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Day 1 :
Keynote Forum
Ozlem Tokusoglu
Celal Bayar University, Turkey
Keynote: Food shelf life stability innovations in food science and technology
Time : 09:30-10:00
Tokusoglu has completed her PhD at Ege University Engineering Faculty, Dept of Food Engineering at 2001. She is currently working as Associate Professor Dr faculty member in Celal Bayar University Engineering Faculty Department of Food Engineering. Tokusoglu performed a visiting scholar at the Food Science and Nutrition Department /University of Florida, Gainesville-Florida-USA during 1999-2000 and as visiting professor at the School of Food Science, Washington State University, Pullman, Washington,USA during April-May 2010. She has published many papers in peer reviewed journals and serving as an editorial board member of selected journals. Tokusoglu published the scientific edited two international book entitled Fruit and Cereal Bioactives: Chemistry, Sources and Applications and entitled Improved Food Quality with Novel Food Processing by CRC Press, Taylor & Francis,USA Publisher, third book Food By-Product Based Functional Food Powders is in progress; Dr Tokusoglu also published two national books entitled Cacao and Chocolate Science and Technology and Special Fruit Olive: Chemistry, Quality and Technology. She organized and/or administered as Conference Chair at many conferences and congress in various parts of USA and Europe.
Food shelf life stability provides a unique approach to understanding this critical subject by examining physical, chemical, and biochemical factors affecting food quality. The food sector and regulatory agencies are performing innovative technologies to provide safe and stable foods for public health. Nonthermal Technologies including high hydrostatic pressure (HHP), pulse electrical fields (PEF) and ultrasound (US) successfully decontaminate, pasteurize, and potentially pursue commercial sterilization of selected foods while retaining fresh-like quality and excellent nutrient retention; and these technologies are preferred instead of classical preservation technologies; bioactives has been enhanced. The effectiveness of antioxidants, emulsifiers, stabilizers, the utilizing of spray-drying technology for food powders, the preferring of irradiation, packaging in controlled atmospheres (MAP) can be affected the food shelf-life quality based on the food types
Keynote Forum
Giancarlo Cravotto
University of Turin, Italy
Keynote: Recent applications of cyclodextrins as food additives and in food processing
Giancarlo Cravotto is full Professor of Organic Chemistry at the University of Turin (Italy) and since 2007 he is Director of the Department of Drug Science and Technology and he is the President of the European Society of Sonochemistry. His research activity is documented by more than 300 peer reviewed papers, several book chapters and patents. His group has been partner of several UE projects. Among them ARCADE (FP7), MAPSYN "Highly efficient syntheses using alternative energy forms" (FP7-NMP-2012), "ECOEXTRACTION" (Alcotra 2011) and US4GREENCHEM (Horizon 2020). His research activity is focused on enabling technologies for green chemical processes and extraction from lab scale to industrial applications.
Now a days the application of cyclodextrin-assisted molecular encapsulation in foods offers many advantages. Cyclodextrins, their derivatives and their cross-linked polymers can all improve the quality of food in storage, remove specific components and stabilize and increase the presence of components that are important for a healthy diet. The application of cyclodextrins and their complexes in packaging materials can help not only transport of previously non-transportable foods, but may also prevent, or at least decelerate, the spread of microbial infections. The number of publications, particularly analytical papers, on this matter is constantly increasing. Although the application of modern analytical methods and equipment allows for the quantitation of previously subjectively characterized parameters, bio-sensory methods are still important. The application of cyclodextrins in the nutraceutical industry has many advantages; however, some side effects connected with the inclusion complexation ability of these carbohydrates should lead scientists to study cases on an individual basis. Recent developments in the major fields of cyclodextrin related food research are herein summarized.
Keynote Forum
Mirjana Menkovska
Ss.Cyril and Methodius University, Macedonia
Keynote: Investigation on titrable acidity and lipid peroxidation in fermented milk in production of yogurt
Dr. Mirjana Menkovska, Ph.D is full professor at Department of Food Technology and Biotechnology at the Institute of Animal Science, Ss. Cyril and Methodius University in Skopje, Macedonia. Her background is Food Technology. She graduated at the Faculty of Technology and Metallurgy in Skopje, took M.S. degree in Instrumental Analysis in Chemistry and Technology at the same University and Ph.D. degree in Food Technology at the University of Belgrade, Serbia. Dr. Menkovska was visiting scientist for cereal research at GMRC in Manhattan, Kansas, during the academic 1985/86, at Cereal Research Institute in Detmold, Germany in 1997, and at other known research centers in Europe. Dr. Menkovska has published more than hundred fifty papers in domestic and foreign scientific journals and participated at ninety scientific meetings in the country and abroad. Her bibliography data counts over 200 references. She has also translated scientific books (3) and reviewed scientific books (3) from English into Macedonian language.
In order the food spoilage process to be prevented, as well as protection against some serious diseases to be provided, of an invaluable importance is performing of inhibition of fat peroxidation (LPI). The production of various kinds of fermented food today is increasing in the food industry attracting growing interest of consumers around the globe due to their tendency to consume natural and healthy food, as is the fermented food.Milk fermentation was investigated using of the following species of cultures: symbiosis of Streptococcus thermophilus and Lactobacillus delbrueckii ssp. bulgaricus, and the monocultures Lactobacillus casei, L. acidophilus and Bifidobacterium bifidus. Titration acidity was measured by Soxlet's extractor in 0SH. Inhibition of lipid peroxidation was determined by a method based on developing of a dyed system using thiobarbituric acid and iron ions.The values of LPI were increased at the end of the investigation with the all species of cultures applied, and ranged from 52,87%; 65,85%; 76,07% and 65,67%, respectively. The results obtained from the investigation `have pointed out that the maximum capacity of inhibition of lipid peroxidation possessed Lactobacillus acidophilus, the second was Bifidobacterium bifidus. Milk fermented with the culture Lactobacillus acidophilus also showed the maximum degree of titration acidity of 40,06 оSH. This has proved that Lactobacillus acidophilus possessed the most proteolytic ability among the all cultures used. This is of great importance for the production of yogurt where these two cultures are applying, and for the balance of the all systems in the human organism provided by the positive influence of the probiotics.
- Workshop
Session Introduction
Osama Ibrahim
BioInnovation, USA
Title: Understanding the nature, physiology, taxonomy, diagnostic and the federal compliance guidelines for food-borne pathogen Listeria monocytogenes
Osama Ibrahim is a highly-experienced Principal Research Scientist with particular expertise in the field of microbiology, molecular biology, food safety, and bio-processing for both pharmaceutical and food ingredients. He is knowledgeable in microbial screening /culture improvement; molecular biology and fermentation research for antibiotics, enzymes, therapeutic proteins, organic acids and food flavors; Biochemistry for metabolic pathways and enzymes kinetics, enzymes immobilization, bioconversion, and Analytical Biochemistry. Dr. Ibrahim was external research liaison for Kraft Foods with Universities for research projects related to molecular biology and microbial screening and holds three bio-processing patents. In January 2005, he accepted an early retirement offer from Kraft Foods and in the same year he formed his own biotechnology company providing technical and marketing consultation for new startup biotechnology and food companies.
Listeria monocytogenes is an important food-borne pathogen. It is a causative agent of a severe infection that primarily affects immunocompromised people, pregnant women and occasionally healthy people. Intrauterine infection of fetus resulted in dearth, or an actually ill infant with a septic disseminated from listeriosis. The association of listeriosis outbreaks with contaminated foods led to recognize that L. monocytogenes is a food borne pathogen and that the intestine is the primary route of entry into the body. The incidence of listeriosis appears to be on increase worldwide, with the number of cases rising, especially in Europe. The annual endemic disease rate varies from 2 to 16 cases per million populations. L. monocytogenes strains appear to be normal residents in the intestinal tract of human. This may partially explain why antibodies to Listeria spp. are common in healthy people.L. monocytogenes detection in food samples traditionally involved culture methods based on selective enrichment and plating followed by the characterization of Listeria spp. based on colony morphology, sugar fermentation and haemolytic properties. These detection methods are lengthy and are not suitable for foods with short shelf lives. As a result more rapid detection methods of L. monocytogenes were developed based on antibodies (ELISA) or molecular techniques (PCR or DNA hybridization). These rapid detection methods areallowed detectionresultswithin 48 h.The nature of this food borne pathogen, including detection methods, mechanism of infection, disease symptoms, disease treatments, food protection and food safetyprotocols will be highlighted in this presentation.
Farid Chemat
Avignon University, France
Title: Green extraction of food ingredients and natural products: Moving from academia to innovative and large-scale applications
Farid Chemat is a full Professor of Chemistry at Avignon University (France), Director of GREEN Extraction Team (alternative extraction techniques and solvents), co-director of ORTESA LabCom research unit Naturex-UAPV, and scientific coordinator of "France Eco-Extraction" dealing with dissemination of research and education on green extraction technologies. His main research interests are focused on innovative and sustainable extraction techniques, protocols and solvents (especially microwave, ultrasound and bio-based solvents) for food, pharmaceutical, fine chemistry, biofuel, and cosmetic applications. His research activity is documented by more than 170 scientific peer-reviewed papers, 10 books and 10 patents.
This presentation will introduce a new and innovative area in the frontiers of chemistry, biology and processing: green extraction with special emphasis on natural products. Green extraction is a part of the sustainable development concept; its history, concept, principles and fundamentals will be described. We will pay special attention to the strategies and the tools available to make bio refinery greener. The representation will present the innovative research in this area these past five years in term of innovative techniques (microwave, ultrasound, pulse electric field...) and alternative solvents (ionic liquids, sub and supercritical fluid, agro solvents, water...) applied to this new area green extraction of natural products with special examples applied to bio refinery concept.A general definition of green chemistry is the invention, design and application of chemical products and processes to reduce or to eliminate the use and generation of hazardous substances. In relation of green extraction of natural products, this definition can be modified as follows: "Green Extraction is based on the discovery and design of extraction processes which will reduce energy consumption, allows use of alternative solvents and renewable natural products, and ensure a safe and high quality extract/product". The listing of the "six principles of Green Extraction of Natural Products" should be viewed for industry and scientists as a direction to establish an innovative and green label, charter and standard, and as a reflection to innovate not only in process but in all aspects of solid-liquid extraction. The principles have been identified and described not as rules but more as innovative examples to follow discovered by scientist and successfully applied by industry.
