Crime report

Crime analysis: From first report to final arrest 

What kind of neighborhood do you live in? Would you consider your current surroundings ideal for a family, or do you sleep with a Mac-10 close at hand? Well, hopefully no one lives in a community quite that dangerous, but in this day and age you never know. With the American population continuously increasing, this country's crime report isn't exactly getting better. Whether you're catching the nightly news or merely flipping through the morning news paper, you will probably spot something about crime. What is it with our race? I'm addressing the human race. No matter how intelligent we seem to get, the redundant act of violence never ceases. At this point I think it's rather safe to say that this trait is innate. Some human beings are just bad.

Have you checked the current crime report online? The World-Wide-Web is a great place to acquire information regarding crime and statistics. You can find all the up-to-date stuff with the click of a mouse. Now days there are even government websites that allow you access to a more hush-hush crime report. Read oodles of information on criminals and recent crimes committed. Find out where much of this activity is taking place. You may be quite surprised to find out that it's closer than you thought. Recently I logged onto a crime report website in order to get the low down on what's going on in my community. I like to be up-to-date on whether or not any random pedophiles are living near my home. This is a factor that any and all parents should consider. I don't care if your child is five years old or 16 years old. It's imperative to know who lives nearby. Chances are these predators will strike again. Get a current crime report of your immediate locations and get informed.

Do you live in or near a large city? Sadly this tends to increase the criminal element by far. However, you can hop online and acquire a recent crime report of your city. This way you can learn about areas to avoid. Even in the smallest towns, a certain level of criminal element is likely. Violence and negative behavior are virtually impossible to avoid altogether in this world. But, at least we can stay informed regarding criminals and events nearby with online crime report websites.

Home Hydroponic gardening Guide-Learn to Grow Hydroponics

Hydroponic Garden Guide contains everything you need to know to get started with Hydroponics. It covers all the basics so that you understand all the basic information and step-by-step instructions and a handy checklist to perform the tasks.

Check it out!

Herbs and gardening

Gardening and herbs is a site set up and create my mail-Garden. It is important and necessary information to get started straight away full. 80 page ebook "Secrets Of mail Gardening"

Check it out!

UV Toothbrush Sanitizers Help Prevent Illness

VIOlight VS100 Toothbrush Sanitizer and Storage System

By now I'm sure most of us have seen those hidden camera reports showing that hotel and motel rooms only receive the most cursory cleanings. The footage is gross and shocking; especially when you consider that we're not just talking about typical fleabag motels here. Even decent places that cost upwards of $100 per night leave a lot to be desired in the hygiene department, which is why I think it's important to take extra measures to protect myself against bacteria, germs, and viruses while traveling. Using UV toothbrush sanitizers while on the road is a good place to start.

If you haven't tried these toothbrush sanitizers yet, you're really missing out on a great product. These compact devices, which more or less look just like a carrying case for the brush, use ultraviolet rays to destroy 99.99% of germs on the bristles and handle. These are the same germs and bacteria that can cause colds, flu, and other illnesses, so using portable toothbrush sanitizers can actually be beneficial to your health. Plus, I think it's a lot safer to keep your brush in the UV case than to put it anywhere near the hotel sink and counter tops that get wiped down with dirty cloths!

Some of you are probably thinking that only hypochondriacs would use ultraviolet toothbrush sanitizers. After all, isn't it enough to thoroughly rinse the brush with hot water once you're finished using it? Absolutely not! Clinical tests have shown that simple rinsing still leaves toothbrushes contaminated enough to get you sick. If that's a chance you're willing to take, then that's obviously your call, but I would prefer not to risk anything -- particularly since toothbrush sanitizers make it so easy eliminate germs.

UV toothbrush sanitizers are currently available at specialty stores, travel outfitters, and a number of online retailers. They come in a variety of sizes for both individual and family use, and are reasonably priced in the $30 range. I think that's a very small price to pay considering the return you'll get from the product. I have two devices, one for home and one for the road, and I am extremely pleased with the way they've performed. I recommend these products all the time, give them as gifts to family and friends, and have made many converts this way. All of them love their toothbrush sanitizers just as much as I do.

Frequent travel can wreak havoc on your immune system because of a multitude of factors, including jet lag, restaurant meals, lack of proper exercise, and unclean hotel rooms. Fortunately, you can take steps to help stop colds and other minor illnesses before they slow you down. Using UV toothbrush sanitizers are an effective way to kill harmful germs, so get yours today!

Proudly made in the USA, and other Tax Savings you get without Itemizing

Lower Your Taxes - Big Time! 2009-2010 Edition (Lower Your Taxes Big Time)

It isn’t so much that people mind the money they lose to the government as
taxes. It is the hoops they have to jump through to do it, what with all the
forms, the calculations the tax codes, and the itemizing for every single
deduction. Well, the IRS allows certain people, people who come under certain
categories, to file their returns and not have to itemize or mess about with
deduction phaseouts and the like. Form 1040 lists more than 20 kinds of
expenses that you can claim tax deductions on, without proving or itemizing
anything - if, that is, you happen to be a teacher, a divorcee or someone who
answers to about two dozen different descriptions.
People, fondly remembering how you list them on Form 1040 just above the
bottom line on the first page - and so, call them above-the-line deductions .
So what are these deductions that you’re allowed to put down without
itemizing and come away with your tax savings? Well here they are:
1. A health savings account reminds everyone a lot of an IRA. People sock
money away in it, and as it grows, you can make withdrawals from it, for any
kind of medical expenses that you don’t get reimbursements for under your
high deductible medical cover. The contributions you make to them count.
2. If you are moving, because your job is moving, you can get your tax
savings on the moving expenses, provided you jump through the hoop otherwise
known as Form 3903.
3. If you spent your life working for yourself, and you bought your own
pension plan, something like an SEP IRA, any contributions you make to it,
count against your tax savings, and you don’t have to itemize.
4. Among the most hated payments we make, alimony payments, and student loan
interest, have to feature somewhere near the top. With alimony, you need to
make sure that you put down on line 31, the Social Security number and tax ID
of your ex-spouse, so that the IRS can cross check with them that the
payments were made. And $2500 out of whatever student loan interest you paid,
can be subtracted too.
5. A really good one, are the fees you pay for higher education. After you
put this down on a line 34, you just need to grab yourself a form 8917, and
you’re done. And of course, there is the tax saving you make manufacturing
goods that are “Proudly made in the USA”. You get a tax break of 50% of
whatever you pay your employees.
And if you have to make sure you have all the bases covered, here are a few
for your personal collection. If you spent money on an unlawful
discrimination lawsuit, your court costs all count. If you were paid anything
for jury duty but had to give it up to your boss because he’s paying you for
your time too, here is where you get a little tax savings out of it. And
finally, if you don’t really need to use the Form 1040, you can still get
your due on Form 1040A. This one has spaces for tax savings of this kind too.

Tax Avoidance - Getting up to Speed with the New Rules

There is tax evasion that is illegal and requires that you do things like stash black money away in offshore accounts and bogus companies; and there is tax
Avoidance, that is just about playing your legal options correctly, to take advantage of tax savings options the law provides you. President Obama is trying
to undo years of Democratic and Republican tax cuts that have bankrupted the country and resulted in cuts in essential public services - and the results
aren't pretty. Taxes are going to raise one way or the other.

Joe Public knows that these tax code changes could change his fortunes overnight, and like investors all over, he feels that drastic investment philosophy
changes that need to be made. Just in February, ordinary investors moved their money from regular stocks to new kinds of investments like foreign equity
funds and tax-free municipal bond funds. And ordinary salaried people are taking their IRAs and turning them into Roth IRAs at breakneck speed for the free
pass out of tax that they get. And in their pension planning, lots of high-paid executives are turning down plans that let them pass on cash today for a big
bounty later on. Everyone wants cash now, everyone wants to park it someplace safe from the tax man today. Tax avoidance is in style.

