What would I do without sharp-eyed friends and readers?

I might have entirely missed the lovely nod given to “The Mother-Daughter Book Club” in the December holiday issue of Woman’s Day magazine, that’s what.

Fortunately, someone — or more precisely, someones (Gina, Patty, and April, you know who you are!) — took the time to alert me to an article by “Momfidence” columnist Paula Spencer entitled “Gifts that Keep on Giving.”  Among other great ideas for meaningful gifts for kids, she recommends wrapping up a copy of my book along with a plan to start a club of your own. 

What fun!  I’m thrilled to be included!  Thank you Paula, and thank you, sharp-eyed friends!

Hi Everyone,

Ladies if you’re like me you love to flip through a magazine to find some helpful hints on saving money or loosing weight or maybe a new and easy recipe.

One of my favorite magazines on the market that offers a little bit of everything is Woman’s Day.

You’ll find articles on food tips, getting yourself organized, recipes, and so much more.

Plus all of this can be yours for ONLY $5.00 per year.  This offer gives you 15 issues!!  If you purchase a single issue on the book stands it will cost you nearly $3.00.  So, this is really a no brainer.

To find out how to subscribe TODAY for only $5.00 per year click HERE to be taken to the special subscription offer.
Have fun shopping and remember to always: SHOP SMART!

The Discount Queen

Former Biggest Loser host Ajay Rochester has threatened to sue Woman’s Day.

Rochester, who once weighed 140kg and now claims to weigh 53kg, sold the story of her weight loss to rival magazine New Idea.

She posed in a hot pink bikini showing her new body on the cover of the magazine last week, but unflattering pictures of her stomach were published in Woman’s Day.

The article said the 40-year-old has “stretch marks” and “baggy skin” as a result of her massive weight loss and published pictures that highlighted her imperfections.

The story is in stark contrast to the glamorous pictures that appeared in New Idea of Rochester pool-side in LA sporting a flat, toned stomach and a movie-star blonde mane.

In May this year she said that she was going to Hollywood to meet Oprah.

“I’m totally going to stalk her,” she said “I created this whole website, I’m going to stalk celebrities in Hollywood and interview them online.”

Rochester is no stranger to controversy — in November she pleaded guilty to 23 fraud-related charges after admitting she incorrectly collected single parent payments from Centrelink.

Firstly,  Ajay, you should stop licking on slurpees, because your face seems to have become frozen.

And also – were you the whole audience for The Jerry Springer Show when you were fat?

However, on your behalf, I have dialled ‘O’ for outrage I am so pevved by Woman’s Day.

How dare they show photos that are contrary to your carefully crafted PR strategy, for which you would have paid some hack thousands of dollars – and which is crucial to your pathetic TV career

Do they have no shame?

How ignoble.

Yours, while wondering if that is a dog whistle in your pocket, or are you just happy to see me.

Righteous

p.s.  Scientists have produced a new Viagra for women. It’s called jewellery

It’s undeniable. Michelle Obama’s style is influencing American women as the First Lady embraces color and stylish accessories, such as this colorful look shown in the October issue of Woman’s Day magazine. Pair a sunny cardigan with cobalt blue pants and fun accessories for a great look that’s surprisingly doable. The magazine highlighted the Bloom Flower Brooch from Stella & Dot within its pages, along with adorable tweed flats from Lela Rose for Payless. The brooch can also be pinned to the La Coco Brooch Necklace which can be worn 8 different ways. 

General fiction, romance, mysteries, ghost stories; up to $350; approximately 2,000 words

http://womansday.ninemsn.com.au/yoursay/helpline/18304/womans-day-fiction-guidelines

Does it get any better than this?  Even if you’re an empty nester, granny, or favorite auntie–you, too, can swear by the beauty of this scene:

Oh, it does our heart good to see Big Yellow out on the roads after a long summer’s nap.  Today is the first day of second grade for our sweet little Bulldog!  This puts a song in our heart and a skip in our step.  Should we not be so blunt?  Shall we pretend to be boo-hooing?  Did we forget to put on our Secret Antiperspirant or is our honesty causing us to perspire?  Some don’t want to speak the truth–they hide their naughty thoughts and have bad nightmares as a result.  But Joyce wears her heart on her sleeve and she has always felt that summer vacation was just a tad overrated.  Not the summer part, but the children on vacation part.  For years Joyce searched the world over for a school that ran 365 days of the year, but she could never fulfill her dream of finding such a place. 

