Read more about one womans experience here: http://www.theluxuryspot.com/2010/02/23/i-got-vajazzled-and-had-a-camera-crew/

Body modification is a pretty creative art form. People are constantly finding new ways to push the envelope and to improve upon the way they look. What do you think is next?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/kahtava/91625132/

I once worked at a small mini Champagne Market. It was like the upscale version of a 7-eleven with its own deli bar, coupled with gourmet type snack foods and a great array of wine and champagne. So what in the world does this have to do with the kumquat? Well, while I was working there a tall, dark and handsome co-worker used to affectionately call me his little kumquat. And, ever since then I’d always meant to find out what it was exactly. I knew it was a fruit, I think he told, me but I’d never seen one (at least that I was aware of).  And, then about 3 weeks ago I was shopping at Trader Joe’s and someone I hold very dear to my heart suggested purchasing kumquats and it completely caught me off guard because just the day before I’d thought, I need to write an article about kumquats!

And, finally if you don’t know what one is you can discover with me, what this curious kumquat is all about.

A Bit of History About the Kumquat

The kumquat’s name is derived from the Chinese language literally meaning “gold orange”. While they were once a part of the citrus family they are now considered part of the fortunella genus. How and who decides the difference is beyond me!

Unique Qualities of the Kumquat

While fruits with peels are treasured for their inner treats, the kumquat is the only citrus fruit that is eaten completely, no peeling necessary. In fact, you don’t want to peel the kumquat because the center alone is quite sour and the sweet skin helps balance the end result flavor.

Interestingly, kumquat trees are also used as decorative plants because they are adorned with soft white flowers and shiny leaves.

Nutritional Value of Kumquats

Packed with Vitamin A and C and fiber, kumquats are free from fat, cholesterol and sodium. They also contain some traces of iron and calcium.

Kumquat Season

December through June is typically kumquat season. Be on the lookout for them in these months to experience their unique taste.

For more health related articles:

• B12 Shots: The Newest Energy Booster
• Acai Berry: One of Nature’s Perfect Foods
• Wheatgrass Shots: Detoxify, Rejuvenate and Energize Your Life
• Edamame: A Healthy Soy Protein to Satisfy Your Sweet Snack Cravings

Do you have a story, poem, artwork or photography you’d like to share and earn endless residual income? Please check out this site to earn limitless income for life: Triond

1. Number one on my list is bathtub cleaning. I do it this way. After my shower, before I get out of the tub, I put a little shampoo on a wet sponge and scrub the shower stall and tub well. Then I wipe it all down with my used towel. It leaves my tub and shower stall gleaming and takes about 2 minutes.

2. About twice a week I make a solution of water with bleach, not a lot of bleach, I put it in a spray bottle and spray all my counters, grab a white dishcloth and wipe them dry. This keeps my counter tops sparkling clean.

3. I don’t even hate window cleaning so much doing it this way. I make a solution of vinegar and water, not a lot of vinegar, put it in my spray bottle and spray one window at a time. Then I crumple up newspaper and wipe it dry. Works perfectly, no smudges or lint. While you have your vinegar solution out, spray anywhere mold might grow such as grout around the bathtub . And clean your mirrors the same way.

4.Another thing I hate is cleaning the refrigerator but it’s easier and takes less time when you don’t have spills to clean up. To take care of that, I put wax paper underneath the vegetable drawers to catch any spills. I put a layer of paper towels on the wax paper, no scrubbing to do.

5.Don’t use too much soap when you mop your floor. It leaves your floor cloudy and not looking its best. Too much soap also attracts dirt. Instead of soap use hot water with a little vinegar or bleach in the water.

6. It helps keep dirt out if you have a good heavy mat at each door. It helps even more if you can get the family to take their shoes off at the door. Good luck with that. My family always managed not to do it.

7. Keep a hand held vacuum plugged up and ready. When you see crumbs or dust on the floor you can grab it quickly and clean up. Your floor will look cleaner longer and you won’t have to get out your big vacuum as often.

8. If you have kids have them pick up their rooms before they go to bed at night and make up their beds when they get up in the morning. That alone, will save you cleaning time. They might complain but explain that it’s their responsibility and if they fail, to expect a deduction from their allowance. They will soon fall in line.

