HEALTH AND BEAUTY

Articles

What's the Difference Between Acrylic & Gel Nails?

What's the Difference Between Acrylic & Gel Nails? The Hot Mama Makeover has reached the hands of many deserving moms and I hope you are enjoying it and implementing the tips included. If you haven’t picked up your copy yet, get it for free here => http://www.HotMamaMakeover.com One question that a number of moms who have read the guide have asked me is “What’s the difference between acrylic and gel nails?” Here are some comparisons to help you decide which works best for you. Acrylic nails - Composed of 2 parts: liquid and powder - Take a bit longer than gels to dry - Most are stronger, but can break due to lack of flexibility - Cost less than gels - Requires filling every 2-3 weeks depending on how quickly your nails grow Gel Nails - More natural looking - Limited filing required reducing the risk of burns/cuts - Dry with a UV lamp - Quick to dry, but the whole application process takes longer - Lifting can occur if you have oily nails or live in a humid environment - Cost is higher than acrylics - Also require filling every 2-3 weeks Most nail salons offer both options. Always talk with your nail technician about any concerns you have beforehand. Choose the option that works best for you and enjoy you’re pretty, new nails, you Hot Mama, you! ;) ------ Alice Seba is the author of Hot Mama Makeover, a free guide to help moms feel a little bit sexier and whole lot more confident. Claim your free copy at http://www.hotmamamakeover.com

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Articles

A Mother's Work is Never Done and That's Just Fine with Her

Ask any mom how becoming a mother feels and she’ll tell you it is the greatest experience of her life. Nothing can top motherhood! Ask her again after a few months of little to no sleep, when her 2 year old has ransacked the entire house or her teenager has just started driving. She may give you an overwhelmed look and let out a heavy sigh, but her reply will remain the same. She wouldn’t trade the title Mom for the world, even on her child’s worst day. Just take a look at some of these real-life examples to see what we mean. One mom of two, ages 4 and 5, had this to say when asked what she finds the hardest, yet most rewarding part of being a mom. “I find disciplining them really hard. Sometimes you just want to give in and make peace, but when you hold out, they really start to get it and become better people. I also love answering their questions, but find them challenging at times. They ask me what certain words mean or why something is a certain way. Often, they're asking about things no 4 or 5 year old should be concerned with. Not that they're taboo things or anything, just complex things that are tough to explain.” Here’s what another mom of 2, ages 9 and 1, feels makes it all worthwhile. “The other day my 21 month old was testing every thing with Mom. Getting into things he knew he shouldn't be, throwing tantrums and refusing to take his nap. You name it he was trying his hardest to see how far he could get with me. Needless to say, no work got done that day, the house was a disaster and this mama needed a break! I was almost ready to give up and say "Oh go ahead and tear all the DVDs off the shelf and have fun! Then, he came running up to me with the biggest smile on his face and his arms outstretched and gave me a big hug, patted my back and puckered his lips for a kiss! My heart melted, I smiled back, gave him a kiss and told him I loved him while all the stress and built up frustration of the day melted away!” Being a mother is the toughest job any woman will ever have, but it also takes top honors as the most satisfying. There is nothing else in life that can make a woman ready to pull her hair out and scream, while evoking an extreme feeling of love at the exact same moment in time. Moms invest so much in their children, most of which goes unnoticed until they are older. She gets tired, but never gives up because she knows the rewards for her perseverance will be awesome. A mother’s work is never complete. Even when her children are grown and have children of their own she wouldn’t want it any other way. Find family friendly product reviews, information and support from a variety of different moms from all walks of life at Moms Talk News. Join us, it’s Free!

