A Happy Family

To Settle or Not To Settle: Women Who Say No To Family

>> Nov 6, 2011

A long time ago, you decided that having kids just wasn’t for you. Apparently that decision – though it your personal decision – does not sit well with a lot of people. If you’re mulling over the same decision and leaning towards the same outcome as you did, you have a lot of things to consider. It’s not an easy one. People will say you’re selfish. They’ll say you’re wasting your life and your opportunities. They think it’s about the weight, or the maternity wear or the money. They will tell you over and over again that you’ll change your mind.. and maybe you will… or maybe you’ll get sick of hearing it. Either way, it’s going to be a difficult decision.

Below are a few factors that might help you in your contemplation:

Are you happy?
If you’re at a point in your life that is now or never when it comes to having kids, it means your decision has to be made quickly. So ask yourself, are you happy how you are, or are you yearning for something else? Can you stay happy? Imagine yourself and your partner in ten years or even twenty – do you see yourself with kids, or without? Do you really want a future with no kids running around, no teens to guide and no one to visit you when you’re old? If the answer is yes and you’re ok with all of these scenarios, perhaps your mind is already made up. This doesn’t mean you can’t do the whole diamond ring, wedding and other parts, it just means you are exercising your right to choose your life!

Why do it?
The next thing to consider, if you think you may sway towards having kids, is why you’re having them. If it’s that natural yearning, that motherly instinct and it would be for you – than go for it! If you really don’t want kids, but your partner does, is that really the right reason? Maybe you both need to discuss your reasoning and thoughts more? If it’s to reinvigorate a relationship, or even save one, think again!

What does it mean to your partner?
If your partner is largely indifferent to whether you have kids or not, this basically means the final decision lies with you. You need to decide if it is right for yourself and then let them know which way you’re swaying so they can reconsider their own desires. If you’re partner doesn’t want kids, are they still going to be involved, or are you going to be doing it alone? Your partner is a big consideration, so talk it over a lot!

Career
If you’re a career orientated person, this is going to also weigh heavily on your decision as to whether you have kids or not. Likely at the peak of your career, or still building, this is a crucial time in your working life. In addition to this, think about how you want to raise kids – would you put them in care during all working hours so you could continue to grow your career as soon as you’re able bodied again? If so, is that really how you want your kids to grow up? Think about it!

Future plans
Finally, consider how you view your future and what your future plans are. If you are a traveller at heart, for instance, does a child fit in with your plans?
There’s a lot to consider, so keep your mind open and remember, you can always change it!/image:google.com/

Ducks on the Rice Field

>> Nov 5, 2011

Yesterday, I was going out of town again. I'm in my husband's home town right now. This morning I visited my BIL's home; I saw beside his house the rice field that is ready to plant. There were ducks too.

Count the ducks! 27 (?)

Where were their heads?

8 Things You Should do When Moving House

Moving house can be a stressful time but if you are organised you can help make the process as painless as possible. Choosing the right removalists can also make the task easier. It is important that you continue to have contents insurance while you are moving as it will cover your furniture and possessions while they are in transit.

Hire a Good Removalist

For a successful move it is important to hire a reputable removalist company to transport your furniture and personal belongings. You want a company that you can trust with your personal items and be happy knowing that they will treat your things carefully and get them to their destination in one piece. Ask around any friends or family who have moved for advice.

Change Your Address

You will need to change your address with all the associations and institutions that you are involved with. This will include changing your address on your driver's license, with the bank, with any government organisations (like Centrelink and Medicare) and with any clubs.

Utilities
You will need to cancel the connections of your utilities to your home, such as gas, electricity, water and also your telephone and internet. It is likely you will have to pay a disconnection fee. You will then need to contact the companies that will supply these services to your new home and arrange to have them connected for when you move in.

