Important Information to Leave for Your Babysitter

When you hire a babysitter to watch your baby or toddler it is a good idea to provide a checklist. Keep your checklist in a location easily accessible to your babysitter. A good place might to hang it on the refrigerator or a bulletin board. In this article learn what kind of information you should leave for your babysitter.

General information should include:

–Our names: (This of course is names of parents)
–Our home address (A babysitter may need this in case of an emergency he or she would need to let someone else know the address, for example, in case of fire.
–Our home telephone number
–The name, telephone number, and location of where parents will be
–Where the house key is kept
–Where the car key is kept (if you are leaving a car for the babysitter in case of emergency or whatever)
–Where first-aid supplies are kept
–Where medications are kept
–Mother’s work and/or cell telephone numbers
–Father’s work and/or cell telephone numbers
–If the sitter is only for an evening out, leave sitter with the telephone number of where you will be and/or address of location in case of emergency and/or other circumstances.
–In an emergency, if parents cannot be reached, provide the sitter with names, relationship, address, and telephone numbers of three other individuals.

When to contact us information should include:

–If a child or children cries for more than 20 or 30 minutes and you cannot determine the cause
–If a child or children develops fever, vomits or is injured
–Anytime a circumstance develops that you feel you cannot handle
Provide your sitter with emergency telephone numbers on the checklist. These numbers should include:
–Poison Control
–Police Department
–Fire Department
–Hospital, urgent care or emergency room services
–Pediatrician’s name and address

Provide your sitter with information about what to do in case of a fire. This should include:

–In case of a small, contained fire such as on the stove, the fire extinguisher can be used if you know how to operate one. Notate the exact location of the fire extinguisher on your checklist. Also, show the sitter where the fire extinguisher is located before you leave.
–If there is a larger fire, gather children immediately and lead them out of the house through the nearest door or window. If you have a fire escape plan in place for your family already, give these details to your sitter.
–Test doors before you open them. Get down on the floor; reach up to the door with the back of your hand. If the knob and around the frame is warm, there is fire on the other side. Try another escape.
–Show your sitter where the exits are located in your home and also include this information on the checklist
–Call 911 as quickly as possible.
–Call parents after calling 911 and/or other contacts on your list.

General house rules should include:

–Television programs and movies that are acceptable and unacceptable
–Foods that are acceptable and unacceptable
–Guidelines for outside play
–Guidelines for company
–Bedtime routine
–Special considerations (such as medicines to give at certain times, etc)
–Discipline philosophy
–Never leave a child or children left unattended
–Never leave a child or children left unattended with food

You may also want to write down details about the child or children such as full name, age, weight, height, nap and/or bed times and special instructions. For example, if a child is allergic to a certain type of food, or has a particular medical condition.

This article is FREE to publish with the resource box.

Author: Connie Limon. Visit our article collection all about Babies and Toddlers at: http://www.babiesandtoddlers2.com Articles are available for FREE reprint to your newsletter, website or blog.

What Are the Ten Dietary Guidelines for Australians?


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Healthy eating and the general health of the population are concerns for many governments around the world. The National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia prescribes 10 dietary guidelines to help people design their usual diet so that it will promote a healthy lifestyle and will present a minimum risk for the development of diet related diseases.

These guidelines are:

1. Eat a wide variety of different foods.

A different variety of foods gives your body the necessary vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients that it needs to remain healthy.

2. Eat lots of whole grain breads and cereals, vegetables, and fruits.

Your body needs the fiber, vitamins, and minerals that can only be obtained from these items in their natural state.

3. Ensure that your diet is low in saturated fat.

Saturated fat increases your cholesterol levels and could lead to heart diseases and other ailments.

4. Balance food intake and physical activity to maintain a healthy body weight.

Energy taken into your body in the form of food needs to be a burnt off in the form of exercise, otherwise your body transforms the food into fat.

5. Limit your intake if you drink alcohol.

Alcohol does not give your body any useful nutrients; it suppresses your inhibitions and could lead to other well-documented problems as well.

6. Consume only moderate amounts of sugars, including foods that contain added sugar.

Sugar contains a large amount of calories that can be very difficult to balance with physical activity, especially given the amount of sugars that we find in our modern day foods and candies.

