Some practices, such as using local and renewable materials or passive solar design, date back millennia - the Anasazi indian tribe in the Southwest built entire villages so that all the homes received solar heat in the winter. There are few things as amazing as walking through some of the preserved homes!!!
The contemporary green building movement arose out of the need and desire for more energy efficient and environmentally friendly building practices. The oil price increases of the 1970s spurred significant research and activity to improve energy efficiency and find renewable energy sources. This, combined with the environmental movement of the 1960s and 1970s, led to the earliest experiments with contemporary green building.
Green building is the practice of creating structures and using processes that are environmentally responsible and resource-efficient throughout a building's life-cycle from siting to design, construction, operation, maintenance, renovation and deconstruction.
Green building is also known as high performance building or now more correctly defined as sustainable design.
Green buildings are designed to reduce the overall impact of the built environment on human health and the natural environment by:
Why Go Green?
On any given day, the average American household contains over 30 harmful and damaging chemical cleaning products. Six of which are located in the bathroom and kitchen according to Debra Lynn Dadd in her book, Nontoxic and Natural. There are alternatives cleaning solutions and methods which are just as effective and are less expensive than chemical cleaners. Big industry has picked up on the green trend as evidenced by Green Works produced by Clorox. However, the products are expensive.
Few people realize that making your own cleaning solutions can save you tons of money. Using products like white vinegar, essential oils, castile soap, and herbs, your home can become clean without chemicals. I suggest you finish using the chemical products, and then reuse the bottles (after rinsing them out) to hold your natural cleaning solutions.
Essential oils can seem expensive at first but remember that they will last for 6 to 7 months and for 10 or more cleaning solutions. Plus, you can add them to footbaths, baths, and steam bowls for aromatherapy purposes. I also suggest growing a handful of herbs to use in scrubbing recipes and countless other purposes.
The DIRT Dessert...Mud Pie, whatever sounds grossest to you :)
Ingredients:
Preparation:
Process cookies in batches in food processor until cookies are fine crumbs, or place cookies in food storage bags and use a rolling pin to crush.
Prepare pudding according to package directions; fold in whipped topping. Combine butter, sugar, and cream cheese in another mixing bowl; beat at medium speed until smooth. Fold into the pudding mixture. Trim top of the whipped topping container to fit the bottom of an 8-inch flower pot.
Set aside 1 1/2 cups crumbs and spoon about 1/3 of the remaining crumbs into the flowerpot. Spread about 1/3 of the pudding mixture over the crumb layer. Repeat layers twice, then top with the reserved crumbs, covering the pudding completely. Cover and chill for 4 hours.
If desired, put a flower in a florist's holder and insert in the pot before serving, or use an artificial flower.
Serves 20
I LOVE Peach Ambrosia!
It is a delicious southern fruit mixture, featuring peaches and sliced bananas.
Top this dessert with a dollop of whipped cream or vanilla yogurt and a few strands of lemon zest. I like to
add a Northwest Flair by adding Oregon Blackberries too :)
This dessert makes a great house warming gift...cooloing gift...(haha)
INGREDIENTS:
2 cups fresh ripe but firm peach slices
1 medium banana,
sliced 1/2 cup red seedless grapes,
optional 1 tablespoon lemon juice
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1/2 cup flaked coconut
PREPARATION: Combine peaches, banana, grapes, lemon juice, and sugar. Chill for about 1 hour. Add coconut just before serving. Spoon into dessert dishes. Serves 4.
Saving the World from Ordinary Service™
At Friendship Based Real Estate ® we live outside the "Box"! We excell at professionally caring for your real estate needs while creating cutting edge marketing to give you the advantage as you sell in this tough environment.
The days of hiring an agent to simply hang a sign, wear a nametag, and wait for the phone to ring is over! We will create a fresh, new and memorable advertising plan that showcases the most marketable aspects of your home. Bad advertising costs you money! We promise to treat you with the respect and care you deserve while giving you a reason to smile!
Have you ever had a experience that only took a moment of time, but changed your life forever? I have....
Here is the story: My adopted grandfather, Ray Murphy, passed away last year in Spokane, WA and I was the one who ended up packing up his belongings and cleaning out his condo. My children were aged one and two and I was already tired to the bone. (With children only 19 months apart...I had not had a full nights sleep in several years.) The stress and grief of the situation combined with my chronic sleep deprivation to create a brittle and ugly layer over my mood and attitude.
So, here I am surrounded the natural chaos of small children packing and cleaning the home of a ailing loved one. They are running through the 50 years of accumulation and clutter while howling like two monkeys on steroids. To escape the noise, I closed myself in his bedroom and started cleaning out his dresser. Among the many bits of paper and mismatched buttons, I found a men's wedding band. I stared at it in the light of that autumn afternoon and time stood still....It took me a moment to realize what I was looking at. My grandfather had never married until he fell in love with the love of his life, Dorthea, in his late 30's. Dorthea had passed away in 2000 and I had forgotten that Ray had stopped wearing his wedding band.
As I stared at that ring, my life focused. I saw a flash of the future and envisioned my daughter holding my wedding band in her hand as she was organizing the final details of my life. In a moment, I knew mortality. I knew death with a finality that was stunning. I was forever changed.
I decided in that moment to live. To truly live. To stop focusing on the parts of life that are stressful, mundane, and unproductive, and to live a live of focused purpose. To laugh with my children and chase them around the living-room with their toothbrushes rather than stressing that they are past their bedtime. I decided to be brave and try a career I could love rather than one I worked 7 years going to college for. I made a determination with myself that I would find beauty and joy in the small moments of magic that everyday life creates. That I would sing and dance without being embarrassed, and cry when I wanted to.
Since then, I have always worn Ray's ring on the pointer finger of my right hand. There have been many times that I have been in the middle of the drama and chaos that is residential real estate that I have consciously looked down at my right hand and re-centered myself.
I know now that the moment that I am in now will be lost in the next. I choose to live.
Sarah Reinhart with Friendship Based Real Estate is one of the most energetic, pleasant and delightful REA's I have ever had the pleasure to work with. I have worked with several through the last few years and none has ever been this delightful and with it. She's efficient and quick she has a knack and what seems to be a God given ability and special talent to work with people as well as very smart and extremely creative. It seems even though one would need money to pay the bills she will most assuredly put the interests and special needs of her clients before hers. My husband & I had one of the most creative and difficult needs as far as combining a residence and a special commercial business property. We had to make sure it was presentable, complete and allowed for a reputable business to be ran from. I believe with the help of the almighty and Sarah who was given direction, grace and favor pulled this off. We found a much desired very peculiar piece of property and it had some extra extra special needs and requirements that had to be full filled in order to get a loan and get it acceptable and wow with her expertise we all did. So hats off to Sarah and her team. She would be an excellent Real Estate Agent for anyone needing or wanting any type of property and I believe she will accomplish it for you. Thanks again Sarah you are great!!!!!!!!! Sincerly, Brenda Liggett.
Sarah is outstanding! She has a unique combination of "caring" and "competence" that makes her shine. She sold my house in 3 hours at full price! -G
Sarah put my worries to rest. She talked me through my concerns and then held my hand through the process. We got full price on our home and sold it in less than a week! -CB
Sarah is a wonderful example of Christ in her business. She follows the golden rule and puts others before her self. She truly cares about my well being and goes the extra mile for my sake. Don't settle for just any agent. Choose wisely. Choose Sarah! - Pastor Mark Hamilton
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