Blog Archives
I’ve Been Nominated
Well a month has come and gone since my first blog entry. And guess what? I’VE BEEN NOMINATED for the “Inspiring Blogger Award.” YAY ME! I am truly touched by the honor and I would like to send a very big THANK YOU to Yummyfoodmadeeasy for the nomination. You have made my day and I know that this is the first of many more awards to come.
As for the other award nominations, the rules are:
- Thank the person who nominated you.
- Share 7 things about yourself.
- Nominate 15 other bloggers that you admire or inspire you.
- Go leave a comment and let the people know you have nominated them.
7 More Things About Me:
1. My favorite season is FALL
2. Cooking & Baking is my passion
3. Purple is my favorite color
4. My favorite restaurant is The Cheesecake Factory
5. My dream vacation is to cruise the Hawaiian Islands
6. I rep #TeamNatural
7. I’m married to the most wonderful man in the world!
Following are the 15 Blogs I nominate:
2. megabyrd
3. sweetaddict
5. O’nugas hair
6. curlplease
9. Simply Feli
10. justinawei
11. Alicia James
12. hairscapades
13. whoissugar
15. socially fit
New York Couple, 85, To Remarry 48 Years After Divorce
BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — They got hitched while still in their teens, divorced 20 years and four children later, and are getting remarried after nearly a half-century apart.
For Lena Henderson and Roland Davis, both 85 years old, the second time around is finally here. The couple plans to get married again on Saturday, with four generations on hand to see it happen.
“It’s every child’s dream, every child who has ever been in a family where divorce has occurred, that your parents would come back together,” their youngest daughter, Renita Chadwick, said Tuesday as wedding preparations were in full swing.
“We are all so ridiculously excited. We’re like little children again,” said Chadwick, herself a grandmother.
Henderson and Davis met as teenagers in Chattanooga, Tenn., and were married by a justice of the peace. There was no reception or honeymoon.
“Oh no,” Henderson recalled with a laugh. “He went to work and I went home.” Davis was a hotel bellhop at the time, about to begin a career in the military.
This time around, a church wedding is planned, at Elim Christian Fellowship Church in Buffalo, followed by a reception at an Amherst restaurant.
Still no honeymoon trip, though.
“I’m just happy that we’re here,” said Davis, who recently moved to suburban Buffalo from Colorado, where he was living alone following the death of his second wife in January. Henderson also was widowed after re-marrying.
Davis proposed to Henderson over the phone around Easter and she accepted, even though they hadn’t seen each other since a family funeral in 1996. Before that, the two hadn’t been face-to-face since splitting up in 1964, though they had stayed in touch and kept up with each other’s lives through the children.
Their oldest daughter, Johnnie Mae Funderbirk, had been urging her father to return to New York since his wife’s death.
Davis was receptive, especially to the idea of reconnecting with Henderson.
“I had always kind of had that in mind, mostly because of the children,” he said. “You never forget someone that you cared for at one time or another.”
Henderson and Davis both said it was “nice” to see one another again, this time as an engaged couple.
The children are less reserved.
“I’m as excited as some 9-year-old whose parents are getting back together,” Funderbirk said, “and I’m 65 years old.”
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
Girl Grabs Wheel When Grandfather Dies In New Jersey
NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — As the pickup truck she was riding in careened down the road at 80 mph, 12-year-old Miranda Bowman knew one thing: She had to stop it.
Miranda’s grandfather, Paul Parker, was driving her home July 24 from an afternoon of go-karting when he told Miranda he didn’t feel well. He asked her to keep talking to keep him alert. She asked about things she spied on the side of the road — the racetrack, the unfinished bleachers. A few seconds later Miranda heard her grandfather’s head hit the driver’s side window.
Parker, 63, had just died of a heart attack, and his foot was pressing on the accelerator.
“He was like, `Miranda I’m scared, I’ve never felt like this before,'” Miranda said during a phone interview from her Burlington Township home. “I was scared because he would never say that. He was a tough cookie.”
After a “30-second freak-out” during which she cried, “Pop-pop, Pop-pop, Pop-pop,” Miranda realized the car was speeding up and drifting toward the side of the road. She undid her seat belt and tried to call 911 on her cellphone but she wasn’t getting any service. She then climbed underneath the steering wheel and pressed her hand on the brake.
