Welcome

Published by admin on January 1st, 2011 - in St Louis

Thank you for visiting the St. Louis Blogger’s Guild!  We are the internet’s meeting place for both professional and personal bloggers from St. Louis.  Check out our featured bloggers who are sharing their stories about life in the big city and beyond.  You can also check out our many articles featuring local news, hot attractions, and upcoming events in St. Louis.  Whether you are interested in business, women’s interest, or comedy, you will find it here in St. Louis’ one stop melting pot for bloggers!

 

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St. Louis Hospitals Feel the Pressure

Published by admin on August 24th, 2012 - in miscellaneous

Area hospitals are being fined for high rates of hospital readmissions. A couple of these hospitals are Mercy Hospital St. Louis and Christian Hospital Northeast. There are 20 other hospitals in the St. Louis area that will be affected beginning in October.

Patients after release falling ill and coming back to hospitals within a little while after being discharged are causing hospitals to face financial penalties. Mercy Hospital St. Louis and Christian Hospital Northeast as the others will be losing a portion of Medicare reimbursement payments in 2013, beginning in October.

Hospitals that had readmissions on pneumonia, heart attack and heart failure patients within a month’s time contributed to making the list.

Listed below are other St. Louis-area hospitals penalized and the amount of Medicare reimbursements they will lose. This is according to data from Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.

In Missouri:

o Mercy Hospital St. Louis .80 %

o Christian Hospital Northeast .78 %

o SSM St. Joseph Health Center .77 %

o Jefferson Regional Medical Center .77 %

o St. Anthony’s Medical Center .68 %

o St. Luke’s Hospital .65 %

o Barnes-Jewish St. Peters Hospital .63 %

o SSM St. Mary’s Health Center .56 %

o Des Peres Hospital .51 %

o Missouri Baptist Medical Center .47 %

o SSM St. Clare Health Center .43 %

o Progress West HealthCare Center .18 %

o Saint Louis University Hospital .06 %

o SSM St. Joseph Hospital West .05 %

In Illinois:

o Anderson Hospital .30 %

o Memorial Hospital .22 %

o Saint Anthony’s Health Center .22 %

o Gateway Regional Medical Center .13 %

o St. Elizabeth’s Hospital .11 %

o St. Joseph’s Hospital .04 %

There are close to 2,211 hospitals in the United States that are also being penalized for too many early readmissions.

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Renovations Proposed For the Rams

Published by admin on May 18th, 2012 - in miscellaneous

Every football team wants to play in a great stadium, and every city with loyal fans should provide their fans and their team with a football stadium worthy of their loyalty. The St. Louis Rams have decided that it is time for their stadium to receive some necessary upgrades, in fact, about $700 million worth of renovations. Part of the contract that was signed when the Rams first built the stadium in 1995 stated that the stadium must be maintained as a top-tier football facility or the Rams would be able to break their lease. With teams all over the league continuing to improve their stadiums every year and with many teams building new stadiums, it is about time that the Edwards Jones Dome received some renovations in order to keep up with the top-tier stadiums in the league.

The St. Louis Convention and Visitors Commission proposed a much more thrifty $124 million renovation plan that involves new windows and club seats. In order for the Rams not to break their lease the two sides will have to meet somewhere in the middle of the $124 million proposal and the $700 million proposal.

If this issue goes into arbitration it may eventually be up to the arbitrator to decide what renovations actually are necessary to classify the Edward Jones Dome as a top-tier stadium, but it seems that no matter what the final cost for the renovation ends up being the public is going to have to foot the majority of the bill. Keeping an NFL team in a town sometimes requires lots of concessions. Will St. Louis be willing to work with the Rams to keep them in town? Time will tell.

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4 Great Blogs for Moms

Published by admin on February 28th, 2012 - in miscellaneous

The internet is full of “mom blogs” and parenting blogs and just about any kind of blog you can think of – so how do you know which ones are the best to read? I have several that I read on a weekly basis, so here are my top blogs for moms. These are not in any particular order.

1. Money Saving Mom (MoneySavingMom.com) – this is a great blog for those of us looking to save a little money at home -she posts coupons, online deals, and other great penny-pinching resources.

