Bead Jewelry Designing

Since I have relocated to a new town in Cambodia when I've decided to join a new company, I've noticed that the new place where I am now is much into beads and stones.  Later only did I discover that this is the mining place for stones in this part of Cambodia.  I have seen a lot of stores selling different kinds of stones and since this is the place where these stones originated, I'm quite sure that these are much cheaper here.  I was actually interested before to learn how to design jewelries.  Now, I'm thinking that should I I have pursued that interest before, perhaps now, I would be a able to make my own designs out those precious stones that are being sold here. Perhaps, I could make it as a home business, too.  

I have seen some bead bracelets at SoIcyJewelry.com, an online shop selling various kinds of jewelries.  They have both low and high end items which are also available at wholesale prices.  I've spend quite sometime browsing through their ladies diamond jewelries and watches and I fell in love with the white gold necklace with a pink sapphire heart pendant. 

I think it would be great as an accessory for an office attire.  I think if I have the time, I would probably pursue my interest in designing ladies accessories as it might proved to be a profitable home business someday.  For now, I might just get some for myself from online shops. :)

Comfy Bean Bags

If there's one thing in the house that me and the kids are particular about, I would say that it's the bean bag.  We just love having a bean bag at the living room and if possible in the bedroom, too.  When we had our "home make over" late last year, we played mix and match.  We have chosen orange, white and black for the color motif and it turned out really great!  We bought a black and white colored carpet for the living room and our living room sofa was reupholstered into black leather.  We had the small round throw pillows reupholstered into white color leather and so with the two bean bags which we used to place on the opposite side of our center table.  I loved the outcome. It's really cool!

Recently, I've found new designs for huge bean bags online and I just fell in love with it's comfy design.  See this huge bean bag in the photo?  How I wish to have one in my room. I think it's cool!  Bean bags are made from various materials and there's a lot of options to choose from. I would like to have one that has a machine washable cover so it would be easy for me to maintain.  I think it's functional as it could served both as a day time bed and a chair.  Also since, it's huge, it can even accommodate two to three people.  It's nice to be seated together while watching your favorite movies at home.  Since, it's made of light materials, it's easy to move anywhere you want it.  I like the newer versions that's out  in the market today coz it spells style and elegance.  Given the chance, I would definitely get one.

Will you be interested to have one, too?

Our Home Friendly Buddies

When we first purchased a house more than ten years ago, we never had any idea on how to deal with the construction phase.  We initially bought a house and lot package and we were able to have it on a cheaper price.  The reason?  The property is not well developed.  There are lots of rooms for improvements.  That was just a basic 2 bedrooms house, no fancy things.  I had an arduous desire to improve it and this is where I first try my hands at working on some renovation ideas, price estimation on materials and labor costs and the best part is sourcing for the best construction workers around that will satisfy my needs.  Well, my first few attempts were not successful.   Employing unreliable people to work with you in your project is not an easy thing.  To say the least, people have the tendency to take advantage of the situation especially for someone like me who still doesn't know the ins and outs of the thing.

On a positive note, it was a worthwhile experience!  When I moved on to purchase another property in 2005, I already had some basic knowledge on how to push through, although I would say that it is not that perfect yet but I know that I'm moving into a right direction.  Apart from being too particular about the prices, I concentrated on sourcing for the best suppliers and laborers who would directly be involved in the construction.  Since then, I am much into construction as I never finished introducing various improvements to the house.  For a project to be done efficiently and with a certain amount of accuracy according to your specifications, you have to make sure that the workers you're getting are not only skilled enough but owns the right tools for the right project.  Some tools are rare and not too many construction workers around are in possession of the right tools and this is where the time table for the project is being delayed.  A best example of which is the Starrett 18A Automatic Center Punch. 

I've seen that one of our home friendly buddies in the house who was involved in the initial phase of the construction was in possession of this tool.  He owns a steel shop and fabricates different steel sheets for different types of projects like awnings and gates based on the owners specifications, and he told me that he really tried his best to source for a complete line of reliable tools for his steel shop and this Starrett 18A never puts him down.  One of his men even commented that it was a cool tool.  He added that sourcing for reliable tools is not so hard as there are some shops available online which could deliver just the right tool for you.

I guess he's right. Investing on some reliable tools is important when your goal is to satisfy your client and delivered the best services required on time. This can yield to a long time partnership with your clients and an increase in productivity means an increase in profit.  

