30th April 2009
Where Hustle Stops Bustle
“At Christmas play and make good cheer,
For Christmas comes but once a year.” Thomas Tusser
After spending a good part of last week hustling to prepare for Christmas “determined-with-list-in-hand-shopping” all afternoon Wednesday; one last getaway and leisurely shopping experience with Nick in New York City all day Thursday; and “smart shopping” at the outlet mall a little bit on Fridayit was so wonderful to kick back and relax with dear friends from Kentucky, who visited us for the weekend at our home in Connecticut. We spent our time on a leisurely stroll around town, in leisurely conversation on sofas around the fire, and by breaking bread around my dining room table. No scurrying around. No serious deadlines to meet. No long lines to contend with.
As I sit here and look at my own calendar for December, I imagine that it looks very much like yours. Too many appointments in too little space. Double-bookings in the same exact time slot. Near panic at the realization that something will get left out of the mix: that perfect gift will not be found; that perfect lunch date will not work out; that perfect party will not be attended.
The nearly universal common denominator among all mothers is the feeling of being constantly overwhelmed by the demands of spouse, kids and home life. The near-constant shuffling of little people from school to lessons to activities to friends’ homes; the never-ending cycle of grocery shopping-meal preparation-cleanup-and-laundry; and the nearly-impossible requirement of keeping ourselves in peak-performance physical shapeall on too-little sleepbaffles and confounds even the best of us. And “the math” never gets more complicated than during the Holidays. We become overworked, overstretched, and overburdened. I feel it every year. I know you do, too.
My visit with old friends this weekend validated what I’ve always knownbut have often been simply too busy to stand back and rightfully acknowledge: hustle stops bustle around a table.
When alland I mean allis said and done, the holidays really boil down to: faith, family and friends. And if we whack that out of perspective, if we wrongly juggle the mix, or if we lose track of the things for which we’re scurrying, we miss out on the season.
When my husband and kids and I sat down around our dining room table to share several meals with two of our dearest friends in the whole world, I was able to leave the hustle and bustle of Christmas behind me. We were able to enjoy the food we had prepared, the catching-up-with-each-other-conversation we had longed for, the break in the routine we had looked forward to, and the ambience we had lovingly designed. With candles aglow and silver sparkling, the cocoon of home and friendship took over to do what it has always done best: provide love and safety and shelterand relief from the busyness of the world. Hustle stopped bustle this weekend at my dining room table.
I know this sounds trite. Oversimplified. Almost like a “duh, yeah.” But when we’re too busy running around, too busy making everyone else happy and too busy “doing” the Holidays, we truly lose sight of what it takes to fully enjoy and appreciate them. Stopping smack in the middle of the Christmas season to sit down at a table with best friendsto eat and to drink, to laugh and to cry, to share and to praywas one of my favorite gifts. I told Kathy: “You are my Christmas gift.”
One of my favorite Scripture verses is: “There is a friend who sticketh closer than a brother.” We all know that we can’t choose family, but we can choose friends. Some of us are blessed with family who we would also choose as friends. We acknowledge that we are blessed indeed. And that we are doubly blessed when we have good friends whom we can count on and lean on, through the good times and the bad. With whom we can both celebrate and mourn.
And it’s rarely more obvious than at Christmas.
As you go through these next few weeks leading up to Christmas, I encourage you to gather around a table. Your own or that of your friends. Or at a club or favorite restaurant (as I got to do in New York when Nick and I met an old high school friend of mine for lunch. Wow! Two “old-friend-treats” in one week!) It’s going to be hard for you to fit this in during this month. It’ll stop your momentum. Break your shopping rhythm. Interfere with your chores. Or your workout or your hair appointment or your pedicure. But the mere act of stoppingof deliberate pause, deliberate slowing down and deliberate diningmay possibly prove to be your best Christmas gift ever.
I feel truly blessed to enjoy an overflow of friends. I often feel that my cup runneth over. That people move into my life in the most surprising ways. And enrich it and expand it by encouragement and compassion.
