The holiday season comes and goes so quickly that it is easy
to be caught off guard. Think like a Boy Scout & “Be
Prepared” this year.

All too often we find ourselves unprepared for Christmas Day
when we have known all along that it is where it always is,
neatly nestled between Thanksgiving and New Years, during
the last week of December. It always seems though, that we
forget someone or something until the last minute and end up
rushing around with all of the other crazy busy people on
Christmas Eve.

There is an easy way to avoid this though. Account for the
possibilities. What are you likely to forget? Who are you
likely to leave out? Here are a few things you should keep
on hand during the holiday season, whether in your car, the
fridge or cupboard.

While you are doing your Christmas gift shopping, pick up a
bunch of little things to have around as take-away or
hospitality gifts. It could be anything from candy, to small
trinkets or ornaments, or a box of candy. It’s inevitable:
an unexpected person will show up, and it’s best not to be
caught empty-handed.

Keep the refrigerator stocked with small dessert items or
snack trays. This is good for when you are doing your
holiday visiting. This way you can bring something with you
to each place that you visit during your Christmas week.
Stuff like apple pie or ‘veggie’ platters are great, because
they can be used pretty much anywhere that there’s a
gathering of people.

Stash a couple bottles of wine in your car (unopened of
course). You could even save a few bucks by buying a case or
two at once. Some retailers will even offer a discount for a
mixed case of different brands or types. Keep the wine in
your trunk in case of last minute visiting hours. That way
you are not running around like a nut at the last minute
trying to find a liquor store that’s open.

Don’t buy individual Christmas cards for each of your
co-workers. Buy a big box of cards at once and keep them in
your car or briefcase. When you’re dealing with a large
amount of people such as at the office, it’s easy to forget
someone. Keep cards handy so you can correct any oversights
before it seems like a slight.

Be a good Scout, stay prepared, and your holiday season will
run more smoothly this year.

Mike Nalbone is the webmaster at http://www.ChristmasGiftOfTheMonth.com which offers unique,
memorable Christmas gift ideas for everyone on your list.

This Article is © 2005 and may be reproduced or displayed
solely in its entirety, unmodified, provided the above
resource box is included along with an active (click-able)
link to http://www.ChristmasGiftOfTheMonth.com

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As mothers, we play so many different roles and most of us do not take the time off that we deserve. Just think about it, we play doctor, cook, chauffeur, teacher, lawyer, and the occasional referee as well.

I bet you can remember the last time you did a load of laundry, the last time one of your little ones gave you a hug or perhaps the last time one of your little ones created a little artwork on the wall (smile) but when was the last time you took time out for you?

It is very important to be sure to take time out for yourself. I made a vow a while ago to be sure to take time for myself away from home. I have a husband and 4 children and I schedule time for myself weekly. Whether I am alone or with girlfriends, I find the time that I spend dedicated to myself to be priceless.

I love ‘Girls Day out’! This is where you pal around with your friend or friends and just have fun (childless fun). Just imaging being able to drink an entire cup of tea or coffee before it gets cold or actually eating your entire meal without having to share it. It isn’t selfish to carve out a little ‘me time’ - it is actually a great way to nurture yourself and a wonderful way to rejuvenate yourself as well.

Usually after just a few hours out alone, I can be found cruising home in my van smiling and singing to the radio! I fell totally renewed, rejuvenated and ready to tackle just about ANYTHING (accept the laundry that might be screaming at me - I just yell back and tell it that I will handle it later).
Be sure to steal a few hours for yourself to get away. If for some reason you can’t leave the house perhaps just take some quiet time for yourself after the children are in bed and treat yourself to a good book, a bubble bath a nice movie or anything else that you get enjoyment from.

Here are 5 fun & easy ways to pamper yourself and nurture your mind, body and spirit:

1 - Wake up before the others in the house do and flip through a magazine or simply sip on a hot cup of coffee or tea and enjoy a few uninterrupted moments before the day fully begins.

