I CHEATED

Yes! I cheated! 


But definitely NOT what you might be thinking. 


It is amazing the kind of attention you receive when you make a declaration like 'I cheated'. 

Eons ago on my wedding blog (www.weddingtrendy.com - now sold) I wrote an article 'How I Got Married' and it was one of my most read articles. Apart from those that were close enough to know how I got married, it dawned on me that quite a number of people just want to know what kind of drama you have been involved in! (By the way - the article was written by a guest blogger not me!)

So back to the topic. I have cheated. Have you ever cheated?

NO! I am not asking about those times that you 'tattooed' all the answers to an examination paper on your beautiful thigh (women) or the inside your palms (men). You can deny it on social media but nobody is judging you (yeah right).

I am also not going on about the times you were asked to take your medications and you hid them under your tongue just to fool the nurse/your mother and you later spit it out when they were not watching?

Now that we have the obvious definition of childhood cheating defined, I will define my own logic of 'cheating'


MY CHEATING DEFINED

Have you ever had to read a 45 page manual only to find out that you can summarise the entire manual on three (3) pages of A4 paper?  Having worked on a few major projects in the last ten (10) years, I have had to create my own 'cheat sheets' for work instructions to use at work or as training scripts for other project users.

IMO - Why do people use 500 words when 5 can do? I don't know.

Anyway - yes - that kind of cheating is what I am talking about (Phew! You can all breathe now. Laugh. Boring right?).

I will let you into a few more 'cheats' or share your own favourite 'cheats'


CHEAT 1: MORRISON'S NON-STICK POT!

I have a set of Meyer's non-stick pots since 2005 and after 10 years of service, I started saving towards buying another set because they do not come cheap. In the interim, I took a chance and bought the non-stick 'Morrisons' brand pot and I was pleasantly surprised that this affordable pot is truly non-stick as it says on the box! I could almost boast my food taste better ( I refused to be harassed by hubby's constant claim that he cooks better)

Apart from the handles that heats up, this pot is amazing to use to cook and clean. I will advise my folks to always use a kitchen towel or gloves to protect your hands when using it to cook (and not go African grandma style using your bare hands while wincing inside lol).

Before giving out this 'cheat' I have gone and bought a few of these pots because I know once the word get's out - Morrisons shops will be swept clean of them. Lessons learnt :)

Where to get: Any Morrisons Shop in the UK (I checked - not available on the online store)

Cost: Less than £20 

Photo: Courtesy Hubby's Phone!
(Erm - please note that there are two pots in this photo. A big and smaller size of the non-stick pots. Both available at Morrisons)

CHEAT 2: FITTING THE DUVET COVER:

If you are like me, taking out the super king size bed duvet cover for a wash is not a problem but fitting it back usually is - until I found out how to do it better that is! I have since shared the tip with loads of friends and we are happier :)

I will let this video do the job. Please watch. I promise - you will be pleasantly rewarded.

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UBnKNPxNgg8
Credit: CoralTV - Copyright Infringement Not Intended!


CHEAT 3:  DETTOL MOULD AND MILDEW REMOVER

I am blessed to have a home with a beautiful layout. Whenever I could, I love taking long warm showers in family bathroom or en-suite shower at home. I also have a fit if they are not being looked after lol. I discovered the Dettol Mould and Mildew remover and it works like magic. It keeps cleaning efforts at a minimum and all you need to do is spray around the shower or bath tub after each bath, leave it on for about 5 minutes and voila it's clean! - No hard scrubbing, no sweating (or swearing lol). You can use the sponge for the 'finishing' but even without, it cleans deep.

Caution: Do take care if using this - it has some acid and you don't want to ruin some of your taps. (Has not done any damage to mine but you never know). Also be aware of the fumes so have some ventilation in place when using this.


Source: Any Tesco, Asda, Morrison or high street shop in the UK (either online or in store)
Cost: Less than £4
Photo: Copyright Infringement Not Intended!

CHEAT 4: SOAP AND TONER COMBO.

The Royale pinkish toner and soap range is still my best find for 2015. The Royale Beauty products range are fab!

I break out easily and found the Kojic Papaya soap a 'stop' action on acne breakouts! I combine this as my daily regime (and after applying makeup) and I have kept breakouts at bay. I have recommended the products to a lot of friends and everyone have the same positive feedback. In these dreaded UK (US/Canada/African) weather, our skin does need some TLC.This soap is not limited to women - a few guys I know use this Kojic Papaya soap - apparently it is great on the skin after shaving!