I pray that you also have not only an abundance of friends with whom you can celebrate the Holidays: I pray that you take the time to do just that.
Carolina Fernandez earned an M.B.A. and worked at IBM and as a stockbroker at Merrill Lynch before coming home to work as a wife and mother of four. She totally re-invented herself along the way. Strong convictions were born about the role of the arts in child development; homeschooling for ten years provided fertile soil for devising creative parenting strategies. These are played out in ROCKET MOM! 7 Strategies To Blast You Into Brilliance. It is available on Amazon.com, in bookstores everywhere, or by calling 888-476-2493. She writes extensively for a variety of parenting resources and teaches other moms via parenting classes and radio and TV interviews. Please visit http://www.rocketmom.com to subscribe to her free ezine and get a weekly shot of inspiration.
29th April 2009
West Bay Capital £50million Liverpool Office Block
Family owned company, West Bay Capital, has put forward plans for a £50million office building in
If permission’s granted,
Adding he believed it could become “one of the
Mason Owen, project agent’s spokesman, also stated that a project of this size indicated the “underlying strengths” of
27th April 2009
Reading With Dyslexia, Easier Said than Done
Working to read with Dyslexia simply means one must find help for reading difficulty. Diagnostically, dyslexia would indicate that a child or adult who displays general intelligence and who possesses the ability to learn and had the opportunity to do so, over time continues to have slow reading. Dyslexia cannot at all indicate that a person is debilitatingly disabled or mentally handicapped, just the opposite! Through accepted medical definition, Dyslexia exists only in those with at least average intelligence or better and sometimes creative spirits. Despite how talented may be, they have a hard time reading as children and even adults. Some first indicators of reading difficulty or dyslexia include instances including labored-reading on even phonetically simple common words or a ongoing difficulty mastering new words alone, or just faking reading all together. Perhaps your child may not be keeping up with peers, dyslexia is a a possibility. Reading difficulty may also cause lack of success mastering subjects like math and science After learning you or your child has a reading difficulty, what’s next? Will a dyslexic person ever read well, and comprehend what she or he sees? Will an adult with dyslexia grow phonemic awareness to reading fluency? Definitely. Sally Shaywitz, globally recognized Dyselxia researcher and chair of the fully explains that in Overcoming Dyslexia, her book. Though, there is a lot of conditions that are correlated to be found with dyslexia. Other conditions like these will typically be identified by a knowledgeable speech-language pathologist or dyslexia evaluation.
What Nutritional Supplements Do You Use for Bodybuilding?
Gaspari nutrition is one of my favorite nutritional supplement companies. Go to any gym and you’ll find people working out who are utilising Gaspari nutritional supplements. Gaspari is a supplement company that has a commitment to formulating first-rate products at reasonable prices.
Contrary to some supplement companies they do not formulate a myriad of supplements. At times producers formulate so many editions of bodybuilding supplements that it creates a situation where it is difficult to recognize which product is best or where to even start.
These supplements are high quality and you will not be disappointed. Don’t listen to me. Travel to your workout club and start asking some of the bodybuilders would what nutritional products they are taking. I will bet a couple of them will say they are taking Gaspari nutrition products.
Their Holodrol liquigels are first-class. Their IntraPro Whey Protein is also very good. Novedex XT Testosterone Booster is superb. In fact, Novadex might just be the best the industry has to offer. It seems to e that few people have anything terrible to articulate about Novadex. How one supplement affects one person might be different than how it affects another person. Nevertheless, Gaspari nutrition appears to have a well-deserved reputation for premium products.
If you are thinking about using a different product line and have not tried Gaspari nutrition, consider this brand. If you have never used any supplements before and want to start with a quality brand, then Gaspari nutrition is a strong company to begin using.
26th April 2009
Siberia, Russia Part 1 – Here I Come!
