Frikken Duckie is back in action!

I know what you're thinking:  "Huh?  Frikken Duckie?  Sounds familiar but I'm not sure..."  I've been out of the blogging game for about two months already so I get it.

I had been meaning to write a post for quite some time now but I just couldn't seem to get myself to do it.  After getting back from our family vacation, I still can't seem to get myself out of "vacation mode".  I literally just unpacked my suitcase the other day - and we've been back for about 3 weeks.

After being away for so long, I have come to the conclusion that real life sucks.  Since being back home we've had huge bills to pay, horrible weather, and we're currently having car trouble - two days in a row (battery on Saturday, radiator last night).  With all the added stress of being back in real life and dealing with real issues, I just knew I had to jump on a computer and get back to doing what relaxes me (most of the time) - blogging.

I've got a lot of upcoming posts planned (photos, recaps, DIY's, etc.) so please bear with me in my attempt to reintroduce myself into the blogging world.  Thanks so much - and I'm so excited to be blogging again!

Currently...

Hello all my lovely friends!  Sorry for being MIA yet again.  As most of you may know, I'm in Hawaii right now.  I got here last Tuesday and have been busy catching up and hanging out with family and just enjoying being home for the first time in 3 years.

I'm heading to California in a few hours and will be there until the 30th (let's meet up!) but I'll try to post as often as I can.  I've got another awesome giveaway post coming up in a few hours so stay tuned for that!

Until then, please bear with me in my constant absence this month!  And I've got a HUGE birthday giveaway going down soon that you definitely will not want to miss!!

I Thought I Was Invincible

I've been M.I.A. from the blog for the past few days because I'm sick.  The weather here has been crazy - pouring rain one minute then scorching heat the next - and it's caused me to feel like crap.  Headache, nausea, stuffy nose, sore throat, fatigue, and just plain grouchy-ness.

I spent the last few days in a sheet.  As in wearing a bed sheet.  As in a panty and a bed sheet.  Yeah, it was that bad.

I started feeling a little better today so I actually showered this morning for the first time in...about 3 days.  I haven't felt this crappy in a while and I definitely don't miss being sick, but I guess it had to come eventually since I was on that whole Martha Stewart (cleaning, cooking, crafting, etc.) trip for the past month or so.

I guess I thought I was invincible because I was so in the groove of it all.  Hopefully I can kick this bug in the ass this weekend and be back to my superhero self next week.  And if you miss me so much that you really can't take it anymore, come and check me out on Mish Lovin' Life and enter that giveaway.

Dear Friday,

Thank you for getting here sooner rather than later. I've been a cleaning beast over the past few weeks and I'm looking forward to a weekend of relaxation and alcohol. I'm about 99% sure the relaxing part won't happen because I'm still in cleaning mode but maybe I'll clean AND drink. Yes, that is a good plan.

And Friday, now that you've got me thinking about cleaning and drinking, I just thought of a few new drinking games I could play with myself! Find a pair-less sock? DRINK! Sneeze from dust? DRINK! Picked up a toy you know you just put away 5 minutes ago? Yell at your kids then DRINK! Okay so maybe the house won't get as clean, but at least I'll be feeling good, right?

Anyway, all I've got left on my cleaning list is the kitchen and a little bit of the bathroom again (because that NEVER stays clean for more than 3 hours at our house) so I'm hoping it won't take me too long tomorrow. But then again, the kitchen means dishes, cleaning the fridge, organizing the cabinets, wiping down err' thang...whew! It's making me tired just thinking about it!

Oh and we got the A/C for the girls' room tonight so we'll be installing it tomorrow too. The girls are excited to have an air conditioned room again. I'm excited that I'll be able to shut the door so I don't have to hear them bickering all the time. Win/win, right?

Before I go, Friday, I just wanted to tell you that Joey's birthday is tomorrow so I may or may not have time to post this weekend because we'll be gettin' bizzayyyy! If ya know what I mean...and if you don't, then never mind. Lol.

