Wishing you a bright and happy 2009, filled will good health, prosperity and enough spice to keep things interesting. May you find your own paradise, and may it bring you joy.
[tags]greetings, Happy New Year, Hau’oli Makahiki Hou, New Years wishes[/tags]
The kids at Valleyfield Junior School in Ontario want to make their world a better place. They were recognized last spring as a Green School for completing a hundred or more green projects. It makes me feel good all over to know that the current generation of school kids are already good citizens dedicated to the stewardship of our environment. They need a little help along the way, of course. The students at Valleyfield get healthy snacks every day at school instead of typical junk food snacks. It costs a little more, but it’s a good investment in the strong bodies and bright minds they’re developing as they grow. Like most schools, Valleyfield never has quite enough money for all of the programs they’d like to offer, but they know their Healthy Snack Program is important, so they’re holding a fundraiser to help support it. They’ve teamed up with our friends from Mabel’s Labels to help raise the money needed to keep the Healthy Snack Program going. When you use the links in this post to order your labels, your purchase will help fund the Valleyfield School Healthy Snack Program.
You were planning to be more organized in 2009 anyway, right? Mabel’s Labels are great for sorting and identifying all of your clutter as well as helping all of your stuff find its way home when it goes out roaming. They’ve come out with some mighty clever collections, too, like the Neat Freak Combo for the stuff you store and Curbside Labels for your recycle and rubbish bins. The fact is, there are Mabel’s Labels for every organizing and identifying task you can think of. We’ve talked about these colorful, durable and useful labels before, and each time you’ve told me which ones are your favorites. If you haven’t gotten yours yet, now is the time to order them. If you already have some Mabel’s Labels, then you know how helpful they are and you’ve probably been planning to buy some more. I hope you’ll do that today and that you’ll share the links with everyone you know. Your friends who aren’t connected can call Mabel’s Labels toll-free at 1-866-306-2235, but make sure you tell them to mention that they want their purchase to support the Valleyfield Fundraiser. You can end the old year by supporting some great kids and start the new one with some tools to help you get organized. Two birds/one stone - it’s all good! Go for it!
[tags]fundraisers, labels, Mabel’s Labels, school fundraisers, schools[/tags]
Can you identify the item depicted above? Take your best guess and post it in the comments below. If your guess wins, you’ll get a nifty prize. Here’s how it works:
1. Write a comment giving your guess as to what the item is. Be as specific as you can. For instance, “lighting” would be too general as an answer if you needed to identify a lava lamp. Sometimes the brand will need to be specific, as when you identified the Enregizer Bunny and auto company logos. Guess as many times as you want, but put each answer in a separate comment, please!
2. First person to identify the item wins. If more than one person provides the correct answer, time and date stamp will determine who was first.
3. The author of this blog will be the sole judge as to what constitutes a correct answer. Sorry - no hints will be given. I will attempt to respond to your answers at least every few hours, but I am not continuously at the keyboard so please be patient.
4. The contest will end in forty-eight hours, whether or not a correct guess has been submitted.
5. Skeet’s Stuff is a do-follow blog, so you get some link value just for commenting.
What will you win?
1. The author of this blog will write a LINKY LOVE POST (review) about the winner’s blog (commercial sites ineligible.) The LLP will contain the url for your blog plus at least two deep links and will be posted here on Skeet’s Stuff, a PR4 PR2 PR0 (bah google!) Ha! PR3 blog Hmmmm! PR2 again. Skeet writes good reviews. 
2. The weekly winners will be entered into a monthly drawing for a $10.00 gift card from Starbucks or Amazon or a ten dollar payment through PayPal.
3. Drawing for the monthly prize will be held on or around the beginning of next month and will include all weekly winners for the month. There are five Tuesdays in December, thus the maximum number of people who will be eligble is five.
Comments submitted with commercial links will be deleted. If you would like to market your product, service or website through skeet’s stuff I’ll be happy to discuss your needs and my prices. Please submit your request via email.
[tags]contests, photos, photo contest, photo puzzle[/tags]
One of my stated goals when I first began blogging was to shine the light of day on my clutter. My second blog post dealt specifically with the oversupply of books which was crowding me out of house and home. I didn’t make much progress with moving those books along until I began to pack up my house for my move. As I’ve cleared out each room I’ve come across stashes of books I had forgotten I had, discovering that my Mount TBR was even more lofty than I had thought. If you’re involved in BookCrossing you will know that Mount TBR is a collection of books to be read. It’s a frequent topic of conversation whenever and wherever we gather, whether in real life or online. My TBR has been an embarrassment and a source of stress for years. The concept behind BookCrossing is that books gathering dust benefit no one, so we share them by releasing them into the wild or finding other ways to pass them on to other appreciative readers. That’s the theory, anyway. I’m not a very good BookCrosser. Mount TBR tends to get out of hand because, well, you know … so many books, so little time. I just can’t say no to a book once it’s captured my attention, so there are always too many languishing in Mount TBR, waiting for me to spend some quality time with them before sending them out into the world to make new friends. Joining up with local BoookCrossers made the problem even worse. Our group, the Table of Contents, gathers about once a month to share a meal and swap books. Each month I promise myself I’ll leave our luncheon with less books than I brough, but I’ve fallen short of that goal as often as I’ve succeeded. Finally, though, over the last few months I’ve begun to whittle down Mount TBR. I was really gratified a few weeks ago when I gathered up all of my unread books that are registered to BookCrossing and they only took up two shelves. I thought the event deserved celebrating and took the picture above the morning before our last Table of Contents luncheon. The books on the left end of the top shelf went to the luncheon with me and I only brought home four or five new books, so I was patting myself on the back for finally beginning to tame mount TBR.
