Wedding: Step-by-Step Guide to Finding the Right Venue/Music/Food

They say that the devil is in the details, but that doesn

Teens: How to Conquer Boredom

Do your teens whine about being bored? As a parent, that can certainly get on your nerves – you probably don’t remember the last time you were bored! But bored teens are more than an annoyance. Studies have shown that when young people don’t have anything to do, they are more likely to do something destructive, or a least not very constructive. So let’s look at some ideas for getting your teen out of the boredom blues.

1. Post a list

In a visible area (such as the ever-popular refrigerator), you could post a list of at least ten activities your teen likes to engage in. You can make this list together in a brainstorming session, or you can make the list yourself as you observe the things your teen likes to do. In fact, it may surprise your child to see the things he or she has been doing and enjoying all along, and it will help score points for you, the parent – you noticed something about them! Teens, who often complain about feeling misunderstood, may appreciate that.

You could also ask your teen to write such a list him/herself. Regardless of how you come up with the activities, it’s a helpful reference for when boredom strikes.

2. Learn something new

Interest in the world around you is a great cure for boredom. Teach your teens that there is never an excuse for boredom because the world is just that fascinating. This can be a really helpful life skill! There’s always something new to do or explore. Pay attention to your teen’s interests, and make suggestions along those lines. Challenge them without making it too hard – remember, you want to incite interest, not overwhelm them with a big project.

Maybe your teen is interested in the environment and green living – have him or her gather some friends for a clean-up day in your neighborhood, or come up with creative ways to save energy. If you have a science lover, think up some theories and questions that can be answered with an experiment. Is your teen artistic? There are all kinds of fascinating subjects out there just waiting to be studied in pencil, ink, paint, clay, or whatever medium your teen enjoys.

3. Have a boredom retreat

Sometimes, a new surrounding can really help get teens out of the boredom cycle. Is there a coffee shop, book store, or other nearby place where your teen could go hang out safely? It can really help to have a place to go to get away for a bit. If your teen is not old enough to go by him or herself, you could accompany your teen and stay in the background, or drop him or her off and go run an errand.

You could also have a boredom retreat in your own home. Even in a small home, you can make your teen’s bedroom into an area that is conducive to learning and exploration. Set things up so that your teen can dig into his or her interests in his or her own special place where the art supplies are always out, the electronic gizmos are ready, or the books and journals are always open.

How to Tame Bedtime Battles

If you are having trouble with your kids at bedtime, maybe a good first step would be to stop thinking of it as a battle. Then, you can be open to some tips and ideas that may help get things peaceful. Here are some suggestions.

Assess Your Approach

When it comes to bedtime, are you trying to follow advice you read about? Or maybe you are doing what your spouse thinks you should do, or your mom, or your in-laws…the point is, why are you approaching bedtime the way you do? If it’s not working, then it might be time to rethink things.

Maybe you’ve been told that children have to be in bed by a certain time and have to fall asleep by themselves in less than 20 minutes. Try breaking out of the expectations of others and instead, think about your individual child’s temperament and your own. Sometimes, it’s just too hard to meet other’s expectations.

Incentives

Now that you are comfortable with taking an approach that’s customized for you and your kids, consider some of these ideas for incentives.

* Let your kids earn tickets or play money at bedtime. For example, if they are in bed by 8 o’clock (or whatever their bedtime is), they earn a certain number of tickets or play dollars. Other behaviors can be reinforced this way, too – staying quiet after lights are out, not getting out of bed until a certain time, etc. can all be reinforced with the tickets.

Behavior you don’t welcome, such as tantrums or jumping out of bed after lights out, could “cost” tickets or play money. Make sure that the amount of tickets or dollars earned is reasonable for your kids’ ages (for example, it won’t mean much if it takes a month for a preschooler to earn enough tickets for a treat – they have a hard time thinking that far ahead).

* Try rewarding good night-time behavior with some extra TV time or play time. This may work better on children past preschool – preschoolers usually need more immediate rewards.

Firm Limits

One of the things that can be challenging is when your kids try to get that one last thing in before going to bed – “Just one more cartoon? Just one more story?” Make sure you and your kids have firm limits established already, so you don’t have to try to figure out if you should give in or not with each request. If the request is not within the limits, then the request isn’t granted.

Routines

It is said that children really do thrive on routine. Routines are different from schedules; they are more individualized. Having a bedtime routine can help a lot. You can even make a big poster or chart with all the bedtime activities listed in order for your child to look at. Routines help children feel secure and will hopefully make them less likely to push the limits as they try to figure out if things are going to be the same or not.

