Biting your confidence issues away

You’ve probably noticed a few people in your surroundings or in public places carefully masking their mouth with a hand when they laugh. When they meet a friend, they tend to smile with their lips pressed together. When you don’t feel confident about your teeth, hiding them feels like the only possible solution. 

Here’s some big news for you: You need to make smiling a priority in your life. Indeed, your smile touches a lot more than esthetic issues. The simple act of smiling reduces your stress levels. The more you smile, the more relaxed and happy you feel. There is a strong correlation between smiling and the production of happy hormones in the body. Indeed, you can smile yourself to happiness and self-confidence. 

But you need to tackle one major issue before you can get rid of your self-doubts. You need to look after your smile. Without a healthy smile, your self-confidence drops dramatically! 

Smiling drives happiness

Listen to yourself; is your smile a problem?

Did you know that more and more people in America are too embarrassed to smile? Over a third of the Hispanic population doesn’t want to let others see their teeth, for instance. Even when it comes to affluent households, one in five Americans with an annual income of $75,000 or higher prefer to avoid smiling or do things that would reveal their teeth. So, on the one hand, if you’re ashamed of smiling, you’re probably not an isolated case. However, on the other hand, the absence of a smile doesn’t only affect your self-confidence. It isolates you and transforms your behavior. It doesn’t matter how much effort you put in improving your mental health. Smiling is just as important as stress management or healthy sleep when it comes to boosting your mood. 

Talking to an expert about your problem

If you are aware that your teeth are a worry you can’t get out of your mind, you need to book an appointment with a specialist. Your local Walden Dental surgery, for instance, offers a variety of services both in tooth repair and cosmetic improvements, which can help you to sort out your issues. The most common complaints about smiles tend to refer to stains, misaligned teeth, or even breaks. Misaligned teeth often develop during puberty or early adult years as the teeth grow and can press against each other as a result of a lack of space in your mouth. Ultimately, you need to realize that dentists are here to help you; nobody is going to make fun of your smile. 

Make smiling a priority

When you’ve spent a long time without smiling, you might need to get back into the habit. Practicing smiling decreases negative thoughts in your life, but also creates a happy and positive environment around you. Why not give yourself a smile cue, such as smiling each time you hear the phone ringing? It can be especially effective if you choose a stressful event as a trigger for your smile. As you do, it transforms your attitude about it, and you feel relaxed. 

Can an embarrassing smile affect your self-confidence? The answer is yes. But more importantly, it affects your mood, your mental health and your relationships. When everything boils down to a few teeth issues, it is foolish not to book an appointment with your dentist to find your confidence back. 

16 Birthday Pictures

This year for the first time we have had 2 birthday parties.

one with her girl friends and one with family that have grown in our heart and not blood related which is not important as they are all family.

Sweet 16

16 years ago at 8:54 am you came into this world kicking and screaming and I wouldn't change a thing about you, and right now at this very time you are on a bus somewhere in the US going to St Louis with friends for a week and this momma is struggling how grown up you are...

Dear Brooke,

How can it be possible that sixteen years have passed since the first time I held you in my arms? I waited my whole life for you to be born. I remember every detail about your birth and often replay that day in my head – wishing I could go back and relive it one more time. You were the one who made my dream of becoming a mom a reality. You have created a love inside of me so fierce, so unbreakable, so unending, and so unconditional. I am incredibly lucky to have been chosen to be your mom. I really must have done something right in life to have been given a child like you

You have grown into an amazing young woman. You are that girl that I always wished I could be. You are beautiful, confident, smart, and well-liked by everyone. You shine in everything you do. Your friends all look up to you as well as the kids you babysit.

 age 1 

 

age 2 

Please know how incredibly proud I am of you. I know I have been hard on you at times. I set high expectations that you sometimes feel are impossible to reach. Let me reassure you that you have never ever disappointed me. I set those expectations because I want you to achieve everything you have ever wanted. I want all of your greatest dreams to come true. I never want you to feel undeserving of anything because you deserve the absolute best that life has to offer.

I want you to keep that confidence you have now, and continue to try new things; to meet new people. You never know what door will open if you just put yourself out there. You will make mistakes, but it’s okay because that’s how you learn lessons and become a better person. I’ve certainly made my share of them, and still, make them today. Those mistakes create the path to the amazing life I have today.

To be honest, you have probably taught me more than I think I’ve taught you. You’ve taught me patience. I’ve learned that screaming at each other often accomplishes nothing except pain. Listening and biting my tongue are much more effective. I’ll probably still get upset and frustrated with you. I’ll probably still lecture you simply because I am your mom and that’s what we do. I’ve learned from you to not sweat the small things. You rarely get involved in any gossip, and never really care what people think of you. You choose to see the good in people and stand up for others even when you are standing alone. Following your examples, my life has become much more fulfilling.

It amazes me how people are drawn to you. I can send you halfway across the country, knowing nobody, and you come home with a dozen new best friends. I admire your quiet strength in the way you accept the unfair things that happen to you. You keep moving forward, never letting them drag you down.

