Asha Anujeeva

One of the things that has to be the most frustrating experiences, as a woman, is finding a good place to take my car for auto repair.  I’ve had a lot of experiences taking my car to a repair shop and being told that I need repairs that I really don’t need, which infuriates me.  For example two years ago I took my car to a national brand name oil change chain – just for an oil change and they tried to tell me that I needed a new air filter (the one on there was less than three months old) and a new battery (because there was a little bit of corrusion around the terminals.)  Well, let me tell you something – I told them I’d look into it (they wanted to sell me theirs for big bucks) and that battery is still going strong two years later!

So now I’m big into getting auto repair estimates before I get any work done – I’ve become quite suspicious since then!  I think that I may need to get a timing belt replacement estimate on my car soon (my owner’s manual is suggesting it) and I’m going to use this great website that I found called repairpal.com to help me find a repair shop to give me the estimate and do the repairs.

I’ve decided that this winter I am going to buy thermal underwear and wear it under my regular clothes at home so that I can turn the thermostat down a couple of degrees.  I’m concerned about the high price of heating the place this winter, and I think that by investing in some thermal underwear that I will be doing a good thing for the environment and a good thing for my checkbook!  I’ve found some thermal underwear that is smooth and silky to the touch that is only $7 for a top, and $7 for the bottom, which seems like a very good price at the local big discount department store.

I don’t like the waffle-weave thermal underwear because it is always too small, no matter how large a size I buy!  The pants only come down about half-way between my ankles and knees; I like the pants to come all the way to my ankles.  The kind that I like used to be called “Cuddleduds” but now it seems they’ve been renamed to “WarmWear.”  I don’t care – they will be comfy and help keep me warm!

There is a sweet Internet rave clothing store that sells a huge variety of rave clothing and accessories that I just discovered.  I’ve been spending a few minutes looking at the backpacks that I never knew existed – a Gizmo gremlin, an R2D2, a Yoda, a Darth Vader, and a Chewbacca!  I was also looking at the fuzzy legwarmers and fuzzy wrist cuffs – very awesome!  I have often wondered where the kids get such off-the-wall stuff; now I know!

I was quite disturbed to hear that the Republican National Committee decided to spend $150,000 on new clothes for Sarah Palin!  Isn’t she the one who has been campaigning as being the “average hockey mom” type of person?  I don’t know any hockey moms that have a $150,000 clothing budget!  Doesn’t this elitist purchase undermine the message that she is “one of us?”  I don’t know about you, but I spend less than $500 a year on clothes for myself.  I got the impression that she was trying to appeal to the people who make an average of $30,000 annual salary (or less.)  How is she going to appeal to them if she has spent five times their annual salary on CLOTHES?  The RNC is “justifying” it by saying that the clothes will be donated to charity after the election.  I’m not quite sure how that is supposed to make the purchase any more palatable to the average hockey mom voter.

Women and fashion are a funny thing.  Most women hate wearing clothes that are out of fashion, and I have to admit that when I open my closet doors and look at my clothes, there are quite a few outfits in there that although I love them dearly I won’t wear them because they are not the current “in style” fashion.

I’m so pleased that I’ve discovered a great website that sells Discount fashion!  Everything on the website sells for $17.95 or less!  How great is that!  I’ve been looking at some of their great Discount clothing to see what I’d like to buy for the upcoming winter season.  Since styles change so frequently, I like to buy Cheap clothing when I can find styles I like.  Why spend hundreds of dollars on something that is going to be out of style next year?