Occupy Wall Street

I first heard about what was going on in New York from a friend, who found it in an off topic WoW forum. I was incrediably surprised to see how little informatiopn was out there about the violence of the protest other than what Occupy Wall Street was posting on it's website. It made me start to think about all of the ways things get kept out of the media and why they are kept from public consumption. Media blackouts have been occurring for at least 100 years. Famously during WWII and the attacks by the Japanese on american soil. While the US government in this case figured that with the Japanese not knowing how damaging their fireballs were, would eventually stop sending them. While this did work over time, I think more lives could have been saved by letting the public be aware of the attacks so they could better prepare themselves. Just my opinion. So feeling this way I decided to make a Squidoo lens on the topic of media blackouts. Check it out if you don't believe that media blackouts are still occurring each and every day around the world. See my Squidoo Lens here. Btw this is not just a third world or communist country thing. Media blackouts are happening in the US and Canada as well as Europe. Everything from court trials to sporting events gets affected by gags in the media. These days it's harder to keep control though with Fabebook and Twitter and YouTube allowing anyone at all the chance to speak their piece. How much would we be hearing from main stream media about the violence the police in New York are perpetrating if it wasn't for these social media networks?

Pictures

I've decided to share more of the pictures I have taken. Yep I know my camera isn't the greatest but I think I get some good photos anywway. I started by adding some more pictures to my Flickr account.

I have a few sets there now. My favourite are the bugs and insects though, so I wrote about them on Squidoo. Not that I gave seriously detailed information but I did cover the basics of taking insect photos. At least how I manage to take mine. I may think about posting some more of my pics on istock or a similar website, but I'm just not sure yet. I may wait for this step until I've gotten myself a good DSLR (I want the Canon for sure).

I added some pics of myself to Picasa...not sure how I go about sharing those yet on here though. I think my profile pictures are available though. I know I have been asked to see my smiling face. For now...that is me. Oh well, hope you enjoy the pics...and please share with me your pics too. I don't just enjoy taking them I also like looking at them.

Upcoming Election 2011

I admit to following politics somewhat. I know the platforms for each party that runs in my riding and I decide ahead of time who to vote for. I believe everyone has a responsibility to vote as long as they are competent and of age. Here's a quick overview of each party's platform for the upcoming election October 6th and links to each party's website for more information. I will be voting Green again this year, but how you vote is entirely up to you, as long as you get out there and do it!

The Green Party of Canada has Strong Economy, Strong Communities and True Democracy on their platform. Check out their website for a detailed platform.

The Conservatives have Ecomomic Recovery and Growth as the main stay of their platform. See their website for more information.

The Liberal Party website doesn't have alot of information about thier current platform. Most is about their new leader Bob Rae. Since Bob Rae actually was Premier of Ontario under the NDP, and he really didn't do a great job of it, well I know he won't get my vote in any way shape or form. Make up your own mind though.

The NDP has also lost it's leader Jack Layton this year. The are the current official opposition in Canada. The most up to date platform information was supplied by Layton and the basics are in the image above. Check out their website for more party information.

Go to the Elections Canada website for any other election information you may want or need. For more information on and links to the 17 registered Political Parties in Canada check out this article.

