3 Kids and Us

How to Keep Your Puppy Happy on a Long Road Trip

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Spring is here and summer is close by, and that can mean only one thing: you have wanderlust! On stunningly bright blue days with fluffy white clouds dotting the skyline, who wouldn’t want to jump in the car and head to the nearest beach or hiking trail for a weekend vacation?

It’s only natural to want to get out and go when the weather is a perfect storm of cool breezes, blue sky and aromatic blooming flowers. But, as a responsible puppy parent, taking off whenever you feel like it just isn’t feasible. If you want to go anywhere for a few nights’ stay that’ll require bunking in the car, you’ll need to make sure your number one doggo is good to go.

Here are a few ways to keep your pup happy on extended family road trips.

Secure your pup. In many states, allowing your dog to roam freely in the backseat of a moving vehicle is illegal. Not only is this maneuver illegal, but if you were to be involved in an auto accident, your dog could sustain a serious injury. To keep your pup safe and feelin’ chill in the backseat, USA Today suggests investing in a dog seat-belt. A dog seat-belt is a type of harness that straps the pooch safely in the backseat while still giving them room to breathe, stretch out and relax.

To make sure your mutt is extra comfy, pack up one of his dog beds and lay it out on the seat. The familiar smells and textures of the bed will distract him from the moving vehicle anxiety some dogs suffer from and should hopefully help him to fall comfortably asleep.

Stop for potty breaks. Is anything ever more uncomfortable than when you need to use a restroom and there are none in sight? If you’ve mapped out the pit stops along the way of your weekend excursion (if not, you should!), make sure you’ve done the same for your four-legged traveling companion. Dogs need a potty break every 4-10 hours. And to keep from sitting too long and forming blood clots, you both should get out of the car and stretch your legs every two hours.

Should your dog in her excitement manage to get away from you, you’ll want to make sure she’s wearing something highly identifiable so she is easily found. A colorful personalized embroidered dog collar will make her easier to spot and will help fellow travelers know that she’s the pooch being sought after.

Keep the music down low. As much as you may want to turn your road trip playlist on at full blast, doing so could damage your pup’s sensitive ears. Instead, keep the volume turned down low and only have the music playing at the front of your car.

Pack goodies. Like children on long car rides, dogs can get bored and irritable. To keep your dog entertained while you look for the exit you need to take to get to your campsite, pack a few of their favorite toys, preferably toys that require a lot of chewing. The more focused they are on their toy, the less they’re crying out to be let in the front seat beside you.

Monitor the air flow. Make sure that the backseat isn’t too hot or too cold. To remain feeling well and fresh, your pupper will need her airflow to feel natural and relaxing. You may be tempted to roll the windows down so she can stick her head out and let her ears flap in the wind, but you must refrain from doing this. Jaymi Heimbuch of Mother Nature Network writes that this is dangerous as another motorist could come into contact with your pup’s head on the highway. And if your pup is unrestrained, they could jump or fall out of your moving vehicle, causing a fatal injury.

If you follow the canine ride safety tips above, you and your pupper will be in for a fun road trip together!

Two Things You Should Only Buy Online

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Shopping online has now become the preferred way to shop for many parts of the world. Some products however, lend themselves better to shopping online. Here are two that take ideal advantage of the online benefits.

Hampers / Gift Baskets

In the world of corporate gift giving, the more thoughtful the gift, the better your chances of getting your contract renewed. This may be an exaggeration but what is true is that corporate gift-gifting is expected and beloved.  So businesses have to fit it into their schedules and budgets around holidays and special occasions. Many have learned that shopping for their hampers online provides some amazing benefits. Here are a few.

Saves Time – Everyone’s busy these days so having an ability to order something so great as an amazing hamper from the comfort of your desk without having to go through the hassle of driving somewhere, having to park, get there before closing time, and then potentially having to wrestle with other shoppers for whatever is left (especially during the holiday season), is more than welcome. And the ordering time to select and order a hamper online is usually less than ten minutes.

Choice – Wherever you retail shop will be limited by the selection they have on the floor or some limited custom ordering. When you shop online however there are endless combination you can put together. These can include hard to locate or unique items. You can find the style or theme you want or create it when shopping online.

Saves Money – Shopping for Hampers online allows you to comparison shop and decide exactly where you will buy. No need to run around town when you can do this form the privacy of your home or office. Also when shopping at an online hamper company like the Hamper Emporium reviews about the company’s products allows you to not make a bad purchase.

Meat

Meat is becoming a very popular online product and with good reason. As people begin to discover they can get the types, cut and quality delivered right to their homes and sometimes for prices lower than their neighborhood butcher many find it hard to show any other way. Here and some of the benefits of shopping for meat online.

The Widest Range of Meats – When you buy meat online you will have a much wider range of produce compared to the typical supermarket. Online retailers in addition to always having the type of meat you want in stock also have game meats, such as pheasant, rabbit, turkey, duck, and goose. And many of their meats come already seasoned so you only have toss them into the oven.

Only High Quality Meat – Online butchers stock only the best quality meat and seafood. These shops carefully source their products from the best suppliers and the best part is, they always have what you want in stock.

The Meat is Fresher – When you buy meat from a supermarket it goes from the butcher’s warehouse to the supermarket’s warehouse to the supermarket where it sits for days before you buy it. When you buy meat online, it goes from the butcher to your home. So the meat will always be fresher when you purchase it online.

