HALLOWEEN

Halloween is a holiday celebrated on the night of October 31st. Traditional activities include trick-or-treating, costume parties, viewing horror films, visiting "haunted houses", and participating in traditional autumn activities such as hayrides (which may have "haunted" themes).
Halloween originated under the name of Samhain as a Pagan festival among the Celts of Ireland and Great Britain. Irish and Scottish immigrants carried versions of the tradition to North America in the nineteenth century. Other western countries have embraced the holiday as a part of American pop culture in the late twentieth century.
The term Halloween (and its older rendering Hallowe'en) is shortened from All-hallow-even, as it is the evening of/before "All Hallows' Day", also known as "All Saints' Day".

Halloween did not become a holiday in America until the 19th century.
In the United States, Halloween has become the sixth most profitable holiday (after Christmas, Mother's Day, Valentines Day, Easter, and Father's Day). In the 1990s, many manufacturers began producing a larger variety of Halloween yard decorations; prior to this a majority of decorations were homemade. Some of the most popular yard decorations are jack-o'-lanterns, scarecrows, witches, orange and purple string lights, inflatable decorations (such as spiders, pumpkins, mummies and vampires), and animatronic window and door decorations. Other popular decorations are foam tombstones and gargoyles.
The carved pumpkin, lit by a candle inside, is one of Halloween's most prominent symbols.

How food affects a child's mood

Have you ever picked up your child from a birthday party only to be greeted by a roomful of hyperactive children? If so, you’ve witnessed the impact food can have on our mood. A short burst of sugar will make your child excitable, but what goes up must come down, and later comes the dip in energy, over-tiredness, irritability and grizzly tears. The trick is to create a healthy diet that will minimize these downward swings.
Not surprisingly, sugar is one of the worst culprits in the battle with mood swings. In the form of glucose, it’s an essential fuel for the brain, but overdoing the sweet stuff not only affects your child’s behavior, it also has an impact on their ability to learn. High blood-sugar levels are toxic to nerves and blood vessels, prompting the body to react to what it sees as an emergency. This results in low blood-sugar levels, which leads to irritability, mood swings, insomnia, poor concentration, aggressive behavior and cravings for more sugary things.
So you will have to remove as many of the fast-releasing sugars from your child’s diet as possible.
Carbohydrates are also broken down into sugar during digestion – but slowly. Ideally, your child should get all their sugar intake from these slow-releasing carbohydrates, thus avoiding blood-sugar peaks and troughs. Wholegrain breads and wholemeal pasta are great choices; oatcakes make great snacks, and oat porridge is one of the best ways to start the day. For snacks, you could also try corn on the cob instead of crisps, and fresh fruit instead of dried. Essentially, look for the most unrefined forms of carbohydrate.
Combining non-carbohydrate foods with carbohydrates also slows down the sugar release. This means adding protein to meals, which is great for growing children. Try unsweetened peanut butter, an egg on wholemeal toast, and pasta sauce with chickpeas served over wholemeal pasta. Seeds and nuts can also be introduced with a piece of fruit for a snack.
Omega-3 essential fats are receiving a great deal of publicity at present as a result of their positive impact on behavior, reading, writing, lifting depression, reducing aggression and raising the IQ of children.
The good fats can be found in oily fish such as sardines, mackerel and fresh tuna, as well as linseed and pumpkin seeds.

Your child’s mental and emotional wellbeing also depends on a variety of vitamins, minerals and amino acids. Amino acids are well known as the building blocks of protein, as well as neurotransmitters – the molecules that carry messages around the brain. All of the vital neurotransmitters that keep your child’s brain chemistry in balance come from the proteins he eats, so include protein in every meal. You could add seeds to cereal at breakfast, make a turkey sandwich for lunch and add borlotti beans to bolognese for your evening meal.
Remember that if the majority of food your child is eating is provided by you, there’s no need to be too concerned about what he’s eating when he is out of sight. By the time your child is making his own choices, he is more likely to make healthier ones if that’s the food he is accustomed to eating. Encouraging a varied diet is the best way to ensure he gets the nutrients he needs. Not only will he reap the health benefits but he will also grow up in a happy frame of mind.