Pack
Packing can be a difficult and time consuming job but look at it as an opportunity to clean out some of your things. You will find that there are lots of items you don't use any more, clothes you don't wear and if there is anything you haven't seen for years it is likely you don't really need it any more. Give things away to charity or have a garage sale.

Redirect Mail
Until you are able to get your address changed at all the clubs, associations and organisations that you belong to you should have your mail re-directed. Go into your local post office, fill out the necessary form and you will pay a fee to re-direct your mail for a certain amount of time. Gradually you will be able to change your address with everybody after you move.

Know Where Everything Is

Make sure that you know where everything is around your new home. You should have already gone to investigate your children's new school, but also find out where the closest shops are, the newsagent, chemist, doctors and dentist, sporting clubs and public transport. If you have changed jobs find out the best way to get there or what the best way to get to your old job is.

Double Check Before Leaving
On the day you move make sure you check all the rooms to ensure everything has been packed into the removalists truck. Check the built in wardrobes and also check around the back garden, under the house, in the attic and in any sheds.

Don’t Forget Your Friends!
Make sure you don't forget to let your friends know your new address and when you are moving. Also let them know when your house warming party is./image: clker.com/

Cooking Happily and Smartly for Your Family with Recipe Finder

>> Nov 3, 2011

I’m so sure that recipe finder will soon become the most favorite source of recipes for many mothers, wives, and any other food supplier in every household. Nowadays, homemade cook is already becoming popular again along with the increasing of healthy life awareness. To make sure that your whole family always eat healthy food; you should cook your own food. Too often eating commercial food isn’t a healthy habit as you don’t know precisely the ingredients inside.

You want to serve good meals for your family every day; but unfortunately, it’s not an easy thing to do, especially if you only have limited time and limited recipe knowledge. Let’s say that you’re always busy with your daily routines and household chores. You don’t have time to be in the kitchen for a long time or you already feel too tired to cook. Preparing home cook can also give you hard times if you don’t have broad recipe collection, it will make your family bored with the invariable menu!

You definitely need help from the recipe portal like Recipe Finder, the newest and largest recipe search engine. It’s an amazing recipe search engine, as it can index more than 1,750,000 recipes from hundreds of websites!

Its advanced search features will help you more to find the recipe that suits your preferences and needs. Since you only have time less than one hour to prepare dinner meals; you can refine your search by setting the cook time. According to your specific requirements, you can also set the calories, servings, and the ingredients that you want to include or exclude.

Getting new dinner ideas will be easy. If you want to serve soup for dinner tonight, but you still have no idea what kind of soup to cook; just simply type it in the search engine. You can choose the category on how the search results will appear: text, images, or videos. The results will amaze you!

While I tried to search new soup recipes, I was interested with Cajun Corn Soup. For each recipe, you can find the nutrition info, the calories, the amount servings, and the cook time. The ingredients and the instructions are clear and easy to understand.

I share here the recipe:

Instructions:
1.Mix the broth and water in a pot, and bring to a boil. Stir in the green bell pepper, tomatoes, and corn. Season with garlic salt, cayenne pepper, and paprika. Reduce heat to low, and simmer 10 minutes. Transfer 1/2 the mixture to a blender, blend until smooth, and return to pot.

2.Heat the oil in a skillet over medium heat. Stir in the leek and garlic, and cook 5 minutes, until tender. Transfer to blender. Place black beans and about 1/2 cup of the soup into blender. Blend until smooth. Mix into the soup, and continue cooking 10 minutes, until heated through.

It will only take 30 minutes to cook this soup; a perfect recipe for busy mothers and wives. Now it’s your turn to improve your recipe collection!

6 Great Gifts to Give Your Single Parent Friend

Being a parent is a really hard job and being a single parent is twice the work. Often people become single parents because of things like domestic violence, death of a partner or a difficult divorce, so any support they can get is always appreciated. Single parents often have to go without so that they can provide better for their family, so here are a few things you could consider doing to support your single parent friend to help them feel more in control.

