What a day

Today was a decent day so it started out that way. Then the afternoon hit and it got really sad. This lady called regarding her friend whom she has been trying to get a hold of for the past couple of days and she asked if I could have someone from maintenance go and check her place out for her. Oh yeah the person whom she was asking about is The Board President of where I work also one of my bosses. Well I sent maintenance over there and the lady called back I put her on hold to call him and see what was going on. He answered and said call 911 she is dead. I panicked and called back to my manage telling her she needed to talk to the lady on the phone cause I had to call 911. The lady said she last talked to her on Sunday and Dicie has said she was not feeling well. I think when someone dies when it is so unexpected that hits hurts that much more. I am still in a state of shock and dont know where to turn. I feel horrible for her family. But so if this is not sappy enough, I am going to end this with a memory that I have of Dicie and that I am going to miss terribly. WHEN YOU WOULD BE TALKING TO DICIE SHE WOULD HOLD ONTO YOUR ARM, GRAB YOUR ELBOW TO PULL YOU CLOSER TO HER TO TELL HER STORY, GIVE YOU A HUG TELL YOU THAT SHE LOVED YOU AND TO BE CAREFUL WHEN SHE WOULD LEAVE. SHE WAS A GREAT PERSON AND HAD A LOT OF LOVE IN HER HEART AND SHE IS GOING TO BE MISSED. SO R.I.P. DICIE MARTIN MAY YOUR SPIRIT SHINE THROUGH OUR MEMORIES AND TEACH US ALL TO LOVE EACHOTHER A LITTLE MORE. I hope wherever you are you are on my side.

Always in my memories

Ugh airlines

Well my sister and brother are finally home. they should have been home yesterday. here is what happened they got boarded on their plane (everything was fine), got out to the runway to leave and then turned around came back to the gate. had to sit on the plane for an hour before they got left off. a mechanic had to be flown in to fix the problem then after about an hour and a half they were told the problem was fixed and they were running a test and if the test went o.k. they would get re re-boarded and take off then they come back with the test went good they are just fixing a faulty light and then would be good to go. then about 20 minutes later they come back with there is engine problems and the flight is cancelled. so everyone runs to the ticket counter to try and get a new flight (mind you they have already missed their connecting flight by this time). i have to go get them to spend one more night here because they could not get a flight out until today. well they left detroit on time and everything got to phoenix and originally had a 7 1/2 hour lay over well they got on another flight stand by and got on the flight and the auto pilot goes out. so again they were sitting on the plane for an hour waiting to fix that or get off and wait for the other flight. well thankfully they fixed the problem quickly. just got a text that they are finally back in reno and my dad and stepmom just got them from the airport and they are on their way home. what a crazy mess. i am just glad they are home and safe and dont have to worry about traveling anytime soon.

Today my sister and brother come in today. I am so excited with my sister being 17 now I feel we can form a strong sister bond while she is out here. My sister keeps telling me that she is not a good mormon and when we have our sister day I will find out what she is talking about. We will see.

Busy is the key word

This weekend I had a four day weekend and boy did I stay busy busy busy. Friday I had a appt with the trainer then came home and started cleaning up the house. Sat. I went to the water aerobic class (man that was hard and i thought it was going to be a cake walk). Then I came home started weeded out the front gardens (have to keep up on those dang weeds) and then put mulch down. All while I had a little friend following me around the front yard (see picture). I was supposed to have a ribbon reading activity but postponed it due to Kelly not being able to make it and i called Rosena i did not want to make her drive all the way out to my house if it was going to be just me. So i finished up with pulling the weeds in the back yard as well. Sunday i woke up sore as heck from the aerobic class and pulling weeds there was no way i was going to the gym. so i cleaned my sisters room for her stay when she gets here. i put the Xmas decorations away that have been stacked up in her room, then mowed the front lawn and then took it easy. Monday i started working on my craft/junk room. man that room is a mess i am shredding things and starting a garage sell stack (my neighborhood usually has a block garage sale) and then i did laundry for the rest the day. i just didn't do clothes i washed sheets, blankets, pillows. and not to start off the week i am by myself this morning at work thankfully it is slow. then i have tomorrow off and i am gonna finish the craft/junk room and meet with the trainer at 1230 which she told me she is working out with my for an hour. ugh. as much as i like her and know that she is doing great workouts with me and making me sweat she is hard and an hour with her just does not sound that appealing. so my brother and sister will be here in 10 days and then i probably wont be online for about a week. so my goal for the next 9 days is to clean the hell out of my house so while they are here all we have to do it pick up after ourselves.

Busy month

I have a busy month coming up. My sister and brother are coming to michigan for two weeks. I need to start super cleaning my house this weekend. I need to get outside and start pulling stupid weeds in the front and back along with putting mulch down. I also need to get my butt in gear and go to the damn gym more than once a week. I have a appt friday with the trainer then sat morning i am getting up and going and sunday as well and what the hell I will go monday to since i am off.

Week from hell so far.

Well this week has been a really bad week so far. Things are only going to get better damn it. Monday evening Bill got a call that his friend Charlie died. He had a heart rhythmic and it just took him. He was having neck and back pains and drove himself to the hospital and got out of his car and dropped. His wife and him have been dating since high school and got married right after she graduated they have two boys and just had a baby girl like 4 months ago. This was so unexpected. He would be graduating from medical school this coming Friday and instead they are burying him and starting his internship Monday. Then the other bad thing that is going on is: last week my grandma went into the hospital last week and they did a procedure to see if her heart was fine and gave her pretty much a clean bill of health well she went back in yesterday and now tomorrow has to have surgery to put a stent in one of her arteries. By the time this week is over I am going to be ready for some heavy drinking or major relaxation.

Learning new things.

There has always been things that I have wanted to learn.

Play the guitar: I had my first lesson last night. My finger tips hurt. But I am excited I just have practice.