- Oral Session 1
Ozlem Tokusoglu
Celal Bayar University, Turkey
Giancarlo Cravotto
University of Turin, Italy
Session Introduction
Jae-Hyung Mah
Korea University, South Korea
Title: The safety of Asian fermented foods: Conventional and molecular genetic approaches to studying occurrence and control of biogenic amines
Jae-Hyung Mah has completed his BS, MS and PhD from Korea University, Republic of Korea and postdoctoral studies from University of Wisconsin-Madison and Washington State University, USA. He is a professor of Food and Biotechnology at Korea University (Sejong Campus), Republic of Korea. He has published about 50 papers in reputed journals and has been serving as an editorial board member and referee for several peer-reviewed journals in food science and technology. His researches focus on the analyses of hazardous chemicals and microorganisms in fermented foods and development of novel protective and preservative strategies such as application of genetically designed starter culture to food fermentation and inactivation kinetics of foodborne pathogenic and spoilage microorganisms exposed to chemical, physical and biological intervention treatments.
Fermentation is one of the oldest technologies in food processing and preservation in the world. A variety of fermented dairy products have been extensively developed in western countries, while a diversity of fermented vegetable (or soybean) products have been steadily developed in eastern countries. Asian fermented foods (excluding alcoholic beverages) can be classified into three groups: 1) fermented vegetables such as Korean kimchi, 2) fermented soybeans such as Korean Jang and Japanese Hishio, and 3) fermented fish such as Korean Jeotgal and Japanese Narezushi. Among them, fermented soybean foods have been largely used as significant protein sources in Asian countries at least for millennia and recently proven to exert various outstanding health benefits such as anticancer, antidiabetic, antihypertensive, anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and fibrinolytic effects. Nowadays fermented soybean foods are popular and consumed frequently even in western countries. Meanwhile, it is well known that fermentation of protein-rich raw materials (e.g., meat, milk) commonly provides abundant amino acid precursors of biogenic amines, and consequently results in a significant accumulation of biogenic amines in the final products (e.g., sausage, cheese). Likewise, previously reported data indicate that bacterial communities of fermented soybean foods can steadily produce substantial amounts of biogenic amines during processing (i.e., fermentation), distribution and storage, which may occasionally lead to a risk of food intoxication associated with digesting biogenic amines. Thus, a clear understanding of the occurrence of biogenic amines in fermented soybean foods is necessary to monitor and control biogenic amine formation in the foods. Unfortunately, empirical data on determining the dominant producers (and related genes) of biogenic amines and controlling the formation (and related gene expression) of biogenic amines in fermented soybean foods are scarce in literature. In this presentation, therefore, conventional and molecular genetic approaches to studying occurrence and control of biogenic amines in fermented soybean foods are described.
Abdullah S Colakoglu
Kahramanmaras Sutcu Imam University, Turkey
Title: Specific lipases: The pros and cons for their roles in bread making
Abdullah Sinan Colakoglu is Assistant Professor of Food Engineering at Kahramanmaras Sutcu Imam University, Turkey. He received his BSc degree in the Cukurova University, MSc degree in The Ohio State University, USA and PhD degree in Ankara University, Turkey. He has been active in the area of food science for over 15 years and worked primarily on food chemistry. His research mainly includes thermal and oxidative stability of lipids by thermal analyses and bread quality and staling by thermal and mechanical analyses. He completed 4 research projects supported by The Scientific and Technological Research Council and University research funds. His research team is currently working on characterization of whey butter obtained from different collection centers. He has produced 36 international and national publications cited over 80 times. He has served as the editor for International Journal of Food Science and Biotechnology, and the reviewer for The Journal of Food and Turkish Journal of Agriculture - Food Science and Technology.
Bread, usually defined as a spongy material formed partly or fully by amorphous biopolymers, is not physically stable since it holds different colloidal systems such as emulsion, foam and gel. In the last few decades, a wide range of additives has been used to achieve the stabilization of these systems which leads to improvements in dough handling, bread quality and shelf-life.The first part of presentation includes general background and relevant literature review on technological significance of wheat flour lipids and emulsifiers. It was well established that endogenous polar lipids, despite their low levels in wheat flour significantly improve the baking performance of wheat flour. Emulsifiers like SSL and DATEM have been used as dough conditioners and/or crumb softeners in breadmaking for their ability to bind to/modify gluten proteins, to form a lipid monolayer and/or single lamellar phase systems at the gas/liquid interface and to form complexes with gelatinized starch.Enzymes are regarded as clean label improvers since they are assumed to become denatured during baking and have no remaining activity in the final products. The use of lipases for substitution of emulsifiers in the bakery products is quite recent as compared to other enzymes. Lipases having broad substrate specificity have been proposed to improve dough and bread characteristics, and to play roles in the retardation of bread staling. The mechanisms underlying the technological effects of lipases are closely linked to the hydrolysis of one or more fatty acids from nonpolar and/or polar lipids to form the corresponding more polar mono- and diacyl-forms. Lipases, therefore, offer the opportunity to generate surface active compounds in situ, and possibly to substitute or reduce the use of emulsifiers. The remainder of this presentation summarizes the results of three research projects with the focus on exploring the lipase functionality in breadmaking: (1) Lipase improved the dough properties by leading to an increase in the dough stability, maximum resistance to extension, hardness and amylose-lipid formation, and a decrease in the softening degree and stickiness. (2) Lipase addition gave better specific volume, softness, elasticity, sensory attributes and image processing futures of breads. During storage, the extent of changes in unfrozen water content and recrystallization of amylopectin as well as in hardness and elasticity was markedly reduced. (3) Combination of lipase with CMC, guar gam or xylanase brought about further improvement in those bread quality and staling properties. These findings suggested that the impact of lipase on breadmaking is similar to or to a greater extent than that of DATEM or SSL.
Nicholas Low
University of Saskatchewan, Canada
Title: Juice to juice adulteration detection
Nicholas Low is a Professor of Food Chemistry at the University of Saskatchewan (Canada). His research group has been working in the area of food adulteration detection for more than thirty years. His group pioneered the field of 'oligosaccharide fingerprinting' for the detection of debasing agents in fruit juices, honey, and both maple and agave syrups. These analytical methods are used by government regulatory agencies and industry throughout the world. Current research areas include the development of internal tracing methods to monitor foods from farm to fork; phenolic profiling for food authenticity; and the encapsulation of bioactive compounds for targeted delivery in human and animal systems.
Fruit juices are a common target for adulteration by unscrupulous producers. One common method of juice debasing is the undeclared addition of a juice of lesser value to a product (juice-to-juice adulteration). This is of particular concern between apple and pear juices due to similarities in their major carbohydrate profiles and sensory properties. This makes apple-to-pear and pear-to-apple adulteration difficult to detect. Phenolic profiling by high performance liquid chromatography with photodiode array detection (HPLC-PDA) was used to identify phenolics, which were unique to apple or pear juice for use as authenticity markers. A database of 27 commercial apple juices representing six world production regions and 32 commercial pear juices representing five world production regions were used in this study. One marker was identified in apple juice and two (excluding arbutin) were identified in pear juice. The structural identity of these compounds was determined following chromatographic isolation by a combination of UV-visible spectroscopy, mass spectrometry and nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometry.
Ufuk Bagci
Trakya Universtity, Turkey
Title: Effects of atmospheric argon plasma treatment on surface decontamination of carrots
Ufuk Bagci was graduated from Department of Food Engineering, Hacettepe University (Ankara, Turkey) at 2000. He obtained her MSc (2006) and PhD (2012) degrees from the same department. He worked as a research assistant at Hacettepe University between 2003-2012. He worked as an Engineer at the Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock, European Union and International Relations General Directorate between 2012-2014. During his term at the Ministry he worked as a Technical Expert in a FAO-Turkey project. He is now working as an assistant professor at Trakya University (Edirne, Turkey), Department of Food Engineering since September 2014. His main interests are in Food Pathogens, Lactic Acid Bacteria, Probiotics and Food Security. He is also interested in membrane separation and cold plasma technologies.
In this study, surface decontamination efficiency of atmospheric argon plasma (AAP) treatment was examined on Escherichia coli ATCC 25922 inoculated carrots. The susceptibility of minimally processed carrots to microbial deterioration limits their shelf life and marketability. Increased consumer awareness on the demand for healthy foods prompted the food industry to develop alternative methods that ensures microbiological safety of minimally processed foods while preserving original quality characteristics. In this context, atmospheric plasma treatment represents a potential alternative to traditional methods for non-thermal decontamination of foods. E. coli ATCC 25922 culture were spray inoculated on peeled carrot surfaces. Inoculated carrots were treated with AAP for 10, 30 or 60 s at a working distance of 10, 20 or 30 mm, respectively. After the plasma treatment E. coli counts were determined via pour plate method. During the plasma treatment surface temperature of the carrots were measured by thermal camera. The effect of AAP on microscopic morphology were examined by Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM).AAP surface decontamination efficiency significantly increased with lower working distance and longer treatment times. The highest reductions of E. coli counts on carrot surfaces were achieved at 60 s treatment time for all working distance parameters. The maximum reductions were recorded as 4.54, 1.84 and 1.56 cfu/ sample, for 10, 20 and 30 mm working distances, respectively. The most effective parameter in decontamination of carrot surfaces was found 10 mm working distance and 60 s working time. During the AAP treatment surface temperature of carrots didn't exceed 40 ºC. SEM results showed that bacterial cell wall integrity were disrupted after the plasma treatment causing cell death. This study demonstrated that the AAP treatment can be used as an efficient alternative process to traditional non-thermal decontamination methods for surface decontamination of carrots.
Aline Holder
Festo AG & Co, Germany
Title: Functional surfaces – Development of innovative products
Aline Holder has her expertise in material science and engineering, food science and technology as well as food contact materials. Her research focus is based on advanced technologies for the food and beverage industry with special focus on smart surfaces to develop innovative automation products. She has built up her expertise during a phd thesis from 2010-2014 in research, evaluation, teaching and administration at the University of Hohenheim, Institute of Food Science and Biotechnology. Since 2015 she is part of the research department of Festo AG & Co. KG focusing on applied research to transfer new promising technologies to the company.
