Women face many beautiful and life changing moments in life. From the first prom to the wedding, we dream of making these important days magical. However, when they occur, the reality of finances shines a harsh light on the dream for some. Thankfully, the emergence of large craft and fabric retailers has given today’s teenage and adult women a brand new opportunity. They can look fabulous on a budget with the help of books, tutorials and stores like Joann Fabrics and Crafts and Michaels.

Once you have your wedding guest list decided, you can set about the adventure of getting organized and designing the theme of the big day. Most do-it-yourself craft stores provide organizational tools as well as invitation kits featuring a variety of motifs. Beyond that, you will find almost anything you need to cover your invites, wedding day and reception decoration needs. The only thing they are missing is the catered food.

As for high school prom nights, it’s often a night that people don’t prepare for in their normal budgets. So, it makes for a hectic time when scrambling for a dress and accessories. However, with a little planning, a girl can make her own jewelry set and corsage while adding pizazz to an inexpensive handbag and high heels without much expense.

For more detailed information on prom and wedding DIY, visit these How to Get Ready for Prom at Joann Fabric and How to Plan Your Wedding at Joann Fabric pages.

Throughout history, there have been architects that have raised eyebrows and some that have seemed to defy the laws of physics.

Frank Lloyd Wright comes to mind, with his famous design for Falling Water, a house with a glass floor built over a running stream.

My father studied how to be an architect. He didn’t go as far as a specialized architecture school, and ultimately went into another art field, but I grew up with an appreciation for architecture, and wanted to share that with you this week.

And if you’ve never seen Falling Water, I urge you to check it out… it is simply amazing.

If you’re always busy with work you might think you don’t have time to plan your course of action before getting to down to business, but doing so can save you time and effort in the long run. You’ve got to know what your goals are if you’re ever going to accomplish anything. Setting clear, definite goals, both long-term and short-term, is essential in determining how you are going to reach them. Goal-setting is a necessary part of how to be successful in work. You’ll need to write these goals down so you can measure your progress along the way.

The principle of working harder, not smart applies to all kinds of tasks and goals. Exercise, dieting and home improvement are all activities where you’ll want to work smartly. Getting those tasks organized and prioritized are important in getting your paying work done. You’ll feel better, physically and mentally once you figure out a plan to organize all of your projects and maximize your efficiency.

The first thing you may want to consider is your main course. Do you go with the traditional Thanksgiving turkey, or maybe another meat like ham? Check out how to pick out a Thanksgiving turkey and how to cook a Thanksgiving ham when you’re considering your selection of meat.

After you’ve chosen your main course you may want to brush up on how to pick wine for Thanksgiving. Next, you’ll want to consider what sides you’ll be serving. Cranberry sauce and Thanksgiving cornbread dressing are wonderful traditional sides. You can always buy a prepared version at the store, but don’t be afraid to learn how to make cranberry sauce.

You’ll want to be sure not to forget any special dietary needs or preferences of your guests. Read how to survive Thanksgiving on a diet to get tips on what foods you should provide for those trying to stick to their weight loss plans, yet still enjoy the holiday feast. Vegetarian Thanksgiving recipies are available on the internet and provide a wide range of ideas for vegetarian fare for the holiday.

Desserts can be the best part of your Thanksgiving dinner and Mahalo has a great article on how to decorate Thanksgiving cupcakes. When planning dinner, you’ll want to make sure you have plenty of food. Having leftover food is always better than leaving your guests hungry. Check out how to store leftover turkey. So, what do you do with the leftovers? There are plenty of creative ideas about how to prepare Thanksgiving leftovers. You’re sure to find a delicious way to make use of your extras.

Thanksgiving prep may seem like a lot of work, but with a little preparation now, you can make your Thanksgiving dinner go better than you ever imagined.

There are as many different kinds of crafts as there are people. There are always new products and ideas, and the savvy individual should have no problem finding several crafts to try his or her hand at. Only a few will be discussed in this article, but feel free to add the craft you love to the comments section after this post.

Historically, families often had to make their own household products instead of being able to run to the corner store. With the advent of the Internet, it has become even easier to find the things we need worldwide, and things such as woodworking, sewing and soapmaking have become crafts instead of needed skills.

Each of these crafts, like many others, requires specialized equipment and even some skill, but none of them are hard to learn with the right information.

Woodworking: You will first need to make sure you had the proper tools. Woodworking tool rebates and woodworking tool coupons can help to lower the initial expense for those items. Maybe you’d like to make your own picture frames, or give them as gifts.
Woodworking Tips: The Right Tools

Sewing: This also requires special equipment, but it can be as simple as a needle and thread or as complex as a sewing machine or serger. To learn the art of sewing, How To Sew and How To Use a Sewing Machine might help get you started. Who knows, you might find you like it so much you become a professional seamstress!