But even though the car was slowing down, it was still hurtling down the road.
Miranda popped up from underneath the steering wheel, wedged her right foot under her left and pressed on the brake as hard as she could.
“I was going to put it in park and I thought we were going too fast,” she said. “I thought it would do the fish tail or flip over.”
Instead she grabbed onto the steering wheel and tried to find a place where she could force the car to stop.
“I was looking around and thought, `Should I go into the corn field, should I keep going?'” she said. “Down the street was a red light and I saw woods. I said `I can’t hurt anybody else, I can only hurt myself,'” by putting the car into the trees.
Miranda said the pickup truck ran into a few trees. She tried to open the door, but it wouldn’t budge. She wasn’t able to smash out the window. She finally spied a broken part of the passenger’s side door and kicked it open.
A woman driving behind the car saw it swerving and called 911 while following it. Miranda said she fell to her knees and wailed after getting out of the car. She then called her mother and grandmother.
“She said, `Mom, we were in an accident and Pop-pop is dead,'” said Miranda’s mother, Stephanie Bowman. “I keep thinking to myself, `I don’t know if I could have watched that happen to him and reacted the way she did.'”
Stephanie Bowman said the family is in shock from all that happened. Paul Parker was an active man who played fast-pitch baseball and started go-karting in his 60s. It was the first time Miranda watched her grandfather go-kart; she had long asked him to take her to the track.
“I’m very grateful to have my daughter be OK but losing my father at the same time, I’m just numb from the two emotions battling each other out,” Stephanie Bowman said.
Miranda said she knew how to react in an emergency situation because her father is an EMT. She also said she watches a lot of “Law and Order” on television and thought about what might happen on the show. And she always watches what people do while driving a car, so she knew to head for the brake.
Miranda said she wants to be a sign language interpreter when she is an adult.
“I’m very amazed by her, very impressed by her,” Stephanie Bowman said. “Where she got it from God only knows. He was her angel that day.”
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
California Man Attempts To Smuggle Meth As Candy
LOS ANGELES (AP) — A California man faces federal drug charges for allegedly trying to smuggle more than 4 pounds of methamphetamine to Japan in what looked like dozens of Snickers bars.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials said Monday that 34-year-old Rogelio Mauricio Harris of Long Beach was arrested last week at Los Angeles International Airport as he prepared to board a flight to Japan.
Harris was charged in Los Angeles with drug possession and faces at least 10 years in prison if convicted.
Federal agents conducting routine baggage inspections found 45 full-sized Snickers bars inside Harris’ luggage. Each bar was coated in a chocolate-like substance to make it look like a candy bar, but tests revealed the so-called candy contained methamphetamine.
Authorities estimate the 4 pounds of meth is worth about $250,000.
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved
Black Couple Denied Wedding At Mississippi Church
An African-American couple attending a predominantly white Baptist church in Jackson, Miss., nearly had their dream of a church wedding dashed when members of the congregation demanded that the nuptials be held elsewhere because of their race.
“The church congregation had decided no black could be married at that church, and that if he went on to marry her, then they would vote him out the church,” Charles Wilson told local news station WAFB-TV.
Wilson and his wife, commenting on how the Rev. Stan Weatherford of First Baptist Church of Crystal Springs decided to perform their wedding ceremony at a different church, said racism was to blame.
“I feel like it was blatant racial discrimination,” Wilson told the Clarion-Ledger.
“He had people in the sanctuary that were pitching a fit about us being a black couple,” said Te’Andrea Wilson. “I didn’t like it at all, because I wasn’t brought up to be racist. I was brought up to love and care for everybody.”
Charles and Te’Andrea Wilson are not members of FBC of Crystal Springs, but had been regular attendees, with Mrs. Wilson having family ties to the congregation. Her father used to attend the church and she has an uncle who was a custodian there.
“Prior to this, I had been telling people how nice they were here,” Charles Wilson said. “It makes you re-evaluate things. We were doing everything right. We wanted to get married.”
The Wilsons did get married on July 21 as planned, just not in the church where they had hoped to hold the ceremony.
