A follower! Great! It feels like I just said "a slave" by mistake...

Welcome Ashley, mother of 4, to my blog, enjoy!  I'm not quite sure how you ended up with me, but I hope you find my shopping-filled life interesting!

I worked my butt off today.  Again.  I regularly work until 1am in the morning on my laptop, I love my job otherwise I wouldn't be so giving.  All work and no play makes Helen a dull girl...if there were more time to shop I'd be happier all the time instead of just most of the time, lol!!

I must just add that in all of my hot new clothes with my really hot new belt, hot rings, ever so hot top and green make-up, even if I do say so myself I looked super-hot.  This latest shopping spree absolutely paid off!!  I'm ready for the next shopping spree; me, my credit cards and my wallet!  My shopping baby can come too if he behaves.

Til next time, shop like it's going out of fashion!

Enough of this self-punishment and self-deprivation thanks!!

ENOUGH! So I decided this morning first thing that I'm taking all of my credit cards out of the safe where, upon my request 6 or 7 months ago my husband hid them, on a serious shopping spree.  This debt-free attempt is sommer bullshit. And then I decided to have margaritas for dinner. This unwarranted self-punishment has now ended, thank you very much.  I am back in action as the Serial Shopper and my cards are all active once again!  And now I feel like a million bucks again at last!!  WOO HOO!

So what did I buy?  It's quite a list.

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  3 tops - Edgars, Truworths and Identity
  
  
  
• 
  
  Hair dye - Clicks
  
  
  
• 
  
  2 magazines - Clicks
  
  
  
• 
  
  Vitamin Water x all flavours available - Woolworths
  
  
  
• 
  
  New costume (yes, I do have plenty but who wants to be seen on the beach in the same costume every day?  No, not me)
  
  
  
• 
  
  3 rings - very nice indeed, pretty
  
  
  
• 
  
  Plenty of new underwear (the details of which are for me to know)
  
  
  
• 
  
  Oh yes, and 2 belts.
  
  
  
• 
  
  It feels like I've left something out, as well I have.  The Shopaholic despises cooking.  I bought the following from Woolworths for dinner as it was my turn to cook:
  
  
  
1. 
   
   Fettuccine
   
   
   
2. 
   
   250ml fresh cream
   
   
   
3. 
   
   Pot of fresh pesto
   
   
   
4. 
   
   2 punnets (punnets of strawberries only??!!) of baby button mushrooms
   
   
   
• 
  
  Clean mushrooms, fry in butter and garlic, add pesto, when it's bubbling nicely add cream (don't let it boil too quickly, they tell me it will curdle...).  Add the cooked fettuccine and combine.  Grate parmesan over the top and serve.  Pathetically easy, took me less than 15 minutes...and it's idiot-proof.  That's the only type of cooking I do.  Perhaps it can work for you too.
  
  
  

So I've come to the conclusion, once again that this blog is all about me.  ME, ME, ME.  And what the hell is wrong with that?  Yawn.  If THIS can't be about me, what the hell is????

I made mojitos today.  What a stupid set of directions!  It takes 8 hours to set in the freezer and go slushy!!  If I have to wait 8 hours for a drink I won't be thirsty any more??!!  Mind you, I almost forgot about it, and when I remembered it was just right and very nice indeed!

So I'm thinking; there are a lot of people I have to buy stuff for now (before the end of October), (myself included - Jenna Clifford I am coming to your store, oh yes I am) (just in case you missed it the previous time; http://www.jennaclifford.com/) like the following:

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  birthday present for hubby (bday is 23 Oct)
  
  
  
• 
  
  baby presents for at least 3 friends who decided to get buns in their ovens
  
  
  
• 
  
  take advantage of Jenna Clifford's special offer (you can't see it on her website - it's in the newsletter which doesn't get published on the website for some or other obscure reason)
  
  
  
• 
  
  wax (note to self - book for self and friend to go together so that I can hear her scream while I have a glass of wine and a cigarette, lol)
  
  
  
• 
  
  there were so many other things I was thinking of earlier today.  Oh well, they should come back to me soon -  let's hope so
  
  
  

I'm tired, it was a really good day of shopping.  Oh, one last thing:  last year we were on holiday at the coast and I went into this shoe shop and had to have a gorgeous, truly stunning, beautiful silver sandals that were there.  Open shoes I usually wear a size 7, closed a 6.  This, as luck would have it, was a size 8 and the very last pair.  So, of course, I bought them and that was in December last year.  I wore them shopping for the first time today.  What a stupid girl!!  They were washing the floor in Mr P and I went for a ski on my butt having slipped and fallen off my nice new silver heels.  Red face, so embarrassing!!!   I'll find someone to take them off my hands for me, I will not wear them again!!

