I borrowed this idea from The Martha Stewart Show.
Tools and Materials
- Leaf Template
- Cardstock
- Scissors
- Pencil
- Old book with at least 100 yellowed pages, pages removed
- Craft glue
- 24-gauge floral wire, cut to 5-inch lengths
- Pressed real leaves (optional)
- 20-gauge floral wire
- Brown floral tape
- 1/8-inch tan quilling paper
- Acorn caps
- Hot-glue gun and glue sticks
- Ribbon for bow
Wreath How-To
1. Print a leaf template on cardstock and cut out. Trace the leaf shape on a page from the book; roughly trim the paper around the leaf shape.
2. Apply craft glue to the back of the leaf shape. Place a 5-inch length of wire on a second page from the book, then place the leaf shape glue side down over it, sandwiching the wire between the papers. The wire should be centered on the stem of the leaf, with half of the wire within the leaf and half of the wire emerging from the stem. Allow glue to dry, then carefully cut out the leaf shape with scissors. Repeat to make 45 to 50 leaves for the wreath.
3. Bundle 3 to 5 leaves and twist the wires together.
Tip: You can add wires to real pressed leaves and incorporate them in the paper leaf bundles if desired.
4. To make a wreath form, cut a 47-inch length of 20-gauge wire; fold in half and twist. Shape twisted wire into a horseshoe, then wrap with brown floral tape.
5. Starting at one end of the wreath form and working toward middle, attach bundles of leaves with floral tape; repeat for other side.
6. To make the acorns, tightly roll 1/8-inch quilling paper into a flat disk. Use thumb to push the center of the disk outward, forming into a cup shape. Rub the inside of the cup with craft glue to secure the shape. Apply hot glue to the inside of the quilled cup and adhere to an acorn cap. Use hot glue to attach acorns to wreath.
7. Tie bow on the top center of wreath, if desired.
In this struggling economy, it can be too expensive to purchase an engagement ring or wedding band set. With gold prices skyrocketing just as they always do every recession, the average Joe can't afford to propose to his best gal anymore. There are some beautiful alternatives.
Gold vs. Silver
Yellow Gold
If your woman is a gold lover, as in the traditional yellow gold, you're in for a fight. The price of gold has gone up. So a simple 1/4 carat diamond solitaire can cost a few hundred dollars more than usual. So what can you do? If your woman is inflexible in the color of her gold, be flexible in the stone. Cubic Zirconia is easily mistaken for a diamond. The fact is that most people cannot distinguish between a high grade cubic zirconia or a diamond with the naked eye. The key is to buy a high quality cubic zirconia and to keep it clean at all times. Another tip is not to purchase it in a large size. The larger the size, the more obvious it is that it is fake. Believe it or not, it's not the size of the stone that is causing this realization but actually it is the person wearing it. If you are the couple that can never go anywhere because you are living paycheck to paycheck then you probably can't afford a 5 carat diamond. So that large stone is probably a cz and not a diamond.
If she doesn't want a cz because of the social stigma then try the lab created diamond. Again, the differences are indistinguishable by the naked eye. You will be able to say it is a diamond and not a cz. If your woman is still picky about the fact that her diamond isn't real, remind her that the band is yellow gold and therefore the stone can be removed and replaced with a real diamond without an issue when you can afford to do so. Of course there is also the option of skipping the diamond altogether. Be original and put her birthstone or the stone from the month you met, proposed, or plan to be married in the ring instead. The stone will be real, and no matter what it is, it's cheaper than a diamond. By changing the stone choice, you reduce the cost of having paid more for the yellow gold band in the first place.
White Gold
This is purely a personal opinion. Never buy white gold. White gold was invented to replicate silver or platinum. When people couldn't afford the price of silver they took yellow gold and plated it with nickel to make it appear silver. Today, white gold is maximum 18k gold (75%) and the rest is rhodium. This is why the rings are regularly sent into the jeweler to be replated every so often. If you haven't noticed, the price of gold is usually higher than silver. So white gold is typically equally priced with yellow gold. Why buy imitation silver when you could simply buy a true silver ring that costs less? The other issue with white gold is the resale. Jewelers pay more for yellow gold jewelry and silver jewelry because they aren't conglomerate metals like white gold. Save your money and buy the silver.
Silver
There are two types of silver sold in the stores, sterling silver and silver. Sterling silver is typically so cheap it is usually less than $50 in price. It needs to be replated just like a white gold ring. A silver ring does not need to be replated or dipped. Silver rings only need to be cleaned at home with soap and water or with an ammonia based cleaner. Then you polish it it a high gloss shine. Your precious ring stays with you at all times. Silver acts like gold in that it can hold a diamond as well. Silver is much cheaper than yellow gold, so you won't have to go cheap on the stone. In my personal opinion, any stone that is not green, brown, yellow, or red looks better on silver rings. For my birthday, I received a pink sapphire ring on silver. When I saw a young lady with a similar ring in yellow gold, the sapphire seemed to be muted by the yellow gold. I was glad my husband saved the money by buying the silver and taking me to dinner instead.