2 - Weather permitting, take a nice walk and just enjoy your surroundings. Take note of all the beauty that is surrounding you.

3 - Take short breaks during your day whether you are a stay at home mom, work at home mom or work outside of the home, try doing something for yourself periodically throughout the day. You can close your eyes and daydream, browse through the paper or simply have a short friendly chat with a friend.

4 - Treat yourself to a manicure, pedicure or even a new hairstyle. We often are so used to treating others that we forget to treat ourselves and forget to let others pamper us.

5 - Take a nice long warm bubble bath. Fill your mind and senses with a nice fragrance and just soak for as long as you can.

About the Author

Aurelia Williams,
info@reallifecoaching.net
Learn more at http://reallifesolutions.net

Aurelia Williams is the mom of four busy children, a Personal Life Coach and the owner of Real Life Solutions, which is an informational site that also offers products, articles, and a great newsletter. You can also hear Aurelia daily on the WAHM Talk Radio show; she is the Resident Life Coach.

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There are some great bikes around, but you need to be able to find the best deal so that you can get the bike that you want. If you cannot find the bike that you want at a good price at you local bike store then you might have to look further afield. Some of the major bike stores that are in the bigger cities have some very good prices.

But if you are not near to somewhere that they have a store then you still might be able to benefit from their cost savings. Many of the major retailers, as well as having their large stores, also have a catalog that you can buy from at home. Obviously it is better to buy from somewhere that you can test the bike, but if you know what you want then it might be a way to get a good discount on on your new bike.

Another way to save money is to go to an Internet bicycle store. There are a lot of good sites around and some of them can give you very good reductions on the prices of new bikes. Some of the larger Internet bicycle store has a great selection and you can get very good deals on a wide range of bikes. But make sure that you know what you are looking for so that you do not just look at the best deals. If you know what you want, then you can try to find the best price for that bike.

The best-known Internet bicycle store is of course eBay. A lot of the main retailers sell through eBay as well as a lot of small suppliers and some that just sell a few bikes. It is possible to get a really good bargain there if you watch the auction prices carefully. You can also get great used bikes there. If you are looking for a particular bike and are looking for the best price, then this might be worth considering. There are some really good deals to be had through eBay and it is one of the best ways of getting a cheap bike.

There a lot of good places to buy bikes online and if you find a good Internet bicycle store then you can enjoy some really good savings. Of course you need to know what type of bike you want to buy in order to get that best deal on it, so it is a good idea to do some research before you buy.

For more information on bicycles try visiting ShoppingForBikes.com where you will find information on BMX bikes, pocket bikes, folding bikes, mountain bikes and dirt bikes.

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As a self-confessed football obsessive, I need to be able to access live broadcasts of the top games wherever I am. Sometimes it’s not always possible to find somewhere that shows the particular match I want to watch but thanks to technological advancements I can now watch almost any match I wish through a live football stream.

With the help of the internet and some networking facilities, I am able to watch streaming live football via my computer in the office and my laptop should I be stuck in a hotel room somewhere. Being able to watch any one of a number of football matches being broadcast on a particular day is all well and good, but this article tries to explain how it’s done for the more inquisitive natures out there.

To understand how live football streams work, you first need to understand a little bit about networking. In its most simple form, networking is one computer exchanging data with another computer. To be really simplistic, there isn’t a lot of difference between this and mailing a letter.

The first computer addresses a piece of information to another computer and then sends it across the cable that connects computers to one another. The second computer checks the addresses of all of the messages coming by and reads only the messages addressed to it.

Live football stream is achieved with the help of streaming media. This concept is not as foreign as it sounds and it simply acts like an ordinary television or a radio broadcast that streams live football matches. When you wish to view a certain live football stream, a programme called a “streaming media server” breaks up the desired file into pieces called “packets”.