Joyceland friend Nellie proclaims that the first day of school is her favorite holiday of the year!  Sister Susie  tells us that she’s grown tired of playing camp counselor all summer long–she is ready and willing to load the little naughties on the bus.  J.L. says it superbly with, “Last day of summer vacation!  Now vacation begins!”  Honey, you are speaking our language–the language of Joyce.

Here’s how some of our other Joyceland galpals feel about the momentous transition to a brand new school year:

• M.M.:  “It already started here last Wednesday!!!  First full day of homework today.  Let the chaos, stress, and anxiety begin. I’m talking about mine of course!!”  (MM–we find that if you visit Gigi Spa from 9 a.m.-3 p.m. you’ll be in better condition to meet the afternoon school bus when it pulls up to your front porch!) 
• Nellie:  “Hello?  Whoever is not counting the days to get their kids out of the house is not all there–am I out of line?”  (Nellie–you are not out of line–in fact, we worship your words.)
• Stillpoint Sherrie:  “Today, the inmates took over the asylum.”  (Stillpoint–we hope the warden regained power quickly.  If not, come over for a LemonDrop martini ASAP.)
• C.O.:  “I read in Woman’s Day that you are either a Summer Mommy (loves the “shapeless days”) or a Back-to-School Mommy (in which camp I certainly count myself). The down side to Back-to-School is that I’m a teacher, too–it means “Back to Work!”  (CO–we are grateful for your sophisticated analysis of our eternal dilemna.  We’ve spent thousands in therapy and just a few words from you and Woman’s Day has fixed us.  Thank you!)
• S. S.:  “I love the summer and totally dread next week when school starts!”  (SS–we will be partying, while you are weeping.  But never fear, summer vacation is only nine months away.)

To all girlfriends in Joyceland:

We hearby proclaim the first day of the school year as a national holiday.  On this day, every woman who has adopted the middle name Joyce is instructed to go buy herself some fabulous little thing.  This gift is considered a ‘To me, From Me, With Love and Affection, Just Because.”   

The Imposter
By Elena Dorothy Bowman
ISBN# 1-59431-535-3 – ebook and Kindle book formats
Write Words Inc./ebooksonthe.net

*Synopsis: The Imposter*
   This is based on a true story. The names of the individuals concerned, the dates, times, places, and actual localities where these events unfolded were changed to protect the innocent. The studios mentioned, were the actual studios involved, although it should be noted that they were completely unaware of how they were being used.
   It all began with a newspaper article in a major local paper.  According to the article, a woman sold a book she had written as “property” to a movie producer, and as a result, a new nighttime television series was born. The series, fifteenth in the ratings, had been running successfully for several years. Naturally, this made Mrs., although she preferred to be called Ms., our local novelist, a heroine of sorts and, as she portrayed herself, a willing contact in the arts.
   Her list of publications, read like a /Who’s Who./ According to her resume, she had been writing and publishing short stories, novelettes, ‘How To’ Books, and full length novels for over thirty years, in such prominent publications as: /Astounding Science Fiction; Woman’s Day; Little Brown, W.R. Putnam’s & Sons, Inc.; Random House; Harper and Row/ to name a few, all under a pseudonym. She was quite an amazing lady. Not only was she a writer, but she was also an Opera Singer. She performed in such major productions as:/ Jesus Christ, Superstar; Romeo and Juliet; La Traviata; The Pirates of Penzance; /and soloed in many other operas and shows including:/ Oklahoma; My Fair Lady; South Pacific; Finian’s Rainbow; Man of LaMancha; and Kiss Me Kate./ And of course, there was her book she sold to /Aaron Spelling Productions.  /The article also read she sang with /The Glenn Miller Orchestra/ as one of the Modernnaires and she had worked on the backdrops to the first science fiction movie…/Destination Moon.
/    Two local women, having read this article and believing in its validity, were hoping for an avenue to open up for their talents through a mutual contact, since they were both involved with writing and producing a musical stage play. A phone call to this “successful Hollywood Writer” resulted in a meeting at which time she promised to be their “contact”. With the addition of their artist friend, the imposter led them down a twisted path of well-placed lies and acts of deception. A sequence of promises broken caused one of the local women to investigate the validity of the “Hollywood Writer’s” claims of her involvement with major movie and television studios, publication agencies, and local newspapers sources. Following a trail of false claims to their origins, the truth was unfolded one page at a time through phone calls that involved Hollywood Studios, Writer’s Agencies, the Yellow Pages, Psychologists, and with the local newspaper correspondent who originated the story. This clever imposter had beguiled professionals and novices alike at their own disciplines.

