gardening.com/wpshopping/uploads/” alt=”FORTUNE 006 Garden Tool Sharpener” />
Kohler K-14223-GB-96 Wall mount Vitreious China Bathroom Sink K-14223-GB-96 Biscuit 16-1/4″ diameter Garden Bandana is based on the pattern of a porcelain dish from the Quing dynasty of 16th- century China whose style was also popular in late 19th century America Features a small, overall pattern of chrysanthemums, peonies and foliage in reserve on a Biscuit background Garden Bandana design is offered on Biscuit background of Conical Bell Vessels lavatory Vessels or wall-mount installation Vitreous china
gardening.com/gardening-supplies/kohler-k-14223-gb-96-wall-mount-vitreious-china-bathroom-sink-k-14223-gb-96-biscuit#more-458″ class=”more-link”>Read the rest of this entry »
Make Room for a Mudroom
Oct 28
Now that our thoughts are turning again to outdoor living, it’s a
great time to think about making room this year for what may be
one of the most practical places in the house: the mudroom.
Never mind that we may associate mudrooms with images of country houses, English wellies and walking sticks – the premise is the same in our modern lives. Every home must find a way to manage that transition that its inhabitants make between life outdoors and life inside. A mudroom is perfectly practical – and can also be perfectly pleasing.
The Struggle For Order
It’s funny how the whole house can be thrown into chaos by all those indoor/outdoor transition problems. Where to put backpacks, skis, muddy boots, litter box, dog leash, wet mittens, bicycle helmets, sunscreen, rain slickers and wild bird seed? The mudroom is the perfect answer – and it can be either grand or modest in scale.
Find Some Space, Or Make Some
You may be able to design a mudroom using space you already have: in a front or back porch, in an underused main floor laundry room, in an attached garage, or perhaps in a back hall. If you can’t find the necessary square footage for this marvelous utility room, it’s a great time to think seriously about making a mudroom part of a home addition; there’s never been a better time to finance that kind of project.
Not only is it an energy saving airlock, but also — penny for penny, inch for inch — it’s space that will add ease and comfort to your daily routine.
Think High-School Locker And Go Vertical
Each family member gets his or her own space fitted with hooks (for outerwear, caps, backpacks, skates), shelves (for sweaters and sweatshirts),and baskets (for mittens, sunglasses, gloves, sunscreen, keys, etc.) Put pegs at different levels for various ages of family members.
A Place For Everything
This should be one of the best-organized spaces in your home. Think about how you will use the room. Consider, for example, finding an antique pine dry sink: a perfect solution for storing unwieldy items like bags of dog food, home canning paraphernalia, or potting soil – and a great place to set the groceries as you come in the door.
How about a big ceramic bowl to hold the day’s mail? Crowded for space in the kitchen? Think about a pantry cupboard to store extra canned, bottled, and dry goods. And keep a first-aid kit in an old-fashioned black lunchbox – for backyard emergencies.
Take A Load Off
Every mudroom needs a bench (preferably built in with a hinged lid) in which you can store helmets, towels, garden hats… and it’s such a pleasure to be able to sit when you are getting in or out of shoes and boots.
Bead Board Paneling
Either painted or natural bead board paneling is the perfect wall treatment. Nothing too precious in this room — just easy to maintain surfaces that can take rough and tumble treatment.
Floors should be stone, tile, or vinyl. Be sure to use an absorbent
washable mat too, and a bristle mat at the very entrance is necessary for maximum mud removal.
Plumb The Mudroom And Install A Big Sink
This is truly a luxury, but how great would it be to have a dedicated sink for houseplant potting, washing up from gardening.com/r/myorganicfoodgarden” style=”" target=”_blank” rel=”nofollow” onmouseover=”self.status=’http://www.veryeasygardening.com/r/myorganicfoodgarden’;return true;” onmouseout=”self.status=””>gardening, or rinsing off a muddy child or pet before entering the rest of the house? A French farmhouse sink would be fabulous…but a stainless steel basin works too!