These packets race across the Internet one at a time and get reassembled back into your computer the same way. Providing you have a fast internet connection and the server is not overloaded, the live football streams will begin playing instantly on your PC and the file size is generally small.

Unfortunately, like most good things, there is a drawback to using football streams to get your fix of live action. Since it is live and should be delivered just in time across the potentially unpredictable internet network, quality is sacrificed in order to enhance speed and performance. Even though the main use of streaming video is web delivery, this type is not suited for local presentations.

To view live football steams, your computer requires a special program, called a streaming media plug-in. These plug-in programs are generally free and can be downloaded from the internet.

The difference between downloading video from the internet and watching a live football stream is that the user doesn’t need to wait for the entire media file to download before it can get viewed. While the quality may not be perfect, a live football stream appears to begin to play almost instantly.

It is possible to watch live football on the internet. Make the match more interesting by taking advantage of some of the free bets offers available.

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If you’re just starting your baby shower planning and want to make sure it a huge success, you’ll probably feel that as you try to take care of everything and hard to even find time to take a break.

The good news is, you’re not alone.

Here are some of my useful experiences that I learn through as the guest of other people’s baby shower.

First, if you really in need of a baby shower book, buy an e-book.

According to the report, “How Women and Men Use the Internet”, published by PEW Internet & American Life Project in December 28th, 2005, there are trends showing that women are catching up in overall use and are framing their online experience with a greater emphasis on deepening connections with people.

So what you can learn from it for your baby shower planning? Definitely a lot!

Not only are most of the print version of baby shower books outdated, these books are not suitable to feed the needs for busy and web-savvy women.

I’ve read almost all the baby shower related books sold on Amazon, some of them are good written. But compare to e-books, they are not able to update with fresh content in a timely manner.

Even more, a busy 9-and-5 Shower hostess is able to organizing party ideas while every and each co-hostess can read the same Shower planning book, exchange ideas, and provide solution using emails.

Of course, this only works with e-books since you can send as many copies to your partners without paying extra money.

And here comes the most important strategy: Do it or deliberate it.

Do you understand that how does the 80/20 rule work for baby shower planning?

You’re probably be good at creating great games or making delicious food and drink, but you can’t be an all-star-team on your own to plan something that please all the family members, close friends, and even co-workers.

The smart way is to do what you’re good at and deliberate the rest to your co-hostess.

I have yet to meet a baby shower hostess who is able to accomplish everything while trying to turn the party into a one-man-shower. Though Shower hostess must make sure that everything is well-organized, but working with a few partners is a wise decision.

As that, you could focus on only the most important baby shower planning and activities that you are familiar with.”

What’s more…if you’re a friend to the soon-to-be-mom or soon-to-be-dad, you should ask their family members to help in the planning details like suggesting an invitation list, gift ideas, or providing refreshments.

Sooner or later, you’ll be finding out that becoming an experienced baby shower hostess takes a little bit of getting used to.

Just keep a fun attitude and enjoy your baby shower planning.

© Copyright Qing Gu, All Rights Reserved. Reprint allowed with all the text and links intact.

Want to know how to throw a baby shower in 7 easy-and-fun steps? Sign up with the FREE Baby Shower Planning eCourse at http://www.coolest-baby-shower-idea.com/ecourse You’ll be mastering all the exciting, fun and innovative ways to make sure your baby shower a huge success. You can also WIN a cool prize and the chance to showcase your ideas and photos at http://www.coolest-baby-shower-idea.com/contest for others to enjoy and learn from.

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Spending quality time with your children doesn’t need to cost a lot of money. What’s most important, is that you take the opportunity to bond with them. The time that you spend with your children will make them feel special and they will treasure it for a lifetime. Letting your children know that you are there for them, will create a lasting bond between you and your children.

The winter months can be rather dull for children since they are cooped up in the house more than they would like to be. This is a great time for you to let your children know you feel their discomfort by giving them some one on one attention from mom. It doesn’t require a great deal of money to make those boring winter days stuck indoors special.

