good enough to eat

I crafted! And no one cried or threw up (a measuring stick for all disasters in our family).<br /><br />We always get fresh boxwood wreaths to hang on the french doors in our dinning room. But this year, I thought I would try something a bit more fun and something that would last (knock on wood) from year to year. Namely this...<br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQ9VWJemuDgU8S22g3Ssl_yNvlUbErZnAb_jXvyoaUQtLCHriyiqKDybVsFeDFt9o2NKPkVMpgHJXOtxj_yZqXuquh6fHOtbgMVmsXz6W_2TMI55vPYSjd3n1Ftdz6TZ89haQLeSSJKd-y/s1600/PeppermintWreath-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQ9VWJemuDgU8S22g3Ssl_yNvlUbErZnAb_jXvyoaUQtLCHriyiqKDybVsFeDFt9o2NKPkVMpgHJXOtxj_yZqXuquh6fHOtbgMVmsXz6W_2TMI55vPYSjd3n1Ftdz6TZ89haQLeSSJKd-y/s320/PeppermintWreath-1.jpg" width="319" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://pinterest.com/pin/115615915403449762/" target="_blank">via Pinterest</a></td></tr></tbody></table>I read a few tutorials and thought it sounded so easy that I could out smart the foam wreath and go with a cheaper wire wreath. I got my supplies, plugged in my glue gun and started wrapping my wreath.<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibHNxLEL76kCu8Y7Ut1VjPgt_0RYeN2aW2rWYOlHVLnOiGP79gZpgo34wPH-ka8BL5DHL_l8MaKXV3TpfnAS0j1tAcF6vV_TQvxnT9aLdnTCQJBkP5EEi7jhlUdx_TGtz2B5V_FnqpsOBB/s1600/PB291611.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibHNxLEL76kCu8Y7Ut1VjPgt_0RYeN2aW2rWYOlHVLnOiGP79gZpgo34wPH-ka8BL5DHL_l8MaKXV3TpfnAS0j1tAcF6vV_TQvxnT9aLdnTCQJBkP5EEi7jhlUdx_TGtz2B5V_FnqpsOBB/s320/PB291611.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br /><br />Wrapping the wire form in duck tape, I got about one row of peppermints on before I proved my crafting ignorance. You silly crafting fool. It was ugly, mis-shapen and the wire wasn't holding up as those little candies were getting heavy. Bust.<br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiICGJuncNPnRPVx6yFgRbq7pKrxjqaqebtzm3bhvJGN7PkonKh22gulO3DeLWcRAWEZK4qwv5avloLJLtG4v0GByOxbv3Hnh89Tmct_qFRPGTbeDp87YjDExvoziB4jcd4Zzvbxk0n2mWW/s1600/PB291612.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiICGJuncNPnRPVx6yFgRbq7pKrxjqaqebtzm3bhvJGN7PkonKh22gulO3DeLWcRAWEZK4qwv5avloLJLtG4v0GByOxbv3Hnh89Tmct_qFRPGTbeDp87YjDExvoziB4jcd4Zzvbxk0n2mWW/s320/PB291612.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I took off my sad first row in disgust before I got a picture taken</td></tr></tbody></table><br />So, I printed off a Michael's coupon, sucked it up and bought foam wreaths (I believe they were 16"). The tape went on a lot better and I had a more stable, flat surface to work on. After that it <i>was</i> easy. As long as you have several episodes of RHOBH or Sarah's House DVR'd and a crafting partner you are in good shape.<br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEin74z3HtfGJjci2JU60b8ZZXEIjXE5Y3hCGoT5KDOHiLcUNfO4-gvXf6vdCI3fMBzR1fGpx5LYMjTyZWL1uzwa3qQnugpD0gV9X6ekHOlzY0a03z_icP3wuiWjZYCbiQwzG6mjjRlBtB7i/s1600/PB301620.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEin74z3HtfGJjci2JU60b8ZZXEIjXE5Y3hCGoT5KDOHiLcUNfO4-gvXf6vdCI3fMBzR1fGpx5LYMjTyZWL1uzwa3qQnugpD0gV9X6ekHOlzY0a03z_icP3wuiWjZYCbiQwzG6mjjRlBtB7i/s320/PB301620.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My crafting partner</td></tr></tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Several hours later...ta-dah! </div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-RfXg_9MwOg5EFdLDqYwim1mysH23lEiBd3vkrSkP97GdsiFIsUt4ZQS9MWnDTnrUPMfgPEFupf9MT9xDJDi8Uz35yF7vpKKkmafNkWyqtokMSG4gI_UmUrUxl5cNt-K2LUFFBfusBDiv/s1600/PC111889.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-RfXg_9MwOg5EFdLDqYwim1mysH23lEiBd3vkrSkP97GdsiFIsUt4ZQS9MWnDTnrUPMfgPEFupf9MT9xDJDi8Uz35yF7vpKKkmafNkWyqtokMSG4gI_UmUrUxl5cNt-K2LUFFBfusBDiv/s320/PC111889.JPG" width="212" /></a></div><br /><div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I'm thrilled. It was easy, relatively cheap and looks great. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzRwXmFfPkRxeeGsjL8nkAuq6HHqOftq8eMdTWUBvCXNi8c3xqqfm-UdZ0SDGQgM0jppyXMXTECfJsN1Rc57cZOpEpNZOO3Qim9GG7ZNaQQgw2teLQYlXUswG1lRucKl8_WB31mN0sqa4x/s1600/PC051681.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzRwXmFfPkRxeeGsjL8nkAuq6HHqOftq8eMdTWUBvCXNi8c3xqqfm-UdZ0SDGQgM0jppyXMXTECfJsN1Rc57cZOpEpNZOO3Qim9GG7ZNaQQgw2teLQYlXUswG1lRucKl8_WB31mN0sqa4x/s320/PC051681.JPG" width="240" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I will say I highly recommend covering the wreath with duct tape first. Some tutorials glued the peppermint directly onto the foam. You will have gaps between the candies and the red background looks more finished. And the glue holds onto the tape a lot better as well. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvTNpt00iUdgPQmbcxP3bahQgSUw7cwYRMmwDoF6FDpwCc2PronTFp6rxY5zHz3sjvufnEY6eSG1W2CW0Roht29fpm6TPlkrorXLeKRvW94B0Y0DWk7paAMxj6LJrNjaCi-wA9tJAFDQxU/s1600/PC051679.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvTNpt00iUdgPQmbcxP3bahQgSUw7cwYRMmwDoF6FDpwCc2PronTFp6rxY5zHz3sjvufnEY6eSG1W2CW0Roht29fpm6TPlkrorXLeKRvW94B0Y0DWk7paAMxj6LJrNjaCi-wA9tJAFDQxU/s320/PC051679.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div>Also worth noting, this project uses a LOT of peppermints. Thank god I have a dollar store down the street as I had to use 7 bags for 2 wreaths.<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjdZe2LXWdK-_QC1BtXudbc4z0FJDJtaWsYY3SWzejfhjnwMQ3XU7S44eBIftfdGQ8nuAch-zxDaCetRVfbhycB9V6bAVv7kf_3IkHUNJgdKAoVDMkx-lmBNyrdCYhMNmS4qNyf7_InRiW/s1600/PC071748.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjdZe2LXWdK-_QC1BtXudbc4z0FJDJtaWsYY3SWzejfhjnwMQ3XU7S44eBIftfdGQ8nuAch-zxDaCetRVfbhycB9V6bAVv7kf_3IkHUNJgdKAoVDMkx-lmBNyrdCYhMNmS4qNyf7_InRiW/s320/PC071748.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsFJLdCrxHMTlDzKOvUM9Pq9nvQQyTlxlcAe2ocwrn3s9oRm8DYWuL6Hj1h8h7JFI73toAVHDRRBpMK9dYbu7NKDVu-zE70SmQkZT_n80mIil37qbXJoONtQXRDW3ZYnTFDRdByJkeyutu/s1600/PC111893.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsFJLdCrxHMTlDzKOvUM9Pq9nvQQyTlxlcAe2ocwrn3s9oRm8DYWuL6Hj1h8h7JFI73toAVHDRRBpMK9dYbu7NKDVu-zE70SmQkZT_n80mIil37qbXJoONtQXRDW3ZYnTFDRdByJkeyutu/s320/PC111893.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />So for less than $20 bucks I've got two wreaths I can pull out year after year (and they smell minty fresh). Have you tried any new projects lately? Holiday or otherwise? Share!

good enough to eat

I crafted! And no one cried or threw up (a measuring stick for all disasters in our family). We always get fresh boxwood wreaths to hang on ...

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A lovely South African site with free downloadable worksheets in several subjects

