Run for the Bus

The Nadi general Bus driver spotted me at the corner about 3 or 4 metres away and stopped the bus. uhhh...ok....
so had to run for it because everyone else on the bus was looking out to see who he was waiting for.
Thank you driver!

Not Enough Sleep

Not getting enough sleep. 

Also coming to realise that I am just not reacting well to my little boy's early morning sleep breaks.

I'm getting angry and frsutrated because I'm not getting enough sleep and in-turn letting it out on Jitoko and not fully in-tune at work.

How can I react right?

I have to remember that Jaydon will remember these moments for the rest of his life so I need to treat him right for it.

I have to be calm and collected and also figure out a solution to it. 

Is he hungry? Is he teething?

Is he having a sleep disorder. is it a spiritual reaction to whatever is going on upstairs.

If only we could find a place fast enough.

This flat thing is also driving me nuts!

Newsletter

Approached to write a newsletter. Do I have the luxury of that kind of commitment. I may have alot of ideas and can try a hand at editting but time and resources....hmmm

POTUS shopping

I love this article
The President Of the United States running around like us ordinary people doing last minute christmas shopping
Only the paparazzi ruined his surprise by detailing his purchases. His children now know what he bought them.
but imagine the POTUS shopping like us. Yes he has his security detail but out shopping and that too at a department store....wow....

11 Things You Should Never Put on Your Resume

Looks like I have to clean up my CV, I think I fall short in all of these categories...sheesh


(Yahoo News)
A new batch of December graduates is getting ready to fly the coop in search of a job and we hope they've already heard the bad news: There are a lot of unemployed people out there.
If the market far exceeds demand, how do you make sure you get past the resume screening process into the interviewing round? By making sure your resume is flawless.
"Somewhere between 95 to 99% of resumes have stuff that shouldn't be on there," Eli Amdur, senior coach and adviser from the Amdur Coaching and Advisory Group, told us. "The general rule is if you put anything on there that distracts the reader from your real accomplishments, then don't do it. Resumes need to be concise and clear."
We've compiled some tips from career experts to make sure your resume steers clear of the trash pile.
1. Get rid of the objective.
If you applied, it's already obvious you want the job.
2. Cut out all the irrelevant work experiences.
If you're still listing that prized shift leader position from your high school days, it's time to move on.
Yes, you might've been the "king of making milkshakes," but unless you're planning on redeeming that title, it's time to get rid of all that clutter.
3. Take a pass on the personal stuff: marital status, religious preference and Social Security numbers.
This might've been the standard in the past, but all of this information is now illegal for your employer to ask you so there's no need to include it. It will likely only hurt your chances of getting the position more than it would help you, says Catherine Jewell, author of the book "New Résumé, New Career."
Another piece of personal information you should never include on your resume is your Social Security number, Sara Player, client support specialist for CareerBuilder.com, told us. Player isn't actually sure why people decide to include their social security numbers, but she knows she sees it all too often and it's unnecessary, not to mention, a little risky.
4. Don't let your resume exceed one page.
Yes, this might be difficult if you've had a lot of experience and you're proud of all of it. But just because you're proud doesn't mean it's necessarily relevant. Cut it down; employers don't have the time to read two whole pages.
CareerBuilder.com's Sara Player says: "Keep your work history short and to the point. When you describe what you have achieved while in the position, try putting it in bullet form and put what is most important first."
5. Don't list your hobbies.
"Nobody cares — it's not your facebook profile," Player says.
In other words, don't put anything on your resume that's irrelevant to your job. If it's not relevant, then it's a waste of space and a waste of the company's time.
6. Don't give them the chance to guess your age.
Yes, your age is included in personal data, but if you don't want to be discriminated from a position because of your age, it's time to remove your graduation date, says Catherine Jewell.
Doug Hadley of Mansfield, Texas, told MSN that he's begun to leave out the fact that he's a published author: "I don't want to have to omit such things, but I feel as though I don't even get considered if they are on my resume."
Sara Player advises to take out higher education if it's irrelevant to the position you're applying for or if you keep receiving rejection letters stating that you're overqualified.
7. Don't write your resume in the third person.
Charlotte Beckett, head of Digital at The Good Agency, told Linkedin.com that it's fine to write in first person in your opening statement, but the rest of your resume should be in bullet points, such as:
• Developed and delivered marketing strategies for a range of products
You should not write in the third person since the recruiter knows you're the one writing the resume.
8. Don't include references.
If your employers want to speak to your references, they'll ask you. Also, it's better if you have a chance to tell your references ahead of time that a future employer might be calling.
If you say "references upon request" at the bottom of your resume, you're merely wasting a valuable line, says career coach Eli Amdur.
9. Don't include a less-than-professional email account.
Make a new one. It takes minutes and it's free.
10. There's no need to identify your phone number.
Amdur says there's no reason to put the word "phone" in front of the actual number.
"It's pretty silly. They know it's your phone number." The same rule applies to email.
11. Don't include your current business contact info.
Amdur writes at Northjersey.com:
"This is not only dangerous, it's stupid. Do you really want employers calling you at work? How are you going to handle that? Oh, and by the way, your current employer can monitor your e-mails and phone calls. So if you're not in the mood to get fired, or potentially charged with theft of services (really), then leave the business info off.