“You must really hate this job.” That’s what my boss said when I told him I was moving from San Diego to Siberia for a year. In reality, I was bored and looking for something that would be completely and utterly new. Whether it was sunstroke or a developing tolerance to margaritas, San Diego just wasn’t cutting it anymore. Heck, I hadn’t even gone to the beach in nine months and it was only a few blocks away. Time to rediscover a zest for life.
As you are doing now, I trolled the Internet looking for that rare opportunity that would renew my vigor and let me brag to my domesticated friends. Pick coffee in the South Pacific? No, I already drink too much of it. Sail around the world on a container ship? No, I wasn’t ready for involuntary self-reflection. Before I knew it, I had agreed to move to a city in Siberia known as Chita. Yes, I was going to be a professor at Chita State Technical University through a program put together by Siberian Intercultural Bridges. Donate – they need the money: http://www.siberian-bridges.org.
So, what does one take for a one-year stay in Siberia? Why, I’ll just go buy a guidebook on Siberia and read the “what to take” section. My search of the local mega bookstore was disappointing. Shockingly, there were no guidebooks for Siberia. I was tempted to write a nasty letter to Lonely Planet and others until the bookstore clerk said, “You’re going WHERE?” When she started giving me the “you must be a criminal on the run” look, it was time to go.
Fortunately, I was able to find experienced travelers that could provide me with the details and items that were absolutely necessary. My girlfriend gave me the all-important electric blanket, a power converter and intimate details about what would happen to me if I should dare share it with another women. Grandpa gave me a World War II down coat that was about three sizes to big and made me look like a walking gopher. Family, friends and random strangers contributed further items and advice that would be critical to my survival.
Apparently rating my chances of survival at 50-50, friends and family put together a going away/never see him again party the day before I left. Of course, everyone brought Vodka as a humorous going away gift. The tide quickly turned, however, as all were asked/forced to try a “taste of Russia.” Many of the events of that night will remain forever sealed in antiquity, but it should suffice to say that the wife of one friend went into labor which made it a very fun night and subsequent day for him at the hospital. Few got off so easily.
Gigantic backpack, electric blanket, hangover and I headed to the airport the next morning. But that’s a story for part 2 of this nomad adventure travel series…
Rick Chapo is with www.nomadjournals.com – makers of writing journals for travelers. Visit www.nomadjournaltrips.com to read travel articles and travelogues.
24th April 2009
Little Known Furniture: Part Two
A Barrister’s bookcase is a unreformed bookcase Its differentiating feature is a transparent glass face. This glass face is hinged at the top allowing a person comfortable admittance to volumes and other collectibles simply by lifting the glass door. A Barrister’s bookcase is perfect for just about anything. A Barrister’s bookcase was often used by a attorneys since it was often necessary for them to move. Today, they are very favorable, peculiarly if one is incessantly moving. The doors make this the case. This enables ledgers and collectibles to be moved while still inside the bookcase while still continuing them.
More about these glass book shelves
Barrister’s Wood Bookshelves also have the benefit of helping to protect the collectibles from dust particles. They offer excellant protective cover. Apart from debris, it is also possible to provide protection from sunshine by adding UV protection. sunlight impacting This will maintain the books color and its bindings from withering.
This special brand of furniture, despite their many merits, often are quite pricy. As Luck Would Have It, their many advantages have moved some makers to start making replica editions and some in modern versions at very small prices. Some editions have simple appearances and can be made to fit a particular theme. They can also be trimmed.The fact that they can be stacked together allows them to be easily used to create very interesting unit arrangements. Some can be used to create end tables, pulpits or even breakfast tables.
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What you need to know about – hawaii islands
Tired visiting the conventional holiday destinations? Want some escapades? Want to electrify yourself? Then budge to holiday at Hawaii and unravel the inscrutable anonymity of nature.
