Portable basketball systems depend on a base filled with sand or water for stability. Although it will take up more space than an in-ground system, the portable base rolls on wheels, allowing players to position the basketball system in the desired location (and also allowing storage in a garage). Simply assemble, fill the base and play today. There is no fussing with concrete.
What's in the Box?
48-inch polycarbonate backboard with rim, 3.5-inch round pole, nylon basketball net, 38-gallon portable base
Manufacturer's Warranty
Five-year limited warranty
Cooker hood filters are the things that are located over your stove in your kitchen that are often taken for granted, even though they are a truly important part of every home and kitchen. Cooker hoods allow you to break up odors, get rid of smoke and even shine some light on your stove when necessary. If you don't have a one yet, it's never too late to invest in cooker hood filters.
Although you may not use the fan on yours every day, chances are that if you cook at home you probably use it at least once a week. Whenever the steam builds up as you boil your pasta or the water from your rice boils over it is instinctive to clear the air by flipping on the fan above your stove to clear out the smell, steam and smoke that can occur while cooking. These filters allow your ventilation system to work at the best of it's ability so you can keep your home smelling great even when your cooking doesn't.
Your manual should tell you what size and type of filters are compatible with it. If you don't have access to the manual, the hood or filter itself will often have measurements and information on it that is beneficial. Regularly replacing the filter in the hood over your oven will keep it running properly and will ensure that the air cycling out of it is free of whatever odors may have been it before being filtered.
If you are looking for filters for commercial use or if you cook a lot of strong smelling foods, then making an investment in a charcoal filter may be worth your time and effort. These types of filters are great for controlling strong odors and are necessary for any type of hood system that doesn't cycle the air out of your living space. If your hood just filters the air and then releases it back into your house, a cooker hood charcoal filter will provide you with the best results.
Cooker hood grease filters are another option, and some charcoal filters actually double as grease filters as well. Grease filters offer the extra benefit of filtering greasy vapors out of the air as they float up from your stove top and stopping them from being blown back into your breathing air by your oven's hood. It can decrease the amount of allergens and irritants in your home and will help keep your air clean and healthy.
Cleaning your cooker hood and replacing your filter regularly will keep your home and kitchen in tip top shape even when the things cooking on the stove don't wind up in pristine condition. While the cooker hood in your home may be something you take for granted, you can easily keep the air in your home cleaner and fresher by remembering to regularly change your cooker hood filters.
With cooler weather right around the corner it just might be time to start thinking about heating your above ground pool. Think back to all of the fun you had this summer. Why not let your family enjoy the pool as long as possible.
Heating an above ground pool does not have to be that expensive. Solar covers and solar panels are both reasonably priced and require no additional expense once they are purchased and installed.
A solar cover should always be your first purchase. A good cover will extend your swimming season by two months. Your cost should be anywhere from one to two hundred dollars.
If the pool is a team effort, and help is always available, taking the cover off is not that difficult. If you are a one person operation when it comes to pool care you will need a solar cover reel. There are many different kinds to choose from.
Solar cover reels designed for above ground pools mount in the middle of the pool. The reel picks up the cover at the center point and brings both sides in together. This type of system is very functional and in many cases the best way to go. It does, however, leave the cover rolled up across the center of the pool.
In ground type reels are mounted at one end of the pool. When the cover is rolled up it is out of the way. The only problem is you have to build your own mounting platform. This is not that difficult and will keep your cover completely out of the way when not in use.
Your next addition to the pool should be a solar panel or two. 'These again are inexpensive and very easy to hook up. They will plumb right into your existing filter system. Solar panels can be mounted next to the pool, on a fence or on a roof top.
If the panels need to be placed a long distance from the pool a secondary pump may be required. This will add to the cost and the labor of your panel heating system but this is a one time cost, not a monthly bill.
The addition of a solar cover and solar panels will have you swimming most of the year. If more heat is desired your next step is to install either an electric or gas heater.
These heaters are easy to install. They will plumb right into your return line. The water comes out of the filter, goes into the heater and hot water goes back into the pool through your existing return.