Surfaces and their properties are playing an increasingly important role in industry application. In general, materials are used according to their property requirements such as elasticity, strength, heat resistance or to meet other requirements such as corrosion resistance. However, traditional surfaces are often not able to meet the ever increasing demands of today´s applications in automotive, textile, medical and food industry. Thus, in recent years, advances have been made using functional coatings to exceed limitations of material to make surfaces more attractive for specific industry applications. Hygienic and efficient automation technologies are key aspects for a successful production process for example in the food and beverage industry. Requirements regarding the cleanability and durability of surfaces that are in food contact are important factors. The approach of this study was to design functional surfaces with easy to clean and/ or self-cleaning coatings that enable automation components to be easily or less cleaned. For coating procedure physical vapor deposition was carried out in order to facilitate separation of the vaporized coating material to the substrate. Substrates used are aluminum, stainless steel and plastics for example polyamide or polyethylene. Analytical descriptions of surface characteristics were performed using scanning electron microscopy, contact angel and roughness.Different surfaces were successfully coated with easy to clean coatings and characterized analytically. In addition, coating of automation components consisting of different materials were realized and coating adhesion was improved. First application tests showed a clear improvement of material properties relating to chemical resistance and cleanability compared to today's standard materials used.
Nelly Datukishvili
Ilia State University, Georgia
Title: Multiplex approach for detection of genetically modified foods
Nelly Datukishvili obtained the doctoral degree in 1997 from the I.Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University (Georgia). She worked in the area of molecular biology and biotechnology at the Institute of Molecular Biology and Biological Physics (Tbilisi), Engelhardt Institute of Molecular Biology (Moscow), Agricultural Biotechnology Center (Godollo, Hungary), Gent Agricultural Research Centre (IVLO, Belgium). Since 2004 Dr. Datukishvili has initiated molecular study and analysis of genetically modified plants and foods in Georgia. Currently, she leads the GMO group, is an Associate Professor and a manager of scientific projects. She has more than 40 publications and presentations.
In recent years Global distribution of genetically modified (GM) crops resulted in an increasing share of GM foods in agro-food industry. Detection of genetically modified foods is important in many aspects of food quality and safety, labeling regulation, health protection, consumer information and food production. This study presents new multiplex PCR methods for rapid and reliable screening of GM ingredients in foods. The multiplex approach enabling simultaneous detection of several targets was applied to meet challenges for effective detection of increasing number of GM crops. Soybean, maize, potato and tomato were investigated as significant GM food crops. The certified reference materials of Roundup Ready soybean (RRS), potato EH92-527-1, maize MON 810 and Bt-176 were used for the optimization of multiplex PCR systems. The seeds and different foodstuffs were analyzed. The analytical procedure includes several steps, such as design of GMO-specific and species-specific PCR primers; genomic DNA extraction; evaluation of DNA quantity and integrity by spectrophotometer and agarose gel electrophoresis; development and optimization of all standard and real-time uniplex and multiplex PCR systems; analysis of GM ingredients in foods by multiplex PCR. The results analysis and interpretation exhibited that new multiplex PCR methods allowed identification of common transgenic sequences, such as: cauliflower mosaic virus (CaMV) 35S promoter, agrobacterium tumefaciens nopaline synthase (NOS) terminator, 5-enolppyruvylshikimate-phosphate synthase (epsps) gene, Cry1Ab delta-endotoxin (cry1Ab) gene, the junction between the nopaline synthase promoter and the neomycin phosphotransferase II gene (Pnos-nptII), phosphinothricin N-acetyltransferase (bar) gene as well as species specific genes, in particular soybean lectin, tomato LAT52, maize zein and invertase, potato sucrose synthase and UDP-glucose pyrophosphorylase genes. Testing of different foodstuffs demonstrated that new PCR methods developed in this study are useful for fast and reliable analysis of GM ingredients in foods.
Ivana Radojcic Redovnikovic
University of Zagreb, Croatia
Title: Green solvents for green extraction of biologically active compounds
Ivana Radojcic Redovnikovic is a Full Professor at the Faculty of Food Technology and Biotechnology at University of Zagreb since 2017. She received her diploma in Biotechnology (2001) and her doctoral degree in Biotechnology and Bioprocess engineering (2007) at the same Faculty. The focus of her doctoral dissertation was localization of aliphatic glucosinolate biosynthesis and their potential role in plant defense. Her scientific interests are: plant secondary metabolites, phytoremediation and green solvents (ionic liquids, deep eutectic solvents). She is a lecturer for "Bioprocess Engineering" and "Molecular Biotechnology" Master degree studies programme and "Biotechnology and Bioprocess Engineering" PhD programme, researcher in several national/international research projects, supervisor of undergraduate, graduate and PhD students. Currently, she is involved in projects concerning green solvents preparation and characterization (determination of their physicochemical properties and toxicological profile) and its application in extraction of phenolic compounds from food industry waste and biocatalysts with enzymes and microbes.
According to the principles of green chemistry, the selection of a suitable solvent is based on workers' safety (toxicity, carcinogenicity, mutagenicity, absorption through the skin and respiratory system), process safety (flammability, explosiveness, volatility, creating the potential peroxide), environment protection (ecotoxicity, persistence, groundwater contamination, destruction of the ozone layer) and the sustainability of the process (the ability of recycling and repeated use possibility) meaning that green solvent should be chemically and physically stable, low volatility, easy to use and easy to recycle with the possibility of reuse. Over the last few years, natural deep eutectic solvents (NADES) have been dramatically expanding in popularity as promising alternatives to traditional organic solvents. NADES may be considered as 'designer solvents' due to their numerous structural variations and possibility to design their physicochemical properties. Furthermore, NADES are based on compounds that are safe for human consumption which opens numerous possibilities for their applications in the field of life sciences. One of the applications of NADES is the extraction of biologically active compounds from plant material. A few studies in which NADES have been applied for the extraction of bioactive compounds, showed that many compounds are dissolved better than in water or lipids. Independently of target compounds, in order to design efficient extraction methods by using NADES, following steps should be included: (1) selection and fine-tuned NADES physicochemical characteristic, (2) selection and optimization of extraction method and, (3) recovery of target compounds from NADES if it is necessary. Herein, a brief overview of the up to date knowledge regarding these solvents, with special emphasis on extraction of phenolic compounds from grape pomace, will be presented.
Turkan Mutlu Keceli
Cukurova University, Turkey
Title: Current development in detection of adulteration in extra virgin olive oil
Turkan Mutlu Keceli is Assistant Professor of Food Engineering at The University of Cukurova, Adana, Turkey. She received her B.S. and the M.S degree in the University of Cukurova and Ph.D. in food science from the University of Reading, England. She has been active in the area of food science for over 15 years. Her research mainly includes olives and olive oil quality; natural extracts; lipid oxidation and oxidative stability; production and purification of value-added bio product phenolic compounds such as antimicrobials and antioxidants; characterization of olive oils from different regions. Her research is supported by the grants from DPT and University research funds. She is currently directing the projects on characterization of virgin olive oils obtained from Gemlik, Sarı Ulak, Halhalı, Sarı Haşebi olive varieties. She has produced over 77 international and national publications, has been cited 90 times and worked in 26 projects. She has 18 review service activities in journals of food science and technology.
Adulteration of food products involves the replacement of high cost ingredients with lower grade and cheaper substitutes. The extra virgin olive oil adulteration with other lower value vegetable oils still remains an important issue for the consumers and the olive oil sector. Adulteration of olive oil is also serious problem for regulatory agencies, oil suppliers and could also threat health of consumers. Blend edible oils can be prepared only for suitable oils, if the resulting blend deviates from the mixture proportions this should be given on the label. The edible oils widely employed in virgin olive oil adulteration can be lower quality olive oil (refined or pomace olive oil) or other seed oils such as corn, peanut, cottonseed, sunflower, soybean and poppy seed oils. Hazelnut oil is another oil with very similar triacylglycerol, total sterol and fatty acid compositions to extra virgin olive oil and has concerned numerous researchers. Several chromatographic and spectroscopic techniques in combination with chemometric methods have been proposed as rapid screening techniques for the authentication of extra virgin olive oil, and the detection and quantification of its adulteration with refined oils. Recently, simple, inexpensive, rapid and accurate alternative methods to determine adulterants in extra virgin olive oil in environments that time and fast decisions are important (ports, control points, market surveys and other rapid testing environments) have been developed including near infrared and Raman techniques combined with chemometric methods. This presentation will discuss recent researches which have been performed or in progress best in detecting and quantifying adulteration of extra virgin olive oil.
Shahid Bashir
The University of Lahore, Pakistan
Title: Development of Spirulina supplemented food bars for school age children
I have worked on characterization and utilization of spirulina for food applications during my doctoral degree at University of Agriculture of Faisalabad, Pakistan and Cornell University, New York, USA. My current research interest is on fortification of food especially prepared from staple crops like wheat and rice. I am also working on value addition of agricultural commodities.
Spirulina (Spirulina platensis) belongs to "algae" and considered as the most nutrient dense food on the earth as it is an excellent source of protein (62%), thiamine (2.38 mg/100g), zinc (4.15 mg/100g) and iron (28.50 mg/100g) at the same time very low in calorific value (290 kcal/100). Due to its exceptional nutritional profile, it has proven to be a great option to fortify staples to make nutrient rich products to alleviate malnutrition without disturbing dietary habits. This study was designed to conduct protein quality and safety evaluation of the spirulina using Sprague Dawley rats using 45-day trial and further utilized for the development of food bars for school nutrition programs. Biological indices including growth i.e. protein efficiency ratio (1.87), net protein ratio (4.16) and relative net protein ratio (78.48) as well as nitrogen balance study that include true digestibility (74.32 %), biological value (79.78%) and net protein utilization (60.24%) of spirulina proved it as a promising nutritional ingredient. Safety evaluation revealed no abnormal values related to test diets were observed in serum total protein, albumin, globulins and A/G ratio, glucose and insulin, lipid profile including cholesterol, triglycerides, LDL and HDL, liver enzymes (ALT, AST & ALP) and serum urea, creatinine and bilirubin as kidney function. Extruded crisps were prepared which was converted into food bars as a convenient nutrient delivery systems for the school nutrition program. Consumption of 100 g of the nutrition bar can satisfy substantial RDA of protein (90-95%), vitamin A (85-92%), vitamin C (93-100%), iron (200%), and zinc (110%). Spirulina supplemented nutrition bars is an economic and shelf stable vehicle for providing macro and micro nutrients to the school age children.
