August, 2010

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31
Aug 10

Educating Yourself About Yarns

Go into a knitting shop and you will find a kaleidoscope of yarns. The task of choosing a yarn can be one of the best parts of the knitting process. All of the beautiful colors of yarn can actually be captivating. Only people who work with knitting materials on a regular basis can appreciate the attributes of the different ones, as they can vary in texture and color.

Before choosing a color, a knitter first needs to decide the type of fiber that is appropriate for their project. Natural fibers come in cashmere, mohair, alpaca, cotton and wool. There is also a long list of hand dyed products available for those who choose not to use the natural fibers.

Many knitters who are knowledgeable about their yarns know that it is important to use the highest quality yarn they can and choose to only use skeins produced in Australia, as they have a reputation for good quality and selection. This decision is far more important than color or texture.

A tension square is a good place to start because it will help you to determine how much knitting yarn you will need. Look at your pattern and use it to determine what ply you will need. Be sure that your knitting pattern is appropriate to the garment you are designing.

The best place to see patterns is on the yarn skein. The yarn skeins are wrapped in paper and most have free printed crochet patterns on them. The good part about using a suggested pattern is that they generally match the yarn they came with.

Other pattern resources are books, which will provide you with detailed instructions for the pattern, as well as different stitches to be used. The internet is quickly becoming more and more common as a resource for knitters. Not only can they find many resources for the purchase of their yarns, but it also provides them with a forum for discussion with other knitters.

A knitter does not need to purchase expensive materials to produce an attractive garment that is of a high quality. Yarns range in price from very cheap to incredibly expensive. Basic, low cost types are “Double Knit” and “Aran,” in two, three or four ply. Apache, Amore, Gypsy, Milan and Sirocco are made of eighty percent cotton. Hats, scarves, and sweaters can be made from a high quality yarn such as Tuscany, a fuzzy yarn like Eskimo DK, or a ladder yarn like Illusion or Firefly. Wool blends make warm winter garments.

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31
Aug 10

Natural Infertility Remedies – Review

Natural infertility remedies are varied in their approach.?A great book on the Internet today authored by Lisa Olson and is titled “Pregnancy Miracle”. This book uncovers a battalion of organic infertility cures along with nourishment and healthy diet plans to grant future mothers and fathers increased fertility.?/p>

This set of instructions is heavily weighted on Chinese Medicine and holistic wellness.?This means that there are NOT any expensive surgeries or chemicals necessary to reach success.?/p>

Numerous people in the US and abroad have fixed their infertility obstacles after following the holistic tips exposed in this clinically proven natural infertility remedies manual.?Women have become pregnant naturally and men have removed their sperm potency problems by simply following the fertility steps laid out in this guide.

Crammed with 250 pages of natural infertility remedies, each step has a detailed analysis and then the specifics are outlined in chronological order.?Lisa is a certified nutritionist and health consultant so the information provided is well researched and scientifically proven. Mother’s and fathers-to-be are given graphs and recording methods. This makes following the guide a lot easier.

If there are any shortcomings to this book, I am inclined to say that it’s because the reader needs to put in a lot of effort to make this work.?To be successful with this natural infertility remedies guide, Lisa emphasizes that it requires?a lot of time and persistence.?This is not a quick fix answer but instead a complete guidebook to wellness and fertility.

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31
Aug 10

Baby Shower Decorations That Are Unique and Useful

Having a baby is a joyous and momentous occasion in every one’s life. You and your family and friends look forward to the occasion with excitement. Nowadays a lot of people like to celebrate this with baby showers. Family and friends like to do this to give the mother the importance she deserves and also to help with gifts and presents that will come in useful, once the baby is born. If you are planning such an event then the following hints and tips for baby shower decorations will help to make your party a grand success.

