My New Favorite Hobby....Sewing

Yes, my friends..ever since I became a seamstress 

at Beehive Clothing. I walked away wanting to sew

more. So I bought myself a new machine. After 

paying bills, I decided to go with something afford

able and that wasn't going to break down on me. 

I've only had experience on the commercial power

machines and figure the home machines should be

a cinch. So I got on to Craftsy.com bought a few 

courses on sewing dresses, couture techniques,

hand tailoring and more. I'm telling you, it's addicting! 

first one class, then another one! I'm also addicted to

Pinterest and all the lovely DIY, Cooking and Sewing

ideas found on there.

So far I've sewn a plaid scarf (from a pillowcase) off 

a tutorial I found on Pinterest. Now I'm waiting for a 

Vogue pattern arriving any day now for the Couture 

Dress tutorial I signed up for on Craftsy! So excited

about my new hobby, I stocked up on items I might

need for upcoming projects at Walmart this morning.

So I wouldn't have to run to the store for a while.

Here's what I've found fun to make so far from 

Pinterest. I'll update you later on how I did with the

Couture Dress Tutorial and the Starlet Suit Jacket 

Tutorial. Want to check out a free tutorial? They 

have one on how to make Dipped, Dusted & Rolled

Handmade Chocolates. I love that one!

The tutorial is here at Vermillion Rules

My version of The T-Shirt Ruffle Scarf! 

(took me a minute or two to make it!)

My trusty Janome machine. I'm wanting the
Threadbanger machine, but that one sold out
on Amazon.com, so this one will do for now:)

new sewing tools, most of them were .97c ea.
at Walmart.

What are your favorite hobbies?

Latest Updates....

Hi Friends! It's been a while since I've been on here and
alot has happened since I last posted from Salt Lake. I'm
currently back in Portland and working again. This time,
I'm getting my contractor license back up again to be able
to start working and pay off my son's mission coming up
pretty soon. How much? $10k....Yes, my eldest son is
going to be 19 on the 10th this month and getting ready
to put in his papers to serve the Lord. I'm so excited for
him and the road he's chosen to take. I found a little part
time job on the side that's part time and the pay isin't so
bad. I'm sure you're itching to find out...I'm started last
week as a product demonstrator for $12 an hour. That's
not bad, considering people are out there looking for a job.
I thought it was something to do in my spare time while
getting everything set up again for the business.

Last week, we finally received our tax refund and paid
some bills and saved the rest to get re-licensed and all.
I really miss Salt Lake and my old job at Beehive Clothing.
It was a wonderful environment to work in and I made
friendships for a lifetime. Now, I'm on to a new chapter
and new things. On my exit interview with my supervisor,
she gave me some great advice and told me that I can
always come back there someday if the family moves
back to Salt Lake again.

Taking her advice, I'm keeping myself busy these days
with the kids, working and starting the hobbies I've
always wanted to start but kept putting off. (That's on
my next post) Although I was really busy in Salt Lake
working and all, I did shed some 35 pounds when I was
there. When I got there I weighed 300 pounds, coming
back, I finally got the chance to weigh myself and
really glad to see that I now weigh 265. I still am trying
to go down to my weight goal of 180 pounds. That's
another post as well..

How was your week?

 

Casual Sunday at Home

Tia and baby Sione

I thought Loni would've been better by now
so that we'd be able to make it in to church
today..He's been sick since Friday and now
Nesi's starting to cough too. I think it's just
a change in the weather is all.

I've been looking for a job and happened
to go over Nesi's papers that she brought
home from school and see that they're
now hiring lunch workers for the school
district we're in. I got really excited and
applied, now I hope to get a call. I'm
hoping to just get something part time
while I try to get my little cupcake business
going.

How was your Sunday?

Job Hunting plus Julie & Julia

So this morning I got up and made my dad
breakfast. Kids were still sleeping, so I got
onto 2 blog and watch Julie & Julia on Netflix.
What a movie. I wasn't such a fan of Julia
Child when I was a child. My mom loved
watching her shows. After watching it, I really
want to go out and buy her cookbook. I
heard it's a good movie and now I finally got
to watch it and apply for jobs.

He called this morning and asked how we're
doing. I told him that we're doing good. I have
to admit it's hard on the kids and they're trying
to hang in. Sometimes they just cry and ask if
we could just go back home to dad. I figure
one day when they're grown, they'll understand.

