The first thing we did when we moved into our house was fence in the back yard for our kids and dog. There is a long stretch between the house and garage that you can see from the road and my wife wanted a decorative fence put up there instead of chainlink fence.

She decided that she wanted to have PVC fencing (plastic) put in there because it looked nice. Basically it looked like a white picket fence and not an “eyesore” like chainlink, her words. I looked at the $1500 price tag on the fence, not including installation, compared to the $400 for the chainlink installed. I tried to persuade her to change her mind but it wasn’t happening.

I got to spend a week installing this fence for my wife and custom building a gate because they don’t make one to go over a sidewalk. I finally got it all up and it looked very nice from the road. I should have known there was going to be problems when the guy who sold me the fence gave me a free tube of PVC glue “just in case” I had problems with the fence.

This fence falls apart when the wind blows too hard. I have had entire sections break off in the winter just because it got too cold. Not to mention that the gate I built is being held together by zip strips because it doesn’t hold up to being opened and closed. I did some research after the fact (that’s the best time) and found out this is not uncommon and most people are having these types of problems. I would advise everyone to not buy this type of fencing unless you like constant upkeep and maintenance.

Marinate a few hours before for a quick and spicy appetizer or entree (serve with your favorite sides).

Ingredients:

2 pounds large shrimp, peeled and de-veined
1/3 cup olive oil
1/4 cup sesame oil
1/4 cup chopped parsley (fresh)
2 tablespoons hot sauce
2 tablespoons garlic (minced)
1 tablespoon ketchup
1 tablespoon Asian chili paste
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon black pepper powder
3 tablespoons lemon juice
12 wooden skewers, soaked in water

Cooking Process:

•    Mix olive oil, sesame oil, parsley, hot sauce, minced garlic, ketchup, chili sauce, salt, pepper, and lemon juice in a bowl.
•    Keep 1/3 of this mixture aside to be used for grilling.
•    Add the remaining mixture to the shrimp and refrigerate it for 2 hours.
•    Preheat the grill for high heat.
•    Thread shrimp onto skewers, discard the mixture.
•    Oil the grate and cook the shrimp for 2 minutes each side till it turns opaque, coating with the remaining mixture.

More Help Can Be Found At Dine Without Whine

It seems like a never-ending battle with the kids. Although you and I know veggies are delicious and they’re also good for you, they act like vegetables are a plague they want to avoid at all costs.

If you need creative ways to get your kids to eat more vegetables, here are 9 ideas to incorporate into your daily meals right away:

1. Make healthy choices readily available and put the sugary and greasy snacks away. This doesn’t mean totally deprive yourselves of these delightful treats, but making healthy eating a normal part of your day goes a long way to helping kids develop better eating habits.

2. Add veggies like carrots or even asparagus to smoothies. Kids love fruit smoothies and they’ll never know you put in a little of those dreaded vegetables in.

3. Sneak vegetables into other foods. For example: Add grated carrots into spaghetti sauce or make a zucchini chocolate cake.

4. Try dip. You know kids love to dip everything. Just make sure they know they have to eat the dip stick and not just lick it!

5. Take your kids shopping with you. Let your child pick out a new vegetable in the grocery store that they’ve never tried. Then prepare the vegetable together.

6. Be patient and consistent. Avoid having a tantrum yourself when your child has a tantrum about vegetables on their plate. Sometimes it will take several times of serving the same food before your child is even willing to try it.

7. Make it artistic and fun. Place veggies into a smiley face on your child’s plate or decorate a pizza with them.

8. Let them choose: raw or cooked. Some children may have a definite preference as to whether their veggies are cooked or raw.

9. Plan your meals. Sometimes it’s easy to forget the veggies when you don’t have a plan…allowing your kids to get into the habit of veggie-free meals. Plan your meals and grocery lists in advance, so you won’t come up short on the greenery.

To make your meal planning a whole lot easier, sign up for you 1 ¢ no-risk trial at Dine Without Whine. They put together your weekly dinner plan and even make a quick and easy printable grocery list for you. Click here to get started

I know it has been on for a few weeks but I wanted to give it a couple weeks before passing judgment. This show is from creator Joss Whedon, who has done shows like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, and Firefly. All of these were very good shows, I am very big on character development and good vs evil storylines. I came into this show with very high expectations.

The show is about a company that rents out young men and women to do specialized tasks for rich/powerful people. The men and women are like computers in the fact that they can be programmed to be anyone you want them to be, date for a night, assassin, or anything in between, with a lifetime of memories to go with it. When the task is over they are totally erased back to a zombie state until they are needed again.

As much as I wanted to like this show I am finding it very difficult to do. The character development is very slow and the good vs evil is so foggy I really couldn’t tell you who is good and bad. The company seems bad but they do good things with the “actives” as they are called and they hint to the idea that the actives knew what they were getting into when they got involved. So the lines are still fuzzy on what it is all about. The first few episodes were mostly boring and hard to get into, in fact I was about to cancel my DVR timer, but the last 2 episodes have started picking up and I am now curious and wanting to watch what will happen next. Right now I would give the show a 5 out of 10 and would not recommend it, but I still have hope. Plus the fact that Joss did it gives me even more hope, I just think it needs time.

In January I took a job as an online customer service rep to help pay the bills, getting an outside the home, full time job isn’t really a possibility in our current situation. It is from midnight to noon four days on four days off shift, 48 hours a week for $400 a month. It is not much money (roughly $2 an hour) but I only get 20-30 customers a night, mostly it is just waiting, not hard work. It also gave me a time when I could do my blogging, web page building and graphic design in between the chats.

The issue I am having is when I took the job it was very clear what my job was and I agreed to do it for the money they offered. On my second or third night I was asked to go to a website and do research for the company, it took me a few hours and cut into my other work. I did it because at the time I was trying to learn as much as I could as fast as I could because I like to know as much as I can about the job I am doing. This kept happening like 3 out of 4 nights I worked and I soon realized this was going to be the norm for the job.

I began talking to other coworkers about this and they were telling me that it will soon get worse. Most of the other people are now setting up jobs, doing graphics, and from what I can tell all the work of this very small company. They make no more money than I do, some working 7 days a week to keep up with all that is asked of them.  One of them told me that in an argument with the owner he told her that if she wouldn’t do it he would find another sucker that would do it for the money; the key is just getting them in the door. I have since quit doing the extra work for him and am waiting for the repercussions. I feel bad for all the single mothers that work for him and are now stuck doing this because they can’t afford to lose even $400 a month in our current economy. I also cannot afford to lose the money either, but I will beg for change before I am taken advantage of by a tyrant like this.