Whenever it comes to exercise, many people can get rather creative with their explanations not to do exercise. The truth is that, when we are still getting in good shape, working out isn?t fun; it really is hard work. Pushing your body to get in shape never feels wonderful, despite having the rushes of endorphins. Even though we sometimes get endorphin rushes, our joints and muscles experience pain, we get drained and for a while we sort of dislike our bodies. It?s no wonder that we?ve been so skilled at finding other things to do with our spare time! Below are a few of the worst type of excuses an individual may use to avoid any physical exercise.
How many times have you convinced yourself ?I?d like to improve my overal fitness levels but I really don?t have time?? This is among the list of worst reasons to make when it concerns seeking to shirk off a good work out. The simple fact is that there?s always enough time to work out given that you may exercise even if you are doing other activities. As an example: you can take the stairs rather than the elevator at work. It is possible to pack yourself a healthy lunch and eat it while you go for a walk on your lunch break as an alternative to snagging some junk food. Go walking around your office or do minimal impact exercises if you take conference calls. In the evenings, you can actually get in a good work out when you are watching your favorite tv show. There is time to exercise, you just need to find it.
How frequently do you tell yourself that you?ll get in shape later, when you can afford some great exercise equipment or perhaps a gym membership. That?s just dumb and self sabataging form of conduct. You do not need to spend any hard earned cash on expensive fitness equipment or health club subscriptions if you?d like to get healthy. You can follow fitness videos over the internet or DVDs which you can check out from a library. There are actually exercise books full of physical exercises you can do. All that?s necessary if you wish to improve your fitness is your own body plus some room to move around within.
Do you say to yourself ?I?d like to get healthy but exercise would make me feel tender and drained?? This type of behavior must be ended promptly. The fact remains when you start out, your training session is likely to make you fatigued and tender. But as you grow stronger you should have an easier time of things. Start slowly so that you certainly won?t feel like you?re dying each and every time you exercise and work to build endurance and strength levels. As soon as you?ve achieved these things and built up to a decent level of health and fitness, you should begin to feel those endorphin rushes you may have heard so much about. Don?t rush it: at some point they will happen for you and then you will see that physical exercise can be very satisfying.
There are a lot of excuses not to exercise from not having the ideal fitness clothes to having no time. You should be relieved to discover that getting fit can be worked into your way of life it doens?t matter what you might be wearing, how much free time you have (or don?t as the case might be) and which kind of exercise products you already own.
About the Author
Nadine?s websites: Bisnis Mahasiswa, Pustaka Hindu, Sai Baba Bali and Pustaka Hindu
This entry was posted on Sunday, September 30th, 2012 at 8:30 PM and is filed under online fitness programs. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.
The Counter Terrorist Magazine is a Media Sponsor for the Leading Law Enforcement and Military Conferences Both Here and Abroad
MIAMI, FL, September 30, 2012 /24-7PressRelease/ -- You will find the Counter Terrorist magazine at conferences and exercises such as the Homeland Security Professionals Conference, NTOA annual, Urban Shield, Counter Terror Expo, GovSec in addition to numerous military trade shows through our partnerships with the IDGA and the NDIA.
"We take the commitment to conferences very seriously," says Chris Bell, Director of Advertising at the Counter Terrorist Magazine. "I just came back on a red-eye from Seattle after attending the National Tactical Officers Association annual conference. In the next few months we will be at the Shot Show in Vegas, International Union of Police Association IUPA; at URBAN SHIELD, the biggest exercise in the US in the Bay Area, California; and we are even getting out to India; Milipol and the Counter Terror Expo in Europe and more.
"This shows our many advertisers our commitment to getting their message out but as importantly we are there for the people we inform, the First Responder community, and military serving here and abroad," states Bell proudly.
The Counter Terrorist magazine is a success story in an increasingly depressed magazine industry. While many magazines close and even well known national magazines such as Time become shadows of themselves, the Counter Terrorist increases its advertiser base and readership monthly. Now in its 5th year and growing the magazine will soon have a new app coming out (by the end of this year) and distribution worldwide will increase through the benefits brought by mobile devices. Security Solutions International, the company that publishes the Counter Terrorist magazine, has the best reputation and deepest penetration into the First Responder market through nearly a decade as the premiere US Homeland Security training company.
In November, the magazine has its annual conference at the Gaylord Palms, Orlando, Florida from November 5-7. This year's theme is the partnership between the Private and Public Sector in protecting the US from criminal acts. Many important law enforcement personnel from the US and abroad participate in this, the 7th annual Counter Terrorist magazine's Homeland Security Professionals Conference and Expo.
Website: http://www.homelandsecurityssi.com
--- Press release service and press release distribution provided by http://www.24-7pressrelease.com
Cricket Live Score of India vs South Africa 24th Match - Colombo on 2012. Get Cric Live Score of South Africa vs India, 24th Match of ICC World Twenty20 2012. South Africa vs India 24th Match begins at 02 Oct 2012 onwards at Colombo. Get Full Scorecard of India vs South Africa, 24th Match ICC World Twenty20 2012 online free. Get batting and bowling figures of 24th Match match starting at 2012, 02 Oct 2012. Online Live Match of India vs South Africa 24th Match - ICC World Twenty20 2012 live from Colombo.