Tax planners are certainly having a great time though. They don't need to convince anyone of how important their services are; they have customers lining up
around the block. Almost every tax seems to be rising now, if you look at the list. Nothing seems safe - even income and capital gains rates are going up.
Even worse, the unspoken understanding that your salary was to be judged differently from what you made on your investments is being questioned by the IRS.
They are going to be taking your income from dividends and interest in all that, and may begin charging you social security or Medicare taxes on them. What
we do know at this time, is that there won't be any tax raises this year. So there is a little time to prepare our tax avoidance strategies. Let's just make
sure that we don't jump from the frying pan into the fire trying too hard to avoid taxes, and making big losses in the process.

Here are examples of where the promise lies in a new investment strategy. You make your contribution to your Roth IRA with your income after taxes. So
Everything you get out of it, comes tax-free. And there will be no tax rises for the future either. If you do it this year instead of deciding to put off
Those taxes to next year though, you get the advantage of sealing the deal on today's tax rate.

Company executives are wondering what to do with all the pay and benefits they receive this year. The new Enron rules make sure they can't cash their options
And run off before the sky falls. Their only hope now is to access their benefits and stock options, because these get very lenient tax treatment. If they
are to get all the benefits of the lenient tax treatment though, they'll have to hang onto their stock options for a year or more before cashing it. If you
Have options that don't qualify, getting the process started right away would be a good idea.

About two years ago, municipal bonds were paying out twice as much as treasury bonds. Even last year they made their investors 10%. As taxes rise, municipal
Bonds may not be as insulated as treasury bonds. Most municipal bonds are in excellent condition, and if you invest in a wide variety over several states,
You should be safe. The things good hard-working people have to stoop to these days in the name of tax avoidance. Isn't it enough how much they contribute as
it is?

Chances are quite Good your Tax Preparer has no Idea what he is Doing

There are certain basic things we depend on to help ourselves get through life - the honesty and competence of doctors, lawyers, bankers and teachers. Well,
you could add tax preparers to that list - even if most people find that difficult to believe. There was a review carried out by the Treasury Department to
try and test the services tax preparers provide; they just found that about two out of three tax returns put together by any professional tax preparer, has a
two-thirds chance of being incorrect. And when they are in fact incorrect, one out of three times, the mistake is intentional, to try to take advantage of
you. That's right, those are thieves who set up legitimate looking business, to try to steal a little money when you come in the door. And it's not a small
number either - nearly one in every five tax returns, are prepared by malafide thieves.

Outright fraud is not really unheard of in the area of personal financial services. People just find it hard to handle other people's money, and not take a
piece for themselves. That's just human nature. You do get to read in the papers all the time how some certified public accountant or tax attorney is being
sent away to serve jail time for fraud. A tax preparer just happens to be no different. Of course, they're not going to be shady acts you could recognize
right off the bat. They can appear to be successful, a part of well-run organizations, and they can appear personally quite knowledgeable. But all this
doesn't take away from how they can be real frauds.

Being a tax preparer does put one in a position where one can gain a lot by misrepresenting the law, and making false promises on what the law permits. For
instance, some of them will guarantee you a much better IRS tax refund than you would personally know how. You would get them as promised too. But the IRS
will pass its returns through an audit, and about a year after, you could get called up. In fact, a fraud who is good at his job could put that off for a
couple of years. And he needs to be in business for two years, to make a huge killing in fees before he runs.

So, how does this happen? Doesn't a tax preparer have to be adequately qualified and certified by the IRS? They certainly do; they have to pass the tax exam,
and they have to keep up with all of the IRS' qualifying rituals regularly. But there is a certain animal known as the "unenrolled tax preparer". And this
one, needs no qualifications whatsoever. How do you recognize one? Certainly, you can ask to see credentials. But other than that, the moment any tax
preparer begins to promise you great refund checks, even before they get to see your case, you probably understand that he is just trying to pull your chain.
Any time a new tax deduction or "secret loophole" is promised to you, ask to see what section of the IRS code he gets that from. If you get a name and
number, check it out on the Internet.

Most problems you see in the work that the tax preparer turns in, comes from not a desire to steal from you, but from simple ignorance. The IRS is studying
the possibility that unenrolled tax errors be forbidden from doing professional work. If you are looking for anyone to blame, blame the way the government
likes to overcomplicate everything. Why does the tax code have to be so complicated that no moderately sophisticated individual can make any sense of it? Why
does everyone have to go to a professional to do a simple thing like work out their taxes?.

If you are a Teacher, here are Tax Deductions you can Claim without Itemizing

We have all met dedicated teachers - the ones who will do a little extra teaching for few students who lag behind, who will give a ride home to children from
poor families whose parents can't get off work to come pick them up, and who, as poorly paid as they are, will use their own money to buy supplies, books or
anything else that the school or their pupils need from time to time. Someone in the IRS, perhaps someone who owed a lot to just such a dedicated teacher
herself, has thought of a way society can show its appreciation - pain-free tax deductions for teachers - as much as (or, depending on your point of view, as
little as) $250.

What makes it particularly easy and meaningful is that this is a tax deduction that doesn't need itemizing - you claim it on Form 1040. They treat such a
tax break as a way for you to underreport your income - a lower income will mean lower taxes. Of course $250 doesn't sound like much; but people are always
more encouraged to make use of tax deductions that don't need painful itemizing. No one would ever take advantage of these deductions when the rules at one
time needed itemizing everything on Schedule A - not to mention the rider that whatever was listed would have to be at least 2% of a teacher's income if it
was to be allowed.

You don't even have to be a teacher to be able to claim this tax break anymore. You just need to be anyone who works in a private or public school system in
most kinds of positions, with any kind of class, kindergarten onwards. However, they don't allow homeschooling teachers to claim anything. But what if, say,
you and your husband are both teachers, and one of you spent $200 on buying supplies for students, and the other spent $300? Well then, you are probably out
of luck; no one gets to claim more than $250 a year, even if they file jointly. The rules are pretty relaxed about what items you can count in these expenses
you claim for these tax deductions. They can be any kind of book, stationery, computer hardware, software or services. And of course, they need to see that
the items you buy, are regular stuff in any school setting.

Of course there are lots of teachers who spend well in excess of $250 on their classes. You can still put those down on Schedule A, and itemize to claim tax
deductions for those. This new rule is just to help you with the itemizing hassle for small sums. For larger sums, you always have the other choices right
alongside

How to Stopping Addictive Behaviors?

When most people think of addictive behaviors, they picture drug abuse or alcohol addiction, but for addictive personalities, almost anything can be habit forming. The psychology of addiction is complex and kind of twisted, but it is a reality for millions of people world wide. For these poor, unfortunate souls, every day is a struggle. People who suffer from addictive behavior get rid of one bad habit only to fall for another one.

Alcohol and drug rehab is often the start of changing a life paralyzed by addictive behaviors. The first thing, after all, is to break out of your current addiction. A treatment center is really the best way to start doing this. Through meditation, a healthy diet, daily exercise, and a variety of other tricks, most people can get past an initial drug habit and become clean and sober. With addictive behaviors, however, that is only the start of the problem.

The big problem is that it is quite easy to fall back into your addictive behaviors as soon as you are out of the treatment program. After all, anyone can stay drug free when they are being treated and supervised by doctors who help them to stay on a strict schedule. Having the strong will and the wherewithal to stay with it when you are on your own is another thing altogether.

The best thing to do is to find some higher power. There has to be something at the core that you can cling tightly too when you feel lost in temptation. For a lot of people, this higher power is God. If you feel like God is watching you all the time, it might be a lot easier to stay clean and sober. I know that it has made a big difference for me. Whether I am being watched by doctors in the clinic or God in heaven, I have little problem staying sober. It is only when I feel like I am alone that the psychology of addiction gets the best of me again.

