Gimme A Break

I heard one of my cousins has just delivered a baby girl. Wow, that means I’m an aunt all over again. They’ve living in another city so I probably won’t get to see my little niece till her parents brings her to visit.

Even then, I have to start looking for a nice little present for her. Busy bee that I am, if I procrastinate longer, I might just forget about the whole thing and then when my cousin comes to visit, I’ll be in a panic big time .

So knowing me, I’d better get an early start. And not a moment too soon. I’ve already found some very pretty Baby Bedding Sets online at Baby Bedding Palace. Their sets come in 12 high quality matching pieces.

I love the fact that the sets are handmade. Can you beat that? I mean, if you ask me to sit down and sew these sets, I’d be at a complete loss. Okay, I admit I can’t sew for peanuts so that makes anything handmade all the more valued.

I hope my cousins and new niece come to town soon. I can’t wait to see her. And I think my kids will be excited and thrilled.

• y’all should’ve come to London
• last in, first out
• moon and stars
• new addition
• switching to movies at home

by minutechaser - 1 Comment →

Now that we’ve got one more birthday party out of the way, I guess we can hang up our shopping shoes for a bit. Just for a little while though, that’s what my daughter tells me, ‘cos there’s a bunch more of her friends’ birthdays coming up.

Duh! Which means I’ll soon have to get busy looking out for another sale at the gift shops. That’s what we did the last time, go in and buy a whole lot of gifts because I don’t have time to drive to the store and buy them one at a time.

• the perfect gift for a teen
• what do gym freaks want?
• party like it’s 2008
• surprise birthday party for a friend
• stretch your creativity with Aqua Dots

by minutechaser - 1 Comment →

I remember receiving a pair of weights for my birthday one year. Now I’m not being ungracious or anything but I couldn’t help wondering, what the heck kind of gift is that?

I know it’s the thought that counts but quite frankly, I wasn’t even into exercise so what good is a pair of weights to me? Besides they were so tiny I could lift them with my little finger!

Maybe this person was recycling a gift they got from someone else which they couldn’t use. I don’t mind that, just that weights were the last things I ever expected to get as a birthday gift.

But that was then. Now that I’m a gym freak, it sure would be nice if people gave me sports gifts. It’s stuff I’d need to buy anyways so it’d be a double bonus if I got them for gifts, eh!

• taking the headache out of gift-shopping
• where’s that recycling van when I need it?
• where to find sports gear for your kids
• 5 things to do with an old mug
• what’s up on The Tennis Channel?

by minutechaser - 1 Comment →

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

by minutechaser - No Comments →

I was having a good laugh lately when dh’s friend bought him an imitation Rolex Yachtmaster from one of his trips overseas.

He asked me to guess who it was from and I instinctively said, “Valentine’s gift from your boss ??” That’s the ongoing joke here that his boss is such a Scrooge you couldn’t even squeeze a nickel out of him.

Turns out it was his golf buddy just returned from China. So that explains it. Boring ! But at least it’s more practical than a box of golf balls.

• disappearing golf balls
• meet mr golf
• come rain or shine or croc
• strength from a cactus
• need a new sofa

by minutechaser - No Comments →

With the fullmoon and kiddy parties I’ve been going to and more to come, I seem to be looking for baby gifts every other weekend.

Sometimes I wonder why people even bother inviting parents of teens to kiddy parties because our teens are clearly not keen to go so we end up going ourselves .

Okay, I won’t complain. On with the search. Found a great place online at ShopWiki.com where there’s baby clothes, accessories and toys galore.

The reason I like it is that there’s a wide range to choose from, from the regular to the trendy all priced very affordably.

I’m so drooling over the adorable little dresses for girls, and all the toys that I just know the boys will love. I’m reminded of when my kids were that age and shopping for them was such fun.

Well, it looks like shopping for kiddy gifts isn’t so hard after all if you know where to look  :wink: .

• stretch your creativity with Aqua Dots
• more baby gifts?
• taking the headache out of gift-shopping
• where to find sports gear for your kids
• add another white elephant to the heap

by minutechaser - No Comments →

I’ve been going to quite a few weddings and fullmoon parties lately, and even a kiddy birthday party that my teens weren’t keen on going to.

When I went gift shopping for the kiddy party, I dragged my girls along. I thought they might have fun picking out a gift for the little boy. I believe in buying educational toys for kids so they can play and learn at the same time.

I wish I’d found out about Aqua Dots then. It would’ve made a perfect gift. They are really a fun way for kids to recognize and match colors because it allows kids to exercise their creativity.

What they do is simply put the beads together to make any shape they want.

Then they just need to spray some water on them to make them stick and the design will stay in shape.

The designs can then be applied to any surface at all, and can be removed and reattached very easily without damaging the surfaces.

It’s such creative fun that even adults would enjoy creating designs with their kids. There’s really no limit to how creative you can get. The best part is that a toy like this can be played over and over without your kids getting bored.

• how I created my own logo
• a cup of ginseng tea
• walrus Saturday
• together we can save our environment
• baby gift shopper, that’s me!

by minutechaser - 1 Comment →

With the number of weddings and fullmoon parties that I’m being invited to this month, I really have nothing to wear. Isn’t that a woman’s most famous complaint when it comes going out?

Each time I go through my jewelry drawer, my heart sinks because I can’t find anything that I haven’t worn before. DH gets rather impatient when he has to wait while I try on piece after piece to try and match the outfit I’m wearing.

I’m glad he gets to see first-hand why I really need some new necklaces. I told him I’ve fallen in love with some of the really nice necklaces at Shopping.com. There’re so many brands and styles I could spend a whole afternoon browsing online.

• contemporary gold
• sunny days
• scarred for life
• a tricycle table beckons!
• fun dressing up

by minutechaser - No Comments →

I used to have a pretty impressive collection of watches from almost every country I’ve been to. This collection has since dwindled down to just a couple of watches. Blame it on my hectic lifestyle. I barely have to time to be picky.

I reckon I could use a little more variety in my life. I’ve found an interesting site at Watchluxus.com with the world’s largest database of luxury watches. The first thing I did was to see if they have any Tag Heuers. Heh! Sure they do.

They have a huge, long page of hundreds of brands, some familiar, some that I never knew existed. The website is like nothing you’ve seen.

You can select a watch by appearance, function or movement. There’s a forum where you can chat with other watch fans. They even have a blog!

This is the Tag Heuer Kirium F1, very similar to what I’m wearing now. The silver and black combo is really cool and very sporty. It spells exercise fanatic. I love it.

After you select the watch you like, it gives you a list of the retailers and distributors in any country you select. Talk about being global.

This is a really handy site. I’m going to bookmark it.

• the more watches, the merrier
• trendy and wearable
• the necklace
• self-confessed fan-atic
• i love wedges

by minutechaser - 2 Comments →

I have to confess that I’m absolutely mesmerized by the huge assortment of party favors that are available at CandyUnderCover.com.

For one thing, I don’t think we have such unique items like personalized mint tins and shakers here so I can only gawk at what’s on the site and dream about how I would use them.

I’m going goo-goo over this personalized candy wrapper for a birth announcement. Isn’t it adorable?

Plus the fact that it’s a one-of-a-kind with the parents’ names printed on it, I think it makes it extra special.

• food, favors and fun
• move aside, Johnny
• do you treat all your kids the same?
• my good neighbor
• generous strangers

by minutechaser - No Comments →