Christmas Hampers

The first "ber" month is almost over. Time flies so quickly. Before we know it, it will be Christmas soon.

I’ve been making notes in my head what are the gifts that we’re going to give this year mostly to our families. I’m thinking, grocery hampers or gift baskets would be ideal. That way, I don’t have to buy gifts for each member of the family. But what should include the hampers? Aha! I have an idea on how to tackle this. We might check every isle of the grocery shops and take note of the stuff that we can buy as gifts.

Tried to look up the net and found lots of something like this.

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Sweaty Head

Jens was born in winter month. And when I was pregnant I was sort of worried how my new baby will cope with the cold, although it is not that cold in Queensland during winter compared to other states down south. We were prepared for winter - woolly and warm blankets, warmer clothes, etc.

Back then I didn’t know how much clothes I should put onto my baby to keep him warm. I was told that it is always 1 layer more than I have. I applied that rule to Jens but because Jens has a very sweaty head, I eventually dismiss that notion.

In the last weeks of winter this year, he went to sleep in his singlet and nappy. Even then, his head sweat a lot. Take it up from his father. With both of them sweating, I don’t really look forward this summer; washing wise. I’m sure I would be washing our linens and Jens’ baby bedding more often than usual.

Here are some facts on baby sweating ccording to birth.com.au.

Damp and sweaty heads


Newborn babies have a limited ability to regulate their own body temperature. They are unable to shiver and only have mature sweat glands in their head, neck, hands and feet. You may notice that your baby's head becomes quite sweaty at times, particularly when feeding on the breast or bottle. You may also notice this when you pick them up after asleep. The sheet they have been lying on may feel damp (or even quite wet in the warmer months). This is very normal, and may last until your baby is about 2 to 4 years of age (or into adulthood if your family tends to sweat a lot).

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Centepede

I did some window shopping again and found these.
When it comes to shoes, I don’t get tired of searching for prettier, classier, more gorgeous, etc. But there is only so much I can wear. Hahaha. If only I was a centipede. I don't really surf and check all the shoe shop online. Only those that has proven to have good taste I grace. I haven't checked Clarks shoes yet.

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Child Considerations

How much is the right amount of food for a 14 month old baby? That’s the question that I want to have answers. Books said that food portion depends on the appetite. But what if your child has a very good appetite and you think he’s eating too much yet, short feeding him makes him feel hungry often?

I think, the answer would be common sense? I don’t really know. But since my little boy’s appetite is getting big, I don’t really know how much am I going to give him. But isn’t the portion should be according to his age and size so he won’t grow obese or otherwise?

Yes, food is a big consideration when you have a child especially on holidays. You need to have child-friendly place. I wonder if there are hotels in las vegas that are child-friendly.

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Insights

Travelling everyday gives me insights as to how different we people are.
While waiting for the train at the station, some people would wait close to the entrance, some wait at the middle and some like me wait at the area where I can get onto the first car of the train. I’m sure each of us has our own purpose why we wait at a particular section.

Then, we do different things also when in the train. Some try to go to sleep, which I do sometimes. Some listens to music with their IPods, mobile phones, etc. Most are reading – sometimes I also do this. At times there are people who open up their notebook computer to do some work. Pretty neat, eh? I sometimes wish to do this but the battery of my machine is sort of defective. Won’t stay long.

I also get to know who are gentlemen and not but I don’t judge them. Like myself, they are tired at the end of the day. But no excuse if it’s in the morning though. J

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Winding Up

This week I am able to watch a couple of movies from my increasing collection. Just light movies. Monday night was the Blond Ambition. I don’t really like Jessica Simpson. Matter of fact, I haven’t seen any of her movies before. The reason I bought the DVD was because of Luke Wilson. I was a bit crazy about him before. I used to have a photo of him on my desk at work.

On the movie, anything light is really my type. Though this one didn’t really rank on the top of my favourites, I kind of like it. Imagine, beauty princess from a small town of Oklahoma land a big job in the city that never sleeps – some kind of jobs in Manhattan, eh? Sound like my story except that I am not in NY.

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Clean?

I didn’t realise how our floor gets dirty everyday until I cleaned our place daily. That was when I have plenty of time in my hands. You can’t imagine the dust that gets in. Well, I reckon it wasn’t surprising as we don’t really use house shoes or slippers. We get in and out of the house in the same shoes the whole day except when it’s time for bed.

As much as I love cleaning (sometimes), I don’t really like using vacuum cleaners. One, I don’t like the noise. It seems that if I’m going to use one every time I clean, I would end up having industrial deafness. Maybe, Miele vacuums produce less noise? Plus, because of the limited space at home I have to stash it somewhere that would require me extra effort to unpack and put it away again.

