1. Clean out and straighten up your kitchen cabinets – you can also add roll out shelves to make the appearance of more storage.

2. Add or replace tile – by doing this you make you room look cleaner and brighter, tiles can be purchased relativley inexpensively for $1.00-2.00 per tile – although the labor can be pricey, if you can do it yourself this is an excellent project.

3. Add a breakfast bar – If you have a wall that seperates the kitchen from your living area cutting an opening for a breakfast bar is a great way to give your home that great room feel.

4. Install granite tile instead of a slab – Granite slabs can cost upward of 5000.00 – making the average cost of 300.00 for the granite tiles and supplies to install seems much more affordable.

5. Freshen up your bathroom with out retiling – if your bathroom is dated you can update the fixtures for a new fresh updated look. If you update the medicine cabinet (around 100.00-150.00), lighting fixtures (100.00), new faucet (75.00), a vanity (200.00-300.00) along with other touches like glass shower doors and regrouting any tile work– you can have an new bathroom for around 2000.00 to 3000.00.

6. Brighten up your basement – For those with cement walls and unfinished floors – having the cracks filled with hydraulic cement and painting first with a waterproofing paint and then a light color. Then even though it is not finished it will not feel like a dungeon.

7. Add a room – You can do this by locating a large space in their house that can be divided to create two rooms and see a big jump in return on that investment.

8. Spruce up your cabinet fronts – If your cabinets are looking tired and dated a couple quick fixes are reconditioning with oils and sanding out small scratches, painting a fresh color and updating the hardware.

9. Replacing light fixtures – Nothing shows the age of a home that light fixtures – Usually these are the first things people notice when entering your home – going with the updated styles and adding recessed canned light on a dimmer can be a quick update for your home.

10. Clean up and Tech Up your garage – clean out and organize your tools and garage storage, then think about a new garage door opener with a remote touchpad entry system.

The last item Genie Reynolds of Magic Genie Realty & Property Management wanted to tell us about remodeling and costs – is that despite the lean economic times contractors are not wheeling and dealing and the cost for remodeling projects has gone up, although at a slower rate than last year.

 Genie Reynolds * Magic Genie Realty & Property Management * 303.942.1320 * GenieMagicGenieRealtycom  (GenieMagicGenieRealtycom)  

Our second speaker today was Dr. Erin Foley of Mountain Lifestyles Chiropractic & Acupuncture in Golden Colorado. Dr. Foley started her talk today speaking about the battery light in her car, it came on and wouldn’t go off, so after a couple days once she decided it wasn’t going out and she should take her car to the mechanic. It turned out to be her battery and the mechanic diagnosed it and got car back up and running. Why would Erin tell us this story – she went on about how she is kind of like a car mechanic and your pain is your battery light. In her practice, Dr. Foley helps people manage and eliminate pain. For most people, who come to her office because they are in pain and whether it is a chronic issues that has been with them for an extended period of time or an acute event due to and injury or specific event, are in her office to avoid surgery or minimize the need for pain medication. We all know that when we go to our family physician for an ache or pain, they will prescribe pain medication and this is not always the best way to go. Long term maintenance with pain medication is not good for our kidneys or liver and can do significant damage with long term use. Dr. Foley works much like a mechanic in working with you to diagnose, treat and manage your pain with Low Force Chiropractic. Unlike what we remember from chiropractors in the 70′s-80′ – most chiropractors today are not treating with the High Force method anymore. Erin went on to explain how the nerves that run up and down your spinal cord control every your body does from the feeling in your toes to your heartbeat, so when you are out of alignment you are effecting more than just your back. Having a pinched sciatic nerve can not only cause pain in your lower back but as this nerve runs down your leg and is a big as your finger, this can have some pretty devastating effects on your life. Erin went on to talk about how many times a constant lower back ache is not actually a back issue – your hips can also be out of alignment and rotated in a way that can effect your lower back with pain and stiffness. We all have to think not only about what we are currently doing to our bodies, we are an accumulation of everything we have ever done. Our bodies are the history of many trees did we jump out of, how many times did we fall off a horse, or crash a mountain bike, all of these will effect how you age and how your spine and nerves behave as you age. A couple other items Dr Foley wanted to remind about for our total back health – sleeping on your stomach is very back for your neck and spine-the way that your curve your neck and back in this position can cause huge problems over time, also your occupation can have a huge impact on your over all back health. If you are sitting on a computer all day or you have a job were you are lifting and twisting – give Dr. Erin Foley a call to have a diagnostic visit were the mechanic can help you figure out what is happening with your body and back!

Dr. Erin Foley * Mountain Lifestyles Chiropractic & Acupunture * 303.271.1701 * krusedcyahoocom

Dr. Erin Foley Kruse * Mountain Lifestyles Chiropractic and Acupuncture Center * 303.271.1701 * krusedcyahoocom  (krusedcyahoocom)  

Our second speaker was Mary Walewski, standing in for Maki Delaet, of Educyber, your technology parter. Mary started her talk with a few fact or crap questions about social media, questions like does Dick Cheney have more Twitter followers than Ashton Kutcher – which is crap, or are the more employees on Linkdin than managers – crap, how about there are more people under 25 than those over 25 on Facebook – that is crap too. The opportunities of the new world of social network marketing have become things that we as business owners are looking into. Businesses are using Twitter to drive people to their business at just the right moment – such as a bakery tweeting that the bread is fresh out of the oven or a barbeque shop tweeting were their truck will be and followers show up to buy barbeque. When posting on Facebook, Linkedin or Twitter be yourself and don’t sell, just let the people see you as you are, the referrals will come in from second and third hand referrals. Such examples of this are Stephanie Meyer of the Twilight series – she started with a MySpace page and her blog, as people read it they created forums and fan pages that eventually got her a three book deal. Another example is the basis of Julie & Julia, this also came from a blog, people reading the blog started to send emails for more information – then CBS Morning News set up an interview  and now she has a second book in the works.  So using a blog to increase your sales with tips of your trade or posting ideas on your Facebook page is something that most businesses need to look into. There is also a business section on Facebook, although you have to personal to set one up. Keep it simple for both business and personal – and don’t post anything on your Facebook or Linkedin that you wouldn’t want your mom to see. Keep Maki and Educyber in mind when setting up your web page, or if you need help learning the new world of social networking for your business.

Maki DeLaet * Educyber * 303.268.2245 * www.educyber.com