7. Make low-salt foods your preference and use salt sparingly.

Salt is known to increase blood pressure, which could lead to all kinds of cardiovascular and other diseases.

8. Encourage and support breast-feeding.

For the first six months of an infant’s life natural breast feeding can provide the child with all the natural nutrients that it needs, provided that the mother is well-nourished.

9. Girls and women should eat more foods containing calcium.

Women suffer greater risk from osteoporosis and must therefore increase their calcium intake to fight this terrible disease.

10. Girls, women, vegetarians, and athletes should eat more foods containing iron.

The iron requirements of women and girls are almost doubled by menstrual losses. Iron deficiency in the diets of vegetarians and the increased demands put on the bodies of athletes also require them to increase their iron intake.

Even though these 10 dietary guidelines were developed in Australia for Australians they are equally applicable to anybody else in any country of the world, and every single person will benefit by following them.

Tisha Diaz recommends this fat loss and weight control program that will help you get rid of those excess pounds and reach or maintain a healthy body weight.

Credit And Debt Counseling - What You Should Know


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Credit and debt counseling may be something worth looking into if you feel that you are drowning in debt. Many people lack the knowledge and discipline needed to set up their own budget plan and start getting their credit card debts down. If you can’t resolve your credit problems yourself or you need additional help, using a good credit and debt counseling service can help you get your head above water. These services basically negotiate with your creditors on your behalf to help make debt payments more manageable. This is usually done by convincing your creditors to lower your interest rates and extend repayment time on your debts.

As with any service, credit and debt counseling should be researched before jumping right in with a company. A major thing to look out for is counseling fees. Credit and debt counseling services often do not “officially” charge a fee, but you may wind up paying monthly maintenance fees, donations, voluntary contributions, etc. These fees should be low enough for someone in credit trouble to actually pay, so always make sure you ask the credit and debt counseling service you choose WHERE exactly your money is going - most of it SHOULD go to paying off your creditors.

Some important factors to think about when choosing to take part in credit and debt counseling:

1. What kind of up front fee is involved? - it shouldn’t be anything extravagant.

2. Be sure to get a layout of payment and contract terms in writing to protect yourself.

3. Make sure your creditors are willing to work with the service you choose.

4. Don’t rely on a service that just enrolls you in a debt management program - you want actual counseling and education. (The “take a man fishing, you feed him for one day, teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime” approach.)

5. Make sure they have some sort of hardship program in case something happens and you can’t make the minimum payments.

6. Find out the qualifications of counselors. Are they accredited or certified?

7. Make sure they keep their credit and debt counseling confidential (between them, yourself and your creditors)

8. How often does the agency pay creditors? The faster they pay, the faster your payment is credited. Slow payments could result in higher interest rates or even late fees.

9. Do they ask for confidential information over the phone? You really shouldn’t give out bank account or credit card number unless you can get with them in person.

10. Don’t believe or trust any credit and debt counseling service that says they can just wipe out your debt fast. It takes time and prudent planning to really overcome credit and debt problems.

With more and more purchases and money matters relying on your credit report and score, it is important that consumers have better credit education from a young age. Many people get themselves into trouble at a younger age because they just don’t know any better. As such, there is a huge need for credit and debt counseling and education. The key to choosing the right agency for you is to do research on the companies you think about using and make an educated decision. Unfortunately, some credit and debt counseling services are set up simply to scam consumers out of money. As long as you ask questions and do research, you can separate the scams from the legitimate services offering good credit and debt counseling

For easy credit help and information, visit Easy-CreditHelp.com

Ashley is a webmaster and resident SEO buff at Web Xtreme, Inc. in Lancaster PA. She has a background in Communications with an emphasis in writing and marketing.

Head Lice - You Will Never Look at Trying on Hats The Same Again


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So you see that cool rack of hats at the local big-box retailer and they seem so inviting. These racks normally have bright, multicolored hats and a variety of styles and there always seems to be a mirror handy for you to try them on.

