwise steal heat away. Choosing the right method for heating a home relies on many factors, not just the size of it and the space to heat.

by Morgan Carlson

G. A. Crase Construction

12742 Ave. 240
Tulare, CA 93274
559-786-2367

General Contractor License # 376081

What are we spending our time on? Are we balancing our time with our needs? There are many different concepts behind the idea of a Balanced Life. There are no set of exact numbers that work for every single person. Below are guidelines and thoughts to consider. When our lives are out of control in one or more areas we must consider the cause of this imbalance, and in order to be healthy and happy, make the necessary adjustments. Not all of these things need to be enjoyed separately, there isn’t any reason we can’t blend parts of our lives. But, it is important to plan for these parts of our lives that are so important to us.

Sleep: 6 ½ -8 hours per night

Work: 6-10 hours day

Exercise: 4-6 hours week

Quiet time: 30min-1hour per day

Family/ Social Time: 4-20 hours per week

Food: A balance of micro nutrients 40/30/30 Carbohydrate, Protein, Fat

Sleep: According to studies at Pennsylvania State University, physiologic studies show that not getting enough sleep may put the body into a high stress condition:

· Increasing the production of stress hormones

· Driving up blood pressure, a major risk factor for heart attacks and strokes

· People who are sleep-deprived have increased levels of substances in the blood that indicate a heightened state of inflammation in the body, which has also recently emerged as a major risk factor for heart disease, stroke, cancer and diabetes.

Work: Yes, we all want or need to work to be successful, and provide a living for our selves and our families but we must be realistic about our schedules. For a short period of time most of us can handle lengthy days and weeks.

· Major concern of excessive work day is stress

· Negative effects on our mental, physical and social health

· Time away from our families, communities, and other interests

Exercise: As my partner says, most often time’s people either exercise too much or too little. Some people exercise hours a day and then go for bike rides or hikes that last several hours on the weekends. They do this for years until they have some sort of injury that forces them to slow down. Respectively, there are the other folks who don’t exercise enough or at all. They tend to believe that walking the dog is a real workout. Don’t misunderstand, any activity is great and we all are at different fitness levels, but we need to be honest about what we are actually achieving.

It is not necessary to spend hours at a time exercising. For most healthy people, the official recommendations for exercise according to the CDC are:

· Cardiovascular exercise 30 minutes per day 5 days per week (yes you have to sweat a little)

· Strength Training practicing 8-10 strength exercises per day 2 days per week to ensure we maintain our lean muscle as we age

Quiet Time: It is essential to factor in our own time in our daily schedules.

· This is time where we are just alone to think or to journal.

· This helps to keep us connected to ourselves and what’s important to us.

· Any time of day is fine, whether it be early morning, a break in the middle of the day or at night before bed.

· Quiet time is not where we think about work projects or worry about the problems in our lives, it is time where we just relax and think about our life goals, the big picture.

· This is when we check in to see that we are on track and going in the direction of our planned future.

Family/ Social Time: For most of us our families and friends are the number one most important priority in our lives. This time is equally important to all the other areas we have discussed. Without our health and jobs our family time would be grim. To have the satisfying relationships we desire with our loved ones we need to be sure we have planned time to spend and share.

Food: Ok, I will try to keep this part as short as possible.

· Here it is: We all owe it to ourselves and our families to eat with purpose.

· Eating is a pleasure and absolutely without any question be enjoyed. But, the main reason for eating is to fuel our bodies for life’s activities.

· Eating is not a hobby nor should it be a sport.

· The first thing we must do is to think and plan ahead.

· Only eat what you need for the energy you will expend in the next 3 hours.

· Shoot for 40/30/30 balance in micronutrients (Protein, Carbohydrates, Fats) This helps to maintain your energy level by keeping blood sugars more stable.

Rhoades Pool plastering is a fifth generation plastering contractor. We are a family run business, specializing in re-plastering and re-tiling swimming pools. We also do new swimming pool construction.

Scott Rhoades
3281 W. Prosperity Ave.
Tulare, CA 93274

Phone: 559-686-3617
Fax:      559-788-8505

Design Associate
Dione Mackey
Phone:  559-627-2718
Fax:       559-734-1413
email:  sstd@interiordesigners.com

Heaven Sent Tile would like the chance to save you money on all your tile needs. Having more than 30 years in the tile trade.

CUSTOM WORK

Call for free estimate

Owner:   Ken Fleming

Phone:  559-738-9398 or 559-300-9061
Fax:       559-627-0326

]]> http://www.insidethepropertyline.com/heaven-sent-tile/feed http://www.insidethepropertyline.com/neo-architecture http://www.insidethepropertyline.com/neo-architecture#comments Fri, 30 Oct 2009 23:49:12 +0000 admin http://www.insidethepropertyline.com/?p=1506 A California licensed architect, with 28 years experience in the architecture field. A local resident from the Visalia with a degree in architecture and experience with projects from patios additions to college dorms. We enjoy designing all phases of architecture from the beginning preliminary design to the construction phase.

Nancy Overstreet

Phone:   559-901-6632
Fax:         559-627-5850

email: n_overstreet@sbcglobal.net