Advents Corner

I found this documentary about the Hawaiian Islands highlighting the plastic pollution that is going on.  It is not just a problem in Hawai’i but all over the world.  I have attached the trailer but please visit the Message in the Waves website and you can download a pal version of the film.  I think the islands are the most beautiful places on earth, please help keep them that way.

When Lani was born she would sit with Matt at the computer desk and he would play Jack Johnson all the time.  Because she was a preemie we felt it was necessary to have her as close to us as possible and her bonding time with Daddy was spent at the computer listening to “Do you remember” She loved his cd so much that for 2 months when we were in the car that was the only cd we could play.  Thank goodness we all like Jack.  Now he is on the cover of Rolling Stone. 

His music is simple yet thought provoking.  If you don’t believe me have a listen to Good People or The News.  I often wonder also how news casters can make it through the news without crying.  I can’t, really.  Matt does not like it when I watch the news because I can not make it through a cast without crying. Thanks Jack for giving us good quality music the whole family can listen too.

I love being a Mom.  I think I am better at it now that I am older but I have always loved it.  Lani gets the benefits of more patience that I wish I had when the older girls were little.  My oldest is 17 years old and last week she asked me to get the tangles out of her hair.  It is little things like that that make me happy.  Just knowing that she would ask me to brush her hair means the world to me.  Here are 21 things you can do to help you enjoy being a Mom.  One of my favorites is number 3.  I loved taking a bath with Lani.  Now that she is older and can stand we take showers together.  It is nice to just bring her in there with with me after a long day of work and she thinks it is so much fun to be in there with Mommy.

1. When you’re tired, hand your kids a brush, point to your head, and tell them to play beauty parlor. When you’re really tired, pretend that you’re Sleeping Beauty.
2. Take your mother to a spa. While you’re both getting seaweed wraps, tell her all your favorite memories of growing up.
3. Take a bath with your infant. Make sure your husband is around for the handoff, so you can relax until the last minute. (Don’t forget to smell your baby right afterward. Heaven!)
4. At the end of every summer, take a family photo for the holiday card (you’ll be happy to have this accomplished once December comes). Every year, add a framed 11-by-14-inch print to your front hall. Your kids will be proud now and laugh later at the funny styles.
5. On St. Patrick’s Day, dye the milk and eggs green and turn the furniture upside down so your home looks like total chaos. When your little ones wake up, tell them that the leprechauns came.
6. The next time you have to go to a boring kiddie activity, invite another mom-friend along. Hide wine in sippy cups for the two of you to nurse undercover.
7. Play Freaky Friday with your husband and switch roles for a day. Enjoy his renewed appreciation for his Super Mom wife.
8. . In the dead of winter, fix some snacks, get under warm quilts, and watch Happy Feet on DVD. Tell your kids you love them even more than the penguins love their chicks.
9. Go to the beach in the off-season. Throw rocks in the water and collect shells. Put them in a vase and use it as shelf decor in your living room.
10. Skip the Raffi and Barney. Turn your kids on to Bob Marley, They Might Be Giants, and Gwen Stefani.
11. Take your baby out to the movies at night. (Infants love the dark, and loud trailers make them snooze immediately.) Then you can sip your soda and munch your popcorn in peace.
12. Buy yourself that fancy watch, strand of pearls, or whatever piece of expensive jewelry you’ve been lusting after. Justify your purchase by rationalizing that you’ll pass it down to your daughter (or son’s wife) eventually.
13. Take your kids to live music performances from very early ages. Cheap ones outdoors are great to start with in case you need to make a hasty exit (like when a diaper explodes).
14. Use your kids as an excuse to do the things you want to do, like going to silly feel-good movies, eating mac and cheese for dinner, and jumping in the moonbounce. Use your kids as an excuse to get out of things you don’t want to do, like going to a wedding or office party.
15. Every Mother’s Day, have a picture taken with your kids. Keep the photos all together - along with special cards, ticket stubs, mementos, and anything else that makes you feel good about being a mom - in a shoe box. (Of course, you must get those new shoes you love in order to do this correctly.) Every year, look through your Goddess Mom box and see how much your kids have grown.
16. Give your kids quiet time every day. Let them learn to be by themselves with books, crayons, or blocks.
17. Let your whole family take a day off and hang out in pj’s all day long.
18. Rent Sex and the City on DVD, and reminisce about the days when you were single and the biggest problem you had was whether the “He” of the moment was going to call. Let the romance of your youth seduce you. Then remember that, despite your freedom, all you really wanted was to fall in love and have beautiful babies.
19. Pitch a tent in the backyard. Use it as your outdoor reading room. Or when there’s a full moon, plan a family campout with sleeping bags, a transistor radio, and s’mores, of course.
20. Invent a house fairy. Give her a name, and tell your kids that she is always watching them and counting up their good deeds.
21. Listen for the deep, happy sighs that come after your kids play or laugh really hard. Tuck them away in your heart.

