Preparing for the FLU
Leave a CommentI was watching a TV program the other day and what I heard really made me laugh. It seems that there are quite a few places online where you can buy a flu kit. I thought that maybe there was some kind of a breakthrough concerning the flu that I hadn’t heard about. When the guy on the TV started to explain what was in the flu kit and how much it costs, it left me scratching my head.
I couldn’t believe what I was hearing so, of course, I had to research it. Here is the info on one of the kits I found, without really trying.
A flu kit is basically made up of the following:
- Non-latex, powder free gloves
- A box of respirator masks
- A box of 100 cleansing towelettes
That’s it. That is what is in the kit and believe it or not, it only costs $31.00. Are they serious?
Okay, to be fair, it does go on to say that you should cover your mouth when you sneeze or cough, to throw your tissues in the trash when you finish with them, to was your hands often and to stay at home when you’re sick. I don’t know about you, but that’s the same advice my mom gave me when I was a kid and the same advice that I passed on to my kids. It seems like common sense to me, but maybe to some people it’s worth paying $31.00 to hear again. I think it’s crazy.
I don’t think that the general public is that stupid, so I have to say that I don’t appreciate a company marketing that kind of a thing. Sometimes people get caught up and forget to do the basics, like read what it says. If you read the complete write up you’ll see that it is a big scam. I can buy non-latex gloves, masks and towelettes and not spend anywhere near $31.00.
So keep your eyes open for this ridiculous flu kit and don’t be taken in. Make your own kit if you think you might need one.
Take care. I’ll talk to you soon.
The Human Body – interesting facts
Leave a CommentI hope everyone is having a great weekend. I thought I would stop by here and post some interesting facts about the human body that I came across while nosing around on the net.
- In the average adult, the skin covers 12-20 square feet and accounts for 12% of body weight. Hmmm
- The average human head has about 100,000 hairs.
- The appendix has no function in modern humans. It is believed to have been part of the digestive system in our primitive ancestors.
- The senses are highly attuned to our world, but they have limits. For example, humans cannot see in the ultraviolet spectrum as bees do, nor can they differentiate between the hundreds of millions of odors that a bloodhound can.
- An estimated five million olfactory receptors are clustered in the membrane at the upper part of our nasal passages. These receptors help us distinguish among thousands of different odors.
- There are about 9,000 taste buds on the surface of the tongue, in the throat, and on the roof of the mouth. Taste buds contain chemoreceptors that respond to chemicals from food and other substances that are dissolved by the saliva in the mouth.
- Humans produce about 10,000 gallons of saliva in a lifetime. Saliva is required for taste−until food is dissolved by saliva, we cannot taste it.
- Hearing is one of the less acute senses in humans, compared to the many other animals which can detect sound at much higher and lower frequency than humans can.
- The heart beats more than 2.5 billion times in an average lifetime.
- The cell is the basic unit of life, and an organism must be composed of at least one cell to qualify as a living thing.
- An adult human body contains approximately 100 trillion cells. Six billion steps of DNA are contained in a single cell. This DNA can be stretched six feet, but it is coiled up in the cells nucleus, which measures only 1/2500 of an inch in diameter.
Well, there you go. Now you know what I do with my Saturday nights. I have a very busy social calendar. LOL I hope you enjoyed these facts, I sure enjoyed sending them your way.
Take care. I’ll talk to you soon.
Remembering
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Like most Americans I don’t think I’ll ever forget that day eight years ago. What I remember the most was the devastating despair that I felt and continue to feel to this day when I remember watching that second plane hit.
I was working for the Dept. of Justice in Philly then and I remember a co-worker coming out of his office and saying that he just received a call from his wife. She told him that an airplane just flew into the World Trade Center. So, a group of us ran into the office library and turned on the TV. We were just in time to catch that second plane disappearing into the side of the building.
A few years later a few friends and I took a trip to NY. Nothing special, we sometimes take the train into NY for the day. While we were there, one friend wanted to visit ground zero, so we hopped the subway and rode to ground zero.
I will never forget the crushing feeling of despair and evil that I felt there. I couldn’t stay there. As soon as we got there I started to cry and couldn’t stop. When I say despair and evil, I don’t mean the people who perished there, I mean the tragedy that happened there at the hands of evil.
I believe that all of the people who died that day, in the towers, in the Pentagon, in Schwenksville and the police and firefighters, all of them are heros. They are just as much a hero as our troops that are fighting for our freedom right now.
I believe that we are starting to recover a little, but as long as I live I don’t think I’ll ever be able to understand how any person can cause this type of destruction and be able to sleep at night.
So, God bless all and God bless America!
Take care. I’ll talk to you soon.
Towel Cake
Here is another one of my craft projects. I hope you enjoy.
