Monday, December 27, 2004

Reflexology session

This holiday season, it felt like I spent most of my energy figuring out how to eliminate shoulder, arm and hand pain that I've been experiencing for the pass few months. Since mid December, my left arm has been bothering me for one whole week and when the pain goes away from the left arm, then it traveled to the right. Feels like a loosing battle but I'm determined to get rid of this pain. I’ve decided to give reflexology a try. I've read that by massaging the certain spot on the bottom of foot would resolve the issue you have on the body so I was hoping that massaging my shoulder spot on my foot would solve my problem.
Before starting the reflexolgy session, the Chinese reflexologist/accupressurist gave me this extremely hot herb tea to drink which was suppose to flush out toxin in my body while I soaked my feet in hot herbal bath. She said that I'm experiencing pain because the toxin were blocking the circulation to my arms and hands.
Me: "Where did I get all these toxin from?"
Reflexologist: "From your diet and from what ever your liver cannot process."
Me: "Where can I buy this tea so I can flush out toxin more often on my own?"
R: "This is my own secret recipe, it's not available at any stores"
Figures because I've never heard of such de-tox tea. It's her sales strategy so I give her that. After soaking my feet for 10 minutes or so..
R: "Do you feel hot? Are you sweating?"
Me: "Yes, I am sweating and feeling warm?"
R: "Good. Sweating out all the toxin"
Me: "If that's all it takes to remove toxin, wouldn't exercise gives the same result as long as I sweat really hard?"
R: "Exercise help but doesn't have the ingredients in the tea to detox your body"
I personally thinks that exercise does help detox the body naturally so that was a great clue from her which I've had forgotten.
Once she felt I detoxed enough, she started to work on my feet starting with my little toes.
R: "Does this hurt?"
Me: "Yes"
R: "That means your eyes are not good."
She works on my big toe
R: "Does it hurt here?"
Me: "Yes"
R: "You teeth are not good."
As she move from toe to heel, all my answers were yes it hurts so every organ in my body is not healthy in her opinion. I think any healthy person would hurt too if this is their 1st exposure to this painful experience but she disagreed with my conclusion.
One positive outcome from the experience is that I temporarily forgot about my shoulder pain since all the pain were intensified on my foot. It wasn't a relaxing session at all.
At the end of the session, she said that she took it easy on me since it was my first trial.
At the end, reflexology didn't solve my problem but I might go back again for the torture.

Tuesday, December 21, 2004

Oddity in this world we live in

Most of you probably heard head lines about this story of fetusnapping but I found this article which goes in to details of how she did it.

Monday, December 20, 2004

Mellow weekend

Didn't do a whole lot of shopping but I did find some great deals at Kohl's. I bought 2 tops that cost $1.50 each. I thought $5.00/ top was a great deal. I wore it to work today. It's comfortable and fit for the hot weather we've been having for the pass few days.
Can't believe people are coming over for dinner this Saturday. Speaking of company, I must only clean the house when we are expecting visitors. Why you ask? As I was cleaning the master bathroom this weekend, S came in and said
S: "Who's coming to our house today?"
Me: "No one. Why?"
S: "Why are you cleaning the bathroom? You usually clean when someone is coming to visit."
Me: " To day, I'm cleaning because I want our bathroom to be clean"

On the subject of cleaning, S is becoming a great helper now that she's 4.5 years old. She likes to sweep our kitchen floor so I let her do it while I cook in the kitchen. She's so proud of how much dirt she's able to gather. Most of the dirt are crumbs under the table where she sits daily.
S: "Mom, look at how much dirt I got"
Me: "Wow.. That's a lot of dirt.."
S: "What do the dirt say when we sweep them up and put them in the trash?"
Me: " The dirt say 'Oh.. man, I wanted to stay, I didn't want to go in the trash!'"
She'll just laugh and continue to search for dirt to sweep up.

Friday, December 17, 2004

Christmas Recital

Last night was daughter's Christmas recital at her pre-school along with the kindergarteners. I took half day off work to attend the event. I was in such a hurry to leave and beat the traffic that I forgot to bring the digital camera nor the camcorders.
Before the recital, I surprised her by picking her up at school. When I got to her school, she was playing with her best friend H on a tricycle. She was happy to see me and gave me a professional tour of her classroom which impressed her teacher.
After the tour, we hung out with my dad while waiting for hubby to get off work so we can catch an early dinner. Dad just returned from his South East Asia vacation and was happy to his and mom side of the family and also really happy to be home with his fruit trees. He mentioned how harsh the weather was in Menado where his sister lives. He ate ikan bakar (Grilled fish) while in Menado and it was delicious but gave him sore throat. He also suffered from stomach issues since his intestines are no longer immuned to the bacteria.
Hubby was stuck in traffic for 1 hour so he was not in the best mood when he arrived. We went out to Happy House with dad and my in-laws and everyone liked the food dad and I ordered. S ate some beef which I told her was chicken.
After dinner we headed to the church and the chapel was full of parents and family members. We sat on the 2nd to the last row which made it difficult for me to see the performance. I was instructed to take daughter her teacher but teacher was no where to be found. I sat with S until her teacher arrives while watching people looking for better seats that weren't there. The parents were out of control with their cameras and video cameras. The adults were disregarding the director's request to stay clear of the isles so the kids can get on and off the stage easily. Serenity now.... The school provided picture time at the end of the songs but some parents just felt that was not sufficient and must take pictures while the kids were singing. May be I was jealous because I forgot my camera or I would have been one of those people? No.. I respect the teacher's request so the show can go on.
Over all, S did a great job. I didn't really watch any other kids except for the ones standing next to her. She did the hand gesture right on the beat while singing the songs. With one number each of them got a bell in their hands and they were shaking the bell like crazy and having a great time.
One of her classmate, F did not want to be on stage and was crying so one of the teachers went behind F and moved her hands like a puppet during the songs. S stood next to F and consoled F during the breaks. I think S will be a great big sister some day.
The performance capability of a 4 vs. 2 year olds is night and day. When she was two, we went to her spring recital where she dressed as a flower singing "Mr. Sun". When her group got on stage, she stood there in front of the audience and sucked her thumb through out the whole song while some of the kids were singing.

Tuesday, December 14, 2004

Christmas Lights

Here's the labor of hubby's hard work on the christmas lights. It looks better and brighter in person. I told him we have the best lights in our street but he didn't believe me.

Sunday, December 12, 2004

Craving crab

I was craving for crab so we went to a Chinese market and bought 2. It's lots of work cleaning and cooking it but it was really tasty. Not as good as the restaurant version but good enough to satisfy my craving.
Spicy Crab

Friday, December 10, 2004

Yeah.. Friday :)

I've been receiving Christmas cards from friends and family already. My weekend task is to get stamps and figure out what type of card to send. Still contemplating if we should include the letter with the card to let everyone know what we are up to. I enjoy reading them and it's not as time consuming hand writing every single card. We'll see.
S is into Shania Twain's UP album so hubby is tired of listening to it daily in the car. I enjoy singing with her. Her favorite songs are 1) It only hurts when I'm breathing. 2)Forever and for always.
Ant: Could you email me your address please. Thanks

Monday, December 06, 2004

Voice of an old friend

Saturday night as we were finishing dinner, the phone rang. I picked up the phone and it was my friend Jo who resides in Taipei, Taiwan. Because our moms were good friends and we were neighbors, Jo is my oldest friend I know. We have been friends since we were 1 year old. I have lots of fond memories of fun and carefree good time together as kids even after our family moved to Indonesia. When I was 4 or 5 years old, I got in big trouble with both our moms when I picked ear-wax out of her ear. Sorry Jo, I was a kid pretending to play mommy. I hope there was no permanent damage.
When I visited Taiwan during school season, her mom would send me to school with her and I experienced life of a Taiwanese 6 grader for a couple of days. I got to meet her teacher, eat bien-tang (Chinese version of bento) like everyone else and have fun with her and her friends after school.
For a period of time Jo was in the US getting her master degree in film school and we were able to hang out together. She is a very giving, kind and thoughtful friend.
I still remember the day when she surprised me by sending a dozen of roses to work on my birthday. I thought it was from hubby who was then just a boyfriend but I was wrong. The roses touched me because she was on a graduate student budget and she could have had a great meal instead.
Over the years, with her movie directing, she’s always on the move. We've kept in touch here and there but it was nice to hear her voice once in a while. Her sister, G just had a cute baby girl so G is enjoying motherhood and Jo is having fun being an Aunt.

Sunday, December 05, 2004

Snow Play

We took S to our local winter wonderland. It was really slippery but the kids had lots of fun in the short 5 minutes that they have.
I was freezing the whole time. We got lucky because it rained before and after we left.

Slippery Slide

Kids having fun

Thursday, December 02, 2004

Healthy eating

I surprised myself today when I discovered that I'm able to eat cottage cheese alone with out any fruits or other stuff to hide the taste. Thinking back to May 2004, I was looking for options of healthy source of protein and cottage cheese has always been on top of the list. One of my coworker persuaded me to try and ever since then, I'm hooked. Initially I added pineapple and mandarin orange to hide the taste. I had to get used to the flavor and texture. Over time, I've grown to like eating cottage cheese with fruit for breakfast. It is more convenient than hard boiled eggs and high in protein. Now I'm so lazy that I just eat the cottage cheese alone and that tasted ok.
If you are looking for a easy healthy source of protein, cottage cheese is it.
I have yet convince hubby to try it. He prefers to get his protein animal style.