Healthy Eating Tips for Busy Moms

Moms are constantly on the go. Whether you are a working mom or a stay-at-home mother, it is hard to find the time to sit and eat a meal, let alone a healthy one. Here are a few tips to sneak that healthy eating into the busiest of schedules. Exercise is important but eating is the best way to get the nutrition that you need to keep the body healthy. If your eating habits are poor, then the benefits of exercise are decreased. In essence, you are working against yourself. The world of work has necessitated the need for instant everything, including food. If you don’t have time for breakfast, you grab a pre-packaged granola bar. For lunch, you eat a frozen microwaveable meal and grab a soda from the vending machine. Dinner comes from a fast food restaurant or other takeout place. For a busy mom, this type of processed eating is not going to yield the energy she needs to make it through the day successfully. These foods may be okay in a pinch, but they definitely should not be the rule of thumb. Healthy eating habits for mom also translate into healthy eating habits for the rest of the family as well. Let’s start with what mom needs to eat. No more than twelve ounces of protein are needed per day. People don’t realize that getting that much protein is not hard. Usually we are getting too much protein which gets stored in the body as fat. One or two servings of fruit and five to seven servings of vegetables are recommended each day. Fats should be kept to a minimum with most being unsaturated oils. Carbohydrates should come in the form of whole grains, beans, and legumes. Very little processed sugar should be consumed. The best way to achieve this is pre-planning. The evening before, plan what you will eat the next day. Package your snacks into portion sizes and put together your meals. Weekends are a good time to cook several meals for the week ahead. This way, the meals can be separated into containers and frozen to be warmed up later. Because you have prepared the food, you know what types of ingredients are in it. If you plan to be out during lunch, fix a salad or other meal that does not need refrigeration. If it does, carry an insulated lunch bag with an ice pack. This way, you are never without something healthy to eat. A busy mother can still be a healthy mother. Use weekends to prepare future meals. Get the family involved to lessen the work and increase the variety of the meals. For more ideas on eating healthy, claim your free subscription to Moms Health tips. http://www.quicksales.com/app/?Clk=2098997

Quick & Cool Meals – Don’t Slave Over a Hot Stove When the Weather is Hot

When it gets warm outside, no one wants to stay in the kitchen. Also, the heat diminishes the appetite for heavy foods. Give that stove a rest and turn to lighter meals that are quick and easy. During the spring and summer, farmer’s markets and grocery stores are teeming with fresh fruits and vegetables. Fruits and veggies are simple yet healthy foods. Most need little preparation to make them yummy. Use these items to fashion meals for your family. Very little prep time is involved and everyone gets a cool treat. Use spices to add zest to the meal instead of heavy sauces and marinades. Salads are big when the weather is warm. Lettuce comes in a variety of shapes and tastes. It can be used as a base or as a part of the salad. If lettuce is an integral part of your salad, don’t drown the taste with too much salad dressing. Purchase or make your own oil and vinegar dressing for salads. Oil and vinegar gives a light taste and you can add spices to the dressing for different flavors. Lettuce can also be a platform from which to build another type of salad. Macaroni, chicken, turkey, shrimp, and potato salads are popular meal ideas when it gets hot. The salads include meat, vegetables, and starch for a complete meal. Most meats can be purchased already cooked. For potato salad, you can buy it from the store or boil the potatoes yourself. If you choose to boil them, make sure that you boil enough for several salads. Macaroni salad is a lunch (with fruit) or dinner (alone) choice that is filling. Begin by boiling the macaroni, depending on the size of your family, six to eight cups of macaroni should be enough for a large salad. While the macaroni cooks, chop up boiled eggs and drain two cans of chunk tuna in water. Boiled eggs are another food that can be prepared in advance and stored in the refrigerator until you need them. If you like onions, mince a half to a whole medium onion. Set all of these things aside. When the macaroni is cooled, add the chopped eggs, onions, tuna, and relish to the macaroni. Finally, add a cup of mayonnaise (can use light or fat free) and half a cup of mustard to the bowl. Mix thoroughly and chill. Good meals don’t have to be made in a hot kitchen using the oven. Ingredients for quick meals are as close as your grocery store and take little time to prepare. Your family will be happy, healthy, and asking for more. Find family friendly product reviews, information and support from a variety of different moms from all walks of life at Moms Talk News. Join us, it’s Free!

