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Tips For Reducing Food Waste

Today’s post was written by my guest blogger, Ella Andrews

No matter what kind of monthly rubbish clearance routine you have and regardless of the junk removal you do every week, if you’re not taking care of food waste properly, you are doing a disservice to this planet.

Food waste is a huge issue with millions of tons of food being thrown out every year in homes across the globe. With a few smart tricks and savvy tips, you can utilize leftovers, dispose of food scraps efficiently, recycle and reuse what you already have. Save money, eat better and be eco-friendly by reducing food wastage.

smoothies

Here are some tips that might help you handle your waste recycling better. Waste disposal is not the answer to everything, sometimes you do need to make an effort and use any method to help the planet.

1. Do your food shopping after meals.

If you shop on a full stomach, chances are you’ll buy less and buy only those items that you need. This is also effective in preventing impulse buying sprees. The fact is, everything seems much more tempting when you have an empty stomach. So you stock up on foods that are either unhealthy or unnecessary as you probably won’t consume them for ages and they’ll gather dust in your pantry.

2. Go for bulk buying.

Bulk buying comes in handy in many ways. You get a steep discount and you save money. Plus you end up with less packaging for your waste disposal system; reducing your carbon footprint too. Just remember to check expiry dates and buy only what you need. fresh fruit from market

3. Recycling food at home by reusing leftovers

Don’t throw away leftovers – there are many delicious recipes that you could whip up in minutes with leftovers from previous meals. You could make smoothies with leftover fruits, sandwiches with fillings and so many other items. Search online for cool ideas.

4. Share your food with everyone.

If you’ve too many apples at home, make smoothies and invite your friends and family over. Or if you like to bake, make apple cobblers or pies and pass them to neighbors and colleagues at work. Everyone will adore you for the scrumptious food and you get rid of the food without wasting it – win-win!

Incorporate these waste recycling tips and see how better your waste clearance will be without all the actual wasting. You merely need to put in a small effort and instead of treating food leftovers like junk collections waiting to be disposed, think of them as something you can still use, even if simply for composting. There is always something you can do – simply think a bit and see what that something is.

Reduce Your Food Wastage with These Handy Tips

Bio: Ella Andrews is dedicated writer and blogger, who has great flair for home improving and home maintenance projects. She is constantly searching for new sources of inspiration. Her present article is focused on reducing food wastage. For more helpful household related tips visit: wasteremovalilford.co.uk

guest post disclaimer


Tips on How to Reduce the Stress of Caring for an Elder

Tips on How to Reduce the Stress of Caring for an Elder

I was the sole care giver for my grandmother for many years and although it was sometimes stressful, the rewards far out weighted them all!

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Caring for an elder can be rewarding and personally enriching, but it is also stressful. Using the tips in the following list can help you relieve your stress and improve quality of life for both you and your elder.

How to Reduce the Stress of Caring for an Elder

Accept limitations — your own and your elder’s.

Don’t dwell on small annoyances.

Search for opportunities to laugh, such as watching TV sitcoms.

Eat nutritious meals and exercise every day.

Look for ways to save time and energy, such as shopping from catalogs.

Find out about your elder’s medical conditions so that you know what to expect.

Use relaxation techniques like visualization, meditation, and listening to music.

Discover a new hobby or re-establish an old one.

Ask family and friends to relieve you of some of your time-consuming tasks.

Take advantage of professional respite care.

Join a support group.

Seek professional help if the stress seems overwhelming.

sketch of elderly woman

How to Get Your Elder to Accept Help

Getting an elderly person to accept that they need help when the abilities they’ve relied on throughout a long life are diminishing can be difficult for you and the elder you’re caring for. The tips in the following list provide guidelines for easing your elder into acceptance of a new role:

Approach gently and be understanding, but express your concerns firmly.

Don’t tell your elder there’s a problem; ask whether he thinks there may be a problem.

Before suggesting outside help, familiarize yourself with community services.

Offer help, but don’t take over.

Back off when you meet resistance and try again another day.

Have a respected doctor, clergy, trusted friend, or relative suggest help.

Explain how assistance increases independence.

Never introduce a professional caregiver as someone who “will take care of you.”

Ask your elder’s opinion about how best to handle the situation.

Make sure that your elder is well rested and well fed before presenting plans for help.

When your elder’s perceptions of his or abilities don’t match your perceptions, resist the urge to contradict.

Offer assistance in an off-handed, humorous, and casual manner.

man meditating in the park

How to Help an Elder Get the Most out of Doctor Appointments

Often, part of caring for an elder includes accompanying them to medical appointments. To make the most of these healthcare sessions, encourage your elder to use the following tips to promote a healthcare partnership with his or her doctors:

Take along a notepad or tape recorder to capture the doctor’s comments and instructions.