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"> Isn’t it great when right here, in South Africa, you come across a site with lovely, free, downloadable worksheets in : <strong><a href="http://e-classroom.co.za/resources/mathematics/">Mathematics</a></strong>, <strong><a href="http://e-classroom.co.za/resources/english/">English</a></strong>, <strong><a href="http://e-classroom.co.za/resources/science/">Science</a></strong>, <strong><a href="http://e-classroom.co.za/resources/environment/">Environment</a></strong>, <strong><a href="http://e-classroom.co.za/resources/health-nutrition/">Health</a>, <a href="http://e-classroom.co.za/resources/health-nutrition/">Nutrition</a>, <a href="http://e-classroom.co.za/resources/health-nutrition/">Hygiene</a></strong>, <strong><a href="http://e-classroom.co.za/resources/art-crafts/">Arts</a>, <a href="http://e-classroom.co.za/resources/art-crafts/">Crafts</a></strong> and <strong><a href="http://e-classroom.co.za/resources/art-crafts/">Colouring</a></strong>.</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">This site is called the e-learning classroom  and it can be located at:<br /><a href="http://e-classroom.co.za/">http://e-classroom.co.za/</a></span><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjn4WpBCuAmNUIRNwqR28Hayz_f_0mf_kpy5ofemOyxrQd5opajQJ8ohfEL2goEIRb4Rn0nJYnge2ni8uMq29YDpCqS-_eeKHzlHRSiRc3ZXwavSi0hjT-FBbmus7YK9x-M0JbYThCQMK8/s1600-h/image%25255B3%25255D.png"><img alt="image" border="0" height="211" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixfJQs-1PswrlvZeJ993qrs5oMbdHLAm5l_pKEJs1lQf0L0x7Q-U1XhiCkKNn1eVtD2kRdLmRmlkF_3w3cWgfLvBtFdLP8I8se0qNSCGpoEtW3lhDO8nhzYMju4XzGA_GKI89cJVvN4cc/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-bottom-color: initial; border-bottom-style: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-color: initial; border-left-style: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-color: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-color: initial; border-top-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; display: inline; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="image" width="400" /></a></div><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">When you explore the site you find so many excellent worksheets and other classroom aids.</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6JLkOfPjoP_8vrqZ87m05cM3eoVGSIwUM5sThExpY87vojMxAZNoVSLbXcO2TXwnSWnbWJ61oz1GTOKAS9DQmHMGHbrOgXSawtoVgpSEYxfZ4REo91O2p0ZAadEEMjMmxt_uQ1jtsX2U/s1600-h/image%25255B8%25255D.png"><img alt="image" border="0" height="326" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilmTjktq9j0yikVqY4Jo2vRWAKyt4s37IMxweKVAkrfBdCsRkz7Tb1jwMQ8mQyigvVAtqKyD_vi5pN-CGTjLklAHu7y_9r2Igb1KwfaGvaeNUaH5-3VRrm4rMj64572xtkv4MjeS4c998/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-bottom-color: initial; border-bottom-style: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-color: initial; border-left-style: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-color: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-color: initial; border-top-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; display: inline; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="image" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Take a look. I don’t think you’ll be disappointed!</span></div>

Lesson plans Website reviews A lovely South African site with free downloadable worksheets in several subjects

Isn’t it great when right here, in South Africa, you come across a site with lovely, free, downloadable worksheets in : Mathematics , Engli...

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Adding videos to blog or wiki posts

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">I have recently been exploring several different ways of putting video on to a blog or wiki; and when a friend asked me for some ideas on how to do this I thought it would be a good opportunity for me to summarise what I have tried up to now and what I plan to try in the future and use it as a blog post! So here goes...</span><br /><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span><br /><strong><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">1. SHORT VIDEOS</span></strong> <br /><strong><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></strong><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">This is something I learned through someone else – isn’t it amazing how we learn from one another all the time! In <strong><em>Blogge</em>r</strong> and <strong><em>Edublogs</em></strong> you can easily add video if it is not too big in size. The problem comes in how your video camera saves files. The files (I think) need to be .wmv to be uploaded. This is where <em>YouTube Downloader </em>comes in handy. </span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><strong>Use YouTube Downloader to convert files</strong></span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><strong><br /></strong></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">This is a free downloadable programme that can convert movies to different formats. You need to select the second option 'Convert <em>video (previously downloaded) from file'</em>. It works with any video. However Edublogs and Blogger show these videos differently as I will show you now. </span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><strong>Showing videos in Edublogs and Blogger</strong></span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><strong><br /></strong></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">a) <strong><u>Edublogs</u></strong>: Last year the Grade 3s used Photostory 3 (with narration) to make videos about Fish Hoek. This is how Edublogs shows the video: <a href="http://fionabeal.edublogs.org/files/2011/05/Fish-Hoek-25m9qo4.wmv">Fish Hoek</a> (Edublogs says about their video approach, <em>"It doesn’t embed your file in an actual video or audio player in your post; it only inserts a link to the file. When readers click on the link it opens another page where the audio file is played or it downloads the video onto their computer").</em></span> <br /><em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></em><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">b) <strong><u>Blogger</u></strong>: This is how Blogger shows the same video. It actually embeds the video. </span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><br /><a href="http://grade4fishhoekprimary.blogspot.com/2011/05/learning-about-fish-hoek.html">http://grade4fishhoekprimary.blogspot.com/2011/05/learning-about-fish-hoek.html</a> I<br /><a href="http://grade4fishhoekprimary.blogspot.com/2011/05/learning-about-fish-hoek.html"><img alt="image" border="0" height="267" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcXZnCsCFvOzpndwrrwikeIZk7-_7yCwdQFYKYJBvK3CaJtY0bToiZNFEnkf_hKXdTqu4Dr2exLqOwDuHBxcjVFlvkeYsvoUDWw4VaSJ5D53fCizsNTewG3UJvJpGCdr0JgviiXYeNItY/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-bottom-color: initial; border-bottom-style: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-color: initial; border-left-style: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-color: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-color: initial; border-top-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; display: inline; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="image" width="320" /></a><br /><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">I have to say that I really prefer the Blogger approach with ordinary video clips. Unfortunately Wikispaces only allows embedded video which is what I will discuss next. </span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span><br /><strong><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Short embedded videos using One True Media</span></strong><br /><strong><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></strong><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">The video application I have tried to date is <em><em>One True Media</em></em>. A teacher from the USA visited us and the class spontaneously broke into song so I captured it on my camera and put it into <em>OneTrueMedia</em></span> <br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><em><br /></em></span><br /><div><object classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0" height="310" width="312"><param name="flashvars" value="&p=961b3d088977924c6b479b&skin_id=801&host=http://www.onetruemedia.com" /><param name="src" value="http://www.onetruemedia.com/share_view_player?p=961b3d088977924c6b479b" /><param name="wmode" value="transparent" /><param name="quality" value="high" /><embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="312" height="310" src="http://www.onetruemedia.com/share_view_player?p=961b3d088977924c6b479b" quality="high" wmode="transparent" flashvars="&p=961b3d088977924c6b479b&skin_id=801&host=http://www.onetruemedia.com"></embed></object> <br /><div style="font: 12px/20px verdana,arial,sans-serif; margin: 0px; padding-bottom: 15px; text-align: center; width: 312px;"><a href="http://www.onetruemedia.com/landing?&utm_source=emplay&utm_medium=txt2" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Photo and video editing at <span style="text-decoration: underline;">www.OneTrueMedia.com</span></a></div></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">We linked with Miss Ale in Argentina for a collaborative-writing project and she made this video using OneTrueMedia:</span> <br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><br /><div></div><div><object classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0" height="310" width="312"><param name="name" value="FLVPlayer" /><param name="flashvars" value="&p=90bed68a2a9f5080778f09&skin_id=801&host=http://www.onetruemedia.com" /><param name="src" value="http://www.onetruemedia.com/share_view_player?p=90bed68a2a9f5080778f09" /><param name="wmode" value="transparent" /><param name="quality" value="high" /><embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="312" height="310" src="http://www.onetruemedia.com/share_view_player?p=90bed68a2a9f5080778f09" quality="high" wmode="transparent" flashvars="&p=90bed68a2a9f5080778f09&skin_id=801&host=http://www.onetruemedia.com" name="FLVPlayer"></embed></object> <br /><div style="font: 12px/20px verdana,arial,sans-serif; margin: 0px; padding-bottom: 15px; text-align: center; width: 312px;"><a href="http://www.onetruemedia.com/share_player_link?p=90bed68a2a9f5080778f09&skin_id=801&source=emplay" target="_blank"><img alt="" src="http://www.onetruemedia.com/share_player_link_image/90bed68a2a9f5080778f09/801.gif" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-width: 0px;" width="312" /></a> <a href="http://www.onetruemedia.com/landing?&utm_source=emplay&utm_medium=txt1" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Make an on-line slide show at <span style="text-decoration: underline;">www.OneTrueMedia.com</span></a></div></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Another teacher I linked with in Canada, Mr Millward, did his class graduation using <em>OneTrueMedia</em>. As you can see the programme is very creative. </span><br /><a href="http://millwardb.edublogs.org/2010/06/23/graduation/"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: x-small;">http://millwardb.edublogs.org/2010/06/23/graduation/</span></a><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: x-small;"> </span><br /><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: x-small;"><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJjjGSwwYoR0WuuQd6MpNwO627Ej82PDa_VyPw8uDp7lbDWHzA29TPSvNvGXpSyqzQ7XX69KbxtgTk53ZNt17EjcqvScPwkSiOFZtxpWTGcfxMbROh9YmRaj-WZiHciLY_C4647jix4dc/s1600-h/image%25255B9%25255D.png"><img alt="image" border="0" height="297" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhotaTCQCY2b53MIDHZKYxcbNxR_pLMfskc9pG-5-utwTRx-HiPAKOBe2bs5CGW1EqZJX3-NH8at1o1pKuiNjB0gAECQr12RgArvrMZQBzro_8h1wvYAFpfwHG8SEaI53VWZOwhWRpGM40/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; border-right: 0px; border-top: 0px; display: inline; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="image" width="387" /></a></span><br /><strong><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;"><br /></span></strong><br /><strong><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Short videos using Animoto</span></strong><br /><strong><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></strong><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">With Animoto you are only allowed short videos of 30 seconds free but there is an Animoto Educators account which I have applied for and received. This entitles me to myself and 50 of my students having the Plus account in which we can upload full length videos (maximum 200MB). Last year one of the Grade 5 classes participated in the ‘Monster project’ and many of the teachers around the world used Animoto to show everyone where they were at. Here is a sample from a Grade 2 class (Miss Hariju) in the USA:</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><br /> <object classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0" height="240" id="vp1Q74VC" width="432"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /><param name="src" value="http://static.animoto.com/swf/w.swf?w=swf/vp1&e=1306570895&f=Q74VCBGAESE2hM6pQ0rXdg&d=83&m=a&r=240p&volume=&i=m&options=" /><param name="allowfullscreen" value="true" /><embed id="vp1Q74VC" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="432" height="240" src="http://static.animoto.com/swf/w.swf?w=swf/vp1&e=1306570895&f=Q74VCBGAESE2hM6pQ0rXdg&d=83&m=a&r=240p&volume=&i=m&options=" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always"></embed></object><br /><strong></strong> <br /><br /><strong><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">2. SCHOOL TUBE VIDEOS</span></strong><br /><strong><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></strong><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">I must say that I love School Tube and it is my first choice since it is all about school! I learned about it from another of my PLN friends from America, Bob Greenwood, with whom I was involved in a project. He teaches Grade 2 and he has his own channel on School Tube. He makes so many amazing videos. Take a look: </span><a href="http://www1.schooltube.com/Organization/OrganizationHome.aspx?oid=129695">http://www1.schooltube.com/Organization/OrganizationHome.aspx?oid=129695</a> <br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2XSCamXrk0hHHRVRnePEHkOkMWAvkLyaJCbKzB_ZiQP13CVDD7tqwp26LSZE85MNb-uX8GbYRTty3sLUGcf8WZp1-gNZ8L8q9tPENZw2fSSXczlauk83-gpfXl0Qdw476FO6Kkk2kOwI/s1600-h/image%25255B15%25255D.png"><img alt="image" border="0" height="396" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpfUIK_XAjp9UJQs8XXYXYCAGirZtMSZ7fRQdlq0SF8wWvxYecBv3H0RsFzcuWmmjJKxuzbkWOPW-b1i5tFyH0qsDLaJ_rHM1gA1A_b5UA4a6DIxf2_BsApJRi7aT-M6yF7Z8wOdU61u4/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; border-right: 0px; border-top: 0px; display: inline; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="image" width="492" /></a><br /><br />So that is what I did. I applied  to become a moderator on School Tube and I was given a school channel. Any movie uploaded there gives me an embedding code and I put the code in my blogs and in my wikis. Our 2011 Adobe Youth Voices project is uploaded there. <br /><br /><a href="http://got.im/0JTE">http://got.im/0JTE</a> <br /><iframe frameborder="0" height="375" src="http://www.schooltube.com/embed/52f79fed0b3ac508cf91" width="500"></iframe><br /><strong><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></strong><br /><strong><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">3. YOU TUBE VIDEOS</span></strong><br /><strong><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></strong><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">I also like using YouTube and I have a channel there as well for all my school videos. Once you have posted a video it gives you a code which you can embed into any blog or wiki. This makes it very easy. Often with school videos I make them private so that they can only be seen by whoever has the YouTube address link. When we were on a video swap project with Denmark (Grade 6) we used YouTube’s private code for this. I sometimes think that parents will be happier with the use of School Tube because it is mainly for teachers. I believe there is now a YouTube ‘Teacher Tube’ channel which is an even better option. </span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><br /><strong><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">4. FOR THE FUTURE</span></strong> <br /><strong><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></strong><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">I would like to try out video sites recommended in blogposts: <br />a) <em>Vimeo</em> <br /><br />b) Explore more with <em>Animoto</em> <br /><a href="http://edupln.ning.com/profiles/blogs/animoto-in-the-classroom">http://edupln.ning.com/profiles/blogs/animoto-in-the-classroom</a> </span><br /><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">c) <em>Other recommended sites <br /></em>(<a href="http://larryferlazzo.edublogs.org/2010/03/30/not-the-best-but-a-list-of-online-video-editors/">http://larryferlazzo.edublogs.org/2010/03/30/not-the-best-but-a-list-of-online-video-editors/</a>) <br /><br />My <strong>BIG</strong> question at the moment is - how do you compress large .avi files of say 1.8GB in order to upload them easily? (Later...okay, I have just found the answer to this. You put the whole .avi file into Windows Movie Maker and it reduces it amazingly with little loss of quality. It really works...yay!)</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span><br /><strong><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">5. A GREAT PUBLICATION ON MAKING VIDEOS FROM RICHARD BYRNE</span><br /></strong><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: x-small;"></span><br /><strong><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></strong><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">I love Richard Byrne’s site called <a href="http://www.freetech4teachers.com/">Free Technology for Teachers</a>. One of the books he so freely shared is about making videos on the web. He allows others to embed his documents so I am going to embed the video book here.</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><br /><div><object style="height: 272px; width: 420px;"><param name="movie" value="http://static.issuu.com/webembed/viewers/style1/v1/IssuuViewer.swf?mode=embed&layout=http%3A%2F%2Fskin.issuu.com%2Fv%2Flight%2Flayout.xml&showFlipBtn=true&documentId=110404114820-0ae8536c667a414bbbc8fa3ea8572a28&docName=making_videos_on_the_web&username=richardbyrne&loadingInfoText=Making%20Videos%20on%20the%20Web&et=1323723064420&er=25" /><param name="allowfullscreen" value="true" /><param name="menu" value="false" /><embed src="http://static.issuu.com/webembed/viewers/style1/v1/IssuuViewer.swf" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" menu="false" style="width:420px;height:272px" flashvars="mode=embed&layout=http%3A%2F%2Fskin.issuu.com%2Fv%2Flight%2Flayout.xml&showFlipBtn=true&documentId=110404114820-0ae8536c667a414bbbc8fa3ea8572a28&docName=making_videos_on_the_web&username=richardbyrne&loadingInfoText=Making%20Videos%20on%20the%20Web&et=1323723064420&er=25" /></object> <br /><div style="text-align: left; width: 420px;"><a href="http://issuu.com/richardbyrne/docs/making_videos_on_the_web?mode=embed&layout=http%3A%2F%2Fskin.issuu.com%2Fv%2Flight%2Flayout.xml&showFlipBtn=true" target="_blank">Open publication</a> - Free <a href="http://issuu.com/" target="_blank">publishing</a> - <a href="http://issuu.com/search?q=education" target="_blank">More education</a></div></div></div>

