Consumer Reports

It’s late at night, the TV’s on and you see a commercial. It tells you that if you just buy this wonderful book, you’ll learn the secrets to get free money from the government to pay your credit card bills, renovate your home, and start a business! It sounds so wonderful, but is it too good to be true? Yes, it’s too good to be true. Before you shell out some of your hard earned money to learn how to get a government grant, learn the facts . The government does give away a lot of money every year in the form of grants, but most government grants go to state and local governments or nonprofit organizations that in turn use the money to administer community programs. The federal government rarely awards grants to individuals directly. If you or someone you know is in need, the government has many assistance programs that might help - they’re just not called “grants.” There are programs to help with heating bills , or starting a business , or health insurance for children , and much more. If you’re an organization seeking a grant you should check out grants.gov , the official source to find and apply for a grant from the federal government.

Our guest blogger today is Erin Pierce, who works for the Communications

January is National Radon Action Month . I know that your home radon level is not the fun kind of thing you want to think of every day, but it’s one of those things you need to give a little attention to if you want to protect your health and the health of your family.> /p> Radon is an odorless, tasteless and invisible gas produced by the decay of naturally occurring uranium in soil and water. It accumulates in homes, buildings and drinking water, and causes lung cancer. It is responsible for an estimated 21,000 deaths per year in the United States. That’s the bad news. The good news is that if you have radon in your home, like I did, you can correct the situation. If you’re wondering if there’s radon in your home, first you need to test your home . The tests are very inexpensive and simple to perform. Just open the canister and walk away from it for a few days. You send the canister off to the lab and they mail you your results. We were shocked to learn that our home had pretty high radon levels, so we wasted no time in contacting a local certified radon mitigation company. The installation of the mitigation equipment took a little less than a day, so that wasn’t so bad. The best part is knowing that we can breathe easy in our (virtually) radon-free home. So if you don’t know what the radon levels are in your home – get testing !

The United States Postal Service estimates that roughly 97 million customers visit the post office during the holidays. Are you going to be one of the many standing in line this year to buy your Christmas stamps, purchase your boxes, or mail your gifts to your loved ones? Well, you don’t have to! The USPS Holiday page is organized to help you streamline your holiday postal tasks. Unless you have decided to send an alpaca from the Andes to your Aunt Agatha in Anchorage (try saying that fast 3 times), almost everything that you need to do can be done online. My husband does a lot of shipping, so he ordered multiple-sizes of the free flat rate boxes and had them delivered to our home. With the flat rate boxes, you choose the proper size box to mail your item for one flat rate, regardless of the weight. I suppose if you were shipping very heavy gold bricks, there might be a problem, but as the USPS says, “If it fits, it ships.” Two days ago, hubby wanted to ship a gift, so he went online to print the postage and scheduled the package pickup. The next day, our postal carrier came to the door to pick up the package. That is how easy it was. The USPS has some Mailing Tips to Avoid Holiday Glitches and Quick Tips for Holiday Mailing that will ensure your package makes the journey smoothly. If you are sending a gift to a loved one in the military, the USPS has a Shipping Gifts to Military Addresses page that has some helpful guidance and USA.gov Search has links to additional resources when sending gifts to military personnel . Did you know that the USPS has a Letters to Santa Program ? Every year the USPS gets many letters from children that are addressed to Santa. In 1912 the Postmaster General Frank Hitchcock authorized a program called Operation Santa that allows local postal employees and citizens to respond to the letters. Today, postal facilities in cities around the country allow charitable organizations, major corporations, local businesses and individuals to adopt letters to Santa. Although the Postal Service Mailing Statistics page doesn’t have any statistics about how many Andean alpacas have been sent to Anchorage during the holidays (a statistic that I was very curious about), it does have some other amazing numbers. Let’s just say there is a whole lot of activity for the USPS during the holidays, so be smart and take care of your holiday mailing early. P.S., here is a bonus photo of the Andean alpaca.

I was shocked last week when I heard the report that a cat in the U.S. was sick with the H1N1 (swine) flu . Poor kitty. The CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) website confirms that there was a cat with H1N1 , and the kitty required medical care, but recovered. They also say that some ferrets were infected with the virus. The good news is that the CDC thinks you won’t get the H1N1 flu from your pet. The bad news is that they think that your pet can get the flu from you. If you get the flu, how do you protect your pet? You protect your pet the same way you protect your family and friends : cover your coughs and sneezes, wash, wash, wash your hands, and try to minimize contact until 24 hours after your fever is gone. If your pet gets the flu, what should you do? If a person in your home has flu-like symptoms, and your pet becomes sick with coughing, sneezing or other respiratory symptoms, contact your veterinarian. Oh, and tell your kitty to sneeze into her paw.

Domestic violence comes in many forms, including abuse of spouses, children, and the elderly. Learn how to protect yourself and your loved ones from violence in your home.

Today is Thomas Jefferson’s 266th birthday. We’ve celebrated George Washington’s and Abraham Lincoln’s birthdays, and today we are giving TJ his due. During a 1962 White House dinner featuring 49 Nobel prize winners, President John F. Kennedy remarked , “I think this is the most extraordinary collection of talent and of human knowledge that has ever been gathered together at the White House—with the possible exception of when Thomas Jefferson dined alone.” Kennedy’s remarks weren’t really a stretch. Jefferson’s major accomplishments include writing the Declaration of Independence , completing the Louisiana Purchase as third President of the United States and selling his personal library to restore the Library of Congress after it was burned by the British in 1814. What most people don’t realize is that outside of his government life, Jefferson was a polymath , or Renaissance man. Like Benjamin Franklin , Jefferson was an inventor . He was an accomplished architect who designed his home at Monticello and the Virginia State Capitol building and, along with Washington, initiated a public competition for the design of the U.S. Capitol. Jefferson is also credited as the ” father of archeology ” because he created a more scientific excavation technique by cutting a wedge into an Indian burial mound he was exploring instead of digging until he hit something (the common practice of the day). Jefferson’s three favorite accomplishments—noted on his epitaph—were authoring the Declaration of Independence and the Virginia Statute of Religious Freedom and founding the University of Virginia . Jefferson’s political and social philosophies are still applied to today’s issues . Monticello is open for tours and you can become a fan of Monticello on Facebook . In your opinion, what was Jefferson’s greatest accomplishment?