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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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".

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

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.

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?

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.

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.

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
   

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
   

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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
   

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)

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

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..

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.

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.

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.

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.

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?

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.

Stuff

Hubby was working again this pass Saturday and luckily mother in law was available to watch Secondo for me so I did some yoga before getting my hair done. Before my hair appointment, I dropped Danielle off to her cousin's house so they could play together. Their spring break was one week apart so they weren't able to hang outas much as we had originally planned.
As far as my hair, I had a cut and also red highlights which took a total of 3 hours. I was starving by the time my hair was done so I got some boba milk tea and Chinese sweet bread (puo luo pao) for lunch.
I watered dad's plants and got 2 bags of loquats from his trees. He covered some with newspapers so the birds won't get to them before we do. I was so excited to picked out some big and juicy ones. Danielle and his cousin H love loquat so much that we only have a few left to take home. May be We'll visit my parents again this coming weekend so we can get some more.
On Sunday, it was cold and overcasted so we stayed home and relaxed. I made Tom yum kung and soy sauce chicken for dinner. Before bed, I hid some plastic eggs inside the house for Danielle and Secondo to hunt. Hubby and I watched part of the movie Sideways and I can't wait to finish it.

Spring is here

I've been really busy and stress at work lately that I have not had time to document my life.
I have to admit that I have not been eating healthy for the pass month and I see the result on my gut. Main motivation is my boot camp instructor got back from maternity leave last Saturday and her waist is smaller than mine and she had a baby only 2 months ago. This week, I'm back to bringing home lunch instead of eating out and eating less rice and noodles. Mom and Dad are in Taiwan so I won't have any of her home made food for a while.
Hubby and I had parent teacher conference with Danielle's substitute teacher and Danielle is doing really well in school. Her class got really lucky that the substitute teacher is equal or better than her home teacher. To me, the sub is more personable and had more to say about Danielle's day to day behavior in class. I expressed my concern that she's shy and I hope her teacher could help Danielle to be less shy. The sub told me that she would pick Danielle when ever she raised her hand up to share or answer questions.

Secondo is driving me crazy

I'm not sure if it's terrible two arriving earlier or her personality. Secondo has been driving me crazy lately. She's really loud and demanding. When she's drawing, she demands "Mommy sit here.. Mommy Draw"
Me: "Mommy has to cook dinner. Secondo draws"
S: " NO. Mommy sit here"
If I don't sit next to her she starts crying
She woke up by a cough last night and started coughing and threw up all over the bed.
After I cleaned her up and hubby cleaned the beddings, she wasn't able to go back to sleep. She wanted to drink milk but I told her that may caused her to throw up some more.

Home Cooking

Here are some of the dishes we enjoy eating and it takes me 30-45 min to prepare both. I put down the recipe now incase Juliet is interested in making them. Chilli pepper can be replaced with bell pepper if you plan to share the dish with kids.

Spicy Salmon Steak

I doubled the recipe here so that we have left over for lunch the next day. It actually taste better when the sauce seeped into the fish overnight.
I tried this recipe with habanero chili once and it was extremely spicy even for hubby who loves to eat thai chilli with every meal.

Ingredients
1) 2 Salmon steaks
2) 1 table spoons cornstarch
3) 1/4 cup of corn oil
4) 2 red chili pepers or Jalapenos depends on how hot you prefer

Seasoning
1) 2 cloves of garlic, crushed
2) 2 table spoons dark soy sauce
3) 1 table spoon of rice wine or dry sherry
4) 1/2 tablespoon of sugar
5) 1 teaspoon white pepper
6) 3 table spoon of water

Instruction
1. Dry salmon steaks with paper towel and dust both side with cornstarch
2. Heat the oil in skillet and add the fish steaks
3. Cook for 2 minutes each side and take fish out of skillet
4. Add chilli peppers, garlic and seasonings along with the water in the surplus oil left in the skillet
5. Bring to a boil
6. Put the salmon back in the chilli sauce and cook for 5 min under low heat.