Current Time: 09/30/2012 05:18:33 GMT
Time Left:
India vs South Africa, 24th Match
Toss: NA
: /()
Result: Match scheduled to begin at 19:30 local time (14:00 GMT)
Man of the Match
To be Decided
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India Team Squad: IK Pathan, G Gambhir, Harbhajan Singh, MS Dhoni, PP Chawla, RG Sharma, V Sehwag, Yuvraj Singh, Z Khan, SK Raina, YK Pathan, V Kohli, MK Tiwary, L Balaji, AB Dinda, R Ashwin
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South Africa Team Squad: AB de Villiers, JH Kallis, JA Morkel, M Morkel, DW Steyn, HM Amla, J Botha, JP Duminy, RJ Peterson, JL Ontong, LL Tsotsobe, WD Parnell, RE Levi, Faf du Plessis, Farhaan Behardien
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FILE - In this Dec. 3, 2007 file photo, radio talk show host Michael Savage poses with his dog Teddy in Tiburon, Calif. Savage won a legal battle Thursday Sept. 27, 2012 and announced he was leaving Talk Radio Network, which broadcast his show that attracted more than 8 million listeners a week. (AP Photo/John Storey)
FILE - In this Dec. 3, 2007 file photo, radio talk show host Michael Savage poses with his dog Teddy in Tiburon, Calif. Savage won a legal battle Thursday Sept. 27, 2012 and announced he was leaving Talk Radio Network, which broadcast his show that attracted more than 8 million listeners a week. (AP Photo/John Storey)
LOS ANGELES (AP) ? Michael Savage's talk show left the airwaves Thursday after the conservative host won a legal battle with his longtime employer, although his attorney said discussions with new networks are already under way.
Savage posted a message on his website Thursday evening under the headline "Free at Last!" that said he was free to work with any station or network from now on. He said he "will not be heard on the radio for some time."
His attorney Daniel Horowitz said Savage left Talk Radio Network after obtaining a favorable ruling in arbitration Thursday afternoon.
More than 8 million people listen to Savage's show each week, placing him behind only Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity in ratings, according to the magazine Talkers. The immediate effect that his abrupt departure would have on companies that advertise on his show was unclear.
An email sent to Oregon-based Talk Radio Network was not immediately returned. Savage's bio and name already have been removed from the company's website.
Horowitz says Savage has been fighting the network for two years to get out a contract that was 10 years old and prevented the host from switching employers. Horowitz said the agreement lacked protections afforded to artists and entertainers under California law, and tied Savage to Talk Radio Network indefinitely.
Horowitz said Savage spent more than $900,000 fighting his case but was awarded more than $1 million in arbitration. The agreement also calls for Savage to be able to obtain all archived tapes of his show.
Savage, who broadcast from San Francisco, was heard on nearly 400 stations and has gained notoriety for offending immigrants and minorities, calling the Muslim holy book, the Quran, a "book of hate" and being banned in 2009 from traveling to England for allegedly fostering extremism or hatred. After that decision, the host appealed to one of the targets of his barbs, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, for help.
___
Anthony McCartney can be reached at http://twitter.com/mccartneyAP
Many young people you see these days have read a lot of romantic fantasy books espousing romantic love and marriage. The usual plot is that before you settle down with Mr right you first have to fall in love with him. They have this unreal perception about love, relationships and marriage. Hollywood has not helped matters either. There are such notions as love at first sight and falling in love before getting into a relationship. May I say this that it is not necessary to wait till you "love" the man before you get married.
In fact it is better for you if you are looking for marriage to enter a relationship with a clear head, knowing exactly what you want rather than having your emotions overwhelm your reasoning in the name of being head over heels in love. One is bound to make costly mistakes under such conditions. If a man that has the right qualities and compatibility comes around, don't wait to have a special feeling before you say yes to his marriage proposal. The truth is as you spend time together in your marriage you will grow to love him. So this is the right pattern- Choose right then fall in love with the right choice. It is popular to fall in "love" with the guy first and hope he turns out right.
This second option has being the ruin of many a woman. What many refer to as love is in reality lust. A perfect test to use in checking if it is love or lust is the "giving" test. If it is love it always gives and the giving is unconditional. Whereas if it is lust it is usually selfish seeking to take or get from the other partner. For many "I love you" means "I desire to control and manipulate you and have you to satisfy my sexual craving!"
The characters of the romantic novels are not real human beings. They are merely the creation of the fantasies of the writers. You live in the real world, so get real! The hot passionate love that comes at first may not really last more than the first few years of marriage. If you are sincerely looking for marriage, you need more than feelings to get you through married life, you need clear headed thinking and a strong commitment. Many folks who have stayed married for several years will tell you that the hot passionate love of youthful days never really last long. The foundation of much of this is the physical looks which eventually fade with time. When outward beauty fades what then happens to such a relationship that was built on love based on physical attraction?
Let me illustrate: Mary Anne(true name with-held) wanted to quit dating altogether. She was 40 when I met her and had been dating continuously since she was 16 - and she was sick to death of the dating scene. Hers is a story of a futile search for the perfect love. In the last 21 years, she'd had only three boyfriends that lasted more than a year, and the rest lasted only a few weeks to a few months apiece. She was so depressed because all her friends had already gotten married and she was the only one who remained single.
When she opened up I realized that she went out of her way to make the guys she dated to fall in hot romantic love with her in the hope that it would turn out into marriage. She ended up in bed with quite a few but they disappeared as soon as they went to bed with her! Though she maintained the attitude that there was something wrong with all men in general - deep inside, she felt there was something wrong with her. On pointing out the difference between love and lust and the fact that she can get married without going into sensual relationships she has turned out the better for it. Today, she is now happily married. Am I advocating marriage without love? No what I am advocating is love nurtured through marriage.
Do you know how to attract your soul mate? Do you know how to build a fulfilling relationship? Relationship Coach Adekunle Kolawole can assist you with more helpful information leading to your success and advise you with all you need to attract and sustain long-term, healthy relationships. Please visit meetyourspousenow.com. Providing quality reviews, articles and writings on love, dating, relationships and marriage online.