No black couple has ever been married at First Baptist Church of Crystal Cathedral. Pastor Weatherford has said that members would be holding meetings to see how to go forward to avoid future situations similar to the one involving the Wilsons.
According to insiders at the 150-year-old First Baptists Church of Crystal Springs, about five or six people had approached Weatherford about the planned ceremony after witnessing a rehearsal at the church two days before the Saturday wedding.
Wilson only learned after the fact that it was reportedly a handful of people who challenged having the ceremony held at the church. He insisted that Weatherford should have pushed back instead of giving in to congregants’ demands.
“If you’re for Christ, you can’t straddle the fence,” he told the Clarion-Ledger. “He knew it was wrong.”
Weatherford, calling himself a peacemaker, said he felt it necessary to comply with requests to move the wedding ceremony elsewhere.
“I was just trying to think about a win-win,” the pastor explained. “The thing is, I’m a peacemaker, and sometimes because I’m a peacemaker it gets me in trouble. The thing about it is this: I love the people of our church and that’s the bottom line.”
Weatherford insisted his primary concerns were keeping peace at the church and making sure the Wilsons could enjoy their wedding day.
“I didn’t want to have a controversy within the church, and I didn’t want a controversy to affect the wedding of Charles and Te’Andrea. I wanted to make sure their wedding day was a special day,” the pastor told a local news station.
Others have suggested that Weatherford was essentially bullied into performing the wedding ceremony elsewhere and that the dissenting members do not represent the entire congregation.
“Some individuals intimidated the pastor and created a situation that had him in a bind and he was trying to do the best he could to work it out,” church attendee Bob Mack told WLBT-TV.
African-Americans in Jackson who have visited the church or have relationships with its members have defended it against claims of racism.
Church members also have apologized to the Wilsons and the local black community, denying that their church is home to a racist congregation.
Barbara Marck, a member of First Baptist Church of Crystal Springs, said the church’s image has been overshadowed by a few bad apples.
“We have been portrayed as a racist church, we’re not! We welcome anybody that wants to come through those doors,” she said.
The Rev. Jim Futral, executive director of the Mississippi Baptist Convention, said the situation at FBC of Crystal Springs was a “sad thing.”
“It’s not reflective of the spirit of the Lord and Mississippi Baptists,” he said. “It’s just a step backward. … It’s a sad thing.”
Saying much progress had been made in the denomination, Futral admitted that this step was definitely “one backward.”
The racism row comes just one month after the Southern Baptist Convention, the largest Protestant body in in the U.S., elected its first African-American president, the Rev. Frank Luter of Franklin Avenue Baptist Church in New Orleans, La.
Source: The Christian Post
McDonald’s Customer Dies At Counter In Croatia
Restaurant Reportedly Keeps Making And Serving Food
A McDonald’s restaurant in Sibenik, Croatia, is drawing international attention today after workers there reportedly continued to make and sell food after a female customer collapsed and died at the counter.
Croatian newspaper 24sata reports that, despite the death of the McDonald’s customer, “employees continued to work as if nothing had happened.”
An ambulance, called by the woman’s husband, responded quickly, though emergency personnel could not revive her. While relatives mourned, adds 24sata, the woman’s body was covered with a sheetuntil the coroner reportedly arrived an hour and a half later. All the while, the fast food eatery apparently stayed open for business.
Restaurant officials have countered the claims, attributing them to overzealous reporting in the Croatian media.
According to the Daily Mail, McDonald’s officials say that after the woman died only the drive-through remained open. They say the walk-in portion of the restaurant remained closed until the body could be removed.
At least one customer disagrees, telling The Sun, “No-one closed the restaurant, which would normally have been done at any other place, especially a fast food restaurant.”
5 Ways to Bring Peace into Your Day
Take A Moment for Yourself
As soon as you wake up, it begins. You have meals to make, kids to dress, and a to-do list that never ends. Even your phone is delivering calls, text messages, emails and “Angry Birds” that keep pulling on you for attention. Does this merry-go-round world ever stop?
Here’s the good news: your life may not slow down, but you can. Moments to refresh and recharge are all around you. From the busy soccer mom to the over-worked executive, everyone can take advantage of these easy-to-do tips and tricks to bring more peace into your day.
