Family Room Addition Bloopers
Because we can #39;t always get it right the first time! Enjoy these funny takes on site of the family room addition!

By: Lane Homes Remodeling

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Family Room Addition Bloopers - Video

Hotels are expected to collect a record $2.25 billion in fees this year, according to a report by the New York University School of Professional Studies. To some degree, that amount reflects a slight increase in the number of rooms that have been occupied. But for the most part, its a result of hotels levying more fees and charging higher amounts.

With so many fees, its become harder for travelers to figure out what theyll be charged for in addition to what theyre paying for their room, says Cheryl Rosner, founder and CEO of Stayful, a boutique hotel deal site. You might not even know youve been hit with fees until you get your bill at checkout.

You often can avoid extra charges, though, if you know which amenities hotels typically add a fee for using. Here are eight common ones and advice on how to keep them off your bill.

Wi-Fi fee. This fee was ranked the most-dreaded charge in a recent survey of Stayful users. Rosner says that hotels often advertise that they have free Wi-Fi, but its only accessible without a charge in the lobby. If you access in your room, youll be hit with a charge which can be $15 or more a night. One way to get around the charge is to sign up for a hotel's loyalty program, which should be free, Rosner says. Generally, you'll get privileges such as free Wi-Fi immediately. Alternatively, if you have a smart phone you can use its tethering feature to make it a mobile hotspot that can supply Internet access to your computer, says Bob Diener, president of hotel booking site Getaroom.com. IPhone users should look for "Personal Hotspot" under the Settings menu. Data charges may apply, so check with your wireless carrier to be sure this is a cost-effective option.

Parking fee. In some cities, hotels charge as much as $45 a night for guests to park in their garages or lots, Rosner says. Check for free street parking or look for nearby parking garages that charge a lower rate especially if you use a coupon. For example, Icon Parking Systems has coupons for discounted parking rates in its more than 200 garages throughout New York City. Another option is to stay just outside the city because suburban hotels are less likely to charge for parking, says Isar Meitis, president of Last Minute Travel. Plus, youll probably pay less for your room.

Resort fee. These fees vary greatly by property but typically cover amenities and services such as towels and bottled water at the pool, spa or gym. Resorts dont always disclose these fees on their Web sites until youve gotten to the final stage in the booking process. However, hotel booking sites such as Stayful and Getaroom.com disclose these fees upfront, so it makes it easier to compare the fees that resorts charge. Meitis says that you should tell the resort upfront if you dont plan to use the services covered under the resort fee. Some properties will waive the fee.

Mini-bar fee. Most travelers know that the snacks and beverages in hotel mini-bars are outrageously overpriced. But did you know you can get charged for putting your own food in your rooms refrigerator? Simply moving an item in the mini-bar can result in a charge because many hotels use sensors in to detect when mini-bar items are removed. If you see a charge for something you didn't consume, show the hotel clerk that it's still there and contest the charge. Also watch out for those complimentary-looking bottles of water or baskets of snacks -- they might not be free. Even if you don't see a price attached to them, ask the front desk whether there is a charge.

Extra person fee. Check the hotels room-occupancy policy if you have more than two people in your party because you might get hit with a fee for having additional people in the room (rates usually are based on double occupancy). This can even apply to families traveling with children. Many hotels allow kids to stay for free, but the definition of a child can vary widely by hotel, Diener says. To avoid this fee, you need to be aware of it before you book so that you can search for another hotel that doesn't charge it.

Early check-in and late check-out fee. Check-in is typically 3 p.m., and check-out is usually 11 a.m. If you need more time, check with the front desk first to make sure you are not charged extra. Diener says you may be able to avoid the fee by signing up for the hotels loyalty program, which can include late check-out as a perk.

Baggage storage fee. So you avoid the late check-out fee by getting your bags out of your room in time. But you ask to leave them in storage for a couple of hours while you do more sightseeing. Just make sure to ask whether theres a bag storage fee because many hotels are now charging $1 or $2 per bag, Rosner says. If there is, try to talk your way out of the fee, or take your bags with you.

