September 2007

How To Give Criticism Without Bruising Egos

As responsible employers, parents, and friends, we have an obligation to correct the mistakes of other people in order to enhance their personal success. The task before us is how to correct a deficiency without damaging the delicate ego that can sometimes get in the way. Too often people criticize someone’s behavior without providing a solution and this is detrimental because it then becomes a personal attack on the person that only aims to demerit them. Constructive criticism involves pointing out their weakness and offering a solution to correct it. In order to give constructive criticism, we must seek the solution to the problem before we point it out to the person. By doing this, we effectively separate the behavior from the ego and preserve the relationship in the process.

Here Are Some Strategies For Giving Constructive Criticism:

1. Never criticize while you are angry with the person. If your emotions are controlling your actions, then avoid any type of criticism. It becomes too easy to use that criticism as a chance to make a personal attack on the other person when emotions are high. Distance yourself and regain your own composure before you address a behavior that needs correcting.

2. Offer a better solution. Know the difference between disliking a certain behavior because it disagrees with your own personal preference versus disliking a behavior in favor of a more efficient way or correct way of doing something. Avoid making a criticism and then attempting to support it with emotional appeals because the issue then becomes a matter of personal preference and conflicting egos. Instead, use the power of logic to show the person that there really is a better way of doing the same thing that will enhance their own success and productivity.

3. Always let the person save face. This means respect the person, even if they did something completely inappropriate. The psychological consequences of embarrassing or disrespecting someone in front of their peers is very severe. It is so severe in fact, that such embarrassment has been a major factor in 80% of all violent incidents in the workplace and at schools. Criticism is a personal and private process that is not to be shared with anyone else. Also, it is just as important not to make it apparent to other people that you are giving, or going to give criticism. Asking someone to come into your office in front their peers can be just as damaging as criticizing them in public. Keep it very confidential and respect your counterpart’s needs to save face in front of their peers.

4. Focus on the problem, not the person. When giving constructive criticism, make sure that you stay focused on addressing the problem and not the person. The problem is an objective issue that you can work cooperatively on to enhance both of your interests. Focusing in on the person, however, will always be construed as a personal attack against them—even if it is not meant to be. Personal attacks are always followed up with resentment and anger, which can actually be more detrimental in the long run because it can cause deep-seated resentment, which in turn, can lead to poor moral, clandestine or saboteur behavior, and passive-resistance. Remember that the person has feelings and those feelings can be easily broken by a wrong approach. Whenever you give criticism, follow the golden rule of attacking the problem, while being gentle on the person.

5. Empathize with their position. Empathy is the ability to step into the shoes of the other person and see the world from their perspective. Sometimes we forget what it is like to be the new person on the job because we have grown accustom to a certain procedure or routine that is second nature to us. Remember that people don’t always see things as you do and part of being a good educator is being able to understand the other person’s position and work with them at their level—not your own.

6. Never label the person. Attaching a negative label on the person being criticized is an inappropriate approach because it dehumanizes them, making it easier for you to be angry with them and it demoralizes them.

7. Focus on the future, not the past. Blaming someone for their past behavior does nothing but create conflict. The past is over with and your main concern is that it does not happen in the future. So instead of dwelling on past behavior, use it as a teaching tool so that they can improve in the future.

8. Use softening words to pad your criticism. Softening words are designed to “soften” harsh-sounding statements.. Softeners work because they leave a lot of room for interpretation of the statement that follows it. Some examples of softeners are, “I think,” “I suppose,” “it seems,” “I believe,” etc. So instead of making a harsh statement such as, “You’re report is terrible.” Replace it with a softened criticism such as, “It seems to me that this part of your report could use some revision.” The psychological effect of rewording a statement can lead to a greater amount of persuasion and conflict avoidance.

9. Give them an opportunity to correct their behavior. This is an important step for any criticism because it works at two different levels. On the first level, giving them the opportunity to correct their behavior or actions lets them take responsibility for their behavior and reinforces the point that they must be held accountable for their actions. On the second level, giving them the opportunity to correct their behavior will give them an opportunity to redeem themselves and save face with you, which will make it easier for them to put their past behavior behind them and move one.

10. Constructive criticism is a sign of compassion. Criticism is often associated as a negative thing because it is often abused as a transport device for personal attacks. However, constructive criticism is a positive gift because the core message behind that criticism is that you care about the person enough to want them to succeed in the future. Constructive criticism is one of the main tests that separate regular people from true caring friends. Caring people will be honest with you and even risk generating conflict if they believe that their constructive criticism will help improve your life. Make sure that the person knows that your constructive criticism is done because you care about them and that you value your relationship with them. They will respect you more for being honest with them.

