A friend asked me not a very long time ago: »Did it not help you to hear from your friends and family that you are not fat?« I answered: »No, it did not.« Being a slim beauty, she was curious: »How so?« My explanation was as follows: »You see. It’s pictures that really get to you. You see them everywhere – the professional models. These pictures are very strong messages to our subconscious. Stronger than any words. We are being brain-washed since childhood.« She was appalled: »That’s horrible.« I smiled a most content smile and told her the secret: »But you can beat these...

I would never sell the dish-washer and the laundry-machine, for I am too lazy to do all the washing myself. Yet, there is a thing I discovered: the more machines do for you at home, the more you will have to exercises and pay for it too. When I left my job as a scientific researcher years ago, I started writing my first book. Yet, I did not think very highly of it. In my eyes I became a housewife. And my self-esteem suffered a low blow. Today, five years from the moment I stopped pursuing a career, I am beginning to value the housework. Firstly, it is work that deserves respect as any other honest...