Wednesday, December 01, 2004

Getting ready for Christmas

We spent Saturday morning at Target getting all the things needed to decorate the exterior of our house and Saturday night putting up our artificial tree and decorating it. Hubby and I were not keen on putting up the tree this year but S is really into Christmas this year so we didn't want to disappoint her. I find it odd that she does not recall helping with tree decoration last year. Hopefully she'll remember more of the event this year. She helped with assembling the tree and also decorating the tree. Hubby was more into decorating the exterior with lights. He labored all day Sunday putting up lights on the exterior of the house. By the end of the evening, he was complaining about his back and arms being sore. Our house looks really nice but he said that he's not done yet. I believe by this coming weekend, he'll finish with the decoration and I'll be able to post a picture.
It's been so cold lately that I'm not motivated to tour the neighborhood and see how others decorated their homes.
Last night, S was coughing more than usual. Hopefully it's nothing serious. *sigh*


Sunday, November 28, 2004

Portrait Studio

The day after Thanksgiving, sister-inlaw talked me into taking studio photo of our kids together. We went to the Westminister mall and it was crazy. We couldn't find parking so hubby dropped us off and parked across the street from the mall. When we were in the mall there were a sea of people everywhere we went. Keep in mind that I'm the type that stays home and never gone shopping after Thanksgiving just to avoid the crowd.
Our photo session didn't start on time and while waiting for our turn, kids were getting impatient and wanted to leave. When it was our turn for the picture, it was a challenge to synchronize the kids to smile or look even look at the camera. While choosing the picture, the resolution of the computer monitor is so low that all the pictures looked horrible and the sales person kept pushing us to buy the enhancements. The enhancements are sepia, black and white or some white border over the picture. One click in photoshop and they charge extra for it. I got mine as is so I can scan them and add my own ehancements. Although the pictures are digital, it still takes 3 weeks before we'll be able to pick it up.
For all these reasons, I'm not much of a studio photo type of person. Convenience of digital camera and ofoto are unbeatable.

Tuesday, November 23, 2004

Flu season

I don't know if there's a stomach flu going around or what but I got sick and S got sick yesterday. She said she didn't feel good after her nap so may be her lunch that I packed her was questionable. Last night she couldn't keep anything down, water included so she was really thirsty and asked for water every 5 min. I had to give her a teaspoon every hour so it stayed in her body and doesn't come back up.
Hubby is the only healthy one in the family. Can't wait until we all get better soon.

Friday, November 19, 2004

Family vs.Relatives

Mom is planning a birthday party for Dad this Saturday so I was all set to go and help her with cooking and stuff. Later she informed me that some relatives from SF and Indonesia are coming so she asked me to attend the relative get together on Sunday also. I told mom that I'm not interested in getting together with the relatives since we are not really that close and I rather just go up to her area once. I need Sunday to rest. We used to be close to this family 20 years ago but now we all live in different cities and countries that the closeness has evaporated. Mom feels that I'm being unreasonable not wanting to have lunch with these relatives when I will be seeing 80% of them on Thanksgiving day. I felt that celebrating Dad's Birthday is more important than eating lunch with the relatives but mom feels differently and wanted me to attend both so we had our little argument yesterday and hopefully she's not too upset about it.
After grandma passed away, I realized that distant relatives are just acquaintances. There is no base on the relationship other than our great grandfathers were brothers. To me it's too superficial and lacks substance. I've been going with mom's flow for all these years and this is the 1st time I put my foot down and she's not happy.

Tuesday, November 16, 2004

Patience is a virtue

A couple of days ago, Hubby was really excited when we got a flier in the mail announcing that there will be a 24 hrs fitness in our neighborhood. Over the weekend, we drove by the address and all we saw was a trailer in an empty lot. I went down and talked to the sale guy and he said that the gym will be open on April 2005 but they are selling phase 1 of their membership and it's a really great deal. It's ridiculous how 24 hrs fitness is pretending to sell their membership like homes where they have different phases and each consecutive phase is more expensive than the one before. I almost laugh at his face but I told him that I'm already a member so save the sales pitch. We both are skeptical that they will be open in 6 months since there's no signs of construction yet.

Last night, I actually slept through the night without any bathroom or pain interruptions. I also had a really cool dream which is too personal to share. Work has been really busy and there are just too many things to do and meetings to attend.

Monday, November 15, 2004

Painful weekend

On Saturday, I woke up my right arm some what back to normal but then left arm is hurting again. I really don't know what the deal is. Why is the pain traveling from one arm to another like some sort of practical joke. I asked Hubby to go with us to meet my friend who drove all the way from Simi Valley and like a nice hubby he agreed. It was nice seeing her but with doing things with constant pain does not really allowed me to fully enjoy the experience.
Sunday, We stayed home & rested . I saw the Dog Whisperer show that Bulleye raved about on his blog. It's a neat show where the dog trainer were able to turn mean, people biting dogs in to calm and obedient dogs.

Friday, November 12, 2004

Hubby and me

I'm happy to report that right arm is almost 100% back to normal. For some reason, I was getting more sympahty from co-workers that I was getting from hubby which was upsetting me. He just asked me about it and that all I get.
This coming Saturday, I'm meeting an old friend @ South Coast Plaza so I asked him if he wanted to tag a long since it'll be all women related conversations.
Hubby: "Depends on how your arm feels, I can drive you there if your arm still hurts."
Thinking back, that was a nice gesture on his part which I've been seeking, trying to show that he did care about my arm. It's what I've been wanting from him but at the moment I thought that was such an illogical reason for going so snapped back with
Me: "I don't need you to drive me there, I've been driving with achy arm all week to work, and grocery shopping and I survived"
After my comment, all I get was silence so I realized that was not the appropriate respond but that is how I truly feel at the moment and I can't take it back.

Thursday, November 11, 2004

Aches and pains

Aches and pains have been the dominant subject in my life for the pass several days. Monday, my left arm was hurting and bothering me and by Tuesday, left arm is back to normal but right arm is acting up. I figure, like left arm, right arm should be back to normal by Wednesday but no... Right arm is getting worst. Right arm has been and is still a pain in the neck. Mom gave me some ancient Chinese herbal medicine so I'll try it and see if it help. Taking a warm bath seems to minimize the pain.
I just want normal arms back.

Tuesday, November 09, 2004

Be at two places at once?

After many emails back and forth between the party involved, we finally agreed to get together on Saturday. Hopefully mother in-law will not be too bent for not celebrating Thanksgiving on Thanksgiving day. She's been under lots of stress of remodeling her kitchen so not sure if this will be the straw that breaks the camel's back.
The good news is that we don't have to be in two places at once on Thanksgiving day.

Monday, November 08, 2004

Holiday Scheduling

As we get closer to Thanksgiving and Christmas, it comes the stress related to party planning if you are hosting, & scheduling for both sides of the family. Luckily on my side of the family, we don't usually celebrate Thanksgiving since Dad normally works on Thanksgiving day. This year, we've been invited by my mom's Beverly Hills cousin to join their Thanksgiving lunch in Laguna Beach. We are not really that close to mom's cousin but Mom feels obligated to go to not disappoint great aunt #3. Unfortunately, sister in-law from hubby's side scheduled her Thanksgiving dinner @ 4PM on the same day so I don't know if we can have lunch in OC, drive to Santa Monica and be happy and jolly considering the holiday traffic. I'm working to see if sister in-law is flexible enough to move her party to Friday. Wish me luck.

Sunday, November 07, 2004

11-7

Saturday, S and I had our female bonding session while grocery shopping and eating out. We went to Sam Woo and I ordered wonton noodle soup and that was a mistake. The soup tasted funky and the wontons were tolerable. After lunch, we stopped by JC Penny to check out the once in a lifetime sales but did not find anything that worth waiting in line for.
Today, we went to see The Incredible and it was fun being able to go see a movie in a theater. Based on the trailers I’ve seen, I was expecting more comedy. S was bored at certain section of the movie and she was disappointed that she didn’t see the scene where Mr. Incredible tries to put on his belt.

Friday, November 05, 2004

Stuff

Mom is visiting great-aunt Chiao (a.k.a. bridge in Mandarin) in SF this week. When we first came to this country, we stayed with her for a brief period of time. She's a funny and kind hearted lady. She has six children and the youngest son is a couple of years older than me. In the early eighties, she started to go blind on one eye but that didn’t stop her from enjoying life. She was driving and working for a fast-food restaurant. She told me that if I wanted fresh fries, all I have to do is ask for fries with no salt and the restaurant would make a fresh batch since most of them are salted. During our stayed there, my brother and I got bored staying home all day so she would take us to a ceramic workshop where we made our own art pieces and paint it. The artwork are still at my parent’s house.

Gmail was down today. What’s going on google? This is the 1st time I've had issue since I got a gmail account but now is back up.

Can't wait to see the incredibles this weekend

Wednesday, November 03, 2004

Check this out

I’m saddened by the fact that we’ll have to put up with Bush’s leadership for another 4 years.

Check out this devoted christian senseless enough to convert lions. Why would lions need to be converted? On the right side of the article, there’s a video showing the lion in action.

Tuesday, November 02, 2004

Vote, vote, vote !

I'm going to vote after work today. Still reviewing some of the propositions but decided on most of them.

Monday, November 01, 2004

Halloween weekend

The whole weekend, S was so anxious for Halloween's arrival. Sunday morning, she woke up @ 5:30AM daylight saving time and said "Mom, wake up, it's Halloween!!. Let's go trick or treat, the sky is dark already"
Me: "It's early morning, go back to sleep."
My in-laws came by Sunday morning so hubby and I took advantage of the baby sitters and went for a walk around our neighborhood. Hubby wanted to go on a longer trail then I threaten that he would have to carry me home if I get too tired and dehydrated so we compromised on the medium trail which took us 1.5 hours.
Brother in-law and his family came by in the afternoon so S & E (S's cousin, 3 yr old) can go trick or great together. Shortly after their arrival, E's mom realized that she forgot to bring E's pumpkin shape candy collector so E's mom had to go for an emergency candy bag hunt. Unfortunately, the two stores did not have any pumpkin left, but with her determination, she spotted a pumpkin displayed behind a glass window of Fantastic Sam and offer to buy the pumpkin. The lady in charge said that it belonged to her boss so she coudn't sell it without the boss's permission but she's willing to let E's mom borrow it for Halloween if she promised to return it. That was really nice of her to help a desperate mom in need and trust that it will be returned. The kids had a great time trick or treating around the neighborhood. The adults restored their faith in people.
Later today, I will return the pumpkin with candy and thank her for being a nice person.
From one Sam to another, thank you Fantastic Sam!

