Couch Family Blog |

I am sitting here doing homework and fighting to keep my eyes open. I decided to browse the web for a minute and found this article. Had to laugh a little cause I RARELY get even 6 hours of sleep. Something needs to change for sure!

Lack of sleep linked to early death: study
LONDON (AFP) – People who get less than six hours sleep per night have an increased risk of dying prematurely, researchers said on Wednesday.

Those who slumbered for less than that amount of time were 12 percent more likely to die early, though researchers also found a link between sleeping more than nine hours and premature death.

“If you sleep little, you can develop diabetes, obesity, hypertension and high cholesterol,” Francesco Cappuccio, who led research on the subject at Britain’s University of Warwick, told AFP.

The study, conducted with the Federico II University in Naples, Italy, aggregated decade-long studies from around the world involving more than 1.3 million people and found “unequivocal evidence of the direct link” between lack of sleep and premature death.

“We think that the relation between little sleep and illness is due to a series of hormonal and metabolical mechanisms,” Cappuccio said.

The findings of the study were published in the Sleep journal.

Cappuccio believes the duration of sleep is a public health issue and should be considered as a behavioural risk factor by doctors.

“Society pushes us to sleep less and less,” Cappuccio said, adding that about 20 percent of the population in the United States and Britain sleeps less than five hours.

Sleeping less than six hours is “more common amongst full-time workers, suggesting that it may be due to societal pressures for longer working hours and more shift work”

The study also found a link between sleeping more than nine hours per night and premature death, but Cappuccio said oversleeping is more likely to be an effect of illness, rather than a cause.

“Doctors never ask how much one sleeps, but that could be an indicator that something is wrong,” said Cappuccio, who heads the Sleep, Health and Society Programme at the University of Warwick.

Research showed no adverse effects for those sleeping between six and eight hours per day.

LOVE this stuff! This is one of my favorite things ever! It is a 4 step deep conditioning treatment that works! My hair just hasn’t felt great lately and I haven’t known quite what to do to help it. A client came in to school the other day and I had to do the deep condition treatment to her hair. It was crazy the difference I felt in her hair as I went through the 20 minute process. I had heard that this product worked, but hadn’t ever tried it myself. Well, after feeling the difference it made on her hair I decided to go buy some. This is a product sold only in beauty shops and beauty supply houses to licensed individuals. Anyway, I went and bought some and have done one treatment on my hair. I loved the feeling afterwards and just need to do it several more times to help rebuild my hair. I really just love this product though. 

Anyway, I have thought about offering this as a service to those that may be interested. I do not know how much I will charge for the treatment, but let me know if you would be interested and I would love to provide this service for you.

I LOVE this show. I still have only seen the first season, but I love it. I watched the first season before my mission and then have been wanting to watch them since I’ve been home. I finally borrowed the first season from a friend and have been trying to watch it. I wish I had more time that I could spend watching it and getting caught up. Every week I hear people at work talking about it and speculating about what is really happening and talking about how confused they are. I want to be able to join in on the conversations, but still haven’t finished the first season! Agh. I want to get caught up!

SALT LAKE CITY — Salt Lake Police say at least 100 cars have now been targeted by a vandal — or vandals — who’ve been puncturing holes in tires in the Gateway and Avenues areas.

Detective Dennis McGowan said reports of punctured tires began blossoming around the first of March. “It’s been fairly steady, first of all starting evenings and weekends,” said McGowan. “Then it began to be pretty much every other day.”

Although victims as far south as Sugar House have filed police reports, the majority of damaged vehicles are clustered around the Avenues from 400 East to 1000 East, the City/County Building, Main City Library, Abravanel Hall, Energy Solutions Arena and Gateway Mall.

“As best we can calculate now, we’ve got almost $10,000 worth of property damage as a result,” said McGowan.

Police say the tires have been punctured, not slashed. Many of the punctures are also in the side-walls, making repair impossible.

Police are looking for a thin white male and asking for the public’s help both in finding the suspect and reporting any other instances.

Detectives ask that anyone with information about the identity or whereabouts of the suspect call (801) 799-3000. Callers may remain anonymous. Please reference case #10-71652.

Normally I am not one to post recipes. However, these are the best cookies ever. Over the summer, while visiting Illinois I was able to go and stay with the Stowell family. (one of my favorite families from my mission… they took such good care of me!) Missy happened to have buttermilk at that time and decided to make pillow cookies. She made these a couple of times while I was serving in the area and I LOVED them. So I was SO excited that she was making them while I was visiting. Hopefully she doesn’t mind me sharing the recipe, but they are just so yummy! I have made them several times now and everyone seems to love them. mine just don’t seem to turn out as pretty as Missy’s!

Enjoy!

PILLOW COOKIES (Buttermilk Cookies)
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2-1/2 cups flour
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 cup buttermilk

FROSTING:
3 Tablespoons butter or margarine, softened
3-1/2 cups powdered sugar
1/4 cup milk
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 cup finely chopped walnuts, optional

Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in egg and vanilla. Combine flour, baking soda, and salt; add to the creamed mixture alternately with buttermilk and mix well. Drop by rounded tablespoonfuls 2 inches apart onto greased baking sheets. Bake at 375º for 10-12 minutes (I usually only bake mine for about 9 or so) or until edges are lightly browned. Remove to wire racks or aluminum foil to cool. For frosting, combine butter, sugar, milk and vanilla in a bowl. Beat until smooth. Frost cookies; sprinkle with walnuts if desired (I like to use sprinkles or colored sugar on top). Makes about 3 dozen. (Note: I can frost all the cookies with 1/2 batch of the frosting.) From Quick Cooking Magazine.

