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Every parent will continually be faced with the decision of who they are going to leave their children with when they need a sitter. Many parents have experienced “parent guilt” when leaving their children with a sitter, but there is a great book out that will eliminate any discomforts, doubts, and second thoughts you may have about leaving your children with anyone.
Karen Berg’s By The Book puts parents, their sitter, and their children all on the same page by outlining your child’s daily routine and how they should react to certain circumstances. It is a book full of adorably illustrated pages with the space you need to fill in everything your sitter needs to know about your family and taking care of your children. It comes equipped with pages about how to handle disciplinary actions, what to do in case of an emergency, what to do in case your child is sick, and a page where you can fill in where your sitter can reach you throughout the time they are with your children.
Because of By The Book, you will never be plagued by having to re-write sitter notes or already leave the house and remember that you forgot to tell your sitter something very important. You will never feel as if you have left your child in incapable hands because you know that you gave your sitter everything they need throughout the time you’re gone, and you won’t find yourself calling home every five minutes. By The Book makes it extremely easy to keep all of the pertinent information about your child, their routine, and what to do in case of an emergency all in one place.
By The Book is great for anyone taking care of your children, including babysitters, nannies, work at home moms, moms who work outside of the home, single fathers, grandparents, children with special needs, and so on. You can purchase By The Book in hardcover as well as refills for the book on their website. As a special bonus, you will receive 25% off of your purchase of a hardcover copy of By The Book by using promotional code BTBK7757.
The warm weather we have been experiencing this past week is an indicator of many things, but to senior students everywhere, it’s the official start of the countdown to prom and graduation.
Prom is most definitely an event that many students have been looking forward to for quite some time; some throughout their entire high school careers. There is a great deal that goes into prom preparation, especially for girls; it takes some girls months to pick out the right dress, but of course that is just the tip of the iceberg. Upon picking out the perfect prom dress, the focus then shifts to finding shoes that match the dress, then hair and makeup. To say the least, prom preparation can be a hectic time.
Not only can the preparation for prom be hectic, but it can also be a little pricey, which is why it is important to shop around before making a definitive purchase, whether it be your prom dress or prom shoes. Even if you think you found the perfect dress and shoes for you at a store it is very important to remember to shop around before settling down on a purchase. It is possible to find something you like even better, at an even better price. You can be completely sure of your options in your price range by shopping online. There are a plethora of great websites out there exclusively catering to people looking for prom attire, offering an extensive catalog of prom dresses in just about every color and style you can think of or possibly want.
As prom season inches upon us, while physical stores are hiking their prices up to take advantage of people who have waited until a reasonable time to begin shopping for their prom dress, online stores are putting a great deal of their stock on sale and clearance, making finding the perfect dress at an affordable price a great reality. In addition to prom dresses and shoes, you can also find a great deal of prom advice online, such as makeup and hair tips, which will definitely come in handy if you are doing your hair and makeup yourself.
While there are literally thousands, if not more, websites dedicated to prom attire and tips, it is important to check out a good handful of them, at the very least, in order to make sure you can get what you want for the price you want.
There was a lot of talk about going green and saving the planet for Earth Day, but it isn’t just important to make an effort or worse, talk about making an effort for Earth Day; to truly make an impact on the world we live in, we need to continue to talk about the importance of going green far after Earth Day has come and gone.
There are ten easy steps we can take to make our planet a little healthier.
Education
We all know that knowledge is power and when you have all of the facts about what poor shape Mother Nature is in and the threat global warming has over all of us, you have a deeper understanding of what you need to do in order to do your part to help.
Create Awareness
Now that you have spent some time (or a lot of time) researching the facts of global warming, energy consumption, pollution, and everything else that has had an impact on the planet, it is time to spread the knowledge you’ve acquired. Tell friends, family members, and even complete strangers about what you know to be the truth about this global epidemic and they will follow suit with their concern and spread the word.
Recycle
Recycling is one of the best (and easiest) ways to do your part in helping the planet. Recycling reduces the amount of garbage that winds up in landfills, reduces carbon emissions by reducing manufacturing and transportation emissions and allows our planet’s natural resources to be more evenly distributed among everyone in the world.
