Christmas 2019

I feel like our Christmas started back on November 23 and it only stopped last night. 
Nov 23rd we had an international potluck here at our house so my tree went up early so it could be decorated for that, 

Then we had hubby's work party an hour away, I always love spending time with his co workers... the food is so good and the friendship and laughter is the best. 

We had a Christmas banquet, Christmas program at church and it was a great time, very low stress as we had a restaurant cater it this year, we had a great turn out. 

We had Christmas with friends after the banquet in which we got spoiled again.

My in laws came on Dec 23 and left on Dec 27. 
Christmas Eve we went out for Chinese food and then went to look at Christmas lights. 

Santa treated us all well.. I got a new kitchen aid, clothes, blankets, gift cards, planners, books, a world globe ( because I collect them).  

Our last Christmas event was last night when we had Christmas with Kim and Moses. 
To be honest I struggled a lot this Christmas with not being home with my family or having them here but hopefully next year we can all be together. 

Work has been very busy, but I am ready to get back now and get Christmas all taken down and life to get back to normal. 

How was your Christmas? 

The Allure of dental implants

Why are people so obsessed with dental implants? What’s the big deal with them? Why have they suddenly become so popular and essentially taken over the world?  

The popularity of dental implants clearwater comes from the fact that unlike most tooth replacement options, they are a genuine replacement tooth with all of the functions and features of your regular complement. You don’t have to watch what you eat or avoid foods like toffee, as you do with dentures. Instead, you can pretty much have the operation and then get on with your life, looking after your newly implanted tooth as you would any other. 

While dental implants look great above the surface, the real innovation is below the gumline. Dentists discovered many years ago that the best way to provide replacement teeth was to mimic how the body does stuff. Regular teeth attach to the jawbone via the roots. As the teeth push through during latency and adolescence, the roots fuse with the jaw bone, holding the entire structure in place.

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The same process is underway with implants. Here the dentist inserts a metal post into the jawbone and then leaves it in place. The surrounding bone slowly fuses with the post over time, holding it in place, as if it were a regular root. After that, the dentist attaches the crown - the visible part of the tooth - and you’re left with something that is pretty much identical to the original. 

Dental implants have become much more alluring over recent years, despite the oral surgery. Here’s why. 

Treat Them Like Your Regular Teeth

Dentures are a massive hassle. Not only do you have to avoid certain foods, but you also have to use adhesives to stick them in place, which can get uncomfortable over time. 

Implants, however, are free from any of these problems. Because they are functionally equivalent to natural teeth, you can use them in the same way as your regular teeth. So what are you waiting for? Finding cost effective dental implants near you has never looked so appealing for your comfort and happiness.

You Can Replace The Entire Upper Or Lower Row Of Teeth

Some people lose all their teeth because of disease, decay, and smoking. Implants, however, provide a way back. 

You don’t have to create a post for each tooth. Dentists can use four to six individual posts that fit in the jaw and then add a row of new teeth on top, reducing the impact on the jawbone and speeding up treatment. The new set of teeth often look even better than the original. 

They Last A Lifetime

Dentures and dental putty don’t last for a long time. Eventually, both interventions wear out, and you need to make a return trip to the dentist. 

Dental implants, however, last much longer. Most practitioners advise that implants will continue to serve you well for ten years before requiring replacement, but this is a conservative estimate. The majority of people find that their dental implants last fifteen years or more - a considerable length of time. 

In summary, dental implants are an essential technology that can make a massive difference to how you look and feel. 

3 Ways Our Health Changes As We Age'

Getting older can be hard to deal with. This isn’t just about changes to our cosmetic appearance. That’s difficult enough but as we age, it’s also common to notice changes to our health. Certain health issues become more common and it is possible that you will develop particular conditions. Many people find that once you reach a certain age life stops giving you things and starts taking them away. 

While this is certainly a rather bleak outlook, it’s understandable why some people hold this notion. It’s important you are aware of how your health changes as you age. By knowing the changes that you might face, you’ll be able to recognise the signs and take the right steps or get treatment. 

