All Things Home - February 2012

AllThingsHomeOnline.com 3

Glass/MirrorsAnderson Glass 10 Bullseye Glass 7

Grout Staining/SealingGrout Works of Central Texas 19

Handicap ModificationsAccess Mobility 14

Home BuildersKevin Bearden Custom Homes 2Weld House Homes 6

Home TheaterCustom Integrators 10

House PlansGreat House Plans 11

HVAC ContractorsComfort Air 11Lochridge Priest 18Oasis Heating and Cooling 14

InsulationDEK Insulation 9

Insurance AgencyTerry Strickland State Farm 3

Index February 2012

Featured ArticlesRodent Proofing Your Home 12

The Dream of Owning A Home 16

The Housework and Clutter Equation 20

Featured BusinessesBlinds and ShuttersPeg’s Blinds and Shutters 15

Building MaterialsRedwood Inc. 14

CarpentersRingo’s Construction 14

CountertopsGary Beam Formica Countertops 8Goldstone 7Red’s Quality Marble 15Unique Kitchen & Bath 10

ElectricianMr. Electric 11Zawadzki Electric 6

FlooringCustom Stain and Scoring 8

FurnitureFurniture Center 6

PUBLISHERAll Things Home™

ART DIRECTION & DESIGNJose Gonzales

TO ADVERTISE PLEASE CALL254.709.6045

IrrigationStein Lawn and Landscape 10

Metal Roof SuppliesPioneer Steel and Pipe 3

Paint/SuppliesWigley’s Paint Inc. 15

Plumbing FixturesWaco Winnelson 8

RoofersTalbert Construction 9Wehrmann Metal Roofs 19

Real Estate LoansCommunity Bank and Trust 8 Loan Source 15

RemodelingKevin Bearden Custom Homes 2Talbert Construction 9

If you have been searching for a custom home builder, remodeler, service provider, or just a tradesman to complete a small home project, then All Things Home is the only guide you will need. Inside you will also find helpful tips and suggestions for various home projects. Thanks for showing an interest in All Things Home.

Welcome to All Things Home

© 2012 All Things Home™. Reproduction without permission of editorial or graphic content in any manner is prohibited.

To advertise in the next issue of All Things Home, please contact

254.709.6045 or email us at: [email protected]

Wouldn’t you like to be a part of All Things Home

and let people know about your services?







Rats and mice are commensal rodents. Commensal means “sharing one’s table”. Rats and mice have been sharing our food and shelter for hundreds of years. They build nests in walls, closets, behind cabinets, or in storage boxes. They are nocturnal animals, leaving nests to find food and nibbling on small amounts throughout the night. With uncontrollable bladders, tiny drops of urine are left wherever they travel. When active, they continually produce droppings. Rats and mice can and do contaminate your home and food with urine, droppings, or fur.

The word rodent means “to gnaw”. Rats and mice, like other rodents have

one pair of incisor teeth that continue to grow throughout their lives. They keep these teeth sharp by gnawing them against one another, but will also gnaw on various objects. They can damage the walls, floors, furniture, electrical wiring, and utility pipes in your home.

In addition to obvious gnawingdamage to your home, you can also identify rodent activity by their droppings, which are often confused with those of a cockroach. Rodent droppings are oblong with smooth edges, while cockroach droppings tend to be smaller, more slender and have ridged edges. Mice and rats routinely follow the same pathway

After experiencing record breaking heat in Central Texas, cooler weather will be a welcome change. The arrival of cooler weather brings a new variety of woes-rodents such as rats and mice will also arrive at your home looking for food and shelter. Begin protecting your home now from these unwanted house guests.


between their nests and food source, leaving dust-free runways along the floor or in the rafters. They may also leave grease marks from oil and dirt along the wall next to their runways.

Mice can enter your home through an opening the size of a dime and rats can enter through an opening the size of a quarter. The best way to prevent them from entering your home is to exclude them. Seal openings around electrical wiring, air conditioning and water conduits, drain pipes, and vents. Use steel wool or copper mesh to stuff entry points or use expand-a-foam or mortar to form a long-term seal. Repair exterior damage to walls, eaves or windows. Check your roof to make sure that shingles are tight and use hardware cloth to screen vents and chimney openings. Use a metal kick-plate to reduce spaces beneath exterior doors.

Ensure that your attic and closetsare clean. Rodents prefer to nest in paper and cardboard, so sealed plastic containers for storage are ideal. Be sure to keep clutter and debris away from the exterior perimeter of your home. Prevent rodents from infesting your yard by keeping garbage cans and outside pet food tightly sealed. Never place meat or chicken scraps in outdoor compost piles. Elevate woodpiles and outdoor storage sites off the ground.

