Many of our families started in January with a new goal of getting in shape and where we could we engaged in walking, jogging or another activity outside. My wife Dana issued a challenge to our family then as part of an ongoing effort with many of the moms in our subdivision.

The Challenge was to put down the remotes, video game controllers, laptops, ipads and cell phones and get the entire family outside and active. Dana wanted me to pass on this article from eHow.com she came across that talks about ALL the benefits of getting outside.

Many of us spend time outside completing projects and accomplishing a task. The favorite woman in my life invited our family to get back to perhaps the way it was when we grew up as kids….playing outside gave our lives both balance and benefit. Most of us didn’t have a choice back then to be outside all the time but some of the best memories I have as a kid took place outside.

How long has it been since you played outside?

Value of Outdoor Play

Exploring the outdoors is an important part of healthy childhood development.

Many of today’s parents fondly remember childhood days spent playing outdoors. When children make mud pies and observe ants, it may seem like just fun and games, but the truth is unstructured outdoor play is an important part of growing up healthy. The National Association for the Education of Young Children reports that outdoor play reduces stress and restlessness in children and improves their attentiveness.

1.  Physical Health Benefits

• Outdoor play promotes healthy bodies. boy outdoor playing image by AGITA LEIMANE from Fotolia.com

Outdoor play is the perfect antidote to combat the epidemic of childhood obesity. Research shows that children who play outdoors are more fit and lean, according to the National Center for Physical Development and Outdoor Play. Children who spend time outside on a regular basis also have healthier immune systems. And playing outdoors is a good way to get adequate vitamin D.

2.  Emotional Health Benefits

• Outdoor play encourages emotional stability. kids playing outdoor image by Cherry-Merry from Fotolia.com

Playing outside enables children to relax, reduces tension and helps them solve problems. When children play outdoors, they learn to share and cooperate with one another and develop empathy. Kids who feel confident outdoors are likely to become competent, capable adults. Researchers have even found that outdoor play calms children with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

3.  Educational Benefits

• Children do a great deal of learning outdoors. twins play image by DXfoto.com from Fotolia.com

The outdoors is a giant laboratory for learning that promotes creativity and problem solving. Researchers have found that children learn best when their body, mind and spirit are involved, and this occurs in outdoor play. Outside activities engage all five senses, which creates a powerful learning environment. The outdoors also exposes children to the opportunity to explore, experiment, form questions and create their own theories about how the world works.

4.  Reduced Outdoor Play Time

• Despite the many benefits of outdoor play, time spent outside has reduced drastically for many of today’s children. Kids today spend much more time in front of electronic media than children a generation ago. The lack of outdoor play is tied to the childhood obesity epidemic, and experts predict that the situation is so severe that this generation’s lifespan will be shorter.

5. Ideas for Increasing Outdoor Play Time

• To get kids involved with the outdoors, encourage them to collect rocks, fly kites, climb trees, garden, camp, swim, go fishing, blow bubbles, rake leaves, watch birds and butterflies or play hopscotch

By Julie Bawden-Davis, eHow Contributor

Read more: Value of Outdoor Play | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/about_6599728_value-outdoor-play.html#ixzz1ihE1LxwC

Yes, it’s still possible to create great curb appeal when it’s cold and gray outside.

November 2010 | By Melissa Dittmann Tracey

During summer months when gardens are in bloom and the sun is shining bright, curb appeal comes naturally to many homes. But when the autumn chill turns to winter cold and the sun sets earlier in the day, it becomes more difficult to create that inviting exterior look that grabs buyers from the curb.

Fortunately, it is possible to create striking winter curb appeal without expensive or complicated exterior changes, says Charlene Storozuk, a home stager and designer with Dezigner Digz in Burlington, Ontario—a city that averages 51 inches of snow per year. It just requires a little creativity.