About The Author

Tristan Loo is an experienced negotiator and an expert in conflict resolution. He uses his law enforcement experience to train others in the prinicples of defusing conflict and reaching agreements. Visit his website at http://www.streetnegotiation.com or e-mail him directly at tristan@streetnegotiation.com

Internet Self Improvement Resources

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A Brief Look At The Puranas (Origin of planets) Enjoy Indian Astrology

Astrology or Jyotish is an integral part of the Vedas. Though in the Vedas the emphasis is more on Astronomy, there was hardly any distinction between Astrology and Astronomy in the Vedic period. Both were studied to determine the auspicious timings for making offerings to propitiate the Gods. The Vedas, therefore, made detailed studies of the stars and the movement of planets across the sky. Eclipses had to be timed because they signified evil portents. The obliteration of the luminaries, however temporary, could not be good for the mere mortals.

The stories regarding the birth of planets are found in the Puranas, which are of a later vintage. There are 18 Puranas. They deal with the story of creation, the tussle between the Gods and demons, the various forms and reincarnations of Lord Vishnu and sometimes even the genealogy of kings on earth. The same story appears in several Puarnas and predictably, the versions differ from one another.

In the early stages, Puranas were also an oral tradition. While elaborate care was taken to preserve the integrity of the Vedas so that distortions might not creep into them through repeated retelling, no such precaution was thought necessary for the Puranas. The Vedas were sacrosanct. The Puranas were not quite as sacred.

Methods of memorizing the Vedas were very interesting. Let us assume that we have a sentence in the Vedas - “God is good”. (Actually, Vedas do not dish out such simple sentences. We have cooked up an example to illustrate a point). One student would memorize it as “God is good”. That is normal. We all go through a similar exercise the night before our exams.

But a second one would do it in a strange form:

“Doog si dog” - memorizing it backwards. There would be a third who would do something even more strange:

“Go od di is sg go oo od”.

This gobbledygook can be easily unscrambled to find the original message. There were many more ways; all were simultaneously practiced to ensure that if corruption took place in one it would be rectified by comparing it with the others.

In one method two sentences would be mixed up in a manner not entirely unlike sending scrambled digital packets across the broad bandwidth.

But enough of that! Let us go back to the story of the planets as given in some of the Puranas. These were subsequently changed, modified, expanded until they became part of a rich folklore of India with all its sectarian bias and regional garnish.

So the stores we bring to you here originated in the Puranas but got extensively revised through successive retelling!

Enjoy your look into Indian Mythology!

Note: You are allowed to republish this article in your website and ezines without any change in the content and the link to cyberastro must be provided as the article author.

Sujit Bose is a very well educated, wise and senior person having great insight into astrology. Read more astrology articles by some of the well know astrologers of cyberastro at http://www.cyberastro.com

World Of New Age

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5 Tips For Affiliates Programs Newbies.

Affiliate program is the starting place for a big majority of home entrepreneurs and beginners in Internet Marketing, because of the small amount of work involved. There is some elements that you must absolutely look for before you start promoting an affiliate product…

Tip #1. Promote a unique product to get better results.

Promoting a product which is already being sold by hundreds or affiliates will not give you the same results as if you have a unique proposition. A different product that only some affiliates distribute. That kind of program is a little bit difficult to find because it is not in the interest of the merchant to do so in the short term.

Tip #2. Powerful and effective affiliates tools.

When you are ready to promote, you may be lost if you are new to affiliates marketing. Actually, most of the beginners take months to make their first sale, because the merchant doesn’t help them in their hard work. So be sure to find a powerful and clear affiliates resource section. That will skyrocket your chances of success. Also, a good communication with the merchant is hard to find, but it is a must.
Try to find these resources, or some of them.

Tip #3. Example of effective resources:

* Brandable ebooks to give away or sell at a little price with your own affiliate ID links to generate leads… and sales.
* Sales letters provided.
* Templates of the emails to send to your list(s), pre-writen email or even better.
* Free promotional tips provided, to make money without spending thousands in the beginning (a must for beginners)
* Advices and tips for paid promotional techniques (don’t loose all your money in something that don’t bring results).
* Redirect links through your own website. For example: www.yoursite.com/theaffiliatesite/
* Banners

Tip #4. Good Tracking software.

It is a very important part. You must be able to monitor almost everything in your resources section:
you must be able to track your sales, how many visitors came to your site and to the merchant site, by which page they enter to the merchant site(here is the importance of the redirect links).
You must be able to view your payment history, and also how many people signed up underneath you if it is a two tiers affiliate program.

