Having a Baby

                                                          

all starts when a woman gets pregnant. She's expecting a baby. He's the father. They're both expecting a baby.
This is a fetus. The fetus (baby) needs a lot of care and attention when it is in the womb. (the mother's stomach)
Babies are usually delivered at a hospital, but some woman choose to do this at home with the help of a midwife.
Babies cry a lot.
This baby has a pacifier. Other names: binky, nuk, num num, paci
This is a baby bottle. Some mothers breast-feed their babies. Some put their babies on a formula diet.
Babies need to wear diapers.
They sleep in a crib.
Babies have lots of toys. This goes inside the crib.
They go out for walks in a stroller. She's pushing the stroller.
Before they learn to walk, babies learn to crawl. This baby is crawling.
When they get bigger, babies eat in a high chair.
Swinging helps to calm a baby. He's in a baby swing.
Having a baby is one of the greatest joys in life!

Cooking Verbs

          

Cooking verbs

Add He's adding salt and pepper to the soup. Grab or get You need a long set of tongs to grab hot dogs off of a hot grill. Use I use a blender when I want to make a milkshake or some other type of drink. blend You can blend yogurt, fruit juice, and ice cream to make a smoothie. Boil over When water boils over it comes out of the pot, so be careful! Whisk He's whisking some batter to make a cake. Drain A colander is useful when you need to drain noodles or wash vegetables. Cut This cookie cutter cuts heart-shaped cookies. Cook How do you cook noodles? Most people use a big pot like this one. Strain Some things must be strained through a strainer because the pieces are so small. Cook Many things are cooked in a pan. Use / Grate We use a grater for carrots, cheese, potatoes, and cabbage. It's easier to grate a carrot than it is to cut it into small pieces. Bake A muffin pan is used for baking muffins. Store Many Americans use a knife block to store their knives because it's safer than storing them in a drawer. Microwave It's easy to microwave food, but sometimes the taste isn't very good. Use / Blend / Mix This is used for mixing or blending batter. Keep / Store If you keep your spices in an container like this one, they will last longer. Grab / Take out You must have an oven mitt to take hot things out of the oven. Cut A pizza cutter cuts easily through a hard pizza crust. Simmer Sauces can simmer in a saucepan for a long time. Fire up / Start He's going to fire up his propane stove to boil some water. Roast They're roasting hot dogs over a campfire. What fun! Use Most people use a stick to roast hotdogs, but you can also use a skewer. Fry A frying pan like this one is used to fry all kinds of meat: bacon, sausage, hamburger, and fish. Slice Watch out for your thumbs when slicing potatoes. Barbeque This little oven can be used for barbequing things outside. Flip Use a spatula when flipping pancakes, hamburgers, and eggs. Stir She's stirring some carrots into some vegetable soup. Toss / Mix When tossing salad, you have to evenly mix all the vegetables and the lettuce together. Prepare They're preparing some vegetable trays for a party. Baste She's basting her turkey so that it doesn't dry out in then oven. Use We use a waffle iron to make old-fashioned waffles. Stir-Fry Stif-frying vegetables and meat in a wok has to be done very quickly to avoid overcooking the vegetables. Use / Roll / Roll out A rolling pin is used for rolling out dough for pie crust. Hit She's really mad at her husband. When he gets home, she's going to hit him with her rolling pin. (Just checking to see if you made it this far down the page. Whew!)

Living to be one hundred

                                 
                                           

                                                Lets' have some fun with a joke!   

                                                       Living to be one hundred


An old woman was walking along the street when she heard a voice telling her..."You will live to be over 100." She looked around...but no one else seemed to have heard the voice. Then she heard it again, "You will live to be over 100." Again she looked around, and again, no one else seemed to have heard anything. Convinced it was The Lord telling her this, she made an appointment with a plastic surgeon, and signed up for a face lift, a tummy tuck, liposuction, breast implants, and a nose job, all to be done simultaneously. Figuring since The Lord told her she would live to be 100, she'd better do something to make herself look better.

After healing from all the operations and looking great she decided to go shopping. While crossing the street, she was hit by a bus and killed instantly. When she got to heaven, she asked the Lord, "Why did I die?" You told me I was going to live to be more than 100?" God looked at her...and replied.... "Oh, I'm sorry; I didn't recognize you."

