Create Your Own Colonial Masterpiece

Have you ever visited a historical home and wished you could recreate that cozy feeling in your own home? It is easier than you think. By changing a few basic elements you can capture that vintage look throughout your home.

The Dining Room

Colonial dining rooms have a formal feeling while still being very inviting. Wainscoting is a must. Use trim pieces to make a chair rail approximately three feet up from the floor. You can use textured wall paper, paneling, or bead board underneath to recreate the slatted look of boards. Paint the top portion of the walls in a neutral shade while using rich blues, greens, or cranberry shades for the lower half, trim, and doors. Cover windows with heavy drapes, and hang vintage portraits for a completely colonial appearance. All of these items can be found at your local home improvement store.

The Living Room

Make the fireplace the focal point of the room rather than the TV. TVs and other electronics can be placed inside of an armoire where they can be hidden behind closed doors when not in use. Place all of the furniture facing the fireplace. Decorate the mantle with antique candle holders, pewter pieces, and vintage figurines. Don’t forget to add vintage fireplace tools next to the hearth. You can find these at online merchants such as Adams Fireplace Shop.

The Kitchen

The kitchen has always been the heart of the home. In colonial days this was especially true. Keep that in mind while decorating. Colonists kept everything they needed in this room. Hang baskets from a beam on the ceiling, stack pottery dishes on a wooden shelf, and allow the cast iron pots and pans to serve double duty as decorations. Use a large wooden table with matching benches and chairs as the anchor in the room. Find candle sticks and a crock filled with flowers to use as the center piece. Homespun curtains and towels will complete the old fashioned look and feel.

By making these few simple changes within your home, you will be well on your way to creating a vintage feel in your own home. Use these tips to get started, and then you can add more antique pieces as time goes by. Before you know it, you’ll have your own beautifully warm and cozy colonial home.

I Don't Always Steal Cereal...

...but when I do, I take it back.

A few weeks ago, I bought a couple boxes of granola. At least I thought I had bought some granola, until I wanted to open a box and have some for breakfast. And then I could not find that granola anywhere. I checked the shelf I normally put cereal on; I checked the top shelf where I store the extra cereal when I have too much for the regular shelf; and then I checked again. Then I checked my van, just in case I had somehow left a bag in there. And I checked again. No granola. It just was not in my house.

I started wondering if I had actually bought the granola, or maybe I just thought about buying it and then decided against it. Then I dug out my receipt and checked. Yep, I definitely bought granola.

So I called the store - even though it had been almost two weeks - just to see if perhaps they kept a record of any items left behind at the registers. Nope, no record. They keep things for about a week and then put them back. But, Kyle said that wasn't a problem, and they'd be happy to replace my two boxes of granola. So I wrote his name on the top of my receipt, and finally got back to the store about a week later. They were indeed happy to give me two new boxes of granola to replace the two I couldn't find. No questions asked.

I took my new boxes home and placed them in my cabinet. Then a few days later I moved some oatmeal boxes - and found my original boxes of granola behind them.

Which means next time I was out, I took those replacement boxes back to the store. The lady behind the customer service desk just smiled.

How Home Renovations are Helping Home Sellers in a Buyer's Market

Across the country, home sellers have had a difficult time because of the lack of buyers who have the ability to pay legitimate prices for new homes. With the economic recovery being somewhat sluggish and people being a bit reluctant to leave their existing homes, sellers have experienced trouble even though the housing supply has been down in some places. This has left many home owners in a difficult situation. What should they do to make their homes stand out from the crowd? The answer for some has revolved around renovations.

There has long been debate among general contractors about whether home renovations add more value than they cost. If a person puts $30,000 into a home renovation, for instance, will that person experience an equivalent gain in his or her home value? Many today believe the answer is yes, and more, they believe that renovated homes will sell more quickly, saving home sellers a tremendous amount of money that might have otherwise gone to fees or double mortgage payments. The trends suggest that today's home buyers are looking for something a little different in their homes. They want something clean, updated, and move-in ready.