MEDINAH, Ill. (AP) ? Any notion the Ryder Cup is some friendly contest, a better version of a country club scramble, ended when Jose Maria Olazabal announced his first two pairings.
Rory McIlroy, the world's No. 1 player, and Graeme McDowell, who delivered the winning point at Celtic Manor two years ago, will start Europe off Friday morning at Medinah. Then comes Luke Donald and Sergio Garcia, neither of whom has ever lost a foursomes match.
Win those two matches, and the Americans might never recover.
"We're trying to win points. Period. That's it," Olazabal said Thursday afternoon. "We have to go for it. We are playing away. The crowds are going to be on their side. They set up the course to their liking. So you have to make a bunch of birdies out there to win points. Just send the best players out there."
Fourballs will be played in the afternoon.
Ryder Cups are all about momentum, and the Europeans have had most of it for the last 15 years. They've won four of the last five meetings, and six of the last eight.
On paper, the Americans and Europeans are just about equal, two of the strongest teams in the event's 85-year history. All 24 players are among the top 35 in the world ranking, the first time that's happened. All 12 Americans were in the 30-man field at last week's Tour Championship, joined by five of the seven Europeans who were eligible. Europe has four major champions, and four players who have been No. 1 in the world.
But the Americans have the fans on their side, and the players are eager to feed off their enthusiasm. Any contest that invokes pride in country or continent is a rowdy affair, and there is nothing that gets American fans revved up more than athletes who wear U-S-A on their chest. (Or golf bags, in this case.)
"We need their energy to get us to play our best golf, and we need to play our best golf to beat a very tough European team," Phil Mickelson said.
Put a couple of quick blue points on the board, however, and that home field advantage disappears.
"Tomorrow's morning session is hugely important, and Jose Maria has stressed that," McDowell said. "We know they are all important, but we really feel that it is very important to make a fast start."
It doesn't start much faster than that first pairing. McIlroy is the hottest player on the planet, with three wins in his last five events, including his second major at the PGA Championship. He and McDowell, one of his closest friends on or off the course and a major champion himself, are 1-1-1 when paired together ? though they did lose their only alternate-shot match in 2010.
They'll face Brandt Snedeker and Jim Furyk. Snedeker is one of the four U.S. rookies, and he talked the other day of needing to calm down because he was so excited for the Ryder Cup. But he's playing almost as well as McIlroy, and he's fresh off the biggest payday in golf with his two-fer last weekend in Atlanta: the Tour Championship and FedEx Cup titles.
"We weren't guessing who was going to be there. We were guessing what it was going to sound like, feel like and who could handle that the best," U.S. captain Davis Love III said. "And the more you get to know Brandt Snedeker, the more you'll understand why he's going off first."
Garcia, who missed the 2010 Ryder Cup while mired in a slump, is one of the best foursomes players in Ryder Cup history. He's 8-0-1, the one halve coming in 2008 when he was paired with Lee Westwood. He's 4-0 when paired with Donald in alternate-shot matches, and they've handled some of the best the U.S. could throw at them, including Furyk and Tiger Woods, and Phil Mickelson and David Toms.
They'll face Mickelson and rookie Keegan Bradley this time.
"It's not a pairing that surprises you because they play a lot of golf together and know each other very well," Donald said. "But we've had some success against Phil before, and hopefully we can again tomorrow."
The third pairing features Jason Dufner, another U.S. rookie, and Zach Johnson against Lee Westwood and Francisco Molinari. Love saved his best team for last, sending out Steve Stricker and Tiger Woods, who are 6-2 together in the Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup. They'll face Ian Poulter and Justin Rose.
Poulter is 8-3 in the Ryder Cup, though two of those losses were to Woods in team matches. Both of those matches were fourballs, where Woods has a stronger record.
"We've had some pretty good success over the years, and we both have been playing well," Woods said. "Our captain said that would be a good fit, and he wanted us out there to anchor."
Both captains said all week the tough part would be figuring out who to leave out. Olazabal elected to bench Paul Lawrie, Martin Kaymer, Peter Hanson and Nicolas Colsaerts, the only rookie on Europe's side. Love sat out the pairing of Webb Simpson and Bubba Watson, and Dustin Johnson and Matt Kuchar.
"I won't make any predictions, but I can tell you this: I love my team and I love the pairings," Love said. "I love the plan we've got going, and I'm excited to watch them go play."
Texas School District(s) Allow Male Administrators to Paddle Female Students
Sometimes keeping up with our societal decline becomes a bit too much. For example:
SPRINGTOWN,
Texas -- Like many schools in Texas, "spare the rod and spoil the child"
might be considered the motto at Springtown High School.
But when
two teenage girls there reportedly suffered bruises after being paddled
by male assistant principals, some parents complained. They weren't
upset about the punishment itself, but instead that the school violated
the policy requiring an educator of the same sex as the student to dole
out the paddling. Associated Press, September 24 2012
The school board for Sprigtown, Texas
responded by expanding official policy to allow male administrators to
paddle female students. There were no restrictions on prurient motives
or sexual arousal by male administrators while administering the
structured beatings. AP failed to report any serious questioning of the
process save those by People Opposed to Paddling Students, a Texas-wide organization opposed to corporal punishment. Seventy-five percent of Texas school districts allow paddling as punishment, some for minor offenses up the line of disciplinary.
But Texas isn't the only state where parents serve up their daughters to paddling. Florida, Alabama, Louisiana, and Mississippi allow liberal corporal punishment of K-12 students. The national ranking
for these state educational systems are 42, 43, 44, and 35
respectively. Along with Texas (rank, 26), these five contiguous states
form a pedagogic arc of adult deviance.
