Managing your Household chores!

How do you manage your household chores? Whether you are married with or without kids, a single parent, spinster or bachelor, there is always need to manage chores in every household. 

As a bachelor or spinster, managing household activities seems to be somewhat straight forward. The lazy ones wash their dishes when they have time or feel like. They have the liberty of washing their clothes and leaving them hanging on the hanger until when they need them or they can fold the clothes away and iron them later. But I bet that they will always be active and tidy up when expecting visitors :-). 

Not everybody is this lazy. Some spinsters and bachelors like tidying and cleaning up as they go, leaving everything squeaky clean. 

Division of labour comes in when two adults are involved. Depending on the individuals involved and their attitudes towards household chores, there might be little or no grudges. 

Partners without kids can easily share the chores among themselves or leave the respective tasks open to be completed by any one of them disposed at any point in time. 

For couples with children, it is always good to have the kids involved one way or another in keeping the house clean. Depending on their ages, the kids might be involved in washing up, cleaning/dusting, vacuum cleaning, etc.

It is true that some parents might want their children to enjoy life by giving them no tasks at home, but such parents should beware not to spoil their kids and make them public nuisance. 

The same idea of having kids involved in doing household chores applies to single parents as well, with the exception of those who do not want their kids to do anything. 

For me, I always believe in having every member of the family perform one task or another. It creates unity and gives everyone a sense of belonging. Working together encourages this  intimacy and closeness that keeps a family together.  

It does not matter how we share and manage the chores (who does what and when it is done), the main goal should be to keep the house clean and functional, with everybody having a part to play. 

Healthy eating options! Do you have a diet plan?

We read a lot about the advantages of eating healthy diets. A strict diet plan includes a long list of "DOs" and "DO NOTs". Sometimes, the effort needed to keep track of healthy eating options (for example, what to eat or avoid; what to eat more, little or in moderation, etc.) is unimaginable.

I do not know about you but I find these instructions and suggestions very exhausting. Another thing that might be very tiring is checking to ensure that the right quantity of food is consumed at all times; one has to count or weight almost everything. Of course, we do not have to overfeed, but our daily consumption must be right if we want things to work. 

One might think that one is eating right but the quantity might just be too much!

The question is: how can a specific diet plan be made more effective?

A strict plan can be a problem for someone with certain health issues that warrant eating one thing and not the other. 

There is no excuse for those who give in to their craving for junk food, though. 

I will say that the answer to the question above depends on the person involved. There are some strict diet plans that have proved to be very effective. For example, one of my friends commended the Atkins diet plan to me. She went on and on to explain how it helped her to shed off fat (many kilos) but warned that the plan has to be strictly followed for it to work.

I believe that there are others out there that I do not know. 

There is a saying that "what you eat defines you". For me, I make an effort to eat the right food, not really following a strict diet plan which I must confess is sometimes an issue for me. I chose what I eat and try to make right choices. I eat in moderation; one can only eat a certain quantity of food in a day, of course.

There are so many distractions if you want to eat right, for example, eating out with friends, giving oneself a "treat" (in excess!), being too lazy to prepare the right dishes at all times...the list goes on and on and on...

Bad habits in public. Watch out for top answers!

I conducted a survey of "bad habits" people exhibit in public. This survey focused on simple things people do, for example, in public transport, shops, waiting areas, etc. 

I asked men and women of different age groups who work / study in different areas. The result showed a long list of what irritate people, but below are the top 10 answers. 

In public, many people do not like it when, sitting or standing close to them, you do the following:

1. Eat apple loudly 
2. Chew gum loudly
3. Comb your hair 
4. Pick your nose without using a handkerchief or tissue
5. Cough loudly without shielding your mouth
6. Sneeze without shielding your mouth/nose
7. Yawn without shielding the mouth 
8. Spit right in front of them
9. Blow your nose right in front of them without using a handkerchief or tissue
10. Pick your teeth with a toothpick

It is interesting to note that there are certain things we do, unconsciously of course, without realising that they really irritate those standing or sitting close to us. 

It is true that we should not allow others to dictate how we live our lives, but we have to be cautious of what we do and take other people into consideration at all times.

Make-up for different occasions?

Thinking of the different places we go to on daily basis (work, school, business, church, visits to close or distant relatives/friends, etc.), I wonder if make-up users apply the same layers of make-up for these different occasions. 