Like in questions

                                      

                      Uses of like in questions

The word like is used in different ways to ask questions. Such questions with like may have different meanings.
Like may be used to ask questions about:

• Personality or the characteristics of something.
• Preferences.
• Physical appearance.
• Hobbies.

The word like in these question is used either as a verb or as a preposition.

Talking about personality or the characteristics of something

Like can be used to ask about personality or the characteristics of something:
Example:

• What's your friend like? → He's nice.
• What's the house like? → It's huge.
• What was the weather like? → It was sunny.

Like in the above examples is used as a preposition.

Talking about about preferences

Like can be used to talk about preferences.
Examples:

• What would you like to eat? → Fish, please.
• What would you like to do next weekend? → Go sightseeing.

Like is used in these questions as a verb.

Talking about physical appearance or resemblance

Like may be used in questions to ask about physical appearance.
Examples:

• What does he look like? → He is tall and has got black long hair.
• What does she look like? → She is beautiful. She has brown eyes and short black hair.
• Who do you look like? → I look just like my father.
• Who does she look like? → She looks like her grandmother.

Like in the above questions is used as a preposition.

Talking about hobbies

To ask about hobbies, use like in questions as follows:

• What does he like doing? → He likes singing.
• What do you like doing? → I like reading.

Like in these examples is used as a verb.

The History of Valentine's Day

                                      


Every year, the fourteenth day of the month of February has millions across the world presenting their loved ones with candy, flowers, chocolates and other lovely gifts. In many countries, restaurants and eateries are seen to be filled with couples who are eager to celebrate their relationship and the joy of their togetherness through delicious cuisines. There hardly seems to be a young man or woman who is not keen to make the most of the day.

The reason behind all of this is a kindly cleric named Valentine who died more than a thousand years ago.

It is not exactly known why the 14th of February is known as Valentine's Day or if the noble Valentine really had any relation to this day. The history of Valentine's Day is impossible to be obtained from any archive and the veil of centuries gone by has made the origin behind this day more difficult to trace. It is only some legends that are our source for the history of Valentine's Day.

The modern St. Valentine's Day celebrations are said to have been derived from both ancient Christian and Roman tradition. As per one legend, the holiday has originated from the ancient Roman festival of Lupercalis/Lupercalia, a fertility celebration that used to observed annually on February 15. But the rise of Christianity in Europe saw many pagan holidays being renamed for and dedicated to the early Christian martyrs. Lupercalia was no exception. In 496 AD, Pope Gelasius turned Lupercalia into a Christian feast day and set its observance a day earlier, on February 14. He proclaimed February 14 to be the feast day in honor of Saint Valentine, a Roman martyr who lived in the 3rd century. It is this St. Valentine whom the modern Valentine's Day honors. 

According to the Catholic Encyclopedia, there were at least three early Christian saints by the name of Valentine. While one was a priest in Rome, another was a bishop in Terni. Nothing is known about the third St. Valentine except that he met his end in Africa. Surprisingly, all three of them were said to have been martyred on 14th February. 

It is clear that Pope Gelasius intended to honor the first of these three aforementioned men. Most scholars believe that this St. Valentine was a priest who lived around 270 AD in Rome and attracted the disfavor of Roman emperor Claudius II who ruled during this time. 

The story of St. Valentine has two different versions - the Protestant and the Catholic one. Both versions agree upon Saint Valentine being a bishop who held secret marriage ceremonies of soldiers in opposition to Claudius II who had prohibited marriage for young men and was executed by the latter. During the lifetime of Valentine, the golden era of Roman empire had almost come to an end. Lack of quality administrators led to frequent civil strife. Education declined, taxation increased and trade witnessed a very bad time. The Roman empire faced crisis from all sides, from the Gauls, Slavs, Huns, Turks and Mongolians from Northern Europe and Asia. The empire had grown too large to be shielded from external aggression and internal chaos with existing forces. Naturally, more and more capable men were required to to be recruited as soldiers and officers to protect the nation from takeover. When Claudius became the emperor, he felt that married men were more emotionally attached to their families, and thus, will not make good soldiers. He believed that marriage made the men weak. So he issued an edict forbidding marriage to assure quality soldiers. 