Make it command central
Why not put up a blackboard, and a cork bulletin board for daily messages and reminders? Have you noticed lately that many of the best show homes and design magazines are sporting handsome, organized mudrooms?
No secret behind this growing trend; smart designers have simplycaught up with the reality of our indoor/outdoor lifestyles! This spring, make room for your own mudroom!
The House Team Of Mortgage Intellingence
http://www.articlesbase.com/home-improvement-articles/make-room-for-a-mudroom-75259.html
12 Steps For Better Blogging
Oct 28
If you are blogging to attract new customers and prospects to your business, it is important that you have a successful blueprint to follow.
With that in mind I created my step by step Blogging Blueprint, which you can find below:
1 While writing a blog, think like a visitor, as this helps immensely. If a blogger dons the visitor’s thinking cap, there is more likelihood the words a visitor will use to query search engines will be present in the blog.
2. Add a good layout and catchy adverts to a blog. This helps because the visitor might want to stay longer reading the blog, rather than scooting away to another site.
3. Once the blog is published, it is a good idea to ‘visit’ the blog assuming to be a visitor. Going over links and various pages can give a feeling of how a visitor will react to the blog.
4. Inspect the site regularly, as this can uncover any broken links. Likewise, it is also a good opportunity to do some site maintenance as well. Jotting down points like what can be added to augment site appeal and what else could be added to the FAQ page can be of immense advantage.
5. Use key words that are more likely to be used by visitors to search for your blogs. If there are individuals who want to read about, lets say, power gardening tools, then missing out key words like power or gardening.com/r/hydroponicgarden” style=”" target=”_blank” rel=”nofollow” onmouseover=”self.status=’http://www.veryeasygardening.com/r/hydroponicgarden’;return true;” onmouseout=”self.status=””>gardening can be a huge mistake. This is because search engines will give the blog a go-by and opt it out of the listings.
Further, the visitor may even chance upon the blog in the listings, but may choose to avoid the site, because the keywords were not highlighted in the large search engine listing.
6. Posting articles about 700 words in length is considered good if taking into account search engine indexing tactics. You can make the post search engine friendly by inserting relevant keywords and links at the right places.
7. You can incorporate specific key words, which are adored by search engines. Integrate keywords into title, meta and alt tags to entice the search engine spider to give the blog a higher page rank.
8. Listening to feedbacks and visitor complaints can be a blessing for you. Despite a lot of effort, a blog might contain obvious technical glitches or perhaps the content might require further elaboration or alterations.
9. Spamming can sometimes be disguised as intelligent comments, which might include further links or invitations to a spammer’s website. Niche blogs might wish to opt out of the custom of inviting comments.
10. If you are into business blogging, picking up good categories like skin care, dry skin care, skin care specials, exclusive skin care products, etc can be particularly rewarding. A good post on niche products can improve keyword density while providing wholesome reading material for visitors.
11. Many bloggers give up after publishing a few blogs. Although there is no right answer to how often you should blog, the secret of profitable blogging is to publish regularly and as frequently as necessary while avoiding both extremes.
12. Use permalinks (permanent links) where servers allow their use. Permalinks allow the use of words as path names, unlike regular links to articles that may contain percentage signs or shorter cryptic pathnames. The secret is to use key words as path names on servers where the use of permalinks is allowed. This makes the site more appealing to those search engines that also look at links for indexing.
Jason Tarasi
http://www.articlesbase.com/online-promotion-articles/12-steps-for-better-blogging-133657.html
12 Steps For Better Blogging
Oct 28
If you are blogging to attract new customers and prospects to your business, it is important that you have a successful blueprint to follow.
With that in mind I created my step by step Blogging Blueprint, which you can find below:
1 While writing a blog, think like a visitor, as this helps immensely. If a blogger dons the visitor’s thinking cap, there is more likelihood the words a visitor will use to query search engines will be present in the blog.
2. Add a good layout and catchy adverts to a blog. This helps because the visitor might want to stay longer reading the blog, rather than scooting away to another site.
3. Once the blog is published, it is a good idea to ‘visit’ the blog assuming to be a visitor. Going over links and various pages can give a feeling of how a visitor will react to the blog.