Reiki: I will some day learn this right now it is on hold.

The piano: I will learn this as well but first I want to get the guitar down.

Those are the three top things I want to learn. One thing at a time. I mainly want to learn the guitar and piano just for a hobby.

This weekend

This weekend was awesome I must say.

First Friday Bug and I went and visited Raven and Trinity. I love Raven's new place it is so cozy, plus the kitchen cabinets rock. Trinity was even dancing for me, she even had the little booty shakin going on. Although Bug and I got lost on our way home. Note to self 696 and 96 are two different highway's (total blonde moment and too much talking). But all in all a good afternoon. Came home went shopping with the hubby bought a acoustic guitar and am gonna start getting lessons.

Saturday woa what a busy day there too. I had my appointment with my trainer had to run home get freshened up and changed and rush to get my mom and get to my cousin's baby shower by 1130, so i had to go from livonia to redford to taylor to trenton. The shower was good no real gifts to open since it was a gift card only shower. It was brunch shower with mamosa's (sp?) and breakfast food. Then after the shower we all went back to my uncle's house since there was family in from florida. It was a good time with the family. I miss those kind of days I need to spend more time with my family this summer.

So today is Sunday and woke up this moring went to target with my hubby to get some stuff for the house. Now we are both just staying home and relaxing today.

I hope everyone had a good weekend.

Busy Busy Busy

So I can so tell that the weather is changing and gonna get warm. Usually during the warmer weather my weekends are busy busy busy. And here is starts this weekend. Friday I am going to visit Raven with Bug (woohoo). Saturday my cousin is having her baby shower and the family will probably get together afterwards cause a few of them are coming from out of state. Then Sunday my husband has off and we have to go to his grandmother's house and move some stuff for her, and mow our own lawn sometime in the mean time. I still need to get out in the backyard and clean it up really good.

History of Earth Day.

Earth Day, celebrated April 22, is a day designed to inspire awareness and appreciation for the Earth's environment. It is held annually during both spring in the northern hemisphere and autumn in the southern hemisphere. It was founded by U.S. Senator Gaylord Nelson as an environmental teach-in in 1970 and is celebrated in many countries every year.
The United Nations celebrates an Earth Day each year on the March equinox, a tradition which was founded by peace activist John McConnell in 1969.

History of the April 22 Earth Day

The neutrality of this article is disputed. Please see the discussion on the talk page. Please do not remove this message until the dispute is resolved. (March 2008)

Earth day symbol
In September 1969 at a conference in Seattle, Washington, U.S. Senator Gaylord Nelson of Wisconsin announced that in spring 1970 there would be a nationwide grassroots demonstration on the environment. This occurred during a time of great concern about overpopulation and when there was a strong movement towards "Zero Population Growth."
Nelson viewed the stabilization of the nation's population as an important aspect of environmentalism and later said:
"The bigger the population gets, the more serious the problems become ... We have to address the population issue. The United Kingdom, with the U.S. supporting it, took the position in Cairo in 1994 that every country was responsible for stabilizing its own population. It can be done. But in this country, it's phony to say 'I'm for the environment but not for limiting immigration.'"
Senator Nelson first proposed the nationwide environmental protest to thrust the environment onto the national agenda.” "It was a gamble," he recalls, "but it worked."
Five months before the first April 22 Earth Day, on Sunday, November 30, 1969, The New York Times carried a lengthy article by Gladwin Hill reporting on the rising hysteria of "global cooling":
"Rising concern about the environmental crisis is sweeping the nation's campuses with an intensity that may be on its way to eclipsing student discontent over the war in Vietnam...a national day of observance of environmental problems...is being planned for next spring...when a nationwide environmental 'teach-in'...coordinated from the office of Senator Gaylord Nelson is planned...." Senator Nelson also hired Denis Hayes as the coordinator.
April 22, 1970, Earth Day marks the beginning of the modern environmental movement. Approximately 20 million Americans participated, with a goal of a healthy, sustainable environment.
Denis Hayes, the national coordinator, and his old staff organized massive coast-to-coast rallies. Thousands of colleges and universities organized protests against the deterioration of the environment. Groups that had been fighting against oil spills, polluting factories and power plants, raw sewage, toxic dumps, pesticides, freeways, the loss of wilderness, and the extinction of wildlife suddenly realized they shared common values.
Mobilizing 200 million people in 141 countries and lifting the status of environmental issues onto the world stage, Earth Day on April 22 in 1990 gave a huge boost to recycling efforts worldwide and helped pave the way for the 1992 United Nations Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro.
As the millennium approached, Hayes agreed to spearhead another campaign, this time focused on global warming and a push for clean energy. The April 22 Earth Day in 2000 combined the big-picture feistiness of the first Earth Day with the international grassroots activism of Earth Day 1990. For 2000, Earth Day had the Internet to help link activists around the world. By the time April 22 came around, 5,000 environmental groups around the world were on board, reaching out to hundreds of millions of people in a record 184 countries. Events varied: A talking drum chain traveled from village to village in Gabon, Africa, for example, while hundreds of thousands of people gathered on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., USA.
Earth Day 2000 sent the message loud and clear that citizens the world 'round wanted quick and decisive action on clean energy. Earth Day 2007 was one of the largest Earth Days to date, with an estimated billion people participating in the activities in thousands of places like Kiev, Ukraine; Caracas, Venezuela; Tuvalu; Manila, Philippines; Togo; Madrid, Spain; London; and New York.
Founded by the organizers of the first April 22 Earth Day in 1970, Earth Day Network promotes environmental citizenship and year round progressive action worldwide. Earth Day Network is a driving force steering environmental awareness around the world. Through Earth Day Network, activists connect change in local, national, and global policies. Earth Day Network’s international network reaches over 17,000 organizations in 174 countries, while the domestic program engages 5,000 groups and over 25,000 educators coordinating millions of community development and environmental protection activities throughout the year. Earth Day is the only event celebrated simultaneously around the globe by people of all backgrounds, faiths and nationalities. More than a half billion people participate in Earth Day Network campaigns every year. [1]