A marketing company interested in the growth of head lice infestations couldn’t come up with a more effective way to spread these bloodsucking parasites. While all those hats may look inviting the fact is that you don’t know who has tried them on before you. Though the chances of actually contracting pediculosis or a case of head louse from a hat at a store is small, it’s a risk nonetheless.

Headlice can live for several days on an inanimate object like a hat, a scarf or a hair brush. This means that if a person with a lice infestation has tried on those hats, the chance of coming down with lice by modeling those same hats is very great.

Symptoms of Head Lice Infestation

*-A tickling sensation on your scalp
*-A general feeling that your hair may be moving ever so slightly
*-Itching caused by the lice bites so they can get your blood for food

Diagnosis of Headlice infestation

Although small, headlice are easily detected by looking closely through the hair close to the scalp. Lice can often be mistaken for dandruff but they typically do not brush away or flake off. Lice are about the size of a half a grain of rice and are whitish gray in color.

Another thing to look for are nits, which are lice eggs. These will be located very close to the scalp and will look like bumps on individual hair follicles. It’s our very difficult to remove prior to treatment.

The best place to check for an infestation is in the hair right behind the ear and at the neckline. Simply use a pencil or other wooden instrument to move the hair against the natural lay. This bends the hair making it easier to see the presence of any lice.

How Is Head Lice Treated

There are many treatment options available if you find yourself dealing with the case of headlice. These treatment options include the use of insecticide-based shampoos, natural antiseptic essential oils and even a few odd suggestions that have been posted on the Web. Visit the link below for more information about the pros and cons of each of these treatment options.

If nothing else, you’ll enjoy exploring some of the crazy ideas that some have suggested worked to get rid of head lice.

Abigail Frank has researched lice and head louse and found valuable information that could help you. On this site find information about head louse commonly known as head lice

The Health Benefits Of Cabbage


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While the health benefits of cabbage and other fruits and vegetables are numerous, it is important to eat a variety of foods every day.

The healthy heart cabbage diet or the “cabbage soup diet” is one of the fad diets that the American Heart Association and other public health organizations warn against. There are many reasons for these warnings, depending on which diet one is attempting to follow. The healthy heart cabbage diet has many flaws.

First, let’s look at what a healthy diet should include. The basic building blocks for a healthy diet are protein, carbohydrates and fat. Nutritionists and other experts have modified these basic blocks somewhat.

Lean protein, complex carbohydrates and unsaturated fats should all be included in a balanced healthy diet and following this type of diet regularly while increasing your level of physical activity is the only healthy way to achieve long term control of your weight.

Unsaturated fats are those found in olive oil, peanut oil, canola oil, salmon and tuna. In the healthiest diet, less than 30% of the daily caloric intake should come from fat, about 30% should come from lean protein and about 40% should come from complex carbohydrates, which include fruits, vegetables and whole grains.

The health benefits of cabbage and other vegetables are numerous, but they alone do not provide all of the building blocks that the human body needs to stay healthy.

Drawbacks of the Cabbage Diet

The guidelines for the healthy heart cabbage diet begin with a recipe for cabbage soup. The ingredients include green onions, green peppers, diced tomatoes, celery, onion soup mix, bouillon cubes and a head of cabbage. The heart healthy benefits of cabbage soup by itself are questionable, at best.

The sodium content is too high to be considered healthful for most anyone, but particularly for someone with blood pressure problems or a tendency towards fluid retention, problems often found in the overweight and those with heart problems.

While one of the health benefits of cabbage, and many other vegetables, is as a natural diuretic, which helps the body get rid of excess fluids and salts, adding all of the salt found in the bouillon and the onion soup mix would counteract the diuretic effect of the cabbage and other vegetables.

On the first day of the “healthy” heart cabbage diet, participants are supposed to eat all of the fruit they want (except for bananas) and the soup in unlimited quantities. The missing blocks are protein and fat. Adults need to eat about 60 grams of protein per day.

Most fruits and vegetables contain less than 1 gram, so if you were following this diet, you would need to eat 60 or more servings of fruit and soup to get the necessary protein for that day. The health benefits of cabbage and other fruits and vegetables are not related to their protein content.