4. Inspect the site regularly, as this can uncover any broken links. Likewise, it is also a good opportunity to do some site maintenance as well. Jotting down points like what can be added to augment site appeal and what else could be added to the FAQ page can be of immense advantage.
5. Use key words that are more likely to be used by visitors to search for your blogs. If there are individuals who want to read about, lets say, power gardening tools, then missing out key words like power or gardening.com/r/hydroponicgarden” style=”" target=”_blank” rel=”nofollow” onmouseover=”self.status=’http://www.veryeasygardening.com/r/hydroponicgarden’;return true;” onmouseout=”self.status=””>gardening can be a huge mistake. This is because search engines will give the blog a go-by and opt it out of the listings.
Further, the visitor may even chance upon the blog in the listings, but may choose to avoid the site, because the keywords were not highlighted in the large search engine listing.
6. Posting articles about 700 words in length is considered good if taking into account search engine indexing tactics. You can make the post search engine friendly by inserting relevant keywords and links at the right places.
7. You can incorporate specific key words, which are adored by search engines. Integrate keywords into title, meta and alt tags to entice the search engine spider to give the blog a higher page rank.
8. Listening to feedbacks and visitor complaints can be a blessing for you. Despite a lot of effort, a blog might contain obvious technical glitches or perhaps the content might require further elaboration or alterations.
9. Spamming can sometimes be disguised as intelligent comments, which might include further links or invitations to a spammer’s website. Niche blogs might wish to opt out of the custom of inviting comments.
10. If you are into business blogging, picking up good categories like skin care, dry skin care, skin care specials, exclusive skin care products, etc can be particularly rewarding. A good post on niche products can improve keyword density while providing wholesome reading material for visitors.
11. Many bloggers give up after publishing a few blogs. Although there is no right answer to how often you should blog, the secret of profitable blogging is to publish regularly and as frequently as necessary while avoiding both extremes.
12. Use permalinks (permanent links) where servers allow their use. Permalinks allow the use of words as path names, unlike regular links to articles that may contain percentage signs or shorter cryptic pathnames. The secret is to use key words as path names on servers where the use of permalinks is allowed. This makes the site more appealing to those search engines that also look at links for indexing.
Jason Tarasi
http://www.articlesbase.com/online-promotion-articles/12-steps-for-better-blogging-133657.html
If you have children and can introduce them to gardening, and in particular the growing vegetables side, you may well be lucky enough to engender a lifetime interest. The vegetable-averse youngster is likely to suddenly become interested in eating his/her own produce. A benefit all round – no more nagging at mealtimes and their health will improve.
The author’s lifetime interest comes from a small patch of garden, allocated at school to first year pupils, leading to her taking over her parent’s garden with amazing results; eventually on to running a small-holding. Who was it that said – great oaks from little acorns grow?
Children will need to be introduced to quick growing, spectacular plants, and the marrow family is one of the best for this purpose. Children will need to give their marrow/courgette plants plenty of water. When you cook the marrow, stuff it with something tasty such as sausage meat.
Another favourite with children is runner beans. These are again spectacular – Jack-in-the-Beanstalk effect and taste delicious when small and eaten direct from the plant. Tomatoes are also a favourite. Pumpkins are another spectacular plant that is also bound to appeal.
Gardening is not the No.1 British past-time, but certainly way up towards the top of the list and comes with many side benefits.
Doubtless we inherited the need to work with the soil from our very early ancestors when it was necessary to produce food to sustain the family and supplement the game, etc., that they were able to catch or trap.
Along the centuries this occupation has evolved. The Victorians were past masters at gardening. They invented many of the items that are still in use today, cloches, rhubarb forcers, magnificent glass-houses, cold frames etc. and they probably initiated hot dung clamps where items such as marrows, pumpkins and melons etc., were grown.
Today, more than ever and mainly from necessity people are returning to growing food. People have re-discovered the pleasure of eating freshly grown vegetables and fruit that has not been raised with the use of a mass of chemicals and has not travelled many hundreds of miles before reaching their plates. Therefore, fresher and tastier.