For now, I'm taking everything one day at a
time and hope that I'll be able to land a job soon.
I'm now putting up ads in hopes that I'll land
small jobs installing concrete overlays and acid
stains here in Utah, while looking for a regular
job.

Weekend Updates...

Saturday morning we left early to go see what 

we could for cheap at Smiths with mom. We  

ended up getting GM cereals at $1.99 ea. wyb

10 and instantly receive $3 off plus another $3

in coupons. Then we got the Hunt's 24 oz. bot

tles for $1.98 before coupons. .98c ea. after    

coupons. We found the Lawry coupons at Smi

ths and then headed over to Winco to use them

there to get $1 off any meat or poultry wyb 2 

Lawry Marinades at $1.68 ea. We ended up get

ting 4 packs of chicken legs and thighs at .48c lb

the limit is 2 packs per person. 

Later on that evening we relaxed at the West 

Fest enjoying the fireworks show!

Joe took my two older daughters to
Taylorsville Dayz and West Fest for
my third child, Hinalei's birthday. I
came later with the little ones.

Tia and Lei cheesin it for the camera.

Sunday June 27th, 2010

We had a good day today at church. I left early

after sacrament meeting. We cooked & caught 
up on all kinds of family stories. 

Random Monday Rambles...

It's been a couple of days since I've been on
here. The past two weeks have been busy
and I could only find between them to post
up on Luscious Deals.

So last week I finally filed our taxes online
through Tax Act and came out with some
positive numbers!! I'm really glad for that
because I've been wanting to get a bunk
bed for the little ones, since they're camping
out on the floor with tons of fluffy blankets.

When we moved from our previous home
last march, my husband took the king beds
out of the children's rooms to the dump
since there is no room in the apartment for
3 king beds. Another goal that I wanted to
happen is to open savings accounts for
each of the kids and invest in a digital SLR
camera.

I really like Nikon and Canon, but don't
know which is better out of the two. Any
tips? I'm currently snapping away with a
Nikon L100 point and shoot. So far, so
good. But, I'm secretly wishing like crazy
to get my hands on a SLR..so crazy, I've
been waking up every morning thinking
about an SLR camera in my hands and
all the wonderful things that I could be
shooting and trying to find whatever info
I can on either brand.

The limit I am setting for myself is $2000.00
I'm willing to spend that amount for one.
But I'm seeing that people are getting
it for cheap on Ebay..will have to check
it out. That could be the better route.

The rest of it would be savings for a
rainy day:) I'm hoping to make money
on the side with photography..umm..
yeah, lets just say it's a new hobby.

Goods in The Mail Today...

I always look forward to 

getting new goodies in the

mail, especially if they're 

from General Mill's Pssst..

program. 

They gave me several $1.25 off coupons to pass out 

to my friends to try the new Chocolate Cheerios. Not

a bad deal:) Got some more new magazines to read up

on. Did I mention that's one of my faves, is to read mags?

Got in some more Huggies and Pampers mailers with 

great coupons inside. Will pass it on to one of my

bffs with babies. 

Visiting the Oral Surgeon

Yesterday I called the dental clinic and told them 

that my teeth were hurting and I needed to be seen.

So they told me to come in at 2pm. Great! I've been

missing my appointments and this time I finally made

it in. I overcame the fear and just went.

I checked in and waited for about 20 minutes til' I 

got called to go in. They took full xrays and told me

that they're going to remove 4 that day. I was happy 

because I hadn't been to the dentist in 6 years and  

it's been long overdue. 

They removed 2 of my wisdom teeth a molar and 

some other tooth. They asked me if I took drugs 

and I laughed and said, no. But that my fillings were

just coming out and that I never took care of it beca

use we didn't have insurance before. Sure we had  

the cash to pay for it..but I didn't take care of it. I 

didn't take my pre-natal vitamins when I was pregn

ant on the last 3 and that's when I started noticing 

the weak teeth and all.

So she numbs me up on both sides, we wait for about

5 min. then she goes in on the first one and can't seem

to get it out. Even though I'm numbed up I could still  

feel the pressure and it actually started hurting when 

she was struggling to pull it out. I just thought I was  

going to die in my chair and I thought, oh God just let

this whole thing be over with and I'll never eat another 

dessert again! 

