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"Run for the Fallen Maine is an organization dedicated to keeping alive the memory of our military heroes that gave their lives to protect our freedom since September 11, 2001.
On Sunday August 21, 2011 the 4th run to honor our heroes will be held. This is a 65 kilometer event with each kilometer being dedicated to the memory of one of our heroes that lived in Maine, had family from Maine or had some ties to our home State."
One of our Design Team Sisters, Rebecca of The Crafting Misfit, will be hand-delivering these cards during this very special event... If you would like to help support this cause, we invite YOU to join us in making a card or two to say "THANKS"... You can find the address to mail your cards by clicking HERE. The organization is also accepting donations for the event. You can find more information about donating by clicking HERE...
If you've hopped along from Kathy's blog then you are in the right place!! If you are just joining me from your dashboard, or reading this via email, please be sure to CLICK HERE to start at the beginning with K Andrew's blog (I wouldn't want you to miss a THING!!)...
Each of Kristal's stamp sets benefit charity. At least $1 per stamp set goes to benefit the charity noted on the stamp set package. Kristal is donating to the following charities: Cancer Angels, Storefront Shelter for Homeless Children, Intrepid & Fallen Heroes, Doorways Shelter for Women & Children (Domestic Violence), and Autism Research Institute. Kristal will donate $1 for every stamp set sold, retail or wholesale to the charity noted; and over time believes this will add up to some wonderful miracles for these special people. So you can feel good that each time you purchase a K Andrew Designs art stamp set, someone around the country is receiving some good help!
K Andrew Designs stamps are all made and assembled here in the USA, which is very important to Kristal. This ensures all product materials are safe and that jobs are being provided and maintained here in America.
I am featuring the "Freedom Isn't Free" Stamp Art Set for tonight's hop. $1 from the sale of each "Freedom Isn't Free" stamp set is donated to Intrepid Fallen Heroes -- a non-profiit organization that provides rehabilitative services to US military members who are severely disfigured from combat.
This is a 5"x7" card. The heart was created using the Plantin SchoolBook Cricut Cartridge (and my Gypsy to adjust the size). I then used my Creative Memories Wavy Tearing Tool to tear the stripes before adhering them to the heart and trimming the excess. All of the edges were distressed with caramel ink. I hand cut a shadow for the heart from blue cardstock and then added stitching with my metallic copper pen from Creative Memories. The red metallic ribbon is from my stash of 2.5" ribbon leftover from Christmas.
I love this sentiment for Soldier Thank You cards... I truly do appreciate the sacrifice each military member makes so that I can enjoy freedom each day... After stamping the sentiment in Navy, I punched the tag with my Creative Memories tag punch, distressed it with caramel ink, added a 'found' button and some twine, and hand cut a shadow from blue cardstock.
And now... I have some Blog Hop CANDY for one lucky WINNER!! I have put together a special selection of card-making supplies for one of my wonderful followers!!
To be eligible for my blog candy:
- Please become a follower of my blog and leave me a comment with a message you would like for me to add to one of my Thank You cards for a Military Member (yes, I really will add your note to a card and send it to Rebecca)!!
- You may 'like' my Facebook page (click HERE)...
- Share a link to this post on your Facebook wall or via Twitter or even your own blog...
- Subscribe via Email by entering your email in the box above (be sure to confirm your subscription).
Thank you SO MUCH for hopping by to see my project today!! I hope you are enjoying the "Let's Get Cricky" Blog Hop!! :)
In case you get lost along the way or need to revisit anyone, here's the entire line up!! :)
I hope you have enjoyed my card and will consider joining us with a card or two of your own...


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He opens up the video with a scientific error, stating:
Many, many, many, many more hundreds of eggs are fertilized than become humans. Eggs get fertilized, and by that I mean sperm get accepted by ova — a lot.
Of course, that is false. According to The Johns Hopkins Manual of Gynecology and Obstetrics,1 30-40 percent of all conceptions end in spontaneous abortion. The National Institutes of Health say that it might be up to 50%. The highest rate of spontaneous abortion occurs with in vitro fertilization, and that rate is nearly 93%.
So, in the normal course of things, maybe as many as half of conceptions end in spontaneous abortion. That means only twice as many eggs are fertilized than children who are born. Even with in vitro fertilization, about 13 times as many eggs are fertilized as children who are born. Bill Nye's "Many, many, many, many more hundreds" statement has no scientific support whatsoever. Why does he make this false statement? Because he wants to use it to make a claim that is completely bizarre.
After spouting something that has no basis in science, he says:
But if you're going to hold that as a standard, that is to say, if you're going to say when an egg is fertilized, it therefore has the same rights as an individual, then whom are you going to sue, whom are you going to imprison, every woman who has had a fertilized egg pass through her? Every guy whose sperm has fertilized an egg and then it didn't become a human, have all these people failed you?
Think about what he is suggesting. He is trying to say that when a woman loses a baby through no fault of her own, it is equivalent to when a woman goes to a "doctor" and tells the "doctor" to kill her baby. That, of course, is nonsense. It's like saying that the mother whose son dies of cancer should be sued or imprisoned! We don't sue or imprison people for events over which they have no control! The mother who suffers a spontaneous abortion isn't at fault for her child's death. The mother who tells her "doctor" to kill her baby is directly at fault for her baby's death, as is the "doctor."
Nye then goes on to suggest that men are responsible for wanting to outlaw abortion:
I'm not the first guy to observe this, you have a lot of men of European descent passing these extraordinary laws based on ignorance.
What he would have found had he done even a bit of investigation is that the majority of women in the U.S. are pro-life. Indeed, the latest poll I have seen says that 57% of women are in favor of making abortion illegal in most circumstances, while only 40% are in favor of making it legal in most circumstances. It's ironic that Bill Nye is demonstrating his own ignorance while calling others ignorant!
Towards the end of his video, Nye says the following:
But I really encourage you to look at the facts…
I absolutely agree. Where would you go to learn the facts? What about a textbook on embryology? In The Developing Human: Clinically Oriented Embryology, we read:2
Human development begins at fertilization, when a sperm fuses with an oocyte to form a single cell, the zygote. This highly specialized, totipotent cell (capable of giving rise to any cell type) marks the beginning of each of us as a unique individual. [emphasis in original]
Science, therefore, tells us that human life begins at conception. Of course, if Nye doesn't like to get his information from textbooks, he could read what a world-renowned geneticist has to say on the subject. Dr. Jermoe L. LeJeune was the brilliant geneticist who first demonstrated a link between certain diseases and chromosomal abnormalities. While testifying before a U.S. Senate Subcommittee, he said:3
To accept the fact that after fertilization has taken place a new human has come into being is no longer a matter of taste or opinion. The human nature of the human being from conception to old age is not a metaphysical contention, it is plain experimental evidence.
I truly hope Bill Nye takes his own advice and learns the facts related to human life. If he does, he will find that a pro-choice position is simply inconsistent with the scientific evidence. See here and here for more scientific data related to this very important topic.
1. The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics, K. Joseph Hurt, Matthew W. Guile, Jessica L. Bienstock, Harold E. Fox, Edward E. Wallach, The Johns Hopkins Manual of Gynecology and Obstetrics, Lippincot, Williams and Wilkins 2011, p. 438
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2. Keith L. Moore, T. V. N. Persaud, and Mark G. Torchia, The Developing Human: Clinically Oriented Embryology 10th edition, Elsevier 2016, p. 11
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3. as quoted in Norman L. Geisler, Christian Ethics: Options and Issues, Baker, 1989, p. 149.
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subset: commoncrawl


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The Related Companies, a privately-owned real estate firm based in New York City, owns many luxury residential properties throughout North America. Snowmass Hospitality, a Related Company property located in the magnificent Aspen Snowmass ski country, offers a skier's paradise with luxury ski-in condos providing access to premier shopping, dining and entertainment. Snowmass Hospitality partners with Sungard Availability Services to host its hospitality property management system in the cloud – supporting several properties and construction projects around the ski area.
In brief, this provides Snowmass Hospitality personnel with the confidence to use tools to find, book, host and get to know guests – as well as keep them happy. This includes their mobile devices that, through a mobile front desk, allow van or shuttle bus drivers to check guests in at the airport with just an air card and laptop, getting skiers checked into their hotels and to the mountain quicker and with fewer lines.
About Snowmass Hospitality
- Headquarters: Aspen, Colorado
- Operates condos, a boutique hotel, and mixed-use properties in and around the ski area at Aspen Snowmass
- 60 professional employees
- Sungard AS Solutions: Enterprise Cloud Services
High availability is critical
For Snowmass Hospitality, high availability is critical during the skiing season, from Thanksgiving until April 22. "We're busy from the first drop of snow until spring,"says Russ Potter, Snowmass Hospitality IT Manager. "Today our hospitality property management system is available to us from virtually anywhere, and that's attractive because we have so many office entities. The managed cloud service keeps it all operating smoothly."
Managed Cloud Services
In 2012, Potter retained Sungard AS to provide managed cloud services based on a vendor search that began in late 2011. The previous hosting provider was too small to handle the village's growing needs. Sungard AS' industry reputation and long-term vendor relationship with Related Companies were factors in the choice. Potter's belief that Sungard AS was "committed" to his operation – with its service level agreements and emphasis on security protection – gave him the confidence they could satisfy all the RFP requirements.
The changeover occurred with "no hiccups," Potter recalls. Sungard AS provided accommodations in migrating the infrastructure to the new virtualized platform, comprising six servers at a Sungard AS Colorado data center as well as a virtual firewall and virtual networking devices.
Today our hospitality property management system is available to us from virtually anywhere, and that's attractive because we have so many office entities. The managed cloud service keeps it all operating smoothly.
Managed cloud extends IT resources and ensures high availability
For Potter, Sungard AS:
- Delivers a managed cloud environment that extends his resources with experienced professionals who employ best practices to ensure high availability of his applications, saving him from bringing on additional hardware and personnel.
- Supplies a virtual environment that offers mobility to Snowmass Hospitality, including remote check-in for guests, among other benefits.
- Furnishes flexible resources that allow Potter to scale his infrastructure environment to support peak season and low season requirements, complete with portals and dashboards to view the company's usage of resources.
- Provides a best-of-breed IT environment which ensures the security and availability of the company's critical data.
Business benefits
- Managed cloud environment that extends IT resources with best practices to ensure high availability.
- Virtual environment offering mobility for remote check-in and other benefits.
- Scalable environment to support peak season requirements.


