From pal Fay, the Queen would definitely like this:
Pure fun
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Author Archives: Aunty
Make like a tree and ….
Aunty received an email from Nick of The Sacred Science team (no – not Scientology or wizard stuff) and it quoted Rumi. Rumi was a 13th century Persian poet, scholar and mystic. One beautiful quote attributed to him is “Lovers don’t finally meet somewhere. They’re in each other all along.”
Another less beautiful but very wise quote is “Make like a tree and let the dead leaves drop.”
Nick’s January 7 blog post was about carrying around emotional and/or physical baggage that drag us down and prevent us from getting better, stronger, or more capable of moving forward. His suggestion was to have a fire ceremony to get rid of our bad stuff, our dead leaves. This will allow new growth without our past and present hindrances.
He suggests:
- Cut 10 strips of paper to write on – the thinner the paper the better. On each strip, write down a memory, habit, fear, or thought that is bothering you or something that you realize you need to let go because it is harmful or limiting you in your life. Use a pen for this exercise.
- Light a small fire – it can be a fireplace (in Hawaii, a hibachi would work). Please be safe.
- One by one, read aloud each word on each strip of paper. Intensity of emotion is good – this is the junk stuff that we want out of our life.
- After you read each note, hold it over the flame and say “It is time for us to part ways. Goodbye.” Exhale as each piece of paper ignites and disappears.
According to Nick, this has helped him create an inner shift within himself and has been used for centuries by others to assist in healing of spiritual and physical wounds, as well as helping to unblock our inner traffic jams.
Aunty has plenty of traffic jams. This is the start of a new year, and Aunty has yet to sit down to reflect and write down goals or resolutions. One that would be foremost on that list would be getting rid of clutter and physical excesses in every room and closet. Marie Kondo’s “The life-changing magic of tidying up” is helping (and will be in a future post).
Perhaps having the fire ceremony with one of the strips being “fear of getting rid of things that I don’t use because I might need it one of these days” will help speed along the process.
Perhaps writing down Aunty’s other negative thoughts and emotions that have been pushed far back and away will bring it unwelcomingly to light, so that they can be released and removed upon burning and bidding them farewell.
Aunty will be doing this soon, when nobody is in earshot (or the neighbors might think that Aunty is batty).
Perhaps Aunty will then Make like a tree and leaf, anew.
Letter to Mr. President
There was a motorcade on 6th Avenue yesterday, several police cars, an ambulance, swat team and black SUVs. Daughter #2 exclaimed, “It’s Obama!!” and we waved as they passed us and we spotted President Obama in one of the SUVs as it zoomed by. This was very exciting and the closest that Aunty has ever been to a President.
Well, actually, Aunty did get to shake hands with George W. Bush in a dream at the height of his terrible reign at a black tie event that never took place. It was a strange dream that left feelings of confusion and befuddlement – with a sense of weary resignation.
Aunty has usually voted for Democrats, though occasionally for Republicans that are independent thinkers and problem solvers such as Ross Perot and Ron Paul. Unfortunately, these men do not fare well in the elections. After the blunderful bid of John McCain and his VP pick of Sarah Palin, hope emerged in the youthful vigor of Obama and YES! We can.
The eve of Barack Obama’s victory was wondrous. His inauguration was magical, as was his dance with his wife to “At Last” sung by Beyonce.
Each year, he and his family would come home to Hawaii for the holidays. His term as President is almost over. His head of hair is almost all white. The responsibility of the nation weighs heavy on his strong shoulders.
IF Aunty could sit and talk story with the first island son that became the leader of the USA, and IF Aunty’s words were taken to heart, this is what Aunty would have to say:
“Dear Mr. President,
Thank you for the exhilaration of hope you gave to us and for being our leader. I wished you could have kicked butt a bit more, but thank you also for holding back with class.
I am a list-type person and know that you are busy so please consider these as potential solutions and suggestions from an older woman who loves America and Hawaii.
- Term limits for Senators, Representatives. No more fat cats, secret deals and power issues.
- Privatize some aspects of the government, i.e. the education of our children. Start with Hawaii because our DOE is ineffective, administrative heavy, and our public school kids are not receiving an education that nurtures or provides for independent thinkers, movers, or shakers.
