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Fun & Fast Family Portraits By Deborah Shelton

Making self-portraits and pictures of family, friends, and even
pets, is a great way to connect with children (and it’s a lot of
fun!). There are so many imaginative ways to create a person’s
image. Try these techniques, then invent some of your own.

* Traditional. Drawing the way most of us are used to: with
pencils, crayons, markers, paint and paper. Just because this
uses traditional supplies doesn’t mean that your picture has to
be traditional. Try out Picasso’s abstract style or even a
minimalist portrait (think stick people with a little more
detail).

* Crafty. This is where all of those scrap pieces of fabric and
miscellaneous office supplies come in handy. Buttons, flat
marbles, googly eyes, and coiled paperclips work well for eyes.
Shredded paper strips, yarn, and shoelaces can be used as hair.
Small rubber bands are cute for curly hair.

* Food. Ah, the wonders of elbow macaroni…it’s delicious and
artistic! Create a dry pasta portrait, or an edible picture with
slices of cucumbers or olives for eyes, small carrots for noses,
a slice of bell pepper for a mouth, whipped cream hair–anything
goes!

* Hands-On. In other words, finger painting! The secret to
having fun with this hands-on technique is to use only your
hands and fingers–no brushes. Double fingerprints, one inside
the other, work great for eyes. Apply dark lipstick on your lips
and kiss the paper to add a mouth!

* Artistic. Object painting can become very addictive once you
get started, so go through your garage sale box to find plenty
of “canvases.” Paint portraits on clear dinner plates, keepsake
boxes, T-shirts, tote bags, and any other object that lacks
pizzazz.

By definition, an aircraft is a structure capable of carrying
its weight and travel through air by the means of support from
its own buoyancy or the dynamic action of the air against its
surfaces. Aircrafts have been of great interest to anyone
because man has always been fascinated with flying. With this
great desire to soar the sky, there have been a number of
attempts to build contraptions that will bring them closer to
this goal.

>From the moment Leonardo da Vinci, a great inventor and artist,
wrote his vision of an aircraft in his notebooks, it was evident
that man was determined to fly and build the contraption that
will bring him closer to the sky.

There had not been few but several noted and documented attempts
to build the world’s first functioning aircraft. Unfortunately
most of the aircrafts designed and build did not even make it on
air. The honor of being the first persons to put a
heavier-than-air aircraft on flight goes to the brothers Wilbur
and Orville Wright.

The Wright Brother’s aircraft had a wingspan of 12 m (40 ft) and
weighed 340 kg (750 lb) including the pilot. As the two brothers
took turns in flying the plane, Wilbur, in the last of the
flights, stayed in the air for 59 seconds and traveled 260 m
(852 ft) at speeds a little under 16 km/h (10 mph).

In December 17, 1903, the message “Sent from Kitty Hawk, North
Carolina, after having successfully completed the world’s first
powered flights” by Wilbur Wright and Orville Wright confirmed
their success of putting their aircraft design on flight.

>From then on, several modifications and alterations of the
Wright Brother’s original aircraft design were developed.

As of present, there are two main categories of aircrafts -
heavier-than-air or aerodynes and lighter-than-air or aerostats.

Examples of aircrafts that are classified under heavier than air
are helicopters and fixed-wing aircrafts such as airplanes. For
fixed-wing aircrafts to fly it must have an engine that is
motorized by the expansion of hot combustible products of fuel
directly acting on the engine. With this power coming from the
aircraft’s engine, the aircraft will then be accelerated at a
very high speed while it moves it into the air.

However, there are some exceptions for this classification of
heavier-than-air aircrafts. Some heavier-than-air aircrafts do
not have engines such as the glider. To get ready for flight, a
glider gains its thrust from winches (or machines that wind up
ropes), gravity and thermal currents.

Lighter-than-air aircrafts utilize buoyancy or the upward force
of an object immersed in air or gas. To be buoyant,
lighter-than-air aircrafts such as hot air balloons and airships
uses dense gases such as helium and hydrogen or hydrogen to move
the air around the aircraft.

Further classifications of aircrafts depend on its usage.

Military aircrafts such as combat planes and fighter planes used
for reconnaissance and surveillance is one category of aircrafts
based on usage.

These types of aircrafts are not just widely used for national
security nowadays but had been of great use during the World
Wars. It is in World War I when bombers, or aircrafts mainly
utilized to attack enemy vehicles, ships and aircrafts were
first designed and employed.

In World War II, tankers, or aircrafts designed to refuel other
aircrafts in mid-flight were used to increase fighter planes’
operational efficiency.

Commercial planes, private jets, carrier aircrafts, recreational
hot air balloon flights and general aviation aircrafts are
categorized under civilian aviation. This category comprises the
vast majority of the aircrafts that set flight everyday and is
the most common and well-know category of aircrafts.