Home renovations allow home owners to respond to the trends in home buying. The housing market goes through shifts, with buyers desiring different elements depending on the year. In some eras, people are looking for kitchens with big double ovens. (Me! Well, not necessarily the double ovens, but the kitchen is always a big factor when I look at a house.) In other years, buyers will pay more money for an updated bathroom. Other years bring a heightened desire among buyers for a so-called "man cave" or perhaps a hometheater room. During a renovation, a contractor can respond to the current trends, making the home into one that can be more easily sold on today's market.

Home sellers looking for easy ways to get their homes sold and off the market must consider whether a renovation is right for them. Many sellers have decided to invest the money up front, trusting that a contractor will create more value than he takes in the project. It is an interesting strategy that seems to be working out across the country, as sellers are seeing their homes fly off the market when they add the touches that buyers want.

Book List 2016

The simple thing would be to link you to My Year in Books on Goodreads, BUT I started putting together a list of all the books I read starting back in 2008, so it just seems the thing to do. Because of Goodreads, I know that I read fewer books this year, but it will still be fun to go through them, and see how many pages and how many hours of reading I had in 2016.

Also, once again I'll link to any reviews I did. I started out with good intentions to review more of the books I read, but I'm not sure how I did. I guess we'll find out.

January

1. Orphan Train - Christina Baker Kline - 278 pages
2. Barefoot Summer (Chapel Springs #1) - Denise Hunter (audio) - 7 hrs 27 min
3. The Darke Toad (Septimus Heap #1.5) - Angie Sage - 96 pages
4. Jesus on Trial: A Lawyer Affirms the Truth of the Gospel - David Limbaugh - 406 pages
   
5. March - Geraldine Brooks (audio) - 10 hrs 22 min

780 pages | 17 hours and 49 minutes

February

6. Family (Firstborn #4) - Karen Kingsbury - 345 pages
7. American Sniper: The Autobiography of the Most Lethal Sniper in U.S. Military History - by Chris Kyle (audio) - 10 hrs 22 min
8. Caretaker (Caretaker Chronicles #1) - Josi Russell - 325 pages
9. Forever (Firstborn #5) - Karen Kingsbury - 346 pages

1016 pages | 10 hours 22 minutes

March

10. Guardians (Caretaker Chronicles #2) - by Josi Russell - 394 pages
11. The Fixer - by Joseph Finder (audio) - 9 hrs 38 min
12. The Best Yes: Making Wise Decisions in the Midst of Endless Demands - Lysa TerKeurst (audio) - 6 hrs 31 min
13. Forever (Firstborn #5) - Karen Kingsbury - 346 pages

740 pages | 16 hours 9 minutes

April

14. The Good Girl - Mary Kubica (audio) - 10 hrs 38 min 

10 hours 38 minutes

May

15. Choose Joy: Finding Hope and Purpose When Life Hurts - Sara Frankl, Mary Carver - 208 pages
16. I Don't Have Enough Faith to be an Atheist - by Norman L. Geisler, Frank Turek (audio) - 14 hrs 47 min
17. The Case of the Cryptic Crinoline (Enola Holmes #5) - Nancy Springer (audio) - 3 hrs 9 min

208 pages | 17 hours 56 minutes

June

18. The Girl on the Train - Paula Hawkins (audio) - 10 hrs 59 min
19. Orphan Train Rider: One Boy's True Story - Andrea Warren (audio) - 1 hr 26 min

12 hours 25 minutes


July

20. The Elijah Calling: The Hidden & Revealed Messiah! (Restoring Truth #1) - Ken Mentell - 487 pages
21. Magyk (Septimus Heap #1) - Angie Sage (audio) - 12 hrs 10 min
22. Landon Snow and the Auctor's Riddle (Landon Snow #1) - R.K. Mortenson (audio) - 6 hrs 30 min

