Get a Good Nights Sleep with a Body Pillow

Posted on June 22, 2011 by katiem2

The percentage of sleepless nights is on the rise. It’s no wonder people aren’t sleeping with so much to do and too few hours not to mention the stress. Often we rush and hurry till we collapse in bed with little preparation to insure we have a good nights rest.  If your like me you find yourself wrestling with your pillow certain your just not a pillow type of person.  It may not be you, its no doubt the pillow.

Do you toss and turn unable to get comfortable? Do you roll your eyes thinking you just have to deal with it and hope tonight will be the night? Have you considered what a difference a good pillow could make?

What would you do for a good nights rest and how would you like to fall asleep with ease and comfort. We all know the answer to that, and we all want to sleep good. Today I will share with you some amazing tips and secrets to help you sleep easily and with the greatest of comfort. What I’ve learned is this; a body pillow works wonders for delivering on a great nights sleep.

Get a Good Nights Sleep with Body Pillows

Back in October I had surgery. I came home with one nasty and touchy surgical wound on my right side. My dear sweet sister bought me a body pillow. She had gone through a similar situation year’s back and remembered how hard it was to get comfy.

Her husband brought home a body pillow and she slept like a baby using it to prop herself up along her back just enough to avoid the trouble spot and rest easy. I started with one long single body pillow and was it ever heaven. I was so happy with it I could not imagine it getting any better than this.

The Body Pillow

  1. Kept me from rolling over on my stomach disrupting the stitches.
  2. Eliminated the  stress to my limbs, legs, knees and back.
  3. Improved my circulation.
  4. Induced a great nights sleep.
  5. The body pillow was absolutely comfortable.

I rejected my sister’s idea to get another body pillow to prop me from behind as I used mine in the front, tucking it between my knees. It was heaven not to have my knees banging against each other. I slept so much better why bother.

My sister got my lap top out one day as I lay in bed recovering and found all sorts of amazing pillows. We were like two kids in a candy store, there were so many amazing body pillows. Knowing what I had recently learned I was intrigued with the latest and greatest developments.

I bought one more single body pillow and then just had to give the U shaped body pillow a go and now I’m sold on it. My two daughters ran off with the other two and now we all sleep like babies.

Get a Good Nights Sleep with Body Pillows

What I soon came to learn, long after my recovery was sleeping with a body pillow eliminated my sleep issues and I will not be without it. I traveled over the summer and left it behind at home. It was sorely missed.  I will find a way to take it with me next time.

A great body pillow makes that big of a difference I wish I had learned years ago. So to end your sleepless nights and be sleeping like a baby, try a body pillow. I have no doubt it will deliver and have you feeling and looking like a million dollars before you know it.

Much Love and Success, Katie

         

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Good Book To Read On Healthy Cooking Tips For Kids

Posted on June 22, 2011 by Audrey Kirchner

HEALTHY COOKING TIPS

I recently read a book by Chef Rock Harper (who won Season 3 of the popular FOX show Hell’s Kitchen and who is also the National Celeb Chef for the March of Dimes).  It’s called 44 Things Parents Should Know About Healthy Cooking for Kids and it’s well worth the read.  The fact that it’s a compact little book packed full of great information doesn’t hurt.  You can breeze through it in a day easily but the pointers for healthy cooking tips for kids are invaluable.  You’ll find that you will refer to them many times over for either new ideas or to reinforce the ones you’ve already incorporated into your parenting style.  This is a great book not only for parents who are trying to get their kids to eat healthier but for anyone really who has an eye on improving their nutrition.  The kicker is that these tips are relatively painless and can be applied to anyone’s lifestyle.

THE HEALTHY LIFESTYLE

A healthy lifestyle has many components.  However, when it comes to our kids, one of the most important parts of that healthy lifestyle centers around healthy cooking.  Too often today, as Americans, we are on the go constantly and involved in way too many things.  What suffers most is our diet and consequently the meals that we provide our kids can be severely lacking in nutrition.  More importantly though, the patterns that we impart to our children today most likely will turn into health habits that they practice for the rest of their lives.

Chef Rock points out 44 different ways that you can get nutrition back into your family life.  Most of them are so basic that most of us already know these things to be great ideas.  However, it doesn’t hurt to perhaps revisit some of them and make a new commitment to embrace healthy cooking for your kids.  In fact, you should embrace these principles for yourself as well.

Here are just a few of his great ideas and what parents should know about healthy cooking for kids.

