All I can see here is a big Madonna influence. 20 years ago this would have been a Madonna video hands down! I love it! What do you think??
Marilyn K.

http://www.microflight.com/Online-Catalog/Closeouts-and-Scratch-and-Dent/Balloon-Boy-Halloween-Costume-Kit#

Host a clothing swap
Invite friends and relatives to meet at your home for a 2-hour clothing swap. Everyone brings clean kids clothing and puts them into designated piles (i.e. girls’ tops, boys’ shirts, skirts, dresses etc.) Everyone gets to take home the same number of freebies as they brought in. Serve coffee, tea and treats to encourage some fun & conversation. Much more fun for moms than a trip to the mall – cheaper, too!

Marilyn

Buy throw rugs
Replace your carpets with throw rugs, and you’ll achieve two major benefits. First, you’ll eliminate your home’s biggest collector of dust, pollen, pet dander, and mold. Second, you’ll make keeping your home allergen-free much easier.

Make at least one room a sanctuary
If you can’t afford central air and don’t want to rip the wall-to-wall carpeting out of every room in your house, there’s still hope. Make just one room a sanctuary.
Do it by air-conditioning the room in summer, sealing it from the rest of the house (by keeping the door closed), replacing carpets with throw rugs, encasing linens in allergen-proof cases, and keeping it dust-free.

Keep it clean
People with allergies fare better when dust and grime are kept to a minimum. Try not to use aerosol sprays or products containing harsh chemicals or odors that may irritate your airways.

Make your bed a mite-free zone
Encase your pillows, mattress, and box spring in allergen-proof covers. These covers, sold by allergy-supply companies such as American Allergy Supply, National Allergy Supply, and Allergy Control Products, provide a barrier between you and any allergens that may be housed inside them. Look for a fabric weave tight enough to keep out dust mite allergens (10 microns wide).

Enforce a no-smoking policy
Tobacco smoke is a significant irritant for the smoker and anyone else breathing nearby. Smoke can make allergies worse. You’ll breathe easier if you keep your home, office, and car smoke-free zones.

Install an air filter
Keeping the air clean in your home can bring relief from pollen, mold, and pet dander. HEPA (high-energy particulate-arresting) filters are most efficient. When you use an air filter in your room, remember to keep the door closed so that the machine won’t get overburdened with too much air to clean.

Buy a dehumidifier
Keeping the air in your home dry will help put a stop to dust mite problems.

Choose the hot cycle on laundry day
Linens should be washed in water that is at least 130°F to rid them of dust mites and their wastes.

Buy synthetic pillows
Dust mites like synthetic (Hollofil or Dacron) pillows just as much as those made from down and foam, but synthetic pillows have one major advantage: You can wash them in hot water.

Minimize clutter
Dried flowers, books, stuffed animals, and other homey touches collect dust and allergens. Try to keep knickknacks in closets or drawers or rid your home of them entirely.

Courtesy of msn.com

Marilyn

The Latest Trick To Reduce Your Risk Of Cancer
How can soaking steak in beer cut your risk of cancer?
You don’t often see advice suggesting that a person should eat more beef. It clogs the arteries, increases blood pressure and is a contributing factor to stomach cancer. On a larger scale, eating beef also vastly increases your carbon footprint and propagates the cattle industry, one of the smellier factors helping to melt our glaciers daily. But because red meat, to some extent, does a body good and because a safe source of cloned cattle isn’t viable yet, let’s eat ’em while we got ’em. While we do it, let’s soak our steaks in beer. It’ll cut the risk of cancer!

Booze Marinade

Published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry are the details of the latest study conducted by researchers at the University of Porto in Portugal about using beer and wine to marinate steak. That wasn’t their central purpose, of course. The process of frying or broiling muscle meats like beef, fish, pork, chicken and other beaked critters at high heat greatly increases levels of certain carcinogens called heterocyclic amines (HAs). The charred crusted black parts of any well-seared steak and the charred black bits that end up in the frying pan contain huge clusters of HAs, since the amines are formed when amino acids and muscle creatine react at high temperatures.

