My answer to your first question: "half measures" means to NOT do something with 100% effort or seriousness. In your example the woman does things very seriously and with lots of effort. My answer to your second question: Slide, slid and skid all have very similar meanings. 'Slide' (v) is when an object moves across a solid surface. A good example of this is in an ice rink. Imagine if you tried to walk on an ice rink without wearing ice skates! You would slide around the ice rink (instead of walk around the ice rink). This is a video of someone sliding on ice. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J5X9i48Lg9g Slid is the past tense verb of slide. E.g. "yesterday I slid on some ice". Skid (v) is a very similar verb to slide, but it is used with vehicles like cars, bikes, etc. For example, if a road is very wet, and cars drive very fast, we could say they might skid on the road. Here is an example of a car skidding http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SIq9heznFDc

It means do something with half a preparation, half a mind, half willingly, etc, etc.

she always finishes everything she never leaves anything undone

half measures , half-measures [plural] British English actions or methods that are not effective in dealing with the whole of a difficult problem: "Half measures will not fix the health care system." In your example the woman did everything thoroughly.

Thank you :)