Moving

After a few years living in Canada, we are moving out of the country. What a journey life is. Finding a moving company that is not expensive is almost impossible. This month is packing time, I am kind of used to it since I have been moving every year, for the past four years. Hopefully, this is a final move for a while.

Superbowl Sunday 2009

Still sick, everyone will probobly be home today watching the Superbowl. I never really watched it all before, but since today I am sitting at home, probobly will watch it.

• Jennifer Hudson will sing the national anthem at the Superbowl
• Just to put a commercial up during the Superbowl it costs $3Million, never been as expensive as this year
• More drivers are involved in alcohol-related accidents on Super Bowl Sunday than any other day of the year
• 8 million pounds of guacamole is consumed on Super Bowl Sunday and 14,500 tons of chips are eaten along with that guacamole. Wow!

Sick

Maybe it's the season again. . the cold season. I've been sick for two days now. Also, my kids are sick so it makes it even tougher. Hopefully we all get better soon, and hope the snow and the cold weather is gone soon too.

A men kills his family and than himself

When I signed out of my e-mail this article popped out on my screen. As I read it, I couldn't believe it, and couldn't stop thinking about it all day. How can people do this over a job loss or a problem that is just temporary. Taking the lives of his own children and wife.
People are loosing jobs, but it shouldn't mean suicide is the answer. The article said this:

"A Wilmington man fired last week from his job killed his wife, three daughters and two sons before committing suicide in their home Tuesday morning, police said. In a two-page typed suicide letter faxed to a television station, Ervin Antonio Lupoe, 40, said he and his wife decided to kill themselves and their children after both lost their jobs at Kaiser Permanente Medical Center in West Los Angeles. The letter, as it was written, said: "So after a horrendous ordeal my wife felt it better to end our lives and why leave our children in someone's else's hands, in addition it seems Kiaser Permanente want's us to kill ourselves and take our family with us."
Lupoe placed calls to the news desk at KABC Channel 7 and the LAPD's 911 center just before shooting himself at the family's home in the 1000 block of North McFarland Avenue, police said. All of the victims were shot in the head, as was Lupoe, police said. Some of the family members were shot more than once.
Lupoe an X-ray technician at the medical center, wrote in his letter that a supervisor rebuffed him when he tried to talk about his job status, suggesting, "You should have blown your brains out."
His wife, Ana Elizabeth Lupoe, also was dismissed sometime earlier from her job as a mammography technician at Kaiser.

At the end of his letter, Lupoe wrote by hand, "Oh Lord my God is there no hope for a widow's son!" Among Mormons and Masons, that statement is considered an urgent call for help.

It was unclear whether Lupoe killed his family before or after the 8:25 a.m. phone calls, but neighbors reported hearing shots at about 5:30p.m. Monday and 7:30a.m. Tuesday.

Coroner's official Ed Winter said the children might have been shot as early as 4 to 5 p.m. Monday.

In one conversation with KABC, Lupoe said he was going to kill his family. But in a call to the LAPD's 911 center, he said he had come home and found his family murdered, Los Angeles Deputy Police Chief Kenneth Garner said.

Officers arriving at the two-story house minutes later detected the scent of freshly fired gunshots and discovered a revolver beside Lupoe's body. His 8-year-old daughter, Brittney, and twin 5-year-old daughters, Jaszmin and Jassely, were dead next to him.

Lupoe's wife and the couple's identical twin 2-year-old boys, Benjamin and Christian, lay dead in a rear upstairs bedroom.

Garner said he had never seen anything like the crime scene in his more than 20 years on the police force.

"It was a grisly scene," he said. "It's horrific."

Jasmin Gomez, 18, who lives in a trailer across the street from the Lupoe home, said blood seeped from the upstairs rooms through the walls of a recent addition and spilled out the family's garage.

Neighbors watched the grisly scene as coroner's officials carried the seven bodies out of the house on gurneys covered in blue sheets.

Inside the home, police found the same faxed suicide letter detailing Lupoe's dispute with his former employer.