Read a Blog Post

I read a blog post today that melted my heart. Dear J2K
Biu and Tuma, I am so proud of you boys.
Keep up the good work and keep on influencing the young people of Suva in the things of God. keep growing, keep believing, keep the faith.
There's nothing like watching your kids come to, grow and discover the things God has in-store for them.
I watch the Vakalalabure kids and glow with immense pride at the work they are doing.
All those seeds I've sowed and how God watered and brought about the increase in time.
And totally blew me away with how he uses them and grows them to greater heights.
My sole purpose for 2012 is for daddy to come to the Lord.
Somewhere at the back of my head these past few weeks I was dreading the coming year with losing nena this year and then suddenly losing aji.
Its going to be a tough festive season and New Year for both sides of the family but I can only pray that God will use us to minister to them.
I feel like I haven't fully grieved and that something has broken deep inside of me because I don't know where aji has gone, had gone so suddenly and I will never see her again but I know deep down in my heart I have to concentrate on the rest of my unsaved family.
All this talk about the money, will it tear the family about, will this grieving season bring the family together. A classic example of mum's family. I only see mum and aunty Lome constantly talking to each other. Once in a while uncle Matthew comes into the picture or aunty Lita but what is up with Aunty Mela and Sini. Death, can bring together or drive apart.
As I think about the coming year I am glad I was obedient to the voice of God to move. I miss Suva, the life, the friends like crazy but am glad for the opportunity to server mum and dad. I am wear I am today because so many people took the time out to impart into me: Mum, to a certain extent dad, Pastor Michael & Lomi my biggest influence, Tulaga and Rachael and their constant feeding(physically & spiritually), Sti and his constant analysing and rebuking and structure, gosh I miss those days, Pritesh and the pressure his pushed me under, Bimal and his continuous encouraging and leadership practises. Gosh the list is so long but if these guys were able to influence me with all these then there must be so much more than I can influence with. My husband and his ever patience with my whinings, quiet nature when I snap and all the love he has for me& Jaydon. Gosh I feel like my work is not done there is so much to do. So many people. Mum & Dad, family, work, my crazy friends, lavina and the list goes on and on. Also got to find a way to fit CHANGE into our weekly schedule.

Flooded Kitchen

Came home to a flooded kitchen floor with the water leaking into the sitting room onto my new carpet.
Argh....just about fedup with this place.
what next?
Saheed's been partying it up till the early hours of the morning with girls, drinks and loud music.
Bloody hell the cow, how does he expect us to sleep with all that noise, can't even hear ourselves think!
Jitoko said yesterday there were young girls there in the day time, very young. He said they were screaming alot.
Oh Gosh!

Merry Christmas From Innk

Thank you Innk for the free internet on mobile this christmas.
I can catch up on long lost Facebook time.
Was Having Facebook withdrawal syndrome there for a minute.
Then got bored of there being nobody on Facebook and spent the rest of the night on ebay.
Bored of Facebook? haha never thought I'd hear myself saying that....well!

Santa

Santa came early this year!
Wrapped up my christmas pressie and hid it leaving a trail of clues and instructions to follow on how to find it
Aww how romantic!
Thank you darling!
I love you so much
boy made me feel all mushy mushy all over and excited like a little girl.
My husband and he's surprises...

Sonaisali Tonight

Wouldn't it be great if I could take my two boys with me.
Theme is Black and silver haunted party
Umm who has a haunted party for Christmas? sheesh
I think we're getting all our themes messed up here!
Its a three course dinner party with a sleepover...so looking forward to it
But would love to take my two boys with me!

Early Christmas

Thanks mum & dad for our early christmas presents.
Especially Jaydon's.
I think Jitoko is still sitting stunned.
So thankful to you and love you both!

