Procrastinators Beware: V-Day Can Easily Become Paint Day

Sun., Feb. 8, 1998

Susan English Staff Writer

This from the To-Do list in the Jan./Feb. Men’s Health magazine for Feb. 14: V-Day. If you haven’t done anything yet, be thankful it’s Saturday. Simply say, “My Valentine to you, my love, is to spend the entire day with you, acquiescing to your every wish.” After you’re done painting the house, she might let you back in.

Uh, huh. And we wonder what the poor people think: “Everybody looks at baseball and thinks of the glamor. But to us, the ultimate is to have the evenings to sit together with nothing to do.” - Jami Holman, wife of retired Mariners pitcher Brian Holman (From: February Seattle Homes magazine)

Gain weight, lose weight, it’s still not good enough: Some cultures see premarital plumpness as sexually attractive; others, like ours, place prestige in impossibly thin figures. Regardless, the societal characteristic that is almost universal is women’s dissatisfaction with their bodies and a pressure to go to sometimes extraordinary lengths to achieve an often unhealthy ideal. Equally prevalent is the lack of concern most men in most cultures express about their weight. (From: February Marie Claire)

Just in case you were wondering: The target audience for Donald Trump’s new book, “‘Trump: The Art of the Comeback” - “Anyone in business, especially single blonde women.” (From: January New Woman)

We guess it had to happen: “Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus” - the book - has spawned Men Are From Mars & Women Are From Venus - the magazine. The book’s author, John Gray, is editorial adviser of the magazine. About 750,000 copies of the “preview issue” went on sale in late January and the articles range from improving communication to romance and sexual relations between Martians and Venusians. (From: Newsday news service)

Thinking about making a change? In its annual census, “Entrepreneurial Hot Spots: The Best Places in America to Start and Grow a Company,” Cognetics, a Massachusetts-based company, cites (in order) Nevada, Utah and Arizona as the top three states for entrepreneurs. (From Worth magazine)

Quote of the week: “I’d like to throw in the towel the moment I have someone supporting me. I don’t know how feminists persuaded women that waking up to an alarm clock is a good thing.” - MSNBC political commentator Ann Coulter (From: January New Woman) , DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color photo

MEMO: Susan English is the Weekend Editor at The Spokesman-Review, contact her by mail at 999 W. Riverside, Spokane, WA 99201; by e-mail at susane@spokesman.com or by phone at 459-5488.

Susan English is the Weekend Editor at The Spokesman-Review, contact her by mail at 999 W. Riverside, Spokane, WA 99201; by e-mail at susane@spokesman.com or by phone at 459-5488.

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