Tag Archives: Family

150 Secrets to a Happy Wife- A Book Review

April 25, 2011 – 2:55 am

I found this book 150 Secrets to a Happy Wife by Joe Gumm extremely entertaining and something which I can truly relate to. This is one guy who really understands how a women’s mind work and knows how to really make them happy.In the thirteen chapters of his book he gives an in depth insight to how women think and relate to the people(males) around them.

Joe calls upon his own personal experiences as examples to “educate” other males on how they can avoid potential nasty situations which he faced due to situations with his own wife which he tackled badly. An example was when he really messed up with his comment to his then six-month pregnant wife that the pregnancy was not just about her and her cravings but the baby too. He was sure that he would have suffered hell if his wife wasn’t benevolent towards him that night.

There are certain parts of the book which I really like.

It’s all about her idea #29: Walk with her, not in front of her

I personally do get very annoyed when R is walking in front of me and expects me to follow behind him carrying the baby or holding on to one or two of the kids. If we are going out with all the kids I understand that it’s difficult to walk five abreast. However if it is just us and the baby it really irks me as he can just walk off without even turning around to see where we are. I’m not your maid and don’t expect me to walk behind you. I may get super annoyed and start storming off in the opposite direction.

It’s all about her idea #45: Quit messing around on the computer/phone

This is really true for me. What I can’t understand if why guys need to be so “connected” all the time. I rather see them spending more quality time bonding with the kids or even me then that electronic object.Sometimes I can get so annoyed that I really feel like trashing the new phone which he bought. Whoever is that ” genius” which invented pushmail as an app on the phone. Is it really so important to stay so “connected” ?? As if I’m really doubt that he is so eager to reply to my e-mails at the first instance.

It’s all about her idea #59: Give her a card and write a poem

Joe writes about that it may be easier to write then to say for certain man. It has been ages since I have received a card or a poem. In fact the only time I remember getting one from R was during our courtship days. It would definitely be a nice gesture to receive one.

It’s all about her idea #90: Buy her that one thing
she’s always wanted

I’m certain that I too will be very happy if I receive the item which I always wanted. I’m sure R knows which item it is.

With 150 tips I am sure there are several which you can relate to and wish your spouse is able to do for you. It would be best if your guy is able to read the book himself. I gave this to R but he hasn’t really read through it as yet so I’m “highlight” all the relevant parts here for him in this post.

A complimentary book was provided for this review, however, all opinions expressed are 100% my own. We were not compensated in any other way. See our disclosure policy for more details.

Tags Family, Happy wife | Comments Off

Secrets Girls Keep- A Book Review

December 2, 2009 – 10:24 pm

Disclosure: This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of PR By the Book. I received the book in this review for free and was not paid any money for my opinion. All opinions are 100% mine.

I received an e-mail a few weeks ago from a Publicist asking me if I was interested to review this book.

Secrets Girls Keep: What Girls Hide (& Why) and How to Break the Stress of Silence

The title sounded very interested and I felt that it would be interesting to know what kinds of secrets girls keep. It would give me a better idea on how to deal with my students who are reaching their tweens.

In this book Carrie talks about the 7 Tips

Tip 1- Using your Gut

Tip 2- Discover your strengths and use them

Tip 3- Choose the right friends and respect them.

Tip 4- Be courageous and confident.

Tip 5- Be fit and stay fit ( Health is very important)

Tip 6- Dream Big ( Push yourself an be amazed as what you can achieve)

Tip 7- Get outside yourself ( Reflection and contribution to society)

These tips are incorporated into solving problems surfacing in the following topics.

Beauty
Boys
Best friends
Family
Dealing with school
Cyberwellness
Divorce, suicide and other serious issues.

In each topic Carrie gives some real sound and practical advice using the experiences of various teenage girls to show how problems could be solved.

Carrie interlaces her topics with short quizzes which one can fill in to get a better understanding of how they are at taking care of oneself, level of confidence, knowledge of boys etc. I find these extremely useful for as a teenager one has yet to really understand how to handle one’s emotions and need for taking risks.

Having gone through the teenage years myself I understand how lost some of the girls featured in the book must have felt as they face growing up and hormonal changes at the same time.

The tips presented by Carrie and the real life example case studies make this book an excellent guide for both parents and teenage girls who may be facing similar problems. They are practical and easy to follow and everyone can easily relate to the teenage girls featured in the book.
Nowadays the kids mature extremely fast. Problems which used to be faced by teenagers are sometimes faced by tweens or even younger. Ie: difficulty in relating to their parents are issues that are also faced by some of my elementary school kids.

Carrie dishes out simple tips like

Sending an e-mail or text message
Sharing a journal
Showing your appreciation through creating a card

These tips help in breaking the ice between parent and child and help to slowly guide them on how to get kids to talk to their parent.

Through all the examples presented in the book a common trait that surfaced was that these girls faced difficulties and didn’t know who they could turn to. Many of them tried solving or internalizing their problems on their own which gave them added stress. They cave in to the evils of social media and peer pressure and disregard their own health, family and friends.

Only when they learned how to open up and seek outside help were they relieved of the burden that they were carrying around.

Some of the girls didn’t know that they were having problems like depression or obsession till their family members noticed and approached them.

Being a teenager is a scary time for a girl as you are suddenly faced with issues and problems which surface out of nowhere. Boys for one are something which you may not have to deal with as an elementary school student.

Carrie take one step by step through the issues that may arise with dating and boys and walk you through what you may be feeling and questions you may have about dating.

Secrets Girls Keep: What Girls Hide (& Why) and How to Break the Stress of Silence

If you are interested in reading this fabulous book, do grab a copy of the books from my amazon affiliated link above. I earn a small percentage .

Tags Adolescence, Book Review, Family, Kids and Teens, School | Comments Off

Weekend Reflections- Almost a year in retrospect

November 28, 2009 – 5:20 pm

WeekendReflections

Welcome to Weekend Reflections a regular feature here on Dominique’s Desk. Join us this week for Weekend Reflections. I would really like to hear your view on this weekend’s topic. Do add your link to our Linky and leave me a comment for extra linky love. You can grab out button from the sidebar.

The year 2009 is drawing to a close and I’m starting to get lyrical as I reflect back on all the ups and down of the year.
There has been quite a lot of changes in the home front. Some for the better while others still need quite a bit of improvement on. I have embarked on many new projects and do have projects on the to-do-list for 2010.

I started out the year focusing on my online ventures. They took a backseat when I returned to work full time. With the current bad economy it has been quite difficult for start up ventures to really kick-off.

As the year progressed I had my goals re-aligned as I realised that it is really not worth it to invest so much time on my online business. Even though a lot of time and effort is needed for a start up but more time is needed to properly groom a child and building up a family.

Having personally seen and experience disfunctional families and the lifelong effects it has on the children, I seriously didn’t want that to happen to my own family.

You only have so many hours a day that you can spend with the family and it would be selfish of me to spend so many hours on personal interests at the expense of the family and kids.

Even though earning money is important to sustain a family it shouldn’t be the main focus. Many parents are often too occupied in chasing the ever exclusive $$ that they neglect the fact that it is essential to spend quality and quantity time to nuture a child.

If you are blessed , your child would turn out “right” with the minimal intervention. However, if your child ends up being on the extreme end of the scale and gets into trouble with the law it would be too late to regret not taking an active part in his life.

Like a long-term financial investment , one does not know if the effort that you are currently putting in now will reap any fruit. However if you DO NOT put in your investment now you will forever have the window of opportunity to nuture your child into a well mannered and functional adult.