The Most Expensive Paintings Ever

I like doing Most Expensive Ever posts, if not for anything than to remind myself that often people have more money than sense! Recently I came across the picture of the most expensive painting ever and got curious to find out what are the most expensive paintings ever. When we say expensive we mean of course most expensive ever sold because the really classic paintings are all sitting in museums and are never going to be sold (I mean can you imagine the Louvre putting the Mona Lisa under the hammer or the British Art Gallery auctioning off Van Gogh’s Sunflowers?).

Now this is the most expensive painting ever sold. I found that I was completely mystified: I simply could not fathom the allure of the painting. I admit that I don’t think much of abstract art and know even less, but this one continues to confound me: Jackson Pollock’s No. 5, 1948 sold by David Geffen, founder of Geffen Records and co-founder of Dreamworks SKG, to David Martinez, managing partner of Fintech Advisory Ltd, in a private sale for a record inflation-adjusted price of $140 million. I don’t get it; $140 million for something that looks like a bird’s nest to me.

[Read more →]

Weight Loss Pills and Supplements - Do You Need Them?

There are several questions: do you need them? Do they work? Are they safe for you? Etc. etc. Weight loss pills, weight loss supplements, weight loss lotions, weight loss foods, weight loss drinks, body wraps, belts and even rings and earrings!

According to this Reuters article, between $33 billion and $55 billion is spent annually on weight loss products and services, including medical procedures and pharmaceuticals, with weight loss centers garnering between six percent and 12 percent of total annual expenditure in the United States alone.

The fact is that only an actual change in lifestyle will give you results if you are trying for weight loss. There is no substitute for healthy eating and exercise in your daily life; that is a fact. However the weight loss industry flourishes on promoting the idea of quick fat loss, of weight loss without effort; of easy methods of losing the inches. These short cut methods are never permanent, no matter what the infomercials tell you. They may give you some results to begin with, before the body builds up resistance to it, and then you are back to square one. How stuff works explains it if you want to have a look.

[Read more →]

Belated Gift for Mother’s Day

I’ve gone and forgotten Mother’s Day completely, and now remembering it a month later there is no hope for redemption! My mother has a birthday coming up soon, luckily, so I am going to get her something nice, a sort of combined Mother’s day and birthday gift.

Now we all know grandparents who whip out a wallet or even a photo album at the least provocation and proceed to show even strangers their beloved offspring’s even more beloved offspring, so it goes without saying that anything that features grandkids photos is bound to be a big hit. So this picture tote here, would be an excellent idea in my view. Available in black, khaki or red, it made from cotton canvas with leather trim and has three built-in, round photo frames. Then you can get a few pics developed; the kind she will enjoy, (get a whole bunch done, so that she can change them as and when she wants) and you have a really memorable gift!

[Read more →]

Some Risqué and not so Risqué Gift Ideas

Anyone who is a regular reader here will know that I love novelty gifts or any kind of offbeat gifts or ideas and a rather risqué gift I received recently inspired me to do one more post about interesting and unusual gifts.

Now here I found a bunch of really useless but highly entertaining stuff, such as an inflatable Bra bath pillow, some rather creative dice, furry handcuffs etc….

Someone with the right kind of sense of humor will really be amused by this inflatable bra bath pillow. For someone who likes the idea of resting their head on a pair of D cups in the bath! For $4.95, a bit of laugh isn’t it!

Now love dice could be just the thing to light a spark for that little something that went missing in a relationship. These glow in the dark dice, has a bunch of commands (and positions as well in case you are interested) that could just make things very interesting indeed! Priced at just 3.95, well one can certainly afford a bit of slap and tickle…. And there’s also some furry handcuffs ($5 per pair) and some strip tease pens ($3 for men and for women) if you are so inclined.

[Read more →]

Saving Money on Medication

I have done a post before about how to save money on medication, but I think that topic could do with further discussion because sometimes we get prescribed drugs that we don’t even need in the first place.

Do you really need an expensive antibiotic?

It would seem that doctors are prescribing a lot more medications than they used to: in 2007 pharmacists filled 3.8 billion prescriptions, up from 3.3 billion in 2002 and according to at least one doctor it’s because “It’s easier and quicker than explaining to a patient why they don’t need an antibiotic,” How scary is that! So next you’re sick, be sure to ask your physician what he is prescribing and why you need it at all.

[Read more →]

Save Money This Summer

Summer is a season that many enjoy and many loathe, whichever category you fall into, you can make use of some of these tips to make summer more economical for you:

Energy Savings

Whenever possible, turn off the Air con at home and in the car. Air cons are extremely power hungry. And when you do use the AC, make sure your filter is not clogged because that increases consumption of electricity. Don’t use your dryer, line dry your clothes. It won’t take long in the summer sun. Grow trees. Not only are they wonderful for the environment, they are beautiful and they offer cooling shade as well.

The US Department of Energy has a long list of do’s and don’ts with regard to energy saving which you can see here.

Save money while travelling

[Read more →]

Discounted Swimwear

Summer will be upon us before we know it and I am of a mind to go shopping for some swim gear. You may want to check out the links in my previous post about swimwear as well; and we’ll see what else we can find in terms of swim wear and other accessories.

Here I found a bunch of on sale clearance items including swim goggles, one piece suits from Speedo, Nike, swim caps, kids items triathlon suits, racing suits warm ups, and lots of other stuff. For instance this one piece bathing suit is just $19.75 down from $49.99.

[Read more →]

Pamper Yourself… At a Discount

Really it seems as though long relaxed sessions at the salon getting myself a bit of pampering is relegated to the past. Going for periodic hair sessions or getting that French manicure seems rather out of reach these days. I have been doing a bit of thinking to come up with some ideas to pamper myself without burning a hole in my pocket recently.

Now at the end of a hard day I would like something like this heat massager for a bit of indulging of myself. This one promises to get rid of the tension, aches and pains as well as the fatigue and loosen the knots for you. The massager fits into the chair and the mechanism travels up and down the back in three programs.  This massager is available on eBay for $65.95.

[Read more →]

Discount Art

I have been thinking of making my living room just a tad high brow, by adding some art on the walls. I mean you grow up, right, and then you can’t have all these sophomoric posters up on the wall, which while may be amusing have got to go! I may not know a lot about art, but as they say, I know what I like! While I love Monet’s style and could not afford a single one of his works if I won a lottery, thankfully I can get prints or reproductions reasonably priced.

Here I found available hand painted Oil Painting Replicas of Art masterpieces.  They claim to send you an image of your original hand painted, reproduction oil painting to approve BEFORE they ship it to you showing every detail of the original oil Painting. So you can have yourself an actual painted Sunflowers, by Van Gogh, probably one of the most famous paintings in the world hanging on your wall for the price of $74.80. Or perhaps you may like Monet, the way I do and want this classic painting such as the one pictured here hanging on the wall.

[Read more →]

Tea: A Gift of Warmth

I have recently been reading up a lot of about tea, its health benefits, and it healing nature and getting to like the drink a lot too. Incidentally my significant other loves tea and I think a tea assortment would make a lovely, unusual and classy gift not only for him but for anyone really who enjoys tea and views tea drinking as part of social intercourse rather than the mere consumption of a beverage.  And to be sure tea is not an easy subject to navigate: there is green tea, white tea, black tea, herbal tea, oolong tea, the list is seemingly endless.

At this online tea store I found some lovely tea gift sets, including samplers of different kinds of tea: green, white, black etc., and tea hampers that include a unique tea pot that strains tea for you.

[Read more →]