We just want to applaud Sears Holding for launching its "Heroes at Home" Wish Registry, a program that gives support to military service members, veterans and family members. Sears customers can use the Heroes at Home website to make donations and buy gift cards for the more than 20,000 registered servicemen and women, military family members and veterans. Donations can also be made at Sears Hometown Stores retail locations across the country. Donation methods include converting Citi Reward points to donations, swapping old cell phones for free 60 minute calling cards that will go to a military family and turning in unused gift cards as a donation.
Visitors and donators can also view registered family profiles and post direct messages of support to military families.
With veterans and military service members facing a higher rate of unemployment than the civilian population, the Heroes at Home program is an easy way for the rest of the country to ease the burden of those returning from war and service and say "thank you" for the daily sacrifice they make on our country's behalf.
Sears Hometown Stores will also be launching a Food Drive on November 8th, so stay tuned.
We've all searched Craigslist and Freecycle for roofing, flooring and other home renovation scraps. Sometimes we hit the jackpot and sometimes we get sidetracked and buy a new TV instead. Whoops. So we were really psyched to hear about Diggerslist.com, dedicated to buying and selling excess from construction sites.
Recently launched in 15 top metropolitan areas, DiggersList allows big construction companies to sell their unused building materials online at discounted prices. Flooring, roofing, tile -- it can all be found.
The new service aims to reduce nationwide construction waste, allow suppliers to offload surplus inventory and make materials available to the DIY enthusiast at reduced cost. Contractors can also post their services on the site, and property owners can post projects they're looking to have professionally done. It's people meeting people, hammer meeting nail, bargain building materials meeting the bed of someone's pickup.
The construction-centric DiggersList can be aptly compared to the beloved CraigsList. The UI has some similarities, although DiggersList features additional info like "Recent Users", "Recent Photo Albums" and a "Recently Listed" section. It's worth checking out, particularly if you live in one of the DiggersList areas. For everyone else, the wait is on.
If you had DiggersList in your area, what would you use it for?
True or false: We've reached the bottom of the home remodeling decline?
Harvard says it's true, so it must be, right?
2010 is the Year of the Hammer, particularly by the second quarter, the study (released by the Remodeling Futures Program at the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University) suggests. Despite unstable housing market prices and roof-shattering foreclosure rates, potential remodelers may see "favorable financing costs" and increased home sales as reasons for taking on some nonessential improvement projects.
If the prognosticators in Crimson Country are correct, this is great news for contractors, remodelers and homeowners alike. It's still too soon to pop the champagne, but tell us, what's the first project you'll hire-out?
As the weather turns warmer, people's thoughts turn toward grilling. In this timely piece, Consumer Reports found five CR Best Buy grills for $500 or less. They are:
Fiesta Blue Ember FG50069-U409, $450.
Char-Broil Red 463250509, $450
Kenmore 16641, $350
Char-Broil Commercial Series 463268008, $300
Char-Broil Commercial Quantum 463247209, $500
Consumer Reports recommends looking for Memorial Day and July 4th sales when buying a grill. Its Web site also recommends a number of things to look for when buying a grill, including the cooking area, features and safety issues. Be sure to check it out before buying your next grill.
Every new president is allotted $100,000 plus an allowance from the White House Historical Association to revamp the estate. According to New York magazine, Laura Bush spent $74,000 from the White House Historical Association funds on a set of china during her residency in the presidential abode. The Obamas recently announced that all their renovation plans will be paid for not from taxpayers' money or from private funds but from their own wallets.
Camille Johnston, director of communications for the First Lady, said that the Obamas “are not using public funds or accepting donations of goods for redecorating their private quarters.” Instead, they've hired Hollywood decorator Michael S. Smith whose clientele includes media mogul Rupert Murdoch and star director Steven Spielberg to do the job.
The White House has declined to comment about the expenses out of courtesy of preserving the privacy of the Obamas' budget, but it's transparent that the first family is taking fiscal responsibility during a tough time in the economy.
The National Telecommunications and Information Administration recently announced that the government now has sufficient funding to redistribute two rebate coupons for converter boxes per household, which will help analog TV watchers make the switch to digital in time for the extended June 12 deadline.
"With the backlog of applications now eliminated, consumers can apply for coupons and get assistance right away, allowing them to continue to receive important local television news and emergency information by purchasing a converter box at a reduced cost," says Anna Gomez, an NTIA administrator.
Consumers will get a $40 rebate on the digital converter boxes, which means that they'll be able to buy a converter for just a few dollars.
Do you have a fur issue? I do. With two Siberian cats and a golden retriever at home, we have a LOT of LONG fur flying around the house. Although our dog is really good about keeping off the furniture, the cats...as they would say on "Seinfeld"...not so much.
Recently I tried a new product called PetzOFF designed to keep pets off furniture. Because pets don't like sitting on aluminum foil, PetzOFF created a throw that has a polyester film that looks and acts like foil on one side and a regular-looking blanket on the other.
Here's how it works. The cats love my favorite chair in the living room, but once they have spent some time on it, it becomes covered in fur. Then I either have to clean the chair before I sit down or, more likely, sit down and get covered in fur. When I'm not using the chair, I put the throw on it, foil-side up. When I'm ready to sit in the chair, I remove the throw and toss it on the back of the couch with the fabric side out. My throw has a chocolate brown fabric side, which is quite nice.
The PetzOFF certainly deters the cats from sitting ON the throw; however, I have found my sneaky boy, Milo, crawled underneath it several times. So, if you do use the product be sure to tuck it into the furniture like you would a slipcover. Merely draping it over the chair just made a fun tent for him! Lesson learned. The furniture looks a little strange, too, when it's covered with the foil-side up. Kind of like a baked potato hot out of the oven. But the pros definitely outweigh the cons.