The remaining teeth are removed with no problem. 

After stitching my gums up she told me to stay clear 

of solid foods for a couple of days and I'm thinking

it's all good if I'm going to shed a couple of pounds 

from that!

Later on last night I finally picked up my Vicodin to 

kill the pain and ended up going to sleep without  

taking them. So far, so good. I woke up and just 

didn't want to take them, because I had to many 

things to finish today & didn't want to be sleeping

most of the day. 

Stuck at Home for Days..

 

This picture describes what has happened to both

our cars, the only cars in our household. Last week

dh took my car and died out going to drink Kava  

with his buddies. [hmm, I think that was a sign]

So at the time, the problem was  

the battery. Ever since we had purchased it in 06'

we hadn't thought of buying a new battery until it  

just gave up last week. [idiots]

Then funny thing happened, dh's truck had the same

symptoms as well and died out yesterday on his way

up the hill to our house. So we looked up the best & 

most affordable batteries to purchase and stay within

our budget. [which isin't much]and not end up with a

lemon. 

Roger [our family friend] advised me that once we 

receive the new battery and install it to turn on the 

car and let it run, then unhook the left wire attached 

to the battery to see what happens. If the car dies a

fter the wire is removed then, it would be an alternat

or problem. It the wire is removed and the car keeps

running. Then we're good to go. 

We try it and guess what? Yup, you guessed right..

it died out on us..that was on our 97 Ford Expedition.

So next we decide to try it on my husband's truck, 

which is a 95 Dodge Ram..Yes, same thing happened.

Wow..both cars not working and I'm not able to run 

to the store to get any grocery shopping or catch up 

on the Quaker Deal at Albertsons..I'm already having   

Zumba withdrawals..missed 3 classes already & the kids

are crying because the soy milk is finished for their cereal.

What's a mom to do?

We called around to find out how much we'll be spend

ing to get two alternators and let's just say everything all

together is over a grand right now. I'd like to call a cab 

right now.. but we've got to scrape together everything  

we can to get these two cars going.

I found out I had extra Avon books sitting in the back

of my car that hadn't gotten passed out yet and are still

within the backorder time frame. So I went through ab

out 120 books and wrote my contact info. on each of

them, then walked across the street from our apartment

complex and started hanging them door to door. I'm so

glad because I wasn't being good on my diet today and 

needed to walk off the 2 pieces of caramel walnut 

brownies I consumed for lunch and half a single bag of

Ritz crackers..ouch.

Family Meeting

We actually had our first heart to heart, honest 

no holds barred family meeting tonight. It came 

about after my husband discovered my texts with

a couple of girlfriends who share the same prob

lem with me regarding their husbands. 

What is it? Well, all our husbands drink Kava.

[a cultural drink/polynesian] I won't go too much

into it, but you can google Kava Ceremonies. So

they usually will leave home at about 6 or 7 pm and 

return back home in the wee hours of the morning

say 4 or 5 am. maybe after 12 noon? 

Just last year, we had several problems where 

some of the Kava drinkers were having affairs 

with the girls serving the Kava drink at the 

ceremony and there were several visits to the 

bishop's offices and so forth. 

Well, the wives are secretly banding together to

do something about it and let our husbands know 

that enough is enough. Most of our hard earned

money is ending up going to the girls/ women

serving this muddy Kava drink, while the wives

are wondering where the paychecks are really 

going. Yes, this is pretty forward. But, I'm real

irritated about this whole thing and going to talk

about it anyway on here.

So he found out that we're writing letters that

to the prophet and voicing how much Kava is 

destroying our families. In Oregon right now 

they don't take away the temple recommends for

the men that drink Kava and that is what the 

letters are for. To plead with the prophet to 

set the rules they have in Tonga & SLC, to be 

the same here also. 

Yes, my dh is angry and shouldn't be after the  

problems we've been going through. But, these

wives need assurance that the right thing needs

to be done here. He's demanded that I not be 

involved in anything. From my point of view, 

I'm not going to say what I will do..mums the 

word here on out...lol.

My prayers are with my fellow sisters out there

who are struggling with this adversity in their 

families. I know God hears your prayers and 

they will be answered. 

