Renovation Skills

Here is a testament to the genius of Tom and Mark's renovation abilities:

Funky Camera Straps

So, if you are one of those people that really hearts advertising what SLR you are toting around then this post is not for you. Toss out that old fashioned "CANON" or "NIKON" strap and go visit Gabi.
Myfunkycamera has all the funk you need for your camera. Gabi has a whole assortment of lens cozys, wrist straps and camera straps. I ordered one myself and I love it. It is really sturdy just as advertised. What made it even better was Gabi. WONDERFUL service and delivery was oh so pleasant and well presented. If i could, I would buy more and more straps. Try one, you will love it.

I Hate Dishes

So robots are taking over the world....I guess Arnold warned us in that sweet movie. Anyway, Japan is a nation obsessed and this has led to their relentless quest for finding ways to replace human jobs with robots. Well here is one job that the Humanoids can have! Anyone know when Amazon will start carrying these? Let me know so I can text in my order.

Finally, No More Guilt

"You never drink enough water" Beverage choice has long been a way to look down on others. Toting water bottles at all times and guzzling at even more times health crazies have advocated overindulgence of water. Finally some respectable research is starting to show that this is an urban myth. Check out the link! Maybe we can now stop filling up our landfills with an endless supply of empty plastic that once contained overpriced worse than the tap bottled water.

Thrift Shop Horrors

A funny, horrible little site where you can post pictures of disturbing thrift/op shop treasures. For the season they have a bunch of weird Santa and Christmas items that are sure to make you laugh or cry or a mixture. Anyway a very funny site with some twisted stuff that should have never been produced never mind sold.

How are your airline meals?

A cool site where you snap a picture of your latest airline meal ( if you have one) and then rate the quality airlinemeals.net. Very interesting section showing a field trip to an airline food preparation place. Also cool pics of crew meals which look much nicer than the economy ones. Anyway have a browse and the next time you fly take your camera and snap a shot. Have a great New Years everyone!

SkypeIn

Number portability, ultra cheap long distance, great voicemail, multiple numbers/countries, integrated im service, large file transfer. We know Skype is here to stay. The latest rage is to hook up internet-only in your home with naked DSL and then use a combination of Skype and a mobile phone (in case you need 911) for communication - a traditional phone line is so pasee and pricey. With a SkypeIn number not only is this possible but it works extremely well. Take for example our case, living down under in heaven, we have family on both coasts of the US and make lots of international calls. Family is keen on using the computer to call for free but it's hit or miss, can't always get the headset for the computer ready - what time is it in NZ - are they online while I am, etc. etc. All of this hassle is smoothed over with a set of SkypeIn numbers. One in CA, UT and NH oh and a number here in NZ as well. All 4 of these numbers ring into our one Skype home account or hit our one voice mailbox if we are sleeping. For a cheap rate everyone can grab any phone and call us anytime and since we have a Netgear wireless Skype phone we don't even have to have the computer on (or as usual, its free if they use the computer). When we move, same thing, no need to ever change numbers and my friends here can call me on my local NZ number if we move to the states. I will never have a traditional phone again!

EasiYo

A Healthy and very convenient invention from the land of the long white cloud. If your into fresh yogurt on demand with heaps of the live buggies to keep your body fit than the EasiYo yogurt maker is for you. I must admit I thought that when this first came home it would end up in the dead kitchen gadget zone with the sandwich press, veggie steamer, waffle cone maker, milk frother etc. etc. but to my amazement we have used it consistently every week sometimes daily for months now and the yogurt really is yummy and high quality. The yogurt comes in a sachet and you just add water and 6-8 hours later you have the fresh stuff. It makes 1 liter at a time and the sachets come in a variety of flavors and all different types (regular, low-sugar, drinking, pro-biotic). You can order them from all over the world from yogurt2you and all the yogurt sachets are made from 100% New Zealand organic solids.

