Aware of Surroundings

The other day as I prepared to leave for work, I realized that my pets do know my schedule...........literally. They act nothing like when I come home from work.

As you can see in the background in this pic, they are lounging without a care in the world that I'm set out to make a living that pays for their comfortable home. The best vet care. The best dog food and treats in the market. The best fur care products on the shelf. The best master in the world.

Yep - this is their farewall demeanor. Such doom and gloom as Karen heads out the door.

At least Shady gave me a good-bye one eyed glance.

As much as I want to take a pic of how they greet me when I come home - I'm afraid to drop my camera because there are three of them all over me.

And off to work I go. This is my breakfast. Hot oatmeal sprinkled with trail mix. Yummy.

Everyday after work, I am stuck in this. Traffic. Man, I could only imagine how this will be when the military build up actually happens.

Being an election year - these waves during traffic time is absolutely annoying. Sadly, when these candidates get elected into office, we never see them again.

The misery of traffic and getting home to my fam bam and my pets is always wonderful. Oh, my blog title is about Aware of Surroundings. Well, when we are not concious of our surroundings, Shady uses it to her advantage...........ALWAYS. This is a pic of her getting into the powdered donuts. Yep - she ate the whole box.

Yesterday I wask tasked to attend the funeral of Mr. Kuo Ming Yu. I was amidst the grueling work of running a department and I had to pull away and get to the funeral. I have never attended a Chinese funeral before and I wish I had at least read up on the cultural aspect of paying respect - but I didn't. It was an experience though. As I entered the funeral home I was greeted by a receptionist; I signed the guest book and was given these gifts.

A hostess dressed in Buddhist attire greeted me and showed me to another receptionist who greeted me and then showed me to another hostess in Buddhist attire who placed the yellow ribbon on me. She escorted me down the aisle and I came upon a beautifully set table that had bowls of food, insense, flowers. I had to bow to the table which was in front of the coffin (the room was full of Chinese people............watching). The Buddhist then guided me to pinch a bowl of crushed insense, bring it to my forehead, and then sprinkle it into the black bowl. I then had to bow again at the table, turn to my right and bow to the people, turn to my left and bow to the people. Then the Buddhist left me. I had no idea on what to do next??? So I stood there for a minute, said a prayer, and then walked away.

Then it was back to work. And work I did. My receptionist team completed a course called "The WOW in Service" and I proudly presented them their certificate. What a sharp team.

Although I don't have time to photograph the stages of these little rascals, I did make the time to finish them. From the PUG IT PILE these were created from a pair of slacks. Aren't they cute?

Ending this blog today I leave you with this pic of my son who placed 2nd place in the marsmanship shooting competition against another high school. I'm so proud of him.

PUG HUGS,

Karen, The Pug Artist from Guam

FALLEN SOLDIER

While in Saipan this past Monday I learned through my BlackBerry that a soldier from Guam died in Afghanistan. I read more on this breaking news and I was saddened that Jaysine Petree, age 19 was the soldier. A young female adult who joined the Army after graduating from high school in 2009. As I set out on my daily journey on the road I noticed flags on Guam were being flown at half staff as the island mourns.

McDonalds

Century Plaza

Atkins Kroll (My place of work)

Superior Court of Guam

I noticed, though, on base the flags were flying at full staff:

At the school

And at the hospital.

I wonder why?

Despite my wondering I carried on with my day taking Kin to his appointment and then here is something that my daughter usually does and that is wait at the bus stop after school to pick up the teens. I had the pleasure of doing this as I took the rest of the day off from work.

Funny thing is that when I don't plan what to do because of an unforseen early off time - I get into the goofing off. Instead of a warm meal let's eat a sandwich for dinner. Instead of doing the normal Thursday chores.............let's watch a movie. And so I did, "Letters from Juliet." I never sit around watching television in the late afternoon. NEVER.

So that's it for now my Blog Buddies. Until the next time I blog, I leave you with this pic I just had to take of Kin goofing off with freezing his wet shirt.

PUG HUGS,

Karen, the Pug Artist From Guam

What Goes On Between Point A and Point B

With such a fast paced lifestyle, many times, I drive to work and then I drive home. Do you ever give any thought about what happens through the duration of getting from Point A to Point B? Starting with the drive home from work yesterday I used my camera and my BB for a pictorial story of getting from Point A to Point B in an attempt to get home(Point B) after work (Point A).

Stuck in traffic at a stand still going up airport road. Instead of wondering when we were going to get moving again.......

I often look at my rear view mirror while driving but sitting in traffic I take note that my mirror's compass indicates that I was heading East on the island. WOW WOW Wee

Ahhh, the radio. Very annoying between 5:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m. because every channel is drowned with radio advertisements. Come on businesses - drive time traffic is miserable. Play more music. We need to unwind and cope with the traffic and music makes the journey that more bearable.

I'm still sitting in this non-moving lane of traffic when I decided to look at what pics I had in my BB. This one was when I took a trip with my sisters and our mom to Saipan for a weekend getaway. What joy that was and fun memories.