I had always maintained that women’s magazines such as New Idea and Women’s Day are full of (sh)it. It’s just really hard to take any magazine seriously that will have a big story on the dangers of anorexia and bulimia in the same issue where they are picking on some normal sized celebrity for being fat.

I have always thought that these magazines just made their stories up. The proof was plain to see in the last couple of weeks when New Idea reported that Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban were set to adopt a baby from Vietnam. New Idea said that they had spoken to someone at an adoption agency in Vietnam who had confirmed this story. The only trouble is that when the other media spoke to the same official he told them that he had not spoken to anyone from New Idea but someone who was a lawyer for Keith and Nicole who suspiciously had the same name as the New Idea reporter who broke the story. Yep… New Idea rang up this poor bloke and pretended to be Nicole and Keith’s lawyer and then fabricated the lie that Nicole wanted to adopt a Vietnamese child because… who knows. These journalists are much like the clairvoyants who also frequent the pages of these magazines… just full of crap.

So today we heard that Woman’s Day featured us on their Daily Dose blog. Well, who doesn’t need a daily dose of granola?

See the full feature on Woman’s Day here.

Quiz Fizzles

These are little gems of misinformation provided in the May 1953  issue of Woman’s Day magazine….Cute!
Question: What is the function of the
stomach?
Answer: To hold up your pants.
Question: Is vixen the femal of fox,
bear or cow?
Answer: Its the female of woman.
Question: What is a faux pas?
Answer: It is some kind of an animal.
Question: In olden times the father of the bride gave the groom land, cattle, or money. What was this called?
Answer: A bribe.
Ha!

How about some 1953 Trivia?…here goes:

What’s a Quiz Fizzle??? A quiz fizzle is a funny wrong answer given unintentionally by an amateur contestant on a radio or television quiz program.

Now you know…

When I started signing up for samples and freebies online, it became such a joy to check the mailbox everyday! Now, I never know what fun surprises are waiting for me there! It’s like Christmas morning 6 days a week! Just SOME of the things I’ve received free recently: (And by recently, I mean mostly in the past week or two.)

Lucky, Redbook, Woman’s Day, Family Fun, Good Housekeeping, Self, Whole Living Body+Soul, Traditional Home, Better Homes and Gardens, Martha Stewart Living and even Popular Science and Field & Stream magazines! (I’m probably forgetting some and there are more that I’ve gotten free that haven’t shown up just yet.)

Crest Pro-Health Travel/Trial Size toothpaste (Perfect for my toiletry bag!)

Jergens Natural Glow Healthy Complexion trial size (Can’t wait to try this one!)

Frosted Mini-Wheats sample (And tons of coupons, thanks to Vocalpoint!)

2 Sample packs of Don Francisco’s Coffee (Mmm…..coffee.)

Secret Clinical Strength travel/trial sized (I haven’t had to buy deoderant in a long while! If you see me on the street, feel free to sniff me.)

Tomato Seeds from Campbell’s and a Soup coupon

Packet of Cream of Wheat instant Maple Brown Sugar (I lived on this stuff in college, but I’m curious to see if G.G. likes it.)

2 Packets of Metamucil-Berry Burst and Pink Lemonade flavors

Garnier Nutrioniste Ultra-lift sample packet

Pledge Multi-surface wipe sample

$25 worth of Amazon Gift Cards earned with points by using Swagbucks to search rather than Google.