Baran Onal Ulusoy
Cankırı Karatekin University, Turkey
Title: Decontamination and detoxification of hazelnut with atmospheric and low-pressure non-thermal plasmas
Baran Onal-Ulusoy is working as an Associate Prof.Dr. BARN ONAL-ULUSOY at Çankırı Karatekin Univ. in Turkey. She received her BSc., MSc and Ph.D. degrees in Food Enginnering from Hacettepe University. Her research interests include Plasma polymerization technique for surface modification, Plasma sterilization and detoxification, Adsorption and other separation techniques (Membranes, MIP, TLC, Chromatography), Validation and accreditation of Food Analysis Methods, Chromatographic Instrumental Analysis Techniques and Food Chemistry. She is the author of 14 papers and one international book chapter and she worked at 11 projects in which 5 of them were international projects (COST, Koranet, IOWA State Univ. Inc.).She has one US patent on antioxidants used for frying oil.
In this study, decontamination and detoxification effects of non-thermal atmospheric pressure and low-pressure plasma systems were investigated on hazelnuts artificially contaminated with 7.9±0.06 log (cfu/mL) of Aspergillus parasiticus (A.parasiticus) and 7.8±0.06 log (cfu/mL) of Aspergillus flavus (A.flavus) spores. Different plasma parameters for atmospheric plasma (plasma frequency: 16-20-25 kHz, reference voltage: 40-100, plasma jet velocity: 50-100 m/min, gas flow rate: 3000-5000 L/h, raster offset: 3-5 mm, cycle time: 5, temperature, gases: high purity air or nitrogen) and low-pressure plasma (treatment time, gases: high purity oxygen, air or nitrogen) were tested for decontamination purposes. optimum parameters for both plasma systems were determined according to remained viable spores counted after plasma treatments. Additionally, the effects of optimum plasma conditions on different concentration of aflatoxin B1(1-1000 ppb) and total aflatoxins (B1+B2, 1-1000.39 ppb) were also determined and compared with the effect of gamma radiation (10 kGY Cobalt-60 for 10 min). Improved spore inactivation of 5.6 and 4.7 log (cfu/mL) in A.paraciticus and A.flavus,respectively,were achieved after 100 W-30 min of low pressure plasma treatment by using air as the plasma forming gas. Similarly, 5.5 and 5.4 log (cfu/mL) in A.paraciticus and A.flavus, respectively, were achieved after atmospheric pressure air plasma at 100 voltage, 25 kHz frequency, 3000 L/h flow rate, 60 m/min plasma jet velocity, 3 mm raster off- set and 5 cycle time. 89-90% of AFB1 reduction was achieved when 10-50 ppm of pure AFB1 was treated with low-pressure air plasma at optimum conditions. On the other hand, highest AFB1 reduction of 75 % was achieved when 50 ppb of AFB1 was treated atmospheric pressure air plasma at optimum conditions.
Abdullah S Colakoglu
Kahramanmaras Sutcu Imam University, Turkey
Title: SPME/GC-MS characterization of volatiles in whey butter
Abdullah Sinan Colakoglu is Assistant Professor of Food Engineering at Kahramanmaras Sutcu Imam University, Turkey. He received his BSc degree in the Cukurova University, MSc degree in The Ohio State University, USA and PhD degree in Ankara University, Turkey. He has been active in the area of food science for over 15 years and worked primarily on food chemistry. His research mainly includes thermal and oxidative stability of lipids by thermal analyses and bread quality and staling by thermal and mechanical analyses. He completed 4 research projects supported by The Scientific and Technological Research Council and University research funds. His research team is currently working on characterization of whey butter obtained from different collection centers. He has produced 36 international and national publications cited over 80 times. He has served as the editor for International Journal of Food Science and Biotechnology, and the reviewer for The Journal of Food and Turkish Journal of Agriculture - Food Science and Technology.
Since annual world cheese-whey production is increasing, whey utilization has been the subject of much research. Whey, depending on the milk source, type and processing method of cheese, contains 0.3-0.5% of fat.This study was assessed to determine the volatile profile of whey butter, and to verify if the volatile fraction, determinant for butter flavor, differs among the collection centers and from milk butter. Whey butter was produced from wheys collected from four different cities around Turkey. Briefly, after clarification and pasteurization, whey was concentrated to cream with 45-50% fat content by cream separator. The cream was allow to crystalize at cool temperature and then churned. Finally, the obtained butter worked to improve its consistency, and kept -20oC. A duplicate 3.0-g portion of the butter sample and 10 µL of 2-methyl-3-heptanone in methanol as an internal standard in a 15-mL vial were hermetically sealed with Teflon coated rubber septa and aluminum caps and allowed to equilibrate at 40oC for 30 min. Extraction is achieved by inserting a 75 µm carboxen-polydimethylsiloxane (CAR/PDMS) fiber into the vial and exposing it to the headspace for 30 min at 40oC. Desorption of the extracted volatiles was carried out on a gas chromatography–mass spectrometry system and run in split (ratio was 1:20) mode. During desorption, the fiber remained in the injector for 2 min at a temperature of 250oC, with helium as the carrier gas at a flow rate of 1.0 mL/min. The volatile compounds were separated on a DB-Wax column (60 m x 0.25 mm x 0.25 µm). The oven was held at 40oC for 2 min, then increased for 5oC/min to 240oC and held for 6 min at 240oC. The mass spectrometer was set to record at 33–450 atomic mass units (threshold 1000) at a sampling rate of 1.11 scans/s. The volatile compounds were identified by calculation of the retention index (RI) of each compound, using an n-alkane series (C10–C26) under the same conditions. Identifications were confirmed by comparing retention times with reference standards when available. The amount of the volatile compounds was calculated by the comparison of the peak area of the internal standard and the unknown compounds. Each compound was expressed as µg/100 g of butter. Two commercially produced milk butters were used as control samples. The results obtained from the study will be presented and discussed.
Hermin Pancasakti Kusumaningrum
Diponegoro University, Indonesia
Title: Improvement of nutrition production by protoplast fusion techniques in Chlorella vulgaris
Hermin Pancasakti Kusumaningrum, SSi., MSi has completed her PhD at the age of 37 years from Gadjah Mada University by SEAMEO SEARCA program. She is the Associate Professor of Biology Department. She has published more than 10 papers in reputed journals in Indonesia and overseas.
Recent decades showing remarkable development of the biotechnology of microalgae. Valuable product for food, nutrition and other applications will extend into broader area. Natural nutrition productions from micro-algae are not yet competitive with their synthetic levels. Chlorella is widely used as a health food and feed supplement, as well as in the pharmaceutical and cosmetics industries. Protoplast fusion was found to be an efficient method in improving its nutrition production and diversification in Chlorella vulgaris. The research was carried out by application of protoplast fusion on interspecific microalgae of C. vulgaris. The fusant was subjected for analysis of nutrition content by GCMS methods on C. vulgaris powder from 100 L liquid cultivation of fusant. The research result gained fusant in high mass production level. Nutrition analysis of fusants showed 17 amino acid with high concentration glutamic acid ( 14495,52 ppm) followed by leucine (10856.97 ppm) and Aspartic acid (10378 ppm). Palmitic acid (1,59%) was showed highest concentration in its lipid acid profile. Lipid analysis also showed polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) with concentration 1.0987% and DHA 0,2% . Surprisingly, the fusant also revealed Omega 9 instead of Omega 3 and Omega 6. The research result showed potential acquisition of improvement nutrition by protoplast fusian application on microalgae.
Mannan Hajimahmoodi
Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Iran
Title: Consideration of physicochemical characteristics, total polyphenol content and flavonoids in various Iranian commercial juices
Mannan Hajimahmoodi received Pharmacy Doctorate and PhD of Food Science and Nutrition from Tehran University of Medical Sciences (TUMS). She is Vice Chancelor of Food and Drug uniiversity of Medical Science, since 2013. Now she is Professor of Drug and Food Control Department, Faculty of Pharmacy, TUMS. She published many papers and managed more than 20 projects about food and nutrition. She is Skillful in analytical instruments such as HPLC, GC/FID, IR, UV, and highly interested in analytical methods about food safety and quality.
Juice is an important source of vitamins required for human. The main goal of the present study was to develop an analytical method for the quality control of juice products. Two physiochemical characteristics of juice (pH and Brix) were analyzed and compared to the related standards. Additionally, the ferric reducing antioxidant power was applied for evaluation of antioxidants and Catechin, Eriocitrin, Narengin, Hesperidin and Quercetin contents were evaluated by reversed-phase high performance liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC) and UV detection at 280 nm. The RP-HPLC method was performed using a C8 column with gradient elution of water, acetic acid and acetonitrile. Maximum LOD is 1.39 ppm for Eriocitrin and spiked sample's recoveries of at least 82.81% were observed for Narengin. The method was applied for determination of pH, brix, total polyphenol content and flavonoids in 73 Iranian commercial juices, such as orange, pineapple, peach and sour cherry juice. Results indicated that the determination of flavonoids were highly valuable for quality control of commercial fruit juice.
Hamed Ahari
Islamic Azad University, Iran
Title: A comparison on the effects of polyethylene and polyamide nano-silver packaging in reduction of the mince microbial load
Hamed Ahari is currently working as an Assistant Professor of Food Safety and Quality Control. He is also a Faculty member of Food Technology and Nutritional Sciences and; Researcher of Food Nano Microbiology Sciences at Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran. He is also Member of American Society for Food Protection; Member of World Food Safety Organization (WFSO); Member of Iranian Food Sciences Society (IFS) and International Lead Auditor of Food Safety System.
To increase the per capita consumption of packed products, such as meat, in each country, it is important to increase the shelf life of these products without risking food safety; covers that reduce the microbial load, maintain the quality, and prevent product waste are therefore essential. The use of innovative technologies, known as nanotechnology, is a novel approach in this sector. Covers made of silver nanoparticles effectively prevent and reduce invasion of microorganisms, compared with other conventional covers. This study was conducted to determine the effects of nano-silver covers compared with conventional covers.