Saturday, October 30, 2004

Halloween cookies

We baked these yesterday and S had a great time eating the decorations.

Halloween Cookies

Friday, October 29, 2004

Static Electricity

When I got gasoline for my car, I tend to put the nozzle in the tank, get back into my car, wait until it clicks and come out of the car to put the nozzle back to the pump station. This morning, as I got back into my car, a fellow gasoline buyer talked to me about my behavior.
Nice guy: Pointing to some warning sign on the pump "Excuse me, have you seen this warning on cellphone and static electricity?"
I’m thinking that this guy is trying to sell me something.
Me: "Yeah, and your point is?"
Nice guy: "Especially during winter, when you go in and out of your car, you build up static charges that could generate a spark and cause a fire when you touch the nozzle."
Me: "Really. So what I have to do is ground myself before touching the nozzle!"
Nice guy:"Yes or just stay out of your car until your finish filling up the tank. I've seen the video on what could happened and I don't want it to happen to you"
Me: "Thank you for bringing this to my attention" He wasn't a creepy guy after all. When I did a search on the topic and this is what I found this article on
static electricity Check it out for your self.

Pretzel control

I love honey mustard flavored pretzel. I know it has no nutritional value and it's filled with MSG but sometimes, I get in to the "Must have it" mode and I give in. Why can't the food scientists design the flavorings so that it does not have any backlashes like healthy food? I enjoy the burst of flavors in my mouth and my brain says to me "Eat more.. eat more…" After eating a hand full or two of them pretzels, I get really really thirsty and mouth doesn't like what I did either. It would ruin the rest of my day until I drink enough water to flush the junk out of my system. The experience usually keeps me away from honey mustard flavored pretzel for 6 months of so. If I happen to grocery shop on an empty stomach, I would seek out the pretzel on the shelf and purposely expose myself to the temptation while consciously knowing that eating it would ultimately be bad for me.
My solution to the pretzel issue is when I’m in the illogical state of mind in the supermarket is to buy the pretzel and keep it in the pantry un-opened. I've done this with ice cream and it worked. The ice cream lasted 6 months in the freezer.

Thursday, October 28, 2004

Rainbow and Happy Trees

This morning as hubby and S were leaving the house in the dark, it wasn't raining yet but we heard thunder roars that lasted over 30 seconds followed with lightning. By the time I left for work, it was pouring dogs and cat. Fortunately the downpour ended as I entered San Diego County. I was greeted with dry asphalt and somewhat blue sky. I happily gave the windshield wiper a break because I might need them later down the road. As I was changing lane, I checked my rear view mirror and noticed this beautiful rainbow behind me. It was a pleasant view after driving through gray sky. The rainbow reminded me of this little song S likes to sing. It’s from one of her favorite book A Birthday for Frances. The story is about Frances, the older sister jealous of her little sister’s birthday. At one point of the story they were drawing place cards and Frances protested and sang
Rainbow and happy trees
Are not for Alice* or for me
I will draw three legged cats
Caterpillars with ugly hats


*Alice is Frances’ imaginary friend.

Wednesday, October 27, 2004

Food fight everyone!

Here's an article on how Taiwanese lawmakers express their love for the opposing party.
Here's another link which leads to a video that shows them throwing papers at each other.


Tuesday, October 26, 2004

Stuff

Last night, while I was emailing mom some pictures, hubby and S were watching VCD of Chinese children songs that we called Orange Cat. When I was done on the computer, I went over to check on them. S was fully engaged with the show and hubby was falling asleep with his head leaning towards S.
I can feel his love for her when
He kisses her cheek to wake her up in the morning
He places marshmallows around the house so she can find them
He finishes carving the pumpkin even though S lost interest
He sits through Orange Cat and falls asleep

I like John Mayer’s song Daughters. Those who have daughters would relate to the song.

Here’s the lyric

John Mayer - Daughters Lyrics
I know a girl
She puts the color inside of my world
She's just like a maze
Where all of the walls all continually change
And I've done all I can
To stand on her steps with my heart in my hands
Now I'm starting to see
Maybe it's got nothing to do with me

Fathers be good to your daughters
Daughters will love like you do
Girls become lovers who turn into mothers
So mothers be good to your daughters too

Oh, you see that skin?
It's the same she's been standing in
Since the day she saw him walking away
Now she's left
Cleaning up the mess he made

Fathers be good to your daughters
Daughters will love like you do
Girls become lovers who turn into mothers
So mothers be good to your daughters too

Boys, you can break
You'll find out how much they can take
Boys will be strong
And boys soldier on
But boys would be gone without warmth from
A woman's good, good heart

On behalf of every man
Looking out for every girl
You are the god and the weight of her world

So fathers be good to your daughters
Daughters will love like you do
Girls become lovers who turn into mothers
So mothers be good to your daughters, too
So mothers be good to your daughters, too
So mothers be good to your daughters, too

Monday, October 25, 2004

Family Life

We had a pretty calm and relaxing weekend. Saturday morning, we decided to take S to our local park and realized there's a local arts and craft fair. We spent some time in the park and went to the fair. There were lots of booths with jewelry, indoor & outdoor country style decorations, hand made greeting cards and knitted product such as scarf & baby blankets. There were also animals for kids to pet and ponies to ride. S had fun riding pony. Unfortunately, we forgot to bring the camera to capture her excitement. She's not into petting or feeding sheeps. I was tempted by the smell of food that was there at the fair. BBQ Chicken, BBQ corn, hot dogs, & kettle corn. I gave in and bought kettle corn but we went home for lunch. Kettle corn was delicious. The microwaveable version just doesn't cut it.
Sunday morning, we went for a 45 minutes walk around our neighborhood. In the middle of our route is a park so we stopped and let her have her exercise. She's really good at swinging. Big difference in motor skill of a 3 vs 4 year old. She can swing really high and no afraid. Confident enough that mom no longer needs to push her or get her off the swing. There was another boy on the playground but they did not play together. When we got home, I was channel surfing and found my self watching an International pizza competition. The pizza were so mouth watering. Needless to say, we had pizza for lunch. Since hubby and I could not agree on the toppings, I ordered the 4 small square pizzas from Pizza hut. It was not as tasty as the regular deep dish pizza. The dough was not thin or thick crust so that was disappointing.
After lunch Hubby carved one of the pumpkin for practice. It came out very good. He placed it in an ice chest to preserve it. Hopefully it'll keep 'til Sunday. He plans carve more on Saturday. :)

Friday, October 22, 2004

Shall We Dance

I've been hearing mix reviews on the movie Shall we dance. I'm a sucker for movies that has a dance theme. Movie critics hates it but some of the radio personalities like it. I saw the Japanese version of Shall we dansu back in 1996 and really enjoyed it. It sucks that the Richard Gear version is basically the same story with American actors.
On the other hand, I'm loking for the Japanese version of The Ring
called Ringu. Just wants to see if it's scarier than the American version.

Thursday, October 21, 2004

Universal remote control

As I was listening to NPR on my way home one day and I was intrigued by this segment on remote control that shuts off any TV. I imagine all the places where I can use it. In the women's locker room, restaurants & in sports bars. I can also use it at home when hubby is paying more attention to the TV than me. :)

Wednesday, October 20, 2004

Rain makes driving a nightmare

When I woke up this morning, I look out my bedroom window in the dark and the wind was blowing hard on trees and rain was pounding on the window warning me that it was going to be a tough day on the road. I went to a conference in Knott's Berry Farm area and it took me well over 1.5 hrs to get there. Luckily, I had S with me so I was able to drive 40 miles/hr on the carpool lane most of the time. If I was on my own, it would have easily taken me well over 3 hrs. 30% of the people did not show up for the conference because of the weather.
Rain,
Please ease up for the rest of the week and you can pour your heart out on the weekend.

Monday, October 18, 2004

Weekend activities

On Saturday, we went up to my parent's and hung out with Bulleye. We went to Hacienda Heights for some San-Tung region Chinese food which is heavy on carbohydrates i.e. noodles & dumplings. My favorite dish was the green onion crepe and jellyfish. In the afternoon, we played 2 games of poker. I lost both games but Hubby won one. It was hubby's 1st time playing Texas Hold'em so good job hub!
We rented Supersize me on Sunday and the director conducted an eye opening experiment. He gained 25 lbs and ruined his liver by eating only fast-food for 30 days. In the movie, one lawyer made a comparison between fast-food chains and tobacco companies where they put in tons of money to lure kids to buy their products. I have to admit that there had been instances where I gave in and ate fast-food to appease my daughter. At the end, she was more interested in the toys than the food and we all ended up eating unhealthy meal. Back in June, I had In & Out double double animal style with fries and drinks. After that meal, I felt sick and have not gone back since. Another harsh reality I learned is how chicken Mc nuggets are made. Chicken nuggets are basically like hotdogs in little round shapes. It has lots of chicken parts that we normally wouldn't eat.
I would recommend the movie. Some parts are slow but it's educational.
I will make a conscious effort to eat fast-food no more than once every 6 months.

