Social Catalyst

When you stop to think about it we spend a lot of time at our laptops. I do my banking and personal business on it and then it goes with me where ever I go in case I need it for something and many times I do. It is hard to believe that I did not have a laptop a few years ago and now it is my constant companion. I am so glad that I live in the age of technology and I can not wait to see what they come up with next.

If you have anyone in your family that has a problem with allergies then you know how important home ventilation is. Did you stop to think how important home ventilation is for those that do not have allergies? Our lungs are air filters so when we are surrounded by unclean air our lungs have to work hard to clean our air causing our lungs to clog and the results are breathing problems. Some times we may not have obvious ventilation problems but when we walk into a space that has good ventilation we notice right away. Good clean air benefits everyone and ventilation is the key to clean air.

When you have a cup of coffee do you ever think about what all went into getting that coffee to that cup? Neither did I until I did some reading and now when I drink my coffee I take a minute to think about it. I was reading an article about a Vancouver cafe that offers coffee and many other catering services. They have European coffee and healthy lunches with Italian paninis, wraps and freshly baked breads and breakfasts available for catering. They even have a food selection for after hours meetings which includes bocconcini crostini, mini chicken skewers and veal parmesan meatballs. It makes you hungry to read all of the things that they have available and it makes you want to go to that meeting that you thought you dreaded!

There are so many things in life that are not guaranteed. Then there are things that if we plan right can be guaranteed and one of those things are our funeral arrangements. We can do our funeral planning ahead of time and save our family members from having to take care of those arrangements at a very difficult time. We had a family member that had their funeral planned and it took off so much stress from our family and we could focus on them more instead of hurried arrangements and guess work. besides all of the stress it relieves it also is important because you can have everything paid for. By prepaying for your funeral you can make certain you will have the funeral you want and it will be paid for. You can make payments for up to a 15 year plan. If you do not have enough money in your prepaid account at the time of your death then you will still receive the funeral you arranged for. It made a huge difference for our family.

We all want to do our part to save energy. We have now become a world that realizes we are not given an endless supply of resources. We also realize conservation is the key to the future of our planet’s resources. You can make a difference in the world’s energy supply with just the smallest of changes. Something as small of a change as more energy concious shower heads can Save Energy. If everyone made these little changes we could make and enormous change in the uses of our energy. You can find out many ways to save on water and energy at the Office of Water. Most of the changes you make will not effect anything you are doing but make it more energy efficient. It feels good knowing that we can make a difference and when we join together and all take part we can not only make a difference but change the course of something and that is what conserving energy is all about.

Before we moved to our new home I had not heard of rain barrels. Everyone on our street but us had a rain barrel. Once we found out how useful they are we began our search for the right one for us. We noticed that our neighbors had different styles so we asked where they all had found theirs. They directed us to look online for our rain water barrel search. We found so many different rain barrels for sale. They had barrels for rain harvesting in every style from planters on top to traditional barrel styles. You can get them in many different colors including white, brown, green, terra cotta or black. They also have any accessories you may need. If you are looking for any rain water barrels you will find anything you need online. Rain harvesting is fun and you will be surprised at how much rain you will actually catch and how fast you catch it.

We went on a trip to a garden park to get some ideas on flower beds for our own home. We were very happy with all of the information we found. What flowers do best in what soil and which do better in the back of a garden and which do better on the front. But we also got ideas on how to make our garden inviting. There were stone garden benches in many of the garden areas. These garden benches gave the space the setting of sitting down and reading a good book. It was very inviting and in fact many people were doing just that. Although our garden will be on a much smaller scale I know that stone benches are going to be a part of the finished product. I really like the overall look of a garden with a seating area in it. After looking online we found memorial benches and garden benches of many different styles to fit what ever style you are wanting to set for your home and garden. It is relaxing for us to spend time working on our garden but it is even more relaxing to spend time enjoying the view!

My wife just loves diamonds as I think most people do. She has never asked me for one but we have a really big anniversary coming up and I think it is time to get her one. There are wholesale diamonds that you can buy and save a lot of money. I mean after all I want to enjoy the experience,too. Making my wife happy and me happy at the same time is the perfect anniversary to me.

We have teenagers that are looking for their first cars and it has proven to be an exhausting experience. Our arrangements were that we would buy the car and they would pay the auto insurance. I should have been a little more clear on how much we are willing to go for the top cost. They really wanted a sporty car and tried to convense us that the sport cars were the better choice. Then my wife got an idea. We agreed to the sporty cars and told them before we bought them they needed to check on the costs of insurance for these little red sports cars. You and I know that little red sports cars are expensive to insure they did not! After a short phone call they decided that fuel economy would be a smarter choice for them and we agreed! Sometimes you just do not need to say anything and life takes care of itself!

Our company put enclosed bulletin boards in our break rooms so we could read any announcements that they need to make. They informed everyone that if we had any information on anything we could also use the boards as well. It stays full! They then put enclosed cork boards by the elevators because we stand quite a while waiting. We all love this idea because we can read everything and then talk about it in the elevators. This does open up lines of communication among employees. I have not had one of those awkward elevator rides where you look up and then the floor because you have already greeted and now there is nothing left to say since the new bulletin boards. There is always something to say! Most of the time we leave the elevators laughing. I have an enclosed fabric bulletin board at my desk that we all use a lot. The things we put on it are safe and they are usually pictures with little sentences put with them to make everyone laugh.

When we moved to our first home we wanted to give it a look that said we are here and this is our home. We wanted to do that with an address plaque. We had been looking at address plaques for quite some time because we had agreed this was one thing that we wanted on our new home before we actually agreed on a home. We found a neighborhood that we liked a lot. The homes we looked at all had house address plaques so we knew we were among like minded friends. The address signs that many had picked to adorn their homes matched the one that we had decided on as well. Who knew the first conversations that we would have with our new friends would be about address signs but it was. We put the address sign that we had bought before we found our home in our front flower garden and put a light on it. It stands so nicely when we turn onto out driveway after dark. It just gives our home that regal look we wanted. Since we did this with ours we have noticed that several of our neighbors followed suit and before long they had all done the same thing. The entire neighborhood has a nice look with just that simple look of unity in our flower beds!