Tip #5. Cookies plus IP addresses.

Today, it is a common practice by Internet users to clear their cookies daily or weekly. So if you spend money on PPC or any other paid advertising to get a customer, you do not want to see another affiliate get the commission you should have received. So try to choose an affiliate program with a tracking software which take also the IP address of your future customer. By the way, recurring commissions are a must.

Last but not least, try to find associate programs with generous compensation plan, and give a preference to the two tiers affiliates programs because you will be paid on two levels. Good promotion, and enjoy your affiliate life.

Franck Silvestre is a professional Internet Marketer.
Finally!Discover a Lifetime of Amazing Tips Secrets and Strategies, For Affiliates here: Affiliate Success.
Get “Perpetual Profits”, Free and unique Ebook in Internet Marketing: Perptual Profits
More than 12 hours of video tutorial for Beginners!

Commerce World

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One Hundred Russian Mail Order Brides Attend Postmark Paradi

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Silver Spring, Maryland-November 15, 2004-A very special evening at the AFI Theater for the premier of the feature film Postmark Paradise, took place earlier this year. The film stared Russian actress/singer Natalia Nazarova as a Russian mail order bride tricked into coming to America.

The executive producer of the film, Elliot Grysen and the writer Dan Slider, were present to interact with the audience after the screening. Many people came to private screening, including over 100 mail order brides from Russia and their American husbands. Movie buffs and Russian immigrants alike had an ideal opportunity to interact with the producers and offer their input on the film. The positive feedback was that the film gave an accurate portrayal of a mail order bride in a strange new world. The character portrayed by Nazarova, Viktoria, is a witty and charming individual that becomes a spirited, uplifting presence in a small community. One bride commented, “She does not play the victim, she is what many Russian people are really like.”

Natasha Spivak, President of Encounters International, who founded the Premiere Russian Mail Order Bride Service in the U.S., was also present to give her feedback. Postmark was the real thing to her and all of the brides.

As Postmark Paradise continues to gather momentum and garner critical acclaim worldwide, the name Natalia Nazarova becomes synonymous with the true American presence of Russian mail order brides. After viewing the film and witnessing the success of the premier, mail order bride takes on an entirely different meaning. This event served as a landmark in the young actress’s career and it surely will be the beginning of a long and successful stay in films.

For additional information concerning production of the film, please contact Ellliot Grysen
at (800) 727-1470.

You may also visit:
www.NataliaNazarova.com
www.PostmarkParadise.com
www.encount.com
www.vanguardcinema.com

###

Fiesta World

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Coffee Makers and Common Sense

On one occasion I purchased a mocha coffee pack from a local coffee merchant and about a week and a half later found that the product was no good, quite understandably I was not best impressed and went back to the dealer to either secure a refund or trade my purchase for some other coffee related product or items. Now It turns out had been very careless and lost the cashiers receipt that the coffee vendors employee had supplied me, due to the fact that the employee had quit the day after I was left with a fairly useless bundle of merchandise and an empty space in my account.

Another reason to look after your payment receipt when ordering coffee products is lets presume you buy italian coffee blender and 4 days later a far superior product arrives on the scene, clearly the coffee vendor you sourced it from won’t give your funds back but all is not lost, a small loss will perhaps be incurred but the fact that the original coffee dealer gave you a payment receipt means that the day can still be saved. Due to the fact that your coffee product is so new it will definitely be worth offering it on an auction website that specializes in food and drink or coffee related merchandise, at the end of the day you are going to make a small cash loss but are not stuck with a product that you are not fully happy or pleased with.

Sales receipts are more valuable as you might suppose and they are closely connected with product insurance and your consumer rights, again imagine for a moment you buy an Italian coffee brewer or possibly a stainless steel coffee blender , then something happens and your coffee machine is destroyed, lost or stolen, if the coffee store receipt is safe then obtaining your insurance payment will be doubly fast when compared to if you had you lost that first cashiers slip.

When you are ordering items like cuban coffee samplers to glass coffee storage jars it might be that for some reason you will to take out some kind of warranty or further insurance, now this is all very well but 99% of all warranties will certainly require you to also produce a payment receipt with your warranty papers, now if you get a relatively expensive coffee then obviously it would be a catastrophe to lose your cashiers ticket as any possible warranty protection may be lost.

Even if you do not obtain a warranty when buying a coffee grinder or some other kind of coffee machine you will certainly need a receipt, there may be a number of reasons for you to return to the coffee merchant or electrical store and without a receipt you needn’t bother going. Coffee products are no different from any other item you might purchase so you must ensure you keep that sales ticket.

