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JULY/AU
GUST 2
Poolside Bliss and a Fireworks Extravaganza THE PERFECT INDEPENDENCE DAY Whenever the summer months start appearing on our calendars, many Americans turn their focus to one of the most exciting holidays we experience throughout the entire year — the Fourth of July! It’s a great time to gather with your loved ones, partake in some community or family traditions, and celebrate our country and what it means to be an American. This is a highly anticipated event in my household. We had a great time celebrating the Fourth last year and hope to have a similar experience this year. We usually get good weather during the Fourth of July, but last year was particularly nice. It was the perfect pool day! My mother-in-law lives eight doors down from us and has a pool that the kids love to swim in during the warmer months. My kids call their grandmother Vovó, as that’s the Portuguese word for grandmother. We’ll often spend five days a week at Vovó’s house during the summer so they can get in as much swimming as possible. Last year on the Fourth, we headed to her house at around 11 in the morning to swim and enjoy a cookout. One of the highlights of our annual celebration is the cake that my mother-in-law makes. It’s rectangular and looks exactly like an American flag! She uses white frosting to coat the entire top of the cake and then loads blueberries onto the top left corner to represent the stars. She then cuts strawberries into thirds to make the stripes. It’s always a delicious treat and something I look forward to every year.
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Plymouth Harbor. In recent years, we discovered a relatively easy spot to get to that not many people know about where you can get a great view of the fireworks. We bring our lawn chairs over behind our office and set up shop. It’s not the fanciest place to sit, but it’s close to the water and not crowded. Since I have three little kids, it’s not easy to attend the big fireworks shows where you’re constantly battling traffic and the crowds. This was almost effortless, and the kids had plenty of room to run around and enjoy themselves. The fireworks were a fantastic conclusion to a great day. I know that we’ll have another wonderful celebration this year! The Fourth of July, and really summer as a whole, helps me remember what it’s like to be a kid. For the past few months, I’ve watched the excitement grow in my children as the summer season approached. They were chomping at the bit to get out of school, shuck their responsibilities, and spend the next few months at Vovó’s pool. When I was a kid, it felt like summer would last forever and there truly was no better time of the year. I know my kids will have a great summer this year and enjoy everything the season has to offer.
This summer, take some time to appreciate the little moments in your life that bring you joy. We get plenty of opportunities to smile every day! I hope you all have a wonderful summer!
After spending most of the day at Vovó’s, we’ll head back to our house to freshen up and regroup before heading to watch the fireworks over
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Revolutionize Your Food Storage A LOOK AT THE NEWEST AND COOLEST REFRIGERATOR FEATURES
Fresher Food We all want our food to stay fresher while in the fridge, and various companies have made this their mission. Hitachi recently introduced a refrigerator that has a crisper drawer equipped with an airtight seal and vacuum pump so your produce, meats, and cheeses all stay fresher
Purchasing a refrigerator for your home is a big commitment. If you’re buying a new one, you’ll likely spend thousands of dollars, so you want to pick something that will fit your needs and last for a long time. But figuring out what you need isn’t always easy. You may have noticed that refrigerators have evolved in recent years and might be surprised by some of the latest models’ unique features.
Here are three intriguing refrigerator features that may soon become mainstream.
longer. Likewise, Beko has tried to help food stay fresh by using a unique lighting system to mimic a natural light cycle in their crisper drawers.
Food Inventory Trackers Imagine going to the grocery store to pick up a gallon of milk, but when you arrive, you decide to do some impromptu grocery shopping so you don’t have to return later in the week. The only problem is that you’re unsure of what exactly you need. Wouldn’t it be great to hop on an app to see what items are in the fridge? Samsung has made this a reality with some of its newer refrigerator models. Using their “View Inside” app, you can actually see the items in your fridge through a camera and an AI-generated list. You can even add notes to the app in case the AI can’t recognize an item or you want to add expiration dates.
Ever-Changing Color Design The refrigerator takes up quite a bit of room in most kitchens, and we want to choose a model and color that fit the room’s mood. What if you could have whatever color you want instead of sticking with stainless steel, white, or black? LG recently introduced a fridge with LED door panels that change colors. You can choose from over 1,800 color combinations and change the color by simply pressing a button on the app.
SOCIAL MEDIA AND YOUR SOCIAL SECURITY DISABILITY APPLICATION Be Careful What You Post
Social media has become a constant in many of our lives. We’re constantly sharing photos and updates from our lives, but did you know those posts may complicate your Social Security Disability (SSD) application? Posts that contradict your claim could be used against you. In the past, the Social Security Administration (SSA) only referred to social media to detect fraud. If there was a claim in question already, they might look at the applicant’s social media activity to determine if there is anything there to contradict their claim. However, the SSA has expanded its social media monitoring for its claims evaluation process. An application doesn’t need to raise any red flags before the SSA starts scouring through the person’s social activity. They might even use your posts to deny your claim. Since the SSA is reading what you post online, you have to be careful with what you’re sharing with others. Even other people sharing photos of you could derail your application. Pictures of you playing football with
your kids or pushing your daughter on a swing may counteract what’s on your claim, giving the SSA enough reason to deny it.