New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Vermont, and New Jersey, the top five ranked K-12 states for education have little to no corporal punishment allowed in public schools
Can these paddling educators read or research?
We
hear a lot about teacher competence and the tests required to
demonstrate fundamental skills. Maybe we need assessment for reading and
research abilities for K-12 school administrators who spank and the
state education departments, particularly in the Gulf of Mexico states
mentioned previously.
It wouldn't take a lot of reading and research to find Murray Strauss' classic research summary, Beating the Devil out of Them. A meticulous researcher, Straus is a prolific researcher and author . He provides a summary of his research findings in Chapter 10 (full text). Here are just a few.
Spanking doesn't work unless you want enhance your child's prospects of growing up to be depressed or violent.
Children who are spanked consistently tend to be more aggressive than children who are not.
Spanking
diminishes the parent-child attachment bond and produces children who
have a much less developed sense of conscience than those who are not
spanked.
If the pedagogic paddlers are truly motivated, they might continue with the bibliography from the Family Research Laboratory
at the University of New Hampshire. They would find hundreds of
research studies on corporal punishment, child victimization of all
types, family violence, violence against children, etc.
I wouldn't
count on any research activity by corporal punishment heavy stats and
school districts any time soon. In many cases, paddling and other
corporal punishments are more about the needs or visceral reactions of
adults than they are about any perceived benefit for the victim and
his/her peers. More narcissism, less boundaries, and no responsibility
by adults who physically abuse children in the name school discipline.
END
?1 ?| ?2
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For a while it looked like Miguel Cabrera?s biggest hurdle in claiming the triple crown would be topping Josh Hamilton in homers, but Joe Mauer has been on fire this month to close the gap in the batting average race.
Mauer had his MLB-leading 22nd three-hit game of the season last night and is now hitting .418 this month, bringing his overall batting average up to .326 compared to .329 for Cabrera.
Here are the MLB leaders in three-hit games:
Joe Mauer 22
Miguel Cabrera 21
Ryan Braun 18
Derek Jeter 18
Torii Hunter 18
Adrian Beltre 18
Andrew McCutchen 17
Michael Bourn 17
Everyone on that list is batting above .300 except for Bourn, who?s hitting just .274 but has come to the plate an MLB-high 690 times as the Braves? leadoff man and did most of his damage in the first half.
As for Mauer, he?s already won batting average titles in 2006, 2008, and 2009 and his .324 career mark is second to only Albert Pujols at .325 among all active players. Mauer got off to a slow start following his injury wrecked 2011 season, but since carrying a .265 batting average on May 17 he?s hit .347 in 103 games.
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) ? The San Francisco Giants have no plans to bring back suspended outfielder Melky Cabrera for the postseason if the club is still playing when he is eligible to return.
Manager Bruce Bochy said Tuesday that he and general manager Brian Sabean are meeting to finalize their 25-man roster for the best-of-five division series. Cabrera would be allowed to play in the NLCS if the Giants advance that far, but ? at this stage, at least ? they have no intention of adding him to the roster at any point in the postseason.
An announcement regarding Cabrera is expected before the NL West champions leave town after a three-game series against Arizona that began Tuesday night.
First, they would need to alert all the parties involved: Cabrera, Major League Baseball and the players union. Cabrera can start working out at instructional league in Arizona 10 days before his suspension ends, so that factor weighs into the mix.
"Right now, we'll discuss that. We'll probably have something before the end of this homestand as far as Melky," Bochy said. "We're talking about a lot of things, and that's one of them. I'll probably have an answer for you before we leave here to go down to San Diego. I think both on our side and Melky's side, you're getting down to the time period where he can start working out and doing some things. I think he needs to know and we need to know."
San Francisco's 40-man roster is full, so when Cabrera is eligible to be reinstated the Giants would have to make a roster move. They could keep Cabrera on the 40-man roster just in case.
Cabrera, the All-Star game MVP, is batting .346, which is the highest mark in the National League.
He was suspended for 50 games Aug. 15 for a positive testosterone test. On Friday, Cabrera asked to be removed from contention for the batting crown, saying he had no wish to win a tainted title.
The Giants have succeeded without Cabrera's big bat, clinching their second division crown in three seasons Saturday night against San Diego. And they are pushing ahead with the roster they have.
"Right now, we're focusing on the future and what's going to happen, the playoffs. We're not thinking about that," center fielder Angel Pagan said. "They'll make the decisions. We are the soldiers. If they bring him, we're teammates. We'll receive him with open arms. But if not, hey, we've got to respect the decision and move on, move forward."
Reliever Jeremy Affeldt has said he wants to fight with the faces who are currently in the clubhouse ? as they've done just fine in the month-plus playing without Cabrera.
"Exactly, and I'm sure that's the way the team thinks, too," Pagan said. "I respect any decision that the team makes. We have a job to do. And we have the mentality to go out there and finish the season strong and start the playoffs the right way."
Catcher Buster Posey said the Giants will accept whatever the front office decides regarding Cabrera, who is set to become a free agent after the season.
"I don't think it would bother us than just the extra questions," he said. "That would be the main thing, the extra questions."
Posey's .332 batting average was third in the NL behind Cabrera and Pittsburgh's Andrew McCutchen (.336) entering games Tuesday night. Cabrera was batting .346 with 11 home runs and 60 RBIs in his first season with San Francisco and is five hits shy of 1,000 in his big league career.
"I've been outspoken on the penalties. If he serves his suspension and pays the price, whatever it is, you guys know I spoke out and said I think there needs to be more of a deterrent, but if he serves his penalty, I guess I'm really not against it. That's their decision," Arizona manager Kirk Gibson said. "If he's caught again, I think he should be done."
