Planning is the first step to improving your kitchen. Fail to plan and you could face problems with the new look of the kitchen, not to mention your wallet.
We’ve come a long way from the old days when kitchen planning consisted of being sure there was a “work triangle” formed by the stove, sink, and refrigerator with counter space adjacent to each point. That’s still good logic, but we’ve come a long way past that.
There are fashions in everything. It’s now fashionable to be a good cook. Home kitchens frequently reflect the preferences of professional chefs. Ergo. Brushed steel appliances and gas ranges with more than four burners abound. It takes some planning to create a kitchen in which it’s easy to picture a good cook at work, even more to actually be that kind of kitchen.
It’s necessary to answer some questions in order to plan a good kitchen. Do you want to be able to socialize there? Will you be cooking for frequent dinner parties or large family gatherings? Is there more than one cook in the household? Does someone in the family like to bake? Are quickie meals for family members about to go off to some athletic event a frequent consideration? How many of these activities are likely to happen at the same time?
A kitchen planner can be a great helper and doesn’t have to add to the expense. Home Depot and Lowes have some surprisingly skillful folks working in their kitchen departments. Upscale appliances can often be bought at places which employ excellent planners who will work with you at no extra charge. No matter what price range you’re in, when you get to the point of choosing appliances, it’s a good idea to check them out at ConsumerReports.org before buying.
The usual caveat of all improvements applies to your kitchen work. Don’t over build the neighborhood. If you live in an old neighborhood with Formica counter tops, for example, switching to Corrian probably makes sense. On the other hand, changing to granite or marble probably doesn’t. Use the sorts of materials that are used in homes currently being built in the same price range as your neighborhood.
About The Author
Raynor James is with http://www.fsboamerica.org - providing FSBO homes for sale by owner. Visit our “sell my home” page at http://www.fsboamerica.org/seller.cfm to list and sell your home for free for one month. Visit http://www.fsboamerica.org/buyer.cfm to see homes for sale by owner.
A new twist on a familiar quote - Chances are you’ve heard the term “If it’s to be, it’s up to me!” I happen to like this quote, the only thing about it is the more life experiences I pick up the more I tend to realize that it’s actually only true to a degree.
I can hear it now being repeated from behind thousands of computer keyboards across the Internet, “Who the heck do you think you are to challenge the age old wisdom in that quote?”. Ok, I’ll give you that much 
But bear with me for a second and ponder the quote for just a bit. On the surface it says that we must stand strong and push towards what we want if we wish to see it manifest in our lives (notice the emphasis on having to go it alone). However, upon deeper thinking it kind of leaves a feeling that we are all alone in our efforts, doesn’t it?
Here’s the challenge though…
Think back to any time in your life where you were truly all alone in your efforts. Also you have to remember that when I say truly alone I mean to the point that it was just you and you alone.
This means you can’t count intervention from your friends, preacher, priest, nun, mentor, friends, words of encouragement that might have come from a book or tape (because in reality these are a form of another person sharing their knowledge with us).
You get the idea now I hope. We are never really all alone. No matter how dark and destitute our situation might appear to us I promise you if you will take the time to reach out someone will be there to help you over the bumps!
I should warn you though, help is likely to come from the most unexpected places. However, that’s one of the most amazing things about life isn’t it?
– Here’s to your success, Josh Hinds
About The Author:
Josh Hinds of http://GetMotivation.com specializes in helping people to achieve maximum success and live the life of their dreams. He is also the co-founder of http://AudioMotivation.com - visit now to hear leading motivational speakers and authors share their tips and advice with you.
A doula is a Greek word meaning "woman servant." Doulas are trained professionals helping and guiding a woman and her partner through childbirth. A doula provides a continuous presence during labor and delivery as she takes care of a mother’s emotional and non-medical needs.
ARE YOU DOULA MATERIAL?
Do you pick up childbirth magazines, immediately turning to the labor section, and you aren’t even pregnant? Do you long to talk to anyone who is pregnant? I was this way before I became a doula or labor assistant. When I was looking for a new career path after the birth of my second child, I came across a doula when I was waiting in line to register my son for preschool. I was in a certified doula training class a month later and have never looked back. Now, I want to help other women who are passionate about childbirth and want to pursue a life change into the doula world. Once you decide that you want to become a doula, you will never be the same person again.
ALL NIGHTERS AND SHORT DELIVERIES
No one can prepare you for the all nighters. This is the hardest part of being a doula. You are consistently offering massage, suggestions on positioning and explanations of medical procedures throughout the night. You do all this with a smile on your face and a positive attitude. Some labors will take you through two whole nights. Try doing this when you are not a coffee drinker.
Some deliveries are long, some are short. This helps balance your doula practice. Thirty-six hours or 4 hours, either way you walk away from the delivery on a natural high. You feel on top of the world because you were apart of an extraordinary experience. You were able to provide assistance to a laboring mother and serve in a unique way.
WHAT’S NEXT?
