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!!

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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!!