She and other home-design experts offer these eight tips:

• Add splashes of green and purple. Plants, grasses, and evergreens can liven up a home’s winter landscape. Experiment with tall grasses, such as fountain grasses, that survive harsh winters. And in late fall and early winter, plants from the cabbage family add a vibrant purple color. Make the front door the focal point with a large wreath adorned with a colorful ribbon. To finish the look, place large, colorful planters filled with evergreens beside the front door, suggests Elizabeth Lord, broker with Carolina Farms & Estates LLC in Rock Hill, S.C.

• Give it seasonal sparkle. Transform an unused bird bath or fountain into a seasonal display by adding twigs with red berries. Or fill frost-resistant urns with twigs, winter greenery, and sparkly baubles (sold at most craft stores), Storozuk says. For extra sparkle, roll twigs in glitter and incorporate a gazing ball—a mirrored glass ball available in various colors—into the display.

• Make the garden statuesque. Roman- or Greek-themed outdoor sculptures can add class and elegance to a garden in winter. Be sure to use frost-resistant statues so they don’t crack, Storozuk says. Place the statues strategically throughout the garden to draw buyers’ eyes around the outdoor space.

• Light it bright. During the winter, it’s more likely that buyers will be viewing home after sunset. Use clear flood spotlights to focus on the home’s architectural features, Storozuk says. Keep exterior lighting fixtures at maximum wattage and clean them regularly. When snow covers the ground, Michele Thompson, broker-owner of White Fence Real Estate in Vevay, Ind., takes photos of listings at night with all of the interior lights on—the light bounces off the white snow to create a warm, inviting glow. For the best results, turn off the flash, and use a tripod to avoid blurring, she says.

• Show off the lifestyle. Just because it’s cold outside doesn’t mean you can’t use the deck. Shovel your backyard sitting area and leave your grill uncovered so buyers can envision themselves using the space, Storozuk says. If the home has a hot tub, leave that open and running during showings as well.

• Make the deck an extension of the house. Set up your outdoor tables and chairs just as you would in warmer months. “Home owners often cover their furniture and place lawn objects haphazardly on the deck,” says Kitty Schwartz, president and owner of Classic Home Staging in Katonah, N.Y. For added appeal, she adds a weatherproof cafe set with pillows that play off of interior accent colors. “Glancing out onto this type of vignette can make the indoor space feel larger and more interesting,” she says.

• Create a photo display of sunnier days. Show buyers what the outside of the home looks like during other seasons by displaying some landscape photos in frames or using a digital photo frame with a slide show of images. “This will give a sense of what the property looks like at other times of year,” Storozuk says. If the home has a garden, make a list of what’s planted where. “Perennials can be expensive,” she says, “so treat them as a selling feature.”

• Don’t forget to clear a path. If the ground is covered in snow, the simplest and most important thing you can do is shovel the driveway and sidewalks and keep the home’s patios and decks as clear as possible so buyers can get a sense of their true size.

You can find more advice on this topic and others related to marketing and selling your home at www.realtormag.realtor.org.

Thanks

Coach House Accents Team

As I was taking down all the Christmas decorations and re-organizing the garage to make more room, I had an unfortunate thing happen that many of us get inflicted with while working on a DIY or repair project around the home; something got in my eye.

While installing some shelving I was drilling into the drywall as part of the install process and had dry wall dust fly in my eye. I spent the better part of the next hour flushing my eye out and lamenting about not wearing safety glasses.

I wanted to re-post a quick article I came across that is to the point regarding home repair safety.

Oh….take an extra minute and pull out the safety glasses it will save time in the long run!

Doing Home Repairs Yourself? Remember, Safety First! 

July 14th, 2011 by Fawn

I received a wonderful article from Loan Officer Sidney Stonecypher at People’s Bank yesterday that I thought was more than worthy of passing along to our homeowners and renters on our blog.  Below are some helpful tips for staying safe when making repairs or renovations to your home.

WITH HOME FIXES, SAFETY FIRST!

