Teaching Our Kids To Recognize Tyranny And Stand Up For Their Rights

We've all seen the letter floating around on Facebook. You know the one where the teacher suspends a student for disagreeing. The student would not accept that a kilometer was longer than a mile. The teacher threatened the student with suspension but the student was adamant, a mile is longer than a kilometer. The letter to the parents detailed that the student was suspended for disagreeing with the teacher. What?

We, as parents are busy. Grandparents can help. Our children need to learn how to critically dissect information and assimilate facts. Just look at our headlines today. Look where they come from. Our so-called news is bent either far to the left or far to the right. Facts are rarely part of news anymore. Even the weather has turned sensationalist. Kids cheer blizzards, not fear them! They're being indoctrinated into the rolls of the public controlled by fear. Look at what happened in Boston. The whole city was under house arrest out of fear. And they stayed there. What next? When a serial killer is on the loose, do we shut down the city and tell everyone to stay home? Or just those that fit the profile of a potential victim. Come on folks! Our thinking skills have been destroyed and replaced with 'obey at all costs' skills.

Many parents are not doing a good job of teaching by example. Parents are buys with their electronic gadgets, work, commuting, and friends. Children are loaded into the van for practice of one kind or another and then sequestered in their rooms for homework. They spend time with their parents in the same room not talking, not looking at each other, and not communicating at all. We all fail when our children care more about what some uneducated promiscuous foul-mouthed sitcom actress is wearing than the fact our President just signed another executive order, which may be illegal.
Educators are failing our children by insisting they believe lies, passing children through the grades that can't even read, let alone think, and resigning themselves to exist in a system that rewards the status quo. The few educators that do rock-the-boat, end up without a job. Parents can't afford private schools so take responsibility to turn off your devices for a few minutes each day and talk about something important for five minutes. Help your children dissect the propaganda and slanted sensationalist news. For the sake of our next generation, and the ones to follow, we have to teach the children to ask, 'why'?

The 'Liberty Dying' Book Series crosses genres from contemporary to dystopic as tomorrows America makes today's headlines! Read, "Jingling Our Change" for a disturbing, enlightening, enjoyable experience.

By Kelli A Otting 

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/7671896

How To Make The Most Of Your Home Storage

It doesn't matter if you have a large home or if you have one that is small, you are going to need to consider the amount of space that you have available. This is especially the case, however, when your home is smaller and you need to ensure that you have the room necessary to store all of the items that you have to store. Here are a few tips that can help you to save space in the home and to make the most out of what you have available.

Perhaps the most important thing that needs to be considered when looking for additional space in the home are your organizational skills. If you have things organized properly, they are going to utilize less space in the home which will allow you to store more items. From time to time, it is necessary for you to step back and to take a good look at the organization that is available. Making small changes, including having some organizational tools will help to make a large difference. What are some of those tools that should be considered?

Almost any area of the home is going to benefit from the use of storage boxes. It is important for you to consider, however, that not all of the items that need to be stored should be kept in a box. In some cases, you may even damage those items if they do not have access to fresh air. There are plenty of options that are available which will help you to store those items without causing any damage. In some areas of the home, you may also want to consider hanging a peg board. If you use the right types of pegboard hooks, you would be surprised with how much space you are able to gain and how organized your home will be.

In many cases, it is also necessary for you to utilize the closet space that you have available to the greatest extent possible. It may even be necessary for you to redesign the closet so that it is able to hold your items properly. Each of us have different needs when it comes to our closets, with some using them for storage space and boxes and others using them to store clothes. You can purchase closet components at most hardware stores for a relatively low price. Measure the space that you have carefully and take it with you to the hardware store, they should be able to assist you in choosing the components that you need.

One other suggestion that I would have for you is to utilize some of the unusual spaces in the home, such as under the beds. There are storage boxes that are available which will fit in those unusual spaces. Even though you are going to be using almost every area that is possible, it is still necessary for you to avoid using corners that are in the open. Try to keep your home as clutter free as possible and you will find that it is more comfortable to live in.

By David V Garcia 

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/7632355

Do You Know The Best Way To Sell Your Home?

