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After 14 years as a certified nursing assistant - the bottom of the food chain in the nursing home culture - she has tasted the future. She is now a "Shahbaz" in a "Green House" - a respected worker in a new model of caring for the frailest elderly. "I love it," Johnson said. "It's not a rush anymore. We get to spend quality time with [residents]. They think we're family. And we are." Imagine a world in which the nursing home idea is turned upside down: Just 10 residents live in a house, rather than the standard 120-180 people, and despite their dementia and infirmities, they're happier and healthier. Nursing aides, with their new titles, are empowered and love their jobs. Despite more personalized care, costs are the same or less than in nursing homes.
Or, it can lead to limitless headaches as people scramble around each month to make the mortgage payment that can be their largest monthly bill.Financial counselor Dave Ramsey, who writes a syndicated column that runs in the Sunday business section of the News & Eagle, tackles mortgages in his advice to help people get out of debt and gain financial stability."He talks about it all the time. It's No. 6 of his seven baby steps," said spokeswoman Beth Tallent of Ramsey's enterprise that includes books and public presentations. His radio show can be heard 2 to 4 p.m. weekdays on KGWA (960 AM).Ramsey's baby steps toward financial security, taken in chronological fashion, are to build a $1,000 emergency fund, get out of debt, increase the emergency fund to three to six months expenses, stash money away for retirement and a child's college fund before knocking out the home mortgage."A mortgage payment is the only debt Dave doesn't get upset over," Tallent said.When people reach Ramsey's home mortgage step, they are usually "revved up and excited" because they've gotten rid of personal debt, Tallent said.Getting rid of a home mortgage further makes a person feel rich because that person doesn't have to send money away to someone else."The grass feels greener under your feet," Tallent said.Enid tax accountant John Stambaugh said from a moralistic standpoint, Ramsey's advice is appropriate."If your house is paid for, you've got a place to live," Stambaugh said.But, from a purely economic standpoint is it the best decision to navigate the cash flow?Stambaugh said no or at the least reconsider in terms of getting the most from your buck.Many investment options can offer a larger return on someone's money down the road than the amount saved from paying off a mortgage early to curb, or in some cases, negate interest altogether, Stambaugh said."That's my line, also," said Brad Blankenship, Security National Bank president.
Lori Bjelde of Menasha stuffed a backpack with things to keep her kids occupied while they waited for an "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" house to be unveiled in Dundee on Oct. 6. But the Nintendo DS and iPod stayed put as they were riveted by the events taking place during the seven hours they waited for the "move the bus" moment. "They kept the audience busy by tossing out Frisbees and T-shirts," Bjelde said. "We saw Ty (Pennington, the show's star) come out, and the bus was there early and they were taking footage of the bus. The security guards and volunteers would be there and they told us what they were doing behind the scenes. "There was always something to look for or hear or talk about. There just wasn't any time to do anything else." The Bjeldes were part of an estimated crowd of 10,000 onlookers who cheered as Christine Koepke and her four children were given their home.
THE Scarlets' plans to move to a new stadium were hit by another blow yesterday. Carmarthenshire Council has stated the Scarlets have to be debt-free before they can move into their new stadium. Hughes, who made his personal fortune through construction, believes the Scarlets' decision to move with such big debts was always a gamble. "I am a developer and I know how all this works," said Hughes. "You don't buy a house if you cannot afford it. .
BRISTOL/WARREN - After the stormy waters of the real estate market left the Mt. Hope Homebuilders Project high and dry in 2005, project officials are looking up, and ahead, at a new project on Jefferson Lane in Bristol. According to William Estrella, president of the board of the Mt. Hope Homebuilders Corporation, the program may have found its salvation in the form of a home donation from local landscaper Seraphin "Fe" DaPonte. Mr. Estrella said that the option being eyed by the homebuilders project is to relocate the 1,000-square-foot single-family home from its current place on 1250 Hope St to Jefferson Lane, where students will lay down a new foundation and marry it with the old structure. "This house is about 60 years old; it's a single-family home with a garage similar to the type that we would build new.
CONSTRUCTION of a new home for Mak Hima Impis Rugby Club is set to begin soon. The Makerere based club that has been holding its training sessions and home games at the University's main ground, is to move to a new home to that is to be erected at Nsibirwa Grounds. This information was relayed to Daily Monitor by Makerere University's sports tutor Penninah Kabenge.
"Impis is going to shift to a new ground that is to be constructed at Nsibirwa grounds as a way of uplifting the sport and games at the institution in general," Kabenge said.
However, she was not certain when ground-breaking work would begin at the site. The Shs350m project is to be funded by the club's long time partners Hima Cement with whom the University has already finalised the budget requirements.
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