Home Builder Developer - Interior Renovation and Design

But they weren't tears of sadness or despair.

No, Carolyn Foreman shed those tears two days earlier, on Christmas morning, as her Kentwood duplex went up in flames. On Friday, there was only joy as she stood in happy disbelief.

Related: Duplex fire displaces two Kentwood families on Christmas morning

Firefighters arrived at her sister's home where she is staying with her three children and handed out armloads of presents provided by Toys for Tots. There was a Nerf football, a nail polish variety pack. A Twister game and a digital camera.

For this family, Christmas wasn't over yet. The sadness they felt in watching their belongings burn won't be the only memory this holiday season.

"I'm so overwhelmed," Foreman said, looking on as her three children, Charles Caldwell, 11; Richard Caldwell, 14; and Tanajah Hawkins, 16 were handed gift after gift. "You are awesome. You all are awesome."

Foreman awoke Christmas morning to fire above the ceiling of the duplex she shares with her children on Innwood Drive SE in Kentwood. She had little time to react, other than to rush them out of the home.

The family had just opened presents the night before, on Christmas Eve. The new gifts were all inside.

Firefighters went out of their way to find $300 in cash Richard Caldwell had been given, while also battling the flames. The fire moved from insulation through the empty spaces above the ceiling.

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Mother sheds tears days after Christmas fire as firefighters bring gifts for her children

home section Interior Design Housekeeping Entertaining Home Improvement Gardening & Plants Landscaping eHow Home & Garden Home Repair & Maintenance Plumbing How to Install Sewer Pipes

Steve Sloane

Steve Sloane started working as a freelance writer in 2007. He has written articles for various websites, using more than a decade of DIY experience to cover mostly construction-related topics. He also writes movie reviews for Inland SoCal. Sloane holds a Bachelor of Arts in creative writing and film theory from the University of California, Riverside.

Each home has a main sewer line (pipe) that runs into either the city sewer or a septic tank. All sewer pipes from individual water fixtures (sinks, toilets, bathtubs), run and connect into this main sewer line, and are attached via connecting couplings. Sewer pipes are made of either PVC or ABS (Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene) plastic, and and the joints are connected with plastic couplings and cement (glue). Water fixtures have a different diameter than sewer pipes, so it's important to contact the local city building department to determine the correct size of the pipes in your area.

Mark the main sewer line at the point where the water fixture's sewer pipe will attach to it. Make a second mark two inches along from the first mark. Cut through the main sewer line at both marks, using a hacksaw to make sure the cuts are straight. Remove any burrs with a utility knife.

Apply ABS glue to the inside lip on both ends of an ABS connecting coupling, and also glue around both cut ends of the sewer line. Push the connecting coupling between the two cut pipe ends, and make sure that the coupling's side spout faces up and in the direction of the water fixture. Hold the coupling in place for 30 seconds to let the glue set.

Apply glue to the end of a piece of ABS sewer pipe and to the inside lip of the connecting coupling's side spout. Push the pipe into the spout, and hold in place for 30 seconds. Then glue a coupling to the other end of the pipe, and install all necessary pipe and couplings until the sewer pipe reaches the water fixture. For sinks, showers and bathtubs, a P-trap needs to be glued to the end of the sewer pipe before the vertical part of the P-trap is connected to the fixture. The end of a toilet sewer pipe is glued to a 90-degree street elbow joint, which in turn is glued to a closet flange.

All horizontal sewer pipes are installed at a gradient to allow for waste to travel along the pipe. Consult your local city building department for the correct gradient in your area.

If installing PVC sewer pipe, use PVC primer to prime all joints before using PVC glue to attach the joints together.

Couplings come in 30-, 45-, 60- and 90-degree angles to help install sewer pipes at the proper angle. There are also "T"-shaped couplings that connect one pipe to another.

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How to Install Sewer Pipes | eHow

Prince William News

Gainesville Times

*Adapted from Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) Hazardous Valuable Resources Used oil is a complex organic substance that consists of heavy metals and hydrocarbons like benzene. Antifreeze contains the toxic ingredient ethylene glycol or propylene glycol and used antifreeze may contain harmful heavy metals such as lead, cadmium, and chromium. Auto batteries contain harmful lead. All are health and environmental hazards. When dispose of properly, used motor oil, oil filters and antifreeze and automotive batteries can be recycled or "beneficially used." Oil doesn't wear out; it just gets dirty. Used oil can be cleaned, re-refined and used again and again.Used oil may be blended and recycled as a heating or industrial fuel and also may be re-refined and made into new lubricants. Likewise, up to 97% of a vehicle battery, also known as a lead acid battery is recyclable. The batterys materials can be used to make new batteries or other products. Auto batteries are crushed into nickel-sized pieces and plastic components and lead are separated. The plastic is reprocessed for manufacture into new plastic products and the purified lead is used by battery manufacturers and other industries. Even the used acid is recycled for reuse. A typical lead-acid battery contains 60 to 80 percent recycled lead and plastic. Importantly, recycling these items saves precious resources, for example recycling antifreeze reduces the consumption of nonrenewable resources like oil and natural gas used to manufacture ethylene and propylene glycol.

