The family is a haven

Rabu, 09 November 2011

Tips for Stay-at-Home Dads Who Don't Stay

I have been a stay-at-home dad for over ten years and I have a confession to make: stay-at-home dads do not stay at home. Oh sure, we’re home in the morning when the wife goes to work and home in the evening with dinner ready when she returns, but in between we are pretty much out of the house with a child in tow either visiting the pediatrician, shopping for food, going to the park or looking for yet another new tool at Sears Hardware because guns are not allowed in the house.

Stay-at-home dads know that being out of the house is a good health decision on par with eating broccoli, drinking 6-8 glasses of water and avoiding daytime talk TV. Plus, most accidents happen inside the home, so it’s just a matter of simple statistics that the more time you spend outside the home, the safer it is for you and your kids.

However, the down side to being away from home means that you are also away from your bathroom. Tiny bladders and too much fluids (remember now, we are on that recommended 6-8 glasses of daily water-boarding treatment) means that unless you want the hairy eyeball from every mom who hears your child wailing, “Daddy, I need to go potty NOW!” you have to either beat a hasty retreat home, buy a toy to distract their bladder, or decide on whether to use the nearest ladies’ or men’s room.

Choosing the sex of a bathroom is not easy:

Guys don’t flush. The seats are up—which is a good sign, but requires touching the seat to lower it. The seats are down—which is a bad sign and requires a look into the next stall. And the writing on the stall walls is full of curse words. But, you are a guy and it is the men’s room.

In the ladies bathroom the toilets are flushed. The seats are almost always down, which I have yet to figure out the why of the “almost” part. And the writing on the stall walls is in cursive. But, you are a guy and IT IS the ladies room.

The deal breaker, however, is typically how you personally feel about some dude or dude-ette walking in on you while you are helping your child take care of their business. My personal experience has been that choosing the ladies room is the lesser of evils. Most women will wait until your child is done. Some will offer to help - especially if you appear particularly inept or clueless on what to do. And only a rare few will call for Security.

However, if you just have to have complete privacy to get through this, here are a few tips I’ve figured out that will help you avoid or lessen the embarrassment:

• Some restrooms have a cleaning closet nearby. Block the restroom door with the cleaning bucket and mop—it works like a magic barrier.
• Make a big X with duct tape across the doorway—most people will turn around and go somewhere else.
• Write “Out of Order” on a piece of paper and tape it to the door.
• Get a yellow tape that reads “Crime Scene” on it and place it across the doorway.
• Ask an employee to “guard” the door until you are done.
• Hire an Au Pair (my favorite choice).
• Get a job and let mom be the one to stay at home (not my favorite choice).

The point of this (with the exception that guys tend to wuss out when it comes to bathroom issues) is that when nature calls, an empty bladder is a happy and a healthy child. Prolonging “holding back” is a risk for a urinary tract infection and can make “going” outside of the home a needlessly stressful event for a child. It’s okay to be a stay-at-home dad and be slightly embarrassed by some of this child care stuff. And yes, your kid is absolutely guaranteed to say, “That’s not the way mommy does it!” But when you are a stay-at-home dad who does not stay at home, it’s just part of the job. And I love my job.

Senin, 07 November 2011

Tips For Pruning Roses

Pruning roses is very vital for the health of your plants. It is something that encourages the growth of the plant and will remove the damaged limbs. There are varieties of rose species available for you and each and every species will require you with different kinds of pruning methods. Examples of such are rose brushes and climbing roses. These types of roses will require a gardener to use a different way of pruning. In connection with this, you will learn some of the pruning methods.

Typical rose plants must be pruned during the spring. But in the case of roses who bloom on the wood, they should be pruned during autumn season after these roses have been finished blooming. There are several steps entailed in pruning roses during the spring. Initially, you need to remove cane and dead limbs. Second, you have to trim the limbs growing distant to the plant's center. Lastly, assess the looks of the plant. Ascertain if it looks amazing to your eyes. Just in case you are not contented with the looks of the plants, you trim it depending from the looks you want to achieve.

When it comes to climbing roses, this will require you with different techniques in pruning as compared to the regular bushes of roses. Climbing roses are considered as mammoth plants and will take some years in order to grow up in a very amazing size. Bear in mind that climbing roses should be pruned less aggressively as compared to the ordinary rose bushes. The first step in pruning climbing roses is to removal of diseased, damaged and dead limbs. Remember that you must not prune the climbing roses too much. This should be remembered during the first days of its existence.

One of the hybrids of roses that will bloom by means of new growth is Hybrid Teas. Because of this, you have to prune it during the spring season. Tea roses are considered as delicate breed or rose and are very much susceptible to bug related diseases. However, hybrid teas will provide your garden with classy looks. You can prune hybrid teas once the rose bushes are already properly established. But when the rose bushes have not yet bloomed, refrain from aggressive pruning.

You see, every type of roses require different method of pruning. So before you will do pruning roses activities, make sure that you identify first the type of rose you have in your garden. Becareful when you are trying to pruning after growing roses from cuttings in water because it can be damaging to the rose if you don't do it exactly right.

4 Tips Improving Family Communication

In today's busy world it can sometimes be difficult to find time to really communicate with the rest of your family. Some days, you might even feel like you hardly talked to each other at all. Because good communication is one of the cornerstones of strong family relationships, it's important to find ways that you can improve your family's ability to communicate. If you're ready to help build better communication skills in your family, here are some tips that can help.