I don?t want this to come across as rude or judgemental, but was it an active choice to have so many children? Have you always wanted a large family or just threw caution to the wind and allowed to happen what would happen? (I know there are many Christian families that believe in the quiverfull idea and therefore strive to create large families in order to serve God but I know that doesn?t apply to you.)
First of all, I don?t take this as rude or judgmental! ?I?m a pretty open book, and I?d rather people ask me questions than make assumptions. ?And I?m sure this is a subject quite a few people wonder about.
The short answer is: no, it was not an active choice to have so many children. ?It?s mostly been a case of carelessness.
And it?s funny that you bring up the Christian angle, Holly, because I?ve suspected for a while that people in my real life world who don?t know me well assume that Michael and I must be super-religious because we have so many kids. ?Other Christians seem to be genuinely shocked to learn that I don?t even believe in God, nor do I subscribe to any religion or dogma, and that we are raising our children religion-free.
Here?s basically the story of how we built our family:
When Michael and I got married, I already had a child (Kevin) from my first marriage. ?In my first marriage, believe it or not, there were fertility issues; my first husband and I were married for ten years before we had Kevin, and there were several years of trying to conceive in there, which included exploratory surgery and a few rounds of Clomid. ?It turned out to be male-factor infertility, but even though that was clinically diagnosed finally, I was so accustomed to trying to get pregnant only to have nothing come of it that I was convinced it would be the same with me and Michael. ?As it turned out, though, Michael and I are a combustible combination!
So, when we got married, we were both well into our 30s, I had Kevin who was 4 1/2, and Michael and I both wanted kids together. ?I remember that we talked about having maybe two more kids, making it a total of three. ?And based on our ages and Kevin?s age, and the fact that I was worried that it would take a while to get pregnant, we started trying within a couple of months after we got married. ?BOOM! ?I got pregnant the first month we tried. ?Surprise, surprise.
That was Joey, and he was born a few weeks shy of our first wedding anniversary. ?I never went back on the pill after that, for a variety of reasons ? I was nursing, I was in my mid-30s already, and I never did like the physical side effects of the pill. ?So we just started trying to be careful time-wise, if you get my drift. ?Something loosely based on the rhythm method and NFP.
I?ve always believed that anyone who is truly dead-set against getting pregnant will take whatever measures necessary to make sure they don?t get pregnant. ?Michael and I knew that this wasn?t a foolproof method of preventing pregnancy, but since we were open to having another baby at some point anyway, we were okay with the chance that I would get pregnant again. ?It worked for about a year and a half ? until we were ready to actively try for another baby.
BOOM! ?I got pregnant again the first month we tried. ?This would be baby number 3, and we would probably be done after that. ?Only somehow we ended up with TWINS! ?That was a shock. ?No twins in either of our families (although, contrary to popular belief, the hereditary component in conceiving fraternal twins ? which is releasing multiple eggs in a single cycle ? is passed down on the mother?s side and has nothing at all to do with the father?s family history; identical twins, on the other hand, which originate from a single egg that splits, is completely random and has no hereditary component), no fertility treatment, just a surprise two-for-one deal.
Four kids ? we should have been done, right? ?Only, neither of us were sure that we felt done ? as crazy as that sounds. ?It was (is!) a lot of work having so many little ones (Joey was only two when the twins were born ? I?ve had three in diapers at the same time multiple times in my child-rearing career), but there was a joy in it, too. ?And I think we had both fallen in love with the idea of our kids having numerous siblings and having their lives enriched in that way.
I still remember, clear as day, sitting in the bedroom with Michael, having a serious heart to heart about what we should do. ?The twins were about 16 months old. ?Were we going to have another baby or not? ?We talked about it for a long time, sitting there that morning ? about all the pros and cons, what it would mean for us, for the four kids we already had, to have another baby, or not to. ?Neither of us could settle on an answer, so we agreed to wait until the twins turned 2 later that year to make a decision, and in the meantime, we?d continue being ?careful.?
Only, a couple weeks later, I found out that I was already pregnant. ?I wasn?t even sure when it had happened, because I had been keeping careful track of my cycles, etc. ?I can?t even remember exactly what made me start suspecting, but I do remember that I was hosting book club at my house that night and I went to Target to buy martini glasses and a pregnancy test. ?What a combo. ?When the test came up positive, I was surprised, and, truthfully, a little upset, only because we hadn?t planned this one, and that was a new experience for me. ?Michael was totally okay with it from the get-go, and once I got over my surprise, I was thrilled, too.
That was Lilah ? baby number 5, and our first home birth. ?I was honestly thrilled that I would finally get to have a birth on my own turf, my own terms. ?I had hated my hospital births ? especially the twins? birth ? and I wanted for once to have a positive birth experience.
I loved midwifery care ? so much different, in so many ways, from OB care ? and my midwife and I really bonded (and are friends to this day). ?Lilah was born at home, nine days after her due date, after a very trying on-again off-again labor that lasted over a week. ?Her birth ? my first drug-free birth ? was not what I expected; I think I went into it mentally ill-prepared, and the reality of it was shocking to me, and in some ways, a let-down. ?I had envisioned this peaceful, serene birth, and instead, I screamed my way through it, convinced I was going to die through part of it.
Because of that, I wanted a do-over. ?I know very well how crazy and silly and selfish and irresponsible that sounds, but it was the truth. ?I wanted one more ? just one more ? so I could do it right. ?It makes me kind of sad now that that?s how I felt, like I had done Lilah?s birth wrong, that I had failed somehow, and that I needed to prove to myself (and to Michael and Sue, my midwife ? neither of whom felt in any way that I had failed) that I could do it better, the right way.
