Archive for Around The House

Thanksgiving To Do List

// November 25th, 2009 // 1 Comment » // Around The House, Baby

CharlieBrown-ThanksgivingThe great thing about taking a vacation from work is that you mental check out from work a few days before vacation starts. I found myself in this situation last Thursday around 3pm. Sitting at my desk, my work for the week completed, I was looking at my remaining vacation days.

As I was looking at the vacation days I had planned for the rest of the year, Thanksgiving and the last two weeks of December I realized that I had three unaccounted vacation days to use up, score! I decided to take two Fridays off in December to have a two four day work weeks before my 2 week Christmas vacation. But what to do with the one remaining day? Since my Thanksgiving vacation was starting in two days and all of my work was completed I decided to go ahead and start vacation early and take the next day off.

So begins the To-Do list.

Thanksgiving vacation had already been designated to the nursery and getting it ready for baby. After reviewing all kinds of nurseries on Rate My Space we finally decided on a design and it was off to Lowes. We’ll be sharing the details of the painting of the nursery (with pictures) as soon as it’s all completed.

The reason we are painting is because we have a big box sitting in the garage that contains the crib. I was told that the room must be painted before we can assemble the crib so that was the order I was following. I’ve spent the last three days taping, painting, taking tape off, re-taping, painting another color, taking tape off, re-taping, painting yet another color, taking tape off, etc. The goal is to have the nursery done by Thanksgiving Eve and we are well on target.

Thanksgiving Day will bring the usual eating until the button on your pants pops off followed by napping. Naps aren’t just for children you know. I must say though, I’m a little disappointed because I haven’t seen any commercials for a Charlie Brown Thanksgiving special. This makes me sad. On the opposite end of the spectrum is Wifey, happy as can be that there is no Charlie Brown on TV. I’ve told her more than once that had I known she disliked Charlie Brown before we got married there is a strong possibility that I couldn’t have gone through with it. But in typical engagement fashion, we both hid all of flaws until after the honeymoon.

After Thanksgiving is the traditional start of Christmas! We have a 9 ft Christmas Tree we bought on clearance the day after Christmas (the only time you should buy a new Christmas tree) we are dying to take out of the box! It’s also that time of the year when I get to get the ladder out and climb onto the roof to put up Christmas lights. It’s a good time for a man when he is standing on the roof of his house. I wish it were acceptable for me to climb up there even when there is no reason to.

Before I return to painting, a few things we are thankful for this year.

  • Our first baby. We cannot wait to meet you.
  • Each other. The perfect person to wake up with, come home to and spend the rest of your life with.
  • Health. It’s easy to forget about until it quickly fades and reminds you of it’s importance. It’s greatly appreciated to have it around.
  • Happiness. You can never have too much of it.

To all of you and your families, Happy Thanksgiving!

Keeping Your Family Safe On A Budget

// November 17th, 2009 // No Comments » // Around The House, Marriage

burglarAs a human being, it’s common sense to keep your home protected but as a Husband and a Dad it’s your #1 priority. Then why is it I see so many people having such a flagrant disregard for home security? I remember my Dad telling me when he was growing up you could pull over on the side of the road and take a nap if you got tired of driving and no one would bother you and you could leave the house and not worry about anyone trying to steal your things. In that respect, I’d love to go back to those times (I would like to keep indoor plumbing and high definition television though) but it just can’t happen. These are different times and you have to be responsible for the security of your home. I thought I would take a moment to remind everyone of some of the basic things you can do keep your home safe. If you’re a newlywed or a newly parent, then you might be wanting to keep safe without emptying your wallet. If you can afford $40+ a month for a security monitoring system then that’s great, but for it to do any good you still have to master the basics.

Lock Your Doors and Windows. Duh.
Make it a habit to check the doors every time you leave the house and make sure they are locked. Seems like a no brainer but almost 1/3 of break ins are by unlawful entry, entry with no force such as a unlocked door or open windows. Check the deadbolts as well as the locks on the door handle. Double keyed deadbolts are a must have as well. Double keyed meaning you use a key to lock/unlock from both outside the house as well as inside the house. This way, if someone does break the glass on the door they can’t simply reach in and flick the deadbolt unlocked like you see on TV. The same goes for windows. If it’s a nice day outside then that’s a great time to have the windows open. I love the smell of fresh air. But when you leave the house, even just to run to the store real quick, shut and lock all the windows. The great thing about windows is they can be opened right back up when you get back. The laziness inconvenience is not worth risking your home.

Checking the locks before you leave only takes a few seconds. Get the kids involved too! Have them go around with you when you check the locks and have them check them (you double check of course). This will help get them into good safety habits and they might help keep you in check as well. “Dad, we need to check the locks before we leave.”

Check the locks before you go to bed as well.

Note: If you have a two story house, lock the windows upstairs as well. Just because it’s on the second story doesn’t mean a thief can’t find a way up there.

Close Your Garage Door

You wouldn’t leave your front door wide open so why would you leave your garage door open? It’s inviting people into your home to steal things. Treat your garage door just like you do your front door. Keep it closed at all times. Even if you’re home in the living room there is no reason for garage door to be open for everyone in the neighborhood to see your goodies. The convenient thing about garage door openers is the button to open/close it is located right by the entry way into the house. That means when you pull your car into the garage and walk into the house, hit the button and close the door behind you. If you have to go somewhere 20 minutes later the garage door will open back up, they are made to do that. It only takes a few seconds for someone to ride off on your mountain bike and leaf blower. Technically, I guess someone could not ride off ON your leaf blower but they could ride your bike while holding onto the leaf blower.

Unmonitored Alarms

You can still have an alarm without paying a monthly fee. The only difference is it’s not monitored by a security company to alert the police if a break in does occur. If you can get by with out the monitoring, you have a lot of options. There are alarms you can buy at Wal-Mart for less than $10 to install on the entry doors. One side goes on the door and the other on the trim. Once on, when the beam is broken a screeching alarm sounds loud enough to detour most thieves from continuing on now that they have made a neighborhood spectacle of themselves. You can buy the same thing for windows as well. Your local Lowes, Home Depot and Radio Shack should also have what you’re looking for.

While we’re on the subject of garage doors, don’t forget to lock the entry door to the garage. If you’re garage door is open a person could just walk right into the rest of your house.

Motion Detector Lights

It’s much easier to break in under the guise of night so some external motion detector lights on your house are handy. You can set the sensitivity on them so every passing car won’t make your lights go on (unless you want them to).  These will also save you money on your electric bill since you won’t have to leave the lights on all the time. You can pick up some fancy, decorative motion lights at Lowes starting at $30.

Don’t Brag With Your Trash

burglar1

It’s great that you just got your 60″ LCD TV, Bluray player, 7.1 Surround Sound and Xbox 360 Elite over the weekend,

but let’s not shout it out to everyone that passes by your house on trash day. Thats a lot of big, expensive items and by sitting those boxes on the curb you’re telling everyone exactly what you have inside. Find an alternative way of disposing of trash like that. Burn it, take it to the dump yourself or if need be, cut the boxes up into smaller pieces to fit inside a trash bag.

This is by no means a comprehensive list but just some of the top things I see people do on a daily basis. Most of the suggestions won’t cost you a dime but could save you thousands if you can prevent someone from breaking into your house.  Don’t have a “If only I would have…” moment when you can help prevent it with little effort.

For more tips check out the following helpful sites:

24 Common Sense Reminders

Safety Made Simple

I hope that helps! Be safe out there!

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