Lilac City Momma

Lynn

5 Ways to Unwind as a Busy Mom

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Motherhood is probably one of the busiest jobs out there. Not only are you constantly on the go, but you can also find yourself overwhelmed because of the number of tasks you have to perform everyday. When you have a routine in place, it can be tough to break out of it. Having a routine also means that making time to relax can seem impossible. Nevertheless, you’ve got to teach yourself how to unwind as a busy mom for health and sanity reasons. Here are a few tips that should help you relax more often.

Watch a TV Show

For many, television is an ideal way to relax. If you struggle with overthinking, watching TV is a way of redirecting your attention. If you aren’t big on everyday TV channels, try streaming instead. You can find content on any subject under the sun; whether you enjoy documentaries, reality TV or horror movies. Two top streaming sites right now to consider are Netflix and Hulu.

Practice Deep Breathing

Something that you probably don’t often pay attention to is your breathing. It can make a big difference in how relaxed you feel. To help you unwind, start by adopting healthy breathing techniques. Take five deep breaths and make a note of the pause between your inhale and exhale as well as your exhale and inhale.

With regards to your body posture when breathing, relax your shoulders and sit up straight. Try placing one hand on your belly and the other on your chest.

Listen to Music

Music has a way of easing your nerves and making you feel relaxed. Aside from this, research also shows that music can lessen anxiety and improve your mood. During your quiet time, zone out and get lost in some of your all-time favorite songs. While listening to music, you can also vape. Using a range of e-liquids which you can find on ultimatejuice.co.uk could enhance your experience.

Get a Massage

If you’ve never gotten a professional massage, you should schedule in time for your first experience. For those who have gotten a massage before, you’ll already be aware of the immense benefits. For one, massages reduce anxiety, stress, and depression. They also have health benefits, such as boosting your immune system and reducing inflammation. You can get discounted massage coupons on sites like Groupon to help with the cost.

Drink Tea

If you happen to like warm beverages, think about drinking tea to unwind. There are different types of teas out there and they all have different health benefits. Herbal teas are great for those who embrace natural ingredients and there’s also decaffeinated tea in case you’re worried about your caffeine intake. Calming Tea from Teavana is a good recommendation if you want tea that will help you relax.

When you’re a busy mom, you have to find a way to relax. Not doing so could result in your health declining as well as more stress than you’d like. However, if you’re able to relax in some of the ways above, you should find you have a good balance.

To read more on topics like this, check out the life hacks category.

Excavation Cost Estimate and Other Considerations When Hiring for Excavation

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When it’s time to clear a plot of land, you’ll need to hire the best excavation service you can find. While there are plenty of jobs on your property you can do yourself, excavating requires a skilled professional (not to mention heavy, costly equipment). A poorly done excavation can permanently damage your property and leave you with astronomical repair costs. That’s why it’s well worth it to secure the services of a professional excavation company. Despite the upfront costs, it will save you a lot of money down the road.

Finding a good excavation company can be a challenge in and of itself. How much, exactly, does excavation cost? What other things do you need to consider? How can you be sure you’ve hired the best company for the job? Let’s start at the beginning.

What Is Excavation?

To reduce it to the simplest terms possible, excavation is simply the movement of a large amount of dirt. If you need a plot of land cleared, whether that’s the removal of a large amount of dirt, debris, or rocks, that’s a job for an excavation service. Professional excavators also specialize in removing plant matter—brush, shrubs, trees (living or dead), or tree stumps. You might want your plot to be completely flat.

You may also want ditches dug for laying down water lines, gas lines, or electrical cables. If you’re having a swimming pool put into your yard, it’ll be an excavation service that digs it out for you. When clearing land, it’s not always as simple as just removing everything and digging holes. It’s possible you’ll want some things removed and to leave other things. Whatever the service you need, an excavation service can do it.

Why Do I Need a Professional Service?