Later Friday, I gotta go greet Saturday...

♥ Duckie.

P.S. this post was written via iPad with the BlogGo app. And no, I wasn't paid to do it.

Oh, Hello Again!

Do I look familiar or what?

Yes, I went on yet ANOTHER blog hiatus!  It was actually a little longer than I intended it to be because my stupid internet/phone/cable was acting up and I was only able to get a tech out here yesterday.  Stupid.

I tried writing posts but my internet kept glitching and losing connection that it was just so frustrating that I gave up.  And trying to write a post on a phone?  Fuhgeddaboudit!

But in all honesty, it was pretty nice having a break from technology.  Every once in a while it's good to step away from the posts, statuses, updates, emails, etc. and get out and experience life.  And that's what I did - in a pretty awesome way.

Chloe celebrated her 5th birthday last week on the 19th and she had a blast.  Since this is her first year in school she was able to celebrate with her class.  She was so excited because she was able to get dressed up in her birthday dress and glitter shoes.

As soon as she walked into her class everyone ooh'd and ahh'd and told her that she looked like a princess.  That really made her day.  We bought pizza and cheeseburgers for the kids to eat and passed out party bags and strawberry cupcakes to everyone.

After school we went down to Joey's mom's house where we celebrated Chloe's birthday yet again with even more food!  She was so excited and thankful for all the gifts and birthday wishes she got that day.  Later that evening she even told me "Mom, I wish my birthday could last forever!  I never want it to end!"  Ain't that the truth.

A few nights later, Joey's goddaughter, Kayla, caught a 7-foot brown tree snake under their car!  She's only 13 years old but she's one tough cookie!

The kids are amazed with snakes so of course Joey ended up taking it.  So I had to drive while Joey sat in the passenger seat right next to me, holding this 7-foot snake in his hands.  How funny would it have been if we had gotten pulled over!?

"Oh, sorry officer, is there a problem?  It's just that I'm trying to get home quickly so our little friend here can calm down and sink its teeth into something juicy."

We ended up bringing the snake to Joey's friend's house so they could get a look at it.  They measured it and confirmed that it was 7 feet long and female.  I was able to get a few quick pictures of it before we put it in a container to rest.  And yes, Joey had to hold the head of it because brown tree snakes BITE!

So that was just a little bit of what I've been up to since my last post.  I've also been doing a LOT of cleaning.  It's pretty amazing actually, considering I hate to clean.  We cleaned the girls' room and my room and it was pretty epic.  The girls are happy that they can finally see the floor and have space to play in their own room again.  I'm happy that we got rid of so much junk and clutter and I'm excited to be getting some new used furniture in the next few days.

It's been refreshing to take a step back from the computer and be productive.  I'll be doing much more cleaning, rearranging, DIYing, and moving in the next few weeks because of the furniture and because my cousin will be moving out so I can't wait to share my DIY projects and before and after photos as it goes along!

♥ Duckie.

Sweet.

I really wasn't planning on posting today.  As I mentioned in Wednesday's post, I've been feeling a little uninspired lately and haven't had a real "aha" moment for my blog.  I think it's mostly due to the fact that March is normally a very stressful month for me.  Chloe's birthday AND Joey's birthday on top of other family and friends' birthdays (my Grandma, our neighbors' daughters, etc.) are in March and I'm usually stressed out about gifts, cooking, and other party woes.

This week has been especially stressful because I had been worrying about Chloe's bake sale, her party bags coming in on time, paying the bills, Joey's doctor's appointment, and the upcoming birthdays we were invited to (3 in one day) this weekend.

Thankfully, Chloe's bake sale went swimmingly.  We ended up making Cranberry-Orange Scones thanks to the recipe and help from my Auntie Lucy.  She's my mom's sister and a second mother to me.  My kids absolutely adore her and they always get so excited when we visit her.