There was also a part of me that just didn?t want to close that chapter of my life ? childbearing. ?It?s always been a gargantuan thing to me, childbearing. ?My therapist has said that she thinks I?ve subconsciously set out on a mission to build the family I never had, and I absolutely think there is truth to that. ?A house full of people who love each other, not hate each other. ?A house full of people who share experiences and care for one another. ?It?s all about wanting to love and to be loved, isn?t it?
So once again, there Michael and I sat in our bedroom having a serious heart-to-heart about the possibility of having another baby. ?By this time, I had just turned 40 and Lilah was not quite a year old. ?I wanted another baby ? just one more, for good reasons or bad ? and Michael was ready to close that chapter of our life. ?His was obviously the more practical position. ?Five kids is a whole lotta kids, we weren?t getting any younger, and wasn?t it time to move on, to move past the always taking care of babies phase and onto all the possibilities life held with kids who were a little older and not quite so dependent? ?So I acquiesced, though my heart wasn?t in it. ?And I felt a loss. ?No more babies. ?That was it.
Well, I can?t say that I was exactly careful at that point about making sure it didn?t happen again. ?I kind of felt like, he?s the one who doesn?t want anymore kids, so let him make sure it doesn?t happen. ?And of course, he didn?t. ?And I kind of figured, well, he knows full well that he?s playing with fire here.
About a month later, I was pregnant again. ?I can?t say I was surprised. ?I was scared, though, about how Michael would feel about it. ?I took a pregnancy test when he was at work, and when it came up positive, I texted the news to him ? I couldn?t even bring myself to call him or wait until he got home to tell him face to face.
And you know what? ?He laughed. ?He was happy. ?Because Michael loves being a dad, he really does. ?What was one more when we already had a house full?
That was Finn, born 21 months after Lilah, and also born at home. ?This time I was better prepared for what to expect with a natural birth, and although I?m pretty sure I was just as loud, I knew I wasn?t going to die, and I didn?t come away feeling like I had failed.
But Finn came with a big surprise: Down syndrome. ?And not only that, he ended up in the hospital having major surgery when he was a day old to correct an intestinal atresia he was born with. ?He spent two weeks in the NICU, and the whole experience absolutely yanked the rug out from under me. ?The aftermath of his birth was a very sad, dark time for me, and I found myself once again wanting a do-over.
In time, that feeling passed, though. ?I recognized it for what it was ? part of the process of grieving upon the arrival of a child who was very different from what I had expected ? and I made peace with it as Finn grew older and burrowed his way deeper and deeper into my heart. ?And in time, we were finally able to start enjoying things as a family that were too difficult to do when I was constantly pregnant, nursing, and caring for infants.
And then, when Finn was only 7 months old, Michael was diagnosed with stage 3 colorectal cancer. ?The rug was yanked out from under us yet again. ?It was a horrific experience, for a long time not knowing if he was going to live or die, watching him go through a grueling, year-long treatment process of chemo, radiation, and multiple surgeries. ?His illness really gave me pause to consider how absolutely, horrendously difficult it would be to raise six children on my own should the worst happen to Michael. ?And maybe for the first time, I realized how irresponsible it was to have more kids than one could take care of on her own should it come to that. ?It scared the crap out of me ? it still does.
Michael?s cancer treatment left us with the impression that having anymore kids was off the table. ?As part of his treatment, he underwent 6 weeks of daily pelvic radiation, and although no doctor ever said, ?This will make you sterile,? they did ask Michael if we wanted to have more kids, and mentioned the possibility of banking sperm for those people undergoing this type of treatment who did wish to have children in the future. ?No, we were done. ?And this took the decision out of our hands, anyway, or so we thought.
And so, when in October of 2011 I discovered at the age of 44 that I was pregnant again, it was on the short list of Most Shocking Events Of My Life. ?We hadn?t been doing anything to prevent it because we just didn?t think it was even a possibility. ?And because I wasn?t keeping track of anything anymore, I couldn?t, for the life of me, even figure out when it had happened, and it wasn?t until I had my first ultrasound that I found out I was about three months along.
That was Scarlett, baby number 7.
It?s funny . . . I remember after Kevin was born, how much I missed being pregnant, and I thought to myself, ?I want to have TEN kids!? ?Never dreaming how close to that number I would actually come. ?I remember enjoying every one of my pregnancies so much that I joked, ?I?ll just keep getting pregnant until I?m in menopause,? never imagining how close I would actually come to doing just that.
No, never in my wildest dreams did I believe I would have this many kids, and no, we didn?t exactly set out to have this many kids. ?But here we are, and I wouldn?t change it. ?It?s not lost on either one of us how different, and in many ways easier, our life would be if we had stopped several kids ago. ?But it?s useless to think about that for too long, because here they all are, and the beauty of it usually far outweighs the could-have-beens.
No matter what I do in my life, I think I will always feel that growing life and giving birth, and yes, frustrating and taxing as it is, raising children, will have been the most profound experiences of my life. ?Maybe partly because initially it took me so long to get pregnant in the first place ? I spent years feeling like a part of me was missing, so deep was my longing to have a baby. ?And then when I finally did get pregnant, I savored it and mourned it when it was over, and longed for it again . . . and again.
large families
About Lisa
I'm a 40-something woman. I have a husband, seven kids, a dog, a mortgage, a white picket fence, and lots of opinions. View all posts by Lisa ?
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The FBI has sharply reduced a backlog of forensic DNA testing, in part by scaling back fruitless tests of hair samples from roadside bombs in Iraq and Afghanistan meant to identify who placed them, according to a report released on Tuesday.
The report by the Justice Department's inspector general measured how quickly the FBI lab processed DNA evidence in cases such as bombings, killings and missing persons.
The FBI has faced criticism that its testing is too slow and could delay the capture of criminal suspects and the possible exoneration of innocent people.
