How to avoid foreclosure

If you see you maybe heading for trouble, you can take steps NOW to prevent foreclosure on your home.
As with anything of this magnitude, you need to act quickly. Don't wait until it's too late to turn things around.
You may be facing:
. oThe loss of a job
. oCuts in hours or overtime pay
. oRetirement
. oIllness, injury, or the death of a family member
. oDivorce or separation

If your family is facing any of these changes and cannot pay your bills, now is the time to look closely at what you owe and what you earn, eliminating unnecessary spending and reaching out for help if you still can't meet your financial obligations. Taking action now can help you protect your family from the loss of your home.
On the next page are some steps you need to take now, to safeguard your home for the future, and put the threat of foreclosure behind you.
Remember. The time to act is now. The longer you wait, the deeper the problem becomes.
1. CONTACT YOUR MORTGAGE COMPANY NOW
Many people avoid calling their lenders when they have money troubles. Most of us are embarrassed to discuss our money problems with others or believe that if lenders know we are in trouble, they will rush to collection or foreclosure.
Lenders want to help borrowers keep their homes. Foreclosure is expensive for lenders, mortgage insurers and investors. HUD/FHA, as well as private mortgage insurance companies and investors like Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, require lenders to work aggressively with borrowers who are facing money problems.
Lenders have workout options to help you keep your home. However, these options work best when your loan is only one or two payments behind. The farther behind you are on your payments, the fewer options are available.
Do not assume that your problems will quickly correct themselves. Don't lose valuable time by being overly optimistic. Contact your mortgage lender to discuss your circumstances as soon as you realize that you are unable to make your payments. While there is no guarantee that any particular relief will be given, most lenders are willing to explore every possible option.
To help you, lenders typically need:
. o Your loan account number
. o A brief explanation of your circumstances
. o Recent income documents (such as Pay stubs; Benefit Statements from Social Security, Disability, Unemployment, Retirement, or Public Assistance. If you are Self-employed, have your tax returns or a Year-to-date Profit and Loss Statement available for reference.

. oList of household expenses

Expect to have more than one phone conversation with your lender. Typically, your lender will mail you a "loan workout" package. This package contains information, forms and instructions. If you want to be considered for assistance, you must complete the forms and return them to your lender quickly. The completed package will be reviewed before the lender talks about a solution with you.
CALL TODAY! The sooner you call; the sooner help is available.

2. DO NOT IGNORE MAIL FROM YOUR LENDER
If you do not contact your lender, your lender will try to contact you by mail and phone soon after you stop making payments. It is very important that you respond to the mail and the phone calls offering help. If your lender does not hear from you they will be required to start legal action leading to foreclosure. This will substantially increase the cost of bringing your loan current.

3. TALK TO A HOUSING COUNSELING AGENCY
If you don't feel comfortable talking with your lender, you should immediately contact a HUD-approved housing counseling agency and arrange an appointment with a counselor. A counselor will help you assess your financial situation, determine what options are available to you, and help you negotiate with your lender. A counselor will be familiar with the various workout arrangements that lenders will consider and will know what course of action makes the most sense for you and your family, based on your circumstances. In addition, the counselor can call the lender with you or on your behalf to discuss a workout plan. By meeting with a counselor before your mortgage payments are too far behind, you can protect yourself from future credit problems.
A good counselor will help you establish a monthly budget plan to ensure that you can meet all of your monthly expenses, including your mortgage payment. Your personal financial plan will clearly show how much money you have available to make the mortgage payment. This analysis will help you and your lender determine whether a reduced or delayed payment schedule could help you. Also, a counselor will have information on services, resources, and programs available in your local area that may provide you with additional financial, legal, medical or other assistance that you may need. 

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Feng Shui Colors for the Bedroom

Feng Shui is about balance and harmony in our environments. The bedroom is a very important room (we spend the majority of our day there), so many people naturally ask how to improve their bedroom using color selection according to Feng Shui. As we discuss bedroom colors, it is also imperative to recognize the importance of the other rooms in your house. Enhancing your bedroom without enhancing the other beneficial areas of your home does not provide you with the full benefits of Feng Shui. Feng Shui is about balancing the energy in your complete and total environment.

