Simbang Gabi

Yes, we also have Simbang Gabi here in the U.S. Kaya lang, it is only for one night. Different Roman Catholic community churches have their own Simbang Gabi...as long as there are Filipino members. Everyone in the community loves Simbang Gabi. Even the Americans! After the mass at 7:00pm, everyone goes to the gathering space and celebrate. Lots of food, singing, dancing, games for the little kids...

I haven't gone to a Simbang Gabi mass in the US. But this year, on Monday, a friend volunteered me to be the official photographer. Oh, my! what does that mean "Official Photographer"? She introduced me in the program as "Marissa, Official Photographer, scrapbooker, both paper and digital". Wow! Talk about free advertising!

I really don't know what to expect. Am I supposed to take pictures candidly? will each family pose for a portrait? I don't know. My friend said the church is decorated with lots of parol [Philippine Christmas lanterns].

The Kalat Room

RULES FOR THE KALAT ROOM – Please…

1. Enter at your own risk.
2. Watch out for falling kalat.
3. Watch out for kalat on the floor. Avoid stepping on them. (You have to be a good dancer to do this [hehe])
4. When you come visit, do not complain about my kalat.
5. Do not pick the kalat off the floor, leave them be.
6. Do not arrange my kalat. I have my own system.
7. If you borrow one of the kalat, return it where you found it.
8. If you have to keep it for more than an hour, leave me a note. [Post-it-notes are in the blue plastic bin on top of the white dresser. Pens are in containers everywhere.]
9. If you break it, you replace it with something more expensive [haha!]
10. Do not use my fabric shears for cutting paper. Paper shears are in the tin can marked TIMELESS VALUES. Kitchen shears are in the drawer by the kitchen sink. Wire cutters are in Papa’s tool box in the garage on the shelf by the door. Plant shears are in the tool shed!
11. Do not use the tip of any scissors for opening cans or as staple removers. Staple removers are in the plastic shelf below the post-it-note shelf.
12. You are welcome to use my papers and tools.
Þ Guidelines for using my stuff:
§ Paper: if you have scraps, put them in my scrap box [the plastic one-drawer thing-y under the big table.
§ If you use any of my embellishments, put the extras back where you found them.
§ Clean up your own kalat! Since it is not mine, it will mess me up.
§ Pencils: sharpen them after use. The sharpener is on the shelf by the window.
§ The tiny printer – let me know if the ink and paper supplies are low.
§ Blank CDs – do not take the whole canister!
§ Glue: do not use my acid-free glue unless you’re using it with pictures. The regular glue bottles/sticks are found next to Baby Face [the doll].
§ Pens: do not use my acid-free pens unless you’re using them with pictures. Regular pens are found in canisters everywhere.

13. No food and drinks allowed in the Kalat Room. Only my chocolate candies. If you eat a piece of my candy, you replace it with a brand new unopened bag!
14. Do not leave, put, hide, and/or store your own kalat in my Kalat Room.
15. Do not disarrange the pictures in the shoeboxes!!!
16. Do not take out any pictures from the shoeboxes!
17. If you use my camera, put it back where you found it, including the USB cord. It you took too many pictures, charge the battery. The charger is on the floor by the white dresser.
18. You are welcome to add more to my craft supplies. For new supplies put them on my chair so I will know to thank you. I have a wish list posted on the side of the book shelves by the window.
19. You are free to use my laptop but do not take it out of the Kalat Room. I’ve got everything connected to it.
20. After using my mouse [and the computer is still on], please push the open button underneath it to pop the battery out. This saves me from buying more.
21. Do not touch my CRICUT unless I trained you on how to use it.
22. You can look at the Barbies, play with them with my permission, but DO NOT undress the Barbies!!!!
23. Thank you. Now give me a big bear hug!!!

Visit my Multiply site to see my kalat room

Early Morning Chat

Turned on my Yahoo IM this morning and saw that Lee was on. Here's our chat dialogue:

Tita Mariss: good morning
Lee: this is diego not my mom im doing assgnment
Lee: oppppppppppppppppssssssssss
Lee: wrong spelling
Tita Mariss: it's ok. i can read
Lee: hahahahahahaha
Tita Mariss: assignment in the chat room????
Lee: you popped out while we were discussing our school project with my class mates
Tita Mariss: ahhhh... ok... just let me know when you are done and you're mom is on. bye

Lee: wait do we get anything for christmas
BUZZ!!!

Tita Mariss: hahaha. from Santa? of course you will! if you are good!
Lee: what
Tita Mariss: what what?
Lee: what present i like a nitendo DS lite or rollerblades
Tita Mariss: nintendo ds
Lee: yyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyuuuuuuuuuuuuuuppppppppppppppp
Tita Mariss: hmmmm.... why don't you send tito lennart an email.
Lee: im going to be a broadway producer
Tita Mariss: you are??!! what are you going to produce?
Lee: today a whole christmas play script and it will start!!!!!!!!!!!
Tita Mariss: WOW!!! you will write the script too?
Lee: no only a part but an important one
Tita Mariss: which part are you gonna be?
Lee: shir the shoemaker
Tita Mariss: making christmas shoes?
Lee: the story is about how mary's sandals were made
Tita Mariss: oh.... very interesting. i don't think i've heard of that one yet.
Lee: its the school project were discusing. we made it up
Tita Mariss: ah....wow!! made it up? you have to send me a copy of your script. i want to see how it goes
Lee: no the teachers made it based on the school prject
Tita Mariss: you better be a verrryyyyyy good shoemaker!
Lee: i think i should be spcific
Lee: Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahah
Tita Mariss: remember Mary and Joseph walked a very long way....
Tita Mariss: you laughing at your typo again?
Lee: yup
Tita Mariss: better work on your spelling then. people might not be able to read your script
Lee: oc iwill
Lee: aaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
Tita Mariss: what now?
Lee: im so drowsy but we have to do this because one came in late in the confrence
Lee: chat
Tita Mariss: go ahead and work then.
Lee: its ok were done. it all happened when i made a joke and everyone quit for no reason
Tita Mariss: hehehe. what kind of joke did you make?
Lee: anyway my mom will talk to you later so bye
Lee: I think we should stop. . . .my IM window just started screaming 'No More!, No More!'
Tita Mariss: ok. goodnight.
Lee: That's it. I'm outta here
Tita Mariss: let me know how the script went.
Lee: but i thought its morning there
Tita Mariss: it is morning. 8:00 in the morning
Lee: bye
Tita Mariss: and you have to go to bed so I say goodnight to you.
Lee: [relief and waving icons]
Tita Mariss: bye. take care. be good. dream of nintendos and rollerblades.
Lee: [sleeping icon]
Tita Mariss: perhaps in the morning you won't want them anymore.
Lee: i hope it doesnt happen

