From cute to hilarious

Here is some more fun stuff I've found in my internet travels. Just too good not to share.

First, the cutest and simplest ideas are sometimes the best. I absolutely love this idea for heart paper clips. What a fun way to share the love.

These are such a fun little touch that you could add to your Valentine cards or any little note. Your kids would love making them too. They're super easy. Here's the how-to:
I'm such a sucker for heart shaped stuff this time of year (don't worry my adoration of heart shaped stuff only lasts through the month). This simple idea comes from a blog called How About Orange.

Now for some funny stuff...I found this hilarious blog called Craftastrophe. Their tag line is "Because Handmade Isn't Always Pretty." That about says it all.

Enjoy perusing their site and get ready to laugh. (Warning: If you are easily offended, it may not be the site for you.)

Funny stuff from my internet travels

My family tells me have this knack for finding stuff online. From random to useful, I find some of the best stuff. So today I thought I'd post two funny items I found in my searches. Hope you enjoy!

Have you ever had trouble with people stealing your lunch? Maybe these ingenious lunch bags will do the trick.


What a wonderful example this father is. He's very involved. Perhaps you can show this to your husbands and when they follow this man's example, please post the video (I'm all for a good laugh).

No More Secrets

Ok, I know it has been a ridiculously long time since I last posted. I could give you a million excuses as to why, but really it boils down to being busy and having other priorities. So I hope you'll understand. I'll be posting pictures and stories about the events of the last month shortly. But for now, let me tell you about my embarrassing moment and the SLC airport.

I was flying home from Florida with two gals I work with and the CEO of our company. We were all very exhausted and ready to go home. We went to the baggage carousel and waited for our luggage to come off. I grabbed one of the suitcases for someone in our group and then saw my own bag coming up. I saw that it was in a big black tote and could see there was a reason. I could see some clothes peeking out from the top. I tried to grab the tote, but couldn't quite manage. I asked our CEO to do it for me. Now, I'm not sure if he could tell that it was in a tote or if he just didn't understand the purpose of it. Anyway, he grabbed it by the handle and all the contents went flying. Yes, all my underwear, clothing, shoes, and personal stuff lay there on display for everyone nearby...including the CEO. I scrambled to gather the contents and stuff them in the tote. Then I quickly covered them with my broken suitcase (some time during the baggage handlers "gentle care" the zipper had busted). The CEO apologized and asked me to check to make sure I had everything. I was too embarrassed to care to check. I just wanted to get out of there.

Well, it turns out I lost a shoe (it's match is safely at home), my round brush and...of course a bit of dignity. On the bright side, I now have a big black Delta airlines tote at my house...do you think it would make a good sled?

The song I can't escape

This morning I was listening to Christmas music while I was getting ready for work. Suddenly, "Feliz Navidad" started to play. How did that get on my i-pod? (Oh yeah, a friend gave me a Christmas mix and I didn't look it over very carefully before I added it to my play list. Dumb me.) I quickly ran and changed it. Then I sat down to eat breakfast. And while I was watching the morning show, they played that song as an intro to a cooking segment. As I was driving to work, again the same annoying song came on. I thought I was stuck in some weird alter dimension that only plays that song. That is probably one of the worst Christmas songs. It is extremely repetitive and therefore twice as annoying.

A few years ago, I went to a work Christmas party and the band they had there played that song not once, but twice (one with maracas and one without--big difference). I thought I would go insane. And now I can't stand to hear that song. But it seems that anywhere I go, that stupid song follows. Why?!! Is there some conspiracy to slowly drive me insane?

Some Assembly Required

Alright, I realize that its been too long since my last post. The truth is that I was hoping to put up pictures of all my Christmas decorations. Since they still aren't done, I figured I'd at least put up pictures of my tree.

