Posts Tagged ‘gifts’

Home Christmas

Home Christmas

When do basic trainees get to come home for Christmas Exodus?

My boyfriend left for basic training at Ft. Benning. I know that he only gets one day off for Thanksgiving so won't be able to come home then, but when do they get to come home for Christmas? How long is that break?

My husband is Cadre here at Fort Jackson. From what he told me Its starts between Dec 18- Jan 3. Here is an article with info on Christmas Exodus

http://usmilitary.about.com/cs/joiningup/a/recruiter9_2.htm

"I'll Be Home for Christmas" - Rascal Flatts Official Music Video

Party Pack

Party Pack

Home Information Packs - are They Worth the Paper They are Written On?

Home Information Packs were first mentioned as part of the Labour party manifesto back in 1997 and were originally deemed to be the solution to the then common problem of gazumping. In the eight years that have followed, the reason for existence of HIPS is that they can speed up and simplify the current housebuying process. HIPs were finally introduced last August in a bid to simplify the home-buying process, but have received some very negative press since.

One of the main aims of the HIP legislation is to reduce the current high percentage of agreed sales (reportedly more than one in four) that do not make it as far as an exchange of contracts.  HIPS were intended to deliver this aspiration by providing key information at the beginning of the house buying process.

Recent survey has revealed that the majority of house buyers think Home Information Packs are a waste of time, with fifty-seven per cent of those questioned saying it is time to scrap HIPs and many blaming the cost of providing them as a contributing factor to the significant decline in the number properties being offered for sale in the UK.

A YouGov poll found that only 5 per cent believed the packs had delivered benefits, while 68 per cent said they had failed to make a positive difference.  The results of the survey are another blow to the controversial packs, which cost sellers anything from £200 - £400 and contain title deeds, searches and an energy performance certificate.

The scheme was opposed by estate agent trade bodies, solicitors and the Council of Mortgage Lenders.   Critics of HIPS say that some buyers have been forced to seek independent advice after finding the content of the packs unreliable.

A Conservative party housing spokesman Grant Shapps said HIPs had undermined the housing market.  “One year on, the public don't trust the paper these packs are written on”, he said.   Mr Shapps went on to say that “the only people who want to keep these broken HIPs are the vested interests who are peddling them, and the Government ministers who are falsely using the green fig leaf of the environment to justify this latest public policy disaster.”

A Spokesperson from the National Association of Estate Agents, said: 'Since their conception, the packs have been surrounded by a catalogue of disasters.  'And, so far, rather than helping to improve the home buying and selling process, they have served as a hindrance and nothing more than a purposeless piece of red tape.'

 

Confusion over the implementation of the packs forced former Communities Secretary Ruth Kelly to delay their implementation and exclude smaller homes from the initial phase of the scheme last year.

The troubled introduction of the HIPS scheme does not appear to have dampened the Government’s appetite for HIPS, as they have recently announced plans to increase the amount of information required to go into Home Information Packs.  This move will likely increase the cost of producing each HIP.

Government now wants to include a Property Information Questionnaire (PIQ) in the packs to give people more information about a property up front.  It hopes the move will reduce the likelihood of issues coming to light further on in the process and causing delays or sales to fall through.  The questionnaires would include information on any building work that has been carried out on the property, details on parking arrangements, council tax banding and information on the utilities connected to the property.  The Government aim to implement this extra requirement as a mandatory part of the packs on January 1, 2009.

Housing Minister Caroline Flint said: "Having the right information about a property at the beginning of the home-buying process is essential if we are to reduce delays and cut down on wasted costs for both buyers and sellers.  "Hips are an important first step in achieving greater efficiency and the Property Information Questionnaire will only improve on this, ensuring the buying and selling process is simpler for all."

The Government is also considering increasing the quality of leasehold information that is included in the packs.  New information on leaseholds would include details on ground rent, services charges, the cost of buildings insurance and any major works that are planned, as well as a copy of the lease itself.  There is currently only a temporary provision requiring a copy of a lease to be included in the packs.