Diego finally signs off.

Belated Happy Birthday, Lee

This is really a very late happy birthday greeting. I think I sent my birthday greetings a few days before her birthday, just in case I forgot. Then I remembered to send another one on THE day. The b-boxes will arrive soon..so now I can post these. Here's another greeting for you, Lee. And look what I have for you for your birthday. What did you do to deserve these?

DCWV - Glitter Pack

Pocket Full of Posies
I forgot what this is...but it's K-Ology's
I think this is a baby girl stack from K-Ology
backside of the baby girl stack
K-Ology: Peabody Scrap Pad to Go
K-Ology: Peabody Scrap Pad to Go [the other side]

and more K-Ology

Well, that's it, Sis! The rest, you have to pay me back...

Old World Stack - 1/2 pack

Far East - 1/2 pack

Provo Craft Super Slab

Top Left: Rob & Bob

Top Right - Karen Le Mieux

Bottom - David Walker

Time is Confused

Daylight Savings Time should have ended Saturday at midnight; always the last Saturday of October. This year, it is postponed a week later, for November 3 midnight.


I don't know who made that ruling, but whoever did, forgot to inform the satellite hovering in space because now, all electronic clocks have switched time by falling back an hour. Every time I turn on my computer, I have to reset the time.


Personally, I don't like the time change. It confuses me inner clock. I get up almost always at the same time every morning. I get hungry at around the same time every time. I have other biological things that have to be done in a timely manner, if you know what I mean.

Let's see if I can get this straight. It confuses me every year despite the fact that I've been around this hemisphere for 26 years. The thing to remember is...Spring forward; Fall backward. This means every Spring the clocks are set an hour ahead, and every Fall, they are set one hour backward.


So if I get up at 6:00 am every day, when the time changes 6:00 am becomes 7:00 am. That would mean I gain an hour of sleep. Not!! because my body knows it is time to get up no matter what time it is.

At 12:00 noon, lunch time, it will be 1:00 pm. I would be starving for an hour before I can have lunch. Then...the part I hate most... 5:00 pm, time to go home, becomes 6:00 pm, which makes the day too long; a very long time to wait for the work day to end; also I now have to drive home in the dark. This gives me headaches. Glaring lights from on-coming cars, brake lights, glare on car windows, from traffic lights, from wet streets...arrrrggghhhh!


Why can't they just make up their minds and keep the time as it is right now. It is just perfect. We all go to work with enough morning light and go home with enough evening light. So just leave it as it is. There is really no need to save light anymore. The farm lands are replaced with huge single-family homes. Whatever remaining farm lands are around subdivisions are now well lit.

uhg... driving in the dark...!

Halloween

It's Halloween again in our part of the world. Here in Gurnee, trick and treat day is the Sunday before the actual date of Hallow Evening. It is today, from 2 to 6 pm. It is the law: for the the safety of the kids. This year was my turn to answer the door. Not a lot of cute ghouls came by today...perhaps most of them went to Gurnee Mills instead. So... I have a lot of candies all to my self -hahaha! It's good I bought the good kind.

Christina had all the fun though. Last night she went to a Halloween party hosted by her friends in the Tennis Club. The party took place in one of the girls' barn.

Here she is dressed as an Egyptian goddess...haha! I think she enjoyed putting on that eyeliner more than anything else.

Christina and friends: Kelly on the left, Nicole in the middle.

That's not Egypt burning. It was a cold night so the party-goers made a bonfire.

Christina and friends went to a "haunted" house the other weekend. I asked her to take pictures...but she didn't...so I don't have anything to showcase. Last weekend, she went to a corn maze, again with friends. She took some pictures before they all went into the maze. It took them some time to get out of the cornfield.

Is there any fear in this kid? What about snakes? or field rats? or someone jumping out of the corn stalks to scare them... how about a stalker? Hey! did that word come from the corn stalks? haha!

Time for me to be the boss

I came home from work and right away, joined my husband on the couch. He was watching a show - where each week a unique architectural house is showcased. There was a man and a woman showing the camera man around, describing each nook and cranny and why it was made that way. I noticed that it was the woman who did all the talking. Usually it was the man, especially when it came to the architectural design. In this show, the guy looked too young to be the husband, or to put it another way, the woman looked older than the man but not too old to be the mother of the guy.

I commented that it's the woman who does all the talking, why not his son? or husband?... to which my husband said I think that is the husband because he is just too quiet and just follows the wife around.

I said, really??! So when are you going to be quiet, follow me around, and let me run the show?

Scrapbooking On a Budget - 3D Effect

Kaya! Challenge #6 [http://pinoyscrapbookers.blogspot.com/] is all about scrapbooking using basic supplies. I know that there are a lot of people who would like to try scrapbooking with the use of supplies being marketed out there. However, they just couldn't start probably because they don't have the supplies and equipment they need. This is specially true for some people in my country who cannot afford to buy expensive supplies. It is more important to buy everyday's necessities than to buy scrapbooking materials.