Potato au Gratin or Potato Dauphinoise

Makes enough for 4-6 people

8 potatoes, peeled and very thinly sliced
250ml (8.45 fluid ounces) Cream
300ml (10.14 fluid ounces) Milk
1 packet Cream of Chicken soup powder (You could also use Brown onion)
2 garlic cloves, crushed
pinch of nutmeg
1/2 tsp fresh Thyme
Salt & Black pepper to taste
2 cups grated cheese of your choice

Preheat the oven to 160°C (320 degrees Fahrenheit).
Grease an oven-proof dish well and start layering the sliced potatoes. Season each layer as you go.
Combine the cream, milk, soup powder, garlic, nutmeg and thyme and whisk well to en sure there are no lumps. Season lightly and gently pour over the potatoes. I then take some cling wrap and just push down on the potatoes to make sure the ‘sauce’ has distributed well. This is optional of course.
Top with the grated cheese and cover with foil. Bake for 1 – 1.5 hours (if the potatoes have been pre-boiled, cook for 45mins to 1hour) until the potatoes are easily pierced with a knife. Remove the foil and heat the grill of the oven. Place the potatoes back in the oven and cook for another 10 minutes until the cheese is crisp and golden.
Variation :

Caramelise 2 onions with 2tsp of Balsamic vinegar. Layer half of the potatoes, then the onions, and then the other half. Bake as you would the plain potato bake.
Fry 250g (8.82 ounces) chopped up bacon until crispy, do the same as with the onions and add half of the cheese ontop of the bacon then follow with the rest of the potatoes and bake.

Creamy Potato Bake

Preparation Time
15minutes

Cooking Time
95 minutes

Ingredients (serves 8)
Melted butter, to grease
1 x 300ml ctn thin cream
125ml (1/2 cup) milk
1.25kg sebago (brushed) potatoes, peeled, thinly sliced
2 large brown onions, halved, thinly sliced
100g thinly sliced prosciutto
60g (3/4 cup) finely shredded parmesan

Method
Preheat oven to 170°C.
Brush a 2.5L (10-cup) capacity ovenproof dish with melted butter to lightly grease.
Combine the cream and milk in a saucepan over low heat and cook, stirring occasionally, for 2 minutes or until heated through.
Arrange half the potato slices over the base of the prepared dish. Sprinkle with half the onion.
Season with salt and pepper. Pour over half the cream mixture.
Continue layering with the remaining potato slices, onion, salt and pepper and cream mixture.
Cover with foil and place on a baking tray.
Bake in oven for 1 hour or until potato is tender.
Scatter prosciutto over the potato bake and sprinkle with parmesan.
Bake, uncovered, for a further 25-30 minutes or until golden brown and the potato is very tender.
Set aside for 15 minutes to cool. Serve.

Notes
Make this recipe up to 1 day ahead. Cover and store in fridge. To reheat, preheat oven to 170°C. Cover with foil and bake for 20 minutes or until heated through.

Cheesy Potato Bake

The cheesy sauce on this potato bake has impressed many a Taste.com.au member.
Try it tonight and tell us what you think!

Ingredients (serves 4)
60g butter
1/4 cup plain flour
2 1/3 cups milk
2 cups grated tasty cheese
1.2kg Sebago potatoes, peeled, thinly sliced

Method
Preheat oven to 180°C.
Grease a 6cm deep, 24cm square baking dish.
Melt butter in a heavy-based saucepan over medium heat.
Add flour. Cook, stirring constantly, for 2 minutes, or until bubbly.
Remove from heat. Slowly add milk, stirring constantly until well combined. Return to heat.
Cook, stirring, until sauce comes to the boil.
Add 1 1/2 cups of cheese. Stir to combine.
Arrange one-third of potatoes, overlapping slightly, over base of baking dish.
Sprinkle with salt and pepper.
Spoon one-third of the cheese sauce over potatoes.
Repeat twice.
Sprinkle with remaining cheese.
Bake for 1 hour, or until potatoes are tender and top is golden.
If top begins to brown too much, cover with foil.

Yummy Potato bake

Ingredients
Serves: 4
3-4 large potatoes
plain flour
shallots, onion or spring onion
3 slices ham or bacon-or more, if needed
pepper
125g tasty or chedder cheese, grated
1/2 cup (125ml) milk


Preparation method
Prep: 30 minutes
 Cook: 1 hour 30 minutes
1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees C.
Grease a square or rectangular casserole or baking dish.
Peel and slice potatoes thinly.
Slice the shallots, onion or spring onions.
2. Slice bacon or ham and grate the cheese.
3. Put a layer of potato slices in the baking dish.
Follow this with a sprinkling of flour and pepper.
Sprinkle on bacon or ham, onions and cheese.
Repeat the layering until you run out of room in the dish.
4. The final layer should be pototoes, covered with only cheese and pepper.
5. Pour milk over the whole lot.
Bake in preheated oven for 1½ hours.

Task Scheduler

Learnt a new thing today. Task Scheduler. Runs Scheduled tasks on computer.
Mine has Google Schedules for regular updates to Chrome and other google related toolbars.
This is probably what is chewing up the bandwidth on everyones computers.