Friday, October 15, 2004

Bubba is out

This blog is about last night Survivor so if you are interested in the characters, please go to http://www.CBS.com because I may not do justice describing the characters.
I never thought I would say this but I'm so glad that Survivor decided to mix up the team. It was too predictable that the women would keep winning the challenges and John K would have been the next outcast. I like Amy because she's not afraid to vote out the guys and she's true to her sisters. Other women in the Yasur tribe were worried that if they vote out one of the two guys, then they won't be able to win physical challenges since the other team has 4 males and 2 females. Before mixing up the tribes, the women were winning the challenges so what's there to worry? I'm glad Yasur tribe voted for Bubba because he was an awful player. Before the immunity challenge, he was sending hand signals to his old tribe member Chris and thought he can get away with it. I still don't understand Bubba's reasoning for the signal. Besides, on his original male tribe he was getting a free ride from the Sarge and not really contributing to the tribe.
An ironic part of the show was before tribal council, the two guys, Bubba, and Rory hugged each other and said a prayer together. During tribal council, they voted for each other.
My prediction for next week tribal council:
Rory for Yasur Tribe
Julie for the Lopevi Tribe

Thursday, October 14, 2004

Painful Lesson

2 days ago, I accidentally sliced the tip of my right middle finger by running it over the jagged sharp edge of a new Saran Wrap box. Blood was gushing out like mad, I was in lots of pain and S was overly excited by the event.
S: "Mom, let me see, let me see the blood... I can't see it from here."
Note that I was in the kitchen and she's in the family room. Once she figured out I wasn't going to show her my wounded finger, she came in to the kitchen.
S:"Uh.. it looks like ketchup, your blood looks just like ketchup, why does your blood look like ketchup?"
Me: "I don't know S. I'm hurt right now and I need a band-aid."
S: "I have one in my jacket, Daddy where's my jacket? Can you please get my jacket, it’s in the car, Mom need a band aid now!."
At this time, hubby was frantically searching for a band-aids in our 1st aids kit.
Hubby: "S, calm down and be quiet!"
Hubby finally found some band-aids and I was able to cover my wound & stopped the bleeding.
Since the accident, I've been keeping the left had dry so hubby has the dishes and S bath duties. It’s not so easy to wash my hair or my face with only my left hand. Hopefully finger will recover by next week.
Lesson learned: Next time, use a butter knife to open a saran wrap box.

Tuesday, October 12, 2004

Picky me

Yesterday, I had kung-pao chicken from a so called Chinese restaurant near work. I did pack a lunch but I couldn't stand the smell of salmon. Kung-pao tasted OK. It reminded me of how home cook meal taste better than take out. Here's a picture of my home style Kung-pao chicken.


Workout Log
Time: 56 min
Heart rate: 145
Cal: 429

Monday, October 11, 2004

Movie Date

Sunday, hubby and I decided to go on a movie date. He wanted to see Supersize Me and I wanted to see Love Actually . Unfortunately for him, the store was out of Supersize Me so he brought home Love Actually like any good husband would. Before going to the video store this was our conversation.
Hub: "So what is Love actually about?"
Me: "Based on the title, I would say about love..hello..?" no I didn’t say that out loud. That was inside my head.
Me: "It’s a romantic comedy. I've heard good things about it. I think you'll like it"
He was enjoying the movie until we saw Collin Firth on screen.
Hub: "What is this? It's him again. I didn't know it's a British movie!"
Me: "Did forget to mention that it was a British romantic comedy? Give it a chance.. I think you'll like it."
Although he's not much of a Collin Firth fan, he enjoyed Hugh Grant and the female actresses in the movie. I thought the movie was funny yet touching at the same time.
That was our date, in our living room while daughter was taking her afternoon nap.

Sunday, October 10, 2004

Pumpkin Patch

We went to a local pumpkin patch yesterday. Besides pumpkins, there were kiddy carnival rides and pony ride. We got there around noon so it was getting hot. I told S that we'll come back later when it's cooler. She wanted to ride the pony before leaving so we agreed.
Ponies may be cute but they are stinky. As the ponies were going around a circle, the pony in front of S stopped and decided to go number 2. The teenager in charge of the horse quickly clean up the green poop and that's when S's pony decided to go number 1. A gal quickly run to S's pony and dumped some absorbents stuff over the urine.
S really enjoyed the ride. Unfortunately, we forgot to bring the camera to capture the moment. We are planning to go back again since we didn't pick a pumpkin yet.

Friday, October 08, 2004

Soaring gas price

I went to get gas during lunch today and there was a huge line at the discount gas station. I paid $2.24/gallon where as 8 days ago I paid $2.00/gallon. That's 31.5% in 8 days.

Dah

As mentioned before by Bulleye, this season of survivor casts are fairly tame. The cute guys are being voted off and the challenges are not that challenging. The highlight of the show for me was when the female tribe won the reward challenge and had the opportunity to spend a day with a Vanuatu local name Dah who showed them how to live as an islander. The 1st thing he did when he got to the camp was walking up a coconut tree, chopped down a coconut and drank the juice. The ladies were very impressed. Later, he showed them where to find vegetables, roots, & sugar cane. He also taught them how to make coconut milk, crab hunting at night & better their shelter.
On a side note: I fried salmon for dinner last night resulting in the whole house smelling fishy. Hubby was not happy and was spraying air freshener everywhere.

Thursday, October 07, 2004

School picture day

Today is S's school picture day. 2 days prior, we got a note from school outlining the various packages available for us to buy. The cheapest package is $8.00 and has only the class picture and the most expensive one is $28.00 which includes class picture, 1 ea 8"x10", 2 ea 5"x7" and 16 wallet. The part that bugs me about the whole deal is that we must decide on the package we want and pay before seeing the picture. In fine print, it did say that we have 3 days to return it for refund if we're not completely satisfy. We've decided to get the class picture only.
S really likes bringing lunch to school. When she came home last night, her lunch box was empty.
Me: "You ate everything!"
S: "I didn't eat it all at once. I ate a little bit at a time"
Me:"Good Job"
She was disappointed this morning when she realized that she's having school lunch today but I'll pack her lunch again tomorrow :)

Tuesday, October 05, 2004

Disconnected from the world

Today, there was some issue with the router at work so we had no email nor internet access all day. I did not realized how much the internet is a part of the fabric of my life. I wanted to look up something work related but wasn't able to.
Mom gave me some food today so I did not spend too much time cooking dinner. Thanks mom :) S ate lots of chicken with rice tonight. She also gave me some fruits and my favorite is the plum. I was about to eat one and she said "Can I try some?" I hand her the plum.
S: "I don't want the skin."
I had to eat the skin so she can eat the fruit.
S: "Why do you like eating the skin?"
Me: "Because I'm a mom"
I packed her lunch today and it seems to work out. Will do it again tomorrow.

Monday, October 04, 2004

October already?

Can't believe it's already October. 3 more months and it's 2005. S can't wait for Halloween. She thought that Halloween happens the moment we are in October. I had to show her the calendar and count the days until Halloween. I have not gotten her a costume nor the candies for the neighborhood kids. Can't get the candies too early or I'll end up eating them. This year, she wants to be Sleeping Beauty so we’ll shop for costume soon. May be I'll use the Disney gift card we've received from Bulleye and his wifey. The dress up day at her school is either the 27th or the 28th. We bought some Halloween chocolate chip cookie dough over the weekend and we'll bake them the day before her school party. S likes to make cookies from scratch but I don't have all the equipment. May be during our Christmas get together with my friend P, we'll bake some from scratch.
On Sunday, I made Pad Thai for the first time. I didn't realize how much sugar is in Pad Thai. It called for 3 tablespoon for a 6 oz noodle recipe. Hubby was complaining about the vinegar smell in the kitchen while I was cooking but he ate the final product. We both concluded that it did not taste like the restaurant version so I got to go back to the restaurant, order the dish and figure out what the differences are. I know that I didn't put as much oil in mine so the noodles were clumping together. With all the sugar and oil in Phad Thai makes it not such a healthy dish so we can have it once in a while.
I watched some TV this weekend. Two shows worth mentioning are as follow:
1) Documentary on IFC (Independent Film Channel) that showed what students in NYU film school went through to make a 10-minute film. It was brutal to see that besides being creative, they also have to resourceful with the business side of the coin such as raise money to support the film and making sure they stay on budget. While watching the show, I thought about my friend Jo who studied here is now a film director in Taiwan. I hope she’s at a level that she can delegate most of those tasks and focus on the creative part of the process.
2) Reality check shows on Fineliving where a lady's dream job is being a wedding coordinator so she had the opportunity to shadow a real wedding coordinator for a week and see what it takes to be one. At the end of the show, she realized that being a coordinator wasn't really her dream job after all.

Friday, October 01, 2004

Qi-gung

Today, I went to the library and returned a book on qi-gong which was way over due. I went up to the checkout counter and after the clerk scanned my card.
Library clerk (LC): "Would you like to take care of the overdue fees on the qi-gong book?"
Me: "Yes, how much do I owe the library?"
LC: "$2.50"
I handed her a $5.00 bill
LC: "How did you like the book?"
Me: "It was good and informative but practicing and experiencing the qi movement is a different story"
LC: "I studied under a qi-gong master before and he was 80 but looked 45. When he sent his Chi, the class felt it"
Me: "What does it (qi) feels like?"
She looked over the check out line concerned.
LC: "Do you have a minute? Let me take care of these folks"
Me: "Sure"
I started browsing on the literatures in the checkout area.
After a minute or so, she came back to me and said
"Hold out our hand"
I placed my and in mid air with palm facing up and she placed one of her palm above and the other below my hand.
LC: "Do you feel any thing?"
Me: "No"
LC: "Close your eyes"
I closed my eyes, and after a minute or so, I felt heat and tingling sensation on my hand.
Me: "Yes I feel tingling sensation and heat"
LC: "That's a representation of what qi feels like"
I didn't expect to experience some one else's qi flow through my hand so it made my day.

