It is here!!!!!!

What did you think? I was talking about the New Year? No way, that is old news! There are more important things going on around here.....Happy New Year anyway!

I am probably the last to know, but how exciting! The Final Quarter has been issued in the 50 states quarter project! This means, Hawaii is here!

Look how pretty it is!




By the way the writing is the state motto in the hawaiian language: "The life of the land is perpetuated in righteousness." and that is the great king Kamehameha the first unified king of the entire island chain.

Enjoy!
Antibloggedy....
don't forget to check out my blanket drive

A Christmas Song for you.....

Mele Kalikimaka is the thing to say,
On a bright Hawaiian Christmas Day,
That's the island greeting that we send to you
From the land where palm trees sway,
Here we know that Christmas will be green and bright,
The sun to shine by day and all the stars at night,
Mele Kalikimaka is Hawaii's way
To say "Merry Christmas to you."

Mele Kalikimaka is the thing to say,
On a bright Hawaiian Christmas Day,
That's the island greeting that we send to you
From the land where palm trees sway,
Here we know that Christmas will be green and bright,
The sun to shine by day and all the stars at night,
Mele Kalikimaka is Hawaii's way
To say, "Merry Christmas,
A very Merry Christmas to you."

and a personal favorite! You all remember this one...





I hope you find yourself in a good place. A place where you want for nothing, that the joy of family and friends are around you, and that you regret nothing.
Holiday Greeting!

A letter to My Daughters....... come back monday for the giveaway...

Giveaway, is on the otherside of the weekend!
I am often visiting Martha and she has a great post on mourning. Her post got me to thinking about what I will write now. A letter to my sisters, from my father, if he were here to express himself so instead he will write through me:

Dear "Rambler" and "LBS",
I know I have not always made the best decisions in my life, at least not that you can remember. I do remember a time that I made some really great ones though. They are the moments that led me to your mom, and eventually to you girls. There was the excitement I felt when I became a dad for the first time, I was a little scared, but your mom was always so confident in that department, your grandmother made sure of that. Your Ama and Tutu couldn't stop beaming at your crazy curly hair, and you were popular from the start, I think that was from me. Then came "Antibloggedy", and wow, what a change for our life from one to two....But Rambler, you were ready. You protected her from the start, "my First Little Sis" you seemed to state, everywhere you would take her. You let her do a lot to you: ride your back like a horsey, follow you where ever you went, just hang out. The two of you were inseparable...sharing everything....you were each others very first friends. How are the two of you doing now?

Antibloggedy talks to me often, and she tells me of how special the two of you are. She tells me that my granddaughters are so beautiful and so sweet. I hear Little Rambler is just like us....you know us forever with a wink and a smile. I am sorry I was not there with you to hold your hand, I probably would have fainted anyway. The thing is, I was there. I was there at your wedding, when the weather was as perfect as it could possibly be. I was there on your graduation day. I was there all the time, you just could not see me. Kai and little Violet are truly a vision, and I hear the littlest looks a lot like me....she will be a trouble maker for the boys.....And this goes for all of them. Please tell them to go after the good boys. Don't go for the ones like me...

FLS, you have grown so much since that little girl with the pony tail that stuck straight up in the air. You were beautiful then, and you are a knock out now.....Tell Aka to take good care of my little girl. I was there to all those times you succeeded at life, and there is a lot of times you shined. You are still shining and I never have to worry about you doing well. I know we didn't have much time, but I already knew from the start you were in the best possible care with your mother. She always put you girls first, I would never deny her the title of the best possible mom. I know you are doing well and hope you know you can always speak to me, even if I don't speak back. You should begin to write again, your poetry to me was something to hold with pride. Never let go of that gift of words.

There are so many days I wish I could hold you all in my arms. I wish for you to be strong, independent and selfless, with out forgetting to take care of your self. I am in a good place, and with good people. Your Tutu and Ama are here singing songs with me, and we are laughing all the time at my jokes and Tutu's Stories.

December 15th count down.....one week away to the giveaway!

go to the giveaway here


I was thinking I should really tone it down a little, as maybe my Butt pic isn't the first thing someone wants to see when they are stopping by. I decided to make a mention of my intentions for next week Monday, December 15th, but I won't give away too much! With Perfect Moments and Random Acts I have decided I don't want to wait for something to happen, I want to make it happen. So With that in mind I will be hosting an Event to Raise a little bit of $ for a Charity. All I can say is My dear friend Dave's Son Jake (8 yrs old) is so sweet and inspirational, how can you not come to check it out and his cause?

There will be 5 gifts handed out to the first 5 donors/participants and it is a really great gift that I am offering to send as a gift to someone you love before christmas, or to keep for yourself. What is it you ask!?....You will have to come back on Dec 15th to find out...... =) How devious of me! There is a reason though, and you'll enjoy it....plus, I have to get those gifts together for shipping!

Thank you to SITS for the mention. Here are the links to the next few posts, they have some extra hints about the event:
I thought I knew cancer
A letter to my daughters
Kai Art
and if you are visiting and it is monday. Click here for the most recent post that will take you to the giveaway

Thanks for Reading!