Scrapbooking isn't all about using expensive materials just to make your pages beautiful. You can make beautiful layouts with just the basic materials - acid-free everything: plain papers, patterned papers, cardstocks, glue, pens, pencils, watercolor, colored pencils.



If you happen to have a flower-patterned paper, cut out the flowers and use those as embellishments. You may layer different sized flowers to or the same sized flowers for a 3D effect. If the cut-out flowers are limited and you'd want to use each one, maybe for other layouts, then trace the cut-out flower. Find a space big enough on that same patterned paper your flowers came from. Use that tracing as the shadow.



Now, how would you make a 3D effect when you buying the dots or foam sheets are too expensive and out of your budget? Use the scraps you have.



Here's how: roll the scraps into tight tiny tubes. glue the edge so it won't unroll. Then cut this tiny tube into pieces big enough to fit behind the flower [an alpha, a tag, etc.]. If this tiny tube is pliable enough to be bent into a circle, then do it. It will cover enough space behind your embellishment that even if you press onto the embellishment, it won't cave in.



And while you're at it, if you make enough in different colors, you can bend this tube to form petals, stems, or an alpha.


Go ahead and have fun. I'm sure you'll come up with ideas better than mine!

Take Me Home Cuisine

This is the logo that got me my Cricut Expression. My friend Emy and Vangie liked it so much that they adopted it and used it on their business cards.

They wanted to have a neon light built but unfortunately it would cost a lot of money to do it exactly the way it is above [sans the contact information]. So the simple version is what you see below:

The neon-light-maker said it will be brighter to use blue and white instead of red and white [ I don't think there's a black neon light, haha!]





This is where the store is going to be. It just happened that they got the unit right below this "tower" like structure that looks like the "house" on the logo. They were looking at another a space in another strip mall but didn't get it because someone made a higher bid.

The store is under construction right now [well, inside, that is...]. The partitions, shelves, and electrical outlets for ovens, freezers, stoves, heaters, cutters, etc. have yet to be put in and approved by the landlord, the village, the fire department, the health department...my... I didn't know it is a lot of work. We can hardly wait for the grand opening!

My Kids

My eldest, a son, was born and raised in the Philippines. A good kid. Typical good, respectful Filipino kid who does not talk back to his elders even if it's just explaining or defending himself. He does what he's asked right away and without questions. My husband chose his name - Lennart - a Swedish derivative of Leonard. Lennart Nilsson, a microphotographer was a favorite of his. That's where he got the name. Somehow we dropped the middle name Nilsson. Looking back now, I wished I had chosen "Edward" as his middle name. Lennart Edward. It has a nice ring to it. Because Lennart does not have a middle name, my Dad's family name sort of became his middle name. His initials, therefore, are LIV, as in "live".

Before Christina I miscarried twice. One would have been 20 years old now. I named the baby Ollie. I do not know if Ollie was a girl or a boy. If she was a girl she would have been named Olivia; if a boy, he would have been named Oliver. Ollie would have been born in the month of February, the year when Oliver North made front page news.

The second baby would have been 19 years old now. I named the baby Jules. Again, I do not know it's sex. It Jules was a boy, his name would have been Julian, if a girl, Julie-Ann. Jules would have been born on the same day I was born - July 5. We would have celebrated our birthdays .

My daughter was born 12 years after Lennart. If I had my way, I would have named her Veronica or Genevieve. Probably, Genevieve so she would have the initials GIV, as in "give". My husband chose her name, Christina. He said it is common enough as a Filipino, American, Greek, French, and whatever-other-nationality name. She was given the middle name Maryse [kinda like my name in short - Mariss]. But Maryse has a different pronounciation. It is more "Mary's" than Mariss. So you see why I would have liked my son to have his father's first name.

Christina turned 18 yesterday. I was "old" when she was born. I often wondered if I would live long enough to celebrate her 10th birthday, and her 20th, and her 30th. Right now, I am so thankful for my kids, for my husband, and for my life.

Cricut Expression

When I designed the "Opening Soon" flyers for my BFsF Emy and Vangie, I designed the clipart that went with it. Wow! Did they love it! They loved it so much they wanted to know if they can own it. They will adopt it as their logo. They asked it they can buy it from me. Well, I was ready to sell it for a life time of "take-me-home" dishes. Hahaha!

Vangie said they planned to have a logo designed anyway and they will probably spend hundreds of dollars for it. It was a very simple design...I was ready to give it away for free [well, not completely free...maybe a discount here and there when we need some food catering from them. What are friends for?

What are friends for, anyway? They knew I wouldn't accept cash for it so they insisted on buying me the Cricut. They asked me to choose...Cricut or Wishblade. I really have my eye on a Wishblade. However most of the reviews I read were not so great. I did some research and found out Wishblade's program is like using photoshop for the first time. I can deal with that. But then when a few customers mentioned that it would cut and stop for a few minutes and continue cutting and would stop again...I CANNOT deal with that! I have so much on my computer I'm sure another program added to it will slow it down. I have no patience for that!

For three days I couldn't make up my mind. So I went back to review both again. It's good I waited for out came Cricut Expression with a 12x12 mat and 2 free cartridges! OK now, I can do the dance of joy.... [Can-can music, please.]

I have to wait a few days, however as it is already out of stock. But Emy said the place they ordered it from has shipped it yesterday. I will probably receive it on Monday. Can't wait to start cutting away. Whooo-hoooo!

Wow!

August 4! Wow! that was my last entry??? Time really flies.

I haven't been much into blogging lately. I spent the time flopped on the floor, cutting out embellishments for my layouts while watching CSI [LasVegas] one after the other from 6pm-9pm.