Why Reading Aloud to Kids Is So Important

Are you concerned that you are going to come across as “one of those pushy parents” if you read to your children early? Do you fear boredom or criticism from your older kids if you read to them? It might be a good idea to get past those fears – reading aloud to your kids is said to have many benefits.

Experts speculate that illiteracy could be greatly reduced if not eliminated if parents would read three or more stories a day to their children. Children who are read to not only tend to be early, proficient readers themselves, but they also tend to have a better grasp on language in general.

Studies have shown that kids do not learn as well from videos as they do from a live, personal interaction, even if the videos and person are teaching the same things. So while technology certainly has its place, children may not learn as well through a screen as from a real person.

Here are some other benefits of reading aloud to your kids.

1. Personal interaction

Reading aloud time is together time. It is a time set aside for you and your child to interact and spend time reinforcing your relationship. Some kids enjoy associating reading with something else positive – a drink, snack, or simply a time of quiet can be a positive experience for your child (and you!). Reading aloud can be bonding time.

2. Vocabulary

Children who have an adult read to them regularly tend to have a much bigger vocabulary than those who were not read to. Also, kids who are read to also tend to exhibit a greater proficiency at learning new words. Read-to kids apparently develop an understanding of various sounds of words and of how words work in general, setting the stage for easier learning of new words and concepts.

3. A World of learning

When you read aloud to your children, you are reading about something, right? Books are a wonderful way to introduce your children to other cultures, family structures, history, animals, science concepts, and pretty much anything you want to read about. There are books available at just about every level on a huge number of subjects. It needn’t cost anything if you make use of your local library.

4. A love of learning

Reading aloud sets the stage for a love of learning that will accompany your child for a lifetime. It’s also been said that children who are read to have longer attention spans, which is also a learning enhancement.

Top Tips for Raising Bilingual Children

In this ever-shrinking world, parents are getting more interested in raising bilingual children. After all, in this modern era, you may have friends and contacts all over the world, and they are no further away than an email or tweet. Thus, knowing another language may give your kids an edge in the future. Here are some tips for raising bilingual kids.

1. Take advantage of what your child already loves. If there is a favorite cartoon he or she likes, try watching it in Spanish (or whatever language you are learning). The same goes for interests in music, geography, and social studies.

2. Incorporate the culture with hands-on activities. Reading about a French food is not nearly as fun as making it in the kitchen! Learn about the dress, customs, holidays, and so forth in the countries where your target language is spoken. Then spend time living like the people in that culture, and speak the language in the meantime.

3. Take advantage of technology. It’s not a substitute for hands-on activities, but technology offers so many enhancements to your experiential learning. Look for television shows, cartoons, or music in your target language. Fire up Google Earth and take a tour of foreign lands. Download books in your target language. You can even change the default language on your mobile device!

4. Books are still relevant, even in today’s technology-immersed culture. Seeing the written words alongside illustrations is a time-honored way to learn languages. There’s no substitute for good foreign language books for children.

5. Show the relevance of the language you’re learning. Your child, especially if he or she is older, may be less motivated if they don’t understand the relevance of bilingualism. See if you can find a “pen pal” in another country that your child can communicate with. This ties the skill in with peer relationships.

You can also reinforce this lesson in relevance by having your child join a chat room or online forum where your target language is “spoken.”

6. Don’t forget to make it fun! Play games in your target language, such as “I Spy” (this could help with vocabulary words) or even board games.

7. Take advantage of what your kids already know. If you have a favorite poem or story, find that same literature in your target language.

8. Find a native speaker of the target language, or someone who is fluent in the language. See if that person can visit your home or join you on a play date, and let your child hear the language.

What’s for Dinner, Mom? Quick Family Chicken Favorites

Chicken is one of the most versatile and easy dinner dishes available. You can buy a big package of frozen chicken breasts to have on hand any time. Here are some ideas for quick chicken recipes that can become real family favorites.

1. Chicken Nuggets

The homemade version of these kid favorites is so much healthier than those offered by restaurants. Here’s how to make tasty ones at home.

