Veterans Day is an important day for every American and is intended to honor and appreciate all servicemen and women who served the United States in all wars, mainly living veterans. On this day, parades and church services are organized, and in many places, the American flag is hung at half-mast. Sometimes a period of silence lasting two minutes is held at 11 am. Many schools are closed on Veterans Day, while others do not close, but choose to mark the occasion with special cultural activities.
Is your house and budget ready for winter weather? You’re probably familiar with the basic ways to prep a house for winter—adding caulking, weather stripping, and extra insulation to keep the cold air out. But, good news, there are more ways to conserve energy and get a lower heating bill. Here are a few recommendations:
1) Use a humidifier.
Humidifiers are not heaters, but they will help your home feel more comfortable and warmer in the winter. Heating systems dry out the air inside your home. A humidifier will restore moisture, which traps the heat in the air, making the air feel warmer longer. Increasing indoor humidity in winter makes your home feel cozy, so you can adjust your thermostat to a lower setting. Depending on your needs, you can choose a whole-house system or a portable humidifier.
2) Move your couch and other furniture.
Sitting in front of a warm, crackling fireplace feels great. Placing furniture in front of the fireplace, wood burning stove, or radiator may warm you and your comfy chair, but it blocks the warm air from heating the rest of the room. Group your furniture so the warm air circulates freely across and around the room.
3) Get a programmable thermostat.
You can save a lot of money with a programmable thermostat for your HVAC unit. While you don’t want to turn off your central heat when no one is home, you can program it to suit your schedule, lowering it several degrees while you’re away and increasing the heat to normal shortly before you return home. Automatically turning down the thermostat at night helps you sleep better and reduces your winter energy bills too. According to the US Department of Energy you can reduce heat loss and save as much as 10% a year on heating costs by setting the thermostat back 7 to 10 degrees from its normal setting for eight hours a day.
In winter, lower interior temperatures reduce heat loss, and increase energy savings. In addition to scheduling and monitoring the indoor temperature, you can also check humidity levels, air filter quality and energy usage with a programmable thermostat. Take it to the next level of convenience with a Smart thermostat that connects to your home internet to give you remote access via your smartphone.
4) Install windbreak features to lower your heating bill.
There are things you can do outside of your house to reduce energy consumption indoors. Adding one or more winter windbreaks to your landscape—either structural or botanical—helps lower the wind chill and your heating costs. Depending on the space you have available, certain items can break the cold winds from directly hitting the house. An effective windbreak blocks wind gusts near the ground and redirects them up and over the house. Winter windbreaks also help prevent snow drifts from piling up around the house. Here are some examples:
a privacy fence
a lattice trellis with climbing vines
a line of evergreen trees or a row of hedges
The US Department of Energy advises planting trees a distance from your home between two to five times the mature height of the trees. Allow extra grow space when planting shrubs or hedges so there will be at least one foot of space between your house and the mature plants.
5) Get a heated ceiling fan.
You may be familiar with the old trick of reversing ceiling fan blades to force heated air downward in winter, but you can take this one step further by installing a fan with a built-in heater. A ceiling fan with a ceramic heating element may take the chill out of a room that never seems to get warm—especially rooms with high ceilings. These fans will delay your central heating system from kicking on, thus reducing energy use.
6) Use a chimney balloon.
Many people think of windows and doors, yet an unsealed chimney can be a major source of heat loss in a house. If your house has a fireplace that is rarely used, you can easily seal out downdrafts and prevent the heat from going up your chimney with an inflatable fireplace plug or chimney balloon. Both chimney draft stoppers block unwanted drafts, reduce heat loss and energy consumption. They are available at home improvement stores.
7) Get a home energy audit.
A home energy audit locates where your house is losing heat and energy. It suggests ways you can do to improve your home, making it more efficient, safe, and comfortable.
Article by Deborah Tukua
Source: 7 Ways To Lower Your Heating Bill – Farmers’ Almanac (farmersalmanac.com)
The “fall back” from daylight saving is linked to an uptick in car accidents and poor mood, but doctors say careful attention to sleep hygiene and a gradual adjustment of your bedtime may help.
As clocks across America “fall back” an hour at 2 a.m. on Nov. 6, internal clocks may lag behind. “Changes, even small ones, in your sleep can impact almost every area of your body from your skin to your cardiovascular system,” said Dr. Marri Horvat of the Cleveland Sleep Disorders Clinic.
What can you do to get better sleep?
Sleep specialists say it’s a good idea to establish a nighttime routine leading up to and following the switch. Horvat recommends “making the shift slowly over several days” by “going to bed and waking up 10 to 15 minutes later each day.” Ideally, this routine would include a “winding down” period of at least an hour before bedtime when you stop screen time, turn down the thermostat (between 60-75 degrees), and do a relaxing activity. The greatest relaxation technique before bedtime is listening to soothing music.
Another tip is to exercise outdoors. Moderate intensity aerobic exercise during the day, as long as it’s at least two to four hours before bedtime, increases sleep quality and duration. Also, exercising outdoors is recommended since natural sunlight during the day can help with the switch.
According to doctors, avoiding caffeine and alcohol in the evenings can also help and it’s best to avoid snacks close to bedtime.
Although napping can’t replace a good night’s sleep, it can help supplement it. Even a five-minute nap shows improved attention and short-term memory.
