Gimme A Break

My car’s battery decided to go flat on me this morning just as I was about to leave for the gym. Duh!

What a drag, right? I’m just glad it didn’t die on me yesterday because it would’ve ruined my weekend. I had groceries to do, a birthday dinner to attend, so yeah…

I’m now waiting for the mechanic to show up with a new battery and get my car running again. I’m jumping up and down here because I’m going to be seriously late picking up my kids at school today. Grr!!

• fried battery
• changing batteries
• night-time laptop is back… for now
• morning at the mechanic’s
• sloppy mechanic

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Times must be really bad. I notice there are fewer people at the malls even on a weekend and it’s surprisingly easy to find a parking spot.

I also notice many people are opting not to eat at restaurants because of the government and services charges that apply.

Instead they’re buying takeaway food from the small food outlets and munching them as they walk.

Some of my friends have decided to get together to start an internet business selling handmade items.

They say they haven’t got much of a clue as to what they’re doing and I think they’ve only gotten as far as signing up for a ecommerce merchant account. I guess it’s a start.

• leaving your front door wide open
• radio contests
• slow but at least I’m blogging again
• closed again?
• constant traveler

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I tell you teens these days are so worried about their looks. Every day when my girls come back from school, I get an earful of stories about what their friends at school get up to.

Of course, they start prettying themselves up much earlier than we ever did. One pimple on their face and it’s like the sky just came crashing down, and they start applying all sorts of creams and lotions and popping acne pills.

I really wonder if they’re going to school to get an education or is school some sort of a beauty contest to them? Luckily for me, my girls are very down-to-earth and I still have to nag them about taking care of their skin, etc.

• of acne and nagging
• growing up fast
• beauty advice we could all use
• mom, the toiletries stockist
• she’s waving a Rejuvawand now

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It seems we’ve acquired more than enough two Apple products this year. DH has gone on an Apple rampage and bought himself an iPhone and an iMac.

The kids and I are very happy with our Windows PCs, thank you. At the rate we’re maintaining and upgrading our PCs, it makes more sense using the standard PC hardware rather than having to buy separate components like Mac memory for just that one PC, know what I mean?

But I guess the big boy’s gotta have some new toys to entertain himself now and then. So yes, we now have a Mac in the house .

• besieged by wires
• power-hungry games
• knobs and handles
• bid for cool prizes
• got my house plan picked out but…

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Yesterday, on my way back from dropping my son off at college, I stopped by my mechanic’s. I’ve had this red icon flashing on my dashboard since the day before and I wanted the mechanic to have a look at it.

Turns out I’m running low on engine oil and didn’t know it. Well, okay, I usually check and top up the battery water but I’m not consistent with checking the dip stick. So there you go.

He says good thing I brought it in early or I might run completely dry on engine oil and burn up my engine and run into thousands of dollars of repair. Yikes!

• long drive
• struggling through the rain
• friendly tips from a workout fanatic
• why writing a check can be stressful
• oops, the cat is out of the bag!

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I’ve just noticed that clutter is building up quite heavily in my home office. Again. No matter how many times I try to clear it, stuff just starts accumulating again right away.

Granted I don’t clear it out as often as I should because it’s quite a hassle trying to get the recycling van to come back and pick up the stuff. These guys run the recycling van on a part-time basis so it’s hard to get a hold of them sometimes.

The last time I got the guys to come, I gave away a whole truckload, well, that was including an old TV and sofa which the guy told me he was taking home to use himself.

Until then, I’ve got a used cisco router, old modems and monitors, and a bunch of wires I can’t find a use for. The guys could probably make quite a few bucks out of recycling these.

• out with the clutter
• timing the clean and the wash
• the making of a fool
• nice combo, tools and dresses
• how to save time and gasoline

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Last weekend, DH sneaked out and came home with a Playstation 3. Now I’m not quite sure who he bought it for but one thing I know for sure is that my teens are not into these games.

They’ve got their own favorite online games which they much prefer. So I’m guessing he bought it for himself. Yep, I’m pretty sure of it. He even canceled his golf game to stay home and play . Funny guy!

What may not be so funny is that we’ve already got a heap of white elephants in the store room. He just likes to buy these big boys’ toys but he also abandons them pretty quickly.

I’ve been threatening to call in the moving services guys to cart them away. On second thought, I might just decide to auction them off on ebay or something and make a little spare change while I’m at it.

• power-hungry games
• baby gift shopper, that’s me!
• shopping and eating
• the early bird
• where’s that recycling van when I need it?

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My kids are all having their exams (with the exception of my youngest who’s just finished hers last week) and all I can think of is running away to some place like Branson Missouri. Bad mommy .

Well, you can’t blame me, when the stress levels are this high in the house, I’m justified to think of escape to some place that I’ve only heard my friends rave about.

Those of you who know me know I can’t sit still even on vacation. I love to get up early and go shopping. Guess what?

There’s a new outdoor shopping mall called Branson Landing with more than 100 shops.

If this doesn’t make me dance, I don’t know what will .

Can you imagine the amount of shopping I could do there?

There’s also the great outdoors and nature parks to explore, and miniature golf courses (yes, I love mini golf).

My dad’s visiting with us right now so I don’t have a lot of time to spend online.

But I had a brief look at Branson Getaways’ site last night and they’ve got several very attractive holiday packages for couples. Let’s see if I can convince DH to run away with me for the weekend.

• leveling the playing field
• sneaky mom
• what’s a holiday without shopping?
• where to next?
• meet mr golf

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My 15-year-old’s best friend has a birthday coming up. I’m not sure when but I know it’s soon. Last weekend, my daughter was asking what she should get for her friend.

I told her chocolates would be a sure winner and her friend will love it. Tell me who doesn’t love chocolate, especially toffee and dark chocolate?

As it turned out, we didn’t have time to buy them when we were at the mall. We needed to get home as my Dad was going to be dropping by from out of town.

This morning, my daughter tells me she’s found a great chocolate place online at chocolatepath.com. They have chocolate toffee, her friend’s favorite, and they even do gift-wrapping.

I had a brief look at the website and man, I have to say even I am tempted to order some dark chocolates for myself.

But hey, look at the gift that my daughter has picked out. Isn’t it sweet? I’m sure teens being teens, her friend is just going to love the pink detailing.

I honestly can’t tell you how relieved I am. With my dad coming to visit, I simply won’t have the time to take my daughter shopping for her friend’s birthday gift.

• taking the headache out of gift-shopping
• what do gym freaks want?
• one down, more to go
• stretch your creativity with Aqua Dots
• surprise birthday party for a friend

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I’m seriously considering looking for a new mechanic. I’ve been going to my present mechanic for years. In fact, the guy is a friend of my dad’s so he’s like a family mechanic for us.

Yet his service seems to be getting from bad to worse. Each time I send my car in, it’s either that we have to wait endlessly for car parts or my car comes back with more problems. And that is seriously beginning to annoy me.

I really can’t be without the use of my car. My kids’ taxi runs have to go on, rain or shine. So I really can’t afford to be running back and forth half the time.

I don’t understand why they can’t just assign one person to fix the car from start to finish. Instead they have different people working on the car which, to me, is more likely to end up being sloppily done.

• misbehaving car
• hi, it’s Sneezy
• super hot days
• relatives
• forget the news

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