Stir-fry Gailan (Chinese Brocolli)

Ingredient
1. Chinese Brocolli, 1 bag
2. 2 table sppon of Olive oil

Seasoning
1. 2 cloves of galic crushed
2. 3 thai chilli, thinly sliced
3. Salt or fish sauce to taste

Instruction
1. Heat up the oil and add garlic and thai chilli
2. Add Brocolli in to the wok
3. Add salt or fish sauce for taste
4. Stir fry until the stems are soft enough for your liking

7 years vs. 22 months milestones

Here is my littleSecondo at the South Coast Winery . She's 22 months old now and is quite a drama queen just like her older sister. I attempted to distract her with the flowers while others were wine tasting at the table. She seemed so... grown up & sad in this shot. The sun was setting and it was difficult to get nice shots.
Here favorite phrase is "Where did daddy go?"
Me: "Daddy sang pan (Dad is at work) "
S: "Sang pan?"
Me: "Yes, Daddy sang pan"
S: " Where did Secondo go?"
Me: "Secondo is here.."
S: "he.. he.."
This is a cute age where she repeats everything anyone says. She says good morning and good by to people that I greet at the stores or school.
Both my girls are growing up fast. When the are not fighting, older one chased the younger one and tickled Secondo like crazy and ran away. Most of their fights are about toys since they don't share yet. Secondo tends to take things apart and doesn't put it back together or loose the accessories for her sister's littlest petshops.

Danielle is at the age where she wants to be a big kid not little kid like her sister. She'll make comment such as " I want to watch Hannah Montana or Phil of the Future. Sesame Streets are for babies" She wants her hair parted her way, grows out her bangs and pick her own clothes.
She's observant enought to read my facial expression.
D: "Mom, are you mad at me?"
Me:" Why do you think I'm mad at you?"
D: " You gave me the look"
Me:" What look?"
D: "You know, the big eye angry look when you're mad at me"
Me: " You are right. I'm mad because I've told you many times to practice piano and you ignore me"
I'm officially a mom now that I've mastered the universal "look" all moms are able to say " You are in big trouble my child if you don't do ______ "
My attempt to pay her a dollar a day to play piano on her own is not working.

With my new found support from some of other multilingual families I meet from blogging, I have been speak more Mandarin at home. One day, I replied in Mandarin to Hubby when he asked me a question and he understood it. May be he knows more Mandarin than I gave him credit for. My favorite word that hubby says is Sue-jiao ku (pajama pants).

Chinese Footbinding

On my drive in to work on Monday, I was listening to NPR and they had a story titled "Painful Memories for China's Footbinding Survivors" It was heart wrenching to learned that back in 1912, some mothers were binding their daughter's feet, crushing their tiny bones in secret so their daughters have the possibility to marry into a wealthy family. The reason for such torture sounded illogical and idiotic. As I researched more into the topic, I found this article which goes into more scary details on the actual process and pains those poor Chinese girls had to endure.
A friend of my dad's mom had binded foot and I met her in the late seventies. Back then I just thought it was strange that this grandma had the same size feet as my brother bulleye who was 6 years old at the time. I recalled that it was difficult for her to get around.
I must show share this story with my daughters when they are older so they know how lucky they are.

Retelling stories

It's weird how my friends and I tell the same stories over and over to the same people thinking it's the 1st time we've told it.
Is it because of my age that I can't remember that I've told story A to person B already yesterday?
Is it because I like the story so much that my brain erased the memory that I've told the story before in order to get the satisfaction of retelling the same story over and over again?
Is it because I need closure on that story so I retell it and solicit input from friends and family until I'm satisfied and able to accept the ending?

Danielle was so excited yesterday when she saw Junie B Jones latest book, Dumb Bunny. We got it for her and she finished it in 30 min. " When is the next JBJ book going to be available mom? I can't wait to read it..."

Observations

Me:
With this bloody cold, any tiny disturbance in the throat area induced uncontrollably coughing fit. To stay alive, I resorted to shallow breathing and tons of cough drops. Today, I feel better because most of the phlegm are no longer in my lungs but it still hurts when I swallow or burp.
The pass few nights, my cough had waken me many times but luckily, it didn't awaken Secondo who slept next to me.