The Free coffee makers guide by Carol Hansonly the author of this article can be located at : www.bjcoffee.com

Eating Out

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Skyrocket Website Traffic With OPT

If you are looking for an immediate increase in your website traffic, and you don’t want to shell out a lot of money for pay-per-click search engines, I’ll let you in on a secret that has helped me make many sales and build large lists very quickly with zero cash up-front: it’s called “OPT” (Other People’s Traffic).

Other website operators have the targeted website visitors you need right now - you just have to convince them to funnel some of it your way. Your mission is to find people who can refer you their traffic either for a percentage of the sale, a flat fee, a trade for services, or on a per-click basis.

NOTE: I prefer to pay people a big percentage of the sale - as much as 50% - because it has the lowest risk for me as the merchant. I only pay when a sale is made and, therefore, I make it well worth someone’s while to work with me. That’s the whole idea behind a successful affiliate program.

The quickest way to find people who can refer you traffic is to take inventory of whom you know. Who operates a site drawing the type of visitors you need?

For example, if you have a website that sells fishing lures, then you want to find ezines, websites, and discussion groups dealing with fishing rods, tackle boxes, fish hooks, fishing trips, fishing supplies, etc.

Get the picture?

Once you have exhausted the list of people you know, go to the search engines and do a search for the keywords that would bring targeted traffic to your site. Make a list of the websites that rank well in those searches and approach those individuals with related, but non-competing sites about a traffic deal.

To continue the above example, that means go to the search engines and do searches for “fishing rods”, “fishing trips” and related keywords to your site to find others who already have the traffic you need, but who don’t directly compete with you.

Try to work all your agreements on a traffic trade or per-sale basis first so you won’t have to pay any cash out of pocket until after a sale is made.

If you don’t have any traffic to trade, or they don’t want to get paid by the sale only, then you should negotiate a per-click or per-signup deal.

Paying by the click or by the signup means you only pay when a visitor comes to your site or signs up to receive your newsletter or other information. With this structure you only pay for performance and don’t waste any money on advertising that doesn’t directly result in bringing visitors to your site.

You have 3 main choices for funneling another site’s traffic to yours: endorsed mailings, pop-up windows, and link trades.

1. Endorsed Mailings

Endorsed mailings are by far the best way to funnel traffic from another site. A well-written endorsement letter by a website operator who already has a relationship with people who can buy from you is often worth its weight in gold. An effective endorsed mailing can result in traffic, sales, and money in your pocket within just a few hours of sending it.

2. Pop-Up Windows

Focused “pop-up” windows represent the next fastest way to funnel traffic to your site. When used incorrectly, pop-up windows create an annoying distraction for web surfers. Make sure your pop-up windows are relevant to exactly what visitors came to your site for in the first place!

My experiments have shown that a “pop-under” works best. This is where your website pops behind the other person’s page. Go to http://www.7dayebook.com for an example. You’ll see my other ebook, “eBook Secrets Exposed,” pop *under* the 7 Day eBook site.

When the visitor is finished viewing the main page and closes it… your page is right there!

TIP: For maximum sales, make sure that your page is closely related to the page that is referring traffic to you.

3. Link Trades

The next way to funnel traffic from other sites is using “Reciprocal Links” - which is a fancy way of saying trading links with someone. Make sure you negotiate a high profile spot for your link on the other person’s site.

Creativity is key when negotiating with other websites to steer some or all of their traffic your way. Show them how sending you traffic will make them money through affiliate commissions, how their readers will appreciate being introduced to new and valuable products (yours), or how you can open a new stream of income for them by paying them a few cents for every unique visitor they refer to you.

They win by making extra money and making their customers happy. You win by attracting traffic to your site that is focused and highly targeted to your offers.

Creating win-win scenarios like these will cause people to jump at the chance to work with you and send you all the “OPT” you can handle.

Jim Edwards - EzineArticles Expert Author

About the Author:

Jim Edwards is a syndicated newspaper columnist and the co-author of an amazing new ebook that will teach you how to use fr^e articles to quickly drive thousands of targeted visitors to your website or affiliate links…

Simple “Traffic Machine” brings Thousands of NEW visitors to your website for weeks, even months… without spending a dime on advertising! ==> http://www.turnwordsintotraffic.com

Tons Of Traffic

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Leadership by Persuasion - Four Steps to Success

As a leader, your success depends upon your ability to get things done: up, down and across all lines. To survive and succeed, you must learn four essential skills of persuading people. You must convince others to take action on your behalf even when you have no formal authority.