Testing has improved, the report said. The FBI lab's DNA backlog - defined as the number of active cases - dropped to 400 this year from 3,200 in 2010. The report said one reason was a 2011 decision to stop automatically testing hair samples from roadside bombs abroad.
Testing all samples drew DNA examiners away from domestic law enforcement cases, the report said, adding "there have been no documented instances" in which hair testing succeeded in identifying the source of a roadside bomb.
The FBI retains hair samples for possible testing later, if warranted. It also continues to test other kinds of evidence from roadside bombings, although its two DNA lab units limit requests to no more than 700 per year.
Other factors, such as additional training and the automation of lab work had an even greater role in reducing the FBI lab's backlog, the report said.
In what the report called "a significant achievement," one of the FBI laboratory's two DNA units has no backlog. That unit tests fluid stains, like blood and semen.
DNA evidence reviews are crucial to resolving many legal proceedings and in processing a crime scene.
While some U.S. jurisdictions have their own DNA labs, the FBI's lab based in Quantico, Virginia, handles testing for those that do not and for federal cases.
The FBI was pleased with the report and remains committed to promptly evaluating DNA evidence, D. Christian Hassell, assistant director of the FBI's laboratory division, wrote in a letter to the inspector general. (Editing by Howard Goller and Stacey Joyce)
ananyo writes with great news for particle physicists and those interested in the field everywhere: "The entire field of particle physics is set to switch to open-access publishing, a milestone in the push to make research results freely available to readers. Particle physics is already a paragon of openness, with most papers posted on the preprint server arXiv. But peer-reviewed versions are still published in subscription journals, and publishers and research consortia at facilities such as the Large Hadron Collider have previously had to strike piecemeal deals to free up a few hundred articles. After six years of negotiation, the Sponsoring Consortium for Open Access Publishing in Particle Physics is now close to ensuring that nearly all particle-physics articles ? about 7,000 publications last year ? are made immediately free on journal websites. Upfront payments from libraries will fund the access and the contracts will be renegotiated in 2016. The idea of all this maneuvering is to minimize the hassle for the scientists themselves and ensure that every paper is open access. The alternative is the 'author pays' model, where the researchers pay to publish. But that would require all authors to comply ? a difficult rule to enforce. The new deal, however, also preserves publishers' profits ? for now."
Chrome: Keeping track of everyone in the news isn't easy. Summer is an extension for Chrome that provides short, biographical info on everyone mentioned in a news story without having to leave the page you're reading.
Currently, Summer works with about 60 different news outlets, including The New York Times, Forbes, ESPN, and more. When you're reading a news story on one of these sites, Summer shows a small tab on the right side of the screen that you can expand and learn more about the people mentioned in the story. When you select a person, you get a short bio, a recent YouTube clip, and a Twitter account (if they have one). For the most part, Summer is unobtrusive, but it's handy when you need it.
Looking for blog hosts for Christian historical fiction ?A Texan?s Choice? by Shelley Gray
271 readers Hi everyone!? We are looking for a few more bloggers to host Shelley Gray and her Christian historical fiction novel, A Texan?s Choice, during her virtual book tour November 5 ? 23.? We are looking for reviewers mostly, but if you?d like to interview Shelley or have her write a guest post for you, that
How to Land a Guest Post Without Fail: 21 Secret Tips
7651 readers By Mary Jaksch Do you want to grow your blog? Then writing guest posts is a great option. But it?s not so easy to get it right. As the Chief Editor of Write to Done, I get a lot of pitches. Some I immediately reply to, others just get a courtesy email ? and their guest post
How to Create Guest Post Guidelines for Your Blog
2958 readersIt?s well known that one of my strategies used to rise to fame came from being everywhere, all the time. I used the power of guest posting and blog commenting tactics to reach people around the globe. If reaching people is what you want, you?ll find plenty of advice on guest posting right here at
How to Wow Blog Editors (and Get Published)
2204 readersToday?s guest post comes to us from Laura Spencer, a well-known crack writer, blogger and head editor at Freelance Folder, one of the blogosphere?s largest hangouts for freelancers. She responded to a post written last week about when your guest post is held hostage ? and her comment was so well thought out that I
Margaret Atwood?s The Blind Assassin Picked for 1book140 Book Club
2332 readersThe Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood will be the first book in the 1book140 book club online. As we reported earlier this week, Jeff Howe has partnered with The Atlantic to relaunch the online book club, One Book, One Twitter. Here?s more about...
We?re Expecting?Books!
3790 readersTherese here. Today?s guest is soon-to-be-author?Amy Sue Nathan, whose debut novel,?The Glass Wives, will be published in 2013 by St. Martin?s Press. Amy runs a blog I enjoy called Women?s Fiction Writers, where she interviews authors of women?s fiction and turns the platform over to them occasionally for guest posts. She recently joined with some
Smashwords Authors Published 138,070+ Books
6597 readersDigital publishing site Smashwords has published more than 138,070 books, exceeding a total of five billion words. Smashwords founder?Mark Coker revealed some interesting statistics in a blog post: ?As I write this, five of the Apple?s iBookstore?s top 20 bestsellers are from Smashwords authors R.L. Mathewson (read our interview with R.L. Mathewson here), S.C. Stephens (we?ll
10 examples of beautiful custom designed posts
4283 readersSince some months, web designers and bloggers created a new blogging trend, named ?Custom designed post?. So what?s this? Simply, it is a blog post which use a specific design instead of the blog main design. In this article, I?m going to discuss the phenomenon a bit, and then showcase 10 absolutely awesome custom designed
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5735 readersYou?re invited to a very exclusive last-minute event ? and if you?ve ever considered guest posting, you definitely won?t want to miss it. You?ve probably heard that guest posting is a valuable marketing strategy for your blog or business. One guest post published on the right site can bring you new readers, new clients and more
Guest Blog Posts: Good P.R or Free Content?