The FAA is investigating the pilot and co-pilot of the Go! airline that were flying from Honolulu to Hilo.  The pilots flew past the island and were unreachable by radio for a full 25 minutes.  After heading 15 miles out to sea the plane was turned around and landed safely. 

This is pretty scary.  We took an interisland flight while we were there and believe me they are very short flights.  You go up and you go down and it is over.  I can not image not only the pilot but the co-pilot as well falling asleep during such a short flight.  Thank God no one was hurt.

Jason Tagle was crowned the Musubi eating contest winner by L & L Hawaiian Barbecue company on Saturday.  Jason was able to eat 10 1/2 musubi in 5 minutes breaking the previous record of 9.

  

I seem to be putting on a little weight again.  I don’t know what it is.  I am still watching my portion sizes and I am really not a fan of junk food.  I guess it is time I start walking or something to insure I keep the weight off.  I don’t think I am ready for diet pills just yet. 

Here are six signs that your job sucks

1. You ask your new boss for supplies and she hands you a No. 2 pencil and legal pad — and nothing else.

2. You were shown to a cubicle your first day of work, given a company manual and haven’t spoken to anyone since.

3. You get the same reaction every time you tell someone about your new job and employer: Raised eyebrows and “Really? … Good luck with that.”

4. After two weeks on the job, you are already halfway to becoming the employee with the most seniority.

5. You answer the phone while the company’s secretary is away from her desk and find that the voice at the other end is a collection agency calling for the third time that week.6. You notice that every day for the last week, at least one person has run crying from your boss’s office.

Does any of this sound familar?  If so, maybe you need to start looking for a new job.  To read the entire article click here.  You should always try to be happy where you work because it affects you entire life not just your work life.

This goes to show you that you can make musubi with anything.  L & L Hawaiian Barbecue needs contestants for its Musubi Eating Contest.  Let me just say if you have a chance to get some food from L & L do it.  They catered Lani’s luau and the food was amazing.  Can’t get there for the contest, make your own.  Check out this quick recipe you can make at home.  If you don’t like spam you can put just about any meat or veggie on it you want.  Have fun with it.

We are getting so excited about Mom and Dad moving down.  I hope they get a yard big enough at the new house that maybe we can ask them if we could put up a swing set for Lani.  Our yard is junk so we can not put a swing sets back there, not to mention the dogs would bother her when she would go back there to play.  Maybe we can convince Grandma and Grandpa to let us put one up in their yard because they always have such pretty landscaping.  Then again if Lani has a swing there that would be just one more reason for her not to come home.  LOL

This was sent by one of my aunty’s and I liked it so much I thought I would post it.  I hope you enjoy it.

A frail old man went to live with his son, daughter-in-law, and four-year old grandson.  The old man’s hands trembled, his eyesight was blurred, and his step faltered.  The family ate together at the table.But the elderly grandfather’s shaky hands and failing sight made eating difficult.  Peas rolled off his spoon onto the floor.  When he grasped the glass, milk spilled on the tablecloth.

The son and daughter-in-law became irritated with the mess.  ‘We must do something about father, said the son.  ‘I’ve had enough of his spilled milk, noisy eating, and food on the floor.

So the husband and wife set a small table in the corner.  There, Grandfather ate alone while the rest of the family enjoyed dinner.

