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New Map makes it easy to find the best schools in Florida

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I think it’s almost universal that when people are moving into an area they want to live in safe neighborhoods. Not only that, people also search for areas with good hospitals and great schools for their children to attend.

Luckily for those who choose to live in the State of Florida schools are graded there, with the best schools being given an A and the worst and F. Did you know that there area neighborhoods with great schools in Ponte Vedra beach, Jacksonville and St. Johns County?

RE/MAX real estate agent, Krista Fracke, is often asked by her clients which neighborhoods have the best schools. That’s why she has put a page on her site that as of today, will allow home buyers across the state of Florida to display a Google map that shows all of the public schools in the county in which they wish to purchase real estate. The new map will show the FCAT scores for these schools for the past 5 years.

The Schools grades are color coded so that home buyers can easily identify neighborhoods with the best schools. Just click on a Florida county that you wish to see and the map will center on that area. Once you are looking at the county that you are interested in purchasing a home you’ll noticed that the schools are color marked to indicate the grade that they received in the last year. By clicking on a schools color marker you’ll be able to see the grades that the school has achieved in the last five years as well as the schools full name.

I think that this is a great idea and I only wish that a page like this was available for all areas across North America.






Local self storage quotes

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Several of my friends are nurse and many of them end up putting in resumes with Hospitals in the US. They often go there to work for as little as 3 months to one year. It’s always amazed me how they can just pick up and leave so quickly sometimes.

I’ve always wondered what they do with their things. I found out that many of them put their furnishings in storage. Well unless they happen to still live at home with their parents they do. I should have used a storage service myself when we lived in our tiny apartment. We had so much stuff that we stored more than we should have in our locker in the apartment basement and they accidentally threw it out when they were cleaning up the unused lockers. We never did get any compensation for our items that were removed.

If I ever need a storage service again I’m going to try the Storage Concierge. Why? Well because the
Storage Concierge provides free local self storage quotes. They serve all of North America and they have several different sizes of storage units so I think their services would serve just about anyone’s needs.

I wonder if my nursing friends have used their services. I’m going to have to ask.

My favorite gardening tools

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Name your favorite gardening tools?

Some of my favorite, don’t go into the garden without them, tools are my Felco pruners. If I walk outside my back or front door you can be sure the pruners are in my hand or at least resting on the steps easily ready for me when I need them. I always need them BTW.

I often also have a pair of scissors handy – left handed ones of course, and some plastic green garden ribbon / tape, or velcro ties.

I like a tidy garden, so snipping and pruning are chores that often take place even when I only mean to go outside and wander through the garden for a quick peek at what’s blooming that day. Therefore my bamboo stakes are in a handy area of my “under the back porch” storage area.

One other tool that is almost always nearby when step into the garden is my hand trowel. I don’t use it so much to dig up plants as to pat down holes that squirrels or cats have dug etc. Of course in the spring and early summer I usually do use it for digging and planting.

Oh yes my camera almost always makes the trip to the garden too – you never know what you might find that’s photo worthy.

So which tools do you use most often in the garden and why are they your favorites?

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