If you find evidence of mice and rats in your home, several different methods are available to eliminate them. A variety of traps are available such as the familiar wooden snap trap or larger, multiple catch traps. Place traps in the rodent’s pathway, usually along the edge of a wall, in a darkened corner or behind appliances. Rodent poison is available at your local hardware or feed store but should be used with caution to prevent accidental poisoning to children or house pets. For expert, safe, effectiverodent control, contact The Pest Inspector at (254) 732-2927 or online at www.yougotemwellgetem.com



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Own a new home at cost with zero percent interest and zero down payment! The first step is to attend one of our mandatory homeownership orientations. In the orientation applicants receive additional information about the Waco Habitat homeownership program and details on how to apply and qualify.

All orientations are held once a month at our downtown office at 220 North 11th Street at 7:00pm. Child-care is provided. Both English and Spanish orientations are available throughout the year.

The following are a few of the basic Family Selection Criteria. More specific information is provided at the orientation session.

SPANISH ORIENTATIONS

• June 28, 2012

• September 27, 2012

ENGLISH ORIENTATIONS

• February 23, 2012

• April 26, 2012

NEED FOR HOUSING• Living in overcrowded housing

• Living in substandard housing

• Being a resident of public housing

• Being unable to secure adequate housing through the private market

ABILIT Y TO PAY• Income: Income must be stable and fall between 30%-60% of HUD Area Median Income.

• Budget: Your estimated mortgage payment should be no more than 30% of your income and mortgage and other debt combined should be no more than 43% of your income.

• Delinquent Debt: No more than $2,000 in delinquent debt within the past three years from the time of application

• Bankruptcy: Must wait two years after being discharged and fulfilled the requirements of the bankruptcy

WILLINGNESS TO PARTNER• Applicants must be willing to perform at least 300 sweat equity (volunteer) hours

• Attend a series of homebuyer education workshops

• Must have lived or worked in the Greater Waco Area for the last year

• Have a commitment to a drug-free community and no serious criminal history

For more information, visit www.wacohabitat.org, contact Waco Habitat at 254-756-7575, or email [email protected].


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Have you ever given any consideration to how much your clutter iscosting you, in terms of time, emotional and mental energy, as well as cold, hard cash? Many people tell me that they would work on their clutter, but there are so many more interesting things to do. This could not be truer, even for someone like me. I would rather go to the park with my family than tidy up. However, when I return from my family outing to a cluttered house, I have a different opinion. Sound familiar?

The truth of the matter is if we were

to take a short period of time each day

to pick up and put away clutter, we would

be putting a stick in the spoke of that

cycle. According to the National Soap

and Detergent Association (yes, there

is one at www.cleaninginstitute.org),

getting rid of clutter would eliminate 40%

of housework in the average home. I don’t

know about you, but 40% less housework

would make me a very happy person!

So, here we are, already very busy

people, how can we keep the clutter to a

minimum to be more effective? Start by

making the time. If we were to dedicate

thirty minutes each day to cleaning and

de-cluttering, we would ultimately have

more time to ourselves. Identify the most

productive time of the day for you, then

assign one room each day. Set the timer

and get started.

The process is easier with daily tasks

out of the way: bed making, dish washing,

laundry, etc. With the remaining time

take one room and remove all of the

clutter. Any items that should be

removed from the focus area that are

without a definite home, place these in a

box labeled, “Needs a New Home”. Resist

the urge to stash these items in a drawer,

cabinet, or other out-of-sight location.

This will hurt more in the long run.

When the time is up, complete the

task at hand then stop. Move on to those

things that kept you from de-cluttering in

the beginning, like television or reading.

After the first day, incorporate the task

of finding a home for one item in your

box. Sometimes this will take longer

than others, but it is a worthwhile time

investment. For instance, if the item

needing a home is a brand new box of

Legos, when new Legos arrive (there is

no such thing as one box of Legos), they

can go directly to the new home. The

same thing goes with any type of item.

And just for the record; small, clear plastic

stackable boxes are ideal Lego storage.

Place one kit into each box along with the

instruction book.

There are times when it is difficult to

include solutions to all circumstances

when addressing such a varied audience.

Please feel free to contact me directly

should you have questions or concerns

about your specific situation.

Until next time, have a NEAT day!

Jennifer Snyder is owner of Neat as

a Pin Organizing Experts. For more

info visit her at neatasasapin.net, call

254.715.3888, or email her at

[email protected]


With a New Year comes the infamous New Year’s Resolutions. We all want to make a change and January 1st seems to be the most logical time to do so. In the past few months, we have most likely overspent, overate, under-exercised, and under- organized.