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The ideal warning and geolocation system
for isolated workers
Why should you equip yourself or your isolated employees with the Athena device?
We cannot help but notice the high number of work accidents for gardeners, social workers, cleaning agents…
My Keeper wants to protect isolated workers from the dangers they face on a daily basis
in everyday life
Bad encounters
With Athena GPS alert tracker,
Your agent is safe
Athena SOS device allows to launch an alert and works on the existing networks GSM (mobile network) and on the network GPRS (network 2G).
It allows bidirectional communication and works in the same way as a phone without a keyboard.
1.You are in danger
2. You press the SOS Athena button for 3 seconds
3. The alert is sent to the emergency contact (SMS with geolocation)
3bis. The remote assistance operator calls the user to identify the problem and send help
4. Help is sent
No need for a phone
Just save the phone number of the Athena device in your phone so you can contact him.
With Secur Esprit,
Watch out for your agents
Our team of security experts monitor your agents remotely. If your agent has a problem, you can geotag them and our team will find a quick solution. You will also be able to speak to them directly through the device.
Management of
Geolocation of the last
alert device position
Daily recording
of self-tests
Management of
emergency contacts


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Sport and faith groups
Faith has an influence on sports take-up, especially among some groups of women.
30 June 2017
People who state they have no religion are more likely to take part in sport.
Analysis carried out in 2012 on Active People Survey data (APS 6 Q2 results) showed participation is also high among Sikh, Muslim and Buddhist men. But it is much lower for women of the same faiths, compared with the overall female population.
There are also notable differences among different sports. For instance, badminton, basketball and cricket all have higher take-up rates for Buddhist, Hindu, Jewish, Sikh and Muslim faiths as compared with those stating a Christian faith or no religion. In football, however, this rate is the same as for people stating no religion.
Sport and the Church
Sport England, working with the Diocese of London, engaged Substance in 2014 to undertake primary research to enhance our understanding of the potential assets that the Church holds for sport in terms of places, opportunities and community reach.
The Diocese of London has recently launched its strategic intent: Capital Vision 2020. One of the 10 priorities within this Strategy is to engage more deeply with sport and the creative arts to reach new people and places by opening up church buildings, strengthening the links between schools and their local community and getting more young people involved in the local Christian community.
To read more about the research, download the summary below.


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LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — Actor Michael Jace was formally charged with murder Thursday in the death of this wife, the Los Angeles District Attorney's Office said.
Jace, 51, is accused of fatally shooting his wife, April, late Monday at the Hyde Park home in the 5400 block of Brynhurst Avenue.
The couple's two young sons were in the residence at the time of the shooting.
It was unclear what prompted the crime, but police said the wife and kids had just returned home from little league practice when the incident occurred.
The motive of the shooting is believed to be domestic violence. The couple's financial problems were also being looked into as a possible cause.
Jace is best known for his role as a police officer in FX's drama "The Shield".
He was arraigned Thursday afternoon where prosecutors plan to ask the judge to increase Jace's bail to $2 million.
Currently, he is being held on $1 million bail.
April Jace worked as a counselor in the Financial Aid Office at Biola University.
RELATED: 'The Shield' Actor Michael Jace Arrested In Fatal Shooting Of His Wife


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Who does not want to have a flawless skin tone? But to get the same, girls try out different expensive products and heavy makeup. But more often than not, the outcome is not always as expected. Why spend more when you can achieve your desired results with minimal effort and that too without visiting beauty parlor?
Here are the simple life hacks to discover a perfect skin tone and make people appreciate your natural beauty. When you have a nice skin tone, simple makeup will make your shine amidst the crowd.
1. Drinking A Lot of Water:
The secret of getting a perfect skin tone is to drink plenty of water. Lack of water can make our skin look dull and dry. With adequate water, your skin will look supple and stay nourished. Avoid milk-sugar tea and opt for green tea.
2. Eating Healthy Foods:
Another way to achieve a good skin complexion is by consuming healthy food comprising of fresh vegetables and fruits. They provide the skin with a valuable source of vitamins and minerals, making them glow.
3. Knowing Your Skin Type:
It is important to know what type of skin you possess. People have dry, normal, oily, and combination skin. Some also have sensitive skin and others may have acne prone skin. By identifying the skin type, one can choose the right product.
4. Cleansing:
The first step of having a good skin externally is by applying a cleanser. Always opt for mild cleansers. It will remove the dirt from your skin pores in a smooth and gentle way without damaging the skin.
5. Toning:
Toning is an important aspect of getting a good skin as it makes the skin feel tight and supple. Always go for alcohol-free toners. Using a good toner will remove the appearance of fine lines on your skin.
6. Moisturizing:
It is one of the most important characteristics in skin care. Moisturization helps the skin to maintain its firmness by not letting the skin to get dry. It is also advised for people with oily skin to use a moisturizer, as they too need to hydrate their skin.
7. Sun Protection:
The sun's harmful UVA and UVB rays can damage the skin by causing pigmentation, and skin darkening. It is advised to always use a sunscreen every time you step out. The minimum SPF quantity of a sunscreen should be 30 and should be applied at least 30 minutes before getting exposed to the sun.
8. Exfoliation:
It is necessary to exfoliate your face at least once in a week. It removes the excess oil and dirt deep from the skin and gives that soft touch. However, if you have existing acne, then do not exfoliate as it can aggravate the acne and could lead to scars. Exfoliation should not be done daily.
9. Avoiding Heavy Makeup:
Makeup can clog pores and lead your skin get blocked. Avoid makeup as much as you can. Allow your skin to breathe, putting makeup can lead to the appearance of lines and makes the skin look dull.
10. Washing Face Daily At Night:
Always wash your face in the morning and at night. You must also wash your face after you come home from outside. After washing your face, you can apply a good hydrating moisturizer before going to the bed. Aloevera works as a natural moisturizer for any type of skin.
11. Using Facial Mask:
You must also try to use a natural facial mask when you are at home. Always use home-based ingredients like honey, banana peels, orange, tomato, potato, olive oil, besan, rice powder, or other fruits to make a face mask.
12. Exercise and Sleep:
Getting a good night sleep also helps you to get a perfect skin. You must combine your daily routine with some good exercise as it balances the blood flow in your body.
Getting a good skin tone and doing proper skin care are not rocket science. All you need is a little bit of awareness, time and healthy lifestyle.