FOR THE MARRIED MOTHER

Maybe you and your husband need to spend some time together-- alone!

Maybe you need a little "spice"!

How to Deal with a Disinterested Spouse:

Marriage is a tough job. Learning to live with another person, even one that you love takes time to get used to. If your marriage has hit a dry spell lately, don’t get frustrated and upset. Here are a few ways to get to the bottom of the issue of a disinterested spouse. You come home after a long day at work or maybe you are a stay-at-home mother. When your spouse comes home, you give him a big kiss and ask about his day. He mumbles a quick response and heads off to the computer room, where he stays for the next hour or so. Or, maybe he comes home and announces that he and the guys are going to a ballgame and he won’t be staying for dinner. If you have experienced something similar, you may be scratching your head trying to figure out what is going on. The first thing I want to say is not to jump to conclusions. Everyone needs their space now and then. Communicate with your spouse. If you have a problem with their behavior, let them know. Chances are your spouse is not aware that there is a problem going on. Sit down with him and tell him how you feel about his apparent disinterest. Men are not the type of people to open up readily about their problems. Women, on the other hand, like to talk about an issue until we’ve picked the bones clean. When he is out with his friends, he can casually mention a situation that he is having. The guys may comment briefly but then it’s over and done with. Couples naturally grow apart when they have a family. Once the children come along, there is less time for intimacy and more time for arguing about the kids. A lot of energy goes into raising kids and keeping a home. Most of us just look for any chance to unwind. You might not like what your spouse has to say, but listen anyway. This is the only way to find a solution. Suggest a date night with your spouse. Get to know the other person all over again. Send the kids to a friend or relative’s house for the entire evening. Rekindle the intimacy that has been missing for so long. Let your spouse know that you are there to listen if they have a problem they want to discuss and you won’t offer advice if they don’t want or need it. Somewhere along the way things have gotten off track, but they can be fixed if you both want it. Communicating with each other is the only way to get both of your needs met. Find family friendly product reviews, information and support from a variety of different moms from all walks of life at Moms Talk News. Join us, it’s Free!

FOR THE SINGLE MOTHER

See "Facing Divorce for more"

Child Custody Help

Single Mom Online Dating Safety Tips:

If you have been out of the dating scene for a long time, it can be scary. Meeting new people in a romantic setting is daunting under the best of circumstances. For the single mom, dating must be balanced with caring for your family. Here are a few tips to date safely. Many women, including single moms have turned to the Internet for dating help. It’s hard to meet men on your own as a single mom. Most of the time, you are with your children or running errands or working. There just don’t seem to be enough hours in the day. All women want to find a decent man. Meeting a stranger for a blind date has the potential for danger especially if you don’t know anything about the person. Asking an unknown man to meet you at your home could put your family at risk if he turns out to be a less than stable person. Online dating is the alternative to the singles bar scene. Single moms can meet men and learn something about them without the hassle of a bad first date. Without any pressure, a woman can be herself. Online dating services usually offer trial periods were a person can try the service for free to see if it is what they are looking for. Detailed searches give you statistics about men in the age and interest group that you are interested in. Chats online also give you a chance to make first contact to find out what the perspective date is all about. Single moms should remember to mention that they have children. This will weed out the men who are not interested in dating a woman with children. The point of online dating is not to waste your time, but to help you find a date without all the fuss of traditional methods. Don’t give out too much information about yourself. The Internet has also become a place for predators to hide. The site will need your accurate information for sign-up purposes, but you can block all of this from ever being seen by anyone who views your profile. A picture is not necessary, so if you don’t feel comfortable sharing one, don’t. Set up a first date when you are ready. Meet him at the restaurant or movie theater. This keeps you both on equal footing and increases your safety. Ask him to wear something distinctive like a red carnation so that he can be easily recognized by you. Online dating is a new tool for single moms. You can meet men safely and on your own terms. And, when you are ready and sure, then you can initiate the love connection. Find family friendly product reviews, information and support from a variety of different moms from all walks of life at Moms Talk News. Join us, it’s Free!