Next time you change your own oil, or replace your battery, help prevent pollution and conserve energy and valuable resources by dropping off the used items at a collection center to be recycled.

For more information on recycling or proper disposal of hazardous materials visit http://www.pwcgov.org/trashandrecycling or call the Solid Waste Division at 703-792-4670.

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Hazardous resources should be recycled properly

THERE'S always room for dessert. Regardless of how many slices of lechon or cups of rice had, when the moment calls for dessert, it would require a lot of willpower to resist and say no. Even more so in Country Basket, a pastry shop where sweetness isnt an experience solely for the taste buds.

Call it a room of dessert. A cozy two-storey establishment with bright interiors and playful decor, Country Basket offers a wide assortment of baked goodies like customized whole cakes, cookies, brownies, pastry bars and cupcakes. It is owned and managed by pastry chef, Ellen Lee, who has been in the practice for 10 years.

Ellen said this is her first physical shop, the newest chapter of her career. As a child she used to take short courses in Caro & Marie, and later on pursued her passion by studying baking and pastry at the Center for Culinary Arts in Manila, most notably, at a time when culinary studies was almost unheard of in Cebu. Ellen had her on-the-job training at the prestigious Mandarin Oriental Hotel.

For almost a decade, Ellen has been supplying pastries to restaurants and coffee shops around the metro. But with her own shop now, she said that she has more room to be creative and indulging in her products.

Country Baskets specialties include the kahlua-fused walnut cake, the white chocolate almond sans rival, and cupcakes, which vary from time to time because Ellen enjoys creating special flavors based on the fruits in season. Also available are cookies, meringue, and bread sticks in packs that are perfect for handy snacks or as gifts.

Country Basket also offers pastas and sandwiches to munch on. The must-tries are the mouthwatering Spanish sardine pasta, and the pesto and chicken sandwicha richly-filled snack that pesto lovers will surely enjoy.

Lastly, on the beverage side, Country Basket has house-brewed cold teas and freshly made fruit juices like strawberry and grapea perfect match to its selection of treats, and a colorful addition to the equally delectable and good-enough-to-eat eye candy interiors of the shop.

Country Basket is in Prestigo Arcade along Gorordo Ave., Lahug, Cebu City. It is open from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. on weekdays and from 10 a.m. to 11:30 p.m. on weekends.

Published in the Sun.Star Cebu newspaper on December 28, 2013.

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A room for dessert

Fans of vintage video games rejoice: the geeky crew of Archive.org has powered up the Console Living Room. Its a massive online collection of games for systems like the Atari 2600 and ColecoVision that you can play right in your browser!

Console Living Room is an extension of Archive.orgs Historical Software Collection, and so far it includes the Atari 7800, Magnavox Odyssey, and Astrocade in addition to the Atari 2600 and ColecoVision.

The games are brought to life by JSMESS, a pure JavaScript version of MESS, the Multi Emulator Super System. More than 500 titles are available for the Atari 2600 alone, including classics like Tempest, Pitfall, and Zaxxon.[Read on:Portable Gaming: A Brief History]

And yes, the E.T. game that Atari buried in a New Mexico landfill is playable too. For as long as you can stand it, that is. Move up to the much newer Atari 7800 and youll be able to play much more advanced games with better graphics like Ikari Warriors and Double Dragon.

Archive.orgs official blog post notes that the library will expand rapidly in the very near future, so dont rage quit if you dont see your favorite titles just yet. Also dont expect to hear any sound.

Support for game audio hasnt been implemented yet, but JSMESS is still considered beta software. Its constantly being tweaked and improved, and soon youll get the full classic living room gaming experience you remember right inside your browser.

MESS supports loads of additional systems, like the Intellivision and VirtualBoy. Theres a good chance Archive.org will expand the Console Living Rooms offerings to include them at some point, too!

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Console Living Room lets you play hundreds of old-school games in your browser

When the Mountain View-based Community Health Awareness Council celebrated the grand opening of its new headquarters this September, the event was billed as the "Miracle on El Camino."

