Return to Virtue

The first Sunday I went to Young Women as the new Beehive Adviser, I noticed that there was an addition to the Young Women Values. Every Sunday the Young Women stand up and recite the Young Women Values and it goes something like this:

We are daughters of our Heavenly Father, who loves us, and we love Him. We will “stand as witnesses of God at all times and in all things, and in all places” (Mosiah 18:9) as we strive to live the Young Women values, which are:

Faith
Divine Nature
Individual Worth
Knowledge
Choice and Accountability
Good Works and
Integrity and
Virtue

We believe as we come to accept and act upon these values, we will be prepared to strengthen home and family, make and keep sacred covenants, receive the ordinances of the temple, and enjoy the blessings of exaltation.



The First Presidency has proclaimed this new addition in the church news call "A Return to Virtue". I am actually very happy about this new addition and I'd say it came just the right time seeing how media and society seem to portray that being virtuous is something to snicker at. The book of Esther in the Old Testament has always been my favorite book in the Bible to read....Esther even though she was a Jew was chosen above all the other women in that country to be the next Queen not just because she's beautiful but because she possessed this aura about her, the most virtuous one among those women and that virtue she had that later led her to courageously stood up in front of the King, without being invited, at the risk of her own life to beg for her people's lives. If you haven't read that, you can look it up in the Old Testimony.

Anyways, I've been preparing my lesson for Young Women today and thought I'd share video and message with you today. Have a great Sunday and may the Lord keep you and bless you with whatever you stand in need of.

Keepin Up Tradition..lol

It's Friday folks and you know what that means? Yes, it's the day where I pour my heart out about my inadequacies as a mom. Julie is on a blog-cation right now so I'm going to try to keep her NPSA meeting going a little on my end. Plus, I'm just too down in a rut to come up with anything creative and entertaining. So here goes nothing:

Any of you moms ever actually looked forward to having a camping trip? Well, I do. Doesn't make sense because usually camping might require a lot of work, packing of camping gears, the hike or whatever...but camping here in Hawaii so much different. Camping is like going on a vacation.

Anyways, since we moved to our Ward nine years ago, our family has been going every year since with our Ward for Ward camp. I didn't use to like camping...all those packing, planning menus, hauling things to and from camp and all the camping gears...well, two years after this yearly ritual, I discovered something that actually make me like camping anymore. Seriously.

We usually camp from Friday to Wednesday so that's almost a whole week. You know what my biggest dilemma everyday is? Trying to figure out what to make for dinner...even with a menu schedule or even if I already have an idea of what I want to make, it always ended up a complete shamble. Well, I figured out that at camp, my family is not soooo picky about what they eat. As long as I bring a lot of snacks and drinks, they will eat anything. If I actually decide we'll eat sandwiches that whole duration of camp, that's what we will be eating...no complaints from anyone, not even the hubby who usually makes a big fuss about dinner meal. In fact he insisted that I don't go through any trouble trying to come up with anything elaborate for dinner, he's all content with just having sandwiches as long as he gets to spend his whole camping trip at the beach.

So folks...that is now the reason I look forward with excitement to camping. For five days, I can feed them anything and they will be just fine. And not only that, but since there are other kids and adults around and most of kids are grown, I just let my little kids go off with hang out with their little friends and I get to enjoy myself, doing my own thing. All this time, my kids are actually thinking that I am making a sacrifice for them every year by taking them camping but they don't really know, do they? To them camping is the best time of the year besides Christmas because mom lets them eat all the junk food they desire and she keeps supplying them with that and even dad is loosened up enough to eat hot dogs which he loathe eating by the way..lol. AND.....only at camp that a mom can get away with letting her kids wear the same thing, be it swim shorts or a complete outfit for five days in a row without anyone giving you the eye...seriously.

As you can see, I have a such a great time at camp, exhausting though it may be, I am wishing we are still camping right now because quite frankly, I'm just too lazy to get up and do any mundane things. I think this year's camping week went by really fast, I barely got to bask in the glory of it all when it was time to break camp and come home. So now, I'm already planning on the next Ward camp coming up next year...isn't that crazy? In fact, I think I'm still in the camping mode right now because I keep thinking that the kids should just raid our cabinets and help themselves to any food they find...lol.

