Bon Voyage

John and I are getting to go on a cruise this weekend. We'll be back just in time to ring in the new year. Will tell you all about it.... hope I don't get sea sick!

Here's my sweety pie... just love her expressive eyes.

It's official

I am going to start transfering all of my old posts over to this new site. It will take quite some times, so be patient.

Koi

Wow, has it been almost two weeks since my last post? I've been busy with getting ready for Christmas that I forgot to stop in and post.

On a sad note, about a month ago, my orange koi fish died. We had him since we moved to this house more than five years ago. I brought him home when he was just a couple of inches long. Then he grew and grew and grew.... I think he was more than 13 inches long before his passing. He loved to eat; he would actually came right to the edge of the pond and practically ate right out of my hand. He also loved to leap out of the water, and his last leap landed himself onto the waterplants, out of water... you know what happen to fish out of water. :-( John found him and took care of it.

This picture was taken during the summer (that's him on the left). John wanted to get me another koi, but I'm not ready yet.

Changing over

I'm thinking about changing over to this blog. Testing to see how quickly I can figure out how to manage this post and with pictures.

ELFAMORPHOSIS

I was unwinding and surfing the net the other night and came across this hilarious site by OfficeMax. "Elf Yourself". Check this out...
http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1189538372



Unfortunately, you can do only up to 4 people, and there are five of us. I put the kids and me in and sent it over to John for a good laugh. This has been Hannah's favorite thing to do lately... elfing family and friends and even our pets. Take a look at this one....

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1189279217





What fun!?! So go "elf yourself".

ELFAMORPHOSIS

I was unwinding and surfing the net the other night and came across this hilarious site by OfficeMax. "Elf Yourself". Check this out... http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1189538372

Unfortunately, you can do only up to 4 people, and there are five of us. I put the kids and me in and sent it over to John for a good laugh. This has been Hannah's favorite thing to do lately... elfing family and friends and even our pets. Take a look at this one....

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1189279217

What fun!?! So go "elf yourself".

TGIF

I'm soooo glad that it's Friday, and the week is finally over!

I volunteered this year to be the chairperson for the HOLIDAY GIFT SHOP at Hannah's school (didn't really know what I got myself into at the time). The program sponsored by the school PTA and designed to allow the student to come and shop for their parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, or anyone whom they wish to buy gifts for for Christmas. The kids really get excited over this, and they also learned important lessons on counting, budgeting, and consumerism while they shop. A lot of the kids, even the younger ones, are quite a shopper. They came in, knew exactly what to buy, whom to buy it for, leave with bags in their hands, and big smiles on their faces.

Hannah's class came in today. There were a couple items that I hinted to her that I would like to receive, but she might had something else in mind.....it's a big secret. As soon as we got home from school, Hannah secretly wrapped everything and placed everything on the table next to the tree. (We can't put anything under the tree yet, just in case, the little doxies get into it.) Soooo, we will have to wait 'til Christmas to find out what she picked out for us.

Thanks to the other volunteers and especially to Sandie, PTA President, who was there and helped me everyday, the Holiday Boutique was a success. BUT, I HAD NEVER WORKED SO HARD IN MY LIFE!! I'm just simply exhausted.

Honeeeeyyy.... where's my cocktail? *LOL*

There is a box for me!

We've been so busy lately that no one remembered to walk out to the mailbox to get the mail. I finally swung by it this afternoon. My mailbox was so full that the mailman had to put the regular mail in with the larger mailbox for packages, and there it is, my box from my Secret Sister. It came from Sunset, Utah, with no name in the return address.

Since it my birthday tomorrow, I will wait to open it tomorrow. *U* What a nice birthday present! *te he*

I promise that I'll post pictures this weekend.

Anime Self-Portrait

Just a quick post... I'm tooooo tired lately to do much lately :(

This is Amanda's drawing of herself in Anime character.

Package sent

Do you remember my post a few weeks ago about Secret Sister Swap with the Nickels Group? Tomorrow is the deadline to send our gifts out, and I'm glad to have my package sent out today.... another thing check off on my list. *U*

I hope my Secret Sister will like what I sent for her; I can't wait to receive my package.

Hmm... wonder who got my name

OMG

Have you been watching Dancing with the Stars??? Two hours of the finale tonight with Celine Dion as a guest. Maria Osmond and her partner, Johnathon, went home first. I enjoyed watching Maria danced and she a great entertainer, but I'm glad that she did not win. I'm glad that this didn't turn out to be a popularity contest.



The last two celebrities were Mel and Helio. I rooted for Helio the car racer and John wanted Mel the Spice Girl to win. Who will it be? Who will take home the disco ball trophy?



HELIO AND JULLIANNE!!!

We're back....

from our Arizona trip. It was great visiting John and Nina, and of course, we surprised Shana when we arrived. John sure is a great cook! (Nina's John... not mine *U*) I think I gained an extra 15 pounds from the Thanksgiving Feast. We had turkey, ham, stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy, yam, green beans, etc... and for dessert... a delicious and scrumptiuos, rich and moist, heavenly chocolate cake. I think this is where the extra 10lbs. came in.*lol*

Heading Out

Our plan was to pack up the RV and head out to Arizona this morning. We were also planning to stop off in Blythe and camp by the Colorado River for one night before we head to Casa Grande to spend Thanksgiving with our friends, Nina and John, who had moved there in July. SSHHH.... we're keeping it a secret from their daughter, Shana, to surprise her.

