This is The Way I Blog

I have been thinking about what to blog for today and after reading Heidi's topic for her post today, I thought it would be a great topic to post about it here. She has some questions that I find I really would like to address but that would take up all her comment box so what a better place to answer her than here on my own blog.

I just recently started blogging. I first found out about blogging from my friend Swirl and when she first sent me her blog URL, I wasn't really paying that much attention to it. I did not catch on then about what blogging really is, I would get on her blog and read her posts and then get off. But then she started taking mine and my kids' pictures whenever we get together and she'd be like, "I'm so blogging this", I started reading her blog not on a daily basis but two or three times a week. Then I started reading blogs that are on her blog roll and started getting a pretty insight on why people blog and I decided I could probably do it too.

See, both mine and my husband's family live far away from us and I am not that diligent when it comes to keeping in contact with them. Honestly, if my mother-in-law never bother to ask for pictures of the kids, I probably would have never bothered sending her any, that's how lazy I am. So the thought of blogging in order to keep family and friends updated on the happenings of my family's life was very intriguing. And then when I started blogging, I started reading some of the blogs on my friend's roll and even explore the blogasphere and I find that blogging is like a great out for me, for the lack of a better word for it. It's like I've discovered this playground or lounge so to speak, where moms or women from all over get together to find camaraderie and strangers in the same cause can find friendship... and I like it.

I've always said that housekeeping is not my strongest suit and I always feel like there is something seriously wrong with me. I mean even the lousiest housekeeper finds at least one thing that they like about housekeeping and that they find some kinda of satisfaction from like doing laundry or dishes, yet I am still trying to find one small thing that I can actually declare as something that I enjoy doing that resembles housekeeping. That makes me feel like I was wired wrong or something. But as I started blogging and reading different blogs, I find that I am not as alone as I thought or that I am not weird like I thought I am.

There are women out there who are struggling with this like I am and for the first time I feel like I am not alone at all and I feel this closeness to these bloggers. Now whenever I feel like I'm losing control of my life I get online, read some of blogs {there are a lot of blogs I like reading cuz they're fun}, I feel better and get back off again and ready to tackle my life again. There are so many people struggling out there that maybe I was too ignorant of before, yet are dealing with their struggles marvelously that it make me realize how grateful I should be and that my life is not as bad as I thought it was sometimes.

Another reason I give blogging a chance is because I do have thoughts that go through my head everyday. Sometimes these thoughts keep me up at night and even wake me up in the wee hours of the morning...yeah, my baby is not the only one that keeps me up at night or kick me awake in the wee hours of the morning...my thoughts are culprit too...LOL. So I blog to get things off my chest {you can see that through the randomness of the posts}, keep my family and friends updated and entertained a little on our life here, sharing & getting new ideas on my creativity and of course bond with other women out there who have the same common interest.

I don't have a set pattern on my post....I don't post everyday, I post when the mood strikes or I thought it's something worth blogging. I try to read everyone who's on my blogroll but I don't always comment on every posts I read. Sometimes when I see a post on my friend's blogroll that sounds interesting to me, I read that post. I don't usually leave a comment unless I feel comfortable doing so. If I read a blog that I either stumble upon or is on someone else's blogroll for the first time, I don't like leaving comments because I always feel like I was intruding on them. There are certain blogs that I read daily and there are others I read when I am not pressing for time. I have to honestly say that I love reading what people write on their blogs...some are really witty and funny and some are very insightful and helpful and then here are those who are going through really tough times but yet are very couragous enough to share how they are dealing with their life one day at a time. Do I feel pressure to read the posts of others? No, not at all. Like I said, I just like reading what people had to say. Sometimes like my posts, I read according to my mood. If I feel down and in need of cheering up, I read something witty and funny. If I feel like cheering somebody up, I read the blogs of the people who are struggling with something and try to leave either an insightful comment or a witty one to cheer them up.

I think there may be a connection between how many blogs a person reads and the number of comments a person has but quite frankly, I couldn't care less. If I don't get a comment on a post I write a certain day I'm cool with it...I know people read what I write and I don't want to hold that against anyone if they don't comment because even I read posts and not comment on them. After all, blogging is supposed to be fun and helpful to each blogger not meant to be a competition or made into a popularity contest.

So there.....my ramblings for the day!

It's Aloha Friday people so go out there if not in the blogasphere then out there in the real world and give somebody a hug or a kind word. I'll start by sending to all of you who are reading this post right now, whether you're a blogger, a friend, family, stranger, don't matter....here's a big cyper hug for ya but to make it more real here's what you need to do:

You can either stand or sit, no matter.

First, put your right hand over your left shoulder.

Next, cross your left arm over your right arm and put your left hand over your right shoulder.

Now, ready?

squeeze!!!

There ya go, from me to you!!

Don't You Hate It When...

Don't you hate it when you're talking to your friend about something that you thought was worth sharing, for you to drive all the way to her house or picking up the phone in the middle of your hectic day to tell her and right in the middle of all that rambling you completely without warning forgot what you were about to say?

Yeah, that happens to me all the time.

I'll be going through my day, then one of the kids said or did something that I thought was either really cute or funny and I called up my friend or went to see her and we'll be chatting up a storm and then I started to tell her about the cutest thing one of my kids did or said and of course, I have to insert some explanations in there somewhere to avoid the questions that comes later like why or how and then just as I was about to mention what it was I am building my story up to, I have completely forgotten what I was talking about. And then I have come up with some lame conclusion and you can soooo tell that the conversation was cut short because I was too embarrassed to admit that I have forgotten what I was about to say; and then I went home and remembered what I was meaning to say but by then it would be too stupid or lame to call the friend back just to finish up what I was saying earlier.

