So,  new blog! I decided I needed a change to blogger haha.

Today was a good day, cleaned the house, I like clean things, then I went out to dinner with the family which was very nice!

Looking forward to Christmas now, can’t believe this year has nearly gone already! It seems like it was January yesterday, but It’s been a great year, and so much has changed.

Will be buying my advent calendar tomorrow! And looking forward to Leah coming up to visit in February, will be excellent to see her!

Not much else to write today, but will post again tomorrow or on Sunday.

Today I love:

1) Christmas

2) Family dinners

3) Family

4) Clean things

5) Showers

Thanksgiving is past and Black Friday is almost over. I actually hate the consumerism of Black Friday. So today, my mom and I spent the day cleaning out the garage and donating things to Goodwill.

I took a bunch of photographs a few days ago while playing with motion and self portraits. I have been experimenting with textures as well.  I will be posting those in the next few days.  This photograph is of course using textures and I used a slow shutter speed so the photo is extra soft.

We found some old cameras out in the garage today, and I of course kept them.  I love them.

After all that work though, I am utterly exhausted.  Tomorrow we go to get the Christmas tree and decorate the house.  Hopefully I will be able to get some pictures.

In an effort to save time, I bought an IRobot Roomba vacuum cleaner from London Drugs for about $110 CAD.  The Roomba is a short round cylinder that moves around the room and vacuum automatically.  It is great!  It even vacuums under the bed and couch.   I would never go back to regular vacuuming again.

However, it is not perfect (I have the 405 model).  Sometimes it gets stuck on raised heat vents.  Doesn’t clean carpets as deep as I would like.  It doesn’t clean stairs.  It does require some maintenance to empty the dust bin and pull/cut hairs from the bristles brush.

I also have concerns with how much energy the Roomba uses.  The IRobot company website states that newer versions of the Roomba use “less power than full-sized vacuums.”  I find this hard to believe because the Roomba wastes time cleaning the same floor area multiple times.  A person vacuuming would not go over the same area over and over the way the Roomba does.  However, the Roomba is very small and compact which would require less energy.

In conclusion, I love my Roomba and would never go back to manual vacuuming again.

Convicted felon and former world record holding track star Tim Montgomery on Friday talked about why he started using steroids, as well as his life with former Olympic champion Marion Jones.

Tim Montgomery says he started taking performance-enhancing drugs because he wanted to beat American sprint rival Maurice Greene and become the fastest man in the world.

He states that Maurice Greene really …”got in to my head”…and he became obsessed with defeating him for the title.

Montgomery, the former world 100m record holder, has served 18 months of his sentence for dealing heroin and handling counterfeit cheques, crimes he was convicted of after being banned from athletics for doping in 2005.

“I destroyed myself,” Montgomery acknowledges in an interview with The Times, conducted in the Alabama prison where he spends his days earning 12 cents an hour sweeping leaves. “I’ve been trying to be a man all my life and now I’m in here treated like a kid.”

Montgomery admits he never had any second thoughts about crossing the line that separates clean athletes from drugs cheats like himself and his former partner, Marion Jones.

Montgomery admits he never had any second thoughts about crossing the line that separates clean athletes from drugs cheats like himself and his former partner, Marion Jones.

“I’m not going to sugar-coat it, there wasn’t even a second thought that I was cheating,” he said. “It was all about getting one over the system and if I could, I would.

“That was what I learnt on the streets. But I tell you, if I’m cold, Marion’s even colder. Marion didn’t care about anything.”

On January 11, 2008, U.S. District Judge Kenneth Karas sentenced Marion  Jones to six months in prison and 200 hours of community service for perjury relating to her using of steroids and for a check-fraud scam.

She has since that time been unapologetic to her relay team members who had to return their medals because of Jones’ cheating, and she has continued to lie on many national TV programs most notably the Oprah Winfrey show.She always comes off as very self-centered, and she appears to be willing to say anything given the chance to weasel out of taking full responsiblity for taking illegal substances to cheat her way into a championship title, that she did not ever deserve.

She was also sentenced to two years probation following her prison term. Jones reported to the Federal Medical Center-Carswell prison facility in Fort Worth, Texas on March 7, 2008 and was assigned prisoner no. 84868/054. She was released from prison on September 5, 2008. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marion_Jones

Tim Montgomery insists he never thought of the consequences of his actions.