Ingredients:
* Chicken breasts or strips (The number of breasts you’ll need depends on your family size – you will probably get 6 to 8 nuggets out of each breast. If you are using chicken breast strips, you can cut those into 2 or 3 nuggets each.)
* Plain yogurt
* Whole wheat flour
* 1 or 2 beaten eggs
* Seasoned whole wheat bread crumbs (you can make your own by grating up whole wheat bread and adding the seasonings of your choice)
* Melted butter or olive oil (or a combination)

Cut chicken breasts or strips into 1 to 1 1/2-inch pieces. Roll them in yogurt until they are coated (you can use a zip-top plastic bag to do this job if you like). Next roll the pieces in the flour, then the beaten egg, and finally the seasoned bread crumbs. Make sure to coat each piece thoroughly. Place pieces on parchment paper-covered baking sheets. Drizzle with melted butter and/or olive oil. Bake at 475 degrees F for 3 minutes, then reduce heat to 350 and bake for 10-12 minutes.

2. Saut

Simple Steps to Stop Your Puppy from Chewing Your Furniture

Puppies are really cute, but they can also really destroy your house. And don’t fool yourself into thinking they will just outgrow it – while it’s said that puppies chew more than adult dogs, a puppy that is allowed to chew whatever it wants has the potential to become a problem chewer as an adult. So here are some tips for keeping your furniture from being shredded by your latest addition to the family.

1. Give your puppy its own space. You can’t remove all the furniture from your home, so you need to have a furniture-free area for your puppy. A crate is ideal, or a small room or gated-off area in the home.

2. Give your puppy lots of appropriate chew toys. After all, chewing is a natural need and should be satisfied. If your puppy is teething, you can put rubber-type toys in the refrigerator first to help soothe your puppy’s gums.

3. Get your puppy interested in the toys by smearing a little peanut butter on them or some other tasty substance. You don’t need much; just enough to attract the puppy to the toy (they have an excellent sense of smell, after all). Then praise your puppy for chewing on the toy.

4. Make sure the toys do not resemble anything you don’t want your puppy to chew. For example, fringed rope toys might be a bad idea if you have a rug with fringes that you don’t want chewed. Soft, plush toys can feel similar in a puppy’s mouth as couch pillows and upholstered chairs. If you have a lot of leather or vinyl furniture, don’t get toys that have that type of rubber or leather texture.

5. Make sure your puppy has a lot of exercise. This not only takes time away from chewing – puppy can’t chew when he’s out walking with you – but it also tires your puppy out so he will be more likely to sleep than chew when left alone.

6. Age-appropriate training is essential. Again, this helps prevent destructive chewing by teaching your puppy the house rules. It also takes time and mental energy, which will tire your puppy out.

7. Make it taste bad. There are commercial sprays available that are supposed to make off-limit objects (like your furniture) taste bad, thus deterring chewing.

8. Be consistent in your response to inappropriate chewing. When you see your puppy starting to put its mouth on a piece of furniture, say “no” firmly, give the puppy’s neck scruff a gentle shake (this is what mother dogs do), and direct the puppy to a chew toy. Then praise the puppy for chewing on the right thing.

How to Choose a Pet Sitter

Many pet owners find that their animals are less stressed when a pet sitter takes care of them than if the pets are left in a boarding kennel. But how do you find a good one? What should you look for? Here are some tips on finding a reliable pet sitter.

1. Referrals

Check with your pet-owning friends and find out whom they use as a pet-sitter. If you don’t know anyone personally, check with your local veterinarian. If you have a pet supply store like PetSmart in your area, they also might be able to refer you to a reputable sitter. Even your local feed and grain store might have fliers posted by pet sitters. You can ask the staff if they know anything about the sitter’s qualifications.

2. Interview

When you have some names and numbers, contact the potential pet sitter and talk with him or her. After all, just because a person is recommended does not mean he or she is necessarily the right person for you. Some questions to ask are:

* What do you charge? (A very expensive person may be a setback at first, but consider that you will probably get what you pay for)
* What kind of experience do you have?
* Do you have any references? (References are important, especially if this sitter is not someone you are familiar with)
* What kind of animals have you cared for?
* What got you started in the pet sitting business?

Asking these and other questions can help you “feel out” a potential pet sitter. It also may help to write out your questions ahead of time.

3. Red flags

Some things to watch out for in a potential pet sitter might be:

* Too much eagerness to stay at your house – If you want to hire a pet sitter and prefer that he or she visit your home, and the sitter insists that he or she should stay at your house, you might not want to hire that person. It may just be a pushy personality, but someone who is that eager to get into your home may be plotting something mischievous.

* No references – A pet sitter should have at least two references, even if they are simply attestations to his or her character and integrity. Even a very young person starting out should have an adult or two who can vouch for his or her abilities and character.