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Chronic Pain

While chronic pain can affect you at any point in your life, you are far more likely to experience this issue when you are older. As you age, your body becomes less resilient to challenges and different environmental issues. You might find that you struggle to get out of chairs without feeling a noticeable strain on your back or legs. Alternatively, it’s possible that you develop pain in your lower back, wrists or even your feet. 

So, what’s causing your chronic pain? Well, one of the main issues here is that there isn’t always an understandable cause. Doctors won’t always be able to give you an answer which makes treatment difficult. 

However, there are options to consider. You can use pain meds but the more you use these the less helpful they will be. That’s why you might want to consider alternate forms of relief including aqua therapy. Studies have shown that aqua therapy is tremendously beneficial for some people who are suffering from chronic pain and will provide the relief that they require. 

Cognitive Issues 

One of the main cognitive issues with age that you need to be aware of is always going to be dementia. The first thing to understand about dementia is that it’s not one condition. There are actually more than one hundred different types so this is instead an umbrella term. Dementia does become far more common as you age however cases have been recorded in people as young as 35. This is far rarer but it can happen. 

Some of the common signs of early-onset dementia is forgetting key details including your name, age or birthday. You might also find that you zone out during conversations before snapping back. You might find that you struggle with motor control as well. This can be another symptom that suggests it could be worth getting checked out by a doctor. While there is no cure for dementia, with the right steps, it is often possible to slow down the progression of the condition. 

Hearing Trouble 

Hearing trouble is not specific to the elderly. Anyone can lose their hearing and hearing damage in youths has become more common lately. This is perhaps due to personal listening devices like MP3 players and phones. 

Something to be aware of is that you probably won’t notice any issue with your hearing. That’s because changes to hearing occur quite gradually. This means that our brain will often have time to adjust. So, rather than recognising an issue, we might just slowly turn up the volume on the TV. We’ll determine it’s the tech that’s causing the issue, not our senses. It will only be when someone says that the volume is far too loud, you begin to think there might be a problem. 

The good news is that with hearing it’s easy to get the treatment you need. Hearing aids will always be the answer. There’s a lot to learn about hearing aids including where to get hearing aid batteries as well as the different types. But, once you know the basics, you’ll find they offer dramatic improvements to your quality of life. 

Do be aware that you will need treatment as soon as your hearing starts to change. Without treatment, greater issues can develop. Elderly who struggle to hear may have trouble with mental health issues including depression. This can easily be avoided if the right treatment is provided as quickly as possible. 

We hope this helps you gain a deeper understanding of how age can impact your health and change the way you feel in your own skin. The process of getting older can certainly be a challenge but it doesn’t have to be a nightmare with the right level of support. 

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Why Plastic Pipes Make Sense For Your Home

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When it comes to pipe systems you have many different options at your disposal in terms of material. From copper pipes, to galvanised pipes, to plastic pipes; the choices are endless. Yet this is a decision which has to be made carefully if you want to benefit from the highest levels of quality. If you speak to experts in the industry then 99 per cent of them will recommend you to go down the plastic route. Why? Well, read on to find out…

One of the main reasons why plastic is the material of choice for plumbers today is because they do not corrode or degrade as easily as the others. Take metal as a prime example. This is a material which is certain to suffer from corrosion. Over time this will lead to leaks and consequently costly repairs. You don’t have to worry about this with plastic pipework. Another important point to bear in mind is if the pipework in question is for drinking water. The corrosion from the metal will result in minute amounts of copper to leach into the drinking water. This can actually result in health issues and thus is extremely dangerous. Again, this is not a concern when it comes to plastic. They are non-toxic, they will never rust nor will they corrode. 

In addition to this, plastic pipework is a lot cheaper than most other types of pipework. This is obviously very important, especially in the current day and age whereby all cost savings are definitely welcomed. The reason why plastic is cheaper is quite simple; it costs less to produce. Nonetheless, there are other ways that savings are made as well. For example, transport costs are not as expensive because plastic weighs a lot less than metal for instance and thus is a lot easier to manoeuvre. All in all, your total cost will definitely be cheaper if you go for plastic. 