These cakes are very popular gifts for bridal showers, but you only have to change a few things and you can have a gift for a baby, a house warming or even a holiday gift. It acts as a great centerpiece and since it’s made with towels, they can be used by the recipient.
To make the type of towel cake in the picture you’ll need the following:
2 white regular size bath towels
3 white hand towels
3 white washcloths
Large safety pins
Long straight pins; pins with decorative heads look nicer
Ribbon
A hot glue gun or fabric glue. I have used both; it is a matter of preference
Flowers or other ornaments to jazz up your cake
One 10” cardboard cake round
We’ll start with the bath towels. Lay out one bath towel and fold it into thirds, lengthwise. Make sure that the folds are even throughout the length of the towel, keeping the ends of the towel even as well. Fold the same towel that is in thirds, in half again along its length, right over the previous folds. Make sure the ends are even throughout the length of the towel. The neater the towel folds, the better you cake will look. Do the same with the other bath towel. The ends of the towels should be the same. Pin one end of each towel to the other.
Your towels should be end to end like this picture. 
Starting at one end, roll the towel trying to keep it as tight as possible. When you’ve finished rolling the towels you’ll have a top and a bottom. Make sure to keep the top facing up. Secure the ends of the towel with decorative head straight pins to hold.
Repeat the same with the hand towels and washcloths, making two more layers of your cake. Place the roll of hand towels on top of the bath towels; again keep the top facing up. Place the roll of wash cloths on top of the hand towels. When you have the entire cake layered the way you want it, then you can use a little hot or fabric glue to keep things in place. I also use a wooden skewer placed through the middle of the layers to hold my cake straight.
Now you’re ready to decorate your cake any way you choose. I have used red ribbon and red and white roses to decorate my cake, but you can use anything that you think will look nice. You can also use different colored towels. It’s up to you. There you go, you have a beautiful cake and you didn’t have to even step into your kitchen.
Enjoy!
Take care. I’ll talk to you soon.
Another Summer is Ending.
I can’t believe that this is the start of the Labor Day weekend. This is the official end of the 2009 summer season and boy did it go by in a flash. I kind of feel cheated this year. I don’t feel as though I had a summer at all. I don’t know about where you live, but here in Philly we haven’t had one of the best summer seasons this year.
Well, I do love the fall and all of the beautiful weather we usually have in September and October. I do hope that we have that same weather this year. I receive a monthly newsletter from a local psychic, who is pretty accurate, and he claims that the worst part of 2009 will be the whole month of September. Here’s hoping that he is wrong. I don’t know about you, but I really have had a lousy year thus far.
Anyway, it’s time to say goodbye to summer 2009 and welcome, what I hope will be, a fantastic autumn. I’m glad a got a minute to stop by here and wish you all a very happy Labor Day weekend. Stay safe, but have fun. Wrap up the end of summer with a good time.
Take care. I’ll talk to you soon.
I’ve Taken the Plunge
Well, I did it. I am so sick and tired of Windows and all of the problems connected to Microsoft that I went and bought a Mac. I am brand smacking new at Mac, but I will learn it even if it kills me. And it may, LOL.
Anyway, I have been doing a little bit of research on making the switch from a PC to a Mac and I know it has a learning curve, but I need to do it anyway just to save my sanity. My PC, MS and Windows are really getting on my nerves.
I was having so many online problems yesterday, so I just went online to Mac Mall and I ordered an Apple 24″ iMac Intel Core 2 Duo 2.66GHz, 4GB RAM, 640GB Hard Drive, NVIDIA GeForce 9400M, SuperDrive. Do I know what this is? Of course I don’t, but you can bet I’ll learn real fast as dishing out that tidy little piece of change. Oh well, it’s only money, right. hahahaha.
All kidding aside, this is something that I have really been wanting to do. I really am sick of Microsoft and everything connected with MS. After doing a little bit of research I found a tutorial on the Apple site that will help with making the switch, so wish me luck.
I’ll keep you informed of my Mac journey. Hopefully, it will be smooth sailing.
Take care. I’ll talk to you soon.
How to make a Towel Cake
Today I am going to show you how to make a towel cake. These cakes are very popular gifts for bridal showers, but you only have to change a few things and you can have a gift for a baby, a house warming or even a holiday gift. It acts as a great centerpiece and since it’s made with towels, they can be used by the recipient.
