Moments in My Life

4/21 - ‘Tau fu‘ arrived.  Stayed home and had home-cooked meal.

4/22 - Went to toddler’s class together in the morning.   Fried rice for lunch and for dinner we had udon noodles with leftover baby back ribs.  After dinner, I took my brother to Albertsons for groceries shopping.

4/23 - Went to Swapmeet at The Roadium in the morning.  Afternoon, I baked brownies.  I think we had In&Out burgers for dinner.  We definitely went somewhere in the evening.  I remember, we went to Sam’s club to get milk!

4/24 - Stayed home in the day time.  We had home-made deli sandwich for lunch.  For dinner I made beef stew.  One dish with rice. 

4/25 - We went to Del Amo Mall around 11am to walk around.  Dinner was the leftover beef stew with rice.

4/26 - Was supposed to go Disneyland, but my friend didn’t make it, so we went to the Flower Fields at Carlsbad.  Had breakfast/lunch at Tip Top German restaurant nearby before entering to the park.  Then went shopping at the outlet mall next to the Flower Fields.  Came home around 3:30pm.  We were all very full from the breakfast and only eat what we found at home for dinner.  My brother had his leftover from his meal this morning.

4/27 - Visited the LA Zoo this morning.  Came home around 2:30pm and had take out chinese food for late lunch.  Then an hour later, we left for my friend’s wedding at Newport Beach while my brother stayed home by himself.  We came back late at night - 10:30pm.

My mother started training me on household chores at an early age.  She wanted me to understand to share responsibility as a member of the household.  And when my cousins came to stay with us while going to college in KL, I made us a schedule which was pinned on the refrigerator so we all knew what our daily responsibilities were. This schedule is now referred to as chore chart.

Now, they have a very fashionable and printable chore charts that you can download. These are so much cuter than my old chore charts. Check them out. See how pretty this pink sweet heart chart is below here.

Pictures credit: Copyright © chorecharts.com

This is the first weekend my brother is here joining us.  We took him to quite a few places within these 2 days.  Our actual plan for Saturday was to visit Disneyland but my friend ‘f-f-k‘ (fly aeroplane?) us.  He totally forgot about it.  And worse, I wasn’t able to contact him because his cellphone was left in another friend’s car on Friday evening.  I should have given him a call on Thursday to remind him but I waited till Friday evening and all I could do was leaving him a voicemail.  And it wasn’t until Saturday morning that I dropped him an email (which I know he wouldn’t be checking frequently) and several more voicemails. 

But when the clock turned 9am, we changed our plan and went down to The Flower Fields in Carlsbad instead.  This place is about 80 miles one way from my home.  It was a very very hot day.  And walking around the flower fields has made me a few shades darker, so is my son.  There are some pictures uploaded in Brandon’s blog and I will be updating more pictures of that trip in this blog when I get the time to pick several nice ones from my DSLR. 

After the walk around the flower fields, we went for more walking … at the Carlsbad Premium Outlet Mall next to the flower fields.  It was quite crowded.  But we were lucky we found a car which was leaving immediately we drove into the parking lot.  My brother got a cap from GAP.  Hubby bought a polo shirt from Banana Republic.  I bought several onesies from Carters and a pair of Adidas slipper for myself.  

During the drive back home, we napped in the car … all except for Hubby.  But he napped once he got home. 

On Sunday, we took my brother to Los Angeles Zoo.  Again, it was a hot day today.  I was sweating which is not normal for me as LA is too dry and not humid enough for me to sweat (unlike in KL).  We spent about 2 to 2.5 hours at the Zoo.  Since it was my brother’s first time there, everything is interesting.  If we go by ourselves, we only spend 1 hour.  This will be our last trip to the Zoo for a little while since our annual pass will expire coming 4/30.  We have enough of the zoo for the past year and is looking forward for another adventure … may be the Long Beach Aquarium annual pass.   

Protect your home privacy by using Window Blinds. Our back neighbors are two storeys homes and their 2nd storey is able to see across into our dining and kitchen area very clearly. Luckily, we have wooden blinds to block out their view. Or else, we will lose our privacy inside our own home. Usually during the day time, I will open up the blind but at night when we turn on the lights we will definitely close the blinds. I don’t want them to see me running to the laundry area which is located beside the kitchen in my underwear. LOL!

Today is a big day for my friend, Richard and his bride, Pauline.  We were honored to be invited as a family to attend their wedding ceremony and reception on the Ambassador Love Voyage.  Yes, Brandon was invited too. 