My mom bought the party bags for Chloe's classmates and it finally came in yesterday.  I was stressing out about it because I wanted to get the invitations out to the kids by today so that the parents would know that we'll be providing lunch and snacks for their kids on Tuesday so they don't have to plan lunch for them on that day.  We were able to pick up the box yesterday afternoon and Chloe took her invitations with her to school today to pass out.  This is her first year in school so she's super excited to celebrate with her class.

Joey had his appointment yesterday and he is finally cast-less!  He's not 100% yet and has to go to rehab (..but I said no, no no!...) for another three weeks but at least he's not hopping around with that dirty thing on his leg anymore!  And I'll be able to take a much needed break from doing EVERYTHING for him soon. (Love you, honey!)

And the icing on the cake was this little package that I got from Rachael!  It put a smile on my face and really lifted my spirits!  She's such a sweet person and I highly recommend that you go visit (& follow) her blog!  Plus she's got a pretty sweet giveaway going on right now that you should definitely enter!!!

Cheers to the freakin' weekend!

♥ Duckie.

IFB Project #85: Where Do You Blog?

So I've put some thought into the direction I want to take this little blog of mine over the past week and I think I've come to the decision that I want to lean more towards fashion and my personal style.

Fashion has always been a HUGE part of my life - I had dreams of being a model-slash-fashion designer-slash-rockstar since I was little.

Check out this picture of a 7-year-old me modeling for the local department store.  My pictures were in the newspaper ads every week - I was a celebrity in elementary school.

This blog originally started as a personal style blog for my sister and I to share our daily outfits and eventually grew to include various other topics.  I do have many different interests but trying to keep up with so many different aspects on a blog can be frustrating!

Right now, I plan to focus more on the beauty/fashion/personal style side of my blog because it's something I am very passionate about.  I will still cover other topics from time to time but I'm gonna try and stick mostly to one (okay, two) main topics.

That being said, I've decided to participate in the IFB (Independent Fashion Bloggers) Project this week and give you the insider scoop on where I blog.  The IFB site is full of helpful tips and articles that are useful for ALL bloggers, not just the fashion ones!

When I first started this little blog of mine, I was blogging mostly from my desk at work.  I would blog during my down time so it was a little difficult to stay focused and inspired when writing a post.

Yup, trying to find some inspiration up there.

After I stopped working in August last year, I set up a little office nook in our old room which was just being used as storage at the time.

I found that I was able to get more things done because I wasn't as distracted as I was when I was working.  The only problem was that it was hot as hell in that room with very little air flow.  I would literally sweat my ass off over a post!

A few months later, my cousin moved in so my little office nook ended up moving into my room, and then eventually to our living room.  As of right now, I blog from our living room couch.

My laptop, external monitor, and various papers, bills, and unopened mail clutter our little brown coffee table.  Though it isn't my ideal blogging space, it works for now.  I'm in the main area of the house and in earshot of the kids at all times (except when they're in the other yard), I have plenty of natural air flow and light, and I can just lay down and take a nap if I need to recharge.

Eventually I plan to clean and organize my room and create a Pinterest-worthy office space to blog from, but who knows how long that will take - I mean, our kitchen has been unfinished for two years.

 This seems easy enough to recreate, right?
[via]

What about you?  Where do you blog?  Does your blog space help or hinder your creativity and focus?

♥ Duckie.

Bible. [Did she really just say that sh*t?!]

My back has been hurting so much the past couple days that I can't even wipe my own ass without being close to tears.

I'm 85% positive that Kanye and Kim's baby will be ugly.

[via]

Some bloggers are such snobs.  I'm tired of putting in the effort without getting any bit of reciprocation.  It's too much like sex.

My kids were watching Disney Channel the other week and all I heard was "We shall call this place Pooh Corner."  I immediately blurted out, "That's rude, they might as well call it shit hole!"  Serious eye rolling ensued.