9. When you start to clean a room, if you start in the far corner from the door and work from top to bottom you will save steps and time.

10. Oh, and one last thing that saves me oodles of time, Load all your glass, china and ceramic nick knacks in a net laundry bag and put them in the top rack of your dish washer. Run them in a regular wash cycle without any detergent. It doesn’t take anywhere near as much time as doing it by hand.

If you would like to publish your own tips, recipes, opinions or ideas to earn income click this link. http://www.triond.com/rw/6239

http://gomestic.com/homemaking/10-ways-to-make-the-most-of-cabinet-and-closet-space/

http://gomestic.com/home-improvement/decorating-with-color/

http://gomestic.com/home-improvement/how-to-hang-a-picture-grouping-on-the-wall/

http://gomestic.com/home/pest-control-on-a-dime/

http://gomestic.com/personal-finance/how-to-stay-within-your-budget/

If you are tired of looking at your old medicine cabinet and would like a picture perfect one. Don’t despair and don’t even think about throwing your old one away. Whether your medicine cabinet is mirrored, wood or metal you can make it beautiful by adding an appealing frame. I will list the instructions 1 to 8 in sequential order. Have fun and enjoy your handiwork. You will have an  appealing bathroom cabinet in no time at all.

1. Measure the perimeter of the cabinet door.

2. For the mirror front, choose a lightweight vinyl, wood, or particle-board picture frame with the same dimensions as the cabinet door plus an extra half inch on all sides. The frame boards should be at least 1 inch wide. For solid or glass doors, choose a frame with the same dimensions as the door, but don’t worry about how wide the frame boards are, since the artwork will cover the door.

3. Stain or paint the frame, if desired, and let it dry. Insert a color copy of the desired photo or artwork. (don’t use the original since it might suffer from prolonged exposure to bathroom moisture.)

4. Remove the cabinet door. Clean and dry it.

5. Measure and cut strips of strong self-adhesive Velcro to outline the edges of the door front, then apply one side around the edges of the front of the door.

6. Apply the corresponding side of the Velcro strips to the back edge of the frame.

7. Replace the cabinet door.

8. Line up the Velcro strips and attach the framed photo to the cabinet.

When you really do get ready to throw the old medicine cabinet away, don’t do it. Instead, transfer it to your sewing room, hobby room or workshop where you can use it to store supplies, from art supplies to thread, needles and pins to small tools, screws, washers or drill bits.

If you would like to publish subjects of interest, recipes, how to or other articles to earn income click this link. http://www.triond.com/rw/6239

http://quazen.com/recreation/patchwork-quilting/

http://gomestic.com/home-improvement/decorating-your-home/

http://gomestic.com/personal-finance/yard-sale-know-how/

http://quazen.com/recreation/crafts/sew-fabulous-clothes/

http://gomestic.com/personal-organization/organize-your-garage/

Outcome: To learn about Aboriginal art from Australia, to experience a different method of painting, i.e. with dots of paint and to think about filling a space with color as well as shape.

Materials: Brown wrapping or shipping paper or butcher paper in a cave wall color (brown, black or gray) cut or ripped a little bigger than a hand print, tempera paint of various colors including white or water color pencils, small ‘pegs’ to dip in the paint to create dots (can be little pegs from a peg board, the ends of unsharpened pencils-anything small with a  round end that will make a print of a dot) if tempera paint is used, pencils for names on papers and to trace hand, little cups for liquid paint (if tempera paint is used.), and many examples to show of aboriginal work from Australia-can be found on the web, and an example made by the teacher of how the dots will look, and of course a room full of little hands to trace.

Art History:  Talk about the importance of the aboriginal work in a society that values oral history, show examples and talk about the hand prints, the animals and how the things one sees every day in the environment become important in stories and in art.  Don’t get too heavy though-keep it simple.

Finished Product: A hand print created in a style reminiscent of aboriginal art.

