When Grief Comes Home During the Holidays, How Do You Manage?

Grief during the holiday season beginning with Thanksgiving and going through Hanukkah, Christmas, and New Year is a stressful time for all people, but particularly for those going through the seasons of grief after the loss of a loved one.

The holidays bring back memories of past holidays and hold much in the way of joyful and sorrowful feelings. Those who have lost a loved one fantasize that everyone else is surrounded by family and friends and is having a wonderful time, while they are feeling alone and miserable. This fantasy keeps them from creating their own plans or asking others to spend time with them in ways that will be helpful to them.

Ways to Cope with Grief Individually at the Holidays

Individuals who are bereaved may also need to be extra gentle with themselves during the holidays. The following are some suggestions:

• When others offer help, accept it. The holidays are a draining time of year for most people and those who are grieving are already short on energy.
• Think about your belief system. Is now the time to strengthen your ties to your religious community? Loosen your ties? Or perhaps change your beliefs so some extent to fit with any new lessons you may have learned from your grief.
• Take care of yourself. Avoid overindulgence in alcohol, tobacco, caffeine and sweets. Grief takes its toll on one physically, as well as emotionally. Try to avoid further stressing the body by eating nutritious food.
• Do something special for yourself. Buy yourself a gift in memory of your loved one, perhaps something you think they would want you to have. Pay someone to clean your house. Get a massage. See a good movie.
• Allow yourself time to cry.
• Allow yourself to be alone when you would like to be. Many people who grieve feel guilty about wanting to “cocoon” during the holidays, but it may be seen as a natural way of helping us slow down when grief is taking its toll on us.
• Decide with whom to spend your time. Spend time with those people who are able to be supportive. Decrease the amount of time spent with unsupportive friends and family.

Accept your grief in this holiday season, do not try to “pretend” it away. This will not be helpful to you or others. The seasons of grief only pass as we live through them and change and grow in them. To resist your grief is to prolong it. Growth can come only through your grief. Your life is different: learning how to cope with this difference constructively is the task for you as a griever both during and after the holidays.

Try not to put so much pressure on yourself to get everything done. If you do not feel like shopping or sending greeting cards or baking or cooking, then admit this to yourself and to family and friends. Find new ways of celebrating this year. You don’t have to live up to others’ or your own expectations. Ask for help in addressing those cards or putting up that tree if that’s what you want, or need. Allowing yourself these feelings and expressing them may be what you need, rather than the added stress and strain of accomplishing a whole list of items. Give yourself the time and space to feel and experience your loss while also sharing it with family and friends as much as possible.

Types of Fire Extinguishers

Importance Of A Fire Extinguisher In The Home

A fire extinguisher, flame extinguisher, or simply an extinguisher, is an active fire protection device used to extinguish or control small fires, often in emergency situations. It is not intended for use on an out-of-control fire, such as one which has reached the ceiling, endangers the user (i.e., no escape route, smoke, explosion hazard, etc.), or otherwise requires the expertise of a fire department. Typically, a fire extinguisher consists of a hand-held cylindrical pressure vessel containing an agent which can be discharged to extinguish a fire.

Identify What Is On Fire

This may sound like a silly question but get this wrong and it could be disastrous. You must be recognise the type of fire before grabbing the nearest extinguisher.
Believe it or not materials are placed into a class system if they burst into flames or are part of a fire. These classes include:

• Class A materials – These include solid materials such as wood, types of plastics and paper.
• Class B – These are all flammable liquids, so these include petrol, oil, and many other combustible liquids.
• Class C – This type of fire is quite rare and involves combustible gases that are used in such places as universities. These gases include methane, butane, and propane.
• Class D – Electrical fires full into this category so items include kitchen appliances, faulty wiring and electrical distribution boards.
• Class E type. Cooking oil and fat as well as other kitchen cooking material, which are of the greasy kind, would be found under the Class F kind.