And then don't you hate it that because you no longer can call the friend back to finish up what you wanted to say, you thought you'd just wait for the hubby to come home so you could share what you wanted to say in the first place and then as soon as he walked in the door and of course your excitement has been bubbling up to where you were ready to burst that you started talking him up a storm and then he kept interrupting you to ask "what's for dinner?" that you fell in the same dilemma and forgot again what you have been dying to say all day?

Ok, so I know I read it somewhere before that said everytime a woman has a baby, she loses little of her memory and the more kids she has, the more she loses, so of course having seven kids by now, I'm bound to lose little of my memory seven times, maybe I should add seven times seventy seven, which I'm kinda ok with as long as I don't have serious memory losses til I'm in my old age....

but hello!!! I'm forgetting things I'm saying right in the middle of my conversation and I'm only in my 30's, sheeeesh. Will somebody shoot me or point me to the nearest convalescent home? I might as well check myself in since I am having a hard time remembering part of my own conversation.

Yep, I really really hate it when I forget what I am saying right in the middle of a conversation.

BTW, this is my first attempt at Don't You Hate When contest that Shelle is hosting at her site and I am giddy with excitement to finally get that little tidbit out of my system.

Aight, I need to get off now, been spending so much time on here, hubby is threatening to take away my pc...LOL...that would be something, wouldn't it? Said I'm neglecting my wifely and motherly duties, what is else is new? LOL.

Look what I was doing on Saturday....

This past Saturday I attended a regional seminar for StampinUp at the Honolulu Convention Center. My friend Joce, who was also my upline, drove us down there. We had loads of fun meeting the other StampinUp demonstrators from Hawaii and doing what we love.

Here we were showing off our name badges. The co-founder of StampinUp signed our name tags so we thought it would be great to show it off, of course you can't really see the signatures on there, but it's ok.



Here are some pictures I took at the seminar:

One of the demonstrators made these and put them on display. These are neclaces, earrings and bracelets. Can you look closely and tell what those jewelries are made out of?

Yep, they are made out of sprite and coke can and soda tops. Isn't that creative? This demonstrator is actually a guy so can you picture his wife's jewelry box? I mean this is really creative and I never thought to do something like this but it's not something I will be wearing. Of course, everyone has their own taste, right?

Below are some poster board that are on display of all the different cards you can make from certain stamps. They had these boards cover the back of the room and they are all beautiful but I thought I'd just pick out a few to show off.

It was really fun to see all these different ideas that different people can come with using the same stamp.

Now, for this card, I'm entering in Ter's card challenge for this week. The front of the card says "Celebrate" and when you open it up, those three bears pop out. They are actually surfing. I thought this would be a really good masculine card and very fitting for where I live, don't you think?

I didn't make this card but I just love it. I am big fan of pop-up cards so when one of the demonstrators demo this at the regional I just had to see it and take picture of it. Now I just want to buy the stamp set and play with it. I really love the pop-out idea so I will be making some pop up cards soon.

We had some make & takes and this is one of the cards I made to take home. This one is a mini card folder.

On the left is what it looks when it's closed and on the right is what it looks when opened. There are three mini envelopes and three mini note cards inside the folder.


The is a picture of the other three cards I made to take home. They were very simple but really cute. I used a sizzlix with StampinUp's newest addition, Big Shot, which is a dye cut machine to make the flower on the blue card. The other two cards, I used water color technique using water color crayon. A very fun technique and it is just perfect since I will be demonstrating this very technique on our next card swap.


We also did swap at the seminar, not full cards but face cards which is ideal for future card making ideas. This is my bundle I took home with me. I just love getting different ideas from other people who share the same interest as me. These come in very handy for when I run out of ideas and time, I can just grap these and add folded backing to them I got me some very creative and beautiful cards.

And of course, there was no way I was going to leave the seminar without taking picture of me with the Co-Founder and full owner of StampinUp.

I had a really great time. The seminar started from 8 in the morning and ended at 4 p.m. and I was sitting at our table the whole time stamping, chatting and watching all the different demonstrations yet when the time came for us to leave, I felt like I was there for just a few minutes. It is definitely true when people say time flies when one's having fun and that's how I feel when I'm either making cards or hanging out with my card swap group.

StampinUp's Statement of the Heart that I live by {best as I can}: To love what we do and share what we love, as we help others enjoy creativity and worthwhile accomplishments......in this we make a difference.

This is so true. I had a really good experience, I learned a great deal more and I came home feeling refreshed and excited to create more.

When & How It All Started

Today, eighteen years ago, we both took on a very big step in our lives. It was that day so long ago, feels like long ago, that we said our I do's. Yep, today is my hubby and my wedding anniversary. It has been an interesting ride for me as I'm sure it's been on roller-coaster ride for him. We've had our share of fun and difficult times but it's been worth it.

And yes, this was us during the dating time. Ahhh but we look so young then and totally less stressed out, less gray hair {for him mostly} and totally worry free, I think.

People are often curious about how a small-island girl ended up married to a white boy from Texas. Most asked questions are "where did you meet?", "how did you end up marrying him?", details details. So for the sake of our anniversary I thought I'd post about how & where we met.

We met at BYU-Hawaii, of course that's where most interracial LDS couples meet and hooked up. But actually I met him before I met him at BYUH.