AND much, much, much more!!! So, the moral of this post is, of course, SIGN UP FOR EVERYTHING! Well, everything you will actually use. I don’t expect you to sign up for contact solution when you have perfect vision, but you get my point. Check out my last Free Crap Friday post and get on the ball! Trips to the mailbox will be so much more fun from now on! ~Heather

Sathya Sai Baba On Empowering Women

RECOGNISING WOMEN’S CENTRAL role in society, the Easwaramma. Women’s Welfare Project-seeks to help in the development of women in a holistic manner by understanding and supporting the different roles which they play in life, be it daughter, mother or breadwinner.

It is a well-known saying, “Give a man bread and you feed him for a day, teach him to farm, and you feed him for life.” Along these lines, we felt our sisters in the villages would be better served by the acquisition of skills; the goal being self-support and independence.

Powered by the idea of sustainable development, this philosophy motivated the adoption of a Welfare Project to first address the need for a woman’s financial security. Before the Project launch, a survey was conducted in the surrounding villages, identifying the most deprived and impoverished women in the area. Their economic condition and whether they had some basic or no skills were all points taken into consideration before selection for the Project.

A Step towards Making Women Self-reliant
On 19th November 2004, on Ladies Day, Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba officially inaugurated the Easwaramma Women’s Welfare Project by unveiling a plaque. On 19th July 2005, the Project facility for these women was graciously inaugurated by Bhagavan Sri Satya SaiBaba within Prasanthi Nilayam. The Project is already producing a large number of products and has started marketing them initially through local outlets in the Ashram. The proceeds of the sales will be spent on remuneration for the women and will also go towards charitable projects in the villages.

Once the products are identified, trainers are engaged to teach the women how to make these items. When they are proficient at their tasks, one or two women in the group are trained to interact with suppliers and customers. In addition to providing women with a skill that is a lifelong source of income, this Project will also have socially beneficial effects. As an income earner, a woman’s self- esteem and her respect in society increases. Speaking on women, Sathya Sai Baba has said, “All women should be provided with opportunities to become self-reliant”.

The Project seeks to translate this into reality. A major step was taken to expand and organise the work of Easwaramma Women’s Project when Bhagavan graciously established Easwaramma Women’s Welfare Trust on 18th February 2005.

Mother and Child Project
Recently, another dimension has been added to the Easwaramma Women’s Welfare Project by initiating Mother and Child Project. This project was started after conducting thorough research at grass root level by visiting a large number of villages as well as by assessing the needs of expecting mothers from Sri Sathya Sai General Hospital, Puttaparthi. As a result of this, two requirements have been recognised as vital. One is for maternal and infant care, which has given rise to the Mother and Child Project. The central role that the mother plays as “the Guru of the children … and the upholder of spiritual values” has been emphasised by Swami many a time. Recognising the importance of her health and well-being for society, the Mother and Child Project strives to support her during this crucial stage in her life.

Visits to the General Hospital, Puttaparthi showed that the general health condition of some of the pregnant women coming in for care is a cause for concern. Many come in for deliveries with extremely low haemoglobin levels, far below the international recommended level for delivery. Lack of proper nutrition is one of the main causes for this deficiency.

They often come to the hospital at a very late stage, which significantly increases the chances of complications. Regrettably, some are unable to come because of the considerable journeying distance and / or monetary constraints. Therefore, the Mother and Child Project aims to provide medical care for pregnant mothers and infants in the villages. Bhagavan, in His infinite grace, has provided a fully-equipped ambulance which can be utilised for on-the-spot medical treatment. The two objectives of the Project, medical and educational, are pursued side by side. The medical care is dispensed in a regular manner, over a significant period of time, in keeping with the Project’s goal of sustainability. The voluntary team of doctors, nurses and Seva Dal members visit each village throughout the year. Records of all mothers and children are maintained systematically so that their health condition can be monitored on a continuous, long-term basis. These records prove to be invaluable resource for the next team of doctors to assess the follow-up care.

Each mother-to-be receives a Sari and a special kit for mother and baby as a token of Bhagavan’s love and blessings. The kit provides the mothers with important supplements such as iron and folic acid. High protein nutritional supplements are also distributed regularly. As for the delivery itself, only emergencies are advised to go to the hospital. The traditional practice of home-deliveries with the central role of Dhais (midwives) is encouraged and made increasingly hygienic with the training of these Dhais and the supply of sterilised kits that assist in safe deliveries.

