New Year's Eve: Celebrating New Beginnings

Since New Years Eve party locations tend to be held indoors, just a bit of planning and creativity can make yours, the New Year?s Even Party to remember! Just choose a unique location (such as a rental hall, club, or central gathering place, like a restaurant or even church fellowship hall) or you can even transform a room in your own home into a festive setting. Choosing a theme, allowing your invitations and decorations to set the stage, and taking time for the special touches, like lighting, food, and party favors, can make your New Year?s Eve party one to remember.

Invitation Ideas

? Roll up computer generated, parchment invitations, in small wine bottles to be hand delivered.

? Unroll noisemakers, and write your invitations on the tails. They can be mailed in small envelopes or delivered by hand.

? Blow up a balloon, write your party details in glittery ink, and deflate the balloon to send to your friends in a small envelope.

? Put some confetti in the envelope along with the invitation.

? Draw, or print a clock graphic, with hands pointing to midnight, onto card stock, with all your party information on the back.

Decorations

? Spread confetti, glitter, and curlicues on tables.

? Hang crepe streamers from the ceiling.

? Using a balloon drop kit, fill an assortment of latex balloons with air, and hang from the ceiling. At midnight, pull the cord, and have your own balloon drop.

? Another option is to insert a funnel into deflated balloons and put confetti inside, then fill balloons with helium. Tie the balloons with colorful ribbon, and let them float up to the ceiling. At midnight, everyone can pull down a balloon and pop it.

? Candles or dim lights will add to the festive atmosphere.

New Year's Eve Party Crafts for Kids

Party Hats:

Supplies: Glitter, glue, scissors, and paper.

Instructions:

? Fold paper into a cone and glue along the seam.

? Round the bottom edge.

? Squirt glue in a design around the hat.

? Over newspaper, sprinkle the glitter.

New Year?s Eve Noise makers:

Supplies: Colored paper or wrapping paper, glue or tape, scissors, toilet paper rolls, yarn and beans or rice.

Instructions:

? Measure paper to go around the toilet paper roll, making each side about three inches longer on each end.

? Glue the paper onto the roll, leaving the ends open.

? Tie one end tightly with the yarn.

? Add rice or beans through the open end.

? Tie the last end tightly with yarn, and shake!

New Year?s Eve Streamers:

Supplies: Crepe paper or tissue paper, and yarn.

Instructions:

* Cut different length strips of paper.

* Tie together at one end with yarn.

New Year?s Eve Party Favors and Gifts

Personalized Wine Bottle:

Print striking personalized wine labels celebrating the millennium. Steam off labels from bottles of good red wine, and replace them with your own labels. Include guests' names, the date, and the party location. Guests can then keep the wine for the future.

Decorative Champagne Glasses:

Write your guest's name, hot glue gems,? and add a touch of color with a swirl or two of glass paint, to plastic champagne flutes. Each unique design will help guests keep track of their drink throughout the evening.

No matter what activities or party favors you plan, it is most important to have friends, family, and good will be a part of your New Year?s Eve. The party you plan is just an extension of your celebration of the new beginnings New Year?s signifies for us all.

Mrs. Party... Gail Leino is the internet's leading authority on selecting the best possible party supplies (http://partysupplieshut.com), using proper etiquette and manners while also teaching organizational skills and fun facts. The Party Supplies Hut has a huge selection of free party games, coloring pages, word find, word scramble, printable baby and bridal shower activities. New Years Party Games (New-Years-Day.com), holiday party planning tips, trivia, history, recipes, printable activities and free coloring pages.

Matching Fish With the Right Cooking Methods

? 2007, All Rights Reserved

Crisp-fried fish and chips. Moist, flaky grilled salmon. Firm, tender broiled swordfish. Fish is highly versatile, filled with valuable Omega-3 oils and bursting with flavor. But are you aware that not all fish is suited for every cooking method? Your dish could easily be ruined by choosing a fish that is too dry or too moist for the recipe you want to prepare. Those pursuing their culinary training in cooking school can learn how to properly select fish. Now you can benefit from their knowledge.

