Todays Lady

Would you like to know how to get your car repaired and not get ripped off? Well now that's a silly question, I know unless you really don't care about giving someone your hard earned money. I know I'd rather spend that money on a great outfit. So I knew I had to get what I wanted or someone else would. I found that knowledge and some well timed complaints are great tools to get me what I want. As you keep reading you'll feel confident that you can get what you want even if you know nothing about cars, I'm not talking about taking a class on car repair, no something much simpler than that.

Check this out. Take a second and jot this down, there are some critical steps to take to keep from getting ripped off.

Essential steps to take before just complaining to a car mechanic

The set up, this takes a bit of work but it can save you thousands of dollars, plus you have to have ammunition to get what you want.

Get more than one quote about what's wrong with the car. Don't ever trust the first person you go to unless you already have an established relationship with the mechanic. Request an itemized quote.

Once you get this complain about how high the cost is, looked shocked, even if you don't know anything about what the repairs should cost.

At this point you'll often have them work to convince you that their costs are the best in town, or they'll sell you on some particular aspect of the shop. Don't fall for this.

Just walk away, let him know you'll get back to them.

Critical, ask how long the job should take be sure you jot this down you'll need this later.

1. Compare Based on the quotes go online or to a library and compare the costs you were quoted with the warehouse cost of the parts.

2. Call back anonymously and ask for the hourly rate and the mark up. Don't be surprised if you don't' get the mark up amount, that's easy to figure out.

Okay now let's make a simple comparison

If you take the total cost per part, and add in the hourly rate for the job what do you see?

For example:

If the hourly rate is $40.00, this will vary depending on the place you live and the shop.

And the warehouse cost for parts, compare this to the shop costs for the parts.

Hourly Rate $40.00 job 3 hours total $120.00

Parts from the ware house $300.00 now take away the total from

Parts from the Mechanic $ 400.00, mark up is $100.00.

So in this example the cost for the work is $ 120.00 + $100.00 = $220.00

Compare the quotes, who has the lowest?

Next choose two:

Revisit the shops dress nice but not too nice you don't want to give him the impression that you've plenty of money lying around the house.

Find out who would handle your repair, depending on what's wrong they may have one guy who specializes in this.

Complement the shop; tell them what caused you to choose their shop for business. Thank him for his time, and then let him know what you've learned.

Complain about the high prices of other shops in the area, tell him you appreciate that the markup is not as high here. But tell him you've found another shop that's similar in price and then ask him why you should consider this shop over the other.

Do this at both shops and then make your decision.

These valuable tips will keep your money where it belongs with you, not with someone who thinks they can get the upper hand just because you're a lady; complaining and knowledge, now you're armed to get what you want.

In our electronic age, it seems that everyone is either Twittering, Facebooking, MySpacing and so on. If you're not on the net, well, you're not connected. Guess who else is joining us on the net? You guessed it - the sexual predator.

A recent study done in February 2009 by MySpace revealed that they had over 90,000 registered sex offenders on its site. This is after a strict policy of not allowing sex offenders access. They promptly removed them. Guess where they went? Sentinel SAFE, a security technology firm that helps social networks identify sex offenders, found over 8,000 of them were lurking on Facebook. Needless to say, this is just the tip of the iceberg.

So you know they exist, but what can you do to protect yourself? Here are a couple of common sense checkpoints to keep in mind when you are posting online.

• Make sure that your "friends" are your trusted friends and note your security protocol as to what folks can and cannot see on your page
• Take a look at the pictures you are posting, especially of your kids. Are there bus numbers, school names, house numbers, recognizable landmarks in the background?
• Eliminate dates and times of where you are going or have been. It makes it way too easy to stalk you.

Remember, that once a predator can connect you with your child, all they need are a few basic details regarding pets, vacations, schools, employment and friends to convince your child they are not a "stranger" and to let them in the house, pick them up or leave your neighborhood.

Always look at what you are posting from the other side. Ask yourself, if I wanted to hurt my family, how could I use this information? Once you have the answer, fix it so it cannot be used or limit who has access to the information.

In today's world, sexual predators have more access to information about us than they ever did. Let's not make their jobs any easier by leaving the "internet door open" for them to come in.

Six pack abs craze had been there in many countries for a very long time. It is that which gives one a flat chested, hardy and strong figure and is something that can be achieved only through rigorous body work and by enough of out throwing perspiration.