The very first thing that you need to do is to decide the color and baby related theme for your baby shower decorations. If you know the gender of the new arrival then it is quite easy to decide on this but if on the other hand you are not aware if its a boy or a girl then there are lots of decorations that are quite general and these can be used very successfully to decorate your place. You can get things such as streamers, table cloth and paper plates in all sorts of designs.

One very easy way of decorating your place is to put up balloons around the party area. You can use large vases to place the balloons in and colored marbles to hold them in place. This will create a very nice party atmosphere around the party area.

Once you have the basics of baby shower decorations in place then you can start putting the little extra touches that will make your party very unique. One easy way of doing this is to put up a pinata. This makes a very colorful and cute decoration and the Mum to be can take this home at the end, so you’ve got a decoration and gift in the same thing.

Small stuffed animals can also be used for baby shower decorations. You can hang these fro the ceiling with colorful ribbons and Mum can take these home also. She can use these to start decorating the nursery. What a nice way for decorating and helping the parents to be with little extra things.

You can come up with a lot of these baby shower decorations once you put your mind to it. You need to try and find things that are not only decorative in nature but are useful to the mother and baby afterwards. If you get stuck for ideas, you can go online and you will be able to find lots of ideas that are helpful. Coming up with these ideas can save you a lot of money and still have a baby shower that is unique and colorful.

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31
Aug 10

Keeping a Journal – Chronicle Your Journey in 2009

I began journaling when I was a junior in college.營t has been over 26 years now and I am still going strong!?My journals are a chronicle of my life from 1982 to the present and I have no intentions of stopping till I can not write anymore; maybe then I will keep an audio journal.

Here are a few tips that may help you (or your child) to start keeping a journal:
?br>1.?b>Do爊ot journal everyday (unless you absolutely want to).營f I knew I HAD to journal everyday, I would not have lasted a week.燢nowing my journal is there to receive my thoughts and musings when I want it to means it is never hanging over my head like an undone task.
?br>2.?b>Be honest.營t helps bring clarity.燗s scary as it may seem, putting your thoughts and feelings on paper helps you sort things through. As you write down and re-read where you are at this moment you can get perspective on your situation.燱hen I look back and see where I have been and how I have grown, I am encouraged by the changes that have taken place in my life.
?br>3.?b>Find out who you are.燘eing self-aware is a great thing.燳ou learn why and how you think and do things, what you may have inherited from the past and what you may be passing onto the future.燗s you record your ambitions and aspirations, your disappointments and setbacks, you learn how you handle adversity and what you learn from it.營 wanted to move the Middle East and I did.營 wanted to start my own businesses and I did.燭hat journey is recorded in my journals and I can see the patterns in my life as I approach challenges and embrace dreams.
?br>4.?b>Leave a legacy.?I have been writing since my early twenties, so my kids will have the journey of my life from a young adult.燭hey will be able to follow my story from college, early career, my move overseas, life in the Middle East and back again.燭hey will see how I prayed through my fears, worked through my decisions and discovered the person that I am and the reason I am here.燚o you want to write down a family story, a journey through a tough time, your goals, hopes and dreams?燭hen a journal is a place to do it and it will tell your story long after you are gone.
?br>Journaling is a great way for children to learn how to express their thoughts and feelings.燤any of our kids do that today through MySpace or in a blogpost, but some may still prefer to write in a journal.燞elping them to record their long and short term goals gives them direction and purpose.?A new year lays ahead full of hope and possibility; potential and opportunity.燱hy not write your 2009 journey down on paper??/p>

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30
Aug 10

D&D Miniatures

This is basically just going to be an introductory lesson about how to paint miniature figurines. I use it to paint figurines for the game Dungeons and Dragons, but it is the same concept for all miniature figurines… or even larger figurines.