- Have a round table of idea people that are ordinary citizens that can bring workable solutions and suggestions to light. You can ask Aunty to be on board (ahem, this is a blatant self promotion, solly).
- All bills limited to one page. Easy to read, quick to vote on, easy to understand, no hidden agendas and compromises buried in mounds of jargon.
- Spend as needed rather than let a budget dictate who gets what. If you give a spoiled child a billion dollars every year, it will all get spent just to make sure that spoiled brat gets a billion dollars next year. Hire a sharp money person to oversee and approve spending.
- Allow individuals or corporations to donate to the Treasury on their tax returns. This donation could be used to offset their income, which would lessen their tax burden. These donations could be specific to a department of the government, i.e. USPS, Social Security, Welfare, Defense, etc. This might turn out to be a win-win for the tax payer, for tax coffers, and also act as a warm and fuzzy.
If you see Governor Ige, please pass this list along to him. He is a good man who has also inherited a lot of baggage that bogs him down. I have an earful for him about our public schools. At the top of the list is one requiring that all elected and/or appointed officials, State employees (especially teachers and administrators), and members of the Board of Education send their precious children to public schools in their district. They need to have some skin in the game before we get any meaningful improvement in learning conditions around the State.
Thank you for being present and caring. Welcome home, we are so proud of you.
With aloha,
Honolulu Aunty”
Ozoni recipe – first food in the New Year
Aunty does not do traditions very well, but one that is done because it is a favorite is Ozoni – soup with mizuna and mochi. Aunty likes the simple simple kind of ozoni that her mother used to make for the family. Other families have awesome ozoni made with fishcake, daikon, gobo, carrots, and a lot more. For Aunty, simple is better for Aunty to remember.
However, since it is made only at New Year’s, 364 days go by and Aunty forgets what to do. This post is one for Aunty to refer to, gomennasai (solly).
Ingredients are:
mochi
mizuna
dried shrimp or scallops
chicken broth
shiitake mushrooms
hondashi
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- simple ingredients
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- hondashi or soup base
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- soak mushrooms
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- boil dried scallops
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- boil hard mochi
Soak the dried shiitake mushrooms in water until soft. Then cut in half. Cut mizuna bunches into 2 inch lengths.
Meanwhile, boil 2 cups of water with dried scallops or shrimp. Add mushrooms, chicken broth and simmer. Add hondashi to taste (you could substitute with instant ramen seasoning). Add cut mizuna.
If you have fresh mochi, add to bowl and pour soup over. If mochi is hard or frozen, boil in a separate small pot to soften. Cooking the mochi in the pot will make the broth cloudy.
Please eat hardy and have good thoughts of the wonderful new year ahead of us all!
The best part about Christmas
When Aunty was a youngster, Christmas was magical, Santa was real, and the best part of it was opening presents on Christmas morning.
Now that Aunty is an oldster, Christmas is traffic and madness, Santa looks different, and presents are opened early so they can be returned before the after Christmas rush. Bah! Humbug!
Well, actually, there are some things to look forward to besides the yule tide songs and the smell of pine trees that only show up at Christmas time. Icicle lights, foot controls, and electric timers.
Icicle lights
These are so lovely. We used to hang the green wire ones on the low branches of our plumeria tree (before Aunty had her tree trimmers make the trees bolohead) and our front yard would be festive and lit up enough to hibachi during the evenings, all year long.
They are on Aunty’s ceiling in her craft room. They go on at dusk and off at midnight. They add more than 50% of light to the room and when they do burn out, Aunty would have to wait until the shopping days that follow Thanksgiving to find them in the stores again. They are so lovely – hanging like branches of crystal sparkles with a nice warm glow.
Recently, Aunty hung them on the ceiling just above a desk against the wall because a desk lamp would take up too much space. Cup hooks were used in the ceiling, the icicle strand was doubled up, and then are connected to an extension cord that has an on/off toggle switch for convenience.
Foot controls
These are used for Christmas tree lights but Aunty uses them for the electric motor attached to her pasta machine. The pasta machine is used for conditioning and blending polymer clay (Aunty’s current favorite medium). The pasta machine motors have an on/off switch on them that is a bit of a hassle when trying to fold and feed a sheet of clay repeatedly into the machine with 2 hands. The foot control extension plugs into the electric motor’s cord and outlet and the foot button is on the floor so that a flick of Aunty’s foot will turn the machine on or off as desired.