Insuring Your Business

Perhaps every employee like me  plans of pursuing a business someday.  Why not? We cannot be in the rat race all the time.  Some says that being employed only gives you a fixed income but will never give you a chance to be rich. They maybe right or maybe wrong, too.  When you are employed, you can have a fixed budget and plan ahead.  Business sometimes takes a lot of risk and if you are not lucky enough, perhaps you won't succeed.  Business face liabilities each day.  Whether you like it or not, you are prone to losing your hard earned money if you will not properly take care of it.  I heard that some business owners are resorting to having their businesses insured.  In fact, a friend of mine mentioned to me about general liability insurance from TechInsurance.com.  They have a home based business in US which they have started when her husband filed for his retirement.  I don't know much about getting insurance for business, but my friend told me that getting general liability insurance is like getting a shield for your business.  It is a first line defense against all kinds of claims.  It's good that I'm having a first hand information about this thing from a real life experience of a business owner friend.  That way, I will be equipped with all the basic knowledge required to protect my business someday.

A Guide for Effective and Efficient Heating at Home

Are you planning to buy a new family home? Do you want to enjoy a modern home with all its advantages regarding heating, electricity and energy consumption? Do you want to live care-free instead of constantly worrying about your running costs? If you answered ‘yes’ to any of these questions; there is a wide range of solutions available to you.  

You can usually assume that modern houses have good working electrical trace heating cables, which stop pipes from freezing in the winter. However, in order to make sure you are not going to face any problems with your pipes in the future, you still should check that the pipes are installed properly and that the corresponding heating elements and drum heaters are designed and implemented correctly. So do some research, get an expert into your home and ensure that you meet local requirements.

In new, modern houses avoiding costs is not the only thing that is important, but also the design, look and feel of the house must be considered. Nowadays, traditional heatingelements like the ones placed on walls throughout the house are not really the preferred option any more. It is therefore not surprising that electric under floor heating has become an increasingly popular solution both for residential and commercial buildings. This modern form of heating achieves great results in indoor climate control – keeping the temperature in your home or office space at a steady and comfortable level. This will also stop you from constantly turning your heater on and off and up and down, which will save you a lot of energy.

When it comes to cost savings, there is another interesting technical product available that you should take into consideration for your family home: a self-regulating heating cable. These cables are designed for keeping the hot water supply in your home at a constant temperature, providing hot water immediately when required without wasting unused hot water by letting it lie in the pipes. I believe the best thing after getting up in the morning is to take a nice warm shower. But you do not want to waste your time regulating the temperature manually and moreover, you do not want to waste energy.

So in order to avoid waiting times in the shower until the hot water from the boiler arrives or wasting lots of unused hot water, you should install a self-regulating heating cable. Consequently, heat loss becomes a problem of the past and conscious and green energy consumption a solution of today.

Home Fitness Room

As we get older, our body system functions quite differently from how it used to be when we were younger, thus we should be more conscious of what our body needs.  I was a bit lucky that I am having a good metabolism and I do not need to take extra effort to maintain my ideal weight.  I'm not really a health enthusiast but I do take care of my health well. 

Since, I love fixing my home sweet home.  I never ran out of idea on how could I keep our home a perfect place for my family.  Me and my kids never failed to plan for some improvements in the house.  Since my husband loves to exercise as he gets scared of his growing tummy, I thought that it would also be nice to have a home fitness room where we could place some weights for exercise equipment.  It would also be good if we could have a home gym system.  There are lots of designs available in the market now which is not space consuming and already considered "all in one". Exercise is one thing that I've been neglecting thus I just opted to go for some therapeutic massage to get even.   Given an opportunity and after I'm able to set my priorities, I would certainly like to have a home fitness room someday.

Investment Options

Since I got married and able to land a good job, I've already started to look for some investment options. Being an employee is not easy and you are not guaranteed of a lifetime job unless you really works for a reputable company.  A lot of people thinks that being an employee won't bring you near to your dreams, unless you are the CEO of the company.  But for me, salary is not much of an issue for as long as you know how to handle your finances.  First and foremost, we should know how to invest our money and have this grows by itself. When I was just starting, I really opted to invest on real estate.  For me, I consider this a safe investment.  No doubt that the amount involved is high but you re assured that your investment is safe and yields a fixed income.  Well for others who are considering to start small, there are various options available like time deposits, treasury bills, stocks and fixed annuities.  I think fixed annuity rates can give you the assurance of a minimum guaranteed interest rate for a period of time.  I even heard that some annuities offer an upfront bonus which translates to an early payment of future interests.  I've never been to any of these except for the time deposits and of course, real estate.  But whatever you choose for your investment, the most important thing is you invest your hard earned money into something that will increase in value and something that you would look up to in the future.

    

Father's Day Is For Grandpas Too!

