Before the year ends and I get consumed by my work schedule, I just want to say THANK YOU. A very sincere THANK YOU to all of those who have supported me and followed me in my many endeavors. 

When I joined an essential oil company, it was simply to supply my mom with oils. It was her sharing the oils with others that have boosted me and my family to where we are now in the essential oil world here on Oahu and beyond. Although we are by no means making a lot of money by sharing these oils, we find joy in helping others who are sick, in pain, or just want to improve their lives. For me, it's never about the money. It's about helping others get better and feel better.

When i joined Thirty-One, I just wanted the BAGS. :)  I just wanted that kit for $99 and that was it. All it took was ONE person to want a bag that I had and I have grown to become a supplier to those around me who want to get organized and efficient. THANK YOU for allowing me to be your rep.

When I joined Nomades, it was because I fell in love with the charms. I am a proud military wife. I was raised a Navy Brat. My entire FAMILY serves in the armed forces. From my grandfather, to my father in law, to my cousins, uncles, and beyond. We are strong supporters of our troops and the bracelet I wear proudly every single day is my way of showing how much I support my husband in his service.  By becoming a consultant, I could now share these charms with others. These charms are by no means "cheap". These are sterling silver jewelry pieces that I expect to hand down to my daughter, my granddaughter and so forth. This bracelet tells my story.

When I decided to become a coupon instructor, it was because I wanted to share this skill of being able to use coupons to help others save money.  If I can do it, anyone can. It just takes practice and planning. Anyone can get items on "sale". But by utilizing coupons in conjunction with sales plus other tips and tricks, you can save so much more on products. I never pay full price for anything unless absolutely necessary. I mean, anything. Eating out, clothing, etc. I want everyone else to know how to do this because we all could use a little more room in our budget.

I took on a lot this past year and I managed to do all of this on top of working a regular 9 to 5 job that included traveling in between.  I could not have done ANY of this without the support of all of my family and friends. 

For that, THANK YOU and I love you. :)

Maria

Did you know that singing is good for you? Not only does it remove stress, it also kicks those endorphins in gear and helps to lower your blood pressure! My son once again introduced me to another app on the iphone and I'm HOOKED. It is SO much fun.

Back in the day, I used to use the MySpace Karaoke feature and that was a blast! While I sang, Shelby (who was maybe 10 at the time) would dance in the background. What a great time. It was nice to be able to watch others sing as well. It's what made it fun.

With Smule, you can't see others but you can collaborate with them. It's pretty cool being able to sing duets with people from all over the world! 

I use my dre studios when I'm using the app. Pro: sound quality is excellent. con: I can't hear SHIZNIT but what comes through the mic so I'm sure it's driving my neighbors bat crap crazy when I'm belting out songs in the middle of the day. I don't realize how LOUD I am when I've got the headphones on. What's worse is, my son is doing the same exact thing in his room on the other side of the house. LOL

Tips: Use better quality headphones with mic for clearer sound. I use my Dr. Dre Studios and the sound is great! 

Do note that we can hear EVERYTHING based on how loud you set your mic. Yes, I can your hear kid crying, your dog barking, and your FAN running in the background.  I have yet to hear a fart. 

So, if you're BRAVE enough to get on smule and sing along, follow me, my screen name is sanababeets.  RJ's is _itzromeleo  Heck, sing with us! We've got open calls!

Happy singing! 

We are now approaching the end of another year. Everyone is doing some reflecting and so shall I. It has been quite a year for our family. Emily has grown a lot since her first birthday at the beginning of 2013. She now can understand and follow through with actions you request of her.  She is now going into her “terrible two” stage which so far, has been more fun than terrible. She does have her moments though.

Romel has a severely damaged Achilles and has the beginnings of carpal tunnel syndrome in BOTH wrists. And we all know we’ve put on even more weight this past year. Not healthy, I know. The main thing is, WE’RE HAPPY. Honestly and truly happy.  My son graduated high school, my daughter got moved to our alma mater, and we’re all in good health and haven’t killed each other, yet.

With RJ in college, Shelby in high school, and Emily slowly getting potty trained, I look at my calendar and RECALCULATE my retirement date. L O L!  Emily pushed me back another 14 freakin years!  I was nearing the end of the line and I succumbed to the original plan (dated 1994) to have THREE kids with my husband. Sigh.