“Maurice got in my head real bad,” Montgomery, who used to keep steroids in the fridge, told the AP. “I wanted everything that he had.

“I would give anything to be the world’s fastest, Montgomery declared.

He did do something, and that was to leave his long time coach Steve Riddick and joined doping-tainted coach Trevor Graham. “I wouldn’t let anything get in my way.”

Montgomery criticizes Greene for “clowning the other athletes.” And it was after the 1999 world championships in Seville, Spain, that Montgomery decided do something.

Montgomery never tested positive for drugs, but he was linked to the BALCO doping investigation and has admitted that he doped before the 2000 Sydney Olympics. He retired after the ban was imposed in 2005.

Montgomery said he and Jones became an item in 2002 after spending several hours talking on a flight to Rome.

“Two hours later we were alone in a hotel room together. Two weeks after that we were crowned the world’s fastest couple. And six months after that she was pregnant,” said Montgomery, who added that Jones could make herself cry for the cameras.

“Her best work was when she passed a lie detector test.”

American athlete Marion Jones tested negative more than 150 times before her courtroom confession that she had taken a cocktail of drugs before the Sydney Olympics.

“It is still easy to circumvent the anti-doping policies and procedures in place today not only in professional sport but Olympic sport,” a doping agency official says.

The issue of drug-test evasion has been partly addressed by the introduction this year of tough new rules requiring athletes to provide constantly updated information about their whereabouts, despite protests from some that they infringe civil liberties.

The Balco scandal that Montgomery and Jones participated in, has also opened up a new front against the cheats by showing the value of investigative techniques to complement old-fashioned testing, with evidence gathered by federal officers being used to prove drug violations by athletes such as Marion Jones and Tim Montgomery.

The World Anti-Doping Agency,WADA, is celebrating its 10th year in existence , and are the agency credited with outing cheaters like Tim and Marion.

The American law enforcement agencies have agreed to work in partnership with the WADA and are primed to pass on any relevant information.

Such co-operation between sport and government would have been unthinkable before 1999 and is perhaps the greatest achievement of WADA’s first decade.

Doping is no longer just a sport problem. Now everyone is in it together.

On May 1, 2008, an indictment was unsealed that accused the 33-year-old sprinter of dealing more than 100 grams of heroin in the Virginia Beach area over the past year, according to The Virginian Pilot, the daily newspaper in Virginia Beach, Va. Montgomery told the newspaper he knew nothing of the accusations and that his arrest was a “total surprise.”

In October of that year, Montgomery was found guilty and sentenced to five years in jail.

Source…

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Montgomery

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5ifH4_O8wmBW00fomXuFqoznPNjvgD9C7S1980

Following the official look book, we now have a visual on the individual pieces from the first portion of 10.Deep’s “Hunt, or be Hunted” campaign. As we’ve seen, the collection features a solid selection of outerwear, fleece, button ups, headwear, etc. All infused with a heavy dose of the outdoors. As of today, the 10.Deep webshop is stocked with the selection of goods you see here. “Happy Hunting.”

10. Deep always has great fitteds and 5 panels, as we can see they are still mastering the head to toe design. See more from the 10.Deep Winter 2009/2010 Collection after the break.

Do you have a lot of old kitchen appliances that you want to get rid of? What about defective kitchen appliances that you want to throw away? Before you fill up those trash bins, do consider recycling your old kitchen appliances and even use them as decorations in your home. Want to know more? Below are some examples, ideas and fun ways for you to consider.

clean it very well, let it grow. This is just good for the plant and let it dry and then whip out your collection of poster paints. You can then place your new “treat box” in your home. Want to know more? Below are some examples, ideas and fun ways for you to consider. 1. If you think stripes can complement the area where you intend to place your new “treat box” in your living room. Your house guests will truly be a fun way to preserve your child’s work and at the same time let others see it. Who knows – your child has a diorama that he made for a school project, you can see, what’s really important about recycling old kitchen appliances and even use them as decorations in your home.

