text:
Credit risks and market risks

Mohan Manohar January 28, 2013
0 people like this post

Banks face three major types of risks: Credit Risk, Market Risk and Operational Risk.

1. Credit Risk (CR)

Banks are in the business of accepting deposits and lending: they operate mainly with depositors’ funds.  Unfortunately, not all the monies lent, and the interest due thereon, is recovered. The borrower may default in his obligations to pay periodic interest or the principal sum or both as per the terms and conditions governing the loan due to occurrence of one or more of credit loss events e.g. he may suffer loss in business and become bankrupt or he may simply refuse to pay. The banks’ actual returns on their average outstandings in the loan book, almost always, turn out to be lower than the contractual rates applicable thereon. Banks are also required to periodically write off loss assets or accept less than 100% of the money lent or interest accrued thereon as part of a compromise deal. The interest actually collected is thus required   to be adjusted to absorb losses incurred in the shape of loan write offs   to calculate Risk Adjusted Return on Capital (RAROC). Needless to mention, if a bank’s portfolio of loan assets contains a high percentage of NPAs, it cannot earn enough interest to meet its costs of operations including write offs; it may also not be in a position to meet its obligation to its depositors. Hence, much attention is being given to management of Credit Risk. The concept of RAROC, i.e. Risk Adjusted Return on Capital highlights this aspect and helps bankers price their loan products appropriately, based on past loan loss data, so that they can earn enough interest to take care of the expected delinquencies.

Apart from transaction risk or the risk of default as described above, credit risk may also arise due to high exposure levels or concentration of a particular business activity in the loan portfolio or severe debilitating impact of area-specific developments on a concentration of a particular type of industry in a geographical location, or simply the failure of the counter-party to fulfil its part of a trade transaction because of adverse changes or non-materialisation of the assumptions made by at the time of entering into the deal.

Conventional CR control measures include sound and scientific appraisal and assessment techniques, including fixing of individual and group exposure limits, as well as proper post-sanction follow up. Banks regularly use Financial Analysis and Credit Rating Models, or the more sophisticated Credit Scoring Models to take a credit decision such as how much exposure they will be willing to take on a particular firm/group or in a particular industry/business. Banks also prefer to have standard Credit Risk mitigating measures in place e.g. Credit Enhancement in the form of institutional or personal or third party guarantees, mortgages, charge on inventory, receivables and machinery etc., as well as pledge of securities, shares and other valuable assets. The feeling of being a secured creditor lends comfort and forms an important part of the conventional CR management. Similarly, creation of Trust and Retention Accounts, as part of an Escrow Mechanism, provides some degree of comfort in revenue earning infrastructure project.

We are now increasingly hearing of the use of hedging techniques like Credit Derivatives where returns on loans or the value of advances or both are being guaranteed by a third party for a fee. Interestingly, some of these products display the characteristics of Asset Securitisation in offering the facility of “Off – Balance Sheet Financing” thereby helping in reducing the need for economic capital.

Banks have to apply specific risk weights to different categories of risky assets to calculate the needed amount of risk capital to meet Basel Committee norms on Capital Adequacy. The CAR (Capital Adequacy Ratio) acts as a limiting factor for the size of Balance Sheet, preventing a bank from acquiring too high a portfolio of assets without adequate risk capital. This, however, in no way reduces the need to take extra-ordinary care while sanctioning and handling new loans.

2. Market Risks (MR)

Market Risk may be defined as the possibility of loss to a bank caused by the volatility in market variables.  MR covers the interest rate risk, exchange fluctuation risk, equity price risk and commodity price risk. Banks also usually include Liquidity Risk in Market Risk, because liquidity is essential to manage Market Risk.

In the course of their normal business, bankers sometimes become holders for value in respect of valuables like foreign exchange, securities (stock), commodities or goods, or futures therein. Bankers also sometimes acquire positions to engage in what is known as proprietary trading. The market value of these assets experience volatility, sometimes very wild volatility, which may bring in a large bonus, in the shape of a huge windfall. However, even if such acquisitions are made after scientific appraisals, predictions sometimes do go awry, leading to unexpected fall in the value of the assets held.  The larger the value of such assets and the greater the observed volatility therein, greater is the Market Risk embedded in the balance sheet. Forex dealers avoid such risks by keeping nil or minimal open positions in foreign currency and by obtaining forward cover. Dealers dispose of securities, wherever possible, by keeping track of expected movements and by implementing cut loss limits.

Interest Rate Risk is a part of every banker’s regular worry. The PLR, on the basis of which the rates charged to borrowers is usually fixed, is normally aligned to the Bank Rate, whereas the deposits may be repriced on the maturity dates based on LIBOR or MIBOR. This approach of adopting different bases for deposits and advances gives rise to Basis Risk. In the case of a fixed interest rate contract, interest on the existing deposits is paid at the contractual rate for the term of the deposit even if the rate falls and banks have no option to force either pre-mature repayment or reduce the interest rate. On the asset side, in the case of a fixed interest rate loan, borrowers demand a rate cut in a falling interest rate scenario; else they may shift to another bank if there are no significant pre-payment penalties. Thus, the average cost of deposits falls much more slowly whereas interest earnings on loans start falling immediately on the announcement of a rate cut, thereby affecting Net Interest Margin. The risk of loss of earnings on account of the option of pre-mature termination of contract being with the depositors or borrowers is called the Embedded Options risk. The banks may hedge this form of interest rate risk by swapping, say, fixed rate loans with floating rate loans, to reduce the volatility in their earnings.

Another less appreciated impact comes from the inverse relationship between interest rates and the value of portfolio investment. When the market rate of interest falls, the sale value of fixed coupon securities in the portfolio goes up, representing capital gain. Since banks in India usually invest almost 50% of their funds in Government securities, they rake in the moolah when the interest rates move southward, but they have to be aware of the catastrophic impact on their profit and loss account in the event of interest rates hardening. Banks employ several risk indicators including Value at Risk (VaR), which indicates the downside risk in the event of interest rates going up by 1%.

Liquidity Risk arises in a situation where a bank is likely to be short of liquid funds at a critical juncture, to meet its maturing obligations or expected/ unexpected demands from the public for cash or to meet its CRR obligations. Liquidity Risk may have serious implications. Those who do not have the needed liquidity because their funds are locked in illiquid assets, which can be converted into cash only at a considerable loss, find themselves in a quandary when market offers wonderful money making opportunities.

Much of the ALCO’s time goes into liquidity planning, setting guidelines on the basis of “ GAP “ analysis in regard to acceptable risk parameters (which affect the ultimate size and composition of the bank’s balance sheet) as well as the maturity structure of assets and liabilities, and whether the bank should go in for interest rate swaps, and also whether it should consider “off-balance sheet” financing to reduce the need for economic capital. Decisions on pricing of all deregulated products – both deposits and loans, is the prerogative of the ALCO.

The Basle Committee has proposed, in its 3-pillar approach for Risk Management, that risk capital for Market Risk should be separately provided for.

  • 0
  • 70
Mohan Manohar

Mohan Manohar is a blogger from India who founded Ittech back in 2007. He is passionate about all things tech and knows the Internet and computers like the back of his hand.

Leave your comment

%d bloggers like this:


Content-Type: application/http; msgtype=response

WARC-Identified-Payload-Type: text/html

WARC-Truncated: length

WARC-Type: response

text:
Tag Archives: hope

Atumnal Musings on Serenity, Politics and the Future

On this glorious October day I walked down to Lake Pontoosuc and sat in the Donut Man’s gazebo as the sun started dying over the hills to the west. The wind turbines spun hypnotically, the tiny indigo waves annihilated each other. It was serene.

The words came back to me: Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference. Serenity. I find it difficult to come by today.

Okay—accept the things I cannot change. Governor Romney may be elected President. If that happens, there’s nothing I can do about it. But I fear for my country should that come to pass. I fear for the vulnerable millions who will walk the wire without a net. I fear for the thousands of young people who will suffer and perhaps die when the saber rattling isn’t enough. I fear for the women whose ability to decide their own course of health treatment will be taken away. And I fear for the land itself that will be harmed when regulation is abolished.

I don’t fear for myself. I’m sixty eight years old. Barring a true cataclysm, like bloody revolution or all-out nuclear war, I’ll probably be fine. But the generations that follow, whose education will be compromised, whose health care will become so expensive that only a handful can afford it, whose dreams will never be fulfilled—they won’t be fine.

Which brings us to the things I might be able to change. I truly believe that this dismal future may be averted if President Obama is reelected. I can do a little to try to bring that about. I’ve already given quite a lot of money to the Democratic campaign. I can also talk to friends and acquaintances, in fact anyone who will listen, to try to persuade them of my view. I don’t have the physical strength to go door to door, as I did four years ago, so I’ll have to settle for talking to people nearby.

Risking confrontation takes courage. But it’s worth it if we can keep the conversation civil. That sort of give and take is another thing that seems to be in short supply today.

It also takes courage to throw off this gloomy, dystopic view of the future and once again invest in the belief that this country will not just survive, but thrive. That it will become great again, not as a superpower, but as a beacon. Because we are a heterogeneous population, we are uniquely able to show that people can coexist in mutual respect.

With that vision overlaid on the lake, the hills and the turbines, I find serenity. I can’t achieve it by myself, but I can believe in its existence.

For now, that’s enough.