Back, way back when I was still a very young girl...am I grabbing your attention yet? Hmmmm, where was I? Oh yeah...

About a month before my High School graduation and my trip to BYUH {back on my little island in Micronesia}, several of our Branch members were at the airport saying our fond farewells to the missionaries {for you non-LDS, our church send young men in their 19s to serve a mission for two years sharing our beliefs to everyone around the world, a mighty noble thing to do if I do say so myself} who were leaving and I noticed four Elders standing ways away from the crowd, looking like they have just ended up in the wrong place or something and I decided it would be really fun to meet them and see if I can strike up some kind of a conversation out of them to make them feel a little welcome. {Back when I was a teenager, meeting new people and making new friends are on the top of my list of favorite things to do. That was when I thought I can climb any mountain, and conquer anything I want, too bad that is not the case now.}

Actually one of the Elders I've met before so I thought I could just go and chat with him. So I walked up to them and said, "So Elders, what ya know, after 2 years of practically limited activities you guys are finally going home. What do you plan to do first?" The whole time I was looking at the Elder I know. And this one Elder I've never seen before, with total astonishment on his face exclaimed, "You speak English?"

Me, looking a bit stunned replied in disbelief, "Hummmp Yeah, I speak English".

Before I could finish what I was saying, a friend of mine bibed in, {no idea she had followed me over} "Are you kidding? She's a genius, she's going to be our valedictorian. And she's going to BYUH next month". {Talk about a blabber mouth.}

He looked at me again, "Wow. You're going to BYUH? I'm going there too in August".

Me, acting all nonchalant: Oh cool, maybe I'll see you there.

Him: Oh I am sure I will see you there.

Me, still curious about his first question asked him why was he surprise that I could speak his language.

Him: For two years I have been serving in the islands, no one spoke English at all.

"Where did you serve your mission?" I asked him.

"Majuro" {Majuro is in the Marshall Islands which is a neighboring island to mine}, he said. "Everytime we tried speaking to them in English, they couldn't really understand us and we were told to learn their language because they don't speak English."

Me, a little laugh: I'm sorry but that is not really all true. They do speak English just fine but that was just their way of making you guys learn the language real fast.

So we exchanged names, him still introducing himself with the Elder as the first name and I told him my name. He couldn't pronounce my name really good so he had me write it down on his little blue planner. By this time I realized that the three other missionaries who had been standing with him had taken a few steps away from us. As he left to go join the others, he said his goodbyes and said, "I'll see at BYUH in August".

As they boarded the plane, my friends and I went back home and I remembered the same friend started teasing me about how I just found me a boyfriend...sheeesh do I really want to slap her, her and big mouth. But secretly I was kinda happy. I figured going away to college wasn't going to be as scary as I thought since I just made a new friend. And no matter what, I know I already have a friend in a foreign place. I even told another one of my friends the next day about how I just made a new friend who's going to the same university.

A month later (June) I boarded the same plane that would take me to BYUH. I was really excited about going to new places and being on my own, meeting new people, it was an adventure I couldn't wait to tackle. From June til August, the time just flew by. I made friends from all over the world, it was almost like a kid in a candy store. I loved every minute of it.

Finally August arrived. I gotta admit, I was actually looking forward to seeing that return missionary I met at the airport and being the naive girl that was then, I was actually expecting to see him again his missionary outfit. {I know, silly but hey, I was still in my teens.} There was a dance and my friends and I decided to go to it. And I saw another returned missionary who happened to live close to BYUH, one of those well-built Tongans {he served his mission on my island and was regular visitor to our home. I used to play all kinds of tricks on him and his companions that he actually made a rascal nickname for me.} He had appointed himself to be the big brother to the little Micronesian girls that he knew. So he called me over to show me some pictures he'd taken of me and my friends on our first Sunday at BYUH when he rescued us from our hunger..LOL. While we were going through the photos, I can see from the corner of my eye, this guy asking him if I was her. It was kinda dark, you know how the lights are at the dances, so we both were ignoring him or at least I was trying to but still a little curious to who he was talking about. But I heard the Tongan guy answered back, "no it's not her. Just hold on".

Then the guy just pushed his way in front of me and asked, he had to speak a little louder so he could be heard above the music, "Are you this {said my last name, I guess he couldn't pronounce my name} girl?

Instantly I became very suspicious thinking one of my friends had given my name out to some total stranger so I replied reluctantly, "yeees and who wants to know?" "I'm Elder {last name inserted} remember? We met at the airport on your island?"

Okaaaay...remember how I said I am expecting to see him again in all his missionary get-ups? Well, he was most certainly not wearing a missionary uniform, he was wearing a tie dye shirt and jeans shorts. Aw come on, what do expect? I said I was naive back then.

"Oh yeah, I remember you". {That's an understatement...I not only remember him, I was actually looking forward to seeing him again.} After we get reacquainted again, he asked me to dance. After the dance was over, we went for a walk up to the temple. The whole time we were walking, we were chatting up a storm. He told me that day at the airport, he remembered telling one of the other missionaries how nice and beautiful I was and how he'd like to marry someone like me someday. {Aw, how sweet.} Not too long after that we were inseparable. Six months after we met and dated, we finally got to the altar and pledged our life to one another.


{In honor of this special day, I dedicate this post to my hubby whom I will always love and cherish and will always be grateful to for all he does for our family. Happy Anniversary & love you honey!!}

Hope y'all enjoy this little glimpse into my life of when it all started. Happy Sunday.