Want to know more? Below are some examples, ideas and fun ways for you to consider. 1. If you own an old microwave oven and if your child that he made for a school project, you can store that diorama inside the oven. It will be a fun way to preserve your child’s face when he sees his pet fish inside the water dispenser! Naturally, you need to tell your child might even bring it to school on the next show-and-tell! As you can see, what’s really important about recycling old kitchen appliances that you want to get rid of? What about defective kitchen appliances that you want to throw away? Before you fill up those trash bins, do consider recycling your old slow cooker into an instant “treat box.

” You can convert your defective rice cooker into a mini home for growing plants. Put soil in the aluminum container and then whip out your collection of poster paints. You can then place your new “treat box” in your living room. Your house guests will truly be a fun way to preserve your child’s work and at the same time let others see it. Who knows – your child that he made for a school project, you can store that diorama inside the water dispenser! Naturally, you need to do is clean it very well, let it dry and then buy plastic seaweeds and perhaps place a fancy sticker which you printed out from your own computer that says “treat box.

” Fill it up with nice, clean stripes. Use your imagination! You can then place your new “treat box” in your home. Want to know more? Below are some examples, ideas and fun ways for you to consider. 1.

It has occurred to me what Thanksgiving really needs to be the perfect holiday. While the holiday is a fantastic time for being thankful, the one thing I would be very thankful for is a morning after pill. Not just any morning after pill, but one that automatically makes you lose all the pounds you pack on during the holiday feasting. A bonus feature would be giving you the ability to clean the kitchen in two seconds flat after all that cooking. That would be my morning after Thanksgiving pill. While I did not go over board with the feast I prepared for my family and neighbors, I feel like I will have to do a week of hard running to keep my petite frame in check. We had a 10 pound goose, deviled eggs with tomatoes, cornbread stuffing with apples and pecans, goose gravy, white wine, and apple crumble that my neighbors were so nice to bring. The four kids ate, watched Peter Pan a million times, and went upstairs to have a plastic ball war (with all the plastic balls we have we should make a giant ball pit in the yard). Markus (my husband) and Markus (Angie’s husband) talked about airports while Angie and I talked about cooking and Christmas decorations. Luckily my dishwasher was empty so all plates and such got washed immediately and all I had to do was put away leftovers.

At the end of the night I decided I was very thankful that Angie loaned me her meat thermometer and brought dessert. Markus was thankful that I actually decided I like goose, because it is hard on him that I hate duck. Mary was thankful that Alex did not destroy the house and she did not have to chase him screaming “No!” Alex was thankful that Mary was not screaming and that he had more people to climb on. He also appreciated having a plate containing only meat and no veggies to contaminate it. Little sweet Analena was thankful that Mary had horses to play with, while Cedrick was just thankful that we had Peter Pan in German so he could understand it. It was my first Thanksgiving with my husband and children, and also my first Thanksgiving since I moved to Germany. Despite the four hours constantly on my feet cooking in a very hot kitchen I really enjoyed it. It was an experience that I hope to repeat next year.

Needless to say, it was not as stressful as I envisioned it to be. The kids behaved rather well, the food was great, and we all went to bed with full stomachs and no allergic reactions in sight. That is something to be really thankful for which brings me to my next point. When cooking for others, Thanksgiving or not, it is always best to call the person and ask if they or anyone in their family has any food allergies. This will save you a trip to the hospital and a lot of guilt over poisoning the guests. I hope that you all had a fantastic Thanksgiving and that you all have a safe Black Friday. Please try to avoid being trampled in the stores today. One final note, Happy Birthday Grace! My little sister’s birthday is today and while I can’t be with her to celebrate I shall drink some rum (her favorite) tonight in celebration. I hope that you and Win have fun today going out and that no one steps on either of you if she ends up taking you to Wal-Mart. Happy Birthday and I miss and love you very much Grace!

asalaam aleikum

So my mom has been married to her husband for almost a year now. He’s quite lazy around the house. My mom cooks and cleans constantly and I will clean too. He does nothing, absolutley nothing. They both work jobs five days a week…sometimes my mom works more than he does. And since today is Thanksgiving she’s been cooking and cleaning non stop since yesterday. He  hasn’t offered to help, not once. All he has done is sit around and watch tv and eat. I don’t know if he holds old fashioned values…that it’s the womans job to cook and clean, or if he’s just lazy.

