Women Blog

We are so excited to visit our friend’s newborn this afternoon. After many years of waiting, their dream to have a baby has come true and we are so happy for them. Since it’s a holiday for us today, we may go to the shops to get them a baby gift basket or something they would need during this time. Baby Micah is a big baby and seems to be depriving his new parents the sleep they once had. This all sounds so familiar, isn’t it? Congratulations to mommy T and daddy D.

Sometimes it seems like housecleaning is a never-ending, time-consuming chore. Just when we thought we had a day or two off from work, then we have to spend our free time cleaning instead. However, housecleaning doesn’t have to consume your free time. With some clever ideas and time-saving actions, you can slash your cleaning time and have time to spend with your family doing the things you enjoy the most.

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Sometimes we avoid organizing a space because it contains a Pandora’s box.  Pandora’s box is a mythical story about a box, which contained all of man’s miseries. An organizational Pandora’s box can contain photographs of deceased loved ones, photographs of ex-spouses or simply any reminders of a painful emotional time.  Even happy memories can evoke strong feelings, which can be difficult to recover from quickly. Often we may not consciously acknowledge the drawer or closet is a Pandora’s box, we just know the contents give us an uncomfortable feeling.      

There are a few ways you can shield yourself from the magic in the box.  My first suggestion would be to limit exposure. Set a timer for 15 minutes and force yourself to leave the area when it rings. It may take a long time to clean out the space but it will get done.  Also each time you work on the area you may be less emotional because you know what to expect and are a little more comfortable with the emotions.  Psychologists call this phenomenon systematic desensitization and the process is used to help people deal with phobias.

Another possibility is to have a sympathetic friend sit with you while you go through items.  A friend can provide emotional support and be a sort of coach who will help you keep going through the rough parts. Plus, the work always goes faster when you have an extra set of hands.  

If you must the get the space clear within a specific time period and cannot find a friend to help you, here are two choices. You can hire a professional organizer to assist you with the task or you can simply box the items up, label it and pack it away for a time in the future when you will be better able to deal with the contents.

See our post How To File Paperwork Faster

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One of the things my work at home hubby loves to do on a weekend is to relax in front of our home theater seating and enjoy a good movie. The line between work and play can be rather fine when we work from home as the home office is a few steps from the bedroom and a flight of stairs from the living area! At this point, we still can’t keep our boy from our home office as we are also his caregivers. As a full time parent, I try to shift my focus on him in the evenings and weekends. Now we are off to a birthday party invitation, which is another treat for him!

I suppose more and more parents are paying attention to the quality of air their children are breathing in. I can tell that by the sheer crowd in the recent health fair I attended, where lots of people were listening to a talk on clean air by a health practitioner. Personally, I believe that air cleaners are necessary if you live in a busy city where pollution is a big concern. These days, you can even get an air cleaner for the car which is a great idea, especially for those who are on the road most of the time. Air cleaners and purifiers are helpful for people suffering from nose and throat allergies.

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 slabs baby back ribs, or spareribs
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 1 cup Apple Wood Chips
• barbecue sauce (recipe follows)

COOKING INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 400F.
2. Rub cinnamon, cloves and pepper into both sides of ribs.
3. Place ribs on wire rack on baking pan.
4. Bake for 3 hours until tender.
5. Soak wood chips in water for 30 minutes.
6. Prepare grill.
7. Place apple wood chips directly in the center of hot barbecue coals.
8. Baste ribs and place on grill above wood chips.
9. Cover, grill and cook for 10 minutes.
10. Turn ribs, baste again and cook another 10 minutes or until ribs are browned but still moist.

Barbecue Sauce:

INGREDIENTS:

• 2?15 oz. cans tomato sauce
• 1/2 cup molasses
• 10 cloves garlic
• 2 tablespoons ground cumin
• 2 tablespoons dry mustard
• fresh ground pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon hot pepper flakes
• 1/2 cup red wine vinegar

COOKING INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Combine all ingredients except vinegar in saucepan.
2. Simmer, covered, on low heat for 1 hour, stirring occasionally.
3. Add vinegar to taste and simmer for another 15 minutes.
4. Chill at least 24 hours, or until ready to use.

Received via e-mail from Luiza. Thanks a lot!

I finally gathered the courage to propose my vacation plan to DH. For the last few weeks, I’ve been searching for Sydney hotels with the hope of spending New Year’s Eve in this lovely city. Well, DH shot down the idea and he didn’t like the idea of going to Sydney for a vacation. Now, I may be shifting my focus on Japan and Club Med Sahoro unless something more interesting pops along the way. I can’t seem to get over this disappointment for now…

Many of us take our health for granted, don’t we? Sometimes we sneer at those who are health conscious and joke about why they put so much efforts to eat the right foods. The reality is that none of us can predict what is going to happen to us and it’s our responsibility to educate ourselves in health matters. For instance, did you know that nearly 900 people died of Sudden Cardiac Arrest (SCA) everyday? While the subject and matters of the human heart are not widely discussed, it is important to take that heart health is definitely an area not to be taken too lightly. For more information about the risk factors, warning signs, heart blood flow facts and treatment of Sudden Cardiac Arrest, check out the website at Inside Cardiac Arrest.

For a layman, outsourcing is a complete waste of time and financial resources, which can end up with unwanted complications. Why assign work to other individuals if you know what will be good for your business? Why delegate the work to outsourcing professionals abroad if you can do much better right at your own territory? You know what is best for your business, and you don’t need other individuals to deal with things that you can handle by yourself, or with the help of in-house personnel.

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There is an old adage which says “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a
lifetime.”

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