 [via]

I loathe teenagers.  Okay, not all (shoutouts to my teen readers!) of them, but most.  I want to poke my eyes out when I hear teenagers talk about the latest Facebook drama or how they got so many likes on the picture they posted of themselves on Instagram.  I.  DO.  NOT.  CARE.  When you get a job and learn what it's like to do everything on your own - then we can talk.  Over drinks.

Speaking of teenagers, once my girls hit their teens they are going to be homeschooled.  Or sent to a convent.  In another country.  Probably convent so I don't have to deal with them except on visitation days.

Today's supposed to be a fitness day but I'm not feeling very fitness-y.  I'd rather sit on my ass all day and laugh and stupid things, like this:



♥ Duckie.

Just call me Debbie Downer...

I have nothing to post about today.
Well, let's face it, I never really have much to post about every other day too, but I somehow manage to pull it out of my ass together.

But today:  Nothing.  Nilch.  Nada.

I'm trying to use font effects to make this post seem more interesting than it is.  Is it working?

Oh, I signed up for Chictopia and Lookbook.nu to build some fashion cred.  Holla if you got one because I've got zero followers on both accounts.  So much for that fashion cred, right?

I'm not in the mood to post anything else right now, sorry.  I just want to crawl back into bed until the weekend.


♥ Duckie.

Even though I said I wasn't going to post today...

I forgot my school junk at home.  My notebook (with notes), chapter printout (because my school won't send us the real books), assignment drafts (that I hand write before typing), etc. so I can't do any schoolwork on my down time at work.

So of course that means I have time to blog.  But have nothing to blog about because I wasn't prepared to blog today.  Though its not like I normally prepare my posts in advance anyway, so here's a few random tidbits:

+  I'll soon be selling Cookie Lee Jewelry with my aunt.  She sells Scentsy and I mentioned that I wanted to get into Cookie Lee or some type of home based business so she ordered the starter kit for us to try out.  I'm excited - a little extra cash is always good.  But then again: mo' money, mo' problems.

+  I'm also starting Sensa today.  I'll post more about it on Fitness Friday.

+  My makeup looks so darn cute today.  Though it makes my nose look incredibly big.

+  Oh-em-gee, summer is almost over and I've got a buttload of things to do before the girls start school.

+  I wore a skirt as a top yesterday and looked faaaaaaaaaabulous!  Upcoming outfit post fa' sho'.

+  I am seriously thinking about changing careers.  Or at least get a part-time job in the fashion and retail industry again.  Potential employers:  Holler!!

 +  Can't flippin' wait until trippin' to Cali in October!  All you California bloggers, let's have a meetup!!!  That means you Keena, Mish, Vicki, Devon, Steph, Char, and any others I missed!

So I think that's all for today's post.  I'm all tuckered out right now and hungry as a mutha'.


♥ Duckie.

So not down with the sickness.

Womp womp.  I'm sick again.  I have no clue where this cold came from but it sucks!  Sneezing, coughing, runny nose, and a throat so sore that it hurts to swallow.  Yeah, that's me.

Sorry, but I'm not up to a Tasty Tuesday post right now because all I wanna do is go home and curl up in my bed with a big bowl of miso soup and watch a marathon of "My Husband Got a Family" all day long.



Fyi, click the image to watch too!

Unfortunately I'm stuck at work right now with absolutely no work on my desk so I'm catching up on my homework and class discussion boards.  Okay, not REALLY, but I'm going to after I'm done posting this.

Thanks to all of you who linked up on Friday!  You guys are awesome!  And sorry I didn't do a makeup post yesterday.  I had planned on doing a tutorial but being that I was sick and stayed home from work yesterday I was in no mood to put on any makeup at all.

Anyway, our weekend was pretty busy with parties, bbqs, family time, and impromptu photo sessions. Here's a few lot of pictures from our weekend (as well as a few old random ones):

These berries are from the tree (or maybe just an overgrown bush) in our yard.  The kiddies love climbing, picking, and eating them.

