How do you convince your child to eat fruits and veggies?

2016/092018/09 - Sandra Carter Leave a comment

Encouraging your child to eat their fruits and vegetables is just not enough anymore. Many parents look to the internet and parents groups for ideas on how to convince your child to eat their fruits and vegetables. Heck, wouldn’t it be nice if they even started to enjoy and liked eating them?

There are so many ideas and theories out there. But when it comes down to it, you have to do what works best for you and your family. Something that is comfortable and feasible for your lifestyle. Having the child self-feed is always a great idea. It not only helps with having them eat, but encourages development.

When starting self feeding it is always a good idea to prepare your self. If you have white carpet in your dining room, that may not be for you. When thinking about a safe and friendly eating area for child is makes sense to have something easy to clean up and ready for the next meal. Wood floors are often a way to go. These types of flooring allow for easy spill and mess clean-up. There are many different kinds of wood flooring out there from easy to install for your do-it- yourselfer to having a professional install a magnificent natural wood floor. The possibilities are really truly endless. So once you have the eating area all prepped and you are ready to make some messes or not its time for some ideas.

There is such an eternal battle between kids and eating their veggies and fruits, but an idea is to let them take part in the planting of child-friendly varieties of plants in your garden. The garden can be a large scale of even just a few potted plants on the deck. The idea is to get your child involved in the growing process. The more time they have invested in the process the more you may find that they are willing to try the end products of their labor. A few ideas of child friendly plants are: chocolate, peppers, watermelon, radishes, and Italian rose beans. These are all examples of Heirlooms. Heirlooms seeds and plants are also hundreds of years old and can be traced back hundreds of years. So not only are you helping with getting them involved you can also spill in a little history lesson as well.
Another fun idea, is to grow your own popcorn. Your children can grow their own popcorn that is a specialty kernel with tough hulls and starchy center that produces the pop when heated. Robust Yellow hybrid and Japanese White hull-less are great examples of a few varieties.

Getting you child to eat many different varieties of vegetable may also be an issue. Home-made pizza making is a fun and creative way to also get them involved in the process. Pizza fixings can also be grown as well. Oregano, basil, and thyme is an easy way to spice up things. Having a large variety of fruits and vegetables cleaned, cut up, and ready to place on the top of the pizza is a fun way to make your pizzas into faces or a picture. Using the different colors and shapes that they have to offer really makes it a great idea. This may also get a bit messy so having wood floors or tile in your kitchen makes for an easy clean up after the dinner is over.

There is some planning that can help with getting the kids to eat well. Scheduling meals throughout the day helps to keep t hem healthy and more balanced. Keeping the fruits and veggies involved in not only the main meals but also in the snacks. When planning on being on the go for the day pack snacks that are easy to eat and healthy. This keeps you away from take out that rarely involve fruits and vegetables.

Planning diners can also help. If thinking of planning a weeks worth of meals is too overwhelming start with a couple of days. The meals do not have to be gourmet. Make sure to cover the basic food groups and keep the meals well balanced. Making a choice from each food group is a good way to start. This gives them something to work with. Try staying away from becoming a made to order cook. Many families have a habit of making two meals, often cooking something for the adults and then another meal for the children. It can become exhausting. Preparing a single meal for everyone and try allowing the children to decide what they would like to put on their plates, but making sure they are making a balanced plate. Children will often simulate adult behaviors’, so make sure you are also following the rules. You will find they will start eating more and more of the foods that are served.

A few things to think about when serving meals and at dinner time is not to make reference to the chooses they have made. Keep clam and let them eat. The idea is to serve a well balanced meal, their job is to make sure to eat it. The last thing is not to make reference to what they are eating and how they are eating it. Often children will just not eat because they are feeling like they are forced.

When introducing new food, do it slowly. Kids by nature are new-food-phonics. Sometimes it takes a few times trying a new food before it is accepted. You can even try a hero worship statement, like “You know that Spiderman eats his carrots and that’s what makes his muscles grow.” Sometimes this can work wonders.

With all the suggestions in the world sometimes it just takes time for your little one to eat their fruits and vegetables. A few things to keep in mind are allowing treats, having fun, and being a good role model. Make sure to have some fun, including the kids in the process of growing the food and preparing it can them look at things in a whole other way. Making smiley-faced pancakes and silly pizza faces is a great way to have a good time with your kids. The most important thing is to also eat a well balanced diet. If you are always watching what you are eating and taking energy supplements and diet pill, your children will also begin to think that is a healthy lifestyle. Be true to yourself and think of ideas on how to be a healthy person for your children. Eating a well balanced diet with fruits and vegetables is the best way to encourage your children to do it too.

Say What? Things Women Say Men Do Not Understand.

2016/052018/09 - Sandra Carter Leave a comment

When you enter into a relationship with the opposite sex, it’s usually a magical time! Grinning from ear to ear, you can’t keep your hands off of each other, and want to spend as much time as possible with the other person because you think they are just the most amazing person on the planet!!