Blogging videos Adding videos to blog or wiki posts

I have recently been exploring several different ways of putting video on to a blog or wiki; and when a friend asked me for some ideas on ho...

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...More About "A Month of VERTIGO"

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiF-qOgAh7hhS_mkXDIpXuKKcSKKLomPVCXZMc6_ZPWJ3jQ62EGLaKAcLuNOmASlRcGXnfhIfGHcaeCskNwt2B_gK9df5ntKz95AXbTJjFQIcEnQ1znPKg0HMk4aurCGLVI5j5zum59bRAN/s1600/scottie+and+madeleine+3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiF-qOgAh7hhS_mkXDIpXuKKcSKKLomPVCXZMc6_ZPWJ3jQ62EGLaKAcLuNOmASlRcGXnfhIfGHcaeCskNwt2B_gK9df5ntKz95AXbTJjFQIcEnQ1znPKg0HMk4aurCGLVI5j5zum59bRAN/s1600/scottie+and+madeleine+3.jpg" /></a></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: left;">Not long ago I sat down with the 1956 British translation of Pierre Boileau and Thomas Narcejac's <u>D'Entre Les Morts </u>(1954). The book is now published under the title <u>Vertigo</u> (it was originally called 'The Living and the Dead') owing to the legend that is the 1958 Alfred Hitchcock film based on Boileau/Narcejac's novel. When I finished reading, I wanted to blog about <i>Vertigo</i> and decided to try to do it "with a little help from my friends." One of these friends (Brandon Goco) even created a 'teaser' for what turned into the project we're calling <i>A Month of VERTIGO</i>:</div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/KyZfpNb1ilc" width="560"></iframe></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><i>A Month of VERTIGO </i>will begin January 1 and run through the month (and into early February) - with ten bloggers (including me) and one 'vlogger' (video blogger) contemplating <i>Vertigo </i>from a variety of perspectives. More details will appear soon about <i>Reel Life</i>'s first major blog event.<br /><br /></div>

A Month of Vertigo Alfred Hitchcock The Lady Eve (author) Vertigo ...More About "A Month of VERTIGO"

Not long ago I sat down with the 1956 British translation of Pierre Boileau and Thomas Narcejac's D'Entre Les Morts (1954). The book...

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HCG PROTOCOL MEDICAL EXPERT REVIEWS WEIGHT-LOSS APOCALYPSE

<br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">I’d like to start by letting you know I did not write the book I am about to suggest, I have no financial investment in this book, and if you choose to use this book in your clinic, I do not profit from its sales. However, because I own an hCG protocol clinic, I believe the more people who read this book, the more credible the hCG protocol will be, which would benefit all medical hCG clinics. With that said, I would strongly encourage every medical professional and hCG protocol patient to read <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Weight-Loss Apocalypse</i>. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was first introduced to the hCG protocol at a medical symposium 5 years ago. After listening to a short seminar about the protocol (which didn’t provide any information that I couldn’t find myself in Dr. Simeons’ manuscript), I decided to do the hCG protocol myself. After having an incredible experience, I’ve been prescribing for others, ever since.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">I’ve read just about every hCG protocol book available. All of them explain the hCG protocol in the same manner: repeating Dr. Simeons’ theories of three types of fat, “unlocking” the hypothalamus, etc. As a doctor, I’ve always known this explanation was insufficient, but no other explanation exists. Because of my own success and the success of my patients, I continued to prescribe− convinced Dr. Simeons’ theories must be correct. Until now.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">When Robin Woodall asked me to read and review her manuscript of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Weight-Loss Apocalypse</i>, I really didn’t want to be bothered to read another hCG protocol book. I figured there couldn’t be anything in the book that I didn’t already know.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>But because of the sub-title<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> (Emotional Eating Rehab Through the HCG Protocol</i>) I was intrigued to read what Robin was presenting. The biggest difficulty with patients is emotional eating, and even though the protocol gives an undeniable weight loss opportunity, people cheat all the time. If this manuscript was giving suggestions for how to deal with this, it would be worth my time to read and review. I accepted the manuscript and committed to reading it and giving Robin my honest review.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was not prepared for and could not have imagined, what I was about to read. As Robin explained the science of hunger, starvation, energy homeostasis, and the relationship between low dose hCG and leptin, my excitement grew. The manuscript not only gave a credible scientific hypothesis that explained why hCG prevents starvation, but it also provided great insight that would hold accountable the conflict patients have with emotional eating.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>I was floored by the intelligence, integrity, and passion Robin put into her book. I’ve read the medical references used to create the hypothesis and I’ve also read her manuscript another 5 times. My conclusion: <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Weight-Loss Apocalypse</i> will revolutionize the entire weight loss industry as a whole, it legitimizes the hCG protocol as a hormonal therapy that reduces diseases associated to obesity, and presents a meaningful approach that holds accountable the cause of the problem: eating without hunger. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Now that the book is published, each patient that goes through our program gets a copy of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Weight-Loss Apocalypse</i> and we’ve added the Mind:Body Method to our program. Cheating occurs less often, patients don’t complain about weight anymore, and the new approach has been described as a “life-altering” experience. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We continue to receive emails and messages from patients, thanking us for giving them Robin’s book, expressing how much it has helped them and has permanently changed the way they eat. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Needless to say, reading Robin’s manuscript was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. Here is my review:</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">“</span></i><span class="messagebody"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma;">I've been prescribing hCG for weight loss for over four years, and nothing I've read comes close to having this level of expertise. Without questions, this is the most informative and enlightening book about Dr. Simeons' hCG protocol available." <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></i></span></span></div><span class="messagebody"><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Calibri", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">−Dr. Ed Hagen, OBGyn and HCG Protocol Medical Expert</span></span></span>

HCG PROTOCOL MEDICAL EXPERT REVIEWS WEIGHT-LOSS APOCALYPSE

I’d like to start by letting you know I did not write the book I am about to suggest, I have no financial investment in this book, and if yo...

