Thursday, December 20, 2007

Stomach issues

Warning! If you are eating lunch or dinner at the moment or don't have kids, you may not want to read this explicit entry about what mom goes through with their kid's unpredictable multiple bowel movements.
I stayed home with the girls yesterday because both of them had stomach problems. Danielle had stomach ache on Tuesday night right before bed and around 1:30AM, he woke hubby up and told him that it was still hurting. Hubby gave her some medicine, woke me up @ 2:00 AM to let me know what's going on. Early morning Wednesday, she was still hurting so she's staying home for the day.
In the mean time, Secondo had diarrhea since last Sunday. On Wednesday morning, she had 2 big ones before 6:30 AM. Needless to say, she stayed home also and produced more diarrhea through out the day that I've lost count. When ever Secondo ate some food, 2 minutes later, diarrhea attached. When ever I hear someone farted, I said " Who farted?"
Secondo would answer " I farted!"
Me: "Danielle, grocery bag quick! Secondo! let's check your diaper now!"
Danielle ran over with a bag in hand and saw what was in Secondo's diaper "Eeeuuu.. liquid peanut butter.. Stinks!"
Me: "Very much so.."
Secondo: " I have peanut butter in my diaper?"
Me: " No.. your poo poo looks like peanut butter"
Secondo: "Oh.."
She wanted milk badly right before bed and I had to be firm and said NO for at least 50 times. She finally gave up and cried her self to sleep. I did give her some soy milk this morning so I'm sure her baby sitter is suffering the consequences already. I'm so glad we did not start potty training yet or it would have been a big mess.

Monday, December 17, 2007

It's really been a while

Hello... anyone still check out this site? I've been so busy at work, at home that there's just no spare time to blog about the things that I wanted to share before the holiday. Another major reason that I have not been blogging is that at work, our wonderful IT department had blocked out all the blogs so I'm not able to post or read any blog anymore. Sigh... If you are still interested in checking in, I'll be blogging one a week from HOME so you can't stop me from blogging. There's also a way of emailing my blog so I'm going to look into it.
I don't even know where to begin. I took some pictures of the girls and ordered Xmas cards online last night for 2nd day delivery. As long as I send the cards out before Dec 25th, I'm not really that late. I still have a couple of things to get and I'm done with the shopping madness.
Yes, back in November I was trying to read the " English Patient". I really tried to listen and not fall asleep but my brain just can't get into the story. I'm going to rent the movie and watch it and hopefully, that will get excited about reading the book. I also tried to read "Saturday" by Ian Mcewan and can't finish that book either. The one book that I enjoyed and finished reading was "Da Vinci's Code" by Dan Brown. It's a short and exciting book compared to English Patient.
At the moment, I'm reading "Time Traveler's wife" by Audrey Niffenegger and enjoying it from the start. Time travel has always been one of my favorite topic.

Friday, November 30, 2007

What's on my mind

My throat started to get sore yesterday. Hubby, Danielle and Secondo had this cold before I did and I finally got it too. I was hoping to escape the cold by diligently no sharing food from the kids and hand washing. I'm trying Zicam and so far my sore throat went away in 1 day but I don't like the taste of the cherry rapid melts tablet. Hopefully it works and I'll be all better by tomorrow.
Tomorrow night is my company's Christmas party and I don't really feel like going anymore. I've been working long hours and I rather stay home than spend more time with people I work with. Attending seems more like a chore at this point in time so what am I going to wear? Hubby's Christmas party is on a Wednesday Dec 12th and spouses are not invited. My interpretation of the rule is that they don't really want anyone to attend or only single people are welcome.
I took Danielle to their on campus holiday shopping. She picked out one give for my mom and her friend Natalie. She wanted to get Nicole Dora the Explorer ornaments but they were the size of choking hazard so we passed.
I finally finished the book "Life of Pi" and I would recommend this book. Some part of the book shared too much details but from a scientist point of view, Pi is an excellent scientist/zoologist. Now I'm listening to "The English Patient" and so far it's putting me to sleep. I'm not sure if it's because I've been tired lately or the book does not interest me. I'll continue listening for the next 2 CDs and decide.

Monday, November 26, 2007

I've been busy

I can't believe that I have not blogged for the pass 22 days. I believe that's record breaking for being away that long. There are too many commitments in Nov so blogging got neglected as before. Between now and the last time I blogged
  1. We celebrated my dad's birthday on the 17th along with 30 to 40 of their friends at my parent's house.
  2. We celebrated Thanksgiving with hubby's family. I made Vietnamese beef jerky papaya salad. We stopped by my parent's house afterward and give my dad his present.
  3. The week of thanksgiving, Secondo had fever for 3 nights in a row and now she has cough and cold
  4. I've been hooked on Nintendo game "Brain age 2". It's a cool game that calculate your brain age by how fast and accurate you are on answering math questions or remembering numbers. When I got started, my Brain age was 80, after some lengthy training, I was 28. Danielle is very competitive and does not like the fact that my brain age is younger than hers. We both train regularly in hope to open new activities to train with. I've never played Sudoku before and now I'm really into it. I'm on the basic mode where I'm allowed to make 5 mistakes to complete the puzzle.
  5. Hubby made a delicious orange cheesecake on his first attempt. I took pictures but not sure when I'll be able to post it.
  6. I've been reading " The life of Pi" and can't wait to finish the book. The writing is humorous but Pi has been a castaway for way too long. Some one please find this poor guy and get him to Cananda.
  7. Hubby put up most of the lights on our house.
  8. I've decided to give Danielle and I a break from piano lesson. She has been practicing much and I don't have time to sit with her when she's practicing
I'm stressing out at the moment because I have not started X'mas shopping yet and December is right around the corner. The one gift I got so far is Brain Academy for my nephew.

Monday, November 05, 2007

Weekend in Fresno

I was up in Fresno the pass weekend with my parents visiting old friends. Our family had known the family in Fresno date back to when my parents were in high school. They live away from the city in front of a serene lake, semi man made. Hubby and I took the kids out on the paddle boat and explored the other homes. At first, we didn't really know how to steer so the boat would go straight so I let hubby be the Captain. After a while, he figured out the steering mechanism. Hubby didn't have much fun so he got off the boat with Secondo crying for me while Danielle and I took off. The boat was so much lighter with just the 2 of us. I didn't have to paddle as hard and we took turn being the Captain. When we got tired, we floated and let the boat drift where ever it wanted to go. That Friday was also the opening of Big bluff's 3rd restaurant name Sakura Chaya. If you are ever in Fresno, you must visit Sakura Chaya. They have the best Sushi and soft shell crabs. Big bluff was so busy that night that we didn't get to spend much time with him. Hen dog and his wife stopped by and said hello and went to the bar to watch a game. We also saw Big bluff's new baby boy who was 2 months old. He was a quiet baby and slept through our whole teppan dinner experience. Secondo enjoyed watching the teppan chef until he started a large flame. From that point on, Secondo watched chef from behind the chair and told me her face felt hot.
On Saturday, we went to California Wok that belongs to Mr Bond, Big bluff's 2nd brother.for lunch. I had the teriyaki BLT with yam fries and it was delicious. Hubby had chow mein and Danielle had spaghetti with meat ball. His restaurant was also busy and Mr Bond was able to sit down and spent several minutes with us. If you are ever in Fresno, please try out California Wok.
After lunch, we went back to the home by the lake and spent time with his kids. The baby girl is very cute and his boy is kind and gentle. Before dinner, we watched their Taiwan wedding reception video and saw how elaborate it was.

I finished listening/reading Snow flower and the secret fan and I would give it a 3/5 rating. It could be the reader who I'm not so fond of or the story was too predictable half way through the book. I'm glad that she went in to details about foot binding and I can't stand Lily's character in the story. Her character was not believable, felt artificial and may be I don't want to hear again and again that women are "useless branches on a tree" or women's worth is measured by how many sons she's able to produce and how small her feet are.

Now I'm reading the Kite Runner and I'm really enjoying the book. Their writing style is more to my taste and I fell more entwined with the characters than previous book. The kite runner brought back memory of when I was a 7-8 year old kid in Indonesia, my dad used go on the roof top of our house and kite fight. I was his assistant, holding the string spool for him while he cut the other kites or handed him new kite when ours was cut.

Thursday, October 25, 2007

Fire in So. Cal

The fire that's closest to our home is the Santiago Fire. We saw it on Sunday on our way back from Tamecula wine country and it's still burning. We are also close to the fire near San Clemente. Air quality is very poor so the kids had been kept in door from Monday through Wednesday. Today, the whole school district is closed and we will know more about school situation for Friday later tonight.
It's so sad to learn that this disaster is caused by an arson. Many homes destroyed and fire fighters injured.

I'm praying for rain. Lots and lots of rain to distinguish all the fires we have in Southern California.