You try to stay on your best behavior and be as agreeable as possible because you want that person to enjoy every minute they spend with you. After the newness of the relationship begins to wear off, however, you still enjoy each other’s company (hopefully), and you’re still attracted to them, but you don’t always see eye to eye, and you’re not afraid to voice your opposing opinion. Usually, if you’re both mature adults, you can work through your differences and learn something from each other’s viewpoints, which tends to make your relationship even stronger. Sometimes, though, you just have to agree to disagree if you both want the relationship to work.

My husband and I have been together for over ten years and, to this day, he still tells me that trying to understand some of the things I say is harder than learning to speak Russian. You would think that after 10 years he would be an expert on women’s language, but he just hasn’t caught on…moreover, I’m not sure if he ever will. So I’ve decided to put together a glossary, if you will, of things that women say that men misunderstand. Maybe I’ll print it out for my husband to carry around in his pocket as a quick reference point to help keep him out of hot water. I doubt he’ll read it, though, because, well…that’s just how men are!

1. It’s up to you: Usually, I’ll say this when my husband asks if he should or shouldn’t do something. Should I go out with my friends this weekend? Should I cut the grass? Should I cook dinner for you? I like to think that by giving him the freedom to choose, he will pick the correct option, but that is never the case! What I really mean when I say “It’s up to you” is that it is up to him to decide if he wants to live with me being upset with him for choosing to do something that goes against what I want him to do. No, I don’t want you to go out with your friends this weekend…I want you to spend time with me. Yes, you should cut the grass…and clean the house, take out the garbage, and do all of the laundries. It’s up to you to make the right choice.

2. Do you need to do that now?: When my husband starts tinkering with his power tools in the garage or turns on the video game system, my immediate reaction is to ask if he needs to be doing that. He is oblivious to the dirty dishes in the sink, the piles of laundry in the bedroom, the toys strewn all over the house, and the countless other things on my to-do list that need to be taken care of. He usually looks at me like a lost puppy when I ask him this because he thinks that, yes, he does need to be relaxing and playing with his toys. After a few mean looks and me huffing around the house, he usually gets the idea, but it would be so much easier if he knew what I meant when I ask him this question.

3. I don’t want to talk about it: If something is bothering me, I tend to become very short and standoffish around my husband. He is pretty good at knowing when I’m upset about something but never has a clue as to what I’m upset about. It could be something he said or did last week, and I’m just now realizing that I’m mad about it. He’ll ask me what’s wrong, and I usually respond with “I don’t want to talk about it” because I know that I’m kind of being foolish by bringing up something that I know he doesn’t even remember doing. By this point, though, I can’t let it go and I do want to talk about it…he just has to drag it out of me. That way, when he tells me I’m being ridiculous for bringing up something from last week, I can then remind him that he made me tell him.

4. I’ll eat anywhere: On nights when we don’t feel like cooking dinner, it seems to take us forever to decide on where we should eat. I always say “I’ll eat anywhere” but then strike down every suggestion he throws out. I’m not in the mood for Chinese tonight, or we just had sushi last week, or we had a bad experience with our server three years ago at that restaurant. I guess when I say that I’m open to eating wherever he chooses, I mean that I have somewhere in mind and that he has to play a guessing game as to where I want to eat. Maybe I don’t have any particular place in mind, but he still has to list at least 5 or 6 options before I agree to one. By this point, we could have already cooked dinner at home.

5. Don’t worry about it: We all know that men take a long time to do any household chore that you ask of them. For example, I asked my husband to wash the dishes because I had an extremely long day at work and had to help our daughter with a school project. Call me impatient, but when I ask for something to be done, I want it done right then. After I helped with the project and put our daughter to bed, the dishes were still in the sink. I said to my husband, “Don’t worry about the dishes, I’ll do them” and he thought he was off the hook. What I meant by this was that he should be concerned about a lot more than the dishes at this point.

I could write a book on things women say that men just don’t know how to interpret correctly. I think what it boils down to is that men need to learn how to read women’s minds to understand fully what we mean when we say certain things.

Our Christmas Trip

2016/012018/09 - Sandra Carter Leave a comment

After Christmas, we decided to visit some friends 800 miles away. I was driving all day and I was ready to look for a hotel but before I can Do that I realized that we are stuck in the middle of the interstate because of an accident on the road that involved multiple vehicles.
Because there was more than 1 vehicle involved and from what I heard also fatalities, we had to wait until the road was cleared.
The problem was that it was late at night and not enough 24 hours towing service available for the big job. It took a long time until towing trucks from the nearby city arrived and the road was cleared.
Most of us waiting for the road to be cleared got out of our cars and started to socialize with each other. Between these people was an older man, Henry, who was a tow truck driver for 20 years before he retired.

Most of us have a negative experience with towing companies that illegally towed vehicles but Henry had too many interesting stories not to listen too.
Our time passed by so fast while listening to his stories, not because how interesting they were but because the way he was telling the story.
I decided to share some of his stories with you.

