Shelf Life

It was fun displaying things on a shelf in Singapore and my Mom enjoyed being photographed.
You had a reason to celebrate the whole year round out there and the streets were always full of Christmas lights.

I remember one day my oldest son went to bargain with the store owner when choosing what I believe was a Sega .
The man told him( I forget so I'll make up a sum ) 120 dollars, to which my son replied
I will give you 150 and not a dollar more.

Everyone laughed including the store owner. He explained to my son that when you bargain, you have to go down in price.... not up. lol

Well we chuckle to this day remembering what a good business man my son was.

I bet the man went home to tell his family what dumb people these foreigners are.

But

When we were taking diving lessons, our instructor taught us how to go down, using the anchor rope.
He had both Chinese and American students.
Americans did well but the Chinese fared not so well.

So he chastised them.
When we tell the Americans to go down, they go down.
When we tell you to go down, you manage to instead, pull the anchor up and stay up?
How do you do that? lol

We had other funny things happen, like when I forgot to give my partner back her air hose during an instruction teaching us to share air if one would run out.

Then there were the long spindled sea urchins which always threatened to spike you at the bottom and the huge rock fish which could have taken a good chunk out of you if you stepped on them and then on top floated the thousands of small jelly fish. We had to make sure we had on long sleeved shirts but they still managed to give us a little tingle. lol

On our final test when we had to go down alone with our partners, mine brought her own scuba friend and I was left to go down with a stranger. I didn't like that and under water exerted too much energy trying to stay away from him, which in turn caused insufficient oxygen supply in my body so I could not get enough air from my hose no matter how hard I breathed. I had to go up and it took me a long time before I could get air back into my lungs.
What I did was probably very dangerous but my partner covered for me telling the instructor the current was strong. lol
Anyway.
On our way home an old Indian man was crossing the street and got hit by a car.
He lay in the middle of the street, in a dark pool of blood , his head turning blue.
As we passed him, I remember thinking that today, I was supposed to die but I didn't.
Death needed a replacement and he took this man to show me that he knew I escaped, and I better watch my back cause he was right behind me.
That man probably crossed this street every day.
I came home quite distressed from the days' ordeal.

I still got my PADI in scuba diving and dove quite well with other people.
I forced my husband to take diving as well , so I had my own loving life partner .
The instructor told me I dove better with him lol
I guess he knew it was a mistake to put me under with a stranger.

With kids it's the same thing. We went to Honolulu for soccer and the kids went to the beach in the down town area.
It seemed safe except for a great wave that came in as I was sitting down in the sand getting me and my cameras all wet. Fluke wave. Darn.
Well there was a pier and on the other side cement wave busters.
The kids were hanging around there and decided to climb the wave busters.
The waves came in bigger and my second son and his friend, got stuck in between these two
cement pilings getting bashed into them.
The waves kept coming in and out at an alarming rate, they couldn't get out.

My son came so proud to tell me Mom we almost drowned hahahaha
The waves were strong and kept us under water but we were strong and managed to get out.
Every one was watching us on the pier Mom. lol Wow!
Good thing my other friend didn't go in cause he would have drowned for sure.
They were so excited and proud of the feat they just accomplished.

And here we are, parents, all sitting watching our kids and didn't see this happen.

As it was there would have been nothing I could do either at this point but I would have told them not to go in between these barriers for this undercurrent reason.

I guess we all have a shelf life.
Probably just like cats with their 9 lives. lol


Have a great day!

Sunny Tsawaassen

We found this beauty on the beach in Sunny Tsawaassen, Delta, BC.