But yeah, I admit that it looks extra clean if I vacuum the floor. Well. I just mop after sweeping. It looks clean also. J

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Sort-of Diet

I’ve embraced the eating habits of Mcj. I can go without eating rice for a month or longer. I don’t crave for it anymore. Though when I get to eat it, it feels like “heaven”. And I do tend to eat a lot of it as well.

Just like every ordinary Aussie, I survive on bread and bread and potato and potato for my source of carbohydrates. I could say that we have a healthy diet at home. We always see to it that we have lots of veggies everyday and also meat – this we can never go without in a day.

But when we go out, it’s another story. We tend to pig out on rich on hollow-calories food. A sort of treat to ourselves.

Yet, I tend to balance my diet from time to time. If I have deep fried food, I would have salad. I don’t want to end up using diet pills in order to shed the unwanted pounds.

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Got Sweet Tooth?

Do Sugar Substitutes Make You Fat?

For me the answer to this question can be a myth already. Some would say yes, some would say no. Me? I don't use sugar substitute. Period. I want the real thing. I one said to a frind that espartame has a substance that causes cancer and she said, we sure will all die so why not die sexy? She had a point, though.

Anyway, according to realage.com:

The answer may be false. According to early studies, the fake stuff could actually lead to overeating.

Your Body Knows the Difference
In a study, lab animals fed saccharin-sweetened yogurt consumed more calories -- and packed on more pounds -- than the animals that ate the treat with sugar added. Like humans, animals are conditioned to expect lots of calories from sweet-tasting foods. But it seems that no-calorie substitutes may put the brain and the body at odds. The brain says, "Mmm, sweet and satisfying," but the body says, "I need more." Time will tell if the results hold true in people, but there are already human studies linking diet soda to excess weight. (Here's another reason diet soda may be bad for you.)

When You Want Something Sweet . . .
Sugar substitutes aren't the only way to cut back on calories while still satisfying your sweet tooth. Try one of these ideas:
Pile on the berries. These naturally sweet treats are good on cereal, in yogurt, or by themselves in a bowl. And they're chock-full of fiber. (Did you know? Eating fiber-rich fruit could keep you from gaining weight.)
Skip the no-fat, sugar-free ice cream . . . and make one of these instead: Watermelon-Yogurt Ice or exotic Iced Lychees.
Think quality, not quantity. A few nibbles of the richest dark chocolate can be more satisfying than a pound of cheap milk chocolate.

I wonder what do staff of Wilmington NC real estate think?

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It's Spring Time

Spring had just started and I’m loving it. What’s not to love about spring? Nothing I reckon.

Though.

I haven’t seen massive flowers around our place yet. No rain as predicted at the end of winter. But it’s definitely warmer now. I’ve started shedding off layers of clothes this week. I might pack my winter gears soon and get back to my normal clothes. Plus, it’s a great time to enjoy a cuppa in the outdoor coffee tables.

My little one would absolutely love and enjoy this weather. The days are longer now, which means more time to play in the backyard. We might be able to explore new games. When it’s sunny, our hill’s hoist (clothes line) is in a strategic location for direct sunlight even if around 2PM – most of the time, just around when I’m finished doing the laundry. And on winter, the early afternoon sun was shielded by the big trees in our backyard.

This brings to mind to do some spring cleaning. Here are some tips from housecleaningtips.com.au.

Cleaning your house can be an easy task if you just take a few steps to do it right the first time.

Making a house cleaning schedule is always a plus, but few follow through.

Therefore, if you do not have a specific schedule, try making a list of which rooms you want to clean today. Then enhance that list by stating specifically WHAT you want to do in that room.

Example of Cleaning Bedroom:
Strip bed and start bedding in wash
Gather cleaning supplies (dust clothes, dusting solution, window cleaning solution, paper towels, vacuum)
Dust ceiling fan first (if you have one) Dust over door tops and window ledges
Empty bed side table, dust lamp, alarm clock & picture frame
Dust bed table
Put items back on table
Repeat process of other bed table
Repeat process on dresser Dust television and stand
Vacuum
Put clean bed sheets on the bed.
Make bed.
Room finished!
Making a detailed list such as this gives you a very specific guide on what needs to be done and the order to do it.

Make a list such as this for each room in your house and before you know it, each room is done that you plan to complete today. Now you can be off and on the run doing whatever else you would like to do in your free time.

A little bit of pre-planning ahead of time, can save you lots of time, reduce your stress, and leaves it very easy to get back to a specific point if you get interrupted in the process.

House cleaning is something we all have to do. However, even though we want our homes to be environmentally healthy to our families, pets and friends, we do not want to spend our lives making it so. A quick clean up on a regular basis, makes the big “spring cleaning” or “summer cleaning” not such a big job.

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