First it’s important to have the correct paint brushes. The largest size that I would suggest to have is a 2. You also want to make sure that you are getting these at a hobby store and not a craft store or painting shop. The brushes go down in number so you would have a number 2, 1, 0, 00, 000, etc. I would also suggest to get round and flat brushes so you can handle any area. When painting make sure that you don’t allow paint to go under the metal part of the brush, keep the paint on the tip. Also, don’t leave the brush in water or wipe brush on the bottom or sides of your water dish. This can damage the bristles. When it’s time to clean up, use cold water and a gentle soap.

Now, let’s move on to the paint. This will have to be your own choice. You can use oil/enamel paint or acrylic paint. Oil/enamel paints do take while longer in order to dry, but you don’t need to use a base coat and sealer coat. Acrylic paints dry quickly, but you need to prime the figure first, then when finished, put a sealer coat on the figurine. I use acrylic simply because I believe you have to be more of an artist to use the oil/enamel paint. With the acrylic, you can also buy the acrylic inks which are good for adding depth.

Let’s get started. The first thing is to prime your figure. I would recommend priming even if you are using the oil/enamel paints. You can buy the normal black, white, or gray primer, or there is some quick drying primer out in the market. This is what I use because my time is valuable, but it is a little more expensive. Once the figurines are dry, we start painting. I am an efficiency painter: I like to paint an entire army at a time instead of individuals, so I figure out what color will be dominant on the figurine. Recently I just painted a skeleton army so I used rotting flesh mixed with a little white. You want to make sure to cover all of the area and don’t worry if you go over another section.

Once the main color is down, you want to put a base down on all the other areas. You want to be more careful at this point. For example, if the figure is wearing a cape, you want to put the color down that the cape will be. Continue this until all of the primer is covered up. Go back and touch up any spots that have went onto the wrong area.

Now we want to work on the shadows. I like to use a little water to thin the paints and add a little black to darken the colors. You want to find the creases and drag your brush along the ridge. The added water will allow the crease to fill in. Do this to all areas you want to add depth to. Next, we will move on to highlighting.

Now, we want to do the exact opposite of when we were creating shadows. We want a brush that is practically dry and we want to add white to light colors: red, orange, yellow; and orange to dark colors:blue, green, purple. I usually use a peach to mix with the browns. You want to dust the highlights of the figure. Here you will see the figurine come to life. If you’re not sure where you should add highlights, put a spotlight on the figurine and highlight the areas that the light hits directly. This method also works with shadows. I would suggest at this point to touch up any spots you don’t like now.

Almost Done… Here we want to go back in and paint all the small details. Grab your smallest brush and paint any teeth, bandages, buckles, designs, etc… Once this is done, you are ready to put the final coat on the figurine. This is just an acrylic sealer. If you use oil, you may need to let each section dry before moving on to the next.

Now you’re ready to play. If you’re new to the game, tell the DM what figurine you have and I’m sure he or she will incorporate it in the next game of Dungeons and Dragons.

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30
Aug 10

Creative Journaling for Girls: Six Tips to Engage Creativity and Encourage Consistent Journaling

Your child starts a journal with great enthusiasm, has all the
intentions in the world of keeping at it, and, months later,
you find the journal laying on her bookshelf covered in dust.
Sound familiar? Creative Journaling makes the journal
writing process more enjoyable, fun and creative and can
help you overcome some of the barriers that may be
keeping your child from consistent–maybe even
daily–journaling.

I believe that the number one barrier to regular journaling by
kids is their preconceived notion of how to journal. When
presenting workshops on Creative Journaling for Girls, I
often begin by asking the participants to describe to me
what comes to mind when they envision themselves writing
in a journal. The typical and common response I receive to
my question goes something like this, 揑 sit and write about
what happened to me that day.? Although this is an apt
description of journal writing, it does not sound particularly
fun or enjoyable. Which is why, I believe, so many diaries
and journals languish on bookshelves and what, in my
opinion, stops a child from choosing journal writing as a
regular and consistent activity.

