Gearing Up for S.R.'s Vintage Barbie Birthday Party

I hope that you all had a great weekend. I had a fantastic weekend. I attended a ladies retreat, and I got to meet so many fabulous women. I am truly blessed to be surrounded by such wonderful Christian women!!!

This week is going to be nothing but planning and scurrying. 

 Saturday is the Big Party day...

not as big as they have been in the past...these parties have been killing me;o) 

S.R. is turning 3 on Thursday....I can't believe it!!

She is having a Vintage Barbie Birthday Party. I have already started getting stuff together. 

Remember when I shared with you my inspiration for the party?

You can go HERE to check it out.

Super-de-duper Caa-ute!

These are some of the decorations that I will be using...I have a vision and I can't wait to see it come to life.....hopefully it will come together ;o)

 These are some of the flowers left over from S.R.'s Butterfly Birthday Party.

Hoping to make some cute center pieces with these again.

Looking forward to sharing the end result with you!!!

Why have bears been wrong for so long?

We were right with respect to the US and Spain and many other over-priced countries, but Canada keeps on trucking. We were right for a brief time in late 2008 and early 2009 when there was a flash crash. But the Feds and BoC brought that to an abrupt end, and up and away we went.

Why?

There are many reasons..low rates, the CMHC, irresponsible mortgages etc But there are others and ironically I found some of them in today's Vancouver Sun, particularly in the business section.

ONE

First, the front page storey was about Middle Class Mainland Chinese buying Greater Vancouver Real estate, with one RE company that has offices in Beijing claiming to have sold 500 units to Chinese investors in Toronto and Vancouver in the last two months alone.

500 by one company in two months, in two cities, is significant. Our RE has basically become a commodity like our wood, gas and oil. That is a fact which we (us bears) had not accounted for. The government decided not to allow export of our water, however they have no concern over who owns RE, even if they are absent.

RE bears looked at local factors. Average after-tax salaries and what they could afford and did not account for the major and persistent buying power of Mainland Chinese investors.

TWO

The article below was about the turmoil in the middle east driving up oil prices, hurting some and benefiting others. As we all know, we are in the midst of a rip-roaring commodity boom, and fortunes are being made daily by the penny stock scammers and legitimate promoters and deal-makers. The most ever in fact.

THREE

Then on page two- there is David Baines' excellent expose of two stock fraud schemes that have made the promoters Ten of Millions in illicit gains.

I suggest everyone read it Those accused are from as diverse places as London and Israel, but end up here. Why do they operate out of BC? Because it is no secret that Canada is 'soft' on stock manipulating and insider trading and white collar crime. Charges are few and far between, convictions even rarer and jail time is almost unheard of.

Those charged in these cases were by the US SEC (a pretty weak toothless body too- but superheroes compared to our fractured ineffectual regulators).

This is another factor that us bears did not account for in the average income/price calculations. The huge amount of hot money that flows into our Province. It isn't just foreign money that sloshes in with little account, it is our own home-grown fraudsters who seem able to move Tens of Millions in and out of the country with impunity -whatever happened to FINTRAC?

FOUR

Then there is of course our huge drug trade, which is estimated at $7 Billion by the Economist and employs ten of thousands of people.

All money that does not show up in the 'average income' numbers.

So what does this all mean? Well it means that we cannot come to simple calculations based on average income to try and work out what prices are reasonable. there are just too many unknown variables that cannot be accounted for.

Does it mean we will never have a correction in BC? Of course not. But it does mean that unaffordability in itself will not be enough to bring this circus to an end.

It may require the prefect storm of a slow-down in China to reduce outside speculative buying and reduced commodity prices. That or some 'black swan' event like Quebec separatism to raise our rates. Otherwise I do not see how this come to an abrupt end.

I don't think our new Premier Christy Clark, regards outrageously high house prices as a problem to be curtailed. In fact she probably regards it as a sign of strength (and there are probably many around her that will sure that is the only opinion she hears)

As to the Feds and the B of C. Despite their bleating about the high levels of debt - which is almost all RE based AND caused by them, they have no will to reverse the mess they have helped create.

