Wednesday, October 31, 2007

Extreme pumpkin carving

Pumpkins If you thought pumpkin carving was just a case of scooping out the innards, cutting three triangles for eyes and a nose and then gouging out a jaggedy mouth, then shame on you! Check out the Squidoo Lens of the Day - Pumpkin Carving Video Showcase for extreme pumpkin carving, pumpkin stencilling and appearances by Princess Diana and Frankenstein...

Tuesday, October 30, 2007

Aging Parents: 5 warning signs of health problems

Seniors_hand_in_hand A couple of Christmases ago, my mother (who was then aged just 70) announced at our family get-together that she was 'giving up walking'. My brother and I were slightly stunned, but after a bit of cajoling and teasing (the approach that works best with my mum), it turned out that she had a weak ankle that was making her feel uncomfortable and vulnerable when she was walking around outside the home. Fortunately, we were able to persuade her to visit her doctor, who in turn referred her to a physiotherapist and, within a few weeks, she was back to her normal self.

With the holiday season fast approaching, many of us will be meeting up with parents, aunts and uncles for the first time in a while and will have the opportunity to see how age is affecting them and to check if they are looking after themselves. This article from the Mayo Clinic offers you five things to look out for on your next trip home which will help you gauge whether your loved ones need assistance or not.

Thursday, October 25, 2007

The 12 'germiest' places in your life

Messy_handbag What do airplane toilets, a load of wet laundry and the bottom of women's handbags have in common? They're among the twelve 'germiest' places that you're likely to encounter! Discover the other nine and find out how to wage war against the microbes in this article from TODAY... but a warning - the methods advocated for combating the bugs aren't always the most environmentally friendly things you could do.

Friday, October 19, 2007

Why BLCK is the new green!

Baby_leaf_curly_kale Food companies are constantly releasing new products, but have you ever heard of a ‘new’ vegetable being launched? The food team at MSN hadn’t either, until they were sent a 'bucket load' of baby leaf curly kale - a new, fresh and tender variant of this member of the cabbage family and one that is being heralded as a new superfood.

In Why BLCK is the new green, the team take a look at the health benefits of BLCK and put it to the taste test. (And BLCK even has a website of its own at http://www.blckisthenewgreen.co.uk/.)

Update: We've tried BLCK on a couple of occasions since I wrote this posting. It's tasty (much nicer than the original curly kale) and it cooks in the steamer in just 2 minutes. Definitely worth a try...

Friday, October 12, 2007

Why social networking sites are a fraudster's paradise

Facebook_2 Are you a member of any of the social networking sites such as Facebook, Friends Reunited and MySpace? If you are, you could be leaving yourself wide open to fraud.

Emma-Lou Montgomery, writing in an article for MSN, says that visiting these sites is 'the 21st century equivalent of peering through your neighbour’s windows – only this time you’ve got millions of ‘neighbours’ whose lives others can nose into 24 hours a day'. And whilst you're busy finding out what old friends are doing now, what they look like and who they're married to, you're sharing cyberspace with opportunists and experienced criminals who are also searching - for personal data they can use to commit crimes such as identity theft - data including maiden names, dates of birth, children's names, even the names of childhood pets which, apparently, many people use as passwords...

Read Emma-Lou Montgomery's article here. (I must admit that, after reading the article, I visited my own profiles on various sites and deleted a few details!)

Thursday, October 11, 2007

How to find the best airline fares

Palm_trees_and_beach This morning, I've been playing with the air fare comparison tools provided by Lea Woodward of http://www.lipliving.com/ in her new book, X Marks The Spot. I'm out of the habit of visiting these booking sites and I was amazed to see what you can do with them nowadays.

Lea recommends Skyscanner.net, Farecast.com, FareCompare.com and Yapta.com for finding the best fares.

Skyscanner seems to only compare the prices of flights from the UK (but check this out if you live elsewhere - you may get different results).

FareCompare is good fun - I booked an imaginary flight from Manchester to Orlando Sanford, a flight from Sanford to Fort Myers and 14 night accommodation at the 4 star Sanibel Harbour Resort, all for a very reasonable price!:-)

Farecast
compares fares and advises you whether to buy now (because fares are likely to rise) or wait to make your booking (because fares are likely to drop).

With Yapta, you can make sure that you pay the absolute minimum for your US airline tickets, even if you've purchased them already. Yapta tracks ticket prices for you and alerts you when the price drops so that you can either get a refund on a purchased ticket or buy that low-fare ticket on the prime flights.

How clever is that?

Tuesday, October 09, 2007

Lipbook_2Lea Woodward is a Location Independent Professional (LIP). A LIP is someone who has the freedom to travel when & where they want to, yet still continue to earn a living. LIP living is perfect if a) would like to travel and see
something of the world and b) you have the skills that could enable you
to earn money using the internet and a telephone.

Lea has just released the eBook version of her first book, X Marks The Spot: The Indispensable Guide To Living As A LIP & Working From Anywhere. I downloaded my own copy this morning and I can highly recommend it.

The pre-launch version of the book is available for download in limited numbers in ebook format.

For just £6, you'll find out...

  • The types of businesses that allow you to earn a living from anywhere in the world
  • The questions you should ask yourself before taking the plunge

  • The things that could stop you from becoming a LIP... and what to do about them

  • What to do if your worst fears come true & everything goes wrong

  • How to decide whether the place you want to visit is a "good" versus "bad" LIP location

  • How to avoid some of the costly mistakes Lea and her husband made & save yourself some money

  • The essential tools to keep your business running smoothly

  • The things that could catch you by surprise and ruin everything...and how to avoid them

  • All the tools, resources & step-by-step processes you need to create your own LIP life

You can buy your copy of 'X Marks The Spot' here