History of the Equinox Earth Day
The equinoctial Earth Day is celebrated on the March equinox (around 20 March) to mark the precise moment of astronomical mid-spring in the Northern Hemisphere, and of astronomical mid-autumn in the Southern Hemisphere. An equinox in astronomy is that moment in time (not a whole day) when the center of the Sun can be observed to be directly "above" the Earth's equator, occurring around March 20 and September 23 each year. In most cultures the equinoxes and solstices are considered to start or separate the seasons.
John McConnell [2] first introduced the idea of a global holiday called "Earth Day" at a UNESCO Conference on the Environment in 1969. The first Earth Day proclamation was issued by San Francisco Mayor Joseph Alioto on March 21, 1970. Celebrations were held in various cities including San Francisco, in Davis, California with a multi-day street party, and elsewhere. UN Secretary-General U Thant supported McConnell's global initiative to celebrate this annual event, and on February 26, 1971, he signed a proclamation to that effect, saying:
May there only be peaceful and cheerful Earth Days to come for our beautiful Spaceship Earth as it continues to spin and circle in frigid space with its warm and fragile cargo of animate life.[3]
Secretary General Waldheim observed Earth Day with similar ceremonies on the March equinox in 1972, and the United Nations Earth Day ceremony has continued each year since on the day of the March equinox (the United Nations also works with organizers of the April 22nd global event). Margaret Mead added her support for the equinox Earth Day, and in 1978 declared:
"EARTH DAY is the first holy day which transcends all national borders, yet preserves all geographical integrities, spans mountains and oceans and time belts, and yet brings people all over the world into one resonating accord, is devoted to the preservation of the harmony in nature and yet draws upon the triumphs of technology, the measurement of time, and instantaneous communication through space.EARTH DAY draws on astronomical phenomena in a new way – which is also the most ancient way – using the vernal Equinox, the time when the Sun crosses the equator making night and day of equal length in all parts of the Earth. To this point in the annual calendar, EARTH DAY attaches no local or divisive set of symbols, no statement of the truth or superiority of one way of life over another. But the selection of the March Equinox makes planetary observance of a shared event possible, and a flag which shows the Earth as seen from space appropriate." [4]
At the moment of the equinox, it is traditional to observe Earth Day by ringing the Japanese Peace Bell, a bell donated by Japan to the United Nations.[5] Over the years celebrations have occurred in various places worldwide at the same time as the celebration at the UN. On March 20, 2008, in addition to the ceremony at the United Nations, ceremonies were held in New Zealand, and bells were sounded in California, Vienna, Paris, Lithuania, Tokyo and many other locations. The equinox Earth Day at the UN is organized by the Earth Society Foundation [6]

April 22 observances

Growing eco-activism before Earth Day 1970
The 1960s had been a very dynamic period for ecology in the US, in both theory and practice. It was in the mid-1960s that Congress passed the sweeping Wilderness Act, and Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas asked, "Who speaks for the trees?" Pre-1960 grassroots activism against DDT in Nassau County, New York, had inspired Rachel Carson to write her shocking bestseller Silent Spring (1962).
Ralph Nader began talking about the importance of ecology in 1970.

Earth Day 1970

Gaylord Nelson
Responding to widespread environmental degradation, Gaylord Nelson, a United States Senator from Wisconsin, called for an environmental teach-in, or Earth Day, to be held on April 22, 1970. Over 20 million people participated that year, and Earth Day is now observed each year on April 22 by more than 500 million people and national governments in 175 countries.
Senator Nelson, an environmental activist, took a leading role in organizing the celebration, hoping to demonstrate popular political support for an environmental agenda. He modeled it on the highly effective Vietnam War protests of the time.[7] The concept of Earth Day was first proposed in a memo to JFK written by Fred Dutton.[8]
According to Santa Barbara, California Community Environmental Council:
The story goes that Earth Day was conceived by Senator Gaylord Nelson after a trip he took to Santa Barbara right after that horrific oil spill off our coast in 1969. He was so outraged by what he saw that he went back to Washington and passed a bill designating April 22 as a national day to celebrate the earth.[9]

Denis Hayes
Senator Nelson selected Denis Hayes, a Harvard University graduate student, as the national coordinator of activities. Hayes said he wanted Earth Day to "bypass the traditional political process."[10] Garrett DuBell compiled and edited The Environmental Handbook the first guide to the Environmental Teach-In. Its symbol was a green Greek letter theta, "the dead theta".
One of the organizers of the event said:
"We're going to be focusing an enormous amount of public interest on a whole, wide range of environmental events, hopefully in such a manner that it's going to be drawing the interrelationships between them and, and getting people to look at the whole thing as one consistent kind of picture, a picture of a society that's rapidly going in the wrong direction that has to be stopped and turned around.
"It's going to be an enormous affair, I think. We have groups operating now in about 12,000 high schools, 2,000 colleges and universities and a couple of thousand other community groups. It's safe to say I think that the number of people who will be participating in one way or another is going to be ranging in the millions."[11]
The nationwide event included opposition to the Vietnam War on the agenda, but this was thought to detract for the environmental message. Pete Seeger was a keynote speaker and performer at the event held in Washington DC. Paul Newman and Ali McGraw attended the event held in New York City.[12]
The most notable organization to protest the event was the Daughters of the American Revolution.