"It looks like there may have been grounds for the termination," said Los Angeles police Capt. William Hayes said. "It wasn't that he was laid off as a result of the economic situation."

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa responded to the scene in midafternoon, emphasizing at a news conference that city services are available to residents in desperate situations.

Neighbors, school officials and an attorney who represented the Lupoes in a lawsuit stemming from a traffic accident said they had no clue what was looming Tuesday.

"This was just shocking, very shocking," Long Beach attorney Bob Pierce said. "I met this couple a month ago. I sat down with them and talked with them for two hours and there was not a hint of a problem. I'm stunned."

Pierce said Lupoe left him a message Monday that he received Tuesday morning. Lupoe did not seem upset in his message, but Pierce said the information he relayed "absolutely, positively bears on this story."

He would not elaborate.

The couple's three oldest children were enrolled at Crescent Heights Boulevard Elementary School, several blocks from the Westside medical facility where their parents worked.

Los Angeles Unified School District officials and police said the Lupoes pulled their children from school Jan. 15 and said they were moving to Kansas."

Women Gave Birth To 8 Babies

The mother checked in the hospital on her 23rd week and delivered 7 weeks later, Monday January 26th, 2009. A Caesarean section for seven babies was scheduled, an eighth baby came out as a surprise. Doctors at Kaiser Permanente Bellflower Medical, were prepared for the delivery and have practiced ahead of time. They delivered six boys and two girls weighing between one pound, eight ounces, and three pounds, four ounces. The babies were born nine weeks premature but are in stable condition. Two of the newborns ere placed on ventilators and a third needs oxygen. According to the hospital officials the mother is planning to breast feed all of them. At this time the babies are in the hospital and will stay there for about two weeks, the mother should be released in a week.

This is the second time in history, a women gives birth to octuplets. The first time was in March of 1967 in Mexico City, but all the babies died within 14 hours. In United States first live octuplets were born in Houston in December 1998. They turned 10 in December.

Chocolate Eclairs

Pastry:
1/2 Cup (1 stick) Butter
1 Cup Water
1 Cup Flour
4 Eggs

Place water and butter in a sauce pan, bring to a boil. Add flour and stir to smooth paste. Continue to cook and stir for a minute or two. Place flour mixture in a mixing bowl, Mix and slowly add eggs and mix until incorporated. Mix on second speed until smooth and glossy.

On a cookie sheet put the dough Pipe with pastry bag or scoop. Put in oven on 350 till eclairs are puffed up and and the bottom of them are brownish color. Will take about 10mins.

Filling:
1 Package Pudding (Vanilla)
2 Cups Milk

OR

2 Butter Packages
1 Cup powder Sugar
1 Teaspoon Rome

First option, fallow the direction on the pudding package on how to make the pudding.
For the second filling you will need the butter softened and beat with a mixer three ingredients together. Fill in the eclairs.

*Either of the fillings will work good.

Frosting:
2 Tablespoons Butter
2 oz Chocolate Chips (4 Tablespoons)
1 Cup Powder Sugar
1 Table Spoon Milk
1 Teaspoon Vanilla

Microwave butter and chocolate chips together till butter is melted, first mix powder sugar, milk and vanilla together than add butter and chocolate together. Spread on the eclairs.

Kids with a Second Language

Research has proven that children learn languages more easily in the early years. Since their brains are so feverishly making new neural connections. Studies have shown that kids can hear unique sounds of a foreign tongue better than an adult or a teenager.The best way for a child to learn a second language is not through audio but through conversation, with a live person, the child observes and repeats easier and it helps the brain remember faster. Also, the child needs to hear the language as he/she grows, to continuously learn. Having a friends or babysitters who is bilingual would be a help. Have them speak their native language to your child.
When the child grows up in a bilingual family they have a lasting cognitive benefits. However, their vocabulary is less in each language, but combined languages they know as much words as a person knowing just one language.