Both civilian and military aircrafts are sub-classified into
further categories.

When Henry David Thoreau, a famous American writer, said “Thank
God men cannot as yet fly and lay waste the sky as well as the
earth”, he may have been right at some points. However, without
the advancement in this technology, we may have not experienced
the convenience of flying and the thrill of being up in the air.

There are a few very good reasons to choose good au pair
services to help you with your children. For one thing having au
pair services will allow you to go about your daily life with a
little less guilt as far as your kids are concerned. Many
parents, despise having to put their kids in day care each and
every day of the month and for good reason. Daycare is often
impersonal and not the best environment for a child to be in.
They are busy places where some children do not get as much
attention as they need because there are so many other kids
about. But when you have hired au pair services you will be able
to rest easy knowing that your children are getting the one on
one care that they need and deserve. And that they are getting
it from only the best that anyone can provide.

Au pair services are where responsible parents go to look for
help with their kids. Most parents have to work, it is not a
choice or an option it is a necessity and they can do that
without ever worrying about it or feeling bad when they have
hired au pair services. These services offer parents a wonderful
option to day care and for a very affordable price.

Some of the women that au pair services have on staff will come
and live with you and your family, offering your kids a
stability that they would not get otherwise. Only au pair
services offer them a friend that they will have with them all
of the time, one who can give them the attention that they need
so desperately as they are growing from children to adults.

Most of the women who work for au pair services are from other
countries and have come here to start a better life. The au pair
services check everyone out extensively for experience and they
do background checks as well. So you will never have to worry
about your children being in danger at any time. Of course,
don’t take my word for it, do some of your own research and see
just how each of the au pair services check out the women who
work for them.

Talk to the au pair services that you are considering working
with to find out more about their practices. Only choose the au
pair service that feels good and the one that sounds like it has
the most safety measures in place.

It can be hard being a parent with a teen going through what I
term the ‘I’m Invincible’ phase. This is the phase when teens
start doing scary and dangerous things (according to us parents)
as a way of testing out their physical limits.

This is not surprising given that, at adolescence, teenagers are
effectively given a new body, one which has many improved
features from that of their childhood body. It’s no good as
parents thinking we can tell them about the limits of this body;
just as a toddler needs to work out for themselves how to
balance to walk so a teen needs to work out for themselves how
to use their changed body.

Pushing themselves that little bit further each time is
necessary for the teen to find out what happens. They need to
make mistakes so that they can self-adjust. They need to know
just how fast, agile and strong their body is so they can use it
appropriately in the future. Not knowing their own limits is
potentially much more dangerous.

However some teens also use this phase to prove themselves. In
today’s competitive society, teens have been brought up to want
to be better than someone else at something. For some teens this
will be in the classroom, others on the sports field or through
the performing arts but for some teens none of these avenues are
available.

The only way they can prove themselves to be better is through
some daredevil type of physical activity, where they can show
they are braver, can bear more pain or can think up some more
elaborate plan. This is where these teens get their feelings of
success, their sense of achievement, their sense of self-worth.

The ‘I’m Invincible’ phase is a crucial learning phase; it’s all
about taking risks and making judgements about risk. As parents,
it’s hard for us to let our teens take risks, we naturally want
to protect them, but in attempting to protect them we are in
reality often holding them back.

Taking risks is a necessary part of adult life; leaving one job
for another, starting a business, asking someone out on a date
all require a certain amount of risk. Although the risks in the
‘I’m Invincible’ phase are primarily based in the physical, they
give a good foundation for taking risks in the emotional and
cognitive realms in the future.

How to Handle the ‘I’m Invincible’ Phase

1. If at
   all possible, enrol your teen in a class or organisation where
   they can test their limits in a relatively safe environment eg
   sports, dance, scouts/guides, army/navy/air cadets.

2. For those that need to prove themselves, give them chores
   that allow them to show off their new found physical strengths;
   re-think the chores they do to see if there are some more suited
   to their abilities. Receiving success, achievement and a sense
   of self-worth at home reduces the need to look for it elsewhere.

3. Use the language associated with ‘I’m Invincible’ to
   acknowledge your teen in day-to-day life. Words such as courage,
   brave, strong, determined, overcome, etc, can also be used to
   motivate your teen.

4. Examine your own fears; are your fears based on objective,
   rational information, or have they been exacerbated by other
   peoples’ stories or news reports. Get the facts not the media
   hype.

5. Explain your fears to your teen by expressing concern over
   what others might do. If you express doubt in their abilities
   you will just make them more determined to prove you wrong. Eg
   “I don’t want you riding your bike late at night because drivers
   are more likely to have accidents then” is much more readily
   received than “I don’t want you riding your bike late at night
   because you might have an accident”.