Friday, October 19, 2007

Good for another year

I went for my follow up mammogram yesterday and hubby went with me. I was nervous all morning and finally we face the music together. I felt stronger when he's besides me.
I had a different mammogram technician this time and she warned me that it's going to hurt more because the area where they saw a change in density in the area near my chest and it's not an easy area to squash. Next year, I'm taking some Advils before the torture process.
Tech: "We want to capture a really flat area and hopefully you don't need to do the ultrasound"
Once the Xrays were taken, I went back to my little dressing room, still wearing my little gown and waited for the Dr.'s interpretation of the Xray. I flipped through the travel magazine for a long time and decided that I want to visit Europe and Japan before I leave this earth. I came across a page about San Antonio Tx. It showed a happy couple enjoying the River walk. I've been to San Antonio in August and it was hot, humid, nothing as serene as the picture. Could the pictures about Europe and Japan be misleading also? hm...
After a long ass wait, the mammogram technician told me that the ultrasound technician will come and get me when she's ready.
"Holly crap, that's not a good sign."
After more waiting, the ultrasound technician came, took me to the examining room and started the examination. She said that everything looked normal to her but she took some pictures and let the doctor make the final call.
After more excruciating waiting pain in the room she said that everything is normal and nothing to worry about. I'm good for another year.
When I shared the good news with hubby, I felt the weight came off his shoulder too. He was puzzled why it took me so long where as other ladies came in and out quickly. It's because I had to wait for the Dr to interpret my result on the spot.
I'm so.. thankful that my twins are good for another year. After the test, we celebrated the good news at the South Coast Winery Restaurant in Costa Mesa. I had the seafood pasta and it was creamy and tasty. Plenty of muscles, baby scallops, shrimp and fish. Hubby had a steak sandwich and he said it was OK.

Tuesday, October 16, 2007

5 grains of Sand

On Saturday, I got the unwanted letter from the imaging center asking me to make a follow up appointment for further testing on my right breast (mammogram and ultrasound). Even though the technician had prepared me for this possibility, getting it still made me worry. Logically, I know worrying isn't going to help the situation so I tried to distract my self by keeping busy with the kids and reading.
The fact that October is breast cancer awareness month, I'm reminded of the test, when I'm at the store, in the gym, and can't escape from reality.
On Sunday, I was picking up some milk and as I was checking out, the cashier asked if I want to make a donation for breast cancer research.
Me: “ Sure. I just had my mammogram done last week and I’m hope these scientists find a cure soon.”
Checker: “ I’m going in every 6 months. They found calcium build up in my breasts and @#$!%^&$$ tumor @#%*%$%. Early detection is the key.”
Me: “Definetely!”
After she mentioned "calcium built up", I felt like Charlie brown and stopped registering what she came out of her mouth . My mind wondered off to my own uncertainty, what would be come of me? Will I be in her shoes?
I shared this calcium built up conversation with hubby and he tried to keep things in perspective and reminded me that we are lucky to have the imaging center that has the high-resolution digital X-ray system. It's better to know now than later.
On Monday, I talked to one lady to make sure our insurance covers the cost of 2nd mammogram and she shared her breast cancer experience with me. I'm share with you my dear reader because it’s important for us to understand the significance of mammogram.
A while a go, S went in for her annual mammogram and they found five tiny cancer cells the size of a grain of sand. She had the option
  1. Get a lumpectomy to remove areas where these cells were found but there’s still 30% chance that the cancer will return.
  2. Remove the whole breast and 0% chance that cancer will return.
She chose the brave and safe path and removed her whole breast. When the cancer was autopsied, it was 11 days old. She was very grateful for early detection and able to take care of it. We are ask to do self-examination regularly; however, there's no way in hell I would be able to detect 5 grains of sands. By the time it becomes a lump, who know how old the cancer cell is then?
After I got the letter, I did some more research on the subject and found this informative website that shows the differences in Xray between calcification and cancer cells. The Xrays are toward the bottom of the page.

Let's hope this episode of my life is much ado about nothing.

Friday, October 12, 2007

Time test part II

Danielle's teacher emailed me and her reply wasn't so helpful. Her solution to my inquiry is this one summary page in her homework binder that shows hints on how to help our kids with math for the whole year. As far as time test 1 & 2, she said the concept is counting on. So for counting on we get a line liner explanation on that paper, not enough details so I know what I'm suppose to do at home. She also mentioned that the time test should not be a high pressure and I should not worry and assure her she will eventually pass. I guess she could take the same test 10 times, statistically, you will eventually.
My goal is to pin point the concept she's not learning so we're more efficient with time instead of going over the things she already know.
I emailed her back confirming what she was referring to as far as counting on.
Me: " You mean addition of X+1 or +2 or +3 where X can be any number from 0 to 21?"
Teach: " I don't have the binder in front of me so ask Danielle to bring her binder to me tomorrow and I'll go over it with her"
That was a surprising reply when I was expecting "counting on" is being taught in class at the moment and she would give me several ideas off the top of her head on how to review the same concepts at home.
That same night, I forgot to give Danielle instructions to bring the binder to her teacher so as expected, the teacher did not initiate to show Danielle the page she was referring to in her email.

Last night, I was preparing dinner in the kitchen and I asked Danielle

Me: "How was school today?"
D: "Good."
Me: "Did anything exciting happened in class?"
D: "Not really.."
Me: "Was there any tests going on?"
D: " YES, we had our math time test and I think I know what I did wrong. I made the mistake of 7+? =.... Hmm. I can't remember it now.."
I was all excited about her revelation which could be a false alarm
Me: "Did you pass?"
D: "I don't know, we didn't get our test back yet."
Me: "Ms. B didn't have time to grade them?"
D: "No. Parent volunteers grade them, not Ms. B"

That's one of the missing puzzle piece to solve my riddle. It explains the vague reply I got when I asked her for the specifics. She didn't grade the tests so she has no idea what concept my child is or isn't learning. We're going to have lots to talk about during our next parent teacher conference. It's not easy being a teacher so I'll help as much as I can.


Wednesday, October 10, 2007

Frustration

Danielle gets math time tests twice a week. In theory, reviewing her addition flash cards should help her with passing these tests. Last week, she passed the 1st test on her 1st try and that helped built her confidence. On 2nd test, she got 35 out of 36 so I wasn't too concerned. When I asked her if the teacher reviewed the test with her and she said no. The test got thrown out so the kids can't memorize it and she's not aware of the mistake she made. During our homework time, I make up a mock test with random numbers that adds up to be 21 and gave her 3 min to finish the test. With my test, she had 10 questions left after 3 min was up and she got frustrated and cried because she could not finish the test in time. I told her that my test may be harder because I knew she's able to solve the easy ones. As long as she did her best, I don't care how many times it takes her to pass the test.
Yesterday, she took the 2nd test again and also scored 35 out of 36.
Me: "Was it hard or easy?"
D: " It was easy."
Me: "Did you have extra time at the end to check your work?"
D: "I did check my work and it's all right."
Me: "It's hard for me to guess what we need to work on not knowing what you missed."
D: " May be it's my hand writing because I had to go really fast and I usually take my time to write neatly but not during time test."
Me: "You may be right. Can you write a little neater next time?"
D: "Yeah. I know I can pass test 3 because all the numbers add up to ten"
Me: "I'm sure you will pass this one too once we figure out what concept you've forgotten from 1st grade. "
Me: " Remember you did time test at 1st grade and you went all the way to 19?"

I emailed her teacher to asked for some recommendation on how to help her from home. I know she can do the math; however under pressure, mistakes happens.
Why can't the kids move on when they get 97% correct? The principle may know the answer.

Friday, October 05, 2007

Mammo techonology

I got my mammogram done today and the technician was very proud of the latest and greatest digital imaging system they have instead of the film type mammogram system they had 6 months ago. I asked the technician what were the advantages of the digital vs. film version. Instead of saying the machine was able to generate higher resolution images, she said " It's like regular camera vs. digital camera or better yet regular TV vs. HDTV".
Digital or not, the intensity of crushing of the boobs are the same. I was hoping that the machine doesn't require boobs to become pancake before taking images but that ain't going to come true any time soon. She also warned me that I might get a call from the radiologist because of the higher resolution images so I should not be alarmed because they rather error on the safe side than vice versa. I pray that my twins are happy and in good health
October is breast cancer awareness month so I'm wearing the pink bracelet and got the pink bow pin that I'll put on my jacket.
I'm in the middle of reading Kafka on the shore and I'm more into the book now than before. Unexplainable weird things are starting to happen and two stories starts to merge together. Listening to this book opens up my desire to read more about Greek tragedies, really think about metaphors and irony of real life vs. fiction.

Note to self:
1st appointment is better than last appointment of the day. Shorter wait and staff members are still fresh= more friendly, less grouchy. Arriving earlier than appointment time also help since there will be surveys to fill out. NO Deodorant please.