Remember to wear your hearing aid and eyeglasses.

Don’t be shy about asking the doctor to slow down or speak up.

Take someone with you to serve as an extra set of ears, take notes, and advocate for your well-being.

Put your prescription medicines, over-the-counter drugs, vitamins, and herbal remedies in a bag and bring them with you (or take a written list).

Take along a one-page concise list of questions and concerns, organized in order of importance (with a copy for the doctor).

Talk openly about your diet, alcohol consumption, and smoking habits, as well as major life changes (such as moving in with children or losing a loved one).

Ask the doctor to explain anything you don’t understand in plain English.

woman with dementia

Ground Rules for a Family Meeting about Eldercare

If your family is faced with getting or continuing care for an elderly loved one, a family meeting can be productive in airing issues and concerns and brainstorming solutions. Tips on running a fruitful family conference include those in the following list:

Don’t speak for others by saying “we think” or “my family thinks.”

Take responsibility for your own opinion or viewpoint by saying, “I think,” “I believe,” “I understand,” and so on.

Don’t interrupt anyone.

Encourage everyone (from the youngest to the oldest, from the shyest to the boldest) to express his or her opinion.

Choose a facilitator (for example, the oldest, most respected person).

Encourage family members to share their feelings by accepting all sentiments.

Don’t allow blaming and criticizing.

Stop verbal attacks dead in their tracks.

 

Have you or are you now caring for an elderly relative?

Shared from: From Eldercare For Dummies by Rachelle Zukerman

 


You have to fail in order to succeed and Participation Trophy Givebacks

DISCLOSURE: This post contains affiliate links so if you click on them I may make a few cents.

You have to fail in order to succeed!

Last Saturday while teaching my Blogging 202 class, one of the comments I reiterated was, ”you have to fail”. I was making this statement about the younger generation and why we have failed them by not allowing them to fail.

We have two sons, the oldest is intellectually disabled so for him a lot of life’s lessons were difficult to comprehend. I remember times when as a toddler he would be on the playground with the other kids, “parallel playing”. You know from a distance it appears as though a kid is playing with others but upon closer inspection you see they aren’t, just jumping around and talking to themselves.

 

 

Perhaps he didn’t understand the rules of the game or maybe the other kids simply didn’t want to play with him. As a parent, this was hard to watch, but my husband and I couldn’t force the other kids to play with him. He either had to learn the game or be a bystander.

This definitely set the foundation for him later in life when he was cut from the Appo HS football team, even though he attended all the practices for the entire summer and the coach gave him a helmet and a jersey only to take it from him before the beginning of the season…yes, I am still a bit perturbed by this if you haven’t noticed!  

 

Anywho I too remember not being chosen for a team or getting picked last because I wasn’t fast enough, so like our son, I would either go off to do my own thing or just stand there and watch.

As both our sons got older we signed them up for the local T-Ball and Soccer teams.  The cost of participation included a certificate and trophy presented to them at the end of the season and it didn’t matter whether they won or not.  I always thought it was a stupid idea because how would the kids learn that they needed to try harder if they were all being rewarded for just participating?

participation trophy

How would they learn that not everything is going to be given to them for little to no effort – how would they learn to deal with disappointment and failure?  Unfortunately, a lot of kids today haven’t learned that lesson and we can see how well that worked out just by reading a few newspaper headlines!

“It’s a Different World”

So when I heard the report about James Harrison, of the Pittsburgh Steelers wanting to give back the “participation trophies” that his kids brought home, I said, “finally!”

participation trophy return

Of course there are controversies on both sides, but as a parent who wants to raise his kids with the understanding that not everything is going to be handed to them as a just because, and that sometimes you have to fail in order to succeed, I think he did the right thing. You know me, I am all about teaching my sons the realities of life, the good the bad and the ugly #ihatecancer

Now let me go see if I can find a few of those “participation trophies” collecting dust in the basement, maybe my sons might even remember getting them!

Chime in, what is your take on kids needing to fail in order to work harder for success?

 


A Guide to Helping Aging Parents

A Guide to Helping Aging Parents

Author: Andy Andersen

Knowing how to help aging parents is tough for everyone. It can be an unexpectedly difficult topic to address for all parties involved because it usually entails painful emotions that are difficult to process. If this is an experience you are going through, know that you are not alone and that it’s ok to feel what you’re feeling.

Here are some simple tips that will help you get through this difficult time and find your aging parents the right care:

Recognize the signs.

The first step in helping your aging parent is recognizing the signs that they need additional or professional elderly care. One adult child reported that it took his aging father driving his car through the back wall of his garage to realize he needed assisted living. But there are many simple signs that can let you know your parent needs help before anything that drastic happens:

Does your parent tend to wander, even in the short time it may take you to go to the bathroom, or step into the other room for a moment? They might be experiencing dementia.

