A tabletop puppet theater may be made for free in less than an afternoon. Using something as simple and available as a cardboard box, cutting a window in it, decorating with paint or collage gets you started. It is an exciting project for a parent and child to share.

Next comes scenery, one or more backgrounds for a play or show of some kind. Cardboard or stiff paper, a few tempera paints and some imagination are all you need here. You and your child can paint any scenes you like - the inside o… Continue

Most of us start off the New Year with the best of intentions. We all have a deep longing in our hearts for this year to be the best year yet. We even make resolutions. Sadly, however, most resolutions are forgotten by January 30. Before we know it, we are caught up in the same reactive cycle as we were before. The following 3 tips will help you create a new paradigm for success.

1. Use the Power of Your Imagination
Einstein once said, “Imagination is more important than knowledge.” Have you im… Continue

After more than a year of talking about it, actual change has finally arrived for the tens of millions of Americans who rely on credit cards.

Come February 22, 2010, card lenders will be barred from raising interest rates on most borrowers’ existing balances—a practice that increasingly irked consumers over the last decade and one of several that federal regulators and lawmakers finally barred as unfair and deceptive.

But the new law already requires banks to give cardholders 45 days’ notice o… Continue

Builder confidence in the market for newly built, single-family homes declined one point to 15 in January 2010 on continuing concerns about the poor job market and large number of foreclosed homes for sale, according to the latest National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI).

“At this point, home builders have done everything we possibly can to set the stage for a housing recovery–we’ve thinned our inventories, we’ve kept new construction to a minimum, and we’ve… Continue

You’re thinking of selling—but not just yet. Let’s say you’ve got a five-year plan to prepare an older, lived-in house for sale.

Maybe you’re faced with tattered carpets, battered appliances and dingy paint. Or maybe we’re talking about truly scary problems, such as asbestos, underground oil tanks or leaking roofs.

What should you take care of first? What can wait? What can be ignored altogether? And how do you keep costs under control?

“Basically what we’re talking about is good, solid preve… Continue