One of the aspects of selling a house is how and when you will get an offer. Some sellers will get an offer within the first week the house is listed while others will have to wait for weeks, even months. Regardless of how long you have to wait, when that first offer comes in you are giddy with excitement when your agent calls to tell you the good news.

Hopefully the amount offered is close to the asking price so you can just take the deal and be done with the process. Sadly the offer is much lower then you would like to accept right at the moment. What do you do now? Do you bother to counter the offer or do you just let the buyer know that they are way off the mark?

Your agent will likely recommend that you counter with some reasonable middle ground offer. You don't want to give the house away but you do have the ability to come down off of the asking price. You have run the numbers and know you can go down to a certain price but with no concessions and no closing cost. You let your agent know and together you come up with a fair counter offer. This is the art of negotiating which is something that your agent should be able to help walk you through.

Here are a few quick tips in order to get you through a difficult negotiation and reach your ultimate goal of selling the house:

1. Make sure you are in constant communication with your agent. Do not walk away angry if the price is too low or if the potential buyer is asking for a lot of concessions. Your agent is on your side and they will want to know why you didn't like the offer and what could be done to fix it. After all they make money when you sell and not until then.

2. Take a few deep breaths. If you get some unexpected news about the price or something you have to do to close the sale take a deep breath. You might want to take some time and do some exercising like running or riding a bike. There is sometimes a limit on the offer but that is typically at least 24 hours. You don't have to make a decision in the first few minutes.

3. Take your emotional attachment from the house and look at your situation logically. Do you want your house? Are you ready to move into a new place? You are trying to move on with your life so stop feeling so attached to it and come down on the price so you can sell it and move on.

4. Be patient during the sale. After you make a counter offer you want to give the buyer time to digest everything. If you get impatient and barrage the buyer with request they might just walk away. You have waited this long already just wait another 24 hours.

5. Respond to every offer that you are sent. Always respond with a fair offer. You don't have to give it away but don't respond with the straight list price. Come down something, even if it is only a few thousand dollars. It shows respect for the buyer and for their time and effort and it could end in a sale in time.

By Melissa Gifford 

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/7691630

How to Use Vegetable Sauce Recipe in Different Ways

Investigations have shown that so many people are not aware that they can enjoy a variety of staple foods like: rice, boiled yam, fried plantain and beans, potatoes etc with these colorful vegetables, they think that these ingredients are only for salad and fried rice.

For those who have health issues such as diabetes, hypertension e.t.c., which prevents them from eating fried foods, tomato stews, and soups that contain much seasonings, this is a very wonderful, tasty and healthy alternative for you to enjoy your staples. It is very rich in vitamins and nutrients. I am going to teach you how to prepare and use it to your advantage.

Ingredients
To cater for a family of five, you need the following:
· Chicken or fish or meat (as preferred)
· Vegetable Oil or any other oil you may prefer (2 cooking spoons)
· 5 Spring Onions
· 8 Fresh Plum Tomatoes (Jos Tomatoes)
· 8 medium Carrots
· Cabbage (1 small bulb)
· Potatoes - optional (3 medium-sized)
· 1 Red Bell Pepper (optional)
· 1 Green Bell Pepper
· Green Peas (fresh)
· Salt - to taste
· Seasoning - optional (2 cubes e.g. Magi)

Before You Start
1. Wash and cut the plum tomatoes, carrots, cabbage and bell pepper. Do not forget to scrape off the body of the carrots before cutting and set them aside.
2. Peel the Irish potatoes (this is optional because you can make your soup without thickening it), wash and cut into small pieces. Blend into a thick paste and set aside. This will serve as thickener for the Vegetable Sauce.

Direction for cooking
- Wash and cut your chicken, or fish or meat into pieces, put them in a pot, add chopped onions, stock cubes and curry powder. Add also a litre of water and cook for about 10 minutes.
- When done, add a little measure of the oil that you prefer. Cover and cook for 15 minutes.
- Add the chopped tomatoes and cook for 5 minutes.
- Now, add the potato purée, carrot, chopped bell peppers and cabbage. Stir, cover and allow to cook for 5 minutes on high heat. Add salt to taste and the sauce is ready for serving.
You can increase or decrease the thickness of the vegetable sauce by increasing or decreasing the amount of potato puree added. This will be according to your taste and choice, but the important thing is that you have an alternative to what you do not want.
I know you will enjoy it.