Today is Father's day, I wonder if my two kids had already greeted their Dad.  As for me, I could only greet my Dad in my prayers as he passed away long ago when I was still in college.  Both my father and my father-in-law passed away even before my husband and I got married.  Sad to say, my two kids were not able to meet their grandpas. If only they are still with us, I'm sure that my two kids will be happy to look for some grandpa gifts.  My kids are both sweet and they were brought up giving gifts on special occasions.  I remembered how these two were so excited to buy me gifts during my birthdays and especially on Christmas.  They do buy gifts for my Mom too.  I think it's a good idea to instill in their young minds the value of giving.  This is a tradition that they would never forget until they get older. 

Happy Father's day to all fathers out there!

A Better Bath Room?

As I am much into home decorating, my mind keeps on pondering about new innovations in home interiors.  Recently, I was just contemplating if I would include the idea of renovating the bathroom in our house that is "for rent".  Since, I've decided to renovate the house starting last April, I am thinking if I would have to include the bathroom in the existing renovation works.  I just saw that some tiles in the bathroom were already worn out and the bath room deserves a make over. I was looking into replacing the toilet bowl and lavatory.  I told myself that it would be great if I could get some rustic vanity in place.  But, considering that I've already reached the limit of my target budget for the said renovation, perhaps, I would just include this plan on the next phase of the renovation.  Hopefully, I could work on some extra budget for the future repair works. For now, I'm okay with what we had achieved for the project.

Moving To A New Home

Yesterday, I just had a chat with a friend who had migrated to Canada few years ago.  It's nice to get in touch with people whom you haven't seen and talk to for a long time.  We didn't have communication since she migrated to Canada with her daughter.  She had decided to stay there for good since most of her siblings were already there.  She was excited to tell me that she's going to move to a new home next month.  Currently, she and her daughter were staying with her sister's family and this was for the past few years since she arrived there.  Now that she was able to save enough money to at least produce a down payment for her new home, she just felt very excited.  She was saddened by the fact that she had to live away from her sister but she told me that this is also best for both of them as her sister has already a family of her own.  Her sister welcomed her idea and supports her with the decision to move out as her sister understands that she needs a a place which she could call her own.

Last week, they had started packing all their things.  For the past few years that she'd been working there, she already acquired quite a number of things ranging from small appliances and some furniture for the room where she and her daughter stayed.  She wanted to bring these all as these were the result of her hard work.  For the past few days, she'd been scouting for some movers to transport their things to their new home.  She found a number of reliable movers online but she had to choose which one is available in the place where they currently stay.  She told me that should she choose Déménagement Montréal, it would be a lot easier to go for someone you can trust.  

I told her that moving should not be a stressful experience.  It requires planning and ample time for preparation.  I advised her to get rid of the things she doesn't really need and just narrow down her list to the things that's important and matters most to her. My friend is a person who likes to collect things and she can't simply get away with these.  I asked her to read some tips in packing and plan ahead.  The more she rush, the more she will forget things. Overall, it was a pleasant discussion that I had with her.  I'm happy that she's now ready to live on her own.

Entertainment Room

With the increasing number of living room appliances that we have, I once thought of putting up an entertainment room.  In fact, my daughter was suggesting to me before to convert one room into an entertainment room to relocate our home theater and television.  They also gave me the idea to decorate that room with some magazines stand and dvd rack since we already have a number of DVD players, Cd's and DVDs.  My husband and I used to buy DVD players abroad and bring these home in the Philippines.  Not only because these are cheaper abroad but also because our kids love to do movie marathon during school breaks and on weekends.  However, since we just had renovated the interiors of our house, we shifted our plan into just putting up a personalized wall unit which divides our living room and dining room.  The outcome was great.  All our friends and relatives appreciate the "new look" of our home.  We called it orange themed  living room as orange is the dominant color. It's so cool and I loved it, too!

Computer Room

My kids especially my son had been urging me to build a computer room for them.  My two kids were both studious and they are much into doing research works.  Surprisingly both of them had developed that interest in video film making and editing and they spend most of their free time in front of the computer.

We already had a desktop computer in my son's room.  We bought it sometime last year after they complained that their laptop screen was damaged.  They take turns in using the desk top and they complained to me that they always fall behind their deadlines because of this, not to mention that they always end up arguing on who will use the desktop first.  Because of this, I'm thinking of looking for some laptops on sale.  I'm pretty sure that purchasing one will eventually solve their problems.  For the meantime, that could be the best solution, but I'm also looking into building a small home office one day which will served as our computer room, too.  After all, we all share the same interest, and that is facing the computer doing our own things online most of the times.

