Archive for May, 2011

This one was written on a day when I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry or pull out all my hair.

I didn’t put a date on the poems I wrote so I can’t remember when I wrote this. I suppose it must have been when the kids were babies. I thought that the last line “For this is the way its meant to be” didn’t quite sound right but it was the only thing I could think of that rhymed.

This is a guest post by George Baker about energy saving. I hope you enjoy reading these simple but effective tips. You will find that going green isn’t all that difficult and all it takes are small simple steps outlined below.

Going green doesn’t have to hurt! You can save the planet and simultaneously pad your pocketbook by making a few simple changes in your everyday life that will reduce your energy consumption and, by proxy, your energy bills. Follow these 5 energy pinching tips to simultaneously shrink your household bills and your carbon contributions.

Dial back a few degrees

Studies show that you can save up to 10% on your heating bill by lowering your heating regulator by only 1 degree. You won’t feel the temperature difference, but your wallet will. Should you choose to be reckless and drop a few more degrees, you might have to wear a light sweater or cuddle up under a cozy blanket, but you’ll save lots of cash in the process.

Pull the plug

Merely leaving chargers and cords plugged in with no device attached burns electricity. It’s easy enough to unplug these glorified wall ornaments when they aren’t in use, and shore up the change they’ll save you. It adds up over time and extends the lifetime of your chargers.

Waste not

Simple waste adds up significantly in water and heating bills. Showering uses an average of 30% less resources than baths, so forgoing a dip in the tub will forgo a dip in your wallet. When cooking or making tea, most folks boil more water than what’s needed. This literally boils away money, wasting gas, electricity, and water. Eye your water and plan in advance.

Using electricity after you’ve left a room by leaving lights or fans is as wasteful as leaving your milk out to spoil. You’ll also reduce electric waste by investing in energy-saving light bulbs. They’ll relieve you of the hassle of changing light bulbs, since they last decades, and save you large chunks of cash throughout their lifetime.

Wasting energy is easy: running a half-empty dishwasher, washing bundle after tiny bundle of undersized laundry loads, or using heat to dry your dishes when they have time to air dry will cost you cash.

If you’re ga-ga over the idea of going green, consider incorporating some good old-fashioned manual labor into your daily routines. Stash away those electric kitchen appliances and wash, beat, grind, mix and fold with pure muscle power. You’ll save money and get in shape.

Pad your pad

Poor insulation turns your windows, walls and doors into anti-green, energy vampires. It’s worth it to invest in some decent insulation; it pays for itself and provides incredible comfort. In addition to insulation, check your windows and doors for drafts. Sometimes a bit of caulking does the trick, and heavy curtains or window seals can effectively rescue you from a heat-sucking vortex that drains your wallet and cramps your style.

Upgrade

When the inevitable time comes, and you can’t live through one more of your spastic washing machine’s seizures, consider the lower tariffs and overall savings of energy friendly appliances. They may seem to cost more up front, but these investments save significant money over time.

Start saving your hard-earned cash today by adding these 5 easy energy saving ideas into your routine. You’ll be doing the planet, and your bankroll, a huge favor.

Helping out with vacuum cleaner bags all day at work has allowed George Baker to become a whiz with Numatic hoover bags.

I find that things are getting less and less permaneant in these new age. Digital photos can be completely gone if you accidentally delete them. Cyber friends can be made overnight and be completely gone in the next instance, just like ships that pass in the night. After blogging for so many years, I have had cyber readers who come and read each and every post I write, every day, and they have become more friends than strangers and you feel as if you know them personally and so well and then one day ….. poof! they suddenly disappear in a puff of smoke and you never know why. I have gotten used to it by now but it still leaves a little void and make you wonder why? That is the cyber and digital age.

I guard my photos like mad, making copies and copies of copies because I am so afraid of losing them. We hardly make any hard copies and they are all stored digitally on the pc and on discs which may become obsolete over time. My wedding cartridge has become obsolete….. Yes, I got married in the cartridge age when  storage was rather big and clumsy.

E-book, E-cards that get read and discarded almost instantly (though I may save them on the pc at times), photos, friends… everything can be gone in minutes. It is horrible. Ah..yes, another thing. I hosted most of the poems I wrote over the years on the then free Yahoo Geocities which has gone puff up in the smoke too albeit with some warning. The “My Poems” link on my Parenting Times blog are mostly obsolete now or empty links. So sad….

 I think I may have saved some of my poems when I got the warning from Geocities. I stashed them and chucked them away somewhere in the deep recesses of my pc somewhere. So I have decided that in the next two weeks, when I shall be too busy to post anything during the school holidays, that is what I will do. I will dig out every poem I wrote and give them a proper home here. Yes, they deserve a better home. Not chucked away in my pc filing cabinet somewhere and definitely before the pc decides to kaput and then I would have lost them forever! That is horrible. I better get to work immediately, even though it will be tedious work, looking for them and republishing them. I must not be lazy and procrastinate. I had better do it before they are all gone………

I bought an old house, a second hand one. The house is over 20 years old. As a result, I “inherited” all sorts of problems that come with an old house. Leaking roofs that does not seem to ever get resolved no matter how many contractors have been brought in. Pest problems like huge rats running over the top of my ceiling and old windows.

Now, what shall I do about my windows.  Yesterday, I called in a man to give me a quote on some mosquito netting for my old windows. The netting has some magnetic strips running over the sides. The only problem is, he can’t put the strips in proper places because of the style of my existing windows and my window grills. He told me that he will need to cut the netting into two at my front door because of the existing door grill so that I can have a place to push open the netting to lock my door. That will mean having an ugly bar running across my front door.

As for the windows, he said that he will have to put in some white silicon to cover the sides and bottoms of the windows before he places the magnetic window strips. That will be even more unsightly. I don’t know whether I should consider replacement windows to solve all these problems. I wish I had thought about all this before purchasing my home. Unfortunately that is all I could afford at the time.

If I could do it all over again and if I had more money, I would go for new homes so I can plan my windows and doors from scratch. I would like to have windows all over the place like some of these Seatle windows. My house is terribly dark during the day. I have to keep a light on all day. It is such a terrible waste of energy.

I guess I have not much of a choice now. I will just have to read more before deciding whether I can replace my windows with newer energy saving ones. If you are buying an old house, do look at the windows and doors carefully and watch out for any water stains in the ceiling as well or any rot in the wood in case of termites. It will certainly save you a lot of headache later on.