Found this on google.....

Also check out this post for which I have provided a brief summary
http://www.mydigitallife.info/2008/10/20/how-to-remove-background-process-googleupdateexe-from-the-system/
SUMMARY:
The GoogleUpdate is a silent background process which tries to access the internet
without requesting permission from users and it doesn’t provide an automatic option for users to disable it. If you are thinking to remove or disable the GoogleUpdate.exe, you can probably try the following methods for Vista/XP.

1. The easiest way, of course, is you can try to use any permission-based firewall to block GoogleUpdate before considering to remove it completely.

2. Alternately, you can consider removing it permanently. However, bear in mind, by removing GoogleUpdate, it will prevent you from downloading the updates for the parent applications. 

No Grandmothers

This will be my first christmas without both my grandmothers.
It will be even harder for my parents.
No more calls from aji on Christmas day.
No more cards from Aji.
No more calls to Kadavu or shopping for nena.
I'll feel it next month when I don't receive any birthday card from my beloved aji.
I miss you Aji.
I miss you nena.

Missing Suva

Miss the flow in traffic, the things to do, the places to go to and the people to see.
Now I know what people mean when they say this place is dead!
Never felt any dead than it did these past two months.
Feels like another lifetime away.
Glad we have adjusted well.

Suva Trip

Loved our trip to Suva hated the fact that we couldn't bring our car down just for the week.
Some hypocrites show up as good Samaritans and then demand a returns on their investments.
Well Jitoko says let them keep the car.
How does spending a couple of thousand dollars to help somebody out make something that is someone else's yours! I don't get it.
But am amazed at the maturity of my husband in this situation.
We sat down and had a long talk about it.
I cried, he cried and then we just prayed and released it.
I'm so blessed to be married to such an amazing person, who has so much faith.
Sometimes I know his faith is bigger then mine.
I am more realistic.
He keeps reminding me to only believe.

Drop in Interest Rate

Received such good news yesterday.

Apparently there will be a drop in Home Loan interest rates from FDB. 

So thankful for that.

God is so faithful, he never ceases to blow us away with his mercy and grace and goodness

Both of daddy's accounts get a drop and not just any drop a 7% drop

awesome!

Exciting times ahead!

Christmas Visit

My first Christmas Carolling session from Naviti Resort

So cool, Loved it!

They came with their guitar and christmas colours sang, danced, left a box of cake and went

Wow...

How to Cook Magnificent Mac and Cheese

The rules, like Ina, are gentle but firm. Use pasta the cheese sauce can cling to, like corkscrew-shaped fusilli or cavatappi, or good old elbow macaroni. The cheese is pretty much your prerogative; Ina likes a combination of Gruyére and aged Cheddar. Blanket the pasta with real breadcrumbs and a layer of thin tomato slices. If you think the tomato part is sacrilege, ask yourself what a juicy slab does for a grilled cheese sandwich. Same principle. Serve the resulting triumph with a green salad, and if anyone ribs you for lack of sophistication, just say what Ina says: "If you don't like macaroni and cheese, you don't know how to have a good time." 


Serves 6 to 8 


Ingredients 
Vegetable oil
1 lb fusilli, cavatappi, or elbow macaroni
1 qt milk
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
12 oz Gruyére, grated
1 tablespoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
3/4 lb fresh tomatoes, sliced
1 1/2 cups fresh white breadcrumbs (made from 5 slices white bread, pulsed in a food processor)
Related: How to Cook a Better Breakfast 


Preparation 


Step 1 
Heat oven to 375 degrees. 
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. 
Drizzle the oil into the boiling water, add the pasta, and cook according to package instructions. 
Drain well. 


Step 2 
Meanwhile, heat the milk in a small saucepan, but do not allow it to boil. Melt 6 tablespoons of the butter in a large (4-quart) pot and add the flour all at once. 
Cook over low heat for 2 minutes, stirring with a whisk. 
Whisk in the hot milk and cook for a minute or two more, until thickened and smooth. 
Remove from heat and stir in the cheeses, salt, pepper, and nutmeg. 
Add the cooked pasta and stir well. 
Pour into a 9-by-13-inch baking dish. 


Step 3 
Arrange the tomato slices on top. 
Melt the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter; toss with the fresh breadcrumbs to coat evenly, and sprinkle all over the top of the casserole. 
Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, or until the sauce is bubbly and the pasta is browned on top. 
Let rest 5 minutes before serving. 

All Grown Up

All grown Up....
So amazed at how fast time flies.
My gosh feels almost like yesterday that I just gave birth and was carry this small precious thing in my arms
Now look at him....all grown up....soon to be two
Gosh!
if only I could hold time and he would remain my little baby forever...muah!