Of course, having a support group of some sort is every bit as important as having religious faith, if not more. Whether you go to narcotics anonymous or simply have a family who is there to look after you, a supportive community will make a huge difference. After all, we all feel weak now and again. Those are the times when it is most important to be vigilant in your fight against addictive behaviors.

How To Experience Enormous Weight Loss With Dieting Motivation

Weekly Eating Journal

Did you know, your dieting motivation, is the only thing that keeps you from shedding 10 lbs., 15 lbs, 35 lbs, 50 lbs or more? That's right it's not the food you’re eating (well mostly not) and it’s not the lack of exercise. Without the proper motivation you will not be able, to find the personal fortitude (will power), to shed those excess pounds. The purpose of this article is to help you understand, that with the proper motivation, you will shed those pounds and you will be able to keep them off.

Do you know what true diet inspiration is? Very simply put it is when you incite your self to eat less food and propel yourself into an effective exercise program. Because without the two combined your just not going to be able to realize your goal of having a healthy body. Now that you have that understanding, it’s time to look at some of the motivating factors which will help you achieve that healthy body.

The way you can actually begin to inspire yourself is to think of the benefits you will realize from losing weight. If you have children, you will gain energy and the mental sharpness necessary to keep up with them. You will fulfill the responsibility, you have to the kids and your spouse, to remain healthy and increase the chances you will be around for as long as you can. However, beside the benefits your family will experience, let’s take a look at what you will gain by losing all the unnecessary fat.

One of the things to really kick start your dieting motivation is paint an image in your mind of how you will look 20 to 50 pounds lighter. Just imagine yourself with a sexier looking body. The waist slimed down by 4 inches or more and the belt drawn in to accent your beautiful bosom or those broad shoulders if you’re a man.

Think about being able to throw away all of the oversize clothes and slipping into a tight pair of jeans. The very same jean size you wore when you were 20 years old. Now you’re getting excited! You can actually see your self getting into a new bathing suit and getting those admiring looks from the opposite sex.

O.K. you have the benefits and your motivation is up, how do you keep it there? Once again this is where your mental attitude and common sense is going to come into play. You must set realistic time frame and weight loss goals. Stop and think about this for a moment. If you had to eat an elephant how would you do it? One bite at a time of course!

There is no way you would try to eat that big boy in one setting or in 100 settings. You would make up a plan which would enable you to devour that big fellow over a period of time. The same principal applies to getting rid of 15 years of weight gain in 30 days. The truth is if you want to keep it off after you lose it, you need to be thinking in terms of say a pound a week over the next six months.

Dieting motivation is the one thing that will enable you to lose all the weight you want too. Simply using common sense and a good mental attitude, at all times, will make the pain of losing weight a lot more bearable. Think of all the benefits you will have when you keep your dieting motivation motivated.

How To Find A Raw Food Delivery Company

Getting raw food delivery to your home or place of work can be a challenging proposition. After all, there are several problems with getting raw foods from a restaurant. First, you never know if what you are actually ordering is what you will get, as some restaurants and other dining establishments have a, shall we say, differing view on what exactly constitutes unprocessed foods. Secondly, unless you live in a big city or other major metropolitan area, you will be hard pressed to find a restaurant that caters to your raw food cravings, as smaller cities and towns are almost always devoid of any raw food eateries.

So what is a person to do who wants an unprocessed food delivery? Well, there are several suggestions that you may want to take into consideration that do not involve you searching through the phone book for every meal. Your best bet when looking for restaurants that will deliver raw food delights to your doorstep is to ask around to other people who share your culinary interest. Chances are that at least one person you know has eaten out at a raw food serving eatery, and they may well deliver. Plus, your friend may be able to recommend other restaurants that they heard about from their friends, and so on and so forth.

However, if you are the only person you know with a raw food craving, you may think that you are out of luck – and your only option is to take random guesses about what restaurants may deliver unprocessed foods. Well, there is still another option for finding a raw food restaurant in your area. You can turn to the internet. There are several mail order places that can send you raw food through a national delivery service. Now, if you are not too comfortable with ordering unprocessed and unpreserved foods through the mail, you can always check local restaurant reviews online to see if they can deliver meals to your home.

The most important thing to remember when it comes to raw food delivery is not to settle for anything that is second rate – be sure that you know what to expect before you place that order, as there is no sense in skipping a meal simply because the order was not what you wanted or thought it would be.

5 Tips To Permanent Weight Loss

ACAI Juice Extreem -240 CAPSULES 100% PURE, 4 times MORE potent for each MG ACAI Berry Natural Nutrition, Energy and also used for Weight Loss Detox Diet 4 Bottles, 4 Months , 1300 Mg

Permanent weight loss is perhaps the most difficult thing that you and millions of other people strive for in your daily life. It's the enduring loss part that wreaks havoc upon 10's of thousands upon 10's of thousands seeking to lose weight. This article will provide tips on losing the pounds and keeping them off forever.

The very first thing you should do prior to committing yourself to a weight loss program, regardless if it's dieting or an exercise program, is to consult your doctor. This is as important for adults and perhaps even more important for overweight children. Not only will the doctors be able to determine if you are healthy enough to pursue the diet or physical exercise plan. In addition they will be able to help you set what will be a realistic time frame for your plan and the amount of actual weight loss which will be healthy for you.

Off if you don't exercise or in fact you’re not going to shred those pounds without it. Sorry, but that is a proven fact. Perhaps the one exercise which is the easiest to do is walking. This is just from the stand point it is an easy exercise the majority of us can do every day and without thinking about it.

By the way many well known medical authorities, such as the Mayo Clinic, have said that 30 to 60 minutes of exercise per day will help those lost pounds too stay lost. Furthermore, they have stated that even if you have to break up your exercise into several 10 minute sessions during the day, it will help produce the same results as a longer period of time. Think about it! You just walking the halls of work, during your break period, will help you lose weight, improve your overall health, make you more mentally alert, increase your energy and perhaps best of all keep the weight off forever.

Now here is a tip that is somewhat controversial, but again it is one of those things proven to help keep the weight off. Be sure and keep a good pair of digital scales around so you can weigh frequently. The thought behind this is it will help you see when you are making progress or not making progress. An example would be if you are showing progress you know to keep doing what you are doing because it’s working. Whereas if you’re not making progress, in fact you are gaining weight, you know you’re going to have to do something different.

A great many people that have trouble losing weight and keeping it off, often skip meals. The one most often skipped and is the most important one of the day, breakfast. Breakfast is going to be the one that sets the tone for your whole day. Skipped meals often lead to excess snacking, drinking sugared drinks (high calories) for energy and other snacks, such as chips and candy bars.

Now here are two extra tips for you. Reduce the size of your portions. In fact if you will reduce the size of your plate this will help you control portion size. The second tip is to wait about 10 minutes or so before taking a 2nd helping. You will be surprised how quickly you will realize you aren’t as hungry as you thought you were.

Let’s face it with the use of common sense, a little will power, exercise, correct portion size and the help of your doctor you will lose weight and have permanent weight loss.

natural beauty secrets are not really all that secret

World's Best Kept Beauty Secrets: What Really Works In Beauty, Diet & Fashion

Women everywhere around the world are literally dying to know natural beauty secrets. As women go under the knife for one plastic surgery after another, they risk their lives and their bodies in an attempt to appear naturally beautiful. Little thought is given to how a botched surgery can affect them or their loved ones down the road. All they can think of is this unrealistic image of what’s considered beautiful that they have in the heads thanks to the media and advertising.

The truth is, natural beauty secrets are not really all that secret. Everywhere a woman looks, she can find all natural ways to become someone that is truly beautiful instead of trying to imitate a digitally airbrushed and otherwise changed photograph from an ad in a magazine. A couple of the biggest secrets entail nothing more than loving yourself for precisely that you are, perceived imperfections and all.