Integrating creativity with journal writing can transform
journaling from a mundane activity to a wildly enjoyable and
fun one. The preconceived notion of journaling held by most
girls is strong, however, and initially they hesitate when
encouraged to get creative with their journals. But once it
clicks with them that they can freely express their thoughts
using both words and creativity their eyes light up! I have
really hooked girls?interest in creative journaling when I
offer them spangles, foam cut-outs, colorful feathers and
glue to further embellish their journals. It抯 not long before
they are laughing, giggling, creating, and journal writing, and
what a glorious site it is. Huge smiles emerge on their
faces and their eyes sparkle and shine with joy as they
enjoy their creative journaling experience.

To help guide you and your child down the path of creative
journaling I抳e listed some tips below. Try them out, add
your own, or make up new ones and remember that there
are infinite ways for you and your child to dress up a journal
and integrate creative expression into your journals.

Creative Journaling Tips:

1. Journal Share – Make the journal experience interactive
rather than secretive and solitary. Take a new approach to
journal writing and declare that dairies are for secrets and
journals are now for celebrating and sharing. This will allow
you to play an active part in helping your child to complete
her journal.

2. Brighten Journals with Color – Toss those pens and
pencils aside and use markers, crayons and colored
pencils instead. You will be amazed at how beautiful and
joyful a journal becomes simply by adding color!

3. Summarize. Summarize. Summarize – There is no need
to write page after page in a journal. A few words that
summarize a day, or how you feel, or a few bulleted points
that highlight the day抯 events is sufficient. Keep it short and
simple and to the point by writing less than 10, 20 or 30
words, depending on your time constraints.

4. Write One Word – If you and your child have had a long
day and do not have much time or energy left over for journal
writing, simply choose one word that encapsulates the day
and write that word across the entire page in big bold
letters. Upon review at a later date you will be surprised
how much can be recalled from this single word!

5. Make It Sparkle and Shine – Use stickers, spangles, glue,
magazine cutouts, craft supplies (or craft leftovers from
Mom抯 craft drawers). Get creative but keep it simple; this
need not be a major production.

6. No Such Thing as Right or Wrong – Lastly, and most
importantly, emphasize that there are no right or wrong
answers while journaling. Journal writing should be
freeing, not limiting, so give your child permission to break
the rules she is required to follow in school (spelling,
grammar…) so that she may fully and creatively express
herself.

When journal writing becomes a creative adventure full of
choices and options journals cease to languish on
bookshelves and girls discover a positive and powerful tool
of self-expression. Moreover, the completed creative
journals become cherished keepsakes that can be used as
tools of growth and reflection or as records of achievement
and change. Keep it simple, get creative, but most of all
remember to make the journal writing process enjoyable
and fun for you and your child!

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30
Aug 10

Popular Biblical Girl Baby Names For Your Little Princess

Biblical names have been a favorite choice worldwide for parents when it comes to naming a child of either sex. There are dozens of beautiful Biblical girl baby names to pick from. It should be noted that there are thousands of names in use today that have biblical roots, although they are not essentially the names of the actual people in the bible.

There are names like Esther and Naomi which are very popular with baby girls today and refer to persons mentioned in the bible. On the other hand, names like Faith, Charity, Hope and Grace are also names originating from the bible but do not represent specific people.

The name Faith originates from Latin and English. Basically, Faith means trust, someone who has an intense belief in God. Faith is one of the three virtues in the bible and naming your child Faith means you are in total reverence to God.

Charity is another common biblical girl baby name. Charity means love, goodwill and benevolence. The baby girl named Charity is expected to be someone full of compassion and kindness. The name originates from Latin.

The third common name possessing biblical roots is Grace. This is a Latin origin name meaning blessing or favor. Grace also means goodwill. It means the blessed one, someone full of care and empathy.

Many great names have their roots planted firmly in the Old and New Testaments. Faith, Charity, and Grace are just a few examples of Biblical girl baby names that sound nice and have powerful meanings behind them. If you are struggling to find a name for your coming baby girl, just take a peek in the Bible for some ideas.