Electric timers
Actually, timers are available all year long. Aunty uses them for her hobby room icicle lights to go on automatically at dusk and off at midnight, as well as a parlor lamp that lights up the dark corner of the room every night. These plug into the outlet and the electrical cord of the lights plug into the timer. They used to tick tick tick all day and all night. Tick tick tick, tick tick tick. Kind of irritating but they were doing a good job.
However, this year, Aunty found digital timers in the Christmas section at Lowes! They do the same thing, take up less space, and they are silent, silent, silent! It took Aunty more than a couple of tries to get them working with the on and off times, but once they were set, it was wonderful! These also have a battery that maintains the time in case of a power outage or if the plug is unplugged.
Bah, hum bug, and yet…
Christmas is still magical. It is a time of eating too much, raising stress levels, and feeling frazzled balanced with charming little reminders of the season such as a homeless panhandler wearing a Santa hat or reindeer ears on the windows of a honking big SUV.
It is a time when people greet strangers with “Merry Christmas!” and we all feel much more generous and giving.
It is a special time of the year, and Aunty has stocked up on enough boxes of icicle lights to last her at least 20 more years.
Happy Holidays, mahalo for being a reader, and may all your Christmas and non-Christmas wishes come true!
Raise.com = Shopping nirvana
!!!!Update added at end of this article.
Ever since Aunty turned 55 almost a decade ago, Tuesdays at Ross Dress for Less became her favorite shopping excursion because they gave 10% off to seniors.
Pal Jim turned Aunty on to Cardpool.com and Aunty could buy Ross (and other) gift cards at 20% savings. However, over time, Cardpool offered less and less of a discount, and recently Ross cards, if available, were at a 13% savings, which is still a good deal, especially when shopping on Tuesdays and also getting the senior 10% discount.
Then, just last week, hanabata days (from kid time) pal Cookie said, “Eh, you heard of Raise.com?” Pal Cookie is a shopping guru on steroids. She knows everything about everywhere and finds the best bargains and products all over the place.
“Better than Cardpool.com?” Aunty asked. “Go look”, she said, and Aunty did.
OMG – better than Cardpool.com because the discounts are higher and there are more retails stores in the offerings. Aunty just purchased her Ross gift card at 18% savings – woohoo! When it arrives in the mail, Aunty is going shopping at Ross’ on Tuesday with a 28% (18% + 10%) discount pass in hand!
It is also a site to search and search because discounts vary for each establishment depending on the dollar value as well as the day of the week. According to Cookie, Fridays are good bonus days to buy cards because they sometimes have an additional 5% discount thrown in the mix! They also run “specials” which can be easily found on the left of the menu.
On top of that (this is killing Aunty because it just keeps getting better and better!), Raise.com offers $5 credit to referred newbies after the first purchase – one credit to the newbie and one credit to the referrer!
When you sign up, you will get a user name that is made up of the first letter of your first name and the rest of it with your last name. (hint: if you want a custom user name, put a first letter in the first name line and the rest of the name in the last name line. Example, “aunty” was entered as “a” in the first name line and “unty” in the last name line. You can then change your name in your profile afterwards, but you will not be able to change your user name – ever. Another example, if you want “jalna” as your user name, enter “j” as your first name and “alna” as your last name. Change your first and last name after you complete sign up.)
After you get signed up, then you can refer people to sign up with emails, facebook, etc. When they come to the section of referral code, they enter your user name (like “aunty”, ahem) , and BAM! you get $5 and they get $5. Reminds Aunty of Paypal when it first started years ago. Rewards for referring people to join earned both parties $5. Then, Paypal got so huge and popular, it didn’t need referrals anymore.
Even if Raise.com didn’t give referral credits of $5, Aunty still thinks it is a great place to acquire discounts from favorite stores such as Whole Foods, Apple Store, Taco Bell, oh my! This is going to be delicious dangerous research into forced shopping due to purchased savings.
Much mahalo to Pal Cookie for her great tip and helping Aunty to spend money. To shop is human, to share discounts is divine.
*Update, update!!! Aunty was very pleased with her new Ross gift card and was going to shop with it. However, something told Aunty to check the card first. These cards come from somebody else – someone who is selling their card.