But before I do that let me tell you a little story about that tree... I braved the crowds Black Friday morning to get my tree for a bargain $49. I loved it since it's 7.5' tall, pre-lit, and uses LED's. I love a good deal. Well, I decided to put it up the following Monday. I fluffed the bottom layer and decided I better look for the main cord before it got too hard to find. So I crawled around on the floor and looked and looked, but couldn't find it. I thought, "it can't be this hard to find, there are usually several giant warning tags on a main cord."
C'mon, why did they do such a great job hiding the cord? Fifteen minutes later (did I mention I'm stubborn), I finally decided to look at the directions. They decided to hide the cord in the middle section of the tree. Arghhh!!! (So glad I wasted the time crawling on the floor.) I put the middle section in and fluffed it and gave up. This is what my tree looked like for the next few days.
I lost heart and didn't feel like doing much decorating. I put the top and the ribbon on on Thursday and finally got around to finishing it on Saturday. Here's the end result:
Notice, there's no tree topper. I can't find one I like. I'm fairly traditional about that and want a good star or angel for the top (sorry no fluffies or bows will do). I guess that's not the thing these days so the main stream stores only carry a limited selection. I guess it will have to wait until next year or better yet...after Christmas clearance.

My Current Obsession

Ok, so I've become a bit decorating obsessed...with my porch. I know, it probably seems totally weird. The thing is, I have dreamed of having a porch area since I was a little girl. (My family always teases me that I was the most practical kid ever...bet you didn't know a kid could dream of having a porch.) So now that I'm in my new house and it has a great porch, I've become obsessed with decorating it for the holidays. I found the perfect witch themed decor for Halloween. I also have the perfect fall wreath, pumpkins, and corn stalks that are there right now.

Now that it's coming time decorate for Christmas, I've been on a mad hunt for just the right inspiration. Here are some of my favorite pics I've found.

My porch isn't this big, but I like the lighted trees.

Love the homey feel of this one.

Do you think it would be too obsessive paint my door red? I just love this one!!!

Totally classy idea that could be slightly changed and used year-round.

How cute is this? So simple and yet so great.

I think this one would be fairly cheap and simple to pull off, especially if you already have the pots.

Ok, I don't have the money for these, but aren't they gorgeous?

Fun substitution for a wreath.

So I also got some good ideas at Tai Pan, but I don't have any pictures. I promise to post pictures of my fabulous porch once it's done. I hope these inspired you too.

Mom's Birthday

So I'm really slow about posting. We had mom's birthday last Saturday and I'm just posting about it now. Oh well, life gets busy.

We planned mom's party more like a 6th birthday instead of a 60th. We sent out invitations and planned games and activities around that theme. We decided to make it a princess themed party. Since Michelle and I were in charge of invitations, we decided to add the line "Prince and Princess costumes optional." This was a bit of a joke and more of a way to get the point across that it was a child themed party. We had no idea anyone would actually dress up. I was chastised because I actually have at least 3 princess costumes, but like I said, I didn't know that was part of the plan.


When mom arrived she got a wand, tiara, and cape. We played musical chairs (one kids version and one adult version) and pin the tail on the donkey and had a pinata. We also had a craft table so that guests could make their own princess wands. We ate pizza, breadsticks and salad and we had a cupcake tower. Everyone really seemed to enjoy themselves. Although we forgot a few things, I think it all went pretty well. Happy Birthday Mom!!!

Musical chairs--the kids version

Adult version (they were more competitive than you might think)

Mom took a few swats at the pinata before the kids took over

Barbie Girls

A couple of Saturdays ago, Michelle brought her girls to my house for a visit. I've always wanted my nieces and nephews to visit often so I made sure I had toys to play with and things for them to do. I pulled out my old box of Barbies and let Abby and Ellie play with them. They loved it! Abby became fascinated with a wind up mixer and Ellie loved the Heart Family bike (you know the one with two seats for the Mom and Dad and two seat for the twins). I noticed how pathetic my old homemade (the ones I made) Barbie clothes were, but I have some great accessories. I also have the entire Heart Family (even if Ken's head keeps falling off). I loved those Barbies and had a very difficult time giving them up when I was younger. Now, it's so much fun to watch them being enjoyed by another generation. And every time they come over, that's the first thing Abby asks about. Good thing I saved them. :)

Why would you knit that?

Many of you will remember the email I sent several months ago with that horrible boob scarf that someone knitted. (If not here's the link). I hope you got a good laugh from that. For more horrible, tacky and gross things that people knit please visit http://whywouldyouknitthat.blogspot.com/. Just be careful of who's looking at it with you (some things are not appropriate for children). I promise a good laugh and you will definitely wonder, "Why would you knit that?"