Natural Moisture Plays A Big Role

For dry, high-heat methods of cooking, fish that contain a lot of moisture are a best fit. Cooking school graduates know grilling, broiling, roasting and baking can leave fish tough and rubbery. This is because the dry heat extracts moisture - giving nothing back. If you plan to use these cooking techniques, choose a fish with a high-moisture content. Swordfish, salmon, cod and halibut would all work well in these situations.

Saut?ing, baking with a sauce, frying or steaming are other methods taught during culinary training for cooking fish. Students are instructed to select fish that are less moist for these techniques. The reason is two-fold. First, depending on the amount of water released from the fish during cooking, it may alter the flavor of sauces. Second, the moisture could turn batter or other coatings into mush.

Saut?ing involves the use of oil or butter. This helps keep fish moist during cooking. Baking is usually done with a sauce. The sauce also would help retain the natural oils in a dryer fish. Steaming adds moisture rather than reducing it, and frying normally involves a batter or bread coating that locks in the natural oils and water. Cooking school instructors often suggest tilapia, catfish, haddock or orange roughy for these applications.

Firm or Delicate? Which Will Hold Up Best?

Another consideration when selecting fish for your recipe is firmness. For dishes where you want the fish to remain in its cut shape, a fish with firm flesh will be a best pick. Fish that don't break apart when handled during cooking (during turning, etc.) will make the best presentation and be easier to eat. Grouper, swordfish, salmon, cod, tilapia, tuna, shark and others hold their shapes well.

However, if preparing fish in other ways, flakier fish are optimal. For instance, with fried fish (where the coating can help hold the shape), fishcakes, soups or stews (where the fish would be broken) or baked dishes (that require little handling), those with professional culinary training usually prefer a delicately textured fish to perk up the recipe.

Preserving the Natural Flavor

Lastly, cooking school instructors and professional chefs stress working with the natural flavor of the fish. Salmon, tuna, grouper, monkfish and others have very distinct flavors. Most often, adding herbs, spices, rubs or light sauces to compliment the taste will give you a more savory result.

Choosing the right fish to include in your favorite recipes will enhance the presentation and flavor. You'll likely find yourself serving more fish to your family and guests... and that's good for everybody!

About the Author

Mike Churchill provides online marketing support for Le Cordon Bleu Schools North America. Cooking school applications are currently being accepted for their affiliated schools located throughout the country. If you love cooking, culinary training could be the next step. Visit http://www.lecordonbleuschoolsusa.com.

Alligator Beef Jerky

Gators are a lot less scary when they come in the edible form of jerky! Exotic jerky, such as alligator jerky have become immensely popular among fans of dried and spiced meat. Alligator jerky is among other exotic choices such as emu, elk, ostrich and more. But you don't have to go to Mardi Gras or the Everglades to taste this treat ... you can make it yourself!

Making alligator jerky is really not much different than the usual beef jerky process. You just have to find somewhere that sells alligator meat. Most small town butchers will have this offering, and if they don't regularly stock it, they can get it. If you do not have a local specialty butcher, there are some online sites you can order it from, such as CajunGrocer.

Basic Alligator Jerky

Ingredients:

? alligator tail

? garlic salt

? black pepper

Directions:

1. Cut alligator tail into long strips, one inch wide and one-quarter inch thick or less.

2. Prepare the jerky salt mix by combining the equal parts of garlic salt and black pepper.

3. Sprinkle a thin layer of the jerky salt mix on a cutting board.

4. Lay alligator strips on salt mix.

5. Sprinkle a layer of salt mix on top of alligator, so both sides are completely salted.

6. Stick a toothpick through one end of each meat strip and suspend strips from oven or smoker rack after shaking off excess salt.

7. Heat or smoke around 120 degrees until dry (about four hours).

8. Store jerky in airtight containers or eat right away!

Cajun Alligator Jerky

Since alligator meat is popular in New Orleans and Bayou-themed restaurants around the nation, Cajun flavoring seems like a natural choice for alligator jerky. This is a Cajun beef jerky recipe adapted to make alligator beef jerky.

