Valentine's Day Came Early

...in this household anyway.

My 'valentino' got me the Barbie doll house...toink! LOL...of course I'm kidding. He got me the wallet which was supposed to be a surprise. It was busted because I'm the one that does the money stuff around here [balancing the check book, etc] and something showed in the account that I didn't know about so I asked. He just said: SURPRISE! Haha! Anyway, he really wants me to get that wallet to match the purse he got me for Christmas...but I wouldn't budge so he waited for a 'reason'...in this case Valentine's Day and got it as present for me. That way I wouldn't say it's too expensive....I still did. That's one thing about my husband...he doesnt push me if I don't want to do something. He finds other ways....LOL. Still, I'm grateful for my present which is now comfortably nestled in the purse he got me for Christmas which I posted here.

The 'Barbie Doll House' is obviously the little one's. She got a Barbie doll last Christmas and she's been creating a makeshift house for her. She even came up with a 'black print' for a house for her and asked Dad to get her some woods to build the mini-house. We got the hint loud and clear. Being the Daddy's girl that she is...the Dad heard her LOUDER and got her the doll house. We gave it to her as a Valentine's Day present just because...toink! Barbie aka 'Minnie Me' also got a Vday present [aside from the house]....a playmate...KEN! Now everyone's happy. Ha! As for our gift for Dad...nada! Well, a card...which is what we normally get him anyway. Romantic me, eh?

P-I-E-R-C-E-D!

That's the little one having her ears pierced earlier today. FINALLY! She's been talking about it for months but was kinda' nervous about it. She's not scared of the act of piercing itself. She's worried about not being able to keep the piercings clean enough during the healing process. She finds the task of cleaning them 3x a day and rotating them regularly daunting so she's been putting it off for months now.

Today, she finally said she wanted to do it. We were out to buy ink & stamps and some artificial plants for the house. We had no idea where to go to get it done so we asked a lady in the jewelry section of the department store and she suggested Claire's ~ it's an accessory store mostly but they do ear piercing in the store as well. Fortunately it was just a few doors away from the department store itself. We walked over and that was it. There were a couple of girls ahead of her so she saw the process which made the experience a lot easier because the 2 girls didn't even flinch when their ears were pierced. They also assured the little one that it didn't hurt at all.

It was a great experience for her. This is her first major decision for herself. We intentionally didn't have her ears pierced when she was a baby because we wanted her to decide if she wants them pierced or not. It took her a while to finally make up her mind but she said she's glad she went for it today. Cool!

A New Twist to Hand Me Downs....

I'm used to hand me downs since I'm the fourth in a brood of 5 and I'm also the younger one of 2 sisters. So it's nothing new to me when I get used stuff ~ clothes, shoes, etc. This time around though the "hand me down" I'm talking about is not coming from my older siblings. Can you guess where they're coming [down?] from? Our little one!!!! Let me explain....

We got her a pair of boots a few months before winter. Eversince she was 7, she's been asking us to get her a pair so we did when we saw this cute pair at the store one time. She was excited of course. We thought they'd be perfect for the season... and they are. Except that she only wore them once because she didn't like the experience of wearing a little bit of heels. Her words were: I should have bought riding boots instead because they seem very comfortable. I agree. At least the riding boots will be used more than once because she wants to take riding lessons sometime in the next few months. Anyway, since we wear the same size of shoes now, the boots are now mine. Yep, we're putting a new twist to 'hand me downs' in this household. Good thing we didn't get pink ones with glitters and all. Can you imagine a 40+ year old woman strutting around in pink glittery boots? I can't!

Fighting Addiction

Fortunately, I don't have any kind of addiction that I need to fight. I also don't know many people who are fighting addiction. Personally anyway. I read about a lot of famous people who according to reports are addicted to something one way or another. Just recently Demi Moore was in the headlines because of her very public breakdown. If we can believe everything that we read in the news, she's only one of the many famous people who is fighting this demon. Many of them tend to ignore that they have the problem but a lot also come to a point when they realize it's time to come clean. Fortunately for these people places like methadone detox rehab treatment center is just within reach if and when they decide to seek the help. They can go through the process privately and with the help of qualified people in a place where their safety and privacy matter. That's one of the great things now as compared to years ago. Help is available almost everywhere. The only thing one need to do is to take that one step and ask for help....

Re-Scheduling

I admit it...I tend to re-schedule appointments every now and then. I have valid reasons for doing so and I do it at a reasonable time frame. I don't want to be an incovenience to other people much less a business that's why I re-schedule at least within the 24-hour frame that we're supposed to call in.