The Results of Earth Day 1970

Earth Day 2007 at San Diego City College in San Diego, California.
Earth Day proved popular in the United States and around the world. The first Earth Day had participants and celebrants in two thousand colleges and universities, roughly ten thousand primary and secondary schools, and hundreds of communities across the United States. More importantly, it "brought 20 million Americans out into the spring sunshine for peaceful demonstrations in favor of environmental reform."[13]
Senator Nelson stated when that Earth Day "worked" because of the spontaneous response at the grassroots level. Twenty-million demonstrators and thousands of schools and local communities participated.[14] He directly credited the first Earth Day with persuading U.S. politicians that environmental legislation had a substantial, lasting constituency. Many important laws were passed by the Congress in the wake of the 1970 Earth Day, including the Clean Air Act, wild lands and the ocean, and the creation of the United States Environmental Protection Agency.[15]
It is now observed in 175 countries, and coordinated by the nonprofit Earth Day Network, according to whom Earth Day is now "the largest secular holiday in the world, celebrated by more than a half billion people every year."[16] Environmental groups have sought to make Earth Day into a day of action which changes human behavior and provokes policy changes. [15]

Significance of April 22
Senator Nelson chose the date as the one that could maximize participation on college campuses for what he conceived as an environmental teach-in. He determined that the week of April 19-25 was the best bet. It did not fall during exams or spring breaks, did not conflict with religious holidays such as Easter or Passover, and was late enough in spring to have decent weather. More students were likely to be in class, and there would be less competition with other events mid-week, so he chose Wednesday, April 22. Asked whether he had purposely chosen Lenin's 100th birthday, Nelson explained that with only 365 days a year and 3.7 billion people in the world, every day was the birthday of ten million living people. “On any given day, a lot of both good and bad people were born,” he said. “A person many consider the world’s first environmentalist, Saint Francis of Assisi, was born on April 22. So was Queen Isabella.[17]
April 21 was the birthday of John Muir, who founded the Sierra Club. This was not lost on organizers who thought that April 22 was Muir's birthday.[citation needed]
April 22, 1970 was the 100th birthday of Vladimir Lenin. Time reported that some suspected the date was not a coincidence, but a clue that the event was "a Communist trick," and quoted a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution saying, "Subversive elements plan to make American children live in an environment that is good for them."[10] J. Edgar Hoover, director of the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation, may have found the Lenin connection intriguing; it was alleged the FBI conducted surveillance at the 1970 demonstrations.[18] The idea that the date was chosen to celebrate Lenin's centenary still persists in some quarters,[19][20] although Lenin was never noted as an environmentalist.
April 22 is also the birthday of Julius Sterling Morton, the founder of Arbor Day, a national tree-planting holiday started in 1872. Arbor Day became a legal holiday in Nebraska in 1885, to be permanently observed on April 22. According to the National Arbor Day Foundation "the most common day for the state observances is the last Friday in April . . . but a number of state Arbor Days are at other times to coincide with the best tree planting weather."[21] It has since been largely eclipsed by the more widely observed Earth Day, except in Nebraska, where it originated.

Earth Week

This article may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. Please improve this article if you can. (March 2009)
Many cities extend the schedule of Earth Day observance events to be an entire week, usually starting on April 16, and ending on Earth Day, April 22.[22] These events are designed to encourage environmentally-aware behaviors, including increased recycling, improved energy-efficiency, and reduction in disposable items.[23]

Earth Day Ecology Flag

Ecology Flag with theta
According to Flags of the World, the Ecology Flag was created by cartoonist Ron Cobb, and was published for the first time in October 25, 1969. The flag was patterned after the flag of the United States, and had thirteen stripes alternating green and white. Its canton was green with a yellow theta. It originally had a symbol that was a combination of the letters "E" and "O" taken from the words "Environment" and "Organism", respectively. Later flags used either a theta because of its historic use as a warning symbol, or the peace symbol. Theta would later become associated with Earth Day.
As a 16-year-old high school student, Betsy Vogel, an environmental advocate and social activist that enjoyed sewing costumes and unique gifts, made a 4 x 6-foot (1.8 m) green and white "theta" ecology flag to commemorate the first Earth Day. Initially denied permission to fly the flag at C. E. Byrd High School in Shreveport, Louisiana, Vogel sought and received authorization from the Louisiana State Legislature and Louisiana Governor John McKeithen in time to display the flag for Earth Day.[citation needed]

Criticisms of Earth Day

Earth Day Canada logo
Some environmentalists have become critical of Earth Day, particularly those in the bright green environmentalism camp. They charge that Earth Day has come to symbolize the marginalization of environmental sustainability, and that the celebration itself has outlived its usefulness.[24]

This is a test. I setup my phone to post directly to the blog through text messaging

9 Tips: How to Drink More Water.

9 Tips: How to Drink More Water

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by Intent, on Fri Apr 3, 2009 3:38pm PDT

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Many health experts will agree that drinking more water will help give you more energy. (Read here from Michelle Schoffro Cook on why you should drink more water.) In celebration of this week's theme on keeping up your energy, here are my personal tricks on drinking more water.

* Make it a Morning Ritual. I once read in a magazine article that many of us wake up dehydrated, and the first thing you should do before you do anything else is drink two glasses of water. I've now made it a regular morning habit, and it inspires the momentum to continue drinking more for the rest of the day.

* Add Some Lemon. Back in the early stages when I couldn't stand drinking water, I squeezed lemon juice into my water. At restaurants, I would ask the servers to provide lemon slices with my water--which makes me sound snobby, but most restaurants are willing and expected to provide this service.

* Keep it In the Clear. When your urine is clear, you are properly hydrated. When your urine is a dark yellow, you are definitely dehydrated.

* Think of How Pretty You'll Look. I don't know how direct the correlation is between having healthy, glowing skin and drinking a lot of water, but I'm not taking any chances. Whatever psychological trick keeps me hydrated!

* Do It Like It's Hot. If you're in the mood for a hot drink, drink heated water. Sometimes we just want the psychological pleasure that comes with having a hot mug cupped in our hands than the actual drink itself. Plus, coffee and tea contain caffeine, which is a diuretic and elevates the rate of water being expelled from your body via urination.

