Workshop to target first-time home buyers

Workshop to targetfirst-time home buyers
YOUNGSTOWN -- Family Financial Education Services, a program of Family Service Agency, will sponsor a first-time home buyer workshop from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. Wednesday at the agency, 535 Marmion Ave.
The free workshop will cover basic home-buying information such as determining affordability, budgeting, credit problems and the loan application process.
Participants will receive a certificate of attendance that will satisfy the education requirements for some mortgage programs.
Reservations are required by calling (330) 782-5664. No reservations will be taken the day of the program.
Pottery Barn bringsits style to books
Among hip homeowners, the words "Pottery Barn" have come to signify more than a furniture company. They represent a style that's fresh, relaxed and affordable.
Now Pottery Barn is sharing its design savvy through a series of three books, "Pottery Barn Living Rooms," "Pottery Barn Bathrooms" and "Pottery Barn Bedrooms."
The books guide readers on decorating topics such as working with color, using space wisely, creating storage space and injecting personality with accessories. The rooms photographed feature the company's merchandise, but the book's ideas and advice aren't limited to Pottery Barn products -- although they're all geared to creating the Pottery Barn look.
The books, published by Oxmoor House, sell for $24.95 each and are available in bookstores.
Synthetic blanketscobbled from corn
From the feel of Faribault Mills' new blankets, you'd never guess they were made from ordinary field corn.
The Minneapolis company recently started selling premium woven blankets made from Ingeo, fibers that are spun from a material made from the corn's sugars. The blankets have a surprisingly luxurious feel but require 20 to 50 percent less fossil fuels to produce than other synthetic blankets, according to the company.
The blankets are available in a variety of sizes and colors, in either 100 percent Ingeo fibers or a blend of Ingeo and merino wool.
Suggested retail prices range from $79.99 to $159.99, although the company is offering the blankets for a limited time at prices ranging from $39.99 to $79.99. They can be ordered at www.ingeoblankets.com or (800) 448-9665.
Guide provides adviceon community trees
The National Arbor Day Foundation is offering a new publication on community trees to civic leaders and committed residents. The foundation's 76-page "Urban and Community Forestry: A Practical Guide to Sustainability" gives advice on how to identify a community's forestry needs, plan tree-care strategies, encourage collaboration and volunteer participation, and engage all segments of multicultural cities and towns.
The guide is designed for interested residents and homeowners, tree board members and volunteer leaders, master gardeners, city officials, and students and professionals in urban forestry, landscape architecture and horticulture.
The publication was supported by the USDA Forest Service Urban and Community Forestry Program on the recommendation of the National Urban and Community Forestry Advisory Council.
"Urban and Community Forestry: A Practical Guide to Sustainability" is available for $9.95 plus $4.95 shipping and handling. For more information or to buy the guide, contact the National Arbor Day Foundation, 100 Arbor Ave., Nebraska City, Neb. 68410.