Tuesday, October 02, 2007

Going to bed early

On Saturday, around 5PM, we went over to Secondo’s friend JJ’s house to play and I had to give them 15 minute going home warning around 6:00 PM because JJ goes down at 7PM. Both girls love going to JJ house because Danielle likes his dogs and Secondo likes his toys. Danielle was protesting
D: “ Why do we have to go home so early? It’s one hour before 7PM.”
Me: “ Well JJ has to get ready for bed at 6:30”
D: “ So we have 30 min to play instead of 15 min?”
Me: “We have 15 min so JJ’s dad has 15 min to get ready to put JJ to bed.”
We ordered Pizza for diner so I was able to use Pizza as the incentive for them to leave JJ’s house.
We took the kids to the park on Sunday afternoon and met up with her friends from school for a play date. When we got home, hubby gave the girls their baths and Danielle announced that she’s going to sleep at 7 PM so I asked her why.
D: “ This way I can get up at 5 AM and have more time to get ready for school.”
Me: “ That’s fine with me.”
She actually got in bed around 7:30 and she said that it took her a while to fall asleep but when I woke up Monday morning at 5:30, she was already up and was reading in her room.
Hubby and I were hoping Secondo would go to sleep early but she went to bed at her normal time.
When she got home from school Monday afternoon, I asked if she's tired and she said no but she'll go to bed early still. After a quick dinner, we went to her piano lesson and she fell asleep during the short drive to her teacher's house. I think she was tired and didn't play as well as she could have if she was fully awake.

Thursday, September 27, 2007

Back to school night : 2nd Grade

Talk about feeling heavy, I certainly felt the bricks coming down on my shoulders after being informed on what my child will be learning as 2nd grader, daily, weekly and for the whole school year.
  • Reading: 20-30 min, every day through out the whole year. As parents, we are encourage to ask open ended questions about the plot, compare and contrast characters in the book vs. people we know and also asked our child to prediction of how the ending is going to be.
  • Writing: All 2nd graders are expected to write grammatically correct sentences with punctuation, and capitalization etc. They also have a journal that they keep to write down their free flowing thoughts, and ideas.
  • Spelling: The school has cut down the number of words the kids need to learn on the weekly basis so I’m SO happy about it.
  • Math:
  1. Number sense
    • Place value of whole numbers to 1000
    • Addition and subtraction of 2 and 3 digit numbers with regrouping ( not sure what regrouping means)
  2. Algebra and functions
  3. Measurement ( metric vs. English units of measure for length, volume, area and perimeter)
  4. Geometry
  5. Statistics
  6. Data analysis
  7. Probability
  8. Problem solving
These kids will be tested weekly on a math fact sheet. 3 min time test with have 36 questions ( i.e. 5 sec/question). One must score 36/36 on the test before one can move on to the next math fact sheet. If the child complete the whole cycle of sheets then they will start the cycle again but the time allowed is reduced down to 2 min ( 3.3 sec/question). This time constraint sounded stressful for the kids and parents. Got to figure out a way to make this fun for her because it’s going to be part of her weekly routine until she stops going to this school.
  • Science
  1. Earth Science: Rocks, soils, fossils
  2. Physical Science: Learning about motion, sound energy and magnetic energy
  3. Life Science: Life cycle
These topics are interesting and appropriate for her age and I strongly feel that making the connection of motion and PE may motivate her to like PE more.
  • Social Science
  1. Government
  2. Exploring Family Roots
  3. People who supply our needs
  4. Cultural difference etc..
  • PE: My favorite subject in school but not Danielle’s. School’s expectation are basic: participation and sportsmanship so that to me is the easiest subject out of all. Shows up, give it your best and don’t feel bad if you loose. I plan to work with Danielle on jogging and softball to build some self-confidence out in the field.
After meeting her teacher, I sense that she’s stricter than her 1st grade teacher. I felt her intensity in her sentences, and sternness in rules and expectations . We will have a parent teacher conference in November so we’ll see how it goes. I was sitting with other parents and one mom was trying to console me by saying “ It sounds like a lot but it’s not really that bad. Just wait until she goes to 8th grade.” It’ll be interesting to compare the workload for Secondo 5 years from now. I’m sure the school will provide more testing and homework in this time span.
SERENITY NOW….

Changing to more lighter and funny subject
Last night, for a brief moment, I turned on the TV and Dolly Parton was singing 9-5 while the professionals were dancing on the floor. I noticed how skinny she’s getting and how her small frame accentuate her large breast even more than before. We all went to bed before knowing who got kicked off the show and I had the dream that I had a boob job gone wrong. They were shaped like pyramids and there’s nothing the doctor could do to fix it. I blame Dolly for this wicked dream of mine. I'm happy with what I have and will not get an augmentation even though most of my neighbors have one.

Monday, September 24, 2007

Feeling heavy

For the pass few days, I've been having this heaviness feeling on my chest which required me to purposely taking deep breaths to get rid of this feeling. Have I forgotten how to breath properly?
I recently found a Shiatsu place by work and decided give it a try. My regular Tui-na lady broke her arm so it'll be a while before she's able to work with her hands. I was expecting a Japanese lady for the Shiatsu but she turned out to be Chinese. I told her areas of my aches and pains and she asked if I wanted traditional Shiatsu or Chinese ba-guan mixed with massage. Ba-guan is a technique using suction cups on are of pain and promote circulations. I decided to go with ba-guan because I've had success with that before. She told me that her technique is really call fei-guan (flying cups) because she used light levels of vacuum and flies over the back quickly. Fei-guan felt pretty good. On the lower back area where I felt sore, she left the cups there a little longer. During the massage sessions, she asked me to practice deep breathing. She'll pushes harder on my back as I exhale and she asked me to extend my exhalation as long as possible. It felt as if I was practicing yoga breathing while she's working on my muscles. When I forgot to breath, she'll breath loudly as a reminder so I worked hard breathing while she worked on my back.
She felt too much tension on my shoulder and her advice was to relax and rest.

Thursday, September 13, 2007

Workout, Reading & Food

Hubby took the day off today so I was able to take the 5:30 AM cycling class which I normally couldn't because of the kids. I like the class because it's not crowded and it kicked up my metabolism to face the day. In class I noticed this lady who shrunk so I congratulated her and of course asked her how she lost so much weight. She told me that she went on weight watchers, continued with working out and lost 30 pounds.
Workout log:
Time: 1:08 min. (I kept the monitor on while driving home)
Cal: 496
Ave heart rate: 147 b/min
During class, the instructor announced that she'll be teaching a 3 hour ride next Saturday to raise money for MS. Can I ride for 3 hours? Hypothetically it'll take off 1500 calories from my body but then I'll be dead tired and non-functional for the rest of the day.

I just started reading/listening Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami on my drive in to work. So far I barely know Kafka who time traveled and the story jumped to Mr. Nakata who's taking advice from a cat that speaks a "common language to human". It may be one of those stories where I have to go back and re-read the first couple of chapters to complete the circle.

On with my favorite topic, food

I've been meaning to post this Vietnamese shrimp egg roll that mother in law orders when we have get togethers or birthday parties. It tasted like typical egg roll except the exterior has more crunchy bits and there's a shrimp wrapped in the middle of the fillings.


Above is my version of Pad ke Mow, which I learned to make from my Thai friend #2. It wasn't a big hit at the party because I didn't add any Thai chili. There were lots of left over so I had this dish for a week, got tired of it and have yet give it a 2nd chance. Very similar to Chinese chow-fun plus basil and chili.


This is virgin Mojitos, contribution of Angie. It is tangy and sweet, perfect drink for the hot summer days we've been getting lately. The downer is that I saw how much sugar she added so I had one small glass with lots of ice.

Main ingredients are
  1. Lime juice
  2. Carbonated water
  3. Sugar, lots of sugar.
  4. Slices of mint leaves

Wednesday, September 12, 2007

Nothing particular

I read other people's blog and they acknowledge and celebrate the birthday of their blog where as I, can't remember when I started blogging. When I looked back, I can't believe I've been blogging for over 3 years. I recalled the day when I emailed Mir and told her how uncomfortable I was sharing my thoughts on cyberspace. I'm too vulnerable! Writing is not my strength and who wants to be judged for creativity, writing style, grammar,& content? Right around that time is when my grandmother from my mom side passed away. Mom and dad went back but I wasn't there for the funeral which made feel guilty. I felt that my time on this earth is quite limited and I wasn't really connecting with my brother who lives up north, my aunt in Indonesia nor my old friends as much as I liked. Back then, I enjoyed reading Bulleye's entries about poker tournaments, Fresno's hot's entries about his gripes on certain products but as time goes by, they stopped blogging yet I continued. I still keep their sites on my favorites hoping one day when I click the link and I'll be surprised by a new entry.
Look back, I've lost some blog sites but met some really cool friends over the years. Some days blogging does feel like a chore when I have other more pressing things on my plate and I'm not sure if anyone out there still interested in reading my stuff.

