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

Jan Springer, Director
Heritage School of Interior Design,
Beaverton, Oregon

I find that the most troublesome part of design with my clients is the art of accessorizing.  We can always manage to get the “big chunks” (sofas, chairs, tables etc) in the room but the finishing touches mystify even some designers.  One of the mistakes most of us make is we buy the accessories first because they are the most affordable pieces of the design plan.

Accessories are always the finishing touches and therefore should not be bought until the main pieces of furniture are bought and in place.  How do we know what type of lamp to buy until we know what table it will sit upon.   How do we know where we can place a piece of artwork or a mirror until we have the furniture arranged and in place.  We have to put the furniture pieces in place to see the “negative space”.

By Sandy, Medford
Four Reluctant Entertainers,
Real entertaining for real people

When catalogs like these come to my house, I rarely get a chance to look at them. But I love Crate & Barrel catalogs, and it reminds me of one of my favorite SUMMER FINDS this year.  For $19.95 I bought this large water dispenser from a Crate N’ Barrel outlet store.

If I had had more room in my car at the time, I would have picked up extras for my friends for birthday presents. It’s plastic, easy to clean, and perfect for a hot day of summer fun.  We rarely buy soda (unless we’re having a large party), so water is the BEST for kids.  My kids don’t complain.  They love water!

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

If you find yourself taking charge of your relationship, imposing your opinions, and pressuring your spouse to do your bidding, you’re caught in the marriage power trap. The good news is you can change. If you’d like to improve your character by breaking free from this power trap, look inside my eBook, Parents in Love – 121 Dating Ideas. Here is an excerpt…

The Power Trap Story:

Three recent child abandonment cases in the Northwest have highlighted the ambiguity and controversy surrounding infant safe haven laws.
By Traci Scott, Portland Writer

In Federal Way, Washington, a 23-year-old woman who had left her baby on a church doorstep has been sentenced to 200 hours of community service and a deferred two-year term.  It’s legal in Washington to leave babies anonymously at fire stations and hospitals but not at churches.

In Medford, the mother of a newborn baby found dead inside a dumpster at hotel was recently indicted on charges of abuse of a corpse and concealing the birth of an infant.  In Oregon, it’s legal to abandon an infant in its first 30 days of life at hospitals, birthing centers, physicians’ offices, sheriffs’ offices and police stations.  Dumpsters are not a legal option.

And in Sacramento, California, a teenager left her baby with a stranger at a local bus station   Even though the police initially reported that the teenager tried to “do the right thing”, the law says she can be arrested and prosecuted for felony child endangerment because the only legally recognized infant safe haven sites in Sacramento are hospital emergency rooms and fire stations. Bus stops don’t qualify.

TUESDAY, Aug. 25 (HealthDay News) — For every excess pound piled on the body, the brain gets a little bit smaller. That’s the message from new research that found that elderly individuals who were obese or overweight had significantly less brain tissue than individuals of normal weight. “The brains of obese people looked 16 years older than their healthy counterparts while [those of] overweight people looked 8 years older,” said UCLA neuroscientist Paul Thompson, senior author of a study published online in Human Brain Mapping.

Southwestern Oregon: A Great Destination For Families
By Erika Weisensee

Let’s face it, when it comes to our beautiful state, a few places seem to garner the lion’s share of attention in travel publications. The Columbia River Gorge, Mt. Hood, and often written about towns like Astoria certainly deserve accolades. But, as I was recently reminded, scenic beauty, entertainment and family fun abound in every quadrant of Oregon. Families seeking adventure, affordable fun and breathtaking scenery should head to Southwestern Oregon.

Last week, my husband, Alex, and our almost 3-year-old son, Owen, had a lovely two-day getaway in Florence, Oregon.

Several recent articles have interviewed women who leave their kids in search of the reasons why.
By Traci Scott,
Portland writer

An intriguing and provocative story in Marie Claire details a new trend: mothers who voluntarily decide to relinquish custody of their children in order to pursue other life goals.  Just reading that title, “What Kind of Mother Leaves her Kids?” hits a nerve with many people.  It pierces your heart and strikes a chord.  After all, don’t good moms place protecting and nurturing their children above all else?

The article portrays three women who, for various reasons, decided to give up custody of their children to their ex-husbands. What they all have in common is that they faced judgment from others who can’t understand why or how a mother could possibly make this choice. The article has created controversy and has generated a multitude of reactions, with many people responding as if motherhood itself was being threatened

Marital Separation May Hurt Cancer Survival

HealthDay News – When it comes to surviving cancer, separation from your spouse appears to be worse for your health than divorce or even widowhood, a new study suggests.  In contrast, being married — or never married — seems to improve your odds the most. An analysis of the records of nearly 3.8 million cancer patients found that married people fared the best after being diagnosed with cancer, while separated spouses were about one-third less likely to survive for a decade.

By Chantelle K. Dockter,
MA, Licensed Professional Counselor
Associate of CCCOW,

Question: My husband travels a lot for business, so we end up spending a lot of time apart. Sometimes I worry about that…what can we do to keep our marriage healthy?

Answer: The answer is to place safeguards around your marriage. Any marriage needs to have healthy safeguards in place, regardless of if there is travel or not. The divorce rate is over 50% for marriages, and I would venture to say that no couple standing in front of one another pledging their marriage vows wants to fall into that category. Yet the majority of couples do not try to protect or put appropriate boundaries around their union.

By Evergreen,

Have you ever tried to trick your dog into doing something only to discover that your pooch has somehow figured out your scheme? You can get your dog to run into a room a thousand times, but if you happen to have the kennel waiting on the other side, that becomes the one time when he stops and stares because he knows you are upt o something. Well, a new study shows that dogs have a keen sense of when we are trying to fool them. This sense is more advanced in dogs than other animals.