This keenness is bolstered by the fact that gardening can only be done ‘out-of-doors’ and away from the television and game consoles, all very definite advantages. The exception being the armchair gardener in bad winter weather studying seed catalogues for the coming spring planting season.
A lot of this new found interest has been kindled by the TV chefs who now almost nightly appear in our living rooms. Vegetable gardening has three over-riding advantages – the food is fresh, is very cheap and is tasty.
In towns, many people are so very keen to grow their own veg that they will even put their window boxes to good use for growing herbs and a few salad vegetables. Large pots on their balconies in order to increase their growing area. Those who are able rent out local council allotments and in many borough there is a waiting list for these. Unfortunately, some councils have succumbed to the lure of big money and sold old allotment sites to developers for additional housing.
If you are lucky enough to rent an allotment, there will doubtless be some old-timers already established on their plots, who have been growing vegetables since the year dot, who will normally be very pleased to give advice and the know how of their expertise and experience. Then there is the additional advantage of swapping surplus crops. Many group allotments become their own community centres, with everyone helping each other in all manner of ways. Some are even so well organised that they purchase tools, fertilizers, seeds etc., and pass them on to their members at minimal costs. What better than to be out in the fresh-air with your family and a good group of friends?
The demand for allotments is now increasing and if you cannot find an allotment to rent, don’t despair. Do you have any neighbours who are perhaps not as agile as they used to be, but own a large garden? Why not offer to cultivate part of their garden to grow vegetables offering them 50% of your crop free in return for use of their space? This way you will make new friends who will be very grateful to you for your work and kindness and you will have your freshly grown vegetables. A good way of bartering which will have other spin-offs.
This is another way of giving an unintended lesson in life to your children. Let them see that as well as growing vegetables for your own family you can also help others at the same time.
Another aspect of gardening to be considered is the money-saving side and so very important these days. So save money- eat well, keep fit. Three for the price of one.
Traderdog
http://www.articlesbase.com/gardening-articles/how-to-give-children-another-interest-and-make-them-love-eating-vegetables-751083.html
You are in the process of modernizing your home, and as such you would also like to do some contemporary landscaping. (Contemporary- existing or occurring at, or dating from, the same period of time as something or somebody else). You would really like to do your own landscaping, but are considering hiring professional landscapers because you are not especially familiar with landscaping. So, what you need are some contemporary landscaping ideas.
About Contemporary Landscaping
History: Contemporary landscaping began to emerge in northern Europe during the first half of the 20th century, and combined elements of English landscape gardening with influences from modern architecture. New materials such as wood, concrete, metal and glass, and other non-traditional materials found their way into the creation of this new vitality. Contemporary landscaping utilized variations in scale, time, space and texture to create abstract patterns. Newer designs also created innovations in light and space, often told in color, creating new focal points and visual patterns.
There is actually no one kind of contemporary landscaping, since modern houses love to emulate older styles, especially the English Garden look. If this look appeals to you, consider that for one of your contemporary landscaping ideas.
Most people will say that the point of landscaping is to “beautify” your yard but energy efficient landscaping is a type of landscaping designed for the purpose of conserving energy and to be beautiful.
Remember, if you decide to landscape only one section of the yard at a time, you will still need an overall plan. That’s why when it comes to landscaping put the plan on a plain sheet of paper. So for people who are into landscaping, it is best to have a copy of some of the landscaping books that are available in the market.
Best of all, landscaping books do not just provide techniques and methods that are ideal for the activity, they provide different information regarding plants, the materials to be used, and other topics that have something to do with landscaping. Consider spot and flood lighting that will highlight the rock placement within the landscaping and where you will obtain the power feed for that lighting. Increasingly, homeowners are going to the next level with landscaping, and are investing time and money in outdoor lighting.
Everyone knows that landscaping can enhance the beauty of your indoor or outdoor area, but not everyone is aware that you can use this method to save money for heating, cooling and electricity costs too. Be aware that if you place shrubs and trees strategically in your backyard, you can guarantee a reduction in your bills.