6. Do not use evidence of their mistakes to do ‘I told you so’.
   Recognise mistakes as valuable learning, and then acknowledge
   the learning as you would any other type of learning.

As baby grows, milk alone is not enough for baby. The little one
needs to be weaned on solid food. Between the ages of 4 months
to 6 months, baby should start getting used to eating solid
foods.

It begins with just a taste. Adventurous babies might love that
tasting session, where baby gets to sample 1 teaspoon of food
other than milk. Fussy babies may hate it, but with a little
coaxing, they would finally taste this strange new food.

What you feed baby at this tender age makes a difference. Give
baby greens at this young age so he or she would grow to love
veggies?

Don’t believe that? When my kids were babies, I would usually
get them baby food that contains mainly broccoli as it is the
healthiest. Broccoli is chock full of vitamins and minerals.
Fiber too. A very healthy food for everyone, young and old.

Now, every meal must have a plate of broccoli. The kids demand
that. They love broccoli and would fight over it. Seriously. I
find it rather amusing since as a kid myself, I would never
touch anything green. Here, we have a 6 year old and 7 year old
grabbing the broccoli, eyeing what is left on the plate and once
we are off guard, one of them would grab the plate of broccoli
and dump everything on his plate and finish it off. Leaving not
much broccoli for us grown ups.

This is the time to get baby to eat and to appreciate carrots,
spinach as well as the usual meats that your family might eat.
Tofu would be a great food to introduce to baby as it is soft
and very healthy. As baby gets older, a healthy porridge full of
veggies and proteins would be really good.

You can find all sorts of baby food in any store selling baby
products. For convenience sake, I bought plenty of bottled
baby food for my baby. I would use a clean spoon to take out
baby’s portion for 1 meal and refrigerate the rest. A microwave
oven would heat up that meal nicely. Anything not consumed
in 3 days would be thrown away. Anyone who complains about
wastage would be welcome to eat up the leftovers.

Dry cereal baby foods are good too. Add water, mix well and the
food is ready to serve.

You can also make your own baby food. For that, you need a baby
food maker. That would typically be a food
mill. Just boil the veggies, then use the food maker to
grind or chop it into a smooth paste. These baby food kits, with
the baby food
recipes and handy tools for baby food making are really
handy.

Another tip. For a fussy breastfed baby, you could mix a little
breast milk into the baby food to give it a familiar taste so
baby would take to the new food more easily. If baby prefers
formula milk, then you could add a little formula milk to baby’s
food to soften it and give it a taste it is accustomed to.

One thing though, baby’s immunity isn’t as strong as ours, so
you have to be very careful about hygiene when you prepare the
food. I would sterilize everything I can that comes into contact
with baby’s food, to keep everything as sterile as possible.

Whether you get ready made baby food or make your own, this is
the time to steer your baby towards healthy food. The tastes
developed now can make a major difference in the future.

Some games are designed as a way to do away with some extra free
time, while others are created to make you think. The niche for
brainy games is growing constantly, and here are some fresh
additions for this year.

MoonTycoon (PartyTop)

In MoonTycoon you have to rocket to the moon and beyond to build
and manage your personal 3D lunar colony. The game lets you
control all aspects of colony life - from building colonies and
creating industries, to trading with Earth and alien races -
everything is in your hands. In MoonTycoon, your role as the
colony’s leader is multifaceted. For example, you must build
structures, maintain balance among use of water, energy, and
power; keep your citizens happy; and ensure sufficient cash
flow. No easy task. But if you master MoonTycoon, you’ll take
mankind to the final frontier by colonizing the Moon, solving
the Earth’s energy crisis, and boldly going beyond the stars to
befriend or conquer aliens, while unlocking the mysteries of the
universe.

AntWar (Anarchy Ent.)

AntWar is not your serious tycoon game. It takes on a humorous
look at how fast ants always seem to multiple and feel like they
are taking over. There is no tutorial, but AntWar is easily
learned, which makes it a great choice for younger
trategy/tycoon fans. This of course doesn’t mean that adults
won’t enjoy it! I sure did. An addictive game that will have you
striving for just 10,000 more ants to get to the next level.
Before you know it, it’ll be midnight and your ants will only
just be starting to take over the world. In AntWar you’re the
leader of a tiny colony of ants, with a very simple victory
condition: Grow your colony from humble origins to a grand total
of one billion ants. AntWar won’t be easy, as your colony will
be beset by rival ants, other insects, and a variety of enemies
who will either kill your ants, destroy parts of your colony, or
destroy your food stocks.