Many above ground pools use flex hose from the filter to the pool. If a heater is to be installed you will need to convert the return line to solid 1 1/2" PVC pipe. This is a good investment for any pool filter system because you will never again be changing leaky flex hose.
There are many things to consider when choosing between gas and electric. A gas heater will heat the pool faster than an electric one and is a good choice for occasional use. An electric heater is less expensive to operate and is a better choice for daily use.
We all like to have a room for our leisure or a sports room. A devoted room for our collections and hobbies is what we all fancy for our home. It would be so much fun to stay at our home in our entertainment room. We could blast a home party by day or night within our entertainment area. We could do a lot of decorations for entertainment room. We habitually think that entertainment room is merely couch and TV rack but the truth is it could be more than that. Here are the five decorating tips that we could do in this particular room:
1. Like everybody think about entertainment room, we could have a fine set of TV rack in this room. We should select the TV rack wisely. We should measure our HDTV or plasma TV first before we buy the rack. It is much more perfect if we purchase a TV rack that has drawers and cabinets so we can keep our DVDs inside them. A perfect example for this is the American Drew Entertainment Furniture.
2. We could also have movie posters around the entertainment room. By placing them in nice big frames we could improve the appearance of these movie posters. We can have a theater like feeling when there are decors like these. By having a separate DVD and CD rack, we could exhibit our movie collections in there and completes the appearance of a movie room.
3. If we are much inclined in sports, we can also place sports posters and have bean bags that are specially designed to look like basketball or soccer ball. We can also put sports trophies along with the entertainment and multimedia set. Some even have a table top mini soccer game for more recreational fun.
4. If we often have home gatherings, it is also a great idea to turn our entertainment room into a bar. We could have a bar furniture and high stool for our entertainment room. Then place the bottle of wines and glasses along the bar.
5. An entertainment area as a game room is also a better idea. We could place a pinball machine or even the hottest game consoles along with the multimedia appliances. It is always good to play our game consoles with a huge flat TV screen. We could exhibit and showcase our game collections at the CD rack.
We could always select and generate our own personalized entertainment room. But, one good thing about having entertainment room in any ways we want is that we can have a special room for personal recreation and leisure at our home.
 The Lifetime hoop adjusts from 7.5 to 10 feet in 6-inch increments. |
And players needn't worry about the 44-inch backboard wearing dramatically over time thanks to the UV-protected, high-density polyethylene construction. This sturdy plastic material helps the board resist chipping and cracking while protecting the graphics from fading. Also equipped with a black, powder-coated, three-piece pole, the Lifetime system carries a five-year warranty.
About Lifetime
In the beginning, all the founder of Lifetime Products wanted was a sturdier basketball pole for his backyard. With this in mind, he found and purchased a piece of heavy-duty used pipe, a sheet of plywood, and a basketball rim. The resulting backyard basketball standard functioned perfectly in his backyard. Seeing the potential of his hoop, he placed an ad in the local free classified newspaper and made his first sale. The rest--as they say--is history. He created the American PlayWorld Company in 1973, based out of his garage in Riverdale, Utah. After expanding into several other types of playground equipment, he eventually moved to a bigger location in South Ogden, Utah. Several years later, the company transformed the basketball industry by introducing the Quick Adjust basketball pole, the first complete basketball system you could raise and lower with a broomstick. In 1986, American PlayWorld created Lifetime Products, a separate company intended to concentrate specifically on manufacturing adjustable basketball systems. In the ensuing years, the company has grown from having 18 employees in a 32,000-square-foot space in half a warehouse to more than 1,400 employees and 2.6 million square feet over 23 separate buildings.
Home. It's sanctuary. It's your sacred space. The nest into which you pour your pregnant energy. That which you entrust with the safety and warmth of sheltering your new baby. A home is more than a house. It is an emotional place, an energy, a blanket of familiarity and comfort in which you wrap your family. That which receives your newborn child in a bonding cacoon for those first days, weeks, months of life and a testing ground for the exploration of your child's independence. The four walls are the tether from mom, the boundaries of security. Babyproofing is more than buying outlet covers. It is transitioning your home from a couple's palace to a family's haven. Today I invite you to walk with me through your home as I guide you through the process of creating a family-integrated household. We'll start with safety and move into creating a baby-friendly environment.