Types of fire extinguisher

Water – This fire extinguisher is colour-coded red and can be used for Class A fires, ie solids only, such as wood, paper and fabrics. Not suitable for Class B liquid fires, eg paraffin, petrol, oil fires or where electricity is involved. It works by cooling burning material.

CO2 fire extinguishers are suitable for use on Class B fires and fires with an electrical complication.  Its most typical application is for use on office machinery and IT equipment.  In most cases they are not appropriate as the principle extinguisher type in a building as they are unable to achieve an A class rating.

Powder fire extinguisher are suitable for use on Classes A B C and electrical fires.  It is a highly effective extinguishant but does present other problems.  It drastically reduces visibility, it can cause choking and respiratory distress in confined spaces.  It causes a great deal of mess and on exposure to atmospheric moisture can become corrosive.

Foam – This fire extinguisher is colour-coded cream and is more versatile than water. It can be used for both Class A and B fires, but is not recommended for fires involving electricity. This extinguisher forms a blanket or film on the surface of a burning liquid.

Wet chemical – This specialist fire extinguisher is colour-coded yellow and is used for Class F cooking oil or fat fires only.

 

Wellies, Waterproofs And Sandbags For The New Year

2012 Great Britain and Ireland floods so put on your wellies

You needed your wellies in 2012 United Kingdom and Ireland floods are a series of weather events that affected parts of Great Britain and Ireland periodically during the course of 2012. The beginning of 2012 saw much of the United Kingdom experiencing droughts and a heat wave in March. A series of low pressure systems steered by the Jet stream brought the wettest April in 100 years, and flooding across Britain and Ireland. Continuing through May and leading to the wettest beginning to June in 150 years, with flooding and extreme events occurring periodically throughout Britain and parts of Western Europe.

The Met Office issued severe weather warnings for much of England, including London, Wales and Scotland. As during the floods of November, it was Cornwall that first felt the brunt of the bad weather overnight on Thursday.

At Porthallow in Looe, in south-east Cornwall, the water was 2ft deep in the centre of the village in the early hours. Water had to be pumped from homes near Launceston, St Austell, Helston and St Keverne. Firefighters also attended a landslip at Ponts Mill, Tywardreath, near Fowey.

Cornwall council had more than 100 staff out helping emergency services and EA workers deal with the floods. A council spokesman said individual properties were being affected this time so far rather than communities.

 

Wet weather proves a washout for sales of summer products

Shoe retailers have seen storming sales of wellies but have been stuck with sandals. At B&Q, sales of garden footwear such as Wellington boots and rubber shoes are up 97%. Shoe Zone has sold more than 115,000 pairs of wellies since the start of May – and a pair every 30 seconds since the beginning of this month.

Marketing and property director, said: “It’s a shame high summer lines are still sitting on the shelves. We’ve had a great reaction to our welly boots range. Sales have been driven by muddy festivals, but it seems more and more people are wearing them every day now too.”

 

How to Care for Newly Pierced Ears and Other Piercing

Pierced Ears and Other Piercing

An earring is a nice accessory for women and men. If you’ve just gotten your ear piercing, you’ll need to know how to care for ears and the jewellery you use. Here are some tips to help you.

• Use a cotton swab and an antiseptic to clean the earring and the area around the earring at least twice a day. Note: don’t clean the area too much or your skin will dry out.
• Your piercer should recommend an antiseptic for your ears (no chemicals should be used).
• Even after a bath or shower you’ll need to clean your ears. Be careful that no shampoo, conditioner, or body wash infects your piercing. As mentioned above, use a sea salt solution to disinfect your ear.
• At night, don’t sleep on your side. You want to be careful not to be unwanted pressure on your ears. This will take some time for you to get used to but you will have to cope with your new situation. It will be a couple of days, leading up to a month or two, before you can sleep on your side again.
• Once your ears have healed, which will take 6 to 9 weeks, you can swap out your earring. Your piercing should be flexible enough to accommodate smaller jewellery, larger jewellery, or any other alternative you chose. Just make sure your initial piercing is completely healed.