There are so many benefits of natural beauty secrets. If you make the decision to love yourself for exactly who you are and make an effort to do so daily, your self confidence will soar. If you are happy with whom you are, you will be a happier person. If you’re a happier person, your interactions with others will be more pleasant. If you treat others more kindly, they will also be happier. The world could literally be a better place if women decided to love themselves instead of aspiring to be something no normal woman could ever be.

Everyone wants a better quality of life. For some women, they feel that if they just looked like that model or such-and-such celebrity, they would have everything they could possibly want and more. They feel that sort of beauty will open doors for them. In reality, while beauty might open a few doors, those doors will quickly be shut if you’re ugly on the inside. A woman who is dedicated to getting what she wants and feels she deserves will go much farther in this world than one who relies on her good looks alone.

Another benefit of the natural beauty secret of being happy with who you are is, at the end of the day, when all is said and done, you only have yourself. If you don’t like yourself as a person, you can’t expect anyone else to like you, either. While some may immediately be drawn to you because of your perceived beauty, they will quickly leave once they realize how poisonous your personality is. You’ll wind up alone, with only a mirror for company.

Stop letting others dictate what you should wear, how you should look, or how you should act! Don’t let people who don’t even know you tell you what to do with your life and body! The media and advertising executives don’t know who you are. They don’t even know you exist. Make the choice to do what’s best for you. That is the real natural beauty secret.

Natural Beauty Secrets

Women everywhere around the world are literally dying to know natural beauty secrets. As women go under the knife for one plastic surgery after another, they risk their lives and their bodies in an attempt to appear naturally beautiful. Little thought is given to how a botched surgery can affect them or their loved ones down the road. All they can think of is this unrealistic image of what’s considered beautiful that they have in the heads thanks to the media and advertising.

The truth is, natural beauty secrets are not really all that secret. Everywhere a woman looks, she can find all natural ways to become someone that is truly beautiful instead of trying to imitate a digitally airbrushed and otherwise changed photograph from an ad in a magazine. A couple of the biggest secrets entail nothing more than loving yourself for precisely that you are, perceived imperfections and all.

There are so many benefits of natural beauty secrets. If you make the decision to love yourself for exactly who you are and make an effort to do so daily, your self confidence will soar. If you are happy with whom you are, you will be a happier person. If you’re a happier person, your interactions with others will be more pleasant. If you treat others more kindly, they will also be happier. The world could literally be a better place if women decided to love themselves instead of aspiring to be something no normal woman could ever be.

Everyone wants a better quality of life. For some women, they feel that if they just looked like that model or such-and-such celebrity, they would have everything they could possibly want and more. They feel that sort of beauty will open doors for them. In reality, while beauty might open a few doors, those doors will quickly be shut if you’re ugly on the inside. A woman who is dedicated to getting what she wants and feels she deserves will go much farther in this world than one who relies on her good looks alone.

Another benefit of the natural beauty secret of being happy with who you are is, at the end of the day, when all is said and done, you only have yourself. If you don’t like yourself as a person, you can’t expect anyone else to like you, either. While some may immediately be drawn to you because of your perceived beauty, they will quickly leave once they realize how poisonous your personality is. You’ll wind up alone, with only a mirror for company.

Stop letting others dictate what you should wear, how you should look, or how you should act! Don’t let people who don’t even know you tell you what to do with your life and body! The media and advertising executives don’t know who you are. They don’t even know you exist. Make the choice to do what’s best for you. That is the real natural beauty secret.

The Professionals Guide To Sensitive Skin Care

Vanicream Sunscreen, Sensitive Skin, Spf 60, 4-ounce

Sensitive skin care is a challenge for many people, especially those living in difficult climates. There are certain external conditions that should be avoided, as should the chemicals in most commercial cosmetic products. How do you know if you have sensitive skin? Here are a few factors to consider when deciding if you need specialized sensitive skin care products:

* Do you break out or have redness after being exposed to environmental stressors like shaving or weather?
* Do you have tingly or tight skin with no other explanation for it?
* Have you noticed any dryness, irritation, or redness on your skin?
* Does your skin react adversely to household cleaning products or cosmetics?
* After answering the rest of these questions, has your dermatologist ruled out any other skin conditions that could be causing the problem?

Sensitive skin can be even more challenging to deal with in adverse weather conditions. If you live where the weather is extremely cold or hot, you may need to use sensitive skin care products to protect yourself.

Thin skin is generally more sensitive than thicker parts of the skin simply because there is less protection between the blood and the outside conditions. The capillaries are closer to the outside of the skin when it is thin, so the skin becomes sensitive to cold, heat, and wind. Sensitive skin also is more susceptible to sunburn, so wear a higher SPF sunscreen if you much go out in the sun.

Avoid harsh washing products like loofahs, brushes, or cleansing stones. You want something soft to take care of your sensitive skin, not an abrasive brush that will further irritate it. Do not uses exfoliate because they may be too rough for your skin and cause inflammation when used?

Stay away from any strong chemicals in your skin care products. Fragrances and dyes in particular may irritate sensitive skin, so look for hypo-allergenic or organic products whenever possible. Use liquid cleansers as they are usually easier on the skin and will not cause the same allergic reactions. Hard-milled soaps also work well for sensitive skin care.

Antibacterial astringents are another key component of a good sensitive skin care program. They come in both cream and lotion form and are used to protect your skin from infectious bacteria. This balances your skin growth and keeps bacterial colonies from forming on the surface. One strong antibacterial is salicylic acid, which can exfoliate and remove the outer layer of accumulated dead skin cells. It also clears out bacteria in hair follicle areas to ensure healthy hair growth.

Be careful when purchasing your sensitive skin care products to make sure that they really are safe for your skin. Many products are labeled as natural or hypo-allergenic when they still contain toxic chemicals. Always check the ingredients listed on the label to see if there are any substances that may aggravate your skin. Similarly, perfume-free products may not always be completely devoid of fragrances so double-check all of your sensitive skin care products before use.

Chicken Noodle

Campbell Chunky Healthy Request, Classic Chicken Noodle, 15.25-Ounce (pack of 8)

When someone gets sick, you can almost bet someone will want to bring him or her chicken noodle soup. I’m not sure where this came from, but it is something that people have done for a very long time. I’m not sure if there is something special about it that makes people well or not. Perhaps it is the love that is intended when it is given, or perhaps there is something else going on all together. There has even be an entire book series based on the concept of chicken noodle soothing the soul in many ways.

When we get sick, we often will make chicken noodle for ourselves if there is no one around. There is something soothing about it, and perhaps the broth gives us nutrients and water that we need to get well. Perhaps it is the warm stream that comes from the soup that helps clear the mind. It might even just be the thought behind it that matters. The chicken noodle you buy in a can might be sufficient, but there are many other types out there now. There are richer soups made with higher quality ingredients that can be truly soothing, and very good for you.

If you want to make homemade chicken noodle soup for someone who isn’t feeling well, you don’t have to make it from scratch. There are mixes out there you can just add water to. After that chicken noodle cooks, it will have a richer quality than the stuff you take out of the can and warm up on the oven. You can even find soups make in restaurants and special cafes that will be soothing and will probably taste better than anything you can make in a hurry at home. You can buy a small cup or you can buy a quart to tide them over few a days.

If you are bringing someone chicken noodle to help them feel better, you might as well at the books to the list as well. Anything that is uplifting can help someone get better faster. These books are full of amazing tales of love, friendship, and miracles. They are stories that will bring warmth to your soul. Just remember that when someone isn’t feeling well, you don’t have to offer chicken noodle soup or anything else for that matter, other than your company and even your support. Sometimes that is the best medicine of all.

Cheesecake

125 Best Cheesecake Recipes

Some desserts are very hard to resist and one of the most popular sources of temptation is the cheesecake. It's a food item that has crossed boundaries and different cultures, becoming part of the menu all over the world. There are numerous versions of recipes and different, regional traditions.

