8 Secrets to Being a Low-Maintenance Woman

8. Stop asking "What are you thinking about?" all the time - chances are, nothing. Let him keep his thoughts to himself occasionally.

7. Stop making your relationship the main topic of all your conversations. With your girlfriends, your boyfriend, your husband or your co-workers - talk about something else, it's not always about your relationship.

6. Be OK with solitude. Even the tightest couples need and thrive on time apart.  A low-maintenance gal is OK with the occasional guys night out because she can't wait to spend a quiet evening alone.

5. Take care of your own self-esteem. Don't leave it up to the man to tell you how great you are to build your self esteem - do it yourself.

4. Take it easy on the special orders. Chances are the chef might actually know more about food than you do. Designing your own entree every time you are at a restaurant asking for water, lemon, a napkin, a straw isn't impressive it's annoying.

3. Learn to laugh at yourself. Being  low-maintenance often means being bale to bounce back quickly from life's little trouble. A girl that can laugh at her own mistakes comes across as confident, funny and less likely to fall apart when someone else makes a mistake.

2. Buy some freakin' comfortable shoes. We don't care if they are ugly - we are sick to death of hearing about how much your feet hurt. To a lot of men a respectable pairs of shoes or whatever is just as appealing as a pair of stilettos.

1. Stop worrying about your hair. The simpler the style, the faster you will be able to get out of the house and on to something more fun.

After no rapture, billboard proclaims: "That was Awkward"

Originally published at http://mynorthwest.com/?nid=646&sid=485527

A few billboards in the area announced the end of the world was coming May 21st. Didn't happen. "That was awkward," is the billboard response.

The Family Radio Group, led by Howard Camping, launched an expensive advertising campaign to promote judgment day. Saturday was supposed to be the beginning of the end - the first day in a five month event that would end with the universe destroyed on October 21, 2011. Other church groups shared the belief and purchased their own billboards and advertising vehicles to spread the message. Here's a link to some of the hundreds of billboards across the country that went up. Below you'll see a billboard from Seattle's Interbay neighborhood, sponsored by Camping's group.

Photo by Stephanie Klein, MyNorthwest.com

Now what? This billboard below has been making the rounds on social media sites:

What are your post-rapture thoughts? If you believed it would happen, how will you defend yourself against the people who will make jokes at your expense? A sociologist, who's studied these kinds of doomsday predictions, says for some it'll reinforce their beliefs.

"A third of believers become disillusioned after a failed prediction, while another third find reason to believe more strongly. The remaining group members fall somewhere in between," says Stephen Kent with the University of Alberta, in an interview with Live Science. (Gee, what a brilliant scientific mind - "Well, some folks will still believe, other won't, and the rest will fall somewhere else along the continuum.")

Situation Room supposedly watching the Osama bin Laden fiasco unfold

Online dating fears

A recent study found the biggest fear women have of online dating is that the man might be a serial killer. 

The biggest fear of men? That the woman might be overweight.

Special, huh? Lol.

Our dog Kodi has passed away :(

Kodi LaFave, AKA "Millie's White Kodiak Bear," died peacefully in the family home in Iron Mountain at 8:30 a.m. Monday, with his Mom and brother by his side.

Born in October 1998, he lived to the ripe old age of 87 dog years, or 12 and a half regular years. He is survived by his human family, B.J., Joe, Audrey and Beau LaFave, along with his best friend, Sydney.

Kodi was lain to rest that evening in the front yard of the LaFave household on Millie Hill, and a beer was had by all in his memory.

He will be missed by family, friends and neighbors, as well as the many bikers, walkers and hot-tubbers he met on frequent trips to Lake Antoine, or the one-time visit to Bimbo's.

He now is sitting next to a big lake in the sky with ducks that fly over and a big rock between his feet.

- Beau LaFave, with contributions by Audrey LaFave

None Injured in CTA Brown Line Train Derailment

CHICAGO - No injutries were reported after a CTA Brown Line train derailed this mornign near the Belmont Station in Chicago.

According to various media reports, a still-and-box alarm and EMS Plan I, which sends at least five ambulances, were called by the Fire Department just in case. Sirens were all the could be heard nearly throughout the area, according to pedestrians. Onlookers also commented on the numerous helicopters blanketing the skies.

First responders were able to escort 13 passengers from the one affected train car down a catwalk back to the Belmont stop. No injuries were reported as a result of the incident.

Belmont Street has been closed between Sheffield and Clark, and traffic continues to build in that area this morning.

BREAKING NEWS: 'El Train Derails in Chicago

CHICAGO - A north-bound passenger train derailed on the North side of Chicago this morning at approximately 8:45 a.m.

According to a Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) official, emegency responders and CTA personnel are on the scene now. Currently, the derailed Brown line train is blocking all four lines of elevated train track just north of Chicago's busy Belmont station, halting CTA train service indefinitely.

The train derailed near a point on the tracks where three 'El lines intersect - the Brown, Red and Purple lines. An operator of a CTA Purple line train at the Diversey stop said the power was cut to the entire 'El system in order to allow work on the derailment.

"These things usually take quite some time," he said. "We will not be moving any time soon."

The CTA official did not know the extent of the derailment, but did say that shuttle buses were en route at 10 a.m., and would shuttle passengers between Southport and Fullerton. He could not comment on what passengers should do if they needed to go further north than Southport, but speculated that southbound service from Fullerton should be back online soon - including Red and Brown line service to the Loop.

There is no available information as to how or why the derailment occurred at this time.

UPDATE: According to various media reports, a still-and-box alarm and EMS Plan I, which sends at least five ambulances, were called by the Fire Department just in case.

First responders were able to escort 13 passengers from the one affected train car down a catwalk back to the Belmont stop. No injuries were reported as a result of the incident.

Belmont Street has been closed between Sheffield and Clark, and traffic continues to build in that area this morning.