Thanksgiving is a wonderful holiday!  What a spiritual renewal to take a day to reflect over the past year about just how good God has been to you and your family, to give you harvest and shelter, health and hope.  To get the most out of this joyous occasion, make some holiday crafts with your children.  These days, Thanksgiving often gets squeezed out by Hallowe'en's spooky decorations and the lights and gala of Christmas.  With the following holiday crafts, your home can be decorated for this quieter but important celebration.

Turkeys are a natural choice for decorations.  A familiar project at this time of year is for a child to trace around her hand and make the resulting drawing into a turkey.  The thumb is the head and the fingers are the tail feathers all displayed.  While many of the turkeys that are raised for food are now the domestic white variety, the turkeys eaten by the Pilgrims at the first Thanksgiving were the wild brown ones.  The tail feathers on a wild turkey are brown, but they are iridescent. catching light and appearing to be multi-colored.  This is why children color the tail feathers in bright colors.  

The turkey's head has a wattle under the beak.  This is a vertical flap of loose skin that is red colored.  Be sure to draw this in order to make the hand turkey look like a turkey.  Add skinny legs and bird feet.  When done, the children can cut out the turkeys and hang them on the wall.  It's really cute to make a whole flock of these turkeys in the sizes of all the hands in the family.  The little hand shapes are particularly sweet.

Another nice turkey decoration to make when making Thanksgiving holiday crafts is a turkey door decoration.  Make a brown construction paper body and head of a turkey.  Now make a large number of colored feather shapes.  Each family member writes on a feather something he or she is thankful for before attaching as part of the turkey's tail.  Repeat until all the feathers are used, and hang the turkey on the front door to greet visitors with a message of gratitude.  Make a sign to accompany the turkey that says "Give thanks to the Lord for He is good!" or simply "Be thankful!"  or "We're thankful for you!" or whatever you like.

Children love making construction paper chains.  To further decorate the house for Thanksgiving, let them make a paper chain in fall colors as one of their holiday crafts.  Using 9 by 12 inch construction paper, cut the paper in half across the long side and cut the halves into one inch thick six inch long strips.  Use a stapler to attach the ends of the strip into a circle.  Loop the next strip into the circle and staple it.  Continue the process alternating colors of brown, red, yellow, and orange.  When the chains are long, you can drap them along the ceiling or stair rail.  If you don't make the door turkey, the children can write something they're thankful for on each strip of paper before adding it to the chain.

Thanksgiving is too nice a holiday to let the other more commercial holidays crowd it out.  By making holiday crafts to decorate the home for Thanksgiving, you can keep this day special, too.  The extended family, aunts, uncles, grandparents, etc., will be pleased to see the holiday crafts the young ones have made to decorate the house and make it cheerful for their visit.

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Controversy over Book Ban Rattles Miami Schools

Miami Dade Public schools have been rocked by allegations of throwing aside civil liberties in favor of pleasing parts of the local populace. First came the unnecessary controversy over an innocuous children’s book that portrayed life in Cuba from a child’s perspective. The book “A Visit to Cuba” was not a prescribed textbook for young children in Miami schools, rather it was part of the school library. A young Cuban Ameri...

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Miami Schools, Patricia Hawke

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Controversy over Book Ban Rattles Miami Schools

Miami Dade Public schools have been rocked by allegations of throwing aside civil liberties in favor of pleasing parts of the local populace. First came the unnecessary controversy over an innocuous children’s book that portrayed life in Cuba from a child’s perspective. The book “A Visit to Cuba” was not a prescribed textbook for young children in Miami schools, rather it was part of the school library. A young Cuban American girl bought the book home and showed it to her father; a Cuban dissident and political prisoner who was upset at the soft picture the book portrayed of life under Castro. He immediately notified the Miami Dade public schools’ authorities who proceed to place the book under a ban. Miami’s strong Cuban American population supported the ban on the book in Miami schools’ arguing that reading the book could create the wrong impression in young children’s minds about the reality of life in Cuba. The American Civil Liberties jumped into the fray and filed a lawsuit against the ban calling it unconstitutional.

