5 Benefits of Owning a Pet

5 Benefits of Owning a Pet

 

1. Allergy Fighters
It was always thought that having pets around babies heightens for a higher chance of allergies and asthma. However, recent studies have shown that kids growing up in a home with "furred animals", whether it's a cat, dog or other furry pets, will have less risk of allergies and asthma. 

Read the rest on my website!!!! Click link below...

http://www.mydiscoverybayliving.com/Web/AR440451/Blog/post/?post_id=103912

Happy Labor Day!

Labor Day, an annual celebration of workers and their achievements, originated during one of American labor history’s most dismal chapters. In the late 1800s, at the height of the Industrial Revolution in the United States, the average American worked 12-hour days and seven-day weeks in order to eke out a basic living. Despite restrictions in some states, children as young as 5 or 6 toiled in mills, factories and mines across the country, earning a fraction of their adult counterparts’ wages. People of all ages, particularly the very poor and recent immigrants, often faced extremely unsafe working conditions, with insufficient access to fresh air, sanitary facilities and breaks.
As manufacturing increasingly supplanted agriculture as the wellspring of American employment, labor unions, which had first appeared in the late 18th century, grew more prominent and vocal. They began organizing strikes and rallies to protest poor conditions and compel employers to renegotiate hours and pay. Many of these events turned violent during this period, including the infamous Haymarket Riot of 1886, in which several Chicago policemen and workers were killed. Others gave rise to longstanding traditions: On September 5, 1882, 10,000 workers took unpaid time off to march from City Hall to Union Square in New York City, holding the first Labor Day parade in U.S. history.
The idea of a “workingmen’s holiday,” celebrated on the first Monday in September, caught on in other industrial centers across the country, and many states passed legislation recognizing it.Congress would not legalize the holiday until 12 years later, when a watershed moment in American labor history brought workers’ rights squarely into the public’s view. On May 11, 1894, employees of the Pullman Palace Car Company in Chicago went on strike to protest wage cuts and the firing of union representatives.
On June 26, the American Railroad Union, led by Eugene V. Debs, called for a boycott of all Pullman railway cars, crippling railroad traffic nationwide. To break the strike, the federal government dispatched troops to Chicago, unleashing a wave of riots that resulted in the deaths of more than a dozen workers. In the wake of this massive unrest and in an attempt to repair ties with American workers, Congress passed an act making Labor Day a legal holiday in the District of Columbia and the territories.More than a century later, the true founder of Labor Day has yet to be identified.
Many credit Peter J. McGuire, cofounder of the American Federation of Labor, while others have suggested that Matthew Maguire, a secretary of the Central Labor Union, first proposed the holiday.Labor Day is still celebrated in cities and towns across the United States with parades, picnics, barbecues, fireworks displays and other public gatherings. For many Americans, particularly children and young adults, it represents the end of the summer and the start of the back-to-school season.
From: http://www.history.com/topics/holidays/labor-day

Outdoor Patio Furniture

Your Home - Shopping for Outdoor Patio Furniture

Maybe you have just moved into a new home or just expanded your outdoor living space, either way if you are shopping for new patio furniture you have likely seen the brand Hanamint in you search. Hanamint sells nationally from coast to coast and is in almost every patio furniture store. But why is it so popular?

Over the past few decades, as patio furniture has evolved, one frame material seems to have moved to the forefront in popularity. That material is cast aluminum. Cast aluminum is a process that molds the most maintenance free material into beautiful pieces of patio art. Casting processes enables unique old world styling to become a standard feature in the furniture.

No one comes close to the value that Hanamint provides in their cast aluminum patio furniture. You could shop other brands but would probably be wasting your time. Hanamint has many different sets including; Grand Tuscany, Tuscany, St. Augustine, Mayfair, Berkshire, Stratford, Bella, and St. Moritz. If you want it for your patio, Hanamint makes it. Chaise lounges, dining sets, deep seating sofa arrangements, bar stools, bar height tables, counter stools, counter height dining tables, benches, fire pits, sectionals and bars.

Typically, the most desired finish is Desert Bronze but they also offer some sets in Black. Desert Bronze is a great finish because it looks great with most exterior home colors and patio color schemes. In the daylight, desert bronze shows a rich bronze color with many textures or layers in the finish. At dusk or in low light, desert bronze almost appears black. Desert bronze is that dark.

Hanamint offers an unbeatable amount of high end fabric to complement their beautiful frames finishes. Sunbrella is the industry leader in outdoor fabrics. Hanamint will buy many Sunbrella fabrics to offer as options on their cushions. Sunbrella became synonymous with quality after being one of the first to offer 100% solution dyed acrylic fabrics. An acrylic fabric will last and last because the sun can only fade the fabric one percent per year. Do yourself a favor and only buy acrylic fabric on your Hanamint cushions.

Hanamint recently introduced a 2014 collection called Stratford. Stratford appears more contemporary in design with straight line cross design.

No matter what Hanamint collection you choose, you will be making the right choice.

4244 Slifer Drive

How to repair my credit and improve my FICO credit score!!!

How to repair my credit and improve my FICO credit score

It's important to note that repairing bad credit is a bit like losing weight: It takes time and there is no quick way to fix a credit score. In fact, out of all of the ways to improve a credit score, quick-fix efforts are the most likely to backfire, so beware of any advice that claims to improve your credit score fast. The best advice for rebuilding credit is to manage it responsibly over time. If you haven't done that, then you need to repair your credit history before you see credit score improvement. The tips below will help you do that. They are divided up into categories based on the data used to calculate your credit score.