“Healthy sleep begins with attitude and awareness,” said Dr. Emerson Wickwire, director of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine. “Set aside 7.5 or 8 hours for sleep and enjoy it!”
Source: How to beat the negative health effects of daylight saving time (msn.com)
It’s natural to want to share with our furry friends, but there are many drinks, dishes and desserts that are and are not dog-friendly. Here’s a list of both.
There’s no doubt that pumpkins are the highlight of the fall season, which is why I’d like to share things to do with pumpkins this fall. Whether you’ve decided to decorate your front porch with them or purchase them for a crafty purpose, don’t let them rot before trying some of these unique ideas.
Decorate your pumpkins.
Of course, you can’t go wrong with decorating your pumpkins for the fall season. There are so many unique ways to do this from creating jack-o-lanterns to monogramming them with your family’s last name initial.
If you have kids, having a pumpkin decorating party is sure to be a big hit. Provide your kiddos with a variety of supplies and embellishments and let them have a decorating good time. Paints, buttons, glitter, and ribbons are just a few ideas of things to use for decorating.
Use your pumpkins to create a tasty snack or treat.
Who doesn’t love pumpkin spice season? Okay, maybe not everyone, but there are some non-pumpkin spice recipe ideas for those who simply love to taste of pumpkin. Making a pumpkin puree is often a big hit as it can be used for many things. If pumpkin spice is your thing, you’ll love this easy pumpkin spice latte recipe.
And don’t stop there. Have a go at making some pumpkin fries and pumpkin pie cheesecake dip. Both of these are great to serve if you’re having a fall gathering or looking for something to take to a potluck. And of course, you can’t go wrong with making a homemade pumpkin pie!
Turn your pumpkin into a flower holder.
You’ve probably seen this idea floating around Pinterest-land and it’s a good one. These are ideal to do with faux pumpkins; however, using real pumpkins is doable as well. Once you’ve carved out the inside and gotten it nice and cleaned out, you can place just about anything inside.
We’ve seen pumpkins used to house succulents, mums, a variety of flowers, and more! Once you’ve made your pumpkin planter, you can use it to decorate your front porch, a side table in the living rooms, or as a centerpiece for your dining room table.
Create a science show.
Looking to do something creative with your kids on fall break? Grab a few pumpkins and use them to do a few science experiments. Here are a few unique ideas to try:
How do you give back to nature using pumpkins? For starters, you can turn a pumpkin into a bird feeder. Simply cut a small to medium-sized pumpkin in half, clean it out, attach jute rope through each side for hanging, and fill it with bird feed. Not only will you provide food for birds but also some pumpkin decor for your tree.
If you have a garden, pumpkins would make great compost. This will require allowing it to rot, so throw it into your compost bin and let it go. Pumpkins also make a great treat for farm animals such as pigs, goats, and chickens. Even if you don’t have these, you can ask a local farmer if they’d like to take your pumpkins and feed their animals.
Play pumpkin games.
Consider leaving the stem on your pumpkins and turning them into a ring toss game. All you need to do is space them out, grab some rings, and have a tossing good time. Turn your backyard into a pumpkin-style bowling alley. Use your pumpkins as the ball and set up a few things that can be knocked down.
Another fun game to play is “how far can you toss a pumpkin?” If you have kids playing, you can increase or decrease the level of difficulty depending on the size of the pumpkin.
Recycle the seeds.
There are many ways to recycle your pumpkin seeds. If you’re looking for a quick snack, consider keeping some back to roast. You can also get pretty creative with the flavors. Keeping some of the seeds to grow your own pumpkins is another way to recycle the seeds. In fact, bag a few up and pass them out to others to do whatever they want with them.
Final Thoughts
Pumpkins can be used for so many things and these things to do with pumpkins this fall is sure to inspire you to think outside the box. What are you most excited about trying? I think I’ll have a go at making a pumpkin spice latte and doing a project with my kiddos!
Article By Hard Working Mom Team
Source: Top 7 Things to Do with Pumpkins This Fall (hardworkingmom.com)
While it’s true that not everyone loves the holiday season, and it can sometimes be difficult, even for those who do, to get into the spirit of the season, there’s no doubt that curling up to watch an uplifting Christmas movie can help one start to feel better about this gift-giving time of the year. And, it’s also true that we are being treated to more and more films that celebrate the season every year, with many channels and streaming services offering viewers dozens of Christmas movies on TV to help us feel all of the warm and happy holiday feelings we like to experience.
(Image credit: Netflix)
As usual, there are a number of new titles to get you in the mood this year, with several films on the way in the form of upcoming Hallmark, Netflix, Lifetime, BET+, HBO Max, and other movies. Even better, you can expect to see stars like Lacey Chabert, Candace Cameron Bure (who’ll be working with GAF going forward), her former Fuller House sister Jodie Sweetin, singer Ne-Yo, Freddie Prinze Jr., Justin Hartley, Vivica A. Fox, The Talk co-host Amanda Kloots, and many, many more! So, without further ado, let’s get into the 2022 Christmas movie schedule!
With all of these premieres heading to the Christmas movie schedule, you’re sure to find something that appeals to you during pretty much every week of the year that remains!
This list is too much to copy and paste, so if you would click on the link below, you’ll be whisked to the wonderland of Christmas movie schedules. Thanks to writer Adrienne Jones for compiling this awesome list.
