<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><!-- generator="WordPress.com" -->
<rss version="0.92">
<channel>
	<title>the tao of vacuum cleaners</title>
	<link>http://countrylifestyle.wordpress.com</link>
	<description>country lifestyle, urban soul</description>
	<lastBuildDate>Thu, 26 Nov 2009 15:16:13 +0000</lastBuildDate>
	<docs>http://backend.userland.com/rss092</docs>
	<language>en</language>
	
	<item>
		<title>Dreary on a Sunny Day</title>
		<description><![CDATA[I shouldn&#8217;t complain to my millions of fans out there, when the sun is shining in Ireland &#8211; a noteworthy event especially after the rains through the weekend. And what am I dreary about? Did my home or business get flooded? Did I recently lose my job, my life savings, my home? Are my children [...]<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=countrylifestyle.wordpress.com&blog=3545883&post=45&subd=countrylifestyle&ref=&feed=1" />]]></description>
		<link>http://countrylifestyle.wordpress.com/2009/11/26/dreary-on-a-sunny-day/</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>Ambition vs Income</title>
		<description><![CDATA[I think university is where it unravelled a bit. Should I study law? Am I really that good? Not sure. Journalism? Cigar-chomping scowling men sprung to mind. Business? I can't do business – my dad's a teacher, my mom's a stay-at-home mother. “Business” to me was to huge to comprehend. Small time stuff like selling cupcakes smacked of kids-selling-lemonade silliness, even though I was fully aware of hugely successful companies like Mrs Fields' Cookies. The careers counsellor wasn't worth his salt. I chose the catch-all, go-nowhere Liberal Arts Degree.
<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=countrylifestyle.wordpress.com&blog=3545883&post=37&subd=countrylifestyle&ref=&feed=1" />]]></description>
		<link>http://countrylifestyle.wordpress.com/2009/11/06/how-did-i-get-here/</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>Recycling Mermaids</title>
		<description><![CDATA[After watching our lounge-about Friday evening show, &#8220;How Clean is your House?&#8221;, my 5-year old son and I decided that our playroom looked nearly as bad as the one just featured. The white-coat clad hosts visit grimy-filthy-messy-scary houses with much health warnings and incredulous shaking of heads, before getting the residents involved in the onerous [...]<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=countrylifestyle.wordpress.com&blog=3545883&post=35&subd=countrylifestyle&ref=&feed=1" />]]></description>
		<link>http://countrylifestyle.wordpress.com/2008/09/15/recycling-mermaids/</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>Life at the Lake</title>
		<description><![CDATA[On Monday I decided firmly that I wouldn&#8217;t really have the time or energy to drive 3 hours north of Quebec city to Lac St. Jean to visit my brother and his family. He rang that evening, said the weather would be good, the bonfire was built, the martini ingredients were bought. On Tuesday I [...]<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=countrylifestyle.wordpress.com&blog=3545883&post=30&subd=countrylifestyle&ref=&feed=1" />]]></description>
		<link>http://countrylifestyle.wordpress.com/2008/07/17/life-at-the-lake/</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>The Grass is Always Greener</title>
		<description><![CDATA[If you get into your car, in 15 minutes you can be at an uber-mall: it's not worth describing, just visit the Galeries de la Capitale website! Suffice it to say that for C$1 you can ice skate on an Olympic sized rink in the summer.

