I like to move it, move it...

I will be offline for a while, we are moving this weekend and who knows how long it will take for our DSL to be set up...probably a week I am guessing.

Please have a good thought or if you pray, say a prayer for my Mom. She has had a significant setback and has to go back on the infusion chemotherapy amongst other medical issues. Please pray that I don't have to go home again until it is time for us to move back next summer. Not because I don't want to go home, I just don't want Mom to die.

Until we meet again, here is a recent picture of my son & I at the Cultural & Natural History Museum, here on Saipan. We went on Friday and I highly recommend it.

And one of him full of smiles...

Peace.

On being a cheap frugal treehugger...

Can I just tell you how difficult it is to be a frugal treehugger sometimes? It is way harder than I expected. Some days I look back with longing at my old ways...but then I remember that I am helping in my own little way to make my son's life better. Environmentally and financially.

Last night the temperature in our bedroom was 92 degrees when I went to bed at 10 PM. Oy! Can you say insomnia? We have air conditioners in all of the rooms, but we don't use them and because of lack of use, when we did turn them on, they stunk. The 2 fans we had on were just blowing around the hot air. Yuck.

Only 9 more days until we move to our new house with better ventilation and more windows.

Peace.

Quaker Critter

Yay! Finish # 2 of the year for me! Kinda pathetic, but oh well. This one is a freebie from Workbasket, stitched on 32 ct ( or 36, I am not sure) raw linen with 2 strands of DMC Ecru. And it goes with the Quaker SAL on the STO yahoo group, yay!

I received a nice RAK from Kendra this week, some fantastic fabric that she got a huge bargain on. It is 28 ct. and a nice oatmeal color. I am already thinking of the possibilities with this giant piece that she sent. Thanks again, Kendra!

I also received 2 charts that I ordered the second week of April...let's just say that I am not a very happy customer with how things were handled, and I am probably not going to do business there for a while (like I need to buy more anyway...?). And, it wasn't Stitching Bits & Bobs who are notoriously slow with shipping. I am hoping that it was just a fluke. 'Nuff said.

I got "My Beloved" from Country Cottage Needleworks and "A Spot of Halloween" from Midnight Stitching. Love love love them both. The designer for Midnight Stitching is my the STO yahoo group and we are doing a SAL of our designers this month, so I was hoping to have this chart by the beginning of May to at least put a few stitches in it, but it wasn't meant to be. C'est la vie. At least they are here now.

I will have to work on other stuff for a while since the cross stitching stuff is packed. Unless I really do decide to do Mother's Tree over one, I have that out still...

Peace.

SBQ

Today's SBQ was suggested Juls and is:

If you could only stitch one more piece what would it be and why?

Funny that this is the question this week since I saved a piece of fabric from the craft room packing fiasco and the other stuff I had kitted for Mother's Tree and set about gridding the fabric. But now I have decided that I might not want to do it over one on 32 count. Why? Because I would go crazy and I am afraid. So, I am mulling it over some more.


The answer for me would be "Mother's Tree" by Lavender and Lace. I have traced back 9 generations of Mothers (with Gram S.'s help) and have them all graphed out. It is destined to be an heirloom once I actually get it done.

I blogged about the hunt for mothers here.

Has everyone seen the Freebie Gallery Blog that Carol created??? What an awesome database of stitched freebies, many with the links to where the chart can be downloaded. Get a cup of tea and have a little sit down for a bit. Thank you so much, Carol!

Also, there is a new freebie out from C.E.C., be sure to check it out, way too cute!

Peace.

Tag, I'm It.

Kim tagged me and I had to think hard about things that I may have not shared before now, so here goes...

Here are the rules: Each player starts with 7 random facts/habits about themselves. People who are tagged need to write on their own blog about their seven things, as well as these rules. You need to choose 7 people to get tagged and list their names. Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they have been tagged and to read your blog!

1. I am hoping that someday we can adopt one if not two children and raise them along with our biological kids.

2. I got braces at the age of 21.

3. When I was born, I was severly pigeon-toed and had to have casts on my legs & feet for the first few months of my life. The casts got changed every 6 weeks. You wouldn't know it now if you looked at my feet that there was ever anything wrong.

4. I failed my first driver's test.

5. I hate scary movies. There is no point in watching people get frightened and killed, if you ask me.

6. I have nightmares / bad dreams frequently. Yet another reason I don't like scary movies.

7. I took Latin in high school (Sophomore year).

and just because some people do 8 things, instead of 7, here is a bonus...

