I strongly urge you to look into Shelf Reliance products, especially the foods. They are second to none in quality, you’ll be glad you checked them out. Please feel free to contact me with any questions.

Today only, get this First Aid kit for $11.99 + $5 shipping (retail price: $29.99).  Go to froobi.com to buy it today!

According to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), 45% of bathroom related injuries occur to children age 10 and younger. They also make up 75% of bathroom related fatalities. Slips and falls are the main source of injuries in the bathroom, while only 100 people drown in bathtubs and 70 people die from burns in the bathtub every year.

Most of these incidences happen when the child is not being supervised by a responsible adult and usually when the adult has only stepped away for a moment.

Here are some ways you can make your bathrooms safer:

• Put a lid lock on your toilet seat.
• Have a non-skid surface in your bathtub.
• Never leave small children alone around any container of water. This includes toilets, tubs, wading pools, spas, aquariums, and buckets.
• Before bathing children, gather the soap, shampoo, toys, towel, diaper, clothing, and any other needed items you might need before running the bath water. Place these items so you can easily reach them.
• After running bath water, check the water temperature before placing the child in the bath water.
• Once your child is in the bath, don’t leave for any reason. Children can drown in just a small amount of water. They can easily topple into the tub or toilet. It only takes a few seconds for a drowning to happen.
• If you must leave the room for the telephone or door, take the child with you after taking the child out of the water and wrapping him in a towel.
• For people who are elderly or have disabilities, consider installing grab bars on walls around the tub and beside the toilet and a portable, hand-held shower head.
  
• Check that the following items are not in reach of children:
  • Medicines
  • Cosmetics
  • Nail polish and removers
  • Hair products
  • Toothpaste with fluoride
  • Perfume
  • Cleaners
  • Air deodorizers
  • Mouthwash
  • Personal hygiene products
    

(Sources: CPSC.org, NSC.org, Texas Department of Family and Protective Services)

• Power outages
• Burst water lines
• Snowed or iced in

Now let’s look at what we can do to prepare ourselves for those situations…

• Have flashlights and extra batteries on hand. You may want to gather your candles and matches as well.
• Dig out (or purchase) your battery-powered NOAA weather radio and portable radio to receive emergency information.
• If you don’t have a supply already, stock up on canned and dry food items to last you at least a week. You never know how long you could be stuck in your home, roads shut down, or stores closed.
• Buy a crate of bottled water or use empty and sanitized soda bottles to fill with water.
• Stock up on baby diapers and formula, if needed.
• Make sure you have enough medications for those who need them.
• Have a back-up  heating  source such as a fireplace, wood-burning stove (make sure you  have enough wood!), or space heater (make sure you have enough fuel).

Emergency personnel may not be able to get to your home as quickly as usual.

• Have a stocked first-aid kit available.
• Check to see that you have a fire extinguisher and working smoke detectors.

Have a survival kit in your vehicle(s):

• Cell phone
• Blankets/sleeping bags
• Flashlight with extra batteries
• Knife
• High calorie, non-perishable food
• A can and waterproof matches to melt snow for drinking water
• Sand or cat litter
• Shovel
• Windshield scraper
• Tow rope
• Jumper cables
• Water container
• Compass
• Road maps
• Extra winter clothes and boots

If you live in Mississippi, stay updated on the current winter storm development.

Prep Your Vehicle

• Check the fluids – You don’t want to be low on coolant in the dead of summer and change the oil if you haven’t recently.
• Check tire pressure – Not only will this help prevent flats but, having the correct tire pressure will save gas mileage!
• Documents – Make sure you have up to date insurance and registration. Include a paper map of where you are going, GPS isn’t always reliable.
• Do you have that spare tire ready?  Do you have a jack to be able to change a flat tire? Do you know where the jack is and how to use it?

Pack an Emergency Kit

• Take the first aid kit along with you if there isn’t already one in your car. You will be living out of your vehicle for the duration of your trip so make sure you are prepared for cuts, scrapes, headaches and car sickness, etc.
• Include road side emergency supplies in your kit such as road flares, jumper (booster) cables, tire gauge, reflective triangles, basic tools to fit your vehicle.  Consider purchasing one of these pre-made kits.

Entertainment

• Take things for your children to do. Nothing takes the fun out of a vacation like yelling kids and frustrated parents. Visit this site for games and other ideas for kids in the car, www.momsminivan.com
• Bring music everyone likes! If you don’t listen to much music, bring audio books.  Listening to something will help pass the time and make the trip more enjoyable.
• If your family is tech savvy and needs TV entertainment, consider FLO TV.

Pack Your Snacks

• Bringing your own snacks and treats with you in the car will save you money and time (and a headache when the little ones need something to eat). When restocking your supply, shop at a store like Walmart; gas stations and convenient stores are pricey!
• Some people tend to eat worse on vacation, whether they are skipping meals or eating at fast food joints for every meal. If you have the space, consider bringing a cooler with the fixings to make sandwiches, have fresh veggies and even fruit! Keeping your diet normal (like you eat at home) will prevent indigestion and stomach aches along the way.
• Be sure to pack plenty of water to drink! Soda dehydrates you and is overall unhealthy to be drinking all the time.