There is an absolute glut of activites, and that's without the Festival D'Ete and the Quebec 400th Anniversary goings on in Old Quebec. And yet, what does my 8-year-old son say? "I miss our house. It's not the same here. We don't have as much room to play." Wha?? 
<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=countrylifestyle.wordpress.com&blog=3545883&post=27&subd=countrylifestyle&ref=&feed=1" />]]></description>
		<link>http://countrylifestyle.wordpress.com/2008/07/14/the-grass-is-always-greener/</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>Jetlag and Soccer in the Rain</title>
		<description><![CDATA[We arrived in Quebec City from Dublin yesterday. It was a lovely day. The children fell asleep around 8pm; one in the morning where we started our journey, so they lasted well. But they were up at 5 am. After cereal and finding all the familiar toys at Grandma&#8217;s house, they started charging around the [...]<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=countrylifestyle.wordpress.com&blog=3545883&post=25&subd=countrylifestyle&ref=&feed=1" />]]></description>
		<link>http://countrylifestyle.wordpress.com/2008/07/03/jetlag-and-soccer-in-the-rain/</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>Fake Tans or Sun bed?</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Maybe I'm still too new to Ireland. After 9 years here I still foolishly expect seasonal consistency. No wonder people talk about the weather: if you feel like complaining, rejoicing, reminiscing, being hopeful, musing, worrying, or laughing about it, the weather's the thing: it allows us to exercise the full gamut of emotions.
Anyhow, about the fake route to sun-kissed: It all sucks, don't you think? Even Ascot recognises it - tongue in cheek, apparently (something on the BBC website mentions the jovial drawing attention to streaky tans). It's ugly. I tried it. My knees looked dirty and a leg wax took it all off anyhow. So I decided in desperation (I wanted to show my lower legs in a skirt for my child's first communion in mid-May; as it turned out, it was so cold I was in stockings anyhow) to go for the sun bed option.
<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=countrylifestyle.wordpress.com&blog=3545883&post=24&subd=countrylifestyle&ref=&feed=1" />]]></description>
		<link>http://countrylifestyle.wordpress.com/2008/06/19/fake-tans-or-sun-bed/</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>Aaaaa-CHOO! It&#8217;s Hay Fever June</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Practical and dietary solutions include

    * dressing cozily (it's been rather chilly around here in Carlow anyhow),
    * avoiding alcohol (not entirely, but it does make me feel stuffy),
    * drinking lots of herbal and detox teas (I'm a coffee person but my desire for coffee vanishes completely during hay fever season),
    * adding honey to  my tea (not local enough, though - local honey is supposed to be the trick for getting your body used to the local pollen - but at least it soothes my throat),
    * replaceing milk with soya milk,
    * going to bed early (that is, around 10 pm instead of my usual 11:30)
    * and keeping tissues at hand!

<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=countrylifestyle.wordpress.com&blog=3545883&post=23&subd=countrylifestyle&ref=&feed=1" />]]></description>
		<link>http://countrylifestyle.wordpress.com/2008/06/19/aaaaa-choo-its-hay-fever-june/</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>Writers Write</title>
		<description><![CDATA[I bought Maeve Binchy&#8217;s &#8220;Writer&#8217;s Club&#8221; to see what she had to say. Basically, one must actually write to produce some writing. That same day, I bought Isabela Fonseca&#8217;s &#8220;attachment.&#8221; Not sure where that story&#8217;s going yet but I&#8217;m ploughing through! My most recent excuses for not following Maeve&#8217;s advice: hay fever. If you don&#8217;t [...]<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=countrylifestyle.wordpress.com&blog=3545883&post=22&subd=countrylifestyle&ref=&feed=1" />]]></description>
		<link>http://countrylifestyle.wordpress.com/2008/06/11/writers-write/</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>Monsanto and Me</title>
		<description><![CDATA[I got a letter in the post the other day from my Dad, with a newspaper article attached. The article is about
Monsanto, the monster company that, as my father put it, “ using GM seeds to establish a type of feudal system across the world...” According to the Montreal Gazette article, 12 million farmers worldwide who will plant GM seeds this year sign contracts agreeing not to save or replant seeds - so not only does the world lose biodiversity, but the farmers have to BUY new seeds each year. Further in the article, a Canadian farmer being sued by Monsanto says he never bought their seed, which costs C$80 per acre compared to C$20 per acre for conventional seed. How nice for Monsanto. Perhaps that has something to do with the "thousands of debt-ridden farmers [who] have committed suicide" in India.

Monsanto has lied before to maintain its profitability...<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=countrylifestyle.wordpress.com&blog=3545883&post=21&subd=countrylifestyle&ref=&feed=1" />]]></description>
		<link>http://countrylifestyle.wordpress.com/2008/06/03/monsanto-and-me/</link>
			</item>
</channel>
</rss>