Easy Pesto

Here is an easy, traditional basil pesto that is easy and very tasty. I like to serve it up on hot roasted chicken, sandwiches, toast, crackers, or just spoon it in your boca.
Get a handful of good pine nuts and lightly toast them in a pan, don't be tempted to brown them up good because it will ruin the flavor. Chuck them into a big mortar & pestle with 3 handfuls of fresh basil leaves and a clove of garlic and give it a good bash up. You can use your whiz with a blade if you don't have an M&P. Get a good paste going then put it into a bowl with a pinch of fine salt, a little black pepper, juice of half a lemon, 2 handfuls of freshly ground parmesan cheese and 2 or 3 of good glugs of olive oil. Give the whole thing a mix and enjoy it! Feel free to change things around, too much garlic will overpower it, so that's one thing to watch, also dried basil is truly useless so don't use it. Anyway this stuff is addictive with some nice tomato slices and a runny-yoke egg for breakfast!

Tadpole by ifrogz

I have found a little tool to help me multi-task. By some kind of miracle, I was able to get my children's swim lessons back to back. AWESOME! The only problem is that the one's lesson is 45 minutes long. That is quite awhile for the other to sit and watch. I decided that it would be a great time to do homework. I can be the supportive observing parent and help the other one with their reading or whatever comes up. Eyes on swimmer, ears on student. Oh but wait there is that rogue third one. Hmmm. I have tried designating one ear for the student on the left, the other on rogue, and the eyes on the swimmer. Nice to have it all done one day a week (rip off the band-aid idea) but it was all starting to take a toll on my mental health, which in time, was bound to affect my overall physical well-being. Enter our must-have product of the week-ifrogz tadpole. Now I hate to have my children brain rotting all the time (although they do their share of it) and I would rather them read a book, but let's face it desperate times...
When I first saw the tadpole I thought it was a good idea but would I use it? When I bust that bad boy out it is so worth it. I can load movies or short half-hour episodes of kid stuff on it and I am ready to go. Now I can watch swimmer, read with one, one watches a short show and then we rotate. Quality time with each of my lovelies. The headphones control the sound so they can't blow their eardrums out and they are comfortable for the kids to wear because they are smaller for their heads and they don't have to hold onto them. If I have trouble getting the pre-schooler out of the house for a quick errand I load on a short show hook it onto the fishing line and dangle it in front of her until she climbs into the car. I strap her in before she even realizes what has happened. The tadpole is highly durable and very comfortable for them to hold. They come in a variety of colours. Use sparingly to keep the novelty alive. Coolness.

ASUS Eee PC

It's inexpensive, small, has a full featured linux os and decent battery life. The ASUS Eee PC, a tiny laptop with a full keyboard. Now you can run your proper e-mail program (thunderbird) and have a real web browser (firefox) as well as open office for word processing and spreadsheets etc. This thing also has solid state memory so it's shock resistant and the battery lasts for around 3 hours and did I mention that it's cheap! No more tying to send e-mails with your phone device, this thing has wifi and you can even hook up external usb peripherals like big hard drives with lots of movies and music, or an external mouse. There is a slot for camera cards (SD) as well. Would be great for kids or adults, especially good for the road because it's small, light and full featured.

3 Cheers for Swimming

I can see everyone's eyes rolling already and some of you have decided to skip this post entirely. I know I know, you can't swim and how can swimming be a real workout? Well, if you have ever tried swimming even a lap in the pool for the first time it is quite a bit more of a workout than when you are doggy paddling in your hotel pool.
I decided to take up swimming a couple of years ago in preparation for a mini triathlon. The first thing I realized was that I had no idea how to get from one point to the next, without becoming a "lane rope hanger". These are the steps that got me going.

• Find a goal, or motivation. Mine was the triathlon.

• If you can't swim, sign up for an adult swimming class. Yes they have them for all levels and abilities from non-floaters to olympic bound. Having someone know how to ease you into it, teach you the right strokes from the start, and the peer pressure really makes you progress faster than when you go to try to sort it out on your own. Plus, I hate to lose money and signing up for a class made me swim at least once a week because missing lessons was flushing my money away. My competitive nature also inspired me to go one other day during the week just to secure my position as "the machine" of the class.

• Get yourself some goggles that fit and a silicon swim hat. I spent maybe 20 dollars on my goggles and I think I have had them for three years. The silicon hats don't keep your hair as dry as the latex but they also don't rip out half of your hair when you take them off.

• Please please don't wear band-aids into the pool-it really grosses me out when I see them gliding along the pool floor amongst the specialty hairs...