1 Comment

Filed under Uncategorized

warcinfo:
robots: classic
hostname: ip-10-148-41-166.ec2.internal
software: Nutch 1.6 (CC)
isPartOf: CC-MAIN-2017-30
operator: Common Crawl Admin
description: Wide crawl of the web for July 2017
publisher: Common Crawl
format: WARC File Format 1.0
conformsTo: http://bibnum.bnf.fr/WARC/WARC_ISO_28500_version1_latestdraft.pdf


WARC-Identified-Payload-Type: application/xhtml+xml

text:
Back To Normal

Tuesday, 1st April 2014 at 8:36 am 5 comments

Mr MB went back to work yesterday. The house is quiet, just the way I like it 😀 I DO like being out and about when he’s off work, I especially like visiting zoos and farms (have you noticed?!!) but it gets a bit manic when it’s every day. There’s no time to sit and crochet or read, the garden is neglected and the house gets in a mess. I don’t like doing housework much, but I can’t relax when it’s not done. So I whizzed around yesterday, tidying and cleaning.

It’s now 8.30am, the manic morning rush is over – breakfasts eaten, tea and coffee drunk, flasks and travel mugs filled.  The chickens have been let out for the day and Maisie has been given her antibiotics (egg problems and a swollen tummy). The humans have gone to work and the chickens are scratching around in the garden.  All I have to do is shower and get dressed. Then I’m going to think up some projects for this little lot.

Entry filed under: Yarn. Tags: .

Happy Things In March In The Greenhouses

5 Comments Add your own

  • 1. Nadine Roberts  |  Tuesday, 1st April 2014 at 12:08 pm

    I love the colors! Some times I just look at my yarn and then let my fingers tell me what to do.

    • 2. MollyBean  |  Thursday, 3rd April 2014 at 7:01 am

      I buy them just because I like them then have no idea what to make! My nan asked for a blanket – in colours I’m already using to make a blanket, so I’m still waiting for inspiration for everything else, lol

  • 3. lundygirl  |  Tuesday, 1st April 2014 at 10:30 pm

    I know what you mean about the housework – I can’t settle to do anything if my house isn’t more or less clean and tidy.

    • 4. MollyBean  |  Thursday, 3rd April 2014 at 7:09 am

      I wouldn’t mind if it was all my mess, but it isn’t! The MB family rush about getting ready for work then run out the door, I look around and see what they’ve left behind and just groan 😀

  • 5. thesewingwren  |  Monday, 14th April 2014 at 11:25 pm

    Oooo, love the basket of yarn, lovely colours…

Leave a Reply

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. Log Out / Change )

Twitter picture

You are commenting using your Twitter account. Log Out / Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. Log Out / Change )

Google+ photo

You are commenting using your Google+ account. Log Out / Change )

Connecting to %s

Trackback this post  |  Subscribe to the comments via RSS Feed

MollyBean on Facebook

Blog Stats

  • 7,009 hits

Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 116 other followers

April 2014
« Mar   May »

%d bloggers like this:


text:
Friday, June 06, 2008

Musing About Story

I was down in spirit and ranting last week. Vijaya, thanks for the encouragement. I have found that part of the journey is frustration. This week, I'm less weary but still feel that I really need a rest.

I had the chance to go to Eagle Rock School in Duvall. I had lots of fun with that. I'm always blown away by the hunger that children have to learn. They just soak up information.

I'm also reading Writing Down the Bones by Natalie Goldberg. This book is provocative, and I think it might help you find your original voice.

It's pouring down rain here today and it's cold. I find it hard to find summer fun in this dreary weather. It feels like a reflective day and that said I thought I would write an idea or two about story. I have always found a connection between story and music. I like books that are like symphonies with movements, phrases and crescendos.

There is a deep rhythm to stories, and in the end I think that they are driven by a need to let others know what has happened. If I don't like a story, it's because the author didn't dig deep enough. I want to feel the ancient rhythm of the beginning, middle and the end. I want to feel the happiness and the sadness. I want to know the hope and the despair. I want to reach beyond and dig deep within. My soul searches for this.

There is completing in me when I hear a good story. I usually know something about myself that I didn't know before. I'm more aware. Those connections that lead from one scene to the next - those connections bring sense to the senseless universe for me. I can tell this hunger for story dwells in many of us.

Many are hungry. Pick up your pen. Open your laptop. Let the next great story flow.

So my doodle of the week is TREES. Trees remind me of stories too.

©Molly Blaisdell, all rights reserved. If you want to use my cool doodles ask permission first. It is so wrong to take people's doodles without permisison!

I find the following very true:

Speak your truth quietly and clearly; and listen to others, even to the dull and the ignorant, they too have their story.

Max Ehrman

Alison Ashley Formento said...

I check your blog every so often. Your post are inspiring, and echo much of what so many writers feel—the ups and downs....

Thanks for sharing and all your wonderful posts.
Keep writing...

MollyMom103 said...

Hi Alison,

Glad you drop by. I hope that you keep writing too. I'm happy you've found some inspiration in my journey.

All best,

Joni said...

Hey Molly, I'll offer more encouragement and also point to one of your own posts to answer another one. I just finished a big day-job book that's largely about kaizen, and I agree with your observation that much of it applies to writing (and life). Two things: a kaizen principle is "fail forward fast" -- that is, it doesn't matter if what you're attempting isn't perfect, or fails outright; what matters is that you're attempting because that alone will ensure you are better and further along tomorrow than you are today. Second, kaizen embraces a passion for the process as the one and true enabler of the product; try to remember to enjoy -- I might even say wallow -- in the process as much as you can, (which I'm sure you do, since you say you'd write if you never got paid a penny), because in the end there's a lot of luck in this biz, and a lot of disappointment buried behind the accomplishments, and the process is ultimately all we can really control. Or enjoy. Hang in there! It's not okay to quit, but it IS okay to rest and regenerate for the next leg of the mountain climb.

Oh, and I might add, I have to keep reminding myself to appreciate the readers we already have -- crit group members DO count. Maybe it's just time to swap ms's with another writer (like me) who will just be a reader, without expectation of critiques. E-mail me if you want to do something like that. Like a journey that starts with a single step, an audience starts with a single reader.

Janet Lee Carey said...

Yes I hear the words as music too, Molly and was writing that very thing in my journal this morning. One of the reasons writing a good scene is so challenging is because it is symphonic -- so many instruments are playing all at once -- yet the words do not fall on the page simultaneously the way musical score can, they are put down one word at a time. We writers are challenged to capture the chaos of life through a single instrument (words) playing a liner tune (sentences). Oi!

I hope I'm making sense here.

Thanks for your thoughts on writing today, Molly.

Back to the book . . .


text:
Monday, November 19, 2012

RED PLANET MARS / Motion Picture Center Studios - 1952

It's Martian Monday with Tabonga, here at The Dungeon!.. What we gots is a well made movie that pits America against the USSR during the rise of the Cold War. It stars Peter Graves in his 7th film appearance with a great supporting cast and is fairly lengthy at 87 minutes.

Eegah!! has sent over a musical soundclip for our approval, sooooo, you can push the big red 'GO' button located next to the mini squid tank, NOW, Ralphie The Tarantula! Here's your audio taste of... RED PLANET MARS!

The complicated story starts like this... An American scientist, Peter Graves as Chris Cronyn, has contacted Mars by radio and is receiving information that Mars is a utopian world, also, Earth's people could be saved if they return to the worship of God.

There's doubt about the messages being genuine though, an ex-Nazi working for the Soviets claims he was duping the Americans with his own messages all along.

Marvin Miller plays Soviet chief Arjenian. Marvin has one of the very best narrator voices ever, we remember him as the voice of Robby The Robot in FORBIDDEN PLANET and THE INVISIBLE BOY and was John Beresford Tipton'S faithful assistant Michael Anthony in 206 episodes of THE MILLIONAIRE.

Chris goes to the military with the messages, that's Morris (FLIGHT TO MARS) Ankrum, then, Walter (THE NAVY vs THE NIGHT MONSTERS) Sande, Peter (IT CONQUERED THE WORLD) Graves and Andrea (BEAST WITH FIVE FINGERS) King in the scene.

How cool is that?!

Eegah!! and Tabonga! both grew up with Voice Of America just west of their village!

Lavish for 1952, a TV built into a fireplace trimmed with a picture frame.

As the Russians admire their giant posters of Lenin and Stalin, the building suddenly bursts into flames, a pretty clear sign that God was not siding with them!

The little Nazi creep shows up at the science lab and shoots up the place because he just can't deal with the truth!

We are left with a thoughful spiritual message from Mars, the planet!

Lacey said...

This is one of those 50s "anticommunist" films that pulls no punches. It has all the subtlety of a train wreck.

Even so, the acting is heavy handed, but still professional. I mean, given the material they were given. It also brings up some good questions about how our economy would react if we were told better, cheaper, ways were coming tomorrow.

RSA Online Now said...

I love 5's movies.

Monster Music

Monster Music
AAARRGGHHH!!!! Ya'll Come On Back Now, Y'Hear??


text:
My Nursing “Story”

My two children, now five and two, have never had a drop of formula. I am very proud of that fact. Before you roll your eyes and skip this entry because you think it is going to be a preachy testament to nursing, don’t, because this isn’t. Although it is what breasts are made for, and although it is perfectly natural to nurse, it is not always easy to do. We struggled with engorgement, mastitis, latching problems, biting problems, and a child with a “tight tongue.” I probably couldn’t have done it without the following: a supportive husband, my mother, prenatal nursing classes, two lactation consultants, my doula, the luxury of being a stay-at-home mom, and La Leche League.
My story begins while my first was still in the womb. I am the kind of person who needs to know anything and everything about something I’m doing. I was having a baby, so we took all the classes we could get our hands on. Evanston Northwestern Hospital (“ENH”) was fifteen minutes away. They offered baby care classes, a car seat class, CPR classes, prenatal exercise classes, and two levels of breastfeeding classes. My husband and I took them all (I excused him from the exercise classes). ENH offered two prenatal breastfeeding classes, a beginner and an advanced.