Guest Posting over at Infarrantly Creative

Hey Guys! Just wanted to give you a heads up. I am guest posting over at Infarrantly Creative today. I made a knock off version of Ballard Designs' Pruvost Plaque.

To see how I made it, head on over and check it out!!

My New Addition

 Is this not the sweetest face you have ever laid eyes on? This is Scosche(pronounced sk-oe-sh) The hubs surprised me with this little bundle:o)

  And when I say little, I mean little:o) 

The hubs actually named him Scosche because he is so tiny.

He is four months old, and we are now in the throws of house training. Yuck! We are making sloooow progress.

 He is a little snuggle bunny, and I love it:o)

 Scosche is a BOY, and this will be the only time you see this sweet face with a bow on top of it. He looks a little mad doesn't he?:o)

He was actually squinting, but we'll pretend that he's scowling;o)

This was my BEAUTIFUL and DELICIOUS birthday cake. It's a Vera Bradley Cake. 

When we got home from picking Scosche up, there were a lot of people at my house waiting to surprise me:o)

 It was a GREAT birthday. The hubs did a wonderful job of planning the entire day. Turning 30 couldn't have been any better!

And the Winners Are....

I am officially 30, and I am already feeling the pains of old age;o) 

Anyway, you don't care about my pains...you just wanna know who won, right?

The winners were randomly selected using random.org.

And the winners are....

The CSNStores.com gift card goes to:

The Loops

The Shampoo Gift Set goes to:

Debbi

And the Books of the Bible goes to:

Grateful Gramma 

Thank you all for your participation! I'll be in touch with the winners.

I plan on having a great day today...

as long as the gravel in my kidney decides to stay put:o)

Have a great Presidents' Day!!

Giveaway #3..Little bit of the Inspired Word

The Bible is our go-to for anything and everything that we need. We are a family that is focused on the Lord. He has given us so many wonderful blessings, and we praise Him everyday, thanking Him for His goodness. Over the past year, I have really consumed myself in the Scriptures, and have enjoyed my renewed love for God. The pages of my Bible are no longer stiff, but are soft from being used so often. That's a really good feeling, isn't it? Soft Bible pages.

The hubs really enjoys reading "The Books of the Bible" version of the Word. It has no chapters or verses. It's reading the Bible as it was written...in letter form. It seems to take the pressure off of running to the Bible for answers and allows you to just read and feel inspired.

 The Books of the Bible is a presentation of Today's New International Version in case you  were wondering.

It's easier to read that some of the older versions of the Bible. 

So here's how to enter:

You have to be a follower of Fussy Monkey Business....and that's it!

You can enter as many times as your little pea-pickin' heart desires:o)

I hope that you all have a wonderful Friday. We have a play date today and we are really looking forward to it!!

Make sure to enter the other giveaways I have going on right now.

1. Shampoo Gift Set

2. $35 Gift Card to CSNStores.com

Baby Burp Cloth Tutorial

Today's post is a little later than anticipated. I have had a busy day today, but a good day. Hair business is picking up, so crafting is coming in spurts right now:o)

Yesterday I went to Target to get S.R. a new bike helmet. It HAD to be a Disney Princess helmet. That girl is all about some princesses. Everything is "princess." However, she is still my little tomboy. She will roll around in the dirt and muck with the best of them:o) I wouldn't have it any other way;o)

Anyway, I decided to walk the ENTIRE store just to make sure I didn't miss any good sales. I ran across this stack of towels. They were $6 for the whole set. I thought these would be PERFECT to make burp cloths out of. They are lint free and super soft. 

We have like a bajillion babies being born at the church where we attend...really, a bajillion. It seems that there is a baby shower every week...think I'm kidding....um, no..really.

So I am always in need of a baby gift, and I am all about quick and easy. I am sure that you are as well, so here is a quick tute on how to make your own burp cloths.

 These towels measure 16"x18.5" so I can get 2 burp cloths out of one towel..score! That means 20 burp cloths!!

These two fabrics were left over from some other projects. It's always a good idea to have scrap fabric lying around. Ya never know when you may need to make a burp cloth:o)

 I started by cutting the towel in half lengthwise.

 Each one is 8" in width.

