The end of summer means the last of the barbeques, pool parties, and outdoor fun. Most swimming areas will be closing on Monday and traditionally Labor Day is the turning point in the weather. (Well, everywhere but the south where summer will hold us in its sweaty palms until closer to Halloween before finally releasing us.) So of course, we want to enjoy all of that glorious sunshine before winter comes barreling in. Great Outdoor Living Spaces We have some amazing house plans that have great

The beginning of the school year always makes me more aware that my wonderful summer days are coming to an end. Fall and winter are coming and that means that I need to enjoy the last of the summer days before they are gone. One of the things that I enjoy the most, and I got this from my grandmother, is enjoying a nice cup of coffee on a summer morning and watching the sun come up. It’s a simple thing, but it just brings me so much joy. I actually get up early every morning. My husband has to be

I guess you could say I’m a “seasoned" parent. My oldest daughter is in Junior High and I pretty much have the school shopping thing down. I was thrilled that this year she didn’t have a school supply list. I could get her what I thought she might need instead of sticking to what the teachers thought they might use this year. Over the years I have figured out that some things are good things to buy for kids for back to school no matter how old they are or what classes they are taking. Now these

While some parents are getting their kids ready to go back to school and shipping them out the door, others are getting ready for the long haul. There is a growing number of parents who are deciding to home school their children here in the U.S. And while there are many reasons for parents to choose to home school, one thing remains the same: you need to have a location set aside for them to do the work. There are house plans that lend themselves to the home school lifestyle better than others,

It’s that time of year, again. The time that parents everywhere both love and hate. It’s time for school to start back. This year I have one child on the Elementary school campus and one child at the High School campus, so my days just seem to get more and more hectic as the week moves on. We’ve all been there. It’s 5 minutes before the bus is supposed to run and you are desperately hunting for that one shoe that the kid wants to wear. (Never mind the fact that they have 4 pairs that would be so

I always greet the beginning of the school year with an odd mix of nostalgia, excitement and dread. I miss going to school. I have always loved to learn and to challenge myself, which is probably how I ended up writing blogs full time, so school was great for me. I never really had a day when I didn’t want to go to school. That makes me super excited for my kids. I know what they are going to get to learn and it makes me happy. I also kind of dread the new school year. New clothes to buy, that l

Well I just dropped my youngest daughter off for school for her first day at Pre-K and my oldest daughter got on the bus this morning to go to her first day as a High School student. And I was supremely tempted to go back home and take a nap in a quiet house. And that makes me wonder about the parents who are sending their kids off for an extended stay at school or moving them out of the house for good. Do they get the urge to go take a nice nap in a quiet house? I bet they do. Parents all have

Traffic is crazy right now in our little city. For my kiddos school starts tomorrow. In fact, most of the school districts in this area are starting this week. So, everyone is finishing up their school shopping, but the big thing that is congesting the streets is that its move in week over at the local college. Last year there were over 81,000 students living on campus. That’s 81,000 people trying to move back into the dorms and on campus apartments in one week. That’s a lot of traffic. Since it

As the mother of a teenager, I try my best to keep up with what is cool and hip in the world. I’m really good with music and tv, not so much with video games and fashion. (Why are skinny pants the rage? Don’t they cut off your circulation? You’ll have to pry my bootlegs off of me to get me to wear those.) One of the things that I have realized a little too late is that a game called Fortnite is really cool right now. Apparently, we are on Chapter 10 of this? My first introduction of this was my

Just like our grandparents became the “Baby Boomers", I firmly believe that my generation will end up with some clever name to reflect the change in our times. Like the Baby Boomer Generation, we were the last group of kids to do some things and the first to do others. Case in point, my age group was probably one of the last age groups to use a pay phone or rabbit ear antennas. We were also the first group to start posting stuff on social media. (Hi myspace! We don’t miss you!) We were also th

All the talk here at the office this week is all about the NFL Preseason and the draft. I’m not a huge fan of pro football, I much prefer high school ball. *Dodging the fruit being thrown* But I realize that I’m in the minority. I do enjoy watching some of the games. My husband and I watched the past couple of Super Bowls and we even did the whole betting on the game thing. (I’ve won the last two years.) The funny thing is, neither one of us watch the entire season. So we pretty much go in blind

Did you know that the state pet of Utah is the shelter pet? I didn’t either. My family has always had some sort of pet when I was growing up. When my husband and I moved in together, we decided that we didn’t want a pet. We thought that having kids would be enough work and that we didn’t want to add to it. So for several years that’s how it was. Then, our former babysitter asked me if I wanted to rehome their cat. I said. “Yes." We found ourselves as pet owners for the first time in close to a d

Where did the expression “Dog Days of Summer" come from? I didn’t know so I looked it up. According to wonderopilis.org, this expression comes from the Romans. The Romans noticed that during the hottest part of the year, the star Sirius would be very visible. Sirius is the brightest star in the constellation Canis Major (Large Dog) and so these days became known as the “Dog Days". The “summer" bit was added on later. It’s easy to see why they would associate this time of year with the dog star.

So, we are right in the middle of summer here in the U.S. and it has been a scorcher. We’ve had temperatures that have hit the high 90’s over the last couple of weeks. Here in the South, we know that it’s just going to get hotter. We’re going to get less rain and just more oppressive heat. Now we’re into what’s called the “Dog Days of Summer." Now when I was a kid, I took this literally. I thought it was the time when dogs were made. That this was that one special time of year, right before scho

So you’ve got the thermostat set to the right temperature, your hot water heater is optimized and your light bulbs are changed out, but you feel like your utility bill is still too high. Well that’s it! Back to candlelight and well water. Or we could just look at the insulation and some other tips for your home. Insulation One of the things that will raise your utility bill the most is heating. And the past several winters have been absolutely brutal. More than a third of the money that you spe