Thursday, May 31, 2018

A Chance

“Housework can’t kill you, but why take a chance?” (Phyllis Diller)

Maintaining a home is a very large task. With everyone’s busy schedules, it's difficult to set aside a chunk of time to clean and unclutter your home. on a regular basis? A house that is steadily kept clean and tidy reduces unwarranted stress, feels like a home, and also makes the entire drill of cleaning easy and less work.
When you tackle one room in your house each month throughout the year, the only thing you’ll have to think about come next spring is enjoying the weather. Take a monthly room-by-room approach to deep-cleaning makes the tasks less intimidating. You’ll have a clean house year-round and more free time to do all the things you really want to do.

1.   January: January is an ideal month to clean out closets. Go through your family’s clothes and donate anything your kids have outgrown, or you haven’t worn in a year or more. Try using space-saving vacuum bags to keep seasonal clothes tucked safely out of the way until they’re needed.

 
2.   February: February is all about floors. For a deep clean, you’ll need to go for a more industrial machine. If you don’t already own a floor scrubber or carpet shampooer, it is easy to rent one. Scrub and wax hardwoods and shampoo and deodorize carpets.

  

3.   March: Tackle the laundry room in March. Clean and deodorize your washing machine. If you store cleaning supplies in the laundry room, check the bottles for leaks and expiration dates. Then, toss out anything that is old or damaged.

 

4.   April: April’s showers aren’t just about flowers. It’s time to deep clean the bathrooms. Try vinegar to clean grout and the rest of your bathroom. It may also be time to re-caulk around the tub and sinks. If you’ve been ignoring that slow drip from the sink, go ahead and tighten the plumbing, too.

  

5.   May: Now that the weather is better, get outside and clean up around the house. Organize the garage, and make sure all your lawn equipment is in working order. Clean out the flowerbeds and get the garden ready for planting.

 

6.   June: June brings warmer weather, so let the sunshine in! While you’re opening the windows, go ahead and give them a good cleaning. Toss the towels and go for a squeegee instead to get a beautiful streak-free finish.

 

7.   July: July is the time to focus on the kitchen. This means cleaning the cabinets inside and out as well as the refrigerator and stove. Grab a toothbrush and dig into the creases around faucets. Check the food in the freezer and toss anything that looks bad.

 

8.   August: In August, it’s all about looking up. Look up at your ceiling fans, lights and vents and get ready to dust and vacuum. Cleaning air vents is especially important if anyone in your family has allergies. You don’t want to be circulating dust and mites through the air in your home.

 
9.   September: The living and dining rooms are on the list for September. Make sure to vacuum all the furniture, wash curtains and pillow covers and dust behind the entertainment center. If you have a china cabinet, open it up and wash the dishes and dust the shelves.

 

10.       October: O is for October and "office." Take some time to sort through the piles of papers and receipts. File everything you need by month to make tax season a breeze. Get on the computer and clean off your virtual desktop as well. Save photos and documents to an external hard drive to leave more room on the computer for new information.

 
11.       November: Before you settle in for a long winter’s nap, deep clean the bedrooms. Vacuum and deodorize mattresses. Clean your pillows according the manufacturer’s instructions. Sweep under the bed and behind the dressers. Break out your winter clothes and pack away the summer attire.

 
12.       December: It’s time to make room in the playroom. Sort through the toys and toss anything that is broken beyond repair. Replace dead batteries. Gather all the pieces to play sets together and place them in a bin or resealable baggies so when the kids go to play; they will be able to find everything they need. Donate the toys your kids no longer play with.

 "I had to clean my house for 2 hours just to tell guests, “Sorry about the mess.” (Anonymous)[i]




[i] Sources used:
·        “12 Ways to Keep Your Home Organized and Clutter-Free” by Fairuz Maggio
·        “12 Ways to Keep Your House Sparkling Clean Year-Round” by James White,

·        How to Keep Your House Clean” by wikiHow

 

Wednesday, May 30, 2018

Stop

“Stop nagging me about how much I’m nagging you.” (Somee Cards)

The formal definition of nagging is harassing someone to do something. Nagging is experienced in everywhere when someone tries to dominate the other subconsciously, or while trying to get a point across. The nagger has coaxed, pestered, demanded, rephrased a request in many different ways ranging from sarcasm to ultimatums with trying to get what they want from the nagee.