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How to Avoid Eight Pesky Hotel Fees

SPEARFISH Plans on the Creekside Elementary School addition are moving forward, and school officials may be ready to send the project to bid as soon as the first week of December.

Jason Roberdeau, with Williams and Associates, the firm designing the additional space, updated the Spearfish School Board members on Oct. 11 of the progress.

Two wings of the school, on the north and south, will have two classrooms and one specials room each. Additionally, a conference room will be included.

Architects estimated the construction and related fees will cost around $1.25 million and another $250,000 or so in soft costs such as furnishing the four classrooms and two specials rooms. The board members approved a plan in September for $1.5 million in financing needed for the addition. The financing will be retired in December 2019.

Current plans show the drawings to be complete in November. And the bid is expected to be as soon as Dec. 4.

The school board is expected to then accept or reject the bids at its meeting on Dec. 8 or Jan. 12, 2015. If a bid is accepted on Dec. 8, construction may start during Christmas break.

The construction crews are to keep the impact to students to a minimum.

Creekside Elementary School was completed in 2011 with what school officials and designers thought would be plenty of room. That extra space was filled in two years. Currently there are eight sections of third grade and seven each of fourth and fifth grade. To add an eighth section of third grade, school officials turned a special education room into a traditional classroom.

Next school year there will likely be a need for a ninth section of third grade and perhaps a 10th section if numbers remain consistent for the 2016-2017 school year.

There are currently seven traditional classrooms in each of the three wings of the school.

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Creekside school addition plans progressing

How you light a room is - perhaps surprisingly - one of the most important factors of a decor scheme.

"Consider all the different levels of lighting in the room, from the ceiling lights and pendants, to uplighters and occasional lamps," urges Josephine Bennett, head of home design at Laura Ashley. "All these aspects create different moods, which can be interchangeable throughout the day and night. Large, statement table lamps create a real focal point in the room, and provide an intimate light in the evening."

TOP TRENDS

The great thing about lighting is you can tune into the latest looks without spending a fortune. Obviously, a crystal chandelier or standout floor piece might make a dent in your savings, but a simple shade or statement table lamp can give a room a whole new look - and give you change from a 20 note.

Copper is a big highlight this season, and matches the autumnal palette perfectly.

"Contemporary copper lighting adds a stylish finishing touch to any decor," says Rachel Small, Sainsbury's home living buying manager. "Giving off a burnished glow, copper pendants create a dramatic centrepiece for an ambient dining setting, while copper table lamps enhance any living space, bringing a subtle metallic accent."

Alicia Kaper, head of curation at Joss & Main, completely agrees: "With the clocks going back, one of the most effective ways to bring added ambience to your home is through well-chosen lighting. Copper continues to reign supreme as 'the' metal of the moment, but to get a kick-start on another key material story, look out for lighting made from weathered woods, which form the basis of the season's modern rustic look."

Of course, stunning, ornate styles are never going to go out of fashion and always create an impact, and even light bulbs are beautiful now.

"Bulbs are no longer boring," asserts Diane Simpson, lighting buyer at John Lewis. "Calex bulbs look striking with their carbon filaments and can be hung from plain or coloured cord to provide a retro feel to your home. Lee Broom's range of UK-made crystal bulbs provide a delicate and decorative alternative, while Plumen have managed to make low energy light bulbs look great."

BUY ME:

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Light bulb moment

DAHLONEGA - A new Georgia farm winery tasting room has opened in Downtown Dahlonega.

The Canvas and Cork Tasting Room is located at 90 North Meaders Street, just off the square across from Hancock Park. It serves as an additional tasting room for Chestatee Valley Vintners - Three Sisters Winery.

We are proud to add another uniquely branded Georgia tasting room in Dahlonega, says winery co-owner Doug Paul.

The Canvas and Cork Tasting Room is the fifth Georgia Farm Winery tasting room to open in Downtown Dahlonega. Others include Habersham Winerys Dahlonega Tasting Room, The Georgia Winery Tasting Room, Folkways Craft Gallery & Cottage Vineyard Tasting Room, and Naturally Georgia - A Tiger Mountain Vineyards Tasting Room. The five are being promoted under a new Facebook page Downtown Dahlonega Wine Walk Tasting Rooms.