8. By the time I graduated high school, I had gone to 11 different schools.

If you haven't done this one yet and would like to participate, please feel free. I know that some people don't like to be tagged, but IF you feel so inclined, I would be interested in reading responses from:

Deece
Carolyn
Jenn
Melissa
Angelo
Heather
KaLu

16 Votes

Happy Mother's Day, my dog is a loser

Happy Mother's Day to all of the Moms out there, including you some-day-Moms and pet Moms. I hope that you are all being spoiled rotten!

We had a nice relaxing day yesterday (it is Monday here). We DH packed up a bunch of boxes for our big move in a few weeks. I wish I could say "we"...but with a demanding 4 month old, it is hard to get much accomplished with one hand. I made breakfast : onion, spinach & feta omelette, and DH made dinner : ribs (dry rub just like I like), baked potato, squash and more spinach. Hershey's Kisses for dessert.

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On Saturday, we took our dog to the PAWS dog show. It was a nice day for it and there was a pretty good turnout, I must say I was impressed. I entered Lady into the "Booniest" category and "Best of Show". She was skunked again, just like last year at the GAIN dog show in Guam. Maybe it was the cat scarf around her neck? Angelo was one of the judges and I *think* that he showed Lady some love with a 9...I am so bad, I wasn't paying much attention. (P.S. Check out his blog for a great videos of baby turtles making their way to the Ocean after hatching Video 1. Video 2.)

I am looking forward to next year's show. I need to start feeding Lady some more though...I want her to win something! The dog that won the "fattest dog" award totally killed me. She looked like my Mom's old dog, Little Red, but taller and longer. She had the same sausage body and lumps on her torso and her face was similar. When she was parading past the judges, I kid you not, she sat down 3 times-not on command. I think that she was tired. I haven't laughed that hard in a while.

Good times.

I would like to start helping out with PAWS, and have thought about going to their meetings, but it seems like they are always in the evening and that is Connor's witching hour. I was glad that the dog show didn't last past 6pm, that would have been pushing it. He just gets so darned cranky and fussy.

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I have been crocheting & knitting a little bit. Just simple little dishcloths with 100% cotton yarn. I can usually do a few in the evenings after Connor goes to bed. I like to tuck them into gift packages for my friends. Mom seems to think that people would buy them, but I think that she is crazy.

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One day last week, I took Connor out for a stroll around the American Memorial Park to try to capture some pictures of the Flame Trees before the flowers completely die out. Of course I had to take some pictures of the Plumeria trees (my all time fave).

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Connor is rolling over now. He was 4 months old on Friday. And he is drooling like a madman. I am hoping a few teeth make an appearance soon, I am ready to be done with the crabby-ness for a while.

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My new fave snack:

Dried Fruit & Nut Mix from Costco. The bag is $16 something but so freaking tasty! Apples, Mangoes, Pineapple, Kiwi, Bananas, Cherries, Strawberries, Golden Raisins, Papaya, Walnuts, Almonds, Peanuts. Deeeee-lish! Thank you Costco for this gastronomic treat.

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I started "The Boleyn Inheritance" by Philippa Gregory. So far it hasn't disappointed. I have loved her other books about Henry VIII and the Boleyn/Howard families so this one should be right there as well.

Peace.

Finished my 19th book for the year

Today I finished "Inheritance" by Lan Samantha Chang.

It was just okay, didn't exactly keep my attention and draw me back to it with each free moment I had like other books have. I would give it a B-. I really enjoy books set in China, especially ones that deal with women/mother-daughter relationships. I read one last year called "Falling Leaves: The Memoir of an Unwanted Chinese Daughter" that really has stayed with me. It might be my favorite so far in the Chinese Mother-Daughter category.

So, I started "To The Nines" by Janet Evanovich. Should be done in the next couple of days, they are quick easy reads. Then I am trying to decide on reading either "Mirror Mirror" by Gregory Maguire (I have already read "Wicked" and want to see the stage performance next year when we go home), "The Boleyn Inheritance" by Philippa Gregory (still need to get "The Constant Princess"), or "The Kitchen God's Wife" by Amy Tan.

Recently I finished reading "Hard Eight" by Janet Evanovich - part of the Stephanie Plum series. The book isn't in good enough condition for me to offer it for swapping on Paperbackswap.com, so I am offering it to anyone that wants it. Gratis. Just email me. It has a cracked spine. The pages are all there, it is just a little worn. I think that it has been read by many people before me.