Whether store bought, homemade or restaurant fare, the cheesecake is a taste sensation. The crust is commonly made from pastry, cookie or graham cracker-crumb. A digestive biscuit base is popular in the UK. The classic filling is made from eggs, cream and some type of soft fat that is normally cream cheese.

It is the kind of cheese that gives the dessert its distinctive flavor and texture. Other ingredients may include sugar or fruit. There are several fruit toppings to be found, including strawberries, raspberries, pineapple, blueberries, cherries, bananas and black forest. Some Asian varieties include mangos, the dessert being a particular favorite in Japan, where it is sold in vending machines. Chocolate or vanilla flavoring may also be added to give an extra richness.

The choice of cheese rather depends on the culinary traditions of the region. The most typical is cream cheese but ricotta, havarti; quark and twarog are also used in cheesecake. Americans prefer to use cream cheese, usually in the form of Philadelphia cream cheese. The New York style cheesecake, as it came to be known, is rich with lots of cream and eggs. Sometimes, this is augmented by lemon and cottage cheese.

In Italy, there are two main recipes. The old fashioned Roman version uses honey and ricotta cheese and is shaped into loaves. The modern recipe also calls for ricotta but may use mascarpone. Vanilla extract and candied fruit is sometimes added. Greek versions also use mascarpone or mizithra. French recipes contain Neufchatel cheese and the texture is unusually light. German varieties contain quark cheese, a soft, white curd cheese that is common in Baltic countries, Germany and Poland. Dutch and Belgian versions are deliciously flavored with melted chocolate.

The combinations of sweet and tangy flavors are almost always served as a dessert but there are savory versions, commonly using blue cheese. The savory variety can be a starter or served with salad. Vegetarians and vegans can still enjoy the delights of cheesecake. Vegan recipes most often substitute tofu for the cream cheese and vegan graham crackers or granola for the crust. The variations to be found with this dessert are almost endless.

Near Boston, a Library School authorities Stock with only E-Books

A New England prep school - the manicured lawns, the no-expenses-spared laboratories, classrooms were there seem to be more teachers and students, the libraries with no books - actually, what was that last one again? The Cushing Academy near Boston did boast of the best library school students anywhere have ever seen - 20,000 volumes of poetry, novels, scientific works, in a lavish library edifice that has stood for more than a hundred years now. But, having put together that impressive collection of educational material, the authorities there have finally given up fighting for the physical printed letter. They are giving away every last one of those books, to pave the way for what they feel is a better way to learn, the searchable e-book.

The very fact that a school should be denying its students a reading experience with physical books would fill some with alarm. But the school isn't trying to ban books at all like the plot in the novel Fahrenheit 451 about a land where books were banned because books encouraged the very threatening idea that there was something better in this world than simple hedonistic enjoyment. On the contrary, they are trying to create a learning environment for their children, where reading will be easier than it is with physical books. They are building a new digital library in its place. The library will be stocked with the latest in eBook readers, laptops, and other high-tech learning devices. This will be a virtual library that will have access not just to 20,000 books, but to millions. The way the parchment scroll made way for the printed book, centuries ago, the feeling is, that books will need to make way for the searchable e-book. When there used to be books at the library, school children never actually borrowed them, a situation any school librarian has experienced. In the digital age, children apparently, just don't like the feeling of a physical book.

But perhaps this is a good idea after all. A physical collection of books is only available to a small number of people at a time. Digital copies can be made out at will. Of course, buying or renting e-books costs a lot of money; but at a place like the Cushing Academy where money is often no object, this does make more sense. But depending entirely on e-books will not do any good, until most books are digitized. Most physical books suffer from other shortcomings. A library will have a couple of copies of any book; on assignment night, they will almost always be out; books need a lot of space to keep, and not all publishers sell in all regions. E-books will have fewer such restrictions. But as everyone saw with Google's digitization effort, no publisher likes to see their books handled without their permission. E-books have limits of their own therefore. However there is such a thing as piracy and putting a scanned book online is far easier than distributing photocopies. Of course all that is illegal. But when it comes to a library school children will have to come away empty-handed from, what could be illegal?

The Best Way Forward for People who need Health Insurance for Individuals

If you happen to be happily self-employed, say, as a successful freelance musician or writer, it can fill you with pity, looking at the rest of humanity getting up and rushing off to work at eight in the morning in pressed suits when it's raining and snowing at the same time. And fill you with gratitude for what you have, as you look down at your bare feet and shorts, and the warmth of how your creativity keeps you productive in your own home. But there is one area at least where those poor drones have it better than you - finding good affordable health insurance. They get health insurance with their employers; you have to go down the treacherous waters of health insurance for individuals. If you live at a place where Blue Shield Blue Cross operates as a major player, you could be in for a pretty nasty time getting any coverage at all. In New York, health insurance can cost the highest in the whole country, and has seen prices climb about 10% every year

If you check for the rates they have on policies in health insurance for individuals though, you'd be shocked; they'll easily raise those prices 30% to 50% this year. And what is worse, lots of private clinics are so sick of dealing with the insurance companies, they just flat out refuse insurance anymore. You are a successful musician or writer, and you wish to go out there and find group insurance for your family in Florida; over there, a family of four could possibly be four groups, the way their definitions work. It's just that when you happen to be self-employed, you're not quite sure which category your placed in - the individual one, or the group one, or which works out better for you. Health insurance for individuals will usually require screening for health issues, and if you have no problems, they will give you an excellent rate. If you want to apply as part of a group, you don't have to take the risk of getting the screening, and having your rates bumped up. But you do miss out on the discount for good health.

So what is the best way to go about finding the best health insurance for individuals? The suggestion that is about to follow may not sound that great to you, but if you happen to have a certain amount of free time, getting a part-time job might be just the thing for you. Even working part-time at Starbucks, or at major bookstores like Barnes & Noble, perhaps five hours a day, will give you great all-covered healthcare. And no one is going to screen you before they offer you coverage. But if you do have enough money to afford a proper health plan of your own, try signing up to a professional organization. If you are a writer for example, you could sign up to the freelancers' union; if you are an actor, the actors' guild would help too. If yours is a genuine professional organization, you'll probably get nearly free health insurance just by working a certain amount at your profession each year.

Health insurance for individuals is such a poorly thought-out system in this country; no one would have any part of it if they could possibly help it. The trick to getting personal insurance then is avoiding getting it as far as possible.

Tips for setting up a kids book club

The Readers' Choice: 200 Book Club Favorites

8 customer review and 4 star

Let's face it; getting kids to read can be a tough job. After all, kids these days have all sorts of interesting media and entertainment options fighting for their attention. Unfortunately, kids will often choose watching a movie or playing a computer game over reading a book. One reason for this is that reading is sometimes seen as a chore. It can also be seen as something that is antisocial and unfortunately still has geeky connotations. However, you can encourage your kids to read by setting up a kid’s book club.

Book clubs are groups where people get together to discuss what they have been reading. They are quite popular with adults, and there is no reason that they can't be popular with kids. After all, kids love it when they can chat about shared interests. No doubt you've seen them discussing their favorite television show or sharing baseball cards. A book club is another way to do this. By getting other kids involved in your child's reading, they'll be more likely to enjoy it and do it for fun.

Have a look around your local area to see if there are any existing book clubs for kids. Your local school might have one set up, or perhaps you might have luck at the local library. Some youth organizations might also run their own book clubs. If not, you might consider setting one up for your own children and their friends. First, see if any of their friends enjoy reading. These kids will be great to target as potential members of a book club. You can also put out a call out for members at your local library, or in the school newsletter.