2014 marks 23 years that I’ve been with my husband and 19 years married. My god where did the time go?!!! Now, I look at my teenage daughter and I cringe at the thought that when I was her age, I already had a boyfriend. I look back at that and laugh at how stupid I was. How, as a teenager, I thought I knew everything. I see all of me in her and it kills me. I’m a complete hard ass and if she’s going to be twice as bad as I was, I’ve got my work cut out for me.

Welp, goodbye 2013, hello 2014. Let’s make this new year another good one, shall we?

Happy New Year, don’t drink and drive, be safe, and rock out with your wok out!

Hello, to make PANCIT! HAHAHAA!!!

For black Friday, I opted to stay indoors away from the shopping war zones and do my shopping online. It was a breeze. I was able to acquire super hot deals with free shipping.  You can’t beat bed sheet sets for $5-$15!  I even got new pillows for $11 at Macy’s. The best part? I got my macy’s orders the following MONDAY. How in the world did they pull that off! I was shocked and happy! 

Kohls, I got hot deals on clothing with free shipping and I received most of my order the following week.  On top of that, I earned more Kohls cash. On TOP of THAT, I had some of my order delayed and because of the late delivery, they gave me an additional $25 credit! Shut the front door!

Old Navy, I picked up a bunch of jeans for under $19 with free shipping and received those in less than a week.  

My one and only troublesome shopping experience is with Toys R Us. I purchased three boxes of 492 count baby wipes online (ship to store for free) for $6 a box. At the price, I wasn’t about to get out to drive down there. I could’ve, but the thought of the hoards of hormonal women with a bunch of screaming kids was not where I wanted to be on Black Friday. The last time I purchased these wipes, it was a box of 800+ wipes for $7. I ordered them from Babies R Us and pick up was a snap. I went in and came right out in under 10 minutes.

This time, I wasn’t so fortunate.  First, walking into the store was like falling into the Nile infested with starving piranhas. There were NO carts available. I was glad I didn’t need one because going in there with one was like sitting in traffic during rush hour. You went NO WHERE.

The line to guest services was ridiculously long. I asked a woman in line if this is where order pick up was. She said it’s in the back corner. You scan your paper and they bring it to you. Ok. So I head on back there where about 6 other people were waiting. Their faces told me they were probably waiting there for some time. I waited a good 20 minutes before anyone acknowledged me standing there. Mind you, we can see the “warehouse” where toys and goods are piled in boxes and it was like peeking into someones home that hasn’t been kept up. It was a complete MESS back there. I have no idea how they ever find anything in that place! They appeared shorthanded and there were a few that seemed to just be "standing around" If you’re on break, get out of the customers view!

Now, that one associate who said, “I’ll be right back to help you”, did not come back for another 10 minutes or so. By then another guy approached me (because I was the ONLY ONE LEFT standing there) and said, “have you been helped”. I said NO. I scanned my paper and have been standing here for BABY WIPES.

He scans my paper again and tells me, “your code didn’t scan right so we didn’t get the alert.” REALLY?! How in the heck am I supposed to know that? When I scanned it, the reader said “your merchandise will be out shortly” or something to that effect. I did NOT get an error message at all. What a clusterf...

Anywhoo. He searches high and low. Nothing. He can’t find it. WHAT THE CRAP?! Finally he tells me we’ll just pull it from the shelf. SERIOUSLY? Pull it from the shelf? I could’ve done that eons ago and been done with this crap.

So, I pull my boxes and walk straight out of the store. As I walk past guest services, I over hear someone say, “we have another customer pick up”. That’s when I figured (with a big question mark over my head), they have TWO customer pick up areas? I’ll bet my wipes were up there. So why have a merchandise pick up in the back too? How utterly confusing!

To add insult to injury, my sister, Mom, and nephews were waiting in the CAR! My sister had to work that night and we honestly thought this would be a quick pickup. FAIL.

The only reason I did it this way this time, was because online, it specifically said OUT OF STOCK, order to ship to store for free. I didn't want to miss this deal, so I did it.

Will I do this again? Maybe. But not online. I’ll call the store and see if they have it in stock and if they could possibly HOLD it for me. (Something tells me they wont) Then I’ll go physically pick it up myself. BAH HUMBUG! I can't wait for Xmas season to be over.