Natural Hair Care

We all put our hair through alot each and every day. Whether like me you don't use a lot of products but live in a humid summer and dry winter area, or you are the type who fully styles your hair daily. Weather, heat, styling products, blowdrying, pollution and more all can cause havoc with your hair. So why would you use anything that is full of chemicals on your hair? Your revitalizing daily shampoo might have been formulated to add volume and shine, but consumer watchdogs say the scads of chemicals used in cosmetics aren't adequately assessed for safety by either the federal government or the manufacturers. Similar health concerns were echoed in a study presented Sunday by University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine neurobiologists at the annual meeting of the American Society for Cell Biology in Washington, D.C. In tests on rats' brains, Pitt researchers have found that prolonged exposure to low levels of a common shampoo ingredient called methylisothiazolinone (pronounced METHYL-lie-so-THY-a-zole-a-nohn) dramatically restricts the growth of neurons. Methylisothiazolinone -- shortened to MIT for obvious reasons -- is often added to water-based shampoos and hand lotions to prevent bacteria growth, said Pitt neurobiologist Elias Aizenman, the study's senior author. The chemical also is used widely as an antimicrobial agent to kill germs in industrial water storage tanks and cooling units. Read more about chemicals in your shampoo including information that they may contribute to Parkinson's Disease as well as Alzheimer's on ewg.org . "The good news is: Hair-care products are better than ever before," says Paula Begoun, a former makeup artist who writes extensively about the cosmetics industry. "It's really hard to buy a bad product, but you can get conned by products that are overpriced or bad for your hair." There are many unrecognizable ingredients on a shampoo bottle label. Propylene glycol (which inhibits freezing). Ethylparaben (a preservative that prevents bacterial growth). Cyclopentasiloxane (smooths the hair). It's hard for a curly haired girl to figure out whether the ingredients back up what's promised on the label and support the $25 price tag. Basically, all shampoos have the same recipe. Lathering agents. Cleansers. Preservatives. And fragrances. So do all conditioners. OK, maybe most of them don't have butane, a pressurizing agent that helps force the mousse out of the can. (It doesn't harm people, just the environment, Begoun says.) So if it's harming us or the environment, what is the difference? There is no real safety check on ingredients in personal care products including make up, shampoos, conditioners and all of the styling products we use everyday. "The key for consumers is to look at the ingredient list, because the first is what's most in the product, and clearly whatever comes at the end, there's not much of it in the product," says Marie-Pierre Stark-Flora, assistant vice president for global product development at Kiehl's. (see ewg.org for full article) The best way to see what is in your hair product is to find out the ingredients yourself. Use natural and organic hair care products as much as possible to avoid having extra chemical buildup in your system. Also stick to mineral makeup (about my favourite brand)so more chemicals do not get into your bloodstream through your face. If you have long hair then this article on long hair care may be a big help too.

Traffic

Ok so I have now tried a few different things to send traffic to my business websites. The first was Squidoo and then this Blog. After that came Twitter and now Technorati. I'm not totally sure how Technorati works yet, but so far I have made a claim on this blog and they have asked me to put a verify code on it. 6HUTKHB5XSHV seems like an odd way to verify ownership of a blog as I could easily put that into the comments section on anyone's blog. Of course to be fair why would I try to index someone else's blog when I could just tweet it. Well I'll try to keep track of how all of this does for building business online and share what does seem to work. Yeah another odd code...This time from pinging. hostgator promotional codes Added some of my links to ASR Search Engine. I figure it can't hurt. Adding 247 backlinks to my usage as of September 30th. It gave me 1000 free backlinks to start so I put up a chrity lens to start, The Breast Cancer Research Foundation lens. We'll see how that goes. This week I also added YourProspex.com for information. Want to follow how I'm doing with it? Check out my lens Prospex on what I'm getting and not getting for free. I am updating as often as I try something or see a result from it. It's now October 1st 2011 and I have added ViralURL to my traffic generators. It came recommened on YourProspex but it seems more difficult to use than ListJoe that I also signed up for. Taking it one day at a time and only going to stick out with what actually seems to work.

Weather

Wow...Looks like summer is done now. It's very chilly out today. Not quite cold enough to close the windows (I hate having no air flow in the house)but definately chilly enough to say Fall is on it's way.
I have to take down another oak tree in my yard soon. It has to be done before winter hits as I'm worried it could fall on the house otherwise. It really kinda sucks because that is the last really big tree in the yard. But like the other oak I had, it's dying off so there is no choice. Maybe I'll plan a barbeque and bonfire for when we take it down. That way my friends who are coming to help will get a treat out of the deal too. Good thing I still have some of the beer and wine I made at Jakes for people. I highly recommend them if you are in the Windsor area.
As to meeting my goals. Yesterday I completed three new lenses on Squidoo. All about the Vada skin care lines. Balancing, Clarifying and Moisturizing. They aren't ranked too high yet, but that will come with time. I know I took the time to include more information than just the products themselves. Not sure if I'll have internet on Saturday so I have only today and early tomorrow to write a few more to stay on top of the goals I set.

Halloween is Coming Fast

Have you already figured out your costume for this year? I have. My daughter and I will be dressing alike as usual and Vampire is the word this year. Simply for us really.
If you need some help getting ready for Halloween or just want some things to do in the Windsor area check out the following information links.
Shopping for Halloween Costumes in Windsor
Where to Buy Halloween Costumes in Windsor
Halloween for Dogs
Nerd Costumes
Mom and Daughter Vampire Costumes
Nut Free Halloween Treats
Halloween Family Movies
Haunted Houses in Essex County
Stay at Home Halloween Ideas
5 Things that May help You Survive the Zombie Apocalypse
Spooky Snacks
A Gold Canyon Halloween
Costume ideas and shopping places as well as snacks for at home and home decor thoughts are all covered. Give them a look to get your creative juices flowing and make Halloween 2011 something to remember! Yeah my Halloween for Dogs lens is featured under costumes in the new Happy Halloween magazine! Check otu all of the cool Halloween lenses.