* No pets of their own – If someone claims to be a pet sitter but has never owned a pet, they may not be a very effective pet sitter! This does not mean that they have to own pets right now; but there should be some kind of work with animals in their past, even if it was with someone else’s pets. Maybe they used to walk their neighbor’s dog or had a special relationship with their friend’s cat. There just needs to be some kind of background of a love for animals in a good pet sitter.

Top Tips for Giving your Pet Medication

Oh boy – you came home from the vet’s with a bottle of pills or liquid that you have to get inside your pet. How in the world are you going to do this? Even if the medication tastes good (and it often doesn’t), getting your pet to take it can be singularly challenging. Here are some tips that may help get your furry friend feeling better soon.

Cats

Cat owners often joke about the difficulties of getting medication into cats. Truth be told, it can be pretty hard if you don’t know what you’re doing. So here are some ideas for medicating felines.

* Hide the pill in a treat. There are actually treats made specifically for pill-hiding, which should be available at your local pet supply store. However, this does not always work – you may find your cat eating the treat and spitting out the pill!

* Surround the pill with strong-smelling, wet cat food. The stronger the odor, the better. Mold the wet food around the pill, using as little food as possible so your cat must eat the pill to eat the food. Make sure to reward your cat with more wet food after he or she takes the pill. That will help mask any pill taste that may come out, and should help your cat associate the pill with something good and tasty.

* Wrap your cat if necessary. Some people have luck wrapping their cat in a towel or sheet so that their legs (and therefore their claws) are immobilized. Then you can manually pop the pill into your cat’s mouth. Wrapping also helps for the administration of liquid medication.

* Once the pill is in, stroke the cat’s throat while holding its muzzle shut. This encourages swallowing.

* For liquid medicine, you need one hand free to open the cat’s jaws. Put your thumb and forefinger on either side of the cat’s mouth and squeeze gently. This should force open the cat’s mouth. Put the dropper as far into the cat’s mouth as you can, squirt the liquid in all at once, and try to keep hold of the cat long enough to stroke its throat.

* Mix the liquid medicine with something strong, like tuna or the water drained from a can of tuna.

Dogs

If you have the kind of dog that will snork up anything off the floor, you may be in luck. This kind of dog may do fine with a pill wrapped in a piece of cheese or inserted into a slice of hotdog or a soft dog treat. You can use commercial pill-holding treats for dogs, too. Here are some other ideas.

* Mix liquid medicine with beef or chicken broth. You can give this to your dog to lap up as-is, or pour it over its kibble and mix.

* If you have to pop the pill into your dog’s mouth, the pinching technique described above should work for your dog, too. Pop the pill into the back of the dog’s mouth and hold its muzzle close with your hand while you stroke its throat.

Why Nagging Doesn’t Work

It’s become pretty widely accepted that nagging, whether with spouses or kids, does not work. It can also be exhausting for the one doing the nagging. So why does it not work? Why is nagging considered to be ineffective? Here are some ideas as to why this time-honored method of motivation is anything but motivating.

1. It creates resentment. Nagging may produce an angry response in your spouse or kids, and make them resent you. The task you are nagging about becomes the last thing they want to do.

2. Nagging is unpleasant, so you will get tuned out. No one wants to hear the same old nag over and over, and your spouse and kids will simply stop listening. The more you nag, the less they hear.

3. It’s negative reinforcement, which some psychologists say is ineffective. Nagging says, in effect, “I will stop punishing you with this annoying nagging when you do what I want you to.” And the person being nagged feels that as soon as he or she does one task to make you stop nagging, you will just nag about another one.

4. Nagging can make you feel controlled, and no one likes to feel that way. Being nagged feels like you’re being manipulated, and tends to make the “nag-ee” feel like digging in his or her heels instead of doing what he or she is being nagged to do.

5. Talk is cheap, and nagging comes down to simply words. Spouses and kids find it pretty easy to “duck” annoying words. They have learned that you are just talk, and you’ll eventually end up doing the task yourself; all they have to do is weather the word storm.

6. When it comes to kids, nagging models behavior that you probably don’t want to deal with. After all, nagging is something we can often dish out but not take! If you constantly nag, you may find that your kids begin to communicate with you the same way.

7. Nagging focuses on what a person is not doing. Once again, it has a negative focus. Nagging points out all the things that are wrong with the person, and implies that he or she is not worthy because he or she has not done certain tasks. Nagging is a way of finding fault, and it tends to wear people down instead of build them up.