Monday, September 10, 2007

Last month of swim lessons

Danielle had a short break and she started up with private swim lesson last Saturday. She did really well with back stroke and her teacher said that Danielle took instructions well and we, the parents should continue to bring her to the pool to practice so that does not regress too much by next summer. She also said that it's good to mix up private lessons and group lessons so the kids can encourage each other and see what they are capable of learning.
I also signed Secondo up for swim lesson for toddlers. She did not like being dunk in the water but she loved playing in the pool. The lesson is more for me on how to encouraged her to kick, moved her arms and blow bubbles in the water.
After swim lessons, we went to my company picnic. They served BBQ chicken, BBQ steak, hotdogs, burgers, & fruit salads. They had raffles with the main prize being Wii and other stuff (toys, gift cards, pillows, etc) that we could put our tickets into if we are interested. Like last year, we did not win anything. The picnic is very much the same as the year before so I'm planning to participate in the planning meeting to change it up a bit for the coming year.
We went to Barnes & Noble after the picnic to check out the new Magic Tree House book "Monday Mad Genius" for Danielle. Danielle read all the other Merlin mission so she was really excited with book # 38 and finished reading the whole book. I didn't get to read much because I was busy putting things on the shelf after Secondo took toys off the shelf. She's not the type that will sit still for 5 minutes on her own to read a book. She would rather explore the book store, play with toys or have me read with her.

Tuesday, September 04, 2007

Back to School

Today is Danielle's 1st day of school as a 2nd grader. It's exciting for her, new clothes, lunch box, back pack, and school supplies. It was nice to see some familiar faces in her new class and everyone appeared taller and have more front teeth than 3 months ago. Her teacher seemed kind and caring so I hope she doesn't get shuffle around because the principal does re-shuffle students to combination classes based on true attendance. One minor issue I dislike is that her class room is a pre-fab, portables or trailer. It's not that big of a deal, just something she'll get used to. I was there at 7:30 AM and the heat was unbearably hot. The principle provided option for the kids watch cartoon during recess instead of playing outdoor.
I recall that 2nd graders get tested so I'm going to look into it on parent's night next week.

Wednesday, August 29, 2007

this i believe

One of the CD that was on the shelf of the library was this I believe. I've heard this segment on NPR once in a while and am glad that they've decided to compile the essays into a book so had to borrow and listened.
So far I liked Be cool to the pizza dude essay.

Monday, August 27, 2007

Kids & Reading

This past weekend was nice and low key which is what I've been longing for a while. No commitment to anyone other than Danielle's play date.
Saturday started with my usual upper body weight lifting & boot camp workout followed by Danielle's friends who are sisters, coming over for a play date. Let's call the two girls N who is 7 years old and B who is 8 years old. They've been wanting to come to our house ever since we have our hamster. When they saw the hamster they got excited about man handling our hamster which made me nervous. We don't normally let the hamster run around the house freely unless it's in a rigid plastic ball. After they got bored watching the hamster inside the ball, the girls ran up stairs with the hamster and I thought they were going to put it back in her little cage. While playing with Secondo, downstairs, I started to hear loud thumbs on the ceiling. When I checked on them moments later, they had the hamster running around on Danielle's bed.
Me: "Please keep the hamster in the ball because it poops frequently"
B: "We know, look at how many poops are in the ball!"
N:"He did poop on Danielle's bed so I picked it up and put it in the ball."
Me: "That's it girls, put the hamster back in the cage and go wash your hands. It's time for lunch"
They pointed out to me that they've put pillows on the foot of Danielle's bed to prevent the hamster from hiding under the bed in case the hamster ran away from them.

It was interesting to see that even at the age of 2, Secondo wanted to tag along and be accepted as part of the older girls group. She wanted to tag along in Danielle's room and her older sister didn't want any part of that. She'll say: "Hey guys, come back here!" but girls went on with and left her out. Her friends however,were a little more attentive to Secondo and didn't completely shut her out. During lunch, B sat next to Secondo and when Secondo mentioned that her chicken nugget was hot, B would wrap it with a tissue paper and asked Secondo to hold the tissue instead of direct contact to the nugget. When Secondo ate all her nugget and wanted more, N offered to share half of hers with Secondo. Danielle on the other hand didn't want anything to do with her little sister. I know deep down she loves her little sister but she's not generous with sharing her things with Secondo. She would only give Secondo things that she doesn't really care for.
In Mandarin Chinese there's a word called "rang" which translate to yield in English. As an older sibling, one of the phrase I heard all the time growing up is "Jie-jie rang di-di" which means, Older sister should yield to younger brother in many situations let it be toys, food, or TV shows. Older child has the responsibility to let younger child have his or her ways because little ones can't understand the meaning of yielding. I know Danielle felt resentment towards me because I asked her to rang mie-mei (little sister) often when Secondo acts up and I can't get her to snap out of it.

While they were watching Disney Channel, I went to the library alone to return and borrowed some more books. I was so happy that I found 1001 books you must read before you die at our local library. It's a thick and heavy book with little excerpts of what the book is about. After reading "Never Let me go", I do agree that it's one of the must read book even though the first several chapters seemed boring and irrelevant. It's one of those book that I'm re-reading again to tie the links together to better understand the story. The first set of books that I'm reading will the the ones that are on CD so it's going to be ones written after the year 2000. Within that bracket,there are 69 books to choose from so I'm going to rotate authors between different nationalities. Has anyone read the book "Life of Pi"? I've read mixed reviews about this book and I'm curious about how good it really is. Please let me know your take of the book if you've read it already.
When I got home the girls were getting ready to go swimming and again Secondo felt left out staying home with mom & dad.
After dinner, Danielle and I played Mario party 8 on Wii and we had fun teaming up battling computer characters Yoshi and Toad.

Wednesday, August 22, 2007

I'm gonna love you.....


Check out this cool video made by my friends Patricia, Greg and her crew . Aren't they creative?

Tuesday, August 21, 2007

Change in life style

I recently had a physical where they did the routine blood work that showed my blood cholesterol was borderline on the high side. When I discussed the result with hubby and some friends their natural advice were to minimize shrimps and other seafood that have high cholesterol content. I also recalled a conversation with my friend Patricia who’s husband is also working on reducing his blood cholesterol.
Me:"Does it mean that G can’t eat shrimps and crabs anymore?"
P: "Not really. He has to reduce his saturated fat intake."
After researching on the subject of blood cholesterol vs. cholesterol content, I’m happy to report that my friend Patricia was 100 % right. I don’t have to give up eating my favorite food in the world, seafood but I do have to reduce intake of trans fat and saturated fat which if found in food such as coconut milk, butter, cheese, ice cream, red meat. Even though shrimp has high cholesterol content, it doesn't increase blood cholesterol. Such a relief to know that shrimp is not bad for me because I still can eat Tom Yum Kung as long as I don’t add coconut milk in it anymore. I used to cook curry with coconut milk, eat dessert with coconut milk but now I'm going to take it out of my recipes and replace it with skim milk when possible.
I've also started to eat oatmeals for breakfast and that is suppose to lower the LDL/bad cholesterol. Researches showed that oatmeals only lowers it by 2-5% after 2 month so all the advertising on the oatmeals being the sponge for cholesterol is not 100% true.

Friday, August 17, 2007

Food I like to eat


I don't really know what to write today so I'm going to share pictures of food we ate last June to celebrate our My wedding anniversary.
We used our good China for the occasion and it adds mouth watering feature to the Tom Yum Kung which I'm salivating over as I'm writing this post. The difference between this version versus your standard on is that we added coconut milk which gave it a richer taste. My mom likes this version but personally I prefer the traditional version without the coconut milk.
This appetizer shrimp kebob is also my favorite. It's really easy to make and tasty. Marinate the shrimp in chopped up garlic, chili powder, tiny bit of salt and olive oil for 30 min. When you are ready to grill, add a little lime juice give it a little tangy flavor. I apologize for the picture being a bit blurry.
The rice dish is Indonesian Fried Rice/Nasi Goreng. It's very easy to make especially if you have a jar of the Kokita Nasi Goreng Sambal in your pantry. You can find it at 99 Ranch Supermarket off of Jeffery, Irvine. I throw in eggs, mixed veggies, ham and shrimp. The flash is too strong for this picture so may be natural lighting would have been a better.

Here is Pad Thai made by my friend P. It's a low fat version made with egg substitute and if anyone is interested, I'll ask her for the recipe.









This is my mom's creation of soy sauce marinated short ribs with tofu and eggs. Every one loves this dish from adults to kids. I'll post the recipe at another time.

