Unclaimed Giveaway-Last Chance

The Winners: (Please email me)
Day 1 Winner: dolls123
Day 2 Winner: brandilynn

Musical Theater

Here are some photos of Amanda's performance today. Amanda has spent the past 6 weeks in learning her lines, dance moves and perfecting her solo. This is her second time as a part of the Atsugi Starz Musical Theater Production..

A Very Magical Musical was performed by 17 players, from Aladdin, Little Mermaid, Lion King even a clown segment.

Amanda was in the first number where the girls dressed as lions danced, her next performance was 3 acts later when as Ariel. Amanda did a wonderful job, I wish I had video of it or even sound to share with you. She had a solo and song the song Part of Your World and let me tell you I was gushing with so much pride I got teary eyed.. She did beautifully.Her last act was as a dancer in the Arabian Nights scene for Aladdin....

Here are some pictures from the event, I am sorry the Little Mermaid photo of Amanda is not that great, I am hoping someone will pass along a better photo of her for me... Until then.. Enjoy

Sweet Potatoes/Girl Scouts

Caitlin lined up by the bamboo, with her chopsticks ready to catch the noodles as the float by her so she can eat lunch.
(Somen is Japanese noodle made of wheat flour and salts, which is very thin and white. Somen is put in water flowing along a long bamboo gutter. You catch the noodles with your chopsticks, dip them in a cool broth, and eat them.)

Caitlin Digging up her Sweet Potatoes Forget the shovel she is just gonna pull them up!
3 Big 'uns!

This past Saturday as part of a Girl Scout Event with our Japanese Counterparts I hopped on a train with my daughter and several other leaders and scouts to Kurokawa Train Station. It was 3 trains (1 too many as we got off on the wrong stop, I was not navigating thank you very much), 45 minutes and then a 7 minute walk with our sister Troop the Kanagawa Girl Guides to the sweet potato field to dig up Sweet Potatoes.


I saw this sunflower on the way to the Sweet Potato Field right next to the sidewalk behind a railing.

This Spider I spotted as I walked up the hill to the Japanese Camp/Craft site

My daughter Caitlin being goofy with the Pinwheels she created thanks to Kanagawa Girl Guides Instructions

Some white flowers I took a picture of, not sure what type of flower they are

Music

My New song total is 716 songs.. I did not have anything really against 666 but I had to add more songs!

In High School my main music genre was Country, while I had rap thrown in by my brother, Christian Contemporary by my Mother. I remember my first CD I ever owned, my older brother gave it to me for Christmas.. Arrested Development, my favorite song was Mr. Wendall. (sp)

Today I do not listen to one specific genre of music, I love all kinds of music.. Big Band, Rock, Pop, Alternative, Country etc.. etc..

These are the bands I added to my Itunes account today:
the Fray, T.I., Brandi Carlile, Usher, Journey, Gary Allen, Ingrid Michaelson, New Kids on the Block, Simple Plan, Life House

Here are my top 5 songs to listen to right now:
I Kissed a Girl -- Katy Perry
Walking on Air -- Kerli
Falling Slowly -- Glen Hansard & Marketa Irglove (love love it)
How To Save A Life - - The Fray
Whatever You Like -- T.I.

I really like to check out the music on other peoples blogs, if it wasn't for those neat little music boxes I would have never liked Duffy... I get to be exposed to so much music that I miss with being overseas.. My car radio no longer works and I do not have cable and even when I did there was NEVER music on MTV (music television am I correct? what the heck happened to the music?)

Christmas Cards & A Question

All CTMH Products: Evensong Paper, Merry Pursuits Stamp Set

Here are a few Christmas cards I am working on for a workshop.. I still need to add some bling to these cards. They are pretty basic, quick and cute..

This will be a card class, 6 cards (2 of each design) plus a card holder .. I will post that later

Question answered, thanks Sharon!

