Reflexology session

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

Oddity in this world we live in

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

Mellow weekend

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

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

Christmas Recital

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

Christmas Lights

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

Craving crab

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

Yeah.. Friday :)

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

Voice of an old friend

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

Snow Play

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

Slippery Slide

Kids having fun

Healthy eating

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

Getting ready for Christmas

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

Portrait Studio

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

Flu season

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

Family vs.Relatives

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

Patience is a virtue

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

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

Painful weekend

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

Hubby and me

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

Aches and pains

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

Be at two places at once?

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

Holiday Scheduling

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