Once the baby is born, it is welcomed into the world with a fresh set of clothes, regular health check-ups and full immunisation. Immunisation is done for major locally-prevalent diseases including polio, measles, mumps, hepatitis-B and tuberculosis. Nutritional supplements are also regularly given to the infants. In conjunction with the treatment, the doctors conduct educational talks for mothers. Advice is given on a variety of practical matters, i.e., available good foods for pregnancy, post-natal and infant care, and handling of emergency cases.

We envisage a world where women have equal privileges in every sphere of life, a world in which women have opportunities to support themselves, a world in which they are self-reliant and not dependent on others. We believe that Easwaramma Women’s Welfare Project is a step in this noble direction. One of the Mission statements of Bhagavan Baba is: “I am attached to the work that I love: To remove the sufferings of the poor and grant them what they lack”. We pray that we all become humble instruments in His Divine Mission!

Sathya Sai Baba: Self-imposed discipline is conducive to real Shanti, peace of mind, poise, equanimity and the stable equilibrium of the mind. Peace of mind is the most desirable thing in the whole world. It gives us physical and psychical euphoria. In order to achieve this peace, an aspirant must develop a thirst for spiritual wisdom. He must acquire the qualities of love, sympathy and compassion, and do selfless service to others. Shanti (peace) should not be regarded as a part-time virtue to be cultivated only during meditation. It is a constant state of inner tranquillity. It should become habitual and instinctive.

Reference: Sanathana Sarathi pgs 381-383 – November 2005

I am always looking for a good quiche recipe. This one really calls for any leftover veggies that you have in your fridge. I had some portobello mushrooms and some red new potatoes that I needed to use, so that’s what I did. This was my first time using a refrigerated pie crust (I usually use a frozen one). I browned the mushrooms in a little olive oil first before I used them. For the potatoes, I quartered them, and roasted them in the oven with some olive oil until they were tender. For the milk, I used Silk lite plain soy milk, and the cheese was some I had on hand (shredded mild cheddar and shredded Italian blend). The verdict? Eh, this was kind of bland. Not sure what I could do to jazz it up. Toby suggested adding broth to it. He likes to add veggie broth to pretty much everything. I don’t know, I think I’ve made quiche better than this. I will continue on my search for the best quiche. With this, we had a green salad.

rating: 6

Leftover veggie Quiche
(from the April 1, 2009 issue of Woman’s Day magazine)

1 refrigerated pie crust
3/4 cup shredded cheese
1 1/4 cups leftover veggies
1 1/2 cups milk
3 large eggs
1 tbsp flour
1/8 tsp cayenne
1/8 tsp ground nutmeg

1. Heat oven to 375 degrees F. Unroll a refrigerated pie crust into a 9″ pie plate; flute edge. Sprinkle 1/2 cup shredded cheese on bottom; top with 1 1/4 cups leftover veggies.
2. Mix in large bowl milk, eggs, flour, cayenne, and nutmeg; pour into crust.
3. Sprinkle 1/4 cup shredded cheese on top. Bake 50 minutes or until center is firm and top is golden. Serve quiche warm or at room temperature.

Woman’s Day magazine finds eight items that will help you get in touch with your inner geek, not to mention make everyday chores a bit more bearable. On their list is the new (and popular) Z-Wave Thermostat from Wayne-Dalton. This is what they said:

Climate Control: After being out and about in the brisk weather, who doesn’t want to step into a toasty-warm house? Installing a thermostat can help keep your home just the way you like it — plus save you a few bucks in the process. Wayne-Dalton’s WDTC-20 Z-Wave Thermostat allows users to control home heating and cooling via buttons on the front of the device, or from a wireless remote control, PC or cell phone! Dial in to turn down the air or heat, and see the results on your next electric bill. The list price is around $125 …

Home Controls sells the Wayne-Dalton Z-Wave Thermostat for less than $100! Want to learn more? Here are a few links to follow:

• Wayne-Dalton’s Z-Wave Thermostat
• Wayne-Dalton’s entire Z-Wave product line
• RCS’s Z-Wave Thermostat
• Z-Wave lighting control from Leviton

This Women’s Day celebrate the woman in your life…

Believe it or not, we cant live without them…Most of us Men may hardly agree yet this is the truth. Every Man is influenced by a woman in one way or the other way.. may be its that we are men, we dont agree yet its a unchangable truth.