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Get involved in blogging projects

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">Even if you have only one computer in your classroom, you can make a start in integrating technology into your curriculum by getting your class involved in a blogging programme. Why not consider it? <br /><br /><div id="__ss_10419614" style="width: 425px;"><strong style="display: block; margin: 12px 0 4px;"><a href="http://www.slideshare.net/fionabeal/get-involved-in-blogging-projects" target="_blank" title="Get involved in blogging projects">Get involved in blogging projects</a></strong> <iframe frameborder="0" height="355" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://www.slideshare.net/slideshow/embed_code/10419614" width="425"></iframe> <br /><div style="padding: 5px 0 12px;">View more <a href="http://www.slideshare.net/" target="_blank">presentations</a> from <a href="http://www.slideshare.net/fionabeal" target="_blank">fionabeal</a> </div></div></div>

Blogging Project-based learning Get involved in blogging projects

Even if you have only one computer in your classroom, you can make a start in integrating technology into your curriculum by getting your cl...

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Looking for a project to get involved in in 2012?

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">IEARN has some interesting new projects for you to consider. If I can urge you to do one thing in 2012 it is to get your class involved in global projects. It is really worth it and will be really exciting for your learners. </span><br /><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>1. Learning Circles</b></span><br /><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><a href="http://www.iearn.org/circles/" title="http://www.iearn.org/circles/">http://www.iearn.org/circles/</a></span><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVAD0HwUDt5A8EsPgyutgsGE26Jwy_PzJOq_jPOaFWrf6w9pgnJ7d1rpAqqwCAzwLi-xUP0rWwQKWFitCAI-5p76JrTZb5ILnZMDztwmKh9KCic0TdJfmWOXN7uR_0QU5WDJhu5qIpxWo/s1600-h/image%25255B4%25255D.png"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: x-small;"><img alt="image" border="0" height="168" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFylEi0KXMCZbl1qlgytN_Ogh_5U4HPR-x9yJ-rxCS0ReF63UaKWwXmMC0Wq6aS1aRc6ENRMaOl9WZWmtiggCXd_Nvt2zJozCwKANMx2pyHSnvd0msL6qLh3W2M7FJVfcg8hkiRd3lB8k/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-width: 0px; display: inline; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="image" width="400" /></span></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>2. Special Places project</b></span><br /><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><a href="http://media.iearn.org/projects/specialplaces" title="http://media.iearn.org/projects/specialplaces">http://media.iearn.org/projects/specialplaces</a></span><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg85_WPxq3wmki4rwiYWam559WAJmjzQvA8ktgcHIvCk6ZGAMqY1rcAO3kQaiI44Hce51-7XvLQM9MmS8qnGzkbPmyJDbbwh8lIreUcjHSvffDco5mMSUW76Ccu4b4ZT5mZKNOp7SXS6Lw/s1600-h/image%25255B9%25255D.png"><img alt="image" border="0" height="215" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCI4a1FokxuOENTy3mZJo3gw7E70E060qPypV60Vx6xI6IdTn9fSDrii5RCd-ylqTrx07Zkli42jCJSufQKMm1IaGZ8z7wknRluEly1CmCoeYK-T2Oj2zS44Waoqv4U0-F9nG8hUq9a_E/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-width: 0px; display: inline; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="image" width="400" /></a><br /><br /><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>3. Future Citizens project</b></span> <a href="http://media.iearn.org/projects/futurecitizen" title="http://media.iearn.org/projects/futurecitizen">http://media.iearn.org/projects/futurecitizen</a><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvSNm1PDTTioh0Av4DryNlCfuS75s8EVfy53m5qNKpzJcooRDOjPAR86S7QNJqCcIXzcWHalsYDV4svvuOKOBdZIBQTEfY_bGk7mD6guSEZIzwTyQmL1VPWovmPIV-uV4o4LEH9NcgsLA/s1600-h/image%25255B15%25255D.png"><img alt="image" border="0" height="218" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcpiJweZk2RaZNJdXKp2In9ubCrjq8cQlP30NhlTrXZ3fF3Z_oTx61SNtYfey056BJUJE1V8EUd_xGOyyaBq5Tgc87rSdj5BdRGM-WZPmfOiquf76a3V9MnrkbOgk_Qs1hSCQ6Rtj4QIs/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-width: 0px; display: inline; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="image" width="400" /></a><br /><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span><br /><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>4. Special Moon Observation</b></span><a href="http://media.iearn.org/projects/moon" title="http://media.iearn.org/projects/moon">http://media.iearn.org/projects/moon</a><br /><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNSj8Vl_0gkJG-KV7k5ySvtJMguPzQRwTF6_gMzY-vc5g8OITk1Yitd1NoyfbUlScZ4qTx0yFlfv_oglGaACZkfwbkYuKUMvjkkWWW_03u29EcH3DcCGC1AnTaKwUEj1vUniFe6cMhO3A/s1600-h/image%25255B21%25255D.png"><img alt="image" border="0" height="231" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGZWu0ho2_qOr3X0wRUfEvda34gfIt9KjpEv8xAJLNhzuy1lJJORn36lxkWFOEcj_XFUbuht1ZfOWHCveGPMBgR4dtUW7hpLnT5FTFbNNQp2WsSGZnAzIy7OmFxXo5GV307zpUP6oVKKw/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-width: 0px; display: inline; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="image" width="400" /></a><br /><br /><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>4. Resources, Contests, websites and announcements</b></span> <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><a href="http://us.iearn.org/projects/curriculum-integration-toolkit" title="http://us.iearn.org/projects/curriculum-integration-toolkit">http://us.iearn.org/projects/curriculum-integration-toolkit</a><br /></span><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIMJMpmNDLE56FyjNkjAyNWSM-S0yEdHYozBa2m8V8fHU9XdUb10LN-zRSvw3xm_W-7_PJspglXukscpk6bp1DthhybENZaz11NbrrpEULk0WKvwCbk0YBIHeo4rEo8HxVK3XQWgaf08k/s1600-h/image%25255B32%25255D.png"><img alt="image" border="0" height="193" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCkT1w9Kvs78CLvXP21Lwi-sWiFOKpeve56OLCLlY3sFsFR6G4EA-fL00mjD_Px5SUUT_E16AHlpiWfGrtMMKOKMBGME9U263fmYOQsAU7tRqO4V_QDLdLf1mm54_AclIcBhfEMwFkYSo/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-width: 0px; display: inline; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="image" width="400" /></a><br /><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>5. Global conference recordings available</b></span> <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><a href="http://us.iearn.org/events/detail/2011-global-education-conferenace" title="http://us.iearn.org/events/detail/2011-global-education-conferenace">http://us.iearn.org/events/detail/2011-global-education-conferenace</a></span><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixxvTFCneGHJDzj0dyQh6bNj9CwIKoz9qLD0qG4C1bmio8eNKr2s9U5dtwX1e-UhdpFwG9tFZVaRQPFlRRRNkyUCR2RKiDW9NKWjSojHgyiZRCMq18A8eqgO7dvVQtl2Lgvh455aSH-6c/s1600-h/image%25255B37%25255D.png"><img alt="image" border="0" height="175" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0qPg0QUEEM15SvRbMk9tsGB1XIZIE6OMMBoTXEt2iW3ciDfMspQdo0Y7C290VwKZXzYN71yrAke3f773LFRP2qs9kDsuu-7Y_0L44z-0sZF2ljNyIshsVCQeTAAnItnU9_OMXD0rx_Vw/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-width: 0px; display: inline; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="image" width="400" /></a></div>

Project-based learning Looking for a project to get involved in in 2012?

IEARN has some interesting new projects for you to consider. If I can urge you to do one thing in 2012 it is to get your class involved in g...

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BREAKFAST ISN'T AS IMPORTANT AS WE THOUGHT