The Pacifier

For each child I buy about five pacifiers. My second child just turned one a few weeks ago, he still chewing the pacifier especially when the teeth are coming in. We are at our last, fifth pacifier, I have know idea where the rest are, he hides them very well. My place is usually clean, so I would figure it shouldn't be hard to loose something. Somehow, our little tricky guy always finds a place to put his pacifier. The last one we look for almost everyday. He would start eating something and throws the pacifier out. The pacifier holder doesn't work for us, it comes right off. It's always like playing scavenger hunt. Hopefully, all the teeth will come in soon and we can throw the last pacifier away.

Baby Story

A few weeks ago, I came across an article, while surfing the net. It happened to be a tragic news story, that I hope will never happen again. In the restroom of a McDonald's restaurant, a baby boy was found naked and abandoned early in the morning. What happened was the suspect left the baby alone in a women's restroom. " We found a newborn in the ladies room, and I think it's just freshly out, It still has the umbilical cord, it's naked, and I was wondering if they could send an ambulance or somebody to pick the baby up because it's cold.” the caller said when talking to the police. No word of the identity of the child or his parents. Witnesses said they did see a man carrying the baby inside and then running away. However, according to the police the man who did bring the baby in, probobly not related to the baby as he was African American and the baby is Caucasian. The baby was treated for hypothermia. Other than being treated for hypothermia, the baby is in good health.
There are places where mothers could take newborns or children if they don't want them, for free and no questions asked, (fire station, hospital, even a neighbor, but to put a naked new born baby in a cold place it's devastating.

Condo Living

Living in a condo has it's goods. First of chores there are the amenities gym, pool, golf, park, etc. all in one building, which is great. Also, when it snows, no snow scrapping is necessary, no mowing the grass. Also, the car is in the parking lot under close doors. In addition, you get a view most of the time a great one. However, there is usually another side of living in a condo, Having to park and walking through doors and elevators/stairs can be extremely irritating if having to carry a lot from the car. which, almost is impossible to do on your own or all at one time. Having friends/visitors come over are always fun, but not much noise is aloud. If having kids, than that's another issue, since kids can't really sit in place and full of energy they need to run and play, which would bother the people leaving below or around. Overall, house living is a better choice for a family.

American Idol 2nd Week

Another two nights of American Idol. There were some funny, and good auditions and some really annoying auditions, like usual. I love this show and like the drama between the judges and Ryan. Next week is the last week for auditions and than off to Hollywood! The best part of this show is that you never know what will happen next, and keeps the audience guessing and wondering. Tune in next Tuesday for more auditions, I know I will.

Scrapbook- Tip

Scrapbook is something I have learned to enjoy over the years. I started my first scrapbook when me and my husband just met. I enjoy having fun with the different design and new ideas that every page brings. I found that it's cheaper if you find little things around the house or little pictures that you can use for designing instead of buying stickers and cutouts, etc. The only thing about scrapbook is tit takes time to do and using imagination. The finished product however is worth it. The photos are funner to look at than a regular album.

It's not necessary to purchase a lot of scrap booking supplies to make the photo look good. You just need to you a bit of imagination. Something you can just find around the house. For example: Instead of buying snow stickers or snow cutouts you can just get a cotton ball and rip it and clue it down which I did here, which made it look like puffy white snow and i didn't have to go and buy something special, just used something around the house. Than I just added some snowflake stickers.


The idea is to recycle, buy stickers, stamps, paper, etc. that you can use more than once not just for one page.


Here I bought some stickers of trees used a couple and saved the rest for other pages and designs. Added a half of blue paper for the sky and green paper as the grass cut out from brown paper the fence, included a few bug stickers and framed all the photos.

Most of my supplies, I buy at Micheals Arts & Crafts store or the dollar store, which has many scrapbook supplies. I find that these two stores are cheaper than scrapbook stores.

You could even cut out pictures from cards that just lay around, or scrap paper that you could use for making a frame for a photo. It saves money and still looks good. Just some stickers and and frame for the photo even from construction paper can make a difference on how your photo looks.