Hamster:
The hamster cage has gotten really stinky after DJ had been in it for 1 week. Dear hubby cleaned it in the kitchen downstairs on Sunday while Danielle played with DJ in the bath tub upstairs. Next thing we heard "Daddy.. help.... she peed in the tub..." so hubby ran up stairs to clean up after DJ.

Implants:
I recall during one business trip, on a plane, I sat next to a man in his mid thirties who was living in Chicago and asked me where I was going. When I told him that I'm flying back to Orange County, his 1st questions to me was "Do most women living in the OC have a boob jobs?" My immediate reaction was "Of course not" speaking for my self. "Where I live is nothing like the reality show OC house wife where most of the women are rich with have fake boobs and get botox on regular basis".
Since then, I thought about what he said and started to observe the female head of household on my street. Some of are athletic, some a bit over weight, and some are really thin but have unnaturally large breasts. As I investigate further, let's just say that 20% of the ladies on my streets had some enhancement done.

I hate being sick

I've been sick like a dog for the pass few days. I have Secondo's cold so I've been coughing nonstop day and night, accompanied by blurry vision due to mucus coming out of my eyes. The sad part is I took time off to be home with the kids when they were sick so I couldn't really take more time off for my self. Hubby has the same cold but had to report work today so he looked really tired this afternoon. I sure hope this is the end of the cold season.
We got another hamster name DJ for Danielle a week ago today and it is still alive and kicking (knock on wood). This one is female and much more active compared to Stripey. We fed her carrots to keep her hydrated and left her alone while she adjust to her new environment. We'll continue to the same routine for 1 more week before letting Danielle handle DJ.

Nignt Fever.. Night Fever

On Saturday, Danielle complained about sore throat and feeling cold. I measured her temperature when her red eyes were complemented with rosy cheeks and it was 103.7F. Secondo also had a cold but her version is accented with mucus discharge out of her eyes. Secondo's fever ranges from 101 to 102.5F. Both were lethargic little people with runny noses which resulted in tissue papers scattered in every room. Sounds familiar Michelle? Hubby was working so Mom & Dad dropped by to lend a helping hand.
I took them both to their pediatrician Monday hoping for some antibiotics to cure any infections they may have and found no infections. "The cold has to run its course".. I suppose. Last night at 11:30 PM, Secondo's fever was 102.7F and we had to force some acetaminophen in her mouth now that she's capable of spiting it out. At 3 am this morning, Secondo was restless while crying out for daddy. She also complained about her right cheek and said "Owey.. owey.." I sure hope that Dr did not misdiagnose my child. sigh...
Both girls are home today with my parents and I hope the fever will subside soon..
I have a sore throat with some muscle aches and pain but no fever yet.

Stripey's Story

We bought Danielle a hamster last Sunday and she named him Stripey. Danielle was SO... excited and happy when she got the pet she "wished" for. She went in to the pet store with hubby while Secondo napped in the car with me. 30 minutes went by and I saw a happy smiley face popped up the driver's seat window. "MOM, I got a HAMSTER!"
This picture was taken with Stripey playing in the transparent plastic ball several days ago. He slept with Danielle in her room for the pass few nights and we would hear him running on the hamster wheel. This morning, Stripey wasn't running on the wheel and when hubby cheched on Stripey, it didn't move. We broke the bad news to Danielle when she woke up and she was in shocked and didn't say much. After we removed Stripey from the cage and transfer it into a sandwich bag, she started to cry. " I want stripey back...."
It's unfortunate but death is part of life lesson that we've chosen to learn when we aquire a pet. Hubby promised to get her another hamster this afternoon. After she got dressed for school, she stared at the empty cage for who knows how long.

Wine tasting & New babe in the family

One of the memorable activites this pass weekend was picnic & wine tasting at the Wine Country with friends. It was our first time to a winery so our friends were our guide. I learned that I like sweeter type of wines. From Orange County, the shortest path was going east on Ortega Highway and south on Hwy 15.
Brother and Sister inlaw had their 2nd boy Harrison on 2/22/07 and he weighed 8 lb and 11 oz. He had jaundice just like my two girls when the were 3 days old and had UV light treatment when we visited them on Sunday. Hopefully, he's a good eater and able to flush the billyrubin out on his own.