Mute the Commercials
Unless you have a DVR, you’re ingesting a lot of ads with needless noise that you’d rather not see during your favorite television shows. When the commercials start, mute the sound. It gives you 30 seconds to a minute of peace and quiet.
Breathe
I know you think you’re breathing right now and you are. However, I’m talking about deep breathing – the kind that lifts your chest, fills your lungs and then exhales the body into relaxation. Breathe before a big meeting. Breathe while you’re in traffic. Take a moment as often as possible to close your eyes and take deep breaths.
Use Mouthwash
Okay, stay with me on this one. Most mouthwashes recommend that you swish the liquid around for 30 seconds. You have to be careful not to swallow it, while still making sure it hits all the corners of your mouth. It takes some focus; it’s difficult to do anything else and use mouthwash at the same time. If you’ve ever wanted to practice mindfulness (the art of being fully and singularly dedicated to whatever you’re doing in the moment), using mouthwash is a great start. Stand still, close your eyes and really feel the mouthwash between your cheeks. When you’re done, you’ll not only have a fresh mouth, but a calmer mind.
Nap
Feeling stressed out? You might just need a nap. Millions of people don’t get enough sleep, and if that’s you, it affects every area of your life from your weight to your emotions. Even if it’s just for 15 minutes, find a spot and take a nap. The snooze will do your body good.
Go to the Restroom
Who among us has not escaped to the bathroom for a moment of solitude? Whether you’re at home, the office or in a crowded restaurant, it can buy you at least a minute or two of privacy to collect yourself. So, if you’re feeling overwhelmed and you need a moment, excuse yourself. Put the “rest” back in restroom.
Copyright © Beliefnet, Inc. and/or its licensors. All rights reserved.
7 Things You Don’t Need to Buy
What are you doing?
If your family is struggling financially right now, author Crystal Paine says that one simple way to save money is to simply buy less — or to stop buying certain items altogether. “We’ve found that there are many items that aren’t really necessities for our family and we can easily do without them,” she writes. “Here are 7 things we don’t buy.” She’s a self-proclaimed minimalist and stay-at-home home who has written a new book, The Money-Saving Mom’s Budget.
For years, I’ve only “purchased” shaving cream for myself if it was free or almost-free. I’ve found that a good lathering of soap does just as good of a job–and it’s less expensive, too. Since making my own homemade soap, my husband has stopped using shaving cream altogether. He says that my soap works great, instead!
We do keep a few rolls of paper towels on hand in the basement pantry for guests, but otherwise, we don’t use paper towels. Rags work just as well–or better!–and you can just stick them in the washer when you’re finished. Or, if it was a really icky mess, you can always just toss the rag when you’re done.
We’ve saved a lot of money over the years by not paying for the empty calories and sugar in soda pop. My husband still enjoys a Vanilla Coke from Sonic every now and then, but we don’t keep soda pop on hand at our house (except for the occasional 7Up or Ginger Ale we’ll buy when in the middle of sickness).
In all our years of marriage, I cannot recall a time that we’ve ever paid to purchase a movie to add to our small DVD collection. We’ve rented a lot from RedBox and Blockbuster kiosks (usually with free rental codes!) and we checked out dozens upon dozens of movies from the library, but we don’t buy movies. And there’s always Netflix – unlimited instant downloads for a monthly fee less than the price of one theater ticket.
In the same vein, going to a movie at a theater is usually a once a year event for our family–typically when a really high-quality movie comes out that we want to support at the box office. Considering that reduced priced movie tickets typically cost at least $6 each, we’d be spending at least $360 per year on movie tickets for our family if we went and saw a movie once a month.
Growing up, we never used dryer sheets or fabric softener, so I’ve carried this tradition on in our home, too. Sure, we have a bit more static sometimes, but truthfully, it’s something we hardly ever notice.
I’m a one-big-cup-a-day girl when it comes to coffee, but we don’t purchase coffee filters or K-Cups. Instead, we use a French Press. It makes fantastic coffee, we can make the exact amount we need, and we don’t have to buy anything other than coffee to refill it!
