How Women That Live Alone Can Be Safer At Home

This post was written by Marsha Deleon

     I am a woman that lives alone. I am always worried about safety. I decided to make my home as safe as possible. My first purchase was to buy a golden retriever named Brandy. She is my watch dog and is very protective of my property. After this, I decided to have a wooden fence installed around my home. It makes me feel safer and helps to deal with nosy neighbors.

      I also decided to installed deadbolt cloaks on all my doors. I also had my front doors replaced. I now have storm doors that are heavier and are less likely to be kicked in by intruders. I also installed kick plates on the bottom of my doors to help re-enforce them. Locking up my mail is a huge priority for me, so I bought a locking mailbox to help prevent identity theft. I also had motion sensor lights installed alone my entire driveway. I added additional lighting to the front and back of my home so that I can better see my entire property late at night.

      Installing video surveillance cameras with a home security sensor near my garage and home was one of the final steps that I took. I like having my home being videotaped so that if a burglary does happen, the police might have some evidence. To complete my home safety project, I installed a home security alarm. All of these updates have been great for my home and have given me peace so that I can sleep a little more soundly at night.

Snowbush

     We bought a Snowbush (Breynia nivosa roseo-picta) plant at Home Depot almost a month ago. We supposed to plant it on the space we have in our front yard next to the White Birch Tree but we decided not to because it requires keeping the soil moist at all times. We don't water our plants and flowers everyday. Usually we did water them once or twice a week only. If we forget to water the Snowbush it may wilt and die as what happened to some of my plants that I haven't taking cared of because most of my time is being occupied by my job, family and blogging. So we decided to plant it in a pot and placed it in our backyard where I can always see it every day.

     Snowbush has a highly colored foliage. Its stems are bright red and its papery leaves are rose, white and green. The interesting feature of this plant is its ability to change its color. If the plant is placed in a sunny location, the color of the leaves will start out green, then maroon, then pink and finally changes to pure white. But if you placed it in the shade, the snowbush's leaves will turn green. 

Feed: Snowbush should be fed once a month in a regular basis to maintain its healthy, dark, green color  leaves.

Light: Full sun to bright shade.

Water: Keep moist at all times.

If you love plants with nice colored foliage, Snowbush is perfect for you. Happy planting!

House Address Plaques

     As an owner of a big dog, it has been our routine to take Bones (my dog) for a walk for at least once a day. He needs a lot of exercise to release his energy or else he may turn  out to be a destructive dog if he gets bored. We also take him to the dog park once or twice a week to socialize with other dogs. Since Bones loves sniffing around while we're on his walk I take this chance to look at houses in our neighborhood. There is a newly built house which is two blocks away from where I live and it is really beautiful. Although the house is mostly painted in white which is very common but it is really gorgeous and attractive. The front door is big and probably made of a high quality wooden material and the landscaping in front of the house is astonishing as well. This house has a beautiful address plaque in their front yard and just a foot away from the street sidewalk. Even though I am not an expert when it comes to the quality and prices of those address plaques but I am sure that the one that they have is expensive and in very good quality. 

     The house that I just partially described is not the only one that is exemplary in our neighborhood. There are couple of them that are just amazing. These houses are usually two-story and has a modern  architectural design. In fact we got the idea of the color of our house in one of those houses but it turn out not that impressive because our house is one-story and I guess the color that we do like and which is the current paint of our house looks better in a two-story or bigger houses. The house address plaques that these houses have are just incredible. It comes in different sizes and shapes but one thing for sure that these owners have one in common is making sure that their address signs are legible and attractive even if your standing few feet away you will be able to notice and read the sign.

      I really admire these houses but we can't afford to have one and besides hubby and I do not like living in this huge house by ourselves. It needs a lot of work and money also for the maintenance. For now I will just enjoy looking at these houses whenever I take Bones of a walk. It's free to look and even stare but I am ashamed and scared to take pictures of these houses. The owners may don't like it and may scold me of doing it so.

Is Your Home Protected?

     It started few months ago when our neighborhood was hit by a couple of burglaries. It usually happened during midnight until dawn. In fact, when I was by myself one night since my husband was on a business trip, a police helicopter was circling in our house and other three houses in our neighborhood. I was terrified because I saw the spotlight from the helicopter going back and forth in our house and few of my neighbors houses.  When I was looking at the window, I saw police cars on the street. I was still shivering when I called my husband of what was going on. He immediately told me to lock all the doors and windows and don't let anybody inside the house.

     The next day, my husband called me on the phone and told me that he called one of our neighbors and asked him of what was going on the other night. I was not aware that one of our neighbor's house was being ransacked. The thief/thieves stole jewelries and cash. The worst thing that happened was they came back after the policemen were gone and stole our neighbor's car. It was indeed a nightmare for our neighbors. Since our neighbor's house did not have a gated driveway, the burglars went to the back door of their house and pried it. It happened they guessed in the late afternoon while there's nobody in the house. When Liza (not her real name) came home after work. She usually parked her car in the driveway and  used their backdoor to come inside the house. As soon as she was about to open the door she noticed that somebody had forced to open it and their house was a mess. She immediately went to our neighbor's house which her next door neighbor and told them that somebody went inside the house. Since they thought that the burglar/s might still be inside, they called 911 and that's why the policemen came including that police helicopter.  The policemen did not find anybody inside the house or any suspicious people around. These bad things won't be happening if only our neighbor have burglar alarms from home security teams the would-be intruders know immediately that their house is protected. In fact after many burglaries happened in our neighborhood many signs stated "Neighborhood Watch" were posted in almost all the streets. Many of our neighbors also buy a home security protection and put signs in front of their house so that intruders know that their house has protection from any force entry.  

