A beginners guide on how to paint a wall mural

Obviously the first thing you need to do is figure out what to paint on the wall. When I know what I want to paint, I typically follow that up by finding different representations, photos, drawings to use as a reference, or by going to a location to take some pictures that I can use as a model. For example, if I wanted to paint a seascape I might drive around the beach area where I look for objects or scenery I want to include in my painting. Most times I am piecing together a scene to create my mural.

Once you have what you need to put together your scene, painting the background first is essential. I start at the top and work my way down. So I lay down the sky first, then the horizon, where I may have mountains, trees, water or land. After I have my background in I will place my other objects, such as people, cars, roads or whatever the subject may be. Sometimes I hand paint in these objects and sometimes I may use a projector first to cast the image on the wall, trace it out and then hand paint it. A projector is very helpful to maintain the correct proportions and to help in placement of the object.

You may be wondering what medium to use on a wall. I use a mixture of acrylic paint that you can buy in any craft or art supply store and also latex paint that you would purchase by the gallon in a paint or hardware store. Both of these mediums dry quickly and clean up easily with water. Also, acrylic paint has no fumes so working with it will not bother you during the process. I typically purchase a gallon of extra bright white paint that I mix with the acrylic colors. This will stretch your dollar, because purchasing small tubes of acrylic paint alone can add up quickly especially if you are painting a large area.

Once you have finished your mural, I suggest painting a clear coat of polyeurothane over it to protect it. Look for a coating that will not yellow with age. The clear coating allows cleanup in case of dirt or fingerprints.

Abundance flourishes in an atmosphere of integrity

There's no way to fake INTEGRITY. You are either are IN INTEGRITY offering a PURE positive vibration which the Law of Attraction responds to. Or you're OUT of INTEGRITY which creates a negative or mixed vibration, which the Law of Attraction cannot ignore.

Here's a real-life story which demonstrates what happens to our vibration when we are out of INTEGRITY.

I was feeling pretty upbeat after our coaching session yesterday and really excited about winning a prize pack from the radio station.

After picking up my prize, I noticed Spyware, an electronics store, and decided to go in and compare prices with an item I had just bought from Radio Shack yesterday. Spyware had the exact same item on sale for $10.00 less so I bought it with the intention of returning the first item to Radio Shack. When I compared the two products they were exactly the same, with the exact same bar codes and packaging. However, I noticed the cheaper item had one wire a couple centimeters shorter than the more expensive item.

I made a decision to return the item with the shorter wire (the one purchased at Spyware) back to Radio Shack and keep the original item. Thus saving $10.00 but keeping the better product.

After the clerk had finished all the paperwork I felt extremely guilty. But then I rationalized it was too late to do anything about it and told myself I would just have to let this guilt go. What a way to bring my high vibration to a crashing halt. I reminded myself that this is why I shouldn't do things like this in the first place because not only can I not live with the guilt but now it is a double whammy because I'm so aware of my vibration and this is bringing it way down.

Anytime we do something that is not in alignment with our core values, we feel negative emotions which hinder us from receiving the real desires of our heart.

The antidote is simple: be honest, pay all debts, return what you've borrowed, speak kindly about others and keep your word. In other words, do nothing that will hinder the flow of pure positive energy toward you. Be true to your self an you'll open the way for receiving everything that will make you happy.

This same client had such an opportunity to 'make it right' on an energetic level. Again, she wrote:

I was feeling pretty bad when I returned to my office, and then remembered I needed to go to the bank. I went up to the bank machine and there was $40.00 sitting in the slot. Someone had forgotten to take it with them after they finished their transaction. They had also forgotten to take their bank slip. I took both out of the machine and put them in my pocket while I did my own banking.

Now I was dealing with the moral dilemma of what I should do with the found money. I so badly wanted to keep the money as I am heavily in debt with all my credit cards almost maxed out. I tried rationalizing: The bank slip doesn't have the account number on it so it's not like one can trace it but it did say that the person had a balance of $195.00 which isn't very much.

I remembered how I felt when I once left $20.00 in the bank machine myself and went back for it but it was gone.

I then decided to go into the bank and leave the $40.00 with a bank teller. While I was waiting in line, another lady came into the bank and told me I left my card in the bank machine so I went back to get it. Then she came back again saying now I'd left my bank slip in the machine. This is how frazzled I was!

Anyways, I gave the money to a bank teller with my business card and I am feeling much better.

I feel like the Universe gave me an opportunity not only to redeem myself but also an opportunity to change my vibration after something I've done in the past that I feel badly about.

Indeed! This client demonstrates the wonderful way the Law of Attraction works: Her dominant intention was to offer a high vibration so that she can attract more money and enjoy her life.

The Law of Attraction arranged an opportunity (the item from Radio Shack.) Her actions in the first opportunity caused her vibration to drop, which didn't feel good. So she RESET her intention to feel good, and the Law of Attraction sent her another opportunity to take actions that feel better.