Salt is not the enemy.  Let me clarify this statement though.  Chef Rock points out that cooking at home and preparing your own food allows you the opportunity to worry less about salt than if you’re buying all prepared foods.  In terms of types of salt, kosher salt is far less “salty” than regular table salt.  It even has less sodium than iodized salt.  So using a dash of kosher salt on your fresh green beans isn’t going to have the same impact on your body as opening a can of prepared green beans. 

Families that eat together are healthier.  That old-fashioned custom of sitting down at the table together for meals still holds true in this day and age.  Making time to prepare food together and then share it together can not only encourage better eating habits but it also adds dimension to the family unit.  Meals don’t have to be formal sit-down dinners either.  They can be a picnic in the living room without TV, video games or music or they can be a bunch of fantastic sandwiches in the park.  Whatever you decide to prepare, share it as a family.

Many parts make up the whole.  Having traditional 3 meals per day (breakfast, lunch and dinner) doesn’t have to be the “norm”.  Since families are so much on the go these days, having many little meals is often easier to prepare and more readily eaten by kids of all ages.  The most important thing is to make sure most of the meals that you serve your kids are healthy. 

Eating out is not a sin.  While for the most part, kids should be having a healthy diet and learning about foods and nutrition to help them be responsible eaters later in life, the occasional trip to the golden arches or a bucket of fried chicken isn’t going to damage them forever.  Anything regimented can become mundane so change it up.  Basing most of your family’s meals on highly nutritious, healthy dishes and snacks is the main goal but the occasional “treat” of eating out should be part of every family’s game plan.  It lends variety and pleasure to what eating should be – fun and for the most part, nutritious.

Cooking is a skill everyone should learn.  In this day and age where children grow up and move far, far away from their families, it’s imperative that all children learn how to cook.  That doesn’t mean that they have to become chefs or gourmet cooks.  It does mean that they should know about basic nutrition and meal preparation.  They should also know without a doubt what healthy snacks are and what unhealthy eating habits are.  The best way to teach your kids about healthy cooking is to participate with them.  Let them come up with meal ideas and then guide them to improve their choices nutritionally.  Show them how to enjoy all kinds of foods and you will undoubtedly never have to endure a picky eater.

HEALTHY COOKING FOR KIDS

These are just a few of the many tips in this great little book, 44 Things Parents Should Know About Healthy Cooking For Kids.  I urge you to pick up a copy, read it and then to browse through it from time to time. 

This is the kind of book that you can read randomly and still get great ideas from.  It’s like a cookbook of ideas on how to make sure healthy cooking is part of your kids’ lives. 

For great ideas on making your own homemade lunch meat, check out the article on hubpages.com. 

Read more on Free Lance Writer Network.

Here are my tips on healthy cooking from hubpages.com.

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Squinkies Squinkies Squinkies Buy Squinkies Online

Posted on June 22, 2011 by katiem2

What are Squinkies you ask, they are the hottest new line of collectible toys that come in their very own surprise bubble. They live in the bubble when the kids aren’t playing with them plus there are many exciting play sets made just for them with worlds of imagination and adventure. Pop open the bubble to reveal your new surprise.

Squinkies are squishy to the touch coming in cute little animal characters and many cool and unique babies with hundreds to collect, share and trade. Kids are going crazy over these cute and unique fun characters as they let their imaginations run wild for hours of fun.

Note: Some come in mystery balls without any clue as to what they are until you open them. These special treasures come in solid colored bubbles keeping the contents a secret. There are also some rare ones that are sparkly. My daughter loves the sparkly ones.

As the kids in the neighborhood play feverishly for hours on end the craze for these hot new toys builds in momentum. Who’s to say why any one toy takes on such popularity with kids, it just happens. I set watching a large group of kids playing, sharing, trading and happily discussing their Squinkies and think oh boy here we go this thing is big!

Got me thinking… this is a great TEACHABLE MOMENT!


Squinkies Squinkies Squinkies buy Squinkies online

The hot demand for this toy provides a great opportunity for adults to use as a teaching moment. I know I take any opportunity to teach my kids the value of money and the power of earning what you need to get what you want.

The intense love and desire to collect them can easily be used as an incentive, This is a much better option besides caving in and buying them anytime your lucky enough to find them.

Teachers, baby sitters and parents can use the gumball surprise to build goal setting and overall positive reinforcement. The gumball surprise is a cool gumball type machine which holds and dispenses Squinkies.

