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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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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DH, who is our resident golfer, has lots of interesting stories to tell about his games. The kids and I love having a good laugh at the expense of a few grown men chasing golf balls up and down hills and plains (or whatever they call them in golfing terms).

Thing is not all the stories are funny. There was this one time when DH hit the ball into a pond behind some bushes. So he went looking for it. It was only when he came back after finding the ball that he heard someone say that a crocodile had recently been sighted in the vicinity of the pond.

Yikes! Imagine coming face to face with a croc as you look up from from picking up your ball. Not a very nice thought at all! If it were me, I’d have quit right there and then. But we all know golfers don’t quit, rain or shine or crocodiles!

• misbehaving car
• the answer is no
• fun dressing up
• selfish new neighbor
• school or beauty contest?

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We’re hardly a month into the new school year and already my kids’ extracurricular activities are in full swing. My chauffeuring schedule is close to bursting at this point.

I can appreciate the sports practice and games but I don’t appreciate the extra bus runs these involved. I am being selfish, but just a little . It’s the short gaps between picking up one kid and dropping another off that drives me nuts.

We’re always happy though when the kids show an interest in a new sport. If your kids are into baseball, a good place to check out Baseball Gloves and other related gear is KidSportsInc.com which carries a wide range of sports gear.

What I really like about the site is that they have a replacement parts section. You know how kids are with their stuff. So as a parent, it’s a good thing to know where you can find replacements if something breaks and needs fixing.

The clearance section on the site is also good to know. Personally I try to save whenever possible when buying kiddy stuff which they will usually outgrow in no time.

I think sports enthusiasts are easy to shop for when it comes to gift ideas. Just grab their favorite sports gear and you’ll have them beaming from ear to ear.

• more than a nurse’s guide to good living
• dressing up as your favorite character
• what kids want
• getting your kids to do their chores
• camping memories

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I’m learning a slew of fast dances at my dancing class and I’m lovin’ them. I prefer fast dances even if I haven’t eaten chocolate to make me hyper . Slow dances like waltzes put me to sleep on my feet.

For the past few weeks, we’ve been jiving to some pretty hot, current tunes. Fast dances require lots of stamina without which you will soon be breathless and you just won’t be able to last through them.

I like the challenge of fast dances. See, your mind has to be as quick as your feet. Even before you can take the next step, you must know in your mind what the next series of steps are. Otherwise you won’t be able to keep up to the beat and you’ll be completely lost.

Our teacher is a little sadistic in that she makes us practise the same dance like four times in a row with breaks that last as long as it takes her to hit the replay button . She’s wierd!!

Yep, there’s barely enough time to catch our breaths and she’s onto us again. Those who can’t take the drill will just walk out to the patio to catch their breaths and hope she doesn’t come barking at them for slacking off, the slave driver !

• keep right on dancing
• what do octopuses and toy soldiers have in common?
• it only takes discipline
• crazy ’bout lions
• the newcomer

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Yes, I know I’ve been slacking at the gym. My two-hour workouts 3-4 times a week first dwindled to once a week and now I’m down to nothing .

But with good reason, let me get to that. It’s the school holidays and I’ve been busy having fun, going out, hanging out so something had to give.

Avoiding the gym is the most convenient excuse I have for now… till my toned arms start to dangle and wobble .

No, seriously I’ll be going back to serious workouts next week. I love working out and I’m not about to give up now .

I’m still taking my nutritional supplements but those are to give me energy and to supplement what I may be missing out from my meals, not to build muscles.

There are many types of nutritional supplements as you can see from the Stronger Nutrition website. My gym buddy, for instance, takes muscle building supplements so he’ll have girls dropping at his feet .

As for me, I have no wish to look like a woman body builder. I just want to stay fit and look good in a tank top which is becoming my standard dress code to beat this incredibly hot weather we have!

• ouch, my aching arms
• starting over at the gym
• after the fever and flu
• all things tech plus tronics
• all kinds of rugs

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We had a newcomer walk into our dancing class this week. We would’ve welcomed her with open arms if only she had her head in the right place. I’m not sure if there’s a softer, kinder way to describe her mental condition but that’s the best I can do for now.

We were in the middle of a pretty fast number which we’d been practising for a couple of days now. When she jumped in, I noticed she didn’t have the steps right but then I thought she was fumbling, just like I always am, with my two left feet.

But after a while, it was clear she was simply prancing around (not unlike good old Santa’s reindeer) and running straight into people. A normal person would’ve felt embarrassed and stopped.

But she kept working her way up the room until she was dancing right next to the teacher. For a while, no one knew what was going on. We just kept on dancing while the teacher pulled her aside for a little chat.

When she came back, she told us that the poor woman had confessed that stress had made her lose her mind some 12 years ago. OMG! I felt so sorry for her. Stress does this to you? I guess if you give it 12 years to work on your system, it’ll gradually work its up to your head.

• the slacker is back
• what do octopuses and toy soldiers have in common?
• the making of a fool
• sloppy mechanic
• the rhythm of the mall

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You know we’ve been having some pretty torrential rains lately. But nothing stops DH and his golfing buddies. Not rain nor hail nor sleet nor snow. Well, hail is extremely rare here, and sleet and snow, we don’t get any.

But still the rains are bad enough to damage a perfectly good pair of golf shoes. If I were the shoe salesperson, I’d be laughing to see these guys come in every couple of months looking to replace their soggy, muddied shoes.

I really hate to see an expensive pair of shoes go to waste, so I would painstakingly wash them and put them out to bake in nature’s oven. Most days are scorching hot (just before the rains come) and once you get the shoes thoroughly dried out, they do last a whole lot longer.

But here’s a thought. Have you golfing manufacturer types thought of making golfing boots? I’ll help you promote them to the golf widows out there. I promise they’ll sell like hot cakes .

• shoes vanished!
• nature’s carwash
• Mother Nature’s free car wash
• plan for the weekend
• due for a car wash

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It looks like two of my gym buddies have hurt their backs and will need to lay off their workouts for a while. I’m not sure how the lady sprained her back but in the case of the guy, it was clear that he was attempting to do too much.

He vacuumed the floor of his house after an intense workout one morning. Then the next day, he spent a few hours bent over doing his gardening. Soon after that, he found he couldn’t get up after sitting down. Ooh!

All this in addition to my uncle having sprained his back washing his golf gear a few weeks back! Duh!

• one boo-boo makes two
• the walking flower pot
• disappearing golf balls
• they came anyways
• meet mr golf

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When the girls got their new aquarium, they were so happy. But not for long. Once they transferred the fishes over from their old and smaller aquarium, they started dying one by one. I suspect it’s the shock they suffered due to the environmental change.

So we went out and bought more fishes. The new fishes haven’t been adapting too well either and they haven’t been spared either. The good news though is we’ve had about six baby fishes born.

I can’t figure out what’s causing the fishes to die. I’m no expert at keeping any kind of pets for that matter, least of all, fish. I never thought this was a good idea anyways but since we’d started with that project from school, I went with it.

• empty aquarium
• a fish is born
• fishy update
• a new home for our fish
• fish saga continues

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