Home & Garden

If you think you missed the boat for 100 percent of the prorated rebate from the L.A. County Sanitation District water softener rebate program, please think again.  Through March 31, 2009, Rayne Water and I will make up the difference up to $200.

The most important aspect when creating a home theater is the placement of the flat screen television.  However the second on the list has to be properly covering the windows with appropriate hard or soft treatments that offer flexibility in light control.  Sunlight reflecting through windows causes glare and affects the color image on televisions.

It’s 2008 and just as you did last year, and the year before that, you’ve probably set some New Year’s resolutions.  By the time you get to February, these will be long forgotten as you get caught up with the daily grind of life.

I’ve learned something revolutionary this week about the use of knives in the kitchen. My experience started a couple of years ago by questioning a couple culinary experts at a cooking demonstration in Bloomingdales, and at a restaurant supply store in Chelsea Market, both in Manhattan.

The 2009 Amgen Tour of California will once again bring together a world-class field of cycling teams from multiple nations, including eight of the sport’s top-rated ProTour teams.  Race organizers confirmed today that entries for the fourth annual race will include Lance Armstrong and the Amgen Tour of California’s two-time defending champion Levi Leipheimer’s team, Astana, along with two of the top U.S.-based teams, Garmin-Slipstream (new to the ProTour circuit) and Team Columbia (formerly Team High Road).  Also racing will be Team Saxo Bank, which finished in the top-three of the world rankings last season and Quick Step, which claimed 55 victories in the 2008 season.

Canyon Theatre Guild will be featuring the art of Santa Clarita Artists’ Association members Evie Cook and Olga Kaczmar in their lobby halls from January 24 to February 22, 2009.  The exhibit will run concurrently with the performance of High School Musical, based on the Disney Channel’s original movie written by Peter Barsocchini.

It wasn’t long ago that high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) and artificial low-calorie sweeteners were riding a wave of popularity, especially with the food and drink manufacturers whom found them to be convenient to transport, easy to process and inexpensive.  Consumers didn’t really know any better, and as long as something tasted sweet, was “low calorie” and cheap they were happy.  Now, for many reasons including health concerns associated with those sweeteners, the landscape is rapidly shifting toward natural alternative sweeteners.  Agave, yacon, palm sugar, brown rice syrup and maple syrup are some of the hot alternative sweeteners that offer unique gourmet flavor profiles, potential health benefits, as well as fair trade and organic status.

On December 15, 2008 Santa Clarita Artists’Association (SCAA) inducted a new president, Laurie Morgan, to lead them through the 2009 season of adventures in art and to pursue the goal of making visual art visible in Santa Clarita.

City of Santa Clarita Councilmembers Laurene Weste and Laurie Ender were on hand Monday, December 1 for the swearing-in ceremony for Los Angeles County Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich. Supervisor Antonovich was sworn in for an eighth term on the Board of Supervisors representing the County’s Fifth Supervisorial District, which includes the City of Santa Clarita.

The New Year is upon us and with it comes the beginnings of many new experiences.  What we have left now from 2008 are a lot of memories.  It is the memories of our lives that we carry with us for the rest of our lives.  As we begin to think back over the months in 2008, we will remember our birthdays, anniversaries, births, deaths, family problems, graduations, making new friends and fun celebrations. But the memories of our trips, vacations and visits from friends may be the memories we think of the most.  Then there is the realization that we are a year older and sometimes this brings a lot of surprises that we did not know would happen.  Yes, getting older will surprise us in how we make decisions about being on committees, changing jobs, or even redecorating rooms in our house. 

After recognizing the need to create a group of qualified, reliable and dedicated home improvement professionals for the Santa Clarita community, Tarrie Lane started up Just SCV’s Best — a collaboration of highly skilled home improvement professionals that Santa Clarita can trust. 

It’s official: January is the month to get organized as declared by the National Association of Professional Organizers (NAPO), the organizing authority.  “Getting organized” has consistently been among the top three New Year’s Resolutions and we have lots of support from retailers to achieve this annual goal.  We see advertising everywhere for special products to organize our over-abundance of “things.”

After much consideration and market research of color trends, consumer needs and demand, A. Allbright is proud to be launching their new paint line in January 2009.

Sunday December 7, the California Oil Museum in conjunction with the students of Santa Paula High School’s Mexican American Studies Course, premiered the new exhibit, Mexican American Heritage.  Running through February 24 2009, this new exhibit will be available for viewing every Wednesday through Sunday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Since the economy has found itself in a recession mode and housing starts are down 34 percent in the home-building industry, now might be the best time to improve your living standards. There are plenty of both unemployed and barely employed construction workers in the residential trades. Prices have fallen in both the construction materials category and construction-skilled labor markets.

The cool, short days of winter usher in the bare-root planting season.  Bare-root plants have been tended in commercial growing fields for several years, then dug and supplied to retailers with their roots bare of soil, but kept moist enough to prevent dehydration.

The recent election has made it very clear that Automatic Water Softeners must be removed from throughout the Santa Clarita Valley.  Over the next several months, over 5,000 homeowners must make a decision as to how and when to remove them and how they can replace the benefits they have enjoyed with softened water for bathing, laundry, cleaning and scale protection purposes.  When making a decision regarding these issues DuPure International suggests you consider the following:

My family and I were at our all time favorite breakfast place, Starlite Café in Newhall, the weekend of the Sarye fire.  We were in kind of a hurry so seeing people in line ahead of us was discouraging at that particular moment.