Book Ban – A Knee-Jerk Reaction by Miami Schools?

A few weeks later another book found itself at the center of a storm in Miami Dade Public schools. This time it was Cuban Kids, a children’s book that portrayed a couple of Cuban children on the cover dressed in what seem to be Scout uniforms- but are reportedly uniforms of the young revolutionaries, ( a group that all school children in Cuba are required to be members of). Parents of Cuban American children in Miami schools say the book gives young children the impression that the lives of Cuban children is the same as the lives of American children. They argue that young impressionable minds are not able to filter party mouthpiece rhetoric from fact and risk being brainwashed by books like these that do not portray the true picture of life under Castro for students in Miami schools.

The argument seems a little too simplistic. Civil liberties activists and critics of the book ban agree that it would be hypocritical for a country that claims to uphold democratic ideals the way ours does, to allow react with a knee-jerk response to the contents of a book. What, they ask, would be the difference between Castro’s Cuba and the land of the free if the simple decision of whether or not to read a book is taken away from its citizens? While parents of Cuban American children in Miami Dade Public schools, many of them having arrived at this country after extended stays in Cuban prisons, do have a point in being concerned about the impression that their children and others will receive through these books-they don’t need to be. In a situation like this keeping the lines of communication between parents and children open can go a long way to help children separate the grain from the chaff and come away with a true picture of the ground reality in the Communist nation. Banning a book, any book is not the solution.

Summary:

Your car’s tires should have just the right amount of pressure. This may not seem to be a big deal, however, remember that your tires hold a great deal of importance when it comes to your car’s performance.

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auto parts,Jeep,Jeep Wrangler accessories,Jeep Grand Cherokee accessories,Jeep accessories

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Your car’s tires should have just the right amount of pressure. This may not seem to be a big deal, however, remember that your tires hold a great deal of importance when it comes to your car’s performance.

According to automobile experts, your car’s tires should have the right amount of pressure because these serve as the medium between you, your car, and the open road. If you do have underinflated or overinflated tires, you would be experiencing much too many rattles and shakes as you drive your way through various types of roads. Also, tires that are not inflated properly give you a more bumpy ride. They also tend to wear down quickly compared to tires that are inflated just right.

Another fact about tires is that when they are overinflated or underinflated, they actually make your car use up much gas. Compared to having a car with tires inflated just right, your car makes use of just the right amount of gas. It even saves you much on your hard-earned dollar for you would not have to spend more on the very high-priced fuel.

To check the your tires’ pressure, make sure that you do it when your tires have already cooled down. Keep in mind that tires get more inflated when warm for the air inside expands. Then, you should first remove the cap from the valve on the tire that you are checking. Put in and press a tire gauge hard into the valve and take a look at the given reading. You would know if you have inserted the gauge properly if you hear the sound of escaping air.

Then, if you notice that the tire needs more pressure, fill it up. On the other hand, if your car has had just too much pressure, then release the air. You would know the right and recommended air pressure of your tires by checking your car owner’s manual.

Human beings are not the only species that can suffer from allergies. Dogs can also have allergic reactions to objects in the home, chemicals and pollutants in the air, dog food, and their own hair and dander. Finding the source of these allergies can be difficult especially if the dog is allergic to a few things. If you have a dog that suffers from allergies, you may notice that they sneeze when around harmful chemicals, vomit after eating, have skin rashes, patches of fur missing, runny nose and eyes, or they may show signs of fatigue or restlessness.

Noticing these signs is the first step to helping your dog lead a normal, healthy life. You should monitor your dog for a month to see how it reacts to its environment, its food, and its own hair and dander. Since dogs need to keep themselves clean, they may be swallowing allergens that can cause an allergic reaction. The best way to combat a hair and dander allergy is to bathe your dog once a month and brushing the dog once a day.