Goals

So I have been goal setting lately. With both businesses getting off the ground and seeing how others are making money on Squidoo means working harder to get there myself.
I have started a list of this I want to write about. This includes products and more Essex County information. I got side tracked for a couple of days by writing about things for quests, but I should be back on track for now.
I wrote 10 lenses on Halloween and earned 2 monster trophies which was cool. And I also wrote some entertainment lenses, mostly about Canadian entertainers of course.
I know I need to work more at promoting my lenses but other than a couple of WAHM forums, I haven't found alot of great ways to do this yet. I want something that is going to keep my attention so that participating doesn't feel like work.
I have one Mom2mom event booked and I'm considering doing the Leamington Healthy Living Family Expo, but I'm not sure about that one yet.
I did do the St Clair College Family Fun Day but it was a complete waste of time. If it had been set up better, like the people who came had to walk past the vendors to get to the event as well as back to their cars maybe we would have been busier. I know I'm not the only vendor there that was truly disappointed.
Maybe a few Christmas sales closer to the holiday are possible. I'll have to keep looking to see what is available.

Trying to learn how to Ping my blog...HostGator promotion codes Let's see what Feed Shark does.

Only Green

Only Green is a Canadian company who's mission is to make your transition into a greener lifestyle as seamless as possible. They continually evaluate eco friendly products to ensure they offer the highest quality, most cost effective alternatives.
Sales of the products are done through EcoAdvisors. Products can be purchased direct from an EcoAdvisor at a home party or through a catalogue or from an EcoAdvisor website .
Their product line includes cosmetics, health and beauty products, baby and child care products, products for house and home, pet care products and fair trade coffe, tea and baking products. Most products are organic as well as vegan and all of the environmentally friendly product line comes in biodegradable packaging. Even the foam peanuts they ship with are made of starch and completely water soluble.
To read about the Opal line of cosmetics check out http://www.squidoo.com/opal-cosmetics for an article specifically on this mineral makeup line.
To read about Only Green's organic hand made soap bars http://www.squidoo.com/only-green-soaps tells you all about them from hand soaps to baby soaps and even dog soaps.
Whether you are looking to be more environmentally friendly in your shopping or maybe you want to earn some extra income while saving money on green products, Only Green is a responsible company that you can be proud of.

Mineral Makeup The Good, The Bad and The Controversy

Mineral based makeups have been around for a while now. Yes they have been gaining in popularity over the last decade but are the advantages worth the extra cost? Are there really any advantages to using mineral cosmetics over normal store brands? Maybe and maybe not according to many people in the know including make-up artists and dermatologists.
The Good
Mineral cosmetics may actually be healthier for you and the environment. Mineral cosmetics will contain no unnatural chemicals or additives like talc, fragrance, silicones, chemicals, rice powders, fillers, oils, wax and are dye-free. If you have delicate skin, allergies to scents or dyes or are prone to breakouts then mineral make-up may be the right decision for you. The claims are that makeups made from minerals are less pore clogging and do not allow particles to penetrate the skin which means it is 100% hypoallergenic, non-comedogenic and non-acnegenic. Many dermatologists recommend mineral cosmetics. The zinc that can be found in mineral make-up is also an excellent natural sun block and it also has some soothing properties. Zinc is a common ingredient in diaper rash formulas as well as being used regularly in stick form to protect from sunburn.
See Canada.com for listings of why mineral cosmetics may be the best decision for you.
Mineral make-up has come a long way since the 1970's. There is a great variety of colours and formulas to choose from. There is no longer alot of trouble matching your skin tone or colour choices.
Having sensitive skin myself, I have tried and prefer mineral make-up to other kinds of make-up available on the shelves. My preferred brand can be found here (Opal).
The Bad
Mineral make-up is not controlled and regulated the way other natural products are. If you want to buy something organic, you can look for the matching logo, if you want to buy fair trade, there is a logo to look for as well. Not so for mineral cosmetics. An article on some of the bad can be found on WebMD. As with all products you need to find a responsible, reputable company to deal with. Read your labels and do your homework. If you are seeing a dermotologist you may want to get their opinion.
Some companies claim to be mineral make-up while still including the exact chemicals you are trying to avoid to their recipes. If you are not a careful, label reading shopper your best bet is to get other's opinions before shopping.
Another down side to good mineral make-up is the price. While all good quality cosmetics are much more expensive than regular drug store brands, you may not want to spend the extra until you know the product will work for you.
The Controversial
The above WebMD has an article that both praises and refutes the properties of mineral make-up. Some claim that the formulas can read the same as any regular off the shelf brand. Some think the cosmetics are wonderful while others find there can be caking and it can highlight lines and dry spots.
With the cost of high quality cosmetics being high no matter how you shop, to use or not use mineral make-up is a intimate choice. While some brands may be higher in price, others may be in the range you expect for cosmetics.
If allergens are your biggest concern there are many hypoallergenic and non-comedogenic foundations and other cosmetics on the market. It all depends on what in the cosmetics actually causes your reaction. Trying just one mineral product to start will give you a better idea if it will help you. I recommend trying a mineral foundation first as with more skin coverage you will know sooner if there will still be a reaction without a large cost.