Movies

I wonder if Journey from The Fall will be worth seeing at the theater. From the poster, I'm sure hubby would not want to see it. I still have not seen this movie yet and it's not playing at theaters anymore. Has any one seen letter from Iwo Jima? I'm so behind with the movies.

Kids

I volunteered several hours in Danielle's class yesterday and I was able to observe one of the teaching technique the school uses called "Hear it, break it, write it" What they are suppose to do is to write the word as it sounds so for example, the teacher will say Music and some kids would spell it muzik or mewsik. They are not graded by how many they are able to spell correctly. It's more of an exercise so kids learn phonics. Most of the words were not new to Danielle so she spelled them correctly but the exercise showed me that the English language isn't phonetically friendly.
Here are some of the variations the kids came up with

1. Human: Hoomen
2. Fuel: veul
3. Cute: qute

One kid in class cried when she found out she spelled most of her words incorrectly and said that she didn't like making mistakes. I explained to her that we all make mistakes and that is part of being human. She didn't really get my silly joke and continued to cry. She said that her mom felt sad when she mades mistakes and she didn't want to make her mom sad.

After that exercise, I quized half of the class on their spelling and most of the kids got stumped by the word "Enough" They tried to sound it out and spelled "Enogh" or "Enugh". When it was Danielle's turn, I didn't know what to expect because we did not review the new list since president's day break and I've been working late the night before. She got stuck after the 2nd word and she was quite upset. I promised her that we'll study at least 15 words this week and I will quiz her again next week.

She also has to learn that making mistakes is part of learning.

Bleak outlook

I've been checking the internet to see what good fortunes the year of the pig will bring to us but all I found were negative predictions of epidemics and disasters for 2007. Never the less, we must stay positive while carrying on with our daily lives and pay attention to the good things.
During our morning ride to school today,
Danielle:"Mom, what is a budget?"
Me: "It's a plan on how to spend money wisely."
D: "I don't get it."
Me: " If I have $100, I'll spend it on food, shelter, bills, and other things that we need as a family"
D: " I still don't get it"
I got to find a better example for "budget" considering that it's an important word for her financial future.

Before school, we stopped at the market to get flowers for her teacher and saw lots of other parents with kids doing the same thing.

Happy Chinese New Year !

This pass weekend was full of activities which made the long weekend zoomed by quickly.
Hubby worked Saturday so the kids and I spent the day at home. I had a cold so I took a nice long nap with Secondo which gave me more energy for the latter part of the day. She seemed to nap longer when I nap next to her. Danielle is really in to playing Star Wars video game. She could play for hours and doesn't even get tired of it. The weather got hot enough for our neighbor to pull out their small outdoor kiddy pool and the kids had fun playing water. The water was too chilly so I brought out gallons of hot water to make the pool a bit warmer. Toward the eveing, Secondo didn't want to get out of the pool even when her lips turned blue.
On Sunday, Danielle and I went to Legoland while hubby stayed home with Secondo. We got to the parking lot by 10 AM and there was already a huge line. She was really grumpy when we lined up for the sky cruiser saying she didn't want to go on. Once we finished the ride, she wanted to go on again. She really enjoyed the boat ride and pirate ship ride where we squirted water to people around us. Luckily we did the wet ride early in the day when it was sunny. Toward the afternoon, it got windy and cold so we headed home around 4 PM. Secondo was really happy to see us when we got home.
On Monday, the kids and I went to wish my parents Happy Chinese New Year and had lunch together. The got lots of red envelopes from my parents and my parent's friends. Mom cooked the best fried rice and I ate a big bowl of it. When Hubby got home from work, we took him mom and dad out to dinner to celebrate mother inlaw's birthday. After visiting with them for a while, we headed home, gave the kids baths,played littlest pet shop with the girls and went to bed.

