The Secret by Rhonda Byrne – Book Review

Ok so I finished The Secret yesterday on my train ride home.

Well….not quite what I expected. I honestly wish I had been able to get this book from the library (I could have if I wanted to wait 4 months!) because I think I wasted $20.

The basic premise of the book makes sense – but it is neither a secret nor a new idea.

However, they (all the so called experts quoted throughout the book) have over simplified The Secret (which comes down to positive thinking). They point-blank state that you can wish for something just like opening a catalogue and saying “I want that”, and the Universe will grant it to you.

No mention of hard work, planning or saving. Just wish and it is yours. Yup! Guess all this time I just haven’t been wishing hard enough, or I would have won the lottery several times by now.

The book can be motivating, as it does stress being inspired and having joy in your life, if you can weed through all the mumbo-jumbo.

And as a writer myself, I found it wasn’t all that well written either and found myself editing it as I read (and there was plenty to edit!).

If you are determined to read this book, borrow if from the library or from a friend who like me who wasted their money LOL.

I haven't seen the movie and won't unless I can borrow it (this chick learned her lesson!), but from reviews I have read; it is just more of the same but with Da Vinci Code type scenes and effects.

If you are looking for inspiration and motivation, there are several Dr. Wayne Dyer books I would recommend before this one. I nice easy one to read is Being in Balance: 9 Principles for Creating Habits to Match Your Desires by Wayne Dyer.

Happy reading!

Smiles

Works for me Wednesday - New way with waffles

My 9 yr old son loves waffles - we buy the frozen kind, but I don't like him to have too much sugar (syrup) so he can only have them with syrup once a week.

So what my son and husband do (this is the only way hubby ever ate waffles growing up - his Mom didn't want him to have ANY sugar!) is toast two waffles and then spread a bit of margerine on both pcs, then place a slice of processed cheese between them and mash together like a sandwich (you have to mash a bit so that the heat will melt the cheese).

Then they dunk them in ketchup like grilled cheese sandwiches. They both really loves these and they are slightly quicker then making grilled cheeses too and my son can make them himself without having to use the stove.

Works for us!

For more great Works for me Wednesday tips - pop by Rocks in My Dryer.

Give a Mom a Muffin

I didn't write this, I don't even remember how long ago I received it - but I came across it recently and thought is was cute and wanted to share. Enjoy!


If You Give a Mom a Muffin
(Based on "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie" by Laura Numeroff)

If you give a Mom a muffin, She'll want a cup of coffee to go with it. She'll pour herself some. The coffee will get spilled by her three year old. She'll wipe it up.

Wiping the floor, she will find some dirty socks. She'll remember she has to do some laundry. When she puts the laundry in the washer, She'll trip over some snow boots and bump into the freezer. Bumping into the freezer will remind her she has to plan dinner for tonight.

She will get out a pound of hamburger. She will look for her cookbook (101 Things to Make With a Pound of Hamburger). The cookbook is sitting under a pile of mail. She will see the phone bill which is due tomorrow. She will look for her checkbook.

The checkbook is in her purse that is being dumped out by her two year old. She'll smell something funny. She'll change the two year old. While she is changing the two year old the phone will ring. Her four year old will answer it and hang up.

She remembers that she wants to phone a friend to come for coffee on Friday. Thinking of coffee will remind her that she was going to have a cup. She will pour herself some.

And chances are......

If she has a cup of coffee...... Her kids will have eaten the muffin that went with it.

Ten books I could not live without

In doing some blog hopping, I found Kailana's blog about what ten books you couldn't live without.

I'll add my list here. But you know what? These are just some of my favs, some of these I could live without, some I couldn't.

In no particular order....

1. The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R Tolken (including The Hobbit)
2. The Stand by Stephen King
3. Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowlings (6 books so far)
4. Real Magic by Wayne Dyer (several other Dyer books too)
5. Floating Dragon by Peter Straub
6. The Dark Tower series by Stephen King (7 books)
7. Are you there God? It's me Margaret by Judy Blume
8. The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown
9. Earth's Children series by Jean M. Auel
10. ?? I'll have to edit this once I think of a tenth book.
    