Pregnancy and smoking

More than one in 10 pregnant women smoke, and new research suggests many of them also may suffer from depression, making kicking the habit even harder.
The emerging science suggests that decades-old “quit for your baby” messages are too simplistic an approach for many women — and that perhaps prenatal checkups should include screening pregnant smokers for mental health disorders that themselves require care.
“These ladies all know, I promise you, about the health risks. That’s not what it is,” says Dr. Jan Blalock of the University of Texas M.D Anderson Cancer Center, which has begun a first-of-a-kind study, Project Baby Steps, to test whether non-drug depression therapy helps pregnant smokers quit. “We should at least understand more about why these ladies don’t quit. We should be looking more carefully.
Nearly 45 million Americans, or one in five adults, smoke. Quitting takes on average three to five attempts, and scientists know it’s harder if the smoker has depression or anxiety disorders.
Certainly learning how dangerous smoking is to their developing baby can prompt women to try to quit. It increases the risk of miscarriage, premature birth, low birthweight, death from SIDS, and learning and behavior disorders.
The government estimates about 12 percent of pregnant women smoke. But how to treat pregnant smokers? While many smokers turn to medication to ease quitting pangs, doctors hesitate to prescribe even nicotine patches during pregnancy. Studies so far haven’t proven the patches’ role in pregnancy, and some suggest pregnant women metabolize nicotine faster and thus need higher doses, raising fetal safety questions. Antidepressants haven’t been studied specifically in pregnant smokers. Generally, those drugs are reserved for severe symptoms during pregnancy, although recent studies suggest the risk of birth defects is low.

26 years old

I'm 26 years old, I'm a woman, a wife and a mother. Here are some things other people accomplished when they were my age.
At age 26:

American anthropologist Margaret Mead wrote her famous dissertation, Coming of Age in Samoa, which claimed that in some societies adolescence is not a particularly difficult time.

Albert Einstein published five major research papers in a German physics jornal, fundamentally changing man's view of the universe and leading to such inventions as television and the atomic bomb.

Benjamin Franklin published the first edition of Poor Richard's Almanac, which was to play a large role in molding the diverse American character.

Soviet cosmonaut Valentina Chereshkova became the first woman to travel in space.

College dropout Steve Wozniak co-founded Apple Computer.

Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin, revolutionizing the economies of the United States and Britain.

Antoine Joseph Sax invented the brass saxophone.

"Johnny Appleseed" brought apple seeds to the Ohio Valley.

Napoleon Bonaparte conquered Italy.

Gon Yangling memorized more than 15,000 telephone numbers in Harbin, China.

Orion Krynen of Denver, CO reached this age without much incident.

British ethologist Jane Goodall set up camp in the Gombe Stream Chimpanzee Reserve on Lake Tanganyika and began studying the lives of chimpanzees.

Ken Kesey published his first novel, One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest.

Thomas Pynchon published V., for which he won the William Faulkner First Novel Award.

Kirsteene Luhrmann of Melburne, Victoria quit smoking.

Stephen Breen from Dublin, Ireland found this site.

Darren Blackburn became the first and only athlete of the Principality of Sealand, despite being somewhat lacking in athletic ability.

Syd Jesus co-founded the dUdU Art Collective in Oakland, California and turned an entire warehouse space into a conceptual art piece entitled "The $5000 Gallery."

Matthew Royer took a dog for a walk every day of the year in Minnesota, with a coldest daytime high of 0 degrees F. The average walk time was 30 minutes.

Derrick Pallas was horrified to realize he was losing his hair, just like Dad.

Jan Birkeland from Norway managed to get to work without hitting a single red light.

Katherine Blauvelt in a skirt was deemed "all grown-up" by her boyfriend.

Kristen finally was able to get her fingernails to grow without chipping and peeling because she started taking a multi-vitamin on a daily basis.

Angie Olson got so drunk on her 26th birthday, her friends were able to dress her up as a clown.

Getting married in Vermont

I used to dream to get married in Vermont. This dream did not come true, but I have no regrets because my marriage is perfect anyway. But if there are some people that consider the wedding day the most important one of their lives, I recommend them to get married in Vermont. Of course, in order to get married in Vermont you should know some information about Vermont marriage laws.

You must buy a Vermont marriage license before your ceremony. The license must be given to the officiant before the marriage is performed. The license is valid for 60 days from the date of issue. But you do not need blood tests. For Vermont residents, you may buy the license at the Town Clerk's office in your legal town of residence (either the bride or groom's if both are residents). For non-residents, you must buy your license in the county you wish to be married in (any town in that county will do). The cost for the license is $23.00 and $7.00 for a certified copy of the license (subject to change).
You must be at least 18 to marry in Vermont (16 or over with the consent of a parent/legal guardian).