Aren't these doggie benches so cute!?  I want to get some for the kids' rooms!

Another one of Chloe's drawings.  Not bad for 4 years old.

Fresh, ripe, mangoes.  PERFECT for summer.

At Joey's 24-hour softball tournament.  We only stayed for an hour.

Bwahahaha.  Trace trying to keep up with his own Fitness Friday over at the Playport.  He loved that thing so much. I want to get him one for Christmas!

The girls had a photoshoot with Joey while Trace and I were knocked out in the car.  Lol.  I'm not great with long car rides.

The girls at Paseo Beach Park.

The girls again...Chloe being a bit too pose-y.

Panorama of Ipan Beach. Shook the camera a bit in the beginning so it looks chopped.

The weirdos.

No makeup.  Bleh!

Because he thought he was so cool with his shades.

♥ Duckie.

Thursday thoughts...

Should I or should I not Facebook?  I had one before and deactivated it but I feel like I could reach a greater audience if I reactivate it - or create a new profile especially for the blog.  What should I do?

My opu (stomach) is so full right now!  Joey took me to Tony Roma's for lunch and I.  Am.  Stuffed.

We're supposed to have a BBQ this weekend to celebrate Trace's birthday with everyone but Joey's family is having something for his cousin so I don't know what we're going to do.

I'm trying to squeeze in an extra class this term so I can get it over with.  I'm thinking about taking a Creative Writing class next term to enhance my writing capabilities a little more.

Summer has just begun and I'm already not looking forward to the back-to-school stress (uniforms, supplies, shoes, shopping, lines, paperwork, physicals, lunches, etc.)

I think I'll go running tonight with the Hulk.


♥ Duckie.

A few odd things...

→  Logged on to my email this morning to see "Welcome Back to Facebook" at 12:40am and "You Have Deactivated Your Facebook Account" at 1:02am.  I had deactivated my Facebook page a while ago so obviously someone hacked me.

→  The girls and I were standing outside of a store and Chloe kept staring at another little girl until that little girl walked into the store.  I said "Chloe, what are you doing?"  She replied casually "I'm staring her down, mom."  "What?!"  "You know, staring her down...like this."  She narrowed her eyes at me.  I said "Why are you doing that to her?  That's not very nice."  Her explanation was "Well she has a DS (Nintendo DS) and a phone!  I don't have a phone and I want one, so I had to stare her down!"  She is not getting a phone.  She is 4.

→  Surprisingly found a cute outfit at Kmart.  Thanks Selena Gomez.

→  I've got Nicki Minaj's Beez In the Trap stuck in my head.  Apparently it is Aniyah's new favorite song.

→  Since Joey's incident I've fallen in love with Mob Wives.  Drita and I could totally be best friends.

→  Ate something new today:  tuna stir fried with papaya.  It is AWESOME.

→  We're going to a luncheon and comedy show tomorrow for Administrative Professionals day.  I'm always happy for free food.  ALWAYS.

→  I was up late last night reading The Apothecary's Daughter.

→  I've been drinking water and tea like it's nobody's business.  Which it isn't.  Anybody's business.  I'm feeling a lot better because of it.

→  My grams is out of the hospital.  The kids and I are visiting her tonight.

→  My cousister (cousin who's more like a sister) is trying to sell me funeral packages. 

→  Underwater World (a huge walk-through aquarium here on Guam) is now offering guests to swim with the sharks in the tank.  I will try this.  Maybe for my birthday.  I just learned it costs $199.  Maybe someday.

→  So I changed back to the old Blogger interface, but they're still taking it away from us next month.  And their photo uploader sucks.

→  The kids and I watched Once Upon a Forest the other day.  I still remembered every line.

Oh, and don't forget to email me those guest posts!  Can't wait to start reading them already!  Have a...uh...Therrific Thursday!  Bad?  Okay...a...THRILLING Thursday!