Organize regular meetings for the kid’s book club. See what the kids' schedules are like, and set up your meetings accordingly. Some kids might prefer to meet once a month, while others can handle a fortnightly meeting. Also see what kind of books they like to read. If all of your members are fantasy buffs, it's a good idea to pick fantasy books for them to read. If there's a mix of interests, try to vary the content of the books that are set for them to read. Alternatively, kids can be given the option of picking their own books to read. Rather than discussing a single book during a meeting, everyone can discuss the different books they've read that week.

Provide snacks or other incentives to encourage kids to come along to the kid’s book club. A packet of cookies or some home made muffins or hot chocolate can really help the enjoyment factor of the meeting. It will make the book club seem less like work and more like fun. Also encourage all of the kids to add something to the discussion. You may find that some kids like to dominate the conversation, so you may need to explicitly ask the more quiet kids to contribute. Over time, you'll find that everyone in the kid’s book club begins to add their own opinions and perspectives.

The New Prerequisite for Employment?

Several decades ago, when the United States was still largely based on manufacturing, your high school diploma was your ticket to ride. As long as you graduated high school, you would be able to find work that would support your family. As the country evolved into a service based economy, employers began desiring candidates with higher levels of education, and slowly but surely, it became difficult to find a good paying job if you did not have a bachelor's degree. However, in today's day and age, with more people seeking higher education than ever before, even a bachelor's degree might not cut it. More and more employers are interested in job applicants with a master's or higher, making graduate school almost necessary to find employment. Thus, it is important to consider the benefits and drawbacks of attending graduate school, as well as the things one should consider when selecting a graduate school to attend.

First and foremost, one should note that attending graduate school can be tremendously beneficial. Many undergraduate programs today still place a high value on general education requirements. While the hours you put in for your major will still be substantial, almost a third of the time you spend in college, and in some cases, nearly half of it, while be devoted to classes unrelated to your major. Graduate school has no such restrictions. For two to three years, you will find yourself taking classes that directly apply to your field of study, giving you the knowledge, and in many cases, the hands on experience, to be more successful in your chosen line of work. Moreover, most master's degrees will require managerial classes tailored for that particular field of study, making you a more qualified candidate for higher paying positions.

That does not mean that graduate school is always the best idea. For one thing, it can be incredibly expensive, especially for out-of-state students. If you have already taken out thousands of dollars in student loans for your undergraduate degree, as most people in American do, you will be adding anywhere from twenty to fifty thousand dollars of debt onto your tab, if not more. Unless your graduate school training will prepare you to step into a very high paying job, it may not be worth the price tag. In addition, for some careers, experience is still more important than a piece of paper saying you're really smart. While graduate school is necessary for some, it is certainly not a one-size-fits-all affair. It is important to do your research before you make a decision.

If you do decide that you are interested in graduate school, there are a couple of steps you can take to make sure that you are entering the program that is right for you. The first thing to think about is your learning style. Are you someone who benefits from hours of reading and class discussion, or are you someone who prefers to learn by experience? Some schools provide a great deal of research opportunities for their graduate students, and others do not. Your learning style should be a factor in your decision. The other thing to consider is the length of the program you are entering. Some graduate schools offer master's degrees that will take a year to complete and other degrees that will take nearly four years to finish. There are also accelerated programs at graduate schools where you can gain your master's AND you’re Ph.D. in one study program. These are all things to consider when looking into graduate school.

Travel Health Insurance is a Necessity When You Travel Abroad

There are numerous reasons to get travel health insurance and other types of travel insurance packages when you travel abroad. One of the top reasons is that there are many ways to get sick in other countries and if you want to get good medical treatment you will need to make sure you have enough money to get you back home. What if you need to be airlifted from a remote place to a major city while on vacation? This is very expensive but you could die if you don’t get good medical attention immediately in some situations. Getting picked up by a helicopter is included in many of the top travel health insurance packages that you can buy.

Travel insurance packages can include flight insurance which will cover you when you are actually in the air or in the aircraft. If the plane goes down and blows up on the tarmac, your named beneficiary will be able to collect the death benefit from the insurance company that issued the travel insurance.

The most common way to purchase travel health insurance and other types of travel protection packages are at the airport. There are usually manned or un-manned kiosks near the gates that sell the insurance. Even if no attendant is there you can still fill out the application form, keep a copy for your records and drop it into the collection box before you board the plane itself. The insurance kicks into effect the moment you put the envelope with the application into the secure box. You put your flight number on the application and state the estimated number of days that your trip will take and you are done and ready for your trip.

Travel insurance also covers you in case your plane is delayed or your scheduled flight is cancelled, or in case you need to change travel plans at the last minute. The insurance will then protect you by paying any differences in ticket prices. Some limitations apply so you need to read the fine print on the contract. The same travel insurance package covers not only travel health insurance needs but will reimburse you in case your luggage gets lost or is delayed in arriving when you get to your destination. If you need to buy some replacement clothing, travel insurance will usually pay for it, up to a certain amount.

Travel Guard is one of the most reliable and well known travel insurance companies and they have been providing travel health insurance to travelers for many years now. Their package of benefits includes emergency transportation and prescription drugs as well as surgery and extended hospital stays in other countries while you are traveling. Travel Guard has different levels of coverage packages available and they vary in price as well as features and benefits.

Check out Travel Guard at www.travelguard.com. This is a very informative website with lots of travel tips and advice as well as lists of handy phone numbers for embassies and other aid for Americans traveling abroad.

Proven Alternative To Bankruptcy Debt Consolidation Non Profit

Is your telephone ringing off the hook with bill collectors calling from 7 in the morning to 9 at night? Are you so stressed about it you're thinking the unthinkable; bankruptcy. Hold on! There may be a better way for you. It's using a debt consolidation non profit company.

This article will help you get a handle on the possibility of using debt consolidation to avoid bankruptcy.

One of the first steps you are going to have to do is get over feeling ashamed, because you have to have help with your personal finances. It's true you may have had control over what money you spent or saved, but life can throw unexpected curve balls at you. It can be anything from a sudden illness to a downsizing of the company you work for.

If one of these circumstances happened to you and your family, chances are you were caught with your pants down. Like most people you were spending everything you had. You were also buying necessary and unnecessary items on credit cards and small loans.

So now you have to bite the proverbial bullet and get help. Frankly, if you choose the right company or rather organization to help you, it will lower your stress to a manageable level. What you need is a certified and licensed debt consolidation non profit organization.

There are hundreds if not thousands of these non profit companies out there. Many of them will profess to have trained councilors. However, many of the so called councilors are simply out to swindle you with high fees up front. Some of these so called, not for profit companies take your money and don’t pay your creditors. The end results being you have late fees and other penalties, such as increased interest, added to your credit card bills and loans.

These added charges can be the straw that breaks the camels back. Ultimately your only recourse will be to file bankruptcy to get debt relief. But this doesn’t have to happen to you.

You can avid being put in this position by checking out which organization you work with. It is important to try and work with a legitimate company in your local area. You should be able to check your local yellow pages for listings in your city or the surround area.

Once you have found what appears to be a legitimate company, before calling them be sure and check them out. You should be able to call your states attorney to determine if any complaints have been filed. If complaints have been filed have they been resolved or are they still outstanding.

One of the best ways to find the best debt relief help is to contact your local churches. Many of these religious institutions will be more than glad to refer or even arrange to help you. Furthermore, they may have the capability of putting you into a full financial course, which will teach you the right way to avoid debt and manage your money.

Once you get over the guilt of having gotten yourself into your mess, you will be able to move forward and take positive action. Using a debt consolidation non profit organization will make the progress much easier for you. However, you must commit yourself to following the plan made for you.

If not you may end up having to do the unthinkable; bankruptcy.

Extreme Home Makeover Foreclosure

The economy is in a downward trend. The housing boom that gave rise to about a thousand buy-and-flip-this-real-estate television shows and created little mini-investors all over the country has become more of a whisper than a boom. You know that when even that gorgeous house that underwent an extreme home makeover hits foreclosure, the market is crazy, right? Actually, that is not really true, as when the real estate industry suffers, it is often the higher-end homes and the lower-end homes that take the biggest financial hit.

