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

By Jen Rouse
The Short Years
Oregon Blog

It was our anniversary yesterday. Nine whole years with this guy. That’s not counting our years of dating and engagement. I’ve now spent more than a third of my life linked to this one particular human being. It’s weird and it’s wonderful, and in honor of the occasion we went out on one of the nicest dates we’ve had in a long time. And it was almost entirely free. It doesn’t get any better than that.

First we foisted the kids off on my mom and dad. That’s Step One: obtain free babysitting from grandparents, friends, or some other sucker who’s willing to care for three kids all day and night in return for the sheer joy of their company. Thanks, Mom and Dad!

By Heidi von Tagen
Gorgeous Bits Blog,
Portland.

Sometimes I take for granted the fact that my adorable kiddos have grown up mugging for the camera.

I’m biased of course. Being the typical proud mom and part time professional photographer, I think my children are adorable and photogenic. All kids are photogenic, and really, all parents can take professional looking photos of their rugrats. You don’t even need a fancy or expensive camera.  But there are some tricks.

Trick #1:

Take your camera everywhere – One reason why my kids always look relaxed in photos without the awkward squinty-eyed overly dramatized smile is because they are used to me shooting photos of them. ALL THE TIME. I wear a camera like jewelry, and consider it a part of my outfit.

Web Connection Raises Chances of Romance
HealthDay News –

Folks with Internet connections are more likely to be in a romantic relationship than folks without access to the Web, a new study shows.And it’s likely that the Web will soon replace the old standby, “friends,” as the number one way to meet your soul mate, Stanford researchers were to report Monday at the American Sociological Association annual meeting in Atlanta.

Virtual connections are proving especially fruitful for lonely hearts from minority or tough-to-find-a-good-mate segments, such as middle-aged heterosexuals and gays and lesbians.

Parenting Tip: Tell Your Kids You Love Them
by Jean Tracy
NW Writer
KidsDiscuss.com

Kids Love to be Loved

My friend, Mercy babysat my boys. Her firm discipline, loving manner, and sense of humor endear them to her to this day. Now Mercy and I get together twice a month and have fun with our grandsons. Like my boys, I love being with Mercy.

This Is Mercy’s Tip

“Tell them you love them. When my boys were growing up, I didn’t wait until they did something good to tell them I loved them. They heard  it often. Now they keep in touch every day. They love to tease me too.

By Evergreen,
Oregon writer

This I could not believe until I saw it on television.  Websites that are a support group for people who want to be anorexic and even are bulimic.  These sites offers tips on how to make it work and how to eat less to the point of starvation.  I would link to these sites but I dare not give them any traffic or credit.  Instead I offer this video which shows you these terrible websites and the women who used to visit them.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

pdxneatsheet.com
Portland style, shopping, trends.

By Erin Flesch, NEAT contributor

This week’s Project Runway 8, Episode 4 recap might be a bit shorter than most, and here’s why: In our humble opinion, it was one of the most unwatchable episodes in recent memory and a travesty given the potential for awesomeness of the “Hats Off To You” challenge. It might also have been the fact that the giant Italian sub we consumed while watching sent us on a nausea-induced shame spiral of epic proportions (curse you Jimmy Johns! Never again).

By Erika Weisensee, Oregon Writer

Ads are everywhere reminding parents to buy, buy, buy for back to school. School supplies, new shoes, backpacks, not to mention the latest fashions—it can cost a small fortune to send kids back to the classroom.  But there are ways to save money and still keep the kids happy.

Here’s how:

- Find out where the good sales are and shop those stores.

- Since we tend to have nice weather the first few weeks of school, consider waiting a few weeks to buy clothing for colder weather.

Sharon Lacey,
Portland comedian
Moments from a Road Comic’s Life #7

Comedy is the one career where you have to fail, repeatedly and in front of an audience, in order to improve. I wrote this a year and a half ago, but didn’t share it with anyone.  It just hurt too much.  Now it’s time:

REJECTION

I was booked to feature in a major comedy club in Detroit. Two weeks before the date, the owner of the club saw me do 8 minutes of my act in the Detroit Comedy Festival.   A few days later I got an e-mail from him telling me he’s demoting me to mc, replacing me with a better feature act.  He was kind about it, and said he was just being honest.

By Sandy
The Reluctant Entertainer Blog
Oregon Author, Entertainer and Blogger

I was looking around my living room the other day, realizing that it was drab and lacked pizzazz. I really like to move things around and freshen up the room, but this time I decided to bring in a brand new color – a teal blue.

Fido’s Family Status May Depend on Where You Live
HealthDay News

– A pet’s status in a family may be influenced by where the owners live, new research suggests. People who regard pets as children tend to have a city background, for example, while those in rural areas have a more practical attitude, said study author David Blouin, of Indiana University.

By Judy Scott,
Oregon State University Extension Office

CORVALLIS, Ore. – When garden produce is ready, don’t hesitate too long before you harvest. That’s the advice of Ross Penhallegon, horticulturist with the Oregon State University Extension Service.”Regular picking encourages vegetable plants such as sugar peas, cucumbers, squash, bush beans, peppers, broccoli, and eggplant to produce more,” he said. Even a few mature fruits on a cucumber plant will stop new fruit from setting, he added.

from Interior Design Angle,
Angela Todd’s Portland Oregon Interior Design Blog

How much does an interior designer cost in Portland, Oregon you might ask?  How do they charge and what can you expect from the relationship?