FOR THE WORKING MOTHER

Avoiding Extra-Curricular Activity Burnout:

Some of us are busy people. We work at jobs that keep us hopping all day long. After a long busy day, most people want to come home and relax, right? Well there are those who come home and get started all over again being busy. Here are a few tips to avoid extracurricular activity burnout. Are you busy because of yourself or your children? There is a difference and there is a solution for both. The results of being too busy no matter what the reason are the same: burnout. If you feel like you are close to going over the edge, re-evaluate the need for all of your extra activities. No one has to be superwoman anymore. If you are a member of one committee at church, you don’t need to chair another. The PTA will survive if you are not on the executive board. Every event that the neighborhood hosts doesn’t need your assistance. Too much to do usually means that something isn’t getting done. Write all of the activities down on a sheet of paper. Next to each, list the reasons that you became involved in the first place. Be honest with yourself. If it was to impress another person, then say so. Eliminate the ones that were begun for all the wrong reasons. Choose no more than three activities a week. If you have children, even three may be too much. Being absent from the house every evening doesn’t leave much time for family or closeness with your spouse. Schedule your activities on the same night that the kids have their practices. They don’t need to be at the same time, but this minimizes the amount of time the family is out of the house. If everyone can take a few days a week for extracurricular activities, then that leaves the other evenings for family time. If the cause of your imminent burnout is shuttling the kids from one venue to another, get help. Organize a carpool with the other player’s mothers. Each week, take turns carrying the entire group to practice. If you need to, give your kids a limit on the number of activities they can be involved in during the school year. Too many activities could mean meltdown for them as well. During the summer, they can add on a few extra activities since school will be out. Getting involved in the community is great, but too much of a good thing is bad for anyone. Sometimes, you may have to say “No” when asked to volunteer in order to keep your sanity and your family. Don’t lose sight of one goal for another. Learn to balance your work, family, and extracurricular activities. Find family friendly product reviews, information and support from a variety of different moms from all walks of life at Moms Talk News. Join us, it’s Free!

FOR THE WAHM (Work-at-home-mom)

Finding Support in the Work at Home Mom Community

Many stay-at-home moms are looking for their niche. They want to use their skills not only to raise their children, but also to make a financial contribution to the family. For those moms with the entrepreneurial bug, there is a network of support online. Online communities for work at home mothers provide support for every aspect of her life. Moms are complex individuals that wear many hats. She is not just business owner; she is also mom, wife, friend, lover, sister, daughter, and life coach. With these titles also comes a host of issues. Online communities help a mom to find balance within her self. She can learn to manage her eating and her business in one place. Ways to relax and rejuvenate are also available here. Forums allow women from all walks of life all across the globe to share their experiences and advice with others. Whatever your needs, you can find someone who has the same need who can help. If you have any advice for others, you can share your knowledge, too. One such community that is helping moms who want to work from home and raise their children is Moms Talk Network. The website is concise and easy to navigate. The owners are work from home moms themselves who felt an urge to help mothers everywhere to meet their maximum potential in all arenas of their lives. This community offers information and articles on a variety of topics. They feature topics for raising children (parenting), managing the household (relationships, money and finance, home), taking care of self (beauty and style, pregnancy, food and drink), and finding success in business (work and career, home business and telecommuting). If your needs extend to these topics and more, Moms Talk Network has it available. If you are new to the idea of working at home, there are resources to help. Momstalkbiz.com offers business guides that offer ideas for new at home businesses and how to get started. They range from starting a greeting card business to mystery shopping. Whether you want to keep it small or become a huge online success, this information will get you started. The bottom line: everyone needs help sometime. For work at home mothers, online communities provide that support to keep pushing forward in your chosen lifestyle. Choose a community like Moms Talk Network and try them out. Sign up for free newsletters and e-mail updates so you can stay in touch even at the busiest of times. Keep up on the latest products for home based businesses. Sign up to receive free no-hype, mom-tested Product Reviews. http://www.quicksales.com/app/?Clk=2098998

