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Would you wear a dress so tight that you cannot even stoop or kneel to pick up something you'd dropped?

Kim Kardashian, reality star, and famous for her butt (tonggek butt, as we say in Sarawak) wore a dress so tight that she needed help from somebody to pick up the purse she'd dropped.

I wore a lot of short, and form fitting dresses when I was younger and ahem, much slimmer! But I don't ever remember not being able to pick up anything from the floor wearing the tight little dresses!

The one thing I didn't have that Kim has so amply, are the big boobs and the big butt! Maybe that was why I never had any problem picking up anything from the ground wearing my tight dresses!

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of Incendia Health. All opinions are 100% mine.

How come I never heard of the iLASIK Video Contest run by Abbott Medical Optics Inc. (AMO), a global leader in laser vision correction?

Who doesn't want to win $5000 in grand prize money? Not that I would be likely to win considering I don't have the creative ability to produce a winning video, but hey, it's fun to imagine winning that kind of cash!

The first and second place prizes of an HDTV package and Flip UltraHD™ camcorder on each of the three categories are enough reason for me to want to try producing and submitting a video though!

I just browsed through the videos of the just announced winners of the iLASIK Video Contest and was surprised at how well done they were. They were on message, that is, how improved vision greatly impacted their quality of life, creative and humorous at the same time. Each winner truly deserved to win.

You can view the winning videos at the sponsor's site and register to receive some valuable eye care products while there!

A friend showed off her newly acquired crystal studded watch on her blog. That set me drooling because I love, and am easily distracted by, the shiny and twinkling stuff!

When I design and make necklaces, bracelets and ear-rings for myself, almost every design has some Swarovski crystals on them.

Today, I started browsing crystal studded watches at Amazon - just checking, is all. Of course there were several beautiful watches with Swarovski crystals on them. The best thing about that drooling over the watches at Amazon, was the discovery of some reasonably priced watches.

There were a couple of Swatch watches (a favorite brand of mine), Guess, and even Paris Hilton that caught my attention. I did not know that Paris lent her name to watches.

Should I or shouldn't I? Maybe on my birthday, I'll buy one for myself, and splash a little!

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of Raising a Father. All opinions are 100% mine.

My husband and I are older parents. We sometimes worry if we will ever live long enough to see our two young children grow up and mature into adulthood. Because of that fear, our time with our kids are precious.

One of my husband's favorite phrases is, "The time to build a relationship with your children is now, when they are young, and not when they are already teenagers."

I can empathize with the author of the book, Raising a Father. Success in the corporate world means absolutely nothing when, at the end of the day, you come to the realization that you do not know who your children are, and in this author's case, his daughter.

His book is about his journey in the relationship-building with his daughter, about how he leaves the corporate world so he can build a home based company and spend more time with his young daughter, about how he tries to be the best dad that he can be, and about how in that journey it is his daughter who shaped him to become the best and successful dad that he is today.

I have not read the book but it does sound like, from the many positive reviews of the book, it is a book that my husband and I should read. I believe that having a good relationship with your child or children cannot be taught but rather it is something that needs to be practised and experienced.

That is why I feel Arjun Sen's book, Raising a Father, is very heartfelt and speaks very effectively and touchingly to its readers.

SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) – Crashing machines, slow boot times, and agony dealing with technical support have Digital Age people suffering from Computer Stress Syndrome, a study available online Tuesday found.

"Today's digitally-dependent consumers are increasingly overwhelmed and upset with technical glitches and problems in their daily lives," a communications industry think tank said in a report entitled "Combating Computer Stress Syndrome."

The report identified sources of peoples' pain as "frustrating, complex computers and devices, technical failures, viral infections, and long waits to resolve support issues."

Findings were based on a survey of more than 1,000 people in North America by a Customer Experience Board created by the Chief Marketing Officer Council to look into how to keep customers happy in the highly competitive communications sector.

"The reality is that numerous, persistent problems are troubling most computer users, creating unnecessary anguish and anxiety as a result," the study found.

"Digitally dependent users are getting fed up and frustrated with the current state of computer related stress, and clearly looking for a better way to address and reduce it."

Full story here.

Haha. I just had to laugh as I read this news story especially the comments left by the readers at the Yahoo news site. I can really identify with tech trouble related stress!

One commenter at the news site suggested, and I completely agree, the problem is mostly this: It's called something isn't going your way and it's stressing you out.

Last weekend, my iPhone crashed. I was in a hotel room with no access to the internet, and I could not restore the phone to its original settings. I was cussing and grumbling the whole weekend about the "stupid" phone.

I borrowed my husband's iPhone and read whatever I could about finding solutions to the problem with the phone. Previously, I had cleverly followed all the instructions on how to jailbreak and unlock the phone, and restoring the iPhone to its original settings was going to make all my hard work disappear, not to mention the non-Apple applications that I had installed on the iPhone! That was added stress!

So are there better ways to address and reduce tech trouble related stress?

How about using less of the computer and any tech related gadget? A little hard when our life has become so dependent on these gadgets!

How about making better products that won't fail on us that frequently? Huh?

How about making tech support more friendly and more efficient? The kind that is available 24/7 and at our whim and fancy?

Thank goodness, the iPhone was the only tech trouble I had to deal with in a long time, and the trouble with it wasn't that difficult to resolve. I did not have to call any kind of tech support.

CHICAGO – Four common bad habits combined — smoking, drinking too much, inactivity and poor diet — can age you by 12 years, sobering new research suggests.

The findings are from a study that tracked nearly 5,000 British adults for 20 years, and they highlight yet another reason to adopt a healthier lifestyle.

