Organized Diva

Want Your Kids to Eat Broccoli? Show Them This Video!

Source: Icanhascheezburger.com

Tons of Recipes Just in Time for Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving has one connecting theme that brings family and friends together to celebrate with one another: Delicious, sumptuous, cannot-wait-to-eat dishes. Thanksgiving food evokes mouth-watering memories that come mainly from family tradition and often from new recipes. There are some great sources online to hone up on recipes that are similar to your traditions, change up your traditional fare, or add some new dishes.

New on the scene this week is Cookstr which features recipes from chefs and cookbook authors. If you browse the Chefs & Authors section you will see quite a few recognizable faces, such as Nigella Lawson, Jamie Oliver, and Julia Child. This site also lets you search by ingredient and recipe. If you are looking for cooking tips and techniques, you will need to wait, since that feature isn't available yet.

Other tried and true recipe and cooking instruction resources include Allrecipes, Cooks.com, Food Network, Epicurious, Delish, and Cookthink.

Clink! To a delicious Thanksgiving! Silke

Sources: Techcrunch.com, Lifehacker.com

Household Technology: Moving at a New Pace

The most interesting thing about technology is this: the more important the technology is to men, the faster the technology advances. Luckily for women these days, men are more and more involved in the household chores, so we're beginning to finally benefit from man's need of the latest and greatest on the forefront of household technology.

Vacuum cleaners are easier to maneuver or even run on their own, like the iRobot Roomba. Stoves, ovens, refrigerators, washers and dryers, and other mundane household tools are finally getting the technology overhaul and advanced features we really need them to have.

It's funny that when we watch the black and white technology shows from the 40's, 50's and 60's, we are amazed at how much technology is being developed for the happy homemaker of that day and age. But in reality, none of that advanced technology made it out of the tech-labs until this century, due most likely to the simple fact that the buying power of women in our day has become as strong or stronger than that of men.

Now this isn't supposed to sound like man-bashing, although it may seem like it a little or maybe a lot, but it does tell us that the new woman of the 21st century wants her technology and her man's position to be equally advanced in her home.

I do have to laugh at the first new 'high' tech refrigerators that made it out of the tech-labs. They had TV's attached to them. For whom, I'm unsure. The excuse was that women could watch their cooking shows while they were cooking. But wouldn't a movable TV be more practical, especially when they could be put into the guest room when the in-laws come to visit. Or was that the real reason to make them immovable, so the in-laws wouldn't want to come, because they didn't have a TV in their room.

I'm not sure what the moral of this story is, other than that the more the women in this world get educated, move higher in business, make their buying power more noticeable, and make their men get more involved in home chores, the faster technology will make our lives easier, faster, and efficient.

Good luck with your newest technology purchases. DivaAnke

6 Things to Do Outside Now to Prep Your Home for Winter

So far we've been blessed with beautiful fall weather in our neck of the woods. It makes it hard to believe that winter is coming up fast. Right now, October and November, is the perfect time to take care of some important things outside to prep your home for winter:

1. Clean and Fasten Your Gutters
   Clean your gutters and downspouts to check them for proper drainage capabilities. Is the water draining properly away from your walls? Are they properly fastened to the house? Consider investing in leaf guards. You should also plan to give your gutters one final cleaning at the end of the leaf-falling season. This prevents any icicles and ice dams from forming from water overflow, which can cause major water damage and leakage within windows and any other undetected wall cracks.
2. Check Your Roof and Wall Vents
   Take care of any vent, skylight, and chimney leaks now before the hazards of winter. Replace any worn caulking and loose roof shingles.
3. Check Your Windows and Doors for Cracks
   Replace weather stripping or caulk along any faulty seals that can lead to valuable heat escaping outside or the cold coming inside. To find cracks, use a lit candle to follow the edges of your windows or doors, and then marking the places where you see any flickering of the flame or movement of the smoke. Most importantly, replace any cracked window panes.
4. Check Siding and Paint
   Inspect the outside walls of your home for cracks and holes. If necessary, do some caulking or replacing of trim. Caulk and paint should always be replaced when the weather temperature doesn't fluctuate too much for it to dry properly in order to really last and work its best.
5. Safeguard Your Outdoor Equipment
   Properly store away any equipment you use regularly to keep them safe from cold weather damage. Check to see that your snow shovel is close at hand and in good and usable condition. Spraying it with Pam© or WD-40© keeps them rust free and the snow from sticking. Also drain outdoor faucets and garden hoses of excess water to prevent them from freezing and cracking.
6. Protect Cold-Sensitive Pots and Plants
   Put select plants and pots that are sensitive to the cold into a sheltered area. You can also wrap the pots with newspapers and cover the soil with straw to protect the roots from the cold.

