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!