Ahem...aight folks, thanks for reading, hope your week is been great so far. Again, if you're in the mood to read some fun post, go here.

God bless!! and happy blogging!

A Non-post Post

Today, instead of writing a regular post, I'm just going to direct you all to this blog. Yes, it's the relationship blog I wrote about in my earlier post. Remember how I said that I have a post written up for this week that might come out either Friday or Saturday? Well, I lied, well not really lied, I wasn't the one in charge of the post schedule so I just estimated the day my entry will be posted based on the time I put it in.

Anyways, my post is on today. I'm usually a little hesitant about directing anyone over to read my post there because most of the ones I wrote already were a little on the sensitive side but today, I figure, what the heck? And the post I have for today is not too sensitive, it's a little on the fun side so if you're in the mood to read something a little more interesting, go read it.

If you feel up to it, feel free to read all the other posts as well. There are different bloggers who write something everyday so you might enjoy the different views of the relationships of the bloggers who write on that blog. Like I mentioned in an earlier post...the founders of that blog have decided to theme each week and this week's theme is Compatibility. And you feel like it, leave a comment too to let us know what you think about each post. Again, go here if you feel like reading a little romance..lol...kidding. But really, do come over and check out my post for today.

I want to post some new creative craft this week but for some reason, my camera is not cooperating with me. I am working on some fun paper craft and of course some new cards idea so be on a look-out. In the meantime, have a great day and hopefully I might see some of y'all's fingerprints on the other blog.

Happy blogging and God bless!!

Not much to write about today

I know I have been very inconsistent with my posts lately. I have no excuses that could make me look cooler for this total sporadic of my posts. I've been blogging, at least that's what I thought that was...I do stay online on blogland, but I mostly spend that reading other very interesting blogs out there.

And of course, life in general is very hectic for me. I've been trying to be a very good mom by dedicating most of my time to my kids since they are home all day and it's been fun. Where else can I get to know my kids all over again...

Anyways, I just want to update a little of my weekend.

Fourth of July was a great one....we were able to go to a block party and mingle with old friends and meeting new ones. And of course, food is always a great factor to a get-together. OMG the food...the people in Hawaii really know how to throw a party. I think I've gained at least five pounds just from eating on Saturday.

However, my little girl, Katie, got sick and I had to practically stayed up all night taking care of her. So both she and I didn't go to church yesterday...I was able to catch up on sleep since she was sleeping most of the day. I was actually in a great mood because I made a great dinner for my family...even made a new dessert, one that I've never made before.

Then my family came home after church yesterday and told me that one of ladies I know, her three year old son had fallen out of their two-story window and landed on the cemented sidewalk below and cracked his skull. He's now in the hospital...my heart goes out to the mom. Right now she's battling her own demons...she's been struggling with anxiety attack and now this. I think in the four or five years they've live here in Hawaii, they've moved at least six times that I know. Everytime they get settled in one house, the owner ended up selling the house so they ended up having to look for another place. And I have to tell you, I don't think I would be able to handle that kind of stress...they have little kids, the oldest is eight...can you imagine that? I guess that's what brought on the anxiety stress she has. Poor lady...I feel sooo bad for her.

My daughter Steph is volunteering this summer at the hospital where the little boy is at so she told me last night she's going to stop by and see how the boy is doing. I'm going to find out sometime today how long he will be at the hospital so I can go visit. I asked my hubby last night if the little boy is going to make it and he said yes but I'm sure there's going to be some major problem that will result from the fall. Can you just picture that? A three year old falling from a two-story window and a cracked skull? I shudder just thinking about it. I get usually very neurotic when my daughter or any of my kids get near our windows or the older kids climb a tree...now with what happened to the little boy, I think I'm on the verge of being paranoid now.

Other than that, everything is ok on my end. Katie's feeling much better, up and about in her old self, singing and dancing and just being her old cute, adorable unresistable self. Jen's attending Summer School this summer and I've mentioned already, Stephanie's volunteering at the hospital. All four boys are home, being mommy's helpers, and just enjoying their time at home. How about you all? How's your summer coming along so far? Hope you're enjoying the great summer weather...the sun is out and brightly about, I think I might take the kids across to the beach to do some kayaking.