Researchers believe using beer and wine to marinate beef before cooking could reduce the amount of HAs in the cooking process due to the water-retaining sugars found in each beverage. The sugars would prevent water-soluble molecules in steak to surface, where high heat would form more HAs.

Fun With Cooking

To test their theories, researchers used rib eye steaks from middle-age cows, which were chilled for 24 hours before having as much fat and connective tissue removed as possible. The steaks were then cut to weigh 90 to 100 grams each. The first marinade used consisted of a pilsner, made with 5.4 per cent alcohol, water, malt, some un-malted cereals and hops, while the second contained a red wine, made with 13 per cent alcohol and three grape varieties. Steak samples were marinated for 1, 2, 4 and 6 hours at 18°C with 350ml of wine and beer in plastic containers, then lightly dried and pan-fried at 4 minutes per side without oil on a gas cooker between 180°C and 200°C.

Chewy Results

Study researchers found that 6 hours of marinating beef in either beer or red wine cut levels of two types of HAs by 88 per cent. Beer was more effective at reducing levels of a third type of HAs after just 4 hours, while wine took 6 hours to reach the same HAs reduction level. Other culinary ingredients that reduced HA levels included olive oil, lemon juice and garlic. So far scientists have identified at least 17 different types of heterocyclic amines that are formed due to cooking meats at high temperatures and the cooking methods that bring out the highest HAs levels. Frying, barbecuing and broiling increase HAs levels the most. Temperatures between 200°C and 250°C (392°F and 482°F) can increase heterocyclic amine levels by almost three times. Oven roasting and oven baking create lower levels of HAs, but gravies made from meat drippings still contain very high HAs levels, while boiling, stewing and poaching meats creates almost no heterocyclic amines.

Study researchers also included a taste test of sorts, for what is a study about marinating steak if there is no tasting to be done afterward? A painstaking 14 sensory attributes were selected for evaluation, including smell, bitterness, juiciness, smell intensity, meat colour, wine or beer aroma and overall look. The taste tests were conducted on steaks that had been marinating for 2 hours, because they found steaks marinating for 4 and 6 hours to have a poor overall quality, including a stronger wine-smell and deeper red colouring. The beer, however, was found not to affect the colour of the steak and tasters preferred the texture, the taste and the look of beer-marinated steak.

Healthy Diversion

Soaking steak in beer sounds like a good idea and a considerable distraction as well, to get your mind away from the fact that this type of marinade only reduces the cancer risk in beef by a very miniscule amount.

Sources:
Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry
BBC News
NewScientist.com

….alot of facts I know! But something to think about. And remember this Super Bowl weekend and anytime, drink responsibly and don’t drink and drive!!

Have a great weekend!

marilyn

Type 1: Stoic Sick
This person is of the attitude that as long as you are breathing you’re well enough to work. These are the people who are so committed to getting the job done that they will come to work barf bag in hand, with 105 degree fever and work through everything from minor heart attacks to broken limbs.
Type 2: Silly Sick
These people are of the attitude that the slightest ailment or injury warrants three paid sick days, complete with co-worker sympathies. These are the people who wear even the teeniest of ailments like a badge of honor.
A little illness in the workplace is probably unavoidable but general guidelines in most workplaces are as follows:
· If you know you are contagious, stay home
· If you’re well enough to work, work, and stop whining about every little ailment
· If you know you’re getting sick, slow down a bit and try to take care of yourself
· If you really aren’t sick, don’t pretend you are just to get the day off because if you do, no one will believe you when you really are sick
· If you get sick at work, excuse yourself and do what you have to do, don’t make your sickness everyone else’s issue
Did you know?: A recent study pointed out that women’s’ desks, may harbour far more bacteria than the workplace restroom and the office desk of men. In fact, women have three to four times the number of bacteria in, on and around their desks, phones, computers, keyboards, drawers and personal items than men do. Yuck!

courtesy of MSN.com

Get Real

First and foremost it is extremely important to make realistic goals. The knowledge that our target is something we can get to on our own terms is a great energy booster.