* Drink When You Have a Munchie Attack. Sometimes our hunger is thirst masquerading as fake hunger. Drinking a cup or two of water will make you feel "full."

*Take Baby Steps. Don't expect to go from zero glasses of water to the full 8 glasses overnight. Start with one glass of water in the morning and one glass of water at night, and build your way up from there.

* Cheap cheap. Water at restaurants are FREE!

* Always have a full glass of water near you when you are working. It will give you something to mindlessly sip on when you are brainstorming or need something to do with your hands.
By Yumi Sakugawa for Intent.com

stupid trainer supervisor

O.K. so tuesday I get this call to reschedule my training appt for today from 930 to 9am with a different trainer. o.k. that is fine cause my trainer wants me to train with all the others so if he is gone i know the other two and can work out with them. so i go to the gym like normal do my cardio before my workout and then go to the trainers desk for my appt. 905 rolls around still no trainer 910 rolls around and one of them ask if i have been helped and she checks the computer to only realize that the supervisor never changed my appt and the whole purpose was cause the trainer i was schedule with at 930 could not do it she already had a appt. well needless to say i did not work out with a trainer today and the other two trainers kept saying they were sorry. it was not their fault i do not blame them in no way. i blame the supervisor which i already don't like anyway. let me go into that story last week i had a appt with the trainers supervisor (he just wanted to see where i stood).. and he kept calling me michelle the whole time and i tried to correct him two or three times and he never picked up on the correction. i understand that some people can not say my name correctly that is something i have gotten used to throughout my life but a whole different name... grrrrrr.. sorry i just needed to vent.

Women Smell Better than Men..

Women Smell Better than Men

Play Video ABC News – Can You Smell a Liar?
Clara MoskowitzLiveScience Staff WriterLiveScience.com clara Moskowitzlivescience Staff Writerlivescience.com – Tue Apr 7, 12:31 am ET
Body odor reveals more than when we last showered - it also packs important biological information. And apparently women are better at catching the scent of body odor than men, a new study found.
"It is quite difficult to block a woman's awareness of body odor. In contrast, it seems rather easy to do so in men," said Charles Wysocki, a behavioral neuroscientist at the Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia.
The researchers think women are more attuned to underarm stink because the biological data it contains helps them choose mates. The fact that most women are even better at smelling male body odor than female body odor seems to support this idea.
Wysocki and colleagues asked women and men to rate the strength of underarm sweat samples collected from both genders. When the scent was presented on its own, it smelled equally strong to both women and men. But when the researchers combined the body odor with other fragrances, the smell was often masked for men, though women could usually still detect it.
The study tested 32 fragrances to see how well they could hide B.O. Among the male subjects, 19 of the fragrances did the trick, though among women, only two of the scents successfully overpowered the sweaty stench.
"Our studies indicate that human sweat conveys information that is of particular importance to females," Wysocki said. "This may explain why it is so difficult to block women's perception of sweat odors."
The scientists also tested the female volunteers' reactions to odors from men versus odors from women. They found that even though the female sweat smelled just as strongly as the male sweat did, it was easier to mask with perfumes. About 19 percent of the fragrances tested successfully reduced the strength of male underarm odor, while more than 50 percent decreased the intensity of female underarm odor.
The new study, published in the Flavour and Fragrance Journal, fits in with other research on how women use their sense of smell romantically. A study published in December 2008 found that women can tell when a man is interested from the scent of his sweat. The scientists found that women's brains responded differently when smelling sweat samples from men who were sexually aroused and men who weren't.
Men also use their noses to choose mates, research has shown. A January 2006 study found that the scent of a woman's body odor is more attractive to men at certain times in the female's monthly cycle. Female underarm sweat seems to communicate when a woman is fertile, making her more desirable to men

Ancestors

After talking with my dad this weekend I learned something I never knew and it makes me want to know more. I always knew I came from the Spanish heritage from my dad's side. But he informed me that our first ancestor that came from Spain came to New Mexico and he married a Indian woman. I so want to know more about what kind of Indian. Really I just want to know everything.

O.K. here i go

Apparently we are all getting into this POLYVORE thanks to Dawn. So here is my first shot at it. I am wanting to get myself very motivated into working out more than I have been. I am still losing inches but to think if I just worked out more how much more I would lose.


workout by JocelynH on Polyvore.com

Depeche Mode..

This morning while getting ready for work I had MTV on they were actually playing videos.. This video was playing and both myself and my hubby were dancing around singing this song, like fools and then we noticed that a car had stopped in front of the house and was watching us dancing around they were laughing and giving us thumbs up (they didn't stop for us they were waiting for a car to pass to go and must have just looked in the window).

BUSY BUSY Busy

Have you ever had 0ne of those days that you had too much to do that you just wanted to say screw it and not do any of it. Today I have a appt with my trainer at 10am then i need to clean the house up a little and then for my afternoon my options are. Either go to my cousin's bday party, Kelly's activity. Either way I would have to be home by 5:30 to go to another bday party at 6 that I have known about for over a month. Ugh what to do..

Life

I got this link emailed to me and it is beautiful. I thought I would share. I hope you all enjoy.

http://www.greatdanepromilitary.com/Life/index.htm

watch the whole thing..

A childhood story that still haunts me to this day.

When I was a about 6 yrs old, my cousin was staying the night over (it was rarely that we were not together as we are only 7 months apart). Well in the middle of the night she started gagging and my aunt ran into the room only in time to witness my cousin puking up chunks of peaches in my hair. To this day I can not stand the smell of peaches it makes me gag, even thinking of the fuzzy feeling of peaches gives me the chills. Last night I visited a friend whom I have not seen in a long time and I went to use the rest room and she had only peach scented soap so opened up the shower to see if there was different soap to use (yes it is that bad) and she only had peach scented everything. So I had to use the soap and gag while i did this and then make up a excuse to use hand lotion when i came out.

