Aloha Friday

Welcome to this week’s edition of Aloha Friday.In Hawaii, Aloha Friday is the day that we take it easy and look forward to the weekend. So I thought that on Fridays I would take it easy on posting, too. Therefore, I’ll ask a simple question for you to answer. Nothing that requires a lengthy response.

When I was growing up my mom always got us kids something at Valentine's Day and Easter.....I am 34 and she still does!!!!! (And I still LOVE it!!!). So I have continued this tradition on with my kids. It is never anything HUGE, just a little something to say "We love you". So as I was looking around Target yesterday I found some AMAZING deals!!!! Jake is into reading right now........big time!!!! He had $15 dollars to spend last week and bought books with it!!!! Anyway, Magic Treehouse is a series that he really likes and they had a set of 4 that were originally $15 clearanced out for $7!!!! So, I snatched them up. THEN I was browsing through the girly section and at the end of the aisle they had a Baby Chou Bye Bye doll that was originally $40 on clearance for $9!!!!!! Now, I probably will save this one for Jaise for her birthday because I can't have her opening this HUGE box and he opens a set of books. It has to appear "fair" even though they practically cost the same!!!!

So, do you buy little Valentine's Day gifts for anyone?

If you do, what kinds of things do you buy?

Check out more Aloha Friday questions at An Island Life.

Thousand Words Thursday

Late post today due to "technical" difficulties!!!!

Little "J" at 1 on her own tractor like papa's.

Check out more ATWT at Cheaper Than Therapy

Wordless Wednesday

Big J when he was little meeting "Joey" for the first time with grandpa!!!

For more wordless wednesday head over to MomDot, 5 Minutes for Mom,

The Winner Is.....

The winner of my $50 photofiddle giveaway is............

Vicki!!!!

Congratulations to you and thank you to all of you that entered. Remember you can still receive 15% off your order by using code mom15. They make great Valentine's Day, Mother's Day, Father's Day or any day gifts!!!!

PSA Moon Park Frauds!!!

I felt the need to share my story of identity theft with you in case you fall into the same category that I did. Maybe I can save you some grief!!! Grab a cup of coffee and read on.....

So, I was balancing my checkbook in December (a yearly occurrence in my household!!) when I discovered a strange charge debited from my account for $24.99. I called my bank and they told me to call the number on the check, which I did. Now get this.....I can clearly see that they have been given my checking account number BUT only my name is listed AND it has an address from nearly 3 years ago!!!!! The man on the other end of the phone proceeds to tell me that they are a 3rd party billing service for "Moon Park" and that the charge was for an adult website subscription. What ta #$*%%???? I told him I never authorized these charges and he quickly agreed to credit my account within 10 days.

Flash ahead to today.

The phone number is no longer in service and after I googled Moon Park Fraud, I was introduced to a number of other victims. There seems to be 3 different amounts that are used: $24.99, $34.99 and $39.99. There are a few different phone numbers, but all have been disconnected now. Everyone was told pretty much the same thing. Some have filed police reports, most have closed out their account and all of us are PISSED off!!!! So on these message boards we discover that there seems to be a common denominator: We have all been or still are Mary Kay Consultants and used there Propay account (that allows a Mary Kay Consultant to process your credit card if you use that to pay for your product). Now, I am not saying that there was a breach into the Propay system, but it does seem to explain why they only used my name (when this account is joint with my husband) and why they had an address nearly 3 years old since this is the address I was living at when I became a consultant.

I will spend alot of time changing over bills and direct deposits and these people will probably never be caught.

So, I am pretty sure there is a cocktail in my near future. Hey, it's 5:00 somewhere isn't it?!!!!

I would love to hear from you if you have had this experience with Moon Park or anyone else.

Last day to enter my $50 photo giveaway here.

Monday Morning Meme...Back in the day...

I'm joining in over at Write From Karen and hope you will too. Every Monday she will post a series of questions and your job is to answer them. Pretty simple right? So here it goes.

1. What was your favorite subject in grade school? Why did you enjoy this subject so much? What was your favorite part about this subject?

My favorite subject was Math. I think I enjoyed it so much because I was good at it. My favorite part was solving the problems. I think this is what has led to my sudoku addiction.

2. Tell me about your best friend in grade school. Do you still keep in touch? If not, why did the friendship dissolve?

My best friend in grade school was Becky. We did everything together. Her parents owned a furniture store and we would go there after school and eat pure junk because her mom was cool like that!!! We both loved Garfield and we had a "Booker Buddy Club". Oh it was very professional...we even had dues that we had to pay......I wonder who ever got to keep that money?!!! It was also very exclusive...only 2 members....her and I!!!! We do still keep in touch but not as much as I would like since she moved about 2 hours away.
3. Do you remember your first day of school? If not your very first day, then please tell us about the earliest memory of your first day of school - how did you feel? What did you wear? Did it take long for you to make new friends? Do you remember anything about the classroom or the teacher?

I don't remember a single thing about kindergarten....maybe something traumatic happened. I do, however, remember my first day of first grade. I remember standing on the school patio scared poopless about where to go. I didn't have a clue!!!! I started to cry and then a woman with "white" hair came up and helped me to my room. I ended up being great friends with her daughter!!! My teacher's name was Miss McKeoutchin and she was super nice.

4. Let’s jump to middle school. What were your middle school years like? Did you have a lot of friends? Did you adjust quickly or slowly to the change from grade school? What was your favorite subject in middle school?

Middle school sucked. You go through the geeky stage and girls are mean and catty!!! I had plenty of friends. I went to a small school so the adjustment wasn't very big coming from grade school. I wonder why girls go through that stage of being mean? My niece is going through it right now. Sometimes she is being treated crappy and sometimes she is the one dishing it out. I guess they are growing pains!!!

Don't forget to enter my $50 photo giveaway here. You only have today and tomorrow!!

Weekly Winners

I feel like we all have cabin fever this week. We have watched ALOT of movies and we are ready to see green grass again!!!! Here are a few shots from this week.

A friend made this little pink scarf for Jaise to go with her hat perfectly and she wears it ALL of the time!!! It doesn't matter if she wearing sweats or just her underwear....the scarf is her new favorite accessory!!!!

We are guitar hero freaks in this house. Well, I guess by "we", I mean Jake, Jaise and me. Hubby could take or leave it.....but that's only because we could all beat the pants off of him!!!! Jaise doesn't really "play" the game but whenever we are playing, she pulls out her pink guitar and rocks out with us.

This is Jake playing his new "Decades" guitar hero on his ds.

And this is where I want to be instead of buried in snow and temperatures under 20!!!!! I'm not picky.....just anywhere with sand and seashells......and little umbrella drinks wouldn't hurt either!!!

Don't forget to enter my $50 photo giveaway here.

Check out more Weekly Winners at Sarcastic Mom.