Vote For Broccoli

I got this article in my email today and thought it was truly powerful. I have difficulty expressing my political views and the reason I vote the way I do. This article summed it all up for me. It also helped me to refocus on who I should be voting for and why. I hope you'll read it and reflect on your own decisions. Here's the link: http://www.thoughtsalive.com/2006/10/vote-for-broccoli.html

I'm not the most politically outspoken gal, but I feel a great responsibility this election more than any other (maybe its my age) to vote responsibly. I've come to realize that I must really research the candidates and even look outside the two party system (thanks for the challenge Mike). If I want the world to be better, then I can't sit idly by and watch it deteriorate. I have to do my part.

Oh My Wordle!

If you want to try something fun, go to http://wordle.net/ and type in random text or your blog address. It takes the words and creates fun word art. It give more prominence to the words you use most often. I love typography so I think its really cool. This is what mine came up with when I typed in my blog address. I never realized I use the word "really" so often. I changed the colors to be fall themed and the font to something I like. I guess this fits my mood right now. I hope to see one on your blog soon.

I'm Home!

I made the long, long trip home on Sunday. In all, I spent 22 hours traveling from the time I left the hotel in the morning till the time I made it home that night. Needless to say, I have no desire to get on another airplane any time soon. The flights home were awful since I was sick the whole way home. I'm so happy I had aisle seats, but all I really wanted the whole way was my own bed. My ankles swelled up nice and big. I was able to get a foot massage at the San Francisco airport so they went down a little before I got home.

I went to Mom's house for Sunday dinner instead of going straight home. I really missed everyone and wanted to talk to people about my trip. By the time I left, I was so exhausted and unable to think clearly. When I got home, I fell asleep quickly. I spent the whole day Monday sleeping and doing laundry. I hadn't planned to take a comp day, but I was just so exhausted.

It's so good to be home and to be with people I know and that speak ENGLISH. I really appreciate my life and all the blessings I enjoy living in the USA! Just a reminder that no matter how bad things get, we are still so very, very, very blessed to live here.

I walked and walked and walked and....

Yesterday, we drove two hours (each way) to Guanzou to attend the Canton fair. It is a gigantic trade show. There were so many Chinese factories and distributors exhibiting there. We walked 6 of the floors. There were 14 halls and each hall had 2-4 levels which amounts to 33 floors. I don't know if you can understand just how big that is so here's a picture:
As you can see from the picture, each hall has over a thousand vendors. Every so often I'd start to sing, "Pioneer children sang as the walked and walked and walked and walked and walked..." Each time I say "walked" it sounds more and more tired. By the time we got back to our rooms last night, I was so exhausted. Oh well, it really was a good day! We had a lot of fun too.

Too bad that today, I really don't feel good. Maybe it was that awful ham and cheese sandwich I ate for lunch yesterday.

Laundry Service

My clothes have never been treated so well. I had to send my clothes out to be laundered. They ironed my jeans and t-shirts (I never do this). At home, I'm lucky to get them hung up or folded before I wear them again (sometimes they come straight from the basket). Oh well, here my clothes get the royal treatment. Hmmm... laundry service at home. How would it be?

They hung my pants up in the closet and wrapped my t-shirts in tissue paper and placed them in this basket.

Eating in China

Nothing terribly exciting has been happening for the past couple days (just attending a trade show and finishing up a visit with a factory). I thought I'd post tonight about eating in China.

They take their food very seriously here. Especially for guests. They want to serve you their very best which includes seafood and fish--not things I enjoy. They also use every part of the animal and I mean every part--duck heads, pig heads, duck and chicken feet, pig feet, cow lung, cow tongue, really anything and everything. It is the norm here to have fish served whole--yes, it's still looking at you. They pride themselves on having the freshest food. In fact, they want to show you how fresh it is and that's the reason for the "live" menu (things were really still alive when we walked through). I met one guy here who said he was once served a fish that was so "fresh" that every time he stuck his fork in it, the fish's mouth opened. Here is the best picture I could find online of a "live" menu:
This is fairly close to what I saw only the fish were still in tanks and buckets, still swimming around. Oh, and the food wasn't covered with plastic wrap.