2. Balancing Beauty and Bedlam (beautyandbedlam.com) – she is a homeschooling mom who is always on the lookout for a great deal. She is great at stretching a dollar for her family. I particularly enjoy her “Frugal Fashionista” posts – she loves a good yard sale or Goodwill store fashion find – and I love seeing the outfits she can put together for less than $20!

3. Baby Bangs (www.babybangs.com)– this is a great read for me as a pastor’s wife. The author, Amanda, is also a ministry wife, and writes about full time ministry, missions, and life with 2 young children, with a lot of Southern humor thrown in as well.

4. Kelly’s Korner – (www.kellyskornerblog.com) – I really enjoy this blog for a lot of reasons – she’s a Southern wife and mom, raising two little girls, and blogging about their every day life, her faith, and the journey of motherhood.

I have found that while all of these blogs have motherhood in common, they all have different things about them that keep me coming back.

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5 Tips to Look Healthier

Published by admin on October 26th, 2011 - in best e cigs

As women, we all want to look healthier. We can find all kinds of ways to improve what we already have. Here are some great tips for looking healthier and improving your overall appearance, despite age or other challenges.

Tip 1: Get Enough Sleep

In today’s world, we are so busy. We are always rushing from one thing to the next. Sometimes we have so much to do in one day, our sleep suffers. We figure we can make it on 4 hours of sleep. To look healthy and refreshed, we must try to get eight hours of sleep a night. Getting enough rest is the biggest way to look healthy.

Tip 2: You are What You Eat

If we want to look healthier but do not fill our bodies with healthy vitamins, we will not see any results. When we eat unhealthy, we are taking away the nutrients that we need to give us healthy looking bodies. We were created to live healthy lives and that starts with what goes in our bodies. Ditch the fried foods and eat a diet rich in fruits and vegetables. If you eat high fat foods, expect a high fat figure!

Tip 3: Throw Away Your Tobacco

We all know that smoking not only hurts us but it also makes us look so unhealthy. When you regularly use tobacco cigarettes, your skin, teeth, nails, and hair all suffer. A great way to help cut tobacco without ditching nicotine altogether is with Premium Electronic Cigarettes. This new smoking technology is revolutionizing life for nicotine users by eliminating all the bad stuff in tobacco cigarettes and leaving the smoker with the same experience in a cleaner, healthier package.

White Cloud e-cigs only put out water vapor so there is no smoke or toxins being breathed in or out. Not only do you and your breath smell better but your skin looks healthier too. Traditional cigarettes can cause yellow teeth and nails, wrinkled skin, and a constant smoke smell on you and your clothes. Green Smoke E-cigarettes help overall self-esteem and health. Get rid of those toxins you are putting in your body and try the best e cigarette to make a positive impact on both your inward and outward health. Check out any e cigarette review site to learn more.

Tip#4: Moisturize Regularly

As we get older, moisturizing is of utmost importance. Our skin begins to get dry and splotchy as we age. Especially on our face, we need to clean and moisturize twice a day. That helps to keep our skin soft and beautiful. Moisturizers come in different variations depending on what part of the body they are for. Make sure you use a moisturizer for that specific are.

There are so many more ways to improve your health and insure you have a youthful appearance. These 4 tips are important and a good way to start. Start implementing them in your life this week and within just a month, you will notice tremendous changes.

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The Grant Farm in St. Louis, Missouri

Published by admin on May 10th, 2011 - in History

courthouseWhen the average person thinks about St. Louis they do not usually think about the civil war, mostly because there was not a single major battle that took place in, or near, the city. St. Louis does have the distinction of being one of the only cities in the United States which actually served as the hometown of one of the great generals that was involved in the war. There was a period of time when Ulysses Grant lived in St. Louis. The farm had originally been given to his family as a gift.

Grant’s descendants no longer own the Grant Farm and they have not for a very long time. The current owner of the farm is the Anheuser Busch Brewery who originally purchased the farm in 1907. Since purchasing the 281 acres, the farm has had more than 24 million people visit it. Not only does the company welcome the visitors, they do not even charge an admission.