1. Set Aside Time for Each Other

A lack of time is often one of the most common reasons why the lines of communication within a family break down. Frequently everyone is rushing around following their own personal schedule, without too much regard for each other's schedules. When this happens, it can be difficult to even find yourself at the same place at the same time with your family members, much less communicate effectively with them. If possible, try to set specific times when nobody schedules any other events. Make the most of your time together by turning off the television and radio. You might be surprised how much you enjoy simply talking to your family, even if it's just to discuss what went on during your day.

2. Develop Family Traditions

Developing a few traditions or family rituals can also be a good way to create more time to communicate. Instituting a family movie night, a bedtime story time, or even just eating dinner together can help connect family members on a regular basis. Planning short trips to take together with the family on the weekends can also be a good way to spend quality time together. Be sure to bring your camera along on your trips, since you'll probably enjoy displaying a few photos of these events in picture frames around your home.

3. Create a Family Schedule

Keeping a family schedule or calendar is another good way to keep track of what everyone is doing. It can be much easier to find open blocks of time on everyone's schedule when there is a calendar to refer to. Try printing out a calendar, schedule or other kinds of documents that everyone can refer to. Displaying the family schedule and calendar in picture frames on the wall can be a great way to stay abreast of everyone else's schedule. When you schedule time to spend together as a family, be sure to mark this on the calendar as well.

4. Spend Individualized Time Together

Although spending time together as a family is very important, it's also important to create opportunities for "one-on-one" time with each other. Schedule activity dates with your children, and implement a regular weekly "date night" with your spouse. Devoting special time to each other is a great way of demonstrating how important you are to each other. Even if it's something as simple as taking a child to the grocery store so they can pick out their favorite breakfast cereal, or grabbing a quick lunch with your teenage daughter, you'll undoubtedly be creating memories for both of you. Be sure to take a few photos on these activity dates. Then, display them in picture frames around your home as a reminder of your special time spent together.

So if you feel that your family communication is lacking, don't lose heart. These tips will help you improve your communication in no time.

Home Wind Turbine Prices - The 3 Things You Must Get Right From The Start

If you are investigating home wind turbine prices at the moment, then you know the search can be overwhelming. There are so many options!

Anything from vertical axis wind turbines to horizontal axis wind turbines are available on the market today for home power production. It can be a bit of a challenge when you think about all the possibilities without any specific direction on where you should place the turbine. A lot of that falls on you, however you got to take the time to do the research upfront.

In order to make sense out of all this information and sift through all of the marketing noise, it is very important that you understand what you need. Wind turbines are not a one-size-fits-all product. Each project must be tailored to the individual circumstances at the person's property where it is being installed.

As a matter of fact, you must pay specific attention to these 3 items if you want to narrow down your choices and make the right decision on what to buy:

1. Clarify what wind resources you have on your land - this is always the first step. Figure out how much wind you have available make power from. We can do that is by sampling wind patterns for a couple weeks at several places on your property. That's easy enough to do with a small anemometer which is really just a tiny wind turbine. You can collect that data and downloaded and your PC rather easily.

2.Find out if there are covenants or local restrictions on where you can and cannot put up a wind device on your property - many communities restrict where you can put wind turbines even on your own property. It's easy enough to find out what the permitting restrictions are - all you have to do is check with your local government and ask them what you can and cannot do.

3. Be clear about your goals for power production - you also need to be quite clear about what you're trying to, which. If you just try to supply back up for it appliance like a freezer then you don't need to have that large a wind turbine or that large battery to back it up. But if you're trying to power from your wind generator to your whole house or sell power back to the grid to make a little money you will need a much larger system.

If you go to the trouble to nail down these 3 things, then home wind turbine prices will make a lot more sense and you can find just the one you need a lot quicker.

Dealing With Marriage Infidelity

Infidelity often breaks a marriage, destroys trust, and results in emotional turmoil in all the parties involved. It can be difficult to measure the actual prevalence of infidelity. Marriages and divorces are documented but infidelity isn't monitored. To further complicate things, the definition of cheating isn't the same for all individuals. What one may think as infidelity could be tolerable for another person.

Some say that 60 percent of men will cheat while 40 percent of women will be unfaithful. It's important to know that marriage infidelity doesn't always have to end in divorce. A marriage damaged by infidelity can in fact be fixed. But it does take time. It won't be easy but it is possible to fix a marriage troubled by cheating.

If your marriage was affected by infidelity and you want to save your marriage, know that you are up to a great challenge. It will take time, patience and a lot of courage to fix your marriage. Tips that can help you in the process of healing can be found below.

If you are the guilty party, you can start the healing process by being totally honest. Tell your spouse all that she or he wants to know. It helps the innocent spouse to know how or why it happened. A marriage counselor can help you to become honest if you're having trouble telling your spouse about exactly what happened. But you have to be able to tell the truth to regain your partner's trust.

Examine yourself to find out why it happened. If you are not happy with your marriage, you will have to uncover the causes of your unhappiness first. To prevent unfaithfulness from happening again, it is essential to know the root cause of the problem. Also, you will have to show genuine remorse. It's essential to reassure your spouse that the infidelity won't happen again to rebuild the trust.

If you're the victim, be clear on what you want your spouse to do to bring back your trust. Learn how to be friends again by spending as much time together as possible. Although it is impossible to forget about the betrayal, try to learn to forgive. Forgiveness, actually benefits you more than your unfaithful spouse. By forgiving, you throw away your emotional burden.

It is true that rebuilding a marriage after an affair will take a very strong will. But it may help you to know that couples who succeeded in repairing their marriage emerged stronger and happier.