If you are overweight, you could probably go without the fat for one day, but extremely low-fat diets are not filling, not advisable for permanent weight control and many of the organs, including the brain, need dietary fat to function effectively.

On the second day of the healthy heart cabbage diet, the menu calls for unlimited quantities of fresh, raw or cooked vegetables, unlimited quantities of the soup and a baked potato with butter for dinner. So, you added a little fat, but butter or margarine is not the healthiest types of fat. Protein is missing for the second day in a row.

The third day of the healthy heart cabbage diet is again missing protein and fat. The fourth day is not much better, but for the first time fat free dairy is mentioned.

The health benefits of cabbage and other fruits and vegetables do not usually include high calcium content (except for broccoli and spinach which are good sources). Calcium is necessary to prevent osteoporosis, among other things. Calcium supplements alone would not correct the lack of calcium in this diet; too many other nutrients are needed for the body to effectively absorb the calcium.

One of the first things that you would notice if you followed the healthy heart cabbage diet up to this point would be a lack of energy. Although the body uses complex carbohydrates for energy and complex carbohydrates are among the health benefits of cabbage and other vegetables, without adequate amounts of protein and fat, you would be tired and irritable.

As the healthy heart cabbage diet progresses, it does not get much better. Hopefully, by now, you understand that this is not a healthy balanced diet.

Diets like the healthy heart cabbage diet can result in nutritional deficiencies.

The body needs a variety of compounds to function efficiently, effectively and healthfully. Our dietary needs are not limited to isolated vitamins and minerals. We also need amino acids, proteins, fiber, antioxidants, flavonoids, a little bit of fat and probably other components that have yet to be identified.

Cabbage, alone, can only provide a few of these nutrients. When compared to other vegetables, the nutritional content and thus the health benefits of cabbage are not adequate. However, cabbage is a good source of vitamin C and dietary fiber and including it as a part of a healthy diet is fine.

The Cabbage Soup Diet or the healthy heart cabbage diet is supposedly used by pre-surgical heart patients in order to get their weight down quickly. Allegedly, you can lose 10-17 pounds in seven days. It is doubtful that any health care professional would suggest this diet for anyone and particularly not for a heart patient.

In order to achieve long term weight loss, physical activity is of utmost importance. Physical inactivity is a major risk factor for developing heart disease.

The health benefits of cabbage and other fruits and vegetables may include a reduced risk of heart disease, stroke and cancer.

Whole Food Supplements

Public health organizations recommend 5-10 servings of fruits and vegetables per day in a variety of colors. Each different color provides different flavonoids, some of which may prevent cancer, most of which are antioxidants and some that can reduce unhealthy levels of cholesterol, blood pressure and blood sugar levels.

If you want the health benefits of cabbage and other vegetables, a whole food supplement is more likely to provide them than other nutritional supplements.

Although cabbage is healthy, you’d get many more benefits by taking it with a combination of other potent vegetables and fruits, such as broccoli, spinach, carrots, apples, oranges, pineapples, cherries, and more.

Whole food supplements, arguably the most popular being Juice Plus+®, are typically whole vegetable in dehydrated form and may help fill in the gaps on days when you don’t get your recommended number of servings. Which, for many of us, is most days.

The lesson here is to not rely too much on one food source, but to introduce a wide variety of fruits and veggies into your diet, in addition to protein sources.

Russell Cantwell is editor of http://www.whole-food-supplements-guide.com/ Visit the health benefits of cabbage now to learn more about cabbage and whole food supplements that contain it and other veggies and fruits.

Music Without Goals


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I really love improvisations that go nowhere. Improvisations where there is no goal… just an impulse to follow feelings in the current moment.

In fact, some have described this kind of music as self-indulgent - a kind of musical fantasy world where the focus is more on the performer than the listener.

Of course, this isn’t the case at all. You see, most of us are used to having our music wrapped up in nice neat little packages. We aren’t used to actually listening to music. We expect an “emotional experience” right away. And it better happen in 3-4 minutes or else.

Take Japanese Shakahuachi music for example. For those of you who don’t know, the shakahuachi is a Japanese flute. It’s beautiful sound is appreciated by many in the East.