Overall, 314 people studied had all four unhealthy behaviors. Among them, 91 died during the study, or 29 percent. Among the 387 healthiest people with none of the four habits, only 32 died, or about 8 percent.

The risky behaviors were: smoking tobacco; downing more than three alcoholic drinks per day for men and more than two daily for women; getting less than two hours of physical activity per week; and eating fruits and vegetables fewer than three times daily.

These habits combined substantially increased the risk of death and made people who engaged in them seem 12 years older than people in the healthiest group, said lead researcher Elisabeth Kvaavik of the University of Oslo.

The study appears in Monday's Archives of Internal Medicine.

Full story here.

Do I really need a study to tell me that bad habits can make you age faster?

I can see with my own eyes what smoking, too much alcohol and a sedentary lifestyle can do to a person's appearance!

It is worse in women! I have friends who smoke, and boy, do they look older than their age - the wrinkles on their face, way to much for their age, and their grandmotherly voice because of the smoking.

But then again, even without these bad habits, if you happen to possess genes that make you look older than your real age, you really are out of luck!

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of VitaDigest. All opinions are 100% mine.

Today, I came across an article from HealthDay News about how "selenium can help reset a cell's biological clock (circadian rhythm) after it has been thrown off by cancer-causing chemicals". I used to take selenium supplement and this positive news has renewed my interest in it.

I can't remember why I felt the need to take selenium in the past, but today's news about how disruption of the circadian rhythm can increase the risk of mammary cancer and how a simple dietary supplement like selenium can reverse this effect by restoring rhythm and reducing cancer incidence, is enough reason to start taking selenium again!

I am already taking vitamin B-12, magnesium, flax seed oil and evening primrose oil because I am experiencing peri-menopausal symptoms and these supplements are supposed to be beneficial in easing some of the symptoms like forgetfulness, fatigue and hot flashes.

I am happy to note that selenium supplement is available from VitaDigest, as well as the other supplements that I am taking. In fact, it offers over 13,000 vitamins, supplements, and other health products. That practically means anything you are looking for with regards to vitamins, supplements and health products can be found here. In fact, VitaDigest.com was awarded INC5000 for 2009 for being one of the top 5000 fastest growing company. Quite an achievement indeed!

Now, who doesn't like free shipping when ordering online? VitaDigest offers FREE shipping on all orders over $100! If you use coupon code “izb10jan” on your order today, you will get a 10% off which is good till the end of February! How's that for savings, eh?

I received a catalog from Amazon in the mail yesterday. I did not know that Amazon even bothered with catalogs!

I do a lot of shopping at Amazon. The only thing is, my shopping is mostly limited to the electronics department and the books department! I did buy a pair of boots in the shoe department one winter and that was it!

In the catalog that came in the mail yesterday, there were various cards with scents of the perfume that were being promoted. Oooooohhhh, everything smelled heavenly! I love perfumes! Maybe I should check out the deals on perfumes at Amazon!

Even though I love perfumes, I always want to get the best price before I buy any. Where can you get the best price other than at the duty free shops at international airports?! I never fail to buy a bottle (usually the largest bottle) of perfume every time I travel internationally.

But where do I go to compare the duty free prices against those at Amazon? Until I can be sure that Amazon prices are comparable to the prices at the duty free shops, I will hold off any perfume purchase from Amazon!

I just had a dinner of stir fried asparagus with shrimp. I love asparagus but I cannot eat it often. I found that twice a week of asparagus can cause pain in my joints especially in one of my hands. I can't say if I suffer from gout but eating too much asparagus does cause gout like pain!

It appears that asparagus contains concentrated levels of purine (uric acid is formed from the breakdown of purines). Cauliflower, chicken, liver, kidney beans, lima beans, mushrooms, navy beans, oatmeal, peas salmon, spinach, and tuna are also purine-rich foods.

As such, any one with gout arthritis needs to watch the amount of purine-rich foods.

On the plus side, where asparagus is concerned, there is scientific evidence that the consumption of asparagus can increase urine production. It is also a good source of dietary fiber, folic acid, vitamin C, vitamin E, vitamin B6, and several minerals.

In my case, continue to eat asparagus but watch the amount!

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of SleepJoy. All opinions are 100% mine.

This past weekend, my family and I slept in rather comfortable beds at a fine hotel. It reminded me of what I was missing.

A soft, comfortable mattress.

Last year, I had some serious lower back and hip pain. A latex mattress did not help and neither did any of the cheap air mattresses. They only helped initially but the lower back and hip pain came back soon after.

While at an old car show that year, I met a lady who had a salon in town. At the show she offered a 12 minute back massages on a special massage chair. I told her about my lower back problem, the tense shoulders, which she could feel as she massaged me, and how I was on a quest for the perfect bed! She recommended that I put a memory foam mattress topper on my bed.

She told me to just get rid of the mattress, and just place the memory foam mattress topper on the hard bed. That was exactly what she was doing to ease her back pain. Getting a memory foam topper had not even crossed my mind. I was trying to avoid anything soft because I thought the soft mattress was the cause of all my lower back pain!

I ended up buying a rather hard mattress which worked really well with the lower back pain, but boy did I miss a soft and comfortable mattress as I was reminded from the weekend's stay at the fine hotel!

A hard mattress is not that bad if you are lying flat on your back, but when you want to lie on your side, a softer mattress is what you need! The 3” VitaTop layer of ViscoFresh enhanced memory foam from SleepJoy might work for me. It has medium firmness, and it is supposed to conform to my curve immediately. The fact that this particular topper is more breathable than an ordinary foam topper is an added plus!

I will have to give the memory foam mattress topper another look! I can still keep my hard mattress, and the topper can provide the softness I am missing!