She may be a mother , a daughter, wife , sister or friend…. she does leave a big impact on us & life is incomplete without them…This post is a small dedication to the woman in our life..

 Kehsava Seva Samithi an NGO had organized an event on the Occassion of International Womens Day. I Liked their concept of reaching every common woman not only restricting the celebration to Coorporate’s .They also invited some renowned guest speakers who had made significant achievements in their profession to adddress the Audiance, Infact they did boost the confidence of crowd. The event had short play’s , songs & finally helping the underprevilaged woman by donating them tailoring machines , Iron Boxes,push carts to run their families.

Below is the link for the pictures from this Event – International Woman’s Day Celebration

Cheer’s

I had no intention of blogging today, and I can’t even guarantee this will be funny, but I came across a link on Neatorama that just boggled my mind enough to warrant a post. It leads to an article on the Woman’s Day site called “Simple Tricks that Make You Look Smart.”

Emphasis on the “look” of course, because when Woman’s Day says “smart” they just mean “not as retarded” and retarded you kind of have to be to rely on Woman’s Day for the following advice:

Because nothing says IQ to spare like a crayon rendering of your house and the audacity to think that your friends can’t use Google maps or identify your house number (or you standing outside of it waving).

Or you could, you know, just pull really hard? I don’t know what kind of cups Woman’s Day readers own but they must be made out of kryptonite to render a supermom’s pulling powerless. Yes, I know a vacuum is formed, but come on it’s suction between two cups – not an experiment by NASA. Who has time to wait around for two cups to separate anyway? Just drink out of your new awesome double-cup and be done.

Women need to be told that wet things are heavier, which is funny because I thought what women did all day was laundry anyway.

I don’t know, maybe it works. I just put it here because I have no class and I like the way it comes across. Heh.

If you’re brave enough to click over to Woman’s Day you’ll find some more stupid advice (Straws in ketchup? Writing down phone numbers?!) and you’ll eventually realize that most of the items are housecleaning tips because women clearly don’t have the brains to care whether Schrödinger’s cat is dead or not, they just want to know if anyone cleaned his litterbox with that new cleanser they got on sale.

Disclaimer: I don’t hate women; I hate women’s magazines that hate women. I assure you there’s a difference.

Look smart even if you’re really not all together there. People will be raving about your invaluable tips!

from Woman’s Day via Neatorama

Oh, hello there.  Yes: You.  Would you like a slice?

Well, yes, I supposed it is a bit decadent; two sticks of butter will do that.  But it also contains fruit!  Lemons!  Strive for five!

Still not sold?  How about a closer look:

What if I told you this was the moistest, heartiest lemon cake you’ve had in a long while?  That it’s brushed with a simple syrup of fresh-squeezed lemon juice and sugar?  That the yogurt gives it tang? Or that that it tastes even better after sitting overnight?

Just a sliver?  Oh, alright…

Too big? My hand must have slipped.  You can thank me later.

(Recipe adapted from Woman’s Day)

-2 1/2 c. all-purpose flour*
-1/2 c. yellow cornmeal (I used Goya fine yellow cornmeal)
-2 tsp. baking powder
-1/2 tsp. each baking soda and salt
-2 sticks (1 c.) butter, softened
-1 3/4 c. sugar
-1 Tbsp. grated lemon zest (I used zest of 2 lemons)
-1/4 c. lemon juice (from approx. 1 1/2 lemons)
-4 large eggs
-1 c. plain yogurt, stirred to loosen

sugar glaze
-1 c. sugar
-1/3 c. lemon juice (from 1 1/2-2 lemons)

1. Heat oven to 325F. Grease and flour a 10-cup decorative tube pan or a 12-cup Bundt pan. In medium bowl, whisk together flour, cornmeal, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

2. In a large bowl beat butter, sugar, lemon zest, and juice with mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time until blended. With mixer on low, alternately beat in flour mixture and yogurt until batter is smooth. Scrape into prepared pan; level top with spatula. Batter will be thick.