Tuesday, August 14, 2007

Random Thoughts

  1. I'm craving salty food so I've been eating potato chips today.
  2. It's that time of the year for the annual OB/GYN check up so I called up my Dr's office for an appt. and the earliest appointment available is in Nov. I hope the mammogram office can give me an appt sooner than Nov. Sigh..
  3. I'm starting a new book titled "Never Let Go" by Kazuo Ishiguro and not really into the story after listening for 3 chapters. Everything so far is vague and difficult to relate to so I'm going to give it a break for now or I'll fall asleep driving home. With the Author's name being Kazuo Ishiguro, I thought the story would take place in Japan. It came highly recommended so I'll give it another chance when I'm more alert. I may start listening to "The world is flat" and see how interesting that book is.
  4. My folks are leaving for Taipei, Taiwan because my friend Jo's Father has colon cancer. The Doctor told her family that he doesn't have much time left. Sigh... He's over 80 and lived an interesting life in China and Taiwan.
  5. This week is Danielle's last week of swim lessons for August. I hope she'll remember all her stokes for September.
  6. The rebuilt transmission of our Odyssey broke last week and we had to get it fixed again. I hope the newly rebuilt transmission will last at least 3 years.
  7. We attended 3 birthday parties last weekend and that was exhausting. First was a Pokemon theme at a park for a 7 year old, 2nd was Cinderella theme for a 2 year old and 3rd was Surfer dude theme for a 2 year old by the pool. I'm glad that next birthday get together is in Sept.
  8. Secondo has a tendency to poop at public places.
    1. We were at the Library on Sunday to borrow some books and she pooped there. 4:30PM
    2. We were at Target last Saturday, shopping for gifts and she pooped. 11:45AM
    3. We were at the waterpark and she pooped there too. 6:30 PM

Thursday, August 09, 2007

Working out, a love hate relationship.

I usually arrives to my Sunday cycling class 1 hour before the class starts in order to a) to ensure I get a bike and b) upper body weight training. I noticed that other folks who take the same cycling class are doing the same but one person that grabbed my attention is a gray hair older gentlemen who took the class every single week even though he lives far from this gym. He seemed to be older than my dad and he's in really good shape. He usually kept up with what the instructors asked of us and made me realize that there's no racial and age boundaries in sports and I am my one true competitor.
In my working life, there are seniorities or connections people may have with certain individuals that can get them further in their career even if their performance is average or less than average. I rarely observed or experienced occasions where hard work and dedication alone were able to get one self promoted at the reasonable rate.
In cycling, that man can easily beat me or anyone else because his hard work and diligent training. Only if I train harder and smarter, I'll be able to beat him in a race. There's no glass ceilings for women to overcome.
I've ended my 4 am workout after doing it for 2 weeks. Waking up that early was taxing on me and effected my performance as a wife, a mom and a human being in general. I was cranky, resentful, forgetful, wore my gym shorts backward one day and basically functioned as a zombie. It's amazing how hubby is able to continue with his AM workout and he does show fatigue when 8PM rolls around every night.
I still kept up with my lunch time walking and spent more time in the pool to reinforce Danielle's swimming skills. I'm still formulating a better plan that works with the needed beauty sleep I so need.
Last Tuesday, one of the Kickboxing instructor declared that she has been cancer free for 2 years and reminded us how lucky we are that we were healthy enough to workout.
I do appreciate that I'm healthy and able to workout regularly with some minor aches and pains here and there. I'm also proud of hubby who still workout even when his toe hurts like hell due inflammation.

Monday, August 06, 2007

Exciting day

During Bulleye's (my younger brother) last visit, he wanted to surprised Danielle by giving her the Wii console. He wasn't aware of the high demand and short supply scenario for Wii so he went to Best Buy, Target and had no luck finding it. Before he left he promised her that he'll order it and ship it to us. When I told this to Danielle, she was really excited and asked daily as when will her Wii arrive? It finally came on Friday and she was playing Wii with our next door neighbor boy all night. They like shot put game the best out of the Wii play games but it's quite loud. Thanks Bulleye for the game.
We celebrated Hubby and his brother's birthday last Saturday. We held on to the tradition of everyone being late except for my parents and the reason this year is that they all had traffic issues. I've also invited my friend P&G who made a nice little music video for her friend.
I don't remember if I captured the food we served but I did capture people having a blast playing Wii. Dad liked playing golf, and kids liked boxing, bowling and tennis. Wii is a great way to get the observers involved in the games.
On Sunday, when I was going to the gym, I can't open the garage door. Hubby had to manually pushed the door up. When I got back, he showed me the broken spring and had called for a repair man to quote to cost to fix it. It cost us $700 to fix it and it's warranty for life.

Tuesday, July 31, 2007

Better mood today

Although I didn't really talk to hubby about the situation to get closure with my anger, I felt better yesterday after listening to Danielle played the piano and saw how proud her teacher was of her. She's currently learning the "Entertainer" beginner version and she has mastered half of the song so far. I don't mind being the nagging mom when it comes to practice as long as the result is that she's a good and confident piano player. I've heard from so many folks who wished their mom didn't give up on them when they refused to practice as a child. We have many moments of stress and frustration for both parent and child but I do explained to her right before bed that it's natural to be frustrated on a new piece of music. During Summer break, she has more time on the piano to explore & practice but during the school year, I'm less lenient on her.
As far as swimming, it's amazing how 2 private lessons and lots of encouragement was able to do. I know Danielle is more comfortable in the water because she's tall enough to stand up when she's out of air or sucked in water by accident.
Now we make an effort to go to the pool twice a week to play/ practice in hope that she's able to swim this year.
Secondo will start her group lessons in September. I took her in the pool on Sunday and she was holding on to my bathing suit straps for dear life. I tried teaching her the basics and hopefully she'll learn some basic skills this year also.

My right eye was blood shot since Saturday and today it looks like it's going away. I was feeling pressure on the eye and also on my temples so I hope it'll going away soon as well.

Monday, July 30, 2007

Venting

I'm still in a bad mood that's lingering from yesterdays event at our house. Hubby doesn't help the situation by minimizing my anger towards the situation. There are some people from his side of the family that I can't stand but for the sake of our marriage, I must tolerate, endure their presence.

Thursday, July 26, 2007

New Discovery

I've decided to divert my attention from reading food/restaurant review blogs to book review blogs. It is best to balance my exterior fitness level by doing some brain weight lifting as well. Another benefit is that I won't be thinking about food all day.
I just downloaded 1001 must read books before I die from Arukiyomi so that will keep my mind busy working out for the rest of my adult life. Based on the formula from his Excel spread sheet, if I'm 7 years old today, I'll be able to complete the list if I read 14 books a year.
My next book after Memoir of a Geisha is going to be "The world is flat".

Wednesday, July 25, 2007

Good reading

I've been listening to Memoir of a Geisha on CD and it's a really good book. It made me realize how complex a life of a Geisha really is. I listened to it with Danielle was in the car with me and it put her to sleep. I was told the movie didn't do justice to the book so I'm going to watch it after finishing the book.
Danielle started her private swim lesson yesterday and she chucked down some water when trying to go under water to pick up toys. She asked me why is the pool water salty? Why her hair still smelled like Chlorine after being shampooed? She's starting from scratch again so we'll be going to the pool more often to get her comfortable in the water.
I realized that I've been spending too much time drooling while reading food blogs so I'm going to limit myself to reading them every other day.
I recently discovered Ebisu and they have the best Green tea

Tuesday, July 24, 2007

What's left of Summer Vacation

I can't believe that in 6 weeks, Danielle will be back to school a 2nd grader. There are still many things we want to do before going back our routine.
  1. Swimming lessons
  2. Going to the Beach
  3. Legoland and may be stay in San Diego for a day
  4. Visit my friends in Moorpark and go wine tasting in Santa Barbara
Bulleye came down for a visit on Saturday and he was amazed at how talkative Secondo is compared to Danielle in general. Danielle and Bulleye bonded by playing StarWars together. Bulleye got bored after a while but Danielle kept on playing for hours. Hubby grilled the chicken Sate, I made Thai papaya salad (with the help of my Thai friend) and Mom warmed up stir fried noddles & tofu she brought over. Thai version of the papaya salad has lots of garlic and chili and it was too spicy for mom and dad.

We went to the OC fair on Sunday with my Thai friend's family (4 adults, 2 kids, 2 toddlers and 3 strollers). The kids didn't notice how hot and humid that day was and around 4 PM we felt some sprinkles of rain which didn't last long.
After watching the Hawaiian dancers performed, we checked out the arts & crafts area, looked at the animals ( pigs, sheep, cows, rabbits, chickens, etc..) and headed for food.
We ate grilled corn, hot dogs, chili curly fries, cheese fries, and some sausage dog. The kids had cotton candy, and kettle corn and rode roller coasters. My friend's husband wanted to eat something deep fried.
He said to me "You can get a deep fried Krispie Kreme chicken sandwich there"
Me: "I've never heard of such thing."
Him: "It's a sandwich with doughnut dough as patty instead of bread and deep fried"
Me: "It's doesn't sound appetizing ."
Him: "I want a deep fried Twinkies"
Me: "How about deep fried Orios?"
Him: " They deep fried everything at the fair don't they?"
I felt sick after eating all the fried food and he didn't get deep fried Twinkies after all.
It was fun but tiring event for Sunday.