Persuasion is an essential proficiency for all leaders, requiring you to move people toward a position they don’t currently hold. You must not only make a rational argument, but also frame your ideas, approaches and solutions in ways that appeal to diverse groups of people with basic human emotions.

Preparing the Way

Any direct attempt to persuade may provoke colleagues to oppose and polarize. Because persuasion is a learning and negotiating process, it must include three phases: discovery, preparation and dialogue.

Before you even begin to speak, consider your position from every angle. Presenting your ideas takes planning to learn about your audience and prepare your arguments.

Dialogue occurs both before and during the persuasion process. You must invite people to discuss solutions, debate the merits of your position, offer honest feedback and suggest alternatives. You must test and revise ideas to reflect colleagues’ concerns and needs. Success depends on being open-minded and willing to incorporate compromises.

Four Steps to Successful Persuasion

Leading through persuasion requires you to follow four essential steps:

1. Establish credibility. Credibility develops from two sources: expertise and relationships. Listen carefully to other people’s suggestions. Establish an environment in which they know their opinions are valued. Prepare by collecting data and information that both support and contradict your
arguments.

2. Understand your audience. Frame your goals in a way that identifies common ground. Your primary goal is to identify tangible benefits to which your targeted audience can relate. This requires conversations to collect essential information by asking thoughtful questions. This process will often prompt you to alter your initial argument or include compromises. Identify key decision makers, stakeholders and the organization’s network of influence. Pinpoint their interests and how they view alternatives.

3. Reinforce your positions with vivid language and compelling evidence. Persuasion requires you to present evidence: strong data in multiple forms (stories, graphs, images, metaphors and examples). Make your position come alive by using vivid language that complements graphics. In most cases, a rock-solid argument:

- Is logical and consistent with facts and experience

- Favorably addresses your audience’s interests

- Eliminates or neutralizes competing alternatives

- Recognizes and deals with office politics

- Receives endorsements from objective, authoritative third parties

4. Connect Emotionally. Your connection to your audience must demonstrate both intellectual and emotional commitment to your position. Successful persuaders cultivate an accurate sense of their audience’s emotional state, and they adjust their arguments’ tone accordingly. Whatever your position, you must match your emotional fervor to your audience’s ability to receive your message.

In today’s organizations, work is generally completed by cross-functional teams of peers, with a mix of baby boomers and Gen-Xers who show little tolerance for authority. Electronic communication and globalization have further eroded the traditional hierarchy. People who perform work don’t just ask “what should I do?” but “why should I do it?”

Leaders must answer the “why” question effectively. Persuasion is an essential proficiency for all leaders who want to succeed in the 21st century organization.

Patsi Krakoff, Psy. D. - EzineArticles Expert Author

Patsi Krakoff, Psy. D. writes articles for business and executive coaches and consultants. She provides articles on leadership and executive development for sale, and formatted into customized newsletters. Get Patsi’s Secrets of Successful Ezines 7-Step Mini-Course to learn what you need to know to publish a successful ezine. http://snipurl.com/Ezine_MiniCourse

Internet Management

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Understanding Diabetes

Our body needs glucose, which converts this glucose in to energy. Our body converts whatever we eat into glucose after digestion. Insulin, a hormone produced by pancreas, help glucose to enter into blood cells. There glucose in metabolized, maintaining blood glucose level. Inefficiency or loss of insulin lead to increase in glucose level in blood and it causes diabetes

The factors which are responsible for this are many like sedentary life style and irregular eating habits. Intake of junk food and calorie dense food like pizza, burger, cold drinks, cheese and French fries causes the child hood obesity and lead to obese adult. Increase in body fat leads to less production of insulin and production of other harmful toxics. Which are responsible for heart diseases, diabetes and syndrome X at young age.

Insulin dependent diabetes mellitus or type I occur in younger age. In this case insulin therapy is required. Person will not survive, if insulin is not given. Non Insulin dependent diabetes or type occurs in elderly patient when either there is insufficient insulin or its action is impaired. This type it is treated by “Oral Hypoglycemic drugs” like (glibenclamide, Metformin).Insulin therapy is given only if blood glucose level is very high and not controlled.

Gestational diabetes occurs during pregnancy and suffering from it may cause to develop diabetes in later age. Other type of diabetes, sometimes in tropical countries like India endocrine gland, pancreas got shrink or riddled by stone. The deficiency of insulin in these cases causes the diabetes.

The therapies for insulin are highly individualized and depend upon age, type and condition of diabetes. The precaution in diet is necessary in this case. More amount of protein and fruits intake in desirable. But batter a complete diet chart should be made and followed. Physical activity is must as it boosts the fitness level. A 30 to 40 minutes walk every day is the best exercise. Close monitoring blood glucose level is necessary in diabetic patients. So that changes in therapy taken on the requirement.