Gift Baskets
It’s a small gesture, but giving a gift basket is a nice way of showing your single parent friend that you care. You can put anything inside such as candles, relaxing teas, calming lotions, bath products or whatever else you think they would like.

Family Fun
Family outings are a luxury that some single parents can’t afford. Buying them a family pass to things like the zoo, science center, museum or aquarium, will give them an excuse to take a day off and spend some quality time with their children.

A Night Out
Single parents often don’t ever get the chance to take a night off just for them. Organize a day for your friend that includes your babysitting services and movie passes for them so they can get out and feel like a regular adult. This will give them a chance to catch up with other friends or maybe even meet a special someone.

Tasty Meals
Single parents generally spend a lot of time working to support their family. When they are not working, they have to take care of other duties such as bills, errands and shopping that seriously limits the amount of time left for their family. To give them a little bit more time in the day, cook something for them in advance such as a casserole or lasagne so that all they have to do is heat and serve. Better yet, invite them and their children over to your house once in a while for a home-cooked meal. Even if you only have the chance to do it once in a while, they will really appreciate the effort.

Hire a House Cleaner
If you can afford it, hire a house cleaner to come in and do a deep clean in your friend’s house. This is a super useful gift that will not only free up some time to spend with their kids, but it will also help them feel more in control.

Gift Certificates
Unfortunately, many things that are necessary in life are also very expensive these days. Get your friend a gift certificate for something that they really need such as groceries, petrol or household items. Nothing is worse than feeling like you can’t afford the necessities in life.

Being a single parent is super hard these days, so if you have a single parent friend, it’s important to be aware of their situation. Through everyday conversation, you can often get a hint as to what they need, even if it’s something as simple as offering a ride, they will really appreciate your help and friendship.

Between Tea Plantation

>> Nov 2, 2011

Located in Puncak area (West Java, Indonesia), the pond looks far away and down below. Separated by the main road, the pond is surrounded by tea plantation. I captured the view from the famous spot called Puncak Pass. Many people come here as you can see amazing view from the height.Watery Wednesday

Best Store to Buy Music Online Legally

Internet technology opens a new way for you to buy music in different way and format. You don’t need to go anywhere. Being able to navigate various artists, tracks, and albums from your comfort home is one advantage that you can get with buying music online.

Nowadays, you can download music from the internet to your computer and other music players. Though you still can buy music in CD format at a music store physically, downloading tracks from online music store is already becoming favorite way for many music lovers.

If you’re interested to purchase music online in cheap prices, it’s much recommended to visit Mp3Mixx.com. This music store is like a large music library. They provide you with the most comprehensive music genres; I think their collection include more than 150 genres, from acoustic, alternative music to smooth jazz. To ease you in searching your favorite artist in a specific music genre, they have listed it in alphabetical order; and each genre is completed with the related list artists.

At Mp3Mixx.com, you can download any music with convenient and without worry for breaking the law, as every mp3 file on this music store is legal to purchase. You don’t need to purchase a whole album anymore, just download song tracks that you really want to collect! It also means that you won’t waste your money with buying unwanted music.

As mentioned before, at the present time, music lovers can easily access to an online music library like Mp3Mixx that contains 3.000.000 tracks, 50.000 artists, and 250.000 albums. You’ll be able to discover, listen and then choose to download any song based on their ranks in top music charts in US, UK, EU, or the worldwide chart.

Creating your own playlists within the wide range of music is not hard anymore. You can find your needed music easily there, just simply submitting the name of the artist or the album. All kind of music are available for you, and you can get it at the touch of a button.

Since this music store is like a music library, you can find out and learn many musical styles that you’ve never heard before. Navigating the music store can become an enjoyable way to improve your music knowledge. Isn’t it cool?

Before downloading, you must register and fill your account first. Once you’ve downloaded the song tracks, you can relocate it into your favorite music player device. Now it’s your turn to visit the online music store and then you can take your desired music everywhere you go!