<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri", "sans-serif"; line-height: 150%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">The diet industry has continued to neglect the value of hunger. Unfortunately, this has continued dysfunctional eating by focusing on rules and boundaries that have very little to do with feedback from the body. A perfect example is using caloric expenditure to determine how much a person should eat.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri", "sans-serif"; line-height: 150%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Science describes that our body is fueled by stored substrates (fat, muscle, glycogen, blood/cellular glucose), which is regulated hormonally. Using calories to quantify daily food intake, assumes the food you eat is immediately digested into these molecular forms, which are converted into human fuel and used the same day you eat it. If you eat strait sugar, this is accurate. But if you eat anything complex, this couldn’t be further from the truth. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri", "sans-serif"; line-height: 150%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Using calories to determine how much you should eat also neglects to include that your body already has stored fuel that has completed the digestive process and is ready to be used. Food is complex and must be digested and distributed among the four fueling substrates before it can be used. So there are hormones that eating stimulates that regulate the release of fuel from already stored substrates, while food is digesting. This is a cycle that ensures the body is fueled adequately, even though the food you are eating is no where close to being in a molecular substrate.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri", "sans-serif"; line-height: 150%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">What regulates the hormones that control this fuel release? The answer is complex and requires a finite balance between other hormones, expenditure rate, oxygen, and hormonal stimulants, such as food. All food stimulates your fat to release hormones and how much hormones you get is relative to how many fat cells you have, the size of your fat cells, and the potency of the food you ate. An easy way for you to understand if you have enough of these hormones is through hunger. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri", "sans-serif"; line-height: 150%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">If you’re not hungry, you don’t need to stimulate more of these hormones. Leptin is the hormone your fat creates that also removes the physical irritation and urgency to eat. So if you’re not hungry, your blood leptin levels are elevated, and you do not need to eat, otherwise you’ll release more leptin, which not only has over-fueling ramifications, but can cause a host of hormonal imbalances elsewhere in the endocrine system.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri", "sans-serif"; line-height: 150%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">When made aware of the hormonal regulation of hunger and the link to fueling mechanisms, it makes sense why people who have more fat experience less hunger. They have more fat cells that create more leptin, which releases more fuel from fat, so they need weaker stimulus− less often, and they also have less need to “restock” fuel from food. The more fat you have, the less food you need! (Refer to why skinny b*tches eat more and don’t get fat.)</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri", "sans-serif"; line-height: 150%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Here is a prime example of how messed up the diet industry is. When you wake up in the morning, are you legitimately hungry for breakfast? Probably not. The more fat you have, the less likely you are to experience hunger after you wake in the morning.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri", "sans-serif"; line-height: 150%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">How many of you have been demanded to eat breakfast, even though you have very little hunger? I was taught at the university level that breakfast starts your metabolism. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was described by the “thermic effect of food” which would start the calorie-burning process. That was in the year 2000. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Calibri", "sans-serif"; line-height: 150%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">At that point science wasn’t readily available to explain that by eating breakfast all of your fat cells would be stimulated to create the hormone leptin, which would as a reaction, release fuel into your body. If you’re not hungry and your leptin levels are already elevated (which indicates that your body is already adequately fueled by your fat) do you need to stimulate more? No! Chances are those calories you burned through the thermic effect of food didn't come close to the over fueling  from fat that causes a host of problems.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri", "sans-serif"; line-height: 150%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">If you’re not hungry you already have enough leptin, you’re already receiving fuel from your fat and by eating anyways, you’ll be causing an over production of leptin and an over-fueling situation. In short, wait until you are hungry to eat breakfast.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri", "sans-serif"; line-height: 150%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">BUY THE BOOK: <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>www.weightlossapocalypse.com</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"></span></div>

BREAKFAST ISN'T AS IMPORTANT AS WE THOUGHT

The diet industry has continued to neglect the value of hunger. Unfortunately, this has continued dysfunctional eating by focusing on rules ...

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Gold, the savior of Europe?

<div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;">17 Euro Countries are sitting on 10 000 tons of GOLD reserves </span></div><div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;">Is Gold the savior of Europe? </span></div><div id="navpages" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiL8Fmcly_20ftT2uBdo8_VD4opfYWBGKet2hpY6GqP9v9Zmv0Ls12-YbfzCAFeSmc6HWimtyN_c9XaFoXF_Eb9za5-Q572VX-WBBPNgx2OIWA9gFsTF898bgYYNhiZ70vQ7STtIQbL6KJx/s1600/gold-reserves.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="319" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiL8Fmcly_20ftT2uBdo8_VD4opfYWBGKet2hpY6GqP9v9Zmv0Ls12-YbfzCAFeSmc6HWimtyN_c9XaFoXF_Eb9za5-Q572VX-WBBPNgx2OIWA9gFsTF898bgYYNhiZ70vQ7STtIQbL6KJx/s320/gold-reserves.JPG" width="320" /></a></span></div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"> </div><h1 class="singlePageTitle" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;">Gold Shares Rise, IAG Hikes Dividend 25% </span> </h1><div class="sponsorpagetimestamp"><div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"> </div><div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i>Friday, December 9, 2011, 12:19pm EST Written by GoldAlert Staff.</i></span></div><div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i> <a href="http://www.goldalert.com/2011/12/gold-shares-rise-iag-hikes-dividend-25/">http://www.goldalert.com/2011/12/gold-shares-rise-iag-hikes-dividend-25/</a></i></span><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><iframe allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" frameborder="0" height="266" mozallowfullscreen="mozallowfullscreen" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/EidKjIPyus8?feature=player_embedded" webkitallowfullscreen="webkitallowfullscreen" width="320"></iframe></span></div><div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: center;"><br /><span style="font-size: large;"><i>Form your own opinion about this interview.</i></span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"><div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i>genuine or propaganda?</i></span></div><br /></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"></div></div>

Gold, the savior of Europe?

17 Euro Countries are sitting on 10 000 tons of GOLD reserves  Is Gold the savior of Europe? Gold Shares Rise, IAG Hikes Dividend 25...

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NEW HYPOTHESIS FOR WHY HCG PREVENTS STARVATION DURING THE HCG PROTOCOL

<span class="messageBody" data-ft="{"type":3}"> "<em>I have never had an opportunity of conducting the laboratory investigations which are so necessary for a theoretical understanding of clinical observations, and I can only hope that those more fortunately placed will in time be able to fill this gap.”</em></span><br /><div class="text_exposed_root text_exposed" style="text-align: left;">Dr. ATW Simeons, <em>Pounds & Inches</em> -privately published in 1967<br /><br />Laboratory investigation requires first, that there be a hypothesis that is testabl<span class="text_exposed_show">e in a scientific laboratory to observe the finite mechanisms that explain molecular physiology. In the recently published book, <em>Weight-Loss Apocalypse</em>, Robin Woodall has composed a new hypothesis that describes why Dr. Simeons observed his clinical observations. This hypothesis will open the doors immediately for laboratory investigation. <br /><br />If you, in any way, would like the hCG protocol to have credibility as a hormonal therapy, I suggest you read the book, understand the new hypothesis, and change the way you market your hCG business as well as how you explain why the hCG protocol works. Using measurements of weight to prove (or disprove) the protocol is not only naïve, but is insufficient data that directs the public towards old and outdated research that discredited Simeons' observations, with and without hCG. <br /><br />The FDA continues to devalue the protocol based on this outdated research which compared double-blind studies based on weight lost, perceived hunger, and circumference measurements− all of which didn't show a statistical significance. However, to disprove or prove that hCG prevents starvation there must be laboratory investigation studying the hormone hCG and how it may influence the hormonal regulation of starvation when administered in low doses (125 iu) daily, when food is significantly reduced for weeks at a time. This laboratory research is what Dr. Simeons did not do, thus he wrote the quote at the top of this post. <br /><br />Recently (2009), there has been a defined negative feedback loop between hCG and the hormone that controls energy homeostasis; leptin. Leptin is a fat derived hormone that was discovered in 1994. This very recent discovery between hCG and leptin could very well explain why Dr. Simeons observed the miracles he couldn't fully explain (nor prove) during his very low calorie protocol.<br /><br />Today, we are the "more fortunately placed" and it's time to fill the scientific gap. We need to put the new hypothesis to the test and hope laboratory evidence proves we’re not all crazy and the hCG protocol isn’t too good to be true.</span></div><div class="text_exposed_root text_exposed"><span class="text_exposed_show"><br />BUY THE BOOK <a href="http://www.mindbodyhcg.com/" rel="nofollow nofollow" target="_blank"><span style="color: #3b5998;">www.mindbodyhcg.com</span></a></span></div>

NEW HYPOTHESIS FOR WHY HCG PREVENTS STARVATION DURING THE HCG PROTOCOL

 " I have never had an opportunity of conducting the laboratory investigations which are so necessary for a theoretical understanding o...