When you visit the Grant Farm, you will quickly discover this is not like a typical agricultural farm. The Grant Farm is more like a haven for animals. There are currently more than 1,000 animals who call the farm home, and the 1,000 animals represent 100 different species. Many of the these animals can be seen when you visit the farms deer park where there are zebras, red deer, bison, and black buck antelope roaming free. You will be able to see these animals from the safety of an open air trams and listen while an experienced guide shares tidbits about each animal.

In addition to the Deer Park, guests at the Grant Farm are strongly urged to spend some time at the Tier Garden where they will come face to face with some other species of animals, including kangaroos. The gardens and the ponds, which are filled with fish, are so lovely that it would be very easy to spend an entire day there.

As wonderful as the Deer Park and Tier Garden are, the main attraction at the Grant Farm is the stables. There is a public section that you can stroll through. These stables are the home of the famous Budweiser Clydesdales, the same ones that are used for the Super Bowl commercials. Depending on the time year that you visit the farm you might even be able to see the foals as the graze and play in the immaculate paddocks.

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A Guide to Vacationing Inexpensively in St. Louis

Published by admin on April 26th, 2011 - in Guides

travelOne of the hardest things about traveling is figuring out your budget. The larger your family is, the tighter your money becomes. Most adults find themselves in a position where they have to balance making sure that everyone enjoys themselves, while also making sure that they have enough money left over so that they can get home. If you are on a family vacation in St. Louis, you will not have to worry about your finances; there are lots of free activities that you and your family will enjoy.

Just because St. Louis was created to help the fur trade, it does not mean that the city is not full of animal lovers. The St. Louis Zoo is proof of that. The zoo is currently home to more than 5,000 animals and is so large that you and your family can easily kill an entire day wandering around the interior. The great thing about the St. Louis Zoo is that while there are some areas, such as the children’s zoo, that do charge a small admission, you can tour the main part of the zoo for free. As an added perk, after a day at the zoo, your kids will be so tired from wandering around that they will sleep through the entire night.

An art museum might not be the first place that you think off when you are trying to think of something that you can do with your kids, but in this case you should consider it. The St. Louis art museum is full of some really amazing displays that will take your breath away. Admission is free, but the best day to go is on Sunday when the museum has a children’s art museum that your kids will love.

No trip to St. Louis is complete until you have stopped at Grant’s Farm. This property use to be owned by the family of former president Ulysses Grant and now belongs to the Budweiser company. When you visit this particular free attraction, you will actually be able to see some of the same Clydesdales that Budweiser uses in their famous Super Bowl commercials and you might even see some new foals.

St. Louis recently finished work on the City Garden which is located in the downtown area. This creation is full of some lovely landscaping, fountains, and walkways. It is the perfect place to spend a warm afternoon. Not only will your kids have the freedom to run and play, but the scenery is perfect for some memorable family vacation photos.

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The History of the Fur Trade in St Louis

Published by admin on April 6th, 2011 - in History

St. Louis has been around for a long time, since before the American Revolution. When the trappers started to build the city, it was not a part of the United States, but in fact belonged to France. With the way the territories were set up, St. Louis was originally considered to be a part of Louisiana. St. Louis did not become a part of the United States until the Louisiana Purchase.

The whole reason that St. Louis came into existence is because of the fur trade. The rivers and forest surrounding St. Louis was a trapper’s dream, full of animals that had rich pelts that the European milliners could not wait to use. The problem that the trappers had was how to ship their furs to the milliners, after all, it was not like they could afford to spend the time it would take them to travel from the woods to Europe, and even the east coast was not a viable option. The location of St. Louis made it accessible to both the traders and the ships that would haul the furs to the shops.

In addition to needing a place to sell the pelts that they spent months gathering, the fur traders also needed to get supplies. Since the trappers had not seen another human in some time and were also flush with money from selling their furs, they usually did not give much thought to how they spent their money while they were in town, this kind of attitude quickly drew several merchants to the city, who then set up shop and quickly began to make a fortune selling both much needed supplies and also pretty baubles that tended to catch the trappers eyes. Eventually, more people came to the city and pretty soon it was not only running smoothly but had grown to a respectable size by the time it was purchased as part of the Louisiana Purchase that Jefferson made.furs

The days when the St. Louis economy was driven by the fur trade have long passed, but that does not mean that the city is not proud of its heritage. When you visit the city you will find that the city still maintains a strong French vibe which can be traced all the way back to those first French trappers who thought that they had found the perfect place to create a city.

