Do Men Listen?

Of course they do … they’re just wired differently.  We get frustrated because our partners don’t feel us, hear us, ignore us or listen to us like our bff’s do.  So, what happens then?  We get frustrated, start to yell, hold back on being intimate because we feel like we’re constantly being ignored and he’s just not getting it.

In actuality ladies, it’s not his fault sometimes.  I can hear you all gasping at your computer screens right now, “What ????”  It’s true though.   Men react to different signals we give off.  And sometimes it’s body/verbal signals we’re not aware of radiating.  Expecting him to agree with you right off the bat isn’t going to happen.  When you ask for his opinion, make him feel as though his matters rather than recanting his view sucks and doesn’t make sense or, rolling your eyes, scrunching up your nose and shaking your head in the negative.  He doesn’t have to be right.  You just have to respect and appreciate his point of view. 

Men like to get to the point while we get all bogged down in the details.  If it takes you 15 minutes to get to the point of the question, he’ll shut down after the first few.  It’s not that he doesn’t care because men like to rescue and solve problems.  He just doesn’t need all the details.

When with him, make sure your romantic side is always prevalent.  Your guy is jockeying and competing each day all day long for status and respect from his counterparts.  Even if you’re a tigress in the board room, it’s a feminine partner he needs greeting him at the door.  He’ll respect you for your strengths and accomplishments.  Just don’t constantly verbalize them around him.  Your partner needs to feel like he’s providing all your needs and is amazing, not in competition with you. 

 

Guys can’t multi-task like us.  It’s not a bad thing.  We can be cooking in the kitchen while talking to a colleague on the phone and helping junior with a math problem nearby.  They just want to be focused on one thing, whether working at the computer or watching a game.  If you need the answer to something, ask him first if it’s a good time to interrupt or ask the question, give him time to think about it and come back later.

Are you a chatter box?  Do you ever pause and give somebody an opportunity to get a word in edge-wise?  Do you rant on and on?  How often do you start out on one topic then get side-tracked and lead into something else?  Men like conversation to be a means to an end not beating a dead horse to death or rattling on endlessly.  Their brains are wired to focus on one topic at a time.  Many times men think ranting is whining even if you’re venting over something that was upsetting and hurtful to you. 

  

It’s not that we have to know how to read a man’s mind that will lead to loving and wanting him more … it’s about understanding how your man thinks that will make you both lovers rather than fighters.  

Home Buying Made Easier

Whether you are buying your very first home, thinking about investing in property or, looking to purchase a vacation home, you need to know that the process of obtaining a mortgage simply is not what it used to be and with that, how financial institutions determine your eligibility to qualify for a loan. Will you need a pocket full of miracles? No, not exactly …just knowledge.  Knowing if you qualify for a mortgage can be complicated.  Doing it right the first time will not only save your money but time, disappointment and embarrassment.

The whole process of application and approval has become extremely restrictive. You need to place the power back in your hands because knowledge is power!   Learning if you are a good candidate is the first step.  Before you even call a realtor to start looking at property, you must have a prequalification letter from a banking institution. No seller will accept a bid on their listed property unless you can prove you have been prequalified in advance.  Nine times out of ten, realtors will not waste their time or, their gas driving you around if you have not been prequalified. And seriously … do you blame them?

Banks and other wholesale lenders are just as cautious also and carefully scrutinize every applicant before offering a mortgage agreement and, rightfully so, in lieu of the last fiasco that brought our nation to its knees and economy to near ruin.  What was once a fairly easy process has now become a little more complicated.  Knowing everything about your credit is key.  It is a blueprint of your worthiness and a major factor in determining the risk involved in granting you a loan, extending credit, obtaining insurance and making major purchases.  The higher your credit score the less likely you'll be placed under a microscope.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development offers a valuable website that helps individuals personally analyze their qualifications in regards to home financing before they take that big step into the unknown.  Knowledge is power and why not get all of your ducks in a row before sitting with a loan consultant.  This valuable site will help you analyze your qualifications before you go through the process of qualification. 

Finding a lender you can feel comfortable with is like any major purchase.  Aurora loans are handled by individuals who work hard at making mortgaging easy.  With 85 years of experience in the industry, Aurora Bank has loan consultants with an average of 13 years experience and the ability to help individuals work through their personal needs and provide assistance with an understanding of what life is all about.

FAT Gets Bad Rap

For the past decade we have been inundated with every weight loss plan, pill, exercise and drink that is guaranteed to give us an hour glass figure. Now I've been around long enough to realize that "empty promises" don't guarantee quick, satisfying results.  What I have learned is, if you take the time to understand your body's requirements, you'll most definitely be able to transform yourself and maintain an attractive figure well into your Golden Years.

FAT is a necessity.  I know, I know I speaketh a dirty word.  Please ... no hate mail!  However ladies, our bods require it.  It provides energy so we can be the mega women we need to be daily.  It's essential to maintain those fatty acids our bodies must have to absorb soluble vitamins like A, S, E and K.  Did you know it helps the food we eat stay in our stomachs longer so we feel satisfied?  If your diet is too low in fat, it can trigger those dreaded cravings and a sense of still being hungry. FAT is getting a bad rap because so many of us don't understand its importance.

Krill

The Center for Disease Control stipulates most of the fat eaten should come from unsaturated sources like Omega 3 (walnuts, flaxseed, fish and soybean/canola oil).  I bet there are quite a few of you out there who despise the smell, look, feel and taste of fish though.  Not to worry, other options abound.  I've discovered there is a rather unique substitution for herring, salmon, trout and the commonly known fish oil.  There is a tiny shrimp-like animal inhabiting cold ocean areas around the world but primarily, the Antarctic and North Pacific Oceans called krill.  Its oil extract has many more benefits than the commonly known fish oil.

1. Better absorption
2. Powerful Antioxidant Protection known as astaxanthin
3. Pollution Free
4. Highly renewable source – Would be very hard to over harvest
5. Less likely to go rancid
6. NO fishy after taste

To learn more about this rather unique Omega 3 and its benefits, visit  http://krilloil.com/krill-oil-benefits.html

Challenging Young Minds

Education compared to the days when I was in first grade, which seemed like … wait a minute … it was ions ago, has changed drastically. 

I witness what my daughter has to contend with already with my five year old grandson, Nicholas and it astounds me the pressuring expectations our educational system places on not only young parents, but their children.

I agree that school should be a time of learning, however, whatever happened to fun?  Shouldn’t it be naturally engaging, exciting and appropriate to the degree it meets the level of such young minds and not frustrate the heck out of them?  Granted most parents nowadays start their children off in some kind of preschool program to learn socialization skills and some basics, which is great.

Have you seen first grade math lately though?  It boggles my mind when I look at work sheets that weren’t introduced to us until the later grades.  Most educators today will stand true to the ideology children who do well very early on in their elementary years more likely will graduate and live successful lives.  Well, we turned out plenty of physicists, doctors and engineers back then without overtaxing young minds.  The concept of slowly transitioning our children into learning has literally been thrown out the window with the bath water. 

 

According to the Common Core State Standards Initiative, it’s important our five year olds instructional time should focus on four critical areas: (1) developing understanding of addition, subtraction, and strategies for addition and subtraction within 20; (2) developing understanding of whole number relationships and place value, including grouping in tens and ones; (3) developing understanding of linear measurement and measuring lengths as iterating length units; and (4) reasoning about attributes of, and composing and decomposing geometric shapes.

Kind of makes you wonder if we’re setting our expectations way too high and laying the stress onto our children way before they need to start contending with it.