During cold seasons, these shrubs and trees can protect your home from frosty winds, allowing your home to reduce losing heat at a rapid rate. Equally, landscaping can reduce the need for cooling equipment because the trees could provide your home adequate shade. Not only can landscaping beautify your indoor or outdoor area, it can improve residential privacy, increase the real estate value of your home and provide you with a more comfortable living area while saving energy costs. With a little investment, your can benefit from a long-term energy efficient solution that you can perform on your own.
However, if you’re planning to cut energy costs by landscaping, be aware that you need careful planning and implementation of your project to ensure all elements can work to benefit your home.
Steps to Follow
To yield maximum results from your landscaping, you need to consider and implement some energy-saving methods. For instance, some energy commissions recommend using specific trees that could reduce the cooling costs of your home to over 25 per cent. The type of tree you choose to plant in your backyard largely affects how much shade it could provide your home. Ask for recommendations from your local Energy Commission or other landscaping experts about the right tree to plant based on your available area and needs of your home.
Planning how to give shade to your home is an important part of landscaping because it can reduce air temperature inside and outside your home up to 6 degrees. The location on where you plant the gardening.com/r/hydroponicgarden” style=”" target=”_blank” rel=”nofollow” onmouseover=”self.status=’http://www.veryeasygardening.com/r/hydroponicgarden’;return true;” onmouseout=”self.status=””>trees can also affect the cooling and heating benefits they could provide in your home. Most experts recommend planting trees at the northwest-southwest and northeast-southeast parts of your home. When you are planning to plant vines and vegetables for your landscaping project, make sure to consider air circulation before starting the project. Be aware that improper placement of vines, fences and other elements in your backyard could trap summer heat and increase the need for cooling equipments.
With any kind of elements you wish to add with your landscaping, it is best to plan carefully to ensure that each location and placement will reduce energy costs. With a successful project, not only can you beautify your home, you also reduce bills throughout the year, regardless of the season.
Copyright © John Hanna All Rights Reserved.
This article may be distributed freely on your website and in your ezines, as long as this entire article, copyright notice, links and the resource box are unchanged.
Doug Woodall
http://www.articlesbase.com/gardening-articles/save-energy-with-the-right-landscaping-124188.html
Off all elements that you can place in your landscape, from flowers to plants to trees, the shrub is the most versatile. In this article we present information on shrubbery.
When you consider your landscape, you’ll find that shrubs are one of the most versatile elements that you can employ. Shrubs can serve as a background for your flower or vegetable garden, as dividers between different areas of the yard, and even as privacy screens (otherwise known as hedges).
Shrubs come in a wide variety – over a hundred different genuses, with a variety of species within each genus: There are shrubs with brilliant flowers, or evergreen shrubs for all seasons.
What exactly are shrubs? According to the dictionary definition: “A woody plant of relatively low height, having several stems arising from the base and lacking a single trunk; a bush.” A rose bush is a shrub, for example, but so is a flowering dogwood. Have you heard that a dogwood is a tree? Well, some dogwoods are shrubs, and some are gardening.com/r/greenhousemoney” style=”" target=”_blank” rel=”nofollow” onmouseover=”self.status=’http://www.veryeasygardening.com/r/greenhousemoney’;return true;” onmouseout=”self.status=””>trees! Just as some lilacs are shrubs and some are trees. It all depends on how tall the individual species within the genus grows.
So there’s quite a bit to learn about shrubbery before you decide on which ones you’ll use in your landscaping endeavors. It’s always best to consult with your local gardening experts while you’re working on your design.
Website Wandering
But even though you’ll want to talk to local gardeners about what would be best for your landscaping plans, you don’t need to deal locally to acquire the shrubs. (Although it’s always nice to support local businesses.) And you will find that there are restrictions – some states do not allow you to import certain plants – Hawaii and Alaska are simply too far away.
But take a jaunt around the web to see what’s out there.
For example Direct Gardening offers everything from bulbs to fruits and nuts to hedges to shrubs to vines and water plants. Their website has plenty of photos of all their offerings so you can see what everything looks like. (They also sell what they call “Pre-planned gardens” – a mixture of several different but complimentary plants that will all grow well in the same type of conditions.)