Some parents fail to teach their children to deal with the consequences of the choices they make.  Many faults that incite nagging can be directly traced to a bad upbringing: their stubbornness, insensitivity, and their selective hearing. Nags are never born. They are made.

Nagging begins in the mind where it slowly it finds a voice. In a relationship, patterns are set early, and it’s difficult to switch roles and chores later. Nagging is prompted when valid claims said (or unsaid) have not been responded to adequately. Here are some ideas as to why nagging is anything but encouraging someone to make a change:

1. Nagging creates resentment: Nagging may produce an angry response in someone, and make them resent you. The chore you are nagging about becomes the last thing they want to do.

2. Nagging is unpleasant, and gets your request ignored: No one wants to hear the same old nag over again, and people will simply stop listening. The more you nag. The less someone hears you.

3. Nagging  is  an ineffective negative reinforcement: Nagging says, in effect, “I will stop punishing you with this annoying nagging when you do what I want you to.” And the person being nagged feels that as soon as they do one task to make you stop nagging, you will just nag about another one.

4. Nagging can make someone feel controlled, which no one likes: Being nagged feels like you’re being manipulated, and tends to make the “nagee” feel like digging in his or her heels instead of doing what they are being nagged to do.

5. Nagging is simply words, which in the end are cheap and mean nothing: Some individuals find it easy to ignore annoying words. They have learned that it’s just talk, and you’ll eventually end up doing the task yourself. .All they have to do is wait out the storm of words.

6. Nagging models behavior that you probably don’t want in return: Nagging is something we can often give out but not receive.  If you constantly nag, you may find that your others will begin to communicate with you in the same way.

7. Nagging focuses on the negative of what a person is not doing: Nagging implies all the negative things that are wrong with the person. It says that they are not worthy because a certain task is not done. Nagging is a way of finding fault, and it tends to wear people down instead of build them up.

8. Nagging someone makes you act like a person’s parent: When a person acts like someone’s parent an individual. This can hurt a friendship.

 “The constant nagging in your mind of undone things pulls you out of the present--tethers you to a mind-set of the future so that you're never fully in the moment and enjoying what's now.” (Daniel Levitin) [i]



[i] Sources used:
·        “Nagging” by Oxford Dictionaries
·        “No More Nagging: Why Nagging Doesn’t Work” by Pichea Place
·        “The Real Meaning of Nagging” by Team Lovepanky
 

Tuesday, May 29, 2018

Carry You

I fell in love with you when you were forming in my womb. Now I carry you in my heart instead of my arms.(Anonymous)

A miscarriage is defined as the spontaneous termination of a pregnancy. The chances of a miscarriage are higher in first pregnancies than in later ones. A miscarriage occurs outside the control of the expectant mother.  For the mother, there are several painful and unpleasant physical effects, which include significant vaginal bleeding and the passing of large clots.

Emotional effects include either parent feeling a state of loss, emptiness, guilt, or failure.  An experience like a miscarriage can cause either partner to question their faith or stray from their spiritual foundation.  They may ask a question like, "If there is a God, how could He have let this happen to us?” Here's what you need to know to minimize your risk with a miscarriage, and if should happen to move past it:

1.   Fertility treatments may raise your risk: It’s probably a small increase, and it may be hard to determine if it's due to the treatments or to other factors. Manny women undergoing fertility treatment are older, or have other conditions that affect fertility. If you're 40 and trying to get pregnant, you'll have a better chance of carrying a baby to term if you use a donor egg from a younger woman.

 
2.   It's not the mother's fault: Most miscarriages occur because of genetic abnormalities in the embryo. There's really no way to predict or prevent them. They just happen.

