O to be six again!

A man was sitting on the edge of the bed, observing his wife, looking at herself in the mirror. Since her birthday was not far off he asked what she'd like to have for a gift.

'I'd like to be six again,' she replied, still looking in the mirror.

On the morning of her birthday, he rose early, made her a nice big bowl of Lucky Charms, and then took her to a Six Flags theme park. What a day!

He put her on every ride in the park: the Death Slide, the Wall of Fear, the Screaming Monster Roller Coaster, everything there was.

Five hours later they staggered out of the theme park.

Her head was reeling and her stomach felt upside down.

He then took her to a McDonald's where he ordered her a Happy Meal with extra fries and a chocolate shake.

Then it was off to a movie, popcorn, a soda pop, and her favorite candy, M&Ms. What a fabulous adventure! Finally she wobbled home with her husband and collapsed into bed, exhausted. He leaned over her with a big smile and lovingly asked, 'Well dear, what was it like being six again?'

Her eyes slowly opened and her expression suddenly changed. 'I meant my dress size, you retard!!'

The moral of the story: Even when a man is listening, he is gonna get it wrong.

So I had a lovely weekend!

My boyfriend is tall, a little overweight (not much), and funny. There is a lot to be said about him that I like and some that I don't.

He is good with my daughter and she loves him. Kids in general like him because he is fun, silly, and lets them get away with a lot. He plays video game, likes cartoons, and loves cats. He will do housework without being asked to and will general look after anything he thinks should be looked after. If I ask him to do something he will always do it. And for these things I love him...

He does irritate me sometimes though...He usually only complains about the things that I know he does not like. Which means he will say something about things he does not like no matter what. Even when I do not want him too.

And he is a neat freak and has some habits that I would rather he didn't. He alphabetizes his items regularly and will do it to my stuff if I let him. This it to be expected because he is a computer science major and good at structured coding which had to come from somewhere. He will clean the cupboards and re-arrange the shelves after I put something away...IRRITATING...or he will point out something that does not make sense to him even when I think he should just be quiet. These things are just some of the things about him I find really annoying.

And I do love him.

This week we had Verizon coming in to put fiber optic cable in our apartment. The drops (the place the cable comes out) that is. The apartment manager told everyone that they needed to clear the area around where the work was going to be done before they came in to do it. The manager also gave us a floor plan of the apartment and marked on it the location of the drops.

My closet in our bedroom...great.

I was busy most of the week so my boyfriend did it for me.

He emptied half of the closet into the living room in order to clear it out for them. The closet is very large. It is a three door, full size closet and it is full. He took everything of the top shelf. He pulled half the clothes off the hanging bar and he took everything out that was on the floor.

This included a TV, about eighteen pairs of shoes, and some bedding I had in it.

So leaving alone that the drops ended up somewhere else...in a totally different part of the apartment...

It was Friday and my boyfriend tells me, "Now would be a good time to organize your clothes..."

He said it nicely. Calmly. And then he followed it up with some very reasonable things to make it make more sense such as "Then you will have more room" and "I can put your stuff away when I do laundry." All that to him probably sounded very reasonable.

Me? All I heard was that he wanted to change the way I did things. See, I can find everything I have quickly. I don't take up that much space and I know where every thing is. It is comfortable and other then the odd thing, it works for me.

Odd thing? you ask. Like the cat, Eugene sleeping on my clothes when I am not home. Pisses me off that I have to clean cat hair off my shirts...arg!

For four days the clothes sat in the living room. I was gone most of the time working but I could tell that it irritated him. He brought it up every day. He even went so far as to talk about going out and getting some shelving units to help with putting the things in the closet. He wanted it to be neater and cleaner for him. I am sure he thought it would be good for me as well. And that he would not put the stuff away until we had some way to better use the space.

And Sunday we go out and spend an hours looking at space saving shelving and bins to store stuff in the closet. He loved it. Me, not so much. He spend a lot of time talking about what we could do with my daughter's closet and mine. He started planning what he could do with his stuff...

Anyway, we get one unit of draws for my closet. I get to spend my whole afternoon putting my closet back together. I was tired and I figured that because he pulled apart my closet he should put it back together. Seemed fair to me.

Of course, he didn't see it that way.

So finally I am done. My closet was put away and the apartment is clean.

And guess what. The unit we got is to big. I had to re-organize my shoes just to get them back in my closet. I found that more of my clothes had cat hair and wrinkles then I thought. And I discovered that my boyfriend had put a sub-woofer in my closet at some point.

The good news is that he figured out that it did not work without me having to say it to many times which was nice. He also offered to pay for the replacement unit for the draw unit that I bought. That was nice of him...and he will pay...I am thinking some nice wood shelving that matches my desk. Nice and expensive...

Photoshop techniques!!!

I was googling on how to create digital scrapbook by using Photoshop CS2, and came across Jessica's blog.

I spend the whole morning reading about all the wonderful Photoshop techniques she offered! I thought if you love digital scrapbooking like me, you might enjoy reading her blogs too. Please go check out her "Photoshop Friday Index" page!

I am sure will use some of her techniques on my templates!

~Chic Wild Flowers~ Auction Template

I just got this template done. It is one of my favorites!
I love the combination of black and flowers.
It is great auction template for any boutique or vintage items.

It is for sell @ $14.99 on my eBay store ~The 4th Muse~ or you can contact me via
themuse@the4thmuse.com

This template includes:
*~Customized header with your choice of name and optional slogan
*~Links to your 'About Me' page, Feedback, My Auctions, and My World
*~Easy to understand Instructions for Implementation
*~Right mouse click disabled for images protection
*~Template images hosting
*~Unlimited usage within purchased account (eBay)

~My Memory Book~ Auction Template

I just got this template done. It is one of my favorites!
I love the lady photo with vintage bond book combination with roses and jewelry. It is great auction template for any boutique or vintage items.