God Bless....MPuanani

YW Fundraiser

Yesterday was a fun day for my children & I.
Our young women held a fundraiser yesterday
to raise over $900 to get 9 girls into
YW Rough Out Camp for next week.

We started out at 11 am and didn't finish
until 7pm last night. It was fun and the
girls enjoyed it. we baked over 30 trays
of sweet rolls baked in sweetened coconut
milk at $15 a pan and a large ziplock bag
of Round Cakes made of yeast..they were
our best selling items!

we ended with $380 in cash and a total
of $590 in sales. So far, so good. we're
going to finish up tomorrow by holding
a car wash at the church and selling more
round cakes at $10 a bag. I'll post up more
pics. in a bit.

The girls were taking a break and enjoying
the treats from our young women president's
stockpile in these pics.!

Volunteer Work for Last Saturday

I'm finally getting around to updating you on this past weekend.
So we were asked to volunteer on Saturday, May 30 to decorate
the gym and one of the meeting rooms at the stake center for a
wedding. We were invited to the bridal shower on thursday which
was also last minute..

So I asked the young women in our ward to all meet at the stake
center on Saturday @ 7 am to start decorations for the wedding
favors table, gift table and a table that displayed all their
pictures.

We didn't have any table linens and thought that the relief
society had some and they didn't have any either. So we had
to make due with what we had. Thankfully Siu, had some linens
with her so this what we did with it..


Favors table: Chocolate Bliss Candies in Favor Boxes...



Pic. 2

Tending to the sick....

The past couple of days has been tiring for me.
My family is sick from the flu except for me..
not sure if it is the swine flu but it's taking
it's toll on my dh to the point he's coughing out
blood. lots of it and I've asked him that we take
him in. But he can't seem to stay home from work
and still left anyway.

I'm pretty sure that my little ones picked up
their coughing from him since he first got sick
last Thursday. My five year old son has had a
fever and coughing since Saturday. He woke up
yesterday morning feeling a bit better, the
fever is gone but he's still coughing.

My 4 yr. old dd has gotten better also. I've
been looking up the symptons of this new
Swine Flu and it looks like some deadly stuff
going around. Hope that they find a vaccine
for it.

Getting Settled In.........

Finally getting settled into our new place.
yes, we downsized to a 2 bedroom 2 bath
apartment. small storage, no garage. It's
hard trying to find a place for everything.
We couldn't bring half of our furniture
from the house with us, so I called my
parents and asked if they could pick up
2 bedrooms worth of furniture, most of my
equipment from work, our bbq grill and
all our patio furniture.

I'm pretty excited that we'll be saving
$1100.00 a month in rent and more..so,
that helps me on my path to saving lots
of $$$$.

I haven't posted regularly since the
beginning of this move. But am definitely
getting back in to the swing of things.
I was feeling really fatigued after the
move and only running on 5 hours of sleep
a day. Thanks to General Conference this
week I'll be relaxing more and getting
to the Gym more often!!

Did I tell you it's open 24 hours?
I love that they have alot of variety in there.
I mean equipment:) I went last night and
ran half an hour on the treadmill.
The last time I was on a treadmill was
8 years ago..so I was proud to at least
get in my 30 minutes!

New ideas discovered........

Just got back in from church. So I am
cleaning house and getting the kids dinner
cooked and will try to get them to bed early
so I can start on that workout video I've
been missing out on for 2 weeks now. It's
gotten pretty hectic getting this network
off the ground, blogging, caring for the
family and what not. But, I am determined
to get many things done this week.

I discovered last week that instead of trashing the
plastic bowls that come in The Betty
Crocker Warm Delights boxes, I would just
wash them after the kids eat them clean
and reuse them as cereal bowls, cook
scrambled eggs in the microwave with them.
Lots of fun ideas.

Just thinking out loud...Do you reuse
containers or have any great ideas you
use at home to save money?

I'm back......

Sorry it's been a while since I posted on here.
I've been busy putting together a new network
for women and moms who love to save money
couponing, sharing their tips and deals with
everyone else on the network and swapping
Beauty tips that leave you lookin like a million
bucks without breaking your bank..
So feel free to join us if you'd like to save more,
share some and leave with some tips that'll
help you and your family!!

Cents-Able Shoppers PDX Network

Have a wonderful day and hope to see you
on the network!!