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Because it's Labor Day weekend and the Crabfam are feeling antsy we have decided to quit Crabtown and go head for the Pacific Northwest, to an actual city for the weekend.
I haven't been to an actual city in so long I'm afraid I won't recognize it.
What is that thing? A "subway"? Whaa?
And that? A Chinese restaurant? What's "Chinese"?
And that...? A "skyscraper"? Okay, but WHAT, pray, does it do?
It's as though we are Mennonites, making our way through civilization for the first time, en route to some corn-plucking festival in Canada.
Okay, so before I get into trouble for mention Mennonites and other minorities (Gabe, you still a fan?) I will instead get back to the point and tell you that I shan't be posting while I am engaging in my metropolitan meanderings. If you need more of me, please go to my Cookie bloglet where I am forced to post regularly, wherever I may roam and regardless of the amount of crack I am doing.
My latest Cookie post comprises part two of the toddler art debate, and includes a summary of top tips for guilt-free disposal of that terrible toddler preschool artwork. Haven't added your two cents? Come on over. Heck, add three cents if you want!! Labor Day's post should be even more useful, containing my newest Million Dollar Mommy invention, the MartyrMeter (New parents who can't figure out which of you is doing more? Stop arguing! Let the MartyrMeter calculate the truth!)
And if you are still lusting for my Crabbiness, I have conveniently collated a list of my top Crabmommy posts of seasons past. So many of you readers are new. And I like you. Ish. But we would like you more if you had known us back in the early Crab-days, when the crabbing was raw and fresh.
Here follow my personal pluckings from the Crab-archive (so hard to choose! They are all so delightful and useful! One might call it a random sampling):
The Cure for Whining
Cover Girl Clavel!
Moving House
The Listening Chart
Upwardly Mobile (okay this one is recent...but it got me the highest # of hits ever so maybe it has something the others don't)
If that doesn't give you more than enough reading material, check out this article on people who potty train their tots from birth. I'm sure all the blogmommies are bloggiting on about this issue right now. Whaddya think? We can talk about it when I get back.
Happy week to you...wish me well as I voyage far and wide...and north...and west.
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
Remembrance of Things Past
Because it's Labor Day weekend and the Crabfam are feeling antsy we have decided to quit Crabtown and go head for the Pacific Northwest, to an actual city for the weekend.
Posted by Crabmommy at 12:34 PM 9 comments Links to this post
Monday, August 27, 2007
Upwardly Mobile
Here's a first. I recently experienced my first mobile home. And it was not the kind of mobile home you see in Dwell magazine. It was a trailer, fair and square. And it was not Aaron-of-Crabcorner-Cowboy- Compound's trailer. It belonged to a friend of the Crabtot. She and I attended a birthday party in there.
When we first moved to Crabtown we did not realize the cost of crappy rental apartments. We did not realize we had moved to the remote mountain west, only to find ourselves in New York. Luckily this wasn't a serious issue as we found a reasonable apartment. Except for the fact that the walls were new-construction-thin, and the man to our left had some sort of sleep apnea mixed with a serial killer past. I mean, he would shriek and yell and fall off his bed regularly as one being murdered (or, more likely [since he was still very much alive] reliving a murder he had committed).
Then there was the local actors' troupe who had digs to our right. The lead actor, who played the part of some hearty olde cowboye of days yon and had a big shaggy beard, would sing loudly at the top of his lungs every day. His name was Cash. Cash had a wise and twinkly face and made fortunes doing Santa throughout the west in December. Summer saw him in Crabtown playing nightly at the streetcorner where they enact an old west gunfight every night at 6 pm. It's free. An old western shootout, right across from the Gap! (Actually that Gap just closed. Couldn't afford the rent.)
Below us, the newlyweds. Let's leave it there.
Diagonally across, a lady who reported back to us on Crabtot's every whimper ("sounded like teething last night" or "does she have a cold?"). She might have seemed sensible enough were it not for the fact that she took her cat for walks in a baby stroller.
This wasn't enough to make us move. But when the apartment got sold out from under us, we had no choice. Back to the real estate listings we went. I brought them to Crabhub after work and we would pore over them, trying to find that magical 2-bedroom apartment that we could afford. Through a realtor friend, I got a tip on a listing and printed out the image on the url. It was an image of a floorplan . It looked fine, sort of shotgun style. It was big.
"It's a mobile home," said Crabhusband. As an architect, he knows these things. That doesn't stop me from arguing. "Nonsense." "Yes it is." "How can you tell?" I wanted to know. The answer: "I just can."
When Crabtot and I received directions to the tot birthday party, we were told "it's a trailer" and "you'll see a double-wide on the right." A double-wide. Such technical trailer terminology never made it into my personal lexicon. But I didn't want to seem square, so I said "Oh, right" as though I knew the diffs between the "double-wide" and the "single." As though we were talking about espresso shots.
I was slightly excited to visit my very first real undisputed trailer and truth be told it made me feel adventurous and democratic. I'd like to say that we walked in and it was all quite lovely and attractive. That would make for a nice irony. But it's not true. It was an old trailer and had bizarre faux-wood panelling inside and unspeakable trailer-y mess spilling out in every direction. It had low ceilings and ancient Napoleon-Dynamite sort of carpet. It was, to be frank, quite a horrifying sort of place to live. Mind you, it's worth at the very least $500K. For it is a historic trailer on a historic patch of weeds right in the center of town. It is a plot of weeds that has been in the trailer-owner's family for a very long time. For they are an historic Crabtown family and even have a street named after them. Mind you, anything in Crabtown is worth $500K at the absolute bottom. A piece of land no bigger than .16 of an acre starts there. Much less one with an actual trailer on it. That's what realtors call a "charming historic bungalow" out here.
Back to last summer's move: once we had ascertained that, indeed, the plans of the house I had found denoted a trailer home, the following comment just shot right out of my mouth: "I can't live in a trailer. I went to graduate school."
How exactly I came to associate "trailer" and "grad school" as antonyms I am not sure, but somehow to me in that moment, graduate school had everything to do with who I was and where I should not live. A ghastly railroad apartment in New York with a hole in the bathroom ceiling and a mobster Albanian landlord with a mail-order bride was fine for a graduate of graduate school. A minuscule hovel with roaches everywhere and where the bed touched the dining table was fine for a graduate of graduate school (heck, I'm talking about my actual NYC graduate housing!). But a trailer. No can do. Never mind how big or how fairly priced (not that cheap, though, I might add. A trailer is expensive here!). A trailer for all I knew might be perfectly nice. But as a graduate of grad school, it was out of the question.
Luckily for us, we got a proper lead on a darling bungalow with a reasonable rent. The owner was out of town so all we could do was drive by it. It was perfect. Blue metal roof, cheery yellow wood siding, a lovely little freestanding house and on desirable Crabcorner no less! Crabhub told me to go for it and make sure we got that house. He claimed he could tell just from looking at the outside that it was a good bet. It had a new foundation. It would be solid and decently insulated, unlike the vintage log cabins festooning this town, which in frigid 9-month winter would be a problem to live in.
When the owner of this cabin came back to town, he offered to show us the next door house (which he also owned) because he didn't want his tenants to know he would be kicking them out for us. The next door house, he said, "is identical." So we went to that house and I liked it immediately. High ceilings, wood floors, clean white walls. Perfecto! Crabhusband was dead silent. When the owner asked us if we wanted it, Crabhub said yes. We handed him a check and got into our car.
"Don't you love it"" I asked Crabhub.
"Well," he replied. "It's a prefab. A modular home."
"Modular?" The grad school part of me did a little backflip. "What do you mean? How can you tell?"
"I just can," he said. So much for being able to spot a good thing from the outside. As with so many things in life, it's what's inside that apparently counts the most. "It's a house that comes in a box," Crabhub elaborated. "That's why the one next door is exactly like it."
We then debated the relative merits and drawbacks of living inside a house that came in a box. What is the line between redneck-prefab and cool-prefab, between modular and trailer, between That Which is Appropriate to Grad School Graduates and That Which is Simply Not?
I don't have a clear answer but I can say I know what I like and I know that we didn't like anything else we saw out there. I can say we are happy here even though the bathroom walls are made of cardboard and when I'm in the kitchen, I sometimes feel I am demo'ing in a model kitchen. Like one set up in an IKEA habitat. Only not quite as cool, I'm afraid, thanks to the dodgy rock-bottom cabinetry and nubby plastic walls. Yes, living in a house-out-of-a-box can feel a little bit "not real."
On the other hand, the birthday party double-wide trailer felt extremely real. It had at least 40 years of history in it and it showed in the dust layers on the plastic plants. But the party was fun! The homemade macaroni-and-cheese was delicious. And evidently one can still make excellent chocolate cake in a trailer.
Evidently one can still have a great time in a trailer and a kid can have the best third birthday of her life in there. And, so I have learned, even a graduate of grad school can enjoy herself in a trailer and admire its assets.
It certainly was spacious.
After all, we're talking about a double wide.
Posted by Crabmommy at 8:56 AM 6 comments Links to this post
Labels: Bloody Birthday Parties, Crabtown
Friday, August 24, 2007
Jesus, Mary, and Joseph Smith...the Mormons are Coming for Me!
I swore I'd leave the religion thing alone for my next post.
But at crack of dawn this morning, a lovely looking Latter Day Saint was at my door. My usual excuse is "Sorry, I'm Jewish (which is half true...as I'm half-Jewish by birth)...I think Jewish is even more final for Christians than saying "atheist." They tend to leave you alone when you utter the J-word. But this morning, I didn't even go that far. I was half-dressed you see, having just come out of the shower. There I was with wild wet hair, with a dirty little Crabtot at my feet. And I just didn't feel like talking to anyone, much less a Momo mish. So I just shook my head. And she looked at me, smiled, and left.
Late for preschool, I almost backed over another Mormon. Cursing my driving, and the proliferation of the LDSers, I said some sacrilegious things. Crabtot then asked me what a Mormon was. This is not easy so early in the morning. I said a Mormon was a very nice person who wants you to look at their books all the time and Mommy just didn't have time for the Mormons today.
En route to school, she asked "Where did Mormon go?"
And I said, "She's gone to someone else's house."
Returning home I saw a thicket of Mormons on the street, one with an eye patch. They clustered together, evidently checking to see who had gone where and to what house. When I drove into my driveway, I could have sworn they knew who I was: the Crabmommy, Unconvertible.
I can see them even as I type. Up and down the street they go. I wonder if they have been to the rodeo-compound yet and if they have found Aaron in his trailer. He had a party last night. He'll be pretty hungover today. Still, I think the LDSers will like it better on the other side of the street.
Posted by Crabmommy at 8:51 AM 7 comments Links to this post
Wednesday, August 22, 2007
Lord Have Mercy On Crabmommy
I'm feeling besieged by Christians this week.
Now I know some of you are Christians out there and even some of my best friends are Christians, so the saying goes. But I am fed up with Jesus' peeps all the same.
So I just joined the BlogHer Ad network and thought I should click on their blogroll to support my fellow BlogHerians...except that I clicked on someone's blog and was treated to a post in which a natural-birth-endorsing mom explained that women experienced labor pain as a payback for "(wo)man's sin." C-sections, breech babies, all of these things did God give unto us for being bad. Such a loving God!
Okay, replying to such absurdity is too easy. But reply I did. Only to be accused of making a "personal attack" and then being referred to a passage in the Bible in which God sternly gives Eve labor pain and a husband to rule over her because of that naughty apple business. I never have understood why Christians direct non-Christians to a book they don't believe in, but then again, whoever said any of it made any sense. I'm probably going to get kicked out of BlogHer now for not supporting a sister or something. But what is the line between inappropriate and appropriate when it comes to responding to someone's personal moral high-handedness that they make public on their blog?
Just last week I went on holiday with my family to a dude ranch that turned out to have a distinctly Born-Again flavor. Pamphlets about our Lord abounded, nobody drank (which I had innocently thought to be a sign of Mormon management...no such bloody luck) and the whole event was tainted with a whiff of piousness.
Christians, you surround me here in Wyoming. I wish I could quit you. But you are everywhere. You also seem to dominate the blogosphere. In fact, many of my readers are Christians of one sort or another and I think many of you are Mormons too. Please don't leave me, Mormons. I like your crowd. Your men are mostly very hot. I was in love with a Mormon once. He became an alcoholic after his mission and it didn't diminish his appeal in the slightest. Mormons, do not quit the Crabmommy. Many of you are stylish and I have questions for you. Do you really drink Mountain Dew all the time or is that a myth? Why is Jesus coming to Missouri of all dull places? I mean, why not Las Vegas? Mormonmommies, if you stay I promise not to mention John Krakauer.
Christians, I'm feeling a little less generous. I know we're all meant to be tolerant of others' religions but until people are tolerant of my atheism, I'm not sure I can extend the courtesy. There's plenty of evidence around us to suggest that a belief in God gets us into a bit of a global pickle. Monotheism...not a good idea in the not-so-humble opinion of Crabmommy.
But mostly, in the end, I am just plain feeling surrounded by God's people. Has anyone else noticed the proliferation of Christian mommy blogs? Why? Is the explanation the old "go forth and multiply...and then blog about it"? Christian homeschoolers with 20 kids (who feel joy in the morning), natural birthers who see a direct link between pitocin and original sin...you gals are everywhere.
And mainly I resent you because you get way more traffic than I do.
Posted by Crabmommy at 8:04 PM 27 comments Links to this post
Labels: Media
Sunday, August 19, 2007
Mama Merit Badges
Check out my bloglet at Cookie magazine today for some fun Mom accessories...in the form of Merit Badges for moms. Cute. But she is missing some badges there. Like she doesn't give any to bottle-feeding moms. And to me that means the chick just forfeited her "Don't Judge Other Moms" badge.