Last, last thing - I spent the entire morning lying in the sun.  I did use a little bit of sunscreen but I burnt horribly, it feels very nice though - first burn of the summer, woo hoo!!  Now I can prance around in the sun next to the pool without worrying about blinding anyone with my white legs!!  Today red, tomorrow brown!!

Very last thing - I have a very dear friend who's battling to conceive - should I offer to be a surrogate or not?  I'd love to...I think.  Go have a look - http://www.giftovlife.com/   As long as she'd pay for the tummy tuck thereafter (there would surely have to be one) and the lipo (come on, I picked up 18kg when I was pregnant with Liam - it's necessary), and perhaps we can throw in a boob job there as well, ha ha ha!!!  This Shopaholic wouldn't do it if it meant I'd like like a bag at the end of it, ha ha!!  How odd that I haven't even said this out loud, yet I've written it for all to see on my blog.  Hmmm.

Til next time, shop like it's going out of fashion!  Yeah baby!!

The cold weather is crappy...perfect weather for eating!

So today all I am buying is soup from Ninos in Hillcrest.  They make the best soup ever, butternut or mushroom, either one is absolutely divine!  The service can do with a bit of jacking up - you know, you walk in and within a moment or two you're surprised to find that somewhere between the last time you looked in the mirror and the moment that you stepped through the door of Ninos you became invisible and the staff of Ninos look straight through you...but so what, it's worth putting up with for the soup!!!!!  YEAH BABY, SOUP FOR LUNCH!!!!

I love working on a day like today, directly after a public holiday, just before a weekend and in school holidays - people think if they take leave they're so clever and it's such a nice break - what were they thinking?  It's not!  It's a break when things are mad and you need to take the time off before you burn out or just plain go insane!!  I'm having a great day catching up on the things I usually don't have make time for - just what I needed!!

WOO HOO!!!!  It's almost weekend, and on Wednesday it's payday - can't wait!  5 more sleeps!

Things to do this weekend:

1. 
   
   Get to Edgars/Truworths (what the hell; both) and take full advantage of the Estee Lauder http://www.esteelauder.co.za/ and Elizabeth Arden http://www.elizabetharden.co.za/ specials, oh yes.
   
   
   
2. 
   
   Cut the boys' hair.  Apparently once it's half a centimetre too long and they look in the mirror, they don't see themselves, they see sheep (??!?!?!), okay, whatever, bring on the clippers, baa baa black sheep and bleat bleat blonde sheep.
   
   
   
3. 
   
   Hire a dvd.  I don't see anything of interest that's showing at the movies, so I want to get a dvd.  Good plan.
   
   
   
4. 
   
   Visit my friend in her new house - buy her a plant or something...have a drink or two...let her give my child lots of attention so that I can pretend for a few hours that I am child-free.
   
   
   
5. 
   
   Catch up on some reading - I bought a Jonathan Kellerman and a Robin Cook a few days ago (if you love reading, you MUST MUST!!) and they call me loudly every time I go to bed - but at 1:30am I just tell them to SHOVE IT.  Must make a plan and get reading.
   
   
   
6. 
   
   Phone little sister and phone big sister and thank them for the presents they sent for Liam's birthday, which, thanks so much to SAPO - loyal and faithful, not to mention reliable - who were on strike, were 3 weeks late, but whatever - better late than never, and they were lovely presents and this time, unlike last, there were not empty chocolate boxes in the parcels and a sticker on the outside saying "found opened by SAPO and resealed", so let me not complain too loudly - it could've been worse!!!
   