Old locomotives

Locomotive number 60004 rolled out of Baldwin Locomotive Works (founded in 1831 by Matthias Baldwin) in May of 1927. She was the 13th 4-8-4 type locomotive built in America. The first twelve have all been scrapped, leaving only 3751 as the oldest 4-8-4 in existence.

Destined for the Santa Fe Railroad, she was a new design experience for both the builder and the operator. She was the first class of Santa Fe 4-8-4's (a 4-8-4 locomotive has four leading wheels arranged in a leading truck , eight coupled driving wheels and four trailing wheels in a trailing truck). Each costing $99,712.77 as delivered.

As originally built, 3751 was an innovation in design, with its 4-wheel trailing truck to support the 108 sq/ft firebox. The newly developed Type E super heater was applied. Included was a cast-steel engine bed and separate cast cylinders, with cross-counter balanced 73 inch drive wheels. The total engine weight was 432,240 lbs. The total engine-tender weight tipped the scales at 724,600 lbs. She had a starting tractive effort of 66,000 lbs, with a maximum drawbar horsepower of 3,200 at 40 mph.

Mechanical Engineer Lanning and his staff collaborated with Baldwin in the design of the 3765's, which were delivered between April and June 1938. For maximum speeds of 100 mph, 80-inch Baldwin disc-type driving wheels were specified. Cylinder dimensions were changed to 28 x 32 to eliminate the back pressure problems inherent in the 3751 design.

With the arrival of eleven new 3765 class 4-8-4's in 1938, Santa Fe decided to rebuild the 3751 class. The purpose was to upgrade the locomotive to equal the 3765 class if possible. This project began in October 1938 and culminated with the 3751 being completed in early 1941. Although due to larger drivers the original tractive effort of 66,000 lbs remained the same. The conversion did however allow for 90 miles per hour speeds and raised the horsepower to 3,600 at 50 mph. This major rebuilding was a success in producing a much more powerful and efficient locomotive. With the heavy wartime traffic commencing after December 7, 1941, Santa Fe attempted to obtain more motive power, both steam and diesel from the War Production Board, which had assumed control of locomotive production and allocation

In 1947 the I. C.C. ordered automatic train control to be used on locomotives exceeding 79 mph. 3751 received new equipment mounted on the right trailer truck frame which permitted her timetable a maximum speed of 90 mph.

By 1949 the "deflector" type stack was in place for use in the numerous tunnels over the Tehachapi grade.

On August 25, 1953, her fire was extinguished, but until then she had been on the point of many famous Santa Fe trains such as the Scout, the Navajo, the California Limited, the Chief, Fast Mail and Express, the Grand Canyon Limited, the El Tova, the San Diegan and standby for the Super Chief Diesel Streamliner in 1938. It is also interesting to note that while on standby for this train, 3751 had bettered the diesel locomotive's performance with quicker times between Los Angeles & Barstow!

June, July 1953 was the last big 4-8-4 show, indeed the last for all AT&SF steam. Sixty-four 4-8-4's made mileages of 350,343 in June and 343,627 in July.

The good and bad of chat rooms

The rise of the internet has given people of all ages the abilities to communicate with friends and to make new friends in many easy ways. People can send emails, start a blog, or create a personal webpage to keep people connected to the happenings of their life. Chat rooms have become another main way that people communicate and build relationships with one another. And like any source of connection and communication, chat rooms has both pros and cons.

There is no denying that chat rooms are a great way to meet people. You simply log in, enter a chat room and begin having conversations with other people in that are logged in. You can initiate conversations with people or they can initiate conversations with you. Sounds harmless, right?

Chat rooms can also be great to connect with people with whom you have things in common. Chat rooms are created for people with certain hobbies, beliefs or lifestyles. People who love to cook can certainly find chat rooms for others who love to cook and teens who love to skateboard can use chat rooms to find other skateboarders.

Chat rooms have their dangers. Because all you need to do in entering chat rooms is sign in, think about all of the people who can make up identities that are not their own. A ten year old boy can sign into chat rooms as a thirty year old mother of three. Or, worse yet, a sixty year old man can pretend to be twenty five and in search of the perfect girl. So while it is fine to enter chat rooms if all you are looking for is fun, do not let yourself get hopeful about meeting a new best friend or the wife of your dreams each time you sign into chat rooms.

Parents needs to be especially watchful about their children's habits on the internet. Monitor them carefully to see that they are not entering chat rooms that are inappropriate for their age and interests. Children are smarter than you think and more able to find their way to what they want online. Many parents would be shocked to learn the things their children see and learn on websites and in chat rooms.

So yes, chat rooms can be fun and harmless, but they can just as easily become dangerous and addictive. Know yourself and know your family members well before giving yourself or anyone else the freedoms to search the internet and spend time in chat rooms.

