09.23.09
Now When I Hear Sirens, I Know Why!
You know the feeling when your kid is out and about and you hear sirens? You suddenly go into panic mode and, of course, they don’t answer their phone when you call! Or, when you hear sirens and you smell smoke and you wonder if you should prepare for a large fire? That’s pretty common out here in the NJ Pine Barrens!
I had looked into scanners but they’re very expensive!
I figured that I’d resort to repeatedly calling my kid until she answered or worse…call all of her friends to see where she is! How humiliating! Plus, they are at risk of their friends saying something that they shouldn’t! <gasp!>
Well, thanks to a friend of mine, who also happens to be our Fire Chief, I was turned on to Radio Reference! It gives you online police, fire and emergency scanners feeds, providing your town or country participates! The whole U.S. is included and each week there seems to me more feeds coming through! FREE!
A few minutes ago I heard sirens. My daughter is out and about in town and accidents are common! I clicked onto their website and tuned into my zone and found out that there’s a small brush fire a few blocks over! Unless she caused it or has found a way to get entangled in it, she should be fine! As for the fire? Probably out by the time I hit “publish”!
Anyway…maybe this will be helpful to you!
Either way…Have a Great Day!
09.15.09
Sugar-Free Treats Can Be Deadly to Your Dogs!
You can now add xylitol to the list of dangers for your dogs!
I just read an article that states that xylitol, the sweetener found in many sugar free treats such as chewing gum, can be deadly to your dog if they get into it!
As a matter of fact, two sticks of sugarless gum can kill a 20-pound dog! That’s horrible!
A sugar-free pudding cup can spell disaster for a 90-pound dog!
Isn’t that crazy? With all of the things our friends get into, sugarless stuff can be deadly? It’s perfectly healthy for humans, yeah right, but not for the dogs.
The article states that the xylitol makes it so that the dog’s blood pressure drops too low very quickly. They start vomiting and if they’ve ingested enough, they can start going into seizures! And you only have about 30 minutes to an hour to get them to the vet so that they can get the blood pressure levels back up to healthy levels! That’s so scary!!
I wonder, having to battle fluctuating blood pressure issues myself, if it can be fixed by eating a small bit of a salty food, but when it comes to my dogs there is no limit that I would go to for them. Maybe is not enough!!
And, what’s worse is that there are more and more products using xylitol! I personally don’t buy sugarless products, but you never know when someone will lay their purse on the couch and your dog ventures in and finds their gum! That’s why I have a place for people to hang their purses when they come over. Our dog Brandy was a bandit for anything edible! Even if it wasn’t edible, she’d give it a shot!!
So, arm yourself with knowledge, please!
Read the article and make sure that your sugar-free treats are out of Fido’s reach!
Sugar-Free Gum and Snacks Can be Deadly for Pets
08.29.09
Your Dog is as Smart as a 2-year old, and as Curious!
Recently, there was a report on Live Science about how our canine companions are actually as smart as a two year old. I wasn’t surprised, but I would have rated my dogs higher!
Anyway…that article urged me to remind everyone that your dog is as smart as a two year old, and as curious! Cats and ferrets are curious by nature!
We all go through hoops to make sure that our homes are toddler-proof, but do we give the same consideration to our dogs and cats and other pets that roam around the home?
Do you make sure that your paper shredder is off?
Do you make sure that electric cords are tucked under chairs or other objects to keep the dog from mistaking it for licorice?
Do you make sure that your curtain pull-cords are pulled to prevent hanging/choking?
Do you make sure that foods that are dangerous to dogs are well out of the way? (raisins, etc.)
Do you make sure that all cleaners and chemicals are put away?
You should!
08.17.09
Need A Pair of Gloves in the Kitchen Real Quick?
I was mixing up hummingbird food this morning, which always means that I wind up with red fingers all day as there seems to be no such thing as a neat food color dispensor! One that doesn’t dribble, you know?
Well, I decided today that I really didn’t want red fingers! So, I grabbed a sandwich bag and put my hand in it before handling the food color! It worked like a charm, or a glove <ha ha> and I just tossed it in the trash when I was done!
So, if you ever need gloves in a hurry, grab a sandwich baggy!