You're It Challenge

Got me a challenge to tackle today from LoW so I am going to try it on for size. Here it is folks:

The Challenge is to go to your picture folder on your computer.Find the 6th folder.Go to the 6th picture of the 6th folder.Post the picture on your blog and describe it.Pass the challenge on to 6 friends.Link to them on your blog and let them know they've been challenged.

Here is my 6th picture from my 6th folder. There is no editing of this picture, no doctoring of any kind.

Yes, this is my 2 year old on the phone. Three of her absolute favorite to do are playing dolls, singing, and talking on the phone. {Wonder what that means.}

She loves talking on the phone. She will use anything she can get her hands on and put it up to her ear and then just talking up a storm like she's actually having a conversation with somebody on the other line. She will even do hand motion as though she was trying to describe something. Sometimes we'd be shopping at the store and she'll just randomly pick something up and go "Hello?".

In this picture, the phone rang and she got to it before anyone else did. I couldn't remember who the caller but it was just too cute to pass up the opportunity to capture it on the camera. {Quick thinking Steph.}

Now for my part or yours, whichever way you look at it: I'd like to challenge,

1. My friend, Laura- because since she started blogging, she practically have a camera growing from her hip...LOL, she can run out the door forgetting to change her stained shirt or brushing her hair, even forgetting to put the right shoes on but NEVER will she ever forget to bring her camera along.

2. Pat-because I can relate to her about how faster we run, the further behind we get and I think every mom can relate to that. Although she is running faster that I am since she has a son with a medical problem right now that's keeping her busier than anyone I know.

3. April-because even though she had just gone through an ordeal she still manage to bring love and laughter to those around her.

4. Emily@Art-n-Sewl -because she is a girl after my own heart, I love that she is very creative and talented in the craft world.

5. Heidi- because I can actually brag to my friends and family who do not blog but love reading romance novel that I actually know a great author who writes novels that rub shoulders with {virtually speaking, of course}.

6. Shelle- because since she's a an amazing photographer, I am dying to see what is 6th picture in her 6th folder. I can tell it's going to be a cool one even if it is a random one.

I honestly can't wait to see what random pictures these people have in their folder.

Aighty, enjoy folks and have a great Aloha Friday!!

Mocking Backward Thursday

This whole week is Drug Free week for the Elementary School my kids attend. Everyday of this week, they have different topics and activities that they do, for example;

Tuesday-"Being Drug Free comes in cans-I can, you can". For that day, students go to school with any can food item to donate to Hawaii's Food Bank that will then be given to those in need.

Wednesday-"Drugs don't make CENTS". This is the day where students bring money to donate to these different entities {Jump Rope for Heart (American Heart Association), Cancer Walk (American Cancer Society), Pennies for Patients P4P (Leukemia Society), and MADD}.

Thursday-"Give Drugs the Slip Day", "Sock It to Drug Day", "Boot Our Drugs Day", "Tie Down Drugs", "Hats off against Drug Day", "Shade our Drugs", "Turn Your Back on Drugs". Today the students can wear slippers, socks, boots, ties, hats, sunglasses, and clothes backwards.

Friday-"Band Against Drugs" Students will make circles and in unison recite "Let's Band Against Drugs" five times starting off very softly and by the fifth time very LOUD. And then they will be picking up a red balloon from the field and then stomp on the balloons to pop representing them stomping drugs out of their lives.

Anyways, my kids were especially excited about today's Drug Free. My six year old was the most excited...he had his shorts, shirt, hat backwards and even carry his backpack backwards. It was really fun watching him giving me the thumbs up {backwards style meaning thumbs down} whenever I would ask him how he's doing. My eleven year old went to school with his shirt backwards and a tie. They must have been dying to do everything opposite of the norm.

Before we left the house, I put on these shorts that were a little on the tight side and my 17 year old bibed up and said, "Mom, I can see your camel's toe. You should change your shorts."

I responded, "Absolutely not! I am going to be sitting in the house all day, who cares about my camel toe and who will be looking at it?"

"It's embarrassing mom, we will be looking at it whenever we look at you." Gee, the nerve. She got her dad involved and between the two of them, I was on the losing side. But being the rebel that I am, instead of changing my shorts, I took one my hubby's t-shirts that's a lot bigger than me and put it on so it completely cover that camel's toe they are both worried about, sheesh. {I know, too much information to share.}

So while I was driving them off to school, I saw a couple of College Professors riding bikes to work and that reminded me of something my hubby was ranting about yesterday so I just had to do it, couldn't pass up the opportunity.

So I called him on the phone and told him I just saw a couple of drug dealers/druggies entering BYUH. I didn't think he got the joke. So I had to point out to him what I meant. I was kinda mocking him but he didn't really get it. Why was I mocking him? I like to tease him sometimes. I especially like to throw things he said previously back at him. See, yesterday when he came home for lunch, the guy he hired to help paint our house GRAY was talking to some guy outside our gate and right away that bothered my hubby a great deal. Right off the bat, he was suspicious of the guy outside our gate and he came in the house and was raving about how the guy must be a drug dealer or a druggie.

My hubby said to me, "you can tell that guy is druggie".

Me: Aw come on, you can't tell just by looking at a person, what makes you think he is?

Hubby: Well, for one, he's a middle aged man, and riding a bike with a backpack, clearly you can tell there's nothing in that backpack but drugs.