I only have a few close friends that are living in LA, and Richard is one of them.  I’ve known Richard for a longest time.  It was probably sometimes in 1994 or 1995.  I met him at Stamford College while we both we in the same American Degree Program (ADP).  Funny thing is that we became close because he was asking for my homework almost everyday right before the Calculus class.  We did two Calculus classes together while in Stamford.  It was becoming quite annoying to me when he kept asking me to share my answers with him.  REALLY!!  I just let him copy my work.  That’s how we came to know each other.  And coincidently, somehow we both ended up in LA.   

Congratulations again and may the two of you have a happy and loving lives together.  Another truly never ending love story has just begun today.  As in the old chinese, I wish you two ‘white hair till old‘.

I enjoy shopping online so much that I sometimes stayed up late at night, after my son falls asleep, so I can shop peacefully through my laptop.  For me, I like to do some research before making my purchase online.  I will check on different merchants to make sure which one will give me the best deal including shipping.  Some charges a low price for the product but a very high shipping fee. So if you want to save money, you have to shop smart!

All the times, you can find home shopping deals on jewelry including necklaces, rings, earrings, bracelets and anklets and if you use coupons, you can even lower the final amount or get free shipping for your order. But most of the items I bought are not for me but for someone else instead.

For my son, I have bought an Inglesina stroller through an online merchant which doesn’t charge shipping for order above $100 as well as no sales tax. Also for my son, I ordered a baseball themed bedsheet set for him when we were moving him into his own room on a twin size bed. The most recent item I bought was a Dell Vostro 1500 laptop for only $499. This order was not for me, but an order I placed on behalf of my brother. He said he is going to pay me back once he starts working.

I save quite a bit of money shopping online. Although it takes time for me to check around the different merchants but I still find it better than shopping in the brick and mortar stores. 

Stephanie would like to know how baby back ribs look like, so I took a picture of our dinner that evening to post here.

Here a picture of our dinner dishes: Shitake Mushroom steamed egg, grilled baby back ribs and stir-fry cabbage.

Here is a close up of the grilled baby back ribs.

I used to make this quite often as my Hubby really likes it. Although is delicious but it is not too healthy, because too much fat. It is easy to make, just marinate and bake and grill in the oven. If I have time in the near future, I will update the recipe for this Grilled Baby Back Rib.

Do you know Photo cards are in trend now?  We started our first photo card after we were married.  We always mail out our picture during the Christmas Holiday to relatives and friends.  It is a good update for them to see how much we changed during the year or rather how much more maturely beautiful I am getting.  LOL!  Well, at least if they see us on the street, they can recognize us immediately (I hope so).  Some of our relatives we only see once a year, and some as far as in Kuala Lumpur, we may not even get to see once.

I would highly recommend photo card for any occasions like Christmas, Easter, New Year and Thanksgiving. Another idea I have is to print photo cards as birthday invitations. That would be cool too as I can print my son’s latest picture on the cover. If you are looking for ideas and photo card designs, do drop by Cards Direct. Their online program is very easy to use. Personalize a card couldn’t be easier. On top of that, you can customize the outside as well as the inside greeting of the card. They have a toll free number available for support if you encounter any problem during your order. Try them and let me know how you like their photo cards.

Tonight I don’t have to cook, so I have a little time to update the blog. Already placed our order of In&Out Burgers with my Hubby when he called back at 3pm just now.

Yesterday I brought my brother along with me to our Toddler’s Class at Torrance Adult School. It was fun to see how Brandon interacts with my brother. Since I was chatting with the other mom, my ‘very nice’ brother offered to help feed Brandon his snack - Yoplait Blueberry Yogurt. FYI, my brother hasn’t even fed Ethan ever (he told me) during his 1.5 year in Adelaide. Brandon should feel honored to be fed by him. Then we left the class before it was over and walked to the Farmers Market. Then we went back home and made egg fried rice for lunch.

This is Brandon’s plate of fried rice.

When I growing up, I love to play pretend. After watching those ‘kung-fu‘ TVB drama, me and my cousin would go outside and re-play the fight scene we watched before. We would dress up using blankets as cape and took out our plastic/wooden swords to fight, just like in the TV. Sometimes it would be a scene of a prince saving the beautiful princess.  That was how we past time in my younger years.

Kids are so lucky nowadays. They get to play pretend like real people. They can wear nice Kids Costumes like princesses, fairies, pirates … you can mention, you can find it. Back then, we used what we could find whether an over large tee-shirt with a hole in the bottom from our grandmother’s closet or leftover fabrics underneath the sewing machine. We patched them up and that’s our costumes. Sounded like fun right? But I really wished I can have a ‘real’ princesses or ‘kung-fu‘ costumes kids can have today.

Pictures credit: Copyright © incostume.com