Support Group

The hardest thing is to aim for something, reach an obstacle and endeavor to break through that obstacle alone. There is no better way to break down walls than with the help of close friends. So get the family involved and set up a mutual goal.

Resolution Buddy

Like a support group, a resolution buddy is a big plus. Perhaps your best friend would like to quit smoking or lose some of the holiday weight as well. With a companion, wearing the nicotine patch or hitting the gym will be double the fun.

Keep Tabs

Write down your resolutions and keep track of smaller goals along the way. By having everything in writing it is harder to alter, modify or deny a resolution along the way.

One Step at a Time

Take everything one day at a time. Some days will be good and some will be bad. Whatever the case, do not give up when you have a bad day.

Reward Yourself

It sounds cliché, but give yourself as much credit as you would like if you are on the right path. An interesting gift or splurge can show you just how worth it is to improve yourself and your habits.

Remember that new years resolutions are not about giving things up. They are about replacing old habits with new ones. You will be replacing an unhealthy lifestyle with a stronger one – and that’s a resolution you can live with.

Good Luck!
Marilyn

Source: The Soko.com

6. Barbra Streisand – Christmas Memories (2001)
Although it was recorded earlier in 2001, many saw this album as a soothing, nostalgic balm for the U.S. in the wake of the September 11, 2001 disasters. It is one of Barbra Streisand’s best albums of the past 10 years.
7. Mariah Carey – Merry Christmas (1994)
Mariah Carey’s inevitable Christmas album is a favorite. In particular, “All I Want for Christmas Is You” has become a contemporary classic Christmas song.
8. Chris Isaak – Christmas (2004)
Chris Isaak’s updated hipster lounge sound is a bundle of fun on this set of Christmas songs. It’s an excellent choice for Christmas parties with friends.
9. ‘NSync – Home for Christmas (1998)
These boys can sing! ‘NSync put together this album less than a year after their first album. The gorgeous vocals are still a pleasure 7 years later.
10. Kidz Bop Kids – Kidz Bop Christmas (2002)
Every list of great Christmas music needs a nod to novelty recordings. The Kidz Bop franchise put together this great collection of Christmas favorites performed with a rowdy kids’ chorus.

So wether your 5 or 105, there will be something on this list for your ears to enjoy!
Happy Holidays!
Marilyn

It’s that intense time of the year again when the lows are low and the highs are high. Here are Yahoo.ca’s Lifestyles picks of uplifting foods that will banish the blues, keep you focused and maybe even a little sexier. Bon appetit!

1. Peppermint: It’s nature’s drill sergant, telling your brain to “wake up and focus!” Perfect for all of your must-do holiday details.

2. Dark chocolate: An ounce or two may be just enough to release the feel-good brain chemical serotonin, plus you’ll get a three-way energy kick from chocolate’s caffeine. And the antioxidants in 70% dark chocolate do your arteries good too.

3. Wild salmon (mackerel and herring, too): Logged more miles in a day at the mall than you usually do in a week on the treadmill? The accumulated anti-inflammatory action of omega-3s in a fish platter or a grilled salmon steak can help ease the wear-and-tear on your tired body.

4. Half a dozen Blue Points: You get more zinc from six oysters than you need in a day to fuel your production of testosterone-the hormone that keeps both men and women in the mood for love. Oysters are also a storehouse of dopamine, the brain’s pleasure chemical.

5. An Omelet: Just two eggs give you an entire daily quota of vitamin B12, a nutrient that’s crucial to your brain’s supply of good-mood chemicals. Make it a veggie omelet, add a whole-wheat bagel and you’ll be good to go for hours – and for few calories!

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!

Marilyn