Just My Rambling

I have to admit that it has been several years since I have gone to the store and bought actual greeting cards. Instead I have been using ecards. I think the biggest reason I use ecards is because I am a big procrastinator and usually by the time I remember, it is too late to send out actual greeting cards. With ecards, you can still send it out at the last minute. Having said all that, it always feels good to receive an actual greeting card in the mail. I think I will really make an effort to send out greeting cards through mail this year. What about you? Do you prefer to receive greeting cards in the mail or electronically?

** Added: Oops, it’s already Wednesday and I am finally posting this. I actually did have this post done on Monday but my internet went down and I finally got it back this morning. Not very happy with my internet provider right now. Might need to start looking around for alternatives.

It’s Tuesday again and that means it’s more random thoughts from this cluttered mind. This past weekend we actually stayed home instead of camping!! Even so, it was a hectic weekend. Had a playdate with some of Lil’ C’s chinese preschool friends on Saturday morning. All of them had a great time but so tiring for the grown-ups. Gotta admit that I am feeling old!!! Can’t keep up with the energy of 4 yr olds!

After the playdate, we attended a birthday party. It was an outdoor party with little pools, trampolines and swings. Makes me wish that Lil’ C has a summer birthday. Hers is in the winter, so no outdoor parties for us. Maybe next year we can do a half birthday party!!

This weekend is another 3 day weekend! Yay! Not sure what we will be doing but it will definitely be something outdoors.  Oh, and Duran-Duran will be in town for their concert this weekend as part of their tour. Remember them?? Gosh, they were a big hit in the 80s and they are backkkk……..

My internet is driving me crazy. It’s going on & off. This is probably my 5th attempt to post this!!

Is it Tuesday already?? This summer seems to be speeding along. We just got back from an awesome camping trip down by the Oregon coast. Before we left, we were trying to decide whether to cancel the trip because it was forecasted to be storming the whole weekend. In the end, we decided to go anyway with a backup plan of staying at a hotel if it started raining. But once we got there, we were so glad that we went. The beach was gorgeous with all the sand dunes. The weather turned out really great with just sporadic spurts of showers. The kids had a blast hiding among the sand dunes and being chased by the huge waves, with supervision of course. It is amazing how creative two 4-year olds can be when they are among the sand dunes. Their imaginative mind went into full gear with stories about volcanoes, alligators, and even princesses!! Fun! I think this might just end up being a yearly summer spot for us.

The season for berry picking is here. The strawberries are first, followed by cherries, blueberries and blackberries. We’re off to pick strawberries today. Our normal strawberry patch got destroyed by the winter flood this year, so we’ll be checking out new fields to day. Hopefully we’ll get some nice and juicy strawberries.

Lil’ C will be going to Kindergarten in September!! She took the kindie exam last week and passed with flying colors. Normally there is no kindie exam but since Lil’ C will be going in to kindie a year earlier, that’s why she took the exam. I’m just glad that her Sep schooling issue has been settled and now I can start planning other stuff.

I am on my 4th load of laundry today! Love camping but don’t love the aftermath of camping. I can’t believe how much sand we brought back in our luggage!! Ugh! All the clothes smell of smoke too since we spend quite a lot of time around the campfire.

That’s all the randomness today. Off to do more laundry before heading out to the strawberrry fields. Hopefully the weather will be better. It is surprisingly cold for a summer day. Have a great day everyone!!

I have a pretty big extended family especially on my maternal side. Unfortunately we are scattered all over the world. Even with all the advanced technology, it is still hard to keep up with everyone especially with the birth of the younger generations. In an effort to keep our bond, my cousin and I actually made a family tree last month. This family tree currently only spans four generations since those were the only information that we could dig up. Maybe with the help of ancestry dna, we could expand our family tree back to our roots. That would be awesome to be able to do that since I am also quite curious about my roots. I would also love for Lil’ C to learn more about her roots too as she grows older.

Ugh!! I just found out that someone stole my credit card number and had been happily using it in Mexico!!!! The thing is that this is the credit card that I use only for online purchases. I never use this credit card for any other purpose which means this credit card has never left home. That means that someone must have gotten hold of the number and made a card since that person had been using it all over town!! That’s scary!! And that person also managed to charge above my credit limit which leads me to question the purpose of the credit limit. Is it supposed to stop people from using above the credit limit?? Thank God that I caught this fraud soon enough or the damage would have been really bad. While trying to do damage control with the credit card customer service, I learned that the person was still trying to use my card!!!!Ahhhhhhh !!!!!!!