Having six abs also helps in having sturdy strong arms but the negative link associated with it is that it gives the body a crunchy pain and thus one should take care to deliberately avoid the crunch based exercises and practice those ones that are simply done on a mat in a proper environment and ambiance.

But this act of having six packs is considered to be a highly unwomanly act as women are of the weaker sex and are unable to continue such terrible, rigorous, painful exercise schedules. Many people also feel that having six packs abs tend to give women a male-structured figure. But on the other hand, it is having this six pack abs that gives a woman sexy figure. But having six pack abs women is considerably a very new and exciting concept taken up in many discussions amongst woman everywhere. But the women must know that they should take a back step from the intense routine of having six pack abs.

The medical team presents a view that as a result of doing such exercises women face hormonal changes during menopause. Hence, it is very important, that the women should consult their doctors before taking up any six abs exercises.

The exercises meant for the men and women are definitely different, to suit the physical structure of their body. Women are not that physically fit and hence cannot lift heavy amounts of weight. Therefore, their tenure of making a six pack abs body is generally more than that of the men. But it is very important to keep this in mind that such exercises should be avoided by the pregnant women under all circumstances to ensure the safety of their child as well as themselves.

The woman who wants to have a six pack abs figure must start working for it from the teenage or at the most by the early twenties and continue doing so till the end thirties. This is the age which gives their physic, the proper toning to have this six pack abs figure.

Some of the basic requirements for having a six abs figure for a woman are:

• Healthy Eating: This includes avoiding processed and fast foods and just having healthy, nutritious ones, especially fruits and vegetables.

• Doing Regular Exercises: this is based on strict discipline that helps to reduce unnecessary belly fat. Such exercises generally include consumption of fruits, vegetables, lean meats, nuts and whole grains.

• Abs Training which helps to firm up the abdominal muscles and give a flatter look to the belly. Such exercises include crunches, plank holds, abdominal bicycles, hanging leg raises and wheel rollouts.

Women have worn dresses as their main style of clothing, throughout history. While the dress styles have changed, one thing has remained; the dress is still the main representation of women and femininity. For example; think about the last time you went to the restroom and saw the picture demonstrating which is male, and which is female. Was the female caricature in a dress? Most likely it was.

Women moved away from wearing dresses, as the main clothing style, starting in the 1960s, when the jeans explosion began and the women's revolution took hold. The 1960s were also filled with capri pants, giving women even more choices away from dresses and skirts. Towards the end of the 1960s jeans and pants were being worn more often than dresses. Today there is a surge of women's dresses popularity. While women still wear jeans, shorts and other forms of clothing, dress popularity is on the rise.

The rise in the popularity of dresses can be attributed to the new vintage dresses popularity, as worn by Katy Perry and Dita Von Teese. But more than just those two Hollywood stars, dresses are being flaunted by all TV and movie stars. The vintage styles such as pin up girl dresses and pencil skirt styles, are part of a rising fashion craze.

Vintage styles are more popular as dresses because, historically speaking, women wore dresses almost 100% of the time. Indeed, women even wore "housedresses" while cleaning house and doing chores at home. Dresses were the essence of femininity. While women may still enjoy wearing dresses, there was a time period when dresses were considered as the only proper clothing for women, which created a sense of forced style. Pointedly not wearing dresses, or being refusing to be forced to wear dresses, was part of the women's revolution. Now, with women's rights being more prevalent, though still not complete, women can feel more comfortable wearing dresses to work, without feeling as though they will be seen as too feminine.

Women's dresses for work are a mixture of pencil skirt dresses and, thanks to Michelle Obama, sleeveless style dresses. Popular brands are J Crew and Jones of New York. While sun dresses are not as popular as other dresses, for work, there are many dresses which can be worn in warmer weather that are also professional looking. Women are choosing classic styles of dresses, for work, such as copies of the little black dress modeled by Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany's.

When the sun is shining and the weather is warm, women are choosing vintage sun dresses. Vintage sun dresses are the halter dresses with Peter Pan collars and ties around the neck. These gorgeous dresses can have pencil skirts, like in the late 1960s, or the swing skirt style from the 1950s. Lovely reds and navy blues with polka dots or white collars with navy bodice.

Plus sizes are available in any style of dress you wish, including sun dresses and evening dresses.

When you're shopping for your dresses this year the colors and styles in fashion are yellows and greens. For evening dresses off one shoulder is very popular. Ruffles and lace are back in style, but Lycra isn't. Some great online shops offer inexpensive dresses and most offer free shipping with a certain amount of purchase.