Squinkies Squinkies Squinkies buy Squinkies Online

Squinkies as Incentives – Taking advantage of a teachable moment!

The visual of the filled Gumball machine maintains kids focus and thrill of working for a Squinkies.

The gumball machine can be filled and placed in the classroom, living room, dining room, any room the kids frequent. It’s very impressive to look at and builds desire to achieve the goals set in place.

Give kids direction as to what they are expected to do in order to receive a reward, which is a trip to the Squinkies Gumball machine.

Some Ideas

  • Being a good listener
  • Following instructions and staying on task till complete
  • Using your words not actions to explain your feelings.
  • Helping others and completing chores from the chores llist.
  • Cleaning up after themselves and putting things away when done
  • Being kind to others and keeping your hands to yourself

Explain to the kids, as a group, these expectations and make them aware the special prizes will go to the children who work hard to follow all of the goals. I would suggest at weeks end.

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Removal of Ovarian Cysts Knowing Your Options

Posted on June 22, 2011 by katiem2

Ovarian cysts are small sacs filled with fluid that develop on the ovaries. There are varying types of cysts and each with its own symptoms and or complications.  Anyone suffering the pain ovarian cysts creates knows all to well the drill.

Although surgical removal of the ovarian cysts is an option there is no guarantee that more cysts won’t develop in the future.  Once diagnosed you soon learn this and are left to wonder, what can I do about my ovarian cysts?

When considering the surgical options there is much to think about before making such a choice let’s explore them now. Most women think purely about the surgical or medical options when considering removal of an ovarian cyst.

Surgery is expensive, is an invasive procedure which can run the risk of infection or internal bleeding. A proactive approach is needed regardless of your choice to have surgery as recurrence is common. Prevention is key!

Removal of Ovarian Cysts Knowing Your Options

Birth Control – Hormonal causes can be treated with birth control pills. There are side effects to consider after using birth control pills for extended periods of time. These are outlined per each individual birth control medication so be certain to review the warnings.

Natural Methods – This is a powerful option to consider as there are many natural choices to insure your body works optimally for the best present and future outcome.

The key is prevention so begin to build a healthier lifestyle by adding proven practices that have shown to work for others dealing with ovarian cysts.

Removal of Ovarian Cysts Knowing Your Options

Reduce Pain and Swelling – Hormones and insulin levels that become unbalanced are contributing factors to the onset of ovarian cyst, and may also be blamed for the recurring cysts that many women suffer. It only makes sense to address the cause to avoid future problems and lessen the pain and suffering of your current condition.

  • Take ibuprofen (400 milligrams) every 4 hours or 600 milligrams every 6 hours.
  • Relaxing in a hot tub or using a heating pad can help to relieve the pain.
  • Avoid strenuous activity or exercise as this can make it worse.

There are many very helpful options for Ovarian Cysts.

Removal of Ovarian Cysts Knowing Your Options

Herbs and Supplements

A variety of herbs and supplements help to minimize your ovarian cysts and prevent recurrence of the cysts.

Take vitamin E with fatty acids such as cod liver oil daily.

Other powerful nutrients for ovarian cysts are flax seed oil, borage, and evening primrose. Plus adding grape, garlic and onion to your diet can help.

Much Health and Healing, Katie

Barlean’s Organic Oils High Lignan Flax Oil, 16-Ounce BottleTwinlab Super E-Complex 400 IU, 250 Softgels

NOW Foods Super Primrose 1300Mg, 120 SoftgelsNOW Foods Borage Oil 240mg, 120 Softgels

 

 

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Fisher Price Sing a Ma Jigs

Posted on June 22, 2011 by katiem2

Did you know the latest and hot new toy all the kids are raving about is the Sing-A-Ma-Jig? Sing-A-Ma-Jigs are cute and quirky soft characters that everyone’s falling in love with.  They are so cool, cut, fun and hey they sing.  Who doesn’t love a good song? Once you get one in your hands you grab hold and give their tummy a squeeze, their mouths open making an adorable singing pleasure.  Each squeeze of the tummy plays one pitch. As you continue squeezing your special Sing-A-Ma-Jig plays its special song tune.

Add another sing-a-ma-jig in the fun and they will sing together in perfect harmony. This is something you’ve just got to see for yourself. These happy little vocal wonders just arrived in stores this past May.