487 pages | 18 hours 40 minutes

August

23. The Passage (The Passage #1) - Justin Cronin - 897 pages
24. An Invisible Client - Victor Methos - 240 pages
25. The Queen of the Tearling (The Queen of the Tearling #1) - Erika Johansen (audio) - 14 hrs 30 min

1137 pages | 14 hours 30 minutes

September

26. The Invasion of the Tearling (The Queen of the Tearling #2) - Erika Johansen (audio) - 18 hrs 4 min
27. How It Went Down - Kekla Magoon (audio) - 7 hrs 10 min

25 hours 14 minutes

October

28. The Twelve (The Passage #2) - Justin Cronin 626 pages
29. Fractured - Catherine McKenzie 492 pages
30. Symphony for the City of the Dead: Dmitri Shostakovich and the Siege of Leningrad - M.T. Anderson (audio) 10 hrs 20 min

1118 pages | 10 hours 20 minutes

November

31. You Can't Do it Naked: From Exposed to Fully Clothed in the Armor of God - Kim M. Snyder 116 pages
32. All the Bright Places - Jennifer Niven (audio) 11 hrs 4 min

116 pages | 11 hours 4 minutes

December

33. Illuminae (The Illuminae Files #1) - Amie Kaufman (audio) 11 hrs 41 min
34. Beginning at Moses: A Guide to Finding Christ in the Old Testament - Michael P.V. Barrett 328 pages
35. Torn from Troy (Odyssey of a Slave #1) - Patrick Bowman (audio) 5 hrs 28 min
36. The Murder Game - Julie Apple 300 pages
37. David and the Psalms - Michael J. Ruszala 184 pages
38. Our Presidents & Their Prayers: Proclamations of Faith by America's Leaders - Rand Paul 160 pages

972 pages | 17 hours 9 minutes

• Total books - 38 (compare to 43 in 2015)
• Total pages - 6574 (compare to 6533 pages in 2015)
• Total time - 182 hours 16 minutes  (compare to 200 hours in 2015)

Page counts courtesy of Goodreads; audio lengths courtesy of Audible.

I even wrote a review for 20 of the books, so that's a little better than last year. Scrolling through the list, I see several books that I really meant to write a review for, but somehow I just didn't do it. I think that maybe I think too hard about it and write these great reviews in my head, and then I just never get around to actually posting a review. Because when I sit down to type it, all those things I was going to say just don't seem to be there anymore. I just noticed that there's a new feature on Goodreads that lets me see, and share if i want, my highlights and notes from the Kindle books I read. Perhaps having that to easily look at will help for future reviews? I guess we'll see.

How many books did you read in 2016?  I'd love to hear some suggestions for my 2017 reading list.

*if you happen to click any of the book covers and buy  from Amazon, they say they'll pay me a small percentage.  Every little bit helps, and I thank you for your support!

$3000 College Scholarship Essay Contest

I just received this information about a scholarship opportunity.

The scholarship is sponsored by Mig Vapor, a company that creates products designed to help people reduce their dependency on tobacco, and each semester they award $3,000 scholarships to students who help bring awareness to the dangers of smoking.

The scholarship recipients are selected through an essay contest with the winning essays to be selected on the basis of how well-written, compelling, and persuasive they are.

Applicants must be a full-time student at an accredited four-year or two-year university, community college or junior college, or a graduate degree program. There are no costs associated with submitting an application for this scholarship, and the application deadline for Fall 2017 semester scholarships is May 31st, 2017.

For more information, be sure to check out the MigVapor Scholarship Essay Contest page. Feel free to share this with anyone you know who might be interested.

Tips for Helping the Whole Family Sleep Well

Sleep deprivation can have an adverse affect on both kids and parents. As a parent or anyone who has spent time with young children, you know that when they get tired, they can get a little cranky. Although adults may not like the comparison, they too get a little irritable when they are sleep deprived. A lack of sleep can make kids and adults accident prone as well as making it difficult to concentrate at school or at work. Here are several things to look at that can help your whole family get a good night's sleep each night.

