My 100th Post and the New Year

So it {finally} came! My 100th post
{which has been a struggle}
It's also time to celebrate New Year!!!

What a timing!

{Promise I didn't cheat!}

Now, I'm not good at creating resolutions {unless it is pixel related} or keeping them either, so I'll just choose the easiest route:

Cross my fingers {and toes} AND hope for a fruitful year ahead!

My Life In a capsule in 2008

Mom on Gas - Que Horror!
Braving the Storm
Alien No More
My December Birthday
Glad Tidings

How I'm ending 2008

With a BIG HOPE for CHANGE

Last night, I {and hubby} took part in a small-group community meeting regulated by the Obama-Biden Transition Project whose key element is to revamp America's Health Care System with the help of collective voices and ideas from us, the people!

Health Care and Insurance plays a major role in our society, yet most of us can't afford it because it is one of the biggest money hog! It is with {BIG} hope that this project the new government has launched will help resolve this problem. Like I said: cross fingers and toes and hope!

Now Let's CELEBRATE New Year with a TWIST,

here are some fun, cool {wacky} things you can do at the strike of midnight :

Wear anything RED : it signifies good luck! {if you miss, try your luck on Chinese New Year}

Put lots of coins in your pockets : signifies financial bliss in the coming year

Put coins in a can or container and shake it hard : it attracts monetary bliss in the coming year

Clang all your pots and pans or just make a noise { like Mushu} : drives away bad luck

Jump up and down : only for short people - it is believed to make you grow taller {magic grower, perhaps?}

Heck, just have fun!

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL!!!

Thank you for making this year a great experience for me. Your presence and visits here has been and always will be part of the inspiration of this blog...

Cheers!!!

So long Christmas

I can't be any happier that Christmas is over. That the controversial Ho Ho guy is none to be seen and is now but a figment of our imaginations. I'm sure everyone's stress level is now at a bare minimum {Thank God}. My hormones can settle down a bit! And maybe everyone will stop asking me like a broken record, what I got for Christmas or what "He" {imaginary friend or foe?} brought me. I'm just happy that Christmas is now but a thing in the past. We all had our share of fun but now, I can go back to the normalcy of life. And with that it means, this:
Borrowing a line from The Velveteen Rabbit ..."one night, mama stretched out her arms and declared that Sunday will be folding thousands of clothes day"...

ah, See you in 10 years...

Where you would say:

"You look just like my old bloggy friend that was lost under thousands and thousand piles of clothes!"

Glad Tidings

" Let the poor say I am rich because of what the Lord has done for us...give thanks! "

I never realized the truth to these words until...

I went to work as usual on Wednesday morning, feeling uninspired and a little sentimental when I saw the cookie gift bags that everyone else got but not me! Talk about freakin' self-pity! I frackin' hated it!

In an attempt to dismiss the surge of yukky emotions, I blindly went straight to my little corner in the office to find this :

Ever get that sensation that brings tingles to the rest of your body when your senses are piqued with excitement and apprehension of something you know is wonderful ?

So freakin' good! My whole body was awashed with that when I saw this little white envelope sitting on top of my pile of crap {so-called work} on my desk. I was trembling when I opened it. It can't be! Oh but yes it was! It was from OUR MYSTERY SANTA giving us OUR CHRISTMAS GIFT! That's all it took, I crumbled into sobs and tears! Whoever this person is, "I thank God for you with all my heart!" - You have been very good to me and my family... That gift was way beyond better than any home-baked cookies put together that day!

Here are more blessings that I got from generous people I'll call GOOD SAMARITANS :

The prize I won from FIFI Flowers - now hanging prettily on my kitchen wall.

The Prize I won from Twinkling Tees - A Personalized Pink Shirt for my daughter.

The Prize I won from Kandi Wraps - Crossword Puzzles Galore!
one of my best addictions...

Truth be told:
I've never had any luck winning anything in my life until I won all these in successions :
The Lord does provide... especially when you have nothing!

I am Poor but yes I am Rich and I'm giving thanks with all my heart!

{now, if He'll just provide my uber-hubby with a new job soon, then that will be the best Christmas present ever this year}

I wish everyone a
MERRY CHRISTMAS !!!
Thank you... I appreciate each and one of you...

Your Presence and visits here means a lot...
Enjoy your Holiday!

It's my Birthday today

and I'm working! What the heck! Not even a birthday holiday? What a poor girl to do?

Besides being grateful for another year - Work I guess, since that is what I'm doing right now. I'm always cheated on gifts each year during my birthdays anyway so why celebrate it, right? besides, I'm way beyond my wild 16 years self to party - I shall not bother! I'll save the dancing to the tweens!