Today is a very exciting day for me. I hope to receive my new Cricut Expression! I hope my BFF Emy will receive it today and deliver it tonight.

It's sad that BFF Emy lost her work of more than 16 years. So now she and her sister, BFF Vangie, who resigned from the corporate world are going into business together. They are going to establish an Oriental Mart. More of a Filipino food take-out place. A mixture of Chinese, Italian, American, Filipino dishes. They will also have a bakery of Filipino bread and delicacies, a mini-mart, and catering service. Wow! That's a handful for the two of them to undertake.

They asked if I could prepare the flyers for them - something like "Coming Soon", "Grand-Opening", "Now-Open" flyers. They volunteered to pay me. What's typing up these flyers and going to Kinko's for photocopying? I said they can pay me with food! Ha-ha. Just letting you know, the kitchen is not my favorite place to be. And they are such great cooks! very delicious, not greasy, not too salty dishes! OK. So maybe they can provide food for me and DH that will be enough. Ano na lang ba yung tira-tira sa mga luto nila?

Can't wait till they open their karinderia!

Where was I?

I haven't been around for a while. Been busy organizing my kalat room so I can do some traditional LOs. This is the latest one I did which I entered in the http://pinoyscrapbookers.blogspot.com/ stamping challenge. Not a lot of stamping on this one though. I don't do a lot of stamping on my traditional LOs. It is more fun on digital since mistakes can easily be deleted. This is a picture of my daughter under the magnolia tree, one fine day in Spring 1990.

Supplies used: DCWV Summer Stack, Autumn Leaves/Rhonna Farrer's clear flourish stamps, Versacolor ink, card embellishments from Joanne's. The big swirl, I drew and hand-cut.

The picture below is a digital LO I submitted in the Bigi-Digi Contest by http://scrapbook.com/. This is a picture of my daughter who is now 17 years old. The effect I used is called "pop" which is getting to be a popular thing now in the world of digi-scrapping.

The original journaling I wanted to use was "You've outgrown your world and now you can't wait to explore the rest of the universe." I don't know why I didn't go with that. Do you think it is too OA [over-acting]?

Supplies used: Heart and Soul paper kit from Scrapbook.com; Instant Sparkle Circle by Jodi Anderson; Font used is Davis; picture frame by CraftFairy1

The picture below is the original LO I made using the Heart and Soul kit. These are the original colors too. I opted to re-color the background paper blue so that Christina's picture will really pop out. I took out the brad border at the top because it looked crowded on the blue-background version. Which one is your favorite?

Sad

I'm sad I lost a friend. I read in Oscraps that Carla Gibson passed away. Such a bright, talented , and generous person taken away from me and all who love her dearly. God bless you, Carla. I don't know you personally, but I love you and the digital supplies you shared with me and with digi-scrapbookers the world over.

http://www.columbiatribune.com/2007/Jun/20070606Obit003.asp

Blah...

It's not really blah... It is another beautiful Spring day. The lillies are out. I took a lot of pictures. DH has finished building the support for the trumpet vines. This is the first year they bloomed and boy! did they grow fast.

The blah thing is that the weekend is over. Time to sweat another 5 days of office work. Blah! I don't wish the new week to go too fast...it makes me grow another week older. Blah!

Another Prom LO

I took a lot of pictures the afternoon before the girls were picked up by the limo. First at our house, then at Kelly's, and later on at Alisson's. So many pics to choose from. I don't know which one to do first.

Here's one I created using papers from Marcella by Kay (K&Co.) - The Gardener's Delight .

It took me a little over 2 hours to put this together.

Preparation for Mother's Day

Everything is in flurry the day before MD. I got up early to grocery-shop. Lots of dads with their tots at the grocery store. Most of them were by the flower and balloon shop. Some were by the meat section - looks like they were planning a barbeque party.

At our household? The current plan is to spend MD at the Chicago Botanic Gardens. I am excited about this. We're going to have a picnic in an area outside the gardens, then stroll through the winding pathways and admire the Spring flowers. Can't wait to take lots of pictures.

It is a little nippy outside in the shade but warm under the sun. I've been talking out loud for everyone to hear - giving hints of what I want for MD. This year, skip the jewelry, chocolates, and Barbies. I want a climbing-rose bush; with pink flowers! It will go well by the gazebo that DH built a year ago. I also want hanging flowering plants to hang out there in the front porch. Skip the expensive restaurant treat! That would amount to 2 more liclac bushes. Those would go well behind the gazebo.

Ok, ok... surprise me then. With flowering plants!

May 5

Saturday...it is cinco de Mayo. A holiday celebrated by Mexicans. There are parties and good times going on in Mexican restaurants. Friends talk about going there to have margaritas and just have pure fun.

It is Danielle's first holy communion. We are invited to witness this holy sacrament and to join family and friends for a late lunch at their house. Being hosted by Filipinos, there will be lots of food. So lunch will end up with a late dinner and some take-home food. Yummy! But we will miss all this.

Today is Christina's first prom. I will have to help prepare her for this exciting event. Take pictures, help her do her hair, dress up, take pictures, take her to her friend's house where they all meet to be picked up by a limo, take more pictures, wave good-bye while they're headed off to the Rosemont Horizon Center north of Chicago, take more pictures while they're driving away, then go home and wait for them to come home around 12 midnight.

I hope she'll find the time to take more pictures in the limo, at the dance, during dinner, and on their way home.

You've come a long way, baby

Now it's my daughter's turn to go to the prom. It was a flurry of phone calls, text messaging, on-line messaging, after-school-get-together-to-plan thing, Friday night sleep-overs to discuss what-to-do thing, Saturday meetings to plan-some-more thing. Sending pictures of shoes and prom dresses they plan to get, including hair styles downloaded from the internet.
She has to have a gown, a long dress - not a short dressy-dress because such is "not a prom dress, such is more of a turn-about kind of dress". Her prom dress has to be light minty green, just like the nail polish she put on. She has to have silver jewelry and silver shoes.

