Blog Posts

DIY Emergency Preparedness Kit

Preparing for the worst is not a difficult task, and you can start in your apartment right now! In today’s post, the Willow Hill Blog is sharing a checklist of things that you’ll want to add to your emergency kit in order to be prepared for unexpected emergencies in 2018 and beyond. For a great reference guide, print out this Emergency Preparedness Checklist from American Red Cross . 1. First Aid Kit Some of the items that you’ll want to add to your first aid kit are latex gloves, antiseptic towelettes, antibiotic ointment, burn ointment, adhesive bandages, pain reliever, scissors, and prescription medications. For a full list, look at these recommendations from American Red Cross. 2. Food When getting your emergency kit together, store enough non-perishable food that will last for 3 days or 72 hours. While you’ll want to choose food that you enjoy, try to avoid foods that make you thirsty — add things like canned foods that have plenty of liquid and salt-free crackers. If you have any special dietary needs, keep those in mind when getting your food supply together. Also, if you pack canned food, make sure you have a can opener or a way to open them. 3. Water Make sure you have set aside one gallon of water per person per day for up to three days. Water is an essential item in an emergency kit. Following an unexpected disaster, clean water may or may not be available for use. The water you set aside for your kit is one of the most essential items you will need, as it will be used for drinking and sanitation purposes. 4. Flashlight and Extra Batteries In the case of a power outage during a disaster, a flashlight will help you see when it gets dark. Be sure to test the batteries before you put them in to make sure you didn’t mix them up with any dead ones! 5. Whistle Whistles provide a very loud sound with little blowing effort required. If you’re stuck or need assistance, blowing a whistle will alert people, particularly rescue personnel. For a more comprehensive list of things to add to your emergency kit, we recommend visiting www.ready.gov . Prepare now for a disaster by putting together your very own emergency kit in your Puyallup, Washington apartment. Thanks for reading!

3 Things for a Guaranteed Best Game Night

Last year, we shared a few board game suggestions — games that we love and games that have stood out on reviews on multiple websites. With all this talk about games and fun, we realize that we still haven’t shared tips on hosting game night. If you’ve always attended and have never hosted, you’ll find out real fast how hard it can be. We don’t mean that hosting game night is as difficult as taking a math test or solving a world problem. We do mean that knowing where to begin can be challenging when it comes to hosting a great game night. Sit back and read along with residents of Willow Hill as we share some great tips for hosting game night in your Puyallup, WA apartment. 1. Snacks Unless previously planned, don’t cook a huge dinner for game night. Keep it simple and provide snacks that can be quickly grabbed between turns. While chips are a popular choice, keep in mind that you may not want people handling greasy foods and touching game components. Keep hand sanitizer and napkins readily available, or try other popular snacks, such as pretzels, crackers, M&Ms, and other treats, that won’t leave much residue on cards or game pieces. As for drinks, punch is always a classic. Check out some of these tasty punch recipes . 2. Games When planning a game night, it’s important to keep in mind the players. Unless you’re planning your evening around a group that all loves one type of game, it’s a good idea to have a variety that people can choose from. The last thing you want is to have a game that takes an hour to explain. Choosing board and card games like Tsuro and We Didn’t Playtest This At All are great not only because they’re simple to learn, but they work with a lot of players. It’s always a good idea to have games that work with six or more players. 3. Seats and Table This really depends on the games you’ll be playing. Some games require a lot of standing, some are in an open area, and some are required to be played at a table. The most important thing is to make sure the seats are comfortable. Odds are people will be sitting quite a bit during the evening, so get something that you’d feel comfortable sitting on for a few hours. Keep plenty of pillows available, too! It’s also important to make sure that you have a big enough playing space. If you need a table, choose one that is big enough so that everyone can sit around comfortably — you won’t want to be sitting so close together that the person next to you can see everything in front of you, especially if you’re attempting to hide information during a game. We hope you have a fun and successful game night this month in your apartment. Let us know what games you’ll be playing by sharing a comment below. Thanks for reading!