On the back of the gift card is a toll free number to Ross’ balance inquiry customer service line: 1-800-798-4055. Aunty followed the prompts, then put in the gift card number followed by the # key. Blip blurp oh oh, Aunty was informed that this card account was closed. Closed? Yikes?!!
So then, Aunty called the Raise Member Services number: 888-578-8422 and waited for an available customer representative. After a few minutes, Aunty got Bryce – a very nice young man who apologized and informed Aunty that sometimes cards are invalid for various reasons. Raise.com has a 100 day money back guarantee (so check or use your cards quickly, fellow shoppers!) and the refund process was begun. Phew!
Will Aunty use Raise.com again? You betcha! Aunty was impressed with Bryce’s niceness (Bryce, nice, get it? heh heh heh) and also the money back guarantee. Aunty’s shopping excursion to Ross’ will have to wait for another Tuesday in the near future. Perhaps that is a good way to save money, sort of.
Aunty’s review of Hawaii Gas
Aunty and the good looking Gas Co boys
Aunty has gas, always has and probably always will. Stove, water heater, dryer. Since global oil prices have come down, our gas bill has dropped from $70 to $40/month. We also have solar panels that save us big bucks on electricity every month.
We could switch completely to just electricity since new appliances are now more energy efficient, but cooking with gas is quite nice, our gas dryer works on a standard 110v electrical outlet, and in cases of power outage, we still have hot water – a necessary luxury, in Aunty’s book. Unfortunately for our neighbors, we are the only house with gas, so the entire block is affected when the lines are checked or upgraded.
Just recently, we had to have our gas line relocated because of a new carport that we were having installed (for a later post). Two days before the Gas company was scheduled to arrive, road signs up and down our street were erected – NO PARKING, Subject to Tow. Painted lines were drawn on the street near our gas line and property. The neighbors were a bit huhu – “You da one making the trouble!” – they said good-naturedly (or at least Aunty hoped they felt good natured).
“Sorry, so solly, my bad” was the only thing Aunty could say, because Aunty did feel bad. For the first time in decades, our street was in beautiful shape after the City had recently dug, graded, and repaved with 2 layers of quality asphalt. Having our gas line relocated could mean tearing up the gorgeously perfect road in order to run new lines and then getting a patch job weeks later.
The day of happening
Early on the scheduled day, our street became packed with various trucks and vehicles for the gas line relocation job. The supervisor on the job was an old friend and nemesis (from high school soccer), Adolph Samuels. If there was anything that was out of place on that day, it was seeing Adolph emerge from a small nondescript Toyota Corolla that looked like it belonged to a little old lady. He used to match the green Gas Company macho trucks that anyone could spot around town. It was like seeing a rooster wearing an apron, so Aunty had to laugh, so solly.
Cones were lined up and a traffic control person directed the almost non-existent traffic on our very slow street.
The existing gas pipe was located and trenched with shovels as well as a little hop toe digger backhoe trenching even deeper close to the street on Aunty’s side. Across the street, a big square hole was cut open with a powerful super bladed machine operated by a specialist from a concrete coring sub-contractor.
Four more people arrived from Hawaii Gas, and Aunty called them the white people because they were fair and did not look like they were there to dig. These were from the company’s safety division, to make sure that safe and proper practices were in place. Two of them were company attorneys, all of them wearing safety helmets, all of them really nice and easy to talk. It felt very comforting to know that safety comes first and that it is taken very seriously with this company.
It was a very exciting busy day as well as a very fortunate day because the street did NOT have to ripped open. The new replacement gas lines were blissfully threaded through the existing old pipe deep under the street asphalt and re-routed so that they were completely out of the way for Aunty’s new carport. Booyah! This was all done without a single hitch or unexpected problem, and after the lines were run, they were strapped, and reattached to our gas meter. The water heater was started up, stove and dryer checked, and all was well. They even cleaned up the yard so it looked even better than before!
The bill
This was a really big job with a lot of people involved, all of them skilled and good at what they do. If Aunty had to hire the various jobs out it would have cost thousands of dollars and extra careful coordination.