Steps: 

1. Show examples of work and talk about the cave paintings.  Look at the texture of the walls.  Note the hand prints and little dots.  See if the children can identify different animals and talk about how the paintings are part of stories and history. 
2. Take a piece of brown paper and wad it up into a tight ball.  The edges can be clean cut, but I like to do ‘ripped’ edges to increase the illusion of a cave wall.
3. Show the children how to unwrap the ball and smooth it flat again on the table.
4. Pass out the paper and pencils and have the children write their names on one side and do the wadding and smoothing.
5. On a white board or chalk board, show the children how to trace their own hand.  When hand is traced, close the hand print so that a line goes all the way around.  Have the children do this step, walking about and helping when necessary.  Remind about adding a line to close the shape of the hand.
6. On the already started example, show how to make little dots of white paint on the line of the hand print, going all the way around the line.  Note to just dip the end and make a single ‘print’ rather than a moving the peg around like a paint brush or pencil.
7. Pass out little cups of while paint and the pegs, allowing for shared cups of paint if necessary, and have the children carefully do the dots on the outline of their hands. 
8. When a child has completed the outline (remind to go slow and careful), add another color to make another outline on the inside of the white line, showing example already created.  Go all the way around in one layer of other color.  When that is complete, repeat step with another color and so on until hand print is filled with layers of different hand prints. 
9. If your class is more skilled or older, one can add the simple shapes of animals that are seen in their own everyday life, and then repeat the outlining process that was used with the hands.
10. Water color pencils is a less labor intensive way to create the little bright dots of paint, but is more expensive and you lose the experience of creating with the pegs and dots of paint.
11. Allow to dry and display.  They can easily be mounted on another piece of paper, like black construction paper, to show off the work even more.  Enjoy!

Other lesson Plans:
http://socyberty.com/education/art-lesson-plan-for-kindergarten-through-third-grade-mandalas/

After a short look at Aether Membrane, you can see what I mean about it being one of the best Walls ever.  It’s easiest to compare to Wall of Frost because of the comparable mana costs (switching RR in for UU) and the cool things that happen when they block.  However, Aether Membrane is definitely the better of the two, for a few reasons.  First, it has Reach, which one-ups Wall of Frost right away.  It’s nice to have a wall that your opponent can’t fly over.  Second, its ability is far better than Wall of Frost’s.  While the latter simply deactivates an opponent’s creature for a turn, Aether Membrane actually takes it off the board and forces your opponent to re-spend mana if they want to play it again.  That, to me, is a far more efficient way to keep your opponent from attacking you.  Although it has two fewer points of toughness than Wall of Frost, it’s simply a better card out of the gate.  If you’re looking for a solid blocker for your red deck, look no further than Aether Membrane.

Well, that’s about all I’ve got on this one.  This card is definitely not as recognized these days as it should be; I hope this article will be helpful in giving this card the props it deserves.  See you next time!

Where are our story tellers today? We have plenty of preachers and moralists, but where are the tales that begin, go somewhere, and have a satisfying ending? Mark Twain knew how to tell a story. He was one of America’s best. Story telling is the oldest art, and it seems a lost art. Bashvis Singer said, “In art, truth that is boring is not true.” The mother to her child, the hunter to his peers, they did not just report, they told a tale. The more it was believed the truer it became.

The invention of print changed us and the story teller. The eyes and the ears are different listeners. Children who were the last listeners to the story tellers who used to entertain all ages, are exposed to new stories and finding it hard. Their stories today are realism without reality, warnings without wisdom, and humor without wit. The disturbing news is that more than 50 percent of children do not read a book for pleasure.

So, what can we do for children who don’t read. Why, bring back the story tellers. First there is a beginning that gets their attention, it goes somewhere, and has a satisfying ending.

“Many years ago in a land far away there was a gentle hearted girl in a land where spirits of beautiful ladies were said to dwell in the the branches of trees. – - – - – -In the time before time began, the sunbeam rider lived where the world was filled with wishes as bee hives are filled with honey- – - – -”

But always a story begins at the beginning. That seems simple enough to remember. You don’t have to start at the birth of the heroine to start at the beginning, still there should be a reason for a story starting somewhere, and not just at the whim of the teller. And the middle should not be so tight as to be lost. The middle is the place that leads the reader to the end.