To make the type of towel cake in the picture you’ll need the following:
2 white regular size bath towels
3 white hand towels
3 white washcloths
Large safety pins
Long straight pins; pins with decorative heads look nicer
Ribbon
A hot glue gun or fabric glue. I have used both; it is a matter of preference
Flowers or other ornaments to jazz up your cake
One 10” cardboard cake round
We’ll start with the bath towels. Lay out one bath towel and fold it into thirds, lengthwise. Make sure that the folds are even throughout the length of the towel, keeping the ends of the towel even as well. Fold the same towel that is in thirds, in half again along its length, right over the previous folds. Make sure the ends are even throughout the length of the towel. The neater the towel folds, the better you cake will look. Do the same with the other bath towel. The ends of the towels should be the same. Pin one end of each towel to the other
Your towels should be end to end like this picture.
Starting at one end, roll the towel trying to keep it as tight as possible. When you’ve finished rolling the towels you’ll have a top and a bottom. Make sure to keep the top facing up. Secure the ends of the towel with decorative head straight pins to hold.
Repeat the same with the hand towels and washcloths, making two more layers of your cake. Place the roll of hand towels on top of the bath towels; again keep the top facing up. Place the roll of wash cloths on top of the hand towels. When you have the entire cake layered the way you want it, then you can use a little hot or fabric glue to keep things in place. I also use a wooden skewer placed through the middle of the layers to hold my cake straight.
Now you’re ready to decorate your cake any way you choose. I have used red ribbon and red and white roses to decorate my cake, but you can use anything that you think will look nice. You can also use different colored towels. It’s up to you. There you go, you have a beautiful cake and you didn’t have to even step into your kitchen. Enjoy!
Take care. I’ll talk to you soon.
Info for Working from Home
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So You Want to Be a Work-at-Home Mom details all the basics of starting a business in a spiritual, motivational, and comprehensive manner. From deciding what type of business to start to keeping your family and faith first, this helpful tool details every aspect of establishing a business. With proven success tips utilized by the authors and others who own work-at-home businesses, this inspiration approach will provide you with the resources you need to start your own home-based business. So You Want to Be a Work-at-Home Mom includes: About the Authors
Below is an interview with the authors of So You Want To Be a Work-at-Home Mom – Jill & Diana.
How long have you been working at home? Jill Hart – I’ve been working at home since 2000. I had to go back to work full-time for a brief period in 2003 when my husband got out of the Air Force. At that point I got even more serious about making my business work and I’ve been home full-time since then. Diana Ennen – I’ve been working at home since 1985, when my son was born. He’s now graduated college and already working towards his own career. I absolutely love it. I can’t imagine doing anything else.
What types of businesses do you operate? Jill Hart – I run Christian Work at Home Moms, CWAHM.com, a website full of free resources, job listings and information about home businesses. I also write articles and books (yes, more books to come!) and am a blogger for sites like Time/Warner’s Christian Momlogic.com and a member of the Guideposts blogger team Diana Ennen– I’m the President of Virtual Word Publishing. I’m a virtual assistant and specialize in marketing & publicity. I’ve also written numerous books on how to start a VA business and offer PR and VA Coaching.
Tell us about your book? How do you think it can benefit those who want to start a business? Jill Hart – The book has been such a "God thing." He orchestrated the entire sequence of events – from putting Diana and I together as co-authors to bringing us to the right publisher. The book is a hands-on practical guide for anyone who wants to build a business from home. We cover topics ranging from how to select the right type of business for you, to how to get started, to how to market and grow your business. Diana Ennen – I think one of the best features of our book is that it’s not only informative, but motivational as well. You’ll feel like friends are helping you on your journey to success. Also, we discuss numerous types of businesses to start and provide proven methods to achieve success. We also often hear how starting a business can be so overwhelming. That’s why we pay special attention to all the how tos. We feel very confident our book will help, not only those starting a business, but those already in business wanting to expand it.
What types of businesses are featured in your book? Jill Hart – We have such a great range of contributors – everything from direct sales companies like Southern Living at Home and Avon to unique product-driven businesses like BSM Media and GrillCharms. These woman are amazing and give readers a great insight into how they’ve grown their businesses in very different ways. Diana Ennen – We cover everything from direct sales companies to specialized areas such as medical transcription and virtual assisting. Also, Jill shares detailed information on starting a community based membership site. We think you’ll get a lot of helpful tips too from such work-at-home powerhouses as Maria Bailey and Lesley Spencer Pyle.
Do you have any tips for success for Christian entrepreneurs that you’d like to share? Jill Hart – I think my favorite tip – shared with me by one of our contributors, Tammy Degenhart, almost ten years ago is that working together benefits everyone. She told me, "Jill, what you give to others God brings back tenfold" and I’ve seen that hold true time and time again. It may not be in financial gains and it may not look like what we expected but God is so faithful in that when we work together there is no competition – it’s a win-win situation. Diana Ennen – Do what you believe in and use your own skills and prior experience to find the business that’s just right for you. Research/Research/Research. The more you research, the better your business. Continue to market and be out there. So many once they find a few clients stop marketing. You need to get out there continually. You then become the go to person when someone needs services or products that you offer.