Instead, because Aunty is an existing Hawaii Gas customer, it was $Free, nada, zippo, gratis. The only expense of the day was providing bentos from Kokorotei (another post one of these days) for lunch, which is what Aunty likes to do whenever we have construction going on at our house.
Aunty also got the chance to pass out her logo magnets with the Garlic Mayo Shrimp recipe and 5 rules of wealth during their lunch break. The “boys” were all good natured and good looking and put up with Aunty popping in and out to see how the job was progressing.
New gas
New customers will have to pay for their gas lines to be installed, as well as having to pay a plumber to run the gas lines from the meter to their appliances. Most of the neighbors that Aunty spoke to were happy enough with just electricity.
If, however, in the future, they do decide to have gas like Aunty, the Gas Company will give rebates towards the purchase of new gas appliances as well as give Aunty referral fees. How can the company afford to do that when they only collect $40/month from Aunty? Aunty was worried but reassured by the boys that the company is in good shape because most of their business comes from commercial accounts such as hotels.
Aunty was very pleasantly surprised at the super job the good looking Gas Company boys did.
If you decide you want to join with Aunty and Jumping Jack Flash (it’s a gas-gas-gas!), then call Aunty’s pal Sharon Shigemoto at (808) 535-5933 and the job will be set up by Adolph Samuels in his leetle Toyota Corolla.
Also, if you get stuck with cold water only in the case of electrical power outage – remember we had one whole night one time kinda long time ago? – you can come take a bath at Aunty’s house, in the dark. Bring your own towel though, okay?
Aunty and the formerly Famous Amos
A fun quick post about people you meet at Costco. Aunty took a celebrity shot with Wally Amos who used to be known as Famous Amos and then of subsequent Uncle No Name fame. He is still Mr. Aloha – and his cookies (now called Cookie Kahuna) reflect it for they are “Baked with Aloha”.
Back in the 70’s and 80’s, Famous Amos was famous. He came to Hawaii in 1977. Aunty used to like the Famous Amos cookies and enjoyed going to events at Kapiolani Park sponsored by him. His name and face were everywhere, always with a smile, kazoos, and loud aloha shirts.
It was very nice to meet this famous cookie man during Costco’s black Friday sale. Aunty even scored a kazoo from him!
Whole Foods is da Bomb!
Not!
Way back when, in Kahala Mall, Star Supermarket used to be located where Whole Foods is today. It was a good supermarket but not too busy. So when Yen King (now dba Maple Garden with great lunch buffets) and Star Market got pushed out and Whole Foods came in, Aunty was a little huhu (mad) just because it was a change of out with the old and in with the new.
However, the Whole Foods move in turned out to be a great change for the better. They have healthy alternatives and quality choices. Some things are quite expensive, but some things aren’t. The kids love Taco Tuesday because the fresh little tacos are only $1. Aunty likes their flower bouquets, guacamole, organic chicken and beef, and deli section.
Great balls of grapes!
During the holiday season, Whole Foods brings in THE most wonderful Holiday Grapes. Aunty doesn’t even like grapes, but these are seedless, big, sweet, and just right juicy! Okay, they are kinda expensive at $4.99/lb but they sometimes go on sale during the season and they do keep fresh for a long time in the refrigerator. The store would have them paired with a nice semi hard creamy cheese called Parrano, or something sounding like that.
Us local, especially the ones that graduated from public schools (shout out to Kaimuki High, rah rah rah!) don’t really eat cheese other than cheese sandwich [side note: Aunty used to love to eat sandwiches with Kraft American cheese slices and Halm’s kim chee] or on top of spaghetti BUT one day, Aunty was watching a movie about a rat who wanted to be a chef.
Remy (the rat) took a bite of a fruit, and a single sweet note played, “bing!” Then, he took a bite of some cheese, and a chord of music played, “tadaaam!” He next went on to take a bite of fruit with a bite of cheese, and suddenly, he was surrounded with a swirling symphony of elegant music, timpani, allegro, strings and all! The combination made beautiful music.
Hmmm. Fruit and cheese? Aunty used to think that was weird but was willing to try because of Remy the Rat. Our refrigerator had Rainier cherries and in the butter compartment, some Laughing Cow cheese wedges. Aunty took a bite of the cherries, yum! Then a bite of the cheese, yum yum! Then, a bite of cherry and a bite of cheese, and O…M…G… it really was a symphony! From then on, Aunty felt so cultured and acted divine, you know what I mean, daahling?