More and more people are doing their own home upgrades. Here’s how to be safe:

1. Always wear safety glasses.
2. Wear earplugs if it’s noisy.
3. When spraying paint or herbicides or installing insulation, cover up head to toe and wear a respirator.
4. The 4-to-1 rule with ladders–for every 4′ of height, place ladder bottom 1′ away–and don’t stand above the third rung from the top.
5. Store power tools, other sharp tools and paints and dangerous materials on high shelves or in a locked cabinet, out of a child’s reach.
6. Don’t rush.

Be especially careful with power tools:

1. Read the User Manual and manufacturer’s warnings.
2. Check power cord and casing for cracks, missing pieces, exposed wiring–if a tool needs repairs, use a qualified technician or replace it.
3. Remove necklaces and bracelets that can get caught in the tool.
4. Before you plug in the tool, make sure the switch is “off”.
5. Use a saw with a blade guard and watch for blade kickback–if a blade starts to bind, stop immediately. 
6. Don’t leave a plugged-in power tool unattended–unplug before you leave.
7. Only use heavy duty extension cords.
8. Keep children and pets away from projects with power tools.

Thanks Sidney Stonecypher at People’s Bank for the helpful tips!

Today’s post goes well beyond “all things women” trailing into the realm of “all things you don’t know anything about and need help and guidance to find the right person / company for the job.”  Does this sound familiar?  I may have mentioned previously that when it comes to home improvement I’m an emergency room visit just waiting to happen.

By way of example:  In 1986 I purchased my first home a lovely place built in 1929 with all the architectural character of a home built in that era that you would expect.  Beautiful crown molding, arched doorways, and hardwood and rich plush carpet flooring.  A truly wonderful home in the northwest suburbs of Milwaukee, WI.  I loved that house.  Unfortunately, it also came with all the issues of a home built in 1929 nearly all of which I was ill-trained to take on.  But did I let that stop me…no!  So my story….

The 1^st floor half-bath toilet was in need of replacing being old, leaky, running-on, etc.  No quick fix available a whole new unit was required.  A quick visit to the local Big Box hardware store and I’m back loaded with the new toilet, seal, flexible tubing, etc.  Removal of the old toilet went flawlessly.  Clean-up and installation of the new seal, no problem.  The new toilet dropped right into place all that was required was to tighten up the attachment bolts.  Here’s where the issue arose.  Did you know that you are not supposed to over-tighten these bolts?  The installation instructions even tell the installer “don’t over-tighten the attachment bolts.”  You guessed it, I over-tightened the bolts and cracked the ceramic flange thereby scrapping my new toilet.

Now, this is not where the story ends.  My next action was supposed to be to rebox the toilet and take it to the curb for the trash pick-up.  So, instead of setting the broken toilet with the very sharp, jagged broken ceramic edge down and working it into the box I, in my infinite wisdom, tossed the toilet into the air.  Yes, tossed a 20 – 25 pound toilet in the air with a spinning motion so I could catch it in the correct orientation to the 1 pound cardboard box sitting on the floor.  Catch it I did right on the very sharp, jagged edge which proceeded to slice open my thumb right down to the bone.  Several surgeries later coupled with 16 weeks of rehab and my thumb was pretty much back to normal. 

What do we learn from this story?  If you need resources for a project that goes beyond your innate capability they do exist.  A great one is Angie’s List www.angieslist.com.  Find detailed reviews on roofers, plumbers, house cleaners, dentists and more.  Over 1 Million members check Angie’s List before they hire.  Why?  Because:

• Companies can’t pay to be on Angie’s List
• Reviews come from real people like you, not anonymous users
• Exclusive discounts from top-rated businesses – save up to 70%
• Ratings and reviews in over 550 home repair and health care categories
• Live call center and help if a project goes bad

DIY is great however, if you need help here’s where to go to find that help.

Let us know what you think.

Thanks

Coach House Accents Team

During these winter months, landscaping is something that you hardly hear anyone talk about. However, when looking to still add some curb appeal during those months where the snow covers the ground, we have some solutions.