I have a few CDs of this music and everytime I listen to them I hear something new. It’s as if each time the CD is played I hear it for the first time. It never gets old. Why? Because of the absence of musical form!

There is not much for the mind to grasp or hold onto. Repetition of musical phrases is almost non existent. Instead, we get music without goals!

If there is a goal at all, it’s that the person performing the music remains in the present while playing. What we hear is the “state of mind” of the performer at the exact time the recording is made.

In one of my own piano pieces “Cirrus,” (listen to it at http://www.quiescencemusic.com) I do the same thing. And everytime I listen to it, it seems that it’s somehow changed. Yet the music always remains fresh and pliant - waiting to be discovered again and again.

Having said all of this, I have nothing against musical form and the works that come from it. I just think the “other” kind of music is just as valid and important

Edward Weiss is a pianist/composer and webmaster of Quiescence Music’s online piano lessons. He has been helping students learn how to play piano in the New Age style for over 14 years and works with students in private, in groups, and now over the internet. Visit www.quiescencemusic.com/piano_lessons.html now and get a FREE piano lesson!

Listening Skills - Just Because You Have Ears Doesn’t Mean You Are Equipped To Listen


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If you have ever read any of the New Testament, you may have come across a seemingly odd statement by Jesus. He in fact made this statement on multiple occasions: “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

The reason this statement is so interesting is its unstated implication: that we as humans are capable of not listening, even when we are hearing. Growing up, you may have heard your mother or father say to you on occasion: “LISTEN TO ME!” If your typical response was anything like mine, it was: “I am listening!” Unfortunately, our parents were probably more correct in their assessment of the situation than we were. Although we thought we were listening, we were actually just hearing.

This is an interesting distinction, and one that bears vast consequences when it comes to interpersonal communication. So often, we as the receivers of communication are accused of not listening. Our response is almost always one of disagreement-we are listening.

Let’s quickly consider a few thoughts on why possessing two ears does not necessarily mean we are equipped to truly listen to someone.

First, we are often distracted. In today’s society, there is always something going on around us to occupy our attention. Truth be told, there are always many things going on around us. In addition to the things outside of us, there are plenty of distractions going on inside of our heads. What are we going to do tonight after we get off work? Who can we get to babysit the kids? How am I going to pay the bills this month? I can’t believe this is happening to me…etc.

The distractions are endless. To truly listen to someone communicating with us, we must be willing to put aside all distractions, both inside and outside, and give that person our undivided attention. Admittedly, this is not easy. In fact, it is not even in the same ballpark as easy. You may be thinking at this point, “In order to give every person that communicates with us our undivided attention, we would have to constantly be pushing things out of our minds.” Bingo! That is exactly what has to happen. In order to accomplish this, though, we must exert some heavy self-control on our minds. Let me guarantee you, that if you can train yourself to do this-to give each person your undivided attention-you will make them feel like the most important person in the world when they are talking to you. This will in turn make communication between you and that person much smoother, and even more enjoyable.

The second thing that I want to mention is that we often merely engage in hearing simply because we do not care what the other person is saying to us. We tend to think think that we know better, or that we have better things to do with our time, energy, and sympathy than to really care about what the other person is saying.

Unfortunately, there is no simple cure for this malady. I cannot get inside your head and force you to care about someone else enough to truly pay attention to them, so I will just recommend you consider the following: If no one else ever cared enough to pay attention to you, you would eventually begin to wonder whether you were worth listening to. Your self-confidence would be shaken, and you would start to doubt your worth in general. The truth is that every person deserves to be heard. Whether or not you agree with them is beside the point. Giving someone enough attention to say, “I truly care what you have to say, because you are a fellow human being” could change that person’s entire life for the better.

Hearing comes naturally. Listening is an acquired skill.

For more fresh, candid, hard-hitting advice on interpersonal communication, visit me at SuccessIgnite.com!

Brock Henry is an interpersonal communication and personal success expert, with training in both communication and psychology. He offers a power-packed free e-course, entitled “Seven Days to Igniting Your Personal Success Energy” at his website: http://www.SuccessIgnite.com

How To Write A Novel In A Month - Nano Novel Writing Month


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Chances are you think that maybe you can write a novel. There’s a writing contest out there: write 50,000 words of a novel in a month. It’s called Nano Novel Writing Month. You have to find the details each year on Google because they seem to open and close during the year. It’s always in November.

