And the winner is...

ME!! Yeah!! A new year, and another Oscar! Yes, that's right I've won 2 consecutive Oscars! For what you ask?!? I moonlight as an actress. I go by the name of Sandra Oh. Yes, I've put on some weight, but that's what happens when you're happy and eat too much at the post Oscar parties. ;o)


Reality is, one of my friends is an Oscar nut and this is the second year in a row she's gone all out to throw an awesome party. With Oscar themed decorations, prizes and even scratch tickets. Both years she had us fill out predictions on who would win in each category, and each year, I've won the contest and brought the Oscar home. So, maybe I kinda took a peek at the People magazine article, but not on purpose! I happen to read it on occasion, and just stumbled upon the predictions for this year. So, yes, it did help a little.

So, my friend the Oscar nut, is turning 10 because she was born on Feb 29th. Well, actually 40 (Eeep! Sorry L, but I had to explain!), but we'll let her believe she's 10 years old..for now. :) Well, she was all upset that no one was making an effort to get together for her b-day..a big one at that. Meanwhile, some friends and I had plans to crash her Oscars party to celebrate with her. A success!! She had NO clue and we were able to pull it off beautifully! The theme was loosely held around a 10 year old girl's party. Gifts, balloons, manicures, pigtails (well, some of us anyways), tiaras, loot bags and a BIG cake. We all had fun, and most importantly, it seemed the b-day girl had a blast. We also celebrated another friend's b-day last night with a smaller cake and gifts, as it is her b-day today.

Now that the fun is over, I have been feverishly entering in year end numbers for our accountant. UGH..I dread the end of Feb. I managed to get D's consulting business stuff entered this morning and now onto our personal stuff and 2 of my businesses. What a nightmare. Each year I promise myself to stay on top of it and not have to rush to enter it all in last minute. Then, each year I start well, and then finish badly. Kind of like me and exercise. Although I do plan on going back to playing badminton with D once my knee is completely healed (I had a nasty fall on a patch of ice and it's slowly getting better). I really enjoy badminton, and found out that, I'm not too bad at it. Quite fun and great exercise!

We were hoping to take the kids to their second movie (in a theater) this past weekend, but there was absolutely nothing good playing. Just Alvin and the chipmunks, which they had already seen a few months ago. Horton Hears a Who is suppose to be coming out soon, so hopefully we'll be able to take them to see it once it's out. Angelina just loves Dr. Seuss stories at bedtime. Not sure how much Brad will enjoy it, but he was pretty well behaved during Alvin, so we'll see.

Back to reality now. The kids will be in bed in less then 1 hour and then I've really got to get more stuff entered. Oh joy!

Down on Your Knees Please

I'm not an overly religious person, but today, I need prayers please for the following reasons.

1. Daniel has a job interview this morning with Bell Canada. Please pray he gets a job offer.

2. That the school drivers don't go on strike (the strike was to start as early as today, but hasn't yet), because I don't enjoy fighting morning traffic to drop Ava off.

3. My parents, the kids and I are going to Costco this afternoon. Please pray I have the strength to walk out of there with JUST what I need and not $500+ poorer.

Ok, gotta get myself and the kids dressed to walk Angelina to the bus stop.

Biscotti Anyone?

Ok, so here it is..my first batch of soap. Freshly sliced up this afternoon.


The reason they look like fugly stumpy cream and now puke coloured biscotti (instead of nice sized handmade bars) is because I became impatient waiting for my wood mold to arrive from the US. It's been shipped, but I guess customs is holding it for ransom. So, I looked in my trusty soapmaker's companion book, and it suggested using a rubbermaid container. It worked, but my container was a HUGE rectangular one, so what should have been the size of a slice of banana bread is now a stumpy piece of biscotti. Oh well, it's still functional and it smells wonderful! Very fresh and cleared my sinuses!

Got a haircut today while Brad was napping. Thought I liked my new hairdresser Michael, but now, I'm not too sure. Michael has an idea of how HE wants my hair to look and it's different then how I normally got my hair done by my previous hairdresser Tony of 15+ years. I miss Tony! I could continue to get my hair done by him, but he has moved to a salon about an hour away. Longer if it's rush hour. I love him....but not that much. So, I ended up with a shoulder length bob with long layers. He flat ironed it so it would looked "sleek" as he put it. To me, it just looks FLAT and dead on my head. But, it's a huge improvement to the rat's nest I was sporting, so I guess I'll get use to it.

D took Angelina out swimming at the local community pool tonight. It's their daddy and daughter bonding time. So, Brad had me all to himself at home. Cute little bugger is such a clown when his sister isn't around. When she's around, he worships and copies everything she does and just acts differently.

I had one of my SU downlines come over tonight after the kids went to bed. She is holding her very first workshop this Friday (yeah!!) and I helped her design and cut her make and takes. Then D and I watched the last episode of LOST that we taped. What is going on with Sayed?!? Tell me he ain't working for...I won't spoil it for those who watch LOST, but have yet to watch the last episode. I thought they were starting to answer questions, but now I see there are a whole bunch of new questions!

I am still thinking Dexter is the best thing out there on tv. I am eagerly awaiting the start of season 3, whenever that may be. For those of you who haven't seen the show yet, I believe CBS is showing an edited version starting this week - WATCH it!!! If you have a weak stomach, keep watching..trust me when I say that after episode 3, you'll be immune to all the bloodshed. Heck by mid season 1, you'll be wanting Dexter to kill someone! LOL How demented that must sound..but truly, after watching enough of the show, you feel great empathy towards the character and hope he gets away with it all and continues along his journey of serial killing.

Ok, tomorrow is going to be a busy day. I am going to see our GP regarding a second referral for my father, so I better go to bed so I don't look and act like a zombie.