Henry was telling me that he has a story that he thinks at almost every day. One day the police called him for a lockout job. One driver locked his keys in the car and needed help unlocking his car. After the job was done and the car was unlocked, the driver started to act suspiciously so the police decided to search his car. What they found was shocking. Almost 40 bags of an illegal drug that will put that driver to jail for a long time. But the question that remained on Henry’s main all this years is why did the driver knowing what he has in the car called the police to help him unlock the car?

One time he had to pull out a car suspended in a tree in a ditch. Luckily the 2 men inside the car were not hurt but they were so scared that they were shaking for 2 hours.

One late night he was called by a lady who had a flat tire. When he arrived she was in her car listening to the music at her radio with no flashlight on, no triangle. She didn’t even knew if she has an emergency wheel in her trunk or not. She did so Henry was able to help her and explained to her that next time when she need a towing trucks help she needs to have her triangle set up, a reflecting vest on and she needs to get out of the care and wait for the towing truck to arrive in a safe place, not in her car. I was noggin my head but the truth is I didn’t know all this.

It was a long and interesting night as the cleaning took almost all night but listening to Henry telling his stories made the time pass so fast that we didn’t even realized how long we were waiting.

Eggplant Salad

2015/122018/09 - Sandra Carter Leave a comment

As it is the end of the year, party’s at every corner, start to pop up. Christmas party almost every weekend in December. Most of them have the same boring food. But not the one that we went last week. It was my 8 years old daughter swim team Christmas party.

One of the families present there, has an exchange student from Romania, Ana, and she made an eggplant salad like I have never eaten before. She sad, that the eggplant salad is a traditional food in Romania. I thought that maybe it’s just me who likes it so much, but, by the end of the party, the eggplant salad bowl was empty.

I loved it so much that I had to have the recipe, so I hunted down Ana next day as she already left by the time I have realized I need the recipe for it. It turns out that it’s simple to make. I had to share the recipe with you.

What you need:

Eggplant ( douhh!?)- I used 2 of them
Onion- I have used a half of a medium size onion
Around 1/5 cup of oil- I used Sunflower oil – she recommended me to use it. Has a better taste, but you can use any kind you have at home
Sea salt – I used a smaller amount as I try not to eat too salty
Ground black pepper
1 egg yolk
1 spoon of mustard

That’s it.
Roast the eggplant on the BBQ until the peel gets hard and the inside, the flesh gets soft. But before putting the eggplant on the BBQ poke it a couple of times with a fork otherwise, it will explode from the inside pressure. That way the juice from it will come out (which is a good thing). You don’t want any extra juice in your salad. I roasted them for 30-45 minute. Don’t forget to turn the eggplant on every side so it
can cook evenly.
Once it’s done, let it rest for 15-20 minutes for the extra juice to come out. ( I forgot about mine and left it to rest for 1 hour)

After you left the eggplant rest, peel of the outside and chop it finely with a wooden spoon. Add the finely chopped onion and the oil, and then mix them. Add how much salt and pepper you like.

The egg yolk and the mustard are for a homemade mayo, but if you don’t know how to do it or just prefer the store bought one, you can use the store mayo. I homemade mine. It’s easy.

Mix the mayo with the eggplant salad and you’re done.

It was such a success in my house that I had to do it again after 2 days.

You can decorate it with tomatoes, parsley or olives. My 8 years old loves olives so you can guess what I have used.

With freshly baked bread ( yes I am baking my own bread, but who doesn’t these days?) the eggplant salad was gone in 1 hour.

Have fun and enjoy!

The Back Talk

2015/122018/09 - Sandra Carter Leave a comment

It all started with my request to my 8 years old daughter to clean her room if she want’s to have a playdate in the afternoon. “Honey go clean your room if you want your friend to come over for the playdate! “. Her reply stunned me. With one hand on her hip she burst: “ I am not going to do this! You are not my Boss!” Me: “If you made all this the mess, you are the one who need to clean it up.”
Her response: “No way! Cleaning is boring. Cleaning if for moms!

I tried to keep my cool and not scream. I was shocked. Should I punish her? Should I try reasoning with her again? What is the best thing to do?
I told her “ clean your room” and left the room to prevent myself to say something that I will regret later and because I didn’t want her to see me so upset.
It wasn’t the first time when my 8 years old back talks. Her demeanor started a few months back, but she never went so far as that day. Not knowing how to react I just let it go.
A few days later the same attitude from her 3 years old sister was all that I needed to realize this went to far.
Me: “ Do not eat in the living room, honey. We need to eat in the kitchen.”
“ No mommy! I’m watching Sponge Bob!

What was happening with my daughters? Were they copying their friends? TV characters? Were they mimicking me? Whatever the reason was, I had to stop the backtalk fast.
I started to search for advice, from mommy friends, from my mother, from Google search… I was desperate.
I found so many advises but some of them were not appropriate for the way I wanted to raise my girls.
I have ended up trying a few of what I thought are the best for my family.

