Moments in My Life

Before having my own kid, I didn’t understand why others were buying fill their shopping cart with the gallon milk at Sam’s Club.  I used to see many parents on the weekend at Sam’s Club with 4 to 6 bottles of 1 gallons milks in their shopping cart.  It was hard for me to finish 1 gallon of milk for two weeks.  Usually by the end of two weeks, I had to throw away the leftover milk. 

Then now that I have my own boy, I know how fast the household can run out of milk.  So now whenever we visit Sam’s Club we buy 2 bottles of 1 gallon 2% low fat milk.  It will last us both for about 1 week plus a day or two.  Now if I have another child, I may need to get 3 gallons, and if I have 3 children, I will have to get 4 gallons.  Now I can see why the other parents are stocking so much milk.  Hmm … then we probably need a bigger refrigerator.  LOL!

Our home was built back in the 1950s. It has pretty amazing amenities including a 2 cars garage, 1 bathroom and an attached 3/4 bathroom to the master suite. But one thing that they missed out for homes that were built during the 50s was the insulations. So our home has no insulation. The insulation below the roof was added by the previous owner.

In winter, our central heater runs all day and stops only slightly in between operating. This means we pay a lot of our heat/gas especially during the winter months. We are actually trying to find a better type of insulation so our heat won’t leave the homes during the winter time. One of my friend actually recommended spray foam insulation like those offered by New Jersey insulation. What I didn’t know is that with foam insulation, my gas bill may be reduced by 40%. Foam insulation will fill up all the cracks and crevices that regular insulation will not. I may look into having it done for this winter as I know the gas price has gone up so much, we need to reduce the cost by having a foam spray insulation installed below our roof.

We have cooler July than other years.  In the morning the sun won’t come out until around 10am.  It is usually breezy and chilly until noon.  Usually July will be the hottest month ever but this year, my Hubby told me they had a HOT June but July is much cooler.  Average temperature for this month is probably around 78F-82F for my area.

Well, I am not complaining.  I really like this type of temperature.  Not too hot or too cold to deal with.  It is only for the South bay area.  Most other parts of Los Angeles are still hot and very sunny.  Just that we are lucky we live in the cooler part of LA.

There are so many costumes and we have yet to decide what we should dress Brandon up as this year for Halloween. The first year, we got him a caterpillar and last year, we dressed him as an octopus - very cute! We usually go out for trick or treat at this specific area in South Torrance. The homes are usually decorated very nice for Halloween. I am almost a witch all the time. I have the witch hat, a orange color broom, and a dark piece of fabric which I cut here and there to make it look like an old witch rag. Hubby always in his regular cloth, may be this year we will be able to get him to dress up as someone or something.

We had an earthquake today and I felt it.  The epicenter was in Chino Hills. We were in Torrance (see the map above) about 45 miles driving distance away from the epicenter. It was around 11:45am and I was actually having lunch with another mommy friend at Pat & Oscars Restaurant at Del Amo Mall. I noticed the sign above the counter was swaying. I looked at my friend and asked if she felt the movement, and she did. Initially she thought it was because she was overly hungry but since I mentioned the swaying and she noticed the ketchup bottle on the table was shaking, then we confirmed it was an earthquake. But we didn’t know how big the magnitude or where the epicenter is located. We finished up our food, packed the leftover, clean up the kids and left the restaurant. Outside I saw many people standing around making calls on their cellphone and overhead a lady saying something about earthquake.

We bid farewell and we left the mall. Upon returning home around 12pm, everything was in order … nothing broke or fell on the floor. I called Alan and was told the epicenter in Chino Hills at 5.8 magniture. Then I checked the internet, the news was already on Yahoo! front page.

Picture courtesy of Reuters.

This past trip was the first Brandon met his tong-tong.  Amazingly, he was quite attached to him considering it was the first time they met.  He always wanted to take picture with his tong-tong. You see, he even smiled for the camera with my father in it. I can hardly take a picture of him smiling with me in it ok?