Ok, Babycakes! Planning is easier than shopping for what you have in mind. So off we went to the mall last Saturday evening. Remember now, she made up her mind about going to the prom two weeks before the date, and shopping for her dress a week before! Arrrggghhh!!!

We went to 3 department stores - Carson's, JCPenney, and Macy's. She couldn't find the color she envisioned; we couldn't find any gown that would fit her [she's 5'4" and wears a size 3!], and I couldn't find the dress that fits my budget. At last we found one at Macy's..and being Macy's and the only size 3 in the entire prom dress department, it was beyonnnnddd my budget! Still we had to buy it. And oh, it was not minty green after all.

She and her friends will be picked up in a limo, driven to Rosemont Horizon (not the school), have a wonderful dinner after a night of fun and dancing.

You've come a long way, Baby!

Materials used: Far East papers; Font: Wonton ICG

This is also the LO I entered for the Scrappin'Moms challenge for May.

Junior Prom

When I had my Junior prom YEARS ago I didn't wear a gown. It was supposed to be a mini-dress but the older maids wouldn't hear about it! it was a sleeveless, turtle neck, "tent" dress with paisley design [which was then called "psychedelic" design]. Oh, yeah... that just tells you my age. That was the period of the hippies and I'm quick to tell you, I wasn't one.

The prom started at 3pm. The endless summer sun was still bright and hot as ever. I didn't have a limousine to pick me up, nor a date who brought me a corsage ...I crossed the street, walked up the hill and there it was, the high school building, just across the street from our house. I was there at 2pm to help with the finishing touches. I wasn't there 30 minutes when one of my friends sounded the alarm...well, it was just her big booming voice, "Marissa....your grandma is here and she's headed towards the PA system." Arrrggghhhhh!!!!! I had to run up the steps to meet her, just in time for me to be between her and the microphone. She was about to make an announcement, she said, that it is time for me to go home.

If it were today's generation, they would have died of embarrassment! They would have probably sued their grandma! or would have run away from home never to be seen in school again! You would be reading about it all over the Teen Magazines, under the title: My Most Embarassing Moment.

So I went home with her and when she was content I was going to be home for the rest of the afternoon, she busied herself preparing dinner. That's when I went to my father for the rescue. I told him that no matter what happens, not to let grandma out of the gate! If he has to tie her down to her rocking chair he has to do it. For my sanity. Puhleezzz!!!

This picture was taken weeks after the prom. THAT is my prom dress. And the baby doll is my sister Lee.

Thank you, Lee for keeping a copy of this picture!

How was my Saturday, you say?

I tried to stay away from any store that sells scrapbooking materials. Really! I did! But then that 40% off coupon in my purse kept screaming, "let me out! let me out!" So I went to Michael's. I told myself I am going to buy just one thing today. Just a paper pack that would cost me almost half off the regular price.

Oh...those voices beckoning me to go see the next aisle and to touch everything in sight! What should have been a 10-minute trip ended up to be almost an hour. How I'd love to paper-scrap again! Instead of the 120-page paper pack I usually buy, I opted to check out the special packs - the likes of Basic Grey, Tim Holtz, Brenda Walton, to mention a few. After several minutes of agonizing as to which one to get, I decided on the Sparkly Sweet pack by K&Co.

When I got home I admired up close each page's beautiful design. It is a shame to cut them up or cover them with pictures. I already have a few LOs in mind. But in the mean time...I did what I usually do after buying my paper supplies...scan them first before chopping them into pieces.

This is the cover of K&Co's Sparkly Sweet 24-pc double sided cardstock.

The picture was taken when I visited the Philippines with my daughter who was then just 6 months old. [L-R] Girls: Lee, May, Marissa, Jophen, Bessie; Boys: Nani, Jolan, Joy.

Credits: K&Co Sparkly Sweet kit cover; AmberClegg The Gazebo flower; JennyLimayo Love Is You oval tag; Blushbutter tag with purple flowers; IsabelleCyr JeTAdore heart charm with pink ribbon Fonts: Splendid MT, Tall Paul, Ravie

Scrapbooking Alone

I scrapbook alone. I do not go to scrap meets or groups. Archivers and Michael's are 5 minutes away from home. Joann's is 20 minutes away. But I still don't have time to go and meet other scrapbookers. I guess because I have put paper scrapbooking on hold for a while. I've made paper plopper albums for 3 wedding showers. I've made some paper layouts and gave them away as gifts. It just takes me too long to do a paper layout. I stare at the papers and embellishments for the longest time because I want everything to be perfect. I've encouraged friends to scrapbook. Even went to the lengths of teaching them how to scrapbook digitally. They were excited at first but soon enough much as they want to scrap they are too busy with the other activities. I've encouraged my sister, Lee. I am so happy and proud she has pursued scrapbooking. Now she is way ahead of me. She even goes to scrap meets and have met so many friends online.
But here I am, scrapbooking alone. having all my supplies in one place, within easy reach. Discarding supplies here and there if I don't like how my LOs are turning out to be as I know they are endlessly available. I can scrap anywhere I want...down in the kitchen or family room; at the office during my lunch breaks, out on the patio in the Summer time, in front of the TV in the loft, or in my kalat room with the cat and one gold fish as my companions.
But it's OK. I can concentrate on what I truly want my children and their children to know about me. I am starting on something called.. My Life As A Child. Perhaps I will have to steal some of Lee's journaling for the next LO (hehe).
Credits: ChristineHonsinger FabFleaMktFind Bow Ribbon Green
DurinEberhart Caribbean green flowers
CarlaGgibson NewYear
CherylBarber SliceOfSummer indexcard
Fonts: Times New Roman, Edwardian Script
Pictures: downloaded from the internet. Perhaps Lee can take some pictures for me, especially the inside of the ice cream canisters.

