Our new cat! renaissance pet portraits of our cats!

 When we looked at our house there were kittens in the basement. When we got our house we ended up with a boy and a girl. I was in a car accident and did not realize that kittens can get pregnant so fast. I was home alone and Orbit had 4 kittens, one was born not breathing, but I rubbed her until she took a breath. Now, about 16 years later we are blessed to still have Orbit with us. She was an amazing mom!  In the beginning of the year we were given the opportunity to save a cat from going to the Humane Society. She is spunky! 

We named her Doublemint.

Orbit and her sleep on our bed every night and are getting along great! 

Orbit! She likes to talk a lot. 

I took many pictures pictures of the kittens and their dad, and they are hanging all over the house. 

I was given the opportunity to review a pet portrait. I was really excited to check out the options, We have all seen the picture of dogs playing poker. How cool is it that the Mr and mrs paw website allows you to insert pictures of your own pets in great poses!! You can choose up to 4 pets and they have renaissance pet portraits of Duke poses, avenger poses, and even some Star Wars and Titanic inspired poses. There are Harry potter themes, Game of thrones, sports and many others. There are also many different items you can put the picture on, of course canvas portraits, but there are also phone cases, pillows, and mugs. there is something for everyone! 

I chose the pose I did because I wanted my cats to be looking at each other. They also both act prim and proper at times, so I thought the suits were a great fit for them.  

I have many pictures of my pets on my facebook page, and this portrait is a great addition to add to our living room. 

Shapellx - A great waist trainer to try

So I am currently on a massive diet, so that I do not need to have surgery. I have lost weight, and am happy with the amount that I have lost. However I want to lose more. I have been looking around at different things to try, and I came across SHAPELLX. 

 

This is the description of their waist trainers:

Waist Trainer

Waist Trainers that work Collection
For a turn-heads body and creating your own signature “snatched-waist” look, go for our elastic waist-trainers.
Made to be progressively tightened, they tone, slim, and shape your waistline — taking inches off your belly.
Our waist trainers line helps improve your posture and make your torso appear visually longer.

They help you sit up straight and encourage proper lifting technique, for when you’re at the gym,
while you’re getting all the benefits of better form & better fitness.
The secret added benefit of wearing a waist trainer is that during meals it’ll make you feel full faster, as it squeezes your stomach. This will help you lower your portion sizes and achieve indirect weight loss benefits as well.
This heavy lifting multitasking category of waist strainers will sculpt and shape your body and targeting the areas you want most, for maximum results.

This is also a great way to help sit straight and to help my back. There is also a variety of sizes. Check out the sizes HERE. 

Shapellx makes their products in different colors as well. I thought that this was great to fit anyone's wardrobe. There are also v-necks for dresses, etc. I like that I can go on their site, with my chosen outfit, and have numerous choices of what to wear. Not only am I training my waist, but I am also helping my stomach, because the product wants me to eat less. I also really like that the shapers are full body.   

There is a sale right now, and the company supports Paypal and Payoneer. I think that the prices are reasonable and would love to try any of these products. While checking the shapers out, don't forget to take a look at the great line of swimwear and undergarments! 

This is a sponsored post. However, ALL opinions above are my own.

The way you like him

Impress Him by Cooking

One way that you can impress the man that you love is by cooking. Sure it is wonderful to be taken out to restaurants but that is not the most intimate and romantic thing that you can do. Being alone just the two of you with lighted candles and a meal made for two is the thing that impresses a man the most. So do something extra special and prepare his favorite meal like shrimp scampi linguine. No meal can say I love you except a meal that you made yourself from scratch. Take the time to buy what you need, remember the wine, the candles, and some fresh flowers for the table. Have everything ready and let him sit back and enjoy the meal.

Let Him Know Your Feelings

Sometimes it is difficult for men to discuss their feelings. They are not as used to being completely open and emotional or saying things from the heart as women are. Find the right time to talk and don’t do it when he seems stressed or moody. A man in a good mood and completely relaxed is ready to listen to you. Keep in mind how long you have been seeing each other and when you talk to him about how you feel don’t make him feel like you are pressuring him into doing something or feeling something he is not ready to do or feel. Perhaps start off by offering him some food like a shrimp burger and after he has enjoyed his food start telling him what is on your mind. Just tell him openly and honestly how you feel but don’t expect him to feel exactly the same way. Give him time to think about what you have said and then let him tell you what he thinks. If he is less enthusiastic about your relationship at the moment than you are, give him time and space. If you continue to be loving and good toward him in time he will loosen up and perhaps begin to reciprocate more special feelings toward you as well.