Okay, okay, so back to Whole Foods.
Aunty was so happy to see those yummy Holiday Grapes even though they weren’t on sale. But, waaaaah…. where was the cheese? If the cheese isn’t next to the grapes, how would Aunty know which cheese matches the grapes?!?
Hunting around, looking at all the different cheese choices was a bit intimidating for the formerly divine Aunty. Then, she spied a Whole Foods worker. Andrew. [side note: Andrew was a really good looking young man and come to find out he was also hapa, of course.]
Aunty explained her dilemma about cheese illiteracy and Andrew must be a cheese connoisseur because he showed several options, including finding the Parrano cheese, which was kinda expensive and in little wedges. He tactfully pointed out a “very nice Gouda (who dat?)” and it was actually kinda cheap, especially compared to the other cheeses. Aunty chose that one as da winnah, and then Andrew whips out a sticker that says “it’s on US!” and attaches it to Aunty’s cheese! How cool is that!?!
It is very cool. The cashier rang up the purchase and then adjusted it and Aunty’s cheese was free!!
It must be nice to work for a place that allows good looking workers to give away random acts of kindness. It may be a bit late, but Aunty would like to say, “Welcome to the neighborhood, Whole Foods. It is very nice to have you here!!”
Recent update: Aunty went back for more Holiday grapes and couldn’t find them. Kami came to Aunty’s rescue and brought out a case from the back and even shared with Aunty about summer grapes called “cotton candy”. She said they were super popular and tasted like cotton candy!?! So, when summer comes next year, Aunty is going to try.
Anywho, shout out to Kami – ANOTHER terrific clerk at Kahala Whole Foods!
Hawaiian good stuff to sign up for
An almost freebie
News flash for those who like to get Hawaiian Miles: Signing up for a new Hawaiian Miles credit card will get you 50,000 miles after you spend $1,000, but this is for a limited time. Even my friend at Bank of Hawaii (who also issues this card) didn’t know about it.
An easy way to get this deal is to go to HawaiianAirlines.com or click on the Hawaiian Airlines ad to the right of this column, sign in with your Hawaiian Miles membership number (or sign up for one first), and then after logging in, click on the “Apply now” tab and fill out the form. If you don’t log into your Hawaiian Miles membership first, you will not see the deal – which is only available until November 30, 2015.
50,000 miles! Annual fee of $89. Must spend $1000 in first 90 days. Aunty has been declined twice in the recent past and been a bit huhu (angry) at the Hawaiian Miles credit card people but then figured, for 50,000 miles, no get mad, just try again. And this time, they said OKAY!!! **Update: this is a rather goofy offer and not everyone gets the 50,000 miles. Aunty called customer service when a friend was only able to get 35,000 miles and was told by the card’s customer service that some people have the offer (randomly?), and that they just need to check every once in a while on their account for the deal.
Just make sure you use credit wisely. Pay it off in full every month and on time. Then, use your miles for free trips, upgrades, or give away to friends and family. Also comes with a one time 50% companion booking if you have a buddy that you want to travel with during the next year.
A fun good freebie
Another good Hawaiian sign up is Hawaii.com. Pal Fay told me about this one. Sign up is free and you can really accrue a LOT of points at start up. After that, it is kinda good fun to get the emails, then click on the powerlink from the email and ta-dahhh, you get 1000 points, almost every day that you click!
Photographers (Jalna, you should try!) can enter their pictures of Hawaii and win too if picked.
Once a week, you can play find the pineapple and that will win you 5000 points! Sometimes Aunty explores the well written articles on the website – some interesting tidbits of information that are good to share while socializing with friends.
Points can be used to enter sweepstakes for stuff like a holiday stay (good for Mainland folks who want to come to Hawaii) or coffee, nuts, all kinds of stuff, all for FREE! Aunty has tons of points and planning to use all of them to stuff the ballot box in her favor one of these days. Meanwhile, Aunty keeps clicking and hopes that people that she knows become winnahs!
(side note: drawing for the pamphlets/booklets will take place on Sunday. Please email Aunty@hawaii.rr.com if you want to be entered, or leave a comment on that post and your name is put in the pot!)