Thursday, September 30, 2004

Survivor is back

It's survivor night =) Hopefully the female team will beat the male team this week and send their tribe to tribal council. It's funny to see how the men handle being beaten by women.
Workout log
Time: 57 min
Heart rate: 151
Cal: 452

Tuesday, September 28, 2004

Observation

As I was getting ready to hit the shower after spin class, I noticed a woman was walking very slowly from the pool area into the shower. 1st thought was that she's recovering from some trauma.
As I was getting dressed, the same lady was walking slowly toward her swimming gear and slowly bending over to pick up her water shoes, fins and floating board so I offered to help her.

Shower lady: "I can do it but thanks for offering to help."
Short hair lady chimed in: "You're exercising your independence. If it was me, I would have said please help me."
Shower lady: "Not me, they can take away my drivers license, but they can't take away my will to be independent."

Lesson learned today is not to take walking, driving or other routine activities that I do everyday for granted. Even though she walks slower than an average person, she is walking on her own.

Workout log
Time: 55 min
Ave heart rate: 148 b/m
Cal: 414

Monday, September 27, 2004

Money and happiness

Follow up on Fresno Sucks blog today, I get the sense that we think money can solve certain problems and bring some levels of happiness. May be we should get bestman's prespective on this issue since he has money.

Sunday, September 26, 2004

Tomie DePaula

We went to our local book store last night and in the children section, they were displaying books by Tomie DePaula (Author of Strega Nona, I blogged about on Friday) and on top of the shelf it said "Happy Birthday Tomie!". Naturally, S picked out his other books and we read them there.
Today, I googled his birthday and found out that on September 15th, he celebrated his 70th birthday and his doing a birthday tour around the country. He knew that he wanted to be an artist at the age of four. Now at 70 years old he continues to pursue his passion. That's amazing. Some people just know what they want to do and others continue searching.

Friday, September 24, 2004

Amazing Race 6 contestants

After reading and commenting on the Amazing race 5, I came across the
contestants for Amazing Race 6 via
There's some wrestlers, spin teachers, and UCLA student.

Story telling

S’s favorite book at the moment is Strega Nona by Tomie DePaula. We’ve been reading it almost every night. When I first read the story to her, I used my version of an Italian accent for Strega Nona’s voice to make the story interesting. Ever since then, if I used my normal voice on Strega Nona, she’ll say “That is not how Strega Nona speaks” and asked me to read it again using the “right” voice. She cracks me up when she pretend to be Strega Nona.

Thursday, September 23, 2004

Brand name or generic?

Growing up in my family, comparison shopping has been ingrained deeply inside me such that it has become second nature. When I grocery or medicine shopping, I tend to compare the price between generic vs. brand name. I'm sure others do the same since the store conveniently place both products side by side on the same shelf with the price breakdown/oz.
For example, my doctor recommended Robitussin cough medicine for my cold so I went to the local drug store and next to it was the generic brand which was half the price and had the same dosage of the active ingredient. Naturally, I went for the generic version.
For food such as can fruits, cereals, I've tried generic brand before but it didn't taste the same as the brand name version so there is added value in that respect.
I've also experimented with ice-cream and I discovered that generic just doesn't cut it. Does that make me an ice-cream snob?
Workout Log
Time: 53 min
Heart rate: 152 b/m
Cal: 427

I don't beat my self up anymore when I don't hit 500. May be meditation is working...

Wednesday, September 22, 2004

Change is in the air

Today is officially the 1st day of Autumn. It's sad to see the Summer ends but I was told that changes are good for the mind and the soul. Good bye great tasting fruits such as watermelon, grapes, peaches, nectarine, mango and plums. Good bye to great deals on corn. I bought some yesterday at 50 cents each to celebrate the end of the season. I finally learned how to BBQ corn properly this summer. Before I forget, my secret to great tasting BBQ corn is as follow.
1) Pull the husk off and place it on an aluminum foil.
2) Sprinkle some salt and pepper on the corn and seal the corn completely with the aluminum foil.
3) Place corn on the barbie and cook for 7 min and turn the corn 90 degrees.
4) Continue the 90 degree turn every 7 min until the corn is cooked for 28 min. In case I wasn't clear, after 28 min all 360 degrees of the corn surface should be exposed to the barbie.
5) Once it’s off the grill, butter can be added to the corn.

So what do I look forward to in Fall?
1) Day light savings
2) Halloween
3) Thanksgiving

Happy Birthday Annette.

Tuesday, September 21, 2004

Pros and cons

Even though seafood is my favorite food, we skipped the lobster festival. We had lunch with my folks, went grocery shopping and I got sick. I caught a cold from S felt miserable all weekend long.

Top 3 things I hate about being sick
1) Not able to smell anything which make eating pointless.
2) Sore throat which make swallowing a chore and eating painful.
3) Body ache, which results in sleepless nights.

Top 3 things I like about being sick
1) Lost of appetite, which result in weight loss with out any real effort.
2) Able to rest and bum around the house without feeling guilty.
3) Attention from hubby and S.

I was contemplating if I should spin today since I have not fully recovered. Spinning can either makes me feel better or worst than my lethargic state. During class, I was struggling to keep up with the music but I felt better after class. I believe in sweating out the bad chi (energy) and make room for good chi.
Workout log
Time: 56 min
Ave heart rate: 150 b/m
Cal: 443

Friday, September 17, 2004

Lobster Fest

Hubby asked if I wanted to go to San Pedro for the lobster festival this weekend. I have not decided yet.

Thursday, September 16, 2004

480

Spin class was OK. I'm glad I did it because I fantazied about eat good food with my co-workers. While spinning, I was watching the clock during some segments but at the end she pleasantly surprised me by playing Hey ya! from Outcast. If she didn't, I wouldn't have gotten 480.

Venting

Ever since, school started, traffic has been heavier than summer time which added more stress to those of us who drive to work everyday, me. Since September, I leave home earlier to get to work on time and I get home later since there's more traffic and accidents for some reasons.
Driving home last night was one of the worst experience I had this year. When hubby heard about the big accident on the freeway which I take from work to home, he called and suggested that I avoid the scene of accident and take a different path. I took his advice, checked out the map and figured out my route. Mentally, I was determined to get through this with positive attitude. When I got off the freeway I assume everyone else also had the same idea because the alternative path to home took 2 hours. Normally it takes me 1 hour or less. By the time I got home, I jumped on the computer, checked sigalert.com and the traffic had gone back to normal. I just can't win. I picked the path and had to live with the consequences.

While listening to the radio during my drive to work, the DJs were talking about tipping. I didn't know that I'm suppose to tip even when I get takeouts. Is that customary? I thought tipping is for the service I receive when I sit down and get serve by the waiter/waitress not when I take the food home and serve my self and my family. This whole tipping thing is difficult for me to understand since we don't get out much. Where do you draw the line?

Wednesday, September 15, 2004

Raising Girls

I was reading Lubbylu's blog during lunch and came across this book title Raising Girls . Based on the blurb, this could come in handy. Unfortunately, I did not find it on Amazon.com nor Barnes and noble.com. Quite disappointed.
Yesterday's Workout log
T: 55 min.
Ave heart rate: 156 b/min
Cal: 465
Will work harder tomorrow.

Ultimatum

S is learning to use ultimatum and she does not fully comprehend the concept yet. The female species in our clan:Mom (po-po), mom in-law and I use it quite a bit on her with our different variations so here’s an example of po-po's ultimatum.
Po-po:"S, come and say good morning to po-po"
If S does not respond immediately, then
Po-po: "OK, If you don’t listen to po-po then I not going to buy donuts anymore"
After a while,S would slowly walked over to mom & say "Po-po.. cau an" (good morning)
Po-po: "Guai" (good) and rewards her with hugs and kisses.

Here’s an example how I use it often during dinner.
S: "Mom, I’m full. There’s no more room in my tummy."
Me: "Is there room for popsicle?"
S: "Yeah. I have room for popsicle"
Me: "In that case you have room for dinner. Finish dinner then you can have your popsicle for dessert."

Over the weekend, we went to a local toy store to get a car booster seat for S and she saw a Pokemon toy that she wanted but I told her that I wasn't getting it that day and this was her ultimatum.
S: "If you don’t get me this Pokemon toy then I don’t like Pokemon anymore!"
Me: "I see. So.. you don’t really want this toy because you don't like Pokemon anymore."
S: "No… I love Pokemon and I want this toy"

Eventually she picked up the proper usage of the ultimatum and used it in the right context.
Me: "Here’s your favorite dinner, chicken rice noodle soup"
S: "That's not my favorite. I don't like chicken or rice noodles. I like curly noodles with soy sauce"
Me: "You are having rice noodles today and curly noodles another day"
S: "If you don’t give me curly noodles, then I’m not going to eat!"
Me: "You have two choices, eat this rice noodle soup or time out."
S: "NO.. I don’t want time out."
Me:"Good, sit down and eat your noodles"

Her ultimatum usage is still inconsistent but it's fun to watch her learn.

Tuesday, September 14, 2004

People change when you least expected

Remember my friend P who had issue with retiring her overly used purse? (refer to blog title: purse-onal preference, 8-13-04) Well, she surprised me when we met up over the weekend and showed me exhibit A. I was shocked beyond believe. I gave up the battle and gave her the DVD she wanted and she surprised me with this. Another win-win situation. Yes!
Apparently, her hubby, G convinced her to shop for a new purse at Wilson Leather. She admitted that the purse looked pretty bad on the blog.
While at the store, P found a clerk and pointed to her high mileage purse: "Can you show me where I can find this style of purse?"
Clerk:(shrieking in horror while lifting one eye brow like Spock)"No, we don't have that style anymore"
P noticed clerk's reaction and thought to her self "It's not that bad. (Still in denial)"
Long story short, she picked out this new one and retired the old one. Good job G for mission accomplished.


Exhibit A

Monday, September 13, 2004

Bulleye's wedding

When ever I hear Shania's "When you kiss me", the song takes me back to Bulleye's 1st dance with his beautiful bride. I can't believe how fast time flies. Here's a picture of that moment. This was one of the most memorable moment of the wedding (to me). The lyric of the song fits those two.