We spent countless hours days and years on this beach. Raised puppies and children and
took our parents to sit and picnic. This beach has swings and a cantina for burgers and fries and people come to play badminton, write books, study for exams, do artwork, walk/ run their dogs, or just share a cup of tea or coffee with a best friend.
During the day, people bring chairs and place them in the lovely pools of water left behind by the outgoing tide and you could read and tan keeping cool, sitting in them, while your children play in the water around you.
We raised our Nugget there and I can still see his golden ears flapping as he ran the beach into puddles that were way too big for him lol
We also brought our Max there to enjoy his last days before putting him down because of major hip displasia. He wanted to play so much and tried to follow my son into the water in dire pain.
He was a very loving, loyal German Shepherd.
When the tide rolls in around 4 pm, it comes in fast and before you know it you have a place you can actually swim in. The water is warm and clean.
This is when you take out your plastic equipment to float on, kayaks, and wind surfing boards or walk way out into the bay because it isn't very deep.
On the other side you can see White Rock, by the American Border and the famous Mount Baker, a sight for sore eyes because it's always full of snow and makes for such a cool horizon. Whenever they talk about the snow melting and Global Warming, I always look to this mountain and say to myself, if this mountain ever fades from its original snowy white, then we know we are in deep trouble. All around us, in the horizon, we see the Rocky Mountains blocking us away from the east.
This beach is where my Mom met an old man on his scooter, who took a fancy to her lol and gave her a candy, which she grabbed like a little child. He kept saying his name was Sutherland and invited us to visit his place up the beach a bit. Except for the candy, my Mom sat rigid looking at him suspiciously. She couldn't walk or talk much by then. She did not know what was going on. lol
When we got home we kept thinking maybe it was Donald Sutherland's Dad and if it was, well what a small world this is.
It's amazing how many flashbacks you get visiting the same places over and over again.
I guess it becomes something you call
home.

It's Not Christmas but.......

I was really impressed with this craft because it makes something out of socks that you can give in pairs to people and they can actually wear them later for Christmas and eat the popcorn or if you wish to use candy or something else like coffee or tea, that's good as well. Its the easiest craft to do and just appealed to me for some reason.
I think you can make a three layer snowman putting different things into each layer.
Its great for a school gift giving exchange, church bazaars, food banks and when they collect things for poor kids for Christmas. Teens like calculators for Christmas. One would fit in well and if you attach two socks like this, to each end of a scarf, it becomes a multi gift present. Of course the snow man would have to be thinner lol
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Tube Sock with red border
Uncooked popcorn (approx. 2 cups)
String
2 plastic baggies
Small green pompoms
Extra small brown pompoms
Small brown pompom
Googly eyes
Red yarn
Glue gun
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. Fill a plastic baggie with 1 cup popcorn. (this should fill 2/3 of sock
2. You may need more or less depending on the size of the sock)
3. Tie the top of baggie with twist tie
4. Put bag inside tube sock
5. Tie with string
6. Repeat above using 1/2 cup of popcorn (more or less)
7. Tie with string.
8. Fold over the ribbed part of the sock to make the snowman's hat.
9. Cut 3 strands of yarn and tie around the snowman's neck
10. Glue on green buttons, brown mouth and nose
11. Glue on eyes
12. Make a tassel on the top of the hat with yarn, sew on or staple for easy removal.
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The Rachel Ray pots which were sooo expensive at Sears are now selling at Walmart for 169.00
I should have waited till after Christmas. lol

Thailand Elephant Chair

I got one for myself because I thought it would be a great conversation piece when I got back home.
I had no idea I would be using it for a crib but it sure paid off.

You use foam for the mattress and to put around the sides.
Like a baby basket (which I also made with lace and padding to bring my baby home from the hospital) you can turn it into something truly joyous.

The open side you place against the wall. There is more than enough room for a baby to sleep in for about 2-3 even 4 years but usually after 1 1/2 they tend to go into either a bunk, twin or a double bed and then you are left with a crib you have no use for.

The Elephant chair could be used as a coffee table, which it is now and I also used it for decoration and picture taking.
It is great to put in a doll display, stuffed toys. books, magazines and other displays you want people to see through glass.

Fill it with cushions and kids will still like to climb into it to watch TV, imagining they are sitting atop a huge elephant.

Before long, you find them curled up and sleeping like angels.
They never have nightmares sleeping in this ol chair because so many stories can be invented sitting beside it, and they go to sleep, heroes on a great adventure. (Like something out of a Never Ending Story)

If you have guests with babies, well the good ol elephant chair becomes a crib again because it is so easy to store the padding for it.

Anyway... this is my elephant chair. I enjoyed it so much and have great memories from it.

And besides.....you never know when an elephant may decide to pop in and give you a ride .lol

The Elephant Song

Here's where you can buy them