Driving habit

We've recently got a 6 cylinder Camry and sold my old Honda Accord. It was difficult parting with the Accord after it's been commuting with me for over 10 years but managing 3 automobiles is more work than we have time for.
One of the features of the Camry is that it calculates gas milage on the fly. When hubby drives it, he's able to get up to 28 miles/gallon where as when I drive it, it goes down to 24-25 miles/gallon. He's able to get higher miles because he drives 65 miles/hour and no rush hour traffic in the morning. For me, I get rush hour traffic going and leaving work. To save time, I sometimes go faster than 65 miles/hour when there's no traffic. Hubby challenged me to modified my driving habit and see if I'm able to get higher than 28 miles/gallon. This morning, I was able to get 26 miles/gallon so I'm for the challenge.

Happy Birthday Danielle

Danielle is very excited about turning 7 to day because a) we're taking her to Legoland this coming weekend and b) She thinks she'll be getting a pet (dog, hamster or fish) as a birthday present. Hubby and I are still contemplating about what to get her so I was very vague this morning when she quized me on what pet she'll be getting today. Yesterday, she checked out a hamster book from her school library and asked me to read and learn about it. She's very persistent in getting what she wants.
Hubby took her to school today and helped out in her classroom for an hour of so. I do enjoy being a parent helper in her class and see her day to day activities.

Flowers

On my way to get gas for the van, I noticed men were coming out of this warehouse with flowers and baloons in their hands and I saw the sign on the building "... Flower Warehouse" with "Valentine's day special offer" in red. I had to checked it out especially because today is Valentine's day and next week is teacher's appriciation week at Danielle's school. One of the things on the list was to shower her with flowers. I looked at the various arrangements and anything decent and small were over $25.00. 2 dozen red roses were $90.00. I was hoping to find some bargains but walked out empty handed.
Back in the office, I shared my discovery with my male co-workers also about giving flowers to hubby and they clued me in that men really prefer electronics as gifts rather than flowers.
I guess they weren't keen enough to see my ploy of getting flowers for me and use hubby as the cover up.
Happy Valentine's day everyone!

Haircut

I desperately needed a haircut for the pass few weeks and I normally would go to this lady's salon near my parent's house. Lately, mom and dad had been visiting us instead so I've decided that it's time to find someone local to cut my hair. I went to Supercut yesterday because it's close to work and not super expensive. In my single with no kids days, I would have never even consider Supercut. Now I'm older, wiser and have less cash to spare on me,I've convinced myself that it only gonna be a one inch trim so don't be a drama queen about it.
When it's all said and done, I was happy with the overall result but I saw 2 inches on the floor. This always happens to me no matter who the hair dresser is. Their mental 1 inch is really two inches if you use a measuring tape. The hair cut with out a wash was $15.00 and blow dry was $14.00 (I was shocked that it cost almost the same the cut) so it ended up to be $29.00 plus tips. I was disappointed that hubby didn't noticed my new cut but my boss did noticed it.

Danielle had been making Valentine's cards for her classmates the pass week and she finished the rest last night. She didn't like the store bought cards and had to make them from scratch unique with her own designs. In math she's also learning addition and subtractions with 2 digit numbers.

Recital

Saturday was Danielle's recital and there were 17 performers. Danielle did pretty good for the 1st time. She made 2 errors but made correction quickly, continued with the piece and finished. She didn't bow as I taught her but no one else did either. One kid got really nervouse that it took a while to get it together and continue the piece. The picture above is not the best picture but it captured the moment of her performance. Imagine 17 kids with 2 parents and some with 2 grandparents there so the place was packed. They raffled off a chocolate piano key board and gift certificate to Mc Donalds and Danielle won the gift certificate.

Secondo had a hard time sitting through the performance. Luckily, the hosting family had a four year old son who was watching cartoon so Secondo was able to watch TV with him during the recital. After the performance, we had some refreshments, mingled with the other parents and shared stories about piano practice naggings etc..
At the end, I asked Danielle if she was nervous and she said not really. She did enjoyed the recital especially the "freshment" portion of the recital where she had cookies and fruit juices.