I know, I don't see the reasoning so I just let him rant and rave off some more. So when I saw the professors on their bikes this morning with their backpacks, I just couldn't resist the opportunity to throw that back at my hubby to see what his reaction would be. He acted like he clearly did not understand what I was saying til I had to remind him of our conversation yesterday. His response then was "Oh, I see. Thank you for telling me that."

My hubby and I just love teasing each other and see who can out-mock the other one. Hope y'all have a great Thursday and remember "Drug is BAD!!" LOL

This Week's Card Challenge

This is my "love" card for this week's challenge. The card topic for this week is perfect since this week is my wedding anniversary. I will be posting about that later on this week.

This card like all the other cards I've made is loads of fun to make. This time I use water color to do the sunset scene and tearing edges to give it a little dimensional and reality look. I use rubber stamp to stamp the couple and then use water color markers to color the picture...this is actually one of my favorite stamp. I was trying to make it look like the couple is sitting at the beach enjoying a nice serene sunset. That was one of the things my hubby and I used to do when we were dating and we still try to do that now whenever time and schedule permits. Isn't it romantic? I think so.

So, enjoy!!

What Is This I'm Feelling?

I don't know what to do with myself today. I don't even know how to describe how I am feeling right now. Maybe somebody can describe this feeling to me. I don't want to come out exactly and say I feel depressed because there is absolutely no reason or cause to feel this way. And everything is going great here. Then again maybe what my hubby and kids are doing to the house outside is what's causing this feeling.

I had a great weekend, even a great week last week. I was in such an upbeat feeling, nothing was getting me down. I had loads of fun mocking Angelina Jolie {virtual style, of course} and blaming Angelina Jolie for everything on Friday...eheheheh.

Saturday I had a great V-Day. The day started out with me driving my daughter to her canoe race and talking to my MIL in the phone. I love talking to her, whenever I need a pick me upper, she is just the person to go to. Then we had a Ward V-Day breakfast at our chapel. My hubby and I had fun teasing each other about who's giving who the most candy with creative love tidbits to go with it. Then we went out to a nice Restaurant for dinner and movie afterward and then took me shopping. And of course, I spent Saturday doing absolute nothing and everything my heart desired.

Yesterday which was Sunday, the kids were on better behavior than their usual Sunday behaviors. Remember I posted earlier about how I was to teach a Young Woman class? Well, I can honestly and gladly say that I did a stupendous job if I do say so myself. My daughter who's in the class even paid me a compliment...yay!! So, would I say my Valentine weekend was great? Absolutely yes!

So, if my weekend was great, why is today so crappy? The sun is shining beautifully and I actually slept in this morning since there was no school. Why do I feel like I just can't seem to drag myself off of the couch to even go take a shower and go out to enjoy the sunshine?

Well, you know when there's a special occasion coming and you spent days ahead prepping for and looking forward to it with incredible amount of energy and then the day came, you did what you planned, enjoyed it even and then after that event, there's this overwhelming feeling of let down, like life is over and there was nothing to look forward to again? I don't know if any of you feel this, but I go through this every time a major event comes up.

Then again, like I said, maybe I should blame this feeling on the fact that my hubby and kids are outside happily painting our house the color gray....GRAY I'm telling ya. Isn't that the most boring, depressing not to mention the most puke inducing color to put on a house? It is totally adding a major damper on my mood to see that color covering my beautiful and peaceful beige color that we painted the house with before. So, I'm sitting in my clean white walls house that I spent last week cleaning blogging about my hubby changing my beautiful beige color of the outside walls into gray color.

His response when I asked him why that color was because he has two five-gallons of gray paint he bought at Home Depot that were on SALE. Sheesh, I suppose that totally justify turning the color of one's house into a boring color just because he saved a great deal of money on that particular paint. Why can't I be feeling down because I'm having a bad hair day?

A Proud Moment w/a Sprinkle of Humor

My son, Joey, was chosen Super Citizen for the month of January from his class. As is customary, the Elementary School holds an assembly and invites the kids' family to come and support their kids as they receive this award. This award is usually given out every month and the teachers from each class picks out two or three students who are usually good students, basically the kids who are very cooperative in class, do their homework, good participants and helpers in class. So every month different students are picked from each class to receive this award.

So the assembly was held this morning. Here's my son with his certificate and candy leis I made for him. The kid loves candy so to have at least four leis all made out of candy, that is almost like getting presents on Christmas day for him. We are so proud of him for his accomplishment. This is his third year receiving this award.

Anyways, I got home this morning from the assembly, checked my email and a dearest friend of mine sent this to me. {Thanks, Brandi!!} I thought it was kinda funny so I thought I'd share it.

Last week....Shrek, Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt were all having lunch together.

Shrek said, "I have always thought that I'm the strongest man in the world, but how can I be sure?"

Angelina Jolie agreed. "I'm told I'm the most gorgeous woman of them all, but sometimes I wonder."

Brad Pitt said,"I'm pretty sure I'm the sexiest man alive but I've never had it confirmed."

They all decided that the best way to find out if their beliefs were true was to ask the famed talking "Mirror, Mirror on the Wall" to confirm for them whether Shrek was the strongest, Angelina was the most gorgeous and Brad was the sexiest. They agreed to meet again the next day for lunch to discuss their findings.

The next day Shrek walked up with a smile. "Well, it's true. The mirror told me that I am the strongest man in the world."

Brad Pitt perked up and said, "And I know for sure that I'm the sexiest man alive."

But, Angelina Jolie lifted her sad, gorgeous face and said...

"Who the heck is ANJENY?!!!"