1 “ The behavior chart.”
I made a behavior chart. I made the rules clear for everyone, and I included a consequence for each kid. My 8 years old would give up her privilege to have a playdate that weekend and my 3 years old would miss her story for that night. We read the rules together and the posted them on the wall.
Did it work? Not really. Besides the fact that it was too much work, having to feed my children and take them to places, I needed to keep track of their behavior when we were not at home, and it was hard to explain my 3 years old why Mommy is punishing her for something she did 3-4 hours ago. She was too young to understand that the way she spoke to Mommy just took away the right to spend her time reading a story with Mommy
Also my 8 years old, engaged in a debate about what exactly is considered back talk, whenever I pointed to the chart.
The good thing was, that having a chart in place stopped me from spitting out the heat of the moment punishments that I”d never be able to carry out.

2. Keep you emotions in under control.
I know that my kids most amusing activity is to test your limits. Try not to take it personally when your 3 years old calls you Bad Mommy because you won’t play the air plane when you just came back from a playdate at the local gym where Bad Mommy had made arrangements to meet with other mommies just that her daughter socializes with kids of her age.
Instead of raising my voice, I have simply pointed out that her word aren’t working. My intention was to replace back talk with a convincing debate, a skill they will need to use later in life.
In most of the times, it worked.
My 3 years old learned that if she wants her a snack she needs to ask in a nicer way.
As far as my 8 years old, when I told her to do her homework, and he response was” I don’t want to!”. I didn’t started to scream, but I wanted to. Rather, I sad: “Do you think that when you yell at me you won’t have to do your homework? Really? Or you could just find a better way to talk to me to get what you want.”
She stopped and looked at me long. I ignored her. Her next word were: “ Mommy, can I please do my homework after we finish watching this movie?” Of course, I agreed.

3. Keep your promise. Follow through.
This was a painful one for everyone but it worked, I can’t deny it.
“Following through” is not fun at all. It’s like discovering you have no toilet paper in the whole house cause you forget to buy some the last time when you did your groceries. But from the moment I have started to reinforce consequences my kids became little monsters for the day but at least they stopped doing the bad things for the day.
The night when only the 3 years old got desert after diner and my 8 years old burst out “ I that a joke? You don’t love me anymore!” I had to walk away to keep myself from fighting with her. But every time I followed through with the sanctions, my girls were thinking again before doing that thing again.
Even the 3 years old understand that when Mommy says to stop that, or we are leaving, she is not kidding.

4. Disarm the misbehavior with affection.
When my daughter raised her voice one day because I told her that she needs to rewrite her homework because she did not paid attention to the questions asked. I took a big breath to calm myself and then sit next to her at the kitchen table, and say “ I understand that you are upset. What is going on? Would you like to talk about it?
Incredible how this simple strategy calmed her down. It even led us to have our special time. My 8 years old is stubborn but after every affectionate talk she ended up apologizing for the way she spoke to me.
My 3 years old had been calling me Bad Mommy” whenever I told her she couldn’t do something. She doesn’t know how to express what her feelings are.
Just sitting beside her on the floor and asking her basic questions like “ Are you mad? Are you hungry? Are you sad? Are you hurt? These helped her understand her fillings and express them in a certain way.
I have found a new thing that I could apply in my everyday like. Taking a deep breath before reacting, will calm things down.It changed the way I am interacting with my girls, with my husband, with the client who just told me doesn’t need my services after I have over delivered, with the ignorant who cut me off in the parking lot taking my spot.

5. Give rewards for the good behavior.
My girls do behave politely most of the time. But I was rarely rewarding there good behavior because, we only concentrate on the bad things we don’t like and ignore the good ones.
For me, it’s important how my girls talk to me When one of them respond to a request in an appropriate way, I should praise them and point out that the way they responded is appreciated, and it’s the right way to approach things.
I was so focused on the fact that they talk back that it was really hard to notice when they actually act and speak nicely.
This strategy had amazing results. Whenever I praised my girls, even for the little things, they shined.
Increasing the number of praises and hugs for my 8 years old was the first prize.It was so effective that I almost wondered If it’s real
Of course, the back talk hasn’t suddenly disappeared, but we are happier and calmer than before. Best of all I haven’t been called: bad Mommy again since I started to make this changes in our behavior.
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No Negativity!

2015/112018/09 - Sandra Carter Leave a comment

Even if the money is tight people will pay more for a positive and enjoyable experience than they will pay for a great product. Show me a person who doesn’t want to fill good and I will show you someone who you don’t want to be around.

Take for example the Halloween. My kids and I went to trick or treat in the neighbourhood. We knocked on a lot of doors and got lots of candies but I noticed that at the doors where people came out with a smile on their face, my girls were getting instantly comfortable to get the candies while at the doors where we find some terrible attitude, an angry mom or a bored dad, my girls were getting suspicious and not reaching for the candy at all. I just learned an important lesson from my girls. Your attitude does matters. Even if you are selling, something or you are selling yourself, the way you present it matters.

It’s easy for people to say no to a product, service or even a person, but its hard to say no to a positive experience with another human been because we want to feel good.

If you want to fell, good, adopt a positive attitude all the time and keep it positive.