Finally, another benefit you will gain is in relation to energy use. This is again especially important at present because there is so much emphasis placed on being environmentally friendly in the current day and age. The reason plastic allows you to benefit on this front is because the pipework is made from much thicker walls than it is with metal. This evidently then has the advantage of acting as an insulator. You won’t lose as much heat with plastic as you would if you went down the metal route. So, how does this help on the energy front? Well, essentially you will be able to get hot water at the faucet at a quicker pace because it helps hot water to stay that way. Furthermore, it is also worth pointing out the fact that plastic pipework is recyclable – again contributing to the environment. 

There are evidently many benefits associated with plastic pipework, hence it is not hard to see why so many people go for this option. The good news is that there are also many great brands selling this product. Thus all you need to do is start looking online to find the pipe system for you. 

5 Things You Probably Didn't Know About Your Mental Health'

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‘Mental health’ is a buzzword in today’s culture. People are told more and more that they need to maintain their mental wellbeing to live a healthy and fulfilling life. Of course, making you aware of your mental health isn’t going to raise awareness of its importance. To do that, you must know about the features that can or do impact you the most. After all, your brain is complicated, and you can only understand it once you simplify the process.

Achieving this goal can sound complicated, but it’s easier than you might think. Remember: information is only one click away! All you need to do is carry on reading if you want to learn more about mental health facts and myths.

It Links To Your Physical Health

The reason doctors are trying to raise awareness of mental health is the impact it has on the body. When you’re stressed or depressed, it’s harder to exercise and blow away the cobwebs. And, once you escalate into a downward spiral, the effort it takes to avoid hitting rock bottom is twice as great.

There is another consideration, too - the way it affects your ability to negate negative thoughts. Stress doesn’t merely make you less likely to workout; it eliminates an accessible tool to relieve it and feel less bad about your lifestyle. Recognizing the link between the mental and the physical will hopefully encourage you to go the extra mile even when you don’t have the motivation to get off the sofa.

Treatments Aren’t Always Accessible

Therapy is one of the most expensive treatments in the world. Therefore, speaking to a trained practitioner about your state of mind might not be an option. After all, not everyone has a couple of hundred bucks that they can spend on one hour’s consultation. Not only that but, sometimes, the medical treatments that can really help may not be legal where you are. For example, there is an argument for why Delta 8 is legal, as, unlike Delta 9, it's not been directly named as a restricted substance, and yet some areas still don't allow it for medical use to treat anxiety and depression, among other things. However, there is no reason to let these things get you down because affordable and effective treatments do exist.

 

One such excellent alternative is to speak to a friend or someone in whom you can confide. Although they aren’t trained doctors, the process of getting the feelings off your chest should help bring perspective and make them seem less daunting. Exercise is a method that you already know about, but they’re not created equally. You might prefer to punch something, in which case boxing is better than yoga. 

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Disclosure Is Essential

Not just disclosure of the fact that you have mental health problems to friends and family, but your insurer. Mental health is now classed as a disease, which means it’s a pre-existing condition. Failure to tell your health insurance company could lead them to void your coverage should you need to claim in the future.

Please don’t see this as a massive upheaval. Lots of great insurers are happy to include it within a customer’s policy without a hike in premiums. But, if they do, then don’t be afraid to ask for a health insurance quote from a competitor. If your current supplier is unreliable, another will happily take your custom!

‘Mental Health’ Is A Broad Term

But, just because a lot of things are categorized as mental health doesn’t mean you have a severe problem. Feeling a little blue is a perfect example. While it’s technically an MH issue, it’s also a problem that you can nip in the bud before it escalates. The trick is to accept that you suffer from it and find ways to fight back.

What you should try and avoid is letting the acceptance have a knock-on effect on your mind. Yes, your mental health is a significant thing, but being vulnerable doesn’t make you weak. There are 46 million people in the same boat as you every year, which equates to around 20% of the population. Remember: you’re not alone.