What are some of the challenges that you see with those starting or operating a business? Jill Hart – In my experience, I’ve talked with many women who get frustrated because success doesn’t come easily or quickly. Working from home may sound easy, but in reality it can actually be just as hard as working outside the home. There are many unique challenges, especially when working at home while raising children. If women don’t prepare themselves, they can become discouraged and disheartened. Diana Ennen– One of the major challenges I see is losing belief in yourself that you can do it. That’s why I think a faith-based book will be so beneficial. Even when times get tough, you can rely on your faith to forge ahead.
With the economy, do you believe it’s still a good time to start a business? Why? Jill Hart – I think it’s a better time than ever. The internet is so much more widely used than it was even nine years ago when I began my website. If people do their research and find a company that fits them as well as their budget this can be a great time to break into the work-at-home field. Diana Ennen – Absolutely. In fact, I think there’s never been a better time. You might have to work a little harder, but it absolutely can be done. Plus, there are so many businesses who need us more than ever because of the economy. For example, with virtual assistants because businesses are downsizing they are seeking the help of a VA to help on an as needed basis.
Your book is written from a Christian perspective? Tell us a little about that and how you feel that makes it so unique? Jill Hart – My faith is central to who I am and therefore central to my business. I began Christian Work at Home Moms because I wanted women to have a safe place where they could discuss not only business things, but also talk about an area that doesn’t get talked about a lot in business circles – how our faith affects our businesses. The book is written in a way that doesn’t hit anyone over the head with our faith, but it’s true to who we are and talks about things from the vantage point that we see life – through the lens of our faith. Diana Ennen – There are so many books out there today on starting a business. However, few have the Christian mom in mind. We provide a lot of scriptures and examples of how you can use your faith to help you. Our hope is that not only will your business thrive, but it might just give a little boost to your faith as well.
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Did you Know….
I have been giving a lot of thought to my blogging habits lately and I have decided to bolog about certain things on certain days. On Mondays, I’ve decided to start a series of “Did you Know…” Lets see how it goes.
I was looking around online and saw what I thought might be something of interest. There’s nothing earth shattering here, just some things I thought were interesting and I wanted to share them with you.
Did you know that there are more than a million animal species in the world. Here are some interesting facts regarding animals.
Mammals are the only animals with flaps around their ears.
African elephants only have four teeth to chew their food with.
A house fly only lives 14 days
A dog was the first animal in space and a sheep, a duck and a rooster were the firs animals to fly in a hot air balloon.
An ostrich can run up to 43 mph and an annoyed camel will spit at people. 75% of wild birds will die before they are 6 months old.
Pigs are rated the fourth most intelligent animal, and they are only mentioned twice in the bible. Sheep are mentioned 45 times, goats 88 time, dogs mentioned 14 time and lions 89 times, but domestic cats are not mentioned at all in the bible.
Pork, not beef or chicken, is the world’s most widely-eaten meat. A giraffe can clean it’s ears with it’s own tongue. ( I think that’s great) ;>)
The heart of a blue whale is the size of a small car and it’s tongue is as long as an elephant. Now that’s really big.
It’s impossible to out swim a shark – sharks reach speeds of about 44 mph. Sharks are immune to all known diseases.
New Zealand is home to 4 million people and 70 million sheep. I don’t I might like that better. Sometimes I think animals act better than a lot of people I know.
Like I said, I just thought some of these facts were interesting and I hope you enjoyed reading them.
Take care. I’ll talk to you soon.
Nice Weekend
What started out as a stressed Friday turned into a very relaxing and enjoyable weekend. Although my husband had to work at the last minute and couldn’t escape with us down the shore. Since I had this trip planned I decided to go anyway with my daughter, son and son’s girl friend.
We visited, and of course stayed, with my brother at his house in Cape May Court House. Saturday started out on the rainy side, but the sun did make an appearance later in the day. We stopped by the Villas to see my niece and her new baby and had a nice, long visit.
We also took the time to go in Wildwood, for those of you who aren’t familiar Wildwood is a seashore resort town, and we walked along the boardwalk, but not the beach. Seems like it rained just about everywhere on Friday and the beach had some pretty impressive puddles, so we decided to just walk the boards.
My daughter had plans for Sunday afternoon back in Philly, so we headed for home in the a.m. I love the seashore and everything about the ocean, so once I get down there I don’t want to come back home, but at least I had some time to enjoy the salt air and sea breeze.
I haven’t been to Wildwood for about three years and I really miss it. I just hope it doesn’t take another three years to get back for another visit.
I just wanted to post a little something and keep everyone updated on what I’m up to. I’ll be back in a day or two with what I hope to be good news. So, until then..
Take care. I’ll talk to you soon.