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30
Aug 10

Learning Toys and the Rotary Telephone

I was looking with great interest at a couple of our baby’s toys recently. One is a plastic telephone with an animated face and wheels which he can pull around and create “ringing” sounds as he goes. The other is a combined activity board with mirrors, musical buttons, and a telephone with a removable headset.

The interesting observation to me at least is that both of these play phones have rotary style dials! What kind of “learning toy” would teach a child how to use a rotary-dial telephone? Learning about antiques? Learning about obsolescence? I would guess that our son’s experience with rotary phones will conclude once these toys wear out or are passed on to someone else. Of course these products are all created for fun and used in fun but I did find myself musing about some other learning toys which may soon appear obsolete to the technology savvy parent or their 21st Century baby.

A toy car without electric buttons to roll the windows up and down. This also puts a child with a controlling personality in their place – imagine not being able to have power over all of the windows in the car from the driver’s seat! Remember also that a toy car with power windows would likely require the additional expense of more of those ever popular “D” batteries, so there is a cost savings to be had here as well.

A toy car that you must lock and unlock the doors by hand with a key. Of course the drawback to this low-tech access to the vehicle means that the plastic doors are susceptible to scratches when baby is entering the vehicle in the dark or just before nap time. This toy car will also be more difficult to find if lost because it would not have the convenience of a horn panic button with which to easily track it down in a crowded parking lot or messy bedroom.

A play fireplace with real logs. Children should not play with gas so gas logs are off limits. Children should not play with electricity so the latest virtual fireplaces are eliminated. A fireplace with real logs also teaches your child patience because the fire needed to burn the logs is a no-no until a much later age.

A play refrigerator without an icemaker. This obviously creates the pretend scenario of a trip to the pretend store to bring home a manufactured frozen bag of play ice. It also could lead to a science project with the goal of experiencing the ancient art of making your own play ice – assuming you can find a good recipe to follow. Some people think that the ice trays that come with refrigerators are actually made for babies to play with (our’s does), but this project will clearly dispel that myth and enlighten many to their actual use.

We benefit from so many conveniences in today’s society and our children’s learning toys seem to straddle the gap sometimes between fun and reality in displaying these conveniences. But maybe that is where imagination comes in!

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29
Aug 10

How Long Before Ovulation Can We Try For a Baby Girl?

I often write articles meant to help couples who are trying for a girl baby. Recently, I received an email which asked “how long before ovulation should I start trying to conceive爄f I want燽aby girl?”?I’ll answer this question, explain the answer, and tell you other things that you should do if you’re trying to conceive a daughter.

燨vulation If You’re Trying For A Girl: Before I go into the specifics of timing your conception with your ovulation, I want to explain the reasoning behind it.?There are very telling differences between the sperm that produces a boy (Y) and the sperm that produces a girl (X).?If you want a daughter, your sole goal is to get the X sperm to fertilize your egg.?Because you only get one chance.?If the Y gets there instead, you’re going to have a son and there’s nothing you can do to change that.?/p>

It’s very important that you understand that boy sperm is very weak and it’s pretty easy to exploit this.?Luckily for you, girl sperm is very strong.?It can last for much longer in your vaginal tract and it takes a lot more acidity and time to weaken it or to cause it to die off.?This is a good thing.?But, to balance out nature, the girl sperm is also pitifully slow.?This is not so good, but the methods that I am going to give you will help to counteract this.

But before I get into that, I’ll go back to timing your conception.?You should aim for three days before you ovulation simply because the boy sperm can not survive this but the girl sperm can. However, if you go any earlier than this, you’ll leave the girl sperm vulnerable as well.?But, if you go any later, you give the boys a better chance to survive.

Also, you have to know your ovulation day with absolute certainty.?You can not guess.?If your ovulation prediction techniques (calendar, basal temperature, cervical mucus monitoring) leaves you wondering, find something that is more reliable. I really like saliva ovulation predictors as they show even small changes that can be an important tip off.?They are also inexpensive and reusable.