Nature Hills Nursery is another online business that offers a wide variety of starter plants. And their website has a feature in which you input your zipcode, and it comes back with the “zone” in which you live – and the flowers, plants, shrubs and trees that grow best in that zone.
Pruning
The major maintenance for shrubs is pruning – you simply must prune your shrubs, not only to improve their appearance but also to help them grow healthy and strong. Hedge clippers and hand pruners are must have tools, loppers and a small pruning saw will also come in handy.
Mr.Andrew Caxton
http://www.articlesbase.com/home-improvement-articles/landscaping-with-shrubs-some-tips-126960.html
If you have children and can introduce them to gardening, and in particular the growing vegetables side, you may well be lucky enough to engender a lifetime interest. The vegetable-averse youngster is likely to suddenly become interested in eating his/her own produce. A benefit all round – no more nagging at mealtimes and their health will improve.
The author’s lifetime interest comes from a small patch of garden, allocated at school to first year pupils, leading to her taking over her parent’s garden with amazing results; eventually on to running a small-holding. Who was it that said – great oaks from little acorns grow?
Children will need to be introduced to quick growing, spectacular plants, and the marrow family is one of the best for this purpose. Children will need to give their marrow/courgette plants plenty of water. When you cook the marrow, stuff it with something tasty such as sausage meat.
Another favourite with children is runner beans. These are again spectacular – Jack-in-the-Beanstalk effect and taste delicious when small and eaten direct from the plant. Tomatoes are also a favourite. Pumpkins are another spectacular plant that is also bound to appeal.
Gardening is not the No.1 British past-time, but certainly way up towards the top of the list and comes with many side benefits.
Doubtless we inherited the need to work with the soil from our very early ancestors when it was necessary to produce food to sustain the family and supplement the game, etc., that they were able to catch or trap.
Along the centuries this occupation has evolved. The Victorians were past masters at gardening. They invented many of the items that are still in use today, cloches, rhubarb forcers, magnificent glass-houses, cold frames etc. and they probably initiated hot dung clamps where items such as marrows, pumpkins and melons etc., were grown.
Today, more than ever and mainly from necessity people are returning to growing food. People have re-discovered the pleasure of eating freshly grown vegetables and fruit that has not been raised with the use of a mass of chemicals and has not travelled many hundreds of miles before reaching their plates. Therefore, fresher and tastier.
This keenness is bolstered by the fact that gardening can only be done ‘out-of-doors’ and away from the television and game consoles, all very definite advantages. The exception being the armchair gardener in bad winter weather studying seed catalogues for the coming spring planting season.
A lot of this new found interest has been kindled by the TV chefs who now almost nightly appear in our living rooms. Vegetable gardening has three over-riding advantages – the food is fresh, is very cheap and is tasty.
In towns, many people are so very keen to grow their own veg that they will even put their window boxes to good use for growing herbs and a few salad vegetables. Large pots on their balconies in order to increase their growing area. Those who are able rent out local council allotments and in many borough there is a waiting list for these. Unfortunately, some councils have succumbed to the lure of big money and sold old allotment sites to developers for additional housing.
If you are lucky enough to rent an allotment, there will doubtless be some old-timers already established on their plots, who have been gardening.com/r/gardenershandbook” style=”" target=”_blank” rel=”nofollow” onmouseover=”self.status=’http://www.veryeasygardening.com/r/gardenershandbook’;return true;” onmouseout=”self.status=””>growing vegetables since the year dot, who will normally be very pleased to give advice and the know how of their expertise and experience. Then there is the additional advantage of swapping surplus crops. Many group allotments become their own community centres, with everyone helping each other in all manner of ways. Some are even so well organised that they purchase tools, fertilizers, seeds etc., and pass them on to their members at minimal costs. What better than to be out in the fresh-air with your family and a good group of friends?
The demand for allotments is now increasing and if you cannot find an allotment to rent, don’t despair. Do you have any neighbours who are perhaps not as agile as they used to be, but own a large garden? Why not offer to cultivate part of their garden to grow vegetables offering them 50% of your crop free in return for use of their space? This way you will make new friends who will be very grateful to you for your work and kindness and you will have your freshly grown vegetables. A good way of bartering which will have other spin-offs.