Guys, til next time, shop til you drop and...party til you fall, it's been a long month and you really should!!!

End of the month salticracks...

I can't wait until the end of the month, can payday possibly be so far away?  I baked cookies on Tuesday night (ridiculous - first time ever!), they weren't bad, I might make them again, you never know, it wasn't as much fun as I thought it would be.  Licking out the bowl was the best part of it...because the rest of the household were sleeping so I didn't even have company.  I was not aware that "vanilla extract" was so bloody expensive!!!  R50??!?!?  For a teeny-tiny little bottle!!  Bloody hell!

Anyway, we braaied today and my dad and Cathy came over (National Braai Day, here we come, how cheesy), so I got my grubby paws on a copy of Jamie Oliver's first (I think) cookbook and decided to make a potato, avo and watercress salad.  I hate, hate, hate following recipes, so the first thing I do is substitute the cress for celery as we don't get cress in SA, so I was happy to substitute something with another item.  I go to the absolutely amazing Spar in Silver Lakes with the really rude cashiers and really polite packers........hold that thought, I need to add something and I'll continue with my story later...

So the cashier rings up the items (not many - maybe 10 or 12 items?) and then barks the amount at me, I hand her my bank card with a smile, chatting to my son all the while and not really paying much attention to the person that clearly hates her job and should be doing something else - like nothing perhaps, and she barks the question: cheque or savings?  I answer her, she bellows at me to type in my pin, I type in my pin (bear in mind that I can be a bit of a chatterbox and my son has a motormouth, so there's non-stop chatting going on here which is a distraction of note for me), then the transaction goes through, the cashier literally flings the slips at me and all of a sudden I've had enough of her attitude and ask her if she's always so bloody rude or if she's just having a bad day.  She looks at me all confused and says "sorry?".  I say again, "are you always downright rude or are you just having a bad day?".  She doesn't even respond and I turn in a huff and flounce out of the store.  This begs the question - DON'T CASHIERS GET CUSTOMER SERVICE TRAINING??  It wasn't bad enough for me to go and list it on Hello Peter, www.hellopeter.com however, I'm going to go there right now and load a complaint about the stinky service that I got from the Pick n Pay in Hillcrest earlier this week.  Their service is ALWAYS up to shit, without fail, but this episode took the cake - go and have a look http://www.hellopeter.com/pick-n-pay-complaint-[324210] ...back to my original story!

 ...and come right with everything except, while I'm there I decide to make a pavlova for dessert and as luck would have it, Spar had no frozen fruit.  Annoying.  I then went to Woolies, nothing on the shelf in the freezer except the lable.  So I go to another Woolies.  Again, nothing.  3rd Woolies, yet again nothing and now I'm really getting annoyed.  I go to Pick n Pay and lo and behold, they have exactly what I need, and plenty of it!  My pavlova was absolutely divine!!!!!  I made a pasta salad and the Jamie Oliver salad.  If I can give you a hint (yes, perhaps I should've figured this one out before I made it, but I always trust Jamie implicity - if I could hand-pick a best friend, he'd be it), the combination of cold potato and lemon juice is, put bluntly, disgusting.  Completely disgusting.  The avo was very nice, the celery was nice, the seasoning I used was great, the lemon was hoooorrrrrrible with the potatoes.  YUCK!!

Til next time, shop like it's going out of fasion!  Enjoy!

Where is payday??

My wonderful husband took me away for the night on Saturday to a resort, it was fantastic.  Had I had a pocket full of money, it could've been even better, but I am counting down the days to payday - 9 to go!  What a bummer!


I am trying very hard to pay off my (7) clothing accounts.  A friend and I decided to do this together for moral support - we said that as we pay one off completely we'd have a sacrificial burning evening where we take black candles and burn the offensive, evil credit cards for once and for all, lol!  As if that would work.  It helps to try to convince oneself, I suppose.  I bought the new Glamour, You, Heat, Cosmo, Fair Lady and Elle.  Oh, and Marie Claire I think, over the past few days.  They're full of "tips" to lose the winter fat and how to have better sex.  Oh please.  I can't actually repeat my real thoughts about this on my blog!!