One simple and inexpensive suggestion would be to make a plan with your child to watch his or her favorite television program or video together. Too much TV is not always a good thing, however, to get through a winter day trapped indoors, it’s a perfect activity. Shortly before you watch the program or movie you have selected with your children, ask them to help prepare some of their favorite snacks for the event. All children love to help mom mess up the kitchen a bit and especially if it means eating their favorite snack foods.

A couple quick and easy snack suggestions would be preparing smores, which happens to be my children’s favorite snack food. Not only do they like to eat them, but they love making them. Another suggestion might be what my kids like to call roller coaster snacks. Simply take a leaf of lettuce, a slice of cheese, and slice of lunch meat and layer them and then roll them up to make a healthy, but fun treat. I find that the Kraft singles work best for rolling. Usually, while my children assemble the snacks, I pour the drinks because my children tend to spill easily. While having fun in the kitchen, be sure to monitor your children closely, especially if there is any heating to be done. Most often, if things need to be warmed up a bit, I prefer to handle that task myself. Always remember, Safety First when cooking in the kitchen with children. Your children will be delighted they were able to help you prepare the snacks and you will find they take their job seriously. In order to let your kids know that this is their special time with you, take the appropriate steps to make sure it’s an uninterrupted time together. Turn off the phones, put the work away, and the cleaning can wait till after the big event. Once, the food is prepared, simply sit back and enjoy the show.

A few other winter time activities for you and your children might be to go through all those photos you need to organize and place them in photo albums. Your child will love to reminisce with you and most of all, you will bond. You may also let your children help plan the dinner menu one night and let them help prepare it with you. Spending time with your child doesn’t have to cost a lot of money or be complicated. Most often just including them in a task you already have at hand is a special treat for them. For many children, it’s not about what you are doing, but to know they have your attention. Take these moments to talk and most importantly, listen to your children. You might be surprised at how much your children will open up when they feel they have your undivided attention.

This article is written by Tammy Pinarbasi, Owner of the Parent Super Site, http://www.parentsupersite.com. You may reprint this article or use it on your website, however, please be sure to place a link back to this site. Thank You…

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Ever since the wristwatch became the most common type of watch-worn on the wrist and safely fastened with a watch strap or watchband, which is usually made of natural or synthetic materials like leather, metal, nylon or fabric-time has reasonably gained the title of it being omnipresent. Watching time is not a recent practice, neither is its power over our daily lives. What seems to be of recent descent is time’s ability, especially in the eyes of time-conscious people, to surpass its own, human-manifested mostly, dimensions.

Time can have a positive or a negative association to one’s life. The expression “We got time” reveals a positive relation to one’s present state and the time before another type of action has to be taken. On the other hand, “The clock is ticking!” indicates a lack of time, focusing people’s attention on the negative features time has, as its preset end. Duration, or time period, however, does not depend only on a number of natural events, like the sun daily appearance on the sky or the season cycle, but is does also depend on human action. Understanding, or better yet mastering, time, which is considered today to be much more than one more human concept, has been the focus of multiple scholars, scientists, famous or simple people. Referring to it as the fifth dimension, people have attempted to put time into the test. From freezing one’s body to avoid the decadence time brings -or even death itself, to inventing time conscious machines that use time simulations and counting mechanisms in an effort to improve our understanding about the universe and its evolution, numerous examples illustrate the need of people to grasp time and explain it; as if it could be in fact a tangible asset.

Fortunately for the mystery of time, or unfortunately for those who wish to solve it, time machines that can travel humans back or forth in different time periods and/or dimensions is still a science fiction tale. Although a military experimentation and communication need has led to the Internet’s development, time has yet not been conquered or fully mastered. Even if people think that thet “fool time,” what in fact they fool, is themselves and other peoples’ misconceptions. Time reducing techniques exist and should be continued to be explored by those dedicated to “add a few more minutes” to a person’s day. But, the fact is that if one wants time to act to his or her benefit, it should be much wiser to enjoy it and spend less time worrying for its known or unknown effects. At least then some will be able to enjoy their lives; what could be considered as their own time-machine journey.