The first thing you have to do is check into a certified doula program with CAPPA, Doulas of North America(DONA) and Lamaze International for local trainings. Get involved with local doula groups for support and friendship. Read everything you can get your hands on and talk to every pregnant woman you find.
Julie L. Johnson is a wife and mother of three who has experienced every pregnancy, childbirth, postpartum and breastfeeding situation there is and has lived to tell about. She is a Lamaze Certified Childbirth Educator, Certified Doula and an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant practicing in Southern California. Her website http://www.birth-angel.com provides services and products to help ease transition through motherhood. The products also make great doula "Thank You" gifts or for a baby shower.
Developing a Healthy Self-Esteem in Your Child
by: Brook Noel
Children with healthy self-esteems try hard in school, get along well with others, hold a “can-do” attitude about life, and feel positive about their environment. They can accept ups and downs graciously. The opposite is true of children who suffer from low self-esteems. These children compare themselves to others and never feel they have done well enough. They are frustrated easily and fear risk and challenge. Children with low self-esteems can easily fall prey to peer pressure, eating disorders, and other dangers.
You can help a child who has a low self-esteem by examining the reasons behind it. You can also encourage the continuity of those children who have healthy self-esteems. By using a positive, can-do attitude in your home, you will pass that attitude on to your child. Try the following ideas to encourage a positive self-esteem:
EXAMINE YOURSELF AND YOUR ATTITUDE
Children learn by example. If you hold a high self-esteem and think positively, odds are your child will to. If you suffer from a low self-esteem you will need to examine your current patterns of thinking and work on changing them.
SEEK OUT THE POSITIVE
This does not mean you need to be a Pollyanna but you should search for the positive side of things. When your child comes to you with a problem, ask questions and pursue the positive side. The same goes for how you act in your own endeavors. When things go wrong look for the up side.
RELATE TO YOUR CHILD
Parent’s often will sit and tell the humorous stories of their past. There is probably much more your child would like to hear. When your child comes to you with a dilemma, share your own experience. Even though you may be years apart your child may find relief that you have had times of self-doubt and concern.
WHY ASK WHY?
If your child uses statements like “I can’t” or other statements that show he is frustrated or giving up, ask “Why can’t you?” Asking these questions may frustrate your child and you may hear answers like “I don’t know… I just can’t!” Try bringing the subject up later when the intensity of the situation has lessened. Then ask “Earlier today you said you could not solve that puzzle, why don’t you think you could solve it?” By exploring reasons together you may find the source of a low self-esteem.
IDENTIFY STRENGTHS
Another way to increase self-esteem is to emphasize a child’s strong points. If he is good in art but doesn’t do well in sports–work with him and praise him on his art. By developing a feeling of confidence in one area, that confidence may spread into another area of a child’s life.
PRAISE AND ENCOURAGEMENT
Praise and encouragement are essential vitamins for a child. Encourage all children and praise them for situations where they put their “all” into it, no matter what the result. Filling your vocabulary with positive statements and providing a positive environment are big steps in helping your child build a healthy self-esteem.
About The Author
Brook Noel is an international, best-selling author and has written over 10 books. Her works include: I Wasn’t Ready to Say Goodbye: surviving, coping, and healing after the sudden death of a loved one, Grief Steps, The Single Parent Resource and her newest book The Change Your Life Challenge: A 70 Day Life Makeover Program for Women To learn more about the challenge that thousands of women have used to improve relationships, finances, home management, self-esteem, fitness, self-care, stress and depression you can visit the website at: http://www.changeyourlifechallenge.com/.
Arranging Design Accents
by: Damien Pfirsch
Homes are often judged by the condition of their interior finishes. More than anything else, we notice and remember the details of a room’s decoration: the singular touches that express the homeowner’s tastes and personality. Décor accents, furnishings and works of art significantly impact upon the atmosphere of a room. They make the difference between a space that looks aesthetically designed and thoroughly thought out, and one that looks uneven or half-finished. But certain rules need to be followed to create an organized and neat décor scheme.
Some of the best details are works of art: exquisite ceramic wares, striking abstract paintings, picture frames, and fabrics, among other items. Or they could be collections of accents such as vases, trays and boxes.
When arranging objects and creations, keep proportions in mind. The size of pieces relative to each other and the space itself is their scale. For example, a large vase on a small console looks awkward. A tiny box on a large table appears lost. If furnishings are out of scale, you’ll notice that it just doesn’t feel comfortable or right.
Similarly scaled accents are more serene when used together, but a nice balance of accents creates a harmonious atmosphere, utilizing differing physical qualities of height, depth and width throughout the room. You should always balance one large object with several smaller ones. You can also group dissimilar object (for example a vase, a box and a picture frame can be set on a corner table.) But link them by color to create a harmonious display.
The relationship of items to one another to form an agreeable whole is termed balance. There are two forms of balance: symmetrical and asymmetrical. Asymmetry refers to an imbalance, such as two candles of slightly different heights next to one another. Symmetry is restful, while asymmetry represents motion and excitement.