The very fact that ENH offered two levels of prenatal breastfeeding classes told us something right there — nursing is going to be challenging. The information was daunting. We learned about colostrum, low milk supply, engorgement, mastitis, sore nipples, thrush, how to evaluate the poopie, nursing positions, sleep patterns, inverted nipples, pumping products, bottle options, bottle nipple choices, bras, shields, supportive pillows, lotions, medications to avoid, the list goes on and on. We hardly knew anyone who enrolled in breastfeeding classes like these. We felt so prepared. We were not.n the hospital, my daughter, Eva, seemed to be nursing just fine. In fact, she liked to suck so much that I spent the night stretching my arm over the hospital bed into her crib so she could suck on my finger. When the pediatrician came to visit us, she told us that our daughter looked healthy. Before she left, she suggested, “If you want to supplement with formula, that’s just fine too.” I was shocked. It went against everything we had learned in our nursing classes. After all, giving a baby a bottle this early in the nursing stage would hurt my milk supply and would cause “nipple confusion.” We ignored her advice, after all, she wasn’t our preferred pediatrician, she was just someone we picked because she worked at Prentice where I gave birth.

Eva wanted to nurse all the time. My nipples were very sore, it was painful to nurse, and I was in tears. A day after we got home, we called the lactation consultant my doula recommended. She rushed right over and sat with me for an hour while I worked on getting Eva’s latch just right. To make matters worse, my milk hadn’t come in yet so Eva was starving. The lactation consultant’s scale revealed that Eva had lost more than the expected amount, which is typically ten percent of her body weight. Over the telephone, my nurse midwife said I should supplement right away. The lactation consultant suggested I keep on nursing Eva on demand and take a fenugreek herbal tincture (At the time, it was only available through the lactation consultant. Today, it can be found at Whole Foods, among other places).
I was torn and confused. I didn’t know what to do. Supplement or keep nursing? Between sobs to my mother on the telephone, she offered me her sage advice, “Follow your instincts.” I’ll never forget those words. They still guide me as I parent today.

The tincture worked! My milk came in just six hours later and there was plenty of it. The latch problems continued, however, and my loving husband spent many hours on the couch with Eva and me, helping me hold her chin down and quickly push her face in to my breast. Lansinoh cream applied after every feeding helped my raw nipples heal (watch out, it stains!) When Eva was just two weeks old, we made a quick trip to our first local La Leche League meeting where the leaders took the time to help me with my hold and give me a few more pointers on getting a good latch. Eventually, we got it right. Thankfully, she became a wonderful eater and sleeper. We were so lucky our hard work paid off.

I had my share of engorged breasts and one bout of mastitis that left me with a fever and flu-like symptoms. Eva was thriving, but she constantly wanted to suck on something. We were thrilled when the lactation consultant gave us the go ahead to introduce a pacifier after the fourth week. She loved her pacifier until she found her thumb. At five, she still sucks her thumb.

Nursing seemed to go just fine until she got a few teeth. At ten months, she began biting me. She thought my screams were amusing. The last straw was when she bit me so hard, I was bleeding! I called the lactation consultant. She gave me the most ridiculous advice, “Just reason with her. Tell Eva that it hurts Mommy when she bites.” “Um, she’s ten months old, do you really think I can reason with her?” I inquired. “Oh, you’d be surprised what she can understand.” I hung up the telephone. In my opinion, there was just no “reasoning” with a baby, especially one who thought it was funny to hear her mommy screech in pain. I called the pediatrician. The nurse who answered was very sympathetic and agreed that it was silly to try to reason with a ten-month-old. She recommended I try a nipple shield to protect my wounded breast. In those days, nipple shields were only available from a lactation consultant. I got one, but Eva wouldn’t go near it.

Finally, it was a La Leche League leader who gave me the best advice. She told me three things: 1) Try not to react because she may be doing it to get a response, 2) if she clamps down, push her face toward the breast so that she has to let go to breathe, 3) if she bites, stop nursing and explain to her there will be no nursing if she bites. I don’t remember how many more tries it took us, but she eventually stopped biting.

My son, who is still happily nursing today at twenty-nine months, owes his success to a different La Leche League leader. Charlie, like Eva, wanted to nurse all the time. My milk came in much sooner, which is common for the second baby. I helped it along a bit by taking the fenugreek tincture in the hospital as soon as Charlie was born. After we came home from the hospital, in addition to jaundice, we were struggling with a unique problem. Charlie would latch on, take a few sips, fall off the latch and cry at my breast. Telephone calls to two different lactation consultants didn’t help. A trip to the pediatrician didn’t help. Finally, I went to a La Leche League meeting. We stumped all three leaders as they watched Charlie nurse and cry.

One of the leaders worked with me on my hold. Charlie needed me to hold my breast up to him with one hand, while I held him with the other. This helped a bit, but we could tell he was still struggling. The leader got out a huge book and began leafing through it. She asked me whether I thought his tongue looked short. “Come to think of it, he never sticks his tongue out much farther than his own lips.” I replied. The leader suggested he may have a tight frendulum. The frendulum is the strip of skin just under the tongue. This is where the expression “tongue tied” comes from. The leader suggested I discuss this with the pediatrician.

The pediatrician looked at Charlie’s tongue and agreed he needed his frendulum cut. She referred me to a pediatric oral surgeon. A dab of numbing cream and a quick snip later, Charlie’s tongue was no longer “tight.” I nursed him immediately following the snip while the doctor explained that we were very lucky to be able to do the procedure now. He sees many children whose parents don’t realize they need their frendulum cut until their children are struggling with a speech impediment. Surgery on these older children is not a simple in-office procedure like Charlie’s. Although I still need to hold my breast up to Charlie’s mouth, his longer tongue has helped him to nurse like a champ

Today, Charlie and I face another problem — ignorance. He is a nursing toddler over the age of two, and many people fail to understand why I “allow” him to continue with it. Family members (not my husband), friends, and even strangers ask me, “How long do you plan to let him do that?” As if “that” were not a positive thing.  I tell everyone that it is his decision. He will tell anyone who asks that he loves “Mommy’s milk” and that it is “delicious.” Believe me, I’m ready for it to end, I just want it to be his decision. Furthermore, the World Health Organization recommends that children nurse “for up to two years of age or beyond”. These days, I don’t need breastfeeding advice, but Charlie and I will go to La Leche League meetings just so I can feel “normal” and accepted among other mothers nursing their toddlers.
Why am I telling the public my nursing sagas? I want others to know that, for most of us, nursing does not come easily, but there are many different ways to get help. I doubt I could have or would have stuck with it if I did not have the support and the resources to get help (Although I subsequently joined La Leche League, they assist any nursing mom for free!). Furthermore, I doubt I would have nursed so long had I been a working mom. Indeed, finding a time and a place to pump breastmilk at the workplace continues to be a problem. Ah, but this is an entry for another day 🙂

7 Responses to “My Nursing “Story””

  1. Adventures In Babywearing Says:

    This was a great story to read. All three of my boys also never had a drop of formula or even drank from a bottle- I never did have a pump and never seemed to think I needed one. But, like you said, it’s not to say that nursing was just easy peasy. But it was and still is so worth it! I need to make more of an effort to attend LLL meetings! That’s on my New Year’s resolution list!!

  2. westwardbound Says:

    Thanks for sharing! I’m nearly 18 months in with nursing my son and, although I want to night wean, I’m all for going until he’s at least 2. I also was shocked at how difficult nursing was (no formula for him either), and I felt “prepared.” Ha.

  3. trixfiend Says:

    Thanks for sharing your story. I nursed my daughter exclusively until she was 6 months (thanks to a good breast pump while I was at work) and my overtime tax season hours started…then I switched to nursing in the evenings until she was 14- months old. I was amazed at the difficulties I encountered (i.e., engorgement, mastitis, cracks) but it was absolutely worth it for me. We were lucky to have enough frozen milk so that we never had to buy formula…though she did have formula during the day at daycare after she was 6 months old.

  4. Weaning Cold Turkey « Moody Mommy (PMDD made me do it) Says:

    […] never wanted it to go this way, but I cut Charlie off cold turkey. Our nursing relationship began like any other, with a few glitches along the way. He nursed exclusively for six months, then […]

  5. honey Says:

    hi i have pmdd and was wondering how pregnacy and breast feeding helped with severe symptoms or not?

  6. moodymommy Says:

    Honey, Wow, that is a very good question. I wish I could answer you. I wasn’t diagnosed with PMDD before my last child. The fact is, as long as you don’t have your period (obviously not during pregnancy and for much of the time as you are nursing exclusively) you are probably safe from PMDD symptoms. The best thing to do is discuss this with a doctor who really knows about PMDD. When I got pregnant the last time, (it resulted in a miscarriage early on) I was determined to go off the Zoloft because it has recently been determined that it is not good for the fetus. Good luck to you. Sophia Leto (a.k.a. Moody Mommy)

  7. Heartburn Home Remedy Says:

    I follow your posts for quite a long time and must tell that your posts always prove to be of a high value and quality for readers.

Leave a Reply

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in: Logo

You are commenting using your account. Log Out / Change )

Twitter picture

You are commenting using your Twitter account. Log Out / Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. Log Out / Change )

Google+ photo

You are commenting using your Google+ account. Log Out / Change )

Connecting to %s

%d bloggers like this:


text:
What’s in the Share?

This week’s farm share is posted on the What’s in the Share page along with some tasty recipes.

This week we are mulching strawberries, zucchini, cucumbers and tomatoes. We place mulch straw on the ground around these crops to protect keep the weeds down, the soil moisture up and the veggies clean. If you’d like to lend a hand, drop by the farm after lunch and come find us in the field. We’ll be easy to spot as we will be surrounded by bales of straw!