We’re Still Learning

Some people believe that mental health treatments now are similar to physical ones in the 70s and 80s. Whether they are that far behind, treatments are undoubtedly not up to the same standards of others. Doctors and patients alike are still learning, and you shouldn’t lose this perspective.

Why? It’s because the right attitude empowers you to ask questions and make decisions. While physicians have more knowledge of the theory, they might not comprehend how a treatment affects the individual.

You do because it’s your body, which is why you need to speak up and make your voice heard. If you don’t, the journey, which can be lengthy, will get longer and longer.

6 Promising ideas for stay at home parents

As bad as this may sound, we are living in an age where starting a career while starting a family is becoming increasingly difficult. But money is a necessity – now, probably more than ever – and, being a stay-at-home parent is becoming a privilege very few of us can afford. But what if you could have it both ways – stay at home, raising your kids while still having a successful career?

Sounds tempting, right? So, let us take a look at some of the best business opportunities you can use to finally make these dreams a reality.

Babysitting/Child care

The best thing about this job is that you will not be asked to do anything you are not already doing – you'll just have to handle more things at once. But if you love children these things should present no problem. Also, your kids will get the opportunity to grow up surrounded by their peers. As for the investments, they are reasonably low – you'll just need some toys, playmats, cribs and other basic equipment. Optionally, you can make some adaptations to your house to allow easier access.

Consignment shop

Pre-owned clothing items are slowly but steadily growing in popularity. First, years of economic recession has made us far less sniffy about the whole issue. Second, retro clothing is back with a bang. So, as long as the items are "gently used," they can be perfectly used for modern styling. What is your job in this whole story? Well, to scour markets for cool fashion items and resell them to a modern audience. If you have a problem setting up a store on-site, an online shop will work just fine.

Bitcoin mining

Bitcoin and other crypto-currencies were met with a lot of suspicion upon arrival. Now, ten years later, we can say with certainty that the entire crypto industry is on a steady rise. But other things have changed in the meantime as well. For instance, home computers have become terribly underpowered for profitable mining. But as long as you are ready to invest some money into a professional Bitcoin mining rig, you can expect a steady income with very little actual work involved.

If you're looking for guidance on blockchain regulations, consider following the insights of a tech entrepreneur like Mikhail Solodovnikov.

Gift basket business

What connects corporate events, birthdays, baby showers and other fortunate occurrences? They can all benefit from beautiful, expensive gift baskets. You know – chocolate, champagne, fruits, and these sorts of things. Well, if you are creative, love making flower arrangements and know something about social media marketing, this might just be the job you are looking for. Just try to establish a close connection with local restaurants and event halls, and most of your problems will be solved.

Bakery/Catering

We’ve decided to put these two things together because they both require the same two prerequisites – passion for cooking and one seriously capable kitchen. But, from this point on, the sky is the limit – you only need to reach for it. However, we would advise you to start by handling weddings, birthdays and similar events. Also, the exposure you will get from the get-go will be pretty solid. You just need to spice it up with a bit of good marketing.

Photography

The good news about photography is that learning the ropes is not that hard and there is always more room for talented and creative people. Buying the necessary equipment and setting up a home studio is not that expensive, either. If you have a problem getting the whole thing off the ground, you can, for the time being, market yourself as a baby photographer. Moving on to birthdays and bigger events is just a bit further down the road.

We hope these few ideas will show you that being a parent and having a successful career don't have to be two mutually exclusive things. On the contrary, in some cases, your love for children and your experience with them can even help you do your job better. All you have to do now is to finally make a commitment and put your professional dreams into reality.

Who is a Podiatrist and What Do They Do?

Have you ever come across the term Podiatrist? If you have, and you are wondering what is all about? Well, Podiatrists are medical specialists of   feet or legs. They have the skills and expertise to treat all sorts of injuries.  These medical professionals are also can cure different types of other complications that might arise from diverse existing diseases like diabetes. These groups of experts are called by different names; they are known by doctor of pediatric medicine and pediatric physician.

Can They Be Called Doctors?