Traditional service style here is called "round table." They take you into a room and everyone sits around a round table with a lazy susan in the center. They only bring out one or two dishes at a time and set it on the lazy susan. They turn the lazy susan and always offer it to you first since you are their guest of honor. You can understand why there would be a lot of pressure to eat everything you're offered regardless of whether or not you actually want it. For this reason, I have tried things that I never would have otherwise. They love to watch your reaction and get great pleasure out of your enjoyment (or lack thereof in my case). You only take a little (two or three bites worth) at a time and pass it on to the next person. New dishes are added one at a time and each one is always offered to the guest first. Since the table is always being turned, there is always food in front of you. Here is a picture I found online:
This shows two things that aren't typical--plain rice (I have to beg for it since it is considered common food) and it looks like they brought out all the food at once--but this will give you a pretty good idea of what its like.

Manners during eating are very different than in the states. They always bring out a hot towel to start with. You wipe your hands and face before you eat. They eat very quickly here and eat a lot at these dinners. Literally, it feels like a race to consume everything. Before you finish one thing, they're already offering something new. They also chew loudly and slurp a lot. This can really get on my nerves. Not a whole lot of talking goes on during the meal, but there's a lot of noise. At the end of the meal, they pull out the toothpicks and start picking their teeth. They also smoke when they're finished. They don't generally do this in front of me (they leave the room). I think it must be because I'm a woman because other people I work with say this isn't the case for them. Oh, and for dessert, they bring out a fruit of some kind. Normal desserts are fairly uncommon here.

I hope I don't sound too critical. Really, it is just a different culture and I'm merely pointing out the differences. They are a very kind people and want to give and show you their very best. Some things that I really enjoy while I'm here are their fruits and vegetables. They have some unique fruits that are very yummy. And it is customary to have fruit plate delivered to your room every night. I really enjoy the way they prepare their vegetables. They are very tasty. I may try to imitate some of it at home.

There you go. When you come to China, you'll know what to expect.

Funny Stuff In China

I'm pretty tired tonight so I'm going to keep this short and tell this story through pictures.

We got a little silly after working all day in a hot, humid environment. I took this picture to demonstrate the massive size of the box that the machine I'm working on will come in. (Thanks Owen for being kind enough to oblige). It's actually more suited for two small children, but a grown man, as you can see, also fits.
Here is picture of yet another round table dinner. Gee golly I love these! I ate way too much of food I don't really like (it's one of those social things here). Really though, this one was probably the best one I've been to. It much more casual and fun. Pictured are Jack, Denn, Ken (all from our China office), Me, Owen and Edward (both from ATL). One woman among men.

Here's a picture of the room I'm staying in tonight. As you can see, it's the ideal room for a peeping tom. Really, why would they do this...a window into the bathroom? I put the shade down in there immediately after taking this picture. It creeped me out way too much.

Pop-U-Lar

Yesterday, I went to the copy mall with Ken and his girlfriend. It was kind of fun at first. Everyone was so happy to see me. They all wanted me to see their stuff and of course buy it. I was very popular. After a while though, it got a little annoying with people grabbing me and wanting me to go into their store. I found a store that I felt good about and went in. I started looking at catalogs and pointed out some stuff I liked. They brought it from their "warehouse" and I picked out the ones I wanted. Then the bargaining started. Exhausting! I left with a few things, but I wasn't able to get everything I wanted. I was so tired of the whole process that I just decided to leave. I'm hoping I get another opportunity to shop while I'm here. We'll see.

Ok, here's a funny picture:

I guess it really is true. There really is a Walmart on every corner. There's also an underground Walmart just up the street from my hotel. Talk about world domination! (Ok, here's something funny. I saw this and told Ken I wanted to take a picture. He said we could do it after dinner. I thought we were going to walk up the street a bit. It wasn't far. But no, he insisted on driving and we got in horrible traffic. I'm sure he thought I was crazy for wanting to get a picture, but he was nice enough to oblige. Thanks Ken for going to all the trouble to satisfy some crazy American. :)

On Jet Lag, Smiles, and Proposals

I thought that I was doing fine until about 5:00 yesterday (Friday). We were riding in a car on the way back from visiting a factory. Suddenly it hit, jet lag. I kept dozing and then I kept wondering when we'd get back to the hotel. All I wanted was my bed. The car we were riding in had trouble so we had to pull over and catch a taxi. When I finally made it back to my room (about 6:30), I crashed. I woke up around 8:30 and got ready for bed. I didn't wake up again until 8:00 this morning. So much for my thoughts that I beat it. Oh well, I'm glad we finished early so I could go to bed early.

