The Oregon Women's Report - Women's News from Oregon

By Jean Tracy, NW Author
KidsDiscuss.com, Parent Newsletter

Parents, do kids with cell phones drive you crazy? How do other parents discipline when cell phone rules are broken? Finally, what would you do if these children were yours?

1. Morgan, age 13, texts her friends when you’re talking with her, during dinner, and when you’re having family time. She also sends texts after midnight. Her phone bills are outrageous. You’re afraid to cut off her phone usage because she’ll stomp and scream to get her way. What will you do?

From 4 reluctant Entertainers
Real entertaining for real people

I didn’t spend much, but I shopped my own sale.

My friend Jenny and I got a date on the calendar – a Friday, for a 1/2 day sale.

Our goal was to not stress over it, but to keep it simple and fun!

1. Create a space where you can store your boxes of items for sale.  In our case, it was the garage.
2. Find a friend who wants to share the sale, pick a date, and move forward.
3. Don’t worry about pricing your items, it takes WAY too much time.
4. Make sure you have enough tables, start setting up either the night before, or 2 hours earlier.
5. Have a table for $1 items, 50 cent items, or after setting up, use stickers to mark items.
6. Make sure you advertise for FREE on Craig’s List.

By Kay Helbling

You have said goodbye to a loved one and walk back into your home to find you are surrounded by memories. T-shirts that tell stories of a time you laughed together. A jacket worn at a game you cheered on. A tie worn at your last anniversary dinner.  Each can become a piece of cloth to add to your memory quilt.

You come across writings tucked away in a Bible or other favorite book, an award earned years ago, a card sent with a note of love. All can be copied and transferred onto a cloth block given a place of honor next to photos also be taken from paper to cloth.

If you read my article last week, you knew I’d share a few tips for the most novice quilter to preserve these pieces of memory. Everything will simply be working in squares. The more experienced quilter can take it to many levels, but even the beginning quilter can cut squares from a t-shirt and sew them together. 

Front of the quilt, creating 10-inch quilt blocks.

A great article by Carl Bialik in the Wall Street Journal, takes many online dating services to taskf or exaggerated claims.  Here is the article,

“Online-dating sites have changed romance for millions of Americans. But claims that such dating leads to hordes of newly wedded couples may be fairy tales. EHarmony claims in television or online ads in the U.K., U.S. and Australia that 2% of Americans who got married last year met through its site. But the stat is based on an online survey. Similarly, a Match.com media kit claimed that 12 marriages a day trace their roots to the site, but the company now says it’s inaccurate. And Markus Frind, chief executive and founder of Plenty of Fish, doesn’t advertise about marriages, but says his site brings about 100,000 marriages a year, a figure based in part on “some study I found online.” Continue reading.

Fox News and Associated Press report. “Most parents like the idea of vaccinating children against swine flu at school, but they’re not so eager to roll up their own sleeves…Nearly two-thirds said they were likely to give permission for their children to be inoculated at school — if the government’s evolving plan to try that pans out — and 40 percent said very likely. However, even as the government races to get enough swine flu vaccine for Americans in time for fall’s expected rebound of the virus, only a third of people say they’re very likely to get vaccinated themselves once shots arrive.”  Continue reading story here.

FRIDAY, July 24 HealthDay News — New moms who can’t zip up their pre-pregnancy jeans might not be catching enough zzzs. Getting a good night’s sleep, in fact, may be just as important as diet and exercise for shedding baby weight. One study of new mothers found that those who slept five or fewer hours a day six months after giving birth were three times as likely to hold onto those extra pounds as were women who got seven or more hours of sleep.

By Traci Scott,

Skinny jeans for men—basically denim tights—seemed like a momentary fad when they first appeared in stores a few years ago. Today, however, sales of men’s skinny jeans have sky-rocketed, and now even mass brands Gap and Levi’s are getting in on the action:
•    True Religion says 15% of the top-selling men’s jeans in its own retail stores were “slim leg” jeans in the first quarter of 2009, up from 11% in the year-ago first quarter.
•    Rock & Republic says sales of its men’s skinny denim over the past several months rose 26% over last year’s figures.
•    A Levi spokeswoman says: “Over the past several months, our men’s skinny jeans styles have been among our most requested and top-selling jeans.”

HealthDay News — What’s in a bark? A new study suggests that 6-month-old babies know the answer.  Researchers found that most infants who were tested could figure out that an aggressive bark goes with an angry-looking dog. They also seemed to know that friendly-looking pooches voice their feelings in a different way. The babies managed to do this even though they weren’t very familiar with dogs.

It’s not clear whether the babies actually know that a dog baring its teeth is a sign of trouble, but they’re showing a level of sophistication regarding how dogs reveal their emotions, said study author Ross Flom, an associate professor of psychology and neuroscience at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah.

By Jean Tracy, NW Author
KidsDiscuss.com, Parent Newsletter

When you hand over money for your child’s allowance, is it for chores well done? Or are you too generous? Find out inside.

If you’re like most parents, you’re busy. You give your child chores. He does them. You give him his allowance. It’s so simple.

Once in awhile you check his work. If this is what you see, you might hold on to your money. Better yet raise your standards.

HealthDay News — Does drinking green tea really help prevent cancer? The answer is still unclear, according to a review of 51 previous studies done over two decades.  The review, published online in The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, found that green tea may offer some help against liver cancer, breast cancer and, in men, prostate cancer, but consumption may actually increase one’s chances of developing urinary bladder cancer. Conflicting evidence was found in the case of gastrointestinal (esophagus, colon or pancreas) cancers, though the authors noted “limited moderate to strong evidence” of green tea protecting against lung, pancreatic and colorectal cancer.”

by Kay Helbling

If I want to treat myself to some down time, my favorite hobby is making a quilt. But, I’ve never just grabbed scraps of unused cloth and sewn blocks. Mine have always had a purpose. My life’s passions, loves, and appreciations could be summed up by the quilts I’ve made. There are quilts that say thank you to special people, quilts to raise money for an important cause, and quilts that capture the lives of my loving family. And, quilts covered with tears.