My father arrived on 7/3 and we saw him everyday till we left KL. We also spent a full day together when we went to stay at the service apartment next to KLCC. It was a fun day to see how the kids (Brandon and Ethan) interact with their grandfather.

My son is very playful around tong-tong but rarely listen to him when my dad said NO or DON’T do this/that. Well, my son listens to nobody. He will only listen to ME or stop his mischief when I get angry/upset at him.

I am actually started thinking where we should be going for our next vacation. The previous trip to KL wasn’t really counted as a family vacation since my Hubby wasn’t able to join us for that trip. I am thinking now to go to Hawaii, Florida or may be down south to Mexico. Things are cheap in Mexico. I heard the food is good too, provided you like Mexican cuisine. My Hubby love Mexican food a lot and my son too. So it will not be a problem for us to go there.

I know many people including college students and retire couples love vacationing in Rocky Point, south of Arizona. College students love to go there to party and drink beer/alcohol. Retire couples love to visit for the beautiful ocean and relaxing environment. Family can have fun too. Let the kids enjoy the beach and the ocean while the parents can kick back and relax. These vacationers may want to try make their reservation through Rocky Point house rentals.

Renting a house is much more convenient than a hotel room, if you have more than 4 people. With a house you can have a group of people all staying together and play games and make as much noise as you want. And it may be cheaper per person too. And at Oceano Rentals, they provide many pictures of the house for rent which will give you a very good idea what you will be expecting when you arrive. So next time if you are visiting Rocky Point, remember to check out Oceano Rentals first and make your reservation on their website.

This is a picture of Brandon and his favorite grand aunty. The above picture was taken at Pasta Zenmai at One Utama. We were waiting for our food and Brandon was playing with the chopsticks and pepper/salt mill. I like this picture.

Unexpectedly, he was easily aquainted with my aunt immediately after we arrived. May be he recognized her from our previous trip. I was not sure. My son is not an easy person to deal with. I was able to go out twice by myself alone. Thanks to my aunt.  Once I went for facial at Lancome Parkson and once for haircut. I left for my errands immediately after my son took his afternoon nap. And my aunt took over to care for him (and Ethan) when he woke up. The first time I left him, my aunt was able to calm him down only after she they took him out for a car ride. From my understanding, he had woke up crying and looking for me. They weren’t able to calm him down with fans, tv, books, toys … but the car ride solved the problem. Second time was much easier. He woke up not crying and was playing with Ethan when I came back from my hair cut.

When we return to LA, my son woke up in the middle of the nite asking for, tam-poh (kam-poh). I think he misses her quite a bit. Well … tam-poh, you better come visit us quickly! Someone here can’t wait to see you again.

Two years ago, my father sold our condo and we moved all the furniture and things to his wife’s home in Prima 16. I was in Los Angeles and wasn’t able to help with that move at all. My father helped to pack the things that were in me and my sister room in boxes and moved over. My brother was there so he was able to help with the moving.

Now his wife sold her home in Prima 16 and we had to move again. This time, we were going to move the furniture to my sister’s condominium at Damansara Perdana. She has a three bedroom condo that is currently vacant so my father thought it would be a good idea to move all the furniture over so she can rent the condo as furnished. He had looked for many home moving companies and fortunately able to find one with full service on last minute notice.

If I ever needed to move, I will definitely check around at Moving Companies Online for best quote on the service. I am not sure if we need to hire a full service mover or DIY, but I can find quotes for both at Moving Companies Online. The moving companies that they work with are licensed, bonded and insured. Besides moving companies, you can also find quotes for storage, auto transport or truck rentals. So you can find all services you need for moving at one place.

Isn’t this view beautiful? I have this as my wallpaper on my laptop now. This is the best night view I ever have on KLCC Twin Tower. I took it using my Canon SD630 digital camera without a tripod. I rested my hands on the window to make sure the picture turn out clear and not blurry. And it did! This is actually the view from the second bedroom in apartment we rented at PNB Darby Park.