If you're interested in reading something really fun this week, go here. I've mentioned this blog before, it's on my sidebar, Mars versus Venus, a relationship blog...I'm one of the posters on there. This week, the posts are extremely fun to read, the owner has decided to theme the post so this week's theme is Compatibility. You might not want to miss the posts on that blog...go check it out. I have a post I've written, I'm just not sure when it will be posted, maybe Friday or Saturday but every single post this week is going to be a "must read". There's a really fun post right now...it even comes with video of a real live couple so please go check it out, ok?

Aight, y'all take care and have a great day.

Tag Award

I have been given this award by April so I thought I'd take a whack at it. Of course this award came with a tag and I have to do something to show my appreciation for this award..lol.

So the rule of this tag award is: I MUST tell 7 things about me (I'm assuming this would be somethings nobody knows about) and then give this award to 7 people. (Heaven forbid that anyone should be totally mysterious in the Bloggersville) so here's to you then.

1. I am the 9Th kid in a family of eleven children and I'm only counting the number of kids my mom has...I didn't count in the half siblings and step-siblings that are out there. So me having seven children is actually a normal thing in my family, I guess.

2. I loathe housekeeping...not that I can't keep a house but I just can't stand the repetition of keeping a house clean and picked up (everyday) especially when it takes at least an hour to make a room look remotely decent when it took my rascals five seconds to undo it again.

3. My dream growing up was to become a doctor...I like the feeling I get when I help out another person and I figured becoming a doctor is the way to go. Of course this is what the doctors do back on my little island...they help people and hardly get paid for their services...before I discovered that there are actually doctors out there who in their field just for money.

4. I love music, well mostly musical instruments...I fantasized about being totally gifted with the ability to play any musical instrument I want to play but of course that is not the way of things. So the only musical instrument I can play but I wouldn't call myself pro at it is a piano.

5. I am fascinated with history...I love learning about what people did in a certain era and how they deal with different issues and I especially love reading about people in my age group were doing in those times.

6. My favorite kind of food is fish...or any other sea food. I crave fish...I can't seem to get enough of it.

7. I am total night owl...I have a bad habit of staying up late at night doing whatever strikes my fancy and then ended up sleeping in late in the morning. Yes a very bad habit, one I'm working to get rid of because I love to sleep and with little kids around, I need to get up early in the morning to do things for them without being cranky from my lack of sleep.

Now for the seven people to pick....I'm picking these people because I truly want to know more about them...I'm nosy like that.

Brandi at Williams Family Paradise

Gran Denny at Looking Up from Down Under

Lisa at It's All About Me

Heidi at Dunhaven Place

Amanda at Bringing it Home

Heather at Peck Keiki

Noelle at Phat Bottomed Girl (I love her blog title)

So there folks...now you know a little more about me. Thanks April for the award, I will display it proudly on my sidebar.

My Beautiful Island

I was surfing the net when I came across this video. I gotta say I felt absolutely happy and a bit proud to show this off...this is what my island looks like. I miss it a lot and seeing this video brought so much memories so I thought I'd share with you all.

The name of my island is POHNPEI...meaning "on an altar"...because of its name, people of my island believe it's a very sacred place to be and have always tried to live their lives with respect for the inhabitants, from the creatures of the sea to the beautiful trees and waterfalls in the mountain. This is just a little tribute that one of my fellow islander decided to do for our little island.

To summarize the song the guy is singing.....
"We as a people of this island should treat it with respect and love...to take good care of an inheritance given to us from on high. We should always work together to make this beautiful island a place where we can be proud to call ourselves Pohnpeian."

Yes, the song is sung in my native language but the chorus is basically in English so you might be able to get the gist of what the singer is trying to convey.

Hopefully you all like this little glimpse of my birthplace and a little glimpse into my past.

God bless and happy blogging!!

Another creation

Last week in Young Women, I had to teach the Beehive about Personal Records. Because I was in Primary for a while, I have become accustomed to using visual aide when teaching a lesson to keep the kids focused and interested. So I tried to do the same thing when I'm teaching the Beehive.

Because I feel that this particular lesson is very vital and important that the Beehive take into account, I deliberately postponed teaching this lesson til last week so that I could make something for the girls, something tangible that they can see everyday and be a reminder to them.