8. If you nag your spouse, you are acting like his or her parent. When one spouse acts like a parent to the other one, experts say that can really damage a marriage.

Long-Distance Grandparents: How to Stay Connected with Your Grandkids

When everyone was younger, it was a bit easier to keep in touch. Now that grandparents are getting older and so are the kids, the times spent together are few and far between. Here are some suggestions for grandparenting long-distance style.

Don

Learning Difficulties in Children – How to Help as a Parent

Learning difficulties are not just a challenge for kids – they can be challenging for parents, too. Is there anything you can do to help your child succeed in school? Here are some strategies for concerned parents for helping their children with learning difficulties do well in school.

1. Don’t look for a cure

As a parent, it may be tempting to try and make the learning difficulty “go away.” While there are things you can do to minimize your child’s struggles, the fact that he or she has a learning difficulty is not going to go away. This is all the more reason to learn coping strategies. Your child needs to be taught how to work with his or her disability, not ignore it.

2. Think beyond school

When you help your child with homework, read books with him or her, and generally engage your child to help his or her learning, you are setting your child up for success beyond school. Children who understand their difficulty and have learned how to confront and deal with it may be more likely to succeed than those children who see themselves as helpless victims of an unfair challenge.

3. Be honest

Well-intentioned parents may try to keep a child’s learning difficulties secret. After all, they don’t want their child to be “labeled,” or they may want to avoid the possibility that their child will use the difficulty as a crutch or excuse. However, some experts believe that keeping the learning difficulty secret may send a message of shame and inadequacy. It’s said that the best approach is to honestly accept the difficulty, face it, and help your child understand and accept it also.

4. The whole person

You can help your child overcome his or her learning difficulties by providing the healthiest lifestyle possible. In fact, experts have pointed out the direct impact that diet and exercise can have on a child’s developing brain. So look into giving your family whole, organic foods, providing playtime and exercise, and practicing the principles of fitness and health.

5. Limit screen time

There have been multiple studies showing the negative effect on the brain that excessive exposure to screen-based media (television, computer screens, etc.) can have. Limiting the time your child spends watching television, DVDs, YouTube, or playing computer games helps get his or her brain in the mode to learn.

Language Immersion Programs – Is It Right for My Child?

For those parents who live in an area where language immersion programs are offered, it may be difficult to make the choice as to whether or not their kids will benefit. Here is a list of some questions to consider, and some pros and cons based on the experiences of others and the nature of immersion programs themselves.

First of all, just what is a language immersion program? This refers to a type of learning that involves total immersion in a foreign language. A variety of subjects are taught in the language, rather than teaching the language as a separate subject. In other words, your child won’t have Spanish, French, German, etc. class; he or she will have math, social studies, etc. class taught in the foreign language. The language being learned is spoken almost all the time during the program.

Questions to Consider

1. How does your child deal with his or her native language? If your child struggles with language concepts, you might want to consider the possibility that a foreign language could be very confusing.

2. How important is learning a foreign language to your family? You may have special reasons for having your child learn a foreign language, such as your location, relatives, or friends. Learning about another culture may be important to you as well.

3. Is your child an experiential learner? Some children learn best on paper; others by experience. In language immersion, your child will be experiencing the language first-hand. This really appeals to some children and helps them learn the language easily.

Pros of Language Immersion Programs

* Children tend to become fluent in the language, even if it’s not spoken at home.

* A child’s understanding of his or her native language may be enhanced, as he or she begins to see the roots of English words that are present in many foreign languages.

* Language immersion may make it easier for your child to learn other languages in the future.

Cons of Language Immersion Programs

* Children with dyslexia or other language-based learning disabilities are purported to have trouble with this type of language program.

* The “sink or swim” approach, where your child is “forced” to learn the language to survive the class, can be intimidating to some kids.

* Terminology in the subjects taught in language immersion programs, such as math, may present a problem for some kids when they are presented with those terms in their native language.

How to Boost Your Emotional Intelligence

We often hear about boosting our IQ, but what about emotional intelligence? Is it important to our wellbeing? What will it do for you in your life?

What Is Emotional Intelligence?

Emotional intelligence speaks to the way that you handle your emotional self and are able to understand the emotional stance of others in your relationships. This can be an important skill to have in business and your personal life.

Emotional intelligence works something like this. Let

How to Deal with Your Kids’ Homework Challenges

Homework can be very challenging, especially for high-energy kids who have a hard time sitting still at school, much less at home. As a parent, you may find yourself at a loss as to how you can help your kids cope with their homework challenges. Here are some tips that may help.