     Our next door neighbor( not the victim of the burglary) bought a home security protection but he hired a professional installer because he said that the installation process may take longer if he will do it himself. He told us that he got some tips online and he has the options to which alarm systems he wants to buy. He added that he was happy of the one he chose and confident that his house is protected especially when nobody is not around. Although many of these burglars are in jail but still our neighborhood is not safe. One thing we should do as a responsible owners should not to forget to lock the doors and windows of our house and cars and get a house protection from the home security teams.

Making Your Home Safer for Elderly Adults

 This is a guest post From Mark Richardson

 

     Perhaps your mother or father is getting to be elderly, and you have decided to move him or her into your own home. There are safety concerns to be aware of when you have elderly people living in your home. This article will discuss the ways you can make your home safer for elderly adults, so that you can avoid all unnecessary accidents and injuries.

     One simple precaution to take is to instruct your kids to call you if anything happens to the elderly adult. If he or she suffers a sudden stroke, you need to be contacted immediately by other people in your home, whether it is a husband, wife, or children. Just like a click here home security alarm system alarms people when something is wrong, you need to also be contacted if something has gone wrong with an elderly person in your home.

     To prepare for elderly people moving into your home, be sure to remove all throw rugs. Elderly people can often fall on throw rugs if they are left unsecured. Also, be sure to install rails on all of your staircases in your home. You may even want to install rails in the kitchen, living room, bathroom, and other common areas the elderly person will be visiting. These are just a few ways to prepare for elderly people moving into your home. Act now, and you can save a lot of heartache later.

Unfinished Job

     It's really very frustrating and irritating when you hired somebody to fix something in your house and yet after he received the full payment he will not finish it especially the smallest details of the job. This is what happened to us after paying $8,500 to this guy to fix our backroom wall. It took him and his people almost a month (I think) to finish this wall because they did not show up during the time that they promised to work on it. Then what's bothering us is that the permit of that wall was not yet approved. My husband already called him several times to fix the area that they missed so that the government guy can give us the permit of the finished job. He always promised to come by several times and yet he did not show up.

     This is really the bad thing of paying this guy in full although all the necessary fixing was not yet finished. We learned our lesson. The next time we will hire somebody. We will not give him/them the full payment unless they finished the job according to our specifications. Hope he will come and finished the job.

Hawaiian Orchard Security

     When my family moved to Hawaii, we were prepared for the slow way of life, the gorgeous weather and the sun burns. Crime was not something we ever thought about. We bought an old coffee farm up in the rainforest and found an idyllic lifestyle.

     This is a working orchard. We grow coffee and Macadamia nuts. Anyone familiar with agricultural jobs knows just how important the equipment is. You need chainsaws to clear away debris, you need ATVs to lug stuff and survey the land, you need weed whackers to keep the jungle off your crops, etc. You need a lot of really expensive tools. So when we read that orchard theft is a big problem up here, we became concerned. There are few fences on this mountain because the land is too spread out and rugged.

     The first thing we did is we got two dogs. One is a full grown rescued dog from the Humane Society named Sweety and the other is a puppy named Kua. Sweety is a Rottweiler and Kua is a Chihuahua. Sweety is happy to prowl our 15 acres while Kua is more of a homebody. But Kua can still bark really loud.

     We also added some Security Choice alarms and motion detector lights around our home and the storage shed. Both structures chirp when you approach and go crazy if you try and open the locked doors without the code. Now that we have been here for a few months we are no longer concerned. Perhaps the laid back lifestyle has gotten to us. It feels like we have always lived here. Plus, our extra touches in security and especially the dogs, make us feel safe.

This guest post supplied by Crystal Harrison.

Ultra High Gloss 686 Plus Sealant

     The weather here is getting warmer. Working the backyard and front yard is favorable to do during this time. You can wear light clothes while doing gardening or cleaning the tiles. Me and my husband is taken advantage of this good weather we have. We did a lot of gardening, replacing some plants that were not doing well and planting some vegetables too like tomatoes, eggplants and cucumber. 

     My husband is very hardworking. He fixed a lot of things in our house after he bought it more than ten years ago. For a house that was built in 1943, our house looks good for that age. It's been our routine to clean and seal the tiles that connect our deck to our back room/recreation room. This time it was my husband who did it by himself alone. We used to do it together but since he is not working for few days, he decided not to let me helped him because according to him I should rest because he is sure that I am very tired for working so hard at the store where I work.

     Before putting the sealant, my husband moved all the potted plants, 2 chairs and a table, and swept and scrubbed the tiles, making sure that the mildew and dark spots were totally gone. When the tiles were dried he put the Ultra High Gloss 686 Plus. This sealant can be used for porous clay, concrete, stone and it's water based. It can be used also indoor or outdoor. 

We're really amazed how our tiles looks right now. It looks dull before but it has a wet look now. We're just hoping that the gloss will stay longer.