Ingredients:

? 10 lb alligator meat

? 1/2 of a small bottle hot sauce

? 1/8 cup lemon juice

? 10 oz Worchestershire sauce

? 6 oz Soy sauce

? 1/8 cup Caynne pepper

? 1/2 small Bottle onion salt

? 1/2 small Bottle liquid smoke

Directions:

1. Mix ingredients.

2. Marinate 24-30 hrs.

3. Dehydrate in dehydrator or a 150-degree oven.

Buying Alligator Jerky

Many jerky makers pride themselves on their exotic selection. Dave P. from Wilkes-Barre, PA favors Alligator Bob's brand.

I've always been a fan of beef and deer jerky, but I never got into the exotic kinds. But once I saw alligator jerky -- while in Florida of course -- and at first I thought, 'ew.' Then, I remember that I tried alligator sausage at a Cajun place in State College and liked it. I gave Alligator Bob's a try and man, was it tasty. I'd say that alligator meat sort of tastes like chicken and it is whiter meat as well. The Cajun seasoning was just right. I like spicy stuff and this was just fantastic. I am glad that I can order this stuff online!

For more delicious recipes and information about beef jerky, please visit our site at http://www.beefjerkyrecipes.info

Moon Magic

The Moon has a mystique all its own. It is often associated with secrecy and mystery ... and is associated with strange, uncanny powers. It evokes a peculiar range of responses in cultures everywhere, from curiosity and wonder, to romance and affection, to awe and dread. In legend (and the lore of police and hospital personnel), the Full Moon brings forth weird behaviors, extreme reactions, and over-the-top emotional outbursts associated with no other time on the calendar.

Folktales and superstitions tell of the Full Moon being the time when witches, werewolves, goblins, ghosts, and vampires were able to penetrate he other realms ... and walk on earth again -- creating problems and a fair amount of fright, whether they were real or not. Dogs, wolves, and the coyotes here in the desert howl mournfully at the Moon ... and the sound is certainly enough to catch your attention, and prompt you to make sure all your doors are well locked for the night.

Some people claim that the minds of the already unbalanced are driven over the edge by the power of the Full Moon ... for reasons that remain a mystery ... but the word lunatic as a designation for someone insane, has its roots in the Latin word for Moon. In contemporary Spanish, La Luna ... is still the Moon.

On the other hand, people fall in love under the Full Moon. It's hard to see a beautiful yellow-gold Moon rising ... and not want to walk along the sea shore ... or into the desert night ... hand-in-hand with the one you love. Love songs and poems that evoke the magic imagery of the Moon are found in many cultures and all through the generations.

Ancient cultures worshiped the Moon, and held ceremonies, rituals, and festivals in its honor. Many contemporary primitive people continue to give the Moon divine status. Mythologies speak of Moon Goddesses ... and even the image evokes feelings of a powerful archetypal energy. The Moon influences the tides. It influences the gravitational field of the earth. It influences the fertility cycle in some (and maybe all) species.

(c) 2007 Rebecca Brents, All rights reserved.

In Astrology, the Moon is considered the second most important placement in a Natal Chart and thus the second most powerful influence on and descriptor of a person's character. As I've said in many places and at many times, I'm not sure you can set that kind of hierarchy ... because the Moon may be every bit as important and essential as the Sun.

The Moon represents your emotional self, your inner self, your instincts, habits, and automatic reactions. The sign it occupies in the Zodiac at any given time will color your reactions, feelings and personal responses according to the issues and characteristics represented by the sign involved. The Moon changes signs every 2 1/2 days ... and keeping track of the Moon's position in its travels through your Natal Chart is one of the very best ways I know to stay in touch with the currents of your own emotional flow.

Rebecca Brents writes on a wide variety of spiritual and new age subjects, including astrology, tarot, feng shui, alternative health, metaphysics, and self-improvement. She publishes the extensive online new age Ezine, The Enchanted Sprite on her website: Enchanted Spirit, and offers numerous online new age lectures and new age classes in these various fields. She also provides astrology readings, tarot readings, and personal consultations through The Enchanted Spirit Metaphysical Source Shop. Stop by and subscribe to her free new age ezine, New Age-New Horizons.