Winter often seems to stretch on to infinity. Bare, bleak, snow-covered landscapes can be the only thing we have to look at for months at a time. Gardeners awake! There are five things to consider that will liven up the sight of your winter backyard. After some thought and planning, you may start looking forward to enjoying your garden from December to March. (But I won’t hold my breath.)

Hard landscaping covers the top four things you can add to the backyard for winter interest, while plantings give us the last one to consider.

(1) Think form. As the snow blankets everything in a uniform white, what will catch your eye are shapes and forms. Arbors, obelisks (if they’re winter hardy) and benches are all easy things to add that will look strong and stunning in winter.

(2) Think mountainous. OK, so we don’t all have the Rockies in our backyards (although we’re envious of those who do). But have you considered the solid, majestic beauty that large landscaping rocks can add to your garden? Armor stone or fieldstone, visit a garden center, quarry or a local farmer’s field and you are sure to find something to your taste. Remember that rocks hold in the sun’s heat. That means that they will add natural color to your garden as well.

(3) Think water. Ponds and water features may not run in the winter, but they definitely add a source of visual interest. Ice, when you’re not walking or driving on it, is truly a beautiful thing. Water may also attract birds for a splash of color.

(4) Think wind breaks. While the drifts that continually change shape with the wind have distinct beauty, you can also gain a lot for your yard with wind breaks. Fences can be customized and also give you a backdrop for floral design in the warm months. Berms (artificial mounds of dirt strategically placed) also work well. Lines of hedges or evergreens can be perfect windbreaks, but usually take time to grow into the job.

(5) Think trees. All shapes and sizes of trees will add unique interest in your yard. Curly willows, looming elms, clusters of fruit trees; each one will have its own personality and look. Choose trees that are hardy for your soil and zone, but also think about how they will look with bare branches. You may be surprised by their beauty.

Take a look out your patio door while the snow flies. Make a note of where you could add any or all of these five things. Then look forward to next winter and the stunning new look of your garden.

Source:
By Diana Dart
http://voices.yahoo.com/five-ways-landscape-winter-interest-5050654.html?cat=32

I was looking for a DIY project the whole family could do together and was also useful.  In my research I ran across the website Instructables share what you make with many great DIY projects. Visit them at www.instructables.com.   The following project was submitted by ncoleman2 with the title How to Make a Lego Headphone/ iPod Holder.  I hope you enjoy this project with your kids.

I got worn out of spending tireless minutes trying to untangle my headphones to listen to my iPod, so I created this simple Lego solution to that. It uses standard Lego bricks to keep you headphones nice and organized. You can set down on a flat surface, hold it in your pocket, or stick it to a Lego magnet on your fridge. I hope you try it and would love any comments on modifications and how yours turned out. Please vote for me!

Step 1  The Casing

Materials:
- 1 4×6 flat piece
- 3 2×4 flat pieces
- 2 1×6 flat pieces
- 2 1×6 standard pieces
- 2 1×4 standard piece
- 1 1×4 flat piece

Note: You may use any combination of pieces to do this, i.e. 1 1×4 &1 1×2, to make a 1×6. Also, I color coordinated the pieces to match my iPod. 

Step 2  The iPod Holder 

Stack the 1×4 flat piece on the 1×4 standard piece, and then put the 2×4 flat piece on top of that. Put your other 1×4 standard piece on the bottom right corner going horizontal, and put the section you just made going vertical on the left side. See the pictures for more details.
You can also modify this to be compatible with different iPods by sticking a 4×4 flat piece on the back of your iPod and snaping the pieces together.
You also do not have to make the iPod holder and can just use it for headphone storage. 

Step 3  Using the Holder

Take off the 2 2×4 flat pieces on the back. You can do this while your headphones are connected to your iPod. Make an S-shape with the wire around the sides. Continue this around till you get back to where you began. Continue this until your headphones are all in. If your headphones are too short and don’t make it all of the way to the end, you can move back one of the 2×4 flat pieces to keep it secure.