• When you get good, get a workout from your teacher or you can subscribe to a website like train smarter that will tailor a workout just for you. You can tell them your swimming ability, age blah blah and once a week they will email you a swim program for the week. I find it helps to have a program to follow rather than just swimming along until I get tired. The other thing you can do is look into joining a swimming club.

I hope that motivates you to give swimming a go because it is not only life-saving it is life-changing. It is really cool to learn something new and it is very low-impact. Feel free to practice your swimming techniques on a swiss ball or supplement your workouts with pilates.

Ice-Cream Molds

Okay, so we had some friends around for dinner the other day and I wowed them with my dessert. I made them homemade ice-cream sandwiches, chocolate cookie with neopolitan guts. These weren't your run of the mill square or rectangle ones, they were a combination of stars, pigs, and cows. When my sister-in-law gave them to me, I looked at the adorable perfectly shaped sandwiches on the box and while loving the concept, I couldn't help but doubt that my creations would look as...well, perfect. To my surprise and my children's delight-they did. They take a bit of work but they can be made up to three days in advance and require no dishes to eat. They worked great for my little dinner party (my friends have kids) not only for that personal Martha Stewart over-achieving touch, but not having to use any dishes was a big plus since I am going on week 2 with no dishwasher. My friends attempted to recreate the dessert using their own means. After much laughter, they decided to buy themselves some ice-creams molds for christmas.

Gela-Skins

For all of you ipod owners out there we have a great product for you today. Sorry, it won't help you out with i-tunes but it will help out those of you that have ipods that are prone to scratches. (Not that I have that problem because I like to take great care with my ipod and treat it with the upmost respect). No, I found this latest product because I wanted to jazz up my ipod and make it look as hip and happening as it's owner.
I would like to introduce you to gelaskins. These thin skins will transform your ipod into a work of art. The art is by various up and coming artists as well as some old favourites. What is nice about these, is that not only do they keep your ipod from getting scratched up in your bag, but they allow your ipod to fit into its freestanding player without taking the gelaskin off. They also come with a screen protector to protect your screen from those unsightly scratches. If you still want more, you can also download matching wallpapers for you ipod to match your gelaskin. They also have skins to fit the outside of your laptop so you can look spicy wherever you go.

Pimp That Snack

Strange but very entertaining Website. Pimp That Snack is a sweet place where people take tasty treats and snacks and make them the pimp daddy by enlarging them to exacting standards. Have a looksie and begin dreaming about what your next snack pimp will have to be. The pic shows one of my favorites, and very well pimped family of gummy bears!

Asparagus

I love this yummy healthy veg. Rich in Folic Acid as well as many other healthy awesomecool minerals and vitamins it even makes your pee smell great! Pity only some people can smell the goodness. Anyway this is my tribute to the best veggie on earth. I like it with olive oil, salt and pepper, chopped garlic and parmesan cheese, then toasted in the oven. Delightful!

Perfect Eggs

Want to boil an egg? How Long, what temperature, what if you want soft boiled? Enter the Norpro Egg-Perfect Egg Timer and you will be boiling your way to yummyness! This thing is perfect for getting eggs boiled just right with no guesswork. No special egg cookers to clean and store, just this super simple gadget.

Stretch Your Way to Sleep

I read an interesting article on the inter-net the other day about how doing a few simple pilates based stretches before going to bed could help you to sleep better. The story goes that they took a group of people that were basically reliant on sleeping aids to get their z's every night and had them do a few simple stretches before bed for something like 10 minutes or so. By the end of the trial, many of the participants were able to cut down on their sleeping aids by 60%. Just in the last few weeks due to time constraints I have resorted to doing my yoga at night before bed. Now it was power yoga and I had avoided doing it before bed in the past because I thought it would energize me to the point of insomnia. Not true! Consistently, the nights I did yoga before going to bed I slept like a rock! The kind of sleep that you wake up in the morning and you can barely stand on your feet because they haven't moved for hours on end. I was hoping to find that article so I could post the pilates stretches they recommended but I don't know that it is necessarily limited to just a few poses. I did find the following "8-minute workout before bed". I have not actually tried it but i know that a full yoga routine usually does it for me. If anyone tries this and finds it works for them I would like to hear about it. There are several others available if you do a search. Click on the pics if you would like more detail for each pose.