Using the Market Conditions to help in the Fresh Start Presentation

The real estate market like any other asset class is in a constant state of motion. Property values are either going up, down or are stabilized at all times. We know this just by reading the newspapers, watching television and listening to neighbor?s gossip about their asset (the home). Not very scientific way of figuring out a market, but probably as good as if not better than most because it gets to the emotion of the homeowner in trouble. If the homeowner believes it is a sellers market he/she will absolutely try to sell or refinance before listening to you. If it is a buyers market then you are a welcomed guest if you can put money in their pocket for this dog of an asset they purchased long ago. If it is a stagnant or equal market well then the homeowner will be unsure of the value because the newspapers will be onto another subject. There are three types of markets in real estate. They are 1) the Sellers Market; 2) Buyers market; 3) a stagnant market where prices remain constant.

The definition of the Sellers Market, Buyers Market and Market in equilibrium is a look back model that uses two figures to determine a label for which market you are in. They are market time and inventory.

Market Time Defined

Market time is defined by the amount of days that a property in the location stays on the market. For example in a Sellers Market average sales time will be under sixty (60) days. Equal Market average sales time will be under one hundred (100) days. For a Buyers market average sale time will be over 100 days.

Inventory defined

Inventory is simply the amount of houses on the market divided by the average amount of sales typical for that area per month. Sellers Market would be less than three (3) months inventory on hand in a given area. Equal Market would be between three months and six months of inventory on hand. Buyers Market would be having inventory over six months on hand.

SELLERS MARKET FSP

A sellers market is a market where a property will sell within sixty days of being introduced to the market. This market also has a low inventory of properties on the market. This would be defined as anything less than three months inventory in your specific area. Another indication of a sellers market is that the price of the product begins to appreciate until it finally is out of the reach of the buyers causing the market to cool down.

This market can be prolonged by certain financial products such as the interest only loan, negative amortization type of loan, graduate payment loan and of course the variable rate loan. All of which we have seen in both Philadelphia and Massachusetts.

Based upon all of the factors going against the back up plan we offer it is a hard position to find the deals that we need during this type of market and as purchasers we are forced to purchase at auction as well as going to the properties and trying to purchase pre-foreclosure.

Locator in Hot Sellers Market

The locator in a hot market has a hard presentation. Every homeowner feels that they can get market price and that is more than we can pay. This happens because local neighborhood gossip, newspapers in the area saying how much property has risen year over year or month over month. Homeowners are saturated with information about how valuable their real estate is worth.

Next the homeowner is targeted with lending offers to refinance because the value of the home has skyrocketed- use your homes as an ATM machine to pull out some equity and live for a few more years.

Both the low market time and low inventory time cause our business of purchasing properties to be very frustrating. The homeowners are aware that they can sell a home relatively fast even quicker than an auction can be had.

It Makes for a hard market to purchase properties prior to the auction. It is what we call our recession. It allows a homeowner to choose from a group of choices. Essentially we are a back up plan or safety net. In this type of market we need to price correctly and purchase at the last minute from homeowners who have tried everything else.

Buyers Market FSP

A buyers market is defined by sales of properties taking takes over 100 days to sell. The Inventory in this market will stack up to well over six months worth of sales. The homeowner in this situation has only a few options. Financing companies say that they can refinance but usually can not due to the falling value of the appraisal on the home. Remember the newspapers are littered with information regarding the fall of the real estate market. It is the fear of the day for most local newspapers.

Here are a few local articles

?Sellers Frustrated With Real Estate Market
Home Sales Down In Bay State
POSTED: 6:05 pm EDT August 15, 2006
UPDATED: 7:37 pm EDT August 15, 2006

WALPOLE, Mass. -- Quarterly home sales are down in a widespread area of Massachusetts, but prices are only down slightly.

Copyright 2006 by TheBostonChannel.com?

?Market unease: Home prices fall 3.5%
Weakening demand leads to largest decline in Mass. in 13 years
By Kimberly Blanton, Globe Staff August 24, 2006
Home prices in Massachusetts fell 3.5 percent in July, the largest decline in 13 years, as the slowdown in the real estate market finally led sellers to cut their prices.?

?July home sales plunge 27%

The Lowell Sun

Massachusetts single-family home sales plunged almost 27 percent in July, the largest year-over-year monthly drop in more than 11 years, according to a report released today by The Warren Group of Boston. ?