Thursday, July 19, 2007

It's been a long week

One of my neighbors J, gets organically grown vegetables regularly from a local grower and she asked me if I want to split the basket with her because it's way too much for her family alone. I agreed to try and we got our 1st basket yesterday filled with veggies, fruits, herbs and small bundles of flowers. For dinner, I made salad with the lettuce and put the baby carrots in the soy sauce chicken that was already on the stove.
The lettuce and carrots were very tasty. They were more flavorful than the standard ones that I usually get from our local grocery store. It’s my 1st time trying organically grown veggie and I can't wait to experiment with the other veggies that I'm not familiar with tonight.
Before bedtime, in anticipation of my Friday AM workout, I was too lazy to get Secondo her milk prior putting her to bed. Usually hubby would bring it up right before bedtime but he didn't last night and I figured he was as tired and exhausted as I was. The consequence of not going through a set routine was Secondo waking up at 2AM crying "Milk, I want MILK!". I offered her the sippy cup filled with water and that irritated her in to a louder cry.
Still half asleep, I went downstairs, opened the fridge, poured some milk, placed it in the microwave and pushed a button I thought was the 1min button. My plan was to take the milk out when there was 18 sec left on the timer. While waiting, I realized I was thirsty so I went by the sink and got some water. By the time I walked back to the microwave, there were only 2 seconds left on the clock. Naturally the milk was too hot so I had to get ice out of the freezer and made a little ice water bath to cool the milk to an acceptable temperature. By the time I got the bedroom, Secondo was asleep so I woke her up to drink the milk which took quite a bit of effort to fetch. The next thing I remember, Secondo woke up crying again and by now hubby walked in quietly and woke me up for my workout. I looked at my watch and it was bloody 3:30 AM. I got ready and got to the gym by 3:40AM. The lady in red who workout with a trainer arrived at the same time as I did. I discovered that she starts her training sessions at 4:00 AM sharp. I did 30 min of elliptical, 10 min of stair masters, some cables work for my arms. I tried reading while exercising on the elliptical machine but didn't work for me.
My brother will be visiting tomorrow and I'll marinate some chicken tonight so it'll be ready for Sate tomorrow. I can’t remember the last time I saw him. Was it when Secondo was 1?

Wednesday, July 18, 2007

Fitness update

A few weeks back, I shared my frustration of not seeing any signs of progress towards my fitness goal with hubby and his assessment is that I don't have enough cardio sessions during the week to increase my metabolic rate. Let me remind you that I've modified my goal to be baby goal not the quantum leap one that I set months ago. Current baby goal is: One pound per month or 0.25 lb/week or 0.03 lb/day
Me: "By the time I get home from work, pick up the kids, cook dinner, and give Secondo her bath, then it's time for bed "
Hubby: "I don't go to the gym @ 4:00 AM on Mondays and Fridays so you could go and you'll get 4 cardio sessions in a week. Get your workout clothes ready the night before and I'll wake you up at 3:50 AM if you like." Hubbies are so good at solving problems.
Me: "O dark 3:50? Are you out of your mind! "
Hubby: "There are others who go to the gym that early. I'm not the only one"
Just like Bridget Jones, I said to myself with a British accent "Am I committed enough to sacrifice 1.5 hours of beauty sleep so these jiggly bits are less jiggly? Well, if Oprah Winfrey worked out everyday @ 5AM why can't I do it @ 4AM? Besides, it's only 2 days out of 5 so why not."
The monumental milestone of my 4AM workout was Monday, July 9th, 2007 . To my surprise, I'm not the only person who sacrificed sleep over a goal. These 7 people appeared to have been there for hours judging by the sweat puddles these men had generated. There's a lady who works out with a trainer before I get there, so she could have started @ 3 or 3:30AM. I'm so glad she's there because she's the only distraction I have while I'm on the elliptical. The other distraction is an older man who does the elliptical at lightning speed.
I felt great after 30 min of cardio with some weights and sit ups. When I got home @ 5:00AM, I ate breakfast in peace, made lunches for the girls and showered. I didn't feel rushed with the extra 30 min I have before waking up the kiddos.
The side effects of being such an early bird is that I feel sleepy in the afternoon. It's especially difficult to say awake during my drive home. To keep my self awake, I munched on snacks and drink water. By 8PM it felt as if I've been up for ages.
I'm not really looking forward to this coming Friday 4AM workout session but I'm going to do this for 1 month. Official date to check progress is on 8-6-07 and my vision is that I'm 1 pound lighter.

Monday, July 16, 2007

Teletubbies Crazy

For the past few weeks, Secondo had a cold so she's been watching Teletubbies and lot of it. She pronounced it "tubby tubby" and Danielle replied with "I don't know what you are talking about. It's TELLE TUBBIES!" Every time we are downstairs, she said "Tubby tubby mommy, watch tubby tubby, come on..." We are so bored of the same DVD played many times and she loves it. I bought her another one for $4.00 on Saturday when I went to Toys R us to get her a potty. Danielle was quite patience yesterday, explaining to Secondo, the process of peeing in the potty. We got the training pants on and off many times but she doesn't quite get it yet. It'll be a toy for now and I hope she'll be ready for potty training when she's 2.5 years old.
I finally signed Danielle up for Summer reading program at our local library. She gets a prize when she reaches 12 hrs of reading. If she reads 20 min a day, she'll get a prize in 36 days. They asked if Secondo wants to join since the program is for 0-12 years old. I think about it, we do read at least 20 min on a sitting so I may sign her up after all.

Monday, July 09, 2007

Kaizen

If you've followed my blog lately, you'll know that I've been working hard to get by abdominal muscles back by eating low carb, lifting weights and minimizing temptations by not reading food blogs etc. After staying on that track for 1 month or so, I felt deprived and craved to go back to my old habits.
At work I've been learning about lean manufacturing and one of the lesson that hit home is that for professional or personal goals, I can take a smaller steps to change instead of big dramatically quantum leap style which they call "innovation". '
An example of innovation is the cabbage soup diet where you can loose 10 pounds if you eat only cabbage soup for 1 week. The solution requires an individual to drastically change a behavior to get the result yet less likely succeed because you'll be hungry for real food.
To implement Kaizen (Continuous improvement), one would make small changes and gradually reach the goal. For example, if I've never floss my teeth in my entire life, I'll start by flossing 1 tooth a day for a week and 2 teeth a day for 2nd week and gradually progress to flossing the whole mouth. It's not as flashy as the innovation strategy but likelihood for backsliding is also less. The concept of a long steady journey isn't anything new. It's just that I'm used to and prefer instant gratification.

For stronger abs I'll commit to
  1. Exercise: Abdominal plank, once a week for 3 x 1 min hold
  2. Hold my stomach in when I'm typing and walking
  3. Diet: Eat 1 bite less of all fatty food

Thursday, July 05, 2007

Thank you Mir

Thanks to mir, who tagged me for meme which I still don't know what it stands but it's not too hard to list 5 things

5 Things in my bag
  1. Car keys
  2. Cellphone
  3. Business cards
  4. Napkins and Tissues for kids
  5. Receipts, lots of receipts from grocery shopping
5 Favorite things in my bedroom
  1. Painting of white flowers painted by hubby
  2. Bathroom mirror which I use to see practice my cha cha routine that I'm learning from this DVD
  3. My old bed which we bought together 11 years ago
  4. See #1
  5. See #2
5 things I've always wanted to do
  1. Be a contestant on ballroom boot camp and win the competition
  2. Live in Mexico for 1 year and learn Spanish and Salsa
  3. Work in Asia for 1-2 years
  4. Learn chi-gong
  5. Learn reflexology
5 things I'm currently into
  1. Nintendo DS Avitar game
  2. Cooking Thai and Indonesian food
  3. Teaching my girls to speak Mandarin
  4. Getting my abdominal muscles back and get fit
  5. Taking babysteps to change my life
5 people I'm tagging
  1. Santi of Triligual
  2. CC of alphabet blog
  3. Sundry & Electic
  4. Fresno's hot because he hasn't blog for months
  5. Nenoy from paperboat who hasn't blog much either

Wednesday, June 27, 2007

Got Rice?

Lately, I have no motivation to eat vegetables. I wanted rice so I made 3 cups of Indonesian Fried rice last Sunday and it tasted so... good. I shared it with our next door neighbor couple who also love Indonesian Fried rice. I so missed the smell and the taste of fried rice with Sambal (Chili paste). My neighbor made ribs so the two dishes complemented each other well along with some wine. We opened a bottle of green Hungarian from Wilson Creek and really liked it. It's sweet and not too dry.
My dad also loves fried rice, Chinese, Indonesian or Thai so genetically, I'm doomed.
Today, I went to Chipotle with some coworkers and had a chicken burrito in a bowl. It was really tasty and filling.

