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Wednesday, December 19, 2007

I got a lot of my Christmas shopping done early but those last few knick knacks are driving me up the wall. I am going mental trying to work out which Christmas presents to buy for those last few "hard to buy for" people. By the way, I think most people are hard to buy for, I mean how presumptuous are presents anyway? I think each year I get more and more confused about what people want for Christmas. I don't want to inconvenience anyone by getting something big and bulky they can't fit in their place. And I don't want to buy something they don't want. And how do you know if they don't already have it? Maybe next year I'll call up everyone and say:

"Right. Before I buy you any presents this year I want you to fax me a complete inventory of your entire house. Brands and everything." I mean if you want to buy an Itunes voucher for someone, you have to ask them if they have an Ipod. And if you ask them that they are going to have an idea of what you are getting. Argh!! So many decisions and I'm running out of days and hours. Eeek!! So I'm still no closer to buying those last few presents. Next year I'm going to move to Nepal and live in a cave for the month of December.

And I am definitely not going to go into the crush in the city wearing a massive football helmet and wearing boxing gloves, although if you are going to do this, this is what I advise you should wear. And keep some rescue remedy handy in case you have a panic attack.

It's hard to be of good cheer when you are gritting your teeth.


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It can be almost impossible to buy presents for some people. Perhaps they have everything. Perhaps they don't want another pair of socks (although if you ask me, you can never have too many socks, as long as they are black - but I digress). So perhaps you are looking for something really special. FreemanX has a whole range of gifts for all sorts of people. You can book in for skydiving, hot air ballooning, and various extreme activities. I liked the look of "Venice on the Yarra" - you get a gondola, champagne, cheeses, and the trip follows the Yarra through a scenic tour of Melbourne from the water. You can find activities throughout VIC, NSW and other states - from dinner cruises to rock climbing to day spas, you should find something for everyone.

This post was brought to you by FreemanX.


I am sorry for the lack of posts, I have been running around like the proverbial blue arsed fly. No, I hadn't heard of that saying until recently either, but I thought it was ridiculous enough to warrant a mention.

After living in a chrysalis all year I have suddenly unfurled into a social butterfly. Oh yes, that's me...booked up I'm afraid. Yes, I think I can fit you in on this date, oh no, actually I'm going to a meeting/business lunch/wedding/dinner. My little black book is smoking!

The list of things I have to do in the next few weeks (and months after) are massive. I have kicked into organised mode so I am ticking each item off the list and as soon as I have, another one pops up in its place. It's like the magic pudding!! (For those of you who don't know this children's story, go here.)


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It can be a bit tricky to find a good web host and if you don't want to get ripped off, you need to do some research. A visit to the site http://www.webhostingchoice.com provided a search and compare tool which allows you to specify the amount you are willing to pay for web hosting, the search engine then brings back a list of results for you to choose from. Some of the plans will be a small monthly fee (I tried $5 to see if such web hosting companies existed - they did). Some of the plans will be a yearly fee which I personally prefer. I was able to track down some very reasonable rates for web hosting. I would also recommend the next step of researching the individual companies for reviews and comments to make sure they're kosher (a simple Google search will do the trick).

This post was brought to you by Web Hosting Choice.

Tuesday, December 11, 2007

I thought I'd show something amusing today, I need a bit of cheering up. Hope you enjoy it.







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Friday, December 07, 2007

Oh. My. God. This offends my sensibilities. It's quite horrible. The shonky awards expose dodgy workmanship, questionable ethics and sneaky fine print.

The award itself: a mounted lemon. It says it all, really.








Here are the winners of the Choice 2007 Shonky Awards (which was presented very amusingly by Jean Kittson):











Nutella. The unhealthiest health food.
Strangely Nutella has taken to marketing itself as a low GI food suitable for children.

"Less fat than most peanut butters, less sugar than most jams', said one Nutella ad. This may be the case, but out of all these spreads it has the highest combination of both: it’s almost 85% fat and sugar, packing a whopping 2175kJ of energy into every 100g." (source: Choice Website)

I remember as a child, my mum used to equate Nutella with Satan. I don't think you could even mention the word in the house. So phew! Missed out on all that fat and sugar as my cells were growing. Dang.













Another bizarro product is a washer/dryer from LG that claims to save water. And it does. On the wash cycle.

However, what they don't tell you is on the DRY cycle it uses 74LITRES (!!?!?!?) of water to dry 5kg of washing. As Jean Kittson put it so wonderfully "Who would use water to dry clothes? It's a dryer, not a wetter...I haven't even got a degree and I know that's weird."

Check out this video from the awards ceremony:










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Wednesday, December 05, 2007

Phew!! I'm wearing myself out at the moment. Online shopping has left burn marks on my fingers and skid marks in my wallet.