Other products in the range that I use are the Anti-ageing soap (in the mornings) and the Pinkish Glow Smoothening cream which is fantastic as a make up primer.

Here is a review of the product by a fan of the soap and toner:

Source: https://www.facebook.com/BellaNiqqe
Cost: Soap £6 and toner £12. (excluding postage)
Photo: Copyright Infringement Not Intended!

These are the cheats I am sharing this time - please share yours!


Trillion Love Always!

GO QUEEN!!!

Thanks to you all my friends and fans, yours truly have been getting various phone calls and emails to mention products and to review services on the blog.

For this opportunity I say thank you!

To support my network of friends and contacts, I will be talking about 'products and services'. So if you are in this category, please contact me to discuss how I can support you.

Go QUEEN!

Starting off, here is the 'Queen of Gele' - The '5 Minutes to Perfection Gele'. 

'Victoria'

Queen of Gele  (or QoG as I like to shorten it to) is a creative prototype of a Mother and Daughter Collabo  (And PSquare fans echoes - eh, eh, eh, we want some collabo!). Dayo Amusu and her daughter in their own words, they describe 'QoG':

Queen of Gele was formed after several failed attempts by the brand founders to tie the gele themselves. They tried it all: attending various gele tying courses, spending precious hours following “easy to do” YouTube tutorials and even having to pay at parties to have it tied…

Born from a love of African fashion, Queen of Gele is the must-have gele (head-gear) brand for ladies who want to complement their stunning traditional outfits with edgy, fashionable and on-trend head ties without the stress and sweat that comes with attempting to tie the gele themselves.

Don't get me wrong - I love all my MUA and Gele artists and this is not to undermine their efforts - however QoG might just save the day for some ladies that need a ready made gele. After all our favourite moinmoin now comes in a tin!

So I am about to cheat my way to a party this weekend and want to order my 'Victoria', 'Remi' or 'Susanne' from the line of Queen of Gele and I dare you to challenge me that I cheated!!!

Visit www.queenofgele.com for more information.

'Victoria'

'Suzanne'

'Remi'

Queen of Gele - Supported by Timi OBADEJO.

Trillion Love Always!

Timi

ATTITUDE TO ALTITUDE II

I loved my first IT Marketing job because I had the opportunity to meet some wonderful colleagues and because I had a very brilliant boss.

Career:

Josephine had an attitude. A 'Bring It On' attitude that does not budge to a 'No'.

She was young, up-beat and got her head screwed on right. Back in the 90s, she started a Microsoft Certified Training Centre in Lagos, Nigeria called Techno-Logic - a start up company taking up the same stage with the likes of IT 'Big Boys' (NITT, Siemens, NTC etc. ). Her approach to taking a share of the market was bold. BUT she took it.

What was lacking in the 'ageing' Big Boys competition was a staff of young, vibrant graduates who were carefully selected to work at Techno-Logic.  Back then the company was known for its quality in IT training and service delivery, a classy office layout and trendy staff that always had a smile and served with the right attitude! From the Support Staff to the MD, it was 'class' all the through the company.

At a point, there was no contract we could not win. No matter how big and mighty the opponents were, Techno-Logic somehow wins.

Adopting the right attitude did not come easy. You MUST pay attention to every detail. Your attitude as you enter the main building to the way you walk to your seat or cubicle, has got to be professional. Josephine taught me a few lessons about quality presentation.  Josephine will never let you send a letter out to a client with a comma out of place. And I mean it. To a young 'babe' this can be frustrating - but I had the right attitude and learnt a lot. Thank you Jo (as we fondly call her when she was in a good mood).

Academics:

Before graduation, my university days was fun at LASU (yeah - bite me. I did not go to UNILAG).  But like every other students in Nigeria,  you still have to deal with the malaria fever, 'hunger fever' and back-to-back lectures. LASU had a medical centre which of course was forever busy dealing with all types of students' ailment. There was a Lady Doctor that 'heals' with her smile and the way she takes her time to listen, ask questions and then explain what could be wrong with you (if not hunger that is LOL) and then prescribed the right medication. She was an angel. In contrast, she also had a colleague - a male Doctor. (Not all male Doctors are like this. This is just a bad apple). He is the exact opposite! This Doctor is already writing your prescription as soon as you are sat in his office. Needless to say. Some students go back to their hostels to self medicate if the male Doctor was on call.