Five tasting rooms in downtown and five more in the county at wineries make Dahlonega and Lumpkin County a very unique destination for tourists and wine lovers, says Paul. Georgia currently has almost 50 bonded wineries. Several of them have remote tasting rooms-which is allowable under Georgia law to foster growth and sales opportunities in this small agritourism industry.

Southern farm wineries and vineyards have been enjoying a boom over the past 25 years in neighboring states like Virginia and North Carolina. According to Virginia.gov, Virginia currently ranks fifth in the number of wineries in the nation with more than 250. Virginia is also the nations fifth largest wine grape producer. According to a 2012 economic impact study, the Virginia wine industry employs more than 4,700 people and contributes almost $750 million to the Virginia economy on an annual basis. In addition, more than 1.6 million tourists visited Virginia wineries in 2013 according the Virginia Tourism Corporation.

A 2011 updated study commissioned by the North Carolina Wine and Grape Council and the North Carolina Division of Tourism, Film and Sports Development calculated an annual economic impact of $1.28 billion a year in North Carolina. It ranks 7th in United States wine production with more than 400 vineyards and over 100 wineries across the state. Biltmore Estates Winery is said to be the most visited winery in the country.

Paul says Georgia is not far behind. While nearly 50 wineries in Georgia is smaller compared to nearby states, our economic impact is still quite significant. A 2013 UGA Study concluded the Georgias Wine industry was approaching $100 million a year in economic impact for the State. He believes it may have grown even more based on the number of tourists Paul says have been bombarding Georgia winerys doors this fall.

The wine industry has become a primary driver of Georgia's tourism economy, said Kevin Langston, Deputy Commissioner for Tourism with the Georgia Department of Economic Development. Winemakers' investments, particularly in the north Georgia mountains, have made wineries a sought-after destination for girlfriend getaways, weddings, and leisure travelers seeking quality products, stunning views and a unique experience. We hope to continue to grow this vital piece of Georgia's economic development mix.

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New wine tasting room opens in Dahlonega

Jeremy Saulnier is putting together the follow-up to his excellent thriller Blue Ruin, and hes got a cast that makes the film an instant lock to see.Anton Yelchin, Alia Shawkat and Imogen Poots all star in Green Room, which Saulnier wrote and willdirect. But its the most recent addition that will probably get your attention. Patrick Stewart has joined the cast to play the leader of a bunch of white power skinheads.

The Wrap has more info on the film. Yelchin, Poots and Shawkat will play a young punk rock band who find themselves trapped in a secluded venue after stumbling upon a horrific act of violence and fighting for their lives against a gang of white power skinheads intent on eliminating all witnesses.

As for Stewart, hell be Darcy Banker, the unflinching and industrial leader of a ferocious white supremacist fiefdom based in the Pacific Northwest.

Green Room is shooting now in the Portland, Oregon area, and well likely see it next year. While Saulnier is also a cinematographer and lensed Blue Ruin, Sean Porter, who did gorgeous work for Kumiko the Treasure Hunter, is shooting Green Room.

Expect a festival debut for this film. Blue Ruin premiered at Cannes inthe Directors Fortnight sidebar, and there won the FIPRESCI International Critics Prize. So a Cannes debut seems likely for Green Room, especially since the Sundance 2015 submission deadline is past.

The cast of this film also features Mark Webber, Macon Blair (of Blue Ruin), and Joe Cole, Callum Turner, Kai Lennox and Eric Edelstein.

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Patrick Stewart Playing White Supremacist for Blue Ruin Director

What do you do if you wind up being in one of the most hilariously terrible films of all time? You make a comedy about it. Thats the exact approach being actress-turned-filmmaker Robyn Paris is taking. More than a decade after she appeared in writer-director-star Tommy Wiseaus infamously awful cult film The Room, Paris has now launched a Kickstarter campaign to fund a Christopher Guest-style mockumentary about what happened to the cast after shooting concluded.