This is another way of giving an unintended lesson in life to your children. Let them see that as well as growing vegetables for your own family you can also help others at the same time.
Another aspect of gardening to be considered is the money-saving side and so very important these days. So save money- eat well, keep fit. Three for the price of one.
Traderdog
http://www.articlesbase.com/gardening-articles/how-to-give-children-another-interest-and-make-them-love-eating-vegetables-751083.html
Every year around 100,000 different types of chemicals are produced for a variety of uses around the world and many of these chemicals find their way into our environment and homes. Meanwhile, other chemicals that have been banned still leak in from old products and continue to linger around as we continue to pump our lives with more toxins. Having said that, the current testing, labeling and monitoring programs capture only a fraction of the chemicals we are exposed to.
The realistic unfortunate bottom line is that we are being exposed to tens of thousands of chemicals every day that interact with each other and with us. We have evolved to incorporate them in our lives in every possible manner, still we stumble and trip trying to figure out why disease,cancer rates, and the oh so many mental and behavioral disabilities continue to replicate.
About 99 % of all the recent reports about the effects of chemicals on the environment and human health continue to focus on pollutants which we have already isolated as being problematic, while largely ignoring the many other chemicals about which we know so little.
In this talk I would like to touch on children and how they are affected by what we unkowingly bring into our homes that may directly contribute to unwanted and costly medical problems.
Like it or not the second highest source of chemical exposure, after food, is air. Indoor exposure to chemicals, including alkylphenols, bisphenol A. and phthalates, in preschool children has been shown to be greater indoors than out (Wilson et al.,2003.)Chemicals build up from cleaning compounds, personal care products, cosmetics and toiletries. Vapors & degraded materials detach from carpeting, paints, computers, furniture and toys, and stick to aerosol particles.
Another reality many parents may or may not know is that children are at a higher risk of developing side effects and illnesses from these exposures as their entire physiology, pharmaco-kinetics and dynamics differ from those of adults.
There are many mechanisms by which environmental agents can negatively outcome a pregnancy (including fertility and the in utero development of the next generation of women) as there is a growing body of epidemiologic literature that associates air pollution with preterm labour and delivery and other adverse pregnancy outcomes.
In the pregnant state women may be exposed to the same environmental chemicals and activities as non-pregnant women or as they were before their pregnancies, however, there are some aspects of the lives of many women that increase the likelihood of exposures to certain toxic agents. For example, as compared with men, many women might be spending more time at home, either as homemakers, caregivers or to work a home-based business which increases their chancess of exposure to indoor toxins (Burg Ja. et al.)
Many of these chemicals are eventually transmitted to the gardening.com/r/myorganicfoodgarden” style=”" target=”_blank” rel=”nofollow” onmouseover=”self.status=’http://www.veryeasygardening.com/r/myorganicfoodgarden’;return true;” onmouseout=”self.status=””>growing fetus and can affect multiple organs on many different levels starting from mild to severe.
So, mothers need to be ware of some home-based activities like gardening and craft work which involve exposure to toxic agents under conditions with less control than many regulated workplaces. Crafts, especially making jewelry, ceramics and prints can be associated with hazardous chemicals exposure.
There are also some behavioral aspects of pregnancy that may increase the likelihood of exposure as many women & men prepare for their new born by engaging in repairs to the home environment. Remodeling may increase exposure to hazards such as lead-based paint, asbestos, formaldehyde, and radon. Of these, lead is a major reproductive toxin that can result in decreased fertility in men and women and increase the risk of intrauterine toxicity to the fetus (Silbergeld Ek. et al.1997.)
So, the message is and has always been to care for your health beyond the norm that has been taught. Spend some time and effort to learn how breathing contaminated air into your lungs can be avoided by simple shopping decisions and some behavioral modifications.
Iman Ashour
http://www.articlesbase.com/non-fiction-articles/child-maternal-care-in-an-era-of-chemical-contamination-138821.html