And of course, I just happen to like the topic too. I love reading about history either personal or collective and I think keeping records of our daily lives is a very useful tool to leave for future generation. Along with my lesson, I wanted to challenge my YW class to keep a journal, to write just about anything they want but I also know that if I just say do it, they will come up with some excuse as to why they might not be able to do it. So I went a step further and made all of my Beehive girls each a journal.

So here they are...I even personalized the journals so there shouldn't be any confusion as to which one belongs to who. Luckily I have a very small class so it only took me a couple of hours to do these.

This is what I used to make their journals...just a regular composition that cost 25 cents and with a few sheets of designer papers I turned this regular composition book to that below.






These were really easy and fun to make and the girls just love them. I have to pick colors that match their personalities and they were totally thrilled to receive them. They love the fact that no two books are the same...

Yeah..as you can count on the number of the books, I only have six girls in my class..I've got a couple of girls who has moved up to Mia Maid and these were the ones left this year. Actually, one of the girls just had birthday this past week so she's moved on to Mia Maid class but I am not getting any coming up from Primary this year. I think by the end up this year I might only have one girl left or even none at all.

Have I mentioned how much I'm enjoying my new calling as a Beehive Adviser? Yep, I totally ♥ these young ladies.

Anyways, I'm back from our camping trip...still exhausted from all that excitement that came from camping, the late night and early mornings...really wears this old body out. I was going to post about the camp but I can't seem to download any pictures to show so hopefully sometime next week I'll be able to show some pictures. In the meantime, I hope you all enjoy my little creation for this week and hopefully your weekend will be great one.

So Alooooha and God bless!! ♥

The Wonderful Functions of Water....who'd have thought

Lately, I found myself tired all.the.time. I feel fatigued, sleepy and I just don't feel like doing anything. And no...I am NOT pregnant...this is usually a symptom that I have when I was pregnant but be assured, I am not pregnant. I'd be worried about that if I haven't just recently been visited by the monthly visitor..lol.

In fact, the hotter the weather gets, the worse I get. I get irritated easily and was constantly snapping at somebody...sad I know. Well, I came to find out that I've been skipping out on my fluid intake...yes I did drink liquid but it wasn't as much as my body needed. See, I've been dehydrating myself...I wasn't drinking enough water.



Yes....WATER....it's actually a very very useful liquid. Do you know that water doesn't just quench our thirst but it also help a person lose weight? How cool is that? But aside from it being a weight loss instrument...there are other very useful ways water are beneficial to us. Here it is: read on.


WATER......

• Keeps us hydrated. During the hot summer days, your body needs to replenish itself with water so you will not become dehydrated. When this happens, you don't have enough water in your body to carry out normal functions. Even mild dehydration can drain your energy and make you feel fatigued.
• Improves skin health. Water hydrates and irrigates impurities from the skin, keeping it healthy and glowing. Water is also the ultimate anti-aging product because it plumps up the skin and smooths out some facial wrinkles. Instead of spending money on expensive anti-aging products, let water do some of the work for you naturally and free!
• Regulates body temperature. Water helps regulate body temperature, especially during exercise. When you exercise, drinking water reduces cardiovascular stress and improves performance. And water reduces body temperature, making the exercise process safer and more effective.
• Prevents headaches. Although there are many causes of headaches, this is a common early symptom of dehydration. Drinking adequate amounts of water may alleviate recurring headaches. The next time you have a headache, consider skipping the pain pills, and try drinking a glass of water instead.
• Lubricating our internal organs and joints. Water keeps our organs and joints moist. This permits the passage of nutrients and wastes between the blood vessels and the rest of the body.
• Helps prevent kidney stones. Drinking water decreases your chance of getting kidney stones. A major waste product is blood urea nitrogen which is passed out of the body in urine. Drinking water helps dilute these salts so the kidneys can flush them out easily.
  
  
  

After reading this, wouldn't you just want to run to the closest water fountain, faucet or even a fridge to take huge gulp of water? I know we as women/moms/wives we're often too busy to stop and take care of ourselves but we need to. And I know that all the everyday life, running errands, chauffeuring kids, doing housework, coaching a little league, etc, we put ourselves on the back burner a lot. So while you're out there running around doing what moms do best, take a bottle of water with you. Even if we don't have time to doll ourselves up, as you read above already, water can actually help in a small measure to give us some help on making ourselves look halfway decent..so to speak. I hope you all enjoy this post.