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Weigh In & Weekly Goals

I just have to blurt this out because I can hardly contain the excitement I have for this week's weight in!<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><b>I lost 1.7 lbs, bringing me down to 242.7!!!</b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">242.7 is a record low weight since I've started this journey in March 2011.  Not only <i>that</i>, BUT I have now removed 21.1 pounds of weight.  AND, now that I've met another 10 pound goal, a giveaway is fast approaching!  AND, now that I've met another <a href="http://the-big-weight.blogspot.com/p/goals.html">smaller goal</a>, I get to buy my VB bag & Pandora Charm.  Stay tuned :).  </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">These are the potential charm choices:</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrIpkgjUnJVr6fPQsYiIFc9TUspJaf0Rf7aPoguYLh2osKEjpNjq1MUA26QxN1hNtsXpJ_5JbeOOBjlI_PWtFZ100-Sk9PmyoDPqGGbz1odZYoT_M-iHFWpvxASpDJrMbiBX0PTSSJApY/s1600/charm+2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrIpkgjUnJVr6fPQsYiIFc9TUspJaf0Rf7aPoguYLh2osKEjpNjq1MUA26QxN1hNtsXpJ_5JbeOOBjlI_PWtFZ100-Sk9PmyoDPqGGbz1odZYoT_M-iHFWpvxASpDJrMbiBX0PTSSJApY/s1600/charm+2.JPG" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"> Inner Strength</td></tr></tbody></table><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUNqlcnvmBqanmTwqiHOwMLnypoN5V1V3RAO3QEyBTxgAqsb9D4xa5G4EBFMgawrF6jvBDCc_68MbX_rUxC3JmAN9EvSsc4nOOrKAz3cc5Yyw1FUhIk1gbT4HT1LW12_lfztDHNCFOnj4/s1600/bead+pink+flowers.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUNqlcnvmBqanmTwqiHOwMLnypoN5V1V3RAO3QEyBTxgAqsb9D4xa5G4EBFMgawrF6jvBDCc_68MbX_rUxC3JmAN9EvSsc4nOOrKAz3cc5Yyw1FUhIk1gbT4HT1LW12_lfztDHNCFOnj4/s1600/bead+pink+flowers.JPG" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pink Flowers Bead</td></tr></tbody></table><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQNJCZOShxSL3r_pHaIelIB5aYQVTcwK0voFwkcBfQkXHcXSfdLT-Pj4zhpgWQRxzZ2qsnJhmZOR9CTxs_xY_FPCpnZ8MN25sdlA0Bs2WnZjnyuD1c9K-OXGSPoxYcYhN0tcMo3dpEM4o/s1600/bead+pink+polka+dots.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQNJCZOShxSL3r_pHaIelIB5aYQVTcwK0voFwkcBfQkXHcXSfdLT-Pj4zhpgWQRxzZ2qsnJhmZOR9CTxs_xY_FPCpnZ8MN25sdlA0Bs2WnZjnyuD1c9K-OXGSPoxYcYhN0tcMo3dpEM4o/s1600/bead+pink+polka+dots.JPG" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pink Polka Dots</td></tr></tbody></table><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrEDC5CN3_uUu9I2wzKQ6olkSxecaivoe7HxbFw-SCe_epeqKytz_HCDTOuOgx_NFJ5Nlcs07SCCQFNRq9BVkGjlsBAP5t1QzCCZj7Pe4w5V9flwGsRHst4baQrruIV8jOUUvY2rQVZxU/s1600/lavender+murano.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrEDC5CN3_uUu9I2wzKQ6olkSxecaivoe7HxbFw-SCe_epeqKytz_HCDTOuOgx_NFJ5Nlcs07SCCQFNRq9BVkGjlsBAP5t1QzCCZj7Pe4w5V9flwGsRHst4baQrruIV8jOUUvY2rQVZxU/s200/lavender+murano.JPG" width="143" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lavender Candy Stripe</td></tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: left;">I'd like to add some color to my bracelet, so that is why I am so heavy on the glass beads.  Your thoughts?</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">This is the bag I'm looking at:</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigeHVLVfqDsjvcki8eM4D2JvbtruqkAzbQeJzahaNDMfaonWq4lypfrb1cOVx-2e4bPG6iK1citWP_uT1_yQvbVgqYKYF_vMzjxtJl1iwQ5CTGsYYhxnLHl6aUaflT6H6_7NCAT628WJY/s1600/side+by+side+tote.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigeHVLVfqDsjvcki8eM4D2JvbtruqkAzbQeJzahaNDMfaonWq4lypfrb1cOVx-2e4bPG6iK1citWP_uT1_yQvbVgqYKYF_vMzjxtJl1iwQ5CTGsYYhxnLHl6aUaflT6H6_7NCAT628WJY/s320/side+by+side+tote.JPG" width="248" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Side by Side Tote - Rhythm & Blues</td></tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">I'm so incredibly proud of myself, especially after <a href="http://the-big-weight.blogspot.com/2011/12/weekend-recap.html">this week's events</a>.  After the cookie meltdown, I tried hard to stay within my 39 Points+ this week, and did really well on both Wednesday and Thursday, not evening consuming all 39.  That's okay though, because I definitely went over my Weekly Points+ again despite the <a href="http://the-big-weight.blogspot.com/2011/12/weigh-in-results.html">goals</a> I set.  </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Here's what happened with last week's weekly goals:</div><div style="text-align: left;"></div><blockquote class="tr_bq"><div style="text-align: left;"><b><span style="color: blue;">Goals for the week:</span></b><br />Stay within daily Points+ allowance for 5 of the 7 days. - <b><i>I achieved 2 of the 7 days.  Not superb.</i></b><br /><br /><b style="color: blue;">Potential Challenges + Solutions:</b></div><ol><li>Weekend lunch date with the ladies.  <b><i>I was proud of how I did with this, eating only half the sandwich and a few fries.</i></b></li><li>Cookie Madness.  <i><b>I definitely indulged not only that night, but one other night later this week.  </b><b>*Sigh*  Moving on...</b></i></li></ol><b style="color: blue;">Planned Activity: </b><br /><i><b>I went to the gym on Wednesday and did 37  minutes on the elliptical.  I'll take it!  I earned 4 Activity Points+ and was pleased with that effort, even if I didn't meet my goal of 2 days (though totally doable, someone is just l-a-z-y!).</b></i></blockquote><br /><br />Here are my new goals for the week.<br /><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEPHHXZcGayhBxS9vC7YcoFq6_ZHzGYSWuOo-BlOdbMWpof09vHPM20Oa2UQfXqzy0bmBTUxveiaJW5X_APpzAfF_nB2GxclJGudMWazU-Mg7SUXmA6CUvvFRcVYsiloZLUl2ZEVaEQ0A/s1600/weight-watchers-diet.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEPHHXZcGayhBxS9vC7YcoFq6_ZHzGYSWuOo-BlOdbMWpof09vHPM20Oa2UQfXqzy0bmBTUxveiaJW5X_APpzAfF_nB2GxclJGudMWazU-Mg7SUXmA6CUvvFRcVYsiloZLUl2ZEVaEQ0A/s1600/weight-watchers-diet.jpg" /></a></div><br /><b><span style="color: blue;">Goals for the week:</span></b><br />Stay within daily Points+ allowance for 5 of the 7 days. If I have to delve in to the Weekly Points+ allowance, I want to use no more than 39 of them, leaving a balance of 10. <br /><div style="text-align: left;"><br /><b style="color: blue;">Potential Challenges + Solutions:</b></div><ol><li><b>Office Holiday Happy Hour:</b> There will be drinking and eating.  Thankfully most of the food being served  I don't like.  To combat this I plan to eat my lunch before the HH (it starts at 12).  I will definitely want to have a drink, but will try to limit it to no more than 2-3.</li><li><b>Going over daily Points+ allowance:</b>  I struggle with this every week.  Rarely am I ever able to achieve a perfect week of staying within my daily Points+.  You know why?  Poor planning.  As they say, without a plan, plan to fail.  What I need to do to stay on track is make sure my breakfasts/lunches are packed the night before.  Also, I need to make sure I have plenty of healthful snacks, including 0 Points+ fruits/vegetables to snack on when I have cravings and 0 Points+ left for the day.   </li></ol><b style="color: blue;">Planned Activity: </b><br />I wrote up an activity schedule for the week, but realizing that I have to reacclimate myself to getting back to the gym, I'm going to aim for 2 days of the gym this week again.  If I do more, then it will be a bonus.  Also, I tried out that new feature on eTools where it gives you a weekly Activity Points+ to work toward, and mine is 14.  I'm going to try to reach that this week in whatever way I can.<br /><br />What are your weekend plans?  I still need to get some Christmas shopping done.  Joel and I are going to check out a wedding venue on Saturday, and we're going to take our Christmas card picture as well.  I'm so behind this year :(.  It's making me crazy!

Success Weekly Weight Watchers Goals Weight Loss Weight Loss Challenges Weight Watchers Weigh In & Weekly Goals

I just have to blurt this out because I can hardly contain the excitement I have for this week's weight in! I lost 1.7 lbs, bringing me ...

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FARFETCHED HYPOTHESIS OR LEGITIMATE CERTAINTY

<h1 id="watch-headline-title" style="color: red; font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: center;"><span class="long-title" dir="ltr" id="eow-title" title="Engineering the Eurozone Collapse - F. William Engdahl on GRTV">Engineering the Eurozone Collapse</span></h1><h1 id="watch-headline-title" style="color: red; text-align: center;"><span class="long-title" dir="ltr" id="eow-title" title="Engineering the Eurozone Collapse - F. William Engdahl on GRTV"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">......Food for Thought.......... </span></span></span></h1><h1 id="watch-headline-title" style="text-align: center;"><span class="long-title" dir="ltr" id="eow-title" title="Engineering the Eurozone Collapse - F. William Engdahl on GRTV"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"> </span></span></span></h1><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" frameborder="0" height="266" mozallowfullscreen="mozallowfullscreen" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/htktdv28EF4?feature=player_embedded" webkitallowfullscreen="webkitallowfullscreen" width="320"></iframe></div><h1 id="watch-headline-title" style="text-align: center;"><span class="long-title" dir="ltr" id="eow-title" title="Engineering the Eurozone Collapse - F. William Engdahl on GRTV"> </span></h1><h1 id="watch-headline-title"><span class="long-title" dir="ltr" id="eow-title" title="Engineering the Eurozone Collapse - F. William Engdahl on GRTV"> </span></h1>

FARFETCHED HYPOTHESIS OR LEGITIMATE CERTAINTY

Engineering the Eurozone Collapse ......Food for Thought..........       

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Deen Family Cookbook: Meemaw's Kitchen Sink Christmas Cookies

As you'll soon find out, these cookies had a ton of ingredients in them, making the taste oh-so-delicious.  The resulting texture of the cookie was unexpected.  Mine turned our rather crumbly.  They remained whole when I'd pick them up, but they almost felt like sand in your hands.  Hard to describe, and I'm not sure if I did something wrong or if that was the intended texture.  I saw a few reviews online where people had the same result, so I guess that was supposed to happen?  They were still delicious!<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVCCIdaAz2OVmor3zPAYIpSU6IDAhOu5obQFztMemx20yFq3CT6NiCM5_h2dswyMF1z95qQLwqKAh2IvZeQQ6K-0U2wvpLTI2XTPE3Szao3kQv0msiAbfB77VSMt6a1rb1wkigmzD7Omo/s1600/Cookie+Exchange+011.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVCCIdaAz2OVmor3zPAYIpSU6IDAhOu5obQFztMemx20yFq3CT6NiCM5_h2dswyMF1z95qQLwqKAh2IvZeQQ6K-0U2wvpLTI2XTPE3Szao3kQv0msiAbfB77VSMt6a1rb1wkigmzD7Omo/s400/Cookie+Exchange+011.JPG" width="400" /> </a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.recipestap.com/wp-content/plugins/wp-o-matic/cache/5709d_deen-family-cookbook.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://www.recipestap.com/wp-content/plugins/wp-o-matic/cache/5709d_deen-family-cookbook.jpg" width="253" /></a></div><br /><b><u>Deen Family Cookbook - Meemaw's Kitchen Sink Christmas Cookies</u> (3 Points+ each)</b><br /><i><b>Ingredients</b></i><br />-3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour<br />-1 teaspoon baking soda<br />-1 teaspoon cream of tartar<br />-3/4 teaspoon salt<br />-1/2 pound (2 sticks) butter, softened<br />-1 cup granulated sugar<br />-1 cup lightly packed light brown sugar<br />-1 cup vegetable oil<br />-1 egg<br />-1 teaspoon vanilla extract<br />-1 cup puffed rice cereal<br />-1 cup sweetened flaked coconut<br /> -1 cup rolled old-fashioned oats<br />-1 (8-ounce) package toffee bits<br /><br /><i><b>Directions</b></i><br />In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, cream of tartar, and salt.<br /><br />Using an electric mixer, cream the butter and sugars. Scrape the sides of the mixer bowl and beat in the oil, egg, and vanilla until smooth. Beat in the flour mixture in 3 small additions, scraping the sides of the bowl after each one. Slowly beat in the rice cereal, coconut, and oats. Fold in the toffee bits and refrigerate the dough, covered, for 1 hour.<br /><br />Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.<br /><br />Drop rounded tablespoons of dough on 2 cookie sheets, leaving at least 1-inch of space around each drop. Bake until the cookies are golden around the edges, 12 to 14 minutes. Transfer the cookies to wire racks to cool.<br /><br />Makes approximately 60 cookies. <i>Mine made 74. </i><br /><br /><i>Note: If you Google this recipe, the one shown on <a href="http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/paula-deen/meemaws-kitchen-sink-christmas-cookies-recipe/index.html">Foodnetwork.com</a> is slightly different.  That one shows them dipped in chocolate sprinkled with crushed candy canes, which sound amazing, but this was not how it was published in the cookbook.</i>

Deen Family Cookbook Paula Deen Weight Watcher Recipes Deen Family Cookbook: Meemaw's Kitchen Sink Christmas Cookies

As you'll soon find out, these cookies had a ton of ingredients in them, making the taste oh-so-delicious.  The resulting texture of the...