House Renovation

I am currently in the process of renovating my first house.  It was "for rent" for 5 years and the successive typhoons in the Philippines as well as the termites attack on woods had caused it's wear and tear.  The renovation started end of March and still ongoing.  We are now on the repainting works and electrical installation.  I had to replace the entire roofing of the house and take off the ceiling as these were severely damaged by termites.  It's quite costly to do major renovation works.  I've been spending more than 2 months of my salary already for that renovation but still not completed until now.

I've decided to have steel trusses for the roof and replaced all the window frames into solid materials, as in combination of steel and cement. All the built in wooden cabinets were removed, too.  Now, we're looking into purchasing some steel shelving as it's more durable and can definitely last for a long time.  That way, I can save on repair works in the long run.  I'm thinking that after all woods were replaced by steel and cement, all I will be required of is to maintain the house and so, I might be free from spending more on major repair works in the future.

Creating A Functional Space In Your Bedroom

Photo Credit : hgtv

If I have to redesign my own bedroom, I wanted to have a larger area where I could create my own space.  The corner space on the above photo is very functional.  The working desk at the side provides an ample space for your "mini home office".  It only covers the basic, not much clutter.  Even the filing rack beside the desk is a perfect fit.  I love the provision of those white boxes where you could keep some small stationery items.  The standing lamp adds drama to the space and it's colorful design will surely attract every eye.  The mini closet can be an addition to your existing one where you could keep extra shirts and sweaters together with some personal stuff.  The cute mini board on top of the table served it's purpose, too.  It's a place to stick on those reminders for your daily tasks and  showcase some of your favorite photos.

Clutter free is really stress free. :)

Must Tools For Your Homes

I just had my other house renovated.  After 5 years that it was rented out, a lot of things need to be refurbished.  As expected, labor cost is driving me nuts. Aside form the high cost of materials, labor cost is another area which really add up to the high renovation expenses.  This would not happen if my house was maintained regularly.  I mean, it would be better to address one problem from time to time than do major repair works in the end.  I was just thinking that it would be a lot better if we could equip our tool cabinet with all the must tools for homes.  Well, we already had the basic ones but it would also be nice if I could get some electric drills and c clamps as these tools will be very useful, too.   My family loves home designing and we pay particular attention to good organizing.  Because of that, we are much into wood works.  Fabricating those personally designed cabinets, drawers and shelves had been our main thing at home.  So it really pays to be equipped with those must tools for the house.  That way, a man in the house could do some simple tasks at home and that could helps up save on labor cost.

Building Your Own Blog

When I started to build my first blog site, I was clueless.  I actually got the inspiration from some Filipina bloggers in Phnom Penh when I stumbled upon their sites.  I was thrilled reading their posts about their personal life as well as those tips that they are giving to their readers.  After one month of reading their blogs, I began to feel that fervent desire to build my own blog.  During that time, blogging is really a new thing to me.  Aside from writing your own posts, I knew nothing about it's technicalities.  I really don't know how to start.  I began searching online for some free website builders and I was surprised that there are so many options available.  But since, I am a newbie, I have chosen the free blogger platform.  One long time blogger whom I met online told me that it would be good for a start and so I did.  I never regret that I've decided to blog as it really gives me some kind of fulfillment and because of this, I gained more friends and opportunities online.

Ways To Organize Your Closet

Of all the things is my bedroom, what concerns me most is the closet. Our closet is where our more personal things are kept and it is just right to keep it tidy. More often, we are facing the problems of having a proper storage where you can locate you personal stuff with ease. But it's not only that, when you are free from clutter and your things are properly organized, you feel more relaxed and it also can give you a good mood. It is important that we have proper storage places within the closet. Whether these are baskets, boxes or plastic containers or fabricated wooden drawers and shelves, the more important thing is we have a definite place for every small stuff.

Here are few examples of closet organization. You may be able to find a design that would suit your bedroom as well as your personality.

All pics are courtesy of hgtv:

Organizing Your Accessories

                                                                     photo credit : hgtv

Are you fond of using accessories? I do! But my problem is how to organize these in a way that everything can be within reach. I would admit, I used to have different containers for my accessories and more often, I can't find the correct piece to match my wardrobe in an instant. Normally I would just settle using the same set of accessory especially when I'm in a hurry to work, as I don't have the time to search for what I really want.

Not until I see this drawer organizer which is really cool and could help me find the right accessory for my outfit without going through the tedious job of searching from all my small boxes in the cabinet. I think this is really a good way to organize those small stuff.

I would definitely have one fabricated for my personal use.