This entry was posted in Uncategorized and tagged . Bookmark the permalink.


text:
#whatiatemonday | Vegetable Fajitas

This past week, the favorite Instagram post from my #whatiatemonday series was a tie between Vegetable Fajitas and a Green Smoothie. I’ve talked about green smoothies before, so I decided to share a recipe for Vegetable Fajitas. veggie fajita dinner

I reserve two dinners a week as meatless meals, this means that I have really been stepping out of my box for dinners. A couple of months ago, I made fajita vegetables for a burrito bowl. I was rooting through my fridge, saw some tortillas and it hit me, Vegetable Fajitas!!! Well let me say, I haven’t looked back! This delicious treat is a hit not just for me, but for the man in my life as well. fajita veggies

I love to pair a colorful assortment of fajita vegetables with well seasoned beans for a filling delicious treat. I also love pickled jalapeno’s and will take any excuse to use them. Sometimes I top my fajitas with pico de gallo or guacamole or any number of options. The most important ingredients are beans, tortillas, and vegetables. Other than that, the options are endless! This recipe is for two, with 4 loaded fajitas total: Veggie Fajitas rc

I like to use beans that I have cooked in a tomato sauce or a sofrito as the base in my fajitas, but you can still just open a can and season well. I try to stay away from refried beans as a healthier approach to tasty food. Let me know what meatless meals you enjoy as I am always looking for new recipes to try!

Meal Prep 3 | Morefitme

This meal prep is for week two of my DietBet challenge, and it took a little longer than last week. My homemade breakfast sandwiches were delicious and a perfect compliment to my morning green smoothie. However, the star of the week for me was…..the Taco Salad! I love, love, love Trader Joe’s spice mixture, it is truly delightful. As you will be able to see, the meal prep I did Sunday really helped with my meals for the week (check out the meal plan below):Meal Plan Template

Check out the meal prep video below to see what I made ahead for such an easy week:

Cooking Tips:

  • Be sure not to overcook the eggs, check them at about 10 minutes
  • Cover breakfast sandwiches with foil before putting them in the Ziplock bag to freeze
  • This weeks protein bars hold better at room temperature
  • Check roasting broccoli frequently as it overcooks quickly
  • The taco salad is delicious with Cilantro Dressing

Homemade Protein Bars
2 cups rolled oats
5 tablespoons creamy peanut butter
4 tablespoons Biscoff spread
4 servings Whey Protein

1. Combine all ingredients, mix thoroughly
2. Spread over parchment paper in a shallow baking pan
3. Freeze for 30 minutes or refrigerate for an hour
4. Once set, cut into 12 bars

Puerto Rican Style Beans
2 tablespoons oil
2 tablespoons Recaito
1/2 cup strained tomatoes
1/4 of a butternut squash or calabeza
1/2 cup water
1 can Chickpeas or pink beans
1/2 tsp salt
Jalapeno’s, capers, or olives
Handful of Cilantro
*Optional Sazon Culantro y Achiote

1. Heat oil over medium heat in a skillet
2. Once warm add Recaito and simmer for 1 or two minutes
3. Add strained tomatoes and cook until oils release (about 5 minutes)
4. Add water and squash, cover and cook for 10 minutes or until squash is tender
5. Add, sazon culantro y achiote, salt, beans and jalapeno peppers, mix thoroughly
6. Cover, turn the heat down to a simmer and let cook for 10 minutes
7. Garnish with cilantro

* This product contains msg


text:
Monthly Archives: November 2015

November and December: The Perfect Time for the Writing Mini-Unit

If you’re reading this in mid-November, your next month is about to be an interrupted mess.

Partial weeks, holiday programs, special events, and distracted students define the final four weeks until winter break. Sometimes it seems like we can’t get anything done during this time period. We have this great long-term project idea that will be highly engaging for students to keep them motivated through the holidays. Every day is planned out perfectly so the unit ends the day before break. It supposed to work flawlessly, right? Unfortunately, that never happens. I’ve been there. You probably have too. One program bumps a lesson to the next day, which gets delayed by snow, which gets bumped by a music performance, until you’re trying to cram a week’s worth of work into that final day in December when nobody’s mind is on school (not even yours). Why do we do this to ourselves?

There is a better alternative. I call it the writing mini-unit. These one-week units fit perfectly into the fractured weeks ahead. So what is a writing mini-unit? Well, it’s going to mean different things to different grade levels. I’ll explain what I have planned for my students and the thinking behind my decisions, and hopefully it will be something you can adjust to fit into your classroom.

Copy of 100_7599

First, when deciding what content might work best in a mini-unit, think about the big writing projects you have coming up in January, February, and March. Then, develop a mini-version of that unit to teach before the break. This way, you can teach the basics of the genre or skill now and build upon them later.

For example, in January, my students will write a major persuasive piece – a letter we actually send out to a self-selected audience. So, in late November, we will do a mini-unit on persuasive writing. We’ll learn a few of the basics as students produce a persuasive paragraph reviewing a movie, television show, or video game. Just a paragraph! Resist the urge to develop this into a monster piece that swallows all your time and your sanity. The students will benefit from a bit of prep work in this genre before that major piece later in the year.

Additionally, during the second semester, my students will write a large informational composition about a self-selected state history topic. They will be doing lots of research, including finding sources and paraphrasing what they learned. So, in early December, we do a writing mini-unit about animal adaptations. Students work with a partner, using our lessons to learn about researching a topic, to create a short Google Slides presentation. Since our state science standards include a section on animal adaptations, we’re hitting two birds with one stone! The kids are motivated, interruptions and delays can be handled, and I’m not going crazy.

Copy of 100_7614

Think about what big writing projects you have coming up after winter break. Are there some background skills students would benefit from being exposed to early? Try shaping those in writing mini-units to use in late-November and December instead of the massive unit you might be worried about getting started right now. The kids will be glad you did…and so will you!

Exploring Story Elements

In our fourth grade Reading Workshop, I’m set to teach a brand new mini-unit this week about story elements. I’m writing this to help myself fully think it through, and I hope it can be useful to you as well. My team and I developed this unit after we noticed our students struggle with the following standard:

  • 4.RL.2.3 Describe a character, setting, or event in a story or play, drawing on specific details in the text, and how that impacts the plot. (This is the Indiana version, but I believe Common Core has one that is similar, or maybe identical.)

Our students struggled with two parts of the standard when it came up on our state and district assessments. Some weren’t sure about the vocabulary used, including the terms character, setting, and plot. We certainly worked with all these concepts throughout the year, but as we reflected, we discover that we often used the term “events” instead of plot or “where the story takes place” instead of setting. Combine these decisions with the fact that around half of our students were English Learners, and we had made a story elements mess.

Second, we failed to clearly teach how characters, setting, and events impact the plot. This concept can be confusing, even to an adult seeing it for the first time like we were. Unless you have been teaching this recently, answering the question, “How did the setting impact the plot of the last book you read?” is probably not the easiest thing to verbalize.

So, we put heads together, did some research, and developed our plan for the week:

Monday – Story Elements – This day focuses on the precise vocabulary students need to use to meet this standard: character, setting, plot, and impact (a verb our state lists as one to know). I’ll start with a book we have already read, naming each element. We’ll read a fun story, My Lucky Day, and name the elements, creating an anchor chart together. Students will then complete a graphic organizer using their own books during independent reading.

Tuesday – A Character’s Impact – Last year, as third graders, my students learned a lot about character traits. I plan to build on this knowledge in Tuesday’s lesson. A video I watched online suggested using a story were two different types of characters react differently to the same problem. Two examples that would work are The Ant and the Grasshopper and The Tortoise and the Hare. Students can examine how a character’s qualities affect how they attempt to solve the same problem. These texts should illustrate this well.

Wednesday – The Setting’s Impact – This is the most complex of the week’s lesson. As I mentioned earlier, the impact of a story’s setting can be hard to verbalize. Honestly, I needed to learn more about this practice myself, so I read about different ways the setting can impact a story. First, a setting can change the decisions characters make – think secret passages in the movie Clue (but don’t use that with students!). Second, the setting can affect the mood – think The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. Finally, the time period a story takes place can affect what is acceptable for characters to do – think any Underground Railroad or Civil Rights Movement picture book. Now, how am I going to do this in one day? I’m not yet sure. I’ll probably have to make tough decisions.

Thursday – An Event’s Impact – This one will be the easiest for students to understand because students already have a strong background on important events in fiction through our work with Kylene Beers and Robert Probst’s signposts described in their book Notice and Note. I imagine this lesson being a lot of hypothetical “what if” questions, such as, “What if this didn’t happen? How would the book be different?” Hopefully we can spend time discussing the more complex issue of setting today as well.

Feel free to pluck this week out of my classroom and use it in your own. Let me know if any adjustments you make really work for you!

The 40ish-Hour Quest Continues

Three meetings, one traffic jam, and one family fun night…but I’m still on course.

Last weekend, I wrote about my quest to reduce some of my time spent at school, without losing any of my effectiveness. This quest has been inspired by Angela Watson, who has been talking about a “40 Hour Teacher Workweek” on her blog, in her book, and on her podcast. I’m not looking to get to 40 hours, but I feel 45 is a solid goal that will allow me more time with my family.

Here’s how it’s going:

  • Arrival Time: 8:00
  • Departure Time: 4:35
  • Time spent at home: 20 minutes
  • Notes: I was strangely excited to get started with this process. I had planned for my planning time using my form and was ready to get going, so ready I left my house without brushing my teeth. (Reverse!) Once I was at school with my teeth brushed, the most beneficial choice I made was to do the “around the room” tasks before sitting down after dropping my students at gym class and at dismissal. After delivering them, I would shuffle through homework folders or fill out the next day’s agenda. Once the room was ready, I sat at my computer to begin the next task.