To make life easier…

• Make everyone use the bathroom every time you stop.
• Reuse some old grocery bags as trash bags in your car to keep trash from piling up.
• Drive the speed limit!  The extra 10 mph is not going to get you there that much sooner; it’s not worth the extra money spent on a speeding ticket.

Week 4: Dangers of Cell Phone Use While Driving

Currently 38* states have some version of a law limiting or banning the use of cell phones while operating a vehicle and many others have bills on their way to being signed.  It is clear that the use of cell phones while driving is dangerous.  Approximately 1.6 million car crashes per year are caused by drivers who were using their cell phones.

The National Safety Council promotes avoiding using cell phones completely while driving but, for some of us, that just isn’t possible.  Fortunately, many states have completely banned the use of cell phones (calls and text messaging) with the exception of using a hands-free device.  Hands-free devices can be a head-set that comes with the phone (usually looks like headphones with a mic) or a Bluetooth head-set.  When purchasing a head-set for your phone, make sure you know which ones are compatible with your phone (this goes for both wired head-sets and wireless Bluetooth head-sets) because not all phones are the same.

To learn about what the specific cell phone law in your state is, visit www.DrivingLaws.org.

*Georgia’s law effective July 1, 2010, Connecticut’s law effective Oct 1, 2010

Week 1: Prescription Drug Overdose Prevention
Week 2: Teen Driving Safety
Week 3: Preventing Overexertion at Work and Home

Overexertion is caused by straining your body and asking it to do what it is not prepared for or isn’t supposed to do.  According to the NSC,

“Overexertion injuries, mainly sprains and strains, to the back or spine comprise about 40 percent of both on and off-the-job injuries.”

Preventing overexertion is simple. We should all know these tips, even if we don’t always want to follow some of them.

• Before doing any strenuous work or heavy lifting, warm-up your muscles and stretch.
• Always lift with your legs, never bend over and lift with your back.
• Exercise regularly to keep your body fit and healthy, even if your exercise is just going for a walk, anything is better than nothing.
• Eat a well-balanced diet, make sure your body is getting all the nutrients it needs.

Week 1: Prescription Drug Overdose Prevention
Week 2: Teen Driving Safety
Week 4: Dangers of Cell Phone Use While Driving

You may not be surprised to find out that motor vehicle accidents are the leading cause of death and injury for teens ages 15 to 19.  About 17 people die per day  from teen-involved auto accidents.

Edmunds.com has a 5-part series on how to help your teens be better drivers.

Part I: How To Crashproof Your Teenager
Part II: Laying Down the Law for Your Teen Driver
Part III: Finding a Driver’s Ed Program That Really Work
Part IV: Choosing the Safest Car for Your Teen
Part V: How To Keep Tabs on Your Teen Driver

In addition, you may want to check out these 10 Tips For Keeping Your Teen Driver Safe.

Week 1: Prescription Drug Overdose Prevention
Week 3: Preventing Overexertion at Work and Home
Week 4: Dangers of Cell Phone Use While Driving

Week 1: Prescription Drug Overdose Prevention

The abuse of prescription drugs (painkillers, depressants and stimulants) is a very real and dangerous threat.  Many people are more concerned with the use of marijuana and other illicit drugs (cocaine, heroin, hallucinogens, and inhalants) that they forget about what may be in their medicine cabinet.

According to the 2008 National Survey of Drug Use & Health, 1.5% of youth ages 12 to13 use prescription drugs for non-medical purposes.  Only 1.0% use marijuana, making prescription-type drugs their drug of choice.  The survey also showed that 2.9% of all youth ages 12-17 use prescription drugs non-medically.

Prescription drugs are often, mistakenly, thought to be safer to take than illicit drugs.  While properly taken under prescription they can be safe and beneficial to a person’s well-being, however, overuse of prescriptions can be just as damaging and addictive (if not more so) as other drug choices.

Teenagers are not the only ones to worry about.  Painkillers (such as Vicodin, Tylenol with Codeine, OxyContin, and Percocet)  are often abused by those to whom they were prescribed.

To learn ways you can help prevent prescription drug abuse in your own family visit www.theantidrug.com.

Week 2: Teen Driving Safety
Week 3: Preventing Overexertion at Work and Home
Week 4: Dangers of Cell Phone Use While Driving

In this book is advice and plans to protect almost every aspect of your life; personal security, home security, car security, protecting children, fraud, natural disasters, terrorism, and so much more.  It is a good read (especially if you are genuinely interested in the subject).

Among the many careers and accomplishments that make Rawls qualified to write such a book, he is a former police officer, former bodyguard for a corporate executive, and a Homeland Security Specialist.

“Both timely and timeless. With the street smarts of a savvy undercover cop, Rawls energizes the reader’s latent survival instincts with time-tested actions and techniques to prevent attacks.” William F. Powers, Director (Ret) US Dept. of Justice Special Programs

I recommend everyone who wants to have a safer and more prepared life to read this book. I’ve read it once through and plan to read it many more times over.

For an overview of what is in the book and to buy it visit the website http://www.bealertbeaware.com/.