Source:  www.instructables.com

Thanks Coach House Accents team

In searching the internet trying to find an interesting topic or idea for our All Thing Women blog post for today, I stumbled across a really great site for you females out there.  I am sure many of you have heard of or even use the site, Lifetime Moms (www.lifetimemoms.com). This site is an informative, interactive, and fun website that has developed different “channels” as categories to touch base on various topics from family and parenting to health and beauty. There are games and videos for you to play or even play with your child to enjoy some quality time together. One of the channels on the site is called “Home and DIY,” and consists of home decorating, fun craft ideas, and DIY projects.  This site truly is a great resource for moms and it even includes regular posts for coupons for various places that deal with the specific channel that you are on. If you haven’t had a chance to view the site, stop by and see some of the neat articles, games, and even sweepstakes that currently going on that you can sign up for!  

Source:

www.lifetimemoms.com

 As winter finally arrives in Northern Florida I have had to adjust to a season that offers an opportunity to step back and evaluate the home I live in versus shoveling snow. In past years it would be about 4 months before I could take a look and develop a plan to improve my homes curb appeal.

The key to improving what you have is getting organized and creating a plan of what issues need to be addressed for the coming year.

So…those of us south of the Blue Ridge Mountains here is an article I wanted to share that allows us to start the improvement process now and then implement some portion of the plan. The article is geared around selling the home but even if we plan on staying in our home this process is great to follow.

For friends and family in snow cover country the principal still applies it’s just a bit colder to complete the evaluation part of this article.

As my wife and I were cleaning out our basement of all the old items we don’t use anymore from furniture to random odds and ends, we began to think about different way to reinvent the items we did have into more modern decorative décor. We ended up throwing and giving away quite a few items but we also decided to hang on to some things to see if we could fix them up or utilize them in different ways. A website that I found when thinking about doing this sort of thing was a site called www.Sunset.com.   They have anything from ideas to DIY projects that can even be filtered by the room or by a budget-friendly approach to a job. As I looked through this site I was able to find a section that had a link to a section called: Reinventing your stuff: 21 fun DIY Projects.  Below are a few ideas from the list but visit the site and check out some of the unique and creative ideas they have came up with to put some of the old stuff stored in your basement to good use!

Memory Box Table

Driftwood Coat Rack

CD Case Frames

Source:
http://www.sunset.com/home/weekend-projects/20-low-cost-home-decorating-projects-00400000043583/page24.html

For Today’s Blog I found a great article that might be of interest to many of our women readers. The only thing missing from this great blog being shared with you according to my wife Dana is a randomly placed Starbucks gift card just in case there is a coffee emergency.

10 Things Every Woman Should Have in Her Car

 One of the things I traditionally do at the start of a new year is clean out the inside of my car. It’s just as glamorous as it sounds, particularly because I gave birth to a couple of trash factories a few years back. Sometimes the things I find on this annual excursion are best left undisclosed.

After I take everything out (and vacuum, and bust out the Windex, Armor All, and sometimes even the Febreeze), I have to figure out what gets put back in. In doing so I have to deal with two warring factions in my brain; on the one hand, I actually despise clutter in the car, and like to travel as light as possible. On the other hand, nothing irritates me more than not having something there when I want/need it. Fortunately, the car I currently drive has a trunk approximately the size of Delaware, so generally I can work it out.

So I started thinking about it, and I realized that there are plenty of items I simply won’t leave home without, and it goes well beyond the standard “emergency items” we’re all cautioned to have on board. I’m not an expert (nor do I play one on television), but the following is my list of 10 things every woman should have in her car:

10) Standard emergency kit items. This includes things like a flashlight, tire gauge, etc. Check out this great little video from Lauren Fix’s Howdini on what to have stocked in your kit:

The only change/addition I’d offer is that — particularly if you have a small car — it may not be practical to carry actual blankets. Consider picking up a few emergency mylar blankets to keep in your glove box for emergencies, instead. They’re cheap and tiny.

Also, even though crank-handle flashlights tend to have a weaker beam than conventional ones, you never find yourself cursing dead batteries. The flashlight I keep in my car is always a wind-up one.