P.S. Our family is still gone on our camping trip.

A Super Duper Give-away

No, it's mine silly....I just want to increase my chances of winning the give-away so I thought I'd share that with you today so we can both benefit. I increase my chances of winning by getting more entries and let you know at the same time so you can go enter it too. See how very generous I am?

Enough beating around the bush you say? Aw come on, I want to build up your anticipation, sheeesh..lol.

So, do you want to get a chance to win something awesome and wonderful? Mormon Mommy Blogs is having a super duper for the month of June. No, it's not just one prize, there's a list of fabulous things to win. If you do want to win something, check it out. But you have to hurry though...the give-away ends this Thursday. Yeah I know, short notice but hey, better than nothing, right?

Again, go here to enter the give-away. You definitely don't want to miss out on this awesome give-away.

Aight, my work here is done...Good luck on the give-away entry. And have a great Monday.

God Bless! ♥

A Little Long-Winded..lol

It's been a while, hasn't it? So many things have been going on and with school's out for the summer, all the kids are home and practically every electronic equipment we have in the house has been completely taken over by one kid or another. I've had a couple of busy weeks and the summer has barely started but I'm enjoying myself. We will be going on a camp this week Friday til next week Wednesday so looks like I might be MIA again.

Since I last wrote, Jen's back from her trip and I think she's picked up a little bug because she looked completely tired and worn out and has been sleeping a lot. Of course they had a really busy week trying to cramp in as much sightseeing and preparing for their debut in NY that the earliest if they were at all lucky to go to bed for them was at midnight every night and getting up at six or even earlier in the morning. She's doing great and now she's attending Summer school. I will be posting later on how everyone is doing for the summer.

Today I thought I'd post a really cute video that y'all might enjoy. A week or so before school was out at the Elementary School my boys attend, there was an artist who came and made a couple of murals at a couple of the buildings...they were beautiful. On one of the walls, all the kids at the school were allowed a day to go and paint their favorite sea creature and it was a fun day for them all. I was able to go for an hour to watch my son Danny paint his sea creature. But anyways, the end result, with all the classes coming in one at a time to paint...you be the judge of that. One of the parents took this video and posted on You Tube so here it is..............



So what ya think? Isn't that artist incredibly talented? What about those future artists of America? LOL...those are some talented kids!

Here are the pictures of my three boys' sea creatures they drew....I think these are to die for and I'm not by any means being biased at all..nope!lol.

Here's Danny's fish...I don't know what you call that thing. They were told to find a fish they like and this is the one he found in a book from his classroom...look how colorful it is.
Jen came along to see her brothers' fishes and decided she wanted to show them off...didn't she do a great job? LOL...She's always been her brothers' biggest fan and supporters when it comes to any small accomplishments they made...what a big sister. That would explain why she was dubbed "The Favorite Sister" and she wore that title proudly.

Here's Joey's sea creature...a turtle. He was soo proud of his drawing, he couldn't wait to show it off. {Good job Joey...I ♥ your turtle.}
Here he is, showing off his turtle...isn't that a proud "you like my turtle?" look.


This last one is Jonathan's fish. The yellow fish with the black stripes. He said he wasn't really sure what he wanted to draw when he started and when he was drawing his fish, the kids and teachers kept asking him if that was an angel fish he was drawing so he figure, what the heck, an angel fish it is..lol.

I ♥ all three sea creature the same...I'm just so proud of them. I guess they get this little bit of creativity from me, eh? LOL Hope y'all like my little show and tell today. And here's hoping your week and the rest of the week will be a great one for ya!

She's Singing her way to New York

My daughter, Jen, left last night for her Smithsonian & Carnegie Hall Festival trip. When I dropped her off with her group, she said she was so excited that the day has finally arrived that she couldn't sleep a wink the night before. And well she should be excited...it was a long almost two years preparation for this trip...all the practice on her part, the money spent and fundraising we had to do make the trip possible, I am so glad to finally got some exciting reaction out of her.