The ban on marriage was a great shock for the Romans. But they dared not voice their protest against the mighty emperor.
The kindly bishop Valentine also realized the injustice of the decree. He saw the trauma of young lovers who gave up all hopes of being united in marriage. He planned to counter the monarch's orders in secrecy. Whenever lovers thought of marrying, they went to Valentine who met them afterwards in a secret place, and joined them in the sacrament of matrimony. And thus he secretly performed many marriages for young lovers. But such things cannot remain hidden for long. It was only a matter of time before Claudius came to know of this "friend of lovers," and had him arrested. 

While awaiting his sentence in prison, Valentine was approached by his jailor, Asterius. It was said that Valentine had some saintly abilities and one of them granted him the power to heal people. Asterius had a blind daughter and knowing of the miraculous powers of Valentine he requested the latter to restore the sight of his blind daughter. The Catholic legend has it that Valentine did this through the vehicle of his strong faith, a phenomenon refuted by the Protestant version which agrees otherwise with the Catholic one. Whatever the fact, it appears that Valentine in some way did succeed to help Asterius' blind daughter. 

When Claudius II met Valentine, he was said to have been impressed by the dignity and conviction of the latter. However, Valentine refused to agree with the emperor regarding the ban on marriage. It is also said that the emperor tried to convert Valentine to the Roman gods but was unsuccesful in his efforts. Valentine refused to recognize Roman Gods and even attempted to convert the emperor, knowing the consequences fully. This angered Claudius II who gave the order of execution of Valentine. 

Meanwhile, a deep friendship had been formed between Valentine and Asterius' daughter. It caused great grief to the young girl to hear of his friend's imminent death. It is said that just before his execution, Valentine asked for a pen and paper from his jailor, and signed a farewell message to her "From Your Valentine," a phrase that lived ever after. As per another legend, Valentine fell in love with the daughter of his jailer during his imprisonment. However, this legend is not given much importance by historians. The most plausible story surrounding St. Valentine is one not centered on Eros (passionate love) but on agape (Christian love): he was martyred for refusing to renounce his religion. Valentine is believed to have been executed on February 14, 270 AD. 

Thus 14th February became a day for all lovers and Valentine became its Patron Saint. It began to be annually observed by young Romans who offered handwritten greetings of affection, known as Valentines, on this day to the women they admired. With the coming of Christianity, the day came to be known as St. Valentine's Day. 

But it was only during the 14th century that St. Valentine's Day became definitively associated with love. UCLA medieval scholar Henry Ansgar Kelly, author of "Chaucer and the Cult of Saint Valentine", credits Chaucer as the one who first linked St. Valentine's Day with romance. In medieval France and England it was believed that birds mated on February 14. Hence, Chaucer used the image of birds as the symbol of lovers in poems dedicated to the day. In Chaucer's "The Parliament of Fowls," the royal engagement, the mating season of birds, and St. Valentine's Day are related: 

"For this was on St. Valentine's Day, When every fowl cometh there to choose his mate." 

By the Middle Ages, Valentine became as popular as to become one of the most popular saints in England and France. Despite attempts by the Christian church to sanctify the holiday, the association of Valentine’s Day with romance and courtship continued through the Middle Ages. The holiday evolved over the centuries. By the 18th century, gift-giving and exchanging hand-made cards on Valentine's Day had become common in England. Hand-made valentine cards made of lace, ribbons, and featuring cupids and hearts began to be created on this day and handed over to the man or woman one loved.
This tradition eventually spread to the American colonies. It was not until the 1840s that Valentine's Day greeting cards began to be commercially produced in the U.S. The first American Valentine's Day greeting cards were created by Esther A. Howlanda Mount Holyoke, a graduate and native of Worcester. Mass. Howland, known as the Mother of the Valentine, made elaborate creations with real lace, ribbons and colorful pictures known as "scrap". It was when Howland began Valentine's cards in a large scale that the tradition really caught on in the United States. 

Today, Valentine's Day is one of the major holidays in the U.S. and has become a booming commercial success. According to the Greeting Card Association, 25% of all cards sent each year are "valentine"s. The "valentines", as Valentine's Day cards are better known as, are often designed with hearts to symbolize love. The Valentine's Day card spread with Christianity, and is now celebrated all over the world. One of the earliest valentines was sent in 1415 AD by Charles, Duke of Orleans, to his wife during his imprisonment in the Tower of London. The card is now preserved in the British Museum. 

There may be doubts regarding the actual identity of Valentine, but we know that he really existed because archaeologists have recently unearthed a Roman catacomb and an ancient church dedicated to a Saint Valentine.