Modern Furniture: A Staging Must!

When it comes to selling your property, there is no doubt about it, you need to appeal to the masses. This means that your 15 year old living room set won't cut it. There are, however some simple solutions that can help you modernize the look of your home, without necessarily breaking the bank. For instance, if you were planning on updating your furniture once you've moved into your new house, it may be wise to do so right away and move the furniture once your house is sold. Certain items such as chairs and sofas can be re-upholstered to give them a fresh new look. You can also invest in inexpensive accessories that will attract the buyer's attention to a more modern decor while preventing your old comfy couch from becoming an eyesore.

As a first step, you will need to determine which furnishing items you will be keeping once you are in the new house and which ones you will be replacing. It is crucial that this step be taken immediately as it will go a long way in helping you sell your home. It is wise and even recommended that the furniture you are planning on replacing after you move, be replaced immediately. It's time to go shopping! Yes it may be a hassle to buy it all now and then move it once the house is sold but remember that if buyers are not making offers because the house doesn't appeal to then, you may never be buying all this furniture, whereas buyers will be more likely to make an offer on a house they see themselves living in. Although they will not be buying your furniture, it is the overall look of the house that has to speak to the buyer. You need to guide their imagination and show them how nice it can be.

Although you are planning to move, you may not be planning on purchasing new furniture. After all, why throw away such good comfortable furniture that has already been broken into. There is also a simple solution for that. Slip covers for sofas, love seats and armchairs are a fantastic and inexpensive way to breathe new life into your dated living room set. For the bedrooms, whenever possible remove any headboards with a dated took and use fresh modern linen to dress your beds. Set the dining table with modern plates and a bright centerpiece to attract attention away from the older table. Re-upholster chairs for a fresh modern look. If your rooms are over flowing with furniture, it will be important to get some of it out of the house and arrange to store it until your house is sold.

Last but not least, you can use decorative items and accessories to attract the buyer's attention and tone down the dated look. Bright, bold and contrasting colors tend to attract the eye. The buyer will be focused on the colorful item and will probably be less likely to notice the dated decor. The most important accessories you can modernize are your window coverings. They are a dead giveaway and no matter how expensive and chic they are, if they are from another time, it will be a turnoff to the modern buyer. Other examples of using accessories to deter attention can be a contrasting colored throw placed on an older couch, which will catch the buyer's eye. The same is true for an old dresser. You can easily invest in a colorful, modern vase to offset the age of the dresser. Adding art to your walls will also have the same effect. The idea is to tone down the older furniture by enhancing it with modern accessories.

In the end, you do not have to buy or rent new furniture to stage your house. You simply need to give buyers what they are looking for and if that is a modern look and feel, there are ways of doing it without spending thousands on furniture you don't necessarily like. If you are going to be changing your furniture, by all means, buy it and stage your house with it. It will go a long way. If this purchase is not part of your plan or your budget, you can use re-upholstering as an effective alternative to bring your old items into the twenty first century. alternately, you can also use modern decorative accessories to give your buyers the impression of a modernized look. The options are plenty and the more modern the look, the more likely you are to sell quickly.

Podcasting and How to Make It Real Easy for You

Podcasting is one of the newest waves of online media. It's use mainly for communication as well as for Internet promotion. Podcasting has also evolved that you can hear it not only in your PC or laptop but also in your mobile phone.

Learning how to podcast doesn't have to be too complicated. You can begin with these ideas:

Set up your equipment. Others would create their own mini studio, complete with software and other equipment. You can do that, but if you don't have a budget, you simply need a dependable headset with a microphone. You can choose one that can reduce outside noise to its minimum level. You also need to have a computer that has a great speed.

Find a quiet spot. You don't want your podcast to pick up unnecessary background noise, such as crying babies, honking cars, and music-blasting radios, and a whole lot more. Thus, you need to look for a place where you can never be bothered by them. You can also pick the best time to do the podcast. For example, if you have children, the most ideal time is when they are already in school.

Know what you're going to say. If you have a niche, you should find a topic that is related to your chosen industry or specialization. For instance, if you're an interior designer, your podcast may be about how to decorate a home during the summer or how to create throw pillows without spending a lot of money.

Should you create a script? Yes, it's important you do so for a number of reasons. First, people expect your podcast to last for only a few minutes, the longest perhaps an hour. Anything longer than that and your listeners would start to get real bored. They are also busy individuals.

Second, you want to get rid of dead air, which drags the podcasts or makes you less authoritative. A script can also be edited to make your monologue more engaging and pleasant to hear.

Try it. Since you're new to podcast, you may want to have a dry run first before officially recording your first audio. This is to test your equipment, to practice your speaking voice (perhaps it needs modulation), hear how you sound to listeners, and get initial feedback.

Get rid of the tensed nerves. Even if you're simply recording your voice, you can't help it but feel a little bit tensed. Would I buckle? Would I have listeners? What would they say? Would I receive a lot of complaints or criticism?