In the case of the two extreme home makeovers that were shown on television and have ended up in foreclosure, there are probably several reasons why that happened.

Do you remember that old question that people would often be asked to help determine elements of their personality? Would you rather live in the best house in a bad neighborhood or the worst house in a good neighborhood? Well, the best financial answer is the “bad” house in the “good” neighborhood. Any realtor will tell you that price is important, but location is paramount. The extreme home makeover foreclosure was probably due in part to the fact that the houses were way too big, way too expensive, and…well…way too extreme for the neighborhoods in which they were built. A gigantic house in a sea of modest homes cannot get a true reflection of its worth with the traditional “market value” approach of comparing prices in a general area.

In addition to the ill-conceived placement of such enormous houses, it is also necessary to take a look at the past history of the homeowners. Most of the people featured on extreme home makeover shows, and definitely the two extreme home makeover foreclosure homeowners are not used to owning such a huge and potentially valuable piece of real estate. Despite the fact that the huge houses located in modest areas are never going to reach their true price-per-square-foot value, they are still more valuable than the other houses in the area, just by their sheer size. People who are familiar with investing and wealth are generally better suited to knowing how to properly handle it. M Those who are unfamiliar with the ins and outs of real estate investing and home ownership are less likely to be successful with it. In much the same way that a child whose father owns an Italian restaurant learns how to manage restaurants, homeowners of big, expensive houses learn how to manage them.

The whole premise of the show is to provide a gift to folks who are obviously unfamiliar with the taxes, bills, and accompanying opportunities to use the house as collateral without getting burned.

The humongous homes built by the extreme makeover show is really an inappropriate gift, as the new owners were really not prepared to properly manage them. As any homeowner knows, the costs of maintaining, repairing, heating, insuring, cooling, and paying the taxes on any home must be factored into the price of it; my first thought when seeing an extreme makeover home show once was, “Oh my goodness; I couldn’t afford to run the AC in that house.”

Of course, no one wants to tune in to see a plain old cinderblock house being built, and no huge corporations want to donate products to a boring show that no one watches. So, there you have it. There is an extreme home makeover foreclosure waiting to happen.

High School Teachers - Our Main Hope in Fighting Adolescent Depression and Suicide

Adolescent Depression: A Guide for Parents (A Johns Hopkins Press Health Book)
this book have 5 start and one customer review

As acronyms go, this one is a little snarky, a little sad: Headsss. Teachers around the country, not to mention social workers, all who deal with adolescents, and are responsible for them in a professional capacity, are taught to pay attention to this little number. It is about how those that need to care for an adolescent in a certain capacity, need to always learn to ask the children in their care, questions that touch a number of areas, all covered by the letters of the acronym. The first, H, of course, is the most important - it stands for Home, for everything that happens there. The E stands, variably, for education and employment that the teenager engages in. The A reminds the caretaker to ask about the activities that interest and involve the child, and the D, about trouble with drugs if there be any. In the end, the three S's stand for safety, sex life, and sadly, suicidal thoughts. Of course, only a few teachers in our educational system usually have the time for such unusually involved questions; but a psychiatrist would surely be required to ask these in any standard case of adolescent depression, or other problems.

A teacher is our first line of defense. A lot of the time, probing questions to a young teenager will be met with an anxious exhortation: "If I tell you, how can I be sure that you won't tell anyone else?" It might be a judgment call with some, but most teachers would say that over the long run, to simply tell the truth helps establish more trust, openness and productivity in any session. Sometimes, a teacher has to ask the parent to provide the child with a bit of privacy, to help the child say it all. And the ground rule, the child has to know, will be that unless the secret shared is something deeply dangerous to the child's life, it won't leave the room.

Once all the formalities are out of the way, most caring teachers essentially begin any kind of questioning with a kind of screening for depression; adolescent depression is shockingly high in the rate at which it occurs. Most young people, are so caught up in their visions of their own resilience and strength, that they will all flat out deny that they need any help for being sad or depressed. However, when the teacher words it differently, using the vernacular of the young, they almost always get better results. A word that seems to work with young people these days is "Stress". It may not mean to them exactly what it says in the dictionary, but it brings results.

Adolescent depression does not really look like adult depression. A lot of the kids who commit suicide are not depressed in the same way adults are. We may fail to recognize it because it may come through as recklessness - a wish to do whatever comes to their mind at the moment, or anger, or disappointment, or sometimes even as vengefulness. When teachers get these signs from their young students, they need to make their assessment right and see if there is suicide on the horizon. If it is, they can follow the protocol, and create a safety plan with the child whether or not they openly admit to suicidal thoughts. Teachers today are the bulwarks who have been protecting our children. This may not sound very hopeful, considering how poorly paid and overworked they are. But there you have it.

Will Buying Insurance from other Companies help us get More Affordable Health Insurance?

So the Republicans have successfully put the kibosh on the health care plan. Not that they don't have any ideas of their own; whatever health care plan comes to pass, it is sure to have a lot of Republican inputs to it. One of their important suggestions in the whole debacle is the idea that Americans should be able to buy affordable health insurance across states. Right now, the situation is that you can only buy insurance from an operator who is registered in your own state.

Actually, that is a particularly significant piece of Republican sentiment in the matter. The Democrats are actually taking the Republicans up on this idea, and you can fully expect that whatever health care bill passes, this should be a part of it. Actually, you heard a lot of this when Senator McCain was stumping for his presidency in 2008. Everyone now feels that turning the entire country into the single health insurance market, will only make things more competitive for the insurance companies, and bring prices down. If you live in Colorado and you suddenly find that a small health insurance company in Pennsylvania is making an offer that your local corporations just cannot match. You could easily buy across state lines.

And they have a point. If your state government has no control over most of the insurance providers in your state, the government just can't exercise of its consumer protection laws anymore. The companies will just say, "Oh! We're from out of state, so nice try". Actually, in effect, people could end up paying more expensive premiums. Affordable health insurance actually looks much more shaky under this plan, Not to mention more expensive. So how would this actually work?

The states will have to form new principles of how to control companies operating there from outside. They will just have to bring out new legislation to this effect. And they would also need to license their own insurance corporations, to deal outside of the state. Alternatively, the federal office that governs the healthcare issues of federal employees, could deal with out-of-state insurers. In fact, the federal government could apply a single law to all of them, and prohibits them from offering anything less than a high level of care.

But the thing is, more choice does not always mean cheaper costs. What if it just results in customers choosing the policies with the lowest price tag, and opting for the lowest cover? For most poor families, getting the lowest possible amount of cover could seem to be a really attractive option sometimes, until the day they fall ill. And what happens if there is a dispute? There are hundreds of thousands of disputes every year involving health insurance companies that deny claims for perfectly valid treatment options. If there is a dispute, subscribers may find themselves having to travel across state lines each year. Affordable health insurance doesn't come from an excess of competition. It comes with a reasonable amount of time, and proactive government legislation.

Bamboo purse handles

Bamboo 54 Pandan V wood handle bag brown (Pink)


I have a great relationship with my sisters and my sister-in-laws. Each year I spend a weekend with my sisters and one with the in-laws. They have become traditions. We take turns planning them and try to go to different places and events. We leave early on a Saturday morning and return early evening on Sunday. We bring along wine to have in the hotel room so we can sit and visit and then we go out for dinner in the evening. Sometimes we stay at casinos and other times we will stay in a resort area. We spend most of the day Saturday shopping.