3211 readers// I?ve been thinking a lot about guest blog posts lately. I used guest blog posts often in the past. For FWJ?s third anniversary we unveiled guest blogger month where each day featured another guest posting. I also had a ?FWJ Idol? contest where a dozen bloggers competed for a slot on the
The forecast for Israel on Sunday: balmy late-summer temperatures, uncomfortable humidity along the Mediterranean coast and ... darkness at 6 p.m.?
Israel moves its clocks back by an hour overnight, putting the country on its winter clock more than a month ahead of Europe and the U.S. and adding to the rising anger that many mainstream Israelis feel toward an ultra-Orthodox minority.
Many Israelis believe the time change, meant to make it easier to fast on the upcoming Yom Kippur holy day, unnecessarily disrupts life and costs the economy millions of dollars. They say the early onset of darkness raises electricity costs, causes more car accidents and gives children less time to play after school.
While the custom has long bred resentment, the premature arrival of winter hours comes at an especially sensitive time, given the rising backlash against what is widely seen as religious coercion by ultra-Orthodox leaders.
"It's ridiculous. It's just a power play by the ultra-Orthodox to show who's in charge. There is no reason for it being this early," said Raanan Lidji, a 34-year-old high-tech worker from Tel Aviv.
The move to winter time ahead of Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement and holiest date on the Jewish calendar, has been standard practice for decades and enshrined in law since 2005.
Yom Kippur, which begins on Tuesday evening, is marked by a sundown-to-sundown fast. Orthodox religious parties, which have always held key swing votes in Israel's political system, are behind the time change, wanting to decrease the number of waking hours for those fasting.
Although the length of the fast doesn't change, the sun sets an hour earlier with the winter clock, shortening the more difficult end of the fast. In a similar custom, neighboring Muslim countries sometimes adjust their clocks, even in the middle of summer, during Ramadan to make the monthlong fasting period easier to manage. But the clocks are returned to summer time after Ramadan ends.
In Israel, the seemingly premature clock change elicits complaints every year from secular and modern Orthodox Israelis, who make up some 90 percent of Israel's Jewish population. But this year, the anger has been heightened by a variety of factors.
Yom Kippur, which falls on a different date each year based on the Jewish calendar, arrives relatively early this year, making the change all the more noticeable.
It also comes against the backdrop of rising tensions between the secular masses and the politically powerful ultra-Orthodox minority. Much of the anger is being directed at Interior Minister Eli Yishai, whose ultra-Orthodox Shas Party has played a key role in shaping the law.
Yishai has resisted repeated calls to push back the change. In 2010, when it came even earlier in September, nearly 400,000 people signed a petition urging him to change the system.
Following the outcry, Yishai appointed a committee to study the matter. But its recommendation that the summer clock remain in effect until early October was never implemented.
"He simply wants to build up the special form of regime to be found in Israel - a religious `minocracy,' Not a democracy that represents the majority and takes the minority into account, but rather a minority that controls the majority and does not care a damn about it," wrote Nehemia Shtrasler, an economics affairs columnist at the Haaretz daily.
A spokesman from the Shas party did not immediately return messages seeking comment. A spokesman for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also had no immediate comment.
Ultra-Orthodox parties such as Shas, while representing less than 10 percent of the general population, have long served as kingmakers in Israel's fragmented political system.
With this power, rabbinical authorities control the rules for marriages, divorces and burials, and ultra-Orthodox males have long received exemptions from compulsory military service in order to pursue religious studies.
Ultra-Orthodox men often continue their studies well into adulthood, living off welfare subsidies as their secular counterparts work and pay taxes.
The draft exemptions and study subsidies have become a central issue in Israeli politics. Early this year, the Supreme Court ruled the exemptions illegal and ordered the government to change the law.
But attempts in parliament to reform the nation's draft law deadlocked, causing one of Netanyahu's coalition partners to quit, and the government missed a deadline to draw up new legislation. With religious leaders saying they will resist any change to the old arrangement, Defense Minister Ehud Barak is currently struggling to figure out a new draft system.
Adding to the tensions, extremist sects within the ultra-Orthodox community have come under fire in recent months for attempts to ban the mixing of sexes on buses, sidewalks and other public spaces. In Jerusalem, advertisements depicting women have been removed from billboards and buses because of fears that extremists will vandalize them.
These attempts at coercion have fueled a brewing cultural clash between two Israels. On one hand, the country continues to be a high-tech powerhouse with liberal values that have turned Tel Aviv into a gay mecca. On the other hand, the ultra-Orthodox, with their high birthrates, have grown increasingly outspoken and assertive.
With Netanyahu expected to call early parliamentary elections in the coming months, the country's opposition is likely to use the controversies over the draft and religious coercion against him.
"Israel is proving once again that it is living in the dark," said Ronit Tirosh, a lawmaker from the opposition Kadima Party.
Texas School District(s) Allow Male Administrators to Paddle Female Students 
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well assume that Michael and I must be super-religious because we have so many kids. ?Other Christians seem to be genuinely shocked to learn that I don?t even believe in God, nor do I subscribe to any religion or dogma, and that we are raising our children religion-free.
I'm a 40-something woman. I have a husband, seven kids, a dog, a mortgage, a white picket fence, and lots of opinions. View all posts by Lisa 
Chrome: Keeping track of everyone in the news isn't easy. Summer is an extension for Chrome that provides short, biographical info on everyone mentioned in a news story without having to leave the page you're reading. 