No, I have not participated. Our motivation here at this site is to create a novel that takes more than a month to write, and is a real novel full of writing craft and good story.

No, we are not affiliated in any way with NaNo Writing Month. It’s a volunteer show, it seems. The idea is to commit to writing the 50,000 words novel in a month.

Just a commitment gives challenge, focus, companions and a great feeling to push oneself to the limit.

Is it worth doing? Anything truly challenging can be worth doing, whether there is further reward after or not, except in the doing of the project.

I don’t know if any of the novels written under this contest are any good as novels. Yet those who complete those fifty thousand words can feel a sense of accomplishment.

You want to write such a novel?

We don’t know if any but the true professional can come up with a real novel in a month. Fifty thousand words is not a novel in itself. A novel has story-telling structure.

Let’s put it this way. You can write 50,000 words in a month but that is quantity, not necessarily quality.

How would you like to write a real novel during Nano Novel Writing Month?

Would that not be great to have all the excitement of meeting the month’s challenge, yet also write something that is quality as well as quantity.

There is a strange view out there among writers that they can write a full novel out of their imagination.

Sit down and think. You can recall many incidents in your life, or that have happened to your friends. Some of these seem unique and exciting. Some end in tragedy. Some in success.

Yes, if you can write fairly well as a writer you imagine you can have success in the field of writing, either as a novelist or as a screen play writer for the movies.

More success to you then, and the best of luck!

Yet let us add here that you may be able to tell a story but can you write a story in dramatic fashion that excites readers and viewers?

Do you have an excellent mastery of writing craft tools and story-telling structure?

This is where we come in at The Writer’s Interface.

Chances are you can write out 50,000 words of something that may be called a novel for Nano Novel Writing Month but could not be called a novel for general readership.

Perhaps by writing almost day and night you feel like you are going to have a break-through into being a serious and effective novel writer?

We don’t comment on that. But we do say, why not plan your novel in terms of story-telling structures?

SOME NOVEL WRITING CRAFT QUESTIONS

  • You already know some of them like the use of chapters.
  • Do you know how many scenes usually go into a chapter?
  • Do you know how many beats, or scenes, go into a typical movie?
  • Do you know the five types of scenes to usually put into a chapter?
  • Do you know the timing of the events so that everything builds into climax that goes into resolution?
  • Do you know what makes for a powerful character in a novel or movie?

These questions only indicate some of the basics and tools available to professionals who have studied the field and perfected their novel-writing art.

Wouldn’t you like to prepare ahead of time, to learn how to plan the writing of a novel so that when you sit down to write for that one intense month you already have a story ready and the dramatic structures you will use?

It’s much easier to say, Just sit down and write! as one editor-writer said on a Writer’s Forum.

It’s much more rewarding to plan out the story you are to write with the story-forms that will be the framework on that novel writing.

Remember, we have nothing to do with Nano Novel Writing Month. But we do see the need to plan your novel ahead of time so that you can truly call your 50,000 words a novel.

What gets to us a bit is the idea that you can just sit down and do 50,000 words and call that a novel.

Our standards are more realistic, and we think that yours you want to be as well.

Here’s what we offer. We offer the largest collection of writing craft prompts and tools compiled anywhere else in a book, software or writing course.

We have hundreds of techniques from professional writers who sell large numbers of their books.

We have put this knowledge into a framework for writing a novel.

Would you not benefit then from planning out your novel in detail with dramatic tools more complete than ever appears in a writer’s professional outline for a book to sell to a publisher.

Here are at minimum the basics:

KEY BASICS FOR WRITING YOUR NOVEL

  • what are the different chapters and how many that traditionally go to create a complete story in a novel?
  • what are the different scenes that you include in each chapter? How can you choose these scenes ahead of time and write paragraphs descriptions for each one?
  • what are event-actions? What kinds should go into your novel-story?
  • what are the types of characters that are useful to embody what sections of your story?
  • what is the story-life theme you are dramatizing?