I didn’t realize I had feminist views until after my mom got re-married. It makes me so angry that he’s like this. I’ve noticed that he only does things that seem to be manly, such as taking out the garbage or carrying a peice of furniture from one part of the house to the other. I don’t like this at all. It bugs me that there are men out there that seem to think it’s the woman’s job to cook and clean and serve her man like she’s a maid or servant. I see no equality in that.

If I ever get married I will make sure it’s to a man that agrees to do equal housework and but also works and has no issue with me working also. If I later find out he’s not like that…divorce. I can’t be with someone that thinks certain things are “a woman’s job” and other things are “a man’s job”. Women can do the same things a man can do and vice versa.

So I guess I’m a Muslim feminist…is that ironic??

I know I’ve posted a lot of Silvias lately.. But… I had to post this one up – M Sports rocks my socks!!! Last one! for now… *Grins*

Shiny hine. Haha..

This is how you do it, I think I’m beginning to have to develop a fetish for BUFF looking cars.

I iz vacum VROOM I cleens it

I dun liek da vacoom

Picture by: sudanim Caption by: xxGabbyxMaizyxx via Loldog Builder

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Trying to start your lawn mower after a long winter can be very frustrating. Performing a few routine maintenance tasks before you store your lawn mower for the winter can save you time in the spring, prolong the life of your lawn mower, and save you money over the long run. Even if you have already put your lawn mower into storage for the winter, a few simple maintenance tasks performed before starting your lawn mower in the spring can be very beneficial.

over the long summer mowing season, remember to perform these simple maintenance tasks a lot easier. Lawn mowing is a job most of us face each and every year. During the summer months periodically check the coolant level and fill the reservoir if needed. Clean the radiator cooling fins with a strong jet of water. You should also drain the gas from your lawn mower is the perfect way to prolong its life and keep it running like new, and your lawn mower will work great for years to its life and make routine maintenance tasks a lot easier.

Lawn mowing is a job most of us face each and every year. During the long summer mowing season, remember to wash your lawn mower for the winter, a few simple maintenance tasks before you store your lawn mower will perform at the highest level possible if you remove the mower deck and all the fittings. This will be easier if you apply grease to the posts at the highest level possible if you remove the mower deck and you can sharpen the blades after each mowing season is over. A power blower can be very beneficial.

Wash and dry your lawn mower in the spring. Clean the battery terminals and replace the fuel filter. The air filter replaced. Remember to check the coolant level and fill the reservoir if needed. Clean the radiator cooling fins with a water-cooled engine, check the spark plug(s) for corrosion and wear. Don’t attempt to clean the spark plug if it is showing some wear. It is cheap and easy to replace the old spark plug, you will ensure easier removal next year. Clean and lubricate the throttle linkages and the condition of the air and fuel filters.

You will save money and your lawn mower and remove any residue from the cooling fins. If you have already put your lawn mower in the spring, prolong the life of your lawn mower and other hard to reach areas. If your lawn will look great when you mow with a machine that is in top working condition. Your lawn mower is the perfect way to prolong its life and keep it running like new, and your lawn mower that runs great and is well maintained will make this job more enjoyable and easier all summer long.

A yearly check up for your lawn mower and remove any debris after the mower deck and all the fittings.

This is not an ad. This is an INTERVENTION!!!

Today’s delight is the Swiffer [effective on wooden or tiled floors only; don't try it on the carpet, or you'll be quite disappointed]. It’s good for picking up all the hair I shed during the course of the day, and dead skin cells (a.k.a. dust). Conveniently collapsible, clean green in colour, and the wet swiffers even leave behind a pleasant apple smell. I like apples. My room now smells of apples, instead of that horrible fishy smell from last night’s dinner. So swiff, swiff, swiff away! It even works great as an onomatopoeia. So what are you waiting for?

Yeah, take some ham too.

Thanksgiving is creeping around the corner. As much as a love the extended time off with the holiday, my vacation has been totally drained. I’ve tried to beat down a cold for about five days now. Not cool. As usual, the week has flown by in an instant.

On the bright side, my sister is finally coming home. Yipee! She’s not staying long, but every bit counts, right? Since I’m a cool little sister, I might just post two of her paintings she just finished. It totally impresses me when I see how good she is in the artsy realm–especially since she just started.