08.16.09
About Those Pre-Bagged Salads at Grocery Stores
In this day and age of cutting corners, I admit to buying the bagged prepared salads that they sell in grocery stores, never really sure what was in them, but lazy just the same! All that I could be sure of is that we would have to eat it in 2 days or it would be soured! (What a bargain!)
Well, that’s going to change now that I read this article about a German woman who found a poisonous piece of greenery in her bagged lettuce! Granted, it’s in Germany but I take messages regardless of how far they come from! (even up-above!)
From “Customer spots poison stems in salad“
Samples were sent to the University of Bonn for testing, which detected more than 2,500 micrograms of poison — 2,500 times more than the recommended daily allowance — in 150 grams of salad, German media reported.
I love that…there’s recommended daily allowances for poison?!
Ironically, this week I switched to buying all of the ingredients and making the salads myself again because all of the stores that I frequent do not seem to get it that if you crush the bag in any way, you’ve reduced it’s lifetime to about an hour!
And, in case you are not in the strict habit of washing your lettuce before you eat it, think about this! One day, I was driving down a farm-town road nearby and I spotted some migrant farmers tending to a batch of lettuce. At the end of one of the rows was one of the workers relieving himself on a few heads of lettuce!
I almost lost control of the car!
But, you can’t beat ‘em…it’s illegal! <zing!>
The article ends with a very common-sense bit of advice.
If it doesn’t taste good, don’t eat it!
You are what you eat.
Therefore, I am fast, cheap and easy!
08.14.09
Chocolate and Heart Attack Survivors – Perfect Together!
I always have loved chocolate and have never needed a justification seeing as I’m skin and bones, <with just enough muscle> but now I have a hole new reason to eat those MnM’s while I slowly fall asleep watching TV every night!
According to an article I found on Yahoo News, chocolate can cut the death rate in people who have suffered an acute heart attack! Isn’t that the greatest? Not just that chocolate is great, but that they’re finding ways to elongate lives that have been cut short due to heart disease!
Previous studies have shown that cocoa-based confections can lower blood pressure or improve blood flow, and it has cut the rate of heart-related mortality in healthy older men and in post-menopausal women.
The new study shows that eating chocolate every day has helped the survival rate of those who participated over an 8-year period! And, although clinical trials still need to be done to confirm the study’s findings, chocolate has very few side affects!
Obesity comes into question though, and we would hope that an obese person would use common sense when it comes to portions, as weight is a big contributing factor to heart disease. But, according to the article, a person who is slim and has survived a heart attack should not limit the amount of chocolate that they eat, within reason! Isn’t that great!?
From “Chocolate ‘cuts death rate’ in heart attack survivors“
[paraphrased]
PARIS (AFP) – Heart attack survivors who eat chocolate two or more times per week cut their risk of dying from heart disease about threefold compared to those who never touch the stuff, scientists have reported.
“It seems that antioxidants in cocoa are a likely candidate” for explaining the live-saving properties, he told AFP in an exchange of e-mails.
Antioxidants are compounds that protect against so-called free radicals, molecules which accumulate in the body over time that can damage cells and are thought to play a role in heart disease, cancer and the aging process.
…
“Our findings support increasing evidence that chocolate is a rich source of beneficial bioactive compounds,” the researchers concluded.
Pretty cool, huh?
Now, I know that these sort of studies come out every day!
One day you are told that a glass of red wine is good for you and the next day there’s a warning against it! But, chocolate really poses no threat unless you are unable to control your portions or if you’re diabetic.
Chocolate actually has a lot of benefits! I think that chocolate reduces my stress because I get that sugar-high and then I crash with a sugar-low. Sometimes it is necessary for me to force my body to slow down in order to keep from getting into heart-trouble! But, I don’t eat a lot of anything so I am not in jeopardy of death by chocolate…although that sounds good!
Now, recently I saw chocolate-covered bacon and I know that people out there have found a way to cover just about everything but cow-dung with chocolate and swear that it tastes good! This is where common sense comes in whether you’ve survived a heart attack or not!
Actually, it goes against all common sense!
As a heart attack survivor, I live by the rule that if it makes you happy, it can’t be that bad! <Sheryl stole that line from me>
Live for today but plan on being here tomorrow! It’s worked for 11 years, which is more than most docs thought I could pull off, but I swore to prove them wrong from the get-go! I eat chocolate almost every day in one form or another! Some say that dark chocolate has more benefits! If you believe it and like it, eat it!