In summary we suggest that to write more than just words but a dramatic story in novel form, you need to know novel craft structures and tools. You need to also plan out all your major story aspects, as well as where to use what where as evocative tools.

Visit our creativewritingandwriters.com site and our The Writer’s Interface Blog site. We offer there writing craft reviews of some best selling novels, pointing to the importance of craft. We have also a free eight day course for planning just the first chapter of your novel. You will experience by this example how helpful good writing craft is for writing imaginatively your novel.

Some of the ideas are even revolutionary!

You can see for yourself if you want to take the time to study writing craft with our materials and to plan out your novel in good detail ahead of time.

You can of course read the fifty writing craft books we have read and try to put together their sometimes contradictory knowledge. In The Writer’s Interface we have added original writing craft ideas based on our own experience.

It helps also to have writing organizing software. With the companion WriteItNow software you will more easily plan your novel. Imagine being able to cross-link any of your pages describing scenes, characters, actions, events, dialogues, objects and so on. It’s all there in WriteItNow.

If you use The Writer’s Interface with the WriteItNow organizing software you have a high-powered engine for supporting your writing skills and imagination in producing maybe a really wonderful story.

You will not be the same person after you write your novel as you were before it. Just as with birthing children of your own, there is something life-transforming about writing your own book or novel. It’s as if you have solidified in beautiful marble your own unique perspective on life.

Our message: writing craft structure provides the foundation framework upon which to hang story imagination. Go on foot the whole way, and maybe never make it. Or ‘rev it up’ in a more effective vehicle and cover a lot more territory, getting to important places with your story already dramatically planned.

Don’t give up for lack of craft, or of writer imagination. We cover both.

Good luck, writer, however you plan to write a novel. It’s our passion also.

Strephon is a professional writer and teacher with over 350,000 books in circulation and a platinum expert writer on EzineArticles. He has over 100,000 words of his novel done already which is now undergoing another major revision. See relevant information on creative writing your novel at these links:

creativewritingandwriters.com

dreamwork2000.com
thewritersinterface.wordpress.com

An Herb Container Garden In Your Home


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There are ways that you can spice up your cooking and that’s by growing an Herb Container Garden. Nothing will enhance the flavor of your food like fresh herbs. Fresh herbs have intense flavor that makes even the plainest meal sing. Because of the high prices of herbs in markets why not consider growing your own. They are pretty plants with the added benefit of being used in your culinary delights. With just a few good tips and techniques you will be using fresh herbs in your food picked straight from your herb container garden.

First you want to choose the right containers for your herb garden. It is simple enough, small pots will do and plastic is fine. If you want the containers to fit into your decor, terra cotta or ceramic pots would be perfect. The most important aspect of the pot is the drainage; the container must have adequate drainage holes in the bottom of the pot. Herbs do not like to have “wet feet”. If the roots are too wet your plant will be damaged and die. To stop loss of soil through the drainage holes line the pot with a coffee filter. Just be sensible about watering your herb container garden.

When choosing the right herbs for herb container garden grow what you love to eat. For instance, if you love a tomato, mozzarella and basil salad, grow basil. If you love lamb grow rosemary and thyme. If you are a novice to an herb container garden on your first attempt try oregano, rosemary, basil sage, chives or thyme. These herbs will grow slowly but steadily, in small spaces and are great choices when starting out.

The next step, after you have chosen what to grow is purchase seeds or seedlings for your herb container garden. All plants need good soil and your herbs will need it too. Purchase a light soil and mix in some vermiculite to help with drainage. Herbs are not very persnickety about the soil but for best results use good potting soil. Soil, light and water are essential to your herb container garden.

Keep an eye out for pests and if one of the containers has an infestation isolate it from the others and treat it immediately. Don’t use harsh chemical, remember you will be eating your herbs. A very good natural pest deterrent is:

In a jar, combine 1 teaspoon dishwashing liquid and 1 cup vegetable oil. Shake vigorously. In an empty spray bottle, combine 2 teaspoons of this mixture and 1 cup water. Use at ten-day intervals (or more often if needed) to rid plants of whiteflies, mites, aphids, scales, and other pests.