Food & Music

Eversince I got back from Texas, I had been eating lots of my comfort food which are meat balls noodle soup, mom's stir fried noodles, and pad see yew noodles. If I'm stranded on a deserted island, I could live on noodles, coconut juice and may be some seafood from the ocean. Starting tonight, I'm going back to my healthy routine of veggie and protein. I still got lots of rice noodles left in the fridge so I may convert it to pad ke mow this weekend and share it with my neighbor.
Mom cooked a bunch of food for us yesterday so we are self sufficient while she and dad travel to Fresno & San Francisco to visit friends and Bulleye.
In our fridge, we have:

• Chicken curry
• Soy sauce short ribs
• Chicken chow-mein ( Kid's favorite food)
• Tomato stir-fry shrimp
• Tofu-kan with fish cake (Kid's favorite food)
• Cilantro Tofu skin
  
• Winter melon meat ball soup

With mom's help, Danielle and Secondo are able to eat dinner right when they get home while I make rice and stir fry a veggie dish for dinner. When I'm done cooking, Danielle is done with dinner and she can practice piano while we eat.

Last night, Danielle voluntarily practice her performance piece on her own and attempted to make no mistake through out. She was able to play the piece with making only 2 errors but her tempo was not consistent through out the piece. I set the metronome to 144 and she was able to stay on the tempo after several trials. I tried playing the song with the metronome and it wasn't as easy as I had thought. She noted that I made 6 errors during the whole song which made her feel more confident about her piece.
The other day, Danielle asked
D: "When will I be done with piano?"
Me: "After you play for 30 minutes"
D: " No.. I mean done as in I don't ever have to play piano again."
Me: "18 years from now"
D: "I have to play piano until I'm 22 years old? "
Me: " 18+6=24 so until you're 24 years old."
D: " Wow, that's a long time.."
Me: " You're right, what about until you're 18 years old?"
D: " That's still a long time from now. Can I take a break from piano?"
Me: "Remember when you took a break during winter, it was harder for you to get back into the groove?"
D: "Not really..."
Me: "Let's think about your piano break after your recital"
D: " OK.."

Plea for pet

Eversince Danielle was 3, she's been asking for a dog or a cat or a bunny as a pet. I'm allergic to cats, she's not old enough to care for a dog and we've tried having fish but was not able to keep them alive for longer than 2 weeks. Her latest plea is for a hamster or a rabbit. One of our neighbor kid has one and Danielle would go over to her house and spend time with the little hamster. I should look into it more before commiting to new member to the family. My concern is the when the novelty wears off then it'll be one more chores on mom and dad's to do list.
I understand her desire to have a pet friend because when I was a kid, I also wanted to have a dog as a pet so I have someone to play with but my parents were not big fans of dogs, cats or any type of animals. They bought me little chicks as pet but they were not as cuddly as a dog.

Stuff

On Saturday we got new tires for the minivan, went grocery shopping at 99 Ranch and ate pho beef noodles at our favorite restaurant for lunch. Pho is one thing that Danielle really likes and she finished a child size bowl and wanted more. Hubby tried a salmon curry dish and it was pretty good. We've decided that we're going to replicate that at home when we get some salmon.
On Sunday, we watch the big game with our neighbor and their friends. Hubby and I made eggrolls for the party which came out very well considering it was our 1st time making his mom's recipe. I'm not much of a football fan so I wasn't too sad that the bears lost. I spent most of my time munching on chips with 7 layer dip, BBQ chicken wings, spinach dip, & beef sate. Those 5 pounds I lost last Friday has gotten back with all the party food.
This coming Saturday will be Danielle very 1st piano recital. We are all very excited about the event. I'm going to bring juice boxes for the kids and I hope Secondo will be able to sit through the whole performance with out having an episode.

Home at last

I was in Texas for business for 2 days and I'm so glad to be home. Yesterday, I had food poisoning so it was a miserable trip home with connecting flights etc.. Luckily on my last leg, I had all 3 seats to my self so I was able to lay down and get in the fetal position when my stomach was hurting like hell. My guess is either the salsa or the eggs I had for breakfast that got me sick.
I lost 5 pounds from this food poisoning incident and I've never lost this much weight so quickly. It's rare that the sight and smell of normally tasty food would send me over the edge.