 
 

3.   Miscarriage happens early in pregnancy: A miscarriage is a pregnancy lost before 20 weeks, but almost all miscarriages occur before the 12-week mark. (That's why expecting parents are often told to wait until the second trimester to start spreading the news.) A pregnancy lost after 20 weeks is usually referred to as stillbirth.

 

4.   Miscarriage happens more often than you think: The figure often cited is that about 15% of pregnancies end in miscarriage, which is also called "early pregnancy loss." But with the extra-sensitive, early-response pregnancy tests available these days, that number may be as high as 30% of all pregnancies.

 

5.   Older women are more likely to miscarry: Miscarriages become even more common as women get older. That's because as eggs age, the chances of genetic abnormalities increase.

 

6.   One miscarriage doesn't mean you'll have more: Many women who've had a miscarriage go on to have one or more children. In fact, doctors usually don't look for an underlying reason for miscarriage until you've had two or more.

 

7.   Sex doesn't cause it: You've likely heard the old wives' tale that intercourse can increase the risk of losing a baby. It doesn't. Neither does exercise nor continuing to work,

 

8.   Smoking is a known risk factor: Women who smoke have a higher chance of miscarriage so add this to the long list of reasons not to smoke whether you're pregnant or not.

 

9.   You may not know you've miscarried: You can miscarry within the first 10 days of conception and not even recognize that you've had a pregnancy loss. You may think it's just a period. Bleeding is a common symptom of miscarriage as is severe cramping. If you have either symptom and you know you're pregnant, see a doctor or go to the emergency room to avoid two possible complications of miscarriage: hemorrhage and infection.

 
10.       Your weight matters: Being too thin or overweight can both increase the risk of a miscarriage. Diabetes, a common complication of obesity, can also increase the risk, but only if the condition is poorly controlled. Women who are checking their blood sugar and it’s in a normal range have a risk no different than someone who doesn't have diabetes,
 “If I had lost a leg I would tell them, instead of a boy no one would ever ask me if I was 'over it'. They would ask me how I was doing learning to walk without my leg. I was learning to walk and to breathe and to live without Wade. And what I was learning is that it was never going to be the life I had before.” (Elizabeth Edwards) [i]



[i] Sources used:
·        “11 Things You Didn't Know About Miscarriage” by Amanda Gardner
·        “Dealing with Miscarriage as a Father” by Wayne Parker
This post is dedicated to my wife, Bobbi, who has been through eight miscarriages.
 
 

Contagious

“You may not see it, hear it, or smell it. But I have epilepsy, and no it is not contagious.” (The Fresh Quotes)

Epilepsy(https://www.cdc.gov/epilepsy) is a brain disorder that causes repeated seizures. There are many different types of epilepsy and many different kinds of seizures. Epilepsy can get in the way of life mostly when seizures keep happening.   To control their seizures, people with epilepsy may take medicine, have surgery, or follow a special diet. Epilepsy is common. About 3.4 million people in the U.S. have it.

What comes to mind when you think of a seizure? In the movies and on TV, they often show a person falling to the ground, shaking, and becoming unaware of what’s going on around them. That’s one kind of seizure, but it’s not the most common. More often, a person having a seizure may seem confused, stare into space, wander, make unusual movements, or can’t answer questions or talk. Sometimes it is hard to tell when a person is having a seizure,  Below are important facts for us all to know for an epileptic we come in contact with whether it’s a family member, friend, or stranger:

1.     You can’t swallow your tongue during a seizure. It's physically impossible.

 
2.     You should never force something into the mouth of someone having a seizure. Doing this can chip teeth, cut gums, or even break someone's jaw. Gently roll the person on one side, support their head, protect from injury, and make sure their breathing is okay.

 

3.     Don’t restrain someone having a seizure. Most seizures end in seconds or a few minutes and will end on their own.

 

4.     Anyone can develop epilepsy. Seizures start for the first time in people over age 65 almost as often as it does in children. Seizures in the elderly are often the after effect of other health problems like stroke and heart disease.