All About Me

I am a 36 year old mom to a teenager. After years of working in management I am happy to be working from home and having the time to spend at home. Check out my website! I enjoy writing, photography, camping and cooking. But most of all I love to read. I will read almost anything I can get my hands on from sci-fi, fantasy, horror, mysteries and even some romance if the plot is good enough.
I like B-movies and the best two I have seen this year are 'Sharktopus' and 'Swamp Shark'. I'm very glad that some people are still out there making B-movies to entertain the masses:)
I live in South Western Ontario in a small town that rarely makes it onto maps. It's close to the border so I've grown up watching both Canadian and American television. Right now us Canadians are doing it better in my opinion but I am looking forward to the start of Terra Nova. I'm not a huge fan of all the reality shows that are out there.
To learn even more about me, look here.

Canadian Stuff

I make no secrets about being a damn proud Canadian. I may only be second generation Canadian by I have lived here all my life and I am raising my daughter to be a proud Canadian as well. This post is about all things Canadian. I'm about to give you a bunch of Canadian links for you to check out. If you have some of your own, please feel free to add them in the comments section.

Pround Canadians on Squidoo
Made in Canada an inventions list
Canadian Inventors list
Canada Eh? lots of Canadian things
True (?) Canadian Ghost Stories
10 most Haunted Places to visit in Canada from Tripadvisor
Famous Canadians how many have you heard of?
A current listing of Canadian TV shows
All Canadian TV shows past and current-English
All Canadian TV shows past and current-French
Free Stuff Canada guide

Writing

So I've been writing lenses on Squidoo lately. What is Squidoo you ask? Well it's a place where you can write what you want on any topic you want. Similar to a blog except each lens is individually written on a specific topic. I've written about Holiday Gift Buying and My Favourite Candle Scents for Fall and even some local topics like Day Tripping in Essex County. Living in Essex County myself I have all kinds of ideas of things to do for kids and for adults in the Windsor/Essex County area of Ontario. I love the interaction with other lensmakers and some of the guidance and help I've received on the forums. Seeing how my writings stack up on a site of thousands of people can be a big thrill too. The best bonus though is Squidoo shares it's ad revenue with the people who do the writing and with several very fine charities.
If you are looking to write and don't really want to put the effort into a blog (even one as minor as this one) I highly suggest using Squidoo to fine tune your writing skills and have some fun at the same time.
To get to all of my Squidoo lenses see my Squidprofile. Don't forget to like or comment on what you read!

Candles for Fall and Winter

We all have favourite scents. You know, the ones that bring back a memory or make you think of a special time. I know I do. I've been thinking alot about what I like and why lately. If you want to see what I love for Fall 2011 Click Here. If you want to see my favourite scents for Christmas Click Here.
I think Fall is all about the leaves changing colour and falling off the trees. Maybe because I am Canadian, Autumn brings to mind cooler weather and winter coming soon. I think of hearty foods and mulled cider after a day of getting the yard ready for the winter. I also think of Thanksgiving and Halloween (both in October over here) with family gathered around and candy galore.
Christmas to me means family and trees and gift giving. Sitting by the fireplace and drinking hot cocoa or mulled cider. Watching the snow fall down outside, while I am inside and warm is a favourite activity. I also love to get outside into the snow with my dogs and my munchkin.