If you find this even a tad bit humorous, you can either copy this and email it to anyone you know or you can blog it...you never know who might be cheered up from reading this. Oh yeah, just remember to take my name out of the last line and put your name in there instead.

BTW, on my right sidebar, you will notice the Magic Quilt button...you might want to check it out by either clicking on the button or click here. The owner came up with this wonderful idea about putting together a traveling quilt that will go to different cancer patients who either blogs or related to someone who blogs. It's such a sweet and generous idea and gesture that I've made a contribution of my story on there as a kind of a little tribute yesterday to my late mom since it was her birthday.

P.S. Happy Valentine to y'all and have a great weekend.

They are such sponges, I really do need to be more careful

My two year old is like a never filled up sponge. She copies everything everyone says and does around here it gets scary sometimes. And guess who she imitates most? Yep, you guessed it right....ME.

I have this habit of clicking my tongue when I'm impatient or frustrated about something. I've done it so much that even when you're looking at mouth you can't really tell if I was actually doing something with mouth, but you can hear the sound. That is one of things that my sweet little two year old has picked up from me. And when she play house, with her dolls, she would pull her shirt up and nurses her baby dolls like I usually do. It's totally uncanny but she can imitate me so perfectly you would think she was me...LOL.

And of course, she loves imitating her siblings too. And her oldest sister loves to teach her some very poor manners and not so admiring words for a little kid...LOL.

One of things I do, and I am not proud of it by all means, is when I get mad at my kids, I can really swear up a storm....really bad for a mom to use some very unladylike and colorful words in the presence of children. {Don't look at me like that, I am only human and I grew up with six older brothers whose first language is foul language, I am bound to pick up a few words here and there...no?)

So a few days ago, I was in one of those days, where the kids are just not cooperating. I think one of my boys had struck a nerve on me or something because I was stomping over to him yelling, "I'm going to beat!!" and I caught myself just in time and stopped right there with my hand smacked over my mouth, thinking my toddler is toddling after me somewhere. And to my shocking or should I say, embarrassing surprise, I heard this cute little voice finishing up my sentence, "the shit {it sounded like sit} outta you."

You can imagine how I must feel at that moment, right? My mind was racing, trying to figure out exactly when in the past few days or weeks have I said that very thing did she hear me say it and remember that was how to the sentence ends.

That brought back a memory I had of when my teenagers were just little kids. Back when there were the three kids, my oldest girl who five at the time, the second girl who was three and my boy who was eighteen months then. I thought about a specific incident that happened back in 1996. Back then we were living in the student housing at BYUH and I haven't been driving very long so I tend to get nervous when I was driving on unfamiliar roads.

So we were driving home from Honolulu after visiting some friends, just me and the three kids. We were about forty five minutes away from home and had come upon kind of a heavy traffic and of course I was nervous so I was paying really close attention to the road. And suddenly something caught my eye in the rear view mirror and when I looked closely at it, my three year old, Jen, was standing on the seat in the back of the van. Not only did she manage to wiggle her way out of her car seat in the middle row but she had climbed over the seat to the very back row of the van and was standing there looking out the window with total satisfaction of her accomplishment while she was enjoying the view as though we were sight seeing. My heart stopped for minute and the next minute I was ranting and raving like a freaking lunatic and of course some very colorful words were thrown in there with the rantings. It was bad. As soon as I could change lane, I pulled over and strapped her back down in her seat, the whole time scolding her.

All I could think then were 1. if the police see us, we will be in trouble and 2. if I had to suddenly step on the brake, she would go flying. I spent the rest of the drive mumbling to myself. When we finally reached home, I pulled into our parking stall and there was my hubby standing there all happy to see us. I was still trying to make myself calm down. He walked over to the side of the van and helped the kids out of the car and guess what my sweet little Jen blurted out?

"Dad, mom was yelling at me in the car and she said the "F" word", and then she proceeded to imitate my voice and repeated every single word I said even right down to my tone of voice. If my skin color was pale, it would clearly show how red it was because I could feel my face burning from embarrassment. I had to look around the parking lot to see if anyone was around to hear my daughter imitate me like that. I could see that my husband was trying very hard not to crack up from what my daughter was saying and the expression I wore on my face. I wished at that moment that the gravel would open up and swallow me right up. And my sweet little girl was just too happy to keep repeating back what I said since my hubby kept asking her to repeat herself but never, mind you, never did she bother to tell her dad why I used such language. As I stomped away from them, I heard my five year, Steph, defended me saying..

"Dad, it was Jen's fault. She climbed out of her seat and then climbed into the back seat and stood up there while mom was driving."

That was the last thing I heard as I ran up the stairs to our apartment to bury my head in shame.

So now, my sweet little two year old is constantly trailing after me, sponging up everything I do and say and repeating it back.

My Foot in My Mouth

I got a phone call this afternoon. It's not a call I dread, per say, but it's also not one I really am excited about either.

Yesterday I posted about my cleaning spree...Today I was just continuing on from where I left off. I spent most of my morning scrubbing, and I mean I got down on my hands and knees scrubbing, my kitchen floor. I've never seen my floor so sparkling white.

Anyways, in between scrubbing floors, doing dishes, wiping down cabinet doors and straighten up toys, I got a phone call. It was my Ward's Young Women President.

"I need to ask a favor of you," she said. Me, cheerfully, "Go ahead".

I thought it was going to be something like she needs me to sign some permission slips or lending her my daughter for the evening to help with something to do with Young Women. Nope, that is not even it.