First dance

When you kiss me


This could be it, I think I'm in love
It's love this time
It just seems to fit, I think I'm in love
This love is mine

I can see you with me when I'm older
All my lonely nights are finally over
You took the weight of the world off my shoulders
(the world just goes away)

Chorus
When you kiss me
I know you miss me
And when you're with me
The world just goes away
The way you hold me
The way you show me that you
adore me-oh, when you kiss me
Oh, yeah

You are the one, I think I'm in love
Live has begun

I can see the two of us together
I know I'm gonna be with you forever
Love couldn't be any better
.......

Sunday, September 12, 2004

Desserts anyone?

Last night, we celebrated my friend P's Birthday at an Italian restaurant. We made reservation but still had to wait for 20 minutes before we were seated. I wa soo.. hungry by 9 PM. I took some pictures of the dishes but the lighting was on the romantic side so only the desserts pictures came out decent. My friend recommended Warm Apple Crasada. They were both extremely delicious. Sharing desert is the way to go.


I. N.Y. Style Cheese Cake. with fresh strawberry & whip cream.

II. Warm Apple Crasada with vanilla ice cream and apple chip.

Saturday, September 11, 2004

Hubby can you hear me?

3 days ago, hubby accidentally got some water in his ear. It really bothered him because he wasn't able to hear. The night that it happened, I told him to jump up and down as he tilt his head to get the water out. It had always worked for me but not him;however,it was entertaining to see him jumping around the house on one leg.
The next day, I tried dripping alcohol and he said that alcohol made his hearing worst. Fear of getting an ear infection he went to see the doctor last night. When the nurse looked in to his ear canals, she wasn't able to see his ear drums due to heavy wax build up. The nurse syringed lots of water in his ears to flush out both ears. After the ear enemas, he was able to hear again and there was no infection.
Hubby: "I can hear so much better now. Everything seem louder and I can hear the rubbing noise from my shorts when I walk which I couldn't hear before"
So all these pass incidents where I said something and 5 seconds later he said the same thing and I get so annoyed and told him, "Isn't that what I just said!" was due to his wax build up in his ear not because he's mentally blocked out my voice or took credit for my ideas. Come to think of it there were lots of incidents where I tried to whisper or speak really low to him so others are not disturbed, he couldn't hear. It wasn't him it was his wax.
Today is my friend S's Birthday. Happy Birthday S. :)
We've got a wedding to go to in the valley. It will be a hot wedding, literally.

Thursday, September 09, 2004

Meditate with no expectation

A co-worker, Mica who meditate regularly knew I'm attempting to practice meditation.
Mica: "How's your meditation going?"
Me:"I'm doing it every morning but don't really feel any different"
Mica: "Try not to expect anything from it. Eventually you'll see the benefit from meditation after a while. It's not like exercise where you will fell the adrenalin rush"
Me: "Oh. I expect to reach enlightenment like Buddha had. Have you experience enlightenment?"
Mica: "Enlightenment is a state that can't be easily achieved. It takes hours and hours of practice and dedication."
Me: "Ok. I'll just do it and see what happens when it happens"

Workout log
Time: 53 min.
Ave heart rate: 148 b/m
Cal: 410

Indo news

As I drove to work this morning, I was disturbed by another car bombing incident. This time in Jakarta, Indonesia. Here’s an
article on the subject here’s another

Wednesday, September 08, 2004

Exploring

When we went to the beach Labor day weekend, this little girl was in front of me as I was taking picture of the ocean wave.
How do you like this picture Bulleye? Next task is to create a file wide enough to cover the whole gray patch.

Where's the skunk?

Yesterday, I was happy that the spin instructor is well enough to teach a class. Everyone was expecting a sub since she threw her back out cutting onions in the kitchen last week so it was a pleasant surprise.
There's one lady, let's call her blonde who had the bike to my left insisted on turning the fan on during class. She liked to "circulate the stifle air". I told her it's fine with me as long as it's not blowing directly in my face. I don't ride into a tornados.
In the middle of the class, I suddenly smelled this garlic like skunky odor. Internal dialog during the stinky segment of the ride:
"Is some one sweating garlic or some one let one loose? Discousting!!"
"Thanks blonde for circulating the stinky air!!"
Once the song is over, E who was biking to my right said "What was that smell? Who brought a skunk to class?"
Fortunately the stench went away and I was able to breath the rest of the class.
Workout Log
Time: 57 min
Ave heart rate: 151 b/min
Cal: 460

New pre-school

Today is S’s first day at her new pre-school. When hubby dropped her off, hubby said that her eyes were glistening but she didn’t cry during good bye. I’m sure she’ll adjust well after two to four weeks once she makes new friends and play Powerpuff girl saving the world.
This weekend, we’ll go shopping for new shoes and outfits for fall since all her clothes from 4 months ago are too short. Mom & dad plan to visit her during lunch. Seeing a familiar face will definitely brighten her day.
Thanks Mom & Dad :)

Tuesday, September 07, 2004

Different world

Monday night, I happened to be watching the discovery channel and came across this women who was pregnant with baby #15 while taking care of 14 children. Her philosophy is to “have as many children as God intended them to have” i.e. no birth control. Needless to say their family is different than ours average one or two kids family. They don’t have any debt, which was a real surprised. They put the kids to work such as building a house, taking care of their toddler siblings, cooking, cleaning & etc. All the kids are home schooled by the mom/teacher. In the short clip, the mom was explaining bankruptcy concept to all the kids, age range of 3 to 17. I don't think S understand the concept of debt let alone bancrupcy. For entertainment, every child is exposed to 2 musical instruments, piano & violin and they don’t believe in TV watching or the Internet. I tip my hat to the mom, Michelle who had given birth 13 times in 16 years and they think they might want more. What was she thinking? Can't relate to her in so many different level.

Sunday, September 05, 2004

Home made dishes

This was our dinner Saturday night. The rib is one of my mom's favorite dish to make. My version is not exactly the same but it was tasty. S just starts liking firm tofu so I incorporate it in my dishes often. Stirfry cabbage is very simple and quick to make. I dressed it up with a couple of shrimp.
I'm running out of ingredients so grocery store here I come, again. How can I make grocery shopping more fun?

i. Baby ribs with firm tofu & tomato

ii. Stirfry cabbage & shrimps

Friday, September 03, 2004

Work in progress

I really don't like generic template so I'm learning & playing with the color scheme. So far I'm still not 100% content. Thanks San Diego Realtor for your help.

New discovery

Recently I've came across some Indonesian blogs and I'm fascinated by them. After reading them, I realized how poor my Indonesian reading skill has dwindle down to. *deep sigh*
As the saying goes " Use it or loose it" so I choose to use it. I've added 2 Indonesian blogs to my daily reads so I can trigger the old reading skill I know I have deep down inside. Some blogs had so much slang that I have a hard time understanding the context. These two are suitable for my current skill level. Remind me to write my aunt to send me the latest Indonesian/English dictionary. It's so ironic that back when I first came to the states, I relied on the same dictionary to learn English. May be some day I'll have the courage to blog in Indonesian.

Thursday, September 02, 2004

Meditation update

I've been meditating 20 minutes in the morning for the pass 2 days. I tried to meditate last night and it was fun with S wanting to participate. We both lay on the floor & listened to the CD instructing us to relax and take deep breaths. I close my eyes and lay still next to her feeling her movement like a little worm.
S: "Mom, what's a breath?"
Me: "It's the air you breath in and out of your body"
S: "Is your eyes open or close?"
Me: "My eyes are close."
S: "This music is making daddy sleepy, did hear him snore?"
Me: "Yes, it's good that he's relaxed"
After 10 minutes, I declared the session is over.
We all had a good night rest. :)

Wednesday, September 01, 2004

Mom's the best

I asked mom to buy me half a duck today since I'm running out of ideas on what to cook for dinner. She not only got the duck for me but also made some tofukan and fried corn fritters.
I'm glad that I didn't have to cook tonight.
Thanks mom :)

Sleepless night

After the pink eye episode, S caught a cold where she has lots of mucus build up in her system. I’ve been giving her some cough syrup and it seemed to minimize the discomfort and she appeared to not cough anymore so I stopped the medication last night. Well, that was not the right decision because she coughed all night in her sleep. At least it felt that way.
At 3:30 AM, I’ve decided to give her some cough syrup so that she can actually rest and so can we. Afterward, I was not able to fall back to sleep anticipating that I intended to wake up in 2 hrs or so. The next thing I recalled, I finished an important meeting and took a trolley to hear a key presentation and during my trolley ride I realized that I was wearing my pajamas. I had to ask the trolley driver if and when he can take me back to the hotel so I can change. He was not sympathetic about my situation and more concerned about his scheduled route. I was stressing out as I contemplate between missing the presentation or just go with the pajamas look when hubby came to my rescue and woke me up.

Tuesday, August 31, 2004

Meditate with me in the night..

With all the books that I've read and listened to, most of them said that meditation is good for oneself. Quieting of the mind is not an easy task. I've tried to meditate in yoga class and at the end of the session I felt that I took a short relaxing nap. Not really enlighten by the experience.
For September, I've dedicated myself to learn the art of meditation. I've got some books and a tape from the library and will start meditating 20 minutes a day for 2 weeks and 40 min a day on the 2 weeks. Anyone interested in the meditation journey?

Workout log
T: 55 min
Ave heart rate: 162b/m
In zone: 54 min
Cal: 500. Yes

I was feeling a bit dizzy after the cycling journey. Didn't realize my heart rate was that high. I was working extra hard because the class was taught by a sub who was late. I assumed that she'll go easy on us since she taught 2 other classes beforehand.
What I liked about this sub is that she let us stretch our arms with towels in between songs to release the tensions built up on the neck and shoulder region. Will implement the towel stretch in my stretching routine.