The Sing-A-Ma-Jigs

  • Yellow – Home on the range.
  • Pink – Skip to my Lou.
  • Red – Where oh where has my little dog gone
  • Blue or Teal – When the saints go marching in
  • Purple – Oh Suzanna
  • Green – On top of old smoky and more…

This very hot item has been named as one of the hot toys on kids lists of must haves. So do keep an eye out and buy them online while you can. Have a great time singing and playing with your kids new Sing-A-Ma-Jig.  This toy the sing a ma jig is sure to bring a smile to anyones face, lift the lowest of spirits and flat out bring on the laughter.  Sometimes it is best to say nothing at all and whip out a happy distraction.

I recently took one of these to the old folks home and it was a big hit in fact every bodies asking me how they can get one or all of them.

Have Fun,  Katie

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Think Your Way Happy How to Make Thoughts Work for You

Posted on June 22, 2011 by katiem2

Think Your Way Happy How to Make Thoughts Work for You

The Big Factor…
If you choose to think positive thoughts, your life will be positive.

Yes it really is that simple. You go about your day thinking and often it’s negative, right?Before you know it your complaining and headed toward being flat out negative setting the course for the entire day.

When your faced with negative people and situations, choose to focus on something else and don’t get sucked into their drama.  You don’t have to take what their offering, you have a choice.  Ignore the negative and accentuate the positive.   Ignore trouble, misery loves company so don’t be apart of it.   Anytime you choose to participate, regardless if just for the sake of being polite or not making waves, it will have an impact on your life.   You must learn to reject it in a quiet inner way.  The good news is this; it’s not hard to do.


Think Your Way Happy How to Make Thoughts Work for You

We are energy!

There are two types of energy in our world and you can only operate using one or the other at a time. Life has offered you enough proof to know which choice to make.

Just shift your thinking and yes although that sounds to good to be true with practice happy thoughts will soon be working for you just as powerfully as bad thoughts and attitudes.   After all where do you think you’ve generated all the negative things in your life to this point?

First thing to do is to begin putting positive information in your head. The book The Dream Giver is a quick and powerful must read to shift your life around!

Think Your Way Happy How to Make Thoughts Work for You

Remember Your Dreams

Go back in time, imagine the small child who day dreamed about wonderful and outrageous things? Why is it we’re born with such an ability to dream fondly? The ability to dream positive and happy thoughts is a function as basic as sight and touch.

Your dreams create life on a magnificent level. There is nothing that can distract or keep us from our individual purpose and desires as long as we stay focused on our dreams and desires all the while ignoring negative people.

Remember bad things happen all around us. The next time you find yourself in the middle of such a situation remind yourself it’s a normal part of life. It’s not what happens to you or around you, it’s how your react or better yet don’t react. Whatever the case act accordingly, ignore it, deal with it, be done with it and move on to the good stuff.

Think your way happy how to make thoughts work for you

The world drives this fabulous dream ritual out of us, beating us down if you will. Wait a minute, hold your horses, this dream mechanism can be brought back to life. Simply choose to dream again, day dream all the day long.   Are you a person who’s feeling defeated, as if nothing you do matters?  Not the case, you can think your way back into the game of life.

Simply allow yourself to think of what you want.  We all want good things, we long for prosperity in all areas of our lives.  We long for social, physical, emotional, spiritual and financial prosperity.  That’s our natural right and we should enjoy this.

The desire for such things never really goes away. Powerful human desires make it instinctively easy to dream about what you want just as you did while a child.

In time, as you once again develop your dream skills, you’ll move closer and closer to prosperity in all areas of you life. Take action and do something daily to enjoy life and have what you want.  Give to others and treat everyone with respect and integrity.  Just think about it! THINK GOOD!

Think Your Way Happy How to Make Thoughts Work for You

As you perfect your thoughts, you condition yourself to think your way happy! Anything left hungry and unfed will starve and die, so starve the negative in your life.

Don’t give it food which is attention, energy, thought or consideration. Feed only what it is you want to create more of.  So dream magnificent wonderful things, feed the positive and dream about what you want!

Much Love and Success,

Katie

Unlimited Power : The New Science Of Personal AchievementGet the Edge: A 7-Day Program To Transform Your LifeLessons in Mastery

 

 

 

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How to Bake a Poppy Seed Cake

Posted on June 21, 2011 by Aya Katz

I grew up partly in Israel, and one of my all time favorite desserts is poppy seed cake. Now, I don’t get to have poppy seed cake very often, anymore, and I don’t bake it, either, but it turns out that if you want to learn how to bake a poppy seed cake, there are a lot of very entertaining and  instructive video demonstrations available on the web. There are also some excellent recipes.