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BULLSH*T THE DIET INDUSTRY TELLS YOU AND WHY YOU’RE STILL FAT

<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Look at all the gadgets, products, and weird diets we’ve wasted our money on because their advertisements said we’d lose weight. So far, how successful has the diet industry been at doing what they say? Has the hundreds of billions of dollars Americans spend every year made us the leanest, slimmest country in the worLd? Not yet. No matter how gimmicky the diet seems, if the website says it works, we’ll buy it. Proclaiming “weight-loss” is a cash cow! Why do we continue to believe their billshi*t?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">It’s amazing how Americans spend the most money on food and have the most gluttonous culture, but yet we spend the most money trying not to eat any of it, and we’re still the fattest society on the planet. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">We’re so side-tracked by the diet industry telling us we need to lose weight, that we skip the part where we are individually accountable: excessive eating as the norm. We pay them, temporarily submit to eating less, but only because we want to lose weight. When the weight isn’t lost fast enough, restricting food isn’t worth it any more. Sound familiar? </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">READ THE "WHY WEIGHTING SUCKS" BLOG NEXT</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Let’s get real. The problem is that our culture loves to eat emotionally and excessively as the norm and until we change this, we will continue to have growth in the obesity epidemic (no matter how much money we continue to waste on diets). The diet industry makes billions duping you into believing the only reason to eat less is to lose weight. That’s why weight is the foundation of how they measure success. They give you a temporary system that controls how you eat less and you pay them for it. YOU PAY TO EAT LESS.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">This ploy keeps you from changing your personal desires to eat that have nothing to do with body fat and everything to do with emotions and cultural behavior. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This keeps your focus on their diet plan, gives them credit if you do lose weight, and makes you believe your body must have some sort of flaw when you go back to eating with our gluttonous culture and gain back the fat. Thus, you pay more and more and more until you realize their plan sucks. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">The diet industry is an enabler, and you are now co-dependent. Why would they want you to eat less without them? If that was the case you wouldn’t have a weight problem and you wouldn’t want to pay or think you needed help. Instead they teach you there are secrets to losing weight. Secrets you need to pay for in order to lose fat, because fat is a mysterious growth. Fat is a plague and you need their secret remedy in order to remove it. BULLSH*T!!!</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Here is an easy way to see how messed up this dysfunctional co-dependency with the diet industry is. Let’s say there was something cataclysmic that happens that completely obliterates our access to food.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>How would you eat? </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">In this situation you’d have to ration the food you have for as long as possible. Would you eat when you were bored? Would you eat without hunger? Would you eat until you were full? Would you refuse certain food because it’s “bad” for you? No, no, no and no. Eating without hunger doesn’t make instinctual survival sense. If you were to limit eating to only when you experience true hunger, and only ate when hunger is tolerably removed, wouldn’t you lose weight easily (eating whatever you want)? Why wait for cataclysm? If our entire culture did this as the norm, obesity would be something we rarely see, the diet industry that has failed us so miserable would go away, the pharmaceutical industry would reduce to less than 90%, etc., etc., etc. You get the gist. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Eating emotionally and excessively is a cultural norm and is somehow excusable and accepted. Haven’t you excused yourself from a diet because of some form of stress or social engagement, believing emotional eating is justified and “normal”? Diets will never market solutions for emotional eating because if you stop, you’d never have a fat problem. Also, they wouldn’t make any money because you’d never pay for something you don’t want. Our culture loves eating to gratify emotions, but we detest the physical outcome. Therefore, you temporarily submit to the diet and obsessively monitor fat loss. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Why do diets suck and why are you fat? Because you have never been held accountable to change your desires to eat that have nothing to do with physical hunger.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>Either you’ve never recognized that as the problem, or you don’t want to. No matter how much fat you lose with any short-lived diet, until you create a desire to eat less, you might as well accept obesity as the outcome. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">In short, the focus on weight by the diet industry is the foundation for why they never work. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Until we stop believing that eating is emotionally rewarding, you’ll always feel deprived by diets and <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>you’ll always believe that weight-loss is the only reason to eat less. In other words, you should want to eat less whether you lose weight or not. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><a href="http://www.mindbodyhcg.com/">http://www.mindbodyhcg.com/</a></span></div>

BULLSH*T THE DIET INDUSTRY TELLS YOU AND WHY YOU’RE STILL FAT

Look at all the gadgets, products, and weird diets we’ve wasted our money on because their advertisements said we’d lose weight. So far, how...

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BHG Fudgy Cappuccino Crinkles

These Fudgy Cappuccino Crinkles are very similar to your typical chocolate crinkle cookies, except with a hint of coffee taste.  I'm not a huge fan of coffee, but I did love these - the taste was so subtle. <i><b> </b></i><br /><i><b><br /></b></i><br />The cookies come out similar to the photo below should you choose to use powdered sugar.<br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://tinyjoys.files.wordpress.com/2008/12/crink.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="280" src="http://tinyjoys.files.wordpress.com/2008/12/crink.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Not my picture, because I totally forgot to take one!  <a href="http://tinyjoys.files.wordpress.com/">Source</a>.</td></tr></tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51D79NCV4VL._SL500_AA300_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51D79NCV4VL._SL500_AA300_.jpg" /></a></div><br /><u><b>Better Homes & Gardens: Fudgy Cappuccino Crinkles</b></u><i><b> (1 Points+ for one cookie)</b></i><br /><i><b>Ingredients: </b></i><br />-1/3 cup butter, softened (no substitutes)<br />-1 cup packed brown sugar<br />-2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder<br />-1 tablespoon instant coffee granules<br />-1 teaspoon baking soda<br />-1 teaspoon ground cinnamon<br />-2 egg whites<br />-1/3 cup vanilla yogurt<br />-1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour<br />-1/4 - 1/2 cup granulated sugar or powdered sugar<br /><br /><br /><i><b>Directions:</b></i><br />Beat butter in a large mixing bowl with an electric mixer on medium to high speed for 30 seconds. Add the brown sugar, cocoa powder, coffee granules, baking soda, and cinnamon.  Beat until combined, scraping sides of the bowl occasionally.<br /><br />Beat in egg whites and yogurt until combined.  Beat in as much of the flour as you can with the mixer.  Stir in remaining flour with a wooden spoon.  Refrigerate dough for at least 3 hours.<br /><br />Heat oven to 350 degrees F. <br /><br />Place granulated sugar/sifted powdered sugar in a small bowl.  Drop dough by heaping teaspoons into sugar and roll into balls.<br /><br />Place balls 2 inches apart on a lightly greased cookie sheet. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes or until edges are firm.<br /><br />Transfer cookies to wire racks and cool.<br /><br />Makes approximately 40 cookies, though mine made more, making them 1 Points+ each.

Better Homes and Gardens Breast Cancer Cookbook Weight Watcher Recipes BHG Fudgy Cappuccino Crinkles

These Fudgy Cappuccino Crinkles are very similar to your typical chocolate crinkle cookies, except with a hint of coffee taste.  I'm not...

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HCG BUSINESS'S LOOP HOLE AROUND THE FDA AND FTC

<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: "Cambria Math", "serif";">The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Federal Trade Commission (FTC) just announced there will be penalty for selling “homeopathic” HCG products online and in retail outlets, as oral drops pellets, and sprays. Why? Because of unsupported claims made and marketed by hCG diet businesses. Their biggest problem isn’t the hCG but rather the claims that hCG induces weight loss. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: "Cambria Math", "serif";">They believe weight lost is not due to the hCG but because of the very low calorie diet the protocol suggests. In the press release David Vladick, the director of the FTC’s Beureau of Consumer Protection, says, “Deceptive advertising about weight loss products is one of the most prevalent types of fraud.” <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">It is the scam-like advertising they disapprove of. </i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Cambria Math", "serif";">Click here to read their news release: <a href="http://www.fda.gov/Drugs/ResourcesForYou/Consumers/BuyingUsingMedicineSafely/MedicationHealthFraud/ucm282465.htm">http://www.fda.gov/Drugs/ResourcesForYou/Consumers/BuyingUsingMedicineSafely/MedicationHealthFraud/ucm282465.htm</a></span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: "Cambria Math", "serif";">Can any of you argue the diet industry has been the biggest fraud? How many of you have spent thousands and thousands of your hard earned money on products that claim you will lose weight, have leaner bodies, and will look like the model selling it, without results? The hCG protocol has become huge business and I can see why there are red flags, especially when hCG businesses are claiming weight loss in excess of 30 pounds in less than 40 days. Seriously, didn’t you think the hCG protocol sounded like a scam when you first heard these types of claims? They sound ridiculous especially when the business implies there is no personal responsibly or need for change to the way you eat regularly. But, once you’ve done the protocol, skepticism turns into converted believer. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: "Cambria Math", "serif";">What weight-loss business (that has integrity and has your long term health in their best interest) would advertise this way? None. So I don’t blame the FDA and FTC for being so harsh and skeptical. However, the only way to get their attention and to let them know this is a consumer driven product is to switch things up. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The hCG protocol industry needs to completely change the way they are selling the product</i> s. We need to change our claims to something the FDA would have to do further research to disprove. And better, let’s claim something that has integrity so they look bad by disproving it. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: "Cambria Math", "serif";">Here’s the loop-hole: HCG protocol businesses need to abruptly change the way they advertise. Remove all ads that claim weight-loss and instead, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">claim the hCG protocol will help you learn to eat less. </i>How could anyone argue with this statement? The obvious long term result of weight-loss doesn’t need to be the center of attention. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">As the consumer, you can blog, discuss, post, and say anything you want about how much weight you’ve lost</i>. Weight-loss <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">as a result of eating less</i> is something the FDA cannot stop the consumer from claiming.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: "Cambria Math", "serif";">In short:  Businesses advertise eating less. Consumers post their incredible results.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: "Cambria Math", "serif";">The diet industry is ruthless and there are thousands of books, products, and services that have been making the same superficial claims for decades. In order for the hCG protocol to stand out we need to take a very different approach. Let’s market it in a way that the FDA will have difficulty proving us wrong. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: "Cambria Math", "serif";">Yes, the hCG protocol helps you eat less. It will change the way you eat so that you never go back to the dysfunctional eating that caused your fat gain in the first place. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Let’s make the protocol a way to change our gluttonous culture. The hCG protocol is an emotional eating rehab. This is a cause and a claim the FDA will want us to continue. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: "Cambria Math", "serif";">If you want to take control back, we need to act fast.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>Post this to every hCG site you can and hope things change quickly. Find out more about the author at <a href="http://www.mindbodyhcg.com/">http://www.mindbodyhcg.com/</a> </span></div>

