Putting your house up for sale is a huge undertaking. You have to worry about fixing everything and keeping the house and yard spotless at all times, as you never know when someone is going to drive by and notice the “For Sale” sign and want to see your house.

Part of keeping the yard well maintained has to do with curb appeal. You want the people driving by to see a nice address sign so they can make a note of your house number or so they can find your house from an advertisement that caught their eye.

Actually, putting your house up for sale is a good time to buy new address plaques and numbers. Especially if there is more than one house on your street for sale at the same time. You want to make sure that people can find your house and not end up at the neighbors.

Make sure that the house number is displayed prominently at the street, such as painted on the curb, on the mailbox or mailbox post, or on a staked address plaque. It is also a good idea to have the house numbers displayed on the house itself, next to the front door. At night, be sure to leave the porch light on until at least 9:00 pm, so people driving by will be able to easily see the numbers.

1. Alex,
2. Bonnie,
3. Colin,
4. Danielle,
5. Earl,
6. Fiona,
7. Gaston,
8. Hermine,
9. Igor,
10. Julia,
11. Karl,
12. Lisa,
13. Matthew,
14. Nicole,
15. Otto,
16. Paula,
17. Richard,
18. Shary,
19. Tomas,
20. Virginie,
21. Walter

Here are the choices:

• Cooler weather
• Trees changing colors
• College football
• NFL games
• New television shows
• Fall fashions
• Hunting
• Fall school break
• Daylight savings time change

One of my favorite series was about sea life. We’ve learned about sharks, whales, dolphins and a variety of other sea creatures, including krill. I always knew that krill is a food source for whales and fish.

Now I have learned from the krilloil.com web site that krill is an important source of Omega 3 fatty acids for humans. They have made krill oil capsules that can used as a dietary supplement.

According to the krilloil.com web site, krill oil is comparable to fish oil. Although fish oil may be a cheaper, the krill oil is absorbed by the body faster and easier.

I al always interested in learning more about natural health products, and I’m going to ask my brother to check out the krilloil.com and let me know what he thinks about trying some krill oil as a supplement.

American Red Cross

Provides emergency humanitarian aid.

Church World Service

Distributes food packages and shelter material for families affected by the floods in Pakistan’s provinces of Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

International Rescue Committee

Brings help to victims of monsoon floods.

Islamic Relief

Carries out an emergency campaign to aid the victims of the Pakistan floods.

Oxfam

Conducts emergency aid effort for victims of the flood.

Save the Children

Provides humanitarian relief as emergency health care and providing non-food items and shelter.

UNICEF

Provides assistance with clean water, sanitation, health, and nutrition.

World Food Programme

Mobilizes their resources to make sure relief measures in Pakistan are met quickly.

The number of victims is greater than the combined total of the last three natural disasters:

• the 2005 South Asia tsunami (5 million),
• the 2005 South Asia earthquake (3 million), and
• the 2010 Haiti earthquake (3 million).

They estimate over 290,000 homes have been destroyed or seriously damaged in Pakistan, which is almost the same as the number of homes destroyed in Haiti earlier this year.

The local Ren Fest is always at the property of a man who built a real castle. Part of the Festival admission allows you to tour the castle. It was an ambitious undertaking and he did a lot of the work himself, including all the hand placed tiles in the castle kitchen.

The wife was looking at a web site with Halloween costumes and found a sexy pirate costume that would be great for a Ren Fest costume. We have always dressed up like peasants in the past, but if she wants to go as a pirate next time, maybe I will find a new costume for myself, too.

I had not even thought of looking on the internet for sexy Halloween costumes that would serve us as a Ren Fest costume. I’m glad she was looking at the Halloween site and got the idea. That opens up our costumes options quite a bit.

This is the same site that my step daughter used last Halloween when she chose a sexy cop costume to go to work dressed up on Halloween. All the employees were allowed to dress up in Halloween costumes as long as they did not wear a mask or wear anything too revealing. After all, it is a family shopping destination.

The good thing about this Halloween costume web site is that they have a category dedicated to plus sized women. So my stepdaughter was able to find something that she knew would fit and not have to worry about getting something too small and then sending it back.

I was amazed to find out that my mother, at her age, has bought a new Honda because she has been wanting to get a hybrid. I would have thought she would be more concerned about comfort than the environment. Just goes to show!

My brother has a honda accord and he loves it. I guess when it is time to do car shopping, I’ll have to go drive his for a day and see if I like it enough to buy one for our household.

Myrtle Beach placed more public golf courses on the new Golf Digest’s list than any other golf destination in the country, followed by the Pinehurst and Pebble Beach areas.

I’m happy to say that I have played in all three areas and Myrtle Beach is still my favorite area for both quality and variety, hands down.

Maybe it was the 80′s or maybe it was the DC area, but I never had a problem getting tee times smack on the time frame I wanted or very close to it. I could even get a quick pick up game if I had the chance to cut out of the office a couple hours and play 9 holes before dark.

But then I started going to Myrtle Beach every year and that is the one place in America known for their golf courses. Everyone goes there and everyone needs to know about www.48hourteetimes.com so their golf time can be based around convention schedules and family time at the beach. So setting up the right schedule ahead of time is very important.

The smartest thing to do about scheduling plus saving a little money on the course fees is to log in to the 48 hour tee times web site and set up everything right there.  You have to admit that 48 hours is pretty quick when the courses are in such demand. But trust me, they are worth it!

With all the different Myrtle Beach golf courses, you can go there for a week every year, for several years, and always have a new or different golf course to play. So you just have to pick which golf courses you want to play, and use the internet to book your tee times when you book your hotel.

In fact, there are Myrtle Beach golf packages that do that for you automatically. I love the way the internet makes planning a vacation so easy. I can do everything in just a few minutes from home or at work, have everything arranged. Then I turn over the rest of the details to the wife, and she handles the food, the entertainment, and the daily activities for the rest of the family.

Here is a list of health food store types of products that are supposed to work well:

Rub any of the following oils directly on the skin:

• Citronella: use only pure essential oil of citronella, NOT the fragrance oil. Oils purchased in bulk for burning are not adequate for applying topically to your skin. For skin get high quality citronella essential oil from a natural food store.
• Soy oil
• Catnip oil
• NEEM seed oil: or “neem oil” is extracted from a plant that grows in India and is rubbed on the skin
• Lavender essential oil

Or, you can eat lots of Fresh Garlic, as mosquitoes don’t like the smell of garlic and will stay clear.