  • Arrival Time: 7:55
  • Departure Time: 4:35
  • Time spent at home: 15 minutes
  • Notes: Tuesday went similarly to Monday, with one major difference – I was able to get ahead. With all of my Tuesday tasks finished, I found myself plucking tasks from other days. This felt fantastic. Even a meeting about testing data didn’t set me back. Little did I know, getting ahead was soon to prove very important.

  • Arrival Time: 8:20 (Yikes!)
  • Departure Time: 4:40
  • Time spent at home: none
  • Notes: What a mess! Just three minutes after I left my house, traffic was completely stopped. I sat stewing for awhile before peeling into the closest neighborhood to try to find a shortcut through what turned out to be a labyrinth. After driving in circles, I finally called my wife to get me onto a road I’d heard of. Twenty minutes late to school, I was frazzled, but since everything was ready, I wasn’t out of control. The day progressed smoothly. Our weekly professional development session after school meant I couldn’t get much ready for Thursday, but considering how the day started, this was a win.

  • Arrival Time: 7:50
  • Departure Time: 4:40
  • Time spent at home: none
  • Notes: What I enjoyed about this day was the ending. My daughter’s school was hosting a fall event and book fair. In the past, I might meet my family at an event of this nature, not stepping in my house until after 7:00. This day, however, I made it home, talked with my son, changed clothes, and was much more relaxed.

  • Arrival Time: 8:00
  • Departure Time: 4:40
  • Time spent at home: 1 hour, 30 minutes
  • Notes: Unlike most teachers, I like to get a lot done when I get home Friday night. I don’t like work lingering over me. I start with the grading of papers because it’s the task I least look forward to; I’m glad when it’s done.

  • Saturday Worktime: 1 hour, 30 minutes
  • Sunday Worktime: none
  • Notes: I mentioned earlier, I don’t like the dark cloud of work hovering over my weekend. Right after breakfast, I put an old race on television and got started. Recording all the grading from last night came first, followed by my plans and updating my classroom website.

The Final Math: 46 hours and 40 minutes. Not quite the 45 hours I was shooting for, but I consider it to be a step in the right direction. This experience of charting my time has been very eye-opening, and I plan to write a reflection of what I learned in my next post. I encourage you to try charting your hours too!


text:
Your MTVRA and the Friends of Pipestone will co-sponsor the St. Jude’s Polar Bear Run on April 22nd at Pipestone east of Butte. The Mining City Trail Riders from Butte are helping with arrangements. More details to come later from MTVRA!

Home | Announcements | News | Legislative News | Articles | President's Corner | Events Articles | Upcoming Meetings & Events | Join Us | Travel Plan Docs | Links | Photos | Contact Us

Montana Trail Vehicle Riders Association
P.O. Box 2884
Great Falls, MT 59403

Copyright © 2014 Montana Trail Vehicle Riders Association. All Rights Reserved.

Design & Hosting by Most Wanted Advertising, Inc.


text:
Sunday, 10 January 2016

Fingolimod in real life

Rasenack M, Rychen J, Andelova M, Naegelin Y, Stippich C, Kappos L, Lindberg RL, Sprenger T, Derfuss T. Efficacy and Safety of Fingolimod in an Unselected Patient Population.
PLoS One. 2016 Jan 6;11(1):e0146190. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0146190. eCollection 2016.

BACKGROUND: Fingolimod is a first in class oral compound approved for the treatment of relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RR-MS). The aim of this study was to evaluate clinical and neuroradiological responses to fingolimod as well as the safety and tolerability in RR-MS patients in clinical practice. In addition, a panel of pro-inflammatory serum cytokines was explored as potential biomarker for treatment response.
METHODS:We conducted a retrospective, non-randomized, open-label, observational study in 105 patients with RR-MS and measured cytokines in longitudinal serum samples.
RESULTS:Compared to the year before fingolimod start the annualized relapse rate was reduced by 44%. Also, the percentage of patients with a worsening of the EDSS decreased. Accordingly, the fraction of patients with no evidence of disease activity (no relapse, stable EDSS, no new active lesions in MRI) increased from 11% to 38%. The efficacy and safety were comparable between highly active patients or patients with relevant comorbidities and our general patient population.
CONCLUSIONS:The efficacy in reducing relapses was comparable to that observed in the phase III trials. In our cohort fingolimod was safe and efficacious irrespective of comorbidities and previous treatment.
So more evidence that real life reflects that which occurred in clinical trials. The data indicate that we need to be able to do better as 62% of people still had disease activity

CoI: None relevant

No comments:

Post a Comment

Please note that all comments are moderated and any personal or marketing-related submissions will not be shown.


text:
I Tried It: Lancome DreamTone Serum

So every once in a while, people send me stuff (for free), ask me to try it, and then write about it. I’m still waiting for someone to send me a free Bugatti (do you hear me Bugatti???!!!!). Anyway, this time, the wonderful people at SheSpeaks, in conjunction with Lancome, sent me a full-sized bottle of Lancome DreamTone Serum. Before I go any further, I want to stress that this product was complimentary, and I am in no way required to give it a favorable review. And we all know I don’t have an issue telling you how I really feel about something. We’ll start with the packaging first.

Lancome DreamTone

That right there is a sexy looking bottle. I opened the package and was almost afraid to use it, and then I got excited, because at a retail price of $98 a bottle, I thought there might be diamonds inside! Unfortunately, when I used the pump, the only thing that came out was serum. Bummer. The description that came with it claimed it would “correct dark spots, color imperfections and uneven skin tone”. Now, I don’t generally have “bad” skin. A little oily, yes, but for the most part, it’s treated me pretty good. That is, up until the last few months. I’d been dealing with a lot of stress, and it was beginning to take a toll on my skin. I switched to some new products, but some damage had already been done, leaving me with residual discoloration (I didn’t have the sense to take a picture beforehand, so you’ll have to trust me on this one). I was instructed to use this product twice a day, under my moisturizer, for four weeks. So, did it work?

Lancome Selfie

That is my “bare-faced zero makeup just came back from the gym exhausted from a long day” selfie (I take the most awkward selfies). If you look closely enough, my skin tone is pretty even, and wait, is that a, a, a GLOW?!?! If this were a few months ago, I’d probably be a little hesitant to go out in public, even to the gym, without a little concealer to cover up any discoloration. But lo-and-behold, it actually worked! If it can even my skin out in four weeks, I would imagine it would help someone with more serious skin tone issues over a longer period of time.

Would I recommend? I know it’s Lancome, but $98 for someone with real issues could be pretty pricey, even if it’s worth it. I feel like there isn’t much left in this bottle, so you would have to replenish every 5-7 weeks. If price isn’t an issue for you, then by all means, go for it. There may not be diamonds in the bottle, but there IS just a little bit of gold.

All In the Name of Health

So, as some of you have gathered, I’m a little bit of an internet search engine junkie. Before the internet was mainstream, I was confined to outdated encyclopedias (remember the Encarta CD-ROMs?) to fulfill my need to know everything.  The good ol’ world-wide web has contributed to filling my mind with a bunch of useless (sometimes useful) information on everything, from “what’s wrong with my car?”, to, “how to turn a light bulb into a mini terrarium” (don’t ask). Lately, my searches have been filled with how-tos on health and wellness, and how to naturally keep these girlish good looks (humble brag?). Some of it has delivered me results that seem, well, a little bizarre to the regular person. I’ve put together the three weird things I’ve done these past few weeks…all in the name of health.

1. Oil Pulling

Woman Oil Pulling

I have no clue how I came across this, but once I started reading, I became intrigued. I’m sure it had something to do with the wonderful-ness that is Hey Fran Hey, but of course, I always do my own research before I try anything new (sure). I Googled the whole oil pulling business, and came across this wordy but informative site. The claim is that if you swish some oil in your mouth for 15-20 minutes every day, before you brush your teeth, it’ll help alleviate and cure headaches, toothaches, bronchitis, ulcers, world hunger…amongst other things. So, like the sucker I am, I tried it (using sunflower oil), and I’ve been doing it for a few weeks now. It’s pretty gross at first – I mean, it’s OIL sitting in your mouth, and it’s all yucky looking when you spit it out. I’ll admit, my teeth feel super clean, and my sinuses feel a lot better, but maybe I’m just naive. I’m going to continue to do it though, because I don’t want to be known as a quitter. If you do try it, use something light, like sunflower or sesame seed oil.

2. Facial Yoga

Facial Yoga

Dude, I find THE weirdest stuff. I really, really don’t know how and why I decided to try this, but this cute, young-looking 30-year-old has a great video on how to do it. Her claim is that she looks soooo young because she’s been doing facial yoga (it couldn’t be her good genes, no?) for years now. The first day I tried it, I forgot to lock the bathroom door, and my hubby barged in, and laughed at me. The second time, I made sure no one was around and still locked the door. It’s basically facial massage, and doing stuff like, puffing up your cheeks and tapping them to keep them fuller. My face felt nice after I was done doing all this weird stuff to it, and I guess I won’t know if it’s working until about ten years from now, since (another humble brag) I’ve been told that I look younger than my real age. If you do nothing else, you have to watch her video, and then the other bizarro ones that pop up in your search for facial yoga.