With that said, here are some Feng Shui tips to consider for your bedroom…

Don't overdo the bright colors in your bedroom. Bright colors are alive and moving, so the more bright colors that are used, the harder it will be to stay asleep. This also applies to plants and especially water. Plants and water manifest yang energy, and cause the same issues in the bedroom as bright colors. The colors associated with plants and water are green, black, and blue. Bright colors to avoid are reds, strong oranges or bright yellows. Florescent colors are out of the question!

Pictures of moving water can also cause problems. If you've got a picture of a waterfall, river, or ocean in your bedroom, it's a wise idea to move it. Unfortunately, aquariums in the bedroom can also cause sleeping issues and should be moved. Although you should avoid red in the bedroom, a little touch of red can spice up your sex life! (Red is fire, so lit candles count as red.)

Dark colors (shades of brown) should be used in the décor of the bedroom, but not on the walls. Painting the bedroom walls a dark color might help you sleep, but won't help you feel rejuvenated in the morning. Darker colored décor should be used to the point of tilting the room's ambiance yin, without making you feel like you're party to a funeral. You don't have to just use browns, pick darker colors and designs that are relaxing for you.

If you're room is already very dark (wood paneled, for example) and you can't make changes to it, you might want to consider changing any "yellow light" producing light bulbs to brighter, whiter bulbs. Opening the blinds during the day will also dramatically improve the rooms feeling. If it's dark at night, balance it with brightness during the day. (Clearing any room occasionally by opening all the blinds is extremely beneficial.

In painting the bedroom, using pastel colors is your best bet. The best colors to use depend on the compass direction of the room's location. To determine the compass direction of your home, draw your house's outline on a piece of paper, and split the home into 9 equal sections (3 down, 3 across). Use a compass to find which direction is north, and label each box according to that compass direction (North can be in a corner). Here are the color combinations:

- NE, Center, or SW: Rooms located here should be painted pastel earthy colors, including light shade of yellow.
- NW or W: Rooms located here benefit from metal, so use a shade of white.
- SE or E: The SE and East benefit from the color green, but you may want to only use these colors if the room will be used as a study. Then a shade of green would be perfect. Otherwise, use pastel earthy colors including shades of yellow. White is not helpful here, as it destroys the productive properties of the SE and East. These directions are associated with wealth.
- S: The South benefits from red. If you want to use red here, use it sparingly as too much will cause restlessness in bed. Use shades of white for the walls.
- N: The north benefits from blue and black (water). Since you can't use water, try white instead, as white (metal) will help with the benefits of water without using water.

I know this might be a letdown, as some of you reading this were hoping to hear painting a room florescent orange would make you an international movie star overnight! But Feng Shui is about balance and harmony, so using light, pastel colors is your best bet when painting the walls.

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The Varying Emotions of a Rose

Because of the aesthetic qualities the flower holds, it has been a number one choice as an object to convey the expressions and emotions of beauty, passion, respect and the most important of all; love. Love ranging from the love from a parent to their child, among friends and of course who can forget the love from one person to their significant other.

There are many flowers that convey the expression of love of on to their significant other. The most commonly known flower is the rose. Belonging in the genus rosa this flora is the most versatile way to convey one's varying range of emotions and expressions depending on the pigmentation and arrangement of the flower.

The crimson red is red as the color of the blood flowing through one's veins that all eventually end up at the heart; the heart that which society has defined it simultaneous with romantic love. The red rose has been a popular choice as a gift for one to another to convey their feelings of love from one to another from special days such as Valentines Day, birthdays, and anniversaries to even casual days just to remind their significant other that they love them.

The red rose also has additional meanings corresponding to the amount of stems that is received by person. A dozen red roses convey the message "For the dozens of ways I love you." Two red dozen roses express the meaning "For each and every hour of the day I love you." Three and four dozen red roses proclaim the message of "True love" and "Unconditional love" in the respected order.

Red isn't the only color that a rose can have. Colors can range from pink, white, yellow, purple, burgundy, orange and even the once impossible blue. The pink rose can mean a variety of expressions depending on the shade of pink it is. In general the pink rose symbolizes grace, sophistication and elegance which were certain attributes that young women from the Victorian Era, where florigraphy originates from, were trying to achieve. A darker shade of pink can also mean gratefulness and appreciation and a lighter shade of pink can express admiration and sympathy. The pink rose can also symbolize the love within friendship.