Sunday, August 29, 2004

Yummy food

We went out to our favorite Vietnamese restaurant for lunch and this is what we had.

Figure 1. Sam's Imperial roll & BBQ pork rice noodles with Thai ice tea

Figure 2. Different angle and closer look of figure 1

Figure 3. Hubby's Pho

Saturday, August 28, 2004

Picture perfect

I was checking out the pictures we've taken lately and I'm so glad that hubby took this picture at H&M's wedding. The cake is so beautiful in color or sepia tone. Good job H&M :p

Figure 1. Beautiful Wedding Cake



Figure 2. Sepia version of figure 1.

Friday, August 27, 2004

Eliminate clutter

As I’m attempting to clean my office, I find it difficult to throw things away. After 1 hour of sorting, I basically reshuffled my stacks and didn’t make any progress in my quest of creating a serene and clutter free work space. As I’m attempting to throw thing away, I said to my self “What if I need this note sometime down the road?” “This is good literature that will help me if some projects are resurrected”. As you’ve probably guessed, I’m the same way at home which drive hubby off the wall. He can’t stand clutter so I hide my piles of collectables in the garage but then he caught on and said “I need to a path so I can walk from one side of the garage to another. Is there anything we can get rid off?” To keep peace in the house, I actually did get rid of all my college notes and that was 3 boxes worth of paperweight. I still have my textbooks which I'm not ready to part with yet.
Since I have this attachment isue, I like watching the show clean sweep on TLC where a group of designer, carpenter & an organizer guru/nazi go into a home that if full of stuff and help the couple part with their stuff via selling, donation, toss. I totally feel their pain when the nazi forces them to part with this one thing that means so much to them. Once the couple unwillingly minimize their clutter. The show challenged the male vs. the female on who can make more money. Who ever makes the most money on the garage sale gets to keep one of their favorite things that is in the toss pile. 9 out of 10 times the women win and get to keep their stuff. I’m still soul searching as of why I hold on to things.

Thursday, August 26, 2004

Triathelon?

E, my fellow spinner has been missing for the pass two sessions. I hope everything is OK. Today, the spin instructor said "Everyone, I have an announcement!"
I really don't like announcement but let's see what she has to say.
"Starting September,I'll be teaching spin on Wednesday..night @ 6PM". I was all excited about Wednesday then I was diappointed about the 6PM part. Then she said it will be every other Wednesday so I'm not missing out.
I can always do weights on Wednesday if I want to.
I was watching the Olympic women triathelon and I was so impressed by their endurance to exercise for 2 hours and complete the race. If I want to be in a triathelon, I got to start running again and swim. Must find good running shoes 1st. There's a local turkey trot on Nov 27th. 3 month is enough time to start training.
Workout log
Time:54.5min
Ave heart rate: 156 b/m
In zone: 53 min
Cal: 467

Wednesday, August 25, 2004

Mandarin to white people

Earlier, I called my mom and talked to her about stuff in Mandarin and my two co-workers (Suffering scientist=SS: m/wm & Sushi man=SM: m/am) were eaves dropping on my conversation and made the following comment:
SS: "Why does Mandarin sounds so sleepy?"
SM: LOL
SS:"I get it. Speaking Mandarin makes them(Chinese) so sleepy that they rub their eyes a lot and rub off their eye lashes. Hee..he.." Refer to Mir's blog entry Monday, 8-23-04 to get this joke.
Sushi man: Thundering LOL
After I got off the phone I said to SS
Me: "What are you laughing about?"
SS:" Nothing!"
Me: "I heard something about Mandarin and eye lashes"
SS repeated what he said to SM and I thought it was pretty funny.
Me: "At least it's not like Cantonese where it sounds like your angry"
SM defending Cantonese: "I am angry and I have the right to be angry!"
I'm glad they don't speak Chinese or they would have understood what I said to my mom about those two.

Tuesday, August 24, 2004

Nothing in life is free

We had dinner with mom & dad Monday night at this restaurant where my parents frequent enough that the owner came to our table and took our order instead of the waiter. As we were chit chatting after ordering our food, the waiter brought out chicken feet appetizer that we didn’t order.
Mom proudly: “ This dish is complement of the owner”
As mom, dad and hubby were going to town with chicken feet, I noticed the waiter placed a bottle of Heineken and a wine glass on the table between hubby and dad.
Mom to hubby: “Did you order a beer?”
Hubby: “No.”
Mom smiling to everyone: “Must be complement of the owner since we come here often”
At this point the soup arrived so I was chowing down the seafood soup and the next thing you know, the waiter rudely took the beer and the glass away without saying a thing and placed it to the table next to us.
Me: “They must have made a mistake. Luckily you didn’t drink it yet.”
Hubby: “How rude. Didn’t even apologize for giving us the wrong beverage”
Me: ”See mom and you thought it was free. May be the chicken feet was a mistake too.”
After that incident, a different waiter brought to the table a veggie dish. This is one dish I know we ordered. A while later, the owner was standing next to us and whispered something to the waiter and the waiter rudely took the veggie dish away too without saying anything and gave it to the table behind us.
Me: ”What’s going on? Do they not have any manners?”
Later, we got the dishes we order and the veggie came out last and it was a smaller portion than the one that we were teased with.
Dad smiling: “Next time, we start drinking and eating what ever they put down on our table.”
When it comes time to pay, I asked dad to double check the bill and make sure that they didn’t accidentally charged us for food that we didn’t order. I don’t know if I’m going there again.

Workout log
Time: 56 min
Ave: 146 b/m
Cal: 423

Sunday, August 22, 2004

Salt Creek

We checked out Salt Creek beach today and saw lots of surfers and boogie boarders. The water is much colder than the Aliso Beach but when the sun came out it was warmer. There's a bit of a hike down to the ocean so next time, I'll bring the stroller to stroll S back to the parking lot when she's tired and cranky. S had lots of fun building sand castle and playing in water. Hubby & I had fun people watching and catch up with some reading.



Figure 1. Surfer riding a wave



Figure 2. Surfer zone

Saturday, August 21, 2004

Beach day

We went to the beach this morning around 10 AM. I like being there before it gets too crowded. The waves were strong so the life guard was not letting kids play with boogie board in the water. S likes playing in the water. She was almost washed away by the wave several times and ate some sand when the waves hit her face.
For dinner, I tried a new beef recipe tonight. I didn't have corn starch so I had to improvise using tempura batter instead. It tasted better than I had expected.


Playing with the wave

Friday, August 20, 2004

Interesting news

Does coffee really makes you forgetful? via
I'll have to test this out.

As I drove home yesterday listening to NPR, I was cheering for the Indian women who had to resort to violence to defend themselves.

Thursday, August 19, 2004

It's a beatiful day

Today, I had a great workout. Eating a banana with some protein before spinning was a good decision. It gave me energy through out the entire class. I feel stronger than Tuesday where I forgot to eat before hand. Today, the instructor played “It’s a beautiful day” by U2. I like that song but it was 8-minute long. We went on an incline most of the time where we paddle standing up and sit and sprint during the chorus. There was a male trainer spinning behind me in an angle so I imagined that he was Lance Armstrong trying to pass me during class and I had to sustain a faster pace. E, my fellow spinner is working to become a spin instructor. I am happy for her and I know she’ll do great.
Workout log:
Time: 60 min
Heart rate: 158 b/m
In zone: 60 min
Cal: 528

Wednesday, August 18, 2004

Swapping spouses

Since I'm a reality show junkie, I've been watching this reality show "Swapping spouses" where a rich family swap one spouse with an everyday family for 1 week. At the end both families get $50,000 but the temporary spouse decides what to spend it on. I think the everyday family gets more from the show than the rich since they have $50,000. Last night, the rich family lived in a mansion, father is a American Japanese plastic surgeon, mother stayed home, 2 kids and a grandma who cooked for the family. The average family lived in a single story home, African American family, both parents work, 2 boys and 1 girl. When the new moms got to their host family, it was harder for the rich mom to adjust to the average living condition. The average mom was very impressed with the walking closets and was shocked by how much the bill was when they went out for sushi & teppanyaki.
It makes me think about which environment is better to bring up a child? Grow up in a rich environment where the child can have everything or in an average family where the child has limited resource?

Tuesday, August 17, 2004

S indeed has pink eye. We got her the oral and eye drop antibiotics last night. She does not like the eye drop at all. When I dropped the medication in her eye, she cried and squeezed out everything along with her tears. She's home with po-po today so hopefully she has a good time. We are having grilled salmon & corn tonight. I'm not overly excited about the dinner menu. I've always wanted a personal chef that plan, and cook meals for me on the days when I'm exhausted.

Monday, August 16, 2004

Conjunctivitis what's your function

For the pass several days I've noticed that S has lots of mucus discharge from her eyes not only in the morning but through out the day. I thought may be she has some sort of strange cold so I talked to my co-worker sushi-man about it and he said that the discharge from the eye is one of the symptoms for Pink Eye. I did a quick research on the internet and he was right. Hubby is taking her to the pediatrician as we speak so hopefully we'll get it resolved so she doesn't have to suffer anymore. I hope I don't get it since I was helping her clean her eyes and didn't always wash my hands afterwards.