Politics are Key
We need our government to get behind going green. By getting involved in politics, you can see first hand who the people working for you are and if they share your sentiments about going green. It is very important to vote; vote for politicians who share the same values as you do and don’t be fooled–Voting is important and every vote counts. Voting is what we have to make our voices heard and by voting, you are screaming from the rooftops that you care about the green movement and it is a requirement for our elected officials to feel the same way.
Get Your Bicycle Out
Carbon emissions from vehicles are one of the leading causes of global warming. By driving less, you are not only helping the environment, but it also saves you money and improves your health because if you are not driving a vehicle, you can try walking, bicycling, using public transportation, and carpooling.
Turn Off & Unplug Your Appliances
When your appliances, such as your lights, computers, televisions, toasters, microwaves, coffee pots, etc. are not in use, turn them off and unplug them. When your appliances are left on and plugged in, they are still emitting electricity which also makes your electric bill skyrocket.
Taylor Hanson, the middle brother of the trio Hanson that swept myself and every other female member of my age group up and into super-fandom has just released an album with his new band, Tinted Windows. Tinted Windows is a power-pop group that includes Hanson and also James Iha, formerly of Smashing Pumpkins, Adam Schlesinger of Fountains of Wayne, and Bun E. Carlos of Cheap Trick. And with this new gig that has already appeared on the Late Show with David Letterman and the Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, and will also open for No Doubt at Bamboozle on May 3, there will be a significant amount of promoting and touring.
But how will Hanson promote and tour with his new band with a wife, Natalie, and their four kids, Ezra, River, Penelope, and Viggo Moriah at home? Joking, Hanson said “You just leave them with enough food and water to survive.” But on a serious note he said, “No, first of all, you have an amazing wife, and she gets it and handles all the craziness. And you just try to make the time you got really cool. When you’re there, you’re totally present, and you just bounce back and forth.”
Hanson also reflected on the blessings he has had in his life at just 26 years old, saying “At least I’m not in the military with people shooting at me. I have friends who are in Iraq, at least when we’re gone, I’m in a hotel room. Maybe, I may lose my life to this really bad room service. That’s the threat.”
This is a guest post by Bill Hardekopf, CEO of LowCards.com.
Over the past 24 hours, credit card reform has been one of the hottest topics in nearly every branch of our government. Major activity has taken place in the Senate, the House of Representatives and the White House.
* Yesterday, the U.S. House Committee on Financial Services voted 48-19 to approve the Credit Cardholders’ Bill of Rights. This bill will provide protection against rate hikes on existing balances, set standards for terms and conditions, and limit credit card fees. It will soon go to the full House of Representatives for a vote, possibly next week.
* Today, President Obama met with executives of card issuers to use Presidential persuasion to pursue consumer protections and encourage changes from credit card issuers. He made it clear that he will sign credit card legislation. He wants the legislation to: contain protections against sudden interest rate increases; prohibit excessive fees; use plain language in the application forms and the terms and conditions; make available customer-friendly comparison shopping on credit cards; and provide greater enforcement for violators.
* Today, Senators Charles Schumer and Chris Dodd called on the Fed to freeze credit card interest rates tied to existing balances until stricter rules take effect.
“This ‘freeze’ is in response to credit card issuers increasing rates and fees on so many consumers before the Federal Reserve’s reforms go into effect in July 2010,” says Bill Hardekopf, CEO of LowCards.com and author of The Credit Card Guidebook.
“This has been an interesting cycle to watch. Recent reforms and a financial crisis forced the credit card issuers to quickly and aggressively raise interest rates and fees. These rate and fee increases have forced Congress to finally fast track credit card reforms. The President stepping in to publicly make this a priority should also help speed this along,” says Hardekopf. “The longer this drags out, the more cardholders will be affected, which will intensify anger with consumers. Throw in billions of taxpayer dollars going to bailout these same banks, and this can become a polarizing situation. We understand that thousands of taxpayers are expected to protest at Bank of America branches on April 28th in advance of Bank of America’s Annual Shareholder Meeting.”