A Short March in the Past Hawaii Islands were born thousands of years ago from the underwater volcanic action. The oceanic water nurtured the islands, which developed huge ecosystems. The islands are whispered to be older than America and first colonized by Polynesian migrants who had rolled up from Marquesas Islands and were a bunch of superstitious and God fearing people. However, Hawaii was christened as the 50th state of USA on 21st August 1959. An Expedition to Hawaii
A glance at the mesmerizing red-hot lava making its passage to the oceans lays bare the fact that the Hawaiian Islands are still intensifying. There is a concealed volcano beneath the Hawaii Island in the offing to be a part of the Hawaiian family. However, at present the Hawaii Islands are network of world’s six great and exotic islands namely-
1.Hawaii Island or the Big Island that is the largest amongst the constituent islands. 2.Maui Island or Valley Isle that was baptized after a legendary demigod Maui. The area of the island is next to the Hawaii Island. 3.Lanai or the Pineapple Island known for its delectable pineapples, is the smallest of all islands. 4.Molokai or the Friendly Isle that cocoons some of the breath taking and marvelous beaches of the world. 5.Oahu or the Gathering Place that grounds the capital city of Honolulu is a thickly populated island. 6.Kaui or the Garden Isle has out of the ordinary flora and the bewitching Waimea Canyon.
The Hawaiian Islands are a perfect destination for both the nature lovers as well the beach aficionados. The former can take delight in hiking, sightseeing, horse riding etc. in the enigmatic evergreen forests at Hawaii, while there are inexhaustible and exclusive beach activities like underwater tours, submarine drives and scuba diving and so forth for the beach enthusiasts to have a ball. The wonderful Garden Island of Kauai crams you with the feel that nature has preeminently unveiled itself in the form of these gardens. The Molokai Island magnetizes with its fishing and underwater activities and a feather is added to the enticement of this place by the incredible golf proceedings and events all round the year. Hawaii has nestled some of the glorious golf courses like Mauna Kea Golf Course, Challenge at Manele, Ko Olina and the like. On the whole there are more than 80 golf clubs to bathe in the splendor of golf. Not to overlook are some of the eminent museums, the nerve wrecking night life and matchless cultural events like Hula dance, Hawaiian chants etc. on the land of Islands. You also have the opportunity to gain knowledge of some of these activities by participating in the respective events.
What the Weather Conspires Hawaii is a place of all seasons. The weather is stable all round the year with temperature fluctuating from 80 to 60 Fahrenheit. The months of June to November are a host to the hurricanes and the ones from November to March are cherished and acknowledged for the gigantic waves that whack the north shores of the all the islands. During winters the breakers can be surfed at the Oahu’s north shore as well as the Hoopika beach at the Maui’s north shore. The north shore is hushed during the summers or the months of June to October when the south shores particularly the Waikki and Poipu beach are enlivened and perked up by the waves that are tossed from the tropical storms in South Pacific.
Since the place is teeming with tourists all the year round, its better to get your reservations done. Hawaii has legroom for the luxury as well as the budget travelers. The complete information can be accumulated either from your travel agency or the Internet that has a catalog of all the hotels along with their rents and amenities.
So hanging on for what… gear up to bask in the grandeur of Hawaii!
Communication Lapse on Employer’s Part Leads to Workplace Mishap
Camas UK Ltd., a company involved in a workplace injury to an engineer due to communication failure, has accepted its responsibility for the accident and the two parties have arrived at an out-of-court settlement in which the firm paid £6,000 in compensation for the accident.
Mr. Lacey, an employee with the company, was given the task of replacing the face plates of the company’s machinery. The standard procedure for applying the face plates was to spread glue all around the boundary of the plate, which meant that full strength had to be applied when pulling the pads off with a crowbar. However, this practice was changed and glue was only used at top and bottom of the plate. The change in the practice was not brought to the notice of Mr. Lacey, and when he was trying to crowbar the pad off, the magnet fell from its place onto his thumb and fractured his thumb in two places.
However, payment of compensation does not exonerate Camas UK Ltd. from its moral responsibility according to Andy Worth, a member of Mr. Lacey’s union. He pointed out the negligence of the firm in not forewarning Mr. Lacey about the introduction of the new practice, saying that it cannot be justified. He said that it was unfortunate that efficient communication channels for informing the employees about the change in working procedures were not established, otherwise, the accident would not have occurred.