Monday, June 25, 2007

Secondo loves popsicle

Lately, Secondo has made the association of sitting on the high chair with Popsicle and my dear reader wonder why such strange association? Well, lately with daylight savings, by the time dinner is prepared by me and served by me, there’s just enough day light for Secondo and I to enjoy a little outdoor, one on one . I’ve been feeding her in the back yard while she run explored and played. The other benefit from our time together is that hubby and Danielle were able to dine in peace. With Secondo on the dinner table, rarely we have a peaceful meal. When she’s done with dinner, we went back in the dining room and I put her on the high chair next to me. Usually by then, Danielle is done with her dinner and she’ll get a Popsicle for dessert and of course Secondo would asked and get one also while I eat my dinner, most of the time in peace while she enjoys her dessert.
Last Thursday, we deviated from eating in the back yard and I put her on the chair to eat dinner with the rest of the clan. She refused to eat and threw the bowl of rice on the floor and said “ I want Popsicle… Orange Popsicle mommy..” I asked Danielle to explain to Secondo our Popsicle rule.
D: “Mei-mei (younger sister), you can get Popsicle only after you finish dinner. No dinner, no Popsicle”
S: “ I want Popsicle mommy.. NO rice. ”
Hubby wasn’t helpful at all when he chimed in and said
H: “Why did you trained her to associate Popsicle with the high chair?”
Me: “It wasn’t my intention to do so. Did you want Popsicle dripping all over your wood floor? I could let her down and explore around the house while the Popsicle drips all over our furniture.”
H: “Just don’t give or buy Popsicle anymore.” His default solution to ALL our problems. Remove, and banish THE item that causes the misbehavior. I wish he could come up with some other solutions that are not so harsh or more creative or funny or useful. Kids are kids and they should enjoy Popsicle once in a while. Unfortunately, at 2 years old, she’s yet to comprehend the concept of empty box in the freezer means no more. With time, she did eat her dinner and forgotten about the Popsicle.
On Friday, when I put her on the chair she was asking for Licorice and I just pretended that I didn’t understand what she was saying.
Danielle is growing up fast. She will be a 2nd grader in 2.5 months. She has gotten much taller than 9 months ago. She’s into Hannah Montana so it’s funny to hear her sing along with the CD. Secondo loves to copies her sister so when Danielle isn’t around, Secondo would get the lyric book and pretend to sing along. This past weekend, we got her the Nintendo DSL after reviewing her report card that showed improvement from the previous semester. She was so excited that she couldn’t sleep the night before. She likes Pokemon Diamonds and Pearl so we got the Pearl at Costco.

Tuesday, June 19, 2007

Learning to play Tetris

After being entertained by Dimsum Diaries' blog entry of human tetris, it brought back fond memories of many hours spent practicing or mastering the game during my College years. I got the sheet music for the theme song and I'm determined to learn the song within the next 2 weeks and make my own short movie.
Our father's day was pretty low key. We stayed home and did our chores and ordered Thai food from Urban Thai just opened 3 blocks from us. Tom Yum Kung was a tremendous disappointment. I wanted to make my own but I didn't have any galanga or lemon grass on hand so I tried their version. It wasn't spicy or sour, kinda blend and they put bamboo shoots and baby corns in the soup. I also ordered the drunken noodle/ Pad kee mow which is basil and onion stir fried wide noodles. Their version has some sort of brown sauce coating and it also tasted blend. How did I missed the red flag when the waitress didn't provide a spicy scale of 1-10 when I placed the order. My guess is that they are catering to the non-Asian community that we live in.
My next culinary goal is to experiment and learn to make Pad kee mow. It can't be any more difficult than Pad Thai...
So far I have fallen off the wagon of healthy eating. I've been craving for rice and noodles and veggies are just not cutting it.

Monday, June 18, 2007

Reality check

I've been in training, learning all last week at work so didn't get a chance to walk during lunch and sat on my ass all day. I look forward this week when I get back to my routine again
Last weekend, we bought a new scale. One of the requirement I wanted was the ability to measure body fat. Last time I measured my body fat was at least 10 years ago.
After hubby programmed in our stats and asked me to step on the scale, I said to my self "Ignorance is bliss, are you sure you want to know how much fat you are carrying? ". The other side of me said "You do want to know where you are at so you can set attainable small goals to keep you going" so I did IT.
When I stepped on that new high tech scale and saw how much body fat I had, I was totally shocked by the number that was starring in my face. I hated that scale and told hubby that he must have programmed it incorrectly. I got off and got back on and the same number showed up. I did not expect to fall in the Athlete category and hoping to fall in the "somewhat fit" category. I went on the web and found the chart below which tells me that I'm in the "acceptable" group which easily can slide into the "Obese" group with a slice of cheese cake or a scoop of ice cream as dessert. I've always thought that I'll fall in the "fitness" category with doing cardio twice a week.
With new knowledge of where I'm at, my short term goal is to reduce body fat to 24%.
Action plan
  1. Eat low fat food
  2. Put a weight lifting program together with hubby
  3. Increase intensity with cardio workout


Classification Women (% fat) Men (% fat)
Essential Fat 10-12% 2-4%
Athletes 14-20% 6-13%
Fitness 21-24% 14-17%
Acceptable 25-31% 18-25%
Obese 32% plus 25% plus
From American Council of exercise

Friday, June 08, 2007

Father's day coming up

I can't believe father's day is this coming weekend. We're going to my nephew's 6th lunch birthday party on Saturday and I'm hoping hubby doesn't have to work so we can take 1 car and save some gas. His theme is Sponge Bob so I'm not getting anything close to the theme. I thought about a transformer but not sure which on he wants. I don't enjoy clothes shopping for boys because of the lack of options.
We may be having dinner Saturday night and celebrate with hubby on Sunday.

Wednesday, June 06, 2007

Walking

Walked 2 days this week and today I remembered to wear my heart rate monitor
Time: 46 min.
Heart rate: 108 beats/min
Calories: 149

It's not much but if I do it 5 times a week it'll add up to be ~ 750 calories
I'll keep the same pace this week and next week, I'll be in training all week, sitting on my bottom so definitely have to break away and walk.
If time permits, next week's goal is to burn 200 calories/ walking session

With this healthy eating and exercise, I start to notice the tire I carry around my waist has gotten smaller & my fat jeans are getting looser. It's about time to see some results because I was about ready to go out to lunch with my coworkers to day but I didn't.

Secondo had her 2 year old check up Monday and she's in the 35 percentile with weight, height, and head circumference. We saw a new Dr recommended by my friend at work and he's super nice. She was up to date with her shots so it was a pleasant experience for Secondo also. We're asked to cut down her milk in take to 16 oz/ day and switch to 1-2% skim milk.

Monday, June 04, 2007

Things

Last week, I accomplished the following goals
  1. Walking 3 times a week & hit the gym 3 times a week ( Cardio and weight lifting). I observed some of the skinny or built folks are there at the gym every time I'm there.
  2. Healthy eating & didn't eat out with co workers.
  3. Drink lots of water
  4. Reduce portions of rice and noodles
  5. Read non-food blogs
5 out of 6 is a good start. #5 is the easiest to do and #1 & 2 were the most challenging one. It requires meal planning in advance.

On Saturday, Hubby and I went on a date and saw Pirates of the Caribbean 3. We didn't see #2 so the story line was a little confusing until the mid section of the movie. We stayed pass the credit but I don't think it's worth it.

Lately Secondo doesn't want to sleep @ 9:00 pm which is late for toddlers. I've asked the sitter to cut her nap down to 1 but she insisted that Secondo would pass out around 10AM. We would be in bed and sing barney's I love you song for the 10th time and she'll say " Mom, again... again.. I lub you.." If you don't sing, she'll scream "MOM, I LUB YOU!!" Her other stalling tactic is asking for water. "Mom, Agua.. agua.." Once I hand over the sippy cup, she would suck some out and spit it out and said " I'm wet... change shirt..." The nonsense went on until 11:00 pm.

To resolve this issue, I've been taking her for a walk around 7PM. She'll walk and run around the neighborhood until she asked to be held. Last night, we struggle for 30 min and she fell a sleep.

Wednesday, May 30, 2007

Back on track

For the pass few months I have been eating freely which leads to expanding waist line. I also realized that working out twice a week isn't making a dent to my goal weight.
On 5/26/07, I started to get back on track by eating healthy and exercising more. I'm proud of my self the night I turned down red wine for water and skipped green tea ice cream for dessert.
This week, I started walking 30 min at lunch time around the block. I wish I could go to the gym but walking is a good start and saves time & gas. My short term goal is walking 3 times a week, weights 2 times a week. I do feel better taking a break from the office and get some outdoor breeze and sun. Long term goal is walking 5 times/week.
What motivated me to change is my boot camp instructor. She just had a baby in Feb and now she's smaller than I am where as my belly still looks like I'm 3 months pregnant if I don't consciously hold it in.