 

 
5.     Most people with epilepsy can do the same things that people without epilepsy can do. However, some people with frequent seizures may not be able to work, drive, or may have problems in other parts of their life.

 

6.     People with epilepsy can handle jobs with responsibility and stress. People with seizure disorders are found in all walks of life. They may work in business, government, the arts, and all sorts of professions. If stress bothers their seizures, they may need to learn ways to manage stress at work. But everyone needs to learn how to cope with stress. There may be some types of jobs that people with epilepsy can’t do because of possible safety problems. Otherwise, having epilepsy should not affect the type of job or responsibility that a person has.

 
 
7.     Even with today's medication, epilepsy cannot be cured. Epilepsy is a chronic medical problem that for many people can be successfully treated. Unfortunately, treatment doesn't work for everyone. At least, 1 million people in the United States have uncontrolled epilepsy. There is still an urgent need for more research, better treatments, and a cure for epilepsy.

 
8.     Epilepsy is not rare. There are more than twice as many people with epilepsy in the U.S. as the number of people with cerebral palsy (500,000), muscular dystrophy (250,000), multiple sclerosis (350,000), and cystic fibrosis (30,000) combined. Epilepsy can occur as a single condition or may be seen with other conditions affecting the brain, such as cerebral palsy, intellectual disability, autism, Alzheimer's disease, and traumatic brain injury.

 
9.     You can die from epilepsy. While death in epilepsy doesn't happen frequently, epilepsy is a very serious condition and individuals do die from seizures. The most common cause of death is sudden unexpected death in epilepsy (SUDEP). While there is a lot we still don’t know about SUDEP, experts estimate that 1 out of every 1,000 people with epilepsy die from SUDEP each year.

“I want people with epilepsy to know that there are ways in which they can play a role in their own recovery. It's all in how they approach what is happening and how they can use that as a catalyst for their own growth. If there's one thing that I've learned, it's that people are willing to embrace you if you share your story.” (Danny Glover) [i]




[i] Sources used:

“5 Things You Should Know About Epilepsy” by CDC

“Facts about Seizures and Epilepsy” by Patricia O. Shafe and Joseph I. Sirven
 

Monday, May 28, 2018

A Product

a product of your surroundings, but encourage your surroundings to be a product of your personality.” (EventGreetings.com)

The "big five" are broad categories of personality traits. There is a significant body of literature supporting this five-factor model of personality. You might find it helpful to use the acronym OCEAN (openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism) when trying to remember the big five traits. It is important to note that each of the five personality factors represents a range between two extremes.

In the real world, most people lie somewhere in between the two polar ends of each dimension. One study that looked at people from more than 50 different cultures found that the five dimensions could be accurately used to describe personality. Many psychologists now believe that the five personality dimensions are not only universal;. They also have biological origins. Below are the "big five” that spell out the acronym OCEAN:

1.   Openness: People who like to learn new things and enjoy new experiences usually score high in openness. Openness includes traits like being insightful, imaginative, and having a wide variety of interests.

 
2.   Conscientiousness: People that have a high degree of conscientiousness are reliable and prompt. Traits include being organized, methodic, and thorough.

 

3.   Extraversion:  Extraverts get their energy from interacting with others, while introverts get their energy from within themselves. Extraversion includes the traits of energetic, talkative, and assertive.

 
4.   Agreeableness: These individuals are friendly, cooperative, and compassionate. People with low agreeableness may be more distant. Traits include being kind, affectionate, and sympathetic.

 

5.   Neuroticism: Neuroticism is also sometimes called Emotional Stability. This dimension relates to one’s emotional stability and degree of negative emotions. People that score high on neuroticism often experience emotional instability and negative emotions. Traits include being moody and tense.

