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Decorating Windows
Blinds as Window Treatments


The best parts of decorating your windows are the different window treatments you can choose. This is where you can make decisions on fabrics, colors, and also styles. Each decision you make between contrasting borders, cording or fringe will show off your own individually. If you add repeating fabrics and colors in other parts of the room you could help to add a dash of flair to your home.

You also have different styles of draperies and valances to choose from. With draperies, you have the options of rods with tap tops, tie tops with different pleats, grommet rod pockets, flouncy tops or plain rings. With valances you can choose to have them gathered, pleated, shirred, swaged, bundled, formal, casual, scalloped, lace, or even flat.

You also have a different variety of shades and blinds to choose from. You can choose between fabric shades or cellular shades. If you don't want to go with shades, you can choose from metal mini blinds, natural blinds, or even wood blinds.

With fabric shades you can choose between the Roman, balloon, Austrian, bottom arched, pleated, or even flat panel. If you prefer cellular shades, keep in mind that they will give you a cleaner look and are also available in sheer or non-sheer materials.

If you decide to choose blinds, make sure that they meet your homes requirements. Metal mini blinds offer choices in weight and size, special finishes, privacy options, header choices, cloth tapes, and hundreds of different colors.

Wooden mini blinds also offer a variety of sizes, tape colors, and finishes. Natural blinds are also known as bamboo blinds, and are available in matchstick, sewn slats, and have several choices of natural fabric like appearance.









Dinner Setting


Copycat Recipes Cookbook


Cherry Cheesecake


1 cup Graham Cracker Crumbs
3 tb sugar
3 tb margarine, melted
24 oz cream cheese, softened
3/4 cup sugar
3 large eggs
1 ts vanilla
21 oz Cherry Pie Filling (1 can)

Combine crumbs and margarine; press onto bottom of 9-inch springform pan. Bake at 325 degrees for 10 minutes. Combine cream cheese and sugar, mixing at medium speed on electric mixer until well blended. Add eggs, one at a time mixing well after each addition. Blend in vanilla; pour over crust. Bake at 450 degrees for 10 minutes. Reduce oven temperatur to 250 degrees and continue baking 25 to 30 minutes or until set. Loosen cake from rim of pan; cool before removing rim of pan. Chill. Top with pie filling just before serving.



Water-Lily


A means of using eggs in salad without the addition of other foods is found in water-lily salad. If eggs are to be served for a luncheon or some other light meal, this method may add a little variety to the usual ways of serving them. Hard-cook one egg for each person to be served, remove the shells, and cut the eggs into halves, lengthwise. Remove the yolks, mash them, and season with salt, pepper, and vinegar. Cut the halves of egg whites into three or four pointed pieces, cutting from end to end of the half. Place these in a star shape on salad plates garnished with lettuce. Form the seasoned egg yolk into a ball and place it in the center over the ends of the egg whites. Serve with any desired salad dressing.


Winter Carrot Casserole


3 1/2 c carrots
1 c cut broccoli
1/2 c mayonnaise
2 T onion, chopped
2 T prepared horseradish
1 t salt
1 ds pepper
1/4 c ritz crackers, crushed
2 t butter, melted

Cook carrots in boiling salted water until almost tender. Add broccoli and cook until carrots are tender; drain. Place in 1-quart casserole dish. Combine mayonnaise, onion, salt, horseradish, and pepper. Spoon over vegetables. Mix crumbs with butter; sprinkle over top. Bake uncovered at 350 for 30 minutes or until hot.










Pretty Flowers to Decorate With



A Positive Outlook = Better Beauty


In a society that emphasizes the beauty of those six foot tall supermodels who weigh in at a light 120 pounds, it is becoming all too easy for the average woman to feel inadequate and not very beautiful. Pictures of super thin models plaster the covers of popular magazines and the screens of television sets around the world with the message of *this is what beautiful is*. However, for the average woman looking in the mirror does not result in seeing the reflection of a six foot tall, 120-pound woman. The average American woman stands five foot four and weighs 160 pounds, seven inches shorter and forty pounds heavier than the average American model. The fact that the entertainment industry uses models who are, on average, thinner than 98% of American women puts an unrealistic image of what is beautiful in the heads of Americans. In fact, studies have shown that four in five American women are not satisfied with the way they look. In fact, obsession with being *perfect* can be the downfall in women finding their own beauty. You will surely find that the real secret to being beautiful is a positive outlook on your own image.

The diet crusade is something that has been somewhat of a plague on American society for some time. Americans, particularly women, are in many cases encouraged to diet, and in some cases starve themselves, to obtain what society deems *the perfect body*. In fact, it is not a cutback in calories that these women truly need. By being made to feel good about the way they look, women would find that their overall outlook on themselves and their lives would improve drastically. Women who feel good about the way they look are happier in their day to day lives, are less hung up about what they eat and counting calories, and are less likely to have problems with depression and/or anxiety.

Although diets can provide a route to a healthier lifestyle, extreme dieting can pose a major problem. Eating right rather than compulsively and daily exercise can be paired to present the best lifestyle choice and to increase your self esteem. It is shown that people who take time to exercise each day feel less stressed about work and home life, and also benefit from the rewards of exercising the human body. If you have a jam packed schedule simply find twenty to thirty minutes each day to fit in some kind of exercise. You will be surprised at how wonderful it makes you feel.

There are a number of other ways to help you boost the image you have of yourself. These things can be as simple as writing down a compliment to yourself each day. Recording one thing you like about your appearance each day will soon add up to a list of traits that you will find add up to one thing ... beauty. In order to have a positive outlook on yourself and your life, you must put yourself in positive situations. It is important that you surround yourself with positive people and compassionate. People who put you down for any reason are not worth having in your life. The right people can make all the difference in making you a happier, more positive feeling person. As important as friends and family are, taking time for yourself is also vital. Perhaps book a relaxing appointment at a local spa. You will be surprised at how taking the time to fit in a facial or manicure will make you feel pampered and beautiful.

In keeping a positive outlook on yourself there is one thing that is the most important of all. It is imperative that you refuse to buy into the negative attitudes that plague our culture. With supermodels being put on a pedestal and average people being bombarded with the concept that they are not as beautiful as these super thin models, the idea of what is healthy and beautiful has been completely skewed. Being six feet tall and 120 pounds does not make someone beautiful. Beauty shines from the inside out. Having a positive attitude about yourself plus showing love and compassion for others will reflect through and be evident to everyone around you, no matter what your size.


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