These past 2 weeks I have been baking up a storm in the kitchen. It was the end of the preschool year for Lil’ C, so instead of buying something for her teachers, I decided that I was going to make some homemade goodies as a thank you gifts. For some teachers, I made cupcake pops and put them in a little pot and decorated it like a pot of flowers. For another teacher, I made some baked pastries. After all the baking sessions, I remembered why I don’t bake as often anymore. All those food tasting really adds on to the weight. Luckily Lil’ C doesn’t have many teachers, so I didn’t have to bake too much otherwise I might need to consider taking some nuphedra if I have any more baking sessions!

I confess! I am a pack rat!! I started cleaning out my home office yesterday and I am amazed at how much things I found. Besides lots of documents, there were also lots of old electronic gadgets like my old camera and camcorders. Can you believe how bulky those gadgets used to be as compared to the current slim and sleek ones? After digging out everything, I realized that I can pack really well. It’s amazing how much stuff I can squeeze into tight corners. I guess I learned that skill after living in a tight space in the city during my high school years. No wonder during our last move, the movers who were packing our stuff were a little shocked that the packing took a lot more time than they expected! Oh well, back to more treasure digging.

I can’t believe it’s another Random Tuesday Thoughts again! Where did my week go? It has just been a crazy week. I am really looking forward to next week where there’s no school, no activities and absolutely no where to go!!

Lil’ C’s co-op preschool had their end-of-the-year picnic at a lake park on last Thursday. I made cupcake pops for the picnic. The picnic was fun and yet a little sad. Sad because that was the last day that she would be in the same class as some of her friends. There are a few girls who has been in the same preschool with her for the past 2 years. For a 4 1/2 year old, that’s half her life! :) But I guess it is time to move on. It was just a year earlier than expected.

After 2 weekends of camping, we took a break. We’ll have another one in a couple of weeks. Instead we spend the weekend wandering around town looking for fishing holes. DH is crazy over fly-fishing nowadays. He even got Lil’ C a Barbie fishing rod and it’s pink!! Gosh, Barbie and Princess stuff are everywhere, even in the fishing game. Luckily Lil’ C has not discovered the pink tackle box yet or it will be added on the request list soon.

My home office is a total mess, so next week I will be spending my time knee-deep in clutter and hopefully sorting out the mess. Hopefully I will get around to organizing my photos too! Now how do I entertain a 4 year old while I do all that??? 

That’s all the randomness for today. Hop over HERE for more randomness. Have a great week, everyone!!

This is my first attempt at Random Tuesday Thoughts. I’ve been seeing it around the blogs for a while and this seems to be an appropriate time to start since I have lots of random thoughts floating in my head now. Ok, here goes . .

We went camping again last weekend. That’s 2 weekends in a row! I think it’s the long winter hibernation that is causing us to get out of the house as much as possible this summer. While camping, we found that there were clams all over the beach nearby. So we ended up clamming and had some for dinner at the campfire. Yum!

My Firefox is driving me crazy! It keeps freezing up. It’s making it hard for me to drop Entrecards. Sorry to those who have been dropping on my card. Everytime I try to drop, it freezes for 1-2 minutes before starting again. Ugh! Will try to figure out what is going on!!

School’s out and trying to figure out what to do with the little princess. We’ve got a couple of vacation bible school lined up for July but nothing much for June & August. Decided not to sign her up for camp because they are so crazily expensive!! Trying to save some money since we will be sending her to a private school in the fall. I have just gotten hold of the Entertainment Book. There are lots of BOGO coupons in there for museums and activities. Will definitely have to make use of that.

I am really getting addicted to this couponing fun. I’m also starting to learn to ignore the grumpy-face cashiers. The other day I was at the store, bought a couple of things, paid only $2 and got back a $3 Register Reward, the cashier was not very happy and handed the RR to me grudgingly!! I ignored her and happily pocketed my RR. : )

Hey, that was fun! I need to do this random thoughts more often. That’s all for today though.  Have a great day!!

Lil’ C has been playing piano for slightly more than a year. Even though she is not practicing as much as I would like her to, she is still doing really well. She has performed at 3 recitals and she really loved them. Currently we only have a keyboard which has worked well for her so far but I think it is probably a good time to upgrade to a real acoustic piano. From what I understand, the keys on a keyboard are lighter than a piano, thus affecting the way a pianist plays. A piano will help her to play piano the right way. Looks like it’s time to scour the sales paper to see if I can get a good deal on a piano. Any recommendations?