We’ve never had cable TV and we’ve saved thousands of dollars over the years, as a result. There’s occasionally a time when my husband has wished he could watch a sports event or a time when we’ve wished we could watch political coverage, but overall, we’ve survived just fine without cable TV. It might not save us thousands of dollars each year to not buy these seven different things, but it definitely saves us a few hundred dollars–painlessly! And the small things add up to big savings over time.
Crystal Paine is a wife, homeschool mom to three, self-proclaimed minimalist, lover of dark chocolate and good coffee, and a wannabe runner. For practical help and inspiration to get your life and finances in order, purchase a copy of her book, The Money Saving Mom®‘s Budget.
Copyright © Beliefnet, Inc. and/or its licensors. All rights reserved.
How Color Can Change Your Life
Discover Your Power Color
By: Pamela Harding
Are you feeling blue? Seeing red? Looking green around the gills? Try a healthy dose of color therapy. It might be just the prescription you need!
Our ancestors believed that color held magical properties. It could be used to ward off evil spirits, attract good ones, and even heal the sick. While in this age of hard science and cool technology we may view such beliefs with skepticism, our fascination with color has taken on new forms. Biochemists, environmental and industrial psychologists, make-up experts, wardrobe consultants, and, of course, advertising pros have studied color and found how it affects mood, health, image, perception, even heart rate. Certain colors can prompt you to eat faster, perceive objects differently, and even make you spend more money.
Although babies are drawn most strongly to bright colors, and children often prefer solid, vibrant hues, adults tend to choose more subdued tints and shades of color: pink and rose or maroon instead of fire-engine red, for instance, or peach, melon or rust instead of bright orange. To surround yourself with what you feel comfortable is most important. Certain colors can ramp up your mood, but only if they appeal to you. If they don’t, they can do the opposite.
Blood Pressure, respiration, and muscle tension all increase on initial exposure to red. But, this jazzy hue also boosts spirits and stimulates creativity, conversation, and the appetite (which is why it is used in many restaurants). Red is also a popular color in casinos—people are more likely to gamble in a red environment than in, say, a blue one. Rooms with a lot of red feel warmer, heavier, and time seems to pass more slowly in them. Red may increase passion, but also aggression, anger, and restlessness—it’s probably not the best choice of color for a bedroom. In clothing red conveys energy, power, and leadership, but can also signal romance and sensuality, depending on the garment.
An interesting note: when you have two objects of identical shape and weight, one red and one blue, most people will think the red one is heavier. (Might be one reason to rethink that red wardrobe! On the other hand, red accents could perk up your image.)
Like the edible fruit, orange is associated with health and well-being. Eye-catching, stimulating, exciting, and mood elevating, the color decreases irritability. Like red, it boosts appetite, but it will stimulate people to eat and run—hence the popular orange in many fast-food restaurants. Generally, orange conveys a sense of youth, quickness of mind and body, and is perceived as a warm and friendly color. An orange accent on a plate makes food look more appealing and lighter tints on walls or clothing flatter the complexion. Peach and melon are good colors for living rooms and dining areas. People who wear orange are seen as cheerful, emotional, communicative, enthusiastic, and fun.
Vibrant yellow, bright and easily visible, is a great color to wear on dull, dark, or rainy days to add a little sunshine to your life. (It’s also a good color to wear after dark if you’re walking along busy streets.) The color projects love, light, warmth, and wealth, enhances communication, learning, mood, and energy level.
Generally, yellow combats gloom and fatigue. It opens up or brightens rooms, and pale tones are good choices for classrooms; warm tones good for play areas and living rooms. It’s the most visible choice of background color for signs (with black lettering). People who wear yellow are perceived as sunny, intelligent, warm, and compatible. So wear gold (also in jewelry) or yellow when you’re asking for a raise.
The color of money, but also balance, harmony, and control, green exudes prosperity and well-being. It increases the ability to concentrate, while reducing muscular tension and stress. Refreshing and restorative, green is an ideal room color for sedentary or monotonous tasks—a good color for learning and doing. Rooms feel cooler and fresher. Turquoise and light green are good choices for kitchens, since they make room temperatures feel cooler and time and tasks seem to pass more quickly. Wear green to give the impression that you feel in control. It’s a good color to wear if you’re trying to keep the peace, mediate, or generate team spirit.