Last year, I read 53 books. I hope to top that this year, even if I only get through 54 books.

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This weekend, we are planning on going to the PAWS Dog Show : The Best of the Worst! on Saturday and hopefully hit the Taste of the Marianas Festival sometime. I am hoping that Lady can bring home the "Booniest" title at the dog show.

Wow, this post has alot of links!

Peace.

They published my letter!

I wrote a letter to the editor the other day and they published it! The opinion column that I wrote in regards to is this:

read column here

And here is my letter to the editor:

my letter to the editor

Yay!

The utility prices here are so outrageous, we pay 177% more per kWh of electricity than the US average. That's sad. I am hoping that my letter to the editor may help others save some money.

When they talk about CUC, that is our utility company, it is owned by the island government.

Peace.

I'd like to know...

Why the makers of 7-UP feel it is necessary to try to pull the wool over our eyes? They claim that 7-UP is "100% Natural" now. What is so natural about high fructose corn syrup?
I call bull s^%$ on that one. Doesn't matter though, I still love you, 7-UP.
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I finsihed my little Bent Creek Zippie kit the other night.
Bent Creek's "Ladybird" Zippie
I am going to start a little something for a pal that was inspired by a recent post. Should be quick to do. : )

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I am so touched that a very sweet stitcher is letting me use her "Beatrix Potter Quaker Sampler". I now have it in my hot little hands and am looking forward to stitching it soon. Thank you to everyone that gave me info on where to find it!

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We signed the rental agreement this last week on the new house. Yay! We will be moving on May 31. Should be interesting since we don't get the new house until May 31 and we have to be out of our house by June 1. Wow.

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I have more diaper dye on it's way to me! It doesn't seem to bother Connor's skin at all...you have to rinse the diapers continuously and then you wash them to get rid of all of the dye. I got the dyes in the craft department of the store that shall not be named. I think that each package was $1.94 and one packet does 3 Premium Indian cotton diapers.

New Beasties!!!

Yay, the tracklist for the new Beastie Boys album is out.
According to this site:

Beastie Boys reveal new album tracklisting
'The Mix Up' will feature 14 tracks

Beastie Boys have revealed the tracklisting for their new album'The Mix Up'.

As previously reported exclusively by NME.COM, bandmember Mike D said that the follow up to 2004's 'To The 5 Boroughs' would be "radically different" to its predecessor and the sound will hark back to the style of 1992's 'Check Your Head' and 1989's 'Paul's Boutique'.

No release date has yet been announced, but Mike D also told NME.COM he expected it to be out sometime in June.

The band are set to perform at the London leg of the Live Earth shows which takes place at Wembley Stadium on July 7.

The tracklisting for 'The Mix Up' is:
'Be For My Name'
'14th St.Break'
'Suco De Tangerina'
'The Gala Event'
'Electric Worm'
'Freaky Hijiki'
'Off The Grid'
'The Rat Cage'
'The Melee'
'Dramastically Different'
'The Cousin Of Death'
'The Kangaroo Rat'

Yay! I LOVE Paul's Boutique, I think that it is their best work ever. I am glad that they are going back to that style.

I saw the Beasties way back in the summer of 1999 at the "Free Tibet" festival. I remember them doing "Intergalactic" in their little wannabe space suit outfits.

Normal post coming later.
Peace.

Diaper Love

Ya'll are prolly bored to death hearing about how much I love using cloth diapers. Well, the love got a little sweeter while we were at home...I took the freaky diaper obsession one step farther...I bought packages of Dylon Permanent Fabric Dye and we dyed diapers.

Didn't they turn out AWESOME?!?!

We used lime, purple, burnt orange, poppy and turquoise. I am now kicking myself that I didn't grab a pack of yellow. I bet the colors would be more vibrant if we weren't using unbleached cotton diapers. I think that I will ask Mom to pick up some more, because we have lots more diapers that are too plain!

And I finally have been stitching! Yes, I actually do stitch. *collective gasp* I know, I know. Instead of yammering on about it, here is a WIP photo.

It's just a little Zippie kit from Bent Creek. "Ladybird" is the English term for Ladybug...hmmm, the things that you learn from cross stitch.

Tonight we are going to go sign a lease agreement on a new house for our last year here. You can see the ocean from the roof! And it is in a more private area...plus the kitchen is newly remodeled and it even has an outdoor kitchen. Yay us!

Peace.