The new building, located near the intersection of W. El Camino Real and View Street, is significantly larger than the organization's previous digs at the corner of Church and Hope streets. CHAC paid no money for the larger space, since both the old and new buildings were controlled by the same landlord, who agreed to swap locations free of charge.

The local non-profit, which focuses on delivering affordable community mental health and substance abuse services to local children, teens and adults, opened its new offices at the beginning of July, and according to CHAC representative Carrie Carstens, the new facilities have been "great."

"It has definitely been a blessing," Carstens said. "We need the space."

Due to the former building's size, Carstens said, the organization was having trouble meeting demand for services. Group meetings and classes on subjects such as parenting skills were constrained, and the limited number of individual offices meant that CHAC counselors weren't able to meet with as many people as they now can.

The Community Health Awareness Council is one of this year's beneficiaries of the Voice's annual Holiday Fund drive.

Supporting CHAC means supporting a stronger, healthier, happier community, Carstens said. The organization offers individual, couples and family counseling; psychotherapy; teen pregnancy prevention and support services; substance abuse support groups; help with diagnosing and treating learning and cognitive disabilities; and many more programs focused on improving mental health and well-being.

Assessment tools

Dr. Stewart Kiritz, chief psychologist and director of training at CHAC, runs the organization's newly established Assessment Clinic, which conducts extensive psychological assessments of local men, women, teens and children at the CHAC offices. Though the CHAC has done this kind of assessment since it was founded in 1973, they only decided to get "really serious about it" a year ago, Kiritz said.

Now they have an entire program devoted to diagnosing patients with learning disabilities and mental conditions, such as ADHD, dyslexia, depression and anxiety.

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Room to grow

In what was once a scraggly paved lot next to Dodge City, you'll now find a glass storefront flanked by a trio of brightly painted industrial shipping containers. El Rey, the long-awaited taqueria and beer garden set to open early next month on U Street, was created almost entirely from the giant steel boxes, a resource that's finding favor around the world as an inexpensive, upcycled way to build both restaurants and living quarters.

"Anything that's under cover is containers," says Ian Hilton, who with his brother, Eric, is one of the primary proprietors of the 3,100-square-foot El Rey.

The idea itself isn't new; Southeast Washington entertainment venue Fairgrounds uses the containers, too, though mostly as eye-candy. El Rey, which means "the king" in Spanish, is the first construction in Washington to employ them in substantive ways, to build out kitchens, bathrooms, dining space and design flourishes. In back, a large patio sits under a retractable roof, which can slowly roll back on nice days to shed sunlight on diners, or keep everyone under cover when the prospect of being outdoors is less appealing.

El Rey's menu will focus on tacos and tequila. It will keep a handful of beers on tap, most hailing from Mexican brewers, with a few lesser-known South American brews as well. At a street-facing window, U Street partiers will be able to score tacos without walking inside. But getting to this point was a three-year process, one that included rethinking the whole model for the business.

How El Rey was built:

July 2010: Co-owner Eric Hilton broaches the idea for a temporary summer beer garden and taco shop built out of industrial steel shipping containers. "I had seen, in different places in the Caribbean, houses built out of containers. It's a cool, recycled building material," says Hilton, whose other restaurant/bars include

The first proposed design submitted for El Rey, at 919 U St. NW. (Edit Lab @ Streetsense)

Brixton, Marvin and American Ice Company. "One of our partner-investors owns a shipping company [the Washington-based Paxton Van Lines], so that made it pretty easy to get them." The original plan? "We thought we were just going to throw some containers down and build some bathrooms and call it a day," Hilton says. "The project just sort of mushroomed."

Early 2011: Change of plans. Goodbye, "temporary." The District requires El Rey to undergo the same review process as a permanent structure, and rent on the property is due year-round, regardless of whether the restaurant would be open, co-owner Ian Hilton says. The team decides to rethink El Rey, adding the infrastructure of a year-round business, including a roof.

The architects' second go at El Rey adds a fixed roof over part of the restaurant, and a retractable roof over the beer garden. (Edit Lab @ Streetsense)

The rest is here:
How El Rey, D.C.’s first shipping-container restaurant, was built on U Street

Study: Teens ditching Facebook for other social media sites Study: Teens ditching Facebook for other social media sites

Updated: Friday, December 27 2013 10:25 PM EST2013-12-28 03:25:10 GMT

What does 2014 have in store for your life online? If you're young, it may not involve Facebook as much as an older brother, sister, mom, or dad.