The “White Oak by the Side of the Road” was raffled to raise money for the West Linn Senior Center, as did “ The Pythia” for the political women’s group, and the “Great Seal of the U.S.” for a Lincoln Dinner. “Travelling the Road Together” was an anniversary gift to my favorite Aunt and Uncle, “Snowbirds” for my in-laws and a “Family Tree” for  mom.

Quilts became a way to say thank you to teachers or men who coached our boys over the years. I would gather up team photos, action shots from games and close-up expression shots of the coach, award recognitions and other memorabilia. They would surround blocks with written notes of appreciation.

Probably the most profound quilts have been those I’ve made out of old clothing left behind by loved ones. It all started with an auction at Central Catholic High School and David Heller, a remarkable young boy.

By Erika Weisensee,
Milwaukie writing mom

On average, college graduates make more money than high school graduates. In fact, a recent report issued by the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics (*www.bls.gov*) not only found that income levels climb with one’s education level, but that those with college degrees are far less likely to be among the unemployed. *Yet, despite all its rewards, college is time-consuming,stressful and increasingly expensive.*

Whether you are a first time college student or someone going back to school after a long break, you will have a lot of decisions to make. Prospective students must determine not only what and where to study but how to pay for it all. Here are some questions to consider before making this important investment in your future:

Sharon Lacey, Portland comedian

Moments from a Road Comic’s Life — Part 1: To fend off Alzheimer’s and also fulfill a lifelong dream, Sharon Lacey quit her 23 year career as a teacher and hit the road doing standup comedy. Sometimes the moments in between shows are the most memorable.

Another Alien Sighting Near Roswell??

Comedians usually aren’t provided hotel rooms on nights when there’s no show. With tight budgets, we sometimes end up sleeping in our cars. That’s what I had to do two nights ago, out in the desert of New Mexico.  It was about 80 miles from Roswell, near where an alien spaceship supposedly landed decades ago.

HealthDay News — As children head off to summer camp, many parents are concerned about the risk for swine flu. To protect kids from the H1N1 virus when they’re at camp, Dr. Jeffrey Boscamp, a pediatric infectious diseases expert at Hackensack University Medical Center in New Jersey, recommends the following:

    * Confirm that the camp is doing regular screenings, promoting proper hygiene and updating parents on any reported cases of swine flu.
    * Find out if any H1N1 cases have been reported at the camp and if it has quarantined areas for infected children.
    * Consider leaving siblings behind when visiting a child at camp. The H1N1 virus is particularly contagious among children.
    * Check your temperature the night before and the morning of your visit. Bring some extra alcohol-based hand sanitizer with you.

Photo by Abbie Storm,
Mae Photography, Yamhill Oregon

HealthDay News — Birth rates among U.S. teens increased in 2006 and 2007, following large declines from 1991 to 2005, according to a new U.S. government study.  It found that previously improving trends in teens’ and young adults’ sexual and reproductive health have flattened or may be worsening in some cases.  U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention researchers analyzed national data from 2002-2007. Among their findings:

* About one-third of adolescents hadn’t received instruction on methods of birth control before age 18.
* In 2004, there were about 745,000 pregnancies among females younger than age 20. This included an estimated 16,000 pregnancies among girls aged 10 to 14.

By Jean Tracy, NW Author
KidsDiscuss.com, Parent Newsletter

Is your child lonely, sad, or angry? Would you like to teach your child how to make friends? If you don’t know how, I’ll share the secrets here.

First you need to know that research tells us the average child spends 25 hours in front of the TV each week.TV characters become their “friends” and their role models. Speaking about role models, I remember teaching a new class of first graders. Everyone, except two little boys, was sitting tall in anticipation of story time. The two boys were rolling around slugging it out on the floor in the back of the room.

By VIPDesk

Alexandria, VA – June 17, 2009-As telecommuting becomes a viable option for many workers, unfortunately work-at-home scams increase in numbers. Savvy workers, however, can avoid being taken advantage of by a work-at-home scam, while still finding great opportunities to earn money from the comfort of their own home office.

VIPdesk (www.vipdesk.com), the award-winning pioneer of virtual contact center services, has been working with home-based customer service representatives for over 10 years, and has identified the following 10 tips that can help a potential telecommuter identify legitimate work-at-home opportunities.

by Kay Helbling

A few years back I had to go in for a minor surgery. It was nothing that would warrant a call to our Pastor to make the ten mile trip to be with us. But, as I lay waiting to be rolled into the operating room, I saw the look of concern in the eyes of my two little boys. They didn’t know their mom would be okay. Obviously they were trying to be strong, but I could tell they were scared. We calmly explained that all would be well, but they needed something stronger. They needed prayer and the comfort that comes with prayer.

At that moment, the hospital Chaplain was making her rounds to visit everyone who was heading into surgery. She asked if we’d like her to pray for us. A light came into my boys’ eyes and a smile on my husband’s face. The prayer was deep and it was powerful. It gave them, and me, the strength we needed at a time when outcomes aren’t always a sure thing.  

It was at that moment I knew there was one more important issue to lay on the table for discussion in the health care debate. I’d seen what the concern for the separation of church and state did to our little public school. No one on staff was allowed to pray, have any religious symbols present, or even use the word Christmas in their “holiday” celebrations.

I saw the disappointment in a little girl who was excited to show her teacher the Christmas card she’d made of baby Jesus and told that the card was not appropriate for school. So, will government run hospitals also not be an appropriate place for God?