Children Should Pay for Their Auto Insurance After Graduation

It can be a difficult decision cutting financial ties with your children. No mother or father wants to do that. You've provided for your child or children for 18-plus years and then what? A lot of money (if not, majority of it) comes out of parents' pockets each year to pay for their child's college education, housing, insurance, and sometimes even food or books. Auto insurance can be a hefty sum of cash coming out of your pocket to allow your child to drive to and from home, work, and school. Transportation is definitely important, especially if you want you kid to make it to their internship or job on time or even visit you at home. So how long should you pay for your child's auto insurance?

How to Choose a Family Dentist

My name is Sandy and my family and I just moved to Lansing, Michigan.  I've spent most of my life growing up in northern Michigan, where everyone knew everybody, and businesses were run by neighbors. I wanted that same feeling even though we’re now living in a much bigger city. For 30 years I went to the same dentist. I took my kids there, I recommended it to my friends, and it was a relief to have a dentist that cared about me as a person, not just my teeth. So I made a list of qualities that I wanted my new dentistry to have.

With 3 kids in the family, and my husband, I wanted to make sure we’re getting the most quality care with a trusted staff. I broke my list down into 3 major categories: location, staff, and services. As far as location goes, I wanted the office to be close to work, home, and my children’s school. Things change all the time, having a dentist that’s close and easy to locate can take out a lot of the hassle. Hours matter to me as well. We’re all up early and out the door and don’t stop all day. Having dentistry with flexible hours is a redeeming quality. I also want the office to appear clean, neat, and orderly.  I want to know that the dentist that they have is well trained, knowledgeable, and friendly.

Before selecting a dentist, I made sure to do a little background research on some of the dentistry’s websites. I even asked our local pharmacist if she had any recommendations. I don’t want to have to go to other places to get different procedures done as well. If I need a crown, x-ray, cavity filling, extraction or any other service, I want to make sure I can get it done in the same place. A one stop shop for all of my dental needs.  In the end I visited a few places and talked to the staff, and based my decision upon my list (eventually selecting Derksen Dentistry). But going in and actually meeting the staff beforehand was the deal breaker.

What I Want My Kitchen to Be

Since full-time mommies like me spend most of the time in the kitchen, you can’t blame me for wanting it remodeled more than the master bedroom. Based on the survey made by Houzz.com, 94 percent of the respondents want to replace their kitchen countertops. Sounds like I’m not the only one dissatisfied with my present countertop! 

How to Help Children Manage Grief

As parents, we want to shield our children from the pain of losing a loved one. But no matter how hard we want to protect them, children can’t help themselves from feeling grief. What we can control on our part is to help the child feel safe and to let him express his feelings in his own way. By helping the child deal with the loss, he’ll learn to build a very important life skill that he will need in the future—healthy coping skills.

Tips to Remove Mold From Your Home

Nobody wants mold growing anywhere in their home. Unfortunately, mold can sometimes appear, even if you clean consistently and thoroughly. Mold will most commonly appear in a home’s bathroom due to the moisture, heat, and lack of ventilation. Bathrooms may provide mold with perfect growing conditions, but it can appear anywhere in your home. If you ever have a run-in with mold, try using these household items to remove the mold:

Lemon or Lemon Juice

Depending on the size or location of the moldy area, use a lemon or lemon juice to remove mold. If the area can be reached, cut a lemon in half or into a smaller wedge. Rub the lemon on the moldy surface and allow it to sit for approximately 10 minutes then rinse the area with water to kill the mold. If the location of the mold is hard to reach, try using lemon juice with a toothbrush and scrub the area to remove the mold.

Vinegar & Baking Soda

Sprinkle baking soda on the mold you are trying to remove then spray it with vinegar which will cause the baking soda to fizz. Allow the baking soda and vinegar to settle for a short period of time and create a paste. Once the combination has become a paste, use a cloth or toothbrush to scrub away the mold and rinse with water.

Bleach

Apply a combination of 1 part bleach and 3 parts water to the moldy area using a spray bottle or rag to kill the mold. Tougher mold may require scrubbing with a rag or toothbrush for smaller, hard to reach areas. Even though you are diluting bleach with water, its active ingredients sodium hypochlorite and sodium hydroxide will be strong enough to remove mold. When using the combination of bleach and water, be sure to wear protective gloves and make sure there is proper ventilation.  

This post provided by Michigan Cedar Products, a distributor of white cedar siding and paneling. Visit their website, www.michigancedarproducts.com, to learn more about their products. 

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What to do in Corvallis Oregon

Corvallis is a beautiful city located in Central Western Oregon, and is filled with all sorts of fun activities to do for an evening, day or even a week. It is a must stop if you’re driving north or south through Oregon, and you certainly won't regret it! Here are a few of the top activities you can do while visiting the Corvallis Oregon area.

Oregon State University

Home of the Oregon State Beavers, Corvallis is an exciting college town that has a lot going on during all times of the year. If you plan your trip out right, go tailgate at a Oregon State home game in the fall months. There are also plenty of civic events going on throughout the year, or you can casually stroll through their beautiful campus.

Wine Country

Most people don’t think about wines when they think of Oregon, but the Willamette Valley is an ideal place for growing a variety of wines. Although lots of the big reds that you’ll see in Sonoma and Napa Valley to the south don’t do as well up in the Willamette Valley, they make some great white varietals including Pinot Grigio, Gewürztraminer and Riesling. If you're doing research, try and find a tour bus to take, that can pick up up and drop you off at some of the best wineries around the area.

Corvallis Knights Baseball

A great activity to do during the summer season is to stop by a Corvallis Knights baseball game. They are a local team favorite that gets quite a bit of support, and you get a chance to sit up close to the action and watch a great game.

If you’re ever considering living in the Corvallis area, I would look at some homes while you drive on by as well. Coldwell Banker Valley Brokers is a real estate agency in the area that can help with all your real estate related needs.

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Spring Cleaning and New Projects

Yes, it's that time of year for us. Not quite warm enough to pack away jackets and boots and relax in the sun, but not so cold to where stepping outside requires insulated gloves and a fur-lined jacket. We've decided to participate in the neighborhood yard sale weekend next month, so we're slowly going through boxes in the attic and starting on some home projects we've had on our checklist all winter.

One of said projects is working on kitchen improvements. When we bought our house, the kitchen had some pretty ugly tile. We didn't mind so much at first, especially with little ones crawling about, but now that they're a little older and we have a bigger budget we've decided it's time for the floor to get an upgrade. We're thinking vinyl flooring - the stuff that looks like real wood but isn't. Supposedly it's scratch resistant and doesn't stain, and seeing as it's not wood, spills won't seep into the flooring like it would with porous wood. Anyway, we're just trying to find a good company to go through. A friend of ours recommended this place, Carolina Flooring, so we might be giving them a shot. We're definitely open to recommendations, though!

Another project is working on improving my DH's home office. He works from home about 2-3 days a week and right now his space is a bit of a mess. He also wants some new furniture. Back when we lived in Michigan we used to purchase used office furniture through this company, but now that we're down south, we're trying to find a new place. We're too cheap to pay full price for something new (prices for new, quality chairs are outrageous), so we'd like to find a place that sells used/refurbished office furniture for reasonable prices. He really just wants a new desk and chair, but I've also been looking for storage space so we can get that space tidied up.

Other than that, we're trying to get rid of clothing we don't wear and trinkets we no longer want or need. It feels so great to declutter!