Casting on
It took me about two hours to learn to knit, so don't get frustrated! I'll leave a couple of links at the end to other how to knit videos, because there are many different way's to knit. This is the Knit stitch, not the pearl. Once you get the Knit stitch perfected, I find it's easier to move onto the pearl stitch and then onto patterns.
Knitting
Other links
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3uw-nUvGrBY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QaCOqvhx6j4&feature=related
Thursday, December 29, 2011
Monday, December 19, 2011
Heart Attack: basic symptoms women should know.
There has been a lot of news recently about women and men having different types of pain and symptoms while suffering through a heart attack. According to hearthealthywomen.org that is true in some ways, "women are less likely than men to feel chest pain during a heart attack. Studies suggest that more women than men experience so-called "atypical" symptoms, such as back pain, nausea, or fatigue." "Atypical" meaning less common, even though these are rather common symptoms. It is also more common for women to have pain in their arms rather than their chest.
There are different Stages of symptoms which can help foresee the coming of a heart attack. though it is not always easy to come to the conclusion that the symptoms are predictors of a heart attack, these are some things to be conscious of at all times because as stated on hearthealthywomen.org that these symptoms can appear "from about 4 to 6 months to 1 week before (though some people report these symptoms up to 2 years before their heart attack."
(1.)
-Unusual fatigue
-Sleep disturbance
-Shortness of breath
-Chest pain
-Indigestion
-Anxiety
-Pain in shoulder blade or upper back
Next, the symptoms of the heart attack in progress. If you see someone experiencing these symptoms make sure to take the nessisary emergency medical call, it's always best to be over safe the. Under when the heart is concerned.
(2.)
-Back, neck, or jaw pain
-Nausea
-Vomiting
-Indigestion
-Weakness
-Fatigue
-Dizziness
-Lightheadedness
Finally, take care of yourself. Try to make little changed in your diet for healthier foods or taking a walk after dinner eery night. Take care of loved ones, and be consciously aware of not only your well being but those who surround you.
If you have any questions or want more information about heart related health, check the blog again in the future or type in "heart attack information .org" into a search engine.
Please feel free to leave a comment with your stories or any information that you come across that expands on this topic.
Sources
http://www.hearthealthywomen.org/signs-symptoms/featured/heart-disease-signs.html
1. McSweeney JC, Cody M, Crane PB. Do you know them when you see them? Women's prodromal and acute symptoms of myocardial infarction. J Cardiovasc Nurs. 2001;15:26-38.
2. Milner KA, Funk M, Richards S, et al. Gender differences in symptom presentation associated with coronary heart disease. Am J Cardiol. 1999;84:396-399.
There are different Stages of symptoms which can help foresee the coming of a heart attack. though it is not always easy to come to the conclusion that the symptoms are predictors of a heart attack, these are some things to be conscious of at all times because as stated on hearthealthywomen.org that these symptoms can appear "from about 4 to 6 months to 1 week before (though some people report these symptoms up to 2 years before their heart attack."
(1.)
-Unusual fatigue
-Sleep disturbance
-Shortness of breath
-Chest pain
-Indigestion
-Anxiety
-Pain in shoulder blade or upper back
Next, the symptoms of the heart attack in progress. If you see someone experiencing these symptoms make sure to take the nessisary emergency medical call, it's always best to be over safe the. Under when the heart is concerned.
(2.)
-Back, neck, or jaw pain
-Nausea
-Vomiting
-Indigestion
-Weakness
-Fatigue
-Dizziness
-Lightheadedness
Finally, take care of yourself. Try to make little changed in your diet for healthier foods or taking a walk after dinner eery night. Take care of loved ones, and be consciously aware of not only your well being but those who surround you.
If you have any questions or want more information about heart related health, check the blog again in the future or type in "heart attack information .org" into a search engine.
Please feel free to leave a comment with your stories or any information that you come across that expands on this topic.
Sources
http://www.hearthealthywomen.org/signs-symptoms/featured/heart-disease-signs.html
1. McSweeney JC, Cody M, Crane PB. Do you know them when you see them? Women's prodromal and acute symptoms of myocardial infarction. J Cardiovasc Nurs. 2001;15:26-38.
2. Milner KA, Funk M, Richards S, et al. Gender differences in symptom presentation associated with coronary heart disease. Am J Cardiol. 1999;84:396-399.
