Tricia's Musings

Random Thoughts about life in general, living in the big city of Toronto



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Mother’s Day Cookies

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Image by Gourmet Cookie BouquetsMother’s Day, a wonderful day to celebrate the important moms in your life – and a great excuse to get into the kitchen and whip up some magic.  If you look forward to holidays just so you can experiment with new recipes, techniques, and supplies, you’re not alone!  We all love cookies, and special occasions are tailor-made for those who love to make them.  This Mother’s Day, give the special mom in your life a sweet treat that shows her how much you care.

Basic Cookie, Spectacular Results

If Mom enjoys gardening and the great outdoors, create a garden cookie bouquet.  You can purchase sets of garden cookie cutters, or you can make do with what you already have.  Make your favorite sugar cookie recipe (chilling the dough before and after shaping will help the cookies keep their shape) and roll your dough about ½ again as thick as normal.

Cut your garden shapes; butterflies, flowers, ladybugs, watering cans, and seed packages are all cute ideas (and you can make ladybugs with regular circle cutters and seed packages with a square cutter or butter knife).  Insert wooden skewers or craft sticks into the bottom of the cookies and bake.  The thicker cookies will take a little longer to bake so keep your eyes on them to prevent burning.

When the cookies are cooled, use icing, decorating tips, colored sugars, edible markers, and candy bits to decorate in bright, summery colors. If the cookies are not going to be eaten right away, you can wrap each one with plastic wrap and tie with a ribbon.  Place a piece of Styrofoam or florists’ foam in an unused plant pot or galvanized pail and insert the skewers. Cover the foam with tissue paper, and voila, a gorgeous, delicious cookie bouquet.

A New Arrangement

If your recipient really loves chocolate chip or oatmeal cookies, or another variety that doesn’t lend itself to being skewered, think about different ways you can present your cookie gift to her.

  • A gift basket starring cookies.  You can fill in your container with teas, coffees, fruit, and other goodies.
  • Get treat bags and wrap each cookie individually. You can then write a sweet message on each.  This is great if you have children who want to make a special mom a treat.
  • Use a fun container. Try a galvanized pail, a giant coffee mug, an elegant glass canister, a recipe box she can reuse, or give her cookie mix in a jar.

But you can also use cookies as the container.  Why not make cookie bowls and fill them with a little baggie full of ice cream sundae accoutrements like sprinkles or sanding sugar or serve mom dessert in one of these fun bowls?  You simply make your dough, flip over a muffin pan and form the dough over the cups. Bake and you have an edible bowl!

It’s the thought that counts, so be sure to put a little extra thought and care into your Mother’s Day cookies!

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Weight Loss – 3 Steps To Fitter, Healthier You

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weight loss

There is a very common misconception that weight loss has to be painful, uncomfortable and hard. Now, while I don’t want to make little of the difficulties involved, it is clear that for many people, this misconception makes the whole process harder.

Over the years I’ve seen many people facing the same challenges and problems. In most cases, all it took was for them to change the way they approached the problem. Health, fitness and weight loss shouldn’t ever be a short-term thing. It should be a fundamental lifestyle change that benefits you for years to come.

Here are the 3 crucial factors which will help you on the road to long term fitness and health:

1.  You Don’t Have to Eat Less!

When most people set out to lose weight the first thing they do is cut down on how much food they eat each day. Now, although this will often result in short term weight loss, it will also make you hungry and low on energy. In most cases this results in you reverting back to old habits after only a few weeks.

A much better approach is to eat more of the right things. Green vegetables, beans, pulses and protein sources will all help give you the energy you need without giving your body the sugars and fast release carbohydrates that most processed foods will give. This way you won’t be hungry, will have lots of energy and lose weight over a much longer period. The best thing about this approach is that you will actually keep their weight off once you’ve lost it!

2. Don’t Avoid Fat

Fat isn’t always bad. There are many different types of fat. If you are looking to lose weight and improve your health then you should try and avoid ‘saturated fats’.  However, there are also many ‘good’ natural fats which you should still eat (in moderation). These fats make sure that your body maintains its ability to process fat and will also help your skin and bones to stay healthy. You will find natural fats in most meat and nuts.

3. Create Habits 

If you are serious about changing your lifestyle in the long term you need to replace your old ‘bad’ habits with new ‘good’ habits. Most people think that habits take years to create. In reality, you can make something a habit in only a few weeks, once it has become a habit it then takes years to reinforce.

To make a start, focus on eradicating one bad habit each week and replacing it with one good one. Start with something simple, like starting the day with a glass of water. Over time, all your bad habits will eventually get replaced with healthy, good habits and you will start feeling the benefits.