Too short

This weekend is too short!!!! What have I done? hmmmm....Saturday...just 3 digi-LOs of my daughter (here's one of them); then crawled the web reading other people's blogs... then cleaned my closet to put away my Fall and Winter clothes and replaced them with my Spring and Summer outfits.
Sunday: slept till 10am since I went blogging till 2am; Lennart came home for a visit. We all went to church, then to the Pita Grill for lunch. We tried some Jordanian cuisine. I didn't bring my camera... so I wasn't able to take any pics.

It is a beautiful day! too warm for my comfort - it's about 80 degrees F. outside. I took some pics of our backyard. But tonight, as I write this blog I am using my daughter's computer so I can't share any pics or LOs I made. Maybe next time.

Credits: MarieStones Labor of Love baby pink hearts and Spring Bursts lt. green alpha background papers; word art; apple 1; Earwig Factory alpha; gel flowerFont: MaSexy

The Wonderful World of Disney

forgive us our sins

i worry about what happens when someone goes missing, praying that s/he be found alive and well. i cry when a young life is snuff out. what happened in virginia is one of those moments in life where i cannot comprehend how easy it is for some people to just take away precious life.

every night before i fall asleep i pray for the forgiveness of my sins and everybody else's. i ask God not to get angry and end all of us in one swoop. i pray that the good out weigh the bad. but i know..God is a giver of life, not a killer. and He forgives.

my prayers to those who lost their lives senselessly, and to those who are left behind to bear the pain.

Spring has Sprung

At last! the cold wintery-weather is gone...well, kinda. It still is nippy outside but there won't be any signs of Old Man Winter coming back for another 9 months!

Some of these pictures were taken years ago in December but I am just in the mood for Spring.

Credits: AmberClegg Charmed bg paper
AmberClegg Charmed wings
ChandraJames WishWonder ribbons
NRJ Chip Alpha
Kimberly Giarrusso Serenity Blue Flower
Font: Curlz MT

These are Stephanie and Christina, first cousins once removed - they've been friends since they were born [so to speak].





Credits: AlisonFolendore Falling ForYou pine over you & round about paper
Font: Easily Amused
KeriSchueller Fancy Corner brush
Samara Gugler Power to the Flower

First cousins Sarah, Danielle, Kathleen.

A new breed of budding best friends.

I made this for Maria...a picture of her daughter taken last Easter.

Credits: TheresaKavouras - Spring to Life Pink Dots KrisMyers Speckled Eggs
MistyCato FunkyFlowerStickers
BoBunny sunshinesplatter paper
DianeRooney Brushed Sugar bow
KariQ Spring Word - CutiePie
KirstyWiseman floribunda







I love this Easter LO of Christina and Stephanie when they were younger.

Credits: Paper: DaisyD's butter polka dot, girlfriend's stripe lime bg papers

Font: Palace Script

Mrs.Schmuck's pink diamond petals & green stone

Some Angels Had a Blast!

Some Angels had a sleep-over and had a blast. They had a pillow fight, I think...or perhaps planned to bake an angel cake. They giggled and laughed and started throwing stuff at each other until the down pillows burst...or was it the flour bags. But whatever it was...all the white stuff floated down to earth and made everything white again.

I drove my daughter to school today. It was slipping and sliding all the way. I nearly hit the car in front of me at a red light because my SUV just went on skidding forward. At the last moment I steered to the right. The sidewalk broke the motion but now I don't know if the wheels will be OK. But I was OK. So is the car in front of me [whew!]

I took some pictures when I got home from my daughter's school. Boy! everythin in nature is so confused today. I am confused...is it Spring or is it still Winter? Are we going to skip Spring and jump right into Summer this year? The plants are confused. The buds are now all frozen. I don't think there will be a lot of flowers in the garden this year. The birds are confused as well. I saw some geese last week. Where are they now?

This picture reminds of when as a little girl we made Christmas trees out of tree branches and covered them with "snow" made of ground hibiscus leaves, water, and powdery laundry soap - like Tide.

I love it when each branch and twig is outlined with snow!

I got to the office an hour late. I came in singing "Jingle bells, jingle bells..." Someone said for me to stop singing Christmas carols, to which I replied, "where in the song does it mention anything about Christmas?"

I surfed the web for the lyrics of Jingle Bells and found this:

"Believe it or not Jingle Bells, one of the most famous American Christmas songs, was originally written for Thanksgiving! The author and composer of Jingle Bells was a minister called James Pierpoint who composed the song in 1857 for children celebrating his Boston Sunday School Thanksgiving. The song was so popular that it was repeated at Christmas, and indeed Jingle Bells has been reprised ever since.The essence of a traditional Christmas is captured in the lyrics of Jingle Bells and the sound effects using the bells have become synonymous with the arrival of Father Christmas or Santa Claus to the delight of children of all ages!"

We still have our Christmas lights outside the house; and the star lanterns (parol) that my sister brought us from the Philippines about 3 years ago hanging on the windows. My husband planned to take them down when it gets a little bit warmer so he can also clean the glass windows. But it didn't get any warmer. So tonight, when I get home, I will turn those on, just for kicks. Someone up there is having fun, we might as well have the same down here.

My first born

April 8 I've been having contractions. We went to the doctor but after the examination I was sent home. Nope! That kid is not "all the way down yet". The doctor said my due date is April 14. I had pain all night and all day, off and on.

April 9, 10:00 am we went back to the doctor. Again, I was sent home. More off and on pain all day and all night.

April 10...yes...back to the doctor. By this time I was in so much pain I kept rubbing my head on my pillow. I rubbed it raw! and I kept asking people to massage my back/hips. Somehow it soothed the pain. The doctor wanted to send me home again. Said I wasn't ready. I said, Yes I am!!!

