Home Show and the Favorite Market

The wife and I attended the Raleigh Home Show yesterday. Boy it was windy and cool outside as we made our way from the parking garage to the convention center. I was hoping to get some information on tankless hot water heaters, floors, and maybe some garden greenhouse (not) and the wife was interested in pools. We cruised for about 2 hours, which was about 1 1/2 hours too long. The event itself was good but it didn't have everything we were looking for. Can't have it all I guess :)

We decided to go straight to the back and work our way forward hoping to miss most of the crowds, at least in the beginning. First booth we stopped at actually caught us off guard as it is something we could use but weren't really looking for. It is a garage storage shelf/rack system and it is nice. Garaginize is the name of the company and their product looks top notch. We, as most people do, have too much stuff crap that we keep for some reason or another. I can build the shelves that we need but as I said, this system is a good product. The salesman wasn't pushy (as most are) but very helpful and gave us an estimated quote right there. It also comes with a product called Monkey Bars. 

Second stop was by the pools. Total there were about 3 dealers there. We found one that offer a couple different options in sizes and even convinced us of the salt water system instead of chlorine. Sorry, no pictures of those but if you needed a hot tub, well let me tell you that they were everywhere!

Somewhat expensive but if you were to use one on a regular basis, probably worth it. Are neighbors from long ago had one. It took some urging to get me in but once I did get in, I didn't really want to get out. Not sure about the purple LED's though.

This is something that I am interested in.

Solar panels. A long term investment to be sure so I suppose your environmentally consciousness is tied to your pocketbook. It is to ours but stewardship can be achieved in small steps. I talked with the agent at this booth and she explained about the Federal tax credits and North Carolina tax credit. The Federal tax credit is 30% of the system cost and NC is at 35%. The federal link above is actually to the Department of Energy. We will definitely look into this!

I did look at some gutter guards that keep the needles and leaves out of gutters and we glanced at some flooring companies but all in all not very exciting. There is another show coming up this April called The Southern Idea Home Show which starts in April. Definitely going to this one. 

This home show yesterday was just a clever ruse so we could go to our favorite market, The Fresh Market. I'd shop here every day, which is why it is good we don't live too close to one. All I want is the Bruschetta. Then we cruise for anything else that catches our eye. 

Yes, I take pictures of the meat cases. I also send those same pictures via text to friends of ours in WV, just to  tease them. We picked up some lobster-shrimp salad, seafood salad and a few other knick knack items. 

Today I am taking the WOF out to cruise the neighborhood then back to continue work on the garage, getting rid of clutter and stuff we don't need to put on those new storage shelves. Update tonight on garden items and maybe a few pics from today. :)