Peace, Love and God Bless....Maopa

I got my kindergartner to school this morning at 7:45 am.
Got back to cleaning the house, organizing all our receipts,
blogging and will be heading out later on to grab lot of
moving boxes to put away all the stuff we won't be using
for right now. Work has been pretty slow so moving
might be right around the corner..ughh..

Friday 01/02/09 Ideas and happenings

So I woke up to more snow this morning and a
sunny day. I found out last night that someone
had broken in to our car and smashed in the
windows in the passenger side. This all happened
when my husband went to Portland last night
to drink kava with his buddies and there
were 4 other cars that got their windows smashed
in too. yes..wrong time at the wrong place.

So that changes my plans for going shopping
today with the kids. I'll be waiting it out until
dh gets back to stay with them so I can run
out and get the ingredients to make my
sample cake. I've had several full size samples
of Enfamil baby formula sent to me by mail
with the $1/1 - $5/1 coupons..Just recieved
Nestle baby formulas also with a $8/1 coupon
and have thought about using that as my center
piece inside the baby diaper cake, maybe I
could just insert the coupon in there and just
white out my name, ..just an
idea. Let me know what you think.
I'd love to hear your ideas..

I just asked the kids to eat cereal for breakfast
and I'll fix them tomato soup with grilled cheese
sandwiches for lunch. For dinner, they're
just going to get Tater Tot Casserole, salad and
Cherry sugar free Jello for dessert..yes,
it's the one from The Duggar Family..love them, too..:)
Don't worry, I got the recipe for you too.
I just lowered the amount enough for our
family.

TATER TOT CASSEROLE 2 lb ground turkey cooked, seasoned, drained 3 2lb bags tater tots 2 cans cream of mushroom 2 cans evaporated milk 2 cans cream of chicken Brown meat & place in large cass. dish. Cover with tater tots. Mix soup & milk together. Pour over top. Bake at 350 for 1 Hour. (One of Daddy’s Favorites!) Makes 2- 9”X13” pans FYI- I put in a whole bag of Green Giant Frozen Vegetables to make it healthier..any choice..the kids like broccoli and mixed vegetables variety

Last two days.....

Ok. so I am finally able to sit down and catch up

on what's been happening for the last two days.

So yesterday was the last Sunday of the year. We

woke up late and finally got to church an hour and

half late..just wanted to make it in since we're

going to have an interview with our bishop for our

tithing settlement from 07/08 -12/08..the records

from 01/08 til 07/08 is with another ward.

So I found out in our Young Women meeting that

we're going to have our youth dinner on the

second thursday of January.

Met up with a my friend, Sivea from our Mixxed

Plate group 2 years ago and we chatted it up

about couponing. Other than that we did

see the bishop and got our family blessing.

It was wonderful, since this is our first tithing

settlement that we've ever attended as a family:)

I ended up staying up til 4 am this morning

checking my emails and researching how

to create diaper baby cakes and wreaths..not
sure how it's going to turn out..I was on fellow
mom blogger Renee's page, Cutie booty Cakes

blog & website. Boy was I  blown
away by her beautiful work and thought 

maybe I could just 
try out one cake and wreath..this is just a
spare time thing..but my first priority will
still be the dc, specialty painting & faux
finishing..I guess it's something to do
while the market is still down..

..so I am seriously

thinking about going forward with this idea

to make some extra cash from it. I luv it

and think I'll have a blast doing it. So I

checked out all kinds of how to videos on

youtube.com and saw some pretty awesome

cakes..couldn't keep my eyes open anymore

so I turned in by 4 am. to get some

zzzz's for the next couple of hours.

Back up at 9 am..ready for another day.

So Sivea called, we chatted and agreed to

head up to the mall at 4 for some girl time and

let the kids release their wiggles at the

play center while we chat it up over

couponing and other entrepreneurial

options. So I am cleaning house

doing my laundry and sorting out my

expired coupons that need to be

trashed. The mall was fun, afterwards

we head on over to

McDonalds to feed the little ones and

brainstorm some more over our new

ideas..I'm excited and feel even more

motivated about making that extra

dough and welcoming the new year and

all that it has to offer us...

So I'm back at home with the kids and

got them to bed at 8:50 so I could

return to blogging, brainstorming and

spending some alone time w/ dh..lol..