Thanks to RJ, I am now a huge fan of Vine. I used to love instagram, but vine is much more entertaining. It's a great time killer and a pick me up. When I need a good hearty laugh, I know I'll find something there that'll have me rolling and literally laughing out loud (even in public places).

Beware of using Sudden Values or Sudden Blitz. They offer really great deals on items but be sure to read THE FINE PRINT of every single item you are thinking about purchasing BEFORE you actually hit “purchase”. I had purchased my Dre Beats Studio using their offer and it worked out great. It took almost three months for it to arrive, but I got my product as described for a very low price. So, I decided to hit up another great deal.

Well, I learned that sudden values/blitz is a thirty party provider. All they do is get vendors to want to advertise really low/cheap deals via their website and they get a cut. They are just the middle man. Not for all, but for some, if not most.

So, I purchased 5 – 3 in 1 usb chargers. You can charge an ipod, iphone 5, and micro usb device using this 3 in 1 splitter. I bought it.  Well,  a few minutes later, I get an email with voucher numbers in them. I go BACK to the add and sure enough, the one time I didn't fully read, I became a sucka. The deal was get these chargers for $7 each, max 5. Well, after I received the vouchers and went to the site to research what it was I really bought, it then said, I still had to pay $2.99 shipping EACH! WTF!

The ad was not for the actual product, but for vouchers to use at a website called Spot Eight Sales. I googled the crap out of that site and I couldn’t find a damn thing. Thus, I’m blogging it so they will soon have an honest review up about them.  I checked SV/SB’s return policy and it states that anything from a third party must be handled directly with them. So, I contacted them via their site. I get directed from a sales person (via email) to Bob Burton. His email address uses SV’s domain. Strange.

It clearly states on SV’s site that you have 14 days to return anything. It’s now day 8. I have been emailing them since the moment I received the vouchers. This time, I sent an email to info@suddenvalues in hopes of getting some kind of response. I'm not stupid. I know what they're trying to pull. Don't respond until AFTER the 14 days so the customer is STUCK with whatever it was they bought.

To add insult to injury, I decided to google this charger and you can get it for 2 CENTS on amazon plus shipping of around $3. The reviews on the product (generic) was so-so. But for that price, you’re definitely not getting a high standard charger.

The good thing is, I payed via paypal and their resolution team is outstanding. I have already contacted them to ask what my options are as far as they’re concerned and how I can fight to get my money back. I paid them, I never redeemed my vouchers, therefore, I am entitled to a refund. So, we’ll see what happens with that.

In the meantime, for those who choose to continue to use them, just be very careful and READ everything. The return policy for SB/SV is here

UPDATE: I opened a case with paypal disputing the charges and stated my case. In less than 30 minutes, I got a full refund. THANK YOU PAYPAL.  For those of you questioning the validity and security of paypal, I have been using them for over 10 years and have never had a problem. Paypal is only method of online payment I trust when sending funds to friends/families and merchants.

Yesterday, I’m on the bus going home. I’m wearing a cute cotton stretchy dress I got from Old Navy for $5. It’s pink and white striped and has flares out on the bottom. I had black leggings and heeled boots on. 

One, stretchy clothes, no matter how high of a neckline, does not hide the puppies. I don’t care what you say. I could wear a friggen turtleneck and it still looks obscene.  So, I’m on the bus and this kid plops next to me. A big boned boy, maybe about 10 years old. He smells of PE, recess, and a slight twang of Tide. He puts his big backpack on his lap and proceeds to read a book. As he falls asleep, he starts leaning into me. Hello? I’m already SQUISHED up against the wall next to me and you’re gonna use me now as a pillow? What the crap!?

I move and adjust myself so as to wake him up.  He continues to do this the duration of the ride. Finally after an hour and twenty minutes (traffic SUCKS here in Hawaii), I get up to get off the bus. He’s SITTING ON MY DRESS! I pull on it to get it out from under his ass and boing!

My cotton stretchy flarey cute dress bounces UP towards my face while I lose my balance because the speed racer bus driver is blowing it on the curve of our pot holey busted up street. I lose my footing, my bag is flinging around while my keys are clanking into the poles of the bus as I grab on to them for dear life so I don't go rolling to the front of the bus like a runaway tire! Nice. Real NICE.