However, after classes last night, Amanda told us that she needed to go visit the Getty Museum and get pictures done for an assignment. She won't have time to go when we get back. Soooo... we went with Plan B instead and spent the day at the museum. It's an amazing museum. We had only touched a part of it so will have to go back again to see everything there.

Tomorrow, we're heading out bright and early to spend the day by the Colorado River, then we will head to John and Nina's... hopefully, be there by night time. As usual, I'll bring the camera and will post pictures when we get back this weekend.

See you then. Have a Happy Thanksgiving!

Productive Weekend

It is good to be home these last two days. With the help of the kids, we cleaned the house in the mornings, got all the laundry washed, sorted, folded, and put away. YIPPEE! *U* Then, I had Hannah go through her closet and take out everything that she doesn't wear anymore. We filled up TWO LARGE BAGS. One bag was full of T-shirts, and quite a few of them are her favorites. Oh-oh... I feel the need for a T-shirts quilt coming up. he he Actually, I have two t-shirt quilts to do... ok, that's another post for later.

In the afternoon, I worked on my Secret Sister Swap(SSS) for the Nickel group. Yes, about two months ago, I was feeling ambitious at the time and signed up to do the exchange this year. The package need to be mail out by the end of November, and I was feeling a bit stressed out that I haven't started on this project yet because "life" has taken over. Sooo glad that I got some sewing in these last two days. This is my first time to join in on the fun. The rules are that I have to send my SS seven (for 2007) items on the list that are quilting related and need to be handmade by me or someone else. We had to answer a questionaire that will help us find and make this little gifts. The last thing on the list is any thing special from me to my SS... so, I decided to work my way backward and make a totebag in her favorite colors per answers on the questionaire. I will use this totebag as a giftbag.... a gift in a giftbag... clever don't you think? lol

Well, I got the totebag done and has started on the second gift... a potholder. I'm planning to do this in Christmas fabrics; it should be a quick project. Since there's no school tomorrow, I will work on it in the morning. No school = more sewing time. ;c) Sorry, I won't be able to post any pictures right now. You have to wait until the first week of December and after my SS has receive her gifts.

Investiture Dinner

As much as I love my little Doxie and as much as he needed his puppy class for socializing, I decided that I should attend Hannah's girl scouts event. I probably would feel guilty if I didn't go to it.

The event is her first ceremony as a Junior where she will get her Junior pin, patches, and any badges that she had worked on since she started. The dinner was at Carrow's. While we waited for our drinks and food, Nancy, troop leader, had the girls did their flag salute and the Girl Scout Promise Law. Then, Nancy called each girl up and pinned a Junior pin on their vest, handed them their certificate, and announced what patches and badges they earned so far.

OH... one thing, a surprise to me, Hannah won the third prize for selling the most Fall Product (magazine, candies and nuts) back in September/October. I thought that we didn't even sell that much. At the last minute before the sale ended, we called some relatives and begged (he he) them to order. Guessed that was enough to secure her third place, and she got a cute girl scout bag as a prize. I will have to come back and post a picture later... can't seem to find the cord for the camera to upload pics to the my laptop... it's not in it usual place.

PTA and stuff

Wow, can you believe that it's almost Thanksgiving?! The Holiday Seasons are just right around the corner. Do you have any special plans? We don't. I've been missing in action with this blog, but do check back this weekend for some posts about our Halloween and motorcross trip.

For this month and part of next month, PTA is my life. lol I'm in charge of the Holiday Shop Boutique at Hannah's school this year. I've been to meetings, financial training, writing up flyers to be review by the principal, and scheduling vonlunteers to help out at the shop. Today, I will type the final drafts of those flyers, and tomorrow, I need to make copies to send home to each student (over 700 of them). So you know where I'll be .... at the school. lol

I also need to call the company and place my order, and I need to check with Student Leaderships to see if they are done with the posters to advertise the shop. Then, we need to hang them up. Wow, I'm ready for that week of Thanksgiving break!

Tonight, Hannah has girl scouts. It's the Investiture and Dedication dinner that's happen to be at the same time as Yoshi's first day of intermediate class. Our plan is for John to take her to the ceremony, and I'll take Yoshi to class. However, I'm feeling a bit guilty if I don't attend the ceremony..... HHMMM.... what to do?.... what to do?.....

FIRESTORM

The wind started early on Sunday morning at a horrendous rate. In the middle of the night, I was awaken a few times by its howling and darkness.... the power was out. We had no electricity when we got up so couldn't cook breakfast and (YIKES!) couldn't brew a cup of coffee either. Not to worry, John came to the rescue; he ran the generator in the RV and made us a pot of coffee... gotta have that cup of coffee. he he

While the wind continued to blow, the power remained out until late morning. By the afternoon, the gusts of wind died down and there's electricity. Then, the power went down again for a couple of hours just as I was ready to cook dinner. Strong winds and fires go hand in hand in Southern California. We are not close to any fires, but if you've been watching the news, the president has declared stated emergency. There are 10 major fires burning: in San Diego, Lake Arrowhead, Twin Peak, Malibu, Irvine, just to name a few. A quarter of million of people have been evacuated and over a thousand of homes and businesses have been destroyed and thousands of homes are endanger. Schools are cancelled. It doesn't look like the winds will relent today and the temperature remains summer-like.

Let's say a prayer for those who are afflicted by these fires and those who are endangered to remain safe.