About The Author
Damien Pfirsch is the founder of www.asiannouveau.com, an online showroom presenting the latest home decor accents and furniture created by Asian designers. Based in Bangkok, Thailand, the website promotes Asian decor exporters to international buyers looking for unique accents to complement their collections.
It is shocking how many people are not taking advantage of the lessons from 21st Century research on cellular health. The syntax of disease is known by many researchers; and many of them are telling you what you can do to protect yourself. They wonder why so many still choose to age and ultimately die prematurely.
Throughout human history, infectious disease was the leading cause of death. By the 20th Century, non-infectious ailments like heart attacks, strokes and cardio-vascular disease along with cancer replaced it as the leading cause. Furthermore, this occurred among the industrial nations, despite greater wealth, better housing and so-called, better nutrition.
So, whether you live longer and healthier than your parents just may depend, not on your monetary wealth or your medical insurance card, but on how well you know and react to the mechanisms of disease in the modern world.
While the message of ancient wisdom has also spoken clear enough, leaving us clues for the last 6,000 years of mankind’s history, our modern world has equally spoken. In a world that has the greatest scientific research available, men, women and children still die prematurely. Why? Is there a root cause for this effect?
To find the answer, just compare how many people suffer from disease and early death, while others live long full lives in radiant health. Why does John, an 89 year old man, who smoked cigars and drank a shot of whiskey every night before he went to bed still live, while Josephine, a tea drinker who never smoked, died of cancer at the tender age of 51?
How can that be? The answer must be there for all to see. Your metabolism must be unique; and, therefore, requires a unique set of solutions to maintain better health, stamina and longevity; meaning, one-size health care strategies does NOT fit all needs, except for one: The health strategy that is tailored to you and your metabolism. And that is one of the principle beliefs of healthy agers!
For some, that may be as simple as finding the right combination of nutrients that your body may be lacking. For others, it may mean undoing some habits that may be OK for your neighbor, but not for you!
These solutions, 21st Century style, are available in what I call, “Personal Longevity Technologies.” in direct obedience to the original, natural laws designed to protect mankind. Unfortunately, religion and science have not always agreed, haven’t they? And mankind has suffered many consequences as a result.
In fact, it was written in the bible many years ago, “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge, because they have rejected knowledge.” Please, don’t let that be you!
For sure, there is a wealth of knowledge about healthy living that is thoroughly backed by sound scientific research. And you can have access to this wealthy information to begin your very own wellness program! That’s right. You can devise your very own, tailored wellness program based on “Personal Longevity Technologies” and the knowledge of cellular health research.
And nobody is saying you should quit seeing your doctor either. Simply be more informed so you can help your doctor help you. You would be surprised how some doctors appreciate patients who take a concerted interest in their own health. When you feel good, they look good; but we won’t tell them, will we? It’s your personal wellness program at work!
For the record, I have spent multiple years searching for links in multiple research papers that provide information not found in your average health magazine. For example: Did you know that not all meat is fit for human consumption? Do you know what they are? Did you know that you can feed your body with the building blocks of collagen so your arteries won’t harden? What are they? And what combination of vitamins assist your body in its processing?
Unfortunately, on average you won’t find answers to those kind of questions talking to your doctor! Why? He or she won’t take the time. Furthermore, doctors primarily follow what the pharmaceutical companies promote to them, never questioning the ultimate validity of the research. That’s why awakening your body and mind to healthy aging is so valuable to you and the state of your longevity.
Choose the Cleaner Human Food Chain
It is amazing with all of the higher education available that many do not understand that the human food chain does NOT include everything that flies, crawls, swims and wiggles.
Putting organized religion aside for the moment, ancient writings like the Bible and the Koran agree on what defines food fit for human consumption, and what is defined as unfit for human consumption.
In reality, those animals fit for human consumption by nature eat grain, grass and roots. In other words, the animals are vegetarean. Their metabolisms are, therefore, designed differently than scavenger animals. If they were to eat like a scavenger, they surely would die of disease, just like those mad cows that ate cannibalized animal feed.
That means that scavenger animals like buzzards, snakes, crabs, lobsters, clams, mussels and pigs have metabolisms for being environmental cleaners. That is their created purpose.
When you eat a scavenger animal, you are actually partaking of THEIR food chain, including decaying, dead animals. That means that you are introducing into YOUR system much of the cells, bacteria and viruses common to THEIR food chain.
Some question rightly if there is a connection with the stress of the modern lifestyle with an unclean diet. While stress reduces the immune system, the unclean foods have the ability to feed on the human host with its micro-organisms, thus compromising the human immune system’s ability to fight off disease.
While it’s true that modern forms of farming often break natural laws by forcing the land have a reduction in elements that are vital to human health, eating “clean” foods’ will certainly support your immune system.
Frank Sherosky is a research author with a passion for health and nutrition. His ebook, “Awaken Your Body to Healthy Aging” supports Hippocates’ philosophy of “First, do no harm!” For more information and research links, visit http://www.HealthyAger.com
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