What does 2014 have in store for your life online? If you're young, it may not involve Facebook as much as an older brother, sister, mom, or dad.

Updated: Friday, December 27 2013 10:23 PM EST2013-12-28 03:23:10 GMT

People are lining up to buy the original Air Jordan which Nike is re-releasing on Saturday.

People are lining up to buy the original Air Jordan which Nike is re-releasing on Saturday.

Updated: Friday, December 27 2013 9:30 PM EST2013-12-28 02:30:42 GMT

Attorney General Lisa Madigan filed a lawsuit Friday asking a judge to order a review of what caused an explosion earlier this month at a South Suburban chemical factory that left two workers hurt.

Attorney General Lisa Madigan filed a lawsuit Friday asking a judge to order a review of what caused an explosion earlier this month at a South Suburban chemical factory that left two workers hurt.

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Construction worker dies after mall construction collapse

In the span of the last year, Adrian Romero went from construction worker to food truck operator to brick-and-mortar restaurateur, specializing in the Agua Prieta-style Mexican cuisine he grew up on in Douglas.

On Dec. 13, Romero, who has lived in Tucson 13 years, opened Ole Rico Mexican Steakhouse in the original Mr. K's BBQ space at 1830 S. Park Ave. The restaurant serves a streamlined menu of burritos, Mexican sandwiches and quesadillas, ranging in price from $2.50 to $4.50. The most expensive item on the menu is the $12 grilled steak plate served with tortillas.

Romero said he has been cooking all his life, but he made his living doing construction with an uncle in Tucson. Last spring, he rolled out his Ole Rico food truck, which looks like a little cabin on wheels. He cooked steaks and burgers on an outdoor grill fueled by mesquite wood. He parked mostly on Tucson's southside near South Valencia Road and South Westover Avenue, and took the truck out on weekends to a few community events including Cyclovia and Second Saturdays Downtown.

Business was good, but the south side neighborhood wasn't the safest.

"It was kind of dangerous where I was at," Romero said. "Where I was at in Pima County, it was hard to find a spot."

Romero said he decided to make the leap to permanent restaurant after talking to the building's owner, Charles Kendrick.

Kendrick, the namesake for Mr. K's BBQ, runs his Afro-American Heritage Museum in half of the building and has had a restaurant in the other half since the late 1990s.

"I think it was the only possible setup for me to work the menu because he has the outside grills," Romero said.

Romero said he started working on cleaning up and painting the space in November. It had been vacant for months, since a short-lived Caribbean restaurant closed last summer. Mr. K's, which Kendrick's son, Ray, ran for more than a decade, moved further south on Park to 6302 S. Park Ave. in summer 2012.

Ole Rico is open 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sundays through Thursdays, 11 a.m. to 2 a.m. Fridays and Saturdays.

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From roadside to storefront, food truck owner makes the leap

the Holiday Inn Bordeaux is offering a new dining experience. The hotel opened Generals' Quarters on Dec. 19 in the spot formerly occupied by the All American Bar & Grille.

The All American Bar & Grille was closed following a salmonella outbreak in May. The hotel and restaurant are now managed by Interessant Hospitality based in Orlando, Fla.

Generals' Quarters features a casual menu of appetizers, salads, pizza, burgers and sandwiches.

"We are aiming for a place where people can relax more so than a night club feel, which is what it used to have," said Heidi Scheffler, the restaurant's food and beverage manager.

The kitchen is led by new executive chef John Turner, who trained at Johnson & Wales University and has worked in restaurants from Manhattan to Atlanta, said Heidi Politi, a sales manager at the hotel.

The new menu highlights fresh foods and appetizers, such as the crispy catfish bites served with Southern tartar sauce and fried okra. One item that caught my eye was the Cracker Jack Salad, made with caramel corn, peanuts, turkey and apple vinaigrette. I was a big fan of Cracker Jack as a kid. I can't wait to see how the sweet crunch of caramel corn adds to a salad.

The restaurant also received a makeover. Patrons will notice more historical military decor. The restaurant is decorated with items from local military surplus stores and from the Airborne & Special Operations Museum.

"We wanted to pay homage to the military and the community's military roots," Politi said.

Sports fans can watch games on any of the 15 flat-screen televisions. The restaurant opens each day at 4 p.m. and is at 1707 Owen Drive.

I know reading about food is probably the last thing you want to do after a few weeks of turkey, ham and sweet goodies. But bear with me. I have a few more tidbits in restaurant news.

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Retail Therapy: Restaurant at the Holiday Inn Bordeaux has a new look, new menu