Home-Based Businesses You can Start in No Time

Service businesses are a great field to get into, whether you provide offline or online services it's an easy way to start your own business with usually very low start-up costs. With the number of businesses you can easily start from home there simply isn't an excuse to not start your own business. So if you've been thinking about it, here are a few in-demand home business ideas: Transcription - If you can type (or can learn how to, it's really not too difficult), have a good eye for detail and want to work from home, this is a great profession to get into. You can find clients online and locally. You can transcribe for real estate agents, insurance brokers, online marketers, speakers, consultants and a huge range of other clients. Transcriptionists are in high demand and is a very easy business to start from home. Virtual Assistants - Similar to a secretary or administrative assistants, VAs (virtual assistants) are a growing field. Many entrepreneurs have home businesses now and need someone to help them run their business - what better person to turn to than a VA. Similar to transcription this is a high-demand field and a relatively easy business to start. Ghost Writer - Just the name alone sounds exciting, but make no mistake, ghost writing isn't some mysterious profession you see only in movies, it's a very real in-demand field. This is especially true when it comes to online marketers and website owners who have a need for quality content. You can also write articles for local newspapers, magazines and a number of other publications. If you love to write, you can take that passion and turn it into a very profitable and cool at-home business. Cleaning Service - Okay, this may not be the most glamorous business in the world, but hey there's a lot of money to be made here. If you enjoy cleaning and take pride in your work you can easily set up your own maid or cleaning service. You can also take one step further and manage the business and hire a team of cleaners to do the job for you. With so many parents and single professionals working such long hours plus the increase of disposable income, you can certain "clean up" with your own maid service. Those are just a few service businesses you can start from home. Relatively easy to start, low cost and plain old easy, there's no good reason NOT to start your own business. To learn how to make it BIG with your own service Business, visit Moms Talk News for a range of fun and profitable at-home business ideas.

Stay at Home Mom Tips for Earning an Extra Income from Home:

Staying at home with your children is a rewarding job. Raising children is a hard task even under the best of circumstances. Still, moms who stay at home may be yearning for more in their own lives to feel fulfilled. The invention of the Internet opened up many doors for entrepreneurial exploits. An entire world of information is at our fingertips twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. To take advantage, all we need is a computer and a little motivation. This is the perfect way for moms to make some money of their own. The most popular choice would be internet auction houses. The most popular of which is eBay. Everyone has something around their home that they can sell that someone else may want. One day, while your kids are sleeping, check out the attic and the garage for hidden treasures that could fetch a good price on the internet. Use a digital camera to take pictures of all potential money-making items. Use your hobbies to make some easy cash. Do you like to draw, paint, crochet, or create crafts? Create your own website to advertise your particular expertise. Local flee markets and craft shows are a perfect way to get your product out there to the public. These events take place on the weekend, so your spouse can watch the kids while you market your merchandise. Another way to make some extra money is online surveys. Large companies spend millions of dollars each year in market research for new and existing products. They poll consumers like you and me to see if there is sufficient interest in their products. The surveys can take anywhere from five minutes to an hour per survey for follow-up surveys. Different companies offer a variety of incentives. Some companies offer points for their surveys which can be converted into prizes. Other survey companies offer cash for trialing new services and products. These surveys usually require a credit card for a preliminary fee that is reimbursed by the company upon completion of the survey. Any work you do for extra money on the Internet requires an online account for companies or individuals to deposit your earned cash. The premier online account is PayPal. Signing up is free, but you must have a valid bank account that can be verified in case there is any discrepancy with the funds in your PayPal account. There are a number of ways to earn extra money as a stay at home mom. The Internet offers plenty of opportunities that do not require a lot of time. The extra funds that you will be making will feel good. Find family friendly product reviews, information and support from a variety of different moms from all walks of life at Moms Talk News. Join us, it’s Free!

More WAHM Ideas:

Meet other moms with similar challenges and interests! Go to CafeMom today!