So he made me wait in the patient room. They should have called it impatient room! By 5pm I found myself in an ambulance and they rushed me from the doctor's clinic all the way to the hospital.

By 6pm I was prepped for a c-section. The last thing I remembered was the anesthesiologist asking if I wanted a boy or a girl. I said "boy".

I heard all these weird noises coming from afar, like drifting in and out of space. When I was half-awake I realized all the relatives were in the room waiting for me to wake up. I thought to myself why are they all here? I want to rest.

The first thing I asked was, "where are my legs?" I couldn't feel my legs. It felt like half of my body (the upper half) is on the bed and the lower half is dangling on the side of the bed.

Everybody laughed. I asked about my legs first, not about my baby.
A baby?! I thought. Oh, yeah. I had a baby. It is so weird. It didn't feel like having a baby. For the longest time after that, staring at the baby, feeding him, cuddling him, I still couldn't believe I have a baby! I guess it's because it was not a "natural" birth.

Happy birthday, Lennart! I love you.

The labor pains were well worth it!

The Song That Made Me Cry

I held back tears while in church yesterday. But it didn't work. This song is so touching.

Thank you for the cross, Lord
Thank you for the price You paid
Bearing all my sin and shame
In love You came
And gave amazing grace.

Thank you for this love, Lord
Thank you for the nail pierced hands
Washed me in Your cleansing flow
Now all I know
Your forgiveness and embrace

Worthy is the Lamb
Seated on the throne
Crown You now with many crowns
You reign victorious
High and lifted up
Jesus Son of God
The Darling of Heaven crucified
Worthy is the Lamb
Worthy is the Lamb

by Australia Hillsong

It just says it all.

Organizing - Part 2

Alright! So here's my final orgnization system. It took a while because of the many files I have. I brought my laptop to work and worked on organizing my files an hour a day (during my lunch break) for 2 weeks. It was a perfect time. I didn't want to go anywhere because of the snow or cold weather so I spent my lunch hour in the waiting area of the building where I work.




I organized the names of each folder to read: name of designer/initials of website/title of kit for example: SuzanneWalker-DSP ChiliNights. Then I went to each file in the folder and pasted the folder name onto each file, leaving the name of the file intact (folder name in red, file name in yellow): SuzanneWalker-DSP ChiliNights flower01.jpg







After I renamed everything, I created a folder called "Digital Supplies" and created sub-folders for

• photo holders (includes frames, prongs, pins)




• flowers (includes paper, silk, gels, doodles, leaves)




• word art




• stitches and staples,




• digital papers




• alpha




• tags, journals




• ribbons, bows, fibers




• buttons, beads, jewels




• brads, eyelets, bookplates




• charms, stickers

Brushes, textures, fonts, etc. have their own folders. I don't want to drown my program with these as someone told me that too much will make your program not work.

Then I moved everything in the proper folders. So now I have all papers in one folder, all flowers in another folder...

It works great for me for the following reasons:

1) with the thumbnails view I can browse through files and be able to see everything I have in the folder. It's so easy to pick the paper or embellishment I want to use.



2) with the designer, website, and kit name available, giving credit is as easy as A-B-C.



As I said, it took a while. But it works for me! If you have an easier way to organize your digital supplies, let me know.

Organizing - Part 1

How do you organize your digital downloads?
Me? I've tried everything [I think] but it seems that the more I organize, the more I become disorganized. Have you ever felt that way? The first time, I organized my dowloads by the site where I found them. When I get too many I then burn them onto CDs/DVDs. So I ended up having a full disc or 2 for every site I visited like http://www.shabbyprincess.com/, http://www.digitalfreebies.com/, http://www.oscraps.com/store/, http://scrapbookbytes.com/, http://www.scrapartist.com/, http://store.scrapgirls.com/. I have other places I've visited and might have to link them some other time. These are just a few examples.

But once burned onto discs and they're gone from my computer, I seem to forget what I have and still have a difficult time remembering where to find a particular designer or kit even though I've labeled each disc. So I went into the extent of making an Excel worksheet for each website. My worksheet is composed of the name of the designer, title of the kit, a brief description of what the kit is all about (Christmas, birthdays, teen, Spring, Summer, etc.), and the disc #. I even have a worksheet for the designers, i.e. under the ScrapGirls column I listed all the names of the designers. That way when I have new downloads and don't remember which site I found them, I can look up the name in the "Designer" worksheet. The worksheets worked because then, before purchasing or downloading another freebie I find, I can check my worksheets to see if I already have a copy of the download. See how that works?

But I still get frustrated not knowing what I have. I know I have tons of downloads and it takes a long time looking for the perfect paper or embellishment that goes with a particular picture. Can you imagine going through each worksheet reading the "brief description" trying to remember what the supplies look like?

Arrrrggghhhhh!!!! There has to be a better and quicker way!

A Gold Mine!

I've been busy surfing the net these past few days that I didn't get any LOs done. But it was worth it. Through a few tutorials I found I learned new things.

One search led to another...and another...and another. Gosh! my computer gave up downloading those freebies! Those designers are just so wonderfully talented and soooooo generous. I have to return the favor and introduce them to you...or you to them...how about that?

So here's one http://www.freedigitalscrapbooking.com/index.html
Download to your heart's content. Thank you, Marie Stones!!!!! Whooo-hoooo!!!!

Share those pictures!

I read somewhere that lightning can delete your electronic files from your computer and also from the discs you already burned! Wouldn't that be another disaster if your one and only copy has been erased? So where can you store those discs out of reach from the electro-magnetic field burst that a thunderstorm might bring? Apparently, putting them in plastic cases and in boxes or drawers is not good enough. If they are stored away not to be used for a while, it is suggested to wrap them in blankets or anything that has enough padding to break the path of the destructive electro-magnetic field from reaching them!