A poorly handled excavation can be an absolute disaster. All too many landowners have shelled out the money for rental fees, only to accidentally cause irreparable harm to their valuable property. Damage to your property is not always immediately obvious either. Often, it’s more insidious. For example, an improperly excavated piece of land can become vulnerable to erosion, which, over time, can lead to much more serious problems.

It’s simply not worth it for an untrained person to risk their property attempting an excavation project. It’s best to find a professional excavation service that has a great deal of experience, skill, proper equipment, and most importantly of all, a commitment to safety. Safety in excavation requires specialized equipment and an ongoing commitment to your training.

How Do I Find the Right Company?

Finding the right excavation service is a step that’s worth spending some time on. You’ll want to invest effort into researching, interviewing, and vetting any company you’re considering for a big job. It starts with a simple internet search of companies in your area. In most areas, you’ll get plenty of hits, but needless to say, not all of the excavation services you find will be equal to one another. For every one of the best services—like Mr. Tree in Portland—you’ll find there are many cheap companies that do subpar work. Indeed, even if you live in an area with plenty of companies around who offer the services you need, you might have a hard time finding a good one.

Start narrowing it all down by first perusing the online reviews. Is the company consistently highly rated online? Read a few of the customer testimonials to see if they have had good experiences. Don’t rely solely on online reviews, however. You’ll also need to head to the company website and do a little investigation to see if they are experienced, equipped, and insured.

Once you have found an excavation service you are leaning toward, contact them. Ask questions and get references. Check those references. If you are satisfied with your search, you can begin budgeting your project.

So How Much Will It Cost?

Of course, the excavation cost will depend greatly on the size of the job and the work being done. If it’s a big job that requires a lot of material being moved, it’ll cost more than a smaller job. When you hire an excavator, you’ll generally be paying by the hour. Depending on your location, their rates can usually range from $100 to $180 per hour. They may also charge by the cubic yard, which can be anywhere from $50 to $200, depending on the material being moved.

If you want other work, such as grading, to be performed, it will incur an additional cost. The price of excavation will also be affected by what type of material your contractor will need to dig into. For example, a project that involves digging into simple soil will naturally be far less expensive than one that involves cutting into rocks. Even the time of year can affect the project cost: if the ground is icy, it can be more difficult, and therefore more expensive, for your contractor to do the job.

In 2019 the national average for a professional excavation is around $3,106, though projects can easily range from $1,441 to $5,050 or more. Larger, more challenging projects can run more than $10,000 and can be done over the course of multiple days.

Other Considerations

In this article, we’ve tried to answer a few of the more common questions property owners have when it comes to excavation. Because there are so many variables that can affect the size of the project, and therefore its cost, you’ll probably need to talk to a professional to get your questions answered.

If you’re located in the Portland area and have a project in mind, you can call us at Mr. Tree. With decades of experience in both residential and commercial work, they have performed every sort of excavation you can imagine. They particularly specialize if you’re looking to have stumps or fallen trees removed from your property. They can also, of course, keep any trees you’re interested in keeping. Contact them for other excavation related concerns.

To read more on topics like this, check out the budgeting category

3 Ways Well-Being Promotes Happiness and Mental Health

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We each have different ideas of what makes us happy. Happiness to you could be a successful career and a loving family, but another person’s idea of happiness could be something else entirely. So, rather than the pursuit of happiness, you should really be aiming for is a different route altogether.

The key to happiness and a peaceful state of mind is actually well-being. What is well-being? Well-being is a broad term encompassing the conditions of your physical and mental health, essentially it is just feeling well in mind, body, and spirit. The state of your well-being lays the groundwork for cultivating your happiness.

While establishing a decent sense of well-being might seem daunting amid the chaos of New York City, achieving wellness can boost your levels of happiness and improve your mental health. Here are a few ways how it does just that:

Stay in touch with your emotions

Parts of our culture can condition us to avoid our emotions and sweep our feelings under the rug. Doing drugs or drinking the pain away, watching endless hours of television, bottling up your emotions, or simply “sucking it up” can damage your mental health and deplete your happiness.