• The Bedroom
  It's difficult to relax and feel a sense of calmness in a cluttered bedroom. Clearing the clutter and simplifying the décor can make the bedroom a more pleasant sleeping area. Some experts suggest that a bedroom be painted in soothing colors that encourage sleep. It's also difficult to sleep soundly in a room that is either too hot or too cold. Experts suggest that the ideal temperature for sleeping is 65 degrees. If noise prohibits kids from going to sleep or sleeping soundly through the night, a white noise machine could resolve that problem.
• The Bed
  A good mattress is essential to good sleep. It's worth investing in the best non-toxic mattresses for everyone in your household. Memory foam mattresses and those with heat dissipating gel can provide a comfortable sleeping area for kids and adults. In addition to a comfortable, supportive mattress, everyone should have a high quality pillow on their bed. 
• Routine
  Having the whole family establish a pre-bedtime ritual can help everyone go to sleep faster. This routine should start at the same time each evening. Keeping the same bedtime and wake-up time throughout the week and weekend is beneficial to the family. For everyone's benefit, you should set a technology curfew. Some studies show that watching television, using a laptop, or playing electronic games is not a good pre-bedtime activity. Bath time, followed by story time, is a good ritual for the kids. Reading prior to bedtime is also a good way for teens and adults to relax.

When every family member gets a sufficient amount of sleep, there's likely to be less conflict among siblings and less stress for parents.

Trampolines for Fun and Exercise

Children and adults love to jump and bounce, sometimes for hours, for play and exercise. Trampolines are a fantastic way to stay healthy and fit. With many new technological advancements, they have become safer than ever before. We don't see many trampolines without strong reinforced nets for safety, but  here are a few safety innovations you may not have heard of.

• Springfree trampolines have eliminated the traditional spring system and offer a wider jumping surface and a softer bounce. 
• The AlleyOOP Double Bed is actually two trampolines. You can bounce on the top bed, and the second bed is eight inches below. When the bottom bed engages, it takes stress off knees and joints and creates a much softer and more controlled bounce. A great deal of the kickback force of the top bed is removed and offers less displacement when there are multiple jumpers. 
• A Surestep Trampoline Ladder is easy to assemble and is non-permanent, so that it can be removed easily in order to limit access to the trampoline. In addition to having lasting weather protection, the two-step ladder fits most trampolines between 33 inches and 37 inches tall and has large, flat platform steps.

With safety taken care of, it's time to explore the playfort accessories for even more enjoyment.  Here are a couple that look fun:

• A Pro Flex Basketball Hoop is designed specifically to be used with AlleyOOP Safety Enclosures. It attaches securely and comes with a reinforced full-size backboard, a cushioned hoop, heavy-duty hardware, and a five-inch inflatable basketball.
• An Outback Tent can be used for daytime adventures or sleepovers. Made specifically for AlleyOOP and JumpSport Sports Safety Enclosures on 12 to 14 foot round trampolines, this giant 11-feet-across and 5.5 feet high tent has a netted/screened zippered door and three windows, a full floor, and attaches easily to the Safety Enclosure in under five minutes. No poles are used; the tent uses bungee cords that are suspended to the bottom and top of the enclosure.

Check out Play N Learn’s Playground Superstores for a wonderful selection of the safest trampolines on the market that will give many hours of fun to enthusiasts of all ages.

Rules of the Aisles

I don't like shopping very much at any time, but it's particularly crazy this time of year.  There are so many people in the stores.  It's practically impossible to get from Point A to Point B, grab the things I need and get out of there.

So now's as good a time as any - probably a really good time - to ask:

When you meet up with someone in the store aisle, which way do you move so that you can get past each other?