1. Check Your Credit Report – Credit score repair begins with your credit report. If you haven't already, request a free copy of your credit report and check it for errors. Your credit report contains the data used to calculate your score and it may contain errors. In particular, check to make sure that there are no late payments incorrectly listed for any of your accounts and that the amounts owed for each of your open accounts is correct. If you find errors on any of your reports, dispute them with the credit bureau and reporting agency.
2. Setup Payment Reminders – Making your credit payments on time is one of the biggest contributing factors to your credit score. Some banks offer payment reminders through their online banking portals that can send you an email or text message reminding you when a payment is due. You could also consider enrolling in automatic payments through your credit card and loan providers to have payments automatically debited from your bank account, but this only makes the minimum payment on your credit cards and does not help instill a sense of money management.
3. Reduce the Amount of Debt You Owe – This is easier said than done, but reducing the amount that you owe is going to be a far more satisfying achievement than improving your credit score. The first thing you need to do is stop using your credit cards. Use your credit report to make a list of all of your accounts and then go online or check recent statements to determine how much you owe on each account and what interest rate they are charging you. Come up with a payment plan that puts most of your available budget for debt payments towards the highest interest cards first, while maintaining minimum payments on your other accounts.

To view the full article from myFICO.com, visit http://www.myfico.com/crediteducation/improveyourscore.aspx.

What Does 540 Calories Look Like???

What Does 540 Calories Look Like?

By Tammy Parkinson
CPT, ACSM, NASM, Nutritionist
Body Firm Personal Training & Nutrition

Each month I get a newsletter from a company called "Health Watch".  Every now and then they pass on some information I find very useful, and I'd like to forward this on to you!

What's 540 Calories?

Here's a little perspective:

One McDonald's Big Mac contains 540 calories, 29 grams of fat, and more than 40 grams of highly-processed, blood-sugar-spiking carbohydrates.  And that doesn't even count the fries and soft drink that you KNOW you're going to order with it.

At the same rate, here are a few alternative food choices and amounts that will land you at the same 540 calories:

140 medium strawberries
5 medium bananas
1 QUART of plain Greek yogurt
14 oz of grilled chicken breast
17 cups of broccoli
6 and 1/2 cups of blueberries

Better yet, go ahead and eat ALL of this in one sitting:

4 oz of grilled chicken (120 cals)
3 cups of broccoli (90 cals)
1 medium banana (100 cals)
8 oz of plain Greek yogurt (130 cals)
10 medium strawberries (40 cals)
1/2 cup of blueberries (40 cals)

So basically, you have an OVERFLOWING plate of chicken and veggies and then a HUGE dessert of yogurt and fruit. I mean, that's a massive quantity of food right there. In fact, most people wouldn't even be able to finish it.

And guess what? It still contains fewer calories than ONE Big Mac and it's WAY healthier.

Adding on to Health Watch's spin...here are a few more "foods/meals" which add up to about 500 kcals

• 2 small slices of pizza or 1 large slice of meat lover's pizza
• 3 chicken wings dipped in 1/4 cup of ranch dressing
• 20 oz big gulp
• 20 oz mocha drink with whole milk
• small margarita
• 2 cosmos
• 3 handfuls oil roasted nuts (small handfuls)
• 2 big chocolate chip cookies

I can go on and on...but I think you get the drift.  We can load ourselves up with non-nutritious calories which give us lots of sugar, fat and salt...but no real nutrients; or we can eat an abundance of amazing nutritious foods which heal our bodies, give us energy, clean our minds and support out health.  You be the judge!  (note...not to say a little cookie here and there isn't fun....but note it's "here and there"!)

Enjoy your health ~!

Young Adults Disappearing From Home Buying Market

By Gino Blefari
President & CEO
Intero Real Estate Services, Inc.
 
There was a time when many homeowners bought their first house in their 20s. It's not hard to see that trend has changed quite a bit in markets across the country.
 
Ten years ago, the homeownership rate among young adults under age 35 was 43.6%, according to Census data. Today, the rate stands at just over 36%.
 
But while some homeownership critics have tried to say in recent years it's because young people don't value ownership as much as they do experience and freedom, the underlying economics tell a much different story.
 
It's not that America's young adults don't want to buy homes. Instead, there are a number of factors at play: fewer jobs (or jobs that pay enough to afford a home), delayed marriage, higher debt, and poor credit scores.
 
Eric Belsky, managing director of Harvard's Joint Center of Housing Studies, told a crowd at the National Association of Realtors' conference in Washington, D.C., last week, "There really are serious issues in the first-time buyer market."
 
Belsky estimates that nearly 3 million more young adults live with their parents today compared with 2007, before the Great Recession kicked into gear. This no doubt points to underlying problems with debt, the job market, and increasing housing costs in many areas.
 
The average college graduate is already carrying a large debt load as soon as he steps off campus. Student debts collectively add up to $1.1 trillion. And the Federal Reserve Bank of New York says student loan default rates climbed to nearly 12% last year (up from 6% in 2003).
 
Of course, millions of young adults are already affected by these numbers. But what happens to the housing market when first-time buyers become more and more delayed by circumstance? At some point, many markets may start to feel the missing buyers just as much. For instance, who buys the empty nesters' homes when they're ready to retire and downsize? Who do the move-up buyers sell to when they outgrow their starter homes?
 
It's an issue that eventually impacts each stage of the housing chain. We haven't seen a lot of solutions being laid out – other than a few initiatives that aim to curb student debt or give those in some professions relief.
 
We'll be watching this area closely to see what new data impact home buying and selling.