by Erika Weisensee, book lover

Finally!  At last! Some good weather. . . time for walks and runs and hikes. Time for yard work and gardening. Time for barbecues. Time for one of my favorite pastimes — reading a great book on the back deck with a deliciously cold beverage by my side. But, what to read? There are so many choices, and I don’t like to waste my time.

In my opinion, the best book suggestions come by word of mouth. These three books, all recommended to me by avid readers, were excellent!

By Heidi von Tagen
Gorgeous Bits Blog,
Portland.

I want to throw my stuff in bag and drive away.

Shorts, tee shirts, sweatshirts, old canvas tennis shoes with holes in them, 80 SPF sunscreen, and bags and bags of soft red licorice…I want to put my hand out the window of the Dodge Polera and let it surf the wind blowing past on the the highway, drink truck-stop coffee, and look out the window at the open road.

How to express yoursefl with art
Wall Design Diva,
Tigard, Oregon

So, now you have the time and money to finally decorate that special space in your home. What do you do when there are no inspirations for color or style? In other words, it is not easy to decide these things when you have no point of reference, nothing to start with. It is hard to know where to start, isn’t it? For example, if you have a sofa that you must keep, then you may start with that. At least you have a color and possibly a style.

• Start With Art! for inspiration.

Pro-Eating Disorder Sites Abound on the Internet
By Health Day News,

THURSDAY, June 17 — They’re out there on the Web: Sites that offer tips to successful purging or water-only fasts; others that list methods of hiding rapid weight loss from parents and doctors. If the proliferation of these pro-anorexia and pro-bulimia Web sites isn’t bad enough, eating disorder experts say they now have to contend with “pro-ana” and “pro-mia” bloggers and “thinspiration” Twitter updates sent right to an interested party’s mobile phone.

“They are reaching very vulnerable youth,” said Dina Borzekowski, an associate professor in Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. “When you have the Internet used all times of the night, kids have easy access to it. It’s anonymous. They can gain support for what they’re doing and information.”

Why do women fall in love with killers?
By Evergreen,

Have you ever noticed that every time you long news coverage of a notorious criminal you eventually hear a report on the killer getting fan mail or marriage proposals from various women? Frustarting isn’t it? It begs the question on why women fall in love with criminals and killers. Is it a case of good girls liking bad men taken to the extreme? CNN rounded up three experts to tackle the issue head-on. Please enjoy the video.

By Jean Tracy
Kids Discuss
NW Parenting expert

Parents are your kids stressful? Do they leave messes, fight with each other, or sass you? Try these 3 parenting solutions when your kids tempt you to explode.

First Stressful Problem:
When Joey leaves another mess from his daily snacks, don’t pull your hair out. Don’t blow up. Lengthen your fuse. Keep your yelling to yourself. Be as rational as you can be.

The Magic Question to Ask Yourself:
‘What can I do to teach Joey a lesson and give myself some time to unwind?’

MP3 Players Might Harm Hearing
By Health day News

HDN — People using MP3 players are leaving themselves open to temporary changes in hearing, which over time might result in permanent hearing loss, Belgian researchers suggest. Scientists already know that at work, exposure to harmful noise — noise that is too loud or loud sounds that go on too long — can eventually lead to hearing loss by damaging the sensitive hair cells in the inner ear. And the same may be true of loud music pumped directly into the ear through MP3 players, the researchers say.

By Erin Flesch, NEAT contributor
pdxneatsheet.com
Portland style, shopping, trends.

Regardless of your opinion on the worldwide tween phenom known as “Twilight” (personally, we’re on team “True Blood”), chances are you or someone you know will want to sink your teeth into the “The Twilight Saga: Eclipse” events taking place at Nordstrom in Downtown Portland. Even better, you might get some up close and personal vampire action with Twilight cast member Cameron Bright!

In order to guarantee some face time (and bragging rights!) with the cute young actor (he’s also been in “X-Men: The Last Stand,” “Thank You for Smoking” and the film gem “Juno”), you need to stop by Nordstrom to pick up a VIP Pass starting at 8 a.m. this Saturday, June 19. The passes will secure spots for 200 customers to come back on Saturday, June 26 and have their photo taken with Bright, who plays the vampire Alex and twin brother to Dakota Fanning’s character in the series.

Nordstrom is doing a great job keeping up with all the “Twilight” mania, launching an exclusive clothing and cosmetics collection inspired by the Twilight films to promote the latest, “The Twilight Saga: Eclipse,” which opens in Portland theaters on Wednesday, June 30.

Nordstrom’s Twilight collection is based on the style of the film’s two lead female characters, Bella and Alice. Pieces include screened tees and hoodies, fashion tops, mini skirts, dresses, skinny jeans and cardigans ranging in price from $30-$58. The cosmetics line, called Luna Twilight, features the super popular Twlight Lip Venom (below right).

By Randall W. Haveman, DVM, MS
Sunnyside Veterinary Hospital

Some foods are acceptable as treats and some are harmful to your dog or cat.  Guess which of these six foods are safe for your pet:

1.) Raisins
2.) Carrots
3.)Tea
4.) Chocolate
5.) Apples
6.)Sugar free candy or gum

The answers are listed below.  Look for more to come.

Females May Be Naturally More Prone to Stress: Animal Study
By Health Day News,

HDN — When it comes to stress, women are twice as likely as men to develop stress-induced disease, such as depression and/or post-traumatic stress, and now a new study in rats could help researchers understand why. The team has uncovered evidence in animals that suggests that males benefit from having a protein that regulates and diminishes the brain’s stress signals — a protein that females lack.