Her: You don't have a calling yet, right? {I got released from both of my church callings last month.}

Me: Nope, not yet.

Her: I was wondering if you could teach the Laurels class this Sunday. {My 17 year old daughter is in Laurels.}

Me: Hummp...I guess I could. Do you have a manual I could use? And what is the topic?

Her: The topic is on Homemaking and you can find the lesson on the LDS web page under "Young Women".

Me: Hmmm, Homemaking uh? That is a hard one, not a very strong suit for me.

Her: Oh I figure you can do it since you have that many kids and you like to make all these cute artsy stuff and you being a stay at home mom and all...the girls will love to see some of your creative talents.

Me, totally doubting myself: Ok, I'll do my best.

Her: By the way, this week is our Ward Conference so there will probably be somebody from the Stake Young Women Presidency who will be visiting the class.

{Now she tells me...sheesh.}

I hung up the phone and blurted out to my 15 year old daughter..."Oh crap!! That was Sister SoSo and she wants me to teach the Laurels class this Sunday."

Her response: Well mom, you've always wanted to be in Young Women. Here's your wish come true. {What a smart aleck...I so wanted to smack that smart mouth of hers.}

She's right though. I have expressed that I would love to be in Young Women while she and her sister are still in there. I would love to be able to do things with them to keep up with what they're doing in there, and what better way to do it then to be right there with them.

I'm a little, no take that back, I am beyond nervous about teaching these 16 & 17 year-olds. Especially on the topic. HOMEMAKING...me? teaching about homemaking.

Honestly, my skills in homemaking are completely lacking. The way I manage my home is nothing to shout over the rooftop about. My idea of homemaking is to nag my kids to do their chores til they are practically in tears and then let my house go til we are practically buried in clutter and mess before I go on some cleaning freak mode to put my house back to something close to decent shape. I am the least organized person in the world, although I love the idea of organization and the way I manage my home... my goodness, I would be lucky if my kids don't end up seeking therapy for the rest of their lives.

But I guess since I've already said yes...I'll just have to suck it in and do my best to teach the lesson as best I know how. Hopefully whatever suggestions or examples I use, my daughter won't call me out on it.

Moral of this post? Never never ever wish for something unless you are absolutely sure you can handle it should the occasion calls for it. I have literally put my foot in my mouth this time. My daughter is right; although I will never in this lifetime admit that to her.... I wanted to be involved in Young Women. Now I have totally gotten my wish. A well deserved lesson for me...LOL.

Did/Do You Know?...

Do you know that toothpaste is not just for cleaning or brushing teeth? It's true, I discovered today that there is another very useful thing you can use toothpaste on besides brushing your teeth. You want to know what it is?

Well today, in lieu of my new blog make-over, I decided to do a little house cleaning while I waited for the designer to install my new do. I started walking around the house and I notice something. My walls are disgustingly filthy. There were dirt built up, crayon and permanent marker marks all over my walls and the doors. All the walls in my house are in shades of white, off-white and pure white. So you can visualize what the walls and the doors look like with all these filthy crimy marks, right?

I can't believe it. Where have I been all this time that my walls were being totally abused like this? So, I got out my cleaning rags, some cleaning solutions and attacked the walls. And this is where I found this discovery. I had the hardest time getting the crayon marks off the walls and doors. Who did I run to for help? Yep, that's right, Mr. Google himself.

I had to ask him for help...and guess what? He suggested I tried toothpaste to clean the crayon marks off my walls and doors. I was skeptical, it sounded kinda dumb, so I started out very reluctantly. And guess what? It worked like magic. The crayon marks came off with amazing ease. You can imagine my excitement. I ended up cleaning every visible walls in the house along with all the doors. Who would've thought? I've already been buying toothpaste in bulk...now my bulk is going to be bulkier.

This is such a great find and it came at just the perfect time. My two year old is really fascinated with colors...she's constantly getting into my cosmetics and my stamp pads. She not only play make up on herself but on any surface she can reach. And so whenever she gets crayons in her hand....yep, you can quess where that little hand will be drawing her next creation. So, I am totally going to be ready for her...LOL.

Well, after I finished cleaning the walls, I was sooo excited about the end results that I rounded up the kids after school and gave my house a total deep cleaning. Now, I'm not the kind of person who likes housecleaning but when I do get into the mood, which is very rare, I can be a real freak about it.

Now, I just can't help but sit and bask in my gleaming white walls...LOL...and clean house. Yeah I know, come tomorrow morning, the house is going back to it's messy state but at least now I can just enjoy it while it last.

Oh by the way...notice the new look? I just love this new blog make over, I love everything about it. If you like this new look, leave a comment about it. You can also check out the designer on my left sidebar...she does such great work. And her prizes are totally generous. Thanks Erin...you're the best!!

Cards from Friday Night Swap

Friday night was our ladies card night. The hostess' husband decided to treat us to Pizza Bob in Haleiwa....it was very sweet of him. It was really interesting having to ooohing and aaaahing over our cards with the rest of the patrons there and then when we were doing to make & take, a couple of people even ventured out to our table to admire our cards, too. It was blast!! And of course, me being the klutz that I am, I forgot to take my camera with me...AGAIN!!

So today I'm just going to post a few of the cards from the swap, the ones with ribbon to go with Ter's challenge for this week. These are just four of the ones that use ribbons that I like. They're pretty self-explanatory.



(Joce's card, baby note card pulls out.)

(LeeAnn's card..she cut out the baby outfit on the clothsline.)