John Gibb is the owner of watch resources
, For more information on watches check out http://www.watch-guidance4u.info

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With the Christmas season fast upon us, it is time to start decorating our homes in the festive spirit. Many families use the same decorations year after year. Others go all out and try to change their design style with every passing season. As the holidays tend to be a time when people do a lot of entertaining in their homes, why not consider adding something extra to your holiday d

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One of the most widespread terms in recent history is “Quality Time“. The speaker of this phrase is indicating that he plans to cram meaningful and memorable activities into the short period of time he is willing to allot to his child, spouse, parent, relative, friend or associate. Since he is unwilling to provide quantity, he will substitute intensity.

Sample email from father to son:

“Hi there little feller. I have set aside 2 hours on Tuesday the 14th for visiting with you. I’ll pick you up at 10:00 a.m. on the dot. My executive assistant will meet with you 15 minutes earlier to see that you have packed all the necessities and used the bathroom, eaten whatever you must, etc.

This will be quality time, son. So everything we do in the two hours will be extreme. See the attached agenda my secretary has prepared and be sure you have all the equipment and supplies ready to go. I’ll see you then,

Your really, really sincere father. (You can call me Dad)”

Time itself is quality time. Just being together, side by side, doing nothing, not talking is as rewarding as riding the Big Flop at a theme park or any other exciting activity. Unrushed, unplanned time, just together. It is the ‘together’ that counts.

Another set of remarks that suggest the opposite of what they say are; “to tell you the truth”, “I’ll be perfectly honest with you”, and “let me be frank”. The only reason I can think of for anyone to say those phrases is that they usually lie and now are going to be honest, or they are getting ready to lie through their teeth.

I understand the voices that say “hey, quality time is not the worst euphemism of the century. How about ‘we’re all going to go to the showers now’? Okay, okay, it may not qualify as the worst, but it legitimizes neglect and is immensely reprehensible and should by eliminated from everyone’s vocabulary.

Jack Wilson is a writer and artist in Tempe, Arizona

http://www.geocities.com/galimatio/jackwilson.html

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Additional for More Infromation

What is it that lures grown men (and women) into the undergrowth to get cold, wet and muddy just to gaze at our feathered friends? Many people are discovering rdwatching and finding it to be an immensely rewarding pastime. In this article Jackie Gee explores why rding is such a pleasurable activity for more and more people.

My first experience of deliberate rdwatching took place in Richmond Great Park. The time; 1966, the occasion; one of the first dates with my (now) husband. There I was, all dressed up and ready to knock him out with my drop dead gorgeousness (memory plays strange tricks as you get older!) and there he was, luring me into the undergrowth of the park, hissing to me to keep my head down. No, it wasn’t this rd’s feathers he was after observing, but a green woodpecker that he had spotted. It must have been love on my part because, although I don’t remember seeing the flash of emerald, I do remember getting my trendy high boots covered in mud.

And that was the first of many times that I have shared the joys of avian observation with my spouse. He had been a committed twitcher from an early age. As a boy, a family friend had dragged him along to many rdwatching expeditions, from sighting a large wader (a ruff) on a one time sewage farm, soon to become the fifth terminal at Heathrow, to happy weekends spent observing the many migrants arriving on the Norfolk coast from Europe.

rdwatching is one nature pursuit that just anybody can get something out of, and most of us have ‘twitched’ at some time in our lives. What child hasn’t fed the ducks, or pigeons? That’s the good thing rds. They are so accessible. You can see them almost everywhere at any time of the day. And you can hear them; blackrds and nightingales have been immortalised in song and verse. The uquitous gull can be heard far inland; pigeons coo vociferously in our city centres; rooks squawk as they arrive at their evening roosts and starlings chatter as they gather in flocks on our roofs, telegraph wires and urban trees. No other wild animal group is so easy to see and admire. The skill of flying, and therefore the ality to get out of the way if needs must, has been a boon for the latent rdwatcher in all of us.