Most of these projects can save you significantly in energy and future repair costs. Consider using a professional for anything that is dangerous, is in extreme heights, or requires experience.

The urgency to complete these tasks will vary depending upon your location on this earth. Once the first snow storm hits you will feel more confident that all is snug, safe, warm and sound.

For Further Reading Try These Links:

Green Your Home For Winter: The Quick List

New Home Week: Winterizing Your Home In One Day

Hints and Help for Successful Construction or Renovating of Your Home: Where to Start When You Are Thinking about Taking the Construction Plunge

A great construction project first starts with great research and a budget that meets everyone’s needs. This is particularly important now in today's economy. Before you trust your hard-earned money to anyone, it's highly recommended you do your homework.

I would love to say, just go to the yellow pages or to the local house designer who built that cool house down the road and forge ahead with your building project. But that won’t create a successful building project. Instead, it will just bring you heartache and headaches. What you really need to do is your homework in order to have some knowledge on what you’re getting into and on finding the right persons to help you with your project. That also involves going to some good websites for help:

• Angie’s List is a fee-based home contractor review service.
• Guidelines to a successful construction project is a valuable information resource with links to the different aspects of construction projects.
• Nat’l Roofing Contractors Assoc. Consumer Section Guidelines (NRCA)
• AIA- American Institute of Architects is another great source to find professionals. Additionally, they have many web pages and other resources to help you during your construction research stage.
• If you're interested in checking out where your contractors go to get their information and what types of organizations are out there to help them, you can find a list at DOCS (Designers, Owners, Contractors, Surety). Many professional organizations on this website have consumer pages to help you find good contractors in specific fields. They have some valuable tips on what your contractor is supposed to be doing for you, their customer. So often it’s a matter of linking and clicking your way through some not-always-simple information to find just the right link that ends up meeting your needs. DOCS also has a catalog of general contracts that contractors may use with you.
• Most importantly, DON’T forget to use your most basic of web resources such as Google.com and Yahoo.com or whatever other search engine you love to use. They can point you to a large variety of government agencies that regulate these groups and help you locate contracts and resources that keep your interests at heart.

The primary reason many home projects go slightly haywire or very wrong, is that they involve a varied work crew, in which I include any or all of the following: an architect, contractor, builder, exterior or interior designer, landscaper, or any part of a construction specialist and their crew. When something goes wrong, it’s usually the costs and the actual work needed and wanted that didn’t get spelled out clearly before anything got started. It’s amazing how quickly total costs increase, because the homeowner didn’t know to spell out the minor details right from the start in the contract. Any small detail in your eyes will always become a “Big Thing” in the eyes of any member of your work crew.

You only have one person you can blame when that happens, and that is yourself! No one else in the group is writing the checks! Sorry to sound so bold and cold, but that’s what the basics of construction is about. Any one of your crew members could walk, when they can’t be held to the contract and they know they can get more money from you. Even in this housing market, hunting for someone new will add more costs to the bid. The next guy may know you're desperate!

One of the easiest ways to stay in control is to add deadline and problem bonuses and fines in each contract. If any member of your team screws up or super-succeeds, be prepared to deduct or add $’s from or to their checks, so that they are held equally responsible for their end of the deal. It’s amazing what value a bonus can add to the quality and timeline of any project. When you’re counting and figuring out your final budget number and ready to write that contract, make sure you include incentive bonuses in that figure. Although it may make your list of wants, needs, and have-to-haves change or shorten, it will more likely result in an amazing project that you can really enjoy living with.

The research you do will help you decide what you are ready for before you get started on any new construction project. I’m a big believer in these types of sites and in doing a lot of pre-research, especially in the contracts realm. Knowing what you are getting yourself into before you start any type of project is your best defense against a bad, a good or a great project.

Look for more home building and renovating advice in the near future from DivaAnke

Note: To qualify the advice I’m giving you, please know that I received my degrees from Parsons School of Design and New School for Social Research in NYC. I also rebuilt the family home after it burned down five years ago. I’ve been there and done that when it comes to dealing with these and many more home fix-up projects.