Recap
Save money by substituting yellow gold with silver or substituting the stones. You can always add a real diamond later. Gold is worth more than silver but silver doesn't need to be sent in for replating and refinishing.
Being a mom usually means wearing jeans and sweats on a daily basis. It makes perfect sense when you think about it. Jeans are durable and can take a beating. Sweats are comfortable and easy to move around in or chase a toddler. But just because I like to be comfortable and not waste my money on high end clothes just to have my baby spit carrots on them, doesn't mean that I don't like to look good.
One way that I spruce up the jeans and t-shirt look is to wear makeup and curl my hair. I usually throw in some heels to make it look sexy. But what usually works like a charm, even without the heels and the makeup is the jewelry. If the jewelry is upscale or classy enough it makes the jeans look more expensive, thus making me look less like a bumming mom.
Check out this earring and pendant necklace set I made for Rain Tree Boutique. The color and the pendant elevate my appearance above that of vacuuming. It can be worn with that little black dress or with the jeans and t-shirt.
No matter how simple your attire is, jewelry can make you look ten times more put together than you would without it.
Gone are the days of forcing left handed children to write with their right hands. At least I hope they're gone. Studies have shown that forcing left handed children to be right handed not only caused emotional problems but it also caused many learning disabilities like, dyslexia. The brain of the left handed child operates differently than the brain of a right handed child. Left handed people seem to have less difficulty with puzzles and mirror images. Leonardo DaVinci found it easier to write backwards with his left hand. His journals had to be held up to a mirror to be read. So with the discovery that lefties are all right, you would think that the world would be equally accommodating. It isn't.
Consider this, when your right handed child sits at a desk with an arm rest, he is perfectly prepared to write comfortably and with ample support. But what of the left handed child? Where will his left arm rest? When you enter a classroom all of the arm rests are on the right hand side. Most schools have made up for this by removing the arm rests all together. But they need to go further. Here are a list of things your school aged lefty will need.
Pencil Sharpener- Pencil sharpeners operate by turning the inserted pencil in the sharpener to the right. Easy enough when you are right handed. But take a second and try sharpening a pencil in the same pencil sharpener with your left hand and you will see why a left-handed pencil sharpener is necessary.
Notebooks- Open the cover of a notebook and you will find that it is easy to write from left to right when the pages are on the right...if you're right handed. If you're left handed, the left sided pages are easier to write on as the binding is out of your way. That is why your child will need a left handed notebook. However, these are as difficult to find as the left handed pencil sharpeners. My husband solved this problem while in college by using a top bound notebook.
Scissors- There are two options here. You can get your child the left handed scissors which are readily available or you can buy the even handed scissors. The even handed scissors may be optimal for a younger child. Sometimes the younger lefty is able to use both hands.
Binder- I know it seems that a binder could simply be turned upside down but not if it has pockets. Also, some binders have a ring opener that can only be opened from the top. If you can't find a lefty binder then you have to work with the regular binders.
If you are able to sew, then you may want to remove the zippers on your child's backpack and lunch box. The zippers go from left to right, turn the zipper around to make it go from right to left.
At home, you may want to invest in a left handed desk to help reinforce the use of his left hand. His penmanship on his homework will look better than his classwork.
Also, have a heart to heart conversation with your child's teacher. Most teachers don't have the time or the focus to give your one child out of 30 to 60 kids in a class individual attention. Without realizing it, she may unwittingly force your child to write with the right hand.
It's a right world out there. Take care of the ones who are left.
INGREDIENTS:
5 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons Old Bay seasoning
1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon MSG
1/2 teaspoon granulated sugar
1/4 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
INSTRUCTION:
1. Stir together all dry ingredients in a small bowl.
2. Add oil and stir well.
3. Brush generously on steamed crab just before serving.
Makes enough for at least 8 servings.
Here's the video on how to clean dungeness crab.
All summer long I managed to avoid contracting athlete's foot. Unfortunately, the fan in my windowless bathroom stopped working. So each time I stepped out of the shower into my warm, misty bathroom onto my bath rug, I was creating the recipe for disaster. The bathroom rugs stayed wet. Bacteria multiplied faster than a woman without birth control. The next thing you knew I had athlete's foot. It was brutal, the constant itching, the cracking, the peeling, the bumps, the pain I inflicted trying out disgusting home remedies, including peeing on my foot.