If your dog has a thick undercoating, it will trap allergens and dander and keep it from falling off the body. After a while the dander will build up and fall off or be swallowed. If you have allergies, this could be one of the causes. Brushing the undercoating every day will help remove excess hair before it is swallowed or falls on the floor or carpeting. This will reduce your allergy problems as well.

Sometimes chemicals in dog food can lead to food allergies. If your dog vomits at least once a day, then they may be allergic to the food they are eating. Hypoallergenic dog food is available. The food contains fewer chemicals while providing your dog with enough nutrition. Try this dog food to see if it will reduce the vomiting. Wet dog food may also help your dog digest their foods easily. If the vomiting does not stop, you should visit the vet to see if your dog has other health problems.

Dogs that are allergic to cleaning supplies, mold, and shampoo may be more difficult to treat. You can switch to natural cleaning supplies that do not contain bleach and other harmful chemicals. This may help your dog breathe a little better. You can also have your home tested for mold, which could be causing your own allergies, and you can switch dog shampoos and try one for hypoallergenic dogs. You should not wash your dog more than twice a month as you could make the dog’s skin dry and flaky, which is why they are scratching and pulling more often than usual.

Taking care of a dog with allergies is easy once you have identified the problem. Asking a vet for advice is a good idea if you do not know where to begin. They will be able to ask the right questions and help you find the answers so you will be able to administer the proper treatments.

Are you interested in using eBay to shop online? If you are, you are definitely not alone, as eBay is one of the most popular online marketplaces. As you likely already know, eBay is an online auction website; an online auction website that allows internet users to post items that they have in their possession, but not longer want or need, for sale. While this tends to give you a large number of products to choose from, it can make getting scammed on eBay relatively easy; however, there is a way that you cannot fall victim to some of the most common eBay scams. That way involves checking feedback.

If this is your first time using eBay, you may not necessarily know that buyers and sellers are able to leave each other feedback; in fact, they are encouraged to do so. Now, if another eBay buyer, just like you, were to have a positive experience, like they got their item in a timely matter and it was what they expected, they would be likely to leave a positive feedback. Positive feedbacks are marked with green circles with plus signs in them. On the other hand, if an eBay buyer has a negative experience, like they never received their item or it was in poor condition, a negative comment may be left. Negative comments are market by red circles with negative signs in them. In addition to positive or negative comments, eBay buyers are also able to leave neutral comments, which are commonly used when a problem arose, but the seller in question fixed it in a timely matter. Also, next to the positive, negative, or neutral markings, eBay buyers can also leave comments.

Although you might not necessarily think about it, the feedback that an eBay seller has can give you insight into the type of service that you may receive. As a way, this feedback serves as reputation for an eBay seller. When shopping at a traditional retail store, there is a good chance that you wouldn’t shop at a store that is known for selling poor quality products or a store that has poor customer service. The same thinking should be applied when using eBay. You don’t want to business with an eBay seller that has a number of poor feedback ratings, as it is a sign of what may come.

If you are interested in examining the feedback of an eBay seller, you can easily do so. When visiting an online auction listing page, say a listing for a new set of hair clippers, in the right hand corner there should be a “Meet the Seller,” section. That section has information on the seller’s eBay feedback, as well as a link that you can click to see each individual feedback rating. You are urged to click that link. When examining an eBay seller’s feedback, you need to remember that it is not uncommon for a seller to deal with disgruntled customers; customers that may leave negative feedback for no reason at all. That is why it is not uncommon to see a few negative feedback ratings; however, be on the lookout for any eBay seller who has an excessive number of them or a new eBay seller that has a large number of negative feedback ratings, as they are someone you should try and avoid.

In short, examining the feedback ratings or comments of an eBay seller will only take a few minutes of your time, but it may end up saving you a considerable amount of money. When shopping on eBay, it is advised that you use your best judgment. A number of negative feedback ratings may be a sure sign that an eBay seller may be out to scam you, in one way or another.