Works for me Wednesday - Cleansing Cloths

I only started wearing make-up on a regular basis a couple years ago (no I'm not young - just lazy!).

At first I was lazy and didn’t always bother to wash off my make-up each night. As you can imagine, I broke out horribly.

I then purchased a decent but expensive make-up remover and started a nightly ritual that consisted of using the make-up remover to get the make-up off then using a gentle cleanser to wash my face then I would apply moisturiser.

When I ran out of the expensive make-up remover, I started looking for a cheaper alternative.

There are A LOT out there.

I decided to try Pond’s Clean Sweep cleansing and make-up removing towelettes (long name!) with chamomile, vitamin E and green tea extract.

These are GREAT!

They are not like the soapy cleansing cloths out there, these are pre-moistened and you just wipe them over your face.

They remove the make-up AND clean at the same time.

They don’t smell funny or leave any residue.

And I don’t have to wash my face afterwards, just moisturize - it saves me a step!

I paid about $8 Cdn for a pack of 30. I only use one each time.

I've been using them for about a month now and no break outs either! (I have very sensitive skin)

Works for me!

For more great tips, hop over to Shannon’s place!

Kim

You might as well laugh

This morning while making my son's lunch, I had the Pussycat Doll's "Dontcha" song stuck in my head. "Dontcha wish your girlfriend was hot like me......dontcha!"

I starting singing it outloud, substituting the word Mommy for Girlfriend and dancing in the kitchen.

My son thought this was hilarious.

I thought the milk spraying out of his nose was pretty funny.

Dreaming of Spring

We got hit with yet another winter storm on last Thursday and on the same day there was a freight train derailment on the route I take home. So my usual one hour commute, took over 3 hours.

When I heard about the derailment, I decided to leave early and catch the 3:13pm train home, plus the weather was likely to slow things further - I was not the only one with this idea - pretty much everyone who works in the Toronto downtown core decided to leave early to beat the rush as well - ya right!

They said the train was only going as far as Pickering (3 stops before where I need to go) and that buses would be available to take us the rest of the way (note: the train carries approx. 4000 people, can you image how many buses would be needed to get us home?)

The 3:13pm train arrived at 3:20pm but didn't leave until 3:30pm, then they announced that they had the track cleared enough to take us to the end of the line (my stop) YAH! The train however, went very very slowly and had to make stops before and after the derailment. The usual 45 min trip took an hour and 40 mins.

And because the train was late and traffic was bad, da man couldn't wait and pick me up as he had to get da kid from daycare before it closed. I was stuck taking the bus. Again the bus trip that usually takes only 40 mins, took an hour and a half - why oh why don't people put snow tires on their cars?! The bus had no problem getting through the storm, it was the cars spun out on hills that caused all the delays!

Then I had a 4 block walk home through sidewalks that hadn't been cleared of their 2 foot snow drifts. I was thankfully wearing boots - it was quite the little workout.

I wisely decided that I was NOT going to try to battle my way into work the next day. I also decided (unwisely?) to keep my son home with me. At 9:15am the power went out - the freezing rain the night before was reaking havoc on the power lines. Approximately 3o mins later, the charge ran out on my son's hand held video game unit (it doesn't run on batteries but needs to be plugged in to recharge).

So there I was with a 9 yr old whining because he could not play his video games OR watch TV. Da kid can play by himself with regular (non-electric) toys for hours (or read - he LOVES to read) on any other day - but that day I had to sit and listen to him whine about having nothing to do.

After several silly name games, he became Captain Poopy Pants, I was Princess Peepee Pants and the dog that is famous for SBDs (silent but deadlys) was Sir Stinks A Lot. Hey we had time to kill! And we had a really good belly laugh to boot.

The power came back on about 4 hours later - thank God!

The rest of the weekend was great - I went to a spa night at a friends and had a one hour massage! Fabulous! and on Sunday, da man took da kid ice skating.

Da man hadn't been ice skating in about 30 yrs - da kids tells me it was hilarious :)

I really am looking forward to spring!

The high temp tomorrow will be -12 C (that's 10 F for all you Americans :)) and the low will be -30 C (-22 F).

Ya I am definitely ready for spring!