Don’t fall into the trap of following the latest crash diet. If you are serious about changing the way you look and feel, commit to achieving long term results. If you’re not sure where to start, just follow these three easy steps and take it from there.

5 Ultimate Ways To Break In New Shoes

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Leather shoesWe’ve all been in those shoes – you know, the ones that absolutely destroy your feet to a point where you can’t even wear them past the breaking-in stage. Yeah, those. The ones we usually spend obscene amounts of money on just to have them never quite fully break in and rip apart our poor little footsies in the process.

Before you give up on those bad boys (and trust me, I know how tempting it is to give up on them and just adore them from afar in your shoe closet), try some more creative ways of breaking them in without completely totaling your feet. Don’t worry – here are 5 ultimate tips to help you in your process.

Stretch ’em Out, Moleskin Style

Many of the problems associated with new shoes come in the form of tightness and pinching in super uncomfortable areas that make your feet ache all day long. You may have heard the trick of putting a piece of moleskin over the part of your foot that’s being pinched, but this tip takes it one step further.

Place the moleskin on your foot where it is being pinched, then soak your foot in water, with the moleskin on (the sticky stuff on moleskin is pretty waterproof). Once your foot is dry, slip it into the shoe that’s causing the pain and wear the shoe around for a bit. Since the moleskin has been soaked in water, it’s expanded, and can therefore help expand the exact parts of the shoe that are pinching in the first place.

It’s an easier way to stretch out just the right areas of the shoes that are hurting you without having to resort to your big-foot friend wearing the shoes around for you to stretch them out on your behalf (talk about a ruined pair of shoes!).

Drown ’em

Water isn’t exactly the best thing you can put a new pair of leather shoes into contact with, but, when used properly, it can really help to stretch out your shoes in just the right way.

First, make sure you thoroughly waterproof a new pair of leather shoes with some sort of waterproofing agent or spray. Once you’re sure the agent is dry and the shoes are waterproof, just dunk them into a big pot of water and hold them down for about 2 minutes.

After you pull them out of the water, put a pair of heavy white socks on your feet, and put on your wet shoes. Just walk around in them for a bit until they dry, and the water will help mold the leather to the exact size and shape of your foot. Voila – a custom-fitted pair of shoes!

Freeze ’em

Freezing your shoes is another method to help stretch out painful areas of the shoes that are a bit too tight and pinching on your skin. All you need is a small Ziplock bag for each shoe you’re working to stretch. Fill each bag about 1/4 of the way with water.

Seal the bag, then stuff the water-filled end into the part of the shoe that you’re hoping to stretch. Then, throw the shoes in the freezer. Wait until all of the water in the bag is fully frozen, then pull the shoes out of the freezer. Let the ice thaw completely on a counter top or table while it’s still stuffed into the shoe.

Dry off the shoes (they should only be slightly wet, not soaking – if they’re soaking, your bag probably popped a hole at some point during the freezing process) with a paper towel. Then, try them on. Rumor has it this method can help you stretch a too-small pair of shoes by 1/2 or up to a full size!

Blow Dry ’em

One of the fastest methods for breaking in a new pair of shoes can be to take a hair dryer to them much like you would to your hair while it’s wet. Cover your feet with a few pairs of socks (as many as you can manage to stuff into the shoes themselves), then take your hair dryer to the spots of the shoes that are too tight.

While you’re blasting the heat at the sore spots, wiggle your feet around as much as you can. Use the heat long enough to heat the actual material of the shoe, then turn the hair dryer off. Walk around in the shoes while they cool if you can manage the pain (the socks should help ease it a bit).

Again, wearing them as they cool can help mold the material to fit the exact size and shape of your foot for a much more custom fit that won’t hurt your footsies!

Feed ’em Some Starch

Believe it or not, potatoes can be a great tool to help you in stretching out your shoes quickly and efficiently. Peel a potato, stuff it into your shoe where you’re hoping to stretch it out, leave it overnight, then remove in the morning!

There’s something about the wetness and the starch in a peeled potato that, when absorbed into the material of your new shoes, can help it stretch out gradually. Then, with the size of the potato in the shoes, the material stretches to accommodate the bulk.

Surprisingly enough, banana peels are rumored to work in a similar way, so don’t be afraid to just stuff some food in the parts of your shoes that are too tight! It sounds a little weird, but if it works, it’s worth a try, right?

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6 Ways You Can Avoid Having A Heart Attack

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Stethscope overlying an ECG or EKG

In the United States, heart disease is the leading cause of death, and heart attack is the first sign that something is wrong for many people. There’s no doubt that heart attack risk can be dramatically reduced by taking the right steps, and this is true even for people with a family history of heart attack. Below are six ways you can avoid having a heart attack.

