Every year, thousands of people from around the globe wearing terrible sweaters (or jumpers) travel to a huge electronics fair in Las Vegas to get all over excited about the latest breakthroughs in consumer gadgets. None of which is useful. And none of which will work.

One exhibitor was displaying something like a combined cigarette lighter and coat hanger. A dishwasher that you could use in a car. Why? Which makes you wonder who on earth thought: “If only there were some way of washing these breakfast bowls and coffee mugs up before I get home.”

Then there was a vending machine that can bake a cake. Amazing. But the whole point of a vending machine I thought is that it delivers food and beverages immediately. Not in 25 minutes.

But the invention that really caught a lot of attention was a belt that warns the wearer when they’ve eaten too much. This seems unnecessary. I wear a belt every day, and although it’s quite basic in so far as it’s just a leather strap with a buckle and very low-tech, it’s perfectly capable of letting me know when it’s time to put the knife and fork down.

Now, the past year, I have really begun to gain weight. I’m not eating anymore than I was but I am exercising less. I used to live 2 blocks from the beach in Marina del Rey and I walked nearly everywhere – you have to, there’s so much traffic. My office was in Santa Monica and if I knew I had no meetings to attend that day that would require me to drive to Camarillo or Thousand Oaks, I would walk to the office and depending on my schedule, rather than get a cab home, I would walk home too.

I have mostly always been very fit; I was a national swimming champion and I used to train around 24 hours a week. But when I noticed I was beginning to grow gills and sound a bit like a dolphin, I packed up swimming and I started to play rugby. Rugby is a great sport, it’s a well-disciplined, respectful and friendly sport even when you are charging into one another at the same force as a Shelby Mustang. And as great as the sport is, it’s a barbaric one. In fact, if I had had a son, I would have done absolutely everything possible to stop him playing.

The strain it puts on your knees is immense and if it isn’t your knees it hits, it’s your back. So, I’ll hit the gym but then every so often my knee will give way, and it puts me out for a week. I could go swimming but the community where I live doesn’t allow us to swim before 8am, so I don’t get the chance to go before work and finding the time to go when I get home is almost impossible as we either have an overspill of work or we have to go grocery shopping, homework, gymnastics or dancing for my daughter or whatever the case may be.

So, I have decided to take action or should I say my wife; Lizzie has decided I am going to take action. She has got me on to an Arbonne Detox Diet which means supper last night was a thin piece of raw fish with a fleurette of cauliflower, and lunch today will be a spoon full of peas, which as long as it doesn’t involve the nerve agent, Kale, then I think I can suffer it.

Tonight, I shall have a bowl of light broth and then to test my resolve, next week, I can only eat 2 carrot sticks a day for three days and then zinc-based nuclear shakes for the next four, and the result of all this means; the person selling this product will become extremely rich. I don’t normally buy into any of this. My motto is just to eat less. That usually does the trick. I am a firm believer in eat when you are hungry, stop when you’re full. If you think your hungry, have a glass of water and if you’re still hungry, then, you should eat. But seeing how well my wife has marveled at this earlier this year and how it has improved her health, I am less reluctant to give it a go. She was ultra-keen to give it a go after her dad sadly and suddenly passed away whilst playing Golf and although she is not at all overweight, neither was her dad.

I’m one week in and the only thing I’m struggling with is no coffee. I only drink 3 or 4 cups a day but it is the one vice I really enjoy. I have lost some weight and an inch of my bust already but more importantly, I feel better and I’m not missing the coffee that much.

Now, I know if I had the time, I would go swimming more and even though we have our maids come to clean our house weekly. We still struggle with time. That said we do make sure that Sunday’s are family time, no matter what.

This last week, we have booked 9 new clients all of whom said their deciding factor in getting a professional house cleaning service was time. They just simply don’t have the time.

Of the 9 new clients we booked this week, all have said the priority was to use a Licensed, Bonded & Insured maid service. A company they can trust and that our excellent reputation, referrals and reviews on Google and Facebook Reviews also swayed their decision.

We are now the #1 Ranked Maid Service in the area for Customer Satisfaction and we have achieved this by simply working hard and ensuring our clients needs are met at all times.

You’ve Got Maids of Thousand Oaks, Malibu & Camarillo offers a full service weekly, bi-weekly or monthly house cleaning service. We also offer 52 Point Spring Cleans – a real deep clean, Move in or Move Out Cleans, Post-Construction Cleans, Pre-Party or After Party Cleans.

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We cover Agoura Hills, Calabasas, Camarillo, Hidden Hills, Lake Sherwood, Malibu, Newbury Park, Oak Park, Oxnard, Ventura, Westlake Village and into Santa Barbara County.