A few times a day (many people find themselves doing this all the time), turn your earrings so the piercing doesn’t heal around them. If you don’t turn your earrings, the skin will grow back in around the earrings and you won’t be able to get them out. Make a point of doing this at least twice a day. If you do it more often (playing with your new piercing), that’s fine. Turning them more is better than turning them less.

Be sure to leave your studs in for at least six weeks (recommendations will vary). If your piercing is having trouble healing – bleeding, crusting (make sure this is clear scabbing fluid and not pus), still painful, etc. – leave your studs in longer and continue to clean the piercings frequently. If your ears are healing well, you can remove the earrings after six weeks. However, continue wearing earrings most days, and stick with studs. Make sure the studs are hypoallergenic if your skin is at all sensitive. Wait a few more weeks, at least, before wearing any dangling earrings or non-hypoallergenic ones (until the piercing is healed even better).

The Importance Of Placemats & Coasters

Placemats & Coasters

Placemats and coasters are essential components of any dining room set. They are meant to protect sensitive furniture finishing from unsightly marks caused by accumulation of water droplets on the surface of cups, plates, glasses and bottles containing cold drinks, or from contact with similar utensils containing hot drinks or food. When shopping for that dining room set that you have been eyeing it is important to select the right type of coasters to complete the picture. Nowadays it is possible to find personalised items such as coasters as well as placemats which give a special and unique touch to your dining room.

There are many types and designs of Placemats and Coasters on the market today. For this reason it is now possible to choose the type that you want and in some cases it is possible to choose the type of image or writing to be printed on them. These personalised items make great gifts for friends and family for virtually any occasion. The added personal touch makes the recipients feel really special and it shows that you took your time and consideration into selecting the gifts.

Think about how important a placemat is to you. If you have a nice table then you need to protect form the heat of plates, from spillages and from scrapes by cutlery — and the best way of doing that is with a place mat.

The same goes with coasters — a coasters stops condensation and heat from a mug ruining a surface — whether that is a table, a windowsill, a bookcase, pretty much anywhere that people have a tendency to leave drinks (and it is amazing the places that some people will set a cup or glass down!).

Placemats and coasters help to protect our furniture from damage — but they are also an important decorative tool. They can be set with colours or patterns that help to compliment a room, or even draw the eye if you are trying to get attention to a table.

A gorgeous pattern, beautiful colours — even a novelty placemat with a cartoon characters face on it. All say something about us and all add to the room. Are you happy with what your placemats and coasters say about you? Or would you rather change the message?

When Divorce Is A New Year’s Resolution

Divorce Rates to Increase as New Year Sets In

While some couples may have kissed under the mistletoe this past holiday season, many others are destined for a date in divorce court. Matrimonial lawyers know that this time of year produces a very well-known annual event: After the champagne has flowed on New Year’s Eve, divorce fillings and the number of new cases inevitably begin to spike.

Many unhappy spouses make the resolution to move forward with a divorce some time during the course of the previous year or possibly even longer before that. As is often the case, they choose to bide their time with a great deal of deliberation and patience. Remaining committed to spending one last holiday season as a family unit, the estranged spouse decides to make the best of it just one more time before announcing the decision to end the marriage.

When children are involved, this carefully made decision to delay the announcement may be the best choice for everyone involved. Of course, this is only as long as the family gatherings held during the holiday season remain free of uncomfortable frictions, confrontations and fighting.

Divorce is sadly often unavoidable and can have a huge impact on the entire family so it’s important that issues are resolved quickly and sensitively. For many separation is a last resort, when all other methods of reconciliation have failed, so couples want their legal affairs in order and papers finalised as soon as possible so they can start to move on.

However, many couples are often unsure of where to turn, especially when expensive legal bills are not an option as proceedings can become long and drawn out. Lengthy divorces do not benefit anyone especially where children are involved so it is vital that both parties seek impartial legal advice sooner rather than later.

Families worried about spiralling divorce costs should always seek professional advice. There is plenty of free advice available on a range of family matters, including divorce, from organisations such as the Citizens Advice Bureau. Specialist solicitors can also advise you on your rights and help you find the right options to help you resolve your problems and if you require it representation in court.