Also, I have just joined the BlogHer network, meaning I get really schmantzy ads popping up on my site. Be a dear and click on them. This way they will think I'm worthy of remaining in their circle. Yikes, telling people to click is probably illegal and I'm probably going to get tossed out of the network now. So I take it back. Pretend you never read this. Pretend I deleted it.
Last, I am ashamed to say that I voted myself Best Parenting Blog on some wanky website just so I could get that nifty new button some of you may have noticed on my blog. I wouldn't have 'fessed up, except that it's rather blatantly obvious—when you go to the site—that the one nomination for this here blog comes from, erm, Crabmommy.
OK, so I'm a Bragmommy too. But I need all the badges I can get, people. Blogging is competitive! Don't judge me! Don't judge! (Just click.)
Posted by Crabmommy at 9:19 PM 6 comments Links to this post
Labels: Media
Clean up, Clean Up, Everybody Everywhere...
"...Clean up, clean up, everybody do their share." So sings Crabtot at preschool and she is, apparently, immaculate in this regard, humming that lovely little ditty as she picks up Lincoln Logs and Lego, a helpful, obedient Crabtot every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.
But Tuesdays, Thursdays, and weekends...not so much.
Today we reached an all-time low after I begged, threatened and went mad with rage, insisting that Ctot do just the tiniest bit of cleanup after weeks and weeks of fun and filthiness and vacational mess. To begin with, I tried to be like her teachers. I sang the song. I spoke in a calm, friendly manner. I used positive reinforcement and avoided stern commands and negative constructions. I "helped" her help herself. No dice. The tot simply refused to lift one tiny, but chubby, pinkie in the process. I switched gears, lost the sweet voice and got down to business. I demanded she obey. I spoke in a low evil voice, a high shrieking out-of-control voice, a loud non-nonsense voice, a sinister soft threatening voice. Again, nowhere.
Because I have been trying to avoid my true self, i.e., my incarnation as the Spankmommy who loses her temper, I have been trying to come up with alternative threats that will speak to the tot with power and consequence and make her do my bidding. I long to be one of those parents who is spoken of as "never having raised her voice" yet somehow she commands respect and fear simply by a slight altering of the voice register. Alas, Crabtot doesn't care what my register is. She would rather anything than capitulate to the cleanup song at home. So she spent over an hour refusing to put her miniature fuzzy beaver toys onto their little red-and-white-striped wooden deck chairs, the one chore I was hell-bent on seeing her accomplish.
I needed those beaver-butts on their tiny chairs. The room was a vortex of dolls, toys, clothes, pillows, dried pasta, odd socks, ripped books...but somehow I felt that if just the beavers were in place, all would be manageable once more and a crucial battle would be won, with lessons imparted and parent-tot relations appropriately aligned once more, after weeks of rules-be-damned- there-are-too-many-guests-to- pay-attention-to-tot-rearing vacation!
It is amazing how long a tot can hold out. Even when the punishment is terrible. And, yes, Meanmommy that I am, I have devised an alternative to spanking. When all is lost and nothing will stick, I threaten to pour water on Tot's beloved Blankie, also known as Bangie. It sounds vicious doesn't it? Threatening to maim the loved one's lovey! But what's the alternative? Spanking? Please don't tell me Time Out. That's just a joke round these parts.
But I do find myself wondering what is worse: physical or psychological torture? I picture Crabtot in later life accusing me of child abuse for maligning that filthy Bangie with water. Indeed, you would think one should call Child Services judging by the bloodcurdling shrieks that accompany my threats of pouring water on Bangie ("pouring" means wetting the corner, people. Relax. Don't call.) She screamed and screamed, but God forbid she place those weird little fuzzy beavers on their bloody deck chairs. Even after the corner of Bangie was thrust beneath the faucet, she still refused to obey. And while I am unclear as to the right methods for punishing kids, I am clear on one thing: follow-through. You must do what you say.
After Bangie had two corners wetted, I sort of just lost it altogether. Crabtot was flinging herself at her dad, to whom she goes for all cheering up. Crabhub and I had been bickering about discipline to begin with, and I had a flash from my own childhood, where my stepdad was the popular one and my mom the disciplinarian.
Feeling my imminent meltdown about to happen, I nearly spanked myself. And then I just went and did something I've never done. I quietly locked myself in my bedroom. And I didn't say a word. Ctot knocked at the door, and Crabhub padded near it from time to time, but I answered no one. I lay on my bed, then I did something else I haven't done in yonks: I took a bath. Long after the Bangie edges must surely have dried, I remained in my bathwater, listening to the bemused sounds of Crabtot as she called for me through the keyhole. "Hi, Mommy! Can I come in?" "Mommy, are you there? What are you doing? Do you want to cook some pasta with me?"
I spake not a syllable.
I am not sure I can say that silence speaks louder than words. But bathing feels better than screaming. And when I came out and explained to Crabtot that Mommy felt very upset and didn't want to come out of her room because Crabtot's beaver-hineys weren't on their deck chairs, she promptly went and did her chore. True, it was several hours after the fact. But she did it.
I guess I'll lock myself in my room more often.
Funny, as I have stood and held Tot's bedroom door shut during tantrums, I often wish there were a lock on it. I often halfheartedly plan to put one on so I can lock her in her room during her wildest rages, in order to prevent her from constantly coming out of her room... But I never thought of the alternative: locking myself away from her. There's a lock on my door. Duh! I just never thought to use it.
Posted by Crabmommy at 5:52 PM 7 comments Links to this post
Tuesday, August 14, 2007
Slouching Toward the Bloglet
I've tried hard never to post unless I really have something to say. But tonight I don't have much, though I'd like you all to know that I am still here, in spite of the abundant vacational frolicking I have been doing with family visitors, of late. I'd like to say I have some fab postings up my sleeve but my young niece has a double ear infection, Crabtot has been driving us all to distraction, and basically we are a tad tired tonight.
Instead, I do the unthinkable and point Crabmom readers to the bloglet, where I am forced to come up with novel ideas, no matter how dull the insides of my brain might be or how irritable or ill my family members. At Cookie, I must be quick and on the mark. So please, do go there and see me in my perkier incarnation.
At the Bloglet:
Tomorrow's post at my Cookie blog will involve super-smashing top tips for lazy and cheap mothers who wish to dazzle their tiny daughters. Yesterday's post contains fond musings on toddler vocab and the charm of mangled words in grownup conversations. And if you've been longing for some of that old Crabmommy advice and haven't checked the bloglet for a while, be sure to scroll back a few and/or search the archives for my snippy takes on irritatingly obvious advice from pediatricians and other tot experts. It's all here, at the advice-column-within-my-Cookie-column, Because We Need Advice.
Crabmommy has also developed an entire range of gadgets with you, the exhausted and unglamorous and fed up parent in mind. Forget Julie Shickerton-Whilliker of Baby Einstein! Crabmommy will soon be the new Million Dollar Mommy.
Read the bloglet, my friends. Push past the pop-ups. Deal with the sign-ups. Help Crabmommy stay solvent by responding with delight and enthusiasm to the Cmomatcookiedotcom. We've got to keep our tot in Hello Kitty bandaids, my chums. Or, at the very least, in Singorillo ones.
Ok. Plug over.
I will be back soon...ish... With original content. Ish.
One can only hope.
Posted by Crabmommy at 10:09 PM 2 comments Links to this post
Labels: Media
Thursday, August 9, 2007
Rodeo Retooled
Because Bloody Blogger messed with my photos and many of you were not able to see the rodeo snaps, and begged me to fix the problem, I re-uploaded all pics. See for yourselves by scrolling down to the post entitled "Everything Totally Went Down...at the Rodeo."
p.s. If you have ever tossed your toddler's preschool artwork, please visit the bloglet and tell us whether you feel guilty or not guilty for doing it. Also, what are your criteria for keeping vs. trashing the tot art? This is a matter of great personal relevance to me right now.
Posted by Crabmommy at 12:50 PM 4 comments Links to this post
"Genius" Videos May Hinder Baby Development
After that spate of educational-playtime bashing that I did throughout the month of May ("We Don't Need No Education") Crabmommy is gratified by this article officially slamming the Baby Einstein Vids. By studying a bunch of BE-watching tots, and recording what they knew and didn't know, scientists concluded what we at Crabmommy have known all along: BE is for losers. Or as they say, perhaps more eloquently:
Interesting that intense BE watchers knew words like "truck" and balloon" but not so much "Mommy."
"The most important fact to come from this study is there is no clear evidence of a benefit coming from baby DVDs and videos, and there is some suggestion of harm," Zimmerman said in a statement.
Julie Figgerton-Whillicker must have her knickers in a real knot today. Her PR peeps are probably writing statements as we speak, and hopefully she is getting her hair re-shellacked and her tan re-applied for the media. Maybe she will tell us all that she is sorry if she misled anyone. Maybe she'll also say it in Spanish, Russian and ASL.
Thanks A&A for this priceless link.
Posted by Crabmommy at 7:46 AM 7 comments Links to this post
Labels: Media
Wednesday, August 8, 2007
Everything Totally Went Down...At the Rodeo!
The moment has arrived.
I am ready to tell.
Crabfamily went!! We did! And there did we hobnob with Aaron of Crabcorner cowboy-infested compound. Who took us backstage. I mean, behind the buck-and-shoots. Or is it bucking chutes? Hmm. I didn't pause to check the spelling with Aaron, and something tells me he might not have been able to help me there. Either way, now I know what a buck-and-shoot/bucking chute is. And it is dang scary, that little gate holding back those surly chunky bulls with their dirty, prongy headgear.
Let's start from the beginning.
Tot dressed in appropriate attire (we pulled out from hibernation the outfit Crabgammy bought for her before she was even born). We consumed a hearty dinner of tacos and beans.We walked down to the rodeo, spotted our neighbor, and went backstage immediately, VIP peeps that we are. And though Tot didn't have cowboy boots and had to settle for rainboots instead...
...she knew she was cool because hot damn, she was behind the bucking chutes and on first-name terms with a real bull rider in this here event.
And here he is, readers.
Our personal bullrider, also known as King of Crabcorner Cowboy Compound.
You've been waiting for him...
Maybe I should make you wait longer..........
Like on of those annoying email forwards involving lucky numbers and favorite colors and endless scrolling down to see whether you are a person of inner peace or a manic depressive...
wait for it....
hold on....
add 3 to your number then times it by 5.
OKAY! Here he is peeking out from behind Ctot's fringed top.
A good shot, eh? A handsome chap. Though my African sister kept thinking he had something a bit off in the facial region, on account of a squonky angle to one side of the mouth. But we know that he just packs a chew, peeps.
Thus began a spell of watching the bullriders pulling on their chaps, taping each others gloves to their wrists......and doing these weird, jiggy perpendicular leg movements in preparation for the event, movements that were too flash-fast for me to capture on film, unfortunately. We also watched them pray into their hats. Crabfamily doesn't see or do much praying so this here definitely warranted a sneaky shot. Then we watched the various menfolk prancing about on horseback and womenfolk too, who were referred to by the announcer as "pretty little cowgirls." Lovely!
Crabtot was entranced. No, I'm not that good-looking. That's my sister. At one point they opened the gates and let out a flood of small children to rush a hapless sheep.Tot was desperate to join and screamed, begging us to let her be a "mutton-buster" (rodeos are very educational! New vocab words of many syllables!). She tried to hurl herself over the fence. And had to be told off by Crabmommy.
Yes, that's my finger. Oh, thank you...yes I have been told how attractive my finger is, but nice of you to say it again!
The grand finale: the bullriders line up and then one by one they enter the ring and try their luck at staying on for 8 seconds. We went crazy rooting for our man, whom, the announcer gravely informed the audience, was holding his rope in a suicide hand wrap. This is when you know a rider means business. And is not afraid to die for doing what he loves.
Crabcorner-Cowboy-Compound-King goes up.And alas, comes down in 3 seconds.But, at least this time, he walks away unharmed.Okay, so in all seriousness, Aaron is a very brave and or very stupid man. It's really quite shocking when you hear the inside scoop, backstage, from a VIP's perspective. Behind the chutes did we learn that everyone who does this will either get maimed or die from doing it. Aaron told us he knows 2 people who have died doing it. And when we went backstage there were a couple of cowboys limping in turquoise chaps. Or, at least they limped when we walked past them. Then they seemed to straighten up behind our backs.
But, yes, a very dangerous sport and the announcer verified the fact of accepting death or serious injury as a given if you enter the sport. That and poverty. They made our Crabking pay $50 to enter himself in this event. And the winner only makes $280! Ridiculous, I say.
So did we give our friend the money we felt he should have rightly earned for putting his life at risk for our entertainment?
No. But we did give him a six-pack.
And so, my friends, we come to the end of an era. After circling our crabcowboy friends for so long, we are now all tighter than a strap around a bull's willy. We had a great night at our very first rodeo. We learned that the life of Aaron and his buds is one of certain demise, deep poverty, extreme grime, and cheerful obsession. We learned that one must very cheerfully sport a death wish to participate in such a life, and one must be content to live in a trailer or in one's car and to eat at Wendy's very, very often.
Crabtot dug it madly.When we got home, the world of our Crabcorner looked a little different, bathed in the afterglow of that night. Everything looks transformed now!Or maybe not.
Posted by Crabmommy at 10:14 AM 17 comments Links to this post
Labels: Crabtown
Monday, August 6, 2007
Something Most Certainly Went Down...And Here is a Preview
I know I've been very slim on the blogging lately, but I've been taking a vacation, and Crabfamily members have been infesting the town all month long. But, though my blogfingers have been idle (except at the bloglet, where I must post, for bread and butter), my mission to keep you informed of the local activities has not been far from my mind. I do have extraordinary accounts to relate, which I will post later this week, so stay tuned, and in the meantime, here's a teaser:
Posted by Crabmommy at 3:09 PM 5 comments Links to this post
Labels: Crabtown