A similar opinion was also expressed by Laura Hadfield, working with Thompsons Solicitors, who commented that there is a legal duty of care upon employers to keep the working atmosphere safe for employees. This duty also includes informing employees about new working practices. She said that it was tragic to see how a minor communication gap can cause such extreme suffering to the employee.
Keep your staff up-todate with health and safety courses with regular training, such as fire risk assessment courses from Workplace Law. Well trained staff improve your health and safety culture and prevent accidents like this happen in the workplace.
Downtown Toronto Hotels
Toronto downtown hotels are easy to find. There is one to suit every traveler’s needs.
The Toronto downtown waterfront, for example, features several hotels where anyone can enjoy a fabulous view of lake Ontario. Yorkville, the chic, sophisticated neighborhood of Toronto, replete with museums, galleries and boutiques, offers some excellent accommodation, too.
Sports enthusiasts should head to the hotel attached to the Skydome stadium, offering many views of the stadium. This Toronto downtown hotel attracts businesspeople, vacationers and sports fans alike.
Just a short walk away from the Hummingbird Center for the Performing Arts and Toronto’s famous St. Lawrence market are some decent and affordable hotel rooms. The kind that would catch the fancy of extravagant holiday-makers is also available.
If you are a business traveler looking for a Toronto downtown hotel in the heart of the financial district, you will find what you need. There are refreshing spaces for people to relax in, surrounded by waterfalls, gardens and terraces.
Toronto downtown hotels are sumptuous and comfortable. Hotels in downtown Toronto feature a wide variety of facilities and services, from spas to golf packages, restaurants, lounges, shops, business centers and fitness centers. The moment you step into a Toronto downtown hotel you enter a superb world of pleasure where commitment to service and personal attention surpass all expectations – so say many reviews of downtown Toronto hotels posted online by travelers. Toronto downtown hotels pamper their guests with conveniences that know no parallel. They make travel easy in Toronto.
Toronto downtown hotels make access to public transportation such as Toronto Transit Commission and the GO Transit easy. When staying at a Toronto downtown hotel, conveniences are only a phone call away. For instance, if you need your laundry done, it is possible. Toronto downtown hotels feature overnight laundry services.
Toronto is one of the largest, most diverse cities in the world. It is also one of the safest cities in the world. In this large metropolis, there is no dearth of hotels in the downtown area. Toronto downtown hotels have also earned a reputation for being among the most exclusive and cost-effective in all of North America. With festivals and events happening round the year, Toronto downtown hotels provide their guests with top-notch accommodation and services.
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Sell Your Scrap Gold in Miami
Miami, Florida has a long history of cherishing gold, and this gold-tradition has been kept alive by South Beach jewelers and everyday gold traders. Selling or buying gold in Miami is quite easy, and many people make money from selling gold. Even damaged and broken gold jewelry can be easily sold here as scrap gold.
If you want to sell scrap gold in Miami, you can either go to a jeweler or sell it directly to the public. You can choose either method to sell scrap gold, and each one has its pros and cons. To sell scrap gold to businesses (jewelers) in Miami, all you need to do is visit their shops and see if they are interested in something you have. If they are interested, you can negotiate back and forth with the merchant until you reach a price that works for both of you. The downside here is that you’re unlikely to get as much for your item because the jeweler has to be able to sell it for more than he’s paying for it.
You’ll probably get more for your scrap gold if you sell it privately, but biggest drawback to this method is that it’s much more of a hassle dealing with multiple people than just walking into a store and leaving with cash for your item. If you sell something privately, your first step will obviously be making people aware of what you have to offer. You have many options along these lines, from an old fashioned classified newspaper ad to posting your item on eBay or craigslist. If you’re not sure exactly how much you should list your scrap gold for, you can call a few local jewelers and try to get a ballpark figure of what they think your item or items are worth. You don’t want to price you item too high, because you’ll be unlikely to garner any interest. But you also want to make sure you’re at least getting what the item is worth rather than selling it well under market value.