USA Today reports, “Fido always seems to know which hand hides the treat, even without sniffing, and researchers and pet owners alike have long wondered whether pooches imagine what we are thinking or whether they simply read body language. A dog may be your best workout buddy. “Dogs evolved with humans, and a number of studies have suggested they are particularly sensitive to human cues,” says psychologist William Roberts of Canada’s Dalhousie University. Sentimental pet owners might even say their dogs know what they are thinking.” Continue reading

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

Before allowing your child to have a cell phone, create a contract together. Here are some rules you might include:

1. All contacts in the cell phone address book must be approved by Mom or Dad.
2. Texting may be done after homework and chores are completed.
3. No texting at dinner, during homework, family time, parent – child conversations, in school, or after 8 pm.
4. Cell phones will be kept with Mom or Dad after 8 pm and may be given the next day after school.
5. Web surfing is disabled.

THURSDAY, Aug. 20 (HealthDay News) — Stories abound of adventurers losing their way in the wilderness, unwittingly walking in circles for days. Now, new research confirms that the anecdotes are true. Without the sun, a compass or a landmark, people trying to follow a straight course through a forest or a desert ended up back where they started, according to a study published online Aug. 20 in Current Biology. “Our results confirm the stories that are often described in films and books: people often walk in circles when they are lost,” said study author Jan Souman, of the Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics in Germany. “Second, our results show that even something seemingly very simple as walking in a straight line actually involves a complicated interplay between several senses, our motor actions and cognition.”

by Kay Helbling

Well, I spent the day doing a mother’s duty, but not one I looked forward to. Setting up household for your college sons sounds like it could actually be exciting and fun. Wrong!

Sure, if you have lots of money to spend on a fancy apartment or townhouse on the skirts of campus. But, not if you’re one of the gazillion parents who are scraping by to simply make the tuition and book fees. Then, you have to settle for something that’s a lot more work and a lot less fun.  You have to be armed with a bucket and scrub brush because, believe me, “move-in ready” for a college landlord does not mean “clean”!

As parents we stepped into the off-campus experience for the first time last year when our first son went from his freshman (on-campus) life to the world of off-campus living. We sent him down in the summer to hunt for his first rental armed with a list of all the necessities to check: do the doors and windows lock; do the faucets all turn on with appropriate water pressure. Is there ample lighting and electrical outlets, and is there computer connection.Then there are the extras you know will make their life much easier: a washer and dryer, dishwasher, within walking distance of campus, and bedrooms larger than a closet. These are considered “nice extras” to much off-campus housing. 

Melissa and Jackson Brandts we cuaght completely surprised when they sat down at Lake Minnewanka (Banff National Park, Canada) for a picture of themselves using the timed delay.  During their wait for the shot a curious squirrel jumped into view at the perfect time and launched himself into world wide news.  The Banff squirrel has been picked up by news outlets acorss the world and even Banff Squirrel parody vidoes. Hats off to the Banff squirrel and his new celebrity career.

By Erika Weisensee
Milwaukie writing mom,

If giving feels this good, why don’t I do it more often? That is the question I wondered last week when I got my act together enough to send a care package to a soldier in Iraq. The soldier is a close family friend, a Green Beret who was sent to Iraq in mid-July. It put a smile on my face to think about his reaction to the surprise box full of treats, reading material, Starbucks coffee, and other comfort items included in our care package.

HealthDay News — In the United States, the average age of women giving birth for the first time rose from 21.4 years in 1970 to 25 in 2006, according to a new report from the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS). Births to older women are partly responsible for the upward trend. “In 1970, just 1 percent, or one in 100, [of] births were to women 35 and over,” said study author T.J. Mathews, a demographer with the NCHS, which is part of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “In 2006, it was one in 12 births. It’s a dramatic transition.”

By Cathy Rae Smith
founder of Culture Magazine

Now we all have our favorite looks, whether we can call out a celebrity that has brought a look to the media forefront or we follow certain designers. I felt it might be entertaining to engage in a chat about who our favorites are and why. Personally, I feel that the designs of French fashion couturier Christian Lacroix is just the kind of edgy designer that stimulates the creative senses. My lifestyle is not jet-set enough to have anywhere to actually wear one of his masterpieces of over-the-top couture, nor do I trust that they would enable the average wearer to actually breathe. However, when an abundance of whatever he is going after, be it lace or ruffles, flowers or flounce, or use of a color or fabric not before seen, he creatively throws open the door to new looks adopted by other designers. He is an artist whose palette is the human form. To catch a look at his Spring 2009 collection, you may check it out on at the following video:

Sharon Lacey,
Portland comedian
A funny thing happened on the road to dementia

Maybe it was because I tried to save that bird that hit my rental car while I was on my way to Austin, Texas yesterday.  Maybe not.  But I received a beautiful gift this morning. I was sleeping in my car in a little park in Brownwood, Texas.  Suddenly, about dawn, I heard scrabbling noises on my car.  I peeked out from under my blanket.  There, looking in at me from the front windshield, was a beautiful red cardinal! At least, I think it was a cardinal  We don’t have birds like this in Portland, Oregon, so I’m not sure. As I slowly reached for my camera, the bird walked around on the car, and eventually discovered the side view mirror.  It kept flying away and coming back, looking at its reflection in the mirror.  What an awesome way to wake up….something I never would have experienced if I had shelled out the money for a cheap hotel.

– In a dual attempt to fend off Alzheimer’s and 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.