sugardoodle

I have a favorite site...if I need ideas or want to know anything about anything I go visit Sugardoodle. I've added a button off to the right so that you can visit as well!

When I was Relief Society President...I turned to Sugardoodle. When I was choir director - Sugardoodle. When I was a school teacher - sugardoodle. When I was a co-op preschool parent - sugardoodle. When I was a sunbeam teacher - sugardoodle. As a mom - sugardoodle. Holiday celebrations - sugardoodle. Gift ideas - sugardoodle. Visiting teaching - sugardoodle. Spare time - sugardoodle.

Sugardoodle has very literally been one of my best kept secrets. A lot of what I have used it for has been brainstorming and then I'll combine an idea with my own and like magic I'll have the perfect activity or answer to my problem.

Recently, I joined the facebook group and they were doing a graphic giveaway. The first 25 people would get their names done in cute graphic designs. I wasn't number 25 because I live on the other side of the world and when I was sleeping all of this signing up for the giveaway was happening. I was bummed out because they were supercute and I needed a sig for my blog. It is something I've been wanting for a long time. So as number, I don't know, probably 250 I posted on facebook asking if I could purchase some. This morning to my great surprise I get a message from Melanie Day (She IS Sugardoodle!) asking for my e-mail because she made me some name graphics!!!! I mean, how totally generous and a great way to start my day!!!! Sometimes a "doha day" can be completely turned around from something like this. Within a few minutes my graphics were in my mailbox.

Here they are, drumroll please:

Oh, so many to choose from! I just can't decide which one is my favorite...I think it will be depending on my mood.

Thanks Melanie! You are a superwoman. I don't know how you keep up with facebook, your blog and all of the other activities that you do...but I wanna be like you when I grow up! Which is nothing short of spectacular!

Love,

today's favorite!

things that make me want to cry

I'll readily admit that I am far from being the best mom...even far from being a good mom. I have been so very fortunate to be able to have 3 kids to practice my mothering skills on...3 VERY different kids, therefore I have had a plethora of learning opportunities. Not one of them has utilized current parenting strategies and well earned knowledge, I just keep having to learn new ways.

When Madelyn was 3, Angelina entered our lives. Then suddenly I had a kindergardener a year earlier than I had anticipated. But we rolled with the punches. I got a job teaching in a better school district and she was able to have a good kindergarten year. Now we

are here. Angelina went from being this chubby little girl with messed up bangs, to an elegantly cheerful 8 year old in a flash. Madelyn has pulled a change in personality on me as she used to be very independent...no cuddles with that girl! Yet, this morning I woke up with her in my bed, I gently nudged her and told her it was time to wake up and asked if she knew where she was at, "in our home" was her reply. Where in our home? "Mommy and Daddy's bed." And then....then she snuggled in. I had watched her sleeping for quite awhile thinking about how much she had grown and the journey's she has taken physically, spiritually and mentally.

Parker is now 3 and about to turn 4...

and this makes me want to cry.

I'm supposed to be okay with him getting older. The germans believe in sending their children to school when they are one. The french and british around 2 and 3 respectively. Americans? Depends on if you are working or not. Living in an international community...hard to know what is best. This year we have done a co-op preschool and while it has been a lot of fun and super convenient...I think Parker is ready for something else, and depending on whether we stay in Doha or move to some other country will determine what happens with Parker. This might be it for me and my little sidekick.

Today he had a friend over. We had a lot of fun. We went to the store to get treats. Both of them were riding in the cart...which meant a lot less groceries made it into the basket due to lack of space. The two boys would allow me to squeeze something in next to them ONLY if it was something they liked and I could trick them into thinking they had chosen it...like the sausages and the crackers. There was NO way that they were going to get anywhere near the shrimp. EWWWWWW GROSS echoed throughout the store as I tried to hold them in one hand and veer the cart with the other. By the way...carts here are awful, you have to use all of your bodyweight to even push them and once you get them going they have a mind of their own. I often find myself wrecking into shelves because I can't properly manipulate the wheels that are a very liberal 'round'. Then as we were almost done...I found the holy grail of difficult foods to find here (at least on my grocery list!)....

I begged and pleaded:

"Please, please please get out of the cart." No.

"Please please please I need the room." Didn't budge.

"Please please please can I tuck some behind your back? Or maybe under your arm...just don't crush them!" YEAH! They were all for that.

I had to think that one through again, because it would mean broken chips. Instead I shoved some under my arms and between me, my bosoms and the basket handles. It was ridiculous but highly worth it. We left soon after that. Of course, they didn't want to be in the basket any longer while I was unloading...typical.

I hope they don't taste bad...and I forgot to check the expiration dates.