The white rose means innocence, purity, friendship, reverence and humility. The yellow rose can express the emotion of joy and can mean friendship or platonic love. It can also have a negative emotion such as jealousy and can also mean infidelity. An orange rose symbolizes enthusiasm and desire. The purple rose can convey the message of protection usually paternal love. The burgundy rose holds the meaning of beauty and therefore a favorite among mature women. The once non-existent blue rose which is now a possibility due to hybrid and genetic engineering holds the meaning of mystery as it used to never exist but was however substituted by dying a white rose with a blue dye.

In relation to this is the black rose which can symbolize hatred and death but can also mean positive meanings such as rejuvenation and rebirth. However unlike the blue rose this rose does not exist. Roses that are called a black rose are just a very dark shade of red.
 

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About tree seeds and bonsai seeds germination instructions

About Basic Care of Seeds

It is important to maintain the freshness of the seeds in order to facilitate proper germination. This is why we store all of our seeds in a refrigerator dedicated for this purpose. Therefore, in order to preserve their freshness until you are ready to begin the germination process, you can store the purchased seeds in the plastic bag we have provided. You can place the seeds in the vegetable drawer of your refrigerator.

About Germination Instructions

Once you are ready to germinate your seeds, you have two (2) germination methods: natural germination or forced germination.

Natural germination: Sow seeds outside in autumn. Overwintering the seeds will accomplish all the necessary natural processes seeds require to germinate. Next spring, you should have sprouted seeds.

With forced germination, you are accomplishing the germination process artificially. Therefore, you will need to follow the steps listed below. Each seed is different. However most of them require three (3) steps. Some may require more while others may require less. These steps are: the scarification, the stratification and sowing.

1 - Scarification

Each seed has a shell around the live inner part. Some are harder than others. The goal of the scarification process is to soften the shell and allow water to reach the inner part of the seed. You will scarify the seeds by placing them in water, usually a glass or a bowl, for a period of twenty four (24) to forty eight (48) hours. The norm appears to be the use of warm water. Some seeds require boiling water while others require water at room temperature. Normally, the viable seeds will drown after the twenty four (24) hour period while others will float on top. If there are still seeds floating after the forty eight (48) hour period, you can discard them as they are empty seeds. Once completed, you are ready to begin the next step ( please note that some seeds require you to proceed directly to the third step).

2 - Cold Stratification

The next step is the cold stratification period. This step is where all the magic of nature occurs. In nature, most of the seeds fall from the trees in autumn. Consequently, seeds spend the winter period under colder temperature permitting the chemical in the seeds to develop and trigger the germination process once the ideal temperature is reached in spring. In the forced germination process, you attempt to recreate the winter period. In order to accomplish this process, use the following materials:

Plastic Ziplock bag
Paper towel
Water

Fold the paper towel in two and moisten with water. It should not be dripping wet but humid. Place your seeds on the humid paper towel and fold it over the seeds. Place the paper towel with the seeds in the ziplock plastic bag and store them in your refrigerator for a period varying from thirty (30) to one hundred and twenty (120) days. We suggest that you check your seeds every thirty (30) days in order to prevent rot and allow for proper air circulation. You will also check for germinated seeds. If this is the case, take the germinated seeds and proceed to the next step. If not, wait the required period and then proceed to the next step.

3 - Sowing

Sowing can be accomplished in the ground or in a pot. You can use any soil suitable for planting and growing. Make a small opening in the soil (approximately half (1/2) an inch deep), place the seed in the opening and cover it with a few millimetres of soil. Keep the soil moist.

Extra steps for certain species

If you choose to germinate your seeds via the forced germination process, you may be required to follow this extra step. This step takes place prior to the cold stratification. All you have to do is expose the seeds to ambient room temperature for thirty (30) to ninety (90) days. This is called heat stratification and is accomplished by leaving the seeds exposed in a plate on your desk. After you have achieved this step, you resume with cold stratification.

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