text:
Aims of the Recurrent Miscarriage Centre are to provide a
dedicated and focussed service to couples that have experienced recurrent miscarriage. These services include:
Couples who attend the centre are mostly defined as:
The links above are in pdf format. if you are having trouble seeing them you might need to download Adobe Reader here.
You are viewing the text version of this site.
Need help? check the requirements page.


text:
A few days ago, a couple of friends and I spent the morning in Cedar Creek Park. This park has a great area of wild flowers throughout the growing season. I always enjoy stopping there in the spring for the Trilliums. Here are a few photos from our trip to the park.
Tag: Photo
Taking a Drive
Yesterday I decided to take a drive in the mountains near where I live. I'm sure to most they are only foothills, but to us they are our mountains. A little back story to my post.
Years ago on a dirt bike ride we visited a abandon cemetery on an old dirt road in the mountains. I can remember the majority of those buried there had died the same year. I can also remember a swimming hole in the stream next to the cemetery. Now fast forward to about 10 years ago I started looking for this cemetery again. Well I'm still looking.
Every now and then I take a drive find another old back road that I haven't tried yet and see if I can find that cemetery and swimming hole. And sad to say yesterday was not the day. But, I had a great time exploring yet another old dirt road.
A quick stop in the South Side of Pittsburgh
As always the South Side of Pittsburgh proved to be interesting. And this past weekend was no exception. A group of photographers from the Westmoreland Photographers Society spent the afternoon walking the street and photographing anything and everything. I found these two motorcycle groups to be interesting.
Flowers from Phipps
Spring at Phipps Conservatory
A recent trip to Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens with the Westmoreland Photographers Society brought spring to life. And what flower makes you think of spring? A tulip of course.
56 of 366
So today I thought we might jump on the old Schwinn Sting-Ray and take a ride down the street. Or maybe you still are riding that "Big Wheel" up and down the driveway. Oh and don't forget the lawn darts for a little fun in the yard. #2eightphotography #toys #goodolddays
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Star Wars…. Need I say more?


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Archive for December, 2017
Finding Yourself
December 1, 2017 Leave a comment
So many of us are trying to find ourself. I think this is where our midlife crises come from. We wake up one day not knowing who we are.
One buys a sports car.
Another trades in a wife.
Yet another quits his job and hikes the Appalachian Trail.
The problem is that we are lost.
All of us. We were born lost.
And we want to be found.
The cool thing is that we have someone who wants to find us.
We don't have to worry about finding ourselves.
In Christ, we are found. In fact, we are more found in Jesus than in anything we can try to find ourself with.
Then life is incredibly more fulfilling than we thought possible.
Categories: Uncategorized


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Dec 07 2008
Contest #23: Winner
I went through a bit of an Abbot and Costello Whose on first? routine when telling people who won this week's contest. Just to be clear, a user named What was the winner this week. He was quite prolific this week and had many great answers that might have been winners, but the one that was in the finals and people voted for was:
Plagiarism was my idea.
Congrats to What, he wins the gift certificate of his choice. I should also mention that we haven't had a margin of victory like this in a while (probably since Etmoose's win). The MM rewards winner this week is Alex. He wins a $10 gift certificate to the MM Store.
We're developing a backlog of merch to be made (not to mention the Star Wars PSA videos), but that's not such a bad thing. We should have the extra selections from the Alternative Hazards contest done sometime this week. We should also finish up the merch from the medieval bumper stickers contest soon too (it's mostly bumpers stickers, but there are a few shirts in there as well). After that we'll be free to turn our attention to the excellent entries from this week.


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Exceptional performance and outstanding flexibility with almost any MM or MC cartridge make Phono Box DS+ the best choice in its price class.
This ultra low noise precision phono preamplifier benefits from outstanding circuit technology from Dr. Sykora, well-known from Phono Box S, but uses ultimate components. For the first time all setup options can be made from the front panel display, what makes circumstantial handling of mini dipswitches or jumpers obsolete. All switching is done by relais including a subsonic filter, that prevents your amplifier and speakers of ultra low rumble below 20Hz. Carefully selected amplifier modules and audiophile-grade polypropylene capacitors guarantee a breathtaking sound experience. Therefore Phono Box DS+ is a perfect upgrade for hifi systems of ambitious vinyl aficionados!
Key Features:
Technical Specifications:
We endeavour to despatch same day for orders placed up to 2pm on available stock items (items with stock message "Usually dispatched within 24 hours"). Please remember to check with us first for a physical stock check if next day delivery is important to you. Any items with stock message "Usually dispatched within 72 hours" are items that we do not hold in stock but order in from the importer or manufacturer as soon as a customer order is recieved. Occasionally these may be delayed beyond 72 hours due to importer/manufacturer stock levels but we will inform you as soon as we can if this is the case.
UK ORDERS: We despatch the bulk of our UK mainland items on a 24 hour service – Free of Charge. Non Mainland locations - Isle of Man, Isle of Wight, the Scilly Isles, the Scottish highlands and Islands, the Channel Islands and Northern Ireland may take a day or so longer and are not Free of Charge. Smaller items are delivered using Royal Mail recorded delivery or special delivery. Larger items are delivered using a courier service such as Interlink Express, DPD, UPS or DHL.
INTERNATIONAL ORDERS: We offer competitive rates which can be confirmed by email. Please just ask – we will need a full delivery address and telephone number. Smaller items are delivered using Royal Mail Small Packets Airmail with International Tracked and/or Signed depending on value of item and availability of the service. Larger International shipments are sent by insured and tracked services using DPD, DHL or UPS. If there are any delays due to specific customs regulations, etc, you will be contacted by Turntableworld or by the courier with a request for any further information required. Customs duties do not apply for shipments into any EU country (for a full list please refer to the EU Country List). Customs duties can apply for countries outside of the EU. Customers in these countries are responsible for all taxes and duties incurred when the items enter their country.
COLLECT IN STORE OR HOME INSTALL:At the request of the manufacturer some items cannot be supplied by mail order but you can click and buy them and then elect to collect them from our store or arrange a home install (if applicable). Applicable items clearly state that they are Collect in store or home install. Once ordered you will receive a message prompting you to contact us by phone or email to arrange for us to deliver and install or to reserve and collect from our store at your convenience, you will also be advised of the delivery time / stock availability as not all Home install / collect in store items are held in stock.