To me it seems obvious - move to the right. The same way you'd move if you were on the road driving. I asked this question the other day and had at least one person wondering if that's a rule in the store aisles.  Is it?  Does it need to be an actual rule? What about common sense and trying to help traffic flow through the store so that we can all get in, get our shopping done, and get on with our lives? While avoiding that awkward dance where both parties move in the same direction, and then in the other direction - back and forth until someone finally stops or makes a dash for it.

But why do they seem to always choose to move to the left first? Isn't it ingrained in those of us who drive to move to the right? In my mind, these are the same people who always insist on walking on the right-hand side of the road with the traffic, but somehow that doesn't follow them into the store.

Mostly I just avoid the awkward dance. I move to the right - because that's the only logical thing to do, and I can't do otherwise - and then just stay put until the other person goes around me.  And I do a lot of extra walking - looking for the empty aisles to walk down instead of fighting through the people-clogged aisles if I don't need anything in those particular aisles and am just trying to get from one side of the store to the other. If there are any unclogged aisles...

There's nothing as frustrating as not being able to move. Or get where I need to go. So many of these people seem to be in no hurry whatsoever, and they really seem absolutely unaware that there is anyone else in the store with them. The question of which way to move probably never even crossed their minds, because why would they ever need to move over. Or move forward at anything greater than a snail's pace?

I think I'll just stay home until this insane season is over. Or forever. Aren't there services that deliver groceries now? Or at least bring them to your car after you order them online.  That sounds nice. Maybe I'll check that out...

Why Making Your Bed Daily is Important

As a child, your parents may have nagged you to make your bed each day. While this may have been annoying at the time, it turns out that making your bed every day has many benefits. Here are a few of them:

• You'll Develop Good Habits
  If there are areas of your life where you would like to improve discipline, such as curbing spending or exercising more, making your bed at the same time every day may actually help you achieve these goals. According to some mental health experts, a simple habit change can become a practice that you can build on to improve in other areas of your life.
• You'll Improve Your Living Space
  Most people are happiest when they are living in an attractive, clean environment. Taking a few minutes each day to make your bed can greatly improve the way your bedroom looks, something that can have a positive effect on your mental state.
• You'll Sleep Better
  You probably already know about the importance of getting a good night's sleep. One way that you can improve the quality of your sleep is making sure that your bed is inviting and comfortable. When you don't make your bed, it's easy for your sheets and blankets to get tangled up and even soiled due to pets or kids sitting on your sheets. It can also be frustrating to have to quickly make up your bed when you are already tired.
  When your bed is all ready for you at the end of the day, bedtime becomes a time for relaxation. This makes it easier for you to go to sleep and get the rest you need.
• Your Mattress will be Protected
  If you are the kind of person who insists on sleeping on the best natural mattress, such as those sold by Health Rest Mattresses & Pillows, you probably want to protect your investment. By making your bed each day, you help to minimize damage because your mattress is fully covered with bedding, which is typically much less expensive to replace than the mattress itself. (I would also suggest a good waterproof or water-resistant mattress pad.)

Raise your hand (or comment) if you make your bed every day.  I do!  Well, most days...

Before and After

I always clean the house before we have company (or family) visit. Even though I know that it won't be long after they've arrived - especially if they're staying for a while - that it will be pretty much impossible to tell that I even tried cleaning the place up. But I just can't help myself. I have to clean first, and I know I'll have to do it all over again once they've left.

That's exactly what happened over Thanksgiving weekend. I had the house all cleaned up. It was actually looking pretty good. And then an extra dozen people dropped in for the weekend. Not that I'm complaining because they were all family, and it was awesome having them here.  -- They should come more often. --
But, wow - things just kind of exploded, and all the evidence of my cleaning disappeared. (Amazingly enough, it's exactly the same when it's just my kids here; it does not seem to be proportionate to the number of people in the house. Or else it's my kids and other people are perfectly neat. Hmmm... I'll have to think about that one.)

Anyway, if only I could restrain myself and just save the cleaning for after they leave...  Well, for everything except the bathrooms. Bathrooms must always be cleaned.

Anyone else?