 I then cut the scrap fabric to the same size as the towels.

 I wanted to personalize them, so I monogrammed the baby's name on each one. I then stacked the printed fabric on top of the towel. Next I grabbed some wide double fold bias tape. This stuff saves so much time. I always have several packages on hand.

See that nasty cut on my hand...told you the hair business was good. Hazard of the trade:o}

 Sandwich the two fabrics betweens the tape.

 And pin...you guys know that I hate to pin, but in this case, it makes things go a lot smoother. Especially around the corners.

 Stitch all the way around the inside edge of the tape, and make sure to catch the tape on the backside as well.

Didn't this turn out cute?

 I monogrammed one of the towels, but I think it looks a little messy, so from now on, I'll just do it on the printed fabric:o)

Easy peasy right?

So if you go to church with me and you are expecting a baby, you know what you will be getting from me in the near future;o) I've got plenty of towels to go around!!

If you haven't entered the giveaways yet, you have a few more days.

Hoping to get one more giveaway up sometime tomorrow. Go

HERE & HERE to enter.

Oh yeah, if you haven't noticed by now, you can subscribe to get emails of post updates. Just look on the left side bar.

I'm Turning 30 Giveaway Number 2!

I have decided the theme for these giveaways will have a little something to do with me or what I enjoy.

My main occupation is a stay at home mom, but my side job is being a hair stylist. I have a little "shop" set up in the nook of my laundry room. It's the perfect spot to take care of my clients...

..much better than having them flip their head upside down in a kitchen sink;o) 

So for today's giveaway, I have a Redken gift set. This set includes shampoo, conditioner, and a moisturizing mask.

$30 value....30 seems to be popping up everywhere!!lol

Here's how to enter:

1st Entry: Be(come) a follower of Fussy Monkey Business

2nd Entry: Tell me what your favorite service at the hair salon is

That's it:o)

Make sure to enter yesterday's CSNStores.com $35 Gift Card giveaway

The winners of all the giveaways will be announced Monday, February 21, 2011....My 30th birthday.

all giveaways are opened to U.S. and Canadian readers only. Giveaways will close Sunday February 20th 9 p.m. CST.

Tomorrow I will share some baby gifts I am making for a mommy-to-be at church.

Happy Wednesday to you all!

I'm Turning 30....Giveaway Time!!!!

Yep, you read the title correctly...I'm turning 30.

(this baby isn't me...I was born AFTER color photos were invented!!)

I received this lovely birthday card from my in-laws yesterday.

The White paper with the smiley face sticker is the ENVELOPE...Crystal "30" W.....My father-in-law is nuts! He will pay dearly;o) 

 This is the inside of the card....can you tell that my father-in-law is a math nerd?

Oh yes, the wheels of revenge are turning:o)

My birthday is next Monday. So I have 6 more days to hold onto my 20's.

To celebrate these 6 days, I will have a few giveaways...not sure how many, so I guess you will have to check back here daily to see what's going on:o)

Today's giveaway:

A CSNStores.com $35 Gift Card

 Here's how to enter:

1. Become a Follower and leave a comment, or tell me that you are a follower

2.  Invite your friends on Facebook, leave a comment

3.Most memorable birthday, leave a comment

You can enter until Sunday, February 20th 9 p.m. CST

The winner will be announced on Monday, February 21st...my birthday;o)

This giveaway is open to U.S. and Canadian readers only...sorry:o/

Happy Valentine's Day!

I hope that you all have a wonderful Valentine's Day! Ours started bright and early this morning:o) I wanted to share the kids' Valentine's cards that they will be handing out.

These are for E to pass out today to all of his little buddies....all 22 of them. 

 The inspiration came from Better Homes and Gardens. These took FO-EVUH  to make, but they are super cute. Who cares that as soon as the little ones take hold of this that they will be ripping this sweet little robot to bits....not me:o} 

 This is the back. I made E write his name on EVERY single one of these cards. He was very unhappy about it. Especially since it was 22 times, but he got it done....btw, I erased the rest of his name for privacy purposes;o)

 Since S.R. isn't in preschool yet, I let her hand out goodies to her buds at church yesterday. She felt so big:o)

For this free printable, head over to Skip to my Lou.