Do they display aggravated behavior later in the day? This is another sign that they might be experiencing dementia.

Is their current home becoming a less safe place for them? If so, they probably need the attention that you can’t give them on your own.

Senior woman on wheelchair taking her husband's hand.

Senior woman on wheelchair taking her husband’s hand.

Have an open conversation.

Broaching the subject of assisted living, or any kind of elderly health care for that matter, can be incredibly difficult for both parents and adult children. It can be especially challenging when a parent is refusing help. That’s why it’s best to recognize the early signs and approach the conversation before they need urgent help. It might also be necessary to enlist the help of others, in hopes that the more loving support they have, the more likely your parent will change their mind about getting help. If all else fails, know that you can call social services if your parent is of serious danger to themselves or others.

That all being said, remember that your parent is much more likely to agree to receiving elderly care if you have an honest, upfront, and open conversation with them about it. Communicate love and concern as you address this subject and discuss options. Let them know that you are looking out for their best interest and listen to their concerns as well. You may be surprised at how open they are to getting the help they need.

Multi-Generation Family Enjoying Walk In Beautiful Countryside

Multi-Generation Family Enjoying Walk In Beautiful Countryside

Scope out your options

It’s important to take the time and effort necessary to research your care options before deciding on any particular plan. If you’re concerned about your budget, remember: you’re looking for the right help, not necessarily the most expensive. In any therapy situation, it’s important to find the place where the patient will receive the individual, personalized care that works best for their condition. It’s easy to be quickly enamored by a care center or program that appears to be the most expensive, has the most state-of-the-art equipment, the newest looking facilities, etc. But the most expensive place isn’t always the right one; especially for the elderly.

If your parent is going to receive home care, there are plenty of options beyond simple housekeeping and daily check ups. Social work, chaplain assistance, and a wide variety of therapies (including physical, occupational, speech, and music) are just a few of the home care options available today. Click here for an idea of what kind of home care treatments are available to you and your parent.

people together icons

people together icons

Be your parent’s advocate

Empathy is key in establishing a healthy relationship between you and your parent at this stage of your lives. Empathize with your parents. Put yourself in their shoes and be their advocate with the rest of the world. Any nurse will tell you that it’s your responsibility to be your loved one’s advocate in any medical situation. Do your part to see that your parent’s needs are being met. No matter what the situation, continue to spend time with them. The more love and attention elderly parents have from their family members, the more likely they are to live a rewarding elderly life.

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Family Fun in Wilmington

Hello friends, I hope all is well in your world.  If you, like many other families are preparing for the kid’s summer vacation and you don’t want to spend a lot of money, think local.  It has been years since my sons were young and we always ended up vacationing in Orlando, however, there were a few places in Wilmington that we enjoyed visiting during the year.

Family Fun in Wilmington Last week I met a friend for dinner at Iron Hill Brewery on the Wilmington Riverfront, where by the way I had the best Fish Taco!  Before she arrived I had an opportunity to walk around and take a few pictures.  #bloggerslife

Iron Hill Brewery

Fish Taco

When my boys were young we used to take them to the now closed Kahunaville, but there are still a few places for the family to have fun in Wilmington.

Delaware Children's Museum Delaware children's  museum the children's museum

The Delaware Children’s Museum looked like fun spot and there is also Frawley Stadium, home of the Blue Rocks where you can have some major family fun watching minor league baseball.  For the little ones in strollers, parents can get in some exercise while the tots ride along the beautiful Wilmington Riverfront.

The Christina Riverfront in Wilmington, DE The Christina Riverfront in Wilmington, DE You Choose the Shoes Season 2 Week 3 013

I did see a few shops and restaurants along the way, and two of my favorites are Joe’s Crab Shack and The Big Fish Grill.

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So if you are looking for a little family fun this summer and you don’t want to leave town, head over the the Wilmington Riverfront and enjoy the day the local way!

The Christina Riverfront in Wilmington, Delaware

New Year ~ New You

DeDivahDeals Signature Floral


Happy Birthday in Heaven – In Memory of my sister Gloria

 Happy Birthday in Heaven – In Memory of my sister Gloria

Happy-Birthday-in-Heaven

NOT A DAY GOES BY THAT I DON’T THINK OF YOU AND YOUR BEAUTIFUL SMILE….

NOT A DAY GOES BY THAT I DON’T MISS YOUR VOICE OR THAT TWINKLE IN YOUR EYE…

NOT A DAY GOES BY THAT I BELIEVE THAT YOU ARE ON JUST ON VACATION…

NOT A DAY GOES BY THAT I KNOW ONE DAY WE WILL BE REUNITED…

WITH NO EARTHLY TIES TO BIND US…YET I FEEL YOUR PRESENCE NEAR…

NOT A DAY GOES BY THAT I DON’T THINK OF YOU AS I FIGHT BACK THE TEARS…

HAPPY BIRTHDAY IN HEAVEN LIL SIS….