When we shop in the stores that have different gift items or crafts we are always saying, we could make that. My sisters and I laugh about this because we never follow through with making any of the things that we have seen. My sister-in-law on the other hand will go home the next day and will make something we saw on our outing. Last year we saw knitted bags. They had bamboo purse handles and were available in a variety of colors. They were very cute, but quite expensive. My sister-in-law loves to knit. She thought they would be easy to make but she did not know where she could find the bamboo purse handles. Over lunch we talked about alternatives she could use in place of the bamboo purse handles. I suggested just knitting a handle, but she was concerned that it would stretch too much, especially on a larger bag. We decided that after lunch we would look for a craft store to see if we could find the handles made of bamboo or some other handles that she could use in place of them.

The first store had wooden handles that were cute, however they were quite short. The sales person suggested we try another large store that carried more craft items. In this store we found a wide selection of bamboo purse handles in different sizes and colors. Some of the handles had been dyed in a wide selection of colors and others had been stained. The bigger hoops could be used for a shoulder bag. The handles were not very expensive so she bought a variety of sizes and colors so she could experiment with different bags. Since that time she has made a great many of the bags. She now orders the handles from a site off the internet because she has an even bigger selection and gets them delivered to her door.

People who have serious allergies...

Allergies Sourcebook: Basic Information About Major Forms and Mechanisms of Common Allergic Reactions, Sensitivities, and Intolerances Including Anaphylaxis, Asthma, Hives (Health Reference Series)

Our bodies are much like finely tuned machines. Every part of our body has a job to do. If something goes amiss there are signals that tell us that. It may be a pain, a bruise or an allergic reaction. Whatever it is, it is a message that says that something isn’t the way it should be. For anyone who has ever sneezed or gotten a rash because of an adverse reaction to something, they know how important it is to determine the root of the problem.


Hay fever afflicts millions of people each year. When the temperature warms up and spring begins, the number of people sneezing with runny and itchy eyes increases. You’ve also probably noticed that there are more commercials on television for medications that help with an allergic reaction to dust and pollen. If you’ve been diagnosed with seasonal allergies you know how frustrating they can be.

Allergies vary from person to person. Some kids who find themselves allergic to pet dander, certain foods and dust, may actually outgrow some or all of those as they mature. The same is true of children who are allergic to penicillin. As they grow, their body chemistry changes and what was once an allergic stimulant might not be anymore.

The best and most efficient way to determine what you are allergic to is to visit a specialist. This is someone who is skilled in testing people, just like you, for allergies. After a brief consultation, the patient is administered a series of tests to see what causes an allergic reaction.

This is actually vitally important for people who have serious allergies. Some individuals can actually die from their reactions to certain substances. Anaphylactic shock is the most severe type of allergic reaction in which the individual’s body begins to shut down. The throat may be become swollen, it is almost impossible to breathe and if left untreated, serious harm and death can occur. That’s why it’s smart for those who have allergies, or for parents of children with allergies to have the tests done.

It’s not uncommon for families to share the same reactions to certain substances. If one of your parents were allergic to cats or dogs, there’s a fairly good chance that you’ll have that same allergic reaction. Food allergies also tend to run in families, so if you are a parent with a very severe allergy to nuts, make certain your kids are checked before they eat peanuts.

Although it’s inconvenient and frustrating at times to struggle with these types of reactions there are many methods of effective treatment. After diagnosis, it’s a good idea to sit down with your doctor to talk about a treatment plan that will work for you. Then you can get out and enjoy life without having to worry too much about your allergies.

Anger Management

Anger is a completely normal, healthy human emotion, and a certain amount of it is necessary to our survival. It inspires powerful and often aggressive feelings and behaviors, which allow us to fight and defend ourselves when we are attacked.


When anger gets out of control and turns destructive it can lead to problems at work, in personal relationships, and affect the overall quality of life. Anger can be caused by both external and internal events, and like other emotions, anger causes heart rate and blood pressure to increase, in addition to the levels of the hormones adrenaline and noradrenaline. Over time, people can suffer physically and have chronic health issues arise because of their inability to keep triggers at bay. People with anger management issues get angry more easily and more intensely than the average person, and the notion that “letting it all out” helps is false, because it actually escalates anger and aggression, which doesn’t resolve anything.



The term, “anger management”, commonly refers to therapeutic techniques and exercises practiced by someone with excessive or uncontrollable anger to control or reduce triggers. According to the American Psychological Association and various reliable online sources, the goal of anger management is learning how to control anger before it controls the individual, to reduce both emotional feelings and the physiological arousal that anger causes. The most common techniques recommended immediately before escalation of emotions is to stop talking, stop staring, and leave the room. Learning relaxation techniques like deep breathing and meditation will also help, in addition to stress management skills, learning empathy and forgiveness, and becoming optimistic instead of pessimistic. Prolonged mismanagement of anger can lead to serious physical and mental disorders, and if the individual is not proactive, whether by voluntary or involuntary means, the outcome could be disastrous.



Limits are placed on how far anger can take an individual, by laws, social norms, and hopefully common sense. People just can’t physically lash out at every person or object that irritates or annoys them; they need to focus on something positive instead of losing control and dramatizing every life event. Fortunately for these people, there are many reliable self-help resources available online for people with anger issues, including online anger management counseling and education at www.angermanagementonline.com, featuring easy, fast, enjoyable classes, whether by court order or voluntary enrollment. For more information and resources on the subject visit the American Psychological Association at www.apa.org, and www.angermgmt.com for additional tips on managing anger.

The Best Natural Beauty Recipes

Natural Beauty at Home, : More Than 250 Easy to Use Recipes for Body,Bath, and Hair (Revised Edition)

There are a number of natural beauty recipes you can make at home. You do not have to pay for commercial cosmetic products to look your best. In fact, many times the natural solution is healthier and more effective than the chemical-laden makeup you will find at the store.


Here is a great papaya enzyme facial mask that is one of the more popular natural beauty recipes. You will need the following ingredients: 1/2 cup mashed papaya, 1 whipped egg white, and 1 teaspoon of honey. For additional cooling or if you have sensitive skin, add a tablespoon of plain yogurt to your mixture.

Mix all of your ingredients together in a large bowl. Wash your skin before applying the facial mask mixture. Leave the mask on your face for approximately five to eight minutes, giving the papaya enzymes time to exfoliate your skin. Rinse off with warm water first, then with cooler water, patting dry when done.

For hair, this herbal vinegar rinse will restore your hair's natural pH balance, clean off built up dirt and hair products, and reduce oily hair. Place 2 sprigs of rosemary and 2 sprigs of lavender in 2 cups of water in a clear glass jar. Let the jar sit out in the sun to steep for between two and four hours, then remove the herbs. Add one or two tablespoons of either apple cider vinegar or white vinegar to your water solution, then use the same way you would use shampoo.

Herbal bath salts are another of the top natural beauty recipes you can make at home. All you need is a cup of sea salt and a handful of whatever herbs you have on hand, such as lavender, rosemary, spearmint, or peppermint. Grind the herbs with a coffee grinder until they become a fine powder. Mix with the sea salt and dump into your next bath for a relaxing change of pace.

A similar natural beauty recipe is this refreshing flower-based foot soak. For this one, you again need sea salt, along with some fresh sliced citrus of your choice (limes, lemons, oranges, etc.) and a handful of flower petals picked fresh from your garden. Fill a small basin with lukewarm water and add the salt, flower petals, and fruit slices. Soak your feet in the mixture for ten minutes, then rinse and pat to dry.

This strawberry manicure mask is a great way to pamper your hands naturally. Mash 3-5 ripe strawberries, drain off the juice, and combine with one tablespoon of sugar and a little bit of the light oil of your choice. Apply the resulting mixture to your hands by using a circular motion. This will condition and exfoliate the skin, leaving it soft and smooth.

During watermelon season, this pedicure polish is good for your feet and gives your home a nice aroma of summer. Combine 1/2 cup of mashed and strained watermelon with one tablespoon finely crushed almonds and 1/4 cup of plain yogurt. Apply the mixture by working it in with your hands in a circular motion. Use a tissue to remove, then rinse and pat dry to enjoy this one of our natural beauty recipes.