*wave*

Not what it's suppose to look like..

So where do I begin? My name is Sonia. Yup, that's me. The photo is taken courtesy of my 5 year old daughter Angelina.I'm a work at home mom with 3 part time home based businesses (jewellery, stamping and bath and body products - hence my blog name). I'm a wife to my work-a-holic (who also works from home) and Olympic ping pong wannabe husband D. I'm also secretary/treasurer/accountant for D's consulting business, mother to two beautiful but sometimes crazy kids (Brad and Angelina..ok, so it's not their real names, but close enough)
and mother to two fur babies Terri, a.k.a. Babu the fearless Yorkie

and Tigger the vermin cat that eats and chews through everything and anything. Photo taken courtesy of Angelina again, which is why it's a little blurry.



I'm also "sister of the year" (well, at least I think I should be awarded something for putting up with him for so long) to an older brother whom we'll call JERiKo. Jeriko is 3 years older, but you wouldn't know it. As you get to know me, you'll understand the love-hate relationship I have with my brother.

My job pre-children was as a Denturist a.k.a. Denture Specialist. I think I am done with that chapter of my life. Although it was rewarding to see a patient through the process which often resulted in an improved appearance, it was a lot of work making dentures! Working with stone, plaster, wax and wire bending metals is not something I am missing.

Then again, I MUST be a sucker for punishment..because what do I do once I'm bored? Well, stamping was the first of my many hobbies turned to businesses. I am a Stampin' Up! Demonstrator (www.stampinup.com) and I currently teach rubber stamp classes and sell stamping supplies to women that eventually love it as much as I do. I LOVE to stamp! I am truly not an artistic person..but stamping makes me look crafty and I enjoy it, so I continue on my inking journey. I am feeling *that* much closer to Martha. Hey, and why would I spend $5.50 plus taxes on 1 store bought card, when I can spend $500+ on stamps, cardstock and ink every few months to make my own cards, right? Makes sense to me.

Here's a few cards I made the other day. I kept them simple and let the patterned paper do all the work.




So about a year and a half ago...one of my stamping friends introduced me to simple stringing (of beads). It went from wanting to learn how to make these exact pair of Swarovski earrings...


to an online and home party jewellery business (www.soniajung.com). Here I thought I'd be decked out in more jewellery then a multi-million dollar rap artist...but alas, reality had sunk in...I make jewellery for others and by the time I'm done, I'm too tired to make any for myself. So, the very first pieces I made out of sheer enjoyment are the ones I wear...and will probably continue to wear until I'm buried in them. Oh and did I mention, I'm using my handy wire bending skills to bend silver wire when I make almost all of my pieces? LOL

Being that I appreciate all things handmade, I stumbled upon an amazing website www.etsy.com. It is the e-bay for all things handmade. So, I started buying my hand and body creams from a very popular etsy store...until one day a few months ago while surfing the net I stumbled upon the supplier to this store. EUREKA!! I can buy the base creams direct and not have to pay retail prices and wait 3 1/2 weeks for delivery!! The only downside, is that I have to order the cream by the gallon!! Eeep!! What to do with fifteen 8oz jars after I make my one 8oz jar?!? Sell it of course! This was the birth of my third (and final) business www.essentialgoodies.com. It is still a work in progress. Oh and did I mention, I'm constantly using different kinds of waxes when making many of these bath and body products? Hee hee Heck, who knew that making jewellery and bath and body products was not far off material-wise from making teeth?!?

So, I attended a cold processing soap class two weekends ago and I was eager to make my first batch of soap. Of course, I had to wait for some key ingredients to come by courier. Well, I got them today!! So, as soon as the kids were out with the grandparents, out came the supplies. The first thing I had to do was measure and mix the lye. Lye is sodium hydroxide, it's some seriously potent alkaline crystals. If one piece of crystal or dust falls on your skin and starts to react with the humidity in the air or your oils on your skin (and you don't wash it off), it will eventually eat right through. YIKES!! So, I started to freak out a little when I went to pour some into a container and found the crystals jumping all over the place and out of the container onto the counter and floor due to the static build up on the plastic container. LOVELY!! Out came the vacuum cleaner. Luckily I cleaned it all up before the cat and dog took notice. Anyways, I followed the instructions to a "T", but the lady who had taught our class gave us the wrong dye measurements (she guessed since she never measures). So, my lemon and peppermint essential oils soap, which is suppose to look primarily cream with yellow swirls is now a lovely shade of pumpkin orange with slight cream swirls. This is NOT what it's suppose to look like!! A little bit too much dye I guess, but next time I will add less. The soap is f-ugly, but if you ignore the lovely shade of cream and orange, it is definitely quality stuff! 2-4 weeks for curing and I'll get to test it out! It's all good..it was a great learning experience, and the first batch will be for family and friends. So, who wants some?!? I think I'll have at least 14 bars to find homes for. This particular scent was made especially for my brother, as he requested tea tree or lemon with peppermint. I told him I'd make sure his bars had some unsaponified (unprocessed) lye left in them...just for him. For all the pranks he's pulled and tried to pull on me growing up and for the numerous calls he continues to make daily pretending to be my sister-in-law. Yes, he either thinks I'm stupid enough to believe that his deep voice raised to sound like a tranny, is suppose to sound like my SIL, or he just plain likes bugging the crap out of me... just because. It's a love-hate relationship between us. He loves to bug me, I hate it and hang up on him. ;o)

So, I had a lot of fun today making soap, and to make a nice day even better, I got a call from a friend's aunt who placed a nice size jewellery order for her future daughter-in-law's bridal shower (prizes). Guess, I'll be busy bending wire tonight!