Enigmo (MumboJumbo)

Enigmo is a 3D puzzle game where you move various streams of
flowing liquid so that the droplets get to their destination.
Liquids (water, oil, and lava) fall from “droppers” and will
bounce around the walls of a mechanism. You move and rotate into
position various types of bumpers, sliders, accelerators, and
sponges in order to divert the flow of the falling droplets. The
faster you complete each level, the more bonus you will receive.
Be forewarned: Enigmo gets hard, and it gets hard fast.
Admittedly, my masochism streak is fairly low, as is my pain
tolerance, but I was desperately gasping for help after about
level 9 or 10 - out of 50. If you’re not one who enjoys a strong
mental workout, you might want to let Enigmo go.

Download Links

MoonTycoon http://www.deprice.com/moontycoon.htm

AntWar http://www.deprice.com/antwar.htm

Enigmo http://www.deprice.com/enigmo.htm

MOVING! The very thought of it can send chills down our spine
and can cause us to break out into a cold sweat. Experts say
that any kind of “change” creates “stress”. Moving, (and
especially if we are relocating to a new city or state),
represents a huge change and naturally brings a great amount of
stress along with it. This can be a double whammy, because
stress can lead to a lack of energy and motivation. Many of us
tend to procrastinate during stressful periods of our lives.
This is one time, though, when we must rise above that. When
preparing for a move we need to put the pedal to the metal and
get a lot of things done. This checklist contains many
suggestions that may seem like “no-brainers”. However, the very
act of printing out these simple suggestions and reminders can
become a significant security blanket as the dreaded time
approaches. Moving and relocating calls for being proactive,
grabbing the bull by the horns and actually completing certain
chores well in advance of their deadlines. Hopefully this little
paper will help you to accomplish that. In this particular
article we are leaving out the “big things” such as finding the
best moving company, researching your new neighborhood’s
transportation, parking, employment, etc. Those are for other
articles on another day. Today we are concentrating on the
basics of planning and preparation.

Get rid of what you don’t need.

Many of us are “pack rats”. One thing that we can accomplish
immediately is going through all of our “stuff” and getting rid
of what we don’t need anymore. Moving unwanted clothing and
bric-a-bracs from one place of residence to another is a great
waste of time and effort. It is surprising how much more in
control we feel once we start narrowing down our “inventory” to
what we actually need to keep. Getting rid of the unwanted items
can be done by having a garage sale long before moving time and
then donating the leftovers to the Salvation Army or other
charitable groups.

Get all important papers and documents together and secure them.

Since moving is hectic, to say the least, we need to be aware of
the exact location of all of our important items. Things that we
absolutely must not lose or misplace should certainly be hand
carried, not put in a box for the movers:

Address Books, Birth Certificates, Bank Statements, Checks,
Credit Cards and Statements, Home Movies, Irreplaceable
Memorabilia, Insurance Policies, Marriage Records, Medical and
Dental Records, Military Records, Passports, Photos and Photo
Albums, Resumes, School Records, Stock Certificates, Tax
Returns, Telephone Numbers, Valuables, Vehicle Documents, Wills.

Prepare well in advance for living at your new location.

There are many things that we can do at our new location well in
advance of our move that will help smooth out the bumps and
grinds of our relocation process when the actual event occurs:
Open up new bank accounts. Open up a new Safe Deposit Box.
Contact the new area utility companies and arrange for your new
services. These can include Cable TV, gas, electric, oil,
telephone, water and Internet access. Arrange for new medical
providers. If you are moving to a new state, contact the DMV and
get forms necessary to re-register your vehicles. Contact your
insurance companies and find out if your car insurance,
homeowner’s insurance, etc. can be transferred. If not, find an
Insurance Broker in your new area and discuss your needs and
requirements for new policies. Go to the post office and get a
moving kit. Prepare change of address forms for all of your
correspondents; credit card companies, other credit accounts,
banks, insurance companies, current utility companies for final
statements, magazines and other subscriptions, family, friends,
and any other persons or businesses that you correspond with on
a regular basis.

As the time approaches, get a nice new legal pad.

As moving day approaches and when the moving process actually
begins, you don’t want to be hunting for phone numbers in
wallets, purses, or address books. Have a nice new legal pad
ready with all important phone numbers written clearly and
legibly for both your old and new contacts: Banks, Doctors,
Emergency contacts, Family members, Friends, Landlords or Real
Estate Brokers, Movers, Pharmacies Schools, Storage Facilities,
Utilities.

With proper planning and preparation the moving process, though
never fun, can at least be sane. With proper planning and
preparation the utilities at your present address can be
disconnected the day after you move and the utilities at your
new address can be connected the day prior to your arrival. With
proper planning and preparation you will not be frantically
searching for a new doctor or pharmacy, if that unfortunate need
arises. With proper planning and preparation you will have all
of your important documents at the tip of your fingers at all
times. With proper planning and preparation your mail will start
arriving the day after you move in to your new abode and your
life will endure a minimum of chaos and clutter.

Good luck with your move and good luck in your new home or
apartment.