Here is the announcement Michell and Matt sent to their family……….

Congratulations to my cousin Michelle and Matt. They were chosen by a birth mom last night to be the parents of the baby she will be giving birth to in July. We are so excited to see the precious little angel that they will receive and so grateful to the birth mom for choosing to give her baby to Michell and Matt. Congrats!

I cannot believe that I went into the MTC (Missionary Training Center for the Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter Day Saints) 4 years ago today. Unreal how fast time has gone. I cannot believe that it was 4 years ago. In some ways it seems like it was just yesterday and some ways it seems like it never even happened. I sat and reflected a little bit today on where I am in life. I am sad to say I feel like I haven’t accomplished anything. Today just kind of seemed like nothing went right and it was a really difficult day. Funny that 4 years ago I cried and cried in the shower cause I didn’t know what I had gotten myself into. Then 4 years later… I cried and cried in the shower cause I am feeling pretty worthless in life and would really love to be back on my mission. Oh well. Life goes on.

Anyway, pondering back on my mission…. I am so grateful for the opportunity I had to serve a mission. I am so glad that the Lord knew what he was doing by pushing me towards a mission. I LOVE so many people that I met. I am grateful for the difficult, crappy, and horrible experiences because they helped me to grow and to appreciate the good times. I am grateful for the times when people let us in to their homes, grateful for the experiences of tracting, grateful for the members that fed us breakfast, lunch, and dinner so many times, grateful for my companions and all that each of them taught me.

I am grateful for so much more. I am so happy that I was able to be a missionary and grateful for all the lessons learned. Can’t believe it has already been 4 years.

I LOVE Dove Dark Chocolate with almonds. Have you tried them? They are fantastic. Now I know that I am supposed to encourage weight loss. However, I just have to say that one or two of these a day help to satisfy the craving and need for lots and lots of chocolate. They are so yummy! Go buy a bag and enjoy!

I want a wax warmer for Christmas. What I actually want is the double wax warmer, not just the single warmer. Yes, I am obsessed with waxing. I love it! One of the things that irritates me the most is when my arm hair starts to grow back. That’s right… I wax my arms. (well technically Amelia waxes them for me!) I love the feeling of being hairless. What I really would love is to go and have laser hair removal or electrolysis. (sp) That would make me so happy. Anyway, this is all that I am asking for as a Christmas gift is the double GiGi wax warmer. Too bad mom told me I have to go find it myself and can’t seem to find this one.  I love getting to buy my own christmas gifts!

I found this article on Yahoo today and thought it was very interesting. There was a time in my life that sadly I let a friend manipulate me. I didn’t recognize it until much later and after I had lost many good friendships. Thankfully I had a friend that was a godsend and was able to help me get away from the manipulator. Anyway, just thought I would post this interesting article. Here it is:

5 Behaviors of Manipulative People

Many of us like to think the best of people.  We like to think that they shoot straight and are forthright in their intentions.  We also like to believe that they will ask for what they want and not resort to crazy tactics to get it.  Unfortunately, however, there are times when we come across those who will do whatever it takes to get what they want…including manipulation.  Being manipulated never feels good, but the worst part of manipulation is that often, we don’t even realize that it is happening.  Here are a few ways to know if someone is trying to manipulate you:

1. Buttering You Up: To get their way, manipulators will often make you feel good so that they can then ask you to do something that they want.  The person may first compliment you or tell you what a wonderful job you did on something.  Making you feel good will, in their mind, make it difficult for you to say no…after all, you wouldn’t want to disappoint them or give them reason to think you didn’t deserve the compliment in the first place. What you can do: Return the compliments and the niceties before saying no.
2. Guilt: This doesn’t only pertain to Catholics and Jewish Mothers; guilt trips have been a successful manipulation tactic for centuries.  The saddest part of this strategy is that the victims of this tactic succumb to the manipulators’ demands because they feel they HAVE to, not because they WANT to.  In personal relationships, this sets up a co-dependency that is extremely unhealthy.  What you can do: Ask the individual if they want you to do something because you have to or because you want to.  If they say they want you to want to do it, tell them that you don’t and that they are trying to force you into something you don’t feel comfortable with.
3. Broken Record: Probably the most obvious of formats is the broken record tactic.  If a person asks you enough or pushes their agenda enough…constantly repeating the question or request over and over again…in slightly different ways, the victim will inevitably give in and give them what they want.  Oye!  What you can do: Ask the individual what they don’t understand about the word “no.”  Tell them that asking you over and over again isn’t going to change anything and that they are inappropriately over-stepping boundaries.
4. Selective Memory: This one gets me the most.  You swear you have a conversation about a plan and everyone is on the same page, and then one day, the manipulator pretends to remember the conversation completely differently, if at all.  What you can do: Record your conversations…seriously!  Okay, maybe not.  At least have a witness that you can count on to back you up if the person pulls this shenanigan.  Call them out on the fact that they conveniently change the game to fit their needs.
5. Bullying: If a person doesn’t get their way, they make you out to look or feel like the bad guy…like you are the wrong one.  What you can do: Be firm and tell them that their bullying tactics are inappropriate and unacceptable.

Keep your eyes open for these behaviors and continue to stand your ground to ensure that you aren’t a victim of manipulation.  Have you seen any other types of manipulative behavior?