 

IN MEMORY OF GLORIA CROSS, JR

4/10/63 ~ 9/14/92


I Still Have Baby Teeth

Hello friends, I hope all is well in your world.  Today is my oldest son’s 22nd Birthday and I still have his baby teeth!  I have a plastic shoe box that contains both of my son’s baby teeth and my baby graduated from High School last month.  I guess it’s time to trash them, or perhaps I should ask them both for a refund!  What do you think?

baby teeth

My grandmother kept a pair of my baby shoes, but I never saw any of my baby teeth or bags of our “first haircut” hair, so I am sure it’s time to throw them out.

baby shoes

 

 

Let's Chat How long should you keep the children’s baby teeth?

 

Stay Blessed ~ No Stress in 2014!

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Thankful Thursday Then & Now |Graduation 2014

On Thankful Thursday February 1st, 1996, I gave birth to a healthy son, al-Malik Glorian Blake, his first name in Arabic means “King or Monarch”.  His middle name was given in memory of my sister, his aunt Gloria whom he never met.

On Thankful Thursday May 22nd 2014, I watched that son walk across the stage at the Bob Carpenter Center on the campus of the University of Delaware to receive his High School Diploma.

I am thankful but where did the time go?

As a young boy, I helped him learn how to walk and then last week he walked out the door a High School Senior with his Cap and Gown…walked into the gymnasium with a glow of excitement and anticipation, yet filled with anxiety of an unknown future…he then walked back into the house a High School GRADUATE…soon he’ll walk again, but this time it will be off to College.

I am thankful but where did the time go?

cap and gown in hand

Appoquinimink  HS Graduation Appoquinimink  HS Graduation receiving diploma HS graduate

Where Did The Time Go?

Graduation 2014

Congrats Grads

Appoquinimink  HS Graduation my son, the graduate

Graduation 2014

It was a beautiful Thankful Thursday and the weekend was filled with family and friends with love and support because “it take a village to raise a child!’

it takes a village to raise a child

family

family at graduation family at graduation family at graduation where did the time go? Graduation 2014 HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATES Graduation 2014 Graduation 2014 Graduation 2014 111 PROUD PARENTS Graduation 2014 126

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post graduation festivities

Graduation Cake

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fun

fun after graduation

Malik's 1st babysitter

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I am thankful for my family, my friends and of course my faith.   I am thankful for the love and support that I receive from my family and friends and they will never know just how much it all means – I am thankfully blessed!

Now it’s your turn, what are you thankful for this week?

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Stay Blessed ~ No Stress in 2014!


Thankful Thursday

Hello Friends and Happy Thankful Thursday!!!

God is so good and he has truly been blessing me and my family and for that I am thankful!

I am THANKFUL for being featured on FabulousAfter40

Fabulous After 40 Feature

Bold, Ethnic Prints

Morocco and Africa, as well as all the spicy colors of lands far away are a big part of the global trend. Here’s style blogger Antoinette in a bold ethnic print shift dress that combines orange and red with purple for a look that’s pure energy.

Don’t miss Antoinette’s playful license plate. She’s one proud blogger! Be sure to stop by her site, De Divah Deals, to see Antoinette’s daily outfits and learn some of her secrets for scoring the best deals on fashion items.

Do you have a favorite outfit that makes you look and feel great? Are you a fashion blogger or do you have a favorite 40+ fashion blogger that you would like to see featured here? Feel free to share your photos with my Fabulous After 40 readers.

Please send in a good quality, full-length photo, your age, where you are from, and any details about your outfit to: myphoto@fabulousafter40.com. You’ll be featured on the Facebook page as well as in an upcoming What I Wore. I love hearing from you and cheering you on, Glam Gals!

 

I am THANKFUL that our son received an acceptance letter to Bowie State University!

Malik and his acceptance letter to Bowie

I am THANKFUL for being invited to participate in last night’s 1st Girls Night Out Event sponsored by The Money School of Delaware

Girls Night Out Sponsored by The Money School of DE

Can’t wait to post about it next week!

I am THANKFUL to be working on several product reviews which is keeping me uber busy.  It truly has been a week full of fun and activities for which I am THANKFUL.  I am also THANKFUL for you, my bloggy friends, for my family and of course my faith.

Certainly last but not least next Thursday Malik will be graduating from High School and wow, are we forever THANKFUL for that!

Okay, now it’s your turn – what are you thankful for this week?

Stay Blessed ~ No Stress in 2014!

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