Gimme A Break

My youngest daughter’s school is organizing its annual fund raiser. With three kids and three fund raisers a year, sometimes more, I’m fast running out of people to go to for donations.

I wouldn’t be surprised if friends started running away the next time they see me. It’s like we’re always trying to collect money for a walkathon or a jogathon or some other ‘thon.

I’m wondering why they can’t have a bake sale or a jumble sale instead. You know, just for a change, so we don’t keep chasing people around with this sponsorship card for yet another ‘thon.

No, seriously schools should start getting more creative. The kids are getting bored with the ‘thons and are lamenting about why they can’t do something different.

• can you keep up?
• how I created my own logo
• can I just zoom off?
• stretch your creativity with Aqua Dots
• book sales but

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An ex-classmate of mine has just returned from another business trip, this time to Europe. She’s so lucky she gets to travel so much. She thinks otherwise. She swears business travel is nothing but stress and grind.

She’s stayed in practically all the hotels in Italy and probably all the hotels in Rome too. I wouldn’t mind if I were her, getting to visit all the tourist attractions after work.

On her previous trips, she’s taken time off after business to visit the Coliseum and Trevi Fountain in Italy and the Vatican in Rome. That’s not too shabby.

Her company has already booked her into one of the Venice hotels for her trip next month. I can almost bet she’ll be showing me photos of herself riding in a gondola on Venice’s famed canals. Lucky girl !

• before her trip
• strangers for daughters
• constant traveler
• envious
• a VP’s job made easy

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I met my neighbor in the garden carrying his grandson. The little guy has grown quite a bit since I first saw him shortly after he was born. It’s true.

Although we live next door, we hardly see him very much except maybe in the evenings when the day gets cooler. It’s been raining so much lately practically everyone is staying indoors.

The little guy’s seven months old and seems to be having a ball at being pampered by both his grandparents. Well, I guess that’s what grandparents are all about, isn’t it ?

I have to say though that this little guy is pretty well-behaved. I don’t recall ever hearing him cry unlike that other neighbor’s baby who always seems to be kicking up a big fuss all the time.

• the charms of being a new mom
• new addition
• is it wise to leave kids+baby home alone?
• his majesty
• come rain or shine or croc

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Ever since I introduced my girls to skincare, they’ve been hogging all of my dressing table space with their bathroom vanities. Ack! All my cosmetics have been pushed to the far corner and the girls’ stuff have take centerstage .

I seriously need to buy a new dresser for their room so they won’t keep coming into mine to hog my space. It’s quite hilarious actually when the three of us stand in a row to catch a glimpse of ourselves in the mirror. Can you picture this ?

• 5 things to do with an old mug
• trip to the mechanics
• dummied out
• mom first
• spicy breakfast

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The kids are looking forward to tomorrow because it’s the 31st of the month. What this means for me is having to fork out money for a quart or more of Baskin Robbins ice-cream .

It’s become a ritual of some sort over this past year to be on the lookout for months with 31 days to take advantage of their 31% off. Ugh, entirely fattening!

But I so love ice-cream that I really don’t mind . For some strange reason, eating ice-cream makes us very happy. You should just see us huddled over this huge tub dipping our spoons in every 30 seconds and emerging with a big old smile spread across our faces.

• ice cream spring roll?
• more pocket change coming
• you mean we should stop eating?
• crazy young drivers
• home more

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A cousin of mine will be moving his company to a new office next month, or before the end of the year. Since he’s making good money, he’s considering buying everything new.

He plans to leave his office furniture and fittings at the old office when he moves out. I was like – what? He’s pretty sure people will come and cart them away since most of the furniture is still quite new.

I think it’s a real waste. He can always sell the stuff and use the money to take his staff out for a good old dinner. I’m suggesting he donate the stuff to some charitable organization who, I’m sure, would greatly appreciate it.

• out with the clutter
• is your home office office-like?
• joining in the rush
• book sales but
• we got a new sofa

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I’ve missed gym for a whole week last week. Two reasons I would miss my most favorite-st activity in the whole world. Firstly the rain’s been very persistent over the past couple of weeks. Cool mornings are my undoing.

I overslept almost every morning because my PDA phone alarm either went off and I didn’t hear it, or it didn’t go off at all. I’m not sure which it is. All I know is I slept like a log, totally oblivious to all else, and woke up each time with a start when I realized it was morning.

With the sky all gray and overcast, it’s really hard to tell how late it is. Maybe it’s just as well that I missed gym. I was feeling down in the dumps and didn’t have any mood to do anything. Well, let’s just say there are good days and bad days.

• excuses, excuses
• the walk of life
• gray day
• tgif
• sleeping in

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Looks like we have another baby on the block. My neighbor has given birth to her first child and has been receiving a stream of well-wishers and visit

The strange thing is that the new mother is so unprepared that she didn’t even have diapers on hand, and had to go around the neighbors to borrow some.

How very odd! I’m thinking she had a full nine months to get everything ready and yet she doesn’t even have a diaper? But I guess that’s just a minor technicality. As long as mother and baby are safe, I think that’s all that matters now.

• do you treat all your kids the same?
• dilemma of a new mommy
• how did your child get his/her name?
• is it wise to leave kids+baby home alone?
• altruistic dolphin

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I don’t know what it is with these young drivers. Today I was backing my minivan out of my driveway. Given the length of a minivan, I was obviously taking up the whole road as I was reversing.

It does take a few seconds for me to shift back into ‘drive’ to get going. But obviously this young lady who came tearing down the road in her little tin can of a car could not wait.

She tried to squeeze in front of me even as I was starting to straighten out and move forward. I was shocked to see how she kept coming forwards as there was just no way she could get past me.

Yet she kept coming. She couldn’t wait 3 seconds for me to straighten out?? I leaned on my horn and in that split second, a thought crossed my mind that what she really needs is to be smacked her nice and good for her inconsiderate driving !

• inconsiderate
• racing school van
• the stress of driving
• drivin’ me up the wall!
• my top 5 driving peeves

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I’ve been hankering after a new cell phone for a while now. My iPaq, while terrific for all the pocket PC functions of allowing me to connect to the internet even when I’m outside, has a really soft, almost inaudible ringing volume.

It’s a known problem with the iPaq model that I have. As a result, I’ve missed many calls and gotten quite a bad rap with my friends already. So I’m on the lookout for a new phone with a thunderous ring that I can hear from miles away .

I really dread the thought of shopping for a new phone though. There are 101 models on the market and I get confused just trying to figure out which ones have the features I want for the right price. Duh!

I found a rather interesting site at HandCellPhone.com which contains news and reviews that I can read to help me make up my mind about which phone to buy. At least I can go out there a little more prepared.

The most curious part of the site is the section that lets me Buy and Compare Free Cell Phones. What? Free cell phones? Someone pinch me. Okay, I got to go back there and check this out one more time.

• hand-me-down cell phones
• with a pinch of salt
• forget the news
• buh-bye, cell phone
• avoid buying a lemon

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