Give Him a Gift

Gift giving is always an uncomfortable thing for a man. Usually they think you expect a gift from them and do not expect a gift from you. It also depends on how long the two of you have been seeing each other. If it has been 6 months or more you are safe to get him something and he won’t think it is too strange. Perhaps you might consider showing him that you understand that there are times he would like to go out with his friends instead of spending another evening with you. That is perfectly alright and you might consider giving him two tickets for a sports event he has been wanting to see so he can go to enjoy it with his best buddy. You can bet he will appreciate this gesture from you. If it is his birthday and you are not sure what to get him, remember that men want to be acknowledged but do not care too much if you give them a special gift or not. So on his birthday bake him a special cake like an eclair cake. He will appreciate it more than if you give him cologne or a watch that he might not even want. Keep the gift giving to a minimum and you will score more points with your man than by showering him with gifts that he won’t really appreciate.

Child has a vacation

Adults might not realize that a child can also be stressed and emotionally exhausted. They always seem to have fun playing and acting as if life is full of joy. You have to remember that children worry a lot because they are little and they cannot really understand the world around them. They have the stress of going to school every day. They might not like their teacher or they might be afraid of a bully. Then they have to go home and do their homework. So life for children is also not just a joyful ride. They also look forward to vacation time when school is out for the summer and they look forward to weekends when they can be with their families. Take the time to greet your children coming from school by baking them a special treat like a honey bun cake that they can have with milk before they have to go do their homework. Remember to see that they have time for rest or having a nap so that they can fully relax when they are at home.

Take Some Time for Reading When Your Children Are On Vacation

The one thing all children look forward to is summer vacation. However a summer vacation should not be all fun there should also be some time for some learning. Now that school is out for a while have your children take the time to fill in workbooks and do quizzes that will train their minds and see how much they learned at school in the past year. One way for children to practice the skills they learned during the school year is by reading. They don’t have to read much but they should take time to read at least for half an hour a day. For older children take a look to see if your local library sponsors a summer reading program. Get your children interested and treat them to something delicious like a 7up cake to show them that you are rewarding them for taking the effort to do a little work even during summer vacation. You can create fun activities for them like doing gardening chores or helping around the house.

How to Make Your Children’s Vacation Unforgettable

One of the important things about family vacations is to focus on the time you’ll spend together not on how much it will cost. Plan activities that you can do together as a family and remember to make a reasonable budget so that everyone can enjoy vacation time. Plan activities that will be fun for both younger and older children and activities that parents can join in on. Have your whole family in on the planning and write up ideas. Finally choose the most reasonable idea and have everyone in on planning where you’ll go, stay, and what you will do. If you have everyone in on the planning you know your vacation will go well. While you’re sitting around planning your vacation make your family a special meal like shrimp lo mein. Once you have decided where you’ll spend your vacation make sure that everyone agrees on the activities you’ll participate in and make sure you set aside a day or two just for relaxing and doing whatever comes to mind at the place you are staying at. Remember that it is not the amount of money you can spend on vacation to make it memorable but the amount of quality time you can spend together as a family.

Reading books

How to Enjoy Reading Books

It is simply a fact that there are people who enjoy reading and those who usually don’t even try to read a book. Books can be a pleasure to read because they can take you into another world and let you escape from your problems for awhile. Take a trip to your local library and enter into the cool and quiet space where there are many shelves all lined with books. Take a deep sniff and pick up the wonderful scent of the pages all filled with things to tell you. Of course, a book cannot speak it is an inanimate object but it speaks through the words of the author that wrote it. Let’s say you have seen a movie and you enjoyed the characters. You still won’t know everything there is to know about them unless you read the book that came before the movie. Decide what genres you enjoy like fiction, non-fiction, history, true stories, and such. Then take a look at what books are available in your chosen genre. You are sure to find something of interest and you can be sure once you begin reading you won’t want to put your book down. When you are at home find a quiet space all to yourself for reading where nothing will distract you. Make yourself some coffee or tea and have a freshly baked slice of crumb cake by your side. Then open your book and step into another world and you’ll leave the world you know behind for a while.

Why I Started Reading

There are many reasons that people begin reading for me it just came naturally from childhood once I learned to read. Later on, there were school books which I had to read for school which might not have interested me as much but were required. When I got the chance to make my own choices at first I chose to read novels. Some of the classics like books by Dickens caught my interest because there were so many fascinating fictional characters that I would otherwise never have known existed. If a book really held my interest I could read for hours. When I discovered Hollywood films created movies from some of the books I enjoyed I was overjoyed to see the characters I loved come to life on the big screen. I also discovered books that could teach me new things. I discovered that I enjoyed cooking by reading my first cookbook and making some of my first meals like shrimp risotto. It was interesting to see that I could create this meal by reading about it in the cookbook. Once I knew that I could find books in many different genres I was completely hooked and always looked for another book to enjoy once I finished reading the book I had previously chosen.

     The Benefits of Reading

Even though some people might not believe it, there are many benefits to reading. First of all after a stressful day a book will help you to relax. Books have the ability to take you far from reality depending on what you have chosen to read. When you begin you feel the stress of the day slipping away from you and your thoughts are now elsewhere. Books can educate you about things you did not know existed and offer you different thoughts and ideas. They can give your memory a boost and offer your vocabulary expansion. Keep a dictionary handy when you are reading to look up the words you discover and did not know before. Reading a book at bedtime will help you drift off to sleep quicker once your thoughts are not racing around thinking of the things you have to still do but have you concentrating on the story you are reading. Many books can be very entertaining and will provide you hours of entertainment where you use your imagination as to what is happening in the book.