My most important tip is: try to avoid television, radio and newspaper. The only news that the media delivers are bad news: another crisis or a new threat driven by political agendas. The media is forced to propagate lies on one side and please the advertisers on the other side.

In 10 minutes of watching tv, they will convince you that it’s good and fun to be a travesty and during the break a farmaceutical company will try to convince you that you are depressed, and the depression is a disease, and if you are not depressed then it’s something else wrong with you.

You have to control what get’s in your mind and when it gets in, in order to succeed in life.

What you get from the television or radio any day and any time is the threat of another crisis, war, shortage of some kind, disease, economic scares, fear, racism, hate and failure.

I refuse to watch television or listen to the radio in the presence of my children because I know it will destroy their hopes in humanity and alter the path they will take in life.

Instead of letting in all this negative information we chose to spend time together in the nearby park, read a book together or just watch a fun and positive movie of our choice.

Our children learn the language of the world from a young age. Every time they are exposed to information they will try to process it and make sense of it. Children will copy everything they see. If they see at the television that dressing provocative is fine and normal all the time, they will do the same. If they grow up in an environment where swearing is normal, drugs are normal, and see these things every day, they will end up doing the same. The media is no different The content they throughout on our children is full of violence and sexual connotations. Do you think all this won’t affect your kids? Think again!

Every winter the media spends hours each day to convince you that the flu season is coming, that you are susceptible, that millions of people will get the flu. Sometimes I think people get the flu only because is so heavily promoted with such a dedication.They get everyone thinking about the flu, worrying about the flu, talking about the flu, and people will start to think they are getting the flu until they finally do get the flu!

When media starts to promote recession, people will tighten up, and this perpetuates exactly what was promoted even if it’s no recession on the horizon.

The entire economy can be frozen by what is promoted on television, radio and newspaper. The attitude of the entire nation can be shifted from positive to negative in a few minutes just to influence the action of people. If the attitude and actions of millions of people can be influenced by news, certainly your attitude can influence at least one other person for good or bad.

Not only the television, radio or newspaper can influence your decision. The things that you can find online are also a huge part of the game. Do not believe what the first stranger with a nice looking blog (like mineJ ) is telling you. Do your research about the subject you are interested in.

One of my recent experience with such blogs was a few months back when I needed to ship my car between states as we recently moved and with two kids I just didn’t wanted to waste the time on driving when our flight was under 3 hours, and the car drive with all the stops could have been taken us probably 2 days.

Doing my research on transportation companies, I was surprised how companies are out there that pretend they offer transportation service but, in fact, they are transportation brokers, and they will find an auto transport company for you for a broker fee. That would have been ok with me because I wasn’t going to waste my time looking all over the internet for an auto transport company cause they are hard to find, they don’t really advertise themselves.The one thing that stop me was the brokers websites. I had so many questions about what can I put in my trunk or do I have to remove the cover from my spare tire, so I started to read their blogs. So much negativity for the actual transport company even if the broker makes his money on the truckers back. Brokers underestimate the carriers who are doing the actual moving of your car.No truck, no money for the broker!

Let me tell you some of the reasons why brokers think they are a better choice to work with, then a transport company:

Of course, they are not. They don’t have trucks to care for; they are only the middleman between the customer and the transport company.

How is that possible? Aren’t they using the same carriers that I would find when doing my research online?

Trucks can be unreliable even with dealing with brokers. Brokers can’t control when the trucks broke down! When I am dealing with you as a broker how can you guarantee that the truck you have “easily and quickly found for me won’t break down? Seriously?

Carriers don’t just cancel on their customers they have a truck to fill up. If you have discussed everything up front, they don’t have a reason to cancel.

These days everybody is offering free shipping quotes, you don’t need a broker for that!

That is so not true! Carriers understand that the customer wants to shop around and get the best rate, and nobody can pressure you if you want to sleep on it. When I have requested some quotes from brokers and transport companies, no transport company harassed me like the brokers did. I was on the phone with one, and then another one was calling telling me he is giving me 10% off from the price that the other broker offered me. I filled out the free shipping quote form on two brokers websites, but around twenty brokers called me. When I filled out the form on a transport companies website, I have received only one phone call. I will let you chose wich one you prefer.

A carrier runs the same trip over and over again sometimes for years; they know how many miles they need to run and how much their fuel cost. I am sure they don’t need the broker to tell them how much it will cost to run that trip.

The price offered by the carrier I have chosen to work with was way less than all the twenty brokers offered me. It’s the way it should be as the broker needs to add his own fee to the job. Let’s just do a simple math here. If the broker is paying to the carrier that he “easily and quickly “found an amount of $X and his broker fee is $Y, then I will need to pay $X+$Y working with a broker but only $X when working with a carrier? Huh?! Wich one should I choose?

I chosed to work with a carrier just because I don’t like negative people and mostly negative people who do not appreciate their business partner. No trucks no money for the broker! I was not charged any extra fees, and I paid less then I would have paid using a broker who probably would have reached out to the same carrier.

These days everybody has a cell phone, and most of the trucks have GPS tracking systems installed on them. If the trucking company can’t communicate with his own driver, how can a broker communicate with the driver???