The traffic did move and I inched my way to the soccer field where my 15 year old was practicing. I had to wait a good 1/2 hour before practice was over.

So I use this free time to do a little snipping of a Sit Pug Sit piece I'm putting together:

When I was done with snipping I caught up on some reading of the latest book that I am.....well - reading. My granddaughter is doing a term paper on Sam Walton. The founder of Wal-Mart. I can't wait to share with my granddaughter that Hillary Rodham Clinton served on the Board of Directors for Wal-Mart after Sam Walton personally asked her to sit on his Board. She resigned when Bill Clinton ran for president.

Alas practice was over and we went home, had a nice warm meal, did some homework and I finished this piece made from a blouse that went into the Pug It pile back in the summer.

And here it is today - a new day. Before getting on the road again I just had to take a pic of Kin in his ROTC uniform.

Look at all them ribbons.

I drop my sons to the bus stop which is about a 5 minute drive from home. On my way back the 5 minute drive took almost 15 minutes because I was following the dump truck.

Kudos to the Department of Public Works for transferring our waste in a timely manner.

Isn't this a beautiful purse? It's a Dooney & Burke and I love its warm color and style.

Well.............some time during last night - this cute ebony loving pug of mine, Shady

did this to my prized purse.

I was very very very angry with Shady, but it was my fault for leaving it within her reach.

Anyway, until next time my Blog Buddies, I leave you with this pic of traveling from home this morning (Point A) to work (Point B). Traffic was not so bad.

PUG HUGS,

Karen, the Pug Artist From Guam

Inflict Joy Everyday

Yesterday I took a day trip to Saipan for business meetings. Although it was dark and gloomy as we boarded the plane the minute we broke through the clouds I caught this shot of the northern end of Guam. So serene.

So Beautiful.

Today (which is Tuesday) started out with this first scene at work. I just know the joy of the owner of that Jeep (on the left) (on a Toyota compound) escalated when our guys helped jump start his dead Jeep.

Buy a Toyota!!!

And I am certain that the joy of our PDI guys was just as mutual when the Toyota did jump start the Jeep.

This week is all about inflicting Joy into everyone every day.

Anita, our receptionist (center) was heading out for the day because she completed her shift. Well, we decided to wave good-bye to her and thank her for serving our customers every day. She was turning red when we kept praising her and waving our pom poms as she timed out.

And as she left the building we followed her out to the curb waving our pom poms that even Ernie, one of our sales guys stopped to wave too. We caused quite a stir in the showroom and everyone wondered why we were so appreciative of Anita. Needless to say, Anita sure went home feeling more valuable.

I finally finished Polka Dot Pug. In fact I finished two and they sit with pride on my end tables in my living room. Admiring my art brings great joy to me (wink wink)

I also finished several ying-yang pug pillows. This one is displayed with a ying-yang scented candle melter thingy



along side my favorite "Sit Pug Sit" pillow and my BumblePug.

Until tomorrow my Blog Buddies. I leave you with this pic that brought great joy to me back in June when my granddaughter won the President's Education Award for Outstanding Academic Excellence at her elementary school promotion ceremony. Although the signature is probably an e-signature...........the fact of the matter is that it was signed by President Obama and I am very proud that she worked very hard to earn such recognition. Good job Tammy!!

PUG HUGS,

Karen, the Pug Artist From Guam

Sunday Sunday

(Sighing).........Sunday's sure do go by fast. What is suppose to be a day of rest is actually another day of tasks and chores and literally "put the house back together" and get it ready for another roller coaster ride of work, school, home, meals, etc. etc.

Had to squeeze in grocery shopping. No question about that. My sons can eat. So on the road we go, to do major grocery shopping.

I'm going to do some recipes with tofu. The other night at Benii's I tried tofu salad and spicy tofu curry. Yummmmy. I'll blog the results.

After putting away the grocery I continued with Palaksi Pug. This little critter is going to take a long long time to complete but I am just loving how it is turning out.

Check out these pieces I'm working on:

Aren't they cute? Yes, I recycled an L/V that had a lot of wear and tear on it.

The purse served me well toting my worldly possessions traditionally contained in a purse for many years and I just CUT IT UP.

But I will not touch this piece. It's not one that I would use when I'm shopping but it sure is great with office attire.

This is my 16 year old getting ready to go the movies with his buddes. As he was getting ready there was the boom boom booming of his music rattling the walls. I'm loving every moment of the somewhat irritating bah bah booming. I remember loving to listen to music really really loud from my eight track player and cassette player. Then I had my 45's and LP albums. All gadgets didn't make the kind of noise the little gadgets they have now. Whoah.

I do my best to do things with my sons (you know, things dads do with sons). So dad mode I go and take to the BB gun shooting tin cans with my 15 year old and nephew.

Did I hit the can?

I did when Zach took this shot.

Yep I can do what daddy does.

I'm off to Saipan tomorrow for a day trip. Can't wait to get there, do what I have to do, and then get on the plane and fly back to Guam.

Until then my Blog Buddies I leave you with this pic - I picked up some goodies for my puggies and Abby. Aren't they just adorable?

PUG HUGS,
Karen, the Pug Artist From Guam