Instead, being aware of your feelings can lead to a better sense of happiness and positivity. Journaling and talking openly with a friend can help you work through your feelings and understand what you are going through. One of the most effective ways to keep tabs on your emotions is through counseling. Therapy in NY can help you manage your mood, be more resilient, and deal with your emotions — even the negative ones — in a healthy way.

When you learn how to best accept and process your feelings, your mental health becomes more stable as a result.

Boost your physical health

Getting regular exercise and healthy, nutritious food not only does wonders for your body, but your mind as well. Exercise helps lower anxiety and stress levels and increase energy.

Also, going out for a jog or walk in nature enhances your mood. Recent evidence links being outdoors to greater levels of happiness, reduced stress, and a more positive mindset. Additionally, exercise helps release endorphins — the happiness-boosting chemical in our brains — and even certain foods can lift our spirits.

While some reach for a pint of ice cream or another glass of wine when feeling blue, vegetables might be the better cure for your sadness. Eating leafy greens, fruits, healthy fats, and whole grains can decrease symptoms of depression and risks of suicide. So instead of indulging in “comfort food,” a healthy snack of almonds might be the wiser choice.

Provide a sense of purpose

Giving our lives meaning and a sense of purpose significantly contributes to our happiness and self-worth. When we feel we are serving others and contributing meaningfully to society, we feel valuable and needed. Studies indicate a sense of engagement and belonging contribute to your happiness and overall mental health.

You can find that sense of purpose through your work, but you can also discover it through volunteering, hobbies, local communities, and the friendships you develop. A sense of purpose is deeply rooted in connection with others and is part of the human experience. We need a community and we need to feel part of that network.

Ask yourself, what are your passions? Where do you want to get involved? What is calling you? Feeling worthwhile and following a set of values and principles increases confidence and fulfilment.

To read more on topics like this, check out the life hacks category.

What To Do if Your Teen is Struggling with Substance Abuse?

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Studies continue to show that the pressures faced by adolescents aren’t showing any signs of letting up anytime soon. In fact, it seems that the proliferation of smartphones and increased use of social media websites like Instagram, Snapchat, and Facebook may in fact be contributing to an increase in cases of depression in teens. These facts are sobering and may explain why some teens turn to substance abuse as a way to escape or solve their problems. If your family is dealing with a teenager who needs help fighting their struggles with illegal substances, here are a few things to keep in mind.

Get the right information

Staying informed is one of the best things you can do for your family in any time of struggle. Hotlines such as the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration exist and are available to take your call at any hour of the day, any day of the year. These kinds of organizations offer resources to individuals and families who are dealing with substance abuse and its effects, and can offer you some perspective as well as strategies to implement in your home. You may also want to learn more about the sorts of issues that may be contributing to your teen’s substance abuse, as addressing some of these can help you and your teen get to the root of their problem.

If your child has been charged with a crime as a result of their drug or alcohol abuse, it may be a good idea to get legal counsel from an experienced Denver criminal attorney. A criminal record, especially for a juvenile, can be quite damaging. Knowing your teen’s rights and how to best mitigate any punishments or jail time requires the right information and is not something you and your family should try to face alone. Having someone like Richard Huttner on your family’s side can ensure you have the best chance possible to protect your child’s rights.

Talk to your teen

While it can be a challenge to broach the subject, it’s vital that you keep communication open and transparent with your child as they struggle with substance abuse. Speaking to teens about your concerns is crucial, too, and it may be worth gathering a few close friends, family members, and some of your teen’s mentors to have an intervention. An intervention isn’t something you should initiate without first gathering more information about treatment options and the side effects of long term abuse. Sharing personal anecdotes as well as hard facts can be a way to keep these kinds of interactions compassionate, yet firm, as the sort of perspective a teen needs to be motivated to seek recovery.