Since Grandfather had broken a dish or two, his food was served in a wooden
bowl!

When the family glanced in Grandfather’s direction, sometimes he had a tear in his eye as he sat alone.  Still, the only words the couple had for him were sharp admonitions when he dropped a fork or spilled food.

The four-year-old watched it all in silence.

One evening before supper, the father noticed his son playing with wood scraps on the floor.  He asked the child sweetly, ‘What are you making?  Just as sweetly, the boy responded, ‘Oh, I am making a little bowl for you and Mama to eat your food in when I grow up.’  The four-year-old smiled and went back to work.

The words so struck the parents so that they were speechless.  Then tears started to stream down their cheeks.  Though no word was spoken, both knew what must be done.

That evening the husband took Grandfather’s hand and gently led him back to the family table.  For the remainder of his days he ate every meal with the family.  And for some reason, neither husband nor wife seemed to care any longer when a fork was dropped, milk spilled, or the tablecloth soiled.

For those of you confused by the notion that Florida’s delegates are not being counted I am posting this explanation.  One of my dear friends emailed one of the writers for the Tampa Tribune for an explanation and this is the response he received.  Thanks Bruce for passing this on to me and everyone else.  I hope this sheds some light on this for you.

This is a point that confuses many people.  I’ve explained it in several stories, but of course, not everyone sees every story I write.  The answer is that your intuition is correct — the national parties have NO right to say when Florida or any other state holds its primary.  However, they DO have the right — litigated up to the Supreme Court more than once — to choose their own nominees for president, including setting the rules by which those nominees are chosen.  That’s basic freedom of association, guaranteed explicitly in the Constitution.  So the Florida Legislature can set the Florida primary for any date it wants.  It chose Jan. 29.

But the national party then gets to decide whether and how to seat delegates to its national nominating convention.  It said it wouldn’t seat any delegates chosen before Feb. 5, or chosen as result of a process that began before Feb 5.

Republicans, of course, had a similar but less draconian rule.  Both parties enacted the rules in an attempt to limit the rush of states moving their primaries ever earlier.  Florida Republicans were happy enough to accept the penalty in their national party’s rule, which was loss of half their delegates.  But the Democratic penalty was worse — in this case, the national party said it would eliminate the entire delegation.

The national Democratic Party asked the state Democrats to hold a caucus on Feb. 5 or later to choose their convention delegates, which the state party legally could do if it chose to (and paid for it).

The state party refused. They said that would amount to refusing to count the votes cast in the Jan. 29 primary, and therefore ignoring the expressed will of the people.

Unfortunately, there aren’t enough pine trees for me to include this long-winded explanation in every story I write.

So feel free to pass this on to 250,000 people or so.

William March, reporter

The Tampa Tribune

Office 813 259 7761 wmarch@tampatrib.com 

If you think identity theft can not happen to you then you are wrong.  Last year when we went to Hawaii my identity being stolen was the least of my concerns.  We were in Hawaii for 2 weeks and when we returned I had several letters in the mail from a couple of different companies that I had made purchases with, one of which was Disney.  We had Lani in the book and video club that Disney has out.  According to the letter a person at the credit card processing company Disney uses stole information about people’s accounts.  As I continued to read the letter I discovered they got my birth date, credit card number, my 3 digit security code, mailing address, and phone number.  Before I knew it I was being flooded with phone calls from collection agents.  I did a search on the people that were calling me and they too had a scam going.  It was not until I called my bank to cancel the credit cards that they confirmed the phone scam and suggested I change my phone number as well.  There are several services out there such as life lock that can help you keep your information safe.

I was lucky in the fact that my identity stayed intact but it could have been so much worse.  Life lock will have your name removed for all of the “pre-approved” credit cards you get in the mail, cutting down your chances of fraud.  Also not to mention it cuts down on all of the stuff you get in your mailbox.  Another feature is called Wallet Lock.  If you lose your wallet just give them a call and they take care of helping you to get all of the credit card companies to cancel the cards and get you new ones. 