For the transformation, I started
  1. Drinking more water during the day before I feel thirsty
  2. Stay away from the candy stray in our front office
  3. Stop going out to lunch with coworkers and bring my own lunch
  4. Eat more veggies and cut down on rice during dinner
  5. Weigh my self every 2 weeks instead of daily
  6. Stop reading food blogs

Sunday, May 27, 2007

Secondo turned 2


We celebrated Secondo's birthday party last weekend. She loves Elmo so naturally the birthday theme was Elmo. We only invited 2 of her friends living on our street and the rest of the guests were family members.
Menu for the party was the following
  1. Chow mien
  2. Firm tofu with fish cake
  3. Vietnamese egg rolls
  4. Tom Yum Kung
  5. Thai pork ribs
  6. Potato Salad
Drinks
  1. Margarita
  2. Wine
  3. Almond Champagne
  4. Sodas
  5. Juice boxes for little ones
It was too hectic as the host and I didn't get to take pictures of all these wonderful dishes. Everyone ( Neighbor, mom, mother in law and I) pitched in to provide such variety of food for the party. Mom liked Tom Yum Kung from my Thai neighbor so much that she brought home half of the pot so she could share it with her Ma-Jong friends the day after. I know that I gained 5 pounds after eating all the different food.
Hubby got the bubble machine that kept the older and younger kids entertained for a while.













One very special gift Secondo got for her birthday is this head piece from her Aunt Ellen who is on a radical sabbatical traveling through China for the pass 3 months. Cost of shipping exceeded the cost of the head pieces (Danielle got one also)

Thursday, May 24, 2007

Being Short

Lately, Danielle has been inquiring about the following
  1. Mom, why are you short? or Kimee on Hi5 ( a kid TV show) is short like you. I never really think about how short I am before but now that she's growing, she's going to catch up to me by the time she's 10
  2. How much is a Nintendo DS? I don't know. She wants one because her friends have it and she wants to play pokemon game on the handheld videogame device. I've started to give her allowance weekly so she can save her own money to buy these things she wants
  3. Can I have an Ipod shuffle? No, you can use your allowance to buy it.
I've decided to blog once a week considering how hectic my life has been. My neighbor has recently gotten Wii so we went over and played the sports game and it was fun. Can't wait to get one

Tuesday, May 15, 2007

Mother's day weekend

I started celebrating Mother's day last Thursday night when Danielle came home with a dark puple Petunia planted in a decorated pot she made. She also made a card with reasons why I'm an amazing mom. Her reasons were:
  1. I take care of her when she's hurt
  2. I help her with homework and piano practice
In a her own way, she did appreciate our head butting during piano practices. She's more independent as far as learning new piano pieces. We're working on the sound of music medley and her 1st piece is "Do re mi".
Friday night, we had dinner with our neighbor and Danielle played chess with our neighbor Dave who have not played chess for 10 years.
On Saturday, I took my parents out to Dim sum along with their close friends while hubby babysit the kids. I was able to eat in peace instead of rushing or being interrupted by the girls needing one thing or another. I really wanted to eat crabs but it's not in season so I settled for deep fried fish instead. After lunch we hung out at my in laws for a while before heading out to my brother's in laws for Mother's day BBQ potluck dinner. I marinated several pounds of Korean BBQ ribs and got some corn on the cob. Others brought chicken for the barbie, salad, taquitos with guacamole and salsa. Danielle ate half a hot dog and 4 pieces of rice krispies treats for desert. After dinner, one of the neighbor told brother in law Mike that she saw a rat jump into his car engine parked on the street. Hubby and Mike went to investigate and found a possum instead of a rat.
On Sunday, we did our normal routine. Hubby and I exercised in the morning and he worked on the yard while I spend time with the girls, did laundry etc..

Wednesday, May 09, 2007

busy busy

I can't seem to find time to sit down blog anymore so here's a short post.
There was a horrible car accident on the 5 freeway last Friday where 3 kids were killed when a semi ran into a van. These folks lives in our neigborhood so it really hits home. I saw pink and blue ribbon on trees along the streets and also in Danielle's school. I can't and don't want to be in the parents shoes. Another reminder to treasure those we love everyday.

Monday, April 30, 2007

Carnival & 4th annual garage sale

On Friday, Danielle's school had a carnival. In fact, most of the folks I talked to who have kids also have carnivals in their kids's school. I naively signed up to volunteer because I got the 3rd notice in her weekly folder that no parents from her class sign up to volunteer for the carnival. My assignment was in the price booth where kids turn in their tickets for little prizes such as spiders, tattoos etc. At first I was in the 20-50 tickets section so it was pretty peaceful since a few kids had that many tickets. When I got my first 50 tickets customer, she wanted a brown tiger with black stripes. Facing the customers, the prizes are neatly organized in a wooden box with glass cover and each stuff animals has it's on ID numbers. Behind the scene however, stuff animals were disorganized. I was told to look in a bin mixed with all the other toys and tools. After searching for the brown tiger with black stripe for 5 minutes, I told her we didn't have that one and brought her to the bin so she can pick one.
later on I move to the 2 ticket portion and it was hectic and crazy. There was no lines so everyone just frantically waiving their tickets in my face and wanted their prizes. Boy was I glad when my shift was over. Now I know why the other parents didn't want to volunteer.

I decided to participate in our yearly garage sale last weekend and sold some of the baby stuff clothes, toys and adult shoes that we never wore. I encaurage Danielle to sell her old toys but she only picked out one stuff animal to sell and no one bought it. Now we have a little more room in the garage. Mom and Dad stopped by and went shopping. They were really happy to score some bargains printer, luggages and lamp.

Wednesday, April 25, 2007

Tortas

Yesterday, I loured my coworkers to eat tortas (Mexican Sandwich) at El Gallo Giro with Aqua fresca. I was told by my Mexican coworker and friend that being at that restaurant is no different than being in Mexico City. The order taker is also the one making the sandwiches so it took a while (25 min) to get our sandwiches. Once we paid the lady, then we go to the Aqua fresca bar to get our drinks which is a seperate line. Needless to say, there's some efficiency issue with their production process.
I ordered ham sandwich and it was OK. Next time, I'll order either carnitas or asada. The sandwich was heavy so all of us was sleepy after lunch and needed a siesta badly. I only ate half the bread and cheese because it was so.. filling.

I signed Danielle up for chess last week and forgot to tell her about it so yesterday was the 1st day that she went to chess club. She told me that she's the only girl in the club and she played chess with the assistant teacher with the same name. She said the hour went by quickly so it sounded like something she likes to do.

We got our hamster, DJ a larger home shaped like a strawberry and a hamster litter box hoping that she'll poop and pee in there.

Tuesday, April 24, 2007

DJ is missing

This morning as I blowdrying my hair before getting ready for work, hubby came to me and said
H: "Did you feed the hamster last night?"
Me: " NO, I forgot.. Is DJ ok?"
H: "She's no longer in the cage, the cage door was open"
Me: sigh of relief... "I thought it died of hunger because I didn't feed it last night"

The cage is in the upstairs laundry room so we searched between the washer and the dryer, in the washer, in the laundry basket with clothes and no DJ.
Danielle checked under the beds and DJ wasn't there either.

D: "Is DJ going to die?"
Me: "No. We'll leave some food on the laundry room floor so she can eat when she gets hungry."
D: "If we don't find DJ can we get a new hamster?"
Me: "Don't worry, we'll find her sooner or later"

Hubby had to leave for work and tasked Danielle and I to look for the hamster. When he got to the main floor, he said "I FOUND her! She's in the office!" We all under estimated DJ's ability to escape.
He quickly put her back in her cage and left for work as Danielle scolded DJ in a nice way and told her not leave her cage anymore. DJ was really hungry so she stuffed both her cheeks with food and went into her igloo. I'm so glad we found her before I left for work this morning.

Our camera broke so the new one is on it's way. I'll post pictures of DJ soon.

Thursday, April 19, 2007

1st grader Science project

Danielle has been asked to do a science project. It's due in the middle of May and parents are encaurage to help them. She wants to do a volcano and I want to do something simple and educational. Any recommendation from my dear readers?

Tuesday, April 17, 2007

Time after time

I recently heard an updated version of Cyndi Lauper's Time after time on the Sirius radio while driving to work and I much prefer the original version.
The song took me back to the eighties, I was a high school Senior on the dance floor slow dancing to "Time after time" with a young man name Michael who was interested in me. Thinking back to those days, what I thought was logical now sounds utterly rediculous. He was a nice guy but I, a Senior could NEVER go out with a Sophomore. I, like everyone else who cared about peer pressure had a reputation to live up to.
Michael, if you happened to read this blog entry (likelyhood is slim to 0), I'm sorry for not giving you a chance because you are younger than me. I hope you didn't take it personally because I was the one with issue.