Looking good is good business but really, do you apply the whole package (that is, foundation, powder, blushes, mascara, eye/lip liner, lip stick, etc.) alike when going to visit a friend, work, school, church, etc.? Or do you use some items and leave the others, depending on the  occasion? 

For me, I do not really fancy applying the whole package whenever I am going out. I do select where to go full blast and where to go easy and simple. 

I know that some of you are always on track, that is, you make up heavily for every occasion. Well, keep it up if you can! If you are not confident in this area, you might want to seek professional help for any big occasion. 

I do not spend the same length of time in front of a mirror making up for work as I do for church or parties.

There are no set out rules on how and when to apply make-up and answers to the questions above depend entirely on the people involved. 

Remember that some people do not use make-up at all and still look great. 

Do not be surprised that you might also look great without it!

Do you Prepare "Party Packs" for Kiddies?

If we check children's expectations while going to parties (birthday, first holy communion, etc.), we find out that every kid wants to go home with something. In addition to meeting, playing and catching up with friends, children love collecting gifts to take home. 

These gifts, widely known as "Party Packs", preferably wrapped in a portable and fanciful way, may contain assorted types of goodies (candies, chocolate, sweets, biscuits, cake, etc.). Children love the pleasant surprise of discovering the contents of the pack. 

I had the pleasure of speaking with kids of different ages concerning their feeling towards these gifts and realised that they all feel the same way. No matter how enjoyable parties might be, kids will go home either happy or sad. They will go home very happy if they receive their presents, and very sad if not. 

It is worthwhile for parents to note that they can make their children's parties memorable ones by packing and giving presents, no matter the size or contents, to young guests. 

Some parents make sure to include presents in the party planning while other do not.

Do you keep to your promises? (check Ecclesiastes 5:4; Deuteronomy 23:23)

We human beings make different promises to both God and man. If we are true to ourselves, we will be able to count how many of these promises we eventually fulfilled.

Sometimes, people make unrealistic promises to others in order to either give an impression that they are able to do everything or maybe just get people off their necks. They forget that they hurt and disappoint these people. 

It is better to promise what we can afford to do, keep to our words and be at peace with ourselves, God and mankind.

Do you know that some people make vows to God, even when they know that they cannot fulfil them? 

It is better to say nothing than to make vain promises thereby going contrary to God's words. 

It is written in the book of Ecclesiastes 5:4 (NIV) "When you make a vow to God, do not delay to fulfil it. He has no pleasure in fools; fulfil your vows." 

The book of Deuteronomy 23:23 (NIV) says "Whatever your lips utter you must be sure to do, because you made your vow freely to The Lord your God with your own mouth."

A glimpse of the last sunset!

The weather is getting darker, colder, cloudy and rainy with sunny spells here and there.  

As a result of the change of weather (it is now Winter), one scarcely sees the sun shining in its fullest for a long time. 

Even though the sunset time is now early as a result of the daylight saving time, there is usually little or no sunshine during this time. 

The weather was exceptionally warm and sunny the other evening I went for a walk so I decided to take a snap. The view was lovely and captivating! 

It will take months before one enjoys this type of warm and sunny weather again!

Does language (Ibo, German, French...) matter to you?

Are you interested in working together with volunteers to translate non-profit projects into foreign languages?

Using the platform "trommons.org" (http://trommons.org/), Rosetta Foundation, a non-profit organisation, offers an avenue for organisations and volunteers to work together in other to translate non-profit projects. Because language matters to this organisation, effort has been made to ensure that everybody has access to information on the site in their own languages.

In collaboration with Rosetta Foundation, I was involved in creating a video highlighting the aims and objectives of this organisation. The video has been presented for the contest "Better Together Video Competition" which involves non-profit organisations.

Better Together is a nationwide campaign which aims to build support for hundreds of charities, community groups, clubs and associations across the country by encouraging the public to support these good causes and make a difference in their communities.

The Rosetta project coordinator gathered people from different countries to say one sentence in their respective languages (French, Simplified Chinese, Gaelic, German, English, Basque, Polish, Spanish, Catalan, Telugu, Russian, Italian, Portuguese, Turkish, Ibo and Persian).

If you support the objectives of this organisation, please vote for our video. The voting closes on the 21st of November.

You can view the video and vote here: http://www.bettertogether.ie/video/because-language-matters