Antibloggedy

Mother Teresa would be proud...

That last post was such a downer, so I will pep things up with something I call, The Mother Teresa would be proud award. What is this you ask? Well it is the notion that there are people that do things for others out there, without asking for anything in return. The things they do help to heal, guide, or assist. Let me know who you have encountered that should receive this honor. So far I know of three: Lori, your work with adoptions is inspirational, and To Write their names in the sand does a great job with the healing process for those who have lost their young ones. And to the Sits gang Heather and Tiffany who have developed such a great concept that allows others to share their great writings and services. I am constantly inspired and amazed by people I cross. Thank you for your services and good luck in your causes.

As you all may have guessed, I am not very "blog-technical" So I have no badge to hand out, just my thanks and the picture I created at the top of the page. Let me know if you have a suggestion on how to "hand-out" award mentions or Thank you's.

Antibloggedy

Now. What Perfect Moment have you recently been aware of?

I was looking at Martha's post and found a link to a perfect moment. I liked the idea of her last post, which was pretty much adopting the idea of recognizing a perfect moment in your day(mondays for her, but I choose today). I have been having a pretty rough week and it seemed like all was lost until I thought of "the perfect moment" today.

I was doing Accounting/administrative stuff for the restaurant I work for and came out of my office to see a server was taking a birthday dessert to a table. I asked if he needed someone to sing with him and then gathered a small group. (It is common for people to grunt objectively at this request.) When we arrived at the table though it turned out quite different. It looked like a single mother with her young son who was 5 today, his name was Jonathan. He beamed at the spectacle before him and was so excited about his dessert with the candle. He blew out the candle and looked at his mother appreciatively. The perfect moment was the joy in his mothers eyes to see him so happy. and it was also perfect when we all parted from the table and I had let go of anything that was bothering me at that moment. so Happy Birthday to Jonathan...and thank you Lori for making me smile at the end of a hectic week, you reminded me that there are more important things to realize in life.

Antibloggedy....

sleep deprivation.....snore...snort....what?!

I am on auto pilot. Everyday I make a decision between going to sleep and hanging out with the kids....kids almost always win. Yesterday I got them to sleep at a decent hour and I was in bed by 10.....yippy!.... then at 1am I hear "Wake up mama" "Wake up!". Still blinking and with crusties in my eyes I turn toward the sound and Kai shouts "Hi Mama!".....what!? "Kai, go to bed" "Ummmmmm, NO" then she proceeds to wake the baby before I can stop her or even know what is going on.....so I wake up and that is it for all of us. Bed time this night did not come again for me. They both went back to sleep around 4....And that is when I went to work....Their dad went to sleep with them at 4 or 5. I can't complain about the Mr. as he was actively working on a plumbing job in our basement through the night. Maybe I will sleep tomorrow?.......I will have to be aggressive.....
Like a Pirate! (Thanks sis)

Buyers Remorse and Piggy Banks

Have you ever had buyers remorse? I am recently cursing all the things I bought from 1998-2004 as this was where the scope of my c.c. debt came from. What did I buy in those years.....Nothing I still have now or remember. Here is my take on the way the Credit monsters totally screwed not just me, but many of the young Americans. Women were always looked at as being a property of man for the early years of credit. A women couldn't even get a loan without a man being present. Many women were never taught about credit and proper handling of money. They were told how to spend it on groceries and that's it. Then we became independent, left evil husbands that treated us poorly and got jobs that didn't pay fair wages. Women were given credit that extended far beyond the scope of the wages and in times of crisis, women will do what it takes to put food on the table or keep a roof over the heads of their children, because women were almost always left with the task of child rearing, whether they worked full time, part time, or stayed home. There were opportunities for credit companies to take advantage of these societal, domestic, and common beliefs/ mindsets that women were vulnerable and they could get them to sign away anything. Many of the women did. I am one of them. When I turned 18 I was mailed my first credit card, and I had $11 in the bank. It was too easy to buy my college books or pay for registration, buy food or go out to dinner when they hand you one of these easy swipe money cards. They don't teach you that they can take up to 25-100 years to pay off the accumulated totals. I am totally independent, but this is not about being smart or easy it is about these companies leading someone to the promise of a diamond and finding all you have is a cubic zerconia. They gave me a credit I could not afford to pay and gave me more still.I take full responsibility for my actions, but with the current crisis it shows that we were not the only ones spending beyond our means. Hopefully the next generations will be better informed of how the system works.

My spending habits have been a bit more thrifty and responsible in the last few years, I even cleared out some student loans I had before my first daughter was born. But how does one make it out of the deep ocean of debt when they don't have the money to buy a boat? My debt could be worse then it is and in fact it is pretty reasonable (as long as you don't include the car loan).
How do I teach a better financial foundation to my children when my financial sense sucked?
I will have to teach them to be honest to themselves about spending $ wisely and about spending what you can afford. wish me luck, as my 5 year goal is to spend less and pay off old debts.