?Buyer?s market: Housing sales dip, prices may follow
By Ben Aaronson/ Staff Writer
Thursday, August 24, 2006 - Updated: 09:08 AM EST

You can?t drive through town without seeing a For Sale or Open House sign and they represent a statewide trend.

According to a recent report by the Massachusetts Association of Realtors, home sales statewide fell nearly 11 percent in the second quarter (April to June), marking the fifth consecutive quarter that activity has declined from the same period the pervious year. Housing inventories are at an all-time high and homes are staying on the market longer, the report found. ?

Locator in Buyers Market

The locator in a buyer market has a much easier presentation. Every homeowner has undergone the conditioning of the newspapers, local gossip etc. that the sky is falling rapidly and that their investment is no longer worth what it was one year ago.

This advertisement of the fall of real estate prices and the end of the price appreciation stops the appraisers? from appraising the properties correctly. Instead of using the standard comparable. The appraiser checks a box and states that property pricing are declining and begins to cover himself/herself with lower and lower values for the property. This causes the banks to tighten up on underwriting guidelines making it harder to refinance their way out of the foreclosure.

Without the refinance the homeowner either has to do one of the following:

1) Restructure the mortgage causing higher payments. Problem with a restructure is that it costs more monthly for a short period of time. Usually very hard for the homeowner to come up with the money.

2) Sell on the open market. Problem is that market time has risen to the point where the foreclosure process is faster than the tie they have to sell the property.

3) File for bankruptcy. This normally costs $2,500 for the lawyer, filing fees and 10% of the plan debt to the trustee. It also has a 75% failure rate.

Consequently our FSP becomes a very viable option for the homeowner.

We are in this market now so find your local newspaper articles and put them in your book to show the homeowners what is happening out there. Make your presentation and then close the deal.

The locators biggest problem during this time is the manager (Investor) has more trouble pricing the properties because of the downward spiral of the market.

Market In Equilibrium:

An even market is when a property is sold within 61-100 days of listing. Inventory is usually six months or less. This is the market that is the easiest to procure deals. It allows the investor to feel warm and fuzzy knowing almost to the penny that the property he/she is purchasing is worth what they think that it is worth.

The Newspapers simply go on to another story and leave the real estate market alone or have articles stating that the market is stable.

Locator in Equilibrium

The locator in a stable market has the best of all worlds. Prices are staying steady keeping the manager happy and all is quiet regarding real estate in the newspapers.

Again it is an easy presentation. The homeowner has seen his equity disappear and no longer knows what the value of the real estate is and just wants to get out from the obligation.

The homeowner is left with one of the three options of a down market:

1) Restructure the mortgage causing higher payments. Problem with a restructure is that it costs more monthly for a short period of time. Usually very hard for the homeowner to come up with the money.

2) Sell on the open market. Problem is that market time has risen to the point where the foreclosure process is faster than the tie they have to sell the property.

3) File for bankruptcy. This normally costs $2,500 for the lawyer, filing fees and 10% of the plan debt to the trustee. It also has a 75% failure rate.

Consequently our FSP becomes a very viable option for the homeowner.

So what does this all have to do with the Fresh Start Presentation (FSP)? Remember the Fresh Start Presentation is the Homeowner Options slide show that you have. It goes through the advantages and disadvantages of the seven (7) options available to the financially distressed homeowner.

They are as follows:
1)Sell on the Open Market
2)Refinance the home
3)Restructure the mortgage
4)File bankruptcy
5)Borrow from friends and family
6)Let it go to foreclosure
7)Sell to an investor

Well each type of market has different advantages and disadvantages to the locator.

Use the newspapers to translate into a selling benefit during your FSP. We need to educate the homeowner that we are in a period where houses do not sell for last years prices but that they are actually going down in price each and every day. Time as usual is the enemy of a homeowner in this situation.

A good locator that wants to maximize his sales would do the following:

1)Read the local newspaper where your route is and cut out the articles that will help get the homeowner off the price they thought it was worth. Copy the article and give it to the homeowner when talking about the price.
2)While he/she is reading the article tell the homeowner that the property may be worth 3,4,5,6,7% less by the time they actually move out, the property is repainted and put on the market by the company.
3) This risk is for our company to worry about unless the homeowner decides to try to sell it on his own.

Good Hunting
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