All writers have trouble with the middle of stories. Some writers who feel they have a good story will simply link the beginning and the ending, not realizing the middle is the most important part of the tale. The middle is where the most important things occur. But children will not forgive a weak ending. Even with a good beginning, middle and ending, the story must have an inner truth. Nobody will be fooled without it. Story telling is the oldest religion. Our oldest form of remembering promises made to our various gods and to ourselves. A recording of our emotions, desires, and taboos. So, let the story tellers begin.

http://socyberty.com/history/america-the-beautiful/

http://writinghood.com/writing/creative-non-fiction/

http://quazen.com/reference/leontyne-price/

http://socyberty.com/history/the-grand-adventure-of-jacques-cartier/

http://socyberty.com/history/this-fertile-land/

If you would like to publish your short stories or other articles click here.  http://www.triond.com/rw/6239

I have been an aunt to young boys for only 4 years. Because of distance, I’m only able to see them more than a couple times each year, and most of these times are gift-giving occasions. Knowing what to get them as gifts seems to be harder every year. Having no children myself, I am pretty clueless to what young boys want. But over the years I’ve begun to really understand the problems that make this so hard and also some solutions.

Problem #1: I can’t compete.

My presents always pale in comparison to Mom, Dad & Grandmas. In my experience, parents and grandparents go overboard with gifts: new TVs to 8 year olds, game systems to 4 year olds, motored scooters, electrical train sets, etc. The kids are easily raking in gifts valued around a thousand dollars each birthday and Christmas. There is just no way I can afford to “compete” with that. Fortunately, I’m not I expected to.

Problem #2: Interests & Modern Brands

Have you been to the toy aisles lately? They’re filled with toys that are completely foreign to a childless adult. Thank goodness Barbie is still around (and it looks like the Munche Chees are making a comeback). But when you’re shopping for boys, than these nostalgic toys will do you no good. Even if you know your nephew loves the Bionicles, you probably have no idea which specific figures he already has or which one he wants.

Solution #1: Ask Mom

Don’t try to pretend you’re aware of your nieces’ and nephews’ interests when you’re not. Go ahead and ask their mother what kinds of gifts they’d like. She’ll probably be able to rattle off a long list.

Solution #2: Get Recommendations

Go to Amazon.com (or other web sites) to see what people are buying for children, and check to see how they rate those toys. Most store web sites will even have ways for you to search by age and gender to help you narrow in on the best gifts for that age group.

Solution #3: Channel Your Inner Child

Forget trying to find what your nephew wants, take a risk and get him something you think he might like. What did you like when you were an 8 year-old kid? Legos? Magic tricks? Kids are mostly exposed to what’s only being sold on commercials, so kids can miss out on fun things they don’t even know exist. If they’re old enough to read (even very basic books) than think back to those books you loved as a child. Shel Silverstein. Where the Wild Things Are. Most of us can remember a book that we read over and over again as a child. Isn’t that an experience you would love your niece and nephew to have?

Bottom line: Your presents may be cheap, they may be old-fashioned and they definitely won’t outshine Grandma’s gifts. Accept this as fact. Just try to make yourself happy. Find the things you enjoyed as a kid that you think your nephew or niece might, too.

And if you have other great gift ideas for kids, feel free to add them in the Comments section. I would love to hear what works for you during the gift-giving seasons!

While these fish are tropical in nature, they actually can survive in waters with temperatures in the high 50’s. Officials in Missouri have found these predatory fish in at least a few places in local lakes. But it’s not just happening in Missouri. Fisherman in other Midwest states claim to have caught piranhas.

How would these fish native to South America find their way to North America’s lakes?  Pet owners get sick of them. Or they didn’t get large enough aquariums and their piranhas outgrow them. Piranhas are often only 2-3 inches long in the pet store, but can easily grow six times that size. Piranhas can get up to about 7 pounds.

It would seem that the piranha problem in the Ozarks would disappear once winter hit, but unfortunately that’s not always true. There are some area where the water never gets colder than the upper 50’s.

It’s time Missouri puts its foot down about piranhas. Outlaw them. Texas has banned people from buying piranhas and businesses from selling them. Pet shop owners caught violating the law could be fined $500 per fish. Actually about have the states have enacted bans on piranhas. You can still find them for sale in northern states like Pennsylvania where waters will eventually get too cold for these flesh-eating fish

Fortunately piranhas can’t mate outside their species. Combine that with their limited tolerance to cold weather, and hopefully that’ll keep the piranha population to an uber minimum in the states. But better be safe than sorry, don’t swim solo in murky waters.

Good luck!