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LowCards.com simplifies the confusion of shopping for credit cards. It is a free, independent website that helps consumers easily compare credit cards in a variety of categories such as lowest rates, rewards, rebates, balance transfers and lowest introductory rates. It also gives an unbiased ranking and review for each card. The LowCards.com Complete Credit Card Index is the most objective and comprehensive resource on the Internet which allows consumers to compare rates for all 1260 credit cards offered in this country. Created by Hampton & Associates, the company has been analyzing the credit card industry and supplying objective websites on various consumer expenses for eight years.
Everyone has heard the saying that the best things in life are free, and now a vacation in Kissimmee could be yours for free, too. Kissimmee is giving away three weekend getaways (3 days, 2 nights) to two lucky winners as well as two week-long vacations to four lucky winners as part of their Kissimmee Freedom Sweepstakes.
This could be a great opportunity to take that family vacation you’ve been saving up for, or a time to take that romantic getaway for two that you’ve been hoping to take with your partner for far too long. This is especially a great opportunity in this economy, when families are worried about saving money and certainly do not have the financial stability to take a vacation.
Kissimmee has everything you need to take the vacation of your dreams. It offers theme parks, great restaurants, shows, and a beautiful historic downtown area complete with great shops and boutiques. It also offers wilderness preserves just waiting to be taken in by you and your family. No matter what your tastes or what you envision when you think of the ultimate vacation, you will find it in Kissimmee.
Be sure to enter the Kissimmee Freedom Sweepstakes for your chance to go on the vacation of your dreams. Drawings will be held on May 1, 2009 and June 1, 2009 just in time for summer! 
Any parent knows that young children mimic the adults in their lives and that goes double for daughters. If you’re getting a manicure or just lounging around in front of the television painting your nails in the mere vicinity of your daughter, you know it’s a matter of mere moments before they are asking for their nails to be done too.
Understandably, a lot of parents are weary about applying nail polish to the fingernails of their children. Children have a tendency to bite their fingernails and standard nail polishes are loaded with all sorts of chemicals. Definitely not something you want on your children’s fingers!
Piggy Paint has made a safe, water-based, non-toxic, odorless nail polish completely safe for children. I was absolutely thrilled to discover Piggy Paint because we all know what an inconvenience it is to have to put up with the odor of standard nail polishes and when there’s a foul odor, chances are whatever is giving off that odor isn’t the safest of products. Because Piggy Paint is water-based, you can officially say goodbye to foul nail polish odors and toss your worries about inhaling toxic fumes or ingesting toxic chemicals if you or your daughter bite your nails or scrape the nail polish off with your teeth (I know, I’ve been there.)
Coming in a variety of colors and also adorable gift packs with equally as adorable names like Girls Rule! and Toe-Tally Fancy, Piggy Paint is everything I was expecting and more. The only minor problem I have had with their nail polishes is that the color chipped very easily, but it is explained on the website that because Piggy Paint nail polishes are water-based, it does take longer for it to dry and harden on your fingernails and if you run into the problem of the color chipping too easily for your liking, it is recommended that you use a blow dryer on warm/low heat on your finger nails for a full 60 seconds after applying. Piggy Paint also has non-toxic, odorless, and hypoallergenic nail polish remover, so they really do attend to all of your nail polish needs!
Piggy Paint gift packs make excellent gifts or even a small, sweet surprise the next time you’re painting your nails and your daughter demands that she must have pretty nails too. I put a Piggy Paint nail polish in each of my stepdaughter’s Easter baskets this year, so you really can purchase these for just about anything and they will be an absolute treasure to both you and your children. Even better, no one can complain that the stench from your nail polish is making them nauseous.
Receive 20% off your Piggy Paint purchase by using promo code ‘WomanTribune’ up until May 31, 2009. Click here to start shopping!
This is a guest post by Ksenija of Unusual Business Ideas.
American scientists have finally proved a widespread opinion that nothing effects the productivity of our work more than mood. Nancy Rothbard from Warton University of Pennsylvania and Stephanie Wilk from Fischer College of Business in Ohio investigated the work of call-center employees from different US states. During 3 weeks, Rothbard and Wilk were studying their behavior and changes in mood depending on the situation at workplace. The experiment clearly showed that nothing effects quality of work more then a mood. Employees who were starting their day on an optimistic note were much more attentive to clients and needed less coffee breaks during the working day. On the other hand, employees who come to work in an upset mood have less contacts with clients and are less responsive.