Diabetes has become a common name to us. This is completely a modern time disease, caused due to the inactivity of the body and intake of junk foods. Lack of exercise and obesity are one of the main reasons for this disease. We can fight this disease, by taking the early precautions. To avoid it, eat healthy food, do regular exercise, take care of foot diseases, by maintaining normal blood pressure and lipid level and lead a stress free life.

http://thoughts-of-a-ordinary-man.blogspot.com/
http://www.geocities.com/katohhelp

http://www.geocities.com/arvindkatoch1

Medicine + Life

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Financial planning and insurance

There are many vital parts of our financial plan: estate planning, mortgages, credit cards, and UK Secured Loans. One area you need to include is insurance. Insurance answers the question, “what if something bad happens?” No one likes to think about and too many people avoid the topic of insurance because they fail to see the benefit.

But there is a benefit! With insurance, you will have peace of mind that their loved ones will be taken care of if they die. So why are you reading about insurance on a site that has to do with loans? Simple. You may want to consider insurance to cover your loans so that if you were to pass away, your loved ones will not be saddled with unexpected debt.

And, if you have a secured loan that your loved ones cannot cover, you do not want your assets seized to cover the loan. That will add tragedy to tragedy for your loved ones!

So how do you know what kind of insurance to get to cover your loans? Or any expenses at all, for that matter? The easiest thing to do is to determine the length of time that a particular expense will be present in your life and get insurance that matches the term of the expense.

For example, any death or estate tax will always be present in your life because no matter when you pass away, those expenses will be incurred. Also, if you want to bequeath a gift to a charitable organization, you will likely always want to have that as an available gift to make.

However, for many other expenses, including your loans, a temporary solution is better. For example the mortgage on your house or the loan on your car are both excellent loans to create insurance for. This way, if you were to pass away while these expenses are still present, they will be automatically paid off at your death. And because you are matching the term of the loan to the term of the insurance, you are only buying insurance for as long as you have the loan.

For example, say you have a secured home improvement loan to last for three years while you build an addition onto your home. At the same time you take out a three year term insurance policy for the same amount as the loan.

If you were to pass away in the second year, the insurance would pay your loved ones the full amount of the loan, of which they can use two thirds of it to pay the remaining portion that is still outstanding on your loan.

People do this for many kinds of loans, including their mortgage, their automobile loans, and any other kind of loan they have. It’s an excellent way to ensure that your loved ones are not going to be saddled with debt if tragedy should strike.

Jeff Lakie is a contributing author at our website where
You can get a free
Secured Loans Quote right now. Take a moment and see
for yourself.

Great Insurance Tips

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COOLEST Ideas for a Blue’s Clues Kid Birthday Party 

Here’s your “Blue-Print” for the coolest Blue’s Clues kid theme
party as featured on
http://www.coolest-kid-birthday-parties.com…

Invitations

If you’ve got the time and the energy, here’s an excellent idea
for a Blue’s Clues invitation. You’ll need four different
postcards for each invitee. Each postcard will have a different
clue (Blue usually gives three clues) and the fourth will be the
real invitation. (Mail the postcards every other day for a week
- enough time before the party - and don’t forget to put a paw
print on each postcard).

First clue: A drawing or picture of a birthday cake and
something saying “Blue left you a clue, do you see? A birthday
cake for you and me! Two more clues you need to find, to figure
out what Blue has on her mind!”

Second clue: A drawing or picture of balloons and something that
might say: “It’s clue number two! There are so many balloons you
see, now you need to look for clue number three!”

Third clue: Print out a picture of your kid with his/her face
cut out and you can say something like: “Sit down in your
thinking chair and think, think, think…. What could Blue want
you to do? Come to a Birthday Party! But for who?”

The last invitation can say: “Did you figure out Blue’s Clues?
Yup!! You’re right, kid’s name is having a birthday party”, then
write the date, time, address etc.

Another thing you might want to say is “Wear blue from head to
shoe so Blue will recognize you!”….

Here’s an original Blue’s Clues idea for thank you notes using
dog language!? Yep, dog language - I’ll teach you… Print out a
picture of your child on the front with a cartoon dialogue
balloon saying: “Woof-woof arf Bike grrrrr woof-WOOF! Rrrr,
kid’s name”, and at the bottom write “Translation inside”.
Inside write: “Thank you for the great Bike for my birthday!
Love, kid’s name.”