3. Drinking Apple Cider Vinegar

Bragg Apple Cider Vinega

I guess this one isn’t as weird, but it definitely isn’t common. I actually read about drinking apple cider vinegar a couple of years ago, but I didn’t decide to try it until recently. It’s supposed to aid in removing toxins from your body (like oil-pulling), clear up your skin, and it even has potassium in it! When I’ve used it, I have noticed a change in the way I feel, so it’s definitely something I’ll continue to do. I drink a mixture of it (1 tbsp in a cup of water) right after I’m done oil pulling. If you’re going to try it, I recommend the Bragg brand, because it’s organic and unfiltered.

I’ve now proven to all of you how um, different I am. But when I’m 90, looking like a 40-year-old in excellent health, you’ll all wish you listened to me. If you try any of these, let me know!

I Tried It: L’Oreal Magic Skin Beautifier B.B. Cream

Ok, so I, like most women, have heard all the buzz about these BB, CC, HH (you get it) creams out there in the beauty world. I’ve been disappointed by new beauty products before, so I was extremely hesitant to waste my money on anything new. Because I’m only lucky in things that don’t involve winning large sums of money, I ended up getting a chance to try a complimentary, full-sized sample of L’Oreal’s Magic Skin Beautifier B.B. Cream through SheSpeaks and L’Oreal. The catch was that I facilitate this review, and I happily obliged. Like most of the creams, L’Oreal’s promised to deliver on not one, but FOUR skin beautifying actions: hydration, priming, correcting, and perfecting. I was definitely skeptical; a drug store cream was going to work magic for me? Okay, we’ll see.

L'Oreal Magic Skin Beautifier B.B. Cream

I waited about a couple of weeks for my sample, and I wasn’t actually expecting an entire tube of the stuff. I received my package (I love getting packages in the mail!), in “light”, and immediately decided to open it up. Whenever I get a new beauty item, the first thing I do is check the consistency. Since one of the claims was that the product was hydrating and a primer, my expectations were that it should be very lightweight and airy. No disappointment there! I was pleasantly surprised by how lightweight it actually was. I was thrown off a bit, because it came out whitish-looking, and I remember hoping that it wouldn’t show up super pale on my already winter pale skin.

My winter pale hand

Luckily, it blended in VERY well. My vanity is preventing me from actually showing you a before and after of how it looked on my face, but take my word for it. I don’t like wearing a ton of makeup, especially heavy foundation, so this cream was a winner for me. If you don’t have a lot to cover up, you could really just use this cream, some concealer and blush, and look fresh-faced.

My winter pale hand...again

So I’ve given you all the great things about this product, and like all things, there have to be some drawbacks. I have very oily skin, and I found that this did nothing to cut back on that oil. Not surprising, since that wasn’t one of the magical features, but definitely a downside for me. Also, the tube was terribly small, so it’s not going to last you too long. You need from a nickel to a quarter-sized amount to get full-coverage, so you could end up running through this tube pretty quickly. It’s not cheap either, at about $11 each, so it would probably be wise to use this on the days that you don’t need heavy coverage (like the gym, errands, etc.), which is what I ended up doing. It also worked great as just a primer, aside from that oily skin issue (no fault of L’Oreal’s, just my bad genes).

If I were to attach a number rating to this product, I’d give it a strong eight. And L’Oreal, if you’re reading, maybe you can create something that would include all of these components plus some oil-cutting action? Thankyouverymuch.

Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.


text:
jump to navigation

Advert – UKOUG conference, end of November October 30, 2010

Posted by mwidlake in Meeting notes.
Tags: ,

The best Oracle event in the calendar (in my opinion) is only a month away now. From Monday 30th November to Wednesday 1st December the UK Oracle User group Technical and E-Business Suite (TEBS) conference is running. {Being old-school I still think of it as the UKOUG conference but the user group also run other conferences for eg Siebel, Peoplesoft and the up-coming JD Edwards event, dedicated to those segments of the constantly growing world of Oracle}.

I love the TEBS conference. I loved it when I knew almost nobody else attending it because of the breadth and quality of the technical presentations. When I was a manager I liked the fact I could mix going to the technical stuff to going around the demo booths and seeing if any of the services on offer were of interest. And now that I know more people who attend the event, I love catching up with them and also meeting new people who maybe I only knew before by name or reputation.

The social events around the conference are no where near in the same league as those at Oracle Open World – which means that the UKOUG ones are not massive and unfeeling, but of a size where you can bump into friends and be introduced to other people. {And, I should add, the UKOUG staff do an excellent job of organising them}. I’d say half the people I know in the Oracle world I met at the conference.

So having said how much I like the conference, the question is, am I presenting this year? There seems to be an inverse relationship to the number of years I have been attending and the number of talks I do. Back in 2004 I did 3, in 2005 and 06 it was 2, 2007 was 1. 2008 I had to skip the event and last year all my proposed talks were rejected. I blame the fact that the quality and number of abstracts submitted goes up each year.

The good news (or bad news, depending on your opinion) is that I am presenting again this year, first thing on Tuesday at 08:45

My SQL is suddenly performing badly and nothing has changed. Why?

I’m actually very nervous about this presentation as I want to not only describe why SQL might change how well it performs but also demonstrate the reasons – and how you detect them. Demonstrations take an age to prepare and, as fellow presenters know, have this nasty habit of dying under your feet. I’ve not got a lot of spare time at present so I already feel I am behind schedule!

I’ll also be curious how many people from the MySQL field drift into the room thinking it is part of the MySQL stream {which runs on the Wednesday}. Sadly the talk will be of no use at all to them as it is very specific to Oracle!

Despite the presenting duties, I’m really looking forward to the event. I’d love to meet anyone who reads my blog, whether you like it or not. Just stop me and say “hi” if you see me around.

1. What Have I Let Myself in For! – UKOUG this year « Martin Widlake's Yet Another Oracle Blog - November 16, 2011

[…] technical conference {see/click on the link on the right margin}. I’ve blogged before ( like here, last year) why I think it is so […]

Leave a Reply

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. Log Out / Change )

Twitter picture

You are commenting using your Twitter account. Log Out / Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. Log Out / Change )

Google+ photo

You are commenting using your Google+ account. Log Out / Change )

Connecting to %s

%d bloggers like this:


text:
Kei Koyama

Kei Koyama

Boku wa Kimi no Tori ni Naritai.
add Main

Member Favorites: 3
Kei Koyama
Age: 15

Though he appears to be a model student, he is a lonely boy and sleeps with anyone in an attempt to fill the emptiness.

He falls in love with Fuji, but hides it so as not to hurt his sister.

Voice Actors
No voice actors have been added to this character. Help improve our database by searching for a voice actor, and adding this character to their roles here.


text:
Carrot, apple and cumin soup.

I saw a post on Instagram a while back. It was a recipe and I can’t remember what it was. What I do remember, is that it had an enormous list of ingredients, which probably explains why I can’t remember the dish. Sometimes I think my food is totally boring and déja vu, but when I see friends and family dig into my meals with gusto, I realize that they enjoy the simplicity of my meals. Or they must be starving.

There is a certain flair to preparing a meal or a dish and it has nothing to do with the amount of ingredients. You really don’t need much to serve a delicious meal. The main ingredient of course is always the love with which you prepare ita very kitsch and Facebook- favorite ingredient, but it holds true nonetheless.

I have my own flair in the kitchen. First and foremost, is chaos. No matter how well I prepare beforehand, it finally turns into chaos. I start off very well, very organized and I can even keep it up for a while. My working surface stays clean, I keep an eye on the food brewing on my stove, I watch my oven, I rinse used utensils to keep my sink clean and empty, I have hot water at hand to add to hot foods. Suddenly it all goes wrong. Bowls are everywhere, I have no room to put hot oventrays, I have no clean wooden spoons left, the sink is filled to the beams, the fridge door is open, I can’t find the band aid, the stove is rattling with lids bouncing up and down. The tempo in the kitchen is now on full speed. Somehow though, I am still in control. And I am enjoying all this havoc around me. Chaos is not always a bad thing.

Another character of my “personal kitchen flair” is my attention to serving a meal, a dish, or even just a simple sandwich. I believe a dish can’t leave the kitchen without that last personal touch. I always serve a meal with colour.  A dull and colorless dish in front of me, robs me of all envie.. desire. There are gazillions of ways to add colour to a dish. The easiest and most available to everybody, is a sprig of herb, usually one that you have used in your dish. What? You don’t use herbs in your food? You should start right away! It is one of the most sensual flairs in food…chopping and chipping herbs, smelling and tasting it.

Having all the ingredients for a dish exhibited on the counter, gives me such a kick and it incites one of my biggest flairs in my cooking. When deciding on a dish, I gather all my ingredients and place them on my working surface. I remember my mother doing it very differently, which is why her kitchen was neat and there was always enough space, even though she had a small kitchen.  She fetched every ingredient as she needed it. For a carrot soup, she fetched an onion, cut it and added it to  her casserole. While the onion fried, she fetched 6 carrots, cut it and added it to her soup. Step by step, she continued and by the end, the table was set, the kitchen clean and we sat down for a delicious meal of soup and bread. I,  on the other hand, fetch my whole potager (vegetable garden), all the herbs I might possibly want to add and everything else in between.I am like an orchestra conductor. I want to see my whole ensemble in front of me and then I lift my hands and the music begins. I love seeing all those fresh produce before me, deciding on the go what I would like to do to my soup, ( I think the Americans call it “cooking from the hip”?), Always keep the tune in mind though and, just like an orchestra, never allow a dish to become cacophonous.

January is a month of diets and soups. Since I am utterly hopeless at diets, I opt for soup. In our home, carrot, apple and cumin soup is a favorite with all ingredients healthy enough to not feel bad about indulging.

Carrot, apple and cumin soup.

