Gimme A Break

Ack, super hot days are here again with nary a hint of rain. We’re all having scratchy throats and dry coughs. Not good, especially since we’re having a short school break and we really want to go out and have some fun, but not in the sun !

Just that when the kids are not feeling well, I would make them stay away from fried foods which they love. And quite frankly, I hate spoiling their fun by telling them they can’t eat this or they can’t eat that. After all, it’s the school break and I just want them to enjoy themselves when we eat out.

So I hope it rains and the weather cools down so we can get rid of this pesky dry cough that’s getting us all down.

• weatherwise, foodwise
• freaky storms
• rain spell
• flu chop suey
• moody does it

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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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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 hate to complain but the weather we’re having is way, way too hot. The sun is out with a vengeance and to borrow the lyrics from a song, you can run but you can’t hide from the sun.

As Chinese New Year is coming up and we’ll be out visiting friends and relatives every day, I’m thinking about getting cheap wholesale sunglasses for everyone in the family. Is that too drastic?

I’m pretty sure that this superbright sunlight can’t be good for the eyes, although I don’t have any concrete evidence. Still it’s better to protect our eyes from the extreme direct glare of the sun, what do you think?

• sneaky mom
• 5 tips when out in the sun
• how to get over jet-lag
• a tricycle table beckons!
• new addition

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Now that school is in full swing, I’m back to supervising the kids’ homework which often involves solving algebra problems, like it or not. It’s not my favorite job in the whole world but who else is there?

Actually I think I may have stumbled on to the answer to that myself. There’s an online tutoring service which teaches you how to do algebra problems. Now isn’t that every mom’s dream to end all those late night home tuition sessions?

That’s right, TutorVista offers an affordable, unlimited monthly tutoring service for K-12, back to school and college. The kids can get all the algebra homework help they need simply by going to their site any time of day or night. I’m thinking how much stress I could save myself there !

• the fun never ends
• herbal solution for eczema
• do these businesses measure up?
• where to go on our next vacation?
• fish saga continues

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Eeks, Monday is here again. Wish I could shoo it away. A case of the Monday blues definitely. I haven’t got tomorrow’s school lunch planned yet and I hate it when that happens. I don’t like figuring out what to cook and then finding out that I don’t have all the ingredients. I’m a great improviser, yes, but Monday’s brain is usually a little sluggish.

• sleepless
• what to cook?
• big time cooking
• monday blues
• my plan-ahead menu

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The very noticeable thing about our recent vacation is that we didn’t have to pack the entire house and lug it to the beach with us. My kids are teens now, so those days when we had to pack like we were moving house, are over!

I remember one time when my son wouldn’t sleep because the hotel bed was unfamiliar to him. It probably smelled different and it kept him, and us, awake all night.

It’s a shame we didn’t know that such a thing as an infant travel bed existed! Yep, it has a collapsible frame that’s great for extended travel and doubles up for short naps and easy diaper changing as well.

The large storage pockets are made for chucking in all of the baby essentials. The bed and frame are lightweight and the sides fold down easily for compact travel with a carry strap.

Gosh, this must be a bed made in heaven for moms and dads! If only we’d known about this, we would’ve gone right out and bought one to save us an entire night of camping out at the hotel lobby with my baby in my arms, listening to some lounge singer sing offkey !

• my handy travel tips
• not a slinger
• be prepared
• it’s stress-free whether you’re traveling or not
• if I had 17 kids

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Just one week into the start of school and already I’m in a daze. I happened to glance over at my calendar and it’s just hit me that Valentine’s Day is just a month away.

Like me, my teen daughters love this whole idea of Valentine’s Day. They would each bring me a cute little Valentine’s gift from school, bought with their pocket money. How sweet!

I would give them hugs and kisses in return because I always miss the date and wouldn’t have bought them anything . But this year, I’m planning to make it up to them by buying them something nice each. And something for DH too.

Have you thought about what you’re going to buy your significant other for Valentine’s? Maybe a romantic getaway or a posh piece of jewelry they will treasure for years to come?

With the current state of the economy, it’s not a shame to take out a cash advance to show your love. I think that just seeing the look on the other person’s face and bringing you closer together is all worth it.

So what are you planning for Valentine’s Day? Will it be dinner at a fancy restaurant and a great night out or is it going to be a surprise this year?

• Valentine’s, who’s celebratin’?
• contemporary gold
• festive mood
• price comparisons made easy for moms
• jewelry to match

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We have two weddings coming up. The first one is my cousin’s to which we’ve been invited, sort of. We’ve been given invitations to the lunch reception at my uncle’s house but we’ve been told specifically our teens are not invited to the banquet at an upscale hotel.

Of course I think it’s a case of really bad manners on their part, and am considering giving the whole thing a miss. But to avoid a backlash, DH and I have decided we will just attend the buffet lunch but not the dinner.

The second wedding is that of another cousin on my in-law side which also happens to be held at the same upscale hotel but to which we’ve all been invited. Strange, isn’t it, given that the in-laws always get the bad rep for being mean ?!

• yummiest coffee
• fullmoon party
• car battery goes flat on me
• fish week
• breaking the busy record

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The digger came and there was more digging on the main street outside our house. You wouldn’t believe the noise. I couldn’t hear myself speak. I wouldn’t have minded so much if they hadn’t been digging barely 48 hours ago but now they’re back! Again?

So yeah, after one group digs and patches up the road, another group comes in, digs up the same patch and then patches it up again. Ridiculous. Definitely no planning and coordination!

• happy new year
• sheer stupidity, bad attitude
• the stress of driving
• drumming up ideas for a good cause
• square steering wheel

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