Now I’m REALLY irritated. I get off the bus and go on my merry way. Thank god I had my black leggings on. Cause THAT would’ve been the death of me. Funny…but TOTALLY embarrassing. I have to see those people daily on my commute! That's my story of the day.

Because it's stupid joke friday, and I have a man brain, here's a joke that had me rollin'.

There's a woman in a hospital in a coma. Her nurse notices that every time she sponge bathes the woman around the crotch, her vital signs, increase significantly. The nurse gets the idea that oral sex might just bring the woman out of her coma. She calls the woman's husband, tells him her idea about oral sex, and he agrees. 

When he arrives at the hospital, he goes in her room and closes the door. Five minutes later, the man comes running out of the room screaming that she needs a doctor immediately!

The nurse asked the man what had happened. 
"I'm not sure, but I think she choked".

HAHAHAHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!

Happy Aloha Friday!

It's day 3 of her injury and the oils are working. I can't believe how fast her lip is closing up. I know the human body can heal itself but THIS fast? 

On a side note, last weekend I shoved a hot nacho bite (folded tortilla chip with cheese filling) into my mouth before checking the temperature and I burned the crap out of the roof of my mouth. My mouth and throat has been hurting like a bitch the last couple days. After Emily hurt her lip, I decided (don't know why I didn't do it EARLIER!) to apply frankincense to the roof of my mouth on the tender spots.  It's only been two days and already I can feel a huge difference. The pain has subsided DRASTICALLY and I can feel the roof of my mouth healing up. Normally, when I burn myself idiotically like this, it takes two weeks or more for it to heal and I can eat a bowl of hot saimin again.

Testing the Feedburner

I’ve been pretty blogging frequently now that I make the time to sit down and write. It’s actually quite relaxing. Getting my thoughts out on virtual paper for all the world to read. When I first decided to blog, it was for me to journalize and get my thoughts out. With technology today, the thought of actually putting pencil to paper and writing is daunting. I had to fill out the customs form on the airplane coming home and I caught a cramp after filling in my name and address. I had to open and close it a couple of times to loosen it up. I nodded my head in shame. I have succumbed to the digital age where carpal tunnel is a guarantee and writing my name in cursive has to be re-learned like in Kindergarten. Off tangent: Writing in cursive is a dying skill and needs to be brought back!!!

Getting comments and hearing from friends that they enjoy reading what I write, makes me happy. Now, I look forward to sharing my blogs and reading comments. I hope to be able to get more people to read my blog and get in my head. We all learn from each other and I hope to be able to cheer someone up, open their eyes, or give them a helping hand when in need. There is a RSS Feed option on the right side bar but heck if I know what that is!  So, I googled it. It still made no sense. LOL So, I decided to add a subscribe option on my blog. Tada!! Feel free to subscribe and be notified when I post a new blog. Please subscribe and share.

Now, on to the fun stuff. I took the leap. Yes, I did. For the internet gurus that are webmasters of multiple sites, this is all laughable. I’m a rookie, and who in the world would PAY to have their own domain just for shits and giggles? Well, as I was goofing around on weebly I saw a little ad that said, 30% off your domain today. Ok, wow. That’s some savings, I think. So, I click on it and read on. It’ll cost me close to $200 to own my domain name for the next ten years (total, not per year). An added bonus, I will get $100 credit to use google ad sense. Again, what the hell is that?! Ack, I’ll figure it out.

With the coupon code, my new total was $129 to own my domain name for the next 10 years. Add in the $100 credit, it’s like paying $29 for it!  Jimineys I sound like the walgreens ads.  Ok. ok. so what’s the damn point? WHY pay to own olipasinc.com versus olipasinc.weebly.com. They’re both online, they’re both accessible, and if they google me, the site comes up anyway. Bottom line, it’s fricken COOL to own it. And for that price! The next ten years!!! OLIPAS INC LIVES!!! Muahahahaah!!!

After I filled in the blanks, hesitated, calculated, and thought about it again, I hit PAY (as I held my breath). I know, I’m making a big deal out of nothing, right? Not to me. I’m committed now. There’s no turning back, and I can promote whatever I damn well please on the internet! Yippee!! I feel like He-Man. “BY THE POWER OF GREYSKULL! I HAVE THE POWER!!”