I have realised (not for the first time) that I am not necessarily a pleasant person.  I quite enjoy it when colleagues are pissed off with me, I take pleasure from making myself unpopular at the office by pointing out errors made by those who were fully trained and just too lazy to implement my training, butI resent no longer being in the position to have full authority to address this.  It's really rather annoying.  I've been feeling very frustrated lately by my inability to be a ble to change my position much further than it's already evolved, other than to make it more admin-intensive.  YUCK.  I HATE admin, I am a salesperson.  This is not being exploited which is very sad as I am being under-utilised, and ability-ulitisation is top on my values list.  Tears and stamping foot and threats seem to get a person very far in this life.  Unfortunately for me and my pride, I just can't do this in good conscience.  So I'll stay as is for the time-being I suppose.  Can you imagine me thowing a frothy and acting like a child , turning on the waterworks and stamping my foot?  I can certainly be the prima-donna, that I don't deny, I might be slightly high-maintenance at the best of times, and I stamp my foot when people try to negotiate with me and get me to compromise as I don't like it, but the rest of it?  Not me thanks.


So, anyway.  I have bought 2 dresses over the past few months and not worn either of them.  I actually have no intention of wearing either of them.  I'm not sure why I bought them.  Perhaps because I really truly thought that maybe, just maybe all of a sudden I'd become feminine overnight and wear them with the grace with which they were designed to be worn.  That's quite a joke considering I can't even climb out of the car in a ladylike manner.  Any time now I should stop doing this and buying clothes that wouldn't suit me in a million years.  I don't do floaty, frills or flowers and patterns and lace.  I do black and white, sharp edges and corners, points and angles and I dress in a female-version of a natty-man style.  So what on Earth would possess me to buy dresses I have no intention of wearing?  I wish I knew, it's pretty ridiculous.  I suppose the same thing that would possess me to buy the pink top and the top with the chinese woman on it that I gave away the other day.  Perhaps it might suit me...absolutely not, there is a reason why I shouldn't do these things.  THEY.  DO.  NOT.  SUIT.  ME.  And I don't like them on me - on other people, yes.  On me, no.


I wore flat shoes this weekend to walk by the pool and my calves are sore.  I don't like flat shoes.  And they don't like me.  The feeling is mutual.  Sad indeed.


Blog, I think you're super-cool, I like being able to offload on something that doesn't talk back, however, if you feel the need to comment, please do so!

On a sad note :-(  my dog, Goblin that we bought to replace Sleg who we had to put down due to his back giving in (sausage dog) is a neurotic bark-oholic and after too many sleepless nights and dreams of doing the poor stupid mutt some serious harm, I've found a good home for him to move to.  Goblin moves out on Wednesday afternoon.  Good luck to him, I'm sure he'll be loved wherever he goes, he's very lovable...  To buy a new dog, or not to buy a new dog, that is the question, lmao!!!  I mustn't even entertain that thought, my husband will have my guts for garters, ha ha ha!!

Til next time, shop as if it's going out of fashion!

I'm considering changing the name of my blog

It turns out that perhaps I'm not really a shopaholic, I should call myself a Serial Shopper, lol!!  Anyway, that's besides the point.  Perhaps if you know the difference you would be so kind as to enlighten me please.  Much appreciated.


Guys, if you don't have a Clicks card, please go and get one...NOW!!!  www.clicks.co.za/clicks/CCBenefits.aspx  I just got a huge amount of money back in vouchers (Clicks is one of my - many- favourite shops EVER!!), now I need to go and spend them.  I love the sound of that.  What to buy, what to buy...decisions, decisions.


What's with these new anti-smoking laws (yes, anti-smoking, not non-smoking).  Rather annoying.  I'll just smoke up a storm at another place then thanks if you've decided to make an entire shopping mall a smoke-free zone.  www.mallguide.co.za/shops_quickfind.htm?mallID=1238.  SA is full of smokers, especially in my indusry (and no, I most certainly don't work as a personal shopper) too many of us to ban it everywhere, sorry, dream on!