The reason for all of this experimentation was Lotrimin. Lotrimin is an athlete's foot 
spray that I purchased for $5.34. When I sprayed it on my foot, it did not instantly stop the itch on contact as proclaimed on the can. The spray left a powdery residue on my feet that got everywhere. I found that I had to reapply several times a day rather than twice a day as directed. I went through the small can within a week and my symptoms had worsened.
I moved on to "boom! tough actin' Tinactin." That did show me much better results. It 
stopped the multiplication of the little fluid filled bumps and it didn't leave as powdery of a residue. The itch stopped within seconds of spraying it on. I only had to apply it 3 times a day to get these results. The cost of this spray was $4.32. I ran out of that can within 2 weeks.
Now that my infection was raging, I was desperate. I tried urinating on my foot. That made it worse and left me scrubbing my shower feverishly because I felt so dirty. I was reminded of the Seinfeld episode where Elaine told George not to pee in the shower because of the plumbing. "You're gonna mix them up!" I moved on to the Lysol spray on the foot. Dear God, that burned like turpentine. However, there was no more oozing from the raw and exposed skin. Then I tried soaking my feet in vinegar. It dried up all of the bumps and the exposed skin. I thought I was cured! I wasn't. 2 weeks later the bumps were back.
I went back to Target and bought the store brand. I was going to be damned if I would pay another $5 for another spray that didn't work. I bought the generic Target brand for only $3.98. It was so generic it only had a white label like 1980's welfare food. The noticeable difference was that the spray didn't leave a powder. The medicine didn't rub off everywhere either. It seemed to absorb right away. The itch stopped on contact. I applied it twice a day as instructed. It seemed to stop the athlete's foot in it's tracks. I Googled around on the internet and found that I should rupture the bumps to banish the fungal liquid. So I held an embroidery needle over a flame and wiped it with alcohol. I don't know what I was whincing for, I couldn't feel a thing. I immediately blotted up the liquid with a Kleenex and sprayed my foot again. Three days later my athlete's foot was gone. I cured the flaky skin with a few applications of Eucerin, which is intended for people with eczema.
As advised, I prevented the return of the God-awful condition by making my own shower concoction spray made of alcohol (dries the shower faster), vinegar (kills fungus), and water. I also got a pair of Steve Madden, terry cloth flip flops to step onto out of the shower as opposed to stepping onto my rugs. Every night before bed, I spray the bathroom rugs with Lysol Disinfectant to prevent the excess growth of bacteria between laundry day. I was told to disinfect my shoes but the infection came from my bathroom so there was no problem to fix there. So glad to be able to were my sandals again.
I do wonder though, how bad is jock itch? All three cans also treat jock itch.
This is a review of Pampers Stages Cruisers Dry Max Diapers in size 4 and a 120 count box.
I received 3 free diapers in my daughter's size with a Target logo on the packaging in the mail yesterday. I was told when I signed up for my Target Red Card that my information would not be sold. It seems the opposite is true. The people at Pampers sent me the sample to review on their company survey site. I thought it would do more good to review it here.
First the fit. It was far superior to the fit of my usual brand which is the Target brand diaper. I found the Target brand comparable to the Pampers Swaddlers when my daughter was a smaller size. But now the larger size of the Target brand seems to gape open around the leg. Though I haven't had any mishaps with this fit, I'm sure it won't be long before there will be one. The Cruisers fit like a glove. There were no gaps and no elastic imprints on her skin. Her bottom was drier than with the store brand and there was better padding and cushioning in the diaper. She seemed to notice the difference right away as she attempted the Mowgli crawl, something she hadn't tried before.
Second, I noticed the price. A pack of 124 count, size 4 Target brand diapers is $19.98. If you use your Red Card it will be 5% less. Every box comes with a $1 off coupon on the side which you are able to redeem instantly. Your final price is somewhere between $17-$18. The Cruisers are $35 for a 120 count box. With the 5% discount from the Target Red Card and the $2 coupon from the manufacturer, your bottom line is still about $10 more for 4 less diapers.
This really came down to fit for me. I had to decide, was the better fit worth the $10 and less diapers? After all, 4 diapers is at least a half day's worth of diapers. Seeing my daughter get up on her hands and feet instead of continuing her army crawl was certainly worth it. And lately the Target brand has been springing a few leaks. Is it worth the $10?
Painfully, I say the answer is yes. Diaper rash is no joke for me. It's worse for my baby girl. Being able to move more freely is crucial to a baby sister who is trying to keep up with her big brother. Reluctantly, I will be purchasing the Pampers Stages Cruisers for $10 more. Of course, I will be stacking the coupons as much as possible to reduce costs.