I hope your birthday is everything you dreamed it could be. Remember how loved you are. You are my sweet baby, your daddy’s little girl,  WE will always be here for you, your biggest fans

Your story is just beginning and I cannot wait to watch you write it 

Top tips for hiring a contractor to manage your renovation

Image Credit

If you have an extensive renovation project on the cards, your mind will no doubt be brimming with ideas about what you want doing, and how you will go about doing it. You'll have definitely had ways to save yourself money to get the job done too. 

You might have been watching online tutorials to help you with your plastering, or bricklaying. Feeling confident in your abilities is fine. But, unless you have had some experience of this type of work, or will be supported by someone who has, then you should probably hire a professional general contractor for some expert assistance.

Getting the job done yourself can often be much harder than you imagine. You might start with great intentions and feel as though you are progressing quickly. But you may hit a snag which throws the whole task into jeopardy. 

If you need to hire a professional later on in your project, to repair the work that you did early on, then you are going to end up costing yourself a lot of money. 

The best course of action you can have in the long run is to hire a company whose work will be covered by a guarantee. This will take away a great deal of the stress from you. 

Hiring The Right People For The Job

Getting a reliable professional is key to keeping a job as stress-free as possible. You need someone that you can trust, so look for recommendations from friends. If you can't find this, read reviews online for local firms, and approach the ones with the best customer approval ratings to get quotes.

Be clear about what exactly you need carrying out. Your quotes need to reflect all of the work you need doing, and there should be no miscommunication in what you want. Check back with the firm to ensure they have understood your needs. 

Compare a few quotes, but take into account that the cheapest firm doesn't equate to the best option. It can sometimes mean that the standard of the work is lower. 

Agree on the types of materials that will be used, and ask to see samples of items such as these wall panels: click here. 

Get an agreement on how long the job will take too. Your life will have lots of upheavals, so you'll need to know when you will get your home back. 

Calm Communication

Big renovations can be very stressful, and things go wrong. Dealing with situations in a calm manner will help you find a resolution to your problems in a much quicker and more effective way. 

It can be tempting to start blaming others for the things that go wrong, but this does not help find a solution. It just makes for a more stressful situation for yourself.

At the end of the job, there may be some snagging issues that need repairing. Be sure you let your contractor professionally know about these. Dealing with these matters calmly will mean that you will get them resolved much quicker. 

7 years of Blogging

 

7 years of thumping out some blog post on this new domain.

I blogged with Xanga for 14 years previously so I have been around a while. When Xanga closed I lost all of my posts as I could not back up...but here I am. Happy and Content

 

Thank you friends, family, business owners, everyone of you for hanging out with me for so long, believing in me to promote your business, and your product.

 

Let's do another 7 years.

Saving Money On Big Things In Your Home

The cost of a home would look quite reasonable, if it was “all-inclusive”; that is, we didn’t have all those extra payments to make, such as those monthly bills, the cost of keeping the home well-decorated and in tip-top condition, and so on. Alas, that’s life -- they’re an essential part of the homeowner experience. However, even though we can’t banish the costs completely, there are things we can do to at least keep them to a minimum. Below, we take a look at some of the ways you can save money on the big expenses in your home. 

Source: Pexels.com

The Furniture

Furniture isn’t cheap, and it doesn’t last forever, either. Every few years we have to replace it, which means losing a big chunk of our disposable income for a couple of months. There is a cheaper way to do it, however. You don’t need to just visit a furniture store and pick out whichever item you can afford! One of the best ways to keep the costs is to try your hand at upcycling, which involves buying a second-hand goods, and improving them yourself. This works especially well with wooden furniture (just adding chalk paint greatly improves the look), but you can also do it with couches, too. 

Home Appliances

Your furniture is at least largely decorative. Things become a little more complicated when it comes to your home appliances, which are the items you need to have in your home if it’s going to function at its best -- they’re non-optional. When one of them breaks, you’re generally looking at writing a big check to buy a replacement. However, before you resign yourself to getting out the credit card, see if it can be fixed. There are companies who specialize in a washer, dishwasher, or fridge repair. They’ll get the appliance back to full working condition, and save you the money and time it takes to replace these bulky items.

Wear and Tear

It doesn’t matter how well you’re looking after your home: you’re eventually going to run into issues of general wear and tear. When something goes wrong with our property, our first impulse is to look up a professional, and have them fix it. While there are some issues that you shouldn’t handle yourself (say, the electrics), others can be completed by someone who’s somewhat handy with DIY jobs. If you’ve never picked up a tool before, take a look at learning the basics -- you’ll find that you’re more capable than you thought. 

Monthly Expenses

You think you have X amount of money, and then all the monthly household bills come in, and you figure out that you actually have Y amount, which is always significantly less. While you can’t banish those monthly bills entirely, you can keep them to a minimum by reducing your energy usage, cutting any services that you don’t really need (such as cable), and all-around managing all the bills. A simple check to see if it’s possible to save money might result in big savings.