On the projects Kickstarter page, you can check out the fundraising video for The Room Actors: Where Are They Now? which, in addition to Paris, features a clutch of other other cast members, including multiple-sex scene siren Juliette Lisa Danielle. As the latter says in the clip, Look, youve seen me nakedmost likely multiple timesso the least you can do is donate. How are can you argue with

Oh, hi Mark!

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The Room star making mockumentary about the greatest bad movie ever made

Walkerton, Ind. It is an exciting day at Walkerton Elementary School as they celebrate a new addition. Monday, they are having a dedication ceremony for their new Moderate Room playground. The dedication starts at 6:15 p.m. at the school. There will be a ribbon-cutting ceremony and light refreshments.

The new playground may look like your typical jungle gym but it also serves another purpose.

We have students with autism, down syndrome and a variety of intellectual disabilities, explains Moderate Room teacher Lisa Rizek.

This playground still has your typical activities like swings, a sand box, spinning and more, but to these kids those everyday activities mean more than just fun.

The playground was designed to have a place for children to play that is safe, but also to provide sensory input that is necessary for certainly attending and also to work on muscles, building core strength, posturing, and also to develop fine motor skills, continues Rizek.

Plus, it burns off energy. Something Rizek says is essential so these kids can calm down and focus on classroom work.

Some of our children are even learning play skills necessary to play with other children in large groups, says Rizek.

The teachers first thought it would be loud, for their classrooms, and they have realized that there are not that many students out there, at the most 7 or 8, says Walekrton Elementary School Principal Tim Davis.

Now, this specialty playground is something not every school has. In fact, it's considered a luxury item. With the help of the Walkerton community they were able to get this $15,000 playground built and thanks to extra help from volunteers, install it in just 10 months.

Again, I am thankful to be in a great corporation like John Glenn School Corporation and that we have the ability to really provide for our students what they need to be successful in the classroom and throughout their lives, says Rizek

See more here:
New playground caters to kids with special needs

Bears Central

Sun Oct.19 Home vs Miami Dolphins

Sun Oct.26 Away vs New England Patriots

Sun Nov.9 Away vs Green Bay Packers

Keep up with your favorite teams and athletes with daily updates.

(CBS) Bears kicker Robbie Gould has downplayed the locker roomcommotion between arguing players that was easily audible through double doors for the media to hear after Chicagos ugly 27-14 loss to Miami on Sunday at Soldier Field.

Receiver Brandon Marshall got into it with quarterback Jay Cutler and Gould as well, according to reports. Gould didnt confirm that he and Marshall had an argument, saying the two have a great relationship and attributing the hoopla to emotions running high after the Bears dropped to 3-4, a record Marshall admitted was unacceptable.

I wouldnt give this any more attention than this needs, Gould said in an interview with the Spiegel and Mannelly Show on Monday morning. Everyones trying to make a story out of something that wasnt really that big of a deal.

What happened in the locker room wasnt anything thats out of the ordinary, wasnt anything thats different that happens in other teams situations. To be honest with you, its just a matter of people trying to find a story because we lost. There wasnt anyone called out. There wasnt a situation that was over the top. Theres nothing I would read into this.

Everyones frustrated, everyone wants to win.

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Robbie Gould: Locker Room Hoopla Wasnt Out Of The Ordinary

By EMAD MASROOR

Today, actress Ashley Malloy will perform the stage play My Name is Rachel Corrie in the Memorial Room of Willard Straight Hall. As people across the world continue to stand in solidarity with Palestinians, especially after the relentless two-month-long pummeling of Gaza this summer, Cornellians would do well to remember the life of Rachel Corrie.

Rachel Corrie was an American college student who went to Gaza in 2003 as part of a senior-year assignment to connect her hometown Olympia, Washington with Rafah in the Gaza strip in a sister cities project. While in Gaza, she was an active part of the International Solidarity Movement and engaged in nonviolent resistance against the Israeli military. On March 16, 2003, as she stood in the way of a Palestinian home being demolished, Rachel was crushed to death by an IDF Bulldozer.

