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Katherine Heigl Biography

July 30, 2007 By

This young lady has made a name for herself on television and now on film with her latest feature. Her name is Katherine Heigl and she is an actress to watch. In this article, find out all about her life before she became famous.

Katherine Heigl was born Katherine Marie Heigl on November 24, 1978, in Washington, D.C. Her parents, Paul and Nancy, made their living as a financial executive and personal manager, respectively. She and her four other siblings had a strict Mormon upbringing in the Heigl household.

Katherine’s family moved around a bit until they settled in an affluent town called New Canaan in the state of Connecticut. This is where she spent most of her childhood. During that time, her older brother Jason was killed as a result of a car accident.

Heigl began her rise to stardom at an early age. An aunt, with the permission of her parents, passed her picture around to several modeling agencies in New York when she was only nine years old. Heigl became a face in catalogs for Lord & Taylor and Sears. This led to commercial spots. All the while Katherine was modeling and acting, she kept up her studies in school.

The family broke up when her parents divorced the year before her high school graduation. Heigl’s mom, Nancy, became her business manager. They both moved to California where Heigl continued to pursue an acting career.

She starred in several films while still a high school student including My Father the Hero and King of the Hill which was directed by Steven Soderbergh. After high school, she found success on the small screen with a role in the science fiction drama, Roswell, where she played Isabel Evans. The show ran for a few seasons before it was canceled.

The magazine pages still love Katherine. She has graced the pages of Seventeen, Maxim, Teen, Life, and TV Guide. She made Maxim magazine’s Hot 100 list as #12.

Heigl starred in two movies for Hallmark Entertainment. In the first, Love Comes Softly, she played Marty Claridge, a pregnant widow who enters into an arranged marriage to save herself and her unborn child. She reprised the role in the second film of the series, Love’s Enduring Promise.

In 2005, she was cast in the role of Dr. Isobel Stevens in the hit drama, Grey’s Anatomy on ABC. She has gained notice for this role as the show has become a huge success. Her newest success is the role of Alison Scott in the motion picture comedy, Knocked Up.

Katherine Heigl is a star on the rise. If her past is any indication, she will find success in whatever she puts her mind to.

Find out more about your favorite stars.

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Filed Under: Entertainment

Challenges of Telecommuting: Avoiding The Pitfalls

July 29, 2007 By

Telecommuting is a way to work for a company but enjoy all the comforts of having a home office. This is a perfect solution for moms with busy lives and children at home. But, telecommuting does offer some unique challenges.

Every day more and more people are entering the world of the telecommuting professional. They are finding success both professionally and personally when they learn to avoid a few pitfalls. Here are a few that you should be aware of.

You can find leads for legitimate telecommuting positions on the Internet, but there are also the scam artists who plot to take your money by promising you a job through their bogus service. These people charge exorbitant fees for “getting started” kits that leave you no better off than you were before you started your search.

The classified ads in the newspaper are a good place to start looking for telecommuting jobs in your field. Advertising in the newspaper is relatively inexpensive and well viewed depending on the readership of the newspaper. Create a list of the companies in your area that are potential hits and call them up. Even if they don’t have positions available, they may be able to suggest some more leads.

Is telecommuting the job for you? Setting your own hours is a benefit of the job, but only if you will stick to it. If you are the type of person who procrastinates when there is no set deadline for your work, you could find yourself out of a job in no time.

The telecommuting professional is able to work alone without the office interaction. If you are the type that likes to chat with coworkers and enjoys lunch with them, an isolated profession like telecommuting may not be for you. What you may gain professionally and financially you lose out on socially.

If telecommuting is the job for you, an aspect of your success will be balancing family and job. Since you are home and not in the office, the responsibility of housework may fall on you to complete. A detailed schedule of work hours and other activities sets time aside for all you need to accomplish.

Telecommuting can turn you into a workaholic. With the time saved on the commute, your productivity will increase. Resisting the urge to work on the weekends leaves quality time for the family. Turn off the computer and pay attention to the ones that you are doing all of this for.

Telecommuting is a job with the benefits of the office without the drive to the office. There are some challenges both to getting started and balancing this type of job. Decide for yourself if it is right for you.

Grab your Mom’s Talk Guide to Organizing Your Life - Step-by-step guide to getting organized, increasing your free time and having way less stress.

Filed Under: Home Business & Telecommuting

Family Budgeting: Save On Your Family’s Cell Phone Bill

July 28, 2007 By

Cell phone use is rising with the introduction of text messaging, music, photo, and Internet capabilities. If you have kids and they all have cell phones, the bill can get high pretty quickly. Here are a few tips for lowering that cell phone bill to a manageable level.

The common misconception with cellular phones is that incoming calls are free. Most people only make that mistake once. With a cellular phone, your plan minutes are used for both outgoing and incoming phone calls.

Knowing the details of your phone plan will help to lower the bill. If you have a separate plan for you and the kids, consider a family share plan. Examining a recent bill will reveal who makes the most calls and texts and at what times. With this knowledge, tailoring a plan that everyone can adhere to will be easier.

Eliminating text messaging for the kids is a good move. If you have Internet capability on your computer, encourage them to send an email. The price of Internet access is by the month, not by the email like text messaging. Frequent texts to friends every day add up.

Consider changing your service provider. Cingular offers rollover minute plans depending on the amount of anytime minutes you require. Any unused minutes are added to next month’ minute total.

Switching services can also be helpful if the majority of your contacts use another plan. Calls within network come under a different category of minute usage. This will save your anytime minutes for family members who are out of state and out of network.

Eliminating unwanted services will reduce your cell phone bill. If you have a computer at home, Internet access on your cell phone is not a necessity. Check to see that only the basic services you need are what you are being charged for every month.