1. Get plenty of exercise

Exercise benefits the heart in several ways. The heart and lungs are both strengthened by exercise, and the heart is also stressed less when excess weight and mental tension are lost through regular physical activity. High blood sugar, a risk factor for heart disease, can be controlled through exercise, especially strength training. Researchers are now also finding that moderate exercise, such as walking, is just as beneficial for heart health as more intense physical activity.

2. Take lots of antioxidants

Heart disease involves oxidation in the blood vessels, and this issue can be reduced by antioxidants found in food and supplements. High-dose vitamin C supplements can reduce markers of inflammation by a quarter, making a big difference for arterial health. All sorts of foods, including blueberries, apples and peanut butter, are rich in heart-healthy antioxidants. Coffee is another super-rich antioxidant source.

3. Sleep the right amount for you

Many people go without sleep on a regular basis to meet the demands of their jobs and families. Most people need between six and nine hours of sleep per night, and either less or more is associated with a higher risk of heart attack. Severe sleep deprivation can trigger fatal heart arrhythmias in susceptible individuals, and sleeping too long at night can be a sign of sleep apnea, a major cause of heart attack.

4. Drink alcohol moderately

Regularly imbibing smaller amounts of alcohol has been shown to be good for heart health in multiple ways, including keeping blood vessels clean and reducing stress. Red wine also contains high levels of resveratrol, an antioxidant proven to benefit the heart. However, high levels of alcohol consumption can worsen heart health by dehydrating the body, leaching minerals from the blood and weakening the heart muscle. Regular drinkers should keep their consumption below the recommended limits for men and women of two drinks and one drink per day, respectively.

5. Avoid drugs that can cause heart attack

Several types of prescription medications have been shown to raise heart attack risk, including gastrointestinal drugs, antibiotics, blood thinners and antipsychotics. For example, the antibiotic azithromycin can cause fatal heart rhythms in patients taking it. Meanwhile, the blood thinner Pradaxa has been shown to increase patients’ risk of heart attack by a third. Although some doctors say that Pradaxa heart attack risks shouldn’t cause patients to avoid it, there are often safer alternatives to Pradaxa and other drugs that patients can ask their doctors about.

6. Consume plenty of fiber

People who eat the recommended amount of fiber each day have inflammation markers 40 percent lower than their counterparts who eat little fiber. The substance can reduce heart attack risk in numerous ways, including lowering insulin, blood pressure and bad cholesterol. Fiber may also have heart benefits that are yet undiscovered. Those who begin eating plenty of fiber early in life reap the greatest benefits, but all can benefit from eating more whole grains, vegetables and fruits on a daily basis.

 

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Gifts For Recent Graduates

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gifts

As everybody knows, the economic climate is making it very tough to find a job. This is especially true for those who are leaving education and attempting to embark on a career without any sort of work experience to fall back on, as many employers are likely to prefer those with a little more practical knowledge. If you know somebody who’s just about to embark upon the next stage of their life and enter the workforce, read on to find a gift idea that will suit them.

For Guys – A Good Tie

This is an item which is absolutely essential for anybody who is staring down the barrel of a dozen interviews, and one which many graduates could conceivably lack. Unless their college or family is in the habit of holding formal events, many young men will not have a decent tie to call their own, instead relying on whatever tired-looking rag that their Dad would trust them with. Try to get something which is silk and will go well with shirts of various colors. Bonus points if you also teach them to tie a half-Windsor knot!

A Cookbook

Chances are that your graduate went straight to college from home, where most (if not all) of their meals were prepared by Mom and Dad. Many students take advantage of meal plans offered by their school’s cafeteria, and if not, they probably order a whole lot of pizza. A decent cookbook can provide hundreds of recipes to suit virtually every taste and budget. A great example is How to Cook Everything, by Mark Bittman. This very popular publication boasts instruction on 2000 meals – that should be enough for anybody to survive on!

An E-Reader

Anybody who’s ever been to college knows that there’s a whole lot of reading involved. So much so that a recent graduate can be put off the activity for a quite a while after they receive their diploma! Make sure that they have one fewer excuse to rot their brain in front of the TV with this gift idea. E-readers are now available for well under $100 and enable the user to store many books without having to lug around a load of paperbacks wherever they go. You could also give them a gift card that will allow them to make their first online literary purchase.

A Blu-Ray Player

When your graduate moves into their first post-college apartment and gets a job, it’s pretty likely that they’ll be keen to move past the student phase of their life. With a 9am start each day, they won’t be hitting the bars and hosting house parties anywhere near as often, and will have to adjust to a quieter lifestyle. Unfortunately, their starting salary probably won’t fund all the things that they could use to entertain themselves, so why not help out by picking up a Blu-Ray player? This should help keep them distracted on a boring Wednesday night.

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