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Host a conference, meeting or celebration at Tanoa Tusitala's well-equipped Apia conference facility.
Tanoa Tusitala serves as a modern and stylish Apia conference venue, suitable for any event. Our Samoa conference facility is stocked with all the latest technology and a range of audiovisual equipment, including a wide screen LCD television, wireless broadband internet, electronic whiteboards and cordless microphones. You will be provided not only with a superb conference space, but also with great event support by members of our team. Our conference team is dedicated to making your event a success, providing the highest level of detail from the moment guests arrive until they leave. Our Events Services Manager will liaise between you and various departments of the hotel to ensure a smooth and hassle-free event.
Tanoa Tusitala's Samoa Conference Facilities
The Tanoa Tusitala offers a range of different Apia conference venues available to cater to your specific needs. Our conference and events centre is the largest of our meeting facilities, accommodating up to 200 people. This modern Samoan conference centre is fully air-conditioned for your comfort and opens out to an outside verandah area and expansive lawn. The room comes with a fixed stage platform, an inbuilt sound system and a secretariat room with a PC and laser printer. It's the perfect place to hold a wedding reception, gala dinner or business conference. The conference space can also be divided into three separate rooms for smaller events of up to 50 people.
Located in the front lobby area of Tanoa Tusitala is our boardroom. This air conditioned facility can accommodate up to 20 people, and has a lovely outdoor set up for refreshment breaks. The room is equipped with a flat screen television, professional office chairs, a matching table & cabinet set and a full lighting rig. Situated in the middle of the hotel is our self-contained conference fale. This conference space includes the same features as the boardroom, but also contains its own pantry and toilet facilities. We also have an Ofisa Bar located just behind our 'Deck' bar, which is ideal for meetings of up to 25 people. The bar has easy access to the poolside verandah where guests can enjoy breaks and meals.
For further information about hosting a meeting or event at Tanoa Tusitala, you can complete our online request form and we will get back to you with a proposal tailored to your needs.
The Conference Centre can easily accommodate up to 200 people, and can be divided into three separate rooms for smaller meetings of up to 50 people each. It comes with its own secretariat room and verandah.
Located in the front lobby area, this is a fully air-conditioned facility with a built-in flat screen. The boardroom seats up to 20 people and has a lovely outdoor area for your refreshment break.
Our large outdoor marquee sits up to 400 people (depending on setup). It is ideal for large events, family reunions, weddings, expos etc.


text:
Anchors of both sexes, though from most accounts they seem to be largely women, led an ascetic life, shut off from the world inside a small room, usually built adjacent to a church so that they could follow the services, with only a small window acting as their link to the rest of humanity. Food would be passed through this window and refuse taken out. Most of the time would be spent in prayer, contemplation, or solitary handworking activities, like stitching and embroidering. Because they would become essentially dead to the world, anchors would receive their last rights from the bishop before their confinement in the anchorage. This macabre ceremony was a complete burial ceremony with the anchor laid out on a bier. (http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/med/hildegarde.asp)In time the fame of the two nuns spread and many pilgrims came to visit them for advice and spiritual guidance. As a result other noble families sent their daughters and soon a small convent was established. When Jutta died, Hildegaard was named Abbess and it was not long before she demanded from the Monestery, authority to build a convent in its own right. Although reluctant -- each postulant brought an impressive dowry with her -- the abbott was 'convinced' that it would be best to let Hildegaard have her way. She was suddenly laid low with a kind of seizure and would lie prone and immovable until her wish was granted. Hildegaard's fame and nobility were such that it was best to acquiesce to her wishes. She built the largest convent in Europe!
The second half of the lecture focused on Hildegaard's music. Whether or not she wrote each piece of music herself or in concert with other sisters, is not known though it is probable. Until then singing was in the form of the Gregorian chant and followed the words of the Latin Mass. Hildegaard's compositions were Liturgical dramas with original music and words. These dramas can compared to the nativity and passion plays we see today.
She also wrote 2 symphonia and 77 songs. Unlike the monotone of the Gregorian chant, this music soars and the notes ascend and descend. It sounds very ethereal and rather primal. it also sounds like it should be sung rather than listened too. They were 'ruminatos' -- that is music and text working together to help contemplate the deeper meaning of her visions.
Hildegaard became famous for her miracles and was allowed to go on preaching missions outside of the convent. She also had a secretary -- a monk -- who went with her and wrote down her writings. Nowadays she is criticized for her conservatism in only allowing noble women to join her convent -- only they would have the kind of education and manner to understand her work, her visions, her theology...
Isn't it fascinating to consider that such a woman making her way with such success and so respected in the 12th Century. She lived to be 81.


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Benefits of Installing Concrete Polished Countertops
Consideration of the concrete to be used is important in home or business premises construction. The individual preference is key. Polished concrete is that concrete that is treated through a sequences of mechanically ground polishing. The use of a chemical that is penetrant is included in the process. Having a concrete surface of granite or marble is a concrete countertops. A polished concrete countertop is advantageous. You can learn more regarding the benefits here.
The materials used for a polished concrete countertops allows formation and shaping as per dimensions requirements. They can also be finished according to the user preference. A variety of color and style to select from is provided. The counter can be customized to fit the shape and surface design. They can be used in all types of homes and offices. An individual is therefore not limited in their use because of its flexibility in the customization.
The polished concrete countertops also give the benefits of not scratching and it is not resistant to heat. The countertops cannot be destroyed by scratches and this is a guarantee of the surface maintaining its shiny and attractive look. This also means that the countertop surface are durable in the sense of it maintaining its initial look for long. The polished concrete countertops being impervious to heat is advantageous in kitchen surfaces The polished concrete countertops are more suitable for a kitchen because of their heat impervious. The surface not being affected by heat provide maintenance of its color and style. It also ensures that the surface will not be burnt up by hot objects when placed on it. Having the attractive polished concrete countertop surface last a lifetime is cool.
A polished concrete countertop allows the embedment of glass fragments, shells, fiber optic lights and stones. This helps in achieving customization of the surface as per individual's needs. Being artistic can be achieved by the use of the polished concrete countertops, that allow customized designing. The surface is made more stylish and modern by the ability to have things embedded, like the use of glass fragments, stones, shells and fiber optic lights. The embedded materials on the polished concrete countertops can be used to provide a unique look. The polished concrete countertops are durable and last longer. The durability is associated with the use of concrete that is known to be durable. The surface is also easy to clean and maintain, provided that regular sealing is done. Cleaning of the countertops is made easier by the use of polished concrete countertops. When used in a real estate set up, it make the homes more presentable and attractive. The cost can be justified by the attractiveness it brings about.
The Best Advice About Services I've Ever Written