The Flu

Secondo caught the flu on Thursday the 25th. She can't keep any food down, even a teaspoon of water or one small piece of ice chip caused her to vomit. We didn't give her anything other than water and ice chips. She cried for milk and water before going to bed and all I could do was hold her and let her cry until exaustion. She woke up several times in the middle of the night asking for milk.
On Friday morning, she said "Aqua.. aqua.. milk... milk.." We gave her a teaspoon of water and after the 1st sip, she wanted more and was annoyed that she couldn't just gulped down as much water to quench her thirst and hunger. Hubby stayed home with her incase she threw up again. After several hours, she was able to keep the food down but then she started to have a fever.
Saturday and Sunday were the worst may be because I broke down and gave her milk. She kept having exposive diarrhea episodes that leaked out of the diapers which means I had to wash her down many times. I got a head ache from smelling her poopy diapers and can't stand it anymore. We started giving her soy milk so I hope the diarrhea stops soon.
Mom and dad came and stayed with us this weekend and spoiled Danielle with littlest pet shop toys.

Lice?

Yesterday, I got a letter from Danielle's school saying that some kids were sent home because they found lice in their heads so all parents are encouraged to check our kids head daily and treat it incase it happens. When I washed Danielle's hair last night, I said that may be the warm water will kill the lice. She said these lice likes warm condition and that's why they like to stay on the warm scalp.
Danielle is learning the value of money. We went to Target over the weekend and she brought her own money to buy her toys. She's looking forward to Chinese New Year and is practicing her "gong xi fa chai" greeting so she'll get nice fat red envelopes from the grand parents. We're going to open a saving account for her and hopefully she'll save more than she spend.

Home cooking and movie review

Since I've been sick for the pass few days, all I want to eat is hot steamy soup with chilli to clear my nasal passages. This pass weekend, I've made

1. Wonton noodle soup
2. Indonesian style chicken with veggie soup
3. Indonesian beef stew/Rawon

I spent lots of time in the kitchen but it was rewarding when my recipes comes out tasty and the family enjoy the fruit of my labor. Hubby commented how tasty my wonton soup was; however, he didn't care for the chicken and veggie soup. Secondo liked the wontons I made. She ate 3 of them in one sitting. I'll have to remember to make some for her lunch tomorrrow.

I didn't get a chance to get on the computer to type the tom yum recipe so Juliette, please be patience with me.
I was upset that I didn't get to spin on Sunday. I was there 15 min before class and all the bike was taken. I got on a stationary bike for 20 min but I didn't burn as much calories if I was on the spin bikes so I decided to get on the tredmill and jog/walk for 30 min. I truly believe Jogging is a form of suffering that has it's purpose but It's not for me.

We saw the DVD House of Flying Dagger and I really enjoyed it. I've always favors movies where the leading women kicks serious butt instead of being weak and helpless. I like the last song on the sound track and hopefully I can get it from itune.

20 months old

Secondo 1 day old
Her face looked puffy right after birth.

Secondo 20 months old
She's watching TV and eating dry banana

Miserable night.

Secondo has been sick since Monday and I got what she has yesterday. Sore throat, stuffy nose and I didn’t sleep well at all last night. Reason A= my cold, Reason B= my restless child. I've decided that it's time for Secondo to sleep on her own because I don't sleep well with her anymore as she gets older. I've probably blogged before, She has to sleep against me cheek to cheek. I would move to the left to make room for my self and she'll roll over and take up the free space. Sometimes she'll roll over twice and ended up on top of me. If you could imagine that we started at 0 degree, by the next morning, we ended up 90 to 180 degree from where we started.
The challenge is to figure out how to get her to sleep alone.