    How to Make Reading Fun

Reading can be fun because there are so many books to choose from. You can start off with fiction and find yourself traveling around European countries in the pages of a book. Going to different libraries is fun too Seeing the architecture and design of the library and choosing a special book to read there. Reading can start you off on many different hobbies like arts and crafts or encourage you to try your hand at gardening or cooking. If you already enjoy cooking it can be fun trying different cuisines and making dishes like blackened shrimp which might not be something you thought you would try until you picked up that cookbook. Think about events in history that you are interested in and find a book that will tell you about them. If you like try some audio books where you can listen to the book and close your eyes and imagine what is happening. These are just some ways to make reading fun.

Never too early to introduce tumble air track to your life!

Never too early to introduce tumble air track to your life

Is it a good idea for a kid to start gymnastics at his early age? If the kids take no interest in it, they would be absent-minded when involved with the activities they don¡¯t like, however, gymnastics is not that activity you may think, it is the best activity which will benefit your kids in their lifetime. Gymnastics exercise can help kids to develop physically and psychologically, exercising on the airtrack home edition price will have a significantly positive impact on their social relationship, physical and psychological condition. Once the kids engage in gymnastics practice, their judgment becomes more complicated as they are able to analyze the environment around them whether is safe or not, their ability of analysis associates closely with their physical development. Kids learn lots of basic skills with the airtrack review in gym class, a safe environment with the air track mat makes it easier for the kids to master gross motor skills and keep body coordination and balance, also good judgment, self-confidence and mental discipline are developed as well.

As the kids grow up, they gradually are aware that each success in the mastery of gymnastics skills should go through practicing in repeated times, then they will focus on self-improvement, even the competition. Therefore, to introduce the gymnastics to a stage from toddler to an older child become very critical to their life. Gymnastics class beginning with a small child will be a good opportunity for the parents to associate their kids with healthy activities, this is a valuable incentive to develop your kids to be active in sports, it is never too early to put this idea into reality. If you are the parents who much concern about your child¡¯s growth and self-improvement, it is a good idea to make them be aware of exercising on air track which is beneficiary to their physical and mental development, let them begin gymnastics when they are a small child.

Tempus Raises $80 Million in Latest Funding Round

Tempus Raises $80 Million in Latest Funding Round

One key to successfully fighting cancer is the ability to track knowledge and share individual successes universally. That defines the approach taken by Tempus, the medical technology company co-founded by current CEO Eric Lefkofsky.

In March of 2018 the two-year-old Chicago-based tech firm raised $80 million in new funding to continue its work. This comes after an initial $70 million investment was raised the previous year.

The company accumulates clinical data to focus on new trends in cancer treatment around the world and to generate learnings found in the treatment of individual patients. This involves a range of advanced technology approaches. For instance, one strategy is to digitize oncologists’ notes and make them searchable and readily available universally so that individual successes can be replicated and the pool of knowledge can be organically grown.

The firm also provides state-of-the-art DNA and RNA sequencing services based on cutting edge analytics and advanced imaging recognition algorithm capabilities to improve treatment predictions and outcomes.

The end goal of all of the new and improved technologies is to enable physicians and cancer researchers to make better data-driven treatment decisions.

Partnership and shared knowledge is critical to the young company’s scientific approach. That’s why Tempus works with pharmaceutical firms, individual doctors and research and hospital systems that include the Mayo Clinic and those of the University of Michigan, Northwestern University and the University of Chicago. In short, the young company works with almost half of the academic medical centers in the United States. The company believes that this combined, cleaned up and shared knowledge is a valuable tool in the improved treatment of cancers of all kinds.

The investment round completed in March came from several respected investor sources, including funds under the direction of T. Rowe Price Associates. Other investor groups behind the recent funding round included Revolution Growth, Kinship Trust Company and New Enterprise Associates.

Crain’s Chicago Business estimates that the startup company is already valued at $1.1 billion. It has some 400 employees, and Lefkofsky says that his firm is growing at the rate of about 30 new employees every month. That employee base includes teams of physicians, scientists, engineers and IT professionals.

The company co-founder is no stranger to entrepreneurial success. Lefkofsky has founded numerous tech companies. In 2016, he and his wife, Liz, established the Lefkofsky Family Foundation to donate to a range of charitable causes.

They have deep roots in the city. Lefkofsky serves as chairman of the board of trustees for the Steppenwolf Theatre and he’s a trustee of the Art Institute of Chicago, the Museum of Science and Industry and Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago. Furthermore, he’s an adjunct professor at the University of Chicago.

Eric Lefkofsky’s fight for better cancer outcomes is personal, and his company is well positioned to be a prime player in that ongoing battle.