Decorations

A terrific idea is to decorate the birthday area with different
shades of blue and white balloons and streamers. You can also
hang light-blue and dark-blue streamers from the doorway for a
“curtain” effect. Use blue tablecloth and whatever other
decorations you can dream of with shades of blue and turquoise.
Also, you can draw large spirals on a sheet of light blue and
dark blue paper and cut along the spiral to hang from the
ceiling.

Take out any Blue’s Clues theme related toys and accessories and
scatter them across the house, on shelves, tables, in the yard,
etc. Table centerpieces can be red pails and yellow shovels
(standing for Shovel and Pail) filled with stuffed characters
from the show. You can also decorate a clock just like
Tickety-Tock.

In the entrance to your house, put up “Mailbox” by taking an old
mailbox (or any cardboard box), spray painting it purple and
using colored craft foam and wiggly eyes.

Use blue chalk to draw paw prints leading to your house and cut
out paw prints to hang all over the walls and floor.

The family room can be transformed into Steve’s living room by
putting a red sheet over an arm chair and transforming it into
“Thinking Chair”.

Blue’s Clues Costume

You or another grownup can also take part and get dressed up as
Steve (with a green-striped shirt and khaki pants).

As the guests arrive, a fun idea is to take blue headbands and
glue on blue felt ears for Blue’s doggy ears and have everyone
wearing them during the party.

You can then use face paints or face paint crayons to paint
little blue noses or dog faces on the guests. Make collars out
of Velcro felt strips and glue on them plastic jewels.

A bunch of little blue-eared munchkins running around the party
area will, with no doubt, get everyone into the Blue’s Clues
mood.

Ice-Breaker Activities

A great Blue’s Clues icebreaker idea is to give the guests, as
they arrive (along with the floppy ears), is a little Handy
Dandy notebook and neat blue pencil.

Make dog name tags for each kid by cutting out pieces from
aluminum pie plates. (These can be great icebreaker activities,
as well.)

*Color your own Doghouse: You can get a large TV or Refrigerator
box from a nearby appliance store and have the kids draw and
paint on it. It can also be used as part of the party
decorations afterwards.

*Dog-Bones: Before the party, use Dog-Bone cookie cutters to
prepare several sugar cookie (bones). Let the kids frost their
own cookies with blue frosting and also prepare several
different kinds of sprinkles and decorations. Place their
cookies on a paper plate with their name on it and this can be
added later to their favor pack or eaten during the meal.

*Dog Ears: Give each kid a headband with blue dog ears (made of
craft foam, construction paper or felt). Let them decorate it
with blue dots (you can use the blue sticker dots used for
labeling files available at office supply stores).

*Blue Magic: Give each kid a sealable sandwich bag filled with 1
cup of cornstarch. Then give them each ¼ cup of blue-tinted
water to slowly mix into the cornstarch. Carefully press the
excess air out of the sealable sandwich bag and seal it shut.
Have each kid gently knead the sandwich bag until the mixture is
well blended and smooth (tell them to do this carefully so that
they don’t puncture the bag). The kids love to see how the
mixture turns from dry to wet and slowly turns blue.

Food and Drink Ideas

For cake ideas check out the Blue’s clues homemade cake gallery
at http://www.coolest-birthday-cakes.com/blues-clue.html

Foods:

Even if you don’t need seasoning, no Blue’s Clues party would be
complete without Mr. Salt, Mrs. Pepper, and baby Paprika, so
have a few shakers on hand. Here are some ideas for foods:

*Hot DOGS *Corn DOGS *Blue Macaroni and Cheese (Kraft has Blue’s
Clues Mac & Cheese) *Sandwiches made with soft white bread (so
that you can cut them with dog-bone cookie cutters). *Red
‘Paprika’ spaghetti (spaghetti with tomatos) *Magenta Lasagna
*Periwinkle fish sticks *Mrs. Pepper’s peppered lemon chicken
*Handy Dandy hamburgers

Tip: you can serve many things in dog dishes or sandpails with
shovels.

Drinks:

*Blue’s Punch - blue Kool-Aid (or you can freeze blue punch in
ice cube trays and have the kids put them in a clear drink like
sprite or 7-up…) *Magenta Punch - raspberry sherbet, sprite,
and berry punch juice concentrate *The Blue’s Shake - place 2
cups of vanilla ice cream, 1 ¼ cups of low fat milk, 2
tablespoons of sugar into a blender and mix until combined. Then
add blue food coloring a little at a time until the mixture is a
nice shade of blue. For a thicker shake, place it in the
freezer. *Blue Lemonade - Blue loves lemonade!! You can turn any
ordinary lemonade into a Blue’s Clues drink by adding 1 pint of
pureed blueberries.