Yep! BUT inspite of the lack of a Parte-e-y-h, I'm still allowed to wish of course! AND YOU can help make it come true? It will not put holes on your pockets I promise. My wish is preettty simple : an RSS subscription to my blog. That's all I ask! Best uber-birthday ever! Please make this birthday girl happy by subscribing to her blog today. It's not hard to do-just click and voila! You've just helped make this day VERY SPECIAL and made this girl very happy! So please please subscribe now...{ don't make me come to your house and beg for it endlessly}

Happy Birthday to me !!!

Show me some Birthday love! Not asking much, am I? :)

Thank you. I heart you all!

You might find this useful:

What is an RSS ?

Bug detour on Entre Card

I'm taking a little detour from my usual posts to make way to this crazy experience I had with Entre Card! Talk about being pi**ed off , frustrated and not to say friggin' scared out of my wits!

Are you an Entre Card user and a frequent dropper ? well then you should read this...

Yes, we all know that Entre Card has its perks but I recently learned the HARD WAY that there's also that BIG RISK of getting infected by a virus when you do your round of drops to Entre Card members! What the frack! I got infected by a malicious virus implanted in one of the members EC widget that I visited 4 days ago! 4 fracking days I can't use my laptop! You do know how that feels right!? Hellish!

What happened was, as soon as I dropped my EC card, my laptop hung, rebooted itself then BAM! The virus was a Trojan worm (win32.Zafi.b) which was freakin' malicious, it was like a NASTY TAPEWORM attached to my programs! Diagnostic was done 3 days and until today, { thanks to hubby's ingenuity } it was finally located and got rid of { fingers and toes crossed }. It hasn't popped out again so it is safely assumed that it was terminated!

The Nameless member was reported of course! Aware or not, reporting the member was the most sensible thing to do. Member will be nameless here because I dont want to discredit him if he was unaware his widget was hacked. OR give him Technorati points either! BUT I WANT you to know who this member is so you can AVOID his widget! Enter your email in the email box in my sidebar and I'll send you the name of the member, what Category he's in AND what to do if you ever get infected by the same worm! {leave a comment that you did so I can check it and add u to the list when I do a blast email}

{Ironically, this member even bought an advert from me which of course I immediately declined- the nerve! Hello? Is the "tapeworm" not enough?}

Needless to say, I missed 4 days of blog hopping, 4 days worth of Entre Card drops, 4 days of worthless waiting and 4 days of roll calls at SITS - how will I ever be saucy! huh!? darn you virus! Darn you who created it! Why do you love making other people miserable!? I'm scared sh*t doing my drops now! May KARMA get you! You so deserve it!!!

How to Lose your Readers in A week

Aha! are your reading this ? Gotcha!!! I got you to read it! Na..na.. na.. na! Ok enough of my immature self...

So, Are you ready to lose your readers? what the... of course not! right?

Noticed that blue thingy in my sidebar that counts my readers - yeah that thingy...I managed to kill off most of my readers in a matter of days {my own little Feedburner Massacre} without intending to. Am I talented or what?! NO CLUE how I did it but I think I know what did...

Does any of you share the same dilemma? Does it bother you so much when you start losing your readers? Do you long for MORE readership of your blog and wonder how you'll ever KEEP them glued to your blog?

Lately, I was testing the waters and somewhat been experimenting on what will make my blog click to figure out what works best! If you're like me - a bit in limbo - not sure what best defines your blog and what it needs to focus on (slight case of ADHD maybe) - I would say read on...move along it wont hurt... best I can say, is learn from my mistake... poor me...

So, I confess, these are the things I DID and DO THIS ONLY {absolutely} if you want to lose your readers:

a) Drama - who loves drama anyway? - some people likes a touch of drama - I just realized- only to a certain extent. {But my life is such a drama!} I guess I overdid myself and got carried away by my (oh so) dramatic self. I killed most of my readers with dramatic posts ( ticked them off ) and left me (serves me right, right? oh please come back to me! ) - bu hu! - (Ok now, get a grip of yourself, self! ) Too much drama -not a good idea!