I never even doubted that personal and team mindset had a strong effect: goal-oriented and optimistic people inspire colleagues and show great results. At the same time if you “wake up on the wrong side of the desk,” it’s really hard to set yourself up to work. In this case it’s extremely important to brace up, set right priorities and reach your targets. Otherwise, any deficiency in work, any little problem will let you down and thus form a vicious circle. An employee who gets bored with routine is much more likely to notice each and every drawback in his work and to be completely disappointed in it.
Quite often employees’ mood is in tight connection to manager’s personality, charisma and ability to inspire the team. Mood and will to work do not always depend on material things. If a manager doesn’t use non-material factors to motivate subordinates, then he shouldn’t expect them to work properly even having decent salaries. Success is guaranteed if the manager sets clear, attainable goals and shows sincere gratitude to employees for their positive achievements.
The other side of this question is an inspiration. When you apply for new job you feel simply elated and during first few months this inspiration helps you to overcome all the difficulties that may arise. If you have chosen the right job then this initial inspiration should slowly transform in a much deeper feeling – passion for work. Psychologists say that one has to be honest with himself and start searching for new work as soon as this passion disappears. Unfortunately it’s not always possible due to multiple reasons and sometimes you just have to switch your attention to other positive moments that can be found in any job.
To sum up I would like to repeat that experiments clearly proved that start-of-day mood is a determinant of employee performance. Every manager has to consider it his duty to take special care about team’s mindset that assures good work results.
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Ksenija has a small travel agency in a nice little country in the suburbs of Europe who is interested in receiving high profit with minimal expenses. It is for that reason that she runs her blog, Unusual Business Ideas, where she discovers and shares stories from all over the web.
Mother’s Day is officially less than one month away and before you know it, you’ll be running around before stores close trying to pick out the “perfect gift” or at the very least, something that will tell your mother you love her and is conveniently located in a store that does not close before you have time to get there to pick it up.
It is exactly this scenario that I have been in more times than I can count that led me to mark important days, holidays, and events not only down on a calendar, but also on a post-it and stick it to my computer monitor so I will not forget to start thinking about gift giving ideas that I will be happy to present to the people I love and care for. It is also because of this scenario that pretty much everyone has been in several times before that made internet shopping so convenient and popular.
Luckily, there are many quality gift ideas that you will be happy and even enthusiastic about giving to your mother for Mother’s Day this year and one of the best gifts that works for everyone is chocolate; more specifically, Ferrero Rocher chocolates.
Chocolate is a gift you can always feel good about giving because who doesn’t love to indulge every once in a while? Ferrero chocolates are beautifully packaged and every flavor they offer is as delicious as the next. I have become a Ferrero Rocher junkie, I cannot get enough of these delicious chocolates and have been known to go through an entire box within just a few days, but I can’t help it and chances are, you won’t be able to help yourself either. Because of our economical worries that are undoubtedly weighing on most families, Ferrero Rocher chocolates are also an affordable gift choice and can even be combined as that little something extra with your other gift, whether it be a card telling your mother how much you love and appreciate her or that something she has had her eye on for some time.
Mother’s Day is an important holiday for all moms out there and Ferrero Rocher makes it easy to give your mom a decadent and delicious treat.
Is it time to update your family room but not sure where to start? Interested in hiring an interior designer but perish the thought of cleaning up for an on-site visit? Submit your family room to our edecorating contest! ra reDoes rooms is searching for the most interesting family room to edecorate!
Submit basic information about you and your family and no more than three photos of the family room. Include a short paragraph (under 100 words) telling why your room should be selected for a complementary edecorating plan. If your room is chosen, we will contact you and learn more about your room, family needs etc. Then we will create an edesign of your room, which consists of a rendering of the room, suggested colors, fabrics, shopping list and budget too! Read more about edecorating on our website at www.rarooms.com/services.htm.
Don’t delay – enter the contest today! We will accept entries until April 27 and announce the winner on May 1. To learn more about how to enter, visit Chic Galleria.
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Beth is the Editor in Chief of Chic Galleria, a natural extension of her experience in retail sales and special personality – a sincerity that continues to attract business owners, designers, artists, and a plethora of wonderful readers. This veteran school teacher loves to make others feel special, and Chic Galleria is just one of her favorite places to do just that.
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