That rdwatching foray with my husband to be was the first of many enjoyable observations of our feathered friends. Some I will never forget. Standing on top of the Preseli hills in Wales and listening to the liquid bubbling coming from the throats of hundreds of curlews in the gathering dusk of the evening; sadly not a common occurrence nowadays. Or that magic afternoon, cycling along a country road with my young son and counting 32 larks as they rose skywards from the fields either side of us. Another sight, rarer now than it used to be, was the spectacle of thousands of starlings darkening the sky and turning as one with a whoosh of wings, above the field next to our first home; We’ve watched puffins and guillemots on Skomer island off the coast of West Wales and along the seashore we have seen countless flocks of all sorts of waders. And how to describe the thrill of seeing two peregrine falcons screeching over a deceased pigeon that they were devouring at the base of a sea cliff; or watching red kites circling lazily in the thermals above the hills of mid Wales.

And there are always more. I’m so glad I’ve seen at least one dipper, incongruously running along a stream bed, underwater feeding. Another stream frequenter, the heron, can also be sighted, perched in prehistoric stance, in the middle of a field. What is it doing? I am ured by that fount of all rd knowledge (my husband) that it’s on the lookout for a tasty mole; and sometimes, if we went out on a Summer night, we would be lucky enough to catch sight of a little owl, staring down at us from his high perch on a telegraph pole.

We called one of our houses Hafod Y Wennol, Welsh for summer house of the swallows, because, in it’s previous life as a cow parlour, the swallows had swooped in and made their little mud nests on it’s walls. We felt so guilty at evicting them from their home, especially after such a long and perilous journey from their Winter hatat somewhere in Africa. But swallow poo is prolific and not to be tolerated indoors; and they did have a garage and another barn to breed in. For many years they were a significant part of our summer; the sighting of the first arrival was always noted. Their twittering and swooping round the farmyard a never ending source of enjoyment; their gathering on the telephone wire and subsequent departure a gloomy time, heralding as it did the approaching winter.

And at our next home, a tall Edwardian town house, we had the amazing luck to be the Summer residence to a flock of swifts, whose ariel acrobatics, as they screamed past our windows, would have put the Red Devils to shame. We never tired of watching as they swooped and dived after insects, banking at the last second when it seemed they must collide with the house wall. It was better than television!

We have been lucky enough to live in a beautiful part of the country where rdlife is prolific and constant. But town dwellers have opportunities too. In any urban garden a wide variety of town rds can be seen; especially with a little t of encouragement. Introduce a nut feeder and a rd table and, abracadabra, in an amazingly short space of time there will be blue tits, rons, blackrds, sparrows and various finches; if you’re lucky there might be the odd nuthatch. The tiny wren might hop underneath, picking up any titts and, if, they all suddenly scatter for no apparent reason, look up to the skies and search for the shape of a sparrowhawk, on the lookout for an unwary prey.

Yes, rd watching is something that you can do all through your life; from a window or outdoors. Introduce your children to this fascinating world and they will have a pleasure that will last and last; it’s free entertainment and an excellent grounding in learning how to appreciate some of the wonderful world around us.

the Author: Jackie Gee is a professional freelance writer with many varied works published on and offline. She is currently sponsoring this blog http://www.online-rding.info” title=”http://www.online-rding.info” target=”_blank”>http://www.online-rding.info - Jackie is currently accepting article jobs for consideration. Her rates are above average but you get quality. She can be reached here: http://www.linkz-and.info” title=”http://www.linkz-and.info” target=”_blank”>http://www.linkz-and.info