How most of us present ourselves on social media is not actually how we live our lives. You may have only felt good for 30 minutes all week and decided to take a walk or do something physically active during that time. If you post on social media about it, the SSA may assume that you’re more capable than you actually are. There are a few things you can do when it comes to social media to help your claim get approved. First and foremost, you must be conscious about what you’re posting. Do not post photos, statuses, or anything else that could put your claim in jeopardy. You should also turn your accounts from public to private, as this will limit what the SSA can view. To give yourself the best chance at getting your claim approved, you should work with a Boston SSDI lawyer. Give us a call today if you need help, guidance, or representation.
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EMPLOYEE SPOTLIGHT
The Best Broccoli Pesto Pasta
Hoping for More Fun in the Sun
INGREDIENTS
Summer is my favorite time of year! I was born in June, and I am a summer and beach baby at heart.
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1/2 tsp salt
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1 cup extra-virgin olive oil 1 cup grated Parmesan cheese, plus more for serving
4 cups broccoli 1 lb penne pasta 2 cups basil leaves
We recently moved and are now closer than ever to the shore, which my family and I love. My children love to run in the surf, build sand castles, and chase the seagulls if they get close enough. They’re always begging to go to the beach! One of our favorite activities is to walk the beach and collect seashells or sea glass. The kids love to see all the different shapes and colors. Once we get home, we clean them up and put them in a big glass container so they can see them all the time.
2 garlic cloves, smashed 1/4 cup pine nuts, plus more for serving
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Red pepper flakes (optional)
DIRECTIONS
1. In a large pot, bring salted water to a boil over high heat. 2. Add broccoli and cook until tender (around 4 minutes). Using a slotted spoon, transfer broccoli to a blender. 3. Bring water back to a boil and add pasta. Cook until al dente and reserve 1 1/4 cups of pasta water. 4. In the blender, add basil, garlic, pine nuts, olive oil, salt, and Parmesan cheese to the broccoli and blend until smooth. Slowly add pasta water until a sauce forms. 5. Drain pasta and transfer back to the pot. Mix sauce and pasta together until fully coated. 6. Top with more Parmesan cheese, pine nuts, and chili flakes if desired.
Unfortunately, we have had a typical New England spring where it is 90 degrees one day and 50 the next, so we have not made it out to the water too many times yet. We hope this changes soon so we can have more fun in the sun!
–Stephany
As part of the ongoing merger between Keefe
Disability Law and Hartwig Law Firm, all mail for both firms will now be processed at our Plymouth office:
Our Mailbox Has Moved!
385 Court St., Suite 210 Plymouth, MA 02360
Please send all mail to the address above. Our two physical office locations in Plymouth and Natick will remain the same.
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SHARE YOUR STORY! Do you want to share a story about your disability claim, experience with Hartwig Law Firm, or just a funny story in general? Contact Andrea at (508) 732-8989 or via email at Patrick@KeefeLaw.com, and you could be featured in our next newsletter!
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The Most Exciting Event of the Season
Must-Have Features in Today’s Refrigerators
Can Social Media Affect My SSD Application?
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Hoping for More Fun in the Sun
The Best Broccoli Pesto Pasta
Mailing Address Update
4
Explosive Fireworks Trivia
FLASHY FACTS ABOUT FIREWORKS A Pyrotechnic Phenomenon
This One Takes the Cake
As dusk falls every Fourth of July, the nights light up in fluorescent splashes. Gathering with friends for an explosive spectacle or cuddling up in your backyard to enjoy the pyrotechnics is fun. But have you ever wondered where and when fireworks began or how they were created? Here’s some trivia to share with others the next time you catch a firework show. The ‘Big Bang’ We’ve been lighting fireworks for roughly 2,000 years. How is this possible if modern fireworks have only existed since the 1830s? In 200 B.C., legend says China accidentally created “ fireworks “ by tossing bamboo into a fire. Then, in 800 A.D., an alchemist inadvertently created gunpowder by mixing sulfur, potassium
According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the largest firework display occurred in the Philippines in 2016 and consisted of 810,904 fireworks. As spectacular as the nearly hour long event was, it rained the entire time. The Big Bucks Disney is the largest consumer of fireworks in the world. If you’ve ever been to Disneyland or Disneyworld, you’ve likely caught one of their fantastic fireworks shows! Walt Disney World spends roughly $40,000 per night on pyrotechnics and related special effects. This comes to about $50 million a year when you do the math!
It’s All in the Elements Did you know that fireworks creators rely on various earth
elements to achieve different colors? For example, they use copper to create blue, and to create red, they use strontium. Calcium makes orange, sodium creates yellow, barium leads to green, and titanium is responsible for silver and white.
nitrate, and charcoal during a search for the secret to eternal life. The powder was then packed into bamboo tubes, and fireworks were born!
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