As I'm writing this post, they are in Washington, D.C. somewhere near the capitol putting on a show for Senator Akaka....Hawaii State Senator. The choir will be making their way to New York in a couple of days to attend the Carnegie Hall festival and our Ko'olauloa Children Chorus will be performing on Saturday. Any of you readers out there reading this who live close to New York or around there, go check them out. Their choir will be only one who comes with hula dancers so it would be worth it to check them out...just saying.

See, this trip of hers actually mean a little more to me than probably anyone else going on the trip because 21 years ago, I was about my daughter's age when I took the same route and gone on a trip like this. We went to Washington, D.C. on a Smithsonian tour too and spent a week there. It was very exciting to walk in nation's capitol and see some of the beautiful historical sight. After the D.C. tour, we went to PA to see the Liberty Bell...the choir is also going to see the Liberty bell...and of course, we visited Colonial Williamsburg to get a glimpse of early America and then on to New York. See, the significance? My daughter will be walking those same streets, same route I took at her age twenty one years ago. I know things have changed and there might be a lot of different changes but still, just the thought about her actually visiting the same sights I visited at her age...totally exciting.

One of the chaperones on the tour created a blog just for this tour so those of us who were not fortunate to join them on this trip can keep tabs of how their doing...right now there are only two entries on that blog but she will be adding more everyday or whenever the time permits. If you're interested, you can go here. I borrowed some pictures from their Spring and Winter concert so feel free to feast your eyes on them..lol.

(Jen is on the top..the second girl on the left. Click on images if you want a close-up.)



(The choir singing while the Halau dancers do the hula...Jen {one of the dancers} in the very back row on the far left hand side.)

(The KCC and Jubilate...Jen on the very top.)

(Jen & Jas, my friend's daughter, doing the hula.)

These are just a few of the pictures of the choir...I borrowed these from the new blog. Hope you enjoy this. Sorry I haven't been posting...school's out and kids are home and therefore, any visible computers in the house are occupied by them. Hope all is well with everyone and hope you have a great week.

♥ you all and God bless!!

My Graduating Senior...she did it!!

My 17 year old daughter, Stephanie, has finally graduated from High School this past Thursday. We are so happy and proud of her for completing this first step in her life and pray and wish her the best in whatever avenue she decides to pursue.

The past week has been really hectic making preparation for her graduation and preparing for my MIL's visit. We spent two days making leis and of course trying to squeeze in a little sight seeing and beach going for Nanny. As I mentioned in my earlier post, I was going to teach my mother-in-law how to make candy leis and staying true to my word, that is what I did the first two days she was here.


Here are some of the leis we made. Stephanie wanted to make at least thirty leis for her friends and I wanted every single member of my family plus my MIL and nephew who came with her to have a lei to present to Stephanie after the graduation. Have I mentioned how big of a deal leis are here in Hawaii? Here are some pictures of some of the leis we made...we made candy, ribbon and I made a special lei made out of money just for her.


These are just a few of the bundle we made. The ribbon lei on the right was made by my son Jonathan.

Most of the candy leis were made by my MIL..the kids call her Nanny. She had a lot of fun making those. That means I must be one awesome teacher..lol.



This is the money lei I made for her. This was my first attempt at making this lei and although it turned out great, it was a lot of work. The most tedious part was folding all those dollar bill to make them look like flowers.

I had 30 one dollar bills that I folded individually and two 10 dollar bills added. As you can add them up, this is a 50 dollar lei, I was going to fold all 50 one-dollar bills but I got really tired..lol. I love how it turned out and she loves it too.

This lei was made up of her favorite candies and they are bigger bars too, unlike the other candy leis.


Now, here she is...my High School graduate. This was taken just before the graduation. Isn't she adorable?





The presentation of the diplomas. She did it!!



There she is again...after the ceremony. See all those leis, we have to take some off so we can see her face. Those are some of the leis she got from her friends and friends of the family.

Oh yeah, we have to make the poster so all our friends can see where she was and come congratulate her. Our poster is very simple compared to the other posters...man, people really go all out for this kind of stuff.




And there they are, the proud parents of the graduate..lol. I have to say that I was very proud of myself because I didn't cry at all...I am such a wuss and I get totally emotional when my kids something I'm very proud of that I cry like a baby but for some reason I didn't cry at all, even though I wanted to. My first baby has gone and grown up on me. So one down and six more to go..lol.
{We ♥ you, Stephanie, so proud of you for completing High School.}

These are just a few of the pictures I can squeeze in here. I'm putting the pictures I have on a slide show at the top so you all can see. Enjoy and hope you all have a great week.