Tips for Choosing Furniture

We hope you’ve enjoyed learning about the Willow Hill apartment community on our blog. Today, we want to share with you some tips for decorating your apartment with furniture so you can enjoy relaxing in your Puyallup, WA home all year long. Choose multi-functional pieces. When you’re deciding on what to put in your apartment, think first about how you’ll use potential buys so you don’t get distracted by items you see and love but won’t practically use. Think also about how you can save space with furniture and heighten functionality with the pieces you choose. Vurni has some great products for multifunctional furniture ideas for apartments that you might enjoy or gain inspiration from. Decide on a color scheme. Furniture pieces are usually more permanent additions to your home, so when choosing styles and colors, it’s always a safe bet to go with neutral colors, soft tones, and classic styles. Your tastes may change in the future, so if you want to keep your items around for awhile and ensure you won’t be sick of them, shying away from outrageous styles and colors might be a good idea. But, of course, if you love what you see, go for it! When thinking of how you might decorate your furniture, think of what contrasting and complementary colors will create the balanced look and feel you want the room to have. Window shop. Once you’ve thought about what type of furniture you want and have an idea of what sort of style and look you want to achieve, measure your available space and write down different options that can work for you. Then you can tackle the most fun part — shopping! Before you set foot in a brick and mortar store, it’s a good idea to browse the internet or sites like Pinterest for apartment furniture ideas to get a clear idea of real-time prices and styles. Doing this sort of online window shopping will better prepare you for tackling the actual store with little stress or indecision. What are your favorite ways to decorate with furniture? Share your ideas in the comments. Thanks for reading!

Bath Therapy

Did you know that taking a dip in a hot and steamy bath can help you improve blood circulation, relax muscles, lower blood pressure, reduce headaches, and even lose weight? Take a look at these Health Benefits of Taking a Hot Bath for more information. At Willow Hill Apartments, we invite you to relax this month by enjoying some time in your bathtub. Today, we’re sharing a few different things that you can do while relaxing in your bathtub. Remember that bath time is “YOU” time. Enjoy this time alone by pulling out one of your favorite books, or a book that you’ve been dying to start reading! Bathtub Caddies are perfect options for this, and Amazon has a wide selection to choose from. Or, if you’d rather write, the bathtub is a great place to clear your head and focus. Check out what Udemy has to say about writing a book for tips and pointers. These DIY bath bombs are extremely easy and inexpensive to make; you also get to select the scent, which is awesome! Whether you’re deciding on bath bombs, bubble bath, or essential oils, choose something that you’ll love to make your bath-going experience even more relaxing. For many people, listening to music while taking a bath is an essential part of relaxation. While there are many waterproof speakers available, we found this adorable snail shower speaker that you have to see! Candles are also a great idea when taking a bath, especially if you’re looking for that added measure of relaxing ambiance. We recommend buying some of these Flameless Tea Lights , which flicker like a real flame without actually burning anything. When relaxing, it’s best to be safe — you don’t want to be worrying about open flames, especially if you have a lot of them. We hope you take some time to enjoy a nice hot bath in your Puyallup, WA apartment this month. Let us know what your favorite bath time activities are by sharing in the comments. Thanks for reading.