Blue hues lower blood pressure respiration, and pulse and convey a sense of peace, serenity, and tranquility. Blue objects tend to feel lighter than they are. A pale blue bedroom creates a light, airy atmosphere and is likely to create a peaceful, restful environment that helps lull you to sleep. Rooms feel cooler, and time passes more quickly. Blue is also a good formal color for living rooms. However, choose the hue wisely, because it can also be depressing in bathrooms or dining areas, making people’s complexions look gray. In clothing, “true” blue is an American favorite. Wear blue to inspire trust and loyalty, encourage communication, and convey a sense that you belong.
Violet hues suggest something unusual and superior. Associated with high spirituality, violet can also convey somberness or solemnity, and may be interpreted as either uplifting or depressing. Good for prayer and meditation, the color has an otherworldly character. It’s not generally a good color choice for walls, since large expanses disturb the eyes’ ability to focus. Wear violet and you’ll project unconventionality, nonconformity, and creativity. The color stands out in a crowd and may be associated with acute perception and deep insight.
Copyright © Beliefnet, Inc. and/or its licensors. All rights reserved.
10 Quick Ways To Recharge
When our lives are busy and we’ve been on-the-go, we can end up feeling off balance and out of sorts. Sometimes it can feel like we’re juggling so many things that we lose track of ourselves in the midst of all that needs our attention. In such moments, it helps to have a quick way to come back to our center—to recharge and reboot before we move on with our day. Here are 10 strategies to try, each containing an action to do, as well as an intention to either speak or think. Experiment with each one to see what works best for you, and adapt them as needed to make them your own.
Step outside and take in several deep breaths, allowing yourself to feel renewed as you literally breathe in (“in spire”) fresh air. You can even imagine being an item of clothing that’s been hung up on a clothing line, allowing the air to move in and around you, refreshing your whole being. “May I feel refreshed and renewed with each breath I take.
Lie down on your back, extend your arms and legs and take several deep stretches. You may also want to bend your knees, bringing the soles of your feet to the ground, and let your knees drop to the floor on one side and then the other side. If you’re standing up, extend your arms over your head, leaning to the right and then to the left. Next, bend forward, letting your arms hang down and gently swaying them from side to side. “May I release any unneeded tension in my body, heart, and mind.”
Resting in an inverted position can be especially rejuvenating. Try scooting close to a wall and then raising your legs and resting them on the wall in a way that feels comfortable. You can also move into a similar position by resting your legs on the seat of a chair. If the floor is hard, put a blanket under your back and a small pillow under your head. “May I empty out what I don’t need and be filled with the qualities that I can most use right now.”
One of the quickest, most effective ways to release stress and come back into the moment is to let out a sighing exhalation. Allow there to be some sound and an intentional elongation of your out breath. “May I come back into the moment, so that all of me is here.”
It can be useful to carry an essential oil with you, either in a small bottle or in the form of a lotion or spray. Experiment with a citrus scent, lavender, or mint to see what feels most enlivening to you. “May I feel refreshed and renewed as I take in this scent.”
One of the most universal gestures for coming into the moment and inviting in a sense of the sacred is to light a candle. There’s something about the presence of light and flame that can be powerful in helping us reconnect with ourselves. “May I feel a sense of the sacred, right now and throughout my day.”
Even if you don’t fall asleep, simply lying down and resting for ten minutes can feel mentally and physically restorative. “May I receive what I most need from this rest.”
Find a song that’s either enlivening or calming, depending on your mood and what you most need. With the arrival of downloadable music, it’s even easier to create a variety of playlists to have on hand. “May this music enliven and soothe my spirit.”
It can be useful to simply pause for a moment, taking several intentional breaths and bringing your attention back into the present moment. In this moment, may I come back to myself, right here and now.”
If you’re standing, notice how the soles of your feet are making contact with the ground and imagine sending down roots through the soles of your feet and into the earth. As you inhale, imagine drawing up strength and nourishment through these roots and into your whole body. “May I be grounded in my body and rooted to the earth, feeling supported and connected.”
Once you’ve had a chance to experiment with each of these ten ways to recharge, notice which ones work best for you and under what circumstances each might be most effective. The more you get in a habit of taking a minute to reboot and reconnect with yourself, the more you’ll find yourself feeling energized and present in your day-to-day life.
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