Let's start with the most important part: safety. There are two main angles for attacking the babyproofing aspect of creating a family-integrated home. The first is role-playing. Lay on your living room floor just as you will lay down your baby. How does it feel? Are you staring right into a light bulb? Lay your face right on the floor. How does it look? Is your floor dirtier than you thought? Harder than you suspected? Now crawl around your entire house, every nook and cranny, one room at a time. Bump your head on all eye-level furniture. Is that corner of the coffee table sharper than you ever realized? Try to push and pull yourself up on everything you can reach. Is that decorative vase on the floor more of a hazard than a decorative asset? Put your fingers and head in everything you can. Think outlets, stair rails, doggy doors, electronics, etc.
Try to climb everything you see. Bookshelves are now teetering towers, right? The point of this exercise is to bring to light all of the things in your house that are not baby-friendly. Some of these things will need to be changed completely (no more 50 pound glass vase on the floor). Some of these things will need to be modified (add a rug to the living room floor and a furniture tether to the bookshelf). And some of these things you just need to be aware of. For example, I have an extra large doggy door leading out to the backyard in my dining room. There is nothing in the dining room for my baby. If he starts crawling in that direction, I immediately intercept and redirect him toward activities in the other rooms. You must really put yourself in your baby's shoes to keep them safe and happy. You must look at things from their perspective and make changes accordingly.
The second angle for babyproofing is to simply peruse the safety section of Babies R Us.com. If they make a safety product, it is because there was a need for it. Not that you have to buy every safety product they offer, but this exercise points out potential hazards that you may not of thought about. For example, I have a friend whose one-year-old daughter recently had an unfortunate run-in with the brick hearth that required cranial staples. She did not even know there was such a thing as a hearth bumper. I have another friend who found her baby, hand in toilet. Yes, there is such a thing as a toilet lid latch. It is important to understand that baby is going to get hurt but you want to create a "yes" environment.
A baby-friendly house is one in which the answer is usually yes. You want baby to feel like this is their home too. And if you are constantly running around after them saying "no," you are both going to be miserable. The safer the environment, the less direct supervision is required. Let's face it, we can't be looking at them 24 hours a day. Sometimes we have to cook dinner and if they are engrossed in a pile of blocks it would be nice to be able to share glances between the stove and baby. If your house is babyproof, you can relax and trust that when you need to avert the eye contact, baby is in their cocoon of safety, you are home.
The final thought on safety in your home is to know your baby. This is your most powerful tool in keeping baby safe. My kids are not climbers so I don't really have to worry so much about climbing. This means that while a couple toy bookshelves that are particularly tall and top heavy are wall-tethered, every piece of furniture is not. My kids are just not that in to climbing. But my kids LOVE pretend play. This means they love to pretend to be me. If they see me plug something in, they want to do it.
If they see me cutting lunch with a knife, they want to do it. If they see me taking medicine, they want to take it. So I have to be particularly cognizant of what I do in their line of sight and keep all "grown up tools" under strict safety lock and key. ALL of my outlets are not only covered but covered with twist locking plates so even when something is plugged in, if they pull it out the holes twist lock shut. All of my "sharp" drawers and medicine cupboards have kid locks. As you get to know your child in each of their emerging developmental phases, keep their personalities in mind when brainstorming safety.
Now the fun stuff, creating a family-integrated environment. As with all parenting, you have to balance your needs with that of your baby's. I love HGTV but baby shouldn't feel like this is your house and they're just living in it. Creating a family-integrated home means the space is friendly to both parents and children. With a little effort you can create a home that gives baby all the benefits you want for her while providing you with the stylish and relaxing space you desire. A huge part of being a good parent is setting your child up for success. And your greatest tool is to know your child. You want to create the environment that best suites the needs and personality of your child. If your child is easily overstimulated (as is my Skyler) use relaxing paint colors, keep all the colors and patterns in the room similar, use closed toy storage, classical music, soft textures, and natural lighting.