Tip: Try freezing Blues Clues fruit snacks in ice trays and then
the kids have Blue appear in their cups when you drop the
ice-cubes into their drinks.

Treats:

*Blue Jell-O (in dog bone shapes) *Blue’s Clues Applesauce
(found at most supermarkets-or just put blue food coloring in
applesauce). *Blue Jellybeans *Dog chow (any mix of dried
cereals-Chex would be good) *Blue Tortilla Chips with blue
sourcream (just mix in blue food coloring) *Blue Cotton Candy
*Blue Popsicles *Mr. Salt’s salted pretzel sticks

Tip: Most grocery stores carry many Blue’s Clues snacks, and you
might be able to find fruit snacks, crackers, applesauce, and
many other kinds of Blue Clues licensed by Nick Jr.

Party Favors

A neat Blue’s Clues idea for favors is to make your own DOGGIE
bag favors? You can take blue bags or use a Shovel and Pail. Put
inside trinkets such as personalized dog key chains,
personalized dog bones, a magnifying glass, mini paw tattoos, a
bone cookie, Blue’s Clues stickers, blue crayons, blue candies,
happy face items (to represent FACE), and anything else you can
think of. Another variation of this favor idea is to put these
trinkets in dog bowls with the names of the kids written on the
bowls.

Another way to hand out favors is to make a giant mailbox out of
an empty paper carton and poster board. Then put all the goodies
in large white envelopes and put them in the mailbox. At the end
of the party, your kid can have “Mail Time” (just like in the
show) and the birthday child can hand out the envelopes to her
departing guests.

Games and Activities

The Snoop: Hide about 40 cardboard bones or bone-shaped cookies
at “dog height”, and have the kid puppies hunt on hands and
knees for them.

Doggy Drink Race: What you’ll need for this Blue’s Clues game
are two or three doggy dishes. Put Jell-O or any kind of drink
in these doggy dishes and have the kids kneel beside the dishes
with their hands behind their backs and see who finishes first
the doggy drink. This is always hilarious!

Barking Contest: A hilarious game idea is to host your very own
barking contest where everyone is a winner. Each kid gets to
give their best bark, and then you can award prizes for loudest,
saddest, most real, squeakiest, funniest, etc.

Shovel And Pail Relay: For this cool game, get two sets of sand
buckets and shovels and draw Shovel and Pail faces on each of
them. Then form two teams and have a relay race where the kids
have to pick up a small block with Shovel and then run to the
other side of the room to dump it into the pail. The first team
to put all their blocks into Pail is the winner.

Blue’s Bubble Doodles: This Blue Clues game needs to be played
outside. You’ll need blue food coloring, white paper, and
bubbles (you can make your own bubble mixture by mixing ½ a cup
of dishwashing liquid, 2 tablespoons of glycerin - found at drug
stores, and 5 cups of water. STIR, do not shake). Add the blue
food coloring to the bubble mixture and give each kid a sheet of
white drawing paper. Have one or more adults blow bubbles and
tell each kid to try and catch the bubbles on their sheet of
paper. As the bubbles pop they make a design on the paper. See
who can come closest to making a paw print.

Let’s Find Blue’s Clues: Before the party, think of several
clues that’ll be easy for your age group. Write each clue on an
index card or a piece of notebook paper, and add a blue paw
print to each. Here is an idea for a clue: “I’m cold on the
inside, and I run all day and all night long.” When the kids
figure out that the answer to the clue is a refrigerator (you
can try giving them more hints if they don’t figure it out),
have everyone look inside the refrigerator for the next clue.
Hide the remaining clues all around the house, party area or
yard (you can have the last clue lead to the birthday cake for a
tasty surprise!). This is always a fun-filled child party idea!

Mystery Clue Balloons: Hide all kinds of party favors everywhere
around the party area. Then write clues on little notebook
papers or a printed paw (each clue leading to a different party
favor). Roll these papers up and slip them inside balloons that
you’ll blow up and hang as decorations. Then, when the game is
about to start, tell the kids to choose a balloon and pop it and
use the clue to find the missing party favor.

Mr. Salt and Mrs. Pepper Bean Bag Toss: To make your own Mr.
Salt and Mrs. Pepper bean bags take two pieces of white felt,
hot glue two edges, fill with uncooked rice and hot glue the
other two edges. Do the same with black felt and put faces on
them. Then take a red plastic pail and yellow shovel and add
details so that they look like Shovel and Pail. The object of
the game is to use Shovel to toss Mr. Salt and Mrs. pepper into
Pail (try all kinds of distances).

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