For more information on water conservation, visit our drought resource page here.

We’ve been encouraged to cut back on our water use for many months now, yet we’re still not conserving enough. So now the governor is ordering mandatory water use reductions with the specifics yet to be worked out by the individual water agencies.

Why have we been so slow to make changes in our water consumption habits? They say, “Replace your lawn with drought-resistant plants. Take shorter showers. Only do full loads of laundry. Get a rebate for a water-efficient toilet.” At some point, you wonder if we won’t change our behavior until our water bills skyrocket. Read more

When my husband Patrick goes grocery shopping, the first place he heads for is the meat counter. He likes talking to butchers (any butcher), asking questions about which cut to buy and getting tips on how to prepare a particular dish. Many of them love food and love to cook.

On one of his recent shopping trips, he needed extra assistance because he didn’t know his way around the store. Read more

A few weeks ago, when I called an appliance repair service to fix a problem with my refrigerator, the technician was extremely clear about the cost of his services. The minimum for a house call was $89, and after that, he billed in 15-minute increments for his labor. He would not be charging for his travel time. However, the parts were extra, and at that point he didn’t know if any would be needed to fix a freezer with a layer of ice building up underneath the ice cube trays. I appreciated his direct approach and transparency. Upon arrival, he quickly diagnosed the problem and made the tricky repair. The total bill of $170 didn’t surprise me, Read more

A couple of weeks ago, a customer contacted us by email to report a complaint about a company. She explained that a Diamond Certified arborist did not follow industry standards, and because of their negligence, she was certain her trees would be lost. She was reasonably angry and intended to report the company to multiple agencies. She said we needed to contact her, so we did. I sent her two emails, one with our complaint form and a second to inform her that the company she was reporting was not Diamond Certified. She didn’t provide a telephone number. So, I waited… Read more

Read more

We are very curious.

Maybe your New Year’s resolution relates to services that Diamond Certified companies provide: you want to remodel your bathroom or get your teeth cleaned more often. Or, instead, maybe you just want to finish that novel or lose 10 pounds. Either way, we want to hear about it. Write it on a piece of paper (like we did below) and send us a selfie. You can also write your resolution in the comment section below.

Thanks for sharing and good luck!

While we wait to hear from you, here are some of the things we came up with:

Read more

2017 update: ‘Tis the season once again! Add a food bank, a shelter or another other worthy cause to your list and experience the fun of playing Santa.

‘Tis the season! Ashley and I dropped off the bounty collected from our holiday food drive at the San Francisco-Marin Food Bank  yesterday and were lucky enough to get a private tour.  Given that the San Francisco Bay Area is one of the wealthiest regions in the country, I was shocked and saddened to learn that 25% of the residents of San Francisco and Marin are in need of food assistance. Consequently, I’m so grateful that there are organizations like the SF-Marin Food Bank. Read more