nyonyamansor09

Happy Monday! Sorry for the lack of posts recently. I am staying busy and trying to balance. I have done a few little projects around the house that I will post soon. For now here's what's for dinner this week.... Monday - Tilapia Piccata , Risotto, Asparagus Tuesday - Chicken Fajita's Wednesday - Gnocchi with Light Bolognese Sauce Thursday - Jambalaya with Smoked Sausage & Chicken Friday - Very Good Gouda Turkey Burgers , French Fries

I expect to be unable to post over the next week, so I'll try to front a couple of interesting articles between now and next Saturday. From The Wall Street Journal, Jan 2009: Realtors' Former Top Economist Says Don't Blame the Messenger By NANCY KEATES FAIRFAX STATION, VA. -- On a recent weekday, David Lereah sat in the sunroom of his five-bedroom colonial house. The only sound was the yapping of his dog Maisy. Once one of the world's most-visible housing experts, Mr. Lereah is disconnected from his old life. The former chief economist for the National Association of Realtors says the group's top executives won't return his phone calls. He says he wasn't invited to the association's 100th birthday bash last May. Mr. Lereah, 55 years old, is one of many prognosticators who won professional accolades during the housing boom, only to see their reputations wither in the bust. Throughout 2005, when home prices in the U.S. hit their fifth consecutive annual re...

Crazy surveys come and go, in fact most are as meaningful as this blog, so much so, that if their arrival was in paper form and you'd run out of Sorbent, well at least your underwear wouldn't look like airport tarmac. The frustrations of the digital age - you can't wipe your date with a pdf. Some of these surveys do serve a purpose, occasionally they provide a window into the minds of the lunatics who you walk past on the street, who overtake you in your car, who sit next to you at work or manage the career of your favourite football player. Yep, this is the crazy country where mentoring a troubled seventeen year old girl means boning her and racking lines with her, and where taking out a home loan means you've got no clue what interest rate you're paying. Welcome to Australia. If you pay any attention to the scant numbers involved in a recent Mortgage Choice survey, barely 800, you'd disregard it as nonsense. Yet when the survey is done in a country where prop...

Monday - Robin Miller Southwestern Soup , Corn Muffins Tuesday  - Robin Miller Mexican Spaghetti, Salad, French Bread Wednesday - Oven Chicken Risotto Thursday - Night out at Wine Club! Friday - French Dip Sandwiches , French Fries

This month's Better Homes and Garden magazine has a great article on 30 easy, high-impact decorating ideas. This is a great article to reference if you are thinking of selling your home. These easy tips can make a huge difference. Some of my favorites are #4, #5, #11 and #16. You can get a year subscription to BHG right now for only $5.99. That's a deal! Check back later for this week's menu planner.

Whist on a summer sojourn of sniffing out dishonesty and downright weaseldom, I've continued to stray away from Tasmania. Apologies to my four Tasmanian fans, but when weasels have to be smoked out, you pour some diesel down the hole and light it up - then hope the weasel doesn't come for you balls. None of this may modify anyone's behaviour, but at least if anyone stumbles in here looking for a penis enlargement in Devonport (yes, someone found me that way) they'll receive a quick lesson in ethical bypasses, before moving on and acquiring those extra inches. Over in Adelaide it's the same game as everywhere else. Reporters who shelled out for a degree to get their foot in the door, find the only skills they're using are the ones from the first three weeks of their first semester - in their first year - and that's from one subject. Had they realised this earlier, they could have dropped out before their first census date and saved themselves three years and ...

December's ABS housing finance stats have shown their face and despite it being Valentine's Day, there's been no roses for Tasmania. While December's figures were the best month for 2010 with 994 (seven higher than March's 987), for the first time since since 1998, Tasmania spent every month of a calendar year below 1000 housing finance commitments. And despite the relentless crystal balling of bank economists and housing propaganda outfits, the Tasmanian first home buyer is still firmly hidden inside their shell. January 2010 remained the peak month for first home buyers with 170. December being the fifth best month, behind January, March September and April. As we're told, the first home buyers will be returning. BIS Shrapnel who has the ear of Fairfax's Jonathon Chancellor reminded everyone back in April 2010 ... BIS Shrapnel expects the first-timer numbers will start to recover in the second half of this year.  At the time that prediction was made, with ...

Monday - Valentine's Day Dinner at home:   Black Pepper Cruster Filet with Goat Cheese & Red Chile Sauce , Shredded Potatoes, Caesar Salad  Simplified , Brownie Sundaes for Dessert! Tuesday - King Ranch Casserole (carryover from last week) Wednesday - Pork Tenderloin, Leftover Shredded Potatoes, Corn Thursday - Brown Butter Gnocchi with Spinach & Pine Nuts

Sorry for the lack of posts. I have been balancing quite a few things the past few weeks...the real estate market is picking up. Spring is historically a great time to buy or sell a home. If you are thinking  about it, give me a call. After seeing Emily A Clark's post yesterday about rediscovering Garden Ridge , I decided to take a trip for myself. And there are some deals to  be found in there, I recommended it to some of my clients that are having to furnish new homes.  There are tons of throw pillows, bar stools, vases, artwork and the most adorable outdoor chairs in bright red, green and yellow.  I found some great fabric remnants for $5.99 each. One was 2 yards and one was 3 yards. I decided to use the black fabric on the end of the bed bench in our bedroom. So in less than an hour and for $6 the bench went from this... to this..... I like the darker color up against the bed spread. The original bench had trim stapled on which I removed with ...

The primary goal of any spruik is a call to arms - grab some debt and buy some bricks: NOW! Yet it's only the most feeble of mind that falls for the cheapest of lines from the guy who recently mothballed his oversized Harvey Norman shirt. The secondary goal of spruiking is the most insidious part, and the one that really sucks the oblivious over the falls. It's the accumulation; the nonsense you've read and seen and heard. Continually building in your system until it becomes accepted fact - not because it is, but because the unrelenting BS has left a virtual skidmark on your psyche. How can you bleach that skidmark away? Unfortunately, the lessons that flush away myths usually come at the expense of your own finances. The "gee I saved money by waiting" story, is one rarely presented by media overlords, especially when they're at the behest of real estate ad bucks. As you might have noticed, it's one story I pull the pin on and throw regularly. On this occa...

Happy Monday! Here goes.... Monday - Tilapia Piccata , Risotto, Asparagus Tuesday - Light King Ranch Casserole Wednesday - Macaroni Beef Bake Thursday - French Onion Soup , Salad Friday - Zucchini Wrapped Pork Tenderloin , Cous Cous, Green Beans

I was halfway through another post delighting in the revelation of a spruiking attempt turned to dust, when my ADHD kicked in. Flicking through 80 something channels didn't curb my restlessness, it led me back to the computer, over to news.com.au and into the Courier Mail's website. The post I was working on is now is pushed back a day or so - nothing urgent - I can't imagine anyone purchasing a couple of overblown $800k Devonport town houses in the next 24 hours anyway. And so begins this post. If you've ever been fortunate enough to have a flasher operating in your local park, you'll know the deviancy starts on a minor level: Grannies copping an eyeful of junk and mothers scared to let their kids off the leash. All because one of the human races' more pitiful physical specimens likes to drop his shorts in public. From here the deviancy usually escalates and things become more brazen - no longer is he hiding in the bushes, he's wide in the open and now he...