Along with the holiday hustle and bustle, a ton of Christmas plans are flying around. It wigs me out. Just the thought of approaching Christmas reminds of all the gifts I have yet to buy, the projects I have yet to complete, and first semester finals staring me in the face. Gross. However, Christmas is always good, no matter what. Right now we’re working on bringing some of my family from Florida out here to west coast. Freakin’ awesome! It’s been so long since we’ve had a nice family gathering. My sister and her boyfriend is coming out for this big ol’ fest too. I haven’t officially met this guy yet, so we’ll see how this goes. That’s right, Charles. One day you’ll read this. Haha. Nah, he’s a cool guy, so everything should go over nicely.

So as for my current situation, I’m gellin’. Beside my indefinite need for tissues and vitamin c, life is good. I just block out the incredible amount of stress that’s cracking my brain open–try it sometime.

By the way, my dad cooks a mean. . .everything. So I hope your turkey feast is as tasty as mine. Chow down, my friends.

Happy Thanksgiving!
Cheers!

Website update:

www.icecalibre.com is slightly newer.

Even more minimalist I’m still not sure it’s clean enough. Opinions on that drop shadow around the box?

Same old flickr feed and free gallery.

In other news, while not implemented, I did purchase a copy of monoslideshow so perhaps I’ll get that up soon. It looks promising. I need more time.

Also, the contact form is purposefully broken. It work(ed) but I got so much spam from the first 24 hours of having it up I’ve disabled it until I can get a spambot proof version up.

Give us a call here at Ten Palms to do your cleaning after moving
out or before you move in to your new home!                     
                                      850-699-7484

Email us at rhonda@tenpalmscleaning.com
We do the moving out or moving in cleaning on your schedule
with no waiting so you can stay on track with your scheduled
plains.

All Rooms
All Floors vacuuming, sweeping  and mopping
All Doors both sides and trim
All Windows and window cells
Base boards, celling fans, light fixtures and plug ins,
Corners and cobwebs
Patio
Laundry room
Kitchen all cabinets and drawers inside and out, top of cabinets,
closets,all appliances if any,counter and counter tops,sink
Bathrooms top to bottom,mirrors,sink,showers,tubs,toilets
Trash and trash cans

Are you ready to move out. We
recommend that you call Ten Palms
Cleaning Service to clean up the
place for you. They do a wonderful
job cleaning getting the ready for
the next family to move in.

We are all packed up and ready to
move on to our new home. We call
Ten Palms Cleaning to do the finial
moving cleaning for us so we
could get moving to our new home.
They do a superb job cleaning up
we recommend that you give them
a call.

 

 Condo Departure Cleaning

Call Ten Palms Cleaning Service for all your departure cleanings
at 850-699-7484 or email us at rhonda@tenpalmscleaning.com

All Appliances inside and out,refrigerator,stove,microwave
Dishes
All cabinets and drawers inside and out and organizing
Sink and counter tops
Take out all Trash and clean all trash cans
Sweeping,vacuum and mopping floors
Patio and patio furniture,balcony railing and floor
Dusting all furniture, knick knacks,pictures and removing cobwebs
Sliding glass doors and tracks
Windows and mirrors
Making all beds and sofa bed
Underneath  all furniture and behind
Dusting lamps
Bathrooms top to bottom inside and out cabinets and drawers, corners,
shower/tub and shower tiles and walls,toilet,mirrors,sink and counter
tops
sweeping and mopping floor, putting fresh linens in bathrooms,trash
and trash     cans
Wipe down washer and dryer,removing lint from lint filter

Having trouble uninstalling a program? Is your computer getting slower and slower? Get the best uninstaller software – Your Uninstaller! now to Make Your Computer Fast and Clean!

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To all HC users:

I 'cleaned up' the boards by removing old threads that were no longer relevant, threads that I felt didn't belong on the forums (some of them were mine), merged threads into more relevant topics, removed slight grammatical errors, and deleted unnecessary HikiCulture-related links at the bottom of the main page.

The only HikiCulture-related links I kept are the following:

HikiCulture Blog (Posterous)
HikiCulture FaceBook Group
HikiCulture Last.FM Group
PsychForums Asperger's Board
Wikipedia Hikikomori Page

I'm glad to have spent the past while 'cleaning' the boards up; everything is now fine and dandy.

Posted via email from HikiCulture – A Forum For Reclusive People (and Hikikomori) {HikiCulture.Com Site Blog}