Excitement surrounds the birth of a new baby and is often celebrated by the giving of gifts.  Baby showers and gifts after the arrival can sometimes be a little redundant ("Oh, another bath blanket set? Thank you…")  These days, most young mothers already know the sex of their offspring, so buying the “right” color or style is not such a problem as it used to be ("Hmm, blue or pink?"), and although it is fun to buy all these cute little things, they will soon be outgrown, used up, or disposed of, with no lasting memories other than what was written down in the Baby Book.

Next time you are “expecting” to be invited to a shower or want to give a gift after the arrival of the baby, think about a piece of personalized baby jewelry that will become a lifetime keepsake of the event.  These tiny, delicate necklaces, bracelets, and rings can be engraved with the child’s name or birth date, and can be a tasteful way to show the parents how much the birth means to you, too.

Personalized jewelry can denote other milestones in a person’s life.  A birthday that is often made much over is the sixteenth, or in other societies, the “coming of age” party that represents the movement from youth to young adulthood.  Bar Mitzvahs and Bat Mitzvahs for young men and women are also occasions that can benefit from a personalized piece of jewelry, as a name or date can add to the significance of the day.

A day that all young students anticipate for at least 12 years is their high school graduation.  While most high school seniors select a school graduation ring that combines a glass stone with the graduation date and school name, and most students highly covet having one, the fact is that not long after graduation, the student’s high school affiliation and identity becomes insignificant.  The ring is tossed in a drawer to be occasionally looked at but not worn again, like the letterman’s jacket or the prom dress.

Yet those high school days are part of everyone’s youth and need to be remembered in a lasting way.  Graduation could be a time to give a very special personalized necklace, bracelet or ring.  It could be gold or silver, and be a name, an initial, or engraved with whatever would be significant to the wearer in a more subtle, meaningful way as the years go by.  Such a piece will be worn for a long time.

Gold and silver jewelry has been used to commemorate special occasions for thousands of years.  Because of the beauty and lasting value of gold and silver jewelry and jewelry combined with precious and semi-precious stones, gifts of personalized jewelry are always appropriate, and show the significance of the occasion that will last throughout the lifetime of the wearer.

Gift giving can become suddenly easy if you remember that personalized jewelry is an appropriate and appreciated way to show someone they are special.

Alan King
http://www.articlesbase.com/parenting-articles/a-personalized-jewelry-gift-is-a-lifetime-keepsake-721155.html

“Mom didn’t you hear me calling you?” Carol asked as she stood in front of her mother. Ruth, a widowed, 70 year young mother of 3, grandmother of 7, retired high school teacher, avid gardener, international art film-buff and baker of the world’s best  pumpkin pie blankly stared at her daughter. “Did you speak to your father about that prom dress you wanted?” Ruth finally whispered. “Yeah I did mom….yeah I did”, Carol resignedly said as she gently guided her mother to the living room couch.

It had started with a little spacing out, forgetting birthdays, appointments, and even town bake sale events that she had never missed. Then a couple of months ago, Ruth began talking about her husband whom she had lost 5 years ago to colon cancer, as if he were alive and somewhere in the house busying himself with some household task. Alzheimer’s disease became a legitimate suspicion when just last week Sue’s 18 year-old daughter found Nana sleeping on a park bench 20 miles away from her home.

This is the story of millions of Americans caring for elderly parents, having to suddenly become experts in home health care, medications, elder laws, hospital and nursing home regulations, all the while fighting personal feelings of anger, abandonment, guilt, depression, and disappointment.

A USA TODAY/ABC News/Gallup Poll of baby boomers reports that 41% of those with a living parent are providing financial and/or personal care and 8% of boomers say their parents have moved in with them.

The USA TODAY poll finds a significant portion of the boomers who are helping their parents report the responsibility as only a “minor sacrifice” or “no sacrifice at all”. However, the remaining boomers polled report deleterious personal physical and emotional health consequences, such as high blood pressure, that is nearly double the risk of their American peers who are not caring for an elder parent. Alarmingly, 91% of boomers who report worsened physical health due to caring for an elderly parent, also report debilitating depressive symptomatology.