Yes, Podiatrists are doctors. However, worth mentioning is that these professionals do not undergo the traditional medical schooling, which the conventional doctors need to go through. Podiatrists have there on professional training associations. They use the title "DPM" (doctor of podiatric medicine), instead of MD" (medical doctor).

• They are certified and qualified to carry out surgeries, they have the skills and expertise for resetting broken bones.
• They can prescribe medicines and are also authorized to order different types of lab tests.
• Often, they work in close association with other kinds of specialists, when your leg is being affected due to some other medical conditions.

Their Different Areas of Specialization

As mentioned, Podiatrists specialize in treatment of different types of medical conditions pertaining to the legs of feet. Their areas of expertise and specialization covers treating of different types of feet injuries, carrying out different types of surgeries, treating diabetes and any side effects which it might have effect on legs and feet.  These medical professionals are authorized to prescribe sports medicines. They also have the training and skills to take care of the feet of children and they have in-depth knowledge about different types of foot cares. 

If you are facing problems with your feet in that case it is a good idea to visit a Podiatrist. Those who are into sports, should regularly get their feet checked. 

Different Conditions when you need to visit a Podiatrist

Here are some of the different types of conditions which should make you rush to a Podiatrist:

• Blisters
• Ingrown toenails
• Corns
• Warts
• Bunions
• Calluses
• Different types of nail infections
• Bunions
• Smelly feet
• Different types of foot infections
• Heel spurs
• Heel pain
• Hammer toes
• Flat feet
• Sprains
• Neuromas
• Foot injuries
• Arthritis
• Muscle pain and any issues related to foot ligament

Diseases That Requires A Podiatrist Attention

Its needs to be mentioned in this regard, that those who are suffering from diabetes are at a high risk of facing problems feet related issues. If you are diabetic, in that case, you need to keep a close eye on how your feet feel, whether there are any pains or discomforts that are bothering you. If there are any, in that case you should rush to a Podiatrist.

Apart from diabetes couple of risk factors that you need to look for, if you are suffering from certain ailments. These diseases might trigger a condition which could make you pay a visit to a Podiatrist. They are as follows:

• Obesity
• High level of cholesterol in the blood
• Arthritis
• Abnormal and poor blood circulation
• Any types of issues related to your heart

Your feet are the most important parts of your body. They are the ones which help you keep active and mobile. If you feel any issues related to your feet, in that case, you cannot afford to take any chances. A Podiatrist should be your one-stop destination under such circumstances. Before vesting a podiatrist clinic ensure consider reviews on his or her treatment quality as well as outcome.

How to improve online marketing and generate results

Online marketing is, on the one hand, a fairly understood field with so many experts and experienced marketers within the niche. 

On the other hand, it is a very saturated field and so taking your game to the next level to get ahead of the competitors can be very difficult.

Here, we will discuss some of the key ways to improve your online marketing performance and generate better results. 

1.Define Better Goals

One of the biggest mistakes you can do in implementing online marketing is pursuing the wrong goals/objectives—or don’t have any objectives at all—.

Not having proper marketing goals can produce many detrimental effects, but here are two main disadvantages: 

1. Your marketing efforts might not go in the right direction—so you essentially waste time and money—
2. If you don’t know your goals, you can’t measure the performance of your online marketing efforts, and can’t improve it.

Efforts without the right direction and purpose are more often than not, meaningless, so if you haven’t already, defining the right marketing goals is probably what’s missing in improving your digital marketing performance. From my experience with marketing this blog and other social media sites that I run, I have discovered that there are some great tools out there that you can use to boost your digital marketing efforts. For instance, some people find that using a CRM platform such as HubSpot can make it easier to monitor what is working well, and what can be improved from a marketing perspective. If you would like to learn more about the potential benefits of using HubSpot, you can find some useful onboarding resources on the Whitehat website here: https://www.whitehat-seo.co.uk/hubspot-onboarding

In general, our marketing goals should be specific, realistic, and measurable:

• Specific: the objective(s) must be clear and specific, and easy enough to elaborate to your marketing team.
• Realistic: the objective(s) must be attainable. This is important to maintain the morale of your team, giving them a sense of achievement. If necessary, break down big goals into smaller milestones.
• Measurable: we can assign KPIs to evaluate the goals by measuring the right metrics.