By Juliana Onwumere 

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/7697102

When Did You Last Cook With Your Family?

How long ago was it? Two days? Four? Thirty? Forget the number; it doesn't really matter. Was it recent enough? There's a chance that it was pretty recent, that just yesterday you and your kids grabbed a recipe that looked interesting and made it happen. Odds are better that it's been a while. I'll be honest; I didn't cook with my family as much as I wanted to, until I figured out how.
Like anything else, cooking with loved ones is a skill. There's a secret though: no one knows how to do it. Or at least what the goal is. What do I mean? Most people would say that if you are good at this 'skill' (cooking with family, or cowif for short), then your food will turn out better. The secret is...
It doesn't matter.

Why?

The food isn't what's important. Stay with me here, I'll explain. At the end of the day, what do you really remember about cooking with everyone? The food? Or the cooking?
Sure, you may kick yourself for adding a little too much salt or letting the garlic go 2 minutes too long, but that's not what's going to stick. I know what memories will really stick, what will really matter.

You'll remember your daughter laughing so hard milk almost came out her nose, or your husband almost dropping a meatball. So keep track, this is the first secret: the skill of 'cowif' (cooking with family) is in creating memories, not food. But I promised a different secret, didn't I? How I figured out to cook with mine more often.

Before we wander down that very important path, don't feel left out if you don't have any family that you live with or any kids to teach how to roll a meatball. Do you know how I define family? Anyone that massively impacts my life in a positive way. I have a lot of family because of this; you probably do too. Get together and cook up some inside jokes, some memories, some you-had-to-be-there moments. You're not too busy! That's what I thought too.

That's the state of things isn't it? We're busy. You're busy. You're overworked! You might even be a little underpaid even we're going to be really honest about it. So why do you do it? For your family! Here's what I figured out: my priorities were a little... skewed. Are yours?

We don't mean them to be. It sneaks up on us, like our car getting old or our shoes getting worn. It's just all the sudden happened. There's nothing you can do to stop it.
Okay fine, there is. Just reset your priorities. Don't panic, it won't take long, it won't throw your life into upheaval, it won't even be difficult. Just set aside the time. Pick one day each week that everyone can commit one or two hours to and rotate who picks the recipe. Think it's impossible?

The key is that planning. You have to set yourself up for success, and as busy as you are the only way to do that is to plan it out. Here are the steps to do so:

1. Figure out who all who want to share in these experiences and memories with you. Make this list as big as you possibly can! Firstly, people won't be able to come each time, this way you can reach out to them other times. Secondly, this gathering will probably grow over time. And thirdly, life is short!

2. Figure out the best day and time for everyone. This might be the same time each week, the same time each month, or it might need to be tweaked on an ongoing basis.

3. Decide who is in charge of the recipe. Different recipes, different cultures, different countries... these are your vacations. This is how you travel with your family without taking any vacation time from work. Challenge yourself! Explore new horizons! You might not like everything that you try, but the experiences will still be fantastic.

4. Commit! This is the easiest place to drop the ball. Be ruthless, be relentless! If someone says something came up, make sure it's something that really is a priority, and not something that's just a distraction.

Four steps. Maybe an hour or so of work. Is it worth it?
Think to the original question: When did you last cook with your family? How do you want to answer that question a month from now? Like most things, the words that you use really don't matter.
'2 months ago' with a twinge of regret and a slight sigh
'I don't remember' wondering why we don't cook more?
'4 days ago' with a slight grin, remembering the eggs incident
One last secret. The answer to the question isn't really my main focus; it isn't what I want to help you with. What I want to help you with is how you feel when you think about that question. When someone asks you about cooking I want you to laugh before they can finish their sentence, for tears to well up and for you to shake your head thinking about what a mess you and your friends made last time.

Want an example? Today some of my friends came over and we made a real simple ratatouille in about an hour with some pasta. In that hour, we discussed non vegetarian onions, watched a 13 month old try 5 different vegetables, and watched that same 13 month old go from bored to begging to be picked up so that he can help stir the pot. In an hour!

 

By Sean P Mullen 

 
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/7699153