Something missing in the air

It was weird not having Jaime Jack and Stench, local radio personalities on the air on my 1st morning drive to work in January. At first, I thought they were still on vacation because they were playing old episodes on the 1st week. This morning Lisa Foxx was on and sounds like that's her new time slot which is disappointing. This is the 2nd time Clear channel made changes with their radio morning program with out pre-warning their listeners. They've failed the 1st time trying to kick off JJS and copied Jack FM yet still didn't really learned much from that incident. Just like any living creature, we appriciate warnings prior to any changes. After listening to Jaime for over 5 years, I fell as if she's a friend who I can turn on in the morning and catch up to the latest drama in her life.

Gas molecules

The other night, hubby and I were watching a movie on TV with a married couple friend and the husband got up to get some food from the kitchen and with a jerky torso movement, he accidentally cut a loud but odorless one 2 feet away from me. I was glad that it wasn't the silent but deadly version or I would have had to say something.
I looked over to his wife to check on her reaction to what just happened. She was 10 feet away from me so she may not have heard it. We all carried on as if nothing had happened when he and I knew that he just farted. At what level of friendship, do we fell comfortable or brave enough to joke and laugh about farts like we did when we were kids? Thinking back, I could have said " Danielle really likes this book titled The gas we pass? It's an interesting read"

Territorial

Lately, I've noticed Danielle is more territorial than ever. She would close her bedroom door so Secondo won't have access to her toys or play in her so called nest consist of pillows and blankets. Danielle said that anyone entering her room must say the right password and I told her Secondo has limited vocabularies let alone comprehending the concept of a password. Danielle appeared unsympathetic and replied that she'll create easy passwords so mei-mei can say it. I'm afraid this will cause more frustration on her part and she'll learn to share things with her little sister. She also not happy that Secondo plays with her toys with out asking 1st. I told Danielle to be patient and when Secondo turns 3 years, she'll be able play by her older sister's rules. I can't remember if I was like Danielle with my little brother at her because our age gap is about the same.
Danielle started to play Lego STARWARS video game with her neighbor friend. She can play for hours and doesn't want to quit. It's a really cute game so I may get it for her as a birthday present.
I've recently learned how to make Tom Yum Kung from my Thai friend and I made the soup again last weekend to share with her family on Saturday night. Her husband tasted it and said that my Tom yum kung was as good as what he gets at a Thai restaurant which quite an ego boost. Mom likes her version of Green Curry but it's made with tons of coconut milk which isn't a dish that we can eat on regular basis.

On Sunday, we went to sister inlaw's baby shower brunch. They served tiny ham and cheese rolls, salads and egg casseroles. We gave her a bath kit and as she open her gifts, two other gifts were bath kits too. I've included the gift receipt so I hope they will exchange it for something else on their registry. One game we played was to guess the numbers of mini M&Ms that were in this tiny bottle. It had over 300 M&Ms and I was way off by guessing 50.

New blog features to get used to

Since I moved to www2. blogger.com, I have not had the time to add all my favorite blogs on the appropriate spot on the page yet so don't feel rejected or sad. When I have time this weekend, I will put everyone back on. I need uninterupted chunk of time to look at HTML code since I'm not an expert at it. It's a pain for me too that I can't just click on the link to see what everyone is up to.

Baby showers

I attended a baby shower yesterday and all of the guests were women. I'm lucky that when I had my 1st baby shower at work, guys from my department attended the shower too. They didn't want to find out the sex of the baby so most of the clothes and towels were green or yellow. I'm glad that I have the option to find out the gender of my babies. With the 2nd child, I didn't want to know the gender at first but as the pregnancy progressed, I had to decide if I should keep Danielle's clothes and toys or give them away to make room for boy clothes and toys. It worked out fine that Secondo is able to use most of the things Danielle had.
While we ate, we all shared our pregnancy, morning sickness and craving stories. From this get together, I learned that on the show gray anatomies, one female character was blessed with 2 uteruses or uteri? and she had relations with 2 different men while she was ovulating (I assume from 2 sets of ovaries) so her twins were 6 weeks apart with different fathers. Too dramatic to be realistic.
I have another shower scheduled for this weekend so more baby shopping before the event.
I've been thinking about the goals I want to set for 2007 and they are

1. Increase upper body and core strength
2. Organize kid pictures and be creative with the out put
3. Volunteer more in Danielle's class
4.