(Kathy's card...she loop ribbon through the squares below to make the B.A.B.Y. looks like a train. She always has the cutest cards with a story to go with her cards.)

(This one is Brandi's card. She made this three hours before the swap...I love how simple yet cute this card is.)

These are just the four I thought I'd feature today. Where's mine, you ask? I posted about mine before but if you want to see it again, you go here.

Aight, this is it for today. I need to herd my offsprings off to church. I like this going to church at noon. Gives me so much time to surf the net...eheheh. Happy Sunday!!

It's Aloha Friday!!!

Yep, it's Alooooha Friday people. People usually get real pumped up about Fridays here in Hawaii. There's even a song made just for this day. For kids, it's a great day because it's the last day of school of the week then it's "Surf's up, dude" with the shaka sign til Monday. Adults are excited about Friday cuz some of them actually get off work early and then partaaay til Monday.

Well, it's not really like that they literally party, it's just there are a whole two days of not stepping into the workplace unless it's absolutely a must.

For me, Friday is just like any other day. I guess being a stay home mom and setting my own phase and schedule, any day of the week is just the same as the other.

But for some reason, today I'm a little excited about something. I can feel this excitement from the tip of my hair down to the tip of my toes. And the kids have no school today so you can I've got a full house.

Noooo, I'm not excited because my kids are home today...LOL. I mean I can be excited about them being home so I can slave drive them, LOL, but that is not it at all. I've got a couple of things going on today that I'm really excited about. Oh, I can't wait!!

NO....I am not telling ya. I'll just have to show you but you'll have to wait til Monday..ok?

Ok so, I've decided that Fridays is going to be my day to highlight a cute blog I come across or one that's doing a give away. So I saw one today....and get this...this person who's doing her give away lives here in Hawaii...isn't that neat? She's got a wonderful thing going at her site and a must-check-out give away if you want to win something tropically(is that even a word?).

She's calling her giveaway an ALOHA giveaway so if you want to win something, go here. While you're there, check out her blog, it's a really cute one. And, she has over a hundred followers...WOW..talk about a leader...eheheh. She's got two cute little girls, just adorable.

And then if you're still in the mood to keep surfing, drop in on Ter and say hello to her. Get to know her, she's a really neat lady. She's on top of my list of people I admire that I met here on the blogasphere.

Alright...enough rambling for the day. A big aloha to you all and have a great weekend!!

You know you're hooked on it if you are actually waiting up for it..

Yep, I'm hooked on it I tell ya. Hooked, line & sinker.

I am staying up right now waiting for a show on TV that I am totally hooked on. It's not even an English speaking show, can you believe it?

I am hooked on Korean, I repeat, Korean show. There are two right now I'm hooked on. One comes on every night at 10:30 P.M. for half an hour called "Daughter-in-Law" and the other one comes on every Wednesday and Thursday night at 9:30 called "Aquarius". So now every Wednesday and Thursday night I am watching a total of two hours worth of Korean show.

Do I speak Korean, you're wondering? A big resounding NO, I don't speak Korean. The show is in Korean but there's English subtitle so I am reading while I'm watching. It's funny because I used to make fun of my friend who watches it all the time and now I'm watching it. I can't help it though. The plots of the shows are really good. All that backstabbing, betrayal, revenge and of course total devotion and love. When do Koreans get to be so good at making attention getting shows?

I have been staying up late these last few nights watching these shows that lately I have been getting up late in the morning and taking my kids to school late. I was usually so good at getting them to school early because they like eating breakfast at school but lately, we would be lucky if we make it there just in time for the first bell. Pathetic, huh?

Yet, tonight's another night and it's a little past nine p.m. and I am sitting up waiting for the clock to turn to ten thirty so I can watch my show. And while I am waiting, I am tapping my foot on the floor counting the seconds down and shooting dagger look at my hubby and sending him the clear message in my eyes that says, it's time for you to go to bed already so I can have the TV all to myself.

Seriously, this is so bad that when I am watching and anyone so much as make a noise or talk to me during the show, I am ready to scratch their eyeballs out. I guess it's a good thing it's not during regular hours. I would hate to see what kinds of cruel things I would inflict upon my family just so I can watch a favorite show....LOL.

Total worse...I now got my 17 year old daughter hooked on this show too, so that she is now staying up late to watch it and therefore getting to school late too. And my two year old....she goes around singing the intro song to the show. And when we're watching and commercial comes on and I change the channel, she yells out, "PUT IT BACK!" Can anyone say "therapy"? Cuz that's what she's going to need when she gets older.

Well, after saying all this, I will get off and claim my spot on the couch and total ownership of the remote control for the next hour or so. But if any of you feel like poking fun at me, remember how round the world is...that's all I'm going say about that. LOL

{PS. I am Crash's follower of the week. I was trying so hard to be inconspicuous, sitting in the back of the yellow submarine van but now she has shown her spotlight on me. I feel so special and shy at the same time, but I guess I can't throw M&Ms at the rest of the bloggers in front of me in the van anymore, huh?...LOL. jk}

Week #5 Card Challenge

Here's my card for this week's challenge. I used white embossing powder on yellowish shade of paper called so safron and cut it out and then mound it on regal rose cardstock and put a regal rose brad in the middle of the flower.

I have another bigger silver brad attached below the flower with ribbon. I just stamp flowers and leaves all over the card. I love this stamp set I used, it's called embrace life.

This is actually an explosion card...when you pull on the string attached to the silver brad, it opened up to look like the card on the right. It's really fun to make this one.