Kaire Downin

I am a total supporter of living off the grid. I truey beleive that one day, we will embrace these forms of energy and live cleaner, greener and less meaner 8-)

For those of you who think you will have to live like this to accomplish off the grid...

THINK AGAIN. Allow me to introduce to you a way of living just as lusciously and lavishly as you live today while saving money, helping the environment and promoting sustainability.

This amazing site, MetaEfficient.com has a ton of information about renewable energy, and highly efficient things to help make your life more sustainable!

This book "Off The Grid Homes" takes you to a number of different sustainable homes and examines how they were built and how they function.

Wholesale Solar has a wide range of Solar and Wind energy systems to fit your needs at amazing prices!

This Page on How Stuff Works has info on septic and other related topics to going off grid.

For all you blog fanatics, here is one that is all about off grid projects!

Chris Grudge Electrical Services offers wind and solar systems and great info on the website.

You can still be a tree hugger and live with style... as you see here....

www.TheGlobeandMail.com has this wonderful article about this off grid cottage and how these folks spent minimal amounts of money in creating a wonderfully sufficient way of living!

Solutions for Sustainability discusses the basics on how this couple took the plunge.

How to live off the Grid is a book by Nick Rosen talking about how humans used to live, and some still do today and why we started using grids, and most importantly, how to get back.

Livingoffgrid.org for more tips.....

are you sitting down..... you should be if you think you may be ready for THIS!!! You can read more about this incredible off the grid home here.

So stay tuned to my blogs for updates, my next blog will be about Keller Williams Real Estate Listings in the Willamette Valley, OR that are energy efficient, or greener than the average home. I also have some tips I plan on posting for Sellers to add appeal to their listings by updating the house with energy efficient appliances and power adapters!

For more information, see my web site at http://kdownin.yourkwagent.com/

What do you think created this floor?

You would never guess this was a recycled floor huh?

This is the faux leather flooring technique created with brown paper bags!!

You can find specific details on how to create this amazing home project here.

all you need to get started is

• Paper bags or a roll of brown Kraft paper from the postal supply aisle (enough to cover your entire floor, with some overlapping)
• Gallon of water based polyurethane (I recommend Minwax Polycrylic, or Minwax Fast Drying Polyurethane)
• Scissors
• Old work clothes

First you clear out the room you want to improve. Wash the floor best as possible and start tearing up the bags in irregular shapes. Crumble up the paper cuttings to give it some texture and then spread them out flat. Using polyurathane, spread a small amount on the floor, place a peice of the paper into it wihile it is wet and then put more on top, smoothing it as you go. Continue to lay peices down, smooth out the bubles and use a straight edge to trim around the walls. For finishing techniques, click the link above and let your imagination RUN!!

In an effort to get active in my new community, I joined the Partners for Progress comittee, more specifically the Promotional Comittee. I love marketing and I love Lebanon, OR so I am all about helping out in any way I can. It gives me an opportunity to perform a civic duty for my community and it helps me meet people and build relationships. So we have been thinking of events and plans to help build the economy and create a more inviting Historical Downtown area. So Our first planned event is on January 22nd at Santiam Place at 6pm. We will be serving chili and the local bankers and brokers are having a napkin dessert contest. Here is the flyer I created to help spread the word.

Anyone ever wonder what a Solstice is? It seems not everyone understands the signifigance so I thought I would share some amazing information about it. I find it facinating and wish I knew more about it long before I learned.

This web site explains some of the different winter holidays that started with the early celebrations of Solstice. It is a very exciting read to see how so many people of different faiths can find so much in common with the symbolism and religious beliefs connected to a beautiful natural occurance in nature. Being in Real Estate, I think it is important to be aware of different faiths during this beautiful sharing of giving and rebirth, such a lovely time to reconnect with friends and family and enjoy company of our loved ones.

http://www.geomancy.org/astronomy/quarter-cross-quarter/winter-solstice/index.html

From Wikipedia:

The winter solstice occurs at the instant when the Sun's position in the sky is at its greatest angular distance on the other side of the equatorial plane from the observers hemisphere. Depending on the shift of the calendar, the event of the winter solstice occurs some time between December 20 and December 23 each year in the northern hemisphere, and between June 20 and June 23 in the southern hemisphere, during either the shortest day or the longest night of the year, which is not to be confused with the darkest day or night or the day with the earliest sunset or latest sunrise.

The seasonal significance of the winter solstice is in the reversal of the gradually lengthening nights and shortening days. How cultures interpret this is varied, since it is sometimes said to astronomically mark either the beginning or middle of a hemisphere's winter. Winter is a subjective term, so there is no scientifically established beginning or middle of winter but the winter solstice itself is clearly calculated to within a second. Though the winter solstice lasts an instant, the term is also colloquially used to refer to the full 24-hour period of the day on which it occurs.

Worldwide, interpretation of the event has varied from culture to culture, but most cultures have held a recognition of rebirth, involving holidays, festivals, gatherings, rituals or other celebrations around that time.^[2]

The word solstice derives from Latin sol (sun) and sistere (to stand still).

So keep the yule log lit and enjoy the longest night of the year, I am having some coffee now so I can!!

Green Holiday Tips

By Daphne Butas

1 . Go to the EPA website at www.epa.gov/recycling for more information on how to recycle your old MP3 players, laptops and cell phones.

2. Instead of wasting money on wrapping paper this year, wrap your gifts in grocery bags or newspaper. To jazz up the exterior of the packages, get your kids involved and have them paint the paper or decorate it with pine cones or pressed leaves from your yard. Not only does this save money, but it involves a craft project as well which is great when its cold and rainy outside.

3. If you put up Christmas lights this year, only turn them on at night and be sure to turn them off before you go to bed in order to cut down on energy consumption.

4. Recycle bows, bags and as much tissue paper and wrapping paper as you can. This saves money and its a great way to recycle.

5. Consider getting your kids involved in making gifts this year, instead of spending a lot of money to buy gifts. Possible options for kids crafts/gifts are: 1)making ornaments for others to hang on their trees 2) baking cookies, breads, granola or other types of holiday treats 3) making personalized CD's 4) decorating a plain photo frame or trinket box with festive paint etc. (these types of plain gifts can be found at most craft stores for minimal money).

6. Don't send Christmas cards this year. Look into sending e-cards or emails with photos attached. This is a great way to do something great for the environment and it cuts down on your holiday bills.

7. Use clay cat litter, sand or ashes from your fireplace to de-ice your steps and walkways. This keeps chemical de-icing products from running into storm drains and public water supplies.

8. Turn your thermostat down during the day when you are not home and use a fireplace or wood burning stove to heat your home when possible.

9. Try turning the temperature down on your thermostat a few degrees and opt to wear a sweater and slippers while you are at home. This will help to reduce your monthly bill, and its better for the environment.

Green is the theme this holiday season-Go Green and Save Some Green. Pass it along!