Find a treatment solution that works

Not everyone can recover from drug or alcohol abuse on their own, even if they truly want to quit. In some situations, your teen may have a drug or alcohol dependence disorder, which can make the stages of withdrawal even more harrowing to face without doctors or licensed medical professionals on call. In some situations, it may make sense for your teen to enroll in a community of other teens to seek individual or group treatment for their addiction. Residential homes for troubled youth offer a specialized solution away from home to allow your teen to explore strategies to combat their substance abuse in a safe and nurturing environment. With other activities offered as an outlet to drug abuse, your teen can begin to build a life full of fulfilling hobbies and interests without having to rely on illegal substances.

Finding a rehabilitation program that fits your teen’s interests and needs is important. Since it can lead to a higher success rate if your teen has some buy-in to the process, make sure to speak with them about the options available to them to get treatment. While frightening to face, substance abuse can be beaten by teens and their families, as long as the subject is approached from a space of care and compassion.

 

3 Types of Bachelorette Parties to Consider

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While bachelor parties have been around for centuries, the history of bachelorette parties is much shorter. Brides-to-be didn’t really start having wild parties before they got married until around the 1960s.

In some ways, that’s freed up bachelorette parties to do more and be more than the typical, often messy events you see for grooms-to-be. If you’re in a bridal party and tasked with planning a bachelorette party, you have a few options. Here are three of the best ones worth considering.

An elegant party

If the bride is the type of woman who prefers dinner parties to happy hour at the local bar, then an elegant party could be the perfect way to mark the end of her days as a single lady. In some ways, it’s like a precursor to a wedding dinner, albeit with slightly less formal dresses.

Make no mistake, though: the gals attending this event will need fancy dresses, albeit not quite as fancy as what you’ll wear to walk down the aisle with a bouquet of flowers and a groomsman on your arm.

But you have a lot more freedom with a bachelorette party dress than you do with a bridesmaid gown. For starters, you don’t have to adhere to any particular color scheme. If you want to wear a little black dress, then there’s nothing stopping you.

Just don’t get so caught up in your wardrobe that you forget to plan for food, though. You can call a local restaurant to bring in catering if you have a big enough budget. If you don’t, ask your fellow bridesmaids if they’d be up for a little cooking beforehand. You can make one or two main entrees and pick up the rest at a local deli.

An adventure party

Getting active is a great idea if, for instance, if the bride is always outdoors and you live in an area where fitness is a big priority for most people. There are some parts of the country where saying, “Hey, let’s go on a hike to celebrate” will go over much better than others. So talk to the rest of the bridal party before you schedule anything.

If everyone agrees to it, then you get to plan a day’s worth of activities that can help you connect while also making you sweat. If you’re in the Pacific Northwest, you might consider taking a hike in a spot like Tom, Dick, and Harry Mountain. If you’re in Florida, then you should feel free to take advantage of all the beaches around you. That could mean kayaking in West Palm Beach or even jogging together in the sand.

Wedding planning is notoriously stressful. If your bride loves physical activity, she’ll appreciate the chance to both work up a sweat and work off some of those pre-wedding jitters.

A road trip

If the bride wants to have a blowout bash before she weds, then consider heading to a place like Las Vegas or Atlantic City. Those cities were made for gambling, drinking, and other adult activities. While travel can be expensive, it can be worth it for a memorable bridal party.

But be sure that the emotional price doesn’t get too high. A gambling site polled 1,000 married Americans and found that Vegas bachelor and bachelorette parties were more likely to involve some kind of sexual activity than a bachelorette party elsewhere. You don’t want the bride to get so out-of-control that she does something she’ll regret.

Also make sure that the bride hasn’t promised her future husband that she won’t go to a crazy party with male dancers. As a friend and bridesmaid, you want to support the marriage, not unwittingly undermine it before it even starts.