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WDSC lets you tap into the power of XML
When it comes to Web development, XML is a powerful tool. But you don't need to be a skilled Java XML developer to make use of it. With WDSC you can easily create XML apps.
When it comes to Web development, XML is a powerful tool. But you don't need to be a highly skilled Java XML developer to make use of it. WebSphere Development Studio Client (WDSC) for iSeries Version 5 (both the Standard and Advanced editions) offers several options to create Web database and XML applications, including a number of helpful wizards.
Although WDSC doesn't build complete, custom XML applications for you, the XML tools go along way to saving time on developing XML applications. It DOES save time by generating a few simple XML applications and many components that you can use and customize relatively easily in your finished application.
|Jim Mason
What XML does for Web applications
XML lets you store custom, hierarchical self-describing data in a document using a markup (or tag) language. This is VERY powerful for building applications. Similar to the way an RPG program using an externally described file with DDS can "see" the fields contained in a record format, an XML document has defined elements and attributes that are exposed to your application using an XML parser. With XML, the data structure can be complex data graphs using hierarchical relationships. In addition, XML documents can have associated Document Type Definitions (DTDs) or XML Schemas that further define the related document. Those external definitions can be used to build and validate XML document content.
In the example below, you can see how the markup tags "define" the elements in the XML document.
XML document example generated by WDSC SQL to XML wizard:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> <SQLResult xmlns="http://www.ibm.com/EMPLOYEE" xmlns:xsi="https://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.ibm.com/EMPLOYEE empByLastName7.xsd"> <EMPLOYEE> <LASTNAME>ADAMSON</LASTNAME> <FIRSTNME>BRUCE</FIRSTNME> <WORKDEPT>D11</WORKDEPT> <PHONENO>4510</PHONENO> <EMPNO>000150</EMPNO> </EMPLOYEE> <EMPLOYEE> <LASTNAME>BROWN</LASTNAME> <FIRSTNME>DAVID</FIRSTNME> <WORKDEPT>D11</WORKDEPT> <PHONENO>4501</PHONENO> <EMPNO>000200</EMPNO> </EMPLOYEE>
The schema below shows a "DDS-like" definition of the XML document above. Schemas provide a more precise definition of an XML document for a parser or application.
XML schema example generated by WDSC SQL to XML wizard:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> <schema targetNamespace="http://www.ibm.com/EMPLOYEE" xmlns="https://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" xmlns:EMPLOYEE="http://www.ibm.com/EMPLOYEE"> <element name="SQLResult"> <complexType> <sequence> <element maxOccurs="unbounded" minOccurs="0" ref="EMPLOYEE:EMPLOYEE"/> </sequence> </complexType> </element> <element name="EMPLOYEE"> <complexType> <sequence> <element ref="EMPLOYEE:LASTNAME"/> <element ref="EMPLOYEE:FIRSTNME"/> <element ref="EMPLOYEE:WORKDEPT"/> <element ref="EMPLOYEE:PHONENO"/> <element ref="EMPLOYEE:EMPNO"/> </sequence> </complexType> </element> <element name="LASTNAME"> <simpleType> <restriction base="string"> <maxLength value="15"/> </restriction> </simpleType> </element> <element name="FIRSTNME"> <simpleType> <restriction base="string"> <maxLength value="12"/> </restriction> </simpleType> </element> <element name="WORKDEPT" nillable="true"> <simpleType> <restriction base="string"> <maxLength value="3"/> </restriction> </simpleType> </element> <element name="PHONENO" nillable="true"> <simpleType> <restriction base="string"> <maxLength value="4"/> </restriction> </simpleType> </element> <element name="EMPNO"> <simpleType> <restriction base="string"> <maxLength value="6"/> </restriction> </simpleType> </element> </schema>
XML increasingly becomes more important for application development scenarios, especially Web-based applications. We use XML and related technologies to define and move data from almost any source generator to any target consumer. XML lends itself to easy transformations between a source and target.
The document object model
All of these frameworks provide support for creating, editing, validating and reading XML documents. Generally XML processing is done using streams over a document object model (DOM). The hierarchical document is represented as a set of nodes of different types: simple, complex and collections. The node set can be traversed by an application or parser, usually in sequential order.
An example of mapping the employee document to an Employee bean:
package empByLastName7; import java.util.*; import java.text.DateFormat; import com.ibm.etools.xmlschema.beans.*; /** * This class represents the complex type <EMPLOYEE> */ public class EMPLOYEE extends ComplexType { public EMPLOYEE() { } public void setLASTNAME(LASTNAME LASTNAME) { setElementValue("LASTNAME", LASTNAME); } public LASTNAME getLASTNAME() { return (LASTNAME) getElementValue("LASTNAME", "LASTNAME"); }
XML tools in WDSC
In addition to the Xerces XML parser and Xalan XSL processor, WDSC offers a reasonably good set of wizards to generate XML artifacts and simple applications. The editors are reasonable for editing the many XML artifacts you have to deal with in building applications: XML documents, XML schemas (.xsd), XML Document Type Definitions (.dtd), XML template files for use with XML database queries (.xst), XSL Extended Stylesheet Language for transforming XML to another format (.xsl), and XPath expressions for selecting nodes within an XML document.
You can even generate code to map XML to DB2 database tables using a wizard that creates a Document Access Definition (DAD). To run this application, you need to buy DB2 XML Extender on the DB2 platform you will run on. The DAD support for DB2 Extender allows complex XML to relational mappings.
IBM was nice enough to provide an affordable option that works with ANY relational database WITHOUT special extender software, a single class: SQLToXML. It is in a jar file (xmltosql.jar) in the WDSC directory tree. You'll need Java skills to use the class. Also, add the Xalan processor and Xerces parser to your classpath because it relies on those XML tools.
Using WDSC XML tools to build a Web application
Let's look at a common application scenario and then review some of the tools WDSC provides to help create our application. One type of application I've built several times involves querying a relational database to generate an XML document and then providing Web access to search and view the document contents. It's useful for applications that generate Web views on relatively static content such as an item catalog. Whenever the catalog changes, the XML catalog document can be regenerated and published to the Web application. The application I built was a Web Employee Phonebook reading an XML document generated from a database.
To build a simple Web XML application that can search, select and view data in an XML document generated from an iSeries DB2 table you'll use WDSC wizards to do the following:
- Import an iSeries database model from table definitions
- Create an SQL Select statement that allows searching a table
- Generate an SQL to XML database query generating an XML document and schema
- Create Java beans that model the XML document using the XML schema
- Create a client Java Web XML application to search and view the generated Java beans
- Test the generated application using the WebSphere runtime test environment built into WDSC
Doing all of that with basic XML tools (parsers, processors etc) is a complex task for a highly skilled Java XML developer. It's much easier to learn how to use the wizards and editors to create the basic components of an application, customize them and link them together in a Java XML Web application. You will need beginner-level Java skills as well as WDSC knowledge to build your application.
An earlier tip on generating a Java Web database application reviewed steps 1, 2 and 6 above in detail. The steps of interest in our XML application are 3, 4 and 5.
For steps 1 and 2, you'll use the database model import fairly often to capture iSeries data definitions in WDSC to build applications. If you are new to SQL, you'll probably want to use the SQL statement builder to build your SQL statements accurately.
Step 3: Generate an SQL to XML database query generating an XML document and schema
The XML tools offer a wizard to generate the XML database query easily: SQL to XML query. Just following the prompts; it's simple to reuse the SQL Select statement you created above to generate an XML document with your data and a corresponding XML schema.
Later, you can use the SQLToXML class to do the same thing dynamically in your Java application code if you need to. IBM provides this class and XMLToSQL to allow your applications dynamic read and write of XML documents to and from any relational database. This is a big plus as you develop more sophisticated applications with dynamic access. The classes are stored in a jar file:
Step 4: Create Java beans that model the XML document using the XML schema
The next step is to generate Java beans that reflect the XML document elements. WDSC provides another wizard to generate the Java beans: Generate Java beans for creating XML instances of an XML schema. The XML schema was created in step 3.
This wizard generates Java beans that use the com.ibm.etools.xmlschema.beans package in the wsdbeans.jar file.
While the generated beans do NOT actually contain your data, they are place holders that can store the XML document data in a bean, as well as routines to load the XML data to the beans and update the XML document from the beans. A useful set of capabilities for a full XML application.
Step 5: Create a client Java Web XML application to search and view the generated Java beans
Here we use WDSC to generate a Java Web XML application based on MVC architecture with a Java servlet and a JSP that uses XSL to generate the output pages in your Web application. The input to this step comes from step 4 -- the Java beans you created. In my case, the Web application allows you to view and maintain employee entries in a phonebook, so I used the EMPLOYEE bean I generated in step 4.
While running the generated application "as is" only gives me the ability to enter a new EMPLOYEE phonebook entry, I can modify the generated application to add access to read the existing XML data and create a selection page in front of the detail view page. To create a select servlet, I'd use the sample Java beans in step 4 that read and write XML document data to the EMPLOYEE Java beans I created.
This process describes using the WDSC XML tools to generate basic components for a Java XML application. You do have to know Java to link all this is into a useful, running application, but you can at least test the individual components in WDSC.
As your Java skills grow, you can modify the generated Web application to do the following:
- Dynamically query the database at runtime to generate XML
- Store the generated XML document in memory as a byte array instead of a file
- Generalize the web application and queries to query any table using JDBC metadata
---------------------------------------About the author: ebt-now www.quickwebsupport.com
- XML an increasingly valuable skill, experts say
Understanding Extensible Markup Language (XML) is becoming an increasingly valuable asset for all IT professionals, especially systems and network managers.
- Web-enabling legacy system using XML
A Search400.com member was having difficulty using XML to Web-enable a legacy system. He needed to call RPG programs running on V4R5 from WebSphere running on an iSeries. Fortunately Jim Mason had some advice.
- Web services: Many uses, many worries
Fears about Web services security shouldn't dissuade organizations from implementing the technology, experts say. But security should be a consideration right from the beginning of any Web services project.


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Friday, March 23, 2012
Tag,Awards and Guest Post Announcements!!
20 comments:
thnk u for the award! And yes, good to know soo much about u :PReplyDelete
and i m in for the guest post maybe next month!
I will be waiting for it MalikReplyDelete
THANKYOUSOMUCH!!! ^_^ReplyDelete
And oh I forgot to tell that you really don't seem to be a short-tempered guy!! :)ReplyDelete
hahaa vinti dear..u should probably talk to me more naa..then only u can tell me :PReplyDelete
Thank you so much for the comment you left on my blog but I honestly don't think I'm all that awesome. :PReplyDelete
I don't sign in with blogger much these days. Busy with parhai. :)
Miss reading your blog!
say in a stretched tone and warmlyReplyDelete
a VERY HAPPY BIRTHDAY to your mum from my side.
and thankyou for the comment back there on my blog and
congrats.. :) for the award ..! :)
Thank youuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu :)ReplyDelete
That means a lot! :)
Congrats for the award :)ReplyDelete
You are a versatile and thoughtful blogger!
Sometimes I read but miss to comment on your posts ..
I must tell you.. you writes amazing!
Liked your every answer..Got to know about you :)
Keep writing and sharing :)
Haha an open flirt, are you? :PReplyDelete
Blogging is like a secret world for so many :)
Congrats on the award :)
Felicity ,ReplyDelete
you are awesome...i know it
thank you Suvaiba :D :)ReplyDelete
haha Thanks Disha...welcomeReplyDelete
Philo..yes blogging is a secret world for me ...and yes i am an open flirt :P :PReplyDelete
Thanks for the tag and award :))ReplyDelete
Aur bhai sahan,khopche me milo jara fir puchhunga about the "point 3, 11 Things about me" :P
I like emotional guys, who flirt, and have cute childish voice ;-) ;-)ReplyDelete
Jokes apart, Nice to know more about you and your blog. Would now go through all the stories under fiction tag.
And do I need to say it? ok I will, am following you! Love your blog! :-))
- AnonymousMarch 28, 2012 at 8:24 AM
thanks bhai for award and tagReplyDelete
award to maine tujhe transfer pahle hi kar diya tha and abhi 13 blogger bhi nahi hain jinahe pass kar saku. ha tag jarur complete kar dunga bhai.
thanks again
- AnonymousMarch 28, 2012 at 8:25 AM
guest post shayad maine tujhe kabhi bheji to ho sake to vo laga dena..and bolega to nai bhi bhej dungaReplyDelete
- AnonymousMarch 28, 2012 at 8:25 AM
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.ReplyDelete
ya, i can agree on the bragging part of being flirt.ReplyDelete
I have my responses to the tag. check it out.


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Hip-Hop has had a tremendous impact on today's youth. It has influenced buying decisions, career paths, business and overall popular culture. Due to this impact, the Derek Collins created 'Gifted and Lit.' Gifted & Lit is an innovative program of Kids Music Videos on DVDs that uses Hip-Hop to teach children lessons in mathematics, science, grammar, and more.
Songs Included:


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Man shot while riding in car leaving Sunrise condo
Detectives believe shooter fired from public area above driveway
SUNRISE, Fla. – A man is in critical condition after he was shot while riding in a car that was leaving a Sunrise condominium complex Thursday night.
Sunrise police released surveillance photographs Friday of three men wanted for questioning in the shooting.
Police said Rodney Nelfort was a passenger in the front seat of a Nissan Maxima that was leaving the Tao condominium near the Sawgrass Mills mall when he was shot multiple times.
Nelfort was taken to a nearby hospital, where he remained in critical but stable condition Friday.
Police said the driver was not shot, but he received a minor laceration to his leg. He was cooperating with investigators.
Detectives believe the shooter or shooters fired from a public area in the complex above the driveway.
The men in the surveillance photos were seen at the complex shortly before the shooting.
Police are searching for a dark vehicle that was seen speeding away from the area.
Copyright 2014 by Local10.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.