Minerals - good for your bones organs and tissue

Minerals are as important as vitamins when it comes to overall health and well-being. Since all enzymatic activities in the body require minerals, your body wouldn't be able to use vitamins and other nutrients without them. Calcium, Magnesium, Chromium, Iron, Selenium and Zinc are just a few of the numerous minerals essential to continued health.

For years the supplement market has been dominated by vitamins, but vitamins and amino acids are useless without minerals because all enzyme activities involve minerals. Minerals for healthy bones, organs, and tissue minerals are needed to maintain the delicate cellular fluid balance, to form bone and blood cells, to provide for electrochemical nerve activity, and to regulate muscle tone and activity (including organ muscles like the heart, stomach, liver, etc.)

Minerals act as catalysts for many biological reactions within the body, including muscle response, the transmission of messages through the nervous system, the production of hormones, digestion, and the utilization of nutrients in foods.

Minerals are primarily stored in bone and muscle tissue so toxicity is a possibility. Toxicity risks increase when one isolated mineral is ingested without any supportive cofactor nutrients. Such situations of mineral toxicity are quite rare, because toxic levels accumulate only if massive overdoses persist for a prolonged period of time.

Benefits

• maintains healthy bones, organs and tissue

• regulates muscle tone

• assists with the formation of bone and blood cells

How to survive in an online business

If your company does not offer its services/products online, then you're definitely living in the Stone Age. Businesses today realize that in order to stay competitive, they have to communicate with today's audience who do business primarily online.

Running an online business means that you have a global audience. And having a global audience means that your store is up and running twenty four hours every day and seven days of the week. While your customers from New York might be sleeping, those from Tokyo would surely be awake. Therefore an online business is one that never sleeps. It is one that is always on call by customers. As such, an online business must be manned at all times, keeping a close watch on potential business.

In managing an online business, communication is important. Using email and instant messaging as a form of communication between you and your staff will surely be beneficial. There are also different technologies such as the VoIP that enables you to talk with your business partners and your staff from all over the world quite easily. But since you and your associates live in different time zones it is important to set up a specific time of the day when you can communicate with them about the updates and different issues that your business face today and what they need to do about it. You should make sure that they follow your instruction and schedule strictly.

Meetings are also a must for online businesses. Meetings are where you'll know the issues hounding your employees and problems that the business is facing. To be able to save on time and effort, online businesses today can meet in an online conference room. This will eradicate the need for physical space and manual preparations.

Another way to survive online is to build up your brand! Yes, brand is important even though you're on the Internet. Building your brand means providing good products, fast services, and pleasant experiences to your customers. Yes, you'll definitely want your customers to have pleasant experiences. Remember, word spreads fast on the Internet. If you have one customer who had a not-so-good time in dealing with your online business and spreads the rumor, then chances are your name will be ruined.

Don't forget that your website is the face of your online business. Surviving in the online world means that your online business must be able to keep up with the latest technology. And in designing your storefront always keep navigation in mind. A potential customer would not want to visit twenty different web pages just to buy a certain product.

Surviving your online business is tough. Everyday, there are thousands of companies going online and millions of individuals setting up an online business. Ultimately, the key is to success in this endeavor is to love what you do. After all, not everyone gets to touch lives in a global scale.

Scuba diving more accessible than you thought

Since the early 20th century, SCUBA diving has gone from an incredibly risky undertaking well out of reach for all but the fabulously wealthy to a relatively safe sport with a rapidly growing participant community.

SCUBA stands for Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus, so named for the tanks and other gear which divers carry on their backs allowing them to breathe underwater. Although this gear termed “life-support equipment” and a commitment of real training is necessary in order to become safe and proficient enough with it to dive even in a small lake or quarry, technological advancements and improvements in science and engineering have enabled longer times underwater, deeper dives, and reduced danger in this exhilarating activity enjoyed by athletes and nature lovers.

Having originally been popularized by Jacques-Yves Cousteau and Emile Gagnan, who built the Aqualung (a name still used in Britain to describe Scuba equipment today), Scuba is now enjoyed by millions of people worldwide ranging from locations as temperate tropical waters to under-ice sub-arctic diving for scientific purposes or by adventure seekers.

Many people are unaware of the length of time necessary to attain Scuba proficiency and certification – in the United States, the two major certification bodies are National Association of Underwater Instructors (NAUI) and Professional Association of Dive Instructors (PADI). Depending on the course, new divers can get certified in as little as three to four days of actual instruction – since the courses are based on performance standards and not on hours of instruction, this number can be higher or lower. Also, if a diver wishes to do more technical and dangerous dives or to use more advanced equipment, more training would be necessary in order to ensure safety.

Anyone who enjoys vacations to tropical areas or who appreciates nature and enjoys the water can now consider Scuba diving, thanks to the advances mentioned in science and engineering, as well as the establishment of standardized certification and training programs worldwide. If you’ve never considered it, much more information is available online to help you decide if Scuba makes sense for you.