He is currently an assistant professor of food safety and quality control. He is also a member of faculty, (Food Technology and Nutritional Sciences)* *Researcher of food nano microbiology sciences **college of food science and technology science and research branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran* *Member of American society for food protection (FPA)* *Member of World Food Safety Organization (WFSO)* *Member of Iranian Food Sciences Society (IFS)* *International Lead Auditor Of Food Safety System*
Manufacturing of Nano biosensor kits for a fast detection in few minutes, so an attempt in determining the mass of Salmonella typhi by means of a sensor design was made to obtain this shortened. In this research, by means of a micro contact imprinted polymer scheme, molecularly imprinted polymer was achieved. First, Meta acrylic acid (MAA) with covalent bond among its monomers formed a white polymer and hydrogen bond between antibody and MAA. They were used to prepare imprinted molecule and polymer. It was noticed that with the aid of fluorescence converter and its connection with the antibody of Salmonella typhi bacterium, it would be possible to detect the Salmonella typhi antigen. The results indicate that detecting the concentration of Salmonella typhi bacterium is possible with a minimum mass of 10 colonies per ml in polluted waters. The achieved results were quantified by a spectrofluorometer device. Additionally, the E. coli bacteria were inseminated in an aquatic environment containing Salmonella typhi and it was detected that there was no interference with function of sensor. Besides, sensitivity of the sensor up to 60 days was examined and it was agreed that performance of the sensor could be verified up to 56 days and then would start to diminish. In conclusion, the roles of sensor at 10-1 to109 concentration of Salmonella typhi antigen are exclusively precise and sensitive.


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Main menu:
In this section photos taken by me during the expeditions and travels are placed. However, not so much as I would like, and not the original quality (compressed). But, it's all I can offer you, taking into account the limited disk space and long time of downloading of the website to the server. I hope, nevertheless, the images will be enough to help you to decide whether to make such trips themselves. Well, and to whom they will be useful for the collection or works - use them unhesitatingly. I do not put any restrictions on their use, except for a link to the site
Nimrod Fortress (Israel)
Sanctuary of Pan, Banias (Israel)
Roman ruins of Banias (Israel)
Banias. Headwaters of Hermon-Jordan (Israel)
Megiddo - Armageddon (Israel)
Nahal Amud - the Garden of Eden (Israel)
Bahai Gardens and Temple in Haifa (Israel)
Crusader fortress (fortified) town of Akko (Israel)
Roman and Byzantine ruins and mosaics of Zippori (Israel)
Judean Desert (Israel)
The Sidonian caves. Beit (Bet) Guvrin - Maresha National Park (Israel)
Canaanite and Hebrew town of Arad (Tel Arad). National Park Tel Arad (Israel)
Tel Hazor. National Park Tel Hazor (Israel)
Capernaum (Capharnaum) - Tabgha. Church Geptapegon, seven springs, better known as the Church of the Multiplication (Israel)
Tabgha - Capernaum. Church of St. Peter or Menza Christie (table of the Lord) (Israel)
Greek Church of Council of the Twelve Apostles in Capernaum (Israel)
Soreq Cave (Israel)
Angkor - Takeo temple, dedicated to Shiva (Cambodia)

subset: commoncrawl


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Frida Aasen image , view more Frida Aasen pictures Report
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Gear : Essential Equipment : Harnesses : Adjustable : Opal Harness
Opal Harness
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Free Shipping. Camp USA Opal Harness Spring 2010 The Opal Harness by Camp USA. Comfortable and affordable padded harness for beginners and groups. One size fits all up to 47 inches. Features single color-coded tie-in point and auto-locking buckles to minimize user error. Four gear loops. FEATURES of the Opal Harness by Camp USA Rock Climbing, Institutional/Group One size fits all from a 28-47 inch waist Sliding padding on the waist 3-mm perforated EVA foam Pre-Threaded Auto-Locking Buckles on the waist and legs 4 webbing reinforced gear loops and a chalk bag loop Patented Flat Link elastic straps connecting the waist and legs Single Color-Coded Tie-In Point SPECIFICATIONS: Application: Institutional/Group, Rock Climbing Waist: 72-120 cm, 28.5-47 in Legs: 52-80 cm, 20.5-31.5 in Weight: 499 g, 17.6 oz


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This is "A Guide to Gambling" and it's written by a Gooner - hence the title.
Sports Betting, Poker and Casino action.
Wednesday, October 31, 2012
FT : Reading 5-7 Arsenal (AET) - Video highlights of all the goals!
Jason Roberts, a Laurent Koscielny own goal, Mikele Leigertwood and Noel Hunt put Reading 4-0 up after 35 minutes.
Theo Walcott found the net before the break, before Olivier Giroud and Koscielny scored with headers from corners, and Walcott grabbed an equaliser with the last kick of normal time.
Marouane Chamakh scored in extra-time before Pavel Pogrebnyak levelled, but Walcott and Chamakh had the final word.
Reading v Arsenal by dm_5090bf3966cbe
Arsenal had 32 shots (21 on target) while Reading also managed 17 shots in a game that started with goals and just went mental. WTF was this? A header tennis match? ;-)
Posted by Gooner at 2:38 am
Labels: Arsenal, Capital One Cup, England, Reading
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A Question For Those With A "Head On Their Shoulders"
I didn't make that word up! It is one of the ingredients of Head and Shoulders shampoo. How much would you get for that in a scrabble game!! [Ask someone on a date to spell that. If he/she gets the right answer I wouldn't necessarily suggest you marry them - but I would take the person for the spelling bee.]
Why do I bring this up? Because I find myself scratching my head when I read Rashi on this weeks parsha. He says [Ch. 6 Pasuk 6] that the root Nichum ALWAYS means to change ones mind ["machshava acheres"]. Then, in the very last comment on the parsha [only a few sentences later!] he says that "nichamti" means "I considered what I should do" [chashavti mah la'asos] - not "I changed my mind".
So which one is it???
I would like to thank a certain Grand Rabbi from Brooklyn named Rabbi Schneerson of blessed memory for pointing this out to me.
Polynapthalensulfonate. Another ingredient. Who thinks of these words??


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A MAN'S JOURNEY. Nic Thompson recounts his unique path to the world of male modeling
During his most recent photo shoot for DAMAN, American model Nic Thompson chatted with us about his journey from construction and MMA to modeling, his most memorable projects and his impressions of Indonesia.
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SS13' - Recoil vs Shredtown for cable riding!
Hey everyone,
I am looking for reviews / opinions on 2 SS 13' sets which i consider buying for cable riding:
a) Recoil + Rad boot
b) Shredtown + Shredtown boot
Now I don't know much about SS, and I have never tried them, as they are not popular around where I live. I am focusing on cable riding, and I doubt that will change within the next few years.
My was mostly air trick oriented, but I aim to move to improve on obstacles a lot this season, so I immediately thought of SS, mostly because of some edits / vids I've seen tbh :)
My question is, which set would be better for cable riding and a good balance of air tricks and obstacle riding?
I'd highly appreciate any information about this equipment, or possible suggestions!
The Shredtown setup is pretty much the defacto go-to cable park board in the SS lineup... You can't go wrong there. The Shredtown boots are probably a lot easier to take on and off at the cable park too, and they also are likely much more flexible than the Rad boots.
I don't really mind the boots, even if the rads are slightly harder to take off. One of the opinions I read was that Shredtown is great for winching and obstacle focus, not so good for air tricks / edging. I'd like to learn how is Recoil in comparison!
Do a search on here and see what people have reviewed them like in the past. I don't think you can go wrong with either setup.
My problem is a lot of people have loads of boat experience, or their boat to cable ratio is around 70/30, so they look at different aspects of the board I assume, for eg, the feeling regarding wake to wake ( I am not even sure if im saying that correctly) is an abstract term for me, so I look for anyone cable oriented, air tricks of the corners included.
But I'll keep on browsing!
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Forget New Year's Resolutions! What's your theme for 2014?
Happy New Year!
You'll see in the video below what I think about New Year's Resolutions (there's a reason you're seeing this on January 8th) but suffice it to say, not much.
There's so much pressure to start the year off right and pile your plate with loads of unreasonable expectations.
I have a proposal for you.
What if this is the year you put down the stick?
What if this is the year that you connect with the part of yourself that's strong and wants to have a beautiful life and motivate yourself from there instead of trying to beat yourself toward your goals.
I declared December a "should-free" month, but how about we declare 2014 to be a "should-free" year.
Resolutions are just shoulds and shoulds suck. I'm sorry, but they do. They're exhausting and make you feel like crap.
That being said, the new year has this fresh sparkly blank sheet feel to it, but rather than fill it full of "shoulds", what if you got out your glitter glue, crayons and sticker collection and filled it with WANTS, LOVES, NEEDS AND DESIRES?
What if you nudged your new year in the direction you wanted to FEEL?
I'm a big fan of themes and words for the new year and I'm also a big fan of Jian Gomeshi. See how the two came together in my video below! You'll also find out what my theme is for the year.
(If you're not sure what I'm doing with my hands there near the end, that's my hand sign for "Heart-Wings", that's the feeling I want the most in my life.)
Your turn!!
What's your theme, word or flavour for 2014?
What are some of the "should sticks" you're going to put down?
Speaking and writing these for others to see is incredibly powerful and supportive so take advantage of this space and write yours in the comments below.
If you have a friend who is always making the same "shouldy" resolutions every year, tell them to put down the stick and send this their way. We'll both thank you.
BIG Heart Wings Love,
p.s. I've been getting lots of emails and calls from folks who want to work with me this year, yoohoo! My schedule is filling up quickly but there's still space for you if you want 2014 to be amazing. This could be the year that everything changes, seriously... Email me!
p.p.s. If you're reading this and you're not on my list, you should really get yourself on it! Just pop on over here to get on! All the cool kids are doing it!
BONUS VIDEOS! c!c!c! on Q with Jian Gomeshi!!!
Here's your sweet gentle vibes.
Here's one to shake your booty to (or jump up and down like me!)
(The power of themes in action, this came from my theme of CREATIVITY two years ago!)


