By MacNessa, on April 28th, 2010%
It’s heavy. It’s difficult to move, and yet we still keep buying it. Why? Because it’s easier to work out at home, than pack a bag, don the workout clothes, and head to the gym.
I’ve own several pieces in my life. I’ve had an elliptical trainer, which was just too difficult, too quickly, I’ve had a series of exercise bikes, the latest of which, I actually *do* enjoy using, and I’ve had a treadmill in the past too. With us heading into the colder winter months now, the idea of having a treadmill at home again is very appealing, but since I just recently won a 12 mth free membership to the gym, I guess I *will* be heading out and exercising with the rest of the masses this year! 12 months to the new me!
By MacNessa, on April 26th, 2010%
Sooner or later, someone somewhere will discover the cure for aging, lethargy, pain and of course the dreaded wrinkles that show up after a rough night, and then take longer and longer to disappear…or so it would seem.
That is what I thought when reading about prototype 37c reviews. Here someone has taken the time to do more than your average research into this fascinating multi-billion dollar industry, which bases it’s product marketing strategy on two things. Vanity, and hope.
That’s right. The cosmetics industry has been famously quoted on numerous occasions and from various ‘houses’ that they do not sell beauty products, but rather hope. The hope of improvement, of change, of magic.
By MacNessa, on April 26th, 2010%
When you’re a SAHM (stay at home mom), you have less free time than you realise. Become a WAHM (work at home mom) and your free time virtually disappears.
Add to that mix, the insatiable desire to finish a novel (reading that is, not writing!) like say, something from the Twilight Saga, and well you’re pretty much stuck. Time to breathe, is like so not even part of the equation. Housework? Bah. So you find yourself sneaking your novel into the car, to catch a few paragraphs on the school run, in the parking lot. Or even worse, sneaking it into the bathroom so that you can either read in the bath, or yes, on the pot, leaving your other parental unit to wonder if he needs to be shopping for hemorrhoid treatments, given the amount of time that you appear to need in the bathroom.
That is if he can look up from the rugby long enough to notice your absence, which of course with two toddlers in the room, no doubt, he will…
By MacNessa, on April 26th, 2010%
How many men’s polo shirts in one persons wardrobe is too many? My husband has polo shirts in like, every color of the rainbow. Yet, he is someone who goes to work in a shirt and tie. He hasn’t played golf in months (or polo, in fact, ever) and yet, he continues to buy them, whenever the mood strikes.
It’s not that he doesn’t look great in them, but when he has that many, that he can only potentially wear on weekends, then it does seem a little superfluous. Sadly the same cannot be said, of his opinion of the number of handbags that I own, in his mind, more than one, seems silly. Of course I am the practical one in the family, and so if I have any more than 3 it does seem a little silly. Of course, what he doesn’t know, won’t hurt him either…
By MacNessa, on April 26th, 2010%
The idea of moving house always sounds good. Kind of like having a child. Once the pain of labour and childbirth is over, one easily forgets it, and within a week or two the idea sounds like a good one again.
Moving! A chance to purge! A chance to declutter! A chance to start over, begin again, build a new you!
Until the reality of how much STUFF one has begins to sink in as you pack, and pack and throw out and pack, and donate, and pack and flog and give away and pack and pack and pack.
Did I mention packing?
I thought I’d done a really great job on the purging, decluttering and donating a few weeks before the move.
The reality was 5 days of hard slog (since we were moving ourselves) and thank goodness we have a week to move all our stuff over, because I can forsee a few trips out there to finish up bringing stuff over.
I am absolutely exhausted and look it! The best face creams probably wouldn’t help my appearance right now, just good fresh food and sufficient rest will help me recover now!
At least my home office is now finally set up again, that productivity and order can return to at least one part of my life.
By MacNessa, on April 20th, 2010%
Does your man have any habits that you swore you’d break before you married him? Or at least once you’d married him? That old adage, that ‘men don’t change’ I don’t necessarily agree with. I just think that they’re overly stubborn, and often return to old patterns of behaviour, not because they can’t change but because they are easily influenced, weak-willed and generally unable to see the bigger picture.