Blue Foundation

I heard this band first on the twilight soundtrack but this song SHINE I love it. I love the sound of it.

The Peace symbol

The CND or Peace symbol.

This symbol (☮) was originally used for the Direct Action Committee Against Nuclear War (DAC) and was adopted as its badge by the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) in Britain, and originally was used by the British nuclear disarmament movement. It was subsequently adopted as an international emblem for the 1960s anti-war movement, and was also adopted by the counterculture of the time. It was designed and completed February 21, 1958 by Gerald Holtom, a professional designer and artist in Britain for the April 4 march planned by DAC from Trafalgar Square, London to the Atomic Weapons Research Establishment at Aldermaston in England^[5]. The symbol itself is a combination of the semaphoric signals for the letters "N" and "D," standing for Nuclear Disarmament. In semaphore the letter "N" is formed by a person holding two flags in an upside-down "V," and the letter "D" is formed by holding one flag pointed straight up and the other pointed straight down. These two signals imposed over each other form the shape of the peace symbol. In the first official CND version (preceded by a ceramic pin version that had straight lines, but was short lived) the spokes curved out to be wider at the edge of the circle which was white on black.^[6][7]

Semaphore 'N'

Semaphore 'D'

Holtom later wrote to Hugh Brock, editor of Peace News, explaining the genesis of his idea in greater depth: "I was in despair. Deep despair. I drew myself: the representative of an individual in despair, with hands palm outstretched outwards and downwards in the manner of Goya's peasant before the firing squad. I formalised the drawing into a line and put a circle round it."^[7]

U.S. Army PoW Richard H. Springman discusses his peace symbol necklace with his North Vietnamese Army captors during the Vietnam War

The peace symbol flag first became known in the United States in 1958 when Albert Bigelow, a pacifist protester, sailed his small boat outfitted with the CND banner into the vicinity of a nuclear test. The peace symbol button was imported into the United States in 1960 by Philip Altbach, a freshman at the University of Chicago, who traveled to England to meet with British peace groups as a delegate from the Student Peace Union (SPU). Altbach purchased a bag of the "chickentrack" buttons while he was in England, and brought them back to Chicago, where he convinced SPU to reprint the button and adopt it as its symbol. Over the next four years, SPU reproduced and sold thousands of the buttons on college campuses. By the late 1960s, the peace symbol had become an international symbol adopted by anti-war protestors of the Baby Boomer generation. ^[8]

In Unicode, the peace symbol is U+262E: ☮, and can thus be generated in HTML by typing ☮ or ☮. However, browsers may not have a font that can display it.

The original drawing of the CND is housed in the Peace Museum, U.K.^[9] in Bradford, England, where a replica is on public display.

The symbol's resemblance to a bird foot in a circle gave rise to alternative interpretations, ranging from plain mockery of "crow's foot" or "The footprint of the American Chicken" to a number of occult meanings, such as an upside down crucifix with the arms broken downward, suggesting the way that St. Peter was martyred (see Cross of St. Peter), or a representation of Jesus on the cross upside-down. This broken cross of Christianity was commonly conjectured as an antichrist symbol in the 1960s. Others have claimed that the symbol resembles a medieval sign known as "Nero's Cross" that represents Christian heresy.^{[10][11][12][13]} Alternatively, some have suggested that the symbol is an inverted Elhaz rune, which would reverse the rune's meaning, according to the critics, from 'life' to 'death' (although the Elhaz rune is thought to mean elk^[14]). Gerald Holtom's explanation of the genesis of the symbol and his first drawings of it, however, do not support those interpretations. Ken Kolsbum, a correspondent of Mr. Holtom, says that the designer came to regret the symbolism of despair, as he felt that peace was something to be celebrated and wanted the symbol to be inverted.^[15] The peace symbol was also believed by some to represent a swept-wing bomber, the type that would be used to deliver a nuclear weapon. In fact the United States 8th Air Force Museum sells decals of the top profile of a B-52 Stratofortress bomber, which strongly resembles the peace sign, with the words "Peace The Old Fashioned Way" along the border of the decal.^[16] Also, an icon nearly identical to the peace symbol was used by the Nazi German 3rd Panzer Division during World War II.^[17]

Richard M. Spencer, late of the World Wildlife Fund, created much unexpected derision when he used the symbol for the marketing campaign "Have you hugged a panda today?" which featured a drawing of a panda holding a peace sign. The posters were made during the height of the Vietnam conflict and the use of the peace sign turned off many would-be supporters.

Happy Spring to everyone..

This picture is titled michigan in anticipation photo taken by Viewoftheworl...




I welcome SPRING with open arms and hopefully people will get out of their winter funks.

Whoopie! Cookie, Pie or Cake

I read this article and thought these look good. I might try making them. Has anyone had them before?

Whoopie! Cookie, Pie or Cake, It's Having Its Moment

FOR generations, vacationers in Maine and visitors to Pennsylvania’s Amish country have found a simple black and white snack in restaurants and convenience shops and on nearly every gas station counter: whoopie pies.

Recipe: Whoopie Pies (March 18, 2009)

Marilynn K. Yee/The New York Times

They were found in other pockets of the country, too, from New England to Ohio. But in most of the United States, people could be forgiven for not knowing that the whoopie pie is not, in fact, a pie at all. (It is sometimes described as a cookie, but that is not quite right, either. The closest description may be a cake-like sandwich, or perhaps a sandwich-like cake.)

Now whoopie pies are migrating across the country, often appearing in the same specialty shops and grocery aisles that recently made room for cupcakes. Last fall, they even cracked the lineup at Magnolia Bakery in Manhattan, which helped turn cupcakes into a national craze thanks to the bakery’s exposure on “Sex and the City.” Under the name “sweetie pies,” heart-shaped whoopie pies showed up in the February catalog from Williams-Sonoma. Baked in Maine with local butter and organic eggs, they sell for $49 a dozen.