In many ways, the story of Rachel Corries death symbolizes every story of Israeli aggression. The facts, as always, were simple: The Israeli army killed Rachel Corrie. To this day, Israel continues to try and weave a story that somehow makes it look better than it was, with excuses such as The operator didnt see her, or she put herself in a dangerous situation and so on. None of these statements, however, can mask the fact that her death was a cold-blooded murder committed with impunity.

This impunity has been the hallmark of Israels relationship with the Palestinian people across decades. These past few months saw a brutal campaign that killed more than 2,000 Palestinians; children were ultimately the targets of attacks on the beach and in playgrounds, the wounded were targeted in ambulances and inside hospitals, families were obliterated in the safety of their homes. And, yet, the IDF found ways to sell even this story to the media, claiming that the massive operation was somehow an expression of Israels right to defend itself. Many in Israel lauded the use of warning missiles that would knock on the roof of homes before the more deadly strike, as proof of their commitment to humane methods of war. Flyers asking residents to leave were dropped over neighborhoods before they were bombed, conveniently criminalizing entire communities already living under one of the harshest blockades in recent times.

But even if words like occupation, blockade and open-air prison mean nothing to you, the comparative death toll (2,104 Palestinian, 72 Israeli) speaks for itself. When you defend acts like Operation Protective Edge, you defend mass murder.

Rachel Corries parents sued the state of Israel for a symbolic one U.S. Dollar. After almost ten years, an Israeli civilian court upheld the military investigation in 2003 which had concluded that the Israeli government was not responsible for her death. Indeed, one soldier even said later, Maybe she was hiding in there, implying that Rachel had been responsible for her own death. In what moral logic can the victim of a murder be responsible for her own death? Yet the chilling fact is not that this happened once, but that Palestinians continue to be blamed for their own deaths every day. For example, once a house has been hit by a warning missile, the IDF treats those inside as combatants for refusing to leave their homes. A writer in the Wall Street Journal goes as far as to make the ludicrous claim that to qualify as a civilian, one has to do more than simply look the part. According to this logic, all Palestinians are by definition combatants unless they abjectly submit their lives and dignity to Israel and somehow qualify as civilian, whatever that means.

Israel committed an act of aggression, with the (no doubt profitable) complicity of a multi-national corporation. (Caterpillar, by the way, continues to provide Israel with military bulldozers whose very purpose is to demolish homes. It also provides construction machines used on Cornells campus). The United States looked the other way. And instead of getting justice, the victim was blamed for it. A massive public relations campaign from the Israeli government then did its best to cover up for these crimes. This pattern as played out with the death of Rachel Corrie or Operation Protective Edge is not the exception but the rule.

Meanwhile, the conditions under which Rachel died the virtual inability of Palestinians to build homes on their own land have only gotten worse. The only democracy in the Middle East has demolished more than 27,000 Palestinian homes, businesses, livestock facilities and other structures in the Occupied Palestinian Territories since 1967. A third of the structures in East Jerusalem are awaiting demolition orders, even as Jewish-only settlements continue to be added to the municipalitys limits. This number is in addition to the hundreds of entire villages and neighborhoods which were emptied of their residents in the more overt form of ethnic cleansing carried out in 1948. According to the Israeli Committee on House Demolitions, more than 94 percent of Palestinian permit applications in recent years for East Jerusalem or Area C (60 percent) of the West Bank have been denied by Israel.

What is most inspiring about Rachel Corrie is that she took the leap from awareness to action. Many of us know exactly what is going on in Israel-Palestine and yet fail to act. The Palestinian people have suffered far too long for mere words or abstract dialogue to make any difference. Instead, we must work in solidarity with the people living under occupation and apartheid just as Rachel Corrie did in order to support indigenous resistance to modern colonialism. For a start, we as consumers in American society or as members of the Cornell community can begin by honoring the call from Palestinian civil society to boycott, divest from and sanction Israel until it complies with human rights and international law.

Originally posted here:
GUEST ROOM: Remembering Rachel Corrie