 “Everything good is costly, and the development of personality is one of the most costly of all things. It is a matter of saying yes to oneself, of taking oneself as the most serious of tasks, of being conscious of everything one does, and keeping it constantly before one's eyes in all its dubious aspects.” (Carl Jung) [i]



[i] Sources used:
·                “Big Five Personality Test Theory “by 123test

·                “The Big Five Personality Traits “by Kendra Cherry

 

Escape

“Instead of wondering when your next vacation is, maybe you should set up a life you don't need to escape from.”  (Seth Godin)

Vacationing is fun, but it can be costly and stressful if you’re the one creating the schedule. Everyone needs a mental break and doing a staycation (instead of a vacation) can provide just that. A staycation is a vacation spent at home, and involving day trips to local attractions. A staycation doesn’t mean you’re just sitting around your house all day eating ice cream and watching TV.

During a staycation, you can dine out more often than you normally would, spend a day at a local beach, tour a neighboring city, or go to a fun event, and be able to sleep in your own bed at night. Staycations help you save lots of money because you don’t have to pay for lots of travel, hotels, and overpriced tourist food and attractions.

Planning for your staycation gives you time to set up a fun schedule that feels like a vacation but has all the benefits of staying home. Are you Interested in having a fun and relaxing staycation of your own this summer? Here are some ways to plan the perfect staycation.
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1.   Do something out of your ordinary routine: The key to having a fun summer staycation is doing something you might not normally do. This requires not doing any work and finding ways to zing up your time off. Much of the fun in a summer vacation is trying something new.

 
By adding something different to your time off, it will help you get the vacation feel without the added cost.  If you don't know what new things there are to do in your area, do a simple Internet search using the phrase "free things to do” along with the name of your town and you should be able to find a number of different, fun things to try out.

 
2.   Take a day trip: Part of the fun of a summer vacation is traveling. Just because you’re taking a staycation doesn’t mean you can’t travel. Consider a day trip or two during your staycation to give you that travel feel. 

 
Depending on where you live, there are likely going to be a large number of different sites and attractions you can take in all within a day’s drive. The possibilities are endless and might cost no more than the price of a tank of gas and money for admission to the given location. Don’t forget to add in a picnic lunch to make a full day of it.

 
3.   Take in a movie or concert: The average cost of a movie ticket was $8.97 as of 2018. When you add in the cost of concessions, you could easily be looking at an outing of at least $50 or more for a family. Concert attendance is only going to be more expensive. But there are ways to get either experience without shelling out a considerable amount of money.

 
Many cities and communities offer free family-friendly movies or concerts throughout the summer. In many instances, these might be second-run movies or older musical acts, but they can be a great way to get the experience without spending too much money. Depending on where you live, the events might be planned for the entire summer, which can help you plan which you’d like to attend most.

 
4.   Try out a new restaurant: Going on summer vacation will almost always involve eating out for most meals. Depending on the budget of your staycation, you may not be able to do this for each meal. Instead, look at exploring one or two new local restaurants you've wanted to try for some time.

 
This technique allows you to take a break from having to cook, while also trying something new. If dinner prices are too high, then look at going for lunch, since many restaurants will charge quite a bit less to dine during the day.


5.   Dine outside: Going on summer vacation usually involves one thing: outdoor activities. Just because you are taking a staycation doesn’t mean you can’t do the same thing, and in many cases you can do more because you’re operating from your home base.

There are many things you can do outside during your staycation, which can cost next to nothing, such as going on a hike, taking a family bike ride or flying a kite at a local park. Whatever it is you choose, don’t forget to take a picnic lunch or dinner with you to make it more of a day. Having a staycation can be a great way to unwind and have fun as a family. With a little work, you can have a great time at a fraction of the cost of a standard vacation.

 
 “One's destination is never a place, but a new way of seeing things.”  (Henry Miller) [i]
 
HAPPY MEMORIAL DAY 2018



[i] Sources used:
·        “5 Ways to Have a Fun Staycation on a Budget” by John Schmoll

·        “5 Ways to Plan the Perfect Staycation” by

·        “Staycation” by English Oxford Living Dictionaries
“The Average Movie Ticket Price Rises Close To 4% in Q1 Of 2018” Anthony D'Alessandro
 
 

Everything

  “Pray as though everything depended on God. Work as though everything depended on you.” (Saint Augustine) It shouldn’t be surprising th...