Today is the day Michaela and I go to get our passports.  We are getting so excited about the trip to Asia.  The girls are going to have so much fun.  We are very sad that Lani will not be joining us but we thought it would be better if she did not come on this trip.  She is so an excellent traveler but it is just too many flights and they time difference would just be so bad for her.  She is going to stay with Grammy for the trip and Grammy is going to try and potty train her while she is there.  Stay tuned for updates on the trip.

First Time Buyer Mortgage is looking really good right now with the interest rates so low.  I know the economy is taking a downward turn but if you ever thought about buying a house, now is the time to take the plunge.  House prices are falling really fast as people are getting closer to foreclosure.  I am starting to see a lot of places going for a short sale to get out of the payment as quick as possible and the banks they are financed with are helping them get the paperwork done because if they go into foreclosure the bank is stuck with the house and trust me when I say the bank does not want that house.  Take sometime to check this out, if you though you could never afford a house you might be able to afford one now.  Just remember do not buy bigger then you need or can afford.  That piece of advice will say you a lot of possible heartache down the road.  And watch out for those ARM’s.

It is beyond me the things people will come up with and the things people will buy.  Here is a clip of Ellen Degeneres using the Hawaii Chair.  You are suppose to be able to use it at work and stay fit while you sit.  I don’t know about that.  People are always trying to find the easy way to stay in shape but this takes the cake.

Being a foster guardian I am always on the look out for pet sites to pass on to my friend that is president of a rescue program. We have four pets, two dogs and two cats all of whom have been rescues. I have come across a site that gives really good Pet Information I want to share with you. Thoughts Fur Paws (very cute title) has information on the health, safety, puppy mills and dealing with the loss of your closest friend. One of my favorites on the site it the Rescue Dog’s Poem, I think it touches my heart because we have adopted all of our animals. While you are there take the quiz to see if you are more cat or dog. I am 80% dog, but I could have told you that.

Roy Scheider died Sunday at the University of Arkansas Medical Sciences hospital.  He uttered that famous line in Jaws released in 1975.  You may also remember him from such films as The French Connection and The Punisher.  Born November 10 1932 he made his film debut in the horror The Curse of the Living Corpse in 1964 but gained recognition when he worked with Jane Fonda in Klute in 1971.  Then in 1975 he appeared in Jaws as the chief of police.  With Jaws becoming the first film to ever gross $100 million this is where most of us know him.

Need a reason for that glass of wine at dinner other than you are an adult and you want it?  How about the fact that it is packed with antioxidant that’s right, it is good for you.  With five servings of fruits and vegetables high in antioxidants can reduce your risk of stroke by 25 percent.  So the next time you want to do something good for your body have a glass of wine with dinner. 

I just had to post this because it is really funny

RETARDED GRANDPARENTS - (this was actually reported by a teacher)  After Christmas, a teacher asked her young pupils how they spent their holiday away from school.  One child wrote the following: We always used to spend the holidays with Grandma and Grandpa.  They used to live in a big brick house but Grandpa got retarded and they moved to

Florida.  Now they live in a tin box and have rocks painted green to look like grass.  They ride around on their bicycles and wear name tags because they don’t know who they are anymore.  They go to a building called a wrecked center, but they must have got it fixed because it is all okay now, they do exercises there, but they don’t do them very well.  There is a swimming pool too, but they all jump up and down in it with hats on.  At their gate, there is a doll house with a little old man sitting in it.  He watches all day so nobody can escape.  Sometimes they sneak out, and go cruising in their golf carts.  Nobody there cooks, they just eat out.  And, they eat the same thing every night — early birds.  Some of the people can’t get out past the man in the doll house.  The ones, who do get out, bring food back to the wrecked center for pot luck.  My Grandma says that Grandpa worked all his life to earn his retardment and says I should work hard so I can be retarded someday too.  When I earn my retardment, I want to be the man in the doll house.  Then I will let people out, so they can visit their grandchildren.  ….  PRICELESS…… 

With Valentine’s Day right around the corner everyone is running around at the last minute to find the perfect gift for that perfect someone.  Well stop looking and start shopping.  Instead of the classic flowers what about a laptop?  Check out this dell coupon and surprise your one and only with a laptop of their very own.