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Cooking is a very important aspect of our lives as women and we always strive to make it simpler and easier. For example, how many times does it happen that we are stuck right in the middle of a recipe when we find, to our dismay, that we are short of one ingredient or other. Today's article in the 'Cooking Tips and Hints' section focuses on finding substitutes for certain ingredients when in a hurry. Now that is something each one of you is sure to find useful!

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LET'S TALK BUSINESS

Creating a Fully Functional Home Office

If you are thinking about running your own business from home, be prepared to work hard. While managing your own business can be very difficult it can also be very rewarding. Spending more time with your family and feeling a sense of pride and accomplishment are only a few benefits to running your own business. However, setting your home office up properly from the get go is vital to your success.

If you have a family start of by running your plans past them and get everyone excited and on board for your new venture. Your family should clearly understand and accept the limitations and boundaries you have set forth for your new workspace. It is important that you have an area where you can work quietly and undisturbed.

Use Basic Equipment

Before you start conducting business you want to make sure you have all the necessary tools, equipment, and supplies you need to make your business successful. These may include but are not limited to a computer, printer, fax machine, dedicated phone line, scanner, calculator, filing cabinet, and book shelf. You'll also need office supplies, a desk and a chair. Make sure your work space is comfortable and quiet.

Using a Work Address

Rather than using your home address for work purposes, get an outside mailbox or PO Box instead. You don't want clients thinking that they can stop into your office, and it appears much more professional to have a PO Box address. You can get a box at your local post office for a nominal fee.

Manage Your Time

You may need to learn how to organize your time differently than when you worked outside of your home. Concentrating on work at home can seem difficult at first. You need to be able to organize and manage your time by balancing work obligations and family time.

There are many different tools you can use to organize your time. Desk calendars, daily planners, or even e-mail programs such as Microsoft Outlook are perfect for planning your day. Prioritize and plan what you need to accomplish each day so you can organize your time around it. Be sure to leave time for breaks and lunch.

If you need to do business calls try and do them when everyone else is out. It can be very distracting to have others around. If someone else is always home be sure to keep your office door closed and ask family members to stay out.

Don't Take on Too Much

Rather than doing everything yourself consider investing in software programs that can help you manage your time more effectively. For instance, rather than keeping track of inventory through paper means, get some software that does it for you. You can quickly run reports on a variety of data that will help you save time and energy.

Know your limitations. Yes, you're the boss, but even the boss gets over-booked. Try prioritizing your work and setting daily goals. Running a home-based business often means you're working alone.

If you find yourself getting bogged down in clerical duties, ask family members for help. It will save you time and money and they will enjoy being needed. This will help your business become more efficient.

Overcome obstacles with the right tools. If your home business isn't operating smoothly, you might want to re-evaluate your daily strategies. Take time to prepare your home office to handle the work load.

About the Author:

Nyall Bakk is owner and operator of Advertising WorldWide, Inc, a fantastic resource for information about advertising, For more articles on advertising why not visit: http://www.advertisingww.com/articles

COOKING TIPS & HINTS

Find The Ingredients You Are Looking For Are Just Not There

We've all done it. The meal for the evening is organized in your head, and, you believe, in the fridge; but then just as you're well underway with everything, you go to the cupboard and you find you're missing a vital ingredient. However close the grocery store might be, it's still too far; it means leaving the kitchen and other things could spoil. If this has ever happened to you, you may find the following tips helpful.

For instance, instead of one teaspoon of baking powder you could use one quarter of a teaspoon of baking soda plus five eighths of a teaspoon of cream of tartar, or, alternatively, one quarter of a teaspoon of baking soda and half a cup of buttermilk. One cup of butter can be replaced by seven eighths of a cup of shortening or one cup of margarine. But remember that oil can rarely replace butter, particularly when baking.

Sugar is a wonderfully sweet ingredient in so many of our favorite treats. There are a number of alternatives you can use if you are running low on a particular type of sugar of just want to try something new for a change. For 1 cup of light brown sugar, you can substitute 1 cup of white sugar and 1 teaspoon molasses. For 1 cup of dark brown sugar, you can substitute 1 cup of white sugar and 1 tablespoon of molasses. One cup of white sugar can be replaced with either 1 3/4 cups of powdered (confectioners') sugar or 1 cup of packed brown sugar. Sweet liquids like corn syrup can be substituted with 1 cup sugar plus 1/4 cup liquid or honey.

If you need chocolate you'll find that one ounce of is the same as three tablespoons of unsweetened cocoa and one tablespoon of fat. Instead of one tablespoon of cornstarch you could use two tablespoons of flour; instead of one tablespoon of flour (for thickening) try half a tablespoon of cornstarch; and instead of one cup sifted flour (for cooking) you could be really radical and try one and a half cups of bread crumbs or one cup of rolled oats. Lastly, instead of one cup of shortening you could use one cup and two tablespoons of butter or margarine.

If you want to add flavour to your meals with spices you can try stocking dried herbs and spices rather than fresh. For instance, instead of one clove of garlic you could substitute one eighth of a teaspoon of garlic powder or one teaspoon of chopped garlic. Instead of one teaspoon of dry mustard you could use one tablespoon of prepared mustard; one tablespoon of onion powder is the same as either one medium, or four tablespoons of freshly chopped onion.

Remember that some of the best recipes around have been 'cooked' up by people desperately trying to cover their tracks; so the advice would be 'be bold, be daring, but use your initiative!'

About the Author:

Thomas Jorgensen is the owner and editor of http://www.cookingflair.com, a first class resource for cooking and cooking school information on the Internet. For more information following this article please pay a visit.

Tip: Re-creating the natural flaws in the skin (mottling) for camouflaging bruises, scars, tattoos, pigmentation irregularities, port wine stains, etc.

Color matching is more difficult on the body than the face. Look at any area of your body and you'll see that the skin tone is not completely flawless. There are varying shades, spots, freckles and mottling. For natural-looking camouflage, its best to re-create the natural mottling of the skin. After concealing, take a different shade of makeup and try to re-create the skin around it. A cotton swab will allow you to stipple and mottle the surface. This is a technique that is easiest to master by just letting go and playing with the colors. Once, mastered you'll achieve an amazingly natural-look.

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