Anyway, afterwards we got Dairy Queen, and because the boys were pretty good...well, actually really good except for refusing to make room in the basket for anything but what THEY wanted...I let them eat their ice cream first...because, afterall it is the Middle East and there was no way those were making it home without becoming a puddle in 3 minutes. Parker's little friend says ice cream like a$$ cream. I kept imagining in my head how ice cream COULD be a$$ cream here and probably feel pretty good...I kept trying to figure ways to get him to say it...it was pretty funny.

Then we got home, they ate everything but their french fries and played outside a little...used the girls paper umbrellas from Thailand to prevent the rain from hitting them (yikes!)...played in our little patch of garden (puhlease!)...played some rainbow shark game on the computer and are now upstairs eating goldfish and watching cartoons...phew! It is non-stop action here!

But what I am most upset about...is that the little boy used to be me. I used to be the one to sit and eat a$$ cream with, and to play computer games with, and to search for rain with and to go to the uber-playground with...but now that he is getting older he is figuring out how to do these things with more appropriately aged friends.

I want to cry.

This is what friendship looks like now:

not this:

Again, I'm far from even being a good mom, but I love my children dearly...#3 is almost out the door like the other 2 and it makes me sad.

me: I love you, Parker.

P: I love you too Mommy.

me: I love you, Madelyn.

M: I love you too.

me: I love you, Angelina.

A: I love you too Mommy.

P: Yeah, well...I love you SUPER LOVE!

I need one of these:

Substance

I had this vision of what I wanted my painting to look like. I started from a very practical standpoint and began painting the background. Keep in mind this was also an experiment. I didn't remember ever painting with oil paints...although during the process I got a memory flash and remembered that the colors from the one time I used oils started get all grey and muddy. Apparently, I had a color mixing problem or two before. Determined not to experience this again, I just decided to focus on the blending and getting the colors to meld into each other and to just let the background take on a life of it's own.

Once this was done and I was satisfied, I let it dry for a few days. Then I began the message of the piece...SUBSTANCE. I titled it substance. I took a medium that would allow me to build on texture and began to apply the lines. It felt so good to be creating. I finished and covered it with flesh tones and the one part with the extra expensive gold paint. I wasn't satisfied though...it was missing something. There needed to be more.

David and I sent Parker upstairs to bed. I came in the room and was immediately confronted with the reality that someone else had decided to finish it for me....

He squeezed out all of my gold paint onto the pallet and proceeded to use every single brush to glob on the paint.

He was huddled up in a little ball beneath my covers trying to be quiet and still so as not to be noticed.

I asked him why he did it and he said "I hate paintings." But I know that isn't true. There is purpose and intent in those brush strokes. After he was sent to his own bed I spent a few minutes touching up his intentions. That squiggle on the top right hand corner was his idea...I just helped to make it a little more visible. I extended a few of the strokes at the bottom. I added AL/PL '10 to the bottom and had determined that I would keep it as a memory. I would let it dry finish it off and tuck it away...

the next night I drove up to the house from a bookclub meeting and as we were approaching the house one of the moms said "it looks like someone is jumping on the bed." I went inside to discover it was Parker again...he had taken painting back up again it seems and the picture you see above is the only one I have. Sorry it is so blurry it was taken with the camera phone. He managed to pull some of the paint to the side and cover up the signed portion. It isn't nearly as artistic.

I've taken him several times to his own easel and pointed out where he is supposed to do HIS art...

Hopefully, Parker has learned a lesson and I have as well. I now put my paints and brushes high in the cabinets...today I am going to set the easels beside one another and we are going to work at creating.

Somewhere to put your money...

A fellow blogger, Undercover Dragon, wrote a substantial article highlighting a really positive charity. If you have some money you want to put to good use...send it to the Creative Learning Centre.

Read on:

Muscat Confidential: Another tremendous charity in Oman! The Creative Learning Centre: a center for handicapped children and children with learning disabilities.

As many of you know, one of the things I find frustrating about living in Doha is that there are so few opportunities to volunteer and to exercise charity and compassionate service...and when those opportunities present themselves, generally the government is offended if you do anything. It is a great risk to be service oriented in this country and probably one of the main reasons I hate it here. That is why this article is so great...because it is in Oman, and someone is going against all the stereotypes and actively working for the future of those who need help...not just ignoring the problem. Impressive and difficult to do in the Middle East. The article itself highlights the general arabic attitude towards people with special needs. Coincidentally, the other day I was driving home and had the radio on. The station radio dj was making random comments between songs like "People with special needs are different. Some don't read well. Some have problems seeing and might need glasses. Some have trouble walking and might need a wheelchair. Things you can do are smile at them, invite them to your table, they are special and so are you when you become their friends. Friendship is very important especially when you are not like everyone else." It was very basic and elementary. All I could do was listen to her calm voice say a sentence and then pause and then say another sentence and pause. I reflected on how strange it is to live in a country that needs to have "special needs" described on a popular radio station, but I was also very glad that someone was taking the initiative to do so. Sometimes it is so strange living here.