I bought such an interesting lighter the yesterday with an old-fashioned looking picture of a girl on it.  My colleague Layla also showed me such a cute lighter that she'd bought - it looks like an ornament - it's a pig and it blows flames through it's nostrils - classic!!!!   Then she told me she hates to shop.  I offered to take her credit card for a trip to the mall, all she needed to do was tell me what clothes she wanted and the size.  Denied.  It seems I'm not trusted with a credit card.  No guesses as to why that might be, ha ha!!

During one of my more recent shopping trips, I stumbled upon something that I just have to share (not bacause it's great, but because of it's shock-value), but it's ugh, I shudder thinking about it, so I'm not going to tell you anything about it.  Go and have a look at http://www.mooncup.com/ or http://www.mooncup.co.uk/ and please do let me know your thoughts!!  It seems that you'll either love it (soooo no!!) or hate it!!

In my next life I'm going to be a billionaire-trillionaire-gazillionaire-kajillionaire (inherited please note, I'd like to enjoy the money) and do nothing but shop and lie on the beach all over the world.  Yessssssss!

Til next time, shop as if it's going out of fashion!  Enjoy!

WTF for?

I've just seen that now I have my own blog (nudge, nudge, wink, wink) it's sort of expected that I'll join other bloggers and read their blogs every day....what for?  If someone wants to read my ever-so-interesting blog, that's nice, good luck to them.  I don't find other people's babbling as entertaining as mine...unless of course they're being paid to do it, in which case I'm the one doing the paying.  *Sigh*.  You get my drift?

Sunday Shopping in a Brand New Mall

Firstly I should introduce myself. My name is Helen and I'm a Shopaholic. Interesting; people ask why I smoke as I don't seem to have an addictive personality. Those people just get the smile. Those who know me well would roll their eyes at that statement and think how ridiculous it is. Sure. Not only am I addicted to shopping and smoking, I'm also addicted to magazines (I'm a complete junkie) and to reading and writing. So that, in a nutshell is me. The rest is interesting, yet not particularly applicable. You'll find out more as we go on I'm sure, whether or not you wanted to.

Why do I love to shop? Well, I love nice things, I love clothes...oh, who am I fooling??!! I love to spend money and I enjoy the thrill of having new things in my cupboard that I actually couldn't really entirely afford. Yes. Sad, but true.

Why do I love magazines? I suppose I'm a bit of a glamour-puss and a total kugel. Yes. Oh, and it ties in with my love of reading. I'll reading anything except soppy romances and science-fiction.

Why do I love to write? Well, I'm not a very big talker (although msny would disagree), yet I have a serious gossip-monger inside of me impatiently waiting to escape. It can't and mustn't happen, so my outlet is writing. Read it, don't read it. Do I care? Not at all. Sorry for you, but this blog isn't about you, it's about me. That said, popularity wouldn't be a bad thing. I have a million, trillion stories in my head and in my heart, and you get to read about them all. Or not.

So let's get down to the real business at hand...

You've gotta love it. No, really! A brand new mall, a wallet full of notes and a head full of specials from the numerous magazines to which I am addicted. This is heaven for me. So what do I do, I go to the Chinese shop :) and buy a pair of shoes that I'm sorry I bought. That's the one thing about impulse buying. They are extremly pointy (as are at least 60% of my shoes) and black (as are 100% of my shoes) with very thin high heels (80% of my shoes). They look like cockroach killers, they make people stare and they are truly uncomfortable. Yes, at some point I also thought that these were pre-requisites for the perfect shoe, but after wearing them all day with a grimace on my face and bleeding blisters on my toes, I changed my mind.

So I also bought a really bright green liquid eyeliner, eyeshadow and pencil liner from Clicks that I didn't need at all but just couldn't resist. Well worth the time spent and a good shopping spree all around I'd say. Especially as I also stopped at Woolies and Edgars on the way back to the car as well as Identity where I spent more money that I don't have on clothes and a very cool ring.  You should have a look - their underwear and jewellery is generally well-priced and different.  Now, if you want to spend real money and get something really awesome, Jenna Clifford is the place to go - just have a look at her amazing designs - to die for!!!  http://www.jennaclifford.com/ I treasure my JC items...

Til next time, shop like it's going out of fashion!  Enjoy!