Movies Best and Worst of 2017

To finish off the year, we’re sharing a few of the best (and worst) movies of 2017, as reflected by movie reviews found on IMDB and Rotten Tomatoes , as well as our own viewing experience. Grab a friend from Puyallup, WA and compare your lists with ours in your Willow Hill apartment. Which movies will you add to our list? Best Picture Dunkirk “Allied soldiers from Belgium, the British Empire and France are surrounded by the German Army, and evacuated during a fierce battle in World War II.” Best Animation Lego Batman Movie “There are big changes brewing in Gotham, but if Batman (Will Arnett) wants to save the city from the Joker's (Zach Galifianakis) hostile takeover, he may have to drop the lone vigilante thing, try to work with others and maybe, just maybe, learn to lighten up. Maybe his superhero sidekick Robin (Michael Cera) and loyal butler Alfred (Ralph Fiennes) can show him a thing or two.” Honorable Mentions: Captain Underpants and Cars 3 Best Superhero Movie Logan “In the near future, a weary Logan (Hugh Jackman) cares for an ailing Professor X (Patrick Stewart) at a remote outpost on the Mexican border. His plan to hide from the outside world gets upended when he meets a young mutant (Dafne Keen) who is very much like him. Logan must now protect the girl and battle the dark forces that want to capture her.” Honorable Mentions: Spider-Man: Homecoming and Wonder Woman Best Horror Picture Get Out “Now that Chris (Daniel Kaluuya) and his girlfriend, Rose (Allison Williams), have reached the meet-the-parents milestone of dating, she invites him for a weekend getaway upstate with Missy and Dean. At first, Chris reads the family's overly accommodating behavior as nervous attempts to deal with their daughter's interracial relationship, but as the weekend progresses, a series of increasingly disturbing discoveries lead him to a truth that he never could have imagined.” Honorable Mention: IT Best Sequel Blade Runner 2049 “Officer K (Ryan Gosling), a new blade runner for the Los Angeles Police Department, unearths a long-buried secret that has the potential to plunge what's left of society into chaos. His discovery leads him on a quest to find Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford), a former blade runner who's been missing for 30 years.” Honorable Mentions : John Wick: Chapter 2 and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 Most Shocking Raw “Stringent vegetarian Justine (Garance Marillier) encounters a decadent, merciless and dangerously seductive world during her first week at veterinary school. Desperate to fit in, she strays from her principles and eats raw meat for the first time. The young woman soon experiences terrible and unexpected consequences as her true self begins to emerge.” Honorable Mention: Mother! Worst Movies The Emoji Movie “Hidden inside a smartphone, the bustling city of Textopolis is home to all emojis. Each emoji has only one facial expression, except for Gene, an exuberant emoji with multiple expressions. Determined to become "normal" like the other emojis, Gene enlists the help of his best friend Hi-5 and a notorious code breaker called Jailbreak. During their travels through the other apps, the three emojis discover a great danger that could threaten their phone's very existence.” Honorable Mentions: The Snowman , Geostorm , Wish Upon , Tulip Fever , and The Mummy Which movies will you add to this list? Share in the comments below!

Top 5 Gingerbread Dessert Recipes

No December Willow Hill Blog would be complete without a post containing delicious recipes. This year, we decided to pick our top 5 favorite gingerbread dessert recipes. Bring back the magical flavors of gingerbread, molasses, chocolate, pumpkin, and more with these awesome winter bakes this holiday season. Winter never tasted so good in your Puyallup, Washington apartment, until now. Chewy Chocolate Gingerbread Cookies These ultra chewy cookies are infused with the festive flavors of the holidays. Enjoy sinking your teeth into winter’s favorite cookie, only this time it has been upgraded with a generous amount of chocolate. Who knew that chocolate and gingerbread pair so well together, making this the first recipe on our list for top 5 gingerbread desserts. Gingerbread & Pumpkin Cream Trifle Stack layers of gingerbread, vanilla pudding, pumpkin, and other great flavors! Not only does this make our top 5 list for favorite gingerbread recipes of the season, it’s also featured in Taste of Home’s “5-Ingredient Fall Recipes” list . Want to make something that doesn’t take a lot of time to put together and requires only 5 ingredients? This one is definitely worth looking at! Chocolate Gingerbread Cupcakes Of the recipe, Patricia Harmon from Baden, Pennsylvania said, “These luscious cupcakes have a touch of semisweet chocolate in the batter and white chocolate in the filling. They melt away fast at our house.” You’ll need cream cheese, white baking chips, vanilla extract, salt, confectioners’ sugar, and marshmallow cream. Sounds delicious! Gingerbread Surprise Beignets with Spiced Mocha Hot Chocolate “If you plan on making these (which of course you really should), may I suggest you make them on the snowiest day possible? I know not all of you live in snowy locations, but if you do, wait for the snow. Snow makes desserts like this just magical. You can eat a beignet (or two or three) and slowly enjoy a giant mug of hot chocolate all while sitting by the fire with the tree lit up and music playing.” Soft and Chewy Gingerbread Molasses Chocolate Chip Bars As the year reaches its end, it’s time to say goodbye to pumpkin and hello to the perfect pairing of gingerbread and molasses. These Instagram-worthy bars are dense like molasses fudge with the addition of melty chocolate chips. We’re almost drooling just thinking about them. And for breakfast… try this delicious looking Overnight Gingerbread French Toast Breakfast Bake . Do you have a favorite gingerbread recipe that you think could top our list? Share it in the comments below. Thanks for reading and happy holidays!