Sick of Thailand?

I just have a few more things to squeeze in...promise!

Today, class, we will be focusing on Bangkok. Bangkok is fabulous and I would totally love to live there. We began and ended our trip here.

We will start out with a few general pictures. Bangkok has a section that is the China section. This is referred to as the "rich" section, and our Thai tour guide explained that the chinese were allowed to come into the country because they were so poor. The government granted them a certain amount of land, which they built on and started to overcome their issues with lack of wealth. As the city grew, this property has become worth millions because it is in the middle of everything. The chinese will never sell. This is why they are called the "rich" people.

Overall, Bangkok is a big city with canals and massive highways and massive malls. I didn't take any pictures of the malls. One of them had a waterpark on top of it.

When we tried to procure a taxi to take us to the Temple of the Dawn and the Grand Palace area, they taxi's told us no and would drive off. Apparently, this was one of the areas that the government had sanctioned as an approved area for the red shirts to protest. The travel agent in our hotel was irritated with this and for a small fee he took us in his van, with his driver and brought us to these areas. We went in through backways and didn't see a single red shirt. I must admit, I was disappointed. I had my camera at the ready the whole time to capture the group that was so feared. Every once in awhile we would come across a small group of 5 or 6. They would be at an intersection, clapping these little wooden clappers, wearing red and smiling.

Here is one of the docks we had to go through that was considered a "backway"...really? Looks all decked out for tourism to me!

This is one of the outer courtyards for the Temple of Dawn.

The Temple of the Dawn, otherwise known as Wat Arun. It is a must see. At night it is lit up beautifully, during the day it looks grey in these photo's, but let me assure you it is still amazing! This Temple used to hold the Emerald Buddha until it was moved to the Grand Palace.

If you climb all the way to the top (you can see the vertiginous stair climb above my head) you can make a wish and it will come true. I was the only one brave enough to go. The stairs get more lengthy as you go up. My one leg would be completely folded before hitting the step below it with the other and I had to come down backwards. I made my wish. I hope it comes true. I couldn't believe my girls couldn't be coaxed up with the promise of a wish come true!!! Especially after having done zip-lining through the rainforest...this seemed relatively tame to me.

The Grand Palace is spectacular and dazzling in every way. If it weren't so dang hot we would have spent a lot more time here.

One of the guardians. Usually they face out in temples in Thailand, but in this case, they face in. In the inner sanctum is the Emerald Buddha and they keep a colorful and elegant watch over him.

This particular structure reminds me a LOT of when I played Tuptim in the King and I. So golden and distinct.

On the top of both of these structures are actual jewels. The Thai are very proud of this.

This is the outside of the main Temple which holds the Emerald Buddha. So intricate and beautiful.

Cameras were not allowed inside, but I snapped this one from outside. The Emerald Buddha isn't actually made of Emerald. It is made from a single piece of Jade. It has 3 changes of outfits that coordinate with the seasons in Thailand - summer, rainy season and winter. The King of Thailand comes 3 times a year to personally change the small outfits. They close the doors so no one can see inside and then there is a big processional and celebration as he exits.

Directly outside is some holy water that is blessed by the priest monks and brought daily to the temple. While we were there inside there was a monk. There is always at least one monk praying at all times in the temple. You dip these little unopened flower pods in the water and drip some on your head for good luck. I think my kids luck came in the form of cool, fresh water on their heads.

Notice anything similar from Egypt? Stomping on the serpent by a birdman. I'm seeing a lot of similarities between cultures. The belief here is that the serpent represents evil and someone or culture that would harm them.

Perfect illustration of how we felt due to the heat.

We were able to watch the men work meticulously on the doors. They were cutting, drilling and replacing the mother of pearl inlay. Some doors were getting touch ups and it appeared this one was getting completely redone. The work appeared to be done mainly by monks, but there were a few that didn't seem to be men of the orange robes.

Painting with gold.

There is a more cosmopolitan side of Bangkok. On our last day there we really enjoyed going to see How to Train a Dragon in 3d...for a much less expensive price than doha as well as a better theatre in general. David got a massage in the mall while the girls got a manicure and pedicure and I took parker for some orange mango ice cream. Then Parker, Madelyn, Angelina and I all got our hair cut. They washed and rubbed our scalps for about 15 minutes each...it was heaven. I had the most phenomenal blow out of my life. It all added up, with tip, to $40. In the MALL! You cannot beat that! And everyone's hair looked phenomenal! $40!!! I spend over $200 for a haircut here in Doha! I think I should simply hop a plane to Thailand when I need a cut and I will come ahead every time with cost and results!