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Monday, 10 May 2010
Things I have discussed today
17 comments:
- teresacooks said...
here's something random I discoved. . . you must watch the video. I was innocently looking for a restaurant in Boston when I discovered this btw:
cuchini.com. Now you'll have something else to discuss.
- 10 May 2010 at 23:28
Sweet Cheezus, I don't think I've had that many conversations this week, let alone in one day. I'm going to have to start again...
Ok, have a panda head bag. NOT made out of a panda's head though. Mmmmmmmm, know a cat called Billie Piper, Tom Ford is definitely a bionic man, ahh, the weepette. Oh, you want to know about MY conversations today.
It is 9.30am and I have spoken about passive aggressive German men, a birthday party, brilliant made-up jobs and eyebrow threading. And this. Good Morning.
- 10 May 2010 at 23:32
Oh lord! I have spent most of today reading boring things and sending even more boring e-mails. Conversations? Hmmm; there was trying to explain for about the millionth time (OK 7th or 8th) why we can only instruct counsel from the approved panel and not the one colleague likes (because his chambers didn't apply);
discussing with a colleague (or if you prefer, bitching about) a snooty, bloodyminded solicitor who wilfully ignores my opinions and convinces himself that because we have discussed something we must have agreed, even though I actually spent half an hour disagreeing with him - then replying to his 3 page letter with a 10 line e-mail;
admiring 18 year old's choice of dress and coat for birthday present while trying to conceal growing horror at price tags and mentally making note to stock up on baked beans and cut out all other food for rest of month;
consoling 16 year old at length about the apparent disaster that will be her GCSE drama performance tomorrow (this is according to her - I have been banned from going to watch as I will make her nervous so I will never know the truth).
- 11 May 2010 at 00:30
- puncturedbicycle said...
I had a conversation with my mother about an imminent international transfer of funds. This necessitated a long and convoluted "Who's on First" kind of conversation involving SWIFT and IBAN codes as well as large sums. I foresee a follow-up conversation wherein she finds her scribbled notes perplexing and the codes and sums need to be explained and disentangled, which will be fine because she has generously offered to give me the gift of dental health and beauty, for which I feel immensely grateful and more than a little guilty.
I am shitting myself in advance of the scary part of the procedure (redoing a rubbish old root canal), feeling frivolous for going ahead with the elective stuff (straightening) but also excited that it will all soon be over.
- 11 May 2010 at 01:05
- Jeannie said...
I had quite a long conversation with a stranger at the gym today revolving around her hypoglycemia and the fact that she insists that she is *not* a hoarder, although she says she has three rooms and a garage that are nearly that bad. She said she can eat a whole cake at one time and used to weigh 350 lbs or so. I asked her what did the doctor tell her to do about her hypoglycemia, and she said to eat small meals/snacks every two hours with protein at each meal. So that made sense, but she insists she never gets full and doesn't have that shut-off valve that most of us do. That was my most interesting conversation.
- 11 May 2010 at 02:34
- redfox said...
I had a conversation with my infant that went about like this:
"Ack. Ho ho ho."
"Oh yes, how true."
"Glee! En queue."
"Yes, you are smiley."
"Go. Oh. Oh!"
Pretty stunning stuff, I think we can all agree.
- 11 May 2010 at 02:43
Pretty much the only conversation I've had today, aside from the twenty words it took to order my turkey sandwich at lunch, was about why I am called Scooter by those who have known me longest. Sorry, but I've got nothing for you.
- 11 May 2010 at 04:11
- Jessica said...
-The Belgian elections, how the media and politicians exploit the language divide to inflame the situation and to create stereotypes of people in the opposite province/region. Zzzz.
-The importance of burping a baby after it eats.
boring, boring, boring was my day.
- 11 May 2010 at 06:26
- GingerB said...
After court ended but while still in the courtroom, I sang whole songs from Schoolhouse Rock, which only your American readers will understand, and which teach young kids punctuation, tricky things about grammar, and the like, but it was definitely the highlight of my day. I am grateful that I don't have to see the art that you see.
wv: uncludes the things that got missed for inclusion
- 11 May 2010 at 07:36
- Alison Cross said...
Worst conversation: with son, watching bellydancing DVD, lying on sofa, eating chocolate.
Son: Mum, do you think that if you do this DVD you'll look like Ariella?
Me: Yes, why?
Son *regarding slender tattooed form of agile dancer* 'Its. NEVER. Going. To. Happen'
Ali x
- 11 May 2010 at 09:36
- katyboo1 said...
I am amazed by the wellbox. Maybe I should just live inside a huge one? Plus, excellent use of the word tissular.
- 11 May 2010 at 11:06
I was at preschool today, preparing to run a fire drill by discussing with 4 year olds what they have experienced (when we tented at the camping ground a building burnt in the night and we could hear popping sounds), what we may do if a real fire happens (if you have a phone in your pocket you can call the firemen - or use the next-door school's phone, or if the fire goes that far, go to the phone box on the other road), and also innovative ways to fight the fire (we could turn on the grass sprinklers and put it out that way). Most of all I would like them to remember to leave quickly and say "yes" when I call their names.
- 11 May 2010 at 13:59
- Kath said...
- Who names the things in biology "blebs" "Cockers" and "Molecular cleavage" prompted that discussion.
- Is it a fact that everyone actually really loves Total Eclipse of the Heart
- A text I received from my sister informing me "One of your bloody countrymen just rear-ended my ambulance!" (She's a SIAMU)
- How I am not responsible for the acts of my "Bloody countrymen"
- My chemistry teachers childish blushing on sight of the young, female Chemistry teacher
- When will we ever use the French for "Pornographic video nasty" (Vidéocassette á caractére pornographique, incase I sparked a rabid curiosity in anyone), a word on my French vocab test back in November, that my Nana still brings up on a regular basis!
- 11 May 2010 at 16:30
- Margaret said...
1. Whether the morning news anchor was going to adopt the rescue kitten from the Tennessee floods that she was holding. (Probably.)
2. Why my husband does annoying things in my dreams and how he should stop. (Huh? What?)
3. Whether our cat is or is not the cutest cat in the universe, yes she is! (Yes, she is.)
4. Where we should have dinner tonight. (Chinatown?)
5. Does the just-discovered typo on the insurance policy mean that our domicile has been uninsured for a year? (Holy crap.)
6. Does this coffee not taste as good as it used to? (Yes.)
7. Whether these sunglasses make him look like a mad scientist. (Yes, in a good way.)
This all took place between 8:35 and 9:45. Fascinating stuff.
- 11 May 2010 at 17:03
- Johnners said...
Why it's not nice to hit/pour sand on other kids/snatch, to a pre-asbo 3-year old with a made up name while helping out at pre-school today. That was as fun as it got.
WV = corse, an archaic word for corpse. How apt.
- 11 May 2010 at 19:32
I was discussing a possibility to become a 'delegation groopy': follow delegations of European Parliament to all the nice destinations, travel business class and sleep in nice hotels.
I wish i could.
- 11 May 2010 at 20:45
- Z said...
Hmm. Discussed with teacher that I'd just made redundant how and why I had done it. She's a friend, which the one I hadn't made redundant isn't.
Thoroughly rejected by baby granddaughter.
Was phoned by Barclaycard, wanting my debit card details with no indication of giving any ID, only wanting mine. Was assertive.
Phoned Barclaycard, discovered that it was genuine and not a scam attempt. Was assertive.
Went to a meeting, discovered I'm due a whole lot of extra work in unpaid and demanding job. Didn't say anything.
Take your pick, love. I don't think there was a 'best'. Not even sure there was a 'least worse' - though at any rate I got a kiss from granddaughter once she'd been placated by other granddaughter.
Off to write cheerful blog post. After all, it doesn't do to be down, does it?
- 11 May 2010 at 23:05


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To serve, strengthen and support all current and prospective members. To be the face of the Chamber to the Community and to conduct an on-going program of member retention, recruitment, and public relations by offering valuable and successful networking opportunities, programs, and publications
To develop programs that help retain businesses, support programs to attract new businesses and enhance the opportunity for all businesses to succeed in Farmers Branch
To increase and expand communications and working relationships between businesses and educational communities through social/business partnerships
To represent and inform the business community on federal, state and local legislative and transportation issues. Maintain close relationships with elected officials and government agencies.
To develop, promote and conduct events that will enhance Farmers Branch Chamber and its members while providing addition income sources for the Chamber
To promote Young Professionals activity within the Chamber, coordinate events for Young Professionals, and through those activities and events, recruit new members to the Farmers Branch Chamber


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By: Natalie Anthony
Congratulations. Your exams are over! Hopefully you feel less tight and happier. To close things out for our 5-week yoga series, I've saved my favourite poses for last. Say "hi" to your hips!
Hips: Tight hips are very common from sitting. Too much tension in this area could even begin to affect your lower back.
- Bend your right knee into your chest and flex your foot. Place the area just above your ankle on the very bottom of your left quadricep (above the knee). Keeping the right foot flexed, gently press down on the inside of your right thigh. The stretch should be on the outside of your right hip and upper thigh. Try the same pose on your left side.
- Hug your right knee into your chest and hold the stretch. Do the same with the left knee. This pose can be done standing by using a ledge to deepen it.
- While standing, find your balance. Cross your right knee over your left, and begin to bend the left knee. Try to keep your torso upright. This pose if known as 'eagle legs.' Consider adding your 'eagle arms' to deepen the pose (see shoulder section). Repeat on the left side.
Tip: If the stretch feels good, add more pressure as you press on your inner thigh or hug your knee.
There you have it. These are some of my favourite poses to perform after sitting at my desk. All of these poses can be taken in stages and should be held for about five breaths (on each side). You may find that one side of the body doesn't feel the same (or as good) as the other. That's normal.
As a bonus, here is my last tip for releasing tension after studying for long hours at your desk. Get up and walk around! Walk down the block, meet a friend in the park, or take a stroll to the community centre. In my experience, movement and stretching are a great ways to de-stress your body and mind.
Natalie Anthony, Yoga Instructor B.A., Corp. Comm., RYT-200
As a former triathlete, turned corporate leader, turned yoga instructor, Natalie discovered yoga makes her strongest and happiest.A serious accident brought Natalie to yoga. A passion for making others happy keeps her on the mat. Natalie is an internationally certified and registered Vinyasa and Yin yoga instructor. She currently teaches customized group and private sessions at Balance Fitness and at various corporate offices in downtown Toronto. Natalie also combines her love of yoga with a passion for communications and is a regular contributor for Village Living magazine.