Wednesday, December 14, 2011
Homemade Sugar cookies
Things you will need for the cookies:
1 ½ cup of confectioners sugar
1 cup of softened unsalted butter
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
½ teaspoon of almond extract
1 egg
1 ½ cup of flour
1 teaspoon of baking powder
1 teaspoon of cream of tarter
Parchment paper, plastic wrap, rolling pin, cookie cutters, cookie sheets (preferably non stick) two large mixing bowls, measuring cups/spoons and a mixer (a fork works just fine, I actually prefer one to the electric mixer).
Making the batter
1. Get all the ingredients out. The butter should be room temperature; if it’s not then it will clump in the batter and won’t turn out right. In one bowl mix the powdered sugar, unsalted butter, vanilla extract, almond extract and the egg. In the second bowl mix the flour, baking powder and cream of tarter.
2. Pour about 1/3rd of the flour mixture into the first bowl and then mix until you don’t see much of the flour and then add the next third… and then the last third.
3. When it is all mixed, get out the plastic wrap. Rip out a sheet that is about a foot and a half long.
4. Coat your hands in flour, this helps lessen the stickiness, it will not prevent it.
5. Scrape the dough out of the bowl and try to make it into a ball like shape (but don’t spend too much time worrying about that). And then wrap it in the plastic wrap.
6. Set in the fridge for at least two hours, this helps the dough to harden a bit and makes it easier to handle when cutting out the shapes.
Baking
1. Set the oven to 375F.
2. Lay out a good sized sheet of parchment paper, about the same size as the plastic wrap you used earlier and sprinkle a palm full of flour on it. Spread the flour out to cover it.
3. Now for the dough. You can only use about a third of the dough at a time, leave the rest of it in the fridge so it stays cold. Be sure to have flour on your hands and before breaking off the section of dough you want cover it in flour. Things will get messy. Don’t be shy about the flour, it wont hurt anything. If you don’t use it the dough will stick to everything and… well, it wont work. Put the dough in the center of the parchment paper and start to roll it out with the rolling pin.
a. The dough should be about a centimeter thick when you finish rolling it out. About ever other roll you should add a little flour to the top so it doesn’t stick to the rolling pin. And putting some on the rolling pin itself, I find helps as well. (Having the dough stick to everything is frustrating.)
4. Once it’s rolled out, dip your cookie cutter into the bag of flour and start cutting away (do this about every third cookie). Once you run out of space, roll the dough into a ball again and then flatten it with the rolling pin, repeat.
5. They should go into the oven for 5 min. They should not brown at all. 6 min if they are thicker than a centimeter.
a. When you take them out of the over, place them on a paper bag to cool, not one of the cookie racks because these are very delicate cookies and they will probably melt and break through the wires.
6. Then work on the next third and so on until they are all cooked.
Making the frosting
What you will need
1/3rd cup of unsalted softened butter
3 cups of confectioners’ sugar
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
½ teaspoon of almond extract
2 tablespoons of milk
In a large bowl mix the butter and confectioners’ sugar until blended completely. Then mix in the extracts and the milk. After that, divide it into containers and mix in the food color. Put it in the fridge to cool. When frosting the cookies, every 30-45 min put the frosting back in the fridge to cool off again or it will start to melt off the cookies before it has time to harden. The frosting isn’t very thick.
Things you will need for the cookies:
1 ½ cup of confectioners sugar
1 cup of softened unsalted butter
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
½ teaspoon of almond extract
1 egg
1 ½ cup of flour
1 teaspoon of baking powder
1 teaspoon of cream of tarter
Parchment paper, plastic wrap, rolling pin, cookie cutters, cookie sheets (preferably non stick) two large mixing bowls, measuring cups/spoons and a mixer (a fork works just fine, I actually prefer one to the electric mixer).
Making the batter
1. Get all the ingredients out. The butter should be room temperature; if it’s not then it will clump in the batter and won’t turn out right. In one bowl mix the powdered sugar, unsalted butter, vanilla extract, almond extract and the egg. In the second bowl mix the flour, baking powder and cream of tarter.
2. Pour about 1/3rd of the flour mixture into the first bowl and then mix until you don’t see much of the flour and then add the next third… and then the last third.
3. When it is all mixed, get out the plastic wrap. Rip out a sheet that is about a foot and a half long.
4. Coat your hands in flour, this helps lessen the stickiness, it will not prevent it.
5. Scrape the dough out of the bowl and try to make it into a ball like shape (but don’t spend too much time worrying about that). And then wrap it in the plastic wrap.
6. Set in the fridge for at least two hours, this helps the dough to harden a bit and makes it easier to handle when cutting out the shapes.