Yesterday I learned how to make it through with a smile. My driver came to pick me up at my hotel in HK and he didn't speak any English. So we drove in silence. We went through customs (odd experience, very surreal, like a scene from a movie). Anyway, we made it to my hotel where I met up with Ken from our China office here. It was great to hear him speak English.

We went to the first factory. No one spoke English so I had to rely completely on Ken for translation. The whole time I was touring the factory, there was some girl taking pictures of us. Then the owner insisted on getting his picture taken with me (smile). He took us to some restaurant where we walked through what can best be described as a live menu and picked out what we wanted to eat (or rather they picked it out and I pointed out some things I could tolerate). Then we went to a "round table" room to wait to be served. (I should've recognized this as a "round table" dinner.) Anyway, I ate some pretty odd stuff, but I made it through with a smile. When the owner found out I was single and that I owned a house, he proposed. Lucky me. (nervous "help me" smile)

We went to the second factory. This time both people we met with spoke a fair amount of English. Several times I didn't understand their English so I simply nodded and smiled. I toured their factory and learned more about mold making and injection molding. Very interesting! Oh and as we were leaving their factory, I spotted a large rat (cringe) scurrying through the trash. Luckily I was in the car so I felt a little safer. If not, I might have screamed. Oh and I experienced true grid lock. We literally moved only a few inches per minute until we reached a main highway. Super fun!

I don't have any great pictures to share other than these two of my room and the view out my window. (I really wanted to get one of the "live menu," but I didn't want to seem weird.)

Trip to China

I made it to China! I've essentially been traveling for a full day. I woke up at 4:45am and drove to airport to make my 8:30 flight to San Francisco. I had a four hour layover before I boarded my flight for Hong Kong. I snapped this picture of my plane.


As you can see, it is quite a large plane. This is like one of those planes you see on the movies with an upper floor (I think first class) and really nice business class seats (with oodles of room and fully reclining seats). I, of course, passed by those seats (I haven't made enough trips to China to earn business class yet, thank goodness). But, I didn't have to go all the way to the back. The company was nice enough to book me an aisle seat in Economy Plus. Now you might not think that three inches is much extra room, but on a long international flight, it makes a huge difference. So...I'm very grateful for three extra inches (oh, and the aisle seat was nice too).

Once I got on the plane, I quickly put on my neck pillow, face mask, and ear plugs and covered myself with a blanket. I was out so fast (I only got an hour of sleep the night before) that I don't even remember take off. I slept about 5 hours (gotta love face masks and ear plugs to block out the world) and woke up only because my seat mate needed to get up (she had to really poke me). I read, watched movies and napped until I arrived here in HK. Once I got off the plane, I quickly felt like cattle--following the crowd to board the train, being herded through immigration, and then herded onto the hotel shuttle (moooo!!). Two things that assaulted me as I left the plane--oppressive hot humidity and the smell of BO. The smell is nauseating. Its one of things you have to deal with while you're over here.

Anyway, I made it to my hotel and now I'm ready for bed. Good thing I only got an hour of sleep before I left. I'm already on their schedule. So while you are waking up, I'm going to sleep (its almost 10:00pm as I write this). Gotta love the 14 hour time difference. I have to wake up early to meet my driver so that I can go to mainland China tomorrow. So good night for me and good morning for you.

Leaf Peeking

During the 2 hour break between the Saturday sessions of conference, Mom and I went leaf peeking. We drove through American Fork canyon and up around the Alpine Loop. The colors were spectacular. We didn't get out of the car since it was raining, but the view was still fabulous. The yellow of the aspens was almost flouresent. I loved the contrast of the light green, yellow, orange, and red against the deep green of the evergreens. I understand that the leafs are at their peak right now so we caught it just right. (So take the opportunity for a drive before its gone.) Here are some pictures from our trip:

Alpine Loop

Upper Falls--Provo Canyon

I just wanted to make sure I got to enjoy this before I traipse off to China. I have a feeling that when I come back all of this will be gone and the winter winds will be blowing. I love the fall--cooler air, fall colors, pumpkins, more restful pace, and warmer clothes. I pulled out my sweaters and jackets. They looked so good to me. I remember looking at them in the spring and not wanting to ever see them again. Now, I can appreciate their softness and warmth. I guess I just really appreciate the change of seasons.