Harvesting your herbs is relatively simple, especially if they are on your kitchen counter. Most of the time you can just pinch off the amount you wish to use in your cooking. However they will need periodic clipping. Basil especially needs to be pinched back to encourage it to grow bushy. Also with basil, pinch off the flower to keep the plant producing leaves. You can do many things with the herbs from your herb container garden including freezing them, drying them or simply giving them to your family or friends. If you know someone who is an aspiring chef a gift of fresh herbs will be mightily appreciated.

An Herb container garden will surely spice up your life and enhance your culinary dishes. Gather your supplies and get started.

Happy Herb Container Gardening!

Copyright © Mary Hanna, All Rights Reserved.

This article may be distributed freely on your website and in your ezines, as long as this entire article, copyright notice, links and the resource box are unchanged.

Mary Hanna is an aspiring herbalist who lives in Central Florida. This allows her to grow gardens inside and outside year round. She has published other articles on Cruising, Gardening and Cooking. Visit her websites at Gardening Landscaping Tips Gardening Outside and Indoor Herb Garden

Small Business Debt Relief


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As time goes by, businesses’ financial needs change and some business owners find themselves in positions where their expenses have begun to overcome their income and achieving small business debt relief seems an impossible task.

In 2006, around 1.9 million American businesses filed for bankruptcy. Many of these businesses did not have the resources needed to avoid bankruptcy. Bankruptcy not only ruins your business credit, it makes it next to impossible to get a loan. In some cases, you may find it difficult to regain credibility as a serious company and sometimes you will never be able to recover from this, because clients and even employees will loose any trust in you.

- Bankruptcy is not the way to achieve small business debt relief -

There are lots of resources. Before you jump into the hands of despair and file bankruptcy or just call it quits in life, take time to learn your options and see if there is anything to be done and still hope in order to achieve small business debt relief and remember to always learn from these situations.

In cases where debt overwhelms owners and managers, many will consider dealing with the concerns that come with collection agencies and enroll in programs such as small business debt relief consolidation. This type of programs, oriented towards small businesses that are barely starting to gain strength within the market, help them regain financial stability and taught them how to avoid possible similar situations.

Small business Debt relief consolidation can take unsecured loans such as credit card debt, student loans, and vendor bills and lump them together in one place where the interest rates are lower, the monthly payments are not as high, and that are much easier to manage than ten bills all at once. Due to the fact that this has become such an important part of small business debt relief in the modern age, there are many different options to consider when it comes to credit consolidation and debt negotiation.

- Methods for small business debt relief -

It sounds strange to get a loan in order to achieve small business debt relief, but the faster you can deal with those high interest rates the better for your current situation. Visit our web site and receive information about this process, let our professional counselors advice on how to manage your situation. There are two types of loans, secured and unsecured, the secured loans will obviously have lower interest rates because of the collateral that secures them, due to that the lender company does not take as much risk as with an unsecured loan. A property is the best asset to ask for a secure loan as long as you have the financial capacity to recover the asset. All this will help you reach small business debt relief.

- What options to consider in order to achieve small business debt relief -

One of the options to consider is a small business debt relief consolidation program. This is a good option for those who find themselves paying off several loans as well as large credit card debts. All of these debts are put in one spot, which often has a longer period to pay off than the previous bills entailed. Based on the fact there will be less money needed to pay off the bills that you are immediately concerned with, you will find that there is actually money left over once the monthly payment has been made. Note that small business debt relief consolidation is not a cure-all and will not eliminate the debt that has been accumulated; it is merely a way to make the payment situation more manageable while also freeing up some extra money each month in order to get closer to small business debt relief.

We have different articles on interesting topics and experiences from current and former clients with our programs. Take a look at related topics of different situations on Small Business Debt Relief that people can fall into and how to keep yourself a debt free person.

Debbie White is a contributing writer to http://www.curadebt.com and is currently writing some special articles to guide business on how to manage debt and avoid bankruptcy.
For Free Information on Small Business Debt Relief and Debt Help Consultation, call toll-free 1-877-850-3328