Relationships:

I live in Aberdeen and social life here must be 'stimulated'. The city is full of Africans/Black but for some reasons their lifestyle is 'home-work-church/mosque and then home again. (Story for another time). Hubby was born to be a 'host' and so we made a lot of acquaintances quickly. Whilst I am not going to be picky, I found myself making a few girlfriends who someday I will write about. I have met Mope (Lapopo lol), Eloho, Seun (God rest her soul) and some other lovely ladies and their families that I have now grown fond of. Out of these, one of them has come to be my tallest friend EVER - ELOHO!

Eloho and I (and I am wearing a 2inch heel!)

(Not that I have height challenges but Eloho is tall men! lol). You would think her being so tall means she will be as 'strong' - the funny thing however is that she is a 'baby' at heart! As we got close, we realised we have walked similar paths in life and somehow 'trust' each other enough be share our visions.

Eloho was born to sing. She hosts an annual music event 'ENGAGE' every summer. The event has made such a big impact across Aberdeen City, that there is a buzz of excitement when the event approaches. The event is always so memorable and I know this year's is going to be mega because Muyiwa 'Riversongz' will be ministering - so Aberdeen is going to get some!

Being in the spotlight do come with challenges, but Eloho has remained steadfast. Her attitude even when she is hurting and just want to give up is ' I Will Yet Arise'. Even though sometimes I have to send some 'nasty' shocks to her system to snap her out of her moods. She is yet to meet my challenge to spread her wings. But I wont give up on her.

By the way, ENGAGE is scheduled for the 22nd of August 2015 at the Music Hall Aberdeen so if you are about in the city, do come along and please ask to see me! Yours truly has been given a mega assignment to 'manage' the event. :)

'Frenemies':

A few weeks ago I was talking to another friend of mine who shares the same birthday with me. She was distraught. She explained how the 'autocorrect' in her beloved iPhone sent the wrong/negative message to someone she was supposedly sending a 'compliment' to. The message was delivered as 'you don't look good' or something like that. My friend is a sweet soul. She sent the text and forgot all about it. She only realised something was wrong when the recipient replied with an 'angry' tone. My friend tried everything she could to explain herself and make the situation right. She called several times, sent texts and other forms of messages yet this other 'friend' did not return her call. I felt bad for my girlfriend but calmed her down and reminded her how sweet and thoughtful she is. I have known her for years and I can say I know that bit about her. I know she did not mean it. However her day was almost ruined because of that 'technology' mishap. The other friend eventually returned her calls 24hours (or more) later and they made up. However my mind kept ringing 'Attitude, attitude, attitude'! Why will anyone subject a friend to such a 'waiting' torture before returning a call to allow a situation to be rectified? Dealing with her own anger perhaps? Oh well..

'Angela':

I have seen a few Tyler Perry films (and now hooked to "The Haves and The Have Nots'). In the two part film 'Why Did I Get Married', there was a character called 'Angela'. Oh Angela was a woman and half. She raise 'hell' at every 'thoughts' of her husband (Marcus) looking or even speaking to another woman. She will tell anyone off if she believes the person is out of order and not in a very nice way. Angela walks into a bad situation and she makes it 'badder'. Despite all her 'faults' her husband loved her mindlessly and her friends love her too. But at some point, her husband had to put his foot down to deal with her attitude (momentarily) but hey ho, Angela was 'back' in the second part of the film.

I have inserted this personality in this post because not every woman is an 'Angela' but occasionally, you have to be an 'Angela' to deal with some nasty attitudes you get, some nasty people you encounter or some nasty situation you are faced with. Yeah - I know a lot of people will not 'agree' to having some sort of 'Angela' in them, and will go all 'Churchy-sermon-on-the-mountain' on the matter but like a friend will say - like a tube of toothpaste, you never know what's in a human being until you squeeze!

Final Thoughts:

I have chosen to write about attitudes. Some attitudes celebrates us and some are best imagined. Of course I can relate a few horrific experiences and attitudes that I have experienced in my personal and professional life.

Can I echo this statement in conclusion:

Want to share yours thoughts?

ATTITUDE TO ALTITUDE I

Hubby: If you like, you can squeeze your face into the shape of the Nigeria map, we ain't going! Case closed.

Me: (Silence)

 I was a single for a while. I was used to taking my decisions, going out when I want, where I want and when I want.  But here I am checking the 'weather forecast' before taking the plunge.

Over the years, I have realised that making a fuss does not change the 'weather forecast'. However a calm response to a situation like this usually means that 30 minutes after that outburst, we might be on our way to that place he said "we ain't going''.