b) Humor - a good laugh with a little cynic to it always works. But I didn't have much of this in my agenda (I told you too much drama)! My blog went poof! boring... Zzzzz... A good example of funny, slapstick kind of blog that clickety click! is Vodka Mom {you owe me one you witch! Plugging you for free! HA!}. She's got a nasty spell on me...her uncanny humorous way of presenting her topics are just crazy funny. I want to be like her but not so much LIKE HER or I would puke! *grin*

c) Kids - I don't have four or five or two to brag about {my eggs are cruel} - I only have one and I don't talk about her much or even show good pictures of her for all the world to see. Not that I don't want to, I just have this GREAT repulsion to doing it -browse through my posts and you'll see - fear maybe or plain protective. I chose the latter {sounds a lot more pleasing}. But yeah, they are wonderful attraction to blogs when done right . I get F+ on this one...

e) Infrequent Posts - (uh, I do work for a living too, you know) enough said...I don't even have to explain...ugh! But this is a killer!

d) Reviews - ack! what reviews? are you kidding? Nope no reviews BUT that's gonna change ( I hope). I posted one the other day. Wohoo! - I've noticed that bloggers who does reviews does get more traffic and readers because of the useful information and giveaways that goes with it. Who doesn't love Freebies, right?! It's also a way of being informative which will draw some attention. Anyone wants a review or sponsorship ? I'm here, I'm here!

Now the question is, what does really work anyway? With all due respect, Readers are unpredictable. They come and go. We hear this everytime : Good content makes them stick - but what is good content really consists of ? {especially when I'm talking about my so-called dramatic life} Is it really the content or readers having ADHD issues?

Various Experts have different opinions. You be the judge...But if the things I DID NOT DO works to your advantage - good for you! - I just want my readers baaaaaccckkkk!!! ok my immature self is back ...

Time to hit the power button off... Zzzssst!

Siesta Saturday - Work of Art

You've got kids ?

Then I bet you have Michelangelo, Picasso, Van Gogh and even Monets' right at your own home!

I have Da Vinci :

Don't you just love her Stickerrama art? {*yes, I'm gnashing my teeth*} - Her style is abstract.

{much as I hate to}

Admit it,

THIS is a WORK OF ART

{according to the little brat!}

Up on the walls, down on the floors, anything bare is but a masterpiece waiting to happen!

*You just gotta love 'em!*

I'm sure you've got some "priceless art" stashed somewhere. Showcase your little Artists' creativity { for the love of sanity! }- *make us all feel we're not alone*.

What is Mobiholic?

Not Moby Dick Fanatic! It's a person who has uncontrollable urge to upgrade to the latest version of a mobile phone and does it in a heartbeat.

Move over IPhone!

This is my new love: The Iphone killer! Nokia N97 - oh I so heart you!!! Can't wait to have you...*drool*...For now, I'll dream about you...




My current phone : Nokia N95

Are you a Mobiholic?

Singing Christmas Tree- Musical review

I love Music! I have sung in choirs most of my life growing up. I have performed in major and not-so-major concerts. Once directed and written a Musical show to raise fund for a church. Needless to say, Music always have a soft spot in my heart. This so, when a friend presented us with free tickets to a concert, more so, a "Singing Christmas Tree", I was ecstatic! I was intrigued more than anything. A singing Christmas Tree in Charlotte? - I've just got to go see!

So off we went to the concert Saturday night filled with anticipation! The concert was performed by The Singing Christmas Tree of South Charlotte presented by Stough Memorial Baptist Church. It was a 2 hour show. I was hopeful about the experience but ironically, our first contact with the church's lady greeter at the entrance leading to the lobby area already proved unpleasant. After few common courtesies (we weren't looking our best I guess), she immediately queried us where our tickets were whilst she didn't ask other guests of it!

Hello?! (Darling, did we look like peasants to you?!) It's not like we were going to "gate crash" the concert - we were to meet up with our generous friends there, who will give us the tickets and watch the concert with us! duh!

Minor setback. Friends came, tickets in hand. Off to the concert Hall. The "Christmas Tree" was in the middle and covered most of the stage floor - everything looked tight and awkward. One mistake and one will go tumbling down the two or 3 flight of steps like jack n' Jill. Ouch! The tree looked the way a Christmas Tree should, except that according to some guests, the singers looked like disembodied heads in a Christmas tree - Ugh! not a pleasant thought! I've seen other forms of singing Christmas trees and I can't agree more. Did I just hear someone say Twilight zone?!

Several times through the show, besides one male soloist, a particular female soloist faltered with her notes more than a few times! Although it was disconcerting ( pun very much intended), I'd give her the thumps up. She was pretty overworked. Besides singing solo numerous times, she was also one of the "heads" singing in the Christmas tree. She sung non-stop. She must have a death-wish for her voice!