If your child is easily bored, use vibrant colors, contrasting colors and patterns, sing-along songs, varying textures, and lots of open and accessible toys and activities. Environment can affect mood BIG TIME. Children are particularly sensitive to their environment as the process of learning self-regulation is a life-long task. Patterns and color contrasts are stimulating while solids and similar colors are relaxing. Reds and oranges are stimulating while blues and greens are relaxing. Consider carefully the color choices you make in bedrooms as yellow mimics the sun and blue mimics night. If you paint your baby's room yellow, it will be harder for him to fall asleep and easier for him to wake up. When designing a space with baby in mind you must consider the sights, sounds, smells and feel of the environment.
A baby-friendly environment encourages activities that promote baby's growth. Look around your house. Is it brimming with opportunity for developmental growth? Interpret this broadly. It should contain relaxing spaces for rest, stimulating spaces for play, soft large furniture for climbing, furniture for stabilizing while learning to walk, a rocking chair for cuddling, etc. Frame their artwork. This creates a stylish look while boosting their self-esteem. Laminate artwork at a child's eye-level. I can't tell you how many cute animal paintings and such I see in nurseries 6 feet up the wall. Babies get no benefit from this. If you laminate them and put them at baby's eye-level then baby can see and interact with the artwork you have selected for them. Use stylish and uniform toy storage to give everyone the benefits of a calm, stylish, and well organized space.
Toys, toys, toys. The toy monster is one that can overtake your house, life, and sanity, not to mention overwhelm your little one. When your environment is chaotic, so is your internal state of being. Toys can be a great parenting tool. They can provide stimulation for your children in all the right ways, encouraging developmental growth, provide activities for interaction, and occupy their attention so you can don't have to be the dancing monkey every minute of every day. But their potential must be harnessed. Here is everything you need to know about toy:
Rotate toys: To understand the value of this method you must first understand habituation. When something is in the same place for a long period of time you no longer see it. It's like, that hideous wallpaper in that apartment you rented- after a few months you didn't even notice it anymore. But each houseguest just had to remark, "Wow, that wallpaper just about knocks you over, doesn't it." And you reply, "We're used to it now." This is habituation. Toys that are left in the same place for a long period of time (long being relative to a person who has only been alive for a few months or years) become wallpaper. When you rotate your toys, they become brand new with each rotation. The first step in harnessing the power of rotation is to have toys in a few places: downstairs living area, child's bedroom, and storage closet, for example. Now about every month, completely rotate out all of the toys. Take the toys from storage closet and rotate them in. Move some toys from the living room to the bedroom and vice versa. The idea is to create a brand new play landscape for your little explorer.
Zone of Proximal Development: Your child's toys should reflect their zone of proximal development. This means that on your bookshelf of toys, there should be 3 categories of toys: those that are easily mastered by your child, those that are an active challenge but can be accomplished on their own with some effort, and those that are within their reach but they need help to master. All 3 categories should be present in your child's toy world. This will provide them with confidence (the toys that are easily mastered), appropriate stimulation and challenge, and motivation for further growth.
Centers: Preschools have been on this concept for a while now and the reason they use it is because it is good for the child and it works. Children play best when their play world is organized according the aspect of brain development the play taps into. For example, one shelf on the bookshelf can be for puzzle-type toys while a toy chest at the foot of the bed can be for pretend play, containing all of the dress up costumes and pretend food. A fine motor center of art supplies is great next to their little table in the living room. Simply put, this is organization. But it can go a long way in helping to organize your child and help along play.