Caring for elderly parents can greatly threaten the physical and emotional health of caregivers and their families. The tasks caregivers face range from providing emotional support (such as frequent “checking in” telephone calls), to helping with the instrumental activities of daily living (such as transportation, shopping, housekeeping, meal preparation, and bill paying), to helping with personal care tasks (such as bathing and dressing). Care giving becomes all the more stressful when the elder parent is impaired by challenging emotional limitations such as dementia, as families must deal with impaired cognitive abilities, difficult behaviors, and the pain of personality changes in a loved one. If the elder’s behavior is embarrassing, the caregiver may become isolated and drop previously enjoyed activities.  The caregiver can become so engrossed in caring for the elder parent that other family members, such as children and spouses are neglected. When caring for an elder exceeds the family’s capacity, it is not surprising that family members react with fear, anger, shame, doubt, and sadness.  If the elder must ultimately be cared for in a nursing home, the caregiver must then deal with the nagging feelings of  guilt and  ambivalence over the decision not to mention the potentially devastating financial distress.

Before the boomer reaches the point of “I just can’t take it anymore”, just like the support they provide for their aging parents, caregivers,  need to seek support for themselves. Don’t be afraid or ashamed to ask for help (emotional or financial) from other family members, neighbors, church members and other support groups. Becoming a parent to your parent can be a difficult and painful process but also one that can be quite reparative in that it presents an opportunity to work through old wounds, close intergenerational misunderstandings, and bring a new found family closeness.

Want to learn more helpful tips or have a personal elder caregiving experience you’d like to share? Come join www.boomeryearbook.com and connect with other boomers. We understand.

For www.boomeryearbook.com

Dr Karen
http://www.articlesbase.com/self-improvement-articles/i-just-cant-do-it-anymore-depression-associated-with-caring-for-elderly-parents-724424.html

As any junior high school student can tell you, your fashion is very important when it comes to what others think of you.  Now maybe that isn’t the way it should be, but the idea that, “the clothes make the man,” (or woman, in our case) is simply, quite often, the truth.  So what are we to do?  Clothing, and how we wear it, is a chance to capture every moment and turn it into a celebration of life and fashion.  It is our opportunity to invite attention and make a mark on people’s memories.  And it is our chance to leave a lasting impression on everyone from the President of our firm to the lady who lives down the block. 

While we all know those people who live in black from Monday to Sunday, we definitely remember the woman in the sequined blue shoes, or the guy who pick us up for a first date in a pink dress shirt!  Surely the best example of clothing being a very important part of the equation is the billion-dollar wedding industry.  Probably nothing is more important than the bridal gown.  (Well, except for the happy couple, of course!)  Not to mention the bridesmaids’ gowns and the flower girl’s dress.  Even the tuxes become a crash course in men’s fashion.

And surely there are other life events we celebrate with clothing: our prom, first dates, job interviews, and New Year’s Eve parties.  How often have you looked back at old pictures, and the first thing we notice is the styles of the day – Uncle Sal’s mint green leisure suit from the ‘70’s or your own cowboy boots and gauchos from 1985.  Clothing marks more than generations and styles, it marks our lives and special times.

So why don’t we mark everyday occasions with the same planning and joy?  And how do we create that atmosphere of “special” times?  How do we sew those moments into the fabric of our lives?  Why not mark every occasion – even a Saturday matinee with a new pair of shoes or even a second-hand scarf.  Why not mark our everyday life with as many precious moments and mint green leisure suites whenever possible? 

Take a daring plus size fashion risk and tie up your holiday memories of ‘08 with bright silk ribbons and blue checkered socks.  Make this a day to look back on and remember!

Stacy Montgomery
http://www.articlesbase.com/clothing-articles/a-stitch-in-time-680107.html

As any junior high school student can tell you, your fashion is very important when it comes to what others think of you.  Now maybe that isn’t the way it should be, but the idea that, “the clothes make the man,” (or woman, in our case) is simply, quite often, the truth.  So what are we to do?  Clothing, and how we wear it, is a chance to capture every moment and turn it into a celebration of life and fashion.  It is our opportunity to invite attention and make a mark on people’s memories.  And it is our chance to leave a lasting impression on everyone from the President of our firm to the lady who lives down the block. 