This is probably true for some of the carriers but if you ask for a door- to –door service they can tell you if they are offering it or not.

Of course, the carrier will have a lower price compared to the price offered by a transportation broker because this way you don’t have to pay the broker fee. Maybe there are some transport companies that practise this kind of things but that can happen to brokers also no? Aren’t they using the same transport companies they are so complaining about?

My advice is just go online and do your research. There are hundreds of website, and some of them are review sites. Also ask around on Facebook, Twiter, neighbours and family members. I am sure you will find somebody that has shipped a car in his life. Ask about their experience and then decide for yourself.

Don’t let the brokers who are trying to make a living on the truckers back to discourage you to work with a real trucking company, because at the end of the day not one broker will pick up your car or deliver it to your house. You will be surprised how good of a job carriers do without brokers help.

At least you can have your contact with the transport company and decide if you like how they treat you.

Source: Sale or be sold by Grant Cardone

Where is my level of confidence?

2015/112018/09 - Sandra Carter Leave a comment

Nobody teaches you about how to manage your business or manage your relationships or marriage. Everybody tries to do the best that they can.
How to make your business and your marriage work? Even if it’s not going to be perfect, you just have to figure it out by yourself because no one gives you an instruction manual.
What happens when the business and the marriage clays together? Why is so much negative publicity about marriages? Why do so many marriages end up in divorce?
Yes, sometimes it can be hard work to maintain a marriage but just like anything else it’s worth fighting for! Would you fight for your job if you were sure that it’s the right job for you? Of course, you would if you know your other option would be a boring 9 to 5 job. Why should be marriage different? Marriage can be successful! Two people can get along and work it out and be more beneficial and successful because of that. You have to discuss your thoughts with your partner, your wishes, your ideas. You have to be on the same page for the marriage to work. You have to support each other, not impose your decision on your partner. You have to be certain about yourself, and you have to know your partner and be certain about him / her.

If you are uncertain about your life, just take a step back, look at your life and try to eliminate those things that makes you uncertain about yourself. There are a lot of things that can make me lose confidence and be uncertain about myself, but I know that confidence and certainty are the keys of getting what I want from life.
What can we do to increase our confidence level?

First of all and most important surround yourself with confident people that have sweg and focus. If you hear every day about other people’s success and you know you can achieve it and you work hard you will become succesfull. If you surround yourself with people who are complaining every day about how owfell their life is, how they become a victim of everything you will becom a victim and you will feel sorry for yourself. You will stop dreaming; you will stop fighting for your dream. Best advice? Stop watching TV! You want news? Get them online! Stop watching all the negative shows about how people fight, about the new shootings in the suburbs. Invest that time in yourself. Spend more time with people who know what they want and and they get it what ever it takes! Quit doing the things that makes you be uncertain about yourself because self esteem is the self inflected injury of others actions

When you work extra hours it makes you fell better about yourself, when you work out at the gym it makes you feel proud about your body. Even if my body is a little chuncky, I feel better because I worked out today! I know I am on the right path, so my self estime is biger then when I start complaining about my body and not doing anything about it. I will do anything I can to make an investement in myself, to make me stand taller, to make me run faster, it worth investing in. Short periods of study, learning new things can give me confidence. I know next time when I will bump in the same problem I will know how to handle it, I will know what to say. It’s all about your confidence.

Things that makes me unconfortable like confronting people chosing to just let it go, not having the hard talk at the right moment, makes me uncertain about myself. I know that if I will be confident enough to stand up for myself, I will fill better about myself. What you do and things you avoid doing contribute to your certainity and uncertainity.
What makes me certain about myself are small things like writing down my goals every morning when I wake up. This keeps me focus about where I’m going with my life. It helps me focus on my goals and not waste my time with things that are not important.
I keep my planner full with activities. Beginning from business meetings and ending with my kids swim classes it’s always full. I don’t have a single hour when I don’t have anything to do!
You are probably asking yourself right now why do I do that? I’m just triying to be the best that I can be; I am trying to reach my potencial.

Why are people uncertaine? When in my life started to be uncertain? We are not born uncertain so when do we change? In my case maibe because when I was a child I was always interrupted. When I was coloring, I was told,” don’t color outside of the lines!” Why? It’s my coloring book?
“You have to write with upper case letter” Why it is my story I can write however I want! I alwayse argued about what I want, and I didn’t wanted to follow the rules. The only explanation received at that time was “ you need to know how to duplicate, you need to follow the rules!”
That is so wrong! I am sure that other people also have an issue following the rules, copying others. I don’t want to be Alice the neighbor who’s only problem is why the family that lives across the street from her has dark shades on their windoe all day. The world is so big and so full of interesting things! I want to learn something new every day about the world and not limmit my knoledge to the neighbours on my street. Hell, I don’t even know my neighbours names ( beside Alice, who always invites herself for a cup of cofee when she sees me playing outside with my kids. And I don’t even drink coffe).