As I continued to review the weebly site for more fun things, there was another offer. Spend $50 on google ad sense and get $150 for free. First, I need to figure out how to use those ads to benefit me and my ventures. Then, I'll consider paying another $50. But damn, that'll give me $300 to spend on marketing and promotion and all I paid was $79 total bucks out of pocket, essentially. The coupon thing, it's in my blood.

For those who still use the weebly link, it will forward you to the new site. 

If you’ve got suggestions for me, I’d love to hear it. How can I make this site easier to use, roam, surf? 

What would you like to see on my site? I’m considering putting an ecommerce page so you can buy oils and other items from me that I currently have on hand. 

Again, thanks for reading, visiting, and following me my lovely stalkers and trolls.

143,
Maria

After my EBCDO meeting in Ewa Beach tonight, I got home at about 9 pm. Emily was hyper as heck. She must've really missed us while we were gone. After we ate a quick, late dinner, I tried to put her to bed. It was an hour past her bedtime. Her brother gave her COOKIES, thus, she was hyper. Well, I lay down with her and tell her, "Lay down and go to sleep now." Instead, she pops up, runs out of the room, slips on a mat that was on the floor, and slams her face into the ceramic tile floor. From where I was sitting, she just looked like she fell, as she normally does. I didn't think it was anything serious because like most kids, they get stunned that they fell, then a second or two later, they cry. 

She laid there for a bit and then started crying, but it was a different sound. RJ ran to pick her up and I heard him say, "Great, she bit her lip. She's bleeding." I ran over to check and the paper towel he was holding was covered in blood. I freaked and grabbed her to look. It was pretty deep. I yell for an ice cube. Well, our ice machine has been broken for years, so why in the world would he have ANY ice in our house?!!! Then I yell for the little frozen plastic flower thing that goes in the lunch bags. Like a dodo, RJ says WHAT FLOWER?! The chef of the house all of a sudden has no idea what I'm talking about. Funny how when your in freak out panic mode, your brain shuts off. 

Before I yell NEXT TO THE DAMN SEX WAX! Romel hands him the frozen teething ring that we had in the freezer for days like this. I make her suck on it to help with swelling. It instantly made her stop crying. I was still freaking out about the blood. Now that I saw that she was OK and rushing to the ER was not needed, the old school mom in me came out after the panic mode. 

Me to Emily: SEE WHAT HAPPENED!? GOOD FOR YOU! NO LIKE LISTEN! I TOLD YOU LAY DOWN AND GO SLEEP. YOU LIKE RUN AROUND. NOW LOOK! SEE! GO RUN AROUND SOME MORE GO! HARD HEAD KID!

Shelby: Oh my god mom. You are SO MEAN! *walks to her room*

Romel: Really Shelby, YOU WAS DA SAME WAY when you were her age. No like listen! Your mom said lie down. She no listen. 

Me: Yeah, but nothing beats RJ. Climbing on the fricken stove to get something after I said STOP CLIMBING and he falls off the stove and cuts his two buck teeth straight through his bottom lip. DAMN KIDS!

Thankfully, I have small vials of EVERY essential oil stashed away for emergencies. I google what's good for a split lip and I find melaleuca as the only recommended oil. It tastes NASTY and she's gonna hate this. I know there are more oils out there to help with healing. My biggest concern is infection, being the wound is in the mouth.  Melaleuca for sure, but I heed oil advice from fellow essential oil users.  Myrrh (the liquid bandage), frankincense (for healing), and lavender (more healing and calming).  Thank God for facebook groups right? You get instant advice and not just from a "book". But from people who have their own true testimonials and experience. 

After she's calmed down, I put some melaleuca on a qtip. I gotta get it on there first to kill any bacteria and prevent infection. Here goes nothing. Of course, she fusses, screams, and fights me but I gotta get that oil IN there to prevent infection. Like watching your kid take multiple shots at the doctor. I had to put on my big girl panties and fight her back because I refuse to deal with an infection and have to go to the doctor.