The Gift of Prophesy is a Gift from God

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A prophecy is words from the Lord, spoken by a human being. If a prophetic message is authentic, it is true that this is a message directly from the Lord. And that God is speaking to the world through that message and through that messenger. And that message is intended to be applicable to what is happening or going to happen here on Earth. So in that respect, the message is divine and Earthly as well but delivered from God.

Renown Pastor of The Synagogue Church of All Nations, SCOAN, Prophet TB Joshua stresses that his gifts including the gift of prophesy would not be possible if they weren’t from God. “If my mission here is not of God, it won’t stand just as Gamaliel said.”

The receiver of the message has an obligation to deliver God’s word and can add something to the message, something of their own that enhances the message but does not alter it. The receiver can also decide how best to communicate the message again as long as it is done with the acknowledgement that the message is a word from the Lord; that God is speaking to us through that message.

So anyone who prophesies must take responsibility for how they prophesy. On this point God does not give an option. He does however understand that the human vessel is imperfect and that these imperfections might alter or dilute the message.

So why does God use these messengers knowing of their weaknesses?  The answer is actually simple. When a strong person does something that he can normally do, it is usual. However, when a strong person accomplishes something more than what is normal, it can lead to pride, because the strong person feels he was strong enough to accomplish this on his own.

But when a weak person does something that typically requires the strength of a strong person, as a Christian, you require God’s help. This person must stay humble and ask the Lord for the strength to get it done and in doing so, God gets the glory. In 2 Corinthians 12:9-10 ESV, Paul said, But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

So the gift of prophesy is given by God and those who accept it and use it, will not automatically become strong, in fact their weakness will bolster their closeness to God because they will have to lean on him more for understanding and guidance and support.

And in this respect and many others, the gift of prophesy is truly a gift from God.

How to Learn to Play Guitar

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I have wanted dot play guitar since I was little and through either lack of motivation, fear or lack of time, I had never got around to it. One of my best friends Elvis Dzebic had played guitar for my years and a couple of years ago I asked him how he thought I should start learning, at this stage I had not even bought my first guitar.

I was well aware that I was never going to become the next Page, Clapton or Hendrix and it turns out that I was right, I have however, improved greatly in those couple of years and here is how I got started.

Acoustic First

One of the best pieces of advice that my friend gave me was that I should start out with an acoustic guitar instead of an electric. I was unsure at first, I had dreams of stomping on the wah-wah pedal as I crunched though some AC/DC but that dream had to wait. I took my friend’s advice and you should too. The reason for this is that playing an acoustic is much tougher on your fingers and it helps you to better learn the craft of strumming and fingerpicking, you can disguise bad playing on an electric, you can not on an acoustic. Once you have played the acoustic well, you will find that playing the electric is incredible easy.

Daily Practice

Although it can be frustrating at first, you need to ensure that you are practicing for at least one hour every day. You will find that with daily practice, your finger flexibility gets better and that you will improve a great deal in a short space of time which is great to keep you motivated.

Learn to Read Tablature

Unless you can read music then you should try to learn how to read guitar tablature so that you can learn your favorite songs. Tablature is really easy to read, far easier than learning to read music, as each finger on your fret hand is given a number, the tablature has six lone resembling the strings and it shows you which number, or finger, to place on each string. If you want to learn your favorite riffs or songs then the best way to do so is to learn tablature because there is thousands of guitar tabs online which can help you learn.

Go Blues

Blues is where the guitar has its roots and if you want to become a better player then you should invest some time learning some of the blues scales. These scales are often the origins of many songs and if you can nail down the scales then whenever you have a variation on them in songs, you will be able to perfectly adapt. Blues scales also work really well when it comes to keeping your fingers nimble and flexible and they are also a great deal of fun to play.

How to be a Successful Blogger

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It seems that these days everyone has a blog and it has never been easier than right now to create your very own blog. A blog is a great way of expressing yourself online, creating a community and many people have also realized that they can make a great deal of money from blogging by selling advertising space on their site.

There is a great difference between simply setting up your own blog and being a great blogger like Haris Ahmed and today we are going to talk a little about how you can be a successful blogger.

Creating Quality Content

The first thing that you need to look at when you want to become a successful blogger, long before you need to think about how to get people to your site, is to create high quality content. Your content should pertain directly to what it is that your site is about, it is always important to stay within your niche. Whether you are uploading photos or writing articles to your blog, you need to put yourself in the position of someone who has just arrived at your site, what do you think about the content, would you read it? Would you find it interesting and informative? Ask yourself this question and ask the question to friends or colleagues to ensure that you are writing high quality content.

Putting Yourself Out There

Nobody has ever created a blog, filled it with information and had 10,000 views the first day of going live, it simply isn’t possible and if you want people to see what you are doing then you need to go and tell them about it. The best way to do this is with a strong SEO strategy and also through the usage of social media. Social media gives you great access to hundreds of thousands of people in the click of a button, it also helps to grow your reputation as people will share and comment on your stuff online, this is another reason that you want to create high quality content, your reputation may depend on it.

Making Contacts

One of the best ways that you can boost the popularity of your blog is to make connections with other bloggers and influencers within your niche. What you are looking to do here is to create a strong community within your niche where you can benefit each other mutually. This will involve you sharing each other’s posts and ideas, mentioning each other when writing about something and ultimately helping each other out with followers and with promotion. The more contacts that you have like this, the more opportunity you will have to grow your business and boost your blog success.

The key to creating a great blog is very simple, be original, create regular and high quality content and find every way of sharing your stuff across the internet possible.