 This is for E's teacher. The inspiration for this box came from eighteen25.

 A look inside

Hopefully you haven't waited until the last mili-second to get your V-day cards in order:o)

Have a good one!!

***

Make sure to head over to Sew Dang Cute to cast your vote for the Champion of Crafting with the Stars. They brought their A game, ya'll!

Malaysia Best Rates 2011 Feb 13 update

July 2011 Update is here

Fix Deposit

Honestly, after tracking the rates for years. Affin bank is the bank to go with if you want the highest FD rate. Be it 1 month or 12 months, just go with Affin bank.

Check this site often, I shall let you know when this trend changes.

Base Lending Rate

ALL local banks stand at 6.3% now with Bank of Tokyo and Royal Bank of Scotland offers the lowest at 6.0%.

Saving Accounts

Bangkok Bank offers 1.85%

Bank of Tokyo, Bank of Nova Scotia offers 1.75%

Don't forget you can get a simple widget

like above to show on your blog / web site.

Just visit here to see how.

Car Loan : NEW Car

Maybank continues to offer the lowest car loan rate starting from 2.7%. However, this is NOT a standard rate apply to all applicants. The actual rate can range up to 4.3%.

Bank Muamalat offers 2.85% for both New and Used cars but it requires an admin charges of RM600.

Car Loan : Used Car

Bank Muamalat offers 2.85% but requires admin charges of RM600.

CIMB offers 3.25% used car loan rate.

Don't forget Car Loan rate is Fix Term Rate

which is effectively a MUCH HIGHER

than variable term rate

like House Loan and Fix Deposit.

House Loan

There are too many factors in considering a good house loan, so we don't think its fair to simply summarize them here.

Our advice is to source for at least 3 offers, preferably a mix of local and foreign banks.

Sorry Folks

I will be busy for the next couple of months. Actually until mid-April, so the posts will be few and far between.

In fact I don't expect much until April. By then we will have seen how this Spring buying season is shaping up and whether we have the start of our long-awaited correction, or more of the same.

For now, Vancouver RE is still strong. Even though inventory is coming in, the sales are still firm. I have even seen some sellers adjust their prices up-wards.

However once you leave Vancouver you see a different picture. The periphery is weak.

In Victoria we are sitting at 10.4 MOI

In Whistler at the end of Jan, they were still well over 16 MOI. Anyone looking in Whistler should demand a good price reduction.

The Central OK ended Jan with over 4000 listings and 200 sales. 20 MOI! I would expect sales to pick up as we head into spring. The question is, how much and do we enter the fall with bloated inventory which would suggest some good price reductions coming in 2012 or sooner.

In the North OK we are looking at 80 sales and 2000 on the books, which gives us a MOI of 25!

However the prize goes to Shuswap/ Revelstoke where we have 1200 listings and 27 sales for a MOI of..wait for it...4 Years!

Quick, call your MLA and Member of Parliament, we need immediate action in the OK. Interest-free-Federally-backed-zero down mortgages in these targeted areas..NOW!

So what about the Fraser Valley:

Well we are at 834 sales and 7,700 listings for a MOI of 9.

More importantly we are seeing the effect of the high MOI. Benchmark Prices are flat to down YOY

So lets see what Spring brings. We have rates drifting higher and are on the cusp of the mortgage changes (mid-March).

I will post here from time to time, and should be up to speed by late Spring which should be an interesting time.

Some Valentines Ideas

Some exciting new for today. I have been featured at Mod Podge Rocks.  Amy is featuring my Damask Drawer Set that I entered in Crafting with the Stars. Pretty cool, huh?

I thought so;o)

Anyway, this is the first year that we have had a Valentine's Day party to participate in. I have been scouring the net looking for cute ideas for E to give as V-day gifts. Here are some of my favorites:

Butterfly Valentine from Skip to My Lou

 Eye Chart Heart Printable from She Wears Flowers

 Teacher Goody Box from eighteen25

 Beary Valentines from Just Deanna

 Shovel Valentines from Just Deanna

Now it's time to get my "Valentine craft on" with the help of my little man.

Hope you all have a great weekend!!