There is indeed a popular saying which goes that ' your attitude determines your altitude'.

I am looking at my community and into the years past and leaving out the obvious (in church or leadership) I can report my experience on the following:

Academics:
During my undergraduate studies about 2 decades ago (Jeez! Am I old?). I was at Dr. Abisogun's Leigh's class - just before the final year examination, my mates and I sat through a 2 hour long lecture and we were so ready to go for lunch break. We were never bored of his lecture because he has a gift with words. However, lunch was a-calling.

Just a few minutes past the 2hour slot, we were getting ready for his 'best of luck' speech which was his norm before every examination; he announced that he has a few notes to dictate and before he could finished his sentence, ALL of us gasped, moan, yelled and upset our dearest 'Abi Lincoln'! Little did we know that he was just about to give us 'tips' to study for his set exams but our attitude threw him off!!! Shocked, Dr. Leigh looked at us, shook his head and walked off.

In my 4 years of knowing him at the Uni, I have never ever seen him upset. Some of us had some sense afterwards and went to his office to apologise. It however took another few days of apologies from the whole class of about 80, another 2 hour long lecture and sitting straight without a murmur that we eventually got into his good books again. At the end of the lecture not only did he wish us well and gave us the 'tips' but he gave everyone of us a parting rare gift  - The 'IF' by Rudyard Kipling.

That gift is and remains my life long reflection about 'ATTITUDE'.

I reflect on 'IF' again and again. When I: am waiting for an opportunity, thirst for knowledge, accomplished a goal, feel discouraged; help others out on a project, or simply being a mom (when I desperately need some cuddles myself) . I reflect on 'IF'. If you have never heard of 'IF' here is a copy:

Another lecturer at the Uni with a very positive and supportive attitude was Professor Adisa. No matter what he was doing or reading. If you knock on his office door and he is there? He drops EVERYTHING, ask you to sit down and give you his 100%+1 attention. AND he ALWAYS has a solution for whatever ails you academically. I remembered vividly that he sorted out one issue I had with another female lecturer in my faculty who represented 'nightmare' in the mind of every student in my faculty (story for another day).

Hurrah!! To all the educational teachers, lecturers and mentors with positive attitudes out there!

Family: 

My Mom (bless her soul) taught my siblings and I: to have respect, great family values and a loving and giving attitude. However, she is one of the Nigerian Moms that never spared the rod - so if you give her a bad attitude a hot leftie will land on your back! :) And My Mom gave the best of back-hands lefties that never misses - the ones that makes you jump out of your nasty attitude pronto!!!

Sometimes I wish I can just land some hot back-hands on some people when I get bad vibes from them but....I try and reflect on the folks with positive attitudes that I have consciously kept in my network  to keep me going.

One person that easily comes to mind is my Hubby. It does not matter how bad that disagreement was. He never ever wakes up the next day thinking about it. Next to GOD, my hubby has has taught me how to let go and stop being an 'archeologist' - digging into the past to examine the hurts people have hurl at me. And I have gotten a good dose of hurts.

I will be biased if I stay on the family path because I know everyone love their families (I hope!).

Business:

On the business side of things, a precious friend and brother is DJ Abass! In my opinion, he defines the word 'attitude' and lives a thorough 'customer service' lifestyle. It does not matter how rich, poor, old or young you are, give him a call and you can bet he will return your call within the hour (and within reason).

I was really pleased he was on board at my wedding.
Being a creative, I have dealt with a lot of contractors. I have seen the good, the bad and the ugly side of attitudes! For example - I wanted to book a service sometime ago for the first time. Guess the attitude I got? 'Erm - that one is very expensive o'. It took every positive cell in my brain to carry on with the transaction. So what if it is expensive? Was I going to pay with money or blood?

Career:

Working in a global team over the last 10 years means working with different types of people and attitude from around the world. This professionally means you as an individual have to be politically, socially and mentally correct at all times.

I have been blessed so far and not have to deal with someone with an attitude that I am unable to cope with. Of course there are some folks you just thank God you do not share a roof with! :)

If you have read this post and the examples I have given, you will notice they were all men. OK - I hope to post an article soon on the women. So do not fret.

I want to keep this article short. However I will say this - whatever you do as an individual - PLEASE have a good attitude! It works!

So let's hear it - anyone with a good or nasty attitude been your way lately? Lets share!

Trillion Love Always!

Timi