3. Bake 55 to 65 minutes until a wooden pick inserted in cake comes out clean. Cool cake in pan on wire rack 5 minutes.

4. Glaze: Whisk glaze ingredients in a small bowl just until combined (sugar will not be totally dissolved). Invert cake from pan onto rack; place rack over a baking sheet. Brush glaze all over hot cake until absorbed (sugar crystals will be evident). Cool completely. Transfer cake to a serving plate and cover. Let cake rest several hours, or overnight (fully cooled, then covered), before serving.

Woman’s Day claims this cake keeps for up to four days.  I made it on Saturday, let it sit overnight, and cut into it on Sunday.  It was moist and delicious on Sunday but had begun to dry out by Monday night.  Unless you have 4-6 hungry people to feed, I’d recommend halving this recipe and baking in smaller pan (8-in. round?).

*Gluten-free variation: substitute 2 c. white rice flour, 1/2 c. corn starch, and 1 tsp. xanthan gum for wheat flour.  Prepare pan with rice flour.

I have an awesome aunt that likes to send me random stuff in the mail. Lots of times it is just notes, maybe a few articles, sometimes stickers, but whatever it is, its always fun to get ‘real’ mail. Anyways, one of the last envelopes she sent had a bunch of pictures and articles cut out about how to decorate for Halloween and more ideas of what to do with pumpkins instead of just carve them. Loved this.

Amongst the various pictures and such I happened to look at the back of one of the little cutouts and lo and behold, there was the answer to all my problems in life!! According to Woman’s Day magazine they had figured out the three things no woman can live without, perfect! Anyone want to guess what #1 was? That’s right, a husband! Well, not just a husband, but “A very wise husband who always knows the perfect moment to say ‘you’re right honey’”.

Seriously?!?!

Not even taking into account that it is a ‘husband’ we need, and not a partner or wife, but that the most important thing is that the husband knows when to tell us that we’re right?! Obviously implying that the aforementioned husband may not actually think, nor need to think, that I am right, but knows when to say it so as not to induce a fight or discussion? Meaning I have to be humored?

Perhaps if the statement had been ‘A very wise partner who knows just when you need their extra support and comfort, and when you need to scream your head off to get it out of your system, and will stand patiently by in either situation’ I could support it. But this probably wouldn’t jive with Woman’s Day’s target audience. And it wouldn’t have fit in the type space either.

- suse

P.S. I didn’t write down #2 and #3 and I recycled the page already, sorry.

These days, the economy has everyone talking about thrift and penny-wise living. Malls might be a bit empty these days, but libraries everywhere are full as people take advantage of free resources to stay informed and entertained without breaking the family budget.

Are you using the library to help you get through these tough times? Do you have a story about library resources and services to save money, search for a job, or manage your small business? If you do, you might want to share your story with Woman’s Day magazine!

Between February 17 – May 18, women 18 and over are invited to tell their story in 700 words or less and send it to womansday@ala.org. Up to four stories will be highlighted in the March 2010 issue of Woman’s Day.

Official rules and additional information are available on the Woman’s Day web site at womansday.com/ala.

Belated happy woman’s day to all the female readers of my blog. On the occasion of the woman’s day, I’m pointing down some fact findings about women that I find (Very, extremely) hard to understand.

• Why are women thought of emotionally stronger than men when most of them cry on like every second not-so-sentimental or not-so-rude moments?
• No matter what, women are almost always right about anything in life, be it politics, finance or love. Whenever they are proven to be wrong, they make you believe that the topic is not worthy of their importance.
• Extending this point ahead, in the matters of investments, a woman’s advise is always handy… even though they know absolutely nothing about finance.
• I disagree that women speak more than men. I know few females who just dont allow men to open their mouth.
• Believe me, a sweet innocent smile from the your woman is all it takes for even the most rude man in the world to forgive and forget the most dreaded mistake.
• It is hard to believe that women can apply hot wax on their feet, place a cloth on it, rip it apart in one go and still be afraid of the smallest bug in the garden.
• It can only be a woman who makes excuses to climb even a flight of stairs and yet be very happy to go into the labors.
• The greatest title, the greatest thing to be on this earth is to be a mother. I wish I could feel it once.