Sewing Machine Tips

Soapmaking: When you make your own soap, you decide the size, shape, and scent, and whether it is formed into bars or liquid hand soap. You can make your own soap recipe, or use one from someone else, like olive oil soap, coconut soap or lye soap. Handmade soap is a great gift, and can be a luxury when you want to pamper yourself. Many people have turned their soapmaking hobby into a business.

Robyn Green started Robyn’s Soap House

What crafts do you use to fill your time in the fall and winter months?

When I was preparing for my wedding day which seems eons ago now, I found myself overwhelmed with the process of budgeting caterers, invitations, dinning halls and the church. I really couldn’t imagine how couples just starting out could manage the enormous expenses and decisions. Consequently, I decided to elope to save my fragile mind from the drama of it all.

Now that I look back on those times, I regret not looking into alternative methods that would have been time saving and economical. Today, there are countless avenues for planning an amazing quality wedding without sacrificing style and elegance. Of course, the first place you start in wedding preparation is with the wedding invitations. Read the  How to Save Money on Wedding Invitations page to find examples of how you can wow your loved ones with beautiful invites that don’t put a hole in your pocketbook.

If you are like me and have a hard time figuring out where to even begin with a budget, give the How to Make a Wedding Budget site a try. It walks you through the steps of figuring out your cost and how much you should spend in a straightforward manner. For overall help on saving money, the How to Save Money on a Wedding page will give you several helpful ideas.

Too often employees treat their jobs as a right and not a privilege. They surf the Internet at work, play online games, take personal calls, and even walk off with office supplies as if they own them.

What do you think the world would be like if everyone knew when someone was unethical? Business Ethics – My Life in Headlines gives a unique view into a world like that.

Gone is the day when employers could trust their employees. Today we have security personnel who’s sole job description is just to monitor the employees – checking their Internet activity and watching to make sure the company equipment and proprietary information stays secure.

It is said that art imitates life… this is frequently true if you look at what is on television nowadays. The following two videos illustrate this point.

The first is a spoof on the show The Office.

The Office Ethics

And the second is a recap of an actual episode of The Office which addressed the issue of ethics in the workplace.

The Office Business Ethics In 60 Seconds

The slacker mentality is rampant in this world of ours. And it is not just limited to the hourly employees — management is putting in their fair share as well.  However, I do have hope that this lackadaisical approach to responsibility can be turned around. I am seeing bread crumbs around the Internet leading back to the place where we can expect people to be responsible for themselves and their actions.

Rachel Zupek at CareerBuilder.com recently wrote an article entitled “My Co-Worker Is a Slacker… and My Boss Doesn’t Care!”. In this article she gives seven practical steps you can take to deal with this situation in a non-threatening manner.

Over on Mahalo there is a great article on how to deal with a bad boss. This is another example of someone not stepping into the role they agreed to take on when they started the job. This page gives step by step actions you can take to protect yourself from the lack of ethics around you.

No matter what the problem, there is a way to deal with it that can resolve the conflict peacefully. And on that note, there is a character education program that teaches adults how to be responsible and how to use conflict resolution techniques and other problem solving skills… something they should have been taught as children. Today’s employers could see a lot of improvement by offering this program to their employees… in fact, some already have.

If enough of us make a stand and refuse to give in to the lack of ethics in the workplace… if we stand up and take it upon ourselves to set the example, I know we will see a difference.

Great, but just how do I re-light it? I know it’s pretty simple but messing with natural gas doesn’t seem like the safest activity. I read the instructions that came with my water heater and it seemed more complicated than I remembered. I had never had to light the pilot in this house, although I have done it before on other water heaters. I’m more of a visual learner, so I thought I’d check out Youtube and see if there were any videos that would make me feel more comfortable lighting the pilot. I certainly didn’t want to blow up my house (or even just blow up myself!)

I was in luck. I found a great tutorial video that walked me through everything. I found a couple others that were pretty helpful too. I followed the guidelines set forth in my owner’s manual with the knowledge that I had from seeing someone do it in the videos and it was a piece of cake.

I thought that my experience would make a great how-to article, so I wrote one. It combines what I learned in the videos, other research, and my own experience. Check out my article on how to light a pilot light on a gas water heater so if it happens to you, you can take care of the problem without having to research it on your own!

And if you are a fan of Potato Soup, enjoy.

Potato Soup

3 slices of bacon (pork or turkey) chopped
2-3 medium sized onions, diced
2-3 cups filtered water
2 cups low sodium chicken stock
2-3 pounds russet or yukon gold potatoes, diced
1 cup low-fat milk
3 tablespoons butter
salt and pepper to taste

In a large pot brown bacon until crispy over medium heat. Add onion and sautee until clear. Add water, chicken stock and potatoes and boil until potatoes are fork tender. Reduce heat and add milk and butter, mash majority of potatoes with masher or stick blender to desired consistency. Season with salt and pepper. Serve.