This one is about the Polish version of a poppy seed cake: a makowiec. It is usually in the form of a roll or a loaf, and many bakeries in Israel produce similar rolls and loaves.

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For a full recipe for a makowiec, try this article from the The Fresh Loaf. They’ve got a very appetizing photo of a poppy seed roll, which I’ve copied below.

This photo is from http://www.thefreshloaf.com/

This photo is from http://www.thefreshloaf.com/

My mother makes an excellent poppy seed cake, but it’s not a makowiec. It’s more like the one in this video:

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Here is a full recipe for a lemon poppy see cake from All Recipes The photo below is  from the recipe on All Recipes. It looks a lot like my mother’s poppy seed cake.

A lemon poppy seed cake from AllRecipes.com

Finally, it is also possible to find videos of Israelis baking cakes. This one starts out with a banana cake and continues with an orange babka poppy seed cake:

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If you are looking for a recipe for a poppy seed cake in Hebrew, you can one find one here:

מתכון לעוגת פרג

Do you want to make your own poppy seed cake at home? Here are some products that might help you to do so:

 

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Good Clothes For Teen Girls

Posted on June 20, 2011 by Peppergum01

If you’re looking for the perfect outfits for your teen daughter, friend, or even yourself you can get them at Walmart, Aeropostale, Target, Hollister, or at the mall. They come in all colors and sizes. The perfect time to do this is before school starts. Everybody wants a fresh new start at school. Normally for back to school clothes you should get things like jeans, tank tops, T-shirts, and shorts. Maybe a dress or something too for a fancy occasion.The best place to go is to the mall because malls have plenty of stores with clothes and if you don’t like one store you can move on to the next.

It’s also a good idea to get them new shoes like sneakers, flip flops, or any kind they want. You can find all kinds of things to get them for their first month of school. If they don’t fit in what you get them they can always wait until next year when it’s the perfect size.

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If Only Junk Food Was Healthy

Posted on June 20, 2011 by Peppergum01

Don’t you wish junk food tasted healthy? If only candy was healthy the way carrots are, ice cream was healthy the way juice is, or chocolate was healthy the way potatoes are. It’s healthier to eat foods that don’t have as much sugar in them and more vitamins but our bodies feel sugar tastes good. It does but it’s not really healthy if you have too much. It also gets onto your teeth and then when you go to the dentist they tell you to eat less sweets and brush your teeth more often.

People chew gum and it has sugar too but some people feel it wastes energy and time to chew gum for no reason if you’re never going to swallow it. Well some people swallow their gum but that’s a different story. A lot of people gain too much weight when they eat sweets all the time without exercising much. It’s better to stay on the healthy side than eat what you want but get sick in the process. It’s not that bad if you have a healthy meal and sweets once in a while as long as you exercise often. Some people also wish soda was as healthy as milk or water.

Coffee is okay though because it keeps you up in the morning and helps you stay awake. Certain people go on diets which isn’t too good either because it just makes them more hungry and want to eat more until they can’t stand it. But it’s your choice what you want to eat healthy or not. A good suggestion is not to go on a diet but not to eat too many sweets either and exercise as much as you can.

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Club Penguin Review

Posted on June 20, 2011 by Peppergum01

Club Penguin is a popular virtual site for kids ages 9 and up. Even some 16 and 17 year olds still play it. But ever since Disney bought CP it has been changing a lot. Some like the way it has changed but most don’t. I think their chat security is a little too strict. If you say something that isn’t a swear word but at the same time they just don’t like you using it won’t show up on the screen. The word “baby” won’t show up when I try to say “Baby brother”. It shows up on the user’s screen but it won’t show up on the other users’ screens. However your penguins get to go to the giftshop and buy themselves clothes and wigs. You can also buy furniture for your igloo from the catalog. And you can choose how big or small you want your igloo or how it will look like. You don’t HAVE to own an igloo, you can buy a cottage or a fishbowl.

The bad things about buying furniture or clothes for your penguin is that you need to be a member. You also need to be a member to open your igloo and let penguins that aren’t on your buddy list to come inside it. You can have up to 100 buddies on your buddy list. You can either block them, delete them as a friend, find out where they are, or visit their igloo. There are a lot of options although at time it can get boring. For more information look at this really old Club Penguin video review:

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