2. Know Your Audience Better

Marketing, in many ways, is about knowing our audience’s needs and pain points, and address these needs. By providing value, we can trigger favorable emotional responses from our target audience and generate more conversions.

So, one of the best ways to improve digital marketing strategy—and any marketing efforts at all—, is to gain more insights into our audience’s needs, behaviors, and issues (both in quantity and quality). The idea is to align our marketing efforts and utilize marketing channels that can better address our audience’s needs.

There are various approaches we can use to know our audience better, but here are some common ones in this age of social media transparency:

• Conduct interactive quizzes, interviews, and surveys. Interviews with your existing (real) customers are often the most valuable insights you can have
• Monitor online conversations on mediums like Reddit, online forums, Quora, and other major social media platforms
• Check online reviews of your product and your competitors’. This can be a useful approach to find out what they liked about the product and how the product can solve their problems
• Develop a buyer persona, a classic, but still effective approach

3.Communicate Unique Value Proposition

It’s important to understand one key fact about marketing, sales, and business in general: people don’t actually buy your product or service, but they purchase the benefits tied to the product and/or service.

So, if you want to sell more products/services, communicate their unique benefits better.

This is the main idea behind the unique value proposition: which is essentially a description of how your audience can benefit from purchasing your product/service, and how your product/service is unique compared to your competitors’.

If you haven’t already, communicating your unique value proposition (UVP) can improve your online marketing performance. An ideal UVP should cover these areas:

• Ideal audience: again, the key is understanding your ideal customers and their needs.
• Specific needs: what is the need(s) your product/service is going to address and how you can provide a solution
• Impact: rational and emotional values provided by solving these needs
• Proof of concept: how you can communicate these benefits, how can we substantiate the claims
• Uniqueness: how your offer is distinct compared to your competitors, is there anything special that is worth sharing?

4. Create a Sense of Urgency and Scarcity

Here’s the deal about human psychology: we need to realize that something is urgent. If not, we tend to procrastinate (we even still procrastinate after we understand it’s urgent, after all).

A prospect or customer might already understand the values and benefits of your products/services, but if there’s no perceived sense of urgency (or scarcity), they might not make the purchase. 

So, if you feel your product/service is already good enough and it’s already marketed well, probably communicating a sense of scarcity—and urgency— is the missing ingredient. 

There are various approaches you can use to create and communicate a sense of urgency, but it will depend on your product/service and provided benefits. Here are the common ones:

• Offer: urgency is only as strong as how valuable the offer is in the audience’s perception.
• Limited time offer: set a deadline, and show your audience how many days, hours, and minutes they have to make a decision. 
• Limited stock: another common way to create urgency is to announce that you only have a limited number left in stock, or you can show that you get a certain number of buyers
• Added value: for example, offer extra discounts for a limited time, or the first number of buyers may get a surprise bonus

5. Giving Something For Free

Last but not least, is that giving something valuable for free might be the most effective method to cut through all the noises of this saturated market. This is why the freemium business model is widely popular in the past decade or so. 

The main idea behind giving stuff away is fairly simple: capturing the audience’s attention and generate interest so they make a purchase for the real thing. And contrary to popular belief, free giveaways are virtually guaranteed to boost sales. Here are some of the reasons why:

• People feel obligated to return a favor, the basic of the reciprocity principle in marketing.
• We perceive getting more as superior to a discount. People prefer getting 33% more coffee than a 33% discount on the coffee’s regular price
• People love mystery and will buy more when a mystery is involved. This is why offering a free (mysterious) gift with purchase is effective. 
• People talk more about freebies, especially on social media. People tend to talk about a product 20% more when they get it for free.

In online marketing, we can, for example, offer something valuable for free in exchange for the visitor’s contact information, which is a common lead generation practice. 

End Words

The best way to improve your online digital marketing efforts is to first define your objectives, and assign KPIs to measure your performance according to these objectives. Evaluating your progress objectively is the key to achieving improvements.