The Shooting of Dan Mcgrew

{A little back story, my maiden name is McGrew. I came across this poem while in the 90's I was trying to research my family history. My brothers and I got a kick out of it, or at least I did.)

The Shooting of Dan McGrew

A bunch of the boys were whooping it up in the Malamute saloon;

The kid that handles the music-box was hitting a rag-time tune;

Back of the bar, in a solo game, sat Dangerous Dan McGrew,

And watching his luck was his light-o'-love, the lady that’s known as Lou.
When out of the night, which was fifty below, and into the din and glare,

There stumbled a miner fresh from the creeks, dog-dirty, and loaded for bear.

He looked like a man with a foot in the grave and scarcely the strength of a louse,

Yet he tilted a poke of dust on the bar, and he called for drinks for the house.

There was none could place the stranger’s face, though we searched ourselves for a clue;

But we drank his health, and the last to drink was Dangerous Dan McGrew.
There’s men that somehow just grip your eyes, and hold them hard like a spell;

And such was he, and he looked to me like a man who had lived in hell;

With a face most hair, and the dreary stare of a dog whose day is done,

As he watered the green stuff in his glass, and the drops fell one by one.

Then I got to figgering who he was, and wondering what he'd do,

And I turned my head — and there watching him was the lady that’s known as Lou.
His eyes went rubbering round the room, and he seemed in a kind of daze,

Till at last that old piano fell in the way of his wandering gaze.

The rag-time kid was having a drink; there was no one else on the stool,

So the stranger stumbles across the room, and flops down there like a fool.

In a buckskin shirt that was glazed with dirt he sat, and I saw him sway,

Then he clutched the keys with his talon hands — my God! but that man could play.
Were you ever out in the Great Alone, when the moon was awful clear,

And the icy mountains hemmed you in with a silence you most could hear;

With only the howl of a timber wolf, and you camped there in the cold,

A helf-dead thing in a stark, dead world, clean mad for the muck called gold;

While high overhead, green, yellow, and red, the North Lights swept in bars? —

Then you've a hunch what the music meant . . . hunger and might and the stars.
And hunger not of the belly kind, that’s banished with bacon and beans,

But the gnawing hunger of lonely men for a home and all that it means;

For a fireside far from the cares that are, four walls and a roof above;

But oh! so cramful of cosy joy, and crowded with a woman’s love —

A woman dearer than all the world, and true as Heaven is true —

(God! how ghastly she looks through her rouge, — the lady that’s known as Lou.)
Then on a sudden the music changed, so soft that you scarce could hear;

But you felt that your life had been looted clean of all that it once held dear;

That someone had stolen the woman you loved; that her love was a devil’s lie;

That your guts were gone, and the best for you was to crawl away and die.

'Twas the crowning cry of a heart’s despair, and it thrilled you through and through —

"I guess I'll make it a spread misere," said Dangerous Dan McGrew.
The music almost dies away . . . then it burst like a pent-up flood;

And it seemed to say, "Repay, repay," and my eyes were blind with blood.

The thought came back of an ancient wrong, and it stung like a frozen lash,

And the lust awoke to kill, to kill . . . then the music stopped with a crash,

And the stranger turned, and his eyes they burned in a most peculiar way;
In a buckskin shirt that was glazed with dirt he sat, and I saw him sway;

Then his lips went in in a kind of grin, and he spoke, and his voice was calm,

And "Boys," says he, "you don't know me, and none of you care a damn;

But I want to state, and my words are straight, and I'll bet my poke they're true,

That one of you is a hound of hell . . . and that one is Dan McGrew."
Then I ducked my head and the lights went out, and two guns blazed in the dark;

And a woman screamed, and the lights went up, and two men lay stiff and stark.

Pitched on his head, and pumped full of lead, was Dangerous Dan McGrew,

While the man from the creeks lay clutched to the breast of the lady that’s known as Lou.
These are the simple facts of the case, and I guess I ought to know.