You have to put aside all your worries, though, since they tend to show in your manner of speaking. To help calm yourself down, you can watch subliminal messages videos, which are actually affirmations. The panoramic sceneries, the soothing sounds, and, most of all, the hard-hitting messages about empowerment and confidence would give you a fresh and positive mind-set.

You can watch the videos at least a few days before the podcast, and you need to do so regularly. This way, your subconscious mind would really be able to pick up the messages.

The Government Can't Protect You and Bigger Government Can Do Even Less To Assist You

Indeed, I am so amazed that in the aftermath of Hurricane, Super Storm Sandy that left-leaning socialist thinking political pundits are using this horrible storm as a launching point to purport into the mass media that this is exactly why we need a big government. That is to say that we need enormous agencies and big government to help rebuild and save people from catastrophe. Well, personally, I'd say that is nonsense, in fact the reality is just the opposite. Let me explain.

There was a troubling piece in Government Executive News on November 1, 2012 titled; "GSA rushes supplies to Sandy response teams," by Charles S. Clark and you might want to look that article up and check out the picture attached.

Now then let me ask you all something; if the government can't even supply its own teams trying to help out, then how the hell is it supposed to help the people its suppose to serve? It can't, and just look at the accompanying picture. This is your government at work, they put in the dikes, drew up the flood plans, and engineered this potential failure, wake up the government cannot protect you, it cannot even supply itself to keep the people there it has sent in.

Look the truck terminals, ports, and many rail heads -- if not the tracks leading into the area which had the most damage -- are still out, and most will be for 3-5 days. Power is expected to be back in most areas by November 11, but the storm occurred on October 29-30. FEMA and first responders have hijacked most of the remaining bandwidth on the 3G and 4G wireless networks for their own uses. Thus, businesses cannot help themselves or get their services up and running.

So when left-leaning folks say that business and the free-market cannot move mountains to fix the damage or restore society and civilization, it's not that they can't, it's that they are not allowed too. Meanwhile, the government, the most bureaucratic organization on Earth comes in to take control to feed their own engine up and beyond the needs of the people, and then they will duly deliver to the people what "they deem" appropriate, not what the citizens or those in need, truly want or need.

When it comes to disasters in the US, the government doesn't do nearly as much as they claim they are doing, and on those rare occasions they do, it's usually through the help of businesses, or individuals which just happen to be amongst their ranks, who probably could have done much more through the free-market to help out. Look, I know for a fact what I'm talking about here. I've been amongst the private sector in times of chaos and calamity.

I can't tell you how many times the government stopped us from serving those who were truly in need, blocking off roads, or preventing passage, and even threatening arrest if I helped my fellow man. It's BS what goes on, just ask anyone in the know, and those who think otherwise, they don't know, they just spout off this big government BS, and demand that everyone else feed the bureaucracy with tax monies. I'm quite frankly tired of it.

Prayer of Protection From Selfishness

The prayer of the Psalmist to his LORD:

"Turn my heart to your decrees, and not to selfish gain." ~Psalm 119:36 (NRSV)

In this day and age, or in any day, we may be blessed most of all in relinquishing our extraneous desires. When we become aware of our overburdening desire, that which is selfishly motivated, we will be blessed when we take courage to turn back to God by turning our hearts to the LORD'S decrees. In New Testament language these decrees - the ordinances, precepts, and commandments of God - God's Law - are love.

Love is the higher law.

When we pray a prayer for protection from selfishness, we pray for awareness of our motives, and for the courage to surrender willfully our selfishness to God. We pray, additionally, that we might come to repent in orders of love toward those close by us; our loved ones, our friends, our work colleagues, and those we fellowship with in our church settings.

THE PRAYER FOR PROTECTION FROM SELFISHNESS

Most gracious God and Father of all creation,

I bear witness of your glorious nature and unfathomable power for goodness. Nothing compares to you, O God. I come before you, as I do always, as a servant who has no right to do your work, apart from the right with which was bought for me by Jesus Christ my Lord. I am humbled in your Presence when I think of being apportioned work within your Kingdom; that you consider me worthy enough to join in your work. Your work is the biggest privilege of my life.

I confess before you, Almighty God, that I have this motivated self-interest and that I seem to be unable to live without selfishness when I'm without your Presence. I need you, for I need your protection against this foe: the extraneous desire. Without you in my life, my life would be pointless, and my selfishness would completely ruin me.

I thank you in advance for the things you are already doing in and through my life to expunge my encroaching sin. Whilst I am aware, I can give my selfishness to you. And as I act in selfishness, please LORD, remind me of my folly of short-sightedness.

I need you, Holy Spirit, to continually reveal the vanities of my desire. Draw me into your Word, LORD. Help me be honest regarding my poisonous desires. Help me to find ways of quelling my selfish desires. I ask for the peace that transcends understanding in order that the glory for having controlled these selfish desires runs to you, O God.