Conservative Shadow  Housing Minister Grant Shapps, said: "Home Information Packs have already strangled the housing market by discouraging sellers. Given its fragile state, the property market needs more bureaucratic red tape like a hole in the head.  "Behind the smokescreen of HIPs, Labour's real agenda is to build up a property database of every home. Property Information Questionnaires are most likely just another way of conducting Labour’s controversial council tax revaluation and re-banding by the backdoor.  "The public will be clobbered  twice - once for a costly Home Information Pack and then again in the form of higher council tax bills for home improvements and their parking spaces."

There is evidence that the controversial Home Information Pack (HIP) scheme has failed to speed up the house selling process, new figures suggest.

The packs, introduced a year ago despite huge opposition, are failing to be compiled in under a week – as the Government hoped would be possible – because local authorities are far slower at retrieving local searches than a year ago.   Searches are one of the key documents contained within a pack. They flag up any potential road schemes or developments that might scare off a home buyer from moving to the area.

 

The average time taken by councils to hand over searches has increased by a third, from 5.3 days to 7 days.  Some councils are taking more than 20 days to process a request, with the London Borough of Hillingdon taking 44 days on average.

Local councils increasingly poor performance in regard to providing search data is impacting negatively on HIPs in two ways.   Firstly, virtually all HIP providers now subcontract their searches to personal search companies to get the search component for the HIP completed as soon as possible.  This means that the search information contained in the HIP will usually not contain most of the relevant information as would be revealed by an official Council search.  Secondly, with more and more councils levying higher level of charges for official searches and length of time taken to deliver, there is a direct impact on HIP providers and, consequently, on the price paid by the consumer.

 

Sir Bryan Carsberg earlier this month, after spending a year investigating the housing market, recommended that HIPs should be scrapped, arguing that, "they don't make a useful contribution to the house buying process. They don't speed up transactions and they are in danger of becoming out of date too quickly.  "It seems to me to impose a cost, without bringing any benefit."

 

Shadow Housing Minister, Grant Shapps, said the slowness of the Local Authorities was proof that HIPs were not working.  "This shatters one of Labour's last remaining arguments about the benefits of Hips and adds to the mounting dossier of evidence against them.  "The industry doesn't want them and neither do the buyers and sellers - they are strangling the market at a time when it needs kickstarting," he said.

 

Conversely, a spokesman for the Department of Communities and Local Government said: "As a result of the increased transparency brought about by HIPs, we are already seeing a drop in cost for sellers commissioning searches – more than 160 local authorities have cut their prices by an average of £20.  "We have issued guidance to councils to ensure they are giving access to private search companies, to increase competition and provide the consumer with cheaper and faster searches."

 

However, as charges for official searches are between two to three times more expensive than the personal search option, it is doubtful whether any HIP provider will utilise the option of the more expensive official search in a highly competetive HIPs market.

 

Buyers of property may well find that the search information included within the HIP for the property they are buying is out of date or too vague to pass the scrutiny of the lender.  This situation will of course delay the selling process and defeat the object of HIPS.

 

For more information about HIPS go to http://www.hip-hips.co.uk

 

Wolfpack Party 2010 By The Pack

Christmas Various

Christmas Various

You Can Now Surprise Your Loved Ones With Christmas Fruit Basket

Christmas fruit basket makes an ideal gift for the joyous holiday season. These baskets are even given out at corporate offices to colleagues or subordinates. Christmas is all about sharing the wonderful things god has given us, and presenting a fruit basket to your friends and family is an ideal way to do so. These fruit baskets contain seasonal and rare juicy, sweet and fresh fruits that are sometimes accompanied by vintage desert wines.

You can now surprise your loved ones with beautifully crafted Christmas fruit baskets which contain various types of delicious fruits such as oranges, bananas, apples, kiwis, pineapples, etc. Gifting Christmas fruit basket is a not only an absolutely delicious ideas but is and ideal way to express your pure, sweet and malodorous sentiments through them.

Various packaging techniques of Christmas fruit baskets are used by the fruit outlet centers, fruit delivery services. These Christmas fruit baskets are packed according to the size, weight and to the tastes of the people to whom it is going to be delivered.

The Christmas fruit baskets are packed with flowers when it is gifted to youngsters of same age group.  Also by gifting the Christmas fruit baskets to the respected persons, friends, corporate members, we greet out gratitude for them. Giving Christmas fruit baskets to kids is a great way to get them interested in eating fruits.