9) Personal paper products. I keep tissues in the car at all times, and I’m always glad I do. Those people you drive past who are not-so-surreptitiously picking away while tooling down the freeway? They forgot their tissues.

If you have the room, throw a roll of paper towels into the trunk, too. You never know. I also like baby wipes as a multi-purpose “clean up everything” option even when you no longer have babies, but I’ve learned the hard way that here in the South they dry out in hot cars, so I’ve sort of given up on that one.

There’s no delicate way to put this, so I’ll just say it: Ladies, if you’re still menstruating — have supplies in your car. I know you keep them in your purse. I also know that sometimes the purse stash runs out and you forget to restock and you’re in the car on your way to Somewhere Important Where There Are Only Men and you find yourself thinking of all the things you would cheerfully trade in at that moment for a tampon sans embarrassment. Keep ‘em in the glove box. 

8.) Umbrella. This is another one of those “But I have one in the house/in my purse/at my office” sorts of things where there’s always a reason not to bother. Umbrellas are cheap and small, and no matter how many you own, you will one day find yourself in the car in a torrential downpour, with all your other umbrellas MIA.

7) Cell phone charger. I should probably make this one plural; while a cord that fits into your cigarette lighter is a no-brainer, the cost for those portable battery-run chargers and even pocket solar chargers has really come down in recent years. If your cell phone is a lifeline (and really, whose isn’t?) making sure you have a way to charge it on the go is just common sense.

6) Reusable shopping bags. At the moment my husband and I have three cars in the driveway, and that’s a long and convoluted story I’m not going to share right now, but Way Back When we had one car and one set of reusable grocery bags. The bags lived in the car. Then we got a second car, and the bags lived in the house — virtually guaranteeing that whenever one of us decided to stop to pick up “just a few things” we didn’t have the bags with us. After this happened a few (dozen) times, we bought a second set for the second car.

When the third vehicle came along we figured it was driven infrequently enough that we could just pull one of the other sets when needed. That ended exactly the way you suppose, with one too many times that someone found themselves bagless. I don’t know about where you live, but where I am, the grocery store sells those bags for a buck apiece; having a set in the car is cheap and you’ll always be glad to have them.

5) Dog treats and a spare leash. If you’re not an animal lover I suppose you could skip this one… but, um, ever read Cujo? The chances of having to distract an angry dog are probably slim, but having Milkbones handy is never a bad idea. (Bonus: If you have a dog, yourself, you’ll probably be glad to have a treat handy at some point when your pooch is in tow.)

As for the spare leash, well, it’s possible I’m paranoid. But again, it’s not like it takes up a lot of room….

4) Snacks with a good long shelf life. Most emergency kits suggest MREs or protein bars, but I consider those true emergency food. What about “short on time and the kids are clamoring for a snack” food? One of my friend keeps packets of peanut butter in the car for her boys; they suck it directly out of the pouches for a protein hit when they’re hungry. Although I generally eschew “individual serving” foods for at home, little packs of cookies, dried fruits and crackers seem to stay fresh longer and save me from a relentless chorus of “Mom, we’re starving!”

3) Money. There is no feeling of helplessness quite like being late to an appointment and realizing you have no change for the meter. Or maybe that’s just me. I also almost never have cash on me (long live plastic!), so in addition to the pile of meter-change I keep in my car, I have a couple of well-hidden twenties for those dire occasions when I must make a purchase in a venue that only takes cash.

2) Good Book. I keep a book in the car as a matter of course. Sometimes I get stuck somewhere for a while, and really, having to just sit around and read is… kind of relaxing.

1) GPS Unit. I don’t leave home without my GPS. Maybe you have a good sense of direction, but I do not. I can get lost in my own town. I can get lost coming home from the supermarket. Basically, I can get lost any time I don’t have my GPS, which is why I make sure I always have it. And that includes the power cord, because having a dead GPS in the car is infinitely sadder than having no GPS at all

 Source: Mir Kamin is a BlogHer.com contributor who writes about writing, parenting and shopping.