Mint Humus: With a Bite to it!

by Sandy,
Southern Oregon
Reluctant Entertainers Blog

By Evergreen,
Portland writer

Here is a video to send around to honor those dad’s who are serving in the military.  This video captures those dads and moms return home for a surprise visit.
*** After viewing please view a follow-up news story to this video just beneath this video ***

By Karen Vitt,
pdxneatsheet.com
Portland style, shopping, trends.

Team Neat Sheet stormed the Oregon Convention Center Saturday night to gobble up a fashion feast presented by The Art Institute of Portland, the school’s annual graduate showing of senior designer fashion collections.  The “A Feast for the Eyes” Fashion Show” was staged in two parts over a long evening that included plenty of mixing and mingling by some of Portland’s most fashionable folks, plus a silent auction to raise funds for Oregon Food Bank and the school’s Creative Arts Scholarship fund.

by Erika Weisensee
Milwaukie writing mom

I cherish the First Amendment. As a writer and the daughter of a journalist, I believe the right to free speech is an integral part of our democracy. “I may not agree with what you say, but I will defend until the end your right to say it.” I grew up hearing those words, absorbing their meaning, and thoroughly believing them. I still do. Yet, as we all know, when you live in a free society with the free flow of information, some of that information is bound to be distasteful, offensive, and even vile. The Internet has allowed information—the good and the bad— to spread like wild fire.

The Internet’s ugly side hit me like a slap in the face at the end of last week. Like thousands of Oregonians and people around the country, I have been following the story of missing 7-year-old Kyron Harmon. Last Friday, wanting to know the latest, I got on the website of a Portland television station and read the most current article. I scrolled down my screen and noticed a large number of comments after the article—193—and the article had only been posted for a couple of hours. I read a few of the comments and was immediately turned off by the rudeness, the accusations, the personal attacks and the gutter-level dialogue of these posts.

By Christina Rainey,
Oregon mom

Babies have amazing capabilities, many more than we may realize.  In fact, recent studies show that babies observe, explore, imagine and learn more than we ever have thought possible.  Even when my toddler,  Lauren is giving me the clueless look, she is really not so clueless!

Lauren, now 20 months old, is now starting to become more independent and her personality is starting to take shape.   She is more verbal now, talking and repeating sounds she hears.  Rewind 18 months ago to when she was just a casual observer of her environment and she spent  most of her time sleeping and eating.    During the toddler years,  their brains are growing at such an incredible rate, that there are just too many things to experience to slow down!

By Sweet Dreams Weddings and Events
Portland,

It used to be that hiring a wedding planner was something for the rich and famous. Today though, it’s becoming increasingly more common for everyday brides and grooms, with everyday budgets, to hire a planner. With good reason, hiring a professionally trained/educated planner can actually wind up saving you as much money as it costs, with the added benefit of reducing stress. Always ask to see their educational credentials so you know that they professionally trained and not someone that they just planned their wedding and decided it was so much fun they would start planning events for a living.

1. There are three specific kinds of “Wedding Planners”

More School Friends = Better Grades

HealthDay News — School friends may play a major role in your teen’s academic success, a new study suggests.  It included 629 12th graders in Los Angeles who filled out a questionnaire and then kept a record of activities such as time spent studying and time spent with school friends and out-of-school friends. Students with higher grade-point averages (GPAs) had more school friends than out-of-school friends. The more school friends, the higher the GPA.

This video is among the most watched videos of the week on YouTube where a four foot snake enters the set of a Hollywood interview of three actors.  Salma Hayek has a fear of snakes and is very terrified.   A moment of unscripted phobia come true.  We wish the best for Salma.

By Kari Patterson,
See her blog
Oregon mom

My husband often says he was an expert on marriage until he got married, then he was an expert on parenting until he had kids.  Isn’t that the truth!  It’s so easy to think we know something until we’re tossed in the middle of it without a paddle.  Nothing seems to reveals our lack of wisdom and expertise more than parenting. For whatever reason marriage kind of seems like common sense–don’t be selfish, put each other first, communicate, etc. etc.  Parenting is a whole other beast.  It often feels as though just when I get something implemented, I read or hear that I’m doing it wrong.  And every person and book seems to have a different opinion. Confusing! …So since we’re in the middle of it, I know I don’t have the perspective of the older wiser moms, but here are some recent things that have been helpful to us–the things that seem to work.  These are tidbits either stumbled upon in the laboratory of life, or gleaned from the older moms who have gone ahead and graciously shared their wisdom from the dirty diaper days. I figured I better hurry and write them down before I forget.

1. Fill them up first. I had this all backwards. I wanted Dutch to learn delayed gratification, so I thought I should help him understand that the family’s needs come first, then his.  However, someone helped me see that if I just took the time to fill him up first (with love and attention), he’d be surprisingly satisfied and consistently behave better.  This is very true with Dutch.  I’ve been amazed to see that if I spend the entire morning playing, down on the floor, reading books, giving him one-on-one time, he’s better behaved all day. When Jeff gets home, if he gives all his attention to the kids, they get filled up and are less needy during the evening. (Same goes for bedtime)

By Evergreen,
Portland Writer

Is it not bad enough that we get enough unsolicited dating advice from our mothers, our co-workers and our friends?   Now a study shows that other people’s opinions shapes our personal dating outlook.  I find this disturbing, because those other people are not around when the dating experience goes south because of basic incompatibility.  Below is more on teh study by Health Day News….

HealthDay News Reports — The opinions of total strangers can greatly influence your choice of romantic partners, a new study suggests. The research included 40 male and 40 female college students who watched videos of eight speed-dating sessions.