Inauguration Ball Dress

As the historic day comes to an end, Barack and his wife Michelle Obama visit 10 inauguration balls. They dance at each one and he gives a short speech. I liked how he complimented her at one of the balls, by saying, "First of all, how good looking is my wife?" I think they are a cute couple and was lovely to watch them all day.
The gown she picked to wear to the inauguration ball is not something I expected, or thought she would pick. It was a full skirted dress had a strap across her right shoulder, a ruched bodice, fluffy appliques and sparkly beading. There is more to see of her and her choice of outfits!

Historic Inaugruation

Today, I watched another moment in history being made. Barack Hussein Obama, lifted the weight of a troubled world and country onto his shoulders, when he placed his hand on the gilt-edged Bible of Abraham Lincoln and took the oath of office. Today he became the 44th president of the Country. He made a powerful speech, which he started working before the Thanksgiving holiday. He talked about the troubles the nation faces and the future we have a head. He talked about the domestic challenges facing the country, what America's image is aboard and what can be. It was a touching and emotional ceremony and great to see how everyone comes together and prays for the country. We will see what change Obama will make for the nation and if he can live up the the expectations of the country.
After the ceremony, Barack and Michelle Obama said goodbye to former president George W. Bush and his wife Laura Bush as they aboard the helicopter to fly to Midland, Texas. There he will take part in a welcome home ceremony for him.

My Tip

If you make your own flower arrangement you can save 25% of cost from if you would buy a ready made arrangment - counting the vase, flowers and ribbon you can SAVE!

Extreme Home Edition

I just love this show, it's touching, and the team does an amazing job at taring down the house and putting a brand new one up in seven days. I always wonder how they get the house done in seven days with all the little touches, all the organic details, it's incredible. Usually a house is done in 3 or more months but every show is a miracle show. I love how they touch the families of a serious need of a new house and a good environment for the kids/family. Usually a family with is picked who has gone through a disaster, or a tragic loss in the family, a debilitating illness. Ty and his crew are just amazing, hope they never stop in what they do. Recently I watched their 100 house makeover; which means 100 families out there got the help they need.

Man vs Wild

Bear Grylls, the host of Man vs Wild. The show really is wild. Sometimes it's hard to watch, how he does anything to survive. He eats anything he finds, and does anything he has to. He eats raw, which is kind of really gross. Yesterday me and and my husband were watching and it he wa eating part of an eat from a bull. He strands himself in remote locations where people often get lost or in danger. With him he takes only some basic things, a knife, bottled water, and a flint. His goal is to knowledge the viewers how to survive in any situation in the wild by showing survival techniques.

American Idol

Another beginning for a search for the next American Idol. Thousands of people tried out, January 14th at Phoenix, Arizona and January 13th at Kansas City. There were different kinds of people some more remembered than others.
The bikini girl is one that Simon will probobly remember, I do agree with the judges, she did sing good. I personally like the story of the last contested from Tuesday's auditions. Scott, who is almost blind and started college at 14, he has a great talent of playing the piano and singing, he could possibly be the next American Idol.

In addition, there is also a new Judge, Kara DioGuardi who pronounces her name "Care-A". She wasted no time jumping into the battle in the show's season's first night.
Next auditions will air on Tuesday the 20th, and Wednesday the 21st.

Mall Cop

This comedy is about a single dad, working as a security officer at a New Jersey mall. He is a serious father who is trying to make money for his family, however; nobody really thinks he is really trying and doesn't take him serious. I found this movie funny, and great for families with kids. Very entertaining.
Starting Kevin James, who is a comedian and actor and played very well in this movie.

Brownie Delight

You will Need:
1 package of brownie mix
2 packages of cream cheese
3 cups powder sugar
1 carton of 16 ounce whipping cream topping
2 cups cold milk
1 package instant chocolate pudding mix
1/2 cup chopped pecans

What To Do:
Bake brownies (as per directions on the box)
In mixing bowl, beat cream cheese and sugar for about two min.

In a separate bowl mix the pudding as directed on the box

After the brownie is ready, spread the cream cheese mix on the brownie, spread the pudding on top of the cream cheese, and whipping cream on top of the pudding, sprinkle the chopped pecans on the whipping cream. Refrigerate till ready to serve.