Go ahead…make your day!
But, remember to share!
Karma lurks close-by!
07.31.09
I Saved Three Little Baby Squirrels!
Yesterday I was hanging out when I heard a distinct bark coming from both dogs. The bark that says that if I don’t investigate, I may very well regret it! (Yes, I speak dog.)
I went out and saw the girls playing with something that I figured was another frog, as the girls like to tap them on the head and make them jump! Problem is that after both girls bonk the frog on its head, it doesn’t feel so much like jumping, so I intervene and give the frog a safe place to catch its breath.
But, yesterday 3 tiny baby squirrels, maybe a day old, fell out of their nest in my yard and my girls were witness to it! Imagine their surprise! We see a lot out here in the Pines but…anyway.
Thankfully, I had a dish towel in my hand and I ran out and was able to get the sweet little crying babies into the towel where they stopped crying and cuddled with their siblings again! I got the girls inside and I laid the towel out where they had first fallen and went inside and waited.
When the parental unit saw that the coast was clear, it came over to the towel, quite suspicious but it still took each baby, one by one in its mouth and carried them to a new nest! It then spent some time investigating the area, making sure it didn’t miss any babies and then it went back to the new nest to take care of the babies!
Isn’t that cool?!
I am not used to animals surviving after being captured by my girls! Usually I am the one to dispose of possums, frogs, snakes and others who ventured into the yard, but it was as if the girls knew that these were different! Sheba, the Yorkie-Poo, bit one of them on the lip which really sucks but I did see her kissing it earlier and I guess it didn’t kiss back! It was fine though…I checked!
Due to insomnia and having a dog who likes to keep her backyard clean and clear, as Sierra (Secretary of De-Fence) who is suspect to be half Dingo does, I see some of the coolest stuff! But this was by far the coolest yet!
I hope that the little babies will be okay. I needed something good like this. Today marks 2 weeks that a neighborhood young man (almost wrote boy) was in an accident at the entrance of our development and he is still in horrible condition and he permeates my brain most of the day so I think God allowed me to save these little fellas to keep my spirit up!
Please pray for Rob Parker and his family and friends!
And, always stand up for the small guy!
07.18.09
How I Healed My Wrinkles!
Do you put on your moisturizer every day, hoping against hope that today will be the day that the ‘miracle’ that the genie in the bottle promises is going to happen? That your face will look at least 5 years younger, hopefully 10?
Me too!
Every morning and night, I smooth on the Oil of Olay!
I’ve researched many products and I have found nothing that works better than plain old-fashioned O of O and you can get it for under $5 in most places! You really can’t beat that!
Did you know that stores put the economical products on the bottom shelf, out of sight, hard to reach? Look down!
Anyway, my daughter has minor skin irritations so I keep Dermarest Eczema Cream around. One night after washing my face, I looked down, saw the Dermarest and thought to myself, “Hmm, medicated moisturizer for sensitive skin, huh?“
I read the package and even went online to check to see if it could be used around the eyes…checking for warnings before I leapt. It can be used around the eye providing that the person using it is careful, which is true with anything! A spoon can be dangerous in the wrong hands, right?
Well, I put a tiny dab on my finger and traced the slightly wrinkled, puffy area under my eye. Within a few minutes I could already see some results! I decided to try it on the smile-line cracks between my nose and the corner of my mouth, two other areas that could use a boost and again, it seemed to diminish the lines immediately!
Now I use a tiny dab of Dermarest Eczema Cream once or twice a week on these areas and the results are great! I don’t use it everyday because it is medicated and I don’t want to dry out my skin. Besides, the affects last longer than a 12-hour face cream so there is no need to abuse it!
It seems to actually heal the wrinkled skin!!
Not just cover it up for the time-being!
How does it do it? I don’t know!
I’ve tried to compare it to other medicated skin creams (L’Oreal and others) that cost a lot of money and I cannot find exactly what it is that makes it different except for the price! Specialized face creams can cost you up to $25 dollars and a tube of Dermarest, which will last you until it expires, costs less than $5!