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I haven't written in awhile so I'm going back to Easter Sunday. We all got together on Sunday for our Easter egg hunt. We have our tradition we have been doing since we were kids. Riddles hidden in plastic eggs all over the house. Each riddle leads to the next clue until they have found all their eggs. Last riddle leads them to their basket. We made Corbin and Noveigh's pretty hard this year but still the zipped right though them. We have some smart kids and we under estimated them lol
After our riddle hunt we take all their colored hard boiled eggs and we hide them outside. We do a toddler section and then a big kid section. The toddlers found them pretty fast but the big kids struggled!! Before we were even done Noveigh fell and while tryin to catch herself on the fence sliced her hand open. Was very gross and poor thing had to have her hand in a bandage for the rest of the day. It put a stop the egg hunt.
We all went home to nap, shower and change. Then back to my Mom's house for a wonderful Turkey dinner.
It was a great day other then Noveigh's hand. Here are a few pictures below.
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Easter =)
I haven't written in awhile so I'm going back to Easter Sunday. We all got together on Sunday for our Easter egg hunt. We have our tradition we have been doing since we were kids. Riddles hidden in plastic eggs all over the house. Each riddle leads to the next clue until they have found all their eggs. Last riddle leads them to their basket. We made Corbin and Noveigh's pretty hard this year but still the zipped right though them. We have some smart kids and we under estimated them lol
Posted by Jenna at 2:52 PM 0 comments Links to this post
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
Jury Duty
I haven't posted in a few weeks. Guess I went through a busy patch there for a bit. With Hula shows, Family members coming back from Hawaii and Baseball starting....we got busy.
I wanted to write a blog about my Jury Duty experience, cause it was just that....quite an experience!
Couple months ago I got my summons to appear in court for Grand Jury. I didn't realize this was different then regular Jury but once I read into it I then understood the difference. The morning I was supposed to be in court we got our first and last snow of the season....and all courts were closed! I was thrilled I didn't have to go. I was secretly hoping that this meant my name would go back into the system and it wouldn't be rescheduled. Well I was wrong, I received a 2ND summons for April 6th, this past Monday.
I'm pretty sure I could have gotten out of it being that I'm a SAHM and all. But being that my kids are older and David was off that day I decided to suck it up and just go.
Getting there sucked because it was raining. I was wearing dress close and my car has been acting up and wouldn't start. Then I couldn't find a parking spot and I was running late. My coffee thermos was leaking everywhere even though it was brand new @@ It was a rough morning.
I walked into the little room with chairs and I walked up to the desk to sign in. She asked my name and then said "Oh you are Grand jury you don't have to sign in". I then was put in a smaller room with a few other people and we just waited. In the end there were 8 of us...I guess the 9th person was a no show.
We only waited about 10mins and then we were lead out of the room and into the actual courtroom. We were put in the Jury box and then asked to rise as the judge came in. The judge then explained our job to us and said that we had 8 people but only needed 7. So he looked through our name list and picked the person at the bottom of the list (alphabetically) and it was a lady who was the ONLY person after me on the list @@ She then got to leave...lucky her lol
He then explained that he had to pick a Foreperson, this person would be the leader of the group and had to sign all the documents. He looked on the list again and picked the 2nd to the last person....which was ME! Omg I just about died, I did NOT want to be the Foreperson...little meek, quiet ole me ...be the leader of a group?? I was terrified!
We then were lead into the jury room right off the court. One by one different police officers came in to present their cases to us. They were from all different areas of the law...drugs, theft, homicide, investigator, regular cop.....each person had a stack of cases they had to present.
They had to read over the police report and evidence and we had to decide if it should move on to trial. I then had to sign all the papers...ended up being 160 indictments that I had to sign...my hand hurt when were done lol
The very first person who came in the room was an Investigator. He had to read us 2 different cases of female abduction...same guy but 2 different girls. This was graphic detail that I really didn't need to hear. I think it shocked us all cause it was right in the beginning. They were long reports and he read it word for word (shudder). Of course when he was done were like "um yeah of course it needs to go to trial"....well I think it said he admitted to it as well so it was a no brainer.
In fact we ended up passing all of the cases, they were all very cut and dry. None of them were as bad as the first one which is good. But there were a lot of drug cases, a few murders but not graphic mainly punk kids with guns and fights. I guess our little city of Hampton isn't that bad lol I would be scared to do that in a bigger city...I can only imagine the stuff you'd have to listen to =( One girl asked the Homicide cop how often he has to deal with murders and he said it wasn't that often. He said Newport news was worse! Made me feel better lol No offense to all those NN people but made me happy to live in Hampton...especially when everyone thinks Hampton is crappy lol
After we had went through all the cases it was just about 1130am....we went through it fast! We sat and waited to get called back into the courtroom. Come to find out the Judge forgot we were in there and he went to lunch @@ lol He got called back and then dismissed us. I was home before 1230!
So although I had been dreading my Jury Duty it turned out to be very interesting. I learned a lot about the legal system...as well as drug lingo lol like that will come in handy.
Definitely worth those few hours of my time and the 30bucks i'll get lol
Posted by Jenna at 1:15 PM 1 comments Links to this post
Saturday, March 21, 2009
few pics I took of the boys
Posted by Jenna at 11:05 AM 2 comments Links to this post
Thursday, March 19, 2009
St Patty's day/ My birthday
Posted by Jenna at 3:48 PM 1 comments Links to this post
Saturday, March 14, 2009
Let's go fly a kite
We had a beautiful week last week. While most of my family was in Hawaii dealing with constant rain we were having 80degree weather!! Haha sucks to be them lol
We went to Hunington park with some friends. There were a bunch of families there flying kites and they were so kind to let our kids fly them as well. Corbin and his buddy Noah found a plastic bag and some string and made their own make shift kite.
Here are a few pictures of the boys flying kites on that beautiful day!!
Posted by Jenna at 11:40 AM 0 comments Links to this post
Sunday, March 8, 2009
Pee dropoff
So this past week I had to take my Mom, Neely, Ethan and Neely's kids to the air port. As we were leaving Neely asks me if I can do a HUGE favor for her. She had 2 sets of Urine samples that needed to be delivered to her Doctor that very day. Being that I'm an awesome Sister I said of course!
Neely has many medical issues. She had her back surgery a year ago but even before that she had issues with her Kidneys. Come to find out she has one good Kidney and one that barely functions. She also had kidney stones on a pretty constant basis. The girl has been on medication for a year now due to her back and kidneys.
Well recently she was having some issues again so that's what these urine samples were for....they had to be tested. So after I take them to the air port at the butt crack of dawn I got home to continue on with my day.
Landon had speech so I wasn't able to get to the Dr office till after 1pm. Neely told me it was in Port Warwick but I didn't know what building I was supposed to take it into...I didn't even know her Drs name @@
So I got to the first building, drag the kids and this bag filled with urine and we head inside. The woman at the desks confirms that we are in the wrong building and told me to try a different place. We then load back into the car and head to where she told me to go. We then unload again just to find that I went to the freaking ambulance entrance @@
We then Reload, drive to the other side of the building unload and then head inside. I wait till I get called and we walk up to the lady at the desk. She tells me that I am in the right building but that she will need a Dr order for me to drop off the samples. Of course I have no Dr order and I don't even know his name. At that very moment Neely was on a plane heading for Hawaii and no way of contacting her. The lady was pretty rude to me so I got a little snippy back and I asked her what she expected me to do with the urine in my bag. She told me I had to go home and put it back in the fridge.....ugh.
So I left being very frustrated and took the samples back to Neelys house to store in her fridge. I kept trying to get ahold of Neely or my mom with no luck. Finally Chris calls me and asks me to try and take it back. He gave me the Dr name and number....so Friday I went back.
This time I knew the building but again couldn't get there till after 1pm. I go in and this lady wasn't as rude as the last one. She tells me that I need to call the Dr office and have them fax the order to them. So I sit in the waiting room trying to call this Dr office....only to get a constant busy signal...wtf? Why would a Dr office be busy nonstop? The ladies kept looking at me and asking if I got thru yet...which I eventually did about 20mins later @@. As you can imagine my kids were bored out of their mind waiting and getting antsy.
I finally get through and the nurse lady tells met hat it could take up to 30mins to fax...what???
I explain this to woman where I was at and they thought that was insane...so they started calling his office and told them that it was urgent so they sped it up a bit.
The order was FINALLY sent, and then someone came down to the lobby to pick up the urine..I had to sign papers and answer questions...this wasn't for me so I felt very odd about it all.
But once that lady took the bag from me and I was rid of it all a HUGE weight was lifted off me. I was sooooooooo done dealing with it. I knew it was important but it should not have been the hassle it was.
Next time someone asks me to drop off their pee for them I'm going to have to decline!
Posted by Jenna at 1:44 PM 1 comments Links to this post
This weekend
Friday night David, the boys and I drove up to DC so I could attend a Hula workshop the next day.
David's old coworker Marty was so kind to offer his house to us so I could get a good nights sleep before having to dance all day Saturday. We didn't get to Marty's till about 9pm that night due to David getting stuck in tunnel traffic coming home from work.
Marty was up and waiting for us, we let the boys watch some tv before I put them to bed. After they were asleep David, Marty and myself sat outside with a glass of wine and chatted. I really hadn't spoken to Marty much before then. He's a 60yr old man who lives alone and seems quite lonely. I enjoyed his company and found that he was actually a very interesting guy. I headed to bed after my wine and the men stayed up for a bit after that.
I had to be up by 7am the next morning to get ready and drive the hour drive to Arlington. I struggled a bit on Saturday but Marty being the kinda man he is had gotten up and made me coffee to take on the road.
I was very lucky I didn't hit any DC traffic, I actually got there 30mins early. I had time to get a bottle of water at Rite aid and relax my nerves a bit. I was very anxious and nervous about attending this workshop. Mainly because I was doing it ALONE. Last year all of us Hula girls went together. I felt very strange not knowing anyone(or so I thought)
At about 915 I decided to head inside and check in. As I was walking towards the check in table a girl stopped me and said "Jenna?, it's me Kristen from the BF group". It took me a second to figure out what she was talking about but when I realized I was shocked! This is a girl that I have ONLY known online. About 8yrs ago I was part of a BF online support group and she was one of the girls. We have stayed in touch and check in ever so often with eachother. So 8yrs later I run into her at a Hula workshop of all places....how odd is that? lol
Turns out her Mother is the one has danced the longest, so she came with her mother, sister who both dance a little bit. She had never done it before but thought it would be fun to try. It was a pleasant surprise to see a familiar face even if it was someone I had never met in person.