HCG BUSINESS'S LOOP HOLE AROUND THE FDA AND FTC

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Federal Trade Commission (FTC) just announced there will be penalty for selling “homeopathic” HCG...

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tied up with a bow

I took advantage of a morning full of holiday spirt (you gotta feel Christmasy after spending a morning with Santa and his elves) to tackle my mantel before I thought too much about it and psyched myself out. I found my inspiration and got an idea.<br /><br />I'll make all those hurricanes I have stashed in the basement useful and <strike>stick</strike> artfully arrange Christmas lights in there and make those suckers glow. But my big honkin strands of lights we use on the tree were not fitting into my little hurricanes.<br /><br />One trip to Hobby Lobby later and I had 4 boxes of the shortest strand of lights I could find - a white string of 25 for $1.99. Wahoo.<br /><br /><i>Lazy note/sign of a faux crafter</i>: There are serval tips on Pinterest about how to drill a hole in your glass to get the strand to feed thru the bottom so the cord doesn't show etc. However I'm of the opinion that if you are standing close enough to my mantel that you see little white cords popping from the top/back of my hurricanes and this horrifies you, you have yet to have enough cocktails. Sit down, I'll shake you another drink.<br /><br />So with my hurricanes all light up I started to play with my <a href="http://news-these-days.blogspot.com/2011/11/who-doesnt-want-to-wear-ribbon.html" target="_blank">ribbon</a>. Tie it around the hurricane? Boring. Wrap it? Not without my glue gun. String it from the... huh? Yeah no, not working.<br /><br />It was about this time that I had to run some errands and being the excellent example and Mom that I am, I of course neatly organized and cleaned up my project before I left. Yeah right. When I came back though, I saw my 'clean up' stuffed in the hurricanes and thought, you know what, that doesn't look half bad. With a little fluff here and there, I ended up with this. (Sometimes a haphazard clean up pays off)<br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiq_DPpTQzs6D6tQnZrLVHSVlN2MVQIJyQXL5ug45hu4psIqPzj9wt4Eai-zIpUCzhwzizY1m9XU0DnXPgTBZj9qPKHhF6xHl8lMUdWlZ-QJp0Cr0HAARcet6hv0n-SeFjAaUUz-RMUqGVd/s1600/PC061701.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiq_DPpTQzs6D6tQnZrLVHSVlN2MVQIJyQXL5ug45hu4psIqPzj9wt4Eai-zIpUCzhwzizY1m9XU0DnXPgTBZj9qPKHhF6xHl8lMUdWlZ-QJp0Cr0HAARcet6hv0n-SeFjAaUUz-RMUqGVd/s640/PC061701.JPG" width="480" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">We call this casual ribbon placement</td></tr></tbody></table><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-Xhfc9VBEehNCWoVZi7b3H_jnm2e0GV1djddlnEAyNsyIu-b0tITJMP-mOYcfMJGpclpHP3qTXwdx3cGki1C-uBU_-_WAwv8JZrj9vZ0Vc3htadRpuDz_QNFfFVwfFKg3tQZloR-6PIuD/s1600/PC061709.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-Xhfc9VBEehNCWoVZi7b3H_jnm2e0GV1djddlnEAyNsyIu-b0tITJMP-mOYcfMJGpclpHP3qTXwdx3cGki1C-uBU_-_WAwv8JZrj9vZ0Vc3htadRpuDz_QNFfFVwfFKg3tQZloR-6PIuD/s640/PC061709.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">For shame - my cord!</td></tr></tbody></table>One piece down. A few more to go.<br /><br />I also wanted a bit of height and greenery. I'm not spending major duckets to pop those mamma jammas in front of my faux hearth. So I went with a scaled down version. And we will plant them in the backyard when we are done.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgY7CvhGJm0lMOv6vRefU3rJlRjF_WvNKdKcmFt0VmwKLET2Gov-Hxh6ZsfkqMVeGO6MqoZNW7NCW_6EBaYMXIgiZZx7-aEcfNyqJLTPtkxkr2vHW8WDayXiUNtZX06dyP-i5znf5bI1Peg/s1600/littleblackdoortreemantel.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgY7CvhGJm0lMOv6vRefU3rJlRjF_WvNKdKcmFt0VmwKLET2Gov-Hxh6ZsfkqMVeGO6MqoZNW7NCW_6EBaYMXIgiZZx7-aEcfNyqJLTPtkxkr2vHW8WDayXiUNtZX06dyP-i5znf5bI1Peg/s640/littleblackdoortreemantel.JPG" width="480" /></a></div><br /><br />I was feelin good, feelin pumped.  But that big black hole was sucking all the festiveness out of my progress.<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibFi_eLGponQf3quZmlW9G2cdpviRHddQcliTbYNLqg6rEwqQx3eXkfmtgZGV-nPdRLHK3jg9ne44MvrwOE8bW-tv7wfBcGcyinXGOHJvYyYJn_vFOrn90BYUag8wIkALn9GIhG0tADBNP/s1600/PC061685.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibFi_eLGponQf3quZmlW9G2cdpviRHddQcliTbYNLqg6rEwqQx3eXkfmtgZGV-nPdRLHK3jg9ne44MvrwOE8bW-tv7wfBcGcyinXGOHJvYyYJn_vFOrn90BYUag8wIkALn9GIhG0tADBNP/s640/PC061685.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTlc1ZK4nN7T-djnU83y5Sojzh6ho8_sfrOgDW5xkr-_T1mzPAlJz56L58u6eoBE6jNaXBLCdqj2eJQLf794hyphenhyphenB1lhK4L38sLz6az3TE-GI-zG5S42v5J53SXTOQxjC0dRVl19YF3ECuHm/s1600/littleblackdoorchristmasmantel.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTlc1ZK4nN7T-djnU83y5Sojzh6ho8_sfrOgDW5xkr-_T1mzPAlJz56L58u6eoBE6jNaXBLCdqj2eJQLf794hyphenhyphenB1lhK4L38sLz6az3TE-GI-zG5S42v5J53SXTOQxjC0dRVl19YF3ECuHm/s640/littleblackdoorchristmasmantel.JPG" width="480" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">how <i>DO</i> you take a picture of a mirror without yourself smack in the middle?</td></tr></tbody></table><br />I love this idea (if only my fireplace worked I would be all over some red wood).<br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="Great way to fill in the dead space in my fireplace. http://decorartsnow.com/2011/11/09/november-9-2011-store-tour-c-wonder-ful/" height="320" src="http://media-cdn.pinterest.com/upload/6896205649022807_cOFRPMGw_b.jpg" style="height: 241px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="253" /></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div id="PinActionButtons"><div class="colorlight" id="PinSource">From <a href="http://decorartsnow.com/2011/11/09/november-9-2011-store-tour-c-wonder-ful/" target="_blank">decorartsnow.com</a></div></div></td></tr></tbody></table><a class="PinImage ImgLink" href="http://pinterest.com/pin/6896205649022807/"> </a><br />So a few snips of wrapping paper and here we are. Thanks Target for making wrapping paper that satisfies my red addiction and my polka dot addiction all in one. And it sparkles too.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoYuU-af2VgvxYjEh_Cnp2sK9byVR5qdmfFpMGLE1nI6Gxvl7vtyrMRPJHW6JlcALPpEdg4Z_Rd6UyjN4Fu_ET4BwN74Te-wQiMgvYsZqNCzcgjlNpB8c3h11ClskNbrrCvGeGzidt1KSU/s1600/littleblackdoorwrappingpapermantel.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoYuU-af2VgvxYjEh_Cnp2sK9byVR5qdmfFpMGLE1nI6Gxvl7vtyrMRPJHW6JlcALPpEdg4Z_Rd6UyjN4Fu_ET4BwN74Te-wQiMgvYsZqNCzcgjlNpB8c3h11ClskNbrrCvGeGzidt1KSU/s640/littleblackdoorwrappingpapermantel.JPG" width="480" /></a></div><br />Ewww. Ahhh. Ohhh.<br /><br />So there you have it. (I'll try to take some more moody night time lights pictures if I can figure out the while balance on my camera.) The mantel is done and I'm ready to move on to the tree. <br /><br />What have you done with your mantel? Do you have trouble getting your stockings to stay in place with little hands around? (we've had to take our down until the big night) Any holiday decorations you are excited about? It can't be just me people. C'mon!<br /><div class="ImgLink" id="PinImage"></div>

tied up with a bow

I took advantage of a morning full of holiday spirt (you gotta feel Christmasy after spending a morning with Santa and his elves) to tackle ...

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