It is typically used for dry, itchy, irritated skin with ton of ingredients including of all things, cholesterol <huh?> but whatever is it is that’s in it works without irritating my skin!
There are other Dermarest products such as Scar Reducers and Psoriasis medications but the Eczema cream says that it’s for sensitive skin. I don’t want to do anything crazy in my quest to look better and wind up with burned skin or something but after leafing through the other products offered by the company, as long as you’re careful, you’re safe to use it on your face!
A few notes to remember:
Smooth it on but don’t rub it in as it will become pasty and roll off.
Use a very small dab! I am not kidding! You only need a speck!
Don’t get it in your eyes or mouth and make sure that you wash your hands after applying it! Even before applying the remainder of your moisturizer and make-up! You never know when you’ll be inspired to touch your eyeball!
I don’t believe that it is recommended for use on the entire face but you can read more about it on their website. I only use it on the targeted areas and then I use my Oil of Olay on the rest of my face. You’ll find what’s best for you!
And, please use common-sense and logic!
I am not a dermatologist or anything like it!
I am a semi- well-informed SAHM to two dogs!
<Cool job, huh?>
What the heck do I know?
07.03.09
I Have Fallen For Alice!
I had heard on my local news about a website where you could buy household items at discount prices, with coupons automatically applied, the shipping is FREE and you receive your order within 2-3 days!
So, I had to try it and I fell for Alice right away!
The only “kicker”, if there is one, is that you must order at least 6 items per visit but that’s easy at their low prices!!
Here’s what I ordered:
Ajax Antibacterial Dish Liquid, Orange 2@ $1.10
Aussie Aussome Volume Gel, Maximum Hold 1@ $3.49 – $1.00 Off
Raisin Bran Cereal 1@ $3.79 – $1.00 Off
Aussie 2 In 1 Shampoo 1@ $3.18 – $1.00 Off
3 pk Dial Antibacterial Soap, Tropical Escape 1@ $2.12Sub-Total $14.78
Coupons - $3.00
Tax $0.82
Shipping Always Free
Other Discounts $0.00
Total $12.60
As you can see, I ordered items from different categories so that I could see how they were packaged. The soaps, shampoo and gel were all sealed so that the pop-up top was NOT going to open during shipping! Then, those items were put into a large zipper back in order to protect the cereal!
The dates on all of the products are current, and they’ll remind you when you need someone based on your settings! Even the box that they ship it in is cool!
And check this out…
I have been looking everywhere for my particular Aussie Gel! Most stores have switched to this new spray that is replacing the bottled gel.
I don’t like the spray so I was thrilled to see the old style on Alice! I was afraid that I would wind up receiving the newer product but I got exactly what I ordered!
<wow…that paragraph has a lot of “I’s” in it, huh?>
The following is small bit from Alice’s “About Us” page:
“Alice provides you a better way to manage all of your household essentials online. You tell Alice what you buy—choosing from great deals on 1000’s of products—and Alice goes to work. We organize all of your products, find coupons and deals for you, remind you when you might be running low, and help you order just the items you need so you can avoid that trip to the corner drugstore or the big-box store. And all this convenience comes direct to your door with free shipping included.
Best of all, you won’t over pay for the power and convenience of Alice. In addition to free shipping on every order, you’ll find great prices too. That’s because Alice isn’t your average retailer. You order from Alice just like you would a retailer, but behind the scenes we work like a marketplace, allowing manufacturers to sell directly to you. This direct to consumer model eliminates the retail middleman, saving lots of costs that can be passed directly on to you. And in addition to saving you money, the Alice marketplace allows your favorite brands to have a direct relationship with you—to reward you, personalize things for you, and work smarter for you. It is a win-win that gives you fantastic convenience AND tangible savings.”
Awesome, huh?
And it’s been tried and tested by yours truly!
Me
So, if you like saving money and convenience, or if you’re looking for a make-up or something that you cannot find anywhere else or are just a deal hunter, go ask Alice!
↓ Link ↓
06.28.09
Thirteen Things
I just stumbled upon a cool collection of articles…
Thirteen Things
Your Waiter Won’t Tell You
Your Dry Cleaner Won’t Tell You
Your Grocer Won’t Tell You
Your Pizza Guy Won’t Tell You
Peace
Love
Smiles
Strength