Baking
1. Set the oven to 375F.
2. Lay out a good sized sheet of parchment paper, about the same size as the plastic wrap you used earlier and sprinkle a palm full of flour on it. Spread the flour out to cover it.
3. Now for the dough. You can only use about a third of the dough at a time, leave the rest of it in the fridge so it stays cold. Be sure to have flour on your hands and before breaking off the section of dough you want cover it in flour. Things will get messy. Don’t be shy about the flour, it wont hurt anything. If you don’t use it the dough will stick to everything and… well, it wont work. Put the dough in the center of the parchment paper and start to roll it out with the rolling pin.
a. The dough should be about a centimeter thick when you finish rolling it out. About ever other roll you should add a little flour to the top so it doesn’t stick to the rolling pin. And putting some on the rolling pin itself, I find helps as well. (Having the dough stick to everything is frustrating.)
4. Once it’s rolled out, dip your cookie cutter into the bag of flour and start cutting away (do this about every third cookie). Once you run out of space, roll the dough into a ball again and then flatten it with the rolling pin, repeat.
5. They should go into the oven for 5 min. They should not brown at all. 6 min if they are thicker than a centimeter.
a. When you take them out of the over, place them on a paper bag to cool, not one of the cookie racks because these are very delicate cookies and they will probably melt and break through the wires.
6. Then work on the next third and so on until they are all cooked.
Making the frosting
What you will need
1/3rd cup of unsalted softened butter
3 cups of confectioners’ sugar
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
½ teaspoon of almond extract
2 tablespoons of milk
In a large bowl mix the butter and confectioners’ sugar until blended completely. Then mix in the extracts and the milk. After that, divide it into containers and mix in the food color. Put it in the fridge to cool. When frosting the cookies, every 30-45 min put the frosting back in the fridge to cool off again or it will start to melt off the cookies before it has time to harden. The frosting isn’t very thick.
Monday, December 12, 2011
Depression: Who can be effected and how do you help
**Apologies; the links are not working correctly at the moment, so please copy and paste them into a new tab.**
First, what is depression?
In everyday life people can experience feeling blue or sad, but these feelings go away after some time. With depression, and there are a couple different types of depression, the feeling of sadness is ever present. It can not go away by wishing or changing the mind set. Depression is genetically altered throughout the mind to be a constant state.
How to tell
There are many ways to tell if a loved one is suffering with depression. Though it is hard to determine and can sometimes be confused with dementia as explained in this video by Kennith Robbins, MD with the University of Wisconson-Madison
Symptoms can include;
This list of symptoms was copied from the following website:
http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/depression/complete-index.shtml
-Persistent sad, anxious, or "empty" feelings
-Feelings of hopelessness or pessimism
-Feelings of guilt, worthlessness, or helplessness
-Irritability, restlessness
-Loss of interest in activities or hobbies once pleasurable, including sex
-Fatigue and decreased energy
-Difficulty concentrating, remembering details, and making decisions
-Insomnia, early-morning wakefulness, or excessive sleeping
-Overeating, or appetite loss
-Thoughts of suicide, suicide attempts
-Aches or pains, headaches, cramps, or digestive problems that do not ease even with treatment.
Who can be effected by depression:
Anyone can become depressed. Depression can be triggered by events in your life or on a whim. Most people who become depressed do so over a long period of time. At first it is hard to tell you are depressed, that is until one day nothing seems right. You may not even know you are depressed until told by a professional.
How to help someone who is suffering from depression:
Here is some basic advice about how you personally can influence the life of a loved one who is suffering with Depression.
a. Avoid asking questions like “Why are you feeling sad?” or “Why don’t you just try to be happy?” These can do more harm then good because the person with depression may not know the answers.
b. Let them know you are available to listen when they want to talk and support them through their hard times.
c. Understand that they are not them self, depression has clouded their personality in a way.
D. Help them seek help if they have not yet. Do not force anything,using encouragement and love will get you better results.
e. Be sure to keep tabs on your own feelings. as stated before depression can touch anyone. Depression isn't contagious like a cold, but to help others you should be sure you are okay yourself. Don’t let others sadness drag you down too.
There are many things that can help someone with depression other than moral support, but those are to be determined by a psychologist. Handling a loved one with depression should never be something you do on your own. Here is a list of informational websites about where to start looking for more information on this topic.
The National Institute of Mental Health
Here you can find a basic overview that goes further in depth from what I wrote here and it includes phone numbers to a couple of help lines.
http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/depression/complete-index.shtml#pub1
There are many PDFs (which if you are using googlechrome should open in a new tab, if you are using firefox it should open in a new window.) on this website made by the U.S. National Library or Medicine: NIH National Institutions of Health, which includes a ton of information on anything from the science aspect of depression to the personal. If you are looking for something specific (and are on a PC) click: ctrl+f and a search bar should pop up.