It's in Jesus' salvific name that I pray, AMEN.

***

Where would we be in life without love? We would be marooned; vanquished without purpose; completely devoid of hope. Everything that is selfish sets itself against love, but everything that is selfless promotes love.

When we pray for protection from selfishness, we pray for God's power to know his will and to love God and everyone else more.

© 2012 S. J. Wickham.

Vincent Van Gogh, the Tragic Story of a Brilliant Painter

Twelve years after his tragic suicide, Vincent's work was discovered by a Parisian art dealer. Until then, no one, except for those who knew him personally, had ever even heard the name. Today, large sums of money are exchanged for his work.

Vincent was born in the Dutch village of Zundert, in the south of the Netherlands. He studied theology and became a preacher in the Methodist Church. He also worked for several different art dealers in The Hague, London and Paris. Only in 1880 does he start painting, first traditional and very "Dutch", reflecting the Dutch rainy climate with many dark brown colors.

In 1886 Vincent moves to Paris, and two years later to Arles, on the Mediterranean, near Marseille. On the 20th of October of that year, Vincent's friend Gauguin joins him in Arles. Vincent's art becomes lighter in color, showing the Mediterranean sunlight in it.

Two months after Gauguin comes to Arles, Vincent has a schizophrenic episode and cuts a piece of his own ear off. The years following, Vincent starts to get very sick, and he eventually kills himself in 1890. His brother, Theo van Gogh, who had supported Vincent all of his life, dies seven months after Vincent, possibly from grief.

Van Gogh never sold a painting in his life. Today, his paintings are the most expensively sold in the world, and are admired around the globe in many museums and private collections. He also is celebrated as the forerunner of the expressionist movement.

Bitterness Can Make You Sick

I watched as the razor-sharp knife of the skilled surgeon performed the delicate, life-saving task of repairing an aneurism in the elderly man's stomach. I had a close-up view from a stool beside the operating table.

At that time several years ago, I shared an office building with this surgeon and his partners. He had finally said "yes" to my request to "let me watch one day." I knew it would be interesting, but I didn't know that I'd be blessed with a very graphic life lesson in that operating room. I'll spare you most of the very gory details. I had only been used to "verbal gore," not red stuff. Thank God there are those who are called to be surgeons--I'm not!

Anyway, back to the Operating Room. The task was to cut out the aneurism and replace it with a synthetic graft.The doctor had located the aneurism, had clamped off the arteries, and had begun to remove the crud (medical term, I'm sure) from the affected section of artery. I was amazed at the amount of stuff (another medical term) that he piled into the container. This HAD to be life threatening. The blood is the life flow of the body. If it can't flow where it's needed, the person can't live. At that moment, dressed in my surgery garb and totally grossed out, a powerful insight flashed into my spirit. This blockage is a lot like bitterness. Something negative happens in your life, and little by little, its poison accumulates, blocking the flow of life energy. Before my eyes was a living metaphor for BITTERNESS. Think through it with me.

CUMULATIVE CHOICES CREATE CUMULATIVE HARM.

That patient had made lifestyle choices that resulted in an accumulation of unhealthy material in the critical arteries that sustained his life.

The bitter person also makes choices--dwelling on the offense, mentally (or physically) performing little acts of revenge, refusing to forgive. The poison accumulates.

THE PROBLEM GROWS, AND ITS IMPACT SPREADS.

From a physical standpoint, the blood flow is critical. Block its flow to the heart or other vital organs and you have a catastrophic impact.

Each person has a similar flow of emotional and spiritual energy. The consequences of a blockage in these life-giving channels are just as tragic as an aneurism can be. The problem grows and its impact spreads.

Imagine that you released a drop of red food coloring into a beaker of water. At first you'd see a red dot. Soon you'd see pink water. Like the drop of food coloring, anger that is nurtured grows and deepens. It begins to affect every "system"--relationships, attitudes, motivation, and productivity.

DRAMATIC INTERVENTION IS NECESSARY TO SAVE A LIFE.

Thankfully, under the care of this experienced and competent surgeon, the patient got a chance to live an estimated 20 to 30 years longer. He would be freer to do the things that he enjoyed. Yes, there would be a painful period of recovery from this major surgery, but it was worth it.

You may or may not need professional help to release yourself from the bitterness you've harbored. Notice I said release YOURSELF, not release the other person(s). They are going on their merry way. (Of course, this can make you madder.)

I've had clients tell me, "If I forgive, that person will go scott-free." News flash! The other person(s) are already out there ppursuing their life interests. It's YOU who is suffering for holding onto bitterness. It you whose irritability and short fuse is robbing you of peace in relationships you value. It's you whose physical health is deteriorating because of anger. It's you whose sleep is disturbed and whose positive energy is sapped. It's you whose creativity is stifled and whose productivity is diminished.

In the next article, I'll share with you some "how-to's" on FORGIVING to RELEASE YOURSELF. Stay tuned!