If fruit baskets are given out by Santa Claus, it will be very much fun for the children. A Christmas fruit basket can also contain various types of chocolates, cheese, dry fruits and many more. Also for making children happy, these fruit baskets are designed in various interesting shapes of cartoons, teddy bear, hearts, etc.

It has become a tradition to gift some special things to employees in the corporate sectors as well as small industries, and a Christmas fruit basket. Therefore, by gifting these Christmas fruit baskets, some people express gratitude for their hard work and enthusiasm towards their company and business organizations. So mostly the subordinates, middle level employees gets the Christmas fruit baskets in the form of collection of various types of fruits in one basket whish is one of the artistic and eye-catching designs.

In market various types and sizes of Christmas fruit baskets are available. So it is convenient for the wisher to choose a wide range and variety of Christmas fruit baskets for their employees. The most noticed thing while selecting a fruit basket is that these it should contain fresh, nutritious and juicy fruits.
 
The contents of such Christmas fruits baskets as a gift contain the fruits like delicious apples, pear cider, crackers and gourmet cheese, pears of royal comic, pears from Italy which are golden bosc, red ruby apples, Kumquats from Japan, salmon which is smoked, various types of dry fruits like Almonds, Cashews, snacks, toffee pecans that are covered with butter, Ghirardelli Chocolates, Apple butter and many more. Another favorite choice to give many employees for Christmas is chocolates which are covered with Bing cherries are the mouth-watering ingredients of the Christmas fruit baskets. 

CHRISTMAS VARIOUS I

Christmas From

Christmas From

I have a poinsetta plant from Christmas last year, that is still alive, my cat licked it, is she going to die?

I heard poinsettas are poisonous. I have one left over from Christmas that is still alive, and well my cat, decided to lick it. And this am I noticed that she was freaking out, of course she always freaks out, but she was really freaking out, like running all over the place and then stopping and twitching, and then she would lick her tail. Soooooo, I guess my question is are Poinsettas really poisonous to cats?

Poinsettias are very poisonous. If she licked and not ingested it, she should be ok, but keep a close eye on her. As far as the Poinsettia, you should put it outside where she can't get it or give to a friend or neighbor. Those are not safe to have with cats. Sorry

Robert Earl Keene's Merry Christmas from the Family

Christmas Time

Christmas Time

Christmas time is a time for great food

For some families gathering round the dinner table is unfortunately not something that happens all too often any more, in the past every evening the family would meet at the dinner table to eat their meal and talk about the day’s events. These days though a large percentage of families will eat dinner in front of the television and hardly utter a word to each other.

Sadly the food we eat has also become less adventurous, being reduced to whatever is quickest and the least amount of bother to prepare. Luckily though Christmas time is a time of year we are guaranteed to get a meal that is not only huge and good for us but the family and even extended family members all come round to celebrate the Christmas season.

The roast turkey is a staple of any Christmas dinner but many families (especially larger family groups) will have other meats as well such as roast beef or gammon joints. Vegetarians are not forgotten about either with nut roasts taking the place of the turkey and other meats. The Christmas dinner wouldn’t be complete without all the other additional accompaniments like stuffing, roast potatoes and the sometimes maligned Brussels sprouts.

All in all Christmas dinner is a great time to spend time with family members who you may not often see as well as getting way more food than you can handle. It’s often the case that many families will be eating Christmas dinner leftovers for days after Christmas day.

After dinner though there are some ways in which you can enjoy the aftermath of the Christmas dinner and as an added bonus ensure you look after the food workers that worked so hard to bring you the food you are eating or drinking. Fairtrade food and drink is becoming more and more popular and this year should be the year that your family gives back, chocolate, coffee, wine are all food and drink items that could be on your dinner table this Christmas.

It is important that we think of those less fortunate at Christmas time and buying fair trade foods is an excellent way to do this. Fairtrade schemes ensure that the workers who produce the food we eat get not only a fair wage but also have good facilities such as medical centres and schools. So this year when buying your Christmas food and drink make sure you try and buy as much of it with the fairtrade label as possible.

There are many fairtrade food items you can buy such as fairtrade coffee and fairtrade chocolate to help make sure those who produce and farm our foods get fair treatment

The Darkness - Christmas Time (Don't Let The Bells End)