The Workshop went very well, I learned a lot about the Kahiko style of Hula which is the ancient style...lots of Chanting and playing of the Ipu drum. It was very cool and I loved being there. It also was great exercise. We danced from 10am to 12pm straight with tiny water breaks in between. Then we had lunch from 12 to 1pm and then danced again till 3pm. I have to say today I am hurting!!!! lol
While I was there David, Marty and the boys went fishing, had lunch, went to a park...they had gotten back to his house right before I showed up around 5pm. We left shortly after that to head back home.
We got home around 830 and then had some friends over to hang out for awhile. Rachel and John came over and we put their two kids and mine in the Tv room with a movie and they all fell asleep. We then hung out on my porch till we all got tired and wanted to head to bed.
Today, well i'm just glad to be home and after the exhausting day yesterday I just want to veg. I'm still in my Pj's and don't plan on doing much today lol
Posted by Jenna at 10:36 AM 0 comments Links to this post
Sunday, March 1, 2009
Hit by the Stomach Bug =(
This past week has been long, exhausting and disgusting. We had a stomach bug sweep through my family. Almost everyone got it which is rare. Normally all the kids will get it and adults will be fine or the other way around. This started with Rainer, moved to Noveigh, Tobey and Theseus. Then on to David, Lauren, Landon, Ethan, Neely and Myself. The only people that have NOT been effected is My mom, Dad, Marisha, hannah, Ashley and Corbin.....knock on wood!
Not only did the bug sweep through our house but I had a show on Saturday that I had to prepare for. New dances, New costumes, and a new member to train. It was all very bad timing for a stomach bug to hit.
Luckily I got the worst of it Thursday night so by Saturday I was feeling better but still with a weak stomach.
Our Hula group performed at the Day of Dance celebration at Thomas nelson Community College. The show was new in a lot of ways which usually means we have some glitches to work out. But this one went GREAT, as smooth as smooth can be! I am very happy it is over though, it was a lot of stress planning for it.
Tomorrow I have to attend Grand Jury @@ lovely right? I have never done this before and am a little nervous about it. I know it will suck and I just hope that I don't get selected. It's David's day off and I have to waste it sitting in a court house bored out of my mind.
Come Weds most of my family will be on a plane headed for Hawaii, can't help but be a little bitter about it. I wish we could afford to go too but it's just not realistic.
My Mom, Dad, Ethan, Neely, Chris, Noveigh, Rainer, Lauren are all going. Lauren is only staying about 5 days, Dad and Chris about 2 weeks but my Mom, Neely and the kids are staying till the end of March @@
I think it irritates me because My sister and her husband are seperated and no longer living together. So why oh why is he paying for her to stay in Hawaii for a month @@ I'm sure this comes from my long standing bitterness towards this particular Sister but still I can't help but feel a tad jealous that she can leave her husband yet still get whatever she wants. Hmmmmmmm anyway I should change subject or I'll go on a tangant.
During the this Month I will be turning 28yrs old, 18 more days to be exact. I am NOT happy with this fact. I don't know why I have such an issue with getting older but I do. Only thing keeping a smile on my face about this is that shortly after I turn 28 David will be turning 30!!! LOL I love it!
Corbin just came and showed me that our Hermit Crab Cody had died, I guess that deserves a blog all on it's own.
Posted by Jenna at 9:26 AM 1 comments Links to this post
Friday, February 20, 2009
Yay Me!
So my days have been going by very fast lately. Nothing all that new or interesting with me but I have to say that I feel exhausted...mentally and physically.
I've stuck to my diet (yay me), and have been working out for about an hour a day. No results yet but I'm staying positive and very excited. The working out isn't bad but it's the limiting of what I can eat that sucks. I really wish I didn't love food as much as I do. I have to remind myself everyday that food is meant to keep us nurished and healthy and it doesnt matter if it taste like crap or not LOL I have caved and drank a few times though. But If I know i'm going to have a few beers then I eat less so it should all equal out lol....or at least I tell myself that when i'm downing a few glasses of wine like I did last night with friends hehe
Corbin and Noveigh attending a Homeschooling workshop at the Air and space center yesterday. It was just 10bucks a kid, from 10am to 330pm. They learned about Robots and even got to build one. When I picked them up they were thrilled with their day! I'll give myself a slap on the back for that one =)
I can honestly say that I have babysat for someones kids everyday for the last week and a half. Don't get me wrong the kids I have watched have been great. It's not like I'm babysitting little devils or anything. I truely love to help people out when they need it and I feel that if i'm sitting at home with my own kids....whats a few more right lol
Of course a FEW more turns into a BUNCH more. The other day I had 7 kids for about 3hrs. Ages 8,8,6,5,3,2,2......man was I tired after that.
I would love a day where I didn't have any obligations and I didn't have to watch anyones kids. Who knows when that will happen. Again I don't mind helping people out when they need it. I just get tired and mentally drained when I have other peoples kids every single day.
Today I thought I was in the clear. My friend didn't need a sitter which was awesome, but then sure enough at 3pm I got a call from my sisters asking me to watch their kids while they taught their dance class lol Oh well..... kids are gone now.
So i'm working on planning David's 30th birthday. He keeps throwing out hints about it so there is no way i'm getting out of doing it lol I'm thinking a house party might be the best idea....and cheapest. If anyone has any good ideas for themes please leave me a comment I could really use some help!!
Well i'm off to watch Ghost Whisperer with the boys
Posted by Jenna at 4:45 PM 0 comments Links to this post
Saturday, February 7, 2009
Happy Birthday Landon
Feb 3rd was Landon's 6th Birthday. David was off work that day so we went out to spend the day as a family. We let Landon pick where we had lunch. He picked a Chinese buffet which was nice and cheap lol Of course we had to tell them that Landon was 5yrs old so we could get his food for 2.99 instead of the 4.99 it would be if we said he was 6. He barely eats anything anyway so I didn't feel bad lying.
He then decided he wanted to go to Chuck E Cheeses. Not my favorite place in the world. It was a weekday and hardly anyone was there which made it more enjoyable. I had my printed out coupons so it only ended up costing us like 20 for like 150 tokens. We were there for about 2hrs and Landon had a blast.
I had a Hula show that evening and I felt guitly about it. I told DAvid to take the kids to the grocery store and let them pick out their dinner. I believe they ended up picking Kid Cuisines. They sat and watched Stuart little 3 with Daddy while I was at the show. When I got home they were fed and happy. They had went to the Dollar tree and bought Balloons for Baylin. So after I ate we all went down by the water and sang our song to Baylin and let his 6 balloons go. Just something we do every year. Then off to bed the kids went and the day was over.
I think Landon had a nice day but his birthday is FAR from over.
I was originally going to do his birthday this weekend but David got asked to do a sale in Chicago so he left Thurs night and won't be back until Sunday night.
So next weekend we are doing Landon's family party, this is just dinner, presents, cake. Then the following weekend we are doing a combined kids party with a friend of ours. Her daughter is turning 4. So he's going ot have like a month of birthdays ....lucky kid =)
Posted by Jenna at 6:46 AM 1 comments Links to this post
Friday, January 30, 2009
Movie Reviews
Get Smart
This movie was disapointing, guess it's just not my cup of tea. I love the actors in it and normally think they are great. But I lost interest in it half way through and thought it was boring.
Posted by Jenna at 1:04 PM 0 comments Links to this post
Saturday, January 24, 2009
Baylin my dear sweet angel!
As most of you know I gave birth to twin boys Feb 3rd 2003. I had NO CLUE I was having twins. I was large for my weeks but only by a couple Cm, and there weren't' any obvious clues to say there was more then one. Two heartbeats were never detected either. Of course when I look back now I guess there were a few subtle clues here and there but nothing that would really jump out at someone.
When I gave birth Landon came out first, healthy but little. After he came out my belly didn't really go down much and there was still a large lump. It wasn't until this moment when I looked down at my stomach that I knew something wasn't right. Contractions started again and I pushed out Baby #2 Baylin. I remember the sight of looking between my legs and seeing this baby who clearly was no longer alive. I will NEVER get that sight out of my head.
This event traumatized me for a very long time. Took me awhile before I could actually talk about it to anyone without bursting into tears. The VA law says that we had to have an Autopsy done. Part of me didn't want this done, but the other part of me was curious. I was to scared to request the Autopsy report in the beginning... but I knew that someday I would get it. I wanted to wait until I was ready to read what it might say.
A year later my sister gave birth to my Niece Oleyen, she had a birth defect and was missing her diaphragm. She lived 19days and then passed away. In the back of my mind I always thought there was a chance that Baylin had a birth defect that caused his death.
Each year that passed I kept saying I would get the report, but every year that passed I still couldn't get up the nerve to do it. Clearly it meant I wasn't ready to read it and I was comfortable with that. David has always wanted to know but he kept his mouth shut and let me go at my own pace. He knew I would do it when I wanted to.
Feb 3rd 2009 will be Landon and Baylin's 6th birthday. The other day I was thinking yet again about requesting the report. I didn't mention it to David I just wanted to ponder the idea on my own. I went as far as contacting the Richmond Coroners office asking them how to go about doing it. They responded quickly asking for my name and dates. They wrote and told me they were sending my emails to their Tidewater office. They explained to me that I would have to send a written request with my signature. I felt OK about it, I still had time to decide whether I wanted to send the request or not. But at least I knew how!
At that point I finally told David what I had found out and he again said he wanted to read it but he would wait for me.
A day later I got an email from their Tidewater office saying that they received the request (the fwrd emails) and all I had to do was send them my mailing address and they would get it in the mail before 2pm. I was shocked, my heart pounded and I didn't know what to do. It was THAT easy...all I had to do was type my address and it would be on it's way. I had until 2pm to decide....I sucked it up, held my breath and typed and hit send! Of course after I sent it I was freaked out. I knew I would have it within 2 days or so.