I must admit, there is nothing that the other parental unit does, that I find truly abhorrent, other than the occasional financial splurt which I may not agree with, for the most part he doesn’t smoke, doesn’t enjoy cigars doesn’t cut his toenails in the living room so I suppose I can count myself lucky.
Although, if I really had to look for something annoying, it’s that he doesn’t really show appreciation much, which, ugh, I suppose really bugs me, but I won’t dwell, because I am annoyingly positive.
By MacNessa, on April 15th, 2010%
Before one can even begin to think about colleges to attend, there are SAT scores to think about, tests to take, and that means, of course, plenty of sat prep. Personally I think that while some Americans don’t like the idea of SAT’s, it would be a very good idea to implement a similar system here instead of the current OBE (outcomes based education) here which has clearly failed the majority of the populace. A good SAT system in place would help to pinpoint where things are going fine, and where they are going very, very wrong. Changes could be made at grass roots level, and hopefully within 15-20 years the education system will have improved again. However, that timeframe leaves my kids out of the loop, which is why we’ve chosen to send them to an international school.
Being prepared for an SAT is absolutely vital in obtaining a good score, so getting in plenty of preparatory work is essential.
By MacNessa, on April 15th, 2010%
So, I won a free 12 month membership to a health club right near where we are moving to. This was thanks to an email that a close friend sent me about some promotion they were having, and I happened to luck out and score the biggest possible prize. The other prizes being 3 and 6 month memberships.
I went in this morning to meet with them, and completely expecting to hear some or other malarky about the 12 months being valid, only if you purchased a full 3 yr membership paid up front etc etc, and by jove, I was totally blown away, to be told that no, it did not come with any strings attached, and they would honor the free full 12 month membership, would not collect any debit orders, would not even require any bank details or credit card information, and that aside from the reduced hours that I could access the facilities (10h30- 15h30) everything else, including the child care facility was availalble to me.
Now, some people might baulk at the idea of reduced hours, but honestly this suits me just fine. It means that I get up early, get the kids sorted out and off to school, work solidly until around 13h00 then head to the gym for an hour before fetching Reebok. It works out brilliantly!
I had a look around the gym, and I’m really pleased with the facilities, I had no idea that this local gym was so extensive, and even had a heated indoor pool. I was also pleased to note, that while there were a few of the typical ‘gym bunnies’ around (this is what I used to call the housewives who have nothing better to do than workout and flirt with personal trainers, dabbling in a bit of the circuit etc), most of the people were bog standard ordinary folk like me. There was even one older fellow pottering around in his diabetic socks, so this bodes well in terms of the pressure factor.
By MacNessa, on April 12th, 2010%
Moving house sounds like it should be a lot of fun.
We get all sorts of fantastical ideas about clearing out, decluttering, and having a completely stress free move.
You envision getting a two week head start, packing up those things that are not used regularly, and having them all nicely labelled and ready to go, when it’s time to pack up *everything but the kitchen sink!*
You get quotations for boxes to be sent from company X, but actually forget to call them.
You buy packing tape and other helpful items only to misplace them when you need them, and find them when it’s too late.
You realise that you woefully underestimate the amount of stuff that you were getting rid of and should have gone through each cupboard before the sales company got there.
You bury your head under your pillow in denial and swear you’ll never do this moving thing again!
But, there is no escape, and you have to do it. Luckily your husbands job is considered ‘more important’ than yours, so he totally expects you to do this ALL by yourself.
By MacNessa, on April 1st, 2010%
So no feedback on my big project yet…
I’m kind of on tenterhooks wondering about what the response is going to be like. I’m positive that I have turned in my very best work, and the person I liaised with regarding the project is very happy about it, now it’s just down to HQ’s ‘opinion’.
So we’ll see.
Other than that, I’m still busy with obtaining quotations from car insurance companies as well as household insurance for when we move.
Right now we have everything through one company, and while usually that works out cheaper, it’s always a good rule of thumb to obtain quotes monthly for separate car and household insurance, as we do, to see if we can knock off a few rands and cents here and there, because until you need it, insurance is really money for nothing, or at least peace of mind!
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