I have an appointment half an hour ago. I had to call to the business and asked why I haven't received any call about it and that their rep is late. I got a call and found out that there has been some problems with the schedule of the person involved so it's going to be an hour later than scheduled. It would have been okay if they called before I did but they didn't. What happens if I didn't call when I did? They will just show up and expect me to just go along with it? Or maybe they would just not show up? That's very unprofessional in my opinion. Quite frankly if I'm not already ready I would just say never mind.

Very frustrating to say the least.

Gardening & Composting...

One of my brothers back home is an avid gardener. He didn't use to be homebody much less a gardener and spent most of his younger years out with friends getting wasted but he did a complete turn around one day and just started using his energy tending to our backyard. He started with peanuts then added more fruits and vegetables in his garden. It is also this love of gardening that he discovered and started composting. Never has he used any chemicals in his garden so his produce are one hundred percent free of pesticides. I guess that's when he realized how beneficial composting would be in his hobby. On his last birthday, I asked him what he wanted and he said a composter because he wants to have one near each garden plot. He already has one that he made himself but just like a lot of homemade stuff, it's not as convenient as the ones in the market that are well designed. Our backyard is quite big so I understand why he wants more than one composter. So I started looking for the best composters out there to see which ones to get him. There are quite a few selections actually but I like the Spin Bin the best because of its size and it's perfect for my brothers garden. I wonder if they sell it there though...

Ironic?

In the news last week it was reported that jobless rate has hit a new low in 3 years. At the same time, it's also around that time when US created job at the fastest rate in 9 months. Can you say ironic? But if that's what the numbers show then what can we do, right? I don't know where the government or whatever sector is doing these surveys base their numbers but I personally wonder why some people can't find a job when there are jobs being advertised everywhere. It's true that one needs to qualify for a job and that some jobs have high qualifications but there must be something that can be done. For instance, I've come across several Veterinary Technician Jobs open when I was browsing through an online site. I am not qualified for that job myself but there must be someone out there who is. I think I saw about 10 openings in different places so it's not like it's in one state or something. Maybe some people who need a job have to look harder and must be willing to do some changes like maybe relocate or travel a bit farther. Sometimes we need to make sacrifices ~ small or big ~ in order to make things happen. This may be the best time to do that, don't you think?

SuperBowl REMATCH!

That's what this coming Superbowl XLVI is all about...a rematch of the Superbowl XLII between the NY Giants and the NE Patriots. Many believe that game in 2008 was one of the biggest upsets in football history. During that season the Patriots had an almost perfect record [18] and they only needed to win the Superbowl to make it perfect. Unfortunately, the Giants pulled one on them and they lost.

This season, the Patriots definitely had a better record than the Giants BUT that was obviously the case in 2008 as well. Of course the big question now is: Will history repeat itself? Or will the Patriots prove they can beat the Giants once and for all?

I'm not rooting for any team. Just like Ellen DeGeneres, both my teams weren't able to make it to the Superbowl [Saints & Packers...well, Colts as well but Peyton didn't play all season so...'nuff said]. I'm sure the husband will watch the game. I probably will just be popping in to see the half time show and the commercials. I get stressed out during the game even if I'm not rooting for anyone so I choose to sit it out. So there....

Any guess as to who is going to win this one???

Here's Wishing ALL to...

glitter-graphics.com

Hopefully it's going to be a nice weekend around here. The weather this week has been pretty good. It starts a bit chilly but it warms up quite a bit in the afternoon ~ in the 80s mostly. I overheard the the weather man mentioned we may have some rain during the weekend but I am hoping that won't happen.

An Early Book Lover

This is the little one when she was 3 years old. I proudly took a picture of her on the day she finished reading her 'real book'. Before this one she read other books but they're a lot thinner. This one was almost 200 pages that's why I just had to take a picture of her with the book. Just like a lot of other kids, she started showing interest in books because of the colorful pictures. Her love for reading probably started from that and partly because we made sure she actually tried to read the books we got her.

Fortunately, her love of books still continues up to this day. We got her a kindle so she now buys mostly kindle ebooks because of it. I still get her the regular books if it's not available in kindle yet. But for the most part, we use her kindle to purchase the books she wants to read. It's a bit cheaper and faster to get ~ as soon as you buy it ~ and we don't need extra space in the house to store them. I have to say Kindle is the way to go if you have a little one who likes to read as much as ours do.