{My son Jonathan will be graduating from Sixth grade this coming Friday and on Sunday, my daughter, Jen is off to her Carnegie Hall/Smithsonian tour so if I'm MIA again, it's only because I will be held at gun-point to be at their peck and call to prepare them for their adventures...LOL.}

My Little Weekend Creation

So I've finally figure out what's been plaguing me lately. Yes, I have a visitor right now...you know the kind of visitor that visits WOMEN only and once a month? It seems before this visitor made an appearance, she would do all kinds of weird things to my physical and mental state that pretty much makes me the most impatient and the least kind person in the world. Well, now that she's actually here and I can physically see her (lol), I can deal with her...ahahah.

Well, now that I've at least come to terms with what's been plaguing me, I can put that to rest and move on to something more pleasant. I wasn't aware that this is a Memorial day weekend and therefore there will be kids underfoot another extra day so I will definitely use that to my advantage. My mother-in-law is visiting and will be here this Tuesday so I'm going to need all the extra hands I can get to help me put my house in something that resembles a bit of order before she gets here. I'm actually looking forward to seeing her..haven't seen in her in a long time and the kids are really excited to see Nanny.

Ok so my weekend is going ok. I joined my friend to go do the "Relay for Life" at midnite on Friday and I found out that was a really neat and fun thing to do. We did an hour walk, I didn't count how many laps we did and it was great. I mean I killed two birds with one stone, I did a good thing for a good cause and I burned some calories...who said good causes supposed to benefit only the receiver? LOL

On a more creative note....our card group had our swap on Friday night and I was the demonstrator. I had a blast again, as always. The ladies love my card I made for swapping and my demo was easy, fun yet cute. My friend called me later to rave about how much she loved my card...I admit, of all the cards I made, the one I made this month is my favorite. And not just because it's cute and I had to combine at least two different ideas to create it but because of my daughter's graduation coming up in a few days, she was my inspiration behind the card. So do you guys want to see my card I made to swap with the ladies? Do you? Ok...here we go!


Isn't it cute? The owl is graduating...lol. Red, white and black is my daughter's school's color. The owl was made with different hole punches.

But wait, there's more...look closely, see what the owl is hiding behind him. Yep, when you lift the flap behind the owl, there's a little envelope where a dollar bill or even a gift card lay safely awaiting to be discovered...isn't that cute?

And then when you open the card itself, the sentiments are written in there, like this. (Click on the images to see it enlarge so you can read what it says.)

And for the demo, I did this card. Our theme was either Graduation card or Wedding card. I had to go with graduation because of my daughter. So here's another graduation card that I demo for the group...it was very easy and the ladies loved it. This is a money card...

You pull out the band in the front and then the card is then able to open. There's a little pouch inside where the money goes. Isn't it cute? I got this idea from Dawn at her stamping studio and if anyone is interested to see how to make it, go here. She has step by step video of how to make it. I love the versatility of this card, you can also use it for birthday, and of course wedding and any other occasion that calls for money giving.
Don't you just love it?

Anyways, doing something creative like this is such a big stress-reliever for me. My next project or at least for this week is making leis. I've mentioned before how leis are big here in Hawaii. People use leis for every occasion and with graduation in a few days, my daughter have a ton of friends she wants to give leis to so I can't wait to get started on them. I have three different leis that I will be working on...candy lei, the ever popular among kids, ribbon lei and money lei. A lot of work but a lot of fun too. That's why I'm so glad my MIL will be coming in a couple of days, she can help Steph and I make the leis and she gets to learn how to make a lei. Who knows she just might start trend when she goes back to Arizona...woohoo...lol. For this kind of creation I would gladly ignore my kids for a few days and I wouldn't mind that at all...lol....kidding. So, aside from this little creation of mine, this weekend is proving to be a peaceful one.

By the way...thank you all for the support and understanding as I was trying to ramble my thoughts out of my head..it's such a relief to be able to ramble on knowing there are people who care what one's experiencing at the moment. Hope you all are having a nice peaceful Memorial weekend. God bless!!