I tossed my tote bag on top of the bookshelf when I got home from our Christmas gathering. I didn’t stop to think about all of the Christmas goodies I’d collected from my friends. Lance did. He quickly detected the rich aroma of Christmas coookies and chocolate sitting atop the shelf, just out of his reach. My resourceful companion waited until I was out of the room to tackle Mount TBR in his own beagle-ish way.
[tags]beagel, BookCrossing, books, clutter[/tags]
I thought I wouldn’t get to post a self portrait today. The whole island of Oahu went dark when the Kahe Power Plant, right up the road from me, was hit by lightning two nights ago. The Marines rushed over to the Obama holiday compound with portable generators, but most of us had to do without a bit longer. My community came back onto the power grid yesterday about noon, maybe eighteen hours after the outage started. Oceanic Cable had power problems, too, though, and we’ve only just gotten cable access back for our TVs and computers. I’m very grateful. I’m spoiled and don’t like not having access to the rest of the world. It’s remained cloudy, as you can see. We’ve had lightning off and on for three days now, along with some gusty winds, but no significant rainfall. It’s a bit eerie and the critters seem to think so, too. My carport is full of flying insects, mostly flies, but some mosquitos, beetles and moths, too. I wonder if they’re taking shelter because they know a downpour is coming? I wonder if maybe I should put out some fly or moth traps, or just wait for them to go away on their own?
I have some catch-up blogging to do, but first I’ll dash over to Midlife Musings to see who joined Cass in posting for Self Portrait Sunday this week. I hope you’ll make it a New Year’s resolution to join us in 2009!
[tags]power outage, self portrait, storm[/tags]
I just realized that today is Friday. I can’t seem to keep up with what day it is lately, something that is no surprise to those of you who visit regularly. I haven’t needed daily consultations with a date book the last few months, so that’s my excuse. However, excuses or no, time marches on and I’m late to participate in Four Foods on Friday this week. Since it is still Friday, here are my answers to Val’s questions:
#1. Do you prefer cooking with electric or gas?
Gas! I demand instant gratification when I want to adjust the temperature while cooking. I always scorched things when I had an electric stove because I’d turn the burner down but it would remain too hot for too long.
#2. How many times a month do you order out?
I don’t. I think I’ve had one pizza delivered in the last year, and that was because it was what a guest wanted.
#3. How do you like your ice - cubed or crushed?
Cubed. Crushed melts too fast.
#4. Share a Christmas recipe.
I haven’t tried this yet, but heard it on the radio a few days ago and it sounds yummy. Take some big, old-fashioned pretzels and dip them in melted chocolate. Before the chocolate sets, rolls in crushed peppermint candy. Doesn’t that sound delish? I’d like to try it with dark, semi-sweet chocolate. I really like a good sweet/salty combo and I’m thinking this would fit the bill!
[tags]food, meme, snacks[/tags]
A beautiful double blessing to end a wonderful Christmas Day. I hope yours was as delightful as mine.
[tags]double rainbow, environment, Hawaii, rainbow[/tags]
Could someone please explain to me how people manage, year after year, to get perfect family photos at Christmas? My friends Denise and TW (waving & sending aloha) manage to get a spectacular photo of their whole brood in matching Christmas pajamas every year. No one sneezes or squints or looks away. None of the shots are fuzzy and no one’s head gets cut off. I want to know what their secret is, that’s all I’m saying.
[tags]beagle, Christmas, family photo, Hawaii[/tags]
The sun is just ready to rise over Hawaii, but I heard the excited chatter of the children across the street echoing in the darkness over an hour ago. I’ll spend much of today sitting on my front lanai, watching the little ones trying out their new bikes and skates and scooters. Perhaps one of them will introduce me to her new doll or invite me to admire the loot from an oversuffed stocking. I baked a mountain of cookies yesterday and will perhaps find someone who will enjoy the ones I didn’t already give away. Neighbors on one side will be having a quiet family celebration with a brand new baby boy. Roy and Dot, on the other side, sent me fish last night, caught by their son the day before and smoked all day to sweet tenderness. The picture above is the chocolate chip greeting card I sent to their delightful grandaughter, Teysha. The palm trees are chattering in a stiff breeze that will turn into sweet, soft trade winds as the sun warms our islands. Soon I’ll enter the heart of my celebration as I call family members to share the greetings of the day. I’m sad not to have completed my move before the holidays, but contented to have one final Christmas here in these islands that I love.
I hope you are surrounded by the warmth of the season as you celebrate this day with family and friends. May your day be merry and bright!
[tags]Christmas, Christmas greetings, Hawaii, Mele Kalikimaka[/tags]
Midweek cover photo by nwalker@midweek.com
Our own Auntie Lynn, aka: Auntie Pupule, founder and organizer fo the Keiki Slippah Wish Fund, is the cover girl for Midweek, a free weekly newspaper that goes to every home in Hawaii (or is it just on Oahu?) The article is in recognition of her extraordinary service to our local communities and her family tradition of service to our country. Lynn’s son, two daughters, stepson and son-in-law are all military, either actively serving, recently returned from service or scheduled to soon be deployed to Iraq. In addition to the Keiki Slippah Wish Fund, Lynn is a long-time volunteer with the Kau Kau Wagon, providing food for the homeless. She also recently took her first shot at a public office with her unsuccessful bid for a seat on the City Council. Follow the link above to read the story of this remarkable woman whom I am privileged to call a friend.
Note: Two of the photos in the article are mine, uncredited. I’m a huge fan of Midweek, but am disappointed that they would use photos without crediting their copyrighted owner. Bad form, Midweek!
[tags]Auntie Lynn, Auntie Pupule, community service, Lynn Vasquez Dela Cerna, Midweek, military families[/tags]