  1. Fry 1 chopped shallot and 1 tsp cumin seeds for few minutes until the shallot is transparent. Don’t burn the mixture.
  2. Add about 8 big carrots, peeled and cut.
  3. Add 3 cups of home made chicken stock, or 3 cups of  water with one cube of chicken stock.
  4. Bring to the boil.
  5. Peel 1 large Granny smith apple and remove the core. Cut into chunks and add to the soup.
  6. Leave to simmer over medium heat until the carrots are very tender.
  7. Remove from the heat. Leave to cool a bit.
  8. Mix the soup to a creamy consistency. Pour the soup through a sieve to get a smooth velvet soup.
  9. Pour into a clean pot and reheat gently.
  10. Season with salt and pepper and add créme fraîche to taste. The soup must have the consistency of cream…it is soup, not a puree. If it is too thick, add some full cream milk or cream.
  11. Serve the soup warm in bowls with a small quenelle (dollop)of créme fraîche and a spoonful of apple salsa.  Sprinkle with pepper and drizzle some olive oil.

Apple and cumin salsa:

  1. Cut 1 granny smith apple in brunoise,(small dice), add lemon juice, 1/2 tsp cumin and 1 chopped spring onion . Season with salt and pepper and mix.

Serves 4 people

PS: You can follow me on Instagram for more regular short posts at ronellesatelier

à bientôt


text:
Permanent Financial Services Assistant Management Accountant jobs in Asia Pacific

Broaden your search

Refine your search

Job Role

Salary Band

Contract Type

Sign up for job alerts

Found 1 job

  • Management Accountant

    • Singapore
    • S$60k and up
    • Cornerstone Global Partners

    Work amongst a high performing team Regional portfolio with various industries exposure High visibility role dealing with senior management


text:
start as you mean to go on

This morning in Perth. Photo courtesy of Erica Daneel.

The calm before the storm. Photo courtesy of Erica Daneel.

I’ve mentioned before that I like to meditate in bed before I get up. It’s not actually the ideal place to meditate, but I persist because I find that if I don’t do it then, the chances of it happening before 10.30 at night are slim, and at that point of the day, the meditation becomes more like sleep. Point lost.

What I like about morning meditation, is that it sets the peace dial inside my head to high, and I feel as though it should stay there for most, if not all of the rest of the day…that’s the theory anyway. With centreing thoughts like “Abundance surrounds me” or “I am free” drifting though my mind as I face what can often be a fairly chaotic start to the day, there’s little room left for unhelpful thoughts and emotions.

I strongly believe that the energy you hold within you, has the potential to influence the energy of those around you, and is capable of generating either positive or negative group energy. It is actually impossible to control the energy that others bring to the metaphorical breakfast table, but it is always possible to take charge of my own. That’s why I feel that early morning practice is so important. Even if I’ve overslept and it’s going to make us late, I still do it, knowing that it will completely change the flow of my day.

On Thursday morning after a particularly deep meditation practice, without interruption and without a whisper of noise in the house, I was literally humming with good energy as I got out of bed. I made breakfast, packed school bags and my children for the first time in the history of my family, ate breakfast and got completely dressed without any form of encouragement from me. We all flowed, and it felt incredible. It was of course a one-off, and Friday was another story, BUT it was a small victory for positive energy advocates everywhere! If I bring the right energy with me, it means that I am less reactive to everything and everybody else. It makes me more resilient and less likely to absorb the negativity of those around me. I feel happier, and am more focused and efficient. The flow on effects seem to be limitless. It is without question the best use of 15 minutes in entire my day.

Linked to With Some Grace for FYBF

18 thoughts on “start as you mean to go on

  1. I always feel more relaxed just by reading your posts, I can feel your warm positive energy from here 🙂 Maybe once we have finished our minimalist challenge we can make July meditation month?! I am still with you on our minimalist challenge which I love but next week is the make or break week…
    I think if it was me, I might need to tag on an extra couple of minutes meditation to get through it all!
    Have a great week
    Wren x

    • That’s very sweet. Yes we are really getting to the business end of the minimalist challenge aren’t we?! I did the maths this morning on what goes out in the next week, and it’s a lot!! One day at a time. I wonder if there is a meditation challenge already in existence? Sending extra positive energy your way, my cyber friend!

  2. Wow, what an empowering way to start the day and in a way – just the idea of it – fosters feel-good energy and vibes, and this ‘charged yet chilled’ aura will rub off onto those around you. It’s already rubbed off onto your readers!

  3. I also find on waking first thing in the morning (or afternoon after a post night shift sleep) the best time to meditate. Often just propped up in bed. I mostly like to do alternate nostril breathing as I can really focus on that but haven’t had much luck with anything else. What techniques do you use/focus on?

    • At the moment I follow Deepak Chopra with online meditation. It’s mantra focused. I use that and focus on my breath too. Sometimes I just deep breathe while I’m listening to Deepak speak and it puts me into a meditative state! His voice is amazing!

  4. Having dragged myself out of bed and reluctantly staggered toward the coffee machine this morning, I am going to take a leaf out of your book and try some meditation tomorrow morning. The calm before the storm!

Leave a Reply

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in: Logo

You are commenting using your account. Log Out / Change )

Twitter picture

You are commenting using your Twitter account. Log Out / Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. Log Out / Change )

Google+ photo

You are commenting using your Google+ account. Log Out / Change )

Connecting to %s


text:
What does it take to farm?

Farm: (noun) a piece of land for growing crops or raising animals. (Merriam-Webster’s Learning Dictionary)

When you are going to farm a small area, you have to be organized and creative. You don’t need to be rich, just innovative. You also have to have the right positive mind frame. If you look at yourself as a farmer, you will take it seriously. If  you don’t, crops will die, animals will die, and you may end up with some angry neighbors as well!!

So you think you may be ready to farm, but you think “how do I get started”?  Here are the first 5 things to get yourself ready…..

1. A PLAN: Or an idea of what it is you want to produce on your farm. For us, we wanted to grow organic food for our growing and very hungry family. It’s amazing what kids can pack away, and mine aren’t even teenagers yet! We also wanted to raise our own meat. That didn’t happen until this past year. Again, ultimately we want to own acreage and more livestock, etc, but for right now we are doing what we are able to do.

2. READ: You will always be reading when you farm. Whether it be on how to get started, or you have a sick chicken, you will always be learning something new. If you have a local library, check out books. If they don’t have it, they can always get the book in for you. You can buy the books too, but if you are not sure this is something you definitely want to do, you might want to check out the books so you don’t spend all this money if you decide you want to check out of farming.Also, check out your local ordinances to make sure you can have a garden, chickens, compost, etc on your property. I will be posting a list of books I feel have been helpful to our family on our journey.

3. START SMALL: When we first started out we had the mentality “go big or go home”.  We had an enormous garden and sometimes I think more weeds than produce. Plus, we were building our family and I was either pregnant or nursing a small infant. We were overwhelmed and exhausted and almost gave up. If you have no clue about gardening or raising animals, start small. You can always add as you go. Start out growing in pots with plants from a local grower or home store. You don’t need to have it all to be a farmer. Remember it’s all about the mind frame.

4. LEARN FROM MISTAKES: Understand you are going to fail at some things. But learning what went wrong is key, and you dust yourself and try again next year. That’s the great thing about years, there is always a new one right around the corner and a fresh start. We scaled our garden back the following year and learned about mulching our garden. Now, we barely water and weed and I have more time with my family and doing other things I love as well.

5. TEACH: Even if it’s your first year and you grew tomatoes in a pot, started composting, or raising chicks, everything is a teachable moment. Whether it’s your kids or a neighbor, teach them. It’s doesn’t need to be the slap on the wrist if they get it wrong. But we as farmers need to show others the greatness and beauty of it. But most importantly, the sustainability of it. My children have been brought up knowing all about compost, gardens, good bugs vs. bad bugs, etc. It was just a part of our lives. Now chickens have become a part of that as well. It’s sad how far removed we have become from our food when a child cannot even identify broccoli in a garden or someone thinks you need a rooster to get eggs (which you don’t)!!😊 Teach them so we can have future farmers.

Remember you can farm anywhere your roots may be planted!!

2 thoughts on “What does it take to farm?

    • Exactly! My husband and I didn’t have much of that growing up, but now as adults we crave it for not only us but our kids too.

      It’s such a simple, but fulfilling life!

Comments are closed.


text:
Body Found in Arkansas Woods Believed to be Missing Woman

[] Pine Bluff, Arkansas is a city of around 45,000 nestled along the Arkansas River. It is home to the Pine Bluff Arsenal, a key US Army installation for defense against chemical/biological weapons, and was the scene of a brief Civil War battle around the town square in 1863.

On October 8, 2015, 23-year-old Maranda Goldman, a brown-eyed young woman with curly, dark brown hair, wearing a light blue t-shirt and blue jean shorts, went to the Goodwill Store on 28th Avenue to fill out a job application. She was never heard from again.

Investigators fear a body found in a wooded area northeast of the intersection of 38th and Ohio streets may belong to Maranda Goldman.

Maranda Goldman

Around 4:30 pm, Maranda left the Goodwill and headed for her car. She told her family the interview went well, but later, Goodwill employees claimed the interview never happened.

Concerned family members found Maranda’s car in the Goodwill parking lot. After several days without hearing from her daughter, Sandy Goldman knew something was wrong. “It’s been over four days, going on five, I’ve never went one day without Maranda contacting me,” she told THV Channel 11 News. “No matter what kind of trouble or anything that she was in, good, bad or ugly, she always contacted me.”

Though local police had little to go on, they did not rule out foul play. Now, family members’ worst fears may be confirmed.

