After more than 3 years of watching over Keeping the Castle, the time has come for me to move on. Today, October 31, is my last day here. I have enjoyed blogging at KTC, and have gained a wealth of knowledge. But the time is ripe for me to focus on other writing projects. Online, you can still find me blogging about the royal families at Merry Royals; Philippine travel and culture at Filipina Soul; and scrapbooking at Paper Goodness. I know that the next blogger will do a great job of bringing you more tips and resources for keeping your home. So roll out the red carpet for the next queen of Keeping the Castle, SP Bragg! Thank you for your readership, and see you around! [Read more]

A new book by Eduardo Xol, one of the designers on ABC’s Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, will be out next week. Ahead of the release, I received a copy of Extreme Entertaining Made Simple to look over and review for Keeping the Castle. In Extreme Entertaining Made Simple, Eduardo shares his philosophy of using the five senses to create and celebrate a memorable occasion. The taste, sound, feel, smell and look of an event are given equal attention according to its chosen theme. A sixth sense, intuition, is also given its due in the book. The parties in our large extended family usually happens somewhere other than in my home. But I’m eager to learn how to put together a well-planned gathering, for the next time that the party does... [Read more]

Here are some of the recent product recalls issued by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission: Ghost Tealight Holders from Trade Associates Group and Crate & Barrel due to fire and burn hazard Halloween Figurines from Coyne’s & Company due to lead hazard Zipper-Covered Foam Core Mattresses from Serta International due to violation of Federal Mattress Flammability Standard Lighters from YMCA Trading due to potential burn hazard to children Gaming System Batteries and Recharging Station from LeapFrog due to burn hazard Fiesta recalls to inspect and repair Gas Grills due to fire and burn hazards Infant death prompts recall to repair 600,000 Drop Side Cribs By Delta Enterprise; spring peg failure can cause entrapment and suffocation... [Read more]

Best Buy has declared October 30, 2008 as National Vampire Awareness Day to spread the word about “vampire power”. Vampire power is the electricity that home appliances and other electronics consume while they are switched off or in a standby mode. Plasma TVs, computers, game consoles, DVRs and adapters for MP3 players and cell phones are just some of the worst offenders in terms of wasting energy. The costs of these energy suckers can go up to $1,000 per household per year. [Read more] [Read more]

Let’s take a detour to welcome b5media’s new business portal, Bizzia! Bizzia is the one-stop destination for business information, insights and news from b5media’s 30 business blogs. Following the successful launch of b5media’s first portal, Starked.com, Bizzia covers themes such as finance, leadership, e-commerce, small business, sales and marketing. Bringing together the latest news coverage on breaking topics and popular business discussions, Bizzia makes it easy to access the specific themes a reader is interested in, as well as discover unique business perspectives around other topics. Read the press release of the Bizzia launch. [Read more]