In their traditional round form, whoopie pies can be found at Trader Joe’s supermarkets, at Whole Foods in Manhattan and at small bakeries like Kim’s Kitchen in Evanston, Ill., outside Chicago.

Kim’s Kitchen (soon to be renamed Fraîche) was an early adopter, first offering its hockey-puck-size pies seven years ago. The cakes come in chocolate and pumpkin, which remains a popular flavor long after the autumn leaves are gone, according to the shop’s owner, Susan Friedman.

“If we took them away after it stopped being fall, there would be a riot outside,” Ms. Friedman said.

Whoopie pies have been on the rise for several years, and nobody can pinpoint the reason they finally broke into the national consciousness. But the snacks evoke a more homespun era that seems to provide some comfort amid the economic gloom. “Pure edible nostalgia,” the Williams-Sonoma catalog calls them.

“Especially now, when people are so stressed out, they are going back to whoopie pies,” said Emily Isaac, owner of Trois Pommes Patisserie in Park Slope, Brooklyn.

Ms. Isaac had never heard of whoopie pies before she was asked to make them as wedding favors three years ago. Entranced at first taste, she put them on the menu at her bakery when it opened in May 2007.

There are dozens of variations on the shape, flavors and fillings. Trois Pommes serves what seems to be the classic version: two round mounds of chocolate cake, about three inches across, with French vanilla cream filling.

The whoopie pie sold since last fall at Zingerman’s Bakehouse, in Ann Arbor, Mich., sports a chocolate glaze on its dense chocolate cake and is filled with Swiss buttercream filling.

The basic elements of the whoopie pie turn up in many other snacks that might be considered its far-flung relatives. Amy Emberling, a partner at Zingerman’s Bakehouse, grew up in eastern Canada eating a similar cookie called a Jos. Louis. Oreo sells a whoopie pie look-alike called the Oreo Cakester, while the Hostess Suzy Q is a square version that vies for space on some store shelves with whoopie-esque Little Debbie snack cakes.

Food historians believe whoopie pies originated in Pennsylvania, where they were baked by Amish women and put in farmers’ lunchboxes.

Tired from a morning’s work, the farmers purportedly would shout “Whoopie!” if they discovered one of the desserts in their lunch pails, Ms. Emberling said.

In parts of Pennsylvania, whoopie pies remain a celebrated sweet. The annual Whoopie Pie Festival at the Hershey Farm and Inn in Strasburg, Pa., features a whoopie pie eating contest and the coronation of the Whoopie Pie Queen.

The whoopie pie would probably be Maine’s state dessert, if the state had one. The filling is generally of one of two types: a thick, sweet frosting made from Crisco shortening combined with confectioners’ sugar, or, more conveniently, a dollop of Marshmallow Fluff.

The cake itself is typically not especially sweet, and is often on the dry side, since the frosting lends plenty of sugar and a gooey consistency, said Sandra Oliver, a food historian and columnist in Islesboro, Me.

How the cookies traveled to Maine is a mystery, however.

One theory holds that whoopie pies were brought north during the Great Depression through the Yummy Book, a recipe pamphlet first published in 1930 by Durkee-Mower, the Massachusetts company that makes Fluff.

Don Durkee, whose father co-founded the firm, discredits that notion. After checking the company’s collection of pamphlets, the earliest appearance of whoopie pies he found was during the 1970s. “I’m baffled,” he said.

Marilynn K. Yee/The New York Times

Quinci Huston digs in to a whoopie pie in Park Slope, Brooklyn.

Michelle Litvin for The New York Times

FOR $3, JOY Pumpkin-flavored whoopie pies sell well at Kim's Kitchen in Evanston, Ill.

Michelle Litvin for The New York Times

Susan Friedman owns Kim's Kitchen, outside Chicago.

Leslie Land, a Maine writer, said her research showed that the recipe might have been popularized by one of the many local radio programs aimed at housewives during the 1930s.

No matter how they arrived, they have been eaten by Maine residents for at least eight decades, said Ms. Oliver, who publishes Food History News, a monthly newsletter. Labadie’s Bakery, in Lewiston, Me., which sells whoopie pies as big as 16 inches across, claims to have sold them since 1925.

Many of the whoopie pies sold in Maine come sheathed in plastic wrap. Generally sold for less than $2, they can be found stacked next to cash registers, the dry cake growing moister by the hour. “If you peel the Saran off and half the cookie doesn’t come away, it’s not a real whoopie pie,” Ms. Oliver said.

Ms. Friedman, in Evanston, agreed that her whoopie pies have a rustic image rather than a luxury one, although they sell for $3 each.

“They’re not as perfect as a lovely cupcake that has a beautiful swirl of icing on top,” she said. “They’re a little more handmade looking.”

At Magnolia Bakery, maple-cream icing is sandwiched between two brown-sugar cakes. Sina Clark-Murphy, the head baker, said that the whoopie pie’s humble appearance may help it come across as less of a dietary threat than a frosting-piled cupcake or a serving of banana pudding. Unfortunately, they are no less caloric.

At the other end of the simplicity scale are the heart-shaped versions baked by the Cranberry Island Kitchen in Maine, which supplies Williams-Sonoma. The pies wound up in the catalog after a friend of one of the company’s food buyers sampled them at Bob’s Clam Hut in Kittery, Me., and recommended that the catalog stock them, said Carol Ford, one of Cranberry Island’s owners.

Cranberry Island’s whoopie pies, which start at $28.75 for six, are made with chocolate cake or vanilla and are available in shapes like scallop shells and pumpkins. Filling flavors include rum, peppermint, Cointreau, raspberry and espresso.

To Ms. Oliver, the food historian, that upscale approach misses the point.