Sorting: Your toy storage must be set up in such a way that your child can clean up. If each toy is put away in its original packaging and filed on the top shelf you are not only making your job more difficult (even if your wanted to clean up, which most do, they could not) but you are denying your child the opportunity to develop growth in all the ways cleaning up provides. Cleaning up is a great left-brain growth activity because children must sort. All "guys" go in this box. All blocks go in that box. And of course, when you include your child in cleaning up you are sending the message that they are an integral part of your family system; they have an important and valuable role. But to send this message, toys must be stored in such a way that the child can clean up. I use open-top fabric-covered boxes on the bottom two shelves of the bookshelf in our living room and their bedrooms. When they want to play they pull out the box. When it's time to clean up we toss everything back in the box and I put it back on the shelf. Each activity is contained and easily cleaned up.
Uniform: As we discussed early, contrasting visual colors and patterns can be overstimulating. All of those visible toys and packaging with their loud patterns and colors can be stressful. Consider using toy storage that is uniform. Those open-top fabric-covered boxes I mentioned above, they are all blue (toys that are most appropriate for my 4-year-old) or green (toys that are most appropriate for my 1-year-old). This way, when you look at the toy areas they are not visually overwhelming or stressful. Not to mention, it makes living spaces seem like child-integrated homes and not toy stores.
Labels: Consider labeling your toys with a photo and word. If each activity is stored in a box, simply put a photo of what's inside along with the word on the front. Not only does this make organization easier (again, you want your child to be able to clean up) but it teaches children pre-reading. They learn what the word "cars" looks like and before long recognize the word even without the picture. This is pre-reading.
Clean Up: By 1 they can clean up with you. The value and importance of cleaning up was discussed earlier but I want to emphasize that cleaning up should be fun. If you approach it with distain, like a chore, then your child will do the same. Try singing a clean-up song, give lots of attention during clean up time (eye contact, physical touch, undivided attention), have fun! We literally toss each "guy" back into the box. It's like basketball. We "zoom" each car into the box while it lies sideways. As your child gets older you can set a timer and see who can pick up the most toys in 30 seconds. When your child is a baby it is much easier to clean up the toys yourself. Involving your 12-month-old takes much longer and much more effort. But if you invest the time and energy now, they will be cleaning up on their own down the road.
Gift giving can be frustrating. It seems finding the right gift for some people is more difficult than it should be. Some people seem to have everything, so what do you buy them? You also may not want to just buy anything because you want something the person will enjoy and get some use from. You really have to put some thought into it and choose a gift wisely.
When you need to buy a gift for a basketball fan you are in luck. You have a range of great options in basketball gifts. You should find gift giving gets a lot more simple when you are dealing with a basketball fan.
Basketball Themed Gifts
You can seek out any gift that has something to do with basketball. Basketball is popular so you will have many options. You will find basketball shaped bowls and tables. You will find basketball themes on clothing, towels and anything else that can be printed. You will find basketball novelty items and fin things like basketball shaped crackpots.
You are not, limited at all when you seek out to find a basketball themed gift. Go crazy and see what you can find that best suits the recipient.
Actual Gaming Items
You can also think practical. Just buy them something they need for their game. Get them a new net, a new ball, some new shoes. If they are important to you then go the distance. Get their driveway paved or buy them a new basketball system.
Going with actual basketball items you can not go wrong. They will need them, so you are sure they will be happy.
Game Related Stuff
You can also be the big spender and offer up something amazing. You can buy tickets to their favorite team. You can buy memorabilia items. You can work to get a signature form their favorite player. Going all out is what this type of basketball gift is all about and you can be sure that it will be welcomed well.
You should not just focus on finding something basketball related. You also have to keep the basic ideas of gift giving in mind.
- Choose something they will like and find useful.
- Stay within your budget.
- Do not try to out do someone else.
- Give from the heart.
By following these basic gift giving guidelines you are sure to not go wrong. Do not let yourself get too caught up in the idea of giving a perfect gift.
You want to give your basketball fan friend something they will love and if they are a true fan and a true friend, then they will be happy with whatever you choose. Just stick with the basketball idea and you should give a gift they will be crazy about. So, go out there armed with these tips and ideas. Get shopping and buy that gift that is sure to put a smile on your basketball fan friends face.
