Gimme A Break

Ever since I watched the movie “Ghost” where the character of Demi Moore was sitting at the potter’s wheel working the pottery wheel clay, I’ve been fascinated with pottery.

I can’t say I’ve ever done pottery, I hope to one day, but I’ve tried my hand at various crafts like jewelry making, t-shirt painting and basket weaving. Now whenever I walk into stores, hotels or restaurants, I’m constantly on the lookout for craft decorations like pots and vases.

Pottery looks like a lot of fun and I’d really like to try my hand at it. There’s a very good site at AMACO/Brent that’s just a treasure trove of information about pottery, and which offers everything from lead-free sculpting compounds and pottery supplies to teachers offering to teach you the craft.

With the classes that AMACO/Brent offers, you can learn all about how to work those texturing tools and develop your skills at your own pace. I guess you could teach yourself pottery too but I personally prefer to work in a group with a teacher.

With guided instruction, I find I can learn more and quicker that way. By now, I’m sure you can sense my enthusiasm and impatience at getting started soon.

• the making of kid talents?
• driving me nuts
• please, no more tools!
• free resource for credit repair
• the stumbling cook

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Today was one of the craziest days. Ever! I’ve been up since the crack of dawn and not stopped till now. I was out in the freaking electric storm picking up one kid after another. Do you have any idea how hard it is for the kids to struggle into the car with their heavy schoolbags and umbrella?

And my car ends up half-flooded from all the water brought in from the rain. Not to mention the number of traffic lights that had gone bust. And trees having toppled down from the sides of the roads onto cars that were stuck in traffic. It took us hours to get home!

• driving in the driving rain
• rains and jams
• gotta do the rain dance!
• stop killing the trees
• wierd weather day

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Oh no, the long laid-back week is going to be over soon and we’ll be back to the grind! Gosh, it’s going to take some getting used to all over again. The early morning rush to school. The long quiet morning when my kids will be at school and I’ll be home alone. The late lunches that I have to time carefully just before the kids get home from school. And the early nights when we’ll have to go to bed reluctantly early.

• how to reduce back-to-school stress (1)
• morning jam
• how to reduce back-to-school stress (2)
• trouble snapping back, anyone?
• Tuesday morning blues

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I gotta tell you, apart from eating too many mandarin oranges this past week, I’ve been hearing too much gossip about relatives and too much advice about investing in precious metals. Not that I know much about precious metals in the first place but if someone wants to bore me with it, fine!

So now after earfuls of financial advice, I’m left wondering if I should buy gold bullion or if I can even afford to in the first place. True, gold is gaining its place as a good investment in these shaky economic times. And it would certainly be something to look at if you have money stashed away that’s not doing much.

• I only wish
• investing in precious metals
• can I just zoom off?
• seafood dinner
• fake-’em friends

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Okay, I hate to complain when almost every other blogger is complaining about the massive amounts of snow they’re having this year and being snowed in and cut off from their everyday lives.

But heck, it’s quite the opposite here. Our days are in the 90’s and the heat and humidity is just driving me crazy. I can’t open my windows because then hot air gushes in and fills up my house, making it even hotter.

And the humidity of 90+% is something else. I can be sitting here at my computer, typing away and drops of perspiration would be running down my temples and back. Can you beat that? Aargh! Just glad we got our air-conditioning fixed yesterday so we can at least sleep at night.

• my home sauna
• sparkling clean car, yeah right
• rain at last!
• catching up on my beauty sleep
• misbehaving car

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I’ve just noticed that no matter what time of year or how the state of the economy, there is still construction going on everywhere. I guess people just can’t look at house plans and be happy until they actually buy the property and move in .

Yes, I have my dreams too and I have set my eye on a home plan that I saw on www.HousePlansandMore.com. They’ve got some of the best plans around and at affordable prices too. I won’t tell you which one. You’ll have to go have a look and make a guess .

They have a few cottage plans that I love too. But then, unlike many people who can just head out with their credit card and say “I’d like one of those please”, I can only drool over these beautiful plans – for now – until I strike the lottery or something. See, I’m still going to buy the property and move in. Sooner or later. Right now, I’d say later. Much later .

• where to go on our next vacation?
• medical professionals gone fashionable
• would you like to take up pottery?
• American Residential Law Group FAQ page
• free resource for credit repair

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While surfing the net, I came across Golf Packages Myrtle Beach and told DH and his friends about it. Why? Because I’ve been recruited to help them find new and interesting places to play golf.

Yep, we’re having a long weekend here and as usual, DH has left at the crack of dawn to play golf. They’ve made it almost their weekend careers and poor me, although I don’t play, I haven’t been spared the task of helping them book flights and probably even their Myrtle Beach Golf Packages, if they decide they want to do that as well!

I’m thinking while we’re at it, why don’t I just go ahead and book us a couple of Myrtle Beach Golf Vacations so the wives and kids can come along as well. I’m sure there’s lots of other activities beside Myrtle Beach Golf that we could indulge in, right? I kinda like to think of it as leveling the playing field .

• another beach vacation so soon?
• meet mr golf
• planning our getaway
• add another white elephant to the heap
• harry potter and the deathly hallows

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The past few days have been spent slaving in the kitchen. I have had to cook a couple of big festive meals. Well, okay, they were for less than 10 people so I guess you wouldn’t consider to be a big crowd, nevertheless it’s more than what I usually cook.

One of the things I’ve learnt is that if you cut up all the ingredients and have them all organized according to the dishes you’re going to cook, it’s much easier when it comes time to actually start cooking. I know it’s a very simple tip but it’s really helped me and I wish I’d thought of it sooner .

• smoky kitchen
• bad pizza
• kitchen or car?
• mom’s day out
• Sundays and weekdays

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I have a wedding to attend at the end of this month and I desperately need to do some shopping. The bride is a cousin of mine and I’m thinking of getting her an invicta swiss watch as a wedding gift. Do you think that’s a good idea?

My son needs a new pair of shoes and he’s been wanting a pair of asics sneakers like forever . So I guess he needs to take a look at what designs they have.

As for me, I’ve been wanting to check out some hush puppies shoes for myself. They’re very comfortable and goodness knows I need shoes that don’t bite for the amount of running I do to keep up with things in this household.

So that’s my plan for the weekend. I could get squished at the mall or I could save myself some trouble by shopping online at become.com. What do you think?

• this weekend, we shop layers
• wedding daze
• my handy travel tips
• shoes vanished!
• planning our getaway

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This morning, I had to drop off my daughter at the mall for her movie date with a few of her girl friends from school. I thought I’d do a bit of shopping there myself before heading home.

Well, guess what? I spent a half hour circling in the parking lot and there was not a single parking spot. Well, if I was looking for a spot, so were a hundred other cars all circling around like me !

After a half hour, I got really impatient and decided to just drop my daughter off, pay the dollar for parking and leave without even setting foot in the mall. What a waste of time and money!

• fight or flee, that is the question
• a world of difference
• circling like a vulture
• the rhythm of the mall
• logistics brainwave

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