1. Schedule it in

Your kids need to know that you think homework is important. One way to do that is to have a designated “homework time.” This kind of routine can be very helpful for kids, and also establishes homework as an important task with its own allotted time.

Having a designated homework time also gives you more flexibility. That may seem ironic, but you and your child get to decide how many hours are needed, and what time of day those hours can come out of. Letting your child help you decide can also be motivational – that makes it less about the parent telling the child what to do and more about the child working with you to solve a problem.

Another tip about the scheduling – consider setting aside an “academic time” rather than just “homework time.” For example, if your child knows he or she has to spend an hour doing something learning-related, he or she will probably be less likely to hurry carelessly through a homework assignment just to get it done. Your child will understand that if he or she finishes his or her homework early, then he or she must find something else school- or learning-related to do.

2. Check it over

Make it a practice to look over your kids’ homework assignments. You don’t have to nit-pick, but just see that the homework is completed and that there are no glaringly obvious errors.

3. Get to know the teacher

Try to find out your child’s teacher’s expectations regarding homework, so that you can help your child reach those specific goals. It may be surprising how much teachers can differ in their homework expectations.

4. Quiet time

Homework/academic time should be free from noisy distractions if at all possible. Don’t settle down with homework assignments near the telephone, television, or computer, for instance (unless the homework assignment requires research on the computer). Some music is okay, especially if it helps filter out more distractions, such as loud younger siblings or other family member’s television programs. Just make sure the music is not distracting in and of itself.

5. Quiet place

Choose a special place for homework. Your child may come to look forward to settling down in this cozy, customized area of the house. Again guarding against distractions, you can set up the area to have snacks, drinks (even a mini fridge), comfy chairs or cushions, a special desk or table, and so forth.

Helping Kids Deal with Parents

Unemployment can be scary for adults who are going through it. What about your children? They may not know the particulars but they know that something is not right anymore. Here are constructive ways to help your kids deal with the situation.

Losing a job can be hard on your entire family. Trying to keep the fact of the loss from your kids can lead to a lot of speculation on their part and hurt feelings. What your kids might imagine is going on will likely be far worse than what you are dealing with.

Here are some ways to help them understand how their family financial situation has changed.

* Be honest with them

Heart-Smart Spring Recipes

Spring is such an exciting time. The weather is warming, the days are getting longer, and produce becomes more affordable. You can start including new and fresh foods in your diet, or you can begin to plant your own foods. It’s also a time when many people renew their vows to exercise and get healthy, so combining healthy foods with springtime recipes can be just the thing.

As more people are becoming concerned with their heart health (and for good reason), recipes that are good for the heart are becoming more sought-after. So this spring, be kind to your heart and try including some of these recipes.

1. Asparagus

Olive oil is purported to be a heart-healthy fat. One of the simplest ways to combine this healthy oil with this classic springtime vegetable is in this recipe:

Wash 1 pound of asparagus and trim an inch or two off the bottom of the fibrous stems. Steam asparagus spears for 6 to 8 minutes, or until they are crisp-tender. Remove the steamed asparagus to a bowl, and drizzle it with 1 or 2 tablespoons of olive oil and 1/4 cup lemon juice. Toss to coat, and chill the asparagus spears. Before serving, sprinkle spears with a bit of crunchy kosher salt to taste.

2. Brussels sprouts

These little cabbage-like vegetables may have a bad reputation with kids, but they can be a part of healthy springtime recipes. Here is a heart-friendly recipe idea for these nutty vegetables.

Trim and wash 1 pound of Brussels sprouts. Steam them for 8 to 10 minutes. In a bowl, whisk together:

* 2 tablespoons walnut oil (you can use olive oil if you prefer)
* 1 tablespoon finely-chopped shallots
* 1 1/2 tablespoons lemon juice
* 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
* 1/4 teaspoon salt

When Brussels sprouts are steamed, toss them into the bowl with the dressing and stir to coat. If you like, grind fresh pepper over the sprouts.

3. Artichokes, new potatoes, and other spring vegetables

Combine lots of spring veggies in this heart-healthy dish.

In a large pot or Dutch oven, heat a tablespoon of olive oil and saut

Guide for Planning a Church Wedding

When most little girls envisage themselves getting married they are walking down the aisle of a church in a white wedding dress. If you are still holding on to the dream of a church wedding, here are some ideas to help you plan one.

If you want a church wedding, time may be of the essence. So as soon as you say