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/depression.html
First, what is depression?
In everyday life people can experience feeling blue or sad, but these feelings go away after some time. With depression, and there are a couple different types of depression, the feeling of sadness is ever present. It can not go away by wishing or changing the mind set. Depression is genetically altered throughout the mind to be a constant state.
How to tell
There are many ways to tell if a loved one is suffering with depression. Though it is hard to determine and can sometimes be confused with dementia as explained in this video by Kennith Robbins, MD with the University of Wisconson-Madison
Symptoms can include;
This list of symptoms was copied from the following website:
http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/depression/complete-index.shtml
-Persistent sad, anxious, or "empty" feelings
-Feelings of hopelessness or pessimism
-Feelings of guilt, worthlessness, or helplessness
-Irritability, restlessness
-Loss of interest in activities or hobbies once pleasurable, including sex
-Fatigue and decreased energy
-Difficulty concentrating, remembering details, and making decisions
-Insomnia, early-morning wakefulness, or excessive sleeping
-Overeating, or appetite loss
-Thoughts of suicide, suicide attempts
-Aches or pains, headaches, cramps, or digestive problems that do not ease even with treatment.
Who can be effected by depression:
Anyone can become depressed. Depression can be triggered by events in your life or on a whim. Most people who become depressed do so over a long period of time. At first it is hard to tell you are depressed, that is until one day nothing seems right. You may not even know you are depressed until told by a professional.
How to help someone who is suffering from depression:
Here is some basic advice about how you personally can influence the life of a loved one who is suffering with Depression.
a. Avoid asking questions like “Why are you feeling sad?” or “Why don’t you just try to be happy?” These can do more harm then good because the person with depression may not know the answers.
b. Let them know you are available to listen when they want to talk and support them through their hard times.
c. Understand that they are not them self, depression has clouded their personality in a way.
D. Help them seek help if they have not yet. Do not force anything,using encouragement and love will get you better results.
e. Be sure to keep tabs on your own feelings. as stated before depression can touch anyone. Depression isn't contagious like a cold, but to help others you should be sure you are okay yourself. Don’t let others sadness drag you down too.
There are many things that can help someone with depression other than moral support, but those are to be determined by a psychologist. Handling a loved one with depression should never be something you do on your own. Here is a list of informational websites about where to start looking for more information on this topic.
The National Institute of Mental Health
Here you can find a basic overview that goes further in depth from what I wrote here and it includes phone numbers to a couple of help lines.
http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/depression/complete-index.shtml#pub1
There are many PDFs (which if you are using googlechrome should open in a new tab, if you are using firefox it should open in a new window.) on this website made by the U.S. National Library or Medicine: NIH National Institutions of Health, which includes a ton of information on anything from the science aspect of depression to the personal. If you are looking for something specific (and are on a PC) click: ctrl+f and a search bar should pop up.
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/depression.html
Friday, December 2, 2011
Alzheimer's: How to keep up a relationship
In this short clip, released by Penn State University in 2007, they briefly explain how to keep up a relationship with a loved one suffering with Alzheimers.
Talking with a loved one with Alzheimers in the present, instead of the past is an effective way to maintain a relationship. Asking broad questions, like in the video, with visuals, stimulate the mind in a creative way.
Approximately 24 million people world wide suffer with Alzheimers and every little step taken can help lessen the pain. There are many places that can help families with loved ones with Alzheimers, but it always starts with knowledge. Below are a few links to information on how to tell if a loved one shows signs, and general information.
Feel free to leave a comment with your story, or with other informational websites.
Science Daily: Alzheimer's Disease
Guide for Caregivers
Ten Signs of Alzheimers
Living with Alzheimers
Talking with a loved one with Alzheimers in the present, instead of the past is an effective way to maintain a relationship. Asking broad questions, like in the video, with visuals, stimulate the mind in a creative way.
Approximately 24 million people world wide suffer with Alzheimers and every little step taken can help lessen the pain. There are many places that can help families with loved ones with Alzheimers, but it always starts with knowledge. Below are a few links to information on how to tell if a loved one shows signs, and general information.
Feel free to leave a comment with your story, or with other informational websites.
Science Daily: Alzheimer's Disease
Guide for Caregivers
Ten Signs of Alzheimers
Living with Alzheimers
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)