Without fail 2 days later...there it was in my mailbox.
I sat around all day waiting for David to get home. Every time I looked at the envelope my heart would skip a beat. I really don't know why it scared me so much but it did.
David got home, we had dinner, got the kids in bed and then sat in our room and finally opened it. David let me read through it first cause he didn't want to read over my shoulder. I could tell he was watching my expressions as I read but he sat there patiently.
In the end what I found out was that there was NOTHING wrong with him. Not sure how to feel about it. 80% of me was relieved that nothing serious was found. But the other part of me was frustrated that there wasn't a reason.
It said that signs pointed to pregnancy induced hypertension, but I didn't have that. I loved reading his details such as "brown hair and brown eyes"....weight and length. Something about seeing this information printed brought some peace to me. When you have a Stillborn you tend to feel that no one cares. Some people feel that if a baby didn't take a breath that they were nothing more then a "fetus". It's so hard because there is no difference between a baby born alive but dies shortly after birth and a baby who is full term but dies before being born. I don't see how people can view them as different. In a way I'm happy he died inside me where he was cozy snuggled up against his brother...protected from the cold world outside and listening to my heartbeat it brings me comfort. In a way I guess he died to save his brother, whatever it was he was not getting enough from the placenta...I'll never know why but I'll have to live with that.
I think reading this report helped me with my grieving. The pain never goes away, but it lessens over time. I'm glad I waited until I was ready! I now have SOME peace of mind knowing that it was not a genetic birth defect that could effect future children...that was my biggest fear. I am now able to go into any future pregnancies with LESS fear then I would have.
Posted by Jenna at 1:39 PM 2 comments Links to this post
Friday, January 23, 2009
Twilight Books
I just recently finished the 4th book of the Twilight series. Yes these are Teen books but man are they addicting.
I compare them a lot to the Harry Potter books. But even Harry Potter was a bit more complicated as the books went on. Twilight, yeah it's just a teen love story that involved a Vampire and a Human.
It's a wonderful story though, one that hooks you from the beginning. I couldn't wait to pick it up and read....when I wasn't reading I was thinking about the next time I could read lol
David is even reading them now, I think he's on the 4th book. The movie was EH and of course didn't compare to the book...but isn't that how it always goes?
So if you enjoy a good love story and don't mind some graphic talk about Vampires GO READ!!
Posted by Jenna at 8:27 PM 0 comments Links to this post
George Bushington
I'm sitting here watching Super Nanny and feeling so very grateful and proud of my kids! My boys can grate on my last nerve some days. But all in all they are great boys. They behave in public, they are polite with their please and thank yous. They do what they are told for the most part and can be very helpful around the house when they want to be.
Sometimes it takes an episode of Super Nanny to remind me how wonderful they are =)
So the other day Landon and I were having a conversation about President Obama and George Bush. He was a little confused about who was coming and going. So I explained to him that Obama was our new President and Bush is no longer.
My son knows George Washington, it's really the ONLY president he can name or knows anything about. So it didn't surprise me when he asked "But what's going to happen to George Bushington?" I couldn't help but giggle when he said it. So I guess our Presidents have to have the INGTON at the end of their name....especially if their first name is George.
David had to go up to DC from Tues morning till Fri night (tonight). Time went by fairly quickly...I just stayed busy. I had a Hula practice at my house Wed night which went well. Then last night I was babysitting a friends kids so she could go to class. Then after the kids were in bed I had some girls over for a game night. We had a great time playing cards and Taboo. I suffered through today though because of my lack of sleep last night...and a few to many beers didn't help either lol
David got home tonight around 9pm so right at the boys bedtime. I was really looking forward to him coming home. The man walks in the door, gives his hugs and kisses, gets himself some food, then falls asleep in our bed with the boys. I think I said maybe one sentence to the man since he got home. Not exactly what I had in mind for him homecoming tonight lol
This weekend I have NO plans! David works weekends so they are like normal weekdays for me. Only difference is that kids play outside more because their friends aren't in school. I will be doing laundry, laundry and more laundry. I really should get rid of most of our clothes....We have way to much! You'd think I had a house filled with girls instead of guys lol
Posted by Jenna at 8:07 PM 1 comments Links to this post
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
This was an adorable movie!!! It's about a little girl who dreams about becoming a reporter. Her and her family are struggling through the Great Depression. Houses in her neighborhood are being broken into and she helps solve the crimes. We watched this as a family and we all enjoyed it!
Posted by Jenna at 3:41 PM 0 comments Links to this post
Joys of Homeschooling
I thought I'd write a little something about the kids schooling. I am a very relaxed Homeschooler. I don't believe in forcing kids to do hours of school work a day. I believe they learn more through living live then they do from worksheets.
The boys watch educational TV or Videos, and we have computer programs they enjoy. We go to museums and we talk about EVERYTHING.
A couple times a week I'll have them do actual "sit down schoolwork". Yesterday Corbin was given 10 spelling words. I explained to him how to use a Dictionary. He had to look up the words and then write the definitions. After the 5th word he had hit his limit with writing so I let him stop and we moved on. I then taught him how to read a face clock. I had tried this before with him but it just didn't click. Well this time it did, he understood completely and got it in about 5mins.
Landon worked on basic letter's and sounds till he lost interest and then we moved onto basic math. He is no where near reading level. Corbin was reading before he turned 6, Landon will be 6 in a couple weeks and is still working on sounds. Just goes to show how different kids are, no matter how hard you try. That's what's so wonderful about Homeschooling, kids are allowed to go at their own pace without feeling they are below all the kids around them.
One of our local museums has a lot of homeschooling event. At the end of Feb they are holding an Egg drop contest. I had never heard of this before. I guess it's common in public schools but being that I was homeschooled it was not something I was ever around.
It sounds like a lot of fun and I plan on taking the boys to it. They have been discussing ways to keep their eggs from breaking! We'll see how creative they get.
Posted by Jenna at 3:26 PM 1 comments Links to this post
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
Movie Reviews
Posted by Jenna at 10:48 AM 0 comments Links to this post
Monday, January 5, 2009
Video clips..yay they worked
Posted by Jenna at 9:53 AM 1 comments Links to this post
Sunday, January 4, 2009
Corbin's Guitar
I found this guitar on Ebay for a great price. It's a 36inch real guitar, accoustic and natural wood...very nice looking. He has been asking for one for months. I think he would have prefered Electric but he'll have to build up to that lol
I paid for the guitar in the beginning of December, and the seller said it was shipped on the 16th. It should have been here before the 24th. Well the 24th came and went and still no guitar. I was sad and disapointed. I was looking forward to the look on Corbin's face Christmas morning when he saw his new instrument.
I didn't think to check the tracking number, not sure why just didn't cross my mind. After Christmas I went onto Ebay got the tracking number and looked it up.
It said it was delivered on the 18th of December????
When I looked closer I realized that I had the wrong shipping address on my Ebay account =( Totally my fault...but it was my OLD address which is next door to my parents.
I haven't lived there for 6mos and there are new people living there now. They seem pretty shady from looks alone but I gave them the benefit of the doubt and I thought they might have the guitar or tried sending it back.
I went over to the house and each time I talked to a new person. They have so many people coming and going in that house and I just wanted to talk to the actual Renter. I was told he was sleeping, at work, not home....there was always a reason I couldn't speak to him.
My mother tried, My sister tried, I tried, David tried. Eventually David managed to get the guys number. We left multiple messages on his Cell phone...and still nothing. Each person we spoke to said they never saw a package.
We spoke to UPS and they gave us proof delivery and offered to start an investigation. We said to hold off on that we would keep trying with this guy Mike.
David FINALLY got ahold of this Mike guy today and he basically went off on David using the F word many times. Said to leave him alone, he doesnt have the guitar and wouldn't want it and to never call or knock on his door again.
David being David got pissed and told the guy that we already started an investigation and he would be contacted. When I spoke to David I was disapointed that he was threatening to the guy and wasn't sure it would work anyway.
Not an hour later my Mother called me and said she had the guitar. It was left in a big box in her driveway with a note that said "found this in our garage". There was no packaging, no original box, no reciept, NOTHING...just the guitar.
The guitar was supposed to come in its original box, with a shoulder strap and picks. Clearly they opened the package...took the strap and picks and had NO intention of giving it back. UNTIL David scared the crap outa the guy. Guess there is something to say about intimidation.
Corbin now has his guitar, he has not been able to put it down since we picked it up. We still intend on following up with the situation because they commited a crime...not sure anything will come of it but if I can put them through even just a tiny bit of trouble then it's well worth the weeks Corbin had to go without his gift!
Corbin's friend Noah has a guitar as well so tonight they have been playing together nonstop. Neither one of them know how to play for real but it's so darn cute watching them try. They have made up their own songs and everything...they are quite creative.
I'm going to attempt to add some video clips of the boys playing....lately it hasnt' been letting me so hopefully it will work this time.
Ok didn't work, i'll keep trying and post them later
Posted by Jenna at 8:04 PM 1 comments Links to this post
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
Finally a moment to sit down and write!
Our Christmas went very well, the kids got everything they wanted for the most part ....except for the Wii, PS3, and a real cell phone lol
Corbin's big main gift didn't come in the mail in time (story for another post) which was a Guitar. I was very upset and disapointed but he got a card saying that it was on it's way....he was thrilled with just that!
The Monday after Christmas we headed to Williamsburg to spend a week at a timeshare. My entire family does this every year for New Years. This year was interesting to say the least. Far to many kids, different parenting styles, different personalities....all equal out to a very stressful week. I was thrilled to get home on Friday.
Friday night I had friends over for a Poker night, it was a nice release from my week long with my family.
Tonight Corbin's having his best friend Noah sleep over. They are camped out in the TV room on the floor watching Rescuers down under while I sit and type this. It's been a fairly relaxing day didn't do much other then sit and read the 3rd book in the Twilight series...it's true they are addicting lol
I'm looking forward to starting my first week in 2009 (at home) and getting started on my New Years resolution to lose weight. I will do it this time. I am SO unhappy with the weight i've gained over the last year and it effects my life greatly. I just need to get off my butt and DO IT this time!!
I'm going to write about it to track my progress I think that might help.
Story about the Guitar to follow..................
Posted by Jenna at 7:50 PM 0 comments Links to this post