It is for sell @ $15.99 on my eBay store ~The 4th Muse~ or you can contact me via
themuse@the4thmuse.com

This template includes:
*~Customized header with your choice of name and optional slogan
*~Links to your 'About Me' page, Feedback, My Auctions, and My World
*~Easy to understand Instructions for Implementation
*~Right mouse click disabled for images protection
*~Template images hosting
*~Unlimited usage within purchased account (eBay)

Matching StoreFront Template!

If you have purchased any of my templates before and you would like to have matching eBay storefront, here is just the item for you!
It is for sell @ 35.99 on my eBay site ~The 4th Muse~ or you can contact me via themuse@the4thmuse.com

This template includes:
*~Customized header with your choice of name and optional slogan
*~Links to your 'About Me' page, Feedback, My Auctions, and My World
*~Easy to understand Instructions for Implementation
*~Right mouse click disabled for images protection
*~Template images hosting
*~Unlimited usage within purchased account (eBay)

American Citizenship!

Ok, it took me about 10 years to decide to become an American citizen, and I got it todayJ.

I was already allegeable back in 97, I send my paper work in, but some how INS lost my paper work, so I thought maybe it is a sign that I should not become a citizen. Time goes by; my dad got his, then my brother, finally my mother.

Two of my best friends asked me, what am I waiting for? I said I don’t know, and it is too much money just to get the paper says that I am an American citizen.

So yet again, I let the opportunity passed.

This June, my dad comes to me, “When are you going to get your citizenship? If you not going to get it right now, you are going to pay $700.00 if you decided to apply next July.” I said “What????, Holy cow!!, it was only $100.00 back in 97, now they going to rise it to $700.00?”

This is my draw line; I am not going to pay $700.00 just for that. So I filed my papers, got my fingers printed, and waited for 3 months.

Got my interview this morning, and got my citizen ship paper this afternoon, talk about express line.

Here I am as a new American citizen.

Do You Believe in Karma?

Well, I do.
I am try to be a good person around my friends/family and with the people I don't even know. I keep in very low key when I have no control over any situations that will upset me in normal circumstances.

For example, I have been designing my templates and sell them on eBay, and there is a contain individual who is going around every template designers auctions and copy their designs and styles and post them as her own, and also bad mouth other designers creations. Such individual who is also copy many of my designs/styles and post as her own. Her actions cost me many nights of frustrations. Finally I told myself why pay so much energy on something that I have no control over. What she done will eventually catch up with her.

In Buddhism we believed in cycle of life, what you did in this life will result in what will you be in your next life, and sometimes this "result" will catch up with you in your current life time instead of next.

In Buddhism, karma (Pāli kamma) is strictly distinguished from, meaning "fruit" or "result". Karma is categorized within the group or groups of cause (Pāli hetu) in the chain of cause and effect, where it comprises the elements of "volitional activities" (Pali sankhara) and "action" (Pali bhava). Any action is understood to create "seeds" in the mind that will sprout into the appropriate result (Pāli vipaka) when they meet with the right conditions. Most types of karmas, with good or bad results, will keep one within the wheel of (the Sanskrit and Pāli term for "continuous movement" or "continuous flowing" refers in Buddhism to the concept of a cycle of birth and consequent decay and death, in which all beings in the universe participate and which can only be escaped through enlightenment. Saṃsāra is associated with suffering and is generally considered the antithesis of nirvāṇa or nibbāna.); others will liberate one to nirvāna (is a word used by the Buddha to describe the perfect peace of the mind that is free from craving, anger and other afflictive states).

Buddhism relates karma directly to motives behind an action. Motivation usually makes the difference between "good" and "bad", but included in the motivation is also the aspect of ignorance; so a well-intended action from a deluded mind can easily be "bad" in the sense that it creates unpleasant results for the "actor".

Chinese New Year!!! 2008

It is a new year Rat in Chinese calender. As a Chinese myself, we celebrate new years too. However the actual Chinese New Year is Feb. 7, 2008.

It is a very important holiday in East Asia. The festival proper begins on the first day of the first lunar month in the Chinese calendar and ends on the 15th; this day is called the Lantern festival, which is celebrated at night with lantern displays and children carrying lanterns in a parade.


Chinese New Year's Eve is known as Chúxì (除夕). Chu literally means "change" and xi means "Eve". The Chinese calendar is based on a combination of lunar and solar movements. The lunar cycle is about 29.5 days. in order to "catch up" with the solar calendar the Chinese insert an extra month once every 19 years cycle. This is same as adding an extra day on leap year. This is way, according to the solar calendar, the Chinese New Year falls on a different date each year.

New Year's Eve and New Year's Day are celebrated as a family affair, a time of reunion and thanksgiving. The celebration was traditionally highlighted with a religious ceremony given in honor of Heaven and Earth, the gods of the household and the family ancestors.

The sacrifice to the ancestors, the most vital of all the rituals, united the living members with those who had passed away. Departed relatives are remembered with great respect because they were responsible for laying the foundations for the fortune and glory of the family.

The presence of the ancestors is acknowledged on New Year's Eve with a dinner arranged for them at the family banquet table. The spirits of the ancestors, together with the living, celebrate the onset of the New Year as one great community. Then communal feast called "Surrounding the stove" or Weilu. It is symbolizes family unity and honors the past and present generations.