They say that the stranger was crazed with "hooch," and I'm not denying it’s so.

I'm not so wise as the lawyer guys, but strictly between us two — The woman that kissed him — and pinched his poke — was the lady known as Lou.

We Wear the Mask

Paul Laurence Dunbar (1872-1906)
We Wear the Mask

We wear the mask that grins and lies,

It hides our cheeks and shades our eyes,—

This debt we pay to human guile;

With torn and bleeding hearts we smile,

And mouth with myriad subtleties.

Why should the world be over-wise,

In counting all our tears and sighs?

Nay, let them only see us, while

We wear the mask.

We smile, but, O great Christ, our cries

To thee from tortured souls arise.

We sing, but oh the clay is vile

Beneath our feet, and long the mile;

But let the world dream otherwise,

We wear the mask!

Alone

I am alone
alone
alone
and I cry
at night all alone
daylight I am someone different
a mask I wear
failing at times to hide everything
the anger leaks through to you
and inside I am sad
Swimming in a sadness
that I can not escape
my reflection in the water is who I want to be
I swim towards my reflection reaching out
never tiring, always swimming
the reflection is elusive and we have yet to merge as one
I swim in the sadness and see no escape
why doesn't the reflection offer me help?

Odd Observation

I have been downloading songs into my Itunes account so that I can transfer it to my near obsolete IPOD.. LOL
Really! So I am listening to my music and notice that I have exactly 666 songs on my IPOD! Crazy! Huh, if I was superstitious I would run an add another song! But I am not, maybe I should just as a precaution?

When I was a teenager and worked at Auntie Annes Pretzels, if the customers total came to 6.66 or anything ending in 666 we were to add a penny to the total.

Giveaway Winners!

CONGRATULATIONS!!!

Thank you everyone for the kind words and everything and taking part in my joy having my Hubby home for a few days.. I really appreciate it. The winners were chosen by caitlinrandom.org and amandagirl.org with an argument on choosing the 5th winner to make it even ya know.. LOL

The Winners: (Please email me)

Day 1 Winner: dolls123

Day 2 Winner: brandilynn

Day 3 Winner: bunnyb

Day 4 Winner: Sharon in NE

Day 5 Winner: De

Surprise! I have one more winner (had to make it even for my random.org number pulling children, LOL!) Laurinda

Again thank you everyone... Please email me your contact information so that I can mail your prizes out to you!

Have a FABULOUS day!

{♥♥Heather♥♥}

Babies

I have baby fever, for the last 2 years I have wanted to add on to my family. Dh however does not want to have another child. That is neither here or there though. This post is about me! LOL

My friend Claudia gave birth in Aug to her son Angel, he is so precious.
She went back to work this week and her previous childcare arrangements fell through so i was thrilled when she asked me to watch him for her. He is the sweetest little boy, he hardly ever cries has a dark head of hair and is just the cuddliest little baby ever. So another reason for me being behind is, taking care of a baby is alot more work than I remember, HA!HA! By the time he goes home (I watch him between 7 & 10 hours starting at 8am) I am bushed and want to crawl in bed, but I have my girls to feed and take care of..

We are now getting into a routine though, so I am happy about that. I will see everyone on Monday when I post the winners! (If I don't get any time to post before than)

Day 5 and apologies

Hello Everyone, I am so SORRY that I did NOT post Day 5 and have not posted in a couple of days. My DH left on Monday morning, I miss him already. Seeing as it is now Thursday and I failed to post Day 5 I am going to leave the giveaway open over the weekend.. I will post the winners in the afternoon on Monday (my time)..

Day 5's giveaway is going to be a Surprise package.. it might have stamps and paper, it might have accents you have to win it to see! I guarantee the winner will not be disappointed!

So the same rules apply, post a blurb about the giveaway on your blog and post the link in the comments on my blog! Simple... Monday afternoon I will post all 5 winners!