Other Things You’ll Need To Address If You’re Trying For A Girl: Using the correct timing is very important, but you’re not finished yet.?Doing only this will boost your odds, but not enough.?You need to get your odds higher than ninety percent.?/p>

To do that, you’ll also want to look at your PH and acidity. For a girl, you want a very high PH because the boy sperm can not withstand this.?You can go about this in a few ways.?You can change your diet so that you’re consuming a very high amount of acidic foods and avoiding alkaline foods.?Or, you can douche with solutions that you make you more acidic.?You can combine these methods if you want quicker results.?And, PH testing strips can make quick work of this by telling you exactly where you are.?This will tell you how far you need to move and how long this will take.?Once you know, you can use food lists and douche recipes to get started raising. (The strips are really cheap and you can get them at health food stores.)

Finally, you’ll need to use shallow sexual positions.?Why? Simply because this gives the Y sperm a longer trip and exposes them to the acidity for a much longer time.?This is exactly what you want because it ensures that there will be very few of them fighting to fertilize the egg.?And, those that are left will be deteriorated and too weak to win this battle.

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29
Aug 10

Why Babies Can (and Should) Learn to Read

Early Learning and Baby Brain Development

A baby’s body develops at an incredible pace during the first few years of life, but one of the most amazing aspects of this process is how the brain grows and develops. Between birth and age 3, the human brain goes from a very undeveloped form, weighing only a quarter of its final size to an incredibly complex state through a dramatic growth and development of billions of neurons and hundreds of trillions of connections, or synapses, between these neural cells. This period of active neural growth is when parents and caregivers can better help their children to get off to a great start and establish strong foundations for life-long learning.

The basic neural connections are created before birth

The basic structure of the brain is formed still during pregnancy. Here, the principal components of the brain develop and take form and the most basic cerebral functions start to organize. However, the vast majority of synapses are not yet formed, so the brain is not capable of the higher complexity that characterizes human cognition, learning and reasoning. These connections arise during the first three to four years, and the architecture of the complex networks of synapses depends in some degree on the child’s interactions with his/her environment and experiences.

The ability to learn languages is hardwired in the baby’s brain

Language is a basic human feature, and the brain of a baby is ready to develop language since the beginning. Studies showed that babies can be stimulated with the sound of their mother’s voices. As soon as they are born and start to interact with their family, the first patterns of the mother tongue are being set by the establishment of million of synaptic connections between specific groups of neurons. At the same time, the brains keeps growing, and the greatest density of neural connections is reached by the age 3. This is very important, since after this age, many of these synapses start to disappear though a process of elimination that brings the density of synapses down to the level we found in a typical adult brain. Considering all this, the conclusion is that the first three to four years after birth are the most critical times for brain development, and in consequence, the period during which the brain has the greatest power to acquire and fix abilities, especially those related to language.

Now, in our society, the process of language acquisition is clearly separated between speech development (learning to talk) and literacy (learning to read and write). The first one arises naturally, almost spontaneously between the first and the third year, but the second is relegated to after the age of five, when most children go to kindergarten or elementary school. Being the ability to talk and read both sides of the same process (language), the natural way to develop it would be at the same time, when the brain is naturally shaped to acquire language.

The consequence of this is that for decades, billions of children have not taken advantage of their best time to learn to read. Children are in fact able to learn to read since infancy, and the benefits of this stay forever. Children who read before entering Kinder perform better in virtually every aspect, both from the academic and social point of view and are more likely to succeed in life than their peers who were illiterate by age five.

Psychologists and early childhood education experts have developed effective methods for parents and caregivers to train their children into reading while they are still babies. These programs are usually based on books, word cards and also multimedia components such as DVDs and songs, and parents should look for those endorsed by professionals with expertise Early Education and Child Development.

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