In early November, police received an anonymous tip that a body had been discovered in a wooded area northeast of the intersection of 38th and Ohio streets. At around 8:30am, police found the decomposed body of a Caucasian female in the woods. The crime scene is approximately 2.4 miles from the Goodwill parking lot.

Because of decomposition, the body could not be immediately identified and had to be sent to the to the state crime lab for positive identification. Police told THV Channel 11 News there was no obvious indication of how she died.

Until the results come back, family and friends will continue to hold out hope for Maranda’s return.

Copyright, 2015. You do not have permission to copy or repost. Cite your work.

Leave a Reply

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in: Logo

You are commenting using your account. Log Out / Change )

Twitter picture

You are commenting using your Twitter account. Log Out / Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. Log Out / Change )

Google+ photo

You are commenting using your Google+ account. Log Out / Change )

Connecting to %s

%d bloggers like this:


text:
The Fallen Chronicles: Episode 16

paper2[] The Fallen’s dark blue Toyota Corolla skidded around a sharp turn in the gravel road in rural Coles County, Illinois. Mud spattered its black and yellow bumper sticker, which read “necrophilia is dead” in skeletal lettering. Greg, Davin, and Emmet joked, shoved, and elbowed one another in the backseat.

“Hey, who do you think is the hottest actress on Charmed?” Davin inquired.

Emmet, as usual, demanded clarification. “Season one through three or four through eight?”

“All of them.”

“Paige, no question,” Mike said from the driver’s seat as he swerved to avoid a stray dog that bolted in front of the car.

“Piper,” Davin countered.

“You would say that,” Greg sneered. “How could you not like Rose McGowan? Haven’t you ever seen the movie Devil in the Flesh? I like my women like I like my serial killers: homicidal. That’s probably why I’m still single.”

“If you weren’t single, you’d be dead,” Mike added with a chuckle.

Aurelia, sitting in the front passenger seat, sighed. “You guys are all a bunch of weirdos and perverts.”

“First,” Emmet added, “I agree—you’re all morons. Alyssa Milano is way hotter than either of those two. Second, please explain what we’re doing out here in the middle of nowhere.”

“I’m glad you asked,” Mike replied. “Since the trail has gone cold on that coydog mystery, I figured we would do some exploring. Around this bend is a place they call Airtight Bridge. Passersby found a woman’s torso here a couple of decades ago. Since then, people have reported strange events.”

“A torso?” Aurelia asked, her face contorted into a look of disgust.

Airtight Bridge in Coles County, Illinois. Photo by the author.

Airtight Bridge in Coles County, Illinois. Photo by the author.

“You heard right.”

“Are these ‘events’ related to drugs or alcohol?” Emmet interrupted with a chuckle. “I thought I had an event once, but it was just some bad pot.”

Feigning seriousness, Greg quipped, “The paranormal community frowns on your logic.”

“Shut up,” Mike demanded. “We should reach the bridge soon.”

Not long after the words left his mouth, the road curved sharply and the bridge’s rust-red trestle loomed into view. The Embarras River, swollen from the recently melted snow, swirled only a few feet below. The Toyota slid to a stop alongside the road before reaching the bridge. It soon became obvious they were not the only visitors.

Emily, Balor, and Malik, the three Satanists they met at Archer Woods earlier that year, stood in the middle of the bridge.

“How did they know we were going to be here?” Mike growled as he threw the gear shift into park.

“Sorry, guys,” Davin stuttered. “A few days ago, I told Emily we were coming here.”

Greg and Emmet, who sat on either side of Davin, slowly turned to glare at their friend.

“I thought she joined us!” Davin insisted.

The Fallen left their car and closed ranks on the road. They marched to the mouth of the bridge but did not go any farther.

“Didn’t you guys learn your lesson the last time?” Greg shouted. His voice echoed across the basin, rivaled in volume only by the swirling water beneath.

“Gross, I can smell them from here,” Emmet said under his breath.

“Tell us how you opened the portal,” Balor, an obese man with a tangled goatee and greasy, black hair, yelled back.

Without warning, Malik pulled a knife from his pocket. He grabbed Emily around the throat and pressed the blade threateningly against the soft layer of skin protecting her kidney.

Aurelia laughed dismissively.

“This is not amusing,” Balor snarled.

“Oh crap!” Davin cried. “Mike, you have to do something!”

“I do?” Mike replied with a shrug. “Why? She chose to rejoin those assholes.”

Before anyone could respond, a shaggy, black dog suddenly appeared, barking and drooling as it raced toward them from behind. It was the dog Mike nearly hit on the road leading to the bridge.

Aurelia wasted no time taking advantage of the distraction. While the others scattered from the feral animal’s path, she bolted toward Balor and shoved him against the metal railing along the side of the bridge. The top railing had fallen down long ago, leaving only the bottom one to catch his ankles and send him tumbling into the waters of the Embarras River.

Malik shoved his hostage onto the broken pavement and turned the knife on Aura. Aurelia prepared to defend herself, but before Malik could act, the black dog leaped at him and menacingly snapped its jaws. He fumbled with the knife and turned to run.

“Let’s get the hell out of here!” Mike ordered from the opposite end of the bridge.

“What about Emily?” Davin insisted. “We never leave anyone behind.”

The Marines never leave anyone behind, you idiot,” Emmet shot back, “and she’s not one of us! She just sold us out, remember?”

Airtight Bridge in Coles County, Illinois. Photo by the author.

Airtight Bridge in Coles County, Illinois. Photo by the author.

A look of determination crossed Davin’s face and he sprinted toward the middle of the bridge, where Aurelia had begun to backpedal away from the dog and its new toy.

Davin quickly reached Emily, who tried to peal herself off the cement. Unfortunately for the two, the noise they made distracted the dog and it wheeled around to charge at them. Enjoying the frenzy, its giant tongue wagged.

Mike sighed and raced toward the middle of the bridge, followed closely by Emmet and Greg. Arriving moments later, Mike tackled the dog while Emmet helped Davin and Emily get back on their feet. Greg struck the beast with his cane and it yelped in anger.

“Crowley’s ass, it’s drooling all over me,” Mike growled as he tried to force the canine’s jaws closed with one hand while holding onto its body with the other. The black dog wriggled free and barked and snapped at Greg’s cane, which he was using to keep the animal at a distance.

Meanwhile, Balor managed to grab a tree branch mired in the floodwaters and pulled himself ashore. He emerged dripping wet, his black eyeliner streaming down his face.

The Fallen were so preoccupied with fending off the enraged canine, they hardly noticed Balor and Malik retreat to their car parked near the opposite end of the bridge. They quickly peeled away, leaving a cloud of white dust in their wake.

The wild dog, dim-witted and easily distracted, turned its attention toward the car and ran after it, barking and drooling until it disappeared into the smoke.

“Now’s a good time to leave,” Mike said between ragged gulps of air.

“But we just got here,” Greg complained with a smirk. “Haven’t you been having fun?”

“You call that fun?” Emily gasped. The rough gravel had torn holes in her black nylons and cut her legs. She examined the tear in her blouse where her former friend nearly stabbed her.

Mike turned and looked at her disapprovingly. “What the hell were you thinking?”

“I’m sorry,” Emily pleaded, shaking nervously. “They made me tell them where you were going! They threatened me!”

Mike eyed her suspiciously, but then turned toward the rest of the group. “Alright, Emmet and Greg, start filming and taking pictures of the bridge. Aura, write down your psychic impressions. Maybe we can salvage something from this fiasco.” He paused for a moment. “Oh, and watch out for that dog.”

Satisfied there would be no more interruptions, he took Davin and Emily aside. “You two have a connection,” he whispered. “That hasn’t worked out to our benefit yet, but never-the-less I want you to stick together. Davin, don’t let her leave your sight until we figure out how to get rid of those Satanists. Do you understand?”

“Yes,” Davin replied. He looked at Emily with relief.

Mike leaned toward Emily. “You need to earn our trust. Do you understand? No more running back to your old friends. Otherwise you can just leave right now and I don’t care where you go.”

“I will,” Emily gulped, and then squeezed Davin’s hand for support.

[New episode every Friday…]

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental. This page is copyright, 2016. You do not have permission to copy this for any reason. Please learn how to cite your work.

Leave a Reply

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in: Logo

You are commenting using your account. Log Out / Change )

Twitter picture

You are commenting using your Twitter account. Log Out / Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. Log Out / Change )

Google+ photo

You are commenting using your Google+ account. Log Out / Change )

Connecting to %s

%d bloggers like this:


text:
Jump to content

  • Log in with Facebook Log in with Twitter Log In with Google      Sign In
  • Create Account

Start sharing your nail art!!!

Sign In or Create Account to start sharing your nail art photos easily with everyone. When you upload your photos with us, you can also easily share to Facebook, G+, Twitter or Pinterest with one click. You can also "Like", "Comment", "Share" and "Rate" others' photos and show them how much you like them as you are searching for your next inspiration.

- - - - -

Whats your favorite white polish??

  • Please log in to reply
1 reply to this topic

#1 Valerie Wilson

Valerie Wilson

    Advanced Member

  • Administrator
  • 147 posts
  • LocationNevada

Posted 25 February 2014 - 10:05 PM

I'm just about out of my white polish   :( I have been using Sinful Colors Snow Me White and I have to say I really like it out of all the other whites I've tried.  Its very smooth and not goopy.  You only need 2 thin coats to get a streak free finish.   But before I go buy another -- What white is everyone else using and why do you like it so much?

#2 Julie S

Julie S

    Advanced Member

  • Members
  • PipPipPip
  • 83 posts
  • LocationPennsylvania

Posted 05 March 2014 - 05:06 PM

I always liked Opi but just bought Sinful Colors. Haven't tried it yet so we'll see!
  • Valerie Wilson likes this