New Find and a Table Runner

 I got a new-to-me terrarium. I can't wait to fill it with some new plants. I found it at our local thrift store for $5. We have a really nice nursery here, so I want to take the terrarium to them and have them fill it up for me.

 I also made this table runner the other day. A friend from church spotted one on Etsy, and I really liked it. I felt the urge to make my own. Now, obviously, I like the one from Etsy better b/c I have not mastered the fabric flower.

The hubs asked me who left their turban on the table:o/.... 

 I guess fabric flowers aren't my forte. It's still a neat idea:o) And it's staying:o)...for now.

Today is another snow day....with "under-the-weather" children....one of which has a double ear infection...yeah...fun times:o)

Hope you have a great Thursday!

Round 3 Entry, S.R.'s New Room

Well, we didn't make it to Round 4..and I am slightly okay with that. This has been a tough competition, and my babies haven't been feeling well for a few days. A big thank you to Beckie from Infarrantly Creative who was my coach/mentor/friend throughout this competition. She made this experience so fun. I definitely would not have made as far as I did without her assistance....THANK YOU BECKIE!!!!

Congratulations to the winners of this round. I can't wait to see what they have up their sleeves for round 4;o)

 This was my entry for Round 3 of Crafting with the Stars. I just want you all to know how much I LOVE THIS ROOM! It turned out exactly how I envisioned it. S.R. is so happy with her new room and has decided that she would much rather sleep on her new "couch" than her actual bed:o) (Makes for a proud daddy)

We are definitely past the "Baby" stage, so when I found out that the challenge for round 3 was "baby," my immediate thought was toddler daybed. S.R. has been in her big girl bed for about a year and a half, but I thought that a day bed could very well serve as a couch for her room. Plus, if we have guests to stay the night, there would be an extra spot for the kids to sleep.

I headed straight to Hobby Lobby for fabric. Shocker, huh? I was beyond ecstatic when I ran across my FAVE fabric that I had originally wanted to use in her room for $4 a yard(previously $13/$14? a yard).

Thus began the snowball effect:o) After purchasing the fabric, I ran to Lowes and found two coordinating paint colors and got home as fast as I could and started painting. This process can take one day, but I didn't start until Wednesday afternoon. There was church that night, and preschool the next morning, so I got finished with the painting by Thursday afternoon. 

 This is the mountain of tape that was removed from the walls once I was finished...all 2 and 1/2 rolls!

 I had a simple design in my head of how I wanted the daybed/couch to look, and the hubs came through for me. He started working on this Friday night and had it ready for me by Saturday afternoon. He refers to himself as the "hired-help" around here:o) He does such a good job and I really couldn't have finished the room the way I wanted it without his help!

 The carousel horse prints are pictures that I pulled from the internet and used a projector to transfer them onto the boards. If you remember the flower pictures that were hanging in her room before, I "up-cycled" them and spray painted them:o) It's always a good idea to have extra spray paint lying around...you never know what last minute project will pop up:o) And I am really pleased with how this table skirt turned out.

 I actually found the table and the bird cage from our local thrift store. They were $2 each.

 I wanted to do some sort of pennant window treatment, and this is what I came up with. 

 Here is a picture of her closet and bathroom doors. I painted some flowers above just to fru-fru it up a bit.

 A closer shot. I am by no means a muralist, but I do like to attempt things that are outside of my comfort zone every once in a while.

 This is directly across from her bed. The frame was a clearance section find at, you guessed it, Hobby Lobby. I am the sole reason why Hobby Lobby stays in business:o)

 And the day bed. The cover on the crib mattress is actually made to come off. I made it in the same way that a sheet is made. That way, if it needs to be cleaned, I can pull it off and throw it into the wash. I added some piping just to dress it up a bit, so that it didn't LOOK like a sheet.

 The front view. 

This room was completely exhausting, but I am so glad that we did it. Now both of my kids have really cool rooms:o)

To see E's room, click HERE
Thank you all who went to the polls over the past few weeks. Even though this competition has been grueling at times, I have learned a lot, and in return, ended up with some great finished projects. Make sure to stay tuned to see who the winner of the final round will be!!