I always avoided doing things that makes me unceertain about myself. When my friend started smoking, I sad NO. When they started doing drugs, I said NO Hell! I don’t even take heade ache pills when my head hurts. How about the weight loss pills? NO way….I will stick to the healty food and going to the gym. That makes me happy. That makes me confident about myself. That’s just me! Also, finances makes me uncertain. Even when I have money I am worried about the money. Money will not make me more certain; money will not make me happy. How about you?
Many times when I am not certain about a decision that I have to make, even a business decision I will talk to my husband about it. Even if he doesn’t have a clue about what I am talking about most of the times because he is not in my space, I always ask him about his oppinion. Sometimes just to hear myself reasoning about it.
Somehow he always helped me take the best decision because we are on the same page. When you are on the same page with somebody, He /she might have a better idea then your lawyer about what is the best thing for you to do.

The marriage is a business; It is the most important partnership that people can have in a lifetime. Everybody needs to have his/ her role established in this partnership. If you ask for an, advise from your partner at the end of the day, you have to respect his decision because it belongs to him/her. Let your partner take the decision that he/ she thinks it’s the right one for them don’t force them to take your decision because ultimatelly it will ruin your partnership.It will ruin your partners confidence that he can make the right decision.
These are thinks that influence me. I need to have my confidence up every day. I can not afford one day to lose it! I am way to ambitious and way to focus on what I want to do, on what are my goals. Whatever it’s slow’s me down I don’t want it in my life!
Maybe I’m not the best looking women out there or the tallest on. Maybe my focus is not on my make up, my hair or the close I were, but I know I am confident, I’m on my game, I am showing up every day to learn something new to face my life, I am ethical, and all these makes me sexy. It makes me sexier than the girl consorned about what to where or what make up to put on for Saturday night. Maybe that’s intresting for her partner for a couple of weeks but how about after the first date is over and he realizez he has nothing in commen with that girl.
A sucesful and confident women will always be sexy and intriduing no matter matter in what stage of the relationship are you in. What’s sexier than a women who knows were she’s going and what she wants from life?
The question remains what can we do to build up that level of confidence? What do I do? I do classes, always learnning new things, a read books about motivation and confidence, I studdie other succesful womans. I look at myself like at a bank account. Every action I take will be a deposit or a wridrawell from my level of confidence. I have to keep invest in myself. I know that these investments will make me rich one day.
Questions that I have every morning following me through the day are: How do I fell about myself today? What can I do to make a deposit and not a whidraw? How about you?

Healthy eating vs weight loss pills

2015/112016/01 - Sandra Carter Leave a comment

When I was a teenager, I had athlete- size body. Compliments from my friends, both boys and girls always made me laugh shyly even though these compliments played a nice tune in my heart as well as my esteem.
But today, you will see me wearing a very serious look on my face most of the time. This doesn’t mean that I am upset with you. No! I am upset with my body size and weight contrary to my feelings before I got married almost ten years ago.
Now, a mother of two kids aged two and seven years, I can’t walk with my head high as I did in those days. I would like to lose weight, but I am not comfortable with the weight losing programs that my friend Sarah follows or even trying the weight loss pills. I am actually extremely against the use of pills to achieve my desire of shedding off some few pounds.
I prefer healthy eating tips and believes that, even though I am struggling to see my dream come true, a healthy eating habit will do me some good.I am just not ready to use weight loss medication

My friend, Sarah advised me to join her weight loss plan or hire a weight loss coach like she does since I am not ready to use weight loss medication. But, I always wonder why I cannot achieve my goal through natural ways or weight loss healthy eating. Well, one would say that I am too proud to try new ideas or that I am too busy taking care of my kids to find time to manage my own body weight, but that is just an opinion that goes without saying. Or do I really know what is healthy eating?

Do weight pills work?

If you take a look at my case, you will probably offer me a suggestion such as trying diet pills or weight loss pills, but don’t be surprised if I ask you, “do weight pills work?” I wouldn’t stand the mentioning of those pills anymore. If you have heard the FDAs talk about the diet pills and their safety, you will realize that they don’t monitor and test the popular over the counter medication nor do they have any evidence of the effectiveness of these medications. Sometimes back, FDA approved the sale of Alli over the counter but they still would advise you to try other methods of weight loss rather than use pills. Everybody, of course, has heard or witnessed some of the side effects linked to such medications.
Perhaps I am very keen on the sentiments of FDA since I always advocate for healthy eating with kids and steer clear from the weight loss medicine. I am sure that almost all pills that are sold over the counter contain caffeine as the fundamental ingredient and tend to have effects similar to those of coffee or tea. I think, or rather believe that a person can suffer from severe effects or even allergic reactions as a result of the ingredients contained in the weight loss pills.

Individuals with overweight issues like me, more often than not, do have discipline problems as far as their calories intake is concerned. Some suffer from the overeating disorder that would otherwise be avoided. As such, they may not get any benefit from the pills since they cannot change their metabolism or behaviors. This implies that such individuals continue to put on weight and perhaps give up. Besides, some over the counter pills promise them that they shall get rid off some pounds even with their ignorance to healthy eating advice, but this is something that rarely happens. In fact, with all due respect this kind of plan won’t bear any fruits.

