INPUT ARTICLE: Article: You may want to sell items you already have. If you are adept at crafting you may sell items you make or refurbish.  Selling items you already have is a short term venture. However, if you invest that money into crafting or refurbishing you can develop a sound part-time business. Depending on the items you have, you can sell items at yard sales, online, in classified ads, or even auction houses.  Consider what craft or thrift stores are around town. You will need a place to purchase goods to be refurbished or used in crafting. Many crafts and hobbies you can do are not profitable. To make money you will have to do your homework. Use online sites to see what items are selling and for how much. Visit local stores and websites to determine if you'd be able to make a profit selling any product. Handmade crafts such as homemade books or soap require not only skill but marketing knowledge. Many people make money this way and, like the, you'll need to make your products unique and attractive. This will impact how much money you can earn buying, crafting, and selling products. Be cognizant of how much work you are putting into a product relative to your profit.  Sewing from home is a great way to create custom products as needed. If you are short on time, let customers place customized orders. Then you can sew only what they want. You can tell them how long it will take to make and avoid blindly spending time making products people may not want to buy. Who will buy your items? How will you sell your items to them? Once purchased, how will you be able to get the items to their home? Be sure to accurately estimate shipping and handling costs if selling online.  Many people use online sites such as www.etsy.com, www.ebay.com, or www.craigslist.com to advertise to a broad market and sell their items. Local festivals, fairs, and markets may provide you an opportunity to sell your products in person. You typically have to purchase a booth. Even if you don't sell enough to cover the cost of the booth, you can distribute business cards to potential customers to view and purchase your goods online. One clever trick is to sell clothes online. Buying locally for cheap and selling online at a higher cost is good business. You can turn a profit and still provide customers with quality clothing at less-than-retail prices. Keep track of what people buy so you can invest in making more of those products. You don't want to spend too many resources on products people never buy. Use initial sales as the measure of a product's viability.

SUMMARY: Think about what items you would like to sell. Research your product thoroughly. Decide how much time you'd like to spend each day or week making money part time. Identify your consumer and mode of distribution. Use customer input to manage your resources carefully.


INPUT ARTICLE: Article: The hip flexors are important muscles that are in involved in doing a front split.  These muscles will need to be gradually trained to become more flexible before you can do a full front split.  Try this basic stretch to increase the flexibility of your hip flexors.  Get down on both of your knees. Put one leg out in front of you, placing your foot on the floor and your knee at a ninety degree angle. Gently lean forward towards your outstretched leg.  Keep your body and hips straight as you stretch forward. You'll feel the stretch in your thigh of the leg you are kneeling on. Hold this position for about 30 seconds. Repeat the motion on the other leg. Another set of muscles that are involved in front stretches are the quadriceps.  Stretching your quadriceps will allow the leg that will be behind you to comfortably move into the front split position. Try this basic stretch to build up flexibility in your quadriceps and work towards the full front split:  Stand upright and straight.  You may want to stand next to a chair that you can grab onto for stability. Bend one leg at the knee, grab the ankle and bring the foot up behind you. Keep your torso straight as you pull the foot and leg upwards. You'll feel this stretch in the thigh of the leg you are pulling up behind you. Hold this position for around 30 seconds. Repeat the same stretch on your other leg.

SUMMARY: Focus on your hip flexors. Get in good quadriceps stretches.


INPUT ARTICLE: Article: Place all of your meringues into a wide, shallow container immediately after removing them from the oven. Afterwards, put the container (uncovered) into the fridge for cooling. Placing warm meringues in the freezer right after cooking can reduce the temperature of surrounding items and cause them to thaw and refreeze, which can ruin the texture and taste of some foods. Freezer-safe bags are an option, although they leave your meringues open to damage when they come into contact with other foods. If you freeze your meringues before letting them cool, they can raise the temperature of your freezer. This can cause other items in the freezer to thaw and refreeze, which can sometimes change the foods' texture and taste. Start off by creating your first row of meringues at the bottom of the container. Afterwards, place a layer of parchment paper on top of the first layer and continue repeating this still until the container is full. Avoid pressing down as you stack your meringues—they are easily crushed. Always make sure that when you seal your container, you're not crushing the meringues underneath the lid. Leave about 0.5 inches (1.3 cm) of head space between the top of your meringues and the lid. Once the container is sealed, place it in the freezer.  If your freezer is a bit crowded, use some adhesive labels to stick to your container. You can store your meringues in the freezer for about 1 month. Remove your meringues from the freezer and defrost them on a wire rack at room temperature (73 °F (23 °C)) prior to eating. You can serve them at room temperature or reheat them in the oven until they are heated through.  Try not to defrost your meringues in a humid environment, as they will easily absorb the surrounding moisture. This will soften them on the outside. If you're going to reheat your meringues, preheat your oven to 250 °F (121 °C) and then heat your meringues for 15 to 20 minutes.

SUMMARY:
Refrigerate your meringues in a wide and shallow container. Use your food thermometer to determine when your meringues are 73 °F (23 °C). Layer your meringues in a freezer-safe container. Seal your container and place it in the freezer for up to 1 month. Defrost your meringues for 2 to 3 hours before eating.