How to lose weight

Although many people who lose weight may eventually gain it back, it's a myth that this happens to everyone. The successful weight losers report four common behaviors: they eat a low-calorie, low-fat diet, they monitor themselves by weighing in frequently, they are very physically active, and they eat breakfast.
The first step to weight loss is setting a realistic goal.To reach your goal safely, plan to lose weight gradually.
There are some things that you need to do: change your eating habits, increase your physical activity and watch out for the number of calories.
Here are some tips for eating out and staying slim:
* Ask for nutrition information (for example, calories, saturated fat, and sodium) before you order when eating out.
* Choose foods that are steamed, broiled, baked, roasted, poached, or stir-fried, but not deep-fat fried.
* Share food, such as a main dish or dessert, with your dining partner.
* Take part of the food home with you and refrigerate immediately. You may want to ask for a take-home container when the meal arrives. Spoon half the meal into it, so you're more likely to eat only what's left on your plate.
* Request your meal to be served without gravy, sauces, butter or margarine.
* Ask for salad dressing on the side, and use only small amounts of full-fat dressings.

FUN FUN FUN

An Illinois man left the snowballed streets of Chicago for a vacation in Florida. His wife was on a business trip and was planning to meet him there the next day. When he reached his hotel, he decided to send his wife a quick e-mail.

Unable to find the scrap of paper on which he had written her e-mail address, he did his best to type it in from memory. Unfortunately, he missed one letter, and his note was directed instead to an elderly preacher’s wife whose husband had passed away only the day before. When the grieving widow checked her e-mail, she took one look at the monitor, let out a piercing scream, and fell to the floor dead.

At the sound, her family rushed into the room and saw this note on the screen:

Dearest Wife,

Just got checked in. Everything prepared for your arrival tomorrow.

Your Loving Husband.

P.S. Sure is hot down here.




A blind man walks into a restaurant and sits down. The waiter, who is also the owner, walks up to the blind man and hands him a menu. “I’m sorry, sir, but I am blind and can’t read the menu. Just bring me a dirty fork from a previous customer. I’ll smell it and order from there.”
A little confused, the owner walks over to the dirty dish pile and picks up a greasy fork. He returns to the blind man’s table and hands it to him. The blind man puts the fork to his nose and takes in a deep breath.
“Ah, yes, that’s what I’ll have — meatloaf and mashed potatoes.”
Unbelievable, the owner thinks as he walks toward the kitchen. The cook happens to be the owner’s wife. He tells her what had just happened.
The blind man eats his meal and leaves.
Several days later, the blind man returns and the owner mistakenly brings him a menu again.
“Sir, remember me? I’m the blind man.”
“I’m sorry, I didn’t recognize you. I’ll go get you a dirty fork.”
The owner retrieves a dirty fork and brings it to the blind man.
After another deep breath, the blind man says, “That smells great. I’ll take the macaroni and cheese with broccoli.”
Walking away in disbelief, the owner thinks the blind man is screwing around with him and tells his wife that the next time the blind man comes in, he’s going to test him.
The blind man eats and leaves.
He returns the following week, but this time the owner sees him coming and runs to the kitchen.
He tells his wife, “Sue, rub this fork on your panties before I take it to the blind man.”
Sue complies and hands her husband the fork. As the blind man walks in and sits down, the owner is ready and waiting.
“Good afternoon, sir, this time I remembered you and I already have the fork ready for you.”
The blind man puts the fork to his nose, takes a deep whiff, and says, “Hey I didn’t know that Sue worked here…”

Science of Getting Rich

A few days ago, on my usual daily session of surfing the net, I discovered an intriguing site, www.Rich4Life.Us. On this site they promise to let up the secret of getting rich for life. Of course,as a mother I really want a wealthy life for me, my son and my family, so I signed up for the 7 free lessons from the "science of getting rich" and I also signed up for the contest they have-"The Monthly $1,000 Cold Hard Cash Contest!". Maybe I am naive, maybe some will laugh, but I really hope the law of attraction works and the science of getting rich is for real because I know that the power of faith is measureless.
I really want a decent living, a house of my own, a new beautiful car, a good salary... I don't want to worry anymore about the money, the food, the clothes...I want to be able to offer my son anything he needs and wants. And I will try anything for this!

SEX is good for your health

Yes, it seems that having fun in bed can not only be good for your relationship, but it can also be good for you!
Many people simply enjoy a healthy sex life because sex is pleasurable. Now there's another reason to stay in bed; there are substantial health benefits of sex. It seems that enjoying sex regularly (which means at least twice a week), can do wonders for everyone both physically and psychologically.
Here are a few benefits:

* Having regular sex, reduces the risk for heart disease
* Weight loss and overall fitness
* Bladder control in women
* Natural release of endorphins, which relieves stress
* Women and men who feel more confident with sex are also more confident in life

The health benefits of sex will make you feel wonderful and you will gradually notice that the more sex you have, the more bounce you will have in each step (and the more sex you'll want.) Happiness isn't sex itself, but sex does ultimately play a role in human happiness. And, that something to smile about.