While we all know those people who live in black from Monday to Sunday, we definitely remember the woman in the sequined blue shoes, or the guy who pick us up for a first date in a pink dress shirt!  Surely the best example of clothing being a very important part of the equation is the billion-dollar wedding industry.  Probably nothing is more important than the bridal gown.  (Well, except for the happy couple, of course!)  Not to mention the bridesmaids’ gowns and the flower girl’s dress.  Even the tuxes become a crash course in men’s fashion.

And surely there are other life events we celebrate with clothing: our prom, first dates, job interviews, and New Year’s Eve parties.  How often have you looked back at old pictures, and the first thing we notice is the styles of the day – Uncle Sal’s mint green leisure suit from the ‘70’s or your own cowboy boots and gauchos from 1985.  Clothing marks more than generations and styles, it marks our lives and special times.

So why don’t we mark everyday occasions with the same planning and joy?  And how do we create that atmosphere of “special” times?  How do we sew those moments into the fabric of our lives?  Why not mark every occasion – even a Saturday matinee with a new pair of shoes or even a second-hand scarf.  Why not mark our everyday life with as many precious moments and mint green leisure suites whenever possible? 

Take a daring plus size fashion risk and tie up your holiday memories of ‘08 with bright silk ribbons and blue checkered socks.  Make this a day to look back on and remember!

Stacy Montgomery
http://www.articlesbase.com/clothing-articles/a-stitch-in-time-680107.html

You can learn where and how to apply eye shadows like the professionals if you practice and use a few of the basic principles outlined below:

* The amount of pigment an eye shadow contains plays an important role.  The more pigment within an eye shadow, the more color depth you will see when you apply it.  High pigment eye shadows allow much flexibility, since you can use the very same colors for either natural or dramatic eyes simply by adjusting the amount of color you apply.
* The texture of an eye shadow is also significant to consider - is it a shimmer, frost, sheer, or matte?
* Another important aspect is color placement:  lighter colors make an area appear fuller, and dark colors make an area recede and add defininition.
* To use bright eye shadow colors, blend with darker tones to mute the brightness, creating a bit of colorful accent.
* Shimmer and frost shadows look prettiest when used on the top center of the eyelid and directly underneath the eyebrow as a highlighter. 

As an example: if you want to do a definining 'contour' of your eye:
1.  you will need a dark eyeliner at the base of your lashes
2.  followed by a light tone applied all over the lid up to the eyebrow
3.  then add a darker color in the outer corner of the lid and into the crease.  
 
For fun, you can add bit of accent to your eyes:
1.  by placing either a bit of frosty, shimmery eye shadow or loose eye shadow dust on the middle of your eyelid or
2.  by blending a small amount of a bright color into the darker tones you've already applied. 
 
Apply your mascara next (and don't forget to curl your eyelashes to open up your eyes). 
 
And for all-out dazzle, don't forget a sexy pair of false Eyelashes or even Eyelashes embedded with Crystals to finish your look! 
 
You can find fully-applied eye shadow illustrations on the QDazzleProm.com website under the "Dress Color Packages" link.
 
On the "Dress Color Packages" page, just click on the shade that most closely matches your dress color and you will be shown full face illustrations demonstrating the exact shading and the colors used to achieve either Natural or Dramatic looks - this will be helpful for you to see how, where and which colors are blended on the eyes. 
 
For further help with step-by-step application instructions for each of the eye shadow products within the Dress Color Packages, just become a QDazzle(TM) Member (it's free) and you will gain access to Advanced Makeup Tips & Techniques.  All eye colors can be purchased separately, or as part of the Dress Color Package to coordinate your lips and cheeks as well! 
 
Using the drawings as a resource, along with our QDazzle(TM) products, you can create your 'professionally-done' makeup look for your Pageant or Prom 2009!

Jennifer Kalman
http://www.articlesbase.com/cosmetics-articles/big-dramatic-eyes-for-prom-pageant-or-wedding-720369.html