There were lulls and dragging moments in the show but there were also best spots like when the Percussion Ensemble performed. To sum it up, I think the show is Ok ( thanks to the video presentations) - but something which I won't go back to twice. The Christmas Tree Choir were good but the show would have done well if the show actually focused on the Tree singing and not have it as the back-up singer to all the soloist throughout! The Christmas Tree was the main feature of the concert afterall! Of all the 15 songs sang that night, the Tree did only 2 "solos"! uh, was it not the concert of the Singing Christmas Tree? I couldn't have guessed.

If you're from Charlotte and want to see the concert for yourself , Knock yourself crazy - check the Schedule HERE .

Siesta Saturday - O Christmas Tree!

I was just talking about our Christmas Tree being bare of gifts this year in my post below and I thot " Hey! That will make a good Siesta Saturday feature - I mean Christmas Trees of course!" Ain't that a grand Idea?! You get to show off your lovely creations!

So, come on and brag about your wonderful Christmas Trees! I'm giving you all the bragging rights in this one! Let ALL the blogosphere folks see it!

As for me, That's our "bare of gifts" Christmas Tree this year and I love it inspite! It's the tradition and memories shared that goes with it every year that matters the most!

P.S. We're gonna see a singing Christmas Tree tonight! This will be interesting...

The Art of Giving

How would you feel if you don't get anything for Christmas this year ? Or worst your birthday too ( your birthday is in December and close to Christmas) ? You probably will feel bad, right? No kidding, I would too, especially IF I was expecting something...

Good for those giving you a gift because they only have to spend on one gift for two occasions - saves them money! Bad for you - you only get one instead of two - the result: brokenhearted!

This was me growing up. My birthday is 3 days before Christmas so I always end up with one gift instead of two! I grovelled, grunt and complain thinking how unfair it was not getting the RIGHT number of gifts everytime! That was then and this is now...

I decided to make peace with that "curse" and accepted the fact that I'm not getting anything for Christmas or my Birthday this year. If you must know, I'm not trying to be a saint here - trust me - but in the light of the bad economy, our financial situation and the "give me, give me" mentality that now defines the meaning of Christmas, something just have to give...you learn to sacrifice...you give up a little or you give up A LOT...

It's no secret that life for my family has been very tough this year. We are the BIG LOSERS of the year unfortunately. We gave up most of what little luxuries in life we enjoyed doing. Tightened our belts to a point it's sickening! Our much promised Disney Experience to our Little girl for Christmas this year - much to her dismay and frustration - went down the drain. I was almost at a point where I would put up a donation box for our "Food Bank"!

This is why my hubby and I decided that we will not spend a dime that we don't have just to buy gifts for each other this year. We will celebrate my birthday and Christmas the way we can. We've already given each other the bestest gift : EACH OTHER. One which we'll cherish for as long as we can and that's all that matters now...As for my daughter, she'll still get something but only one...she deserves it, but she too, needs to learn the true meaning of Christmas : Giving...Sacrifice... partnered with gratitude.

This being said, I was blessed to have won one of the giveaways from Fifi Flowers via SITS- the only material gift I'll probably get this year. Not bad... not bad at all...

Our Christmas tree will be bare of gifts this year...so be it...

"It's better to give than to receive.." Is this what defines you this year?

Tribute to Friendships

To all my SITStahs :

"Wishing you a Blessed Christmas and a blissful year ahead filled with love, friendships and lots and lots of comments love!"

O liberty O liberty! What happiness befalls me...
(to the tune of "O Christmas Tree")

I chose the Statue of Liberty for our Merry SITSmas bloggy Christmas card because its'universal message of hope and freedom for immigrants coming to America and people seeking freedom around the world has grown to include democracy as well as international friendship. I, today , took the oath and officially became a Citizen of the United States ! And in these same respect I found International friends via SITS and for being part of this blogosphere! It has definitely given me the opportunity to have friends all over the world and in the comfort of my own home too!

And if you haven't done yet, Check this cool Grand Prize for today's Merry SITsmas giveaway : $200 Target GC and the Friday fave featured blogger! How cool is that?!

So, here's to a wonderful Christmas, to all Great friends - real and virtual - and to all my SITStahs! And to Tiffany and Heather who started this wonderful dream! Cheers!!! I heart you all !!!

===============================================

NEWSFLASH : I WON the 8th hour giveaway courtesy of FiFi Flowers! So cool!!! - all that mad woman typing, sore fingers and wrists and glaring at my laptop all day (and night) was so worth it!

P.S. That reminds me: I hope my International Creative Swap partner receives her stuffs soon. "I hope you like all the stuffs I sent you".