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Exploring St. Louis History

Published by admin on March 2nd, 2011 - in St Louis

BridgeSt. Louis is one of the larger cities in Missouri, and it is certainly the best known. The city first came into existence during 1764 when it was considered the property of France. The original European settlers were French men who used the city as a place to sell the furs that they had trapped, especially beaver fur since beaver was a favorite material of hat makers all over Europe at the time. At the time, St. Louis was the main cultural hub for that particular region and after a few years it was deemed the capital of Louisiana.

St. Louis became an official part of the United States when the third president of the United States, Thomas Jefferson, finalized the Louisiana Purchase from the French. That started what would become a long and colorful history for the young city.

Despite the fact that there was a great deal of culture and many intelligent minds called St. Louis home, it was not until 1808, that the city actually developed a government. It was during that year that the city finally got around to electing their very first group of legislators.  It took more than 10 years after that before Missouri became a state. Late in 1822, St. Louis was officially recognized as a part of Missouri instead of Louisiana. During this period of time the economy in St. Louis was thriving, mostly because the steamboat industry had become a huge deal, making St. Louis a very important port-of-call and turning into an important city that actually managed to link the Eastern states with the Western states. The accessibility of the city made it very appealing to the United States government who was looking to put together a arsenal. Construction on the arsenal began in 1827. Despite the accessibility and importance of St. Louis, it did not play much of a role in the Civil war, and aside for a few skirmishes, saw very little combative action.

Near the middle of the 19th century, St. Louis started to hold a lot of appeal to immigrants moving into the USA, especially ones who were coming from Ireland and Germany. The affect the immigration had on the city was unbelievable. In 1840, the city had a population of just under 20,000 and twenty years later the city had swelled to more than 160,000.

More than two hundred years have passed since St. Louis since Jefferson signed the treaty that made St. Louis and the surrounding land a part of the United States, but despite all the time that has passed, when you visit the city, you will still be able to see signs of its French heritage.

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A Brief Overview of the St Louis Arch

Published by admin on February 14th, 2011 - in Attractions

It is impossible to think about the city of St. Louis without conjuring up an image of the St. Louis arch, which is easily one of the most famous and recognizable pieces of architecture in the entire United States. Even if you do not go up in the arch, you have to at least drive or boat past it, and spend a few moments to stand in its shadow. It is impossible to look at the arch and not feel awed. It is the tallest building that has been created by humans in the entire United States.

Very few of us actually understand what its purpose is. The idea of creating some type of a monument was first hatched during the Great Depression when city leaders became worried about the state of the riverfront. They hoped to give people a reason to visit the area and revitalize it so that it did not fall into ruins. The idea never got off the ground, it was interrupted by the start of the Second World War and eventually the United States became more concerned with defeating the Germans than building monuments.

St Louis ArchIt was after the war and St. Louis wanted something that the country could unite over, something that would always make them think about the victory they had just experienced. The city held a contest and asked architects to submit their ideas. The criteria that the architects where give was that the design had to be original, the city wanted something that was totally unique, that people where going to have to come to St. Louis to see. The other requirement was that it had to be amazing. When the dust cleared and all of the entries were considered, the reward went to a native of Michigan, Ero Saarininen, who is currently recognized as one of the greatest architects of the 20th century.

It is very easy to get distracted by the height, but perhaps the most amazing feature is the foundation. Without a good foundation, the whole thing would either topple over or sink into the earth’s crust. To keep it erect, the arch was built on layer of bedrock that is twenty feet deep.  The legs of the arch are made out of concrete and each one has been sunk 60 feet into the ground and they are an impressive 44 feet thick. One of the concerns that everyone had during construction was what would happen in strong winds or an earthquake. The arch was designed in such a way that if there is an earthquake it will sway 9 inches and it can handle winds that blow as hard a 150 miles per hour.

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