“It’s like making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich with almond butter,” she said. “It’s not meant to be fine cuisine.”

smells

OMG tonight my hubby was eating a chicken patty sandwhich and for some reason it is grossing me out. i have no idea why but it is turning my stomach. what the hell. but since i am posting this about smells i wanted to let everyone know about my new favorite candle smell Lemon Lavender from yankee candles i love it i even bought the room spray that is how much i love it. What is your favorite spring smell?

movies

i used to be a huge movie fanatic and i lost it. lately i have been going to the theater more and i am enjoying it again. the hubby and i have been watching more movies together, instead of saying i dont want to watch that. i went and saw the new friday the 13th with my friend kristi and bill and i went with his grandparents to see the movie taken which was awesome and then the following week i went and saw the movie watchmen with my friend brad which was totally weird and showed a lot of penis in it. last night the hubby bought the movie role models we both laughed our butts off and then we layed in bed and watched the movie flock which was sort of disturbing but good. i am hoping to continue the movie spree.

Do Ants Sleep?

I saw a Ant yesterday and thought to myself do Ants sleep. I warned you that this would be the crazy ride of my mind. Looking it up I found a couple of different responses to this and they all basically say the same thing. This is what I found:

Q. Do Ants sleep?* A. In a word... No..... rest Yes This is is not well documentedand and i go into it further at www.goodperk.com it may vary from species to species but it is generally accepted that most ants have periods of dormancy that is akin to sleep.* An ant doesn't have eyelids for its compound eyes, but it does have periods of rest lasting several minutes, where its brain and biological functions slow down and it stops moving.* As workers have to respond to the colony needs, it could be seen as a way of preserving resources(food,etc.) each individual rests as necessary, waking as when needed by the colony. The whole colony does not go to 'sleep' at the same time.Matt Furlong

The Fourth Agreement

Always do your best!

The last agreement is the one that allows the first three to become deeply ingrained habits. Under any circumstance, always do your best, no more no less. It doesn't matter if you are sick or tired, if you always do your best there is no way you can judge yourself. And if you don't judge yourself there is no way you are going to suffer from guilt, blame, and self-punishment. By always doing your best, you will break a big spell that you have been under. Doing your best you are going to live your life intensely. you are going to be productive you are going to be good to yourself, because you will be giving yourself to everything.

All of the agreements that I have posted about have come from the book called the Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz

I hope you all enjoy the agreements and feel free that if you use them tell me how it is going.

The Third Agreement

Don't Make Assumptions:

We have the tendency to make assumptions about everything. The problem with making assumptions is that we believe they are truth. We could swear they are real. We make assumptions about what others are doing or thinking- we take it personally- then we blame them and react by sending emotional poison with our word. We create a lot of emotional poison just by making assumptions and taking it personally, because usually we start gossiping about our assumptions. We also make assumptions about ourselves, and this creates a lot of inner conflict. "I think I am able to do this." Then you do it and it turns out you can't do it and you get frustrated and feel defeated with yourself. When you hear something instead of going off the handle maybe you should go to the source and calmly talk about the issue. I know that I assume crap all the time. Things get said I go off the handle then I calm down. In reality what I should do it hear what is said and just roll with it. Until tomorrow when I post about the last agreement.

The Second Agreement

Don't Take anything Personally:

Whatever happens around you don't take it personally. For example if someone calls you stupid don't take it personally take it with the knowledge that they are speaking of their own personal hell. Because as soon as you agree , the poison goes through you and you will be trapped in your own hell. It is not necessary to believe other people who tell you you are wonderful, you should already know how wonderful you are. By taking things personally you set yourself up to suffer nothing. What more can be said on the second agreement I think it sort of speaks for itself. It does however go along with the first agreement on the fact that your word is powerful so if someone calls you something you should know they are false you should know yourself better than anyone else so when they say something negative to you just let it roll off your back knowing they are dead wrong.

The First Agreement.

The first agreement is: BE IMPECCABLE WITH YOUR WORD.

Why your word? Your word is the power that you have to create. Through the word you express your creative power. It is through your word that you manifest everything. In the book he gives little examples of how powerful your word can be. The one story that he told was that there was this mom who came home from a hard day at work she had a headache and her daughter was happy she was home and was singing and jumping around in excitement and the mother finally broke and told her daughter that her singing was horrible and to stop, so he stated that even in the daughter's older age she still refused to sing, her mothers word was so powerful that she believed that her voice was that bad that she would never allow anyone to hear her sing. But realizing how your word can effect someone even if you don't mean for it to is a eye opener. Think about it when kids are younger how they make fun of each other and sometimes those words can effect someone for the rest of their lives if they start believing it, then they will carry it with them. So we should all be kind with our words on what we say to someone. He uses the first agreement in saying that your word is like cursing someone if you say something negative to them, like you are instantly putting a spell on that person. We also can use our words on ourselves. We talk to ourselves constantly and most of the time we say things like, "Oh I look fat", I look ugly, etc". So tell yourself that your beautiful and if you think you look fat say something like I could lose some weight but I am still beautiful. I hope this first agreement opens the eyes of some of you guys like it has me. Until tomorrow..
So next time you are about to say something really negative to someone ask yourself are they capable of taking this and brushing it off or is my word going to haunt them.

The Four Agreements

I read this book recently about the four agreements. It is a wisdom book so I am going to post about each agreement one at a time so that you get a better understanding of the agreements. I will quote some of the book as well. It was a short book but it did open my eyes a little wider on things. In a way of sorts it goes along with the secret and maybe the agreements will just make living the secret a little easier too. I hope that you enjoy your journey with my weird mind and that you also buckle up cause at times it could get bouncy. So until tomorrow when I post about the first agreement.

Intro

Well I guess since everyone is sort of migrating towards the blog than live journal I guess here I am. Why I named this the twist and turns of my inner workings. Well my mind wanders so I will post what I feel fit for that day, and hope that you either laugh, cry, or just shake your head.