I'll probably find out in a year or so that I had some sort of compulsive shopping disorder that I tried to sublimate by creating a shopping blog.

But it's just so easy....just one more...*click* $$$ *click*

Nevertheless I did actually find some snazzy bargains on Ebay (no...really? Go on!!!)

My second lot of exhibits for December are a Deborah Hutton Queen Flat Sheet valued around $40.00-$45.00



Cost: $17.00
Postage: $9.30
Total: $26.30

Score!! It's very soft and seems quite sturdy as well. It appears it will go the distance.

Not like that f@$^%#$ing Egyptian cotton sheet that I bought some months ago. The dang thing breaks up at the sight of a long toenail, 400 thread count or not! Ended up sleeping in a massive gap created by two toenail rips that met in the middle and created a kind of rip canyon. Ah, the feel of a scratchy mattress - nothing like it.

And the other bargain:

Himalayan Crystal Salt chunks for baths (and in my case, foot spas!)



Cost: $1.95
Postage: $8.19
Total: $12.75

Not bad for a purchase from a UK seller, considering the exchange rate!!
Himalayan crystal salt contains 84 trace elements and is good for detox baths. I could do with one of those at the moment considering the amount of tox I have been ingesting.


I'm pretty sure everyone remembers the Seinfeld episode where Elaine has the brilliant idea to send personalised Christmas cards instead of the usual boring generic card. Just make sure there are no untoward parts of your body showing when you get the photo taken and you won't suffer the same fate as Elaine. Personalised Christmas cards can be a special gift for family members and friends and this particular approach is popular with politicians as well. So it seems to work as a networking tool as well. You can create custom holiday cards using a photo of your choice - just upload the photo or collage, customise from a template or your own design and create your own personal touch to your cards this season.


Tuesday, December 04, 2007

Yes, that's right. I have "taken leave of my senses" as they say in the classics. Not really, but I have bought yet another Baccarat stainless steel cookware item. I was very excited to receive the package today:
















A 20cm stainless steel frypan with impact moulded copper base.
Price: $13.40
Postage: $6.95
Total: $20.35

Equivalent RRP - around $60

Tee hee!!

The frypan has never been used so I'll give it a good dishwash and off we go!!

I am in the process of perfecting my vegetarian farmer's omelette recipe (if that isn't the biggest oxymoron of them all!!)

Of course it contains Sanitarium Not Bacon which is now called something silly like "Vege delights bacon style rashers" I mean "not bacon" is a lot catchier!

I mean why don't they just call it vege soy style dead pig substitute delight choices?

Not Bacon. The original name was the best.

~end rant.


Aaaanyway, the farmer's omelette (or is it the farmer's wife omelette? I never know) will be made with fried onions, peas, fresh parsley, cheese and NOT BACON. If there is one thing I am supremely confident about, it is my ability to cook an omelette, omelettes being my signature dish.



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If you are frantically creating and destroying Christmas shopping lists (I may be speaking from experience here!) then here are some new ideas for gifts for those adventurous souls who enjoy high powered torches, night vision goggles and rifle sights.
Hmm, just make sure they are not nutty first before checking out the Gift Guide. You can find discounts and bargains on flashlights, microscopes, binoculars and astronomy gadgets. There is even a personal planetarium / GPS sky guide for identifying celestial objects.












Myself, I can identify celestial objects just by drinking too many beers and looking up. My accuracy may be a bit off, though. Perhaps one of these gadgets could help. And a sky map. I don't think "that big squiggly bit there" really counts as identifying celestial objects.

I'm going to stop talking now.

This post brought to you by OpticsPlanet.com
IZEA Blogs describes in some detail how to get started with Real Rank. Well I'm confused as all get out. What does it all mean? There is this new ranking system that is supposed to rate blogs on actual traffic per day, and the rank can change with the fickle tide of readership numbers. Hmmm. This seems pretty straightforward but the actual numbers themselves give me a headache. The rank is from 1-9. And my rank was 2199 yesterday and 1915 today. So I must have done something right! But how does 1915 fit in a sliding scale of 1-9?? Does that mean I suck? I don't know. Somebody enlighten me here.



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Monday, December 03, 2007

Being a blogger can be tough on your neck, back and shoulders. In fact, being in front of a computer is so common these days we need to whack our behinds back into shape at the end of each day. Enter the Human Touch - a zero gravity massage chair to soothe those tired muscles.















The chair reclines the body into a zero gravity position, which decompresses the spine, allowing the muscles to relax. I like the idea of a foot and calf massager that massages in a wave-like motion. This is a super indulgent Christmas purchase for yourself or a stressed-out relative!