Although divorce levels have fallen in the UK, we still hold one of the highest figures in the world, with more than one in a 100 marriages ending in divorce. This means divorce is still a very real issue throughout the country.

Matrimonial disputes are often stressful and emotionally highly charged and believe that the relationship between client and lawyer must be based on trust, confidence and accessibility.

Team Building: Looking ahead, is your company planning to reactivate it’s team building initiatives?

The Importance of Team Building

Team building few managers and business owners recognize it, but there is a season to productivity at work. Throughout the course of the year, the seasons, the holidays, and the weather all conspire to help distract employees from their work. In the summer, the warm weather and holidays in August often bring offices to a standstill. The Christmas holidays can be equally as slow, with many employees taking time off, or simply finding that they are distracted with Christmas holiday planning.

The good news is that many employees come back from Christmas holidays refreshed, ready to turn over a new leaf at work, and fulfil one or more New Year’s resolutions. And the fact that the cold, damp winter months in the UK don’t necessarily distract employees from office work makes it an opportune time to really fine-tune work processes and bring your teams together.

In 2008, many companies put these initiatives on hold and some have not resumed them.

If your company is resuming these initiatives:

– what have are your objectives – have these changed?
– what are your priorities – have these shifted?
– what segment of the employee population are you targeting? executives, sales, managers, front-line staff?

If these initiatives are still off the corporate agenda, what are some of the reasons that they are not seen as a priority.

The main goals of team building are to improve productivity and motivation. Ask www.corporate-events.uk to design a tailor-made team building day for you. Taking employees out of the office helps groups break down political and personal barriers, eliminate distractions, and have fun. The benefits of team-building programs are so significant that many corporations have incorporated team building strategies into their standard training curriculum.

Some of these benefits include:

• Improves morale and leadership skills
• Finds the barriers that thwart creativity
• Clearly defines objectives and goals
• Improves processes and procedures
• Improves organisational productivity
• Identifies a team’s strengths and weaknesses
• Improves the ability to problem solve

 

Make Money Blogging

How To Make Money Blogging

If you are determined to improve you circumstances, then starting your own blog and earning money from home is a great way to go. If you know what you are doing then it isn’t difficult to make money blogging. The hard part is getting your blog setup so you can get going.

Find out everything you need to know in order to setup your blog so that it will work effectively and make you money.

If you are going to succeed blogging then you need to stick to a proven blogging formula that is proven to work time after time.

The decisions that you make about your blog niche, your URL, where you host your blog, how you structure you blog posts, how often to publish new content and how to promote it so people see it. Absolutely everything you need to get started on the road to financial freedom and being able to work from wherever you choose.

Learn about the main mistakes that new bloggers make and avoid them, saving yourself many hours of wasted time and effort.

You can make money blogging if you take a few hours to learn how and follow an established blueprint that will ensure your success.

Learn the habits of the top 100 bloggers in the world and learn how to replicate what they did to become successful. It is no coincidence that they all followed the same structure in order to achieve their success and you can follow that process too, with step by step guidance, so you know you are doing the right things.

Within 3 to 6 months you could be the owner of a successful money making blog, if you dedicate some time and effort to establishing it as an ‘authority’ blog in your niche.

The Two Key Blog Ingredients

1. Good Content

If you create great content that people want to read and that is compelling, useful, well written and totally unique, then you will put the foundations in place to rank well.

2. Popularity

Otherwise known as building backlinks to your content (or waiting for other website and blog owners to link to you by referencing your content from within their content.

Summary

If you publish good quality posts and pages then your blog will attract traffic and grow in strength.

Almost 200 arrests for drink driving in December

Almost 200 drivers have been arrested for drink driving or drug driving offences by Avon and Somerset Police in December.

There have been a total of 180 arrests as part of Operation Tonic – the annual Christmas campaign. Last year 231 drivers were arrested during the same period.