In my line of business as a Professional Organizer, the one thing I hear most often is that people know how to be organized, they just don’t know how to get started. The truth is, it doesn’t matter how you start, it simply matters that you do. So getting started means different things to different folks. Today I am going to give you some inspiration to “pull the trigger” and get organized in 2012!

Regardless of how tidy, messy, clean, or domestically lax we may be, trash consumes a great deal of space. (Using the term “trash” loosely for items that can be given away, donated, recycled or literally sent to the landfill) These items can consume up to 50% of our living and storage spaces. By simply removing the “trash”, you can reduce the volume of stuff that you have to organize. Once the volume is reduced, you will be more likely to have a reasonable amount of things in your space. We can talk about living at capacity another day.

Remove your trash by systematically identifying and removing such items. Create a donate box and when it gets full, take it to your preferred charity. If you don’t have one, I would recommend the Salvation Army and the Family Abuse Center. Allow-ing donate items to build up is simply doing the same things you have always done and calling it something different. Taking action is the key.

Challenge yourself to identify at least one item to remove from your space every day. Here are a few examples of how to do this:

• Check expiration dates – do this with items in the refrigerator, pantry, medications, and make-up.

• Remove clothing with stains and holes – if these are being saved for crafts or yard work, identify how many you would realistically need before the next possible wash. One or two sets are usually all that is needed.

• Remove clothing that does not make you feel attractive. If it doesn’t make you feel great, you probably won’t wear it anyway.

• If a project has been incomplete for more than 12 months, it is unlikely to be completed this year. Discard the items purchased or saved for the incomplete project – regardless of how much money it cost you. It is costing you money being stored in your space.

I hope these tips help to get you started on the right track in 2012! Please visit my Facebook page, Neat as a Pin OrganizingExperts for questions and answers to your most challenging organizing issues.

Jennifer Snyder is owner of Neat as a Pin Organizing Experts. For more info, visit her at neatasasapin.net, call 254.715.3888, or email her at [email protected]

It’s A Girl Thing Magazine 10




collections are uniquely inspired creations.

Faith, Hope & Love are set in gold and

silver, while Branches is done in gold and

diamonds.

“My favorite is called interchangeables,

it starts with a gold swirl and allows you

to change the color dripping from the

bottom. It is quite a client favorite as well.”

Linda McEathron sees jewelry as a very

personal choice. It must feel as special as

it looks. Her work reflects that sentiment.

Visit Design House today for a gift for the

one you love, yourself or your beauty. Their

located inside Sironia at 1509 Austin Ave.

or contact them at 254.717.743 or online at

www.designhouse-jewelry.com


Situated inside Sironia in Waco’s

trendy Uptown shopping district, the

treasures found in Design House are

displayed in the setting that evoke the

natural world. Rocks, bamboo, and moss

serve as backdrops to Mrs. McEathron’s

stunning, handmade jewelry. Drawing

inspiration from the world around her

is something she does often. It is a

beautiful world, full of color and

graceful lines.

“I work with lots of bold color,” says

McEathron. To meet the needs of her

clients, she travels far and wide buying

raw metals and fabulous gemstones. “I

have many clients that have a wish list. I

look for things I know they will love.” This

is central to her design philosophy.

Linda brings her clients into the

creative process. “Nothing is more

satisfying than to see a client

wearing a piece of jewelry that we

made together.”

Exquisite jewelry demands the finest

materials and this artist settles for

nothing less. McEathron works with

Tahitian pearls, citrine, dazzling shades

of tourmaline, and even ancient Roman

coins. Her designs are executed in gold,

silver, and platinum. Her signature

“I love to have the torch in my hand...it’s a very powerful thing to create!” Spoken like a master jeweler, someone that touches every step of the process with her own hands from the selection of a precious stone to designing the perfect setting. Linda McEathron is one such master. You can find her creations at Design House.



Index February 2012

Featured ArticlesMaking Memories 3

Getting Organized in the New Year 10

Featured BusinessesClothing & Accessories Sassy Britches 5

FabricFrankly Fabric 8

Home/InteriorsThe Mix 7

Jewelry Design House 4For.Me.La 6Gholson Originals 2

Make-upKimberly Cutler 5

MonogrammingIt’s Personal Gift Boutique 5

TanningTuscanny Sun Tanning Salon 6

PUBLISHERAll Things Home™

ART DIRECTION & DESIGNJose Gonzales

TO ADVERTISE PLEASE CALL254.709.6045

© 2012 All Things Home™. Reproduction without permission of editorial or graphic content in any manner is prohibited.

To advertise in the next issue of It’s A Girl Thing, please contact

254.709.6045 or email us at: [email protected]

Wouldn’t you like to be a part of It’s A Girl Thing

and let people know about your business?

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All Things Home - February 2012