Initial Consultation: Your initial consultation with an interior designer is a method for both of you to determine if the interior designer is the right fit for your project.  Some designers charge for initial consultations, some do not.  In that appointment your interior designer will discuss with you your preferences, the scope of your project, and what you want to achieve.  Some clients aren’t sure how to articulate their taste or preferences.

Time to fire Oregon’s chief bully – LeGarrette Blount
By D.D.
Portland writer,

This week my 13-year old confessed to me how scared she is walking down the halls of her school.   She said she lives in fear of making a mistake least the bullies notice.    It breaks my heart on how bullies have victimized entire grade levels of kids and have so ruined the childhood school experience.    That was yesterday and now today I read the front page of The Oregonian with the headline “Blount hits another player”.     The story is about former Oregon Duck player LeGarrette Blount getting upset and hitting fellow teammate while practicing for his new teams the Titans.   Another player?    Another  headline?    The video has been on TV and now You Tube.

LeGarrette Blount has become Oregon’s most famous bully.

Oregon Women’s Report Survey,

We asked the question of our readers.  “Do you have any remorse for the recent travails (right or wrong) of any of the below celebrities?”. The response was pretty bleak for these troubled celebs as only one out of the six garnered a majority of sympathy vote — that being Sandra Bullock.

By Erika Weisensee, Oregon Writer

I used to like zucchini. Then I planted it in my garden. If you’ve ever grown zucchini, you know what I mean. One single plant can overtake a small garden—you pick one and ten more are there the next day. Did I mention how big they get? Who really needs a zucchini the size of a log?

An article in this week’s Food Day section of the Oregonian addressed this very topic: The ubiquitous zucchini and how to make it interesting. In the article “The Menu From Z to Z,” writer and food blogger Deena Prichep offers an entire menu of creative and tasty sounding zucchini recipes. Thank you, Deena!!!

It’s enough to make me want to try zucchini again, not that I plan to grow them anytime soon. But that’s okay because I know plenty of people with plenty to share.

###

Erika Weisensee, a writer and native Oregonian, lives in Milwaukie and teaches journalism and communication courses at the University of Portland.

By Jen Rouse
The Short Years
Oregon Blog

I just got back from a road trip with three small children. And yes, I’m still (reasonably) sane. We drove from Albany, Oregon, to Stevensville, Montana. And then back again, five days later. That’s 644 miles one way. Twelve hours in the car, with three children ages 6, 4, and 2.    And you know what? It went great.

There was a little bit of whining. A little bit of complaining. One urgent request for a potty break that turned out to be completely fictitious. But overall? Awesome. There was no puking, no total meltdowns. Not once did we have to resort to “I’m going to pull this car OVER if you don’t stop…” (Although I did once threaten to throw a My Little Pony out the window).

Here are the things that I think contributed to our success:

By Kelli Warner,
KMTR-TV Morning News anchor, Springfield

If June is the inaugural kick-off to summer, and July is the gooey center, then August is the downhill slide towards the finale—the last, few leisurely weeks until the new school year begins in September.

For me?  I feel like August is a bright yellow caution barrier, complete with flashing lights, signaling: “Craziness ahead!” Let me explain why.  In the last week, I’ve received an email from my kids’ schools about making sure they have their immunizations up to date in time for registration.  I got the postcard reminder in the mail to not miss the pre-scheduled eye exams.  Sign-ups are already underway for fall soccer.

We’ve been barraged for weeks now by back-to-school sales. (That was, of course, after all those “Christmas in July” sales)  And to top it off–my husband, who works for a large grocery retailer, just informed me that their shipment of Halloween candy will be here by the end of the month.  No kidding.

Three Florida kids, 15, 12 and 11 got the hunch to go to a theme Park in Tennessee. In no time they bought plane tickets and took off without telling their parents or being questioned by any airline procedure. Upon landing they ran into trouble and had to call home. Imagine what that call sounded like “Um Mom, can you pick me up…1,000 miles away.” I do not fault the airlines or airline security because kids travel all the time on their own. I zero in on the parents — something fishy here if you ask me. Anyways, enjoy the video below.

Stress Might Interfere With Conception

HealthDay News — Women may have a more difficult time becoming pregnant when they’re feeling stressed, according to a new study that found women were less likely to conceive when they showed elevated levels of a stress-related substance called alpha-amylase.  Alpha-amylase is secreted into saliva in order to digest starch. But researchers have begun using the substance as an indicator of the body’s response to physical or psychological stress because it’s also released when the nervous system produces catecholamines, compounds that initiate a type of stress response.

For this study, researchers from the U.S. National Institutes of Health and the University of Oxford charted the ovulation cycles of 274 English women, ages 18 to 40, who were trying to conceive.

Crazy JetBlue flight attendant is no hero
By Evergreen,
Oregon writer

The fed-up JetBlue flight attendant, Steven Slater, who jumped out od the plane in hail of swearing and beer now has nearly a quarter million Facebook fans.   Why?   He is no hero!  Now that he is looking at two felonies that could cost him seven years in prison — he maybe an actual criminal.

I know the story sounds good.  Fed-up flight attendant gets angry at rude passenger and bails out of plane with beer and wild words as he sails off on the emergency chute.  We laugh at him but forget the pain he causes others.  Doing an emergency exit puts the plane at risk of being delayed and passengers missing their next flights.   Having the cops being called out also does nothing but put other flights at risk.  IF you have traveled you know that one problem can cascade into delayed flights for 12 hours.   Simply stated, you cannot throw tantrums at high security areas.