Sarah, my friend I was telling you about, understands that some people like me, consider some weight loss programs and take in fewer calories with or without the good weight loss pills. We seem to agree that the failure to lower one’s calories intake cannot be substituted with so called pills miracle. They insist that the use of such medication should follow a physician’s consultation and not the advice from strangers.

Some diet tricks can help!

I believe that keeping off the pounds is not an easy or quick procedure, but nothing will work out if I don’t think out of the box. For instance, some diet tricks can help me in a very big way and, in fact, involves some of my favorite foods. What if I tried consuming a lot of fibers, proteins, and healthy carbs? Such a diet trick would boost my metabolism and keep me feeling full the whole day. In fact, that is one of the best tips for healthy eating.

I have tried healthy eating menus, but I wasn’t sure how to include the calorie burning ingredients in my daily menu. Perhaps too many times I trying to skip my breakfast not knowing that having healthy breakfast can help me control my body weight. Some individuals skip their breakfast thinking that this routine shall help them achieve their weight loss goals, but skipping meals does not really help and is not recommended since they can have deficiency in the essential nutrients. Also, it would encourage such individuals to eat more snacks during the day as they feel hungry.

Over the ears, I learned to follow healthy eating at home tips from nutrition experts, as I am not eating out a lot. I hate people staring at me when my kids have a moment of craziness

First of all Eat regular meals!
Eating regular meals in the course of the day assists in the burning of calories. In fact, it hastens the rate of calories break down and helps reduce one’s temptation to eat a snack that may contain high levels of sugar and fat.

Second of all consume plenty of vegetables and fruits
Vegetables and fruits have got low fat and calories content and are rich in fiber. Also, they contain a lot of minerals and vitamins.
These are my only rules I will respect in my weight loss journey. Not skipping meals, eating quality food and exercise. I will keep you posted on my progress.

How to Extend the Life of Your Freshly Cut Flowers?

2011/022018/09 - Sandra Carter Leave a comment

If you are like me, you absolutely love fresh cut flowers in your room, but does it worth the effort and/or expense?

For me it does. It’s just absolutely heartwarming when I see the room light up with color, but I hate when my flowers die.
Over the years I tried to expand the life of my flowers with different tricks I heard from friends or neighbors, or I found researching online.

These are just some of the ones I have found:
– First thing before you put your flowers in a vase is to make sure the vase is absolutely clean. I always use vinegar or bleach to wipe the inside of the vase before putting my flowers into the vase, just to make sure there are no bacteria’s left in the vase.

– I use vinegar not just to clean the vase but I add some even to the water, to make sure the water stays bacteria free. Keeping cut flowers looking good for a longer time means minimizing the growth of bacteria in the water and making sure they have all the nutrients they need. I add 2 Tbsp. of vinegar and stir. The vinegar helps inhibit the growth of bacteria and keeps your flowers fresher longer. If you don’t have vinegar a few drops of vodka (or any clear spirit) will do the trick. Even a copper penny and a cube of sugar to the vase water will have the same result. The penny is thought to act like an acidifier, which prevents the growth of bacteria.

– I always add a small mixture of aspirin, and a teaspoon of sugar to the water as the carbohydrates from the sugar feed the stems. The sugar will help nourish the flowers and promote the opening of the blooms.

– Remove all the lower leaves from the plant so no leaves end up in the vase. I do this because the leaves break down in the water can cause bacteria to form

– Before submerging my flowers I cut the stem in a 45-degree angle

– Try not to jam too many flowers into 1 vase because they will die quicker. Also, don’t leave your flower arrangement in the sun that will cause your flowers to die faster. They are not growing anymore, so sunlight it’s not beneficial for them anymore

– Make sure you change the water often and give your stems a fresh angle cut every time you change the water – at least every other day.

– If your flowers came with “flower food”, don’t use it all at once. Every time you change the water, add a small quantity to the changed water. The “flower food” contains sugar, an acidifier, and bleach most of the time.

– Keep flowers away from appliances, like televisions and computers, which give off heat and can cause flowers to dehydrate.

see more details here:

Lots of people are obsessed with keeping their flowers alive for longer periods. One of my neighbors is putting her flowers in the refrigerator overnight. What? Yes, and if you think better the flower shop keeps them in a cooling box, they are transported in temperature controlled truck and temperature controlled shipping containers.
I remember a wedding I was attending as a helper for a wedding organizer. The truck that was supposed to bring the flowers to the wedding location in Norcross, GA broke down with all the flowers inside. Luckily they could still control the temperature inside but we still needed a way to get the truck with the flowers to us. This is where tow trucks come in handy. Just a quick call and the tow truck pulled the flower truck to the reception location and we managed to get all the flowers out. I’m glad that Anna (the wedding organizer) did not freak out and had the awesome idea to call the towing truck from Norcross.
So yes, if you want to max out the life of your flowers put them in the refrigerator overnight 

Todays House Wife

Motivational reading, weight loss tips