When contacts are local, a pay-as-you-go plan is great. For kids, giving them a monthly limit for texts and calls will keep them to a budget on the cell phone. When the minutes expire, their phone is idle until the next month. Check the coverage area when deciding which provider to use.

Use the contact feature on your phone. Calling information to get a phone number will add up. It is much easier to use a phone book. Cellular phones have the capability of recording vital information about your contacts including addresses and phone numbers. Using this feature negates the need for 411.

Cell phones are handy tools. But, you don’t want to go into debt because the entire family has one. Evaluating your plan options on a regular basis will keep the bill low and the family happy.

Grab your Guide to Family Budgeting Step-by-step guide to help you establish a workable budget.

Filed Under: Money & Finance

Low-Fat Cooking: Tasty Summer Meal Treats

July 27, 2007 By

When the weather gets warm, no one wants to slave over a hot stove cooking heavy meals. During the summer, less is more. Use these ideas to help you create lower fat recipes your family will appreciate and enjoy.

Summer low-fat cooking should be easy and tasty. Whenever you can prepare portions of meals in advance, doing so will decrease your time in the kitchen or at the grill. Adding many nutritious vegetables to the mix will also lower your family’s cholesterol and weight.

Salads are a quick summer meal that is loaded with nutrients. But, a simple plate of lettuce and cucumbers won’t fill them up. Whatever you can put on a sandwich, you can put on a salad. Turn that plain salad into a fiesta. Go southwestern one night, by adding black beans, shredded cheese, grilled chicken strips, and corn to your salad. If you prefer steak, add a few lean strips of sirloin, onions, baby spinach, and mushrooms to a bed of bowtie pasta. Finish it off with a little low-fat vinaigrette dressing.

White rice has been a staple of meals for a long time, but there are healthier alternatives. Instead, using whole grain brown rice or couscous to a dish requiring white rice will add less carbohydrate. If your family likes seafood, fix a dish of paella using couscous instead of saffron rice. Add shrimp alone without the mussels. The addition of saffron powder will bring that familiar aroma to your lower fat dish.

If lunch is to be a sandwich, put away the sliced bread. Reaching for bread alternatives like pita pockets, whole wheat tortillas, and flatbreads make sandwiches less bulky and healthier. Use bread crumbs to coat boneless, skinless chicken breast tenders for a crunchy chicken wrap sandwich. Pita pockets are good for chicken and egg salad sandwiches. They hold everything in without getting soggy and you can add other veggies if you desire.

Grilling is an easy way to create lower fat dishes. Cook a few steaks and chicken breasts on the grill. When they are done slice them into strips that can be stored in the fridge for use that week in salads, fajitas, pasta dishes, casseroles, and breakfast omelets.

The grill is also great for making kabobs. Cube some chicken or beef and offer that along with shrimp as possible kabob meats. Vegetables for kabobs include onions, bell peppers, and tomatoes. You can even add fruits like pineapples to the skewer. Let the family design their skewers for the grill.

Summer cooking doesn’t have to be boring to be healthy. A few minor changes to your favorite dishes and you’ll get the nutritional value you need without sacrificing taste.

Keep up with what’s happening at Mom’s Talk Network, by clicking here.

Filed Under: Food & Drink

Fruit Juice: Should You Eliminate It From Your Child’s Diet?

July 26, 2007 By

There has been much debate over the benefits of fruit juice when it comes to children. Some believe that it is ruining the diets of our youth. Should you or shouldn’t you let your kids have it? These facts will help you make an informed choice.

All fruit juices are not created equal. Reading the label reveals the truth. Most juices are artificially sweetened. This means that instead of actual fruit juice, the drink contains a fruit flavored substance, sweeteners, and water.

The nutritional label proves this to be a fact. A typical artificially flavored drink contains between five and twenty-five percent real juice from fruits. This percentage does not provide the recommended daily amount (RDA) of vitamin C for your child.

Artificially sweetened juices contain between 100 and 150 calories per eight-ounce glass. Most of this is in the form of sugars. What this means for your body is an increase in fat stores.

The artificially sweetened juices provide no discernible nutritional benefit except to eat into the normal daily allowance of calories. Because it lacks bulk, the juice does not replace any meal. It is a glass of empty calories.

Researchers have tried to link the consumption of artificial fruit juices with the increase in childhood obesity. Drinking plenty of juice drinks contributes to obesity in two ways: 1) the amount of juice consumed is excessive, and 2) the juice consumed replaces the nutrients needed in a child’s everyday diet.

The consumption of artificial juice drinks should be eliminated according to researchers. These drinks are quickly replacing milk as the drink of choice for toddlers which increase their risks for future weight problems. Even diluted, these sweetened juice drinks provide too many empty calories.

The research takes a slightly different view of fruit juice drinks that are 100% real fruit juice. These juices provide a significant amount of the vitamin C needed everyday. What is in question is whether the amount of sugars and calories found in 100% fruit juice is worth an eight ounce glass.

On a daily average, children can drink between six and twelve ounces of 100% fruit juice without any problem. If this is done, the rest of their daily allowance of vitamin C and other nutrients should come from whole fruits. Eating fruit in its natural state provides greater nutritional benefit for fewer calories. And, the bulk of such fruits as apples and pears, provide a filling effect for the child.

Fruit juice is nutritionally acceptable for your child, as long as it is 100% juice and consumed in moderation. Natural fruit is better because it is less sweet and provides more substance with fewer calories. The choice is yours-cut back or cut out artificial juices altogether. If you are having a problem deciding what’s best, talk to your child’s doctor.

To learn more, check out the Mom’s Talk Guide to Raising Happy & Healthy Kids – Tips and resources address nutrition, exercise, sleep, routines, and much more.

Filed Under: Parenting
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