Sunday, August 15, 2004

Hair Folklore

My hair has grown to the level where it's beyond ready for a cut. I kept procrastinating because a) I don't want to drive 40 min one way to get a hair cut by Lynn my Chinese hair dresser for over 3 years and b) It's time to take some risk and try some local hair dresser so that I don't have to drive 40 min every 6 weeks. I didn't get very far with plan b because my hair is so short that there's really no margin for error. Like a creature of habit, I made an appointment with Lynn and I took S with me to get the job done. Italics = Mandarin
Lynn:"Oh.. what a cute little girl. Such beautiful hair."
Me:"Thank you"

Lynn:"She has lots of hair for a four year old. Must take after your husband's hair since your hair is thin and fine"
Me:"You think? My husband did have thick hair when he was a child"
Lynn:"You shave her head when she was a new born!"
Me:"No, I did not. I don't believe in those old Chinese folklore"
Lynn:" Hey, don't under estimate the power of shaving the head of the new born. It works for both of my daughters. You see my hair, thin? My husband also thin hair. I shaved both of my girls' heads when they were new born and now they both have beautiful thick head of hair.
Me:"There's no need to shave them because the baby hair is designed to fall off on their own."
Lynn:"No. Shaving the head stimulate the fair follicles and the stimulation caused the hair to grow a fuller & thicker"
I changed the topic since I wasn't making any progress

Saturday, August 14, 2004

Double charged

I get depressed when I'm paying household bills, the part of the American dream that is more nighmarish. Must spend less money from now on. I went over the credit card bills and I was surprised that I did not see credit for this workout outfit that didn't look so good in my own mirror. Those dressing room mirrors are so deceiving. Instead I was double charged instead. I went back to the store today to fixed the problem. The clerk said "Next time make sure it says credit instead of purchase on the top left corner" I said "Yes, next time I will pay closer attention to the receipt"
Here's a butterfly S drew for me :)

Butterfly by S

Friday, August 13, 2004

Purse-onal Preference

When my friend P & her husband G i.e. (P&G) visited in July, I gave her a hard time about her purse. I’ve known P for almost 20 years. Refer to exhibit A.
Me: “P, how long have you had that purse?”
P: “ It doesn’t matter. It’s still in good condition?” “ I don’t know why everyone is on my case about my purse, my sister, my mom and now you. There’s nothing wrong with it.”
Me: “ It looks hideous. It’s ready for retirement. What if I get you a new purse for your Bday?”
P: “No. I can’t find this style anymore”
G: “Don’t you think I’ve tried that before? Believe me, it won’t work”
P: “I’m not materialistic, it’s functional & I’m going with the acid wash look and check out the inside..it is still in great condition” Refer to exhibit B.
Me: “We are not in the 80’s anymore. Acid wash look is out.”
She was kind enough to let me take picture of her purse so that I can find a replacement for it. After thinking about it more and shopping around, I’ve decided not to get her a purse for her birthday and let her be P. If carrying exhibit A around town make her happy, let it be. It is selfish of me to force my view of what is aesthetically pleasing to me upon her. What do you think after seeing the evidence? Would you retire this poor purse?


Exhibit A

Exhibit B

Thursday, August 12, 2004

Peachy day

Last night mom stayed over our house. She was in good spirit considering the events that had happened for the pass week or so. We checked out some pictures taken @ the SF wedding etc.. while hubby was laundring the sheets for the guest room (Thanks hub).
She made chow-mein so we had that with some left over curry chicken with rice. I forgot to make a veggie dish since we wanted to finish dinner quickly and take a walk to a local supermarket that had just opened. Our time together was very short. Next thing you know, it's bed time.
She also gave me lots of peaches which she had received from her Fresno in-laws. I brought them to work and shared them with my co-workers. Co-worker A (s/f/Japanese) said " This peach is so...good. The aroma of the peach reminds me of Japan." I'm glad that a peach was able to bring back such connection. Another co-worker C(m/f/East coast transplant) said " The peach was delicious. It tasted like the ones I had back East where we picked them ripe off the tree" I'm glad I was able to spread the peach joy around. They are huge. I've got to thank bulleye's wifey's parents next time I see them.

Wednesday, August 11, 2004

Teacher Mom

Mom has dedicated her career to caring and nurturing pre-school children while their parents are at work. In her career as a preschool teacher, she
-Wiped more than her fair share of runny noses
-Tied plenty of little shoelaces
-Singed an adequate amount of nursery rhymes & lullabies
-Wiped gallons of tears from boo-boos and good byes
-Read Abiyoyo hundreds of times.
-Created mountains of arts works for kids to show their parents and to decorate the classroom wall
-Recited the ABCs more than once a day
-And many more behind the scenes activities that no one see or appreciate her for

Here is a poem I found on the internet that sums it all up more eloquently.

Top Ten Reasons to Become a Preschool Teacher

1. Cute little children......cute little paycheck.
2. Confidence that you will never, ever forget to count to 10.
3. Attention span.......Do they have one?
4. Shoes that untie themselves.
5. Get to sing your favorite songs; over and over, and over.
6. With all this bending, who needs aerobics?
7. Play, play, play.
8. Classroom art displayed in kitchen "galleries".
9. Small hands......LARGE crayons.
10. You alone make little ones count.

~author unknown

Tuesday, August 10, 2004

All under control

After generating a list, things seems more managable. I was so flustered that I didn't want to workout but I went so that I can see my fellow spinners. One die hard spinner was spinning with one foot on a cast. That's dedication. I was happy to get my favorite bike. I attempted to keep heart rate ~160 bpm by increasing the resistance but I felt pain on both knees after 10 min or so. I closed my eyes, imagined I was riding in a pack of cyclist on Maui. I visualized the number 500 during class and I was there:)
Workout log
Time: 60 min
Ave heart rate:151 b/m
Cal: 500.

There's a get together at work on Thursday with a friend/ex co-worker. On one hand, I would love to catch up with her and see her how she's doing. On the other hand, I want to spin.

To do list for my sanity

Today is one of those days where too many things are going on and I find writing everything down on a “To do list“ helps keep me from pulling my hair out. One of the short essays from this book titled “Simple Abundance” by Sarah Ban Breathnach, provides reasons behind why it works. The book says that
"A friend of mine has a theory that it’s not so much all we actually have to do in any one week that kills us, it’s thinking about all we have to do.”

“The subversive beauty of a to do list is that once a task is committed to a list, whether it be errands or personal, you don’t have to give it another conscious thought because the left side of your brain -the location of logic-loves lists. It goes on automatic pilot when making lists, sorting and shifting until a schedule appeared that can accommodate everything. If you ever hope to get it done, write it down.”

Monday, August 09, 2004

I'm only human

At this moment, my patient is at the level where I’m ready to fly off the handle if I have to repeat the same process for the 3rd time. Work has this really non-user friendly data base that gives an error message that is so vague that one can not pin point the error to fix the error. On top of that, the software does not let you save the work until the error is resolved. I was told that the solution is basically “go back to square one.” That does not go well with me when I already invested 30-45 min. entering it the 1st time. I don't like this game.
Serenity now…ohm……
I wonder if yoga master bitches about life? They are only human too.

Jelly fish Monday

Here's one of the artworks S brought home from school, the two of us (Yellow is me), floating in the sea.

Jelly fish by S

Sunday, August 08, 2004

Weekend round up

Saturday morning, we started out with lots of cleaning. It's amazing how much dust was around the house if I look for them. S was helping with dusting. She's proud when she's able to collect lots of dirt on her rag. She also enjoyed sweeping the floor so she got that duty too. Hubby was outside, mowing the lawn, cleaning the patio furniture and trimming the trees. I had the pleasure of stabbing marinated chicken cube on the stick and that would have been more fun with some help. At around 5: 15 PM, hubby's brother M's family arrived. They are the most punctual ones out of his side of the family so sister-inlaw S got busy prepping the shrimp veggie kabob. Everyone else were more than fashionably late like always and I've learned to live with it.
One issue I have with outdoor dining are the flies. They decided to join the party and some of us ate inside. Over all we had fun eating, puzzle fighting and getting together. Half an hour after everyone left, sister inlaw Q called and said "Did you call Dad's cell?"
Me:"No, not us. What number did the caller ID show?"
Q:"He doesn't have one. Oh. by the way, Dad thinks that he left his wallet on you couch. Can you check?"
Me too exhausted to go down stairs so started yelling from upstairs: "Hub, can you check the couch and see if you can find Dad's wallet?"
Hub: "What?"
Me to Q: "I'll call you back later"
Me to Hub: "Dad thinks he left his wallet on the couch"
Hub looked on the couch: "It's not there. Let me look out side the house." He did his investigation and I heard hubby called dad inlaw in his native tongue so I couldn't eavesdrop on the conversation. When hub finally came upstairs.
Me to hub: "Did you find the wallet?"
Hub: "No. Dad left it home."
We didn't go to bed until 12 AM.


Mango cake

Stir-fry Gai-lan

Center: Vietnamese rice noodles, bologna with fish sauce. Upper right corner: Cajun shrimp & veggie shish kabob.

Yummy chicken satay. I used heavy duty skewer and it worked out great.

Friday, August 06, 2004

Sam I am


Portrait of Sam by S

Simpsons

Which Simpsons character are you? I'm Krusty the clown.

Gala Planning

Planning a party for 9 people can be a bit stressful. Initially, my plan was to have a nice Vietnamese cuisine so I can show hubby's family that he married a great chef. I went to Fineliving and checked out some recipes. After looking at the ingredients, the little voice in my head was sending warning signals saying "Hmm.. never cook this before, don't even know how it'll taste". Will test drive the recipes 1st with hubby. Plan B is something I can do in my sleep. Decided to go with Chicken Satay Indonesian style. I might add Thai Stirfry shrimp since brother inlaw M doesn't eat chicken.

Thursday, August 05, 2004

Happy Birthday Hub

Today is hubby's Bday, we had a mini celebration tonight. We had pineapple fried rice with salmon. It was delicious. We'll have the real party this weekend. That means, 8 people will be coming to our house. Lots of cleaning, shopping and cooking to be done before Saturday. If I'm not too overwhelm, I'll take picture of the food we're planning to have to practice posting pictures.
Spinning log
Time: 56 min
Ave. HR: 154 b/m
In Zone: 54 min
Burn: 468 cal
It was a full class today. E lucked out that I saved her a bike. The instructor said that if we want to have a bike for sure we'll have to pay again. Hopefully all the new comers will quit in a week or so.