Drivers caught drinking and driving or driving while under the influence of drugs risk a fine of up to £5000, a minimum 12 month driving ban, a criminal record and could end up behind bars and without a job.

Police want motorists to take care during the build-up to the New Year celebrations. Anyone planning to go out and celebrate the New Year is being advised to nominate a non-drinking driver, arrange alternative transport and leave the car at home.

Despite the high number of arrests the majority of the public are aware of the dangers of drink and drug driving and are responsible about not getting behind the wheel while impaired.

These people have a big part to play in getting the message across to the minority who are prepared to take a chance.

Traffic Sergeant Pete Stringer said:

“It is concerning that we have made so many arrests since 1 December and it appears that some people just aren’t getting the message.

It is pleasing though, that we are catching people who are prepared to take a risk and getting them off the roads before they can kill or seriously injure someone.

Between now and the new year, officers will be out in force on our roads and if you drink or take drugs and drive we will catch you and you face losing your licence.

People need to understand that drink driving is simply not acceptable and the police will keep making arrests for as long as motorists keep putting lives at risk through drink or drug driving.”

Drinking and Driving (drunk driving) is a serious offence and carries a mandatory ban for a minimum period of 12 months.

You can only avoid a drink driving ban if you can defend the allegation, or if you can prove that their were special reasons in relation to the reason why you were driving whilst over the limit.

Breath Readings.

The legal drink driving limit is 35 milligrams per 100 millilitres of breath. If your breath reading is under 50 milligrams then you will be offered a blood or urine test to double check the breath reading. If your blood reading comes out above the drink driving legal limit of 80 you will be charged with drink/drunk driving.

Some defences to drink driving.

• Showing that you were not driving.
• Denying that you were driving on a road or in a public place.
• Arguing that you consumed the alcohol that took you over the drunk driving limit after you stopped driving (otherwise known as a hip flask defence).
• Denying that you were over the limit and arguing that the police evidence is unreliable.

 

Can guaranteed rental schemes save struggling landlords?

Rental schemes save struggling landlords

Can rental schemes help lot’s has been written about the travails of the UK property market. But the private rental sector has received less attention despite the difficulties faced by many buy-to-let landlords over the past two years.

Because of oversupply, many of those who have entered buy-to-let or been tempted to move their homes on to the rental market can struggle to secure a tenant. But there is a potential safety net for landlords called guaranteed rental schemes. Under this arrangement, the landlord signs over the property to a letting agent for a specified period of time in return for a guaranteed monthly income. It is then up to the agent to let the property and any profits they make after what they have paid to the landlord are theirs to keep. But although these schemes provide peace of mind, it’s unlikely that you will be getting the property’s full earning potential.

What is Rent Guarantee insurance?

Rent Guarantee Insurance will protect you in the event that your tenant fails to pay the rent.

Most Landlords do their best to ensure that they let their properties to the best possible tenants – unfortunately it’s a fact of life that events happen beyond our control.

If a tenant falls behind on their rental payments it could have serious financial implications for you, especially if you have mortgage commitments on your property.

Rent guarantee is a form of insurance where, for a relatively small annual fee, landlords can protect against loss of rent. Normally, ‘Landlord Rent Guarantee Insurance’ is combined with ‘Legal Assistance Insurance’ whereby a landlord’s legal costs of recovering rent and/or evicting a non-paying tenant are covered.

Generally, the insurance pay out only starts after one month. It is usually a condition of such policies that a landlord ensures that their tenants are professionally credit-checked before handing over the keys. This product was traditionally offered in the UK and has now expanded to the USA

Rent guarantee is a very useful form of insurance, particularly where landlords let their property without a letting agent, as the necessary checks involved actually tend to deter rogue tenants who would otherwise gravitate towards properties being let privately.

Rent Guarantee insurance is different from a Guaranteed Rent scheme, which is a service that manages a residential property in return for a fixed portion of the rent. The owner is paid their share, even if the property is empty or tenants default on the rent: in that sense, it functions as a form of insurance.