Bathtubs - A bathtub is a plumbing fixture used for bathing. Most modern bathtubs are made of acrylic or fiberglass, but alternatives are available in enamel over steel or cast iron, copper, composites and other

Baby Shower Tradition Rebirthing Online

By Anonymous

Sandy, OR May 25, 2004 -- The squeals of delight over tiny new baby clothes, guessing the girth of a very pregnant belly, an Internet message board -- what do they all have in common? It's a baby shower! Americans love showering new parents with gifts but what do you do when the expecting mother is far from family and friends or restricted to bed rest? Enter the online baby shower solution.

"In the fall of 2000, my best friend from college was expecting her first baby, " says Bonnie Walker, Founder of Web Baby Shower (www.webbabyshower.com). "Even though we don't live in the same dorm anymore, we are still very close friends and I was disappointed at the idea of not being able to throw a shower for her. As a web developer, I knew I could use the Internet to overcome our geographical distance, but at the same time was unable to find something where the great-grandparents from Colombia could add a message and see pictures without having to have an email or web account of their own. So I put together a private message board on my own website, got some photos from my friend and added links to her online registries and, voila, the first Web Baby Shower was born."

Several baby shower and home entertaining websites have stepped forward to make having a baby shower online easy. Features include message boards, photos, online baby registry links, invitation services and even online baby shower games. Additional features, which vary by each service, include live chat and keepsake printouts of the messages left on the message board. Web Baby Shower, Walker's site, is one of the least expensive while at the same time offers what you need to host a baby shower online. Web Baby Shower is still personally moderated by Walker to help ensure a safe online experience but keep the site easy for everyone to use.

In addition to families separated by geography, many have been using online baby showers to help cheer and encourage expecting mothers who have been restricted to bed rest. There are a growing number of women's and pregnancy sites where women on bed rest can connect with one another and an online baby shower gives her family and friends a chance to let her know she is supported. "It's becoming popular for online women's communities to come to a site like Web Baby Shower to have a baby shower for a member," says Walker. "It's just about impossible for these groups who are tight knit online but scattered across the world to have a party so an online baby shower is the perfect solution for a group of women who are already used to meeting online. It also keeps their community message board from getting too cluttered and allows a little more privacy than a regular community message board, which is important when you want to link to shopping registries and post photos."

Of course, having a baby shower online will never be the same as a having party, but it does have its own advantages. "We're all too busy these days, so even if an expecting mother lives across the street from her family, often times people who are having a baby shower party will also have an online shower so that everyone who can't make it to the party can still participate. It's a great way to share information about baby registries and the types of things the new parents need before a party. Web Baby Shower is very flexible and allows users to link to just about any legitimate online store or registry service. Everyone also loves photos of the expecting parents -- we've seen some great belly shots and of course photos of the newborn can go online as soon as someone has the chance to take one," says Walker. Most online baby shower services run until about four weeks after the mother's expected due date and Web Baby Shower offers the extra option of transforming the online shower into an online birth announcement. Walker adds, "Everyone's been coming to the site to wish the expecting mom an easy delivery, so it's a no-brainer to turn the site into a birth announcement where everyone can come back again and welcome the new baby." Much like the online women's communities, new parents find that the online birth announcement helps keep their email in boxes from getting overfilled at a time when they won't have much time to check email, and makes it easier to respond to everyone's good wishes.

About the Company
Web Baby Shower is owned and run by Bonnie Walker, a professional web developer turned work-from-home mom.

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Unique Baby Shower Gift offers Practicality and Usability

By Anonymous

Gloucester, MA - LectraLock, Inc(http://www.lectralock.com) is pleased to offer a creative baby shower gift idea. LectraLock manufactures a new Tamperproof outlet cover in a variety of colors; a truly unique and practical gift.

Child safety is a major concern for all parents, and protective outlet covers are certainly a must for any home with small children.

"Most baby shower gifts are cute, but how many blankets and booties does a baby really need?" asked LectraLock owner Heidi Peckham. "Giving a set of outlet covers as a baby shower gift shows forethought and creativity," she adds.

LectraLock comes in an attractive, ready to gift-wrap package, consisting of four units. Many colors are available to match the baby's new room or any room around the house (they can also be painted to blend into the wall). These outlet covers are manufactured with GE Lexan plastic, and are unbreakable.

This stylish electrical safety device makes a unique baby shower gift because of its practicality. New parents will be more than delighted to receive such a useful and decorative
gift.

"Giving a great baby shower gift is a terrific feeling" says Peckham. "Our goal has always been child safety, and we are happy to be selling a product that makes the world a bit safer for children".

Al and Heidi Peckham founded the Gloucester, MA based company in 2001. LectraLock tamperproof outlet covers - a truly unique baby gift idea - are only available over the Web at http://www.lectralock.com.

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Seasoning An Oven

By Glea Reno and Dennis Reno

Untreated cast iron rusts, especially around water. To prevent metal from oxidizing in the presence of moisture, cast iron requires a process called ?seasoning?. Seasoning is simply the procedure of baking oil into the oven's pores, and on top of the iron pores. This baked on coating will darken and eventually turn black with age. Darkening is the sign of a well kept oven, and of it's use. This coating forms a barrier between moisture in the air and the surface of the metal. It also provides a non-stick coating on the inside of the oven that is easy to clean.

Here are some tips when it comes time to season your oven.

Scrub lid and oven in hot water with a mild soap to take off the coating the manufacture puts on the oven before shipping. Use a stiff brush, 3M scrub pad, or plastic scrubbing pad to scrub the waxy coating off of your new Dutch oven, and rinse in clear, hot water. Dry your oven by putting it in the kitchen oven at 150 to 200 degrees for 15 or 20 minutes.

While it is warm, coat the inner and outer surfaces with a thin layer of cooking oil. Use a good grade of olive or vegetable oil. Peanut oil is a choice of many, and tallow or lard can also be used, but they tend to break down over time and become rancid if the oven is not used often enough.

Place the oven and lid in a conventional oven, or a gas BBQ grill, with the pot upside down and the lid on the Dutch oven legs. Heat oven at 450 to 500 degrees and bake for 30 to 40 minutes until the oil turns very dark, nearly black. This process bakes a grease coating into the pot and virtually gives it a no scrub surface.

Remove the oven and apply another light coat of oil, and. bake at 450 to 500 degrees for another 30 minutes. By using high temperatures, the oil will bake harder and darker, leaving your oven shinier. You should oil and bake at least once, I like to go through this process two, or even three times to get a beautiful dark color, and rock hard finish.

Turn off the heat and let the Dutch oven sit until cool. If the surface is sticky, bake an additional 30 to 40 minutes. When seasoning your oven it will create a smell that may be unpleasant. For this reason some like to season their ovens in a BBQ outside, however I have done all mine indoors with the doors and windows open.

The first thing you cook in your oven after seasoning should be things like roasts, potatoes or chicken. Stay away from tomatoes and tomato products with high acid content, or a lot of sugar such as cobathtubrefinishingdataers. Acids and sugars can break down the protective covering before it seasons or hardens properly.

A well seasoned oven produces a unique flavor unequaled by any other cooking utensil. This is the Magic of Dutch Oven cooking.

About the Author

Glea Reno and Dennis Reno are the owners of Dutchovenmagic.com. They are based at Billings, Montana and have taught Youth Groups, Scout Troops, Church Organisation and friends what they have learned over years in Dutch oven cooking. They also do cooking demonstration at various retail outlets. They can be contacted at help@dutchovenmagic.com.
dutch_oven2000@yahoo.com

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