After the melaleuca, I let her simmer a bit and then I layer it with myrrh and frankincense. Again, nasty tasting oils. This time she has her eye on my qtip and fusses before I get it near her. I had to hide it behind a pillow. Rather than shove the qtip in her mouth to roll around, I put some on her straw with the hopes that with that rolling around, it'll help coat the inside of her mouth with oils and help with healing. She tasted her straw and made faces. Since she was being a face contortionist, I quickly swabbed the inside of her mouth. She again, freaked out and cried again. After about 3 minutes, she stopped.

I thought we were all good. Then she PUKED.

GREAT! Just great. I guess the flavors got to her and up it came. Now, we have to do another bath, clean up, and more laundry.

For those who feel I should've just ran to the doctor, if I felt the cut was severe, I would've handled it that way. I'm a mom of three. Every single one of my kids have suffered falls and busted lips. I know when I have to rush them to the ER. Unless you're a parent and have gone through this, please don't judge.  If tomorrow, her lip is very swollen and doesn't look good, I will definitely take her in. But for now, she's fine and I now want to see just how long and how well, these essential oils work. I welcome you to follow along too!

She's finally sleeping but before she did, she let me take pictures of her mouth.

I'm not exploiting my kid in any way. The reason I'm taking pictures and sharing them here, is because I want to gauge how long it takes for this to heal MYSELF. The best way is to take pictures and let you watch along with me. I will be blogging updates on this. I know the oils work. But I still love to do my own little mini science projects with them with every new situation.


Warning: For the queasy, this may be graphic. 

You heard me, cestrum nocturnum!

No, I'm not swearing at you in Hawaiian, or latin for that matter. haha!

It's the night blooming jasmine and I wish you could all smell what I'm smelling right now in my house. Yes, IN my house. And my three beautiful plants are OUTSIDE near my front gate.

I fell in love with this plant when I was growing up. My Lola (grandma, in tagalog) had one lonely tree in front of her front door in Pearl City. I remember during the day, it was just a bushy tree. But at night, it transformed into the most perfumed plant in all the land. You could smell this little tree as soon as you hit the sidewalk near her townhouse. When the tradewinds blew, the sweet smell of the tiny little flowers got swept in and it was absolutely heavenly.  I longed for that scent every night after we moved out of their place and into our new home in Ewa.

One night last year, my kids and I went to Walmart for a few things. I always park near the garden center because it's less crowded. As we walked towards the door, the wind blew, and I stopped dead in my tracks. That SCENT. I yelled at the kids, "STOP! Stop stop stop. I need to find that plant I smell." The kids looked at me like I was having a moment. I was dead serious. "I know that smell and we need to find it now! I want it in the yard. I don't care how much it is."

Boy does my nose KNOW. There were a few tall plants left. The label, "cestrum nocturnum" or the night blooming jasmine. It's no damn wonder it took me years to find it. Lola always called it "the maiden of the night" plant.  I picked up four or five pots. Whatever it was we went to Walmart for flew right out the window because I was now on a mission for these plants. Because it was at night, these little pungent tiny blooms were OPEN! I felt like I died and gone to heaven and Lola was right there with me. Seriously, I wanted to cry when I smelled the flowers. It was such a nostalgic feeling to once again smell this plant that I have not smelled in YEARS.  I truly believed Lola was the only person on this island that had it.

I went home happy as a clam. Loving the smell coming from the back of my van as it filled the air with its heavenly scent.  I took it home and placed them on the table in the backyard right up next to my bedroom window so I could smell it everynight.  Turns out, these plants like moderate sun and should be watered daily. Eventually, the blooms all fell off and the scent was gone. That was about 2 months after I got it. 

I guess I overloved the plants and they started to look ill.  We moved them out to get more sun, still, they didn't look too well. Finally, Shelby replanted them in the ground near the front of the house. I wanted them in the back so I could smell them in my bedroom. But they grew best near the front of the house where they got partial sun. Besides, it covers up the dog shit smell REAL well. With 2 Rottweilers, shit piles up fast around here.

Since they've been replanted, they are flourishing. So much so, I think she should have spaced them out more.  My plants are now so full of blooms, they are dragging on the ground and I'll need to put some sticks in the ground and tie some branches up.

If only you could smell what I'm smelling right now....it's amazing. The best part is, I feel Lola around when the blooms open. All I need now is a little gazebo and a hammock so I can sleep out there with the flowers.