If you buy your CDs/DVDs in a spindle, you'll notice that the first (top) disc is clear. That is the same material the CDs/DVDs are made of. Contrary to what most believe, the side of the CD/DVD you must protect from scratches is the top part, not the bottom part. That silver (some come in different colors) label that covers the top of the CD is where the data is written. It that label peels off, all is lost! Why not try slicing off the label of an old CD you no longer use and see what happens.

Therefore, protect the label from getting wet, from handling with oily fingers, from food (sure, admit it...we are so glued in front of our computers that we eat right there), post-it-notes... Oh, yes, post-it-notes. I learned my lesson the hard way before. I temporarily labeled a CD with a post-it-note! Duh!!! When I peeled off the note, along came a piece of that silver label. I couldn't find our Sedona, Arizona pictures anymore. That must be the Sedona CD [sigh].

The best way to not lose any of your digital pictures is to burn them on CDs/DVDs and make copies to give away to family members (who don't live with you) and to friends. That way, if anything happens to your originals or to the copies you have, all is not completely lost. You can always borrow the copies you gave away.

A Page A Day

I thought I could do a daily post...to just write down my thoughts during that day. But other things kept me away from blogging. I've been busy organizing and re-organizing my electronic files. At last! I am done! All organized and burned onto CDs! Now I can fully concentrate on scrapbooking again!

In-between the organizing, I've been able to make one LO a day for my brother's kids. He keeps bugging me for pictures to post on his Friendster site. I think it's time to teach that guy how to use photoshop so he can do his own layouts instead of playing harimanok or whatever game that is that keeps him busy during his free time!

It's OK though! I love scrapbooking and little tots are my favorite subjects. They are sooooo cute!!!Supplies used in this LO: Steph730- paper tear#26&27 12";LisaHowell- Botanicals-Floral;LisaAWhitney- BeautifulMess Pr6;LeslieFraley-Bright&Beautiful YellowStripes; GenevieveSass-Ephemera single staple; AmandaMiller- Sweet&SassyFlowers

My First Scrapbooks

I started scrapbooking a year after my son was born. Sad to say I used those magnetic photo albums that are laden with chemicals that seeped through the pictures like rust on iron. I recycled greetings cards to decorate the pages. I even went to the extent of buying greeting cards to use as embellishments. The layouts I made were beautiful. The journal was typed-written on bond paper and pasted on colored art paper. I meticulously hand-cut the edges of each tag and label. The paste of course was probably not acid-free.

When my daughter was born 12 years later I did the same thing. The result was the same - faded pictures.

Now I know why my aunts kept their pictures in photo albums with black pages and a page of vellum in between each page protecting the pictures from the black page before it. They even bought photo corners to hold their pictures. I watched them arrange the pictures on those pages, wondering why they just don't paste the other pictures on the pages when they ran out of photo corners.
Did they know something then about the term "acid-free" or did they use these supplies because they were the only ones available during that time?

Now I know better, so I'm racing against time saving those faded memories by scanning and retouching them. It is a lot of work but it will be worth it!

Publishing

I can't believe I've made so many digital layouts already! At first I just made them for my family. Now I'm making some for friends, my sister, my brother, nieces and nephews... At first I just kept dragging and dropping embellishments here and there without taking note where they are from.

Now that I want to publish... I can't give credit where credit is due! Ay-yay-yay!!! It's good I kept all the terms of agreement that came with the digital supplies so now that I make new ones I note down the credits.

So I've added more things on my to-do-list:

• as I go through my digital supplies making new layouts and I come across a design I've used before, go back to the layout and add the credits there.


• as I go through my digital LOs to add the credits, resize for publishing*, rename to add the source of the supplies, save in a different folder so it will be easy to locate when ready to publish.

*Some sites allow only a maximum of 130KB per LO. Mine are mostly 200KB+

I will probably come up with 10 more things but these will do for now.

My sister, Lee, made this. I am so proud of her!

I am talking her into making digital LOs as well because she says she has lots of pictures and has a difficult time choosing which ones to scrap.

Keep it up, Lee!!!

My Space

My favorite subject to scrap is my daughter of course. She takes a lot of pictures and lots of self-portraits. I want to make layouts of them all! I always encourage her to do her own digital scrapbooks so she could personalize the journaling part. She says she is always busy and doesn't have time. But she does have time for her MySpace, using photoshop to make her pictures "different". I am not invited to her space [sigh...]. Although once in a while when she's on it she shows it to me. I love how she personalized her space. I wish I could do the same, but like her, my excuse is I'm too busy to find out how to do that. Perhaps...one of these days I will have Myspace.




In the mean time, I have my own space. I call it my "kalat" room {kalat=mess}. Appropriately named. I have everything in one place (more like everything everywhere). I'm all messed up if anyone cleans up my mess.

I collect anything that collects dust. The latest craze? After the Barbies came the scrap-booking papers and embellishments.

So here's one corner of my kalat room, and here's another. I love my doll collection! They're everywhere. And they make me smile.

Gotta Start Somewhere

I've been around long enough and have accumulated a lot of memories, some have faded, some completely tucked away and forgotten...for now; some funny, some sad, some exciting, some bad...well in short, up here in my brain, is a colorful tapestry of memories. What a waste if I don't get them written down and shared with people who care.

I don't really know where to start right now. There is so much to do and say. Perhaps the topic of taking pictures is a good start. Yes, I am one of those who spend more time taking pictures instead of mingling and gossiping at family gatherings. (Well, that is not entirely true.. tee-hee...there's about 20% of gossiping going on. Oh, alright! 25%.) I even collect pictures from friends and relatives. I just want to have pictures of them to see how they have grown and developed. Pictures tell a silent story.

Now, what do I do with all those pictures? I have so many plans about them I get so dizzy just thinking of what to do first.