Moments in My Life

We are not ready for Halloween yet.  It doesn’t feel like Halloween actually.  Why?  Because all the malls are already in Christmas season with Christmas theme decorations and selling Christmas trees and ornaments.  Just saw that while walking pass Macy this evening.  They even skipped Thanksgiving decoration now. Guess they are trying to get consumers to start shopping and spending for Christmas.  Christmas is indeed the biggest holiday in USA.

And for Halloween, we have yet to buy any costume for Brandon.  Haven’t seen any we like from browsing at the mall.  If he is able to choose, I think he wants to be a helicopter.  That means I have to especially make him a homemade costume. But I don’t think I am able to find the time to do so. I am too lazy and too busy.

I might want to check out online stores for Halloween Costumes. May be I can find something similar to a helicopter? Or else, I may get him a Disney character, either a Sticth or Buzz Lightyear. He likes the Monsters Inc movie but I didn’t see any of the characters in costumes yet even at the Disney stores. May be I am able to find them online?

What has been happening here?  Why so quiet?  The PR verdict came out and my blog went down from 3 to 2.  It has less opportunity as before and so I’ve been lazy to update the blog.  It is my bad. 

The weather has been overwhelmed the last week.  Beginning of the week we had 3 very very hot days with temperature above 90s.  Then towards end of the week, we had cooler temperature around 65-70s.  Brandon has a bit of runny nose because he kicked off his blanket at night time and when the weather is that cool, it is easily to catch a cold.  Last few nights, I have been sleeping in his room to make sure he has his blanket. 

It was my husband’s Friday off and we only did Walmart in the morning.  Then I made some Ravioli for Brandon’s lunch while we had Burger King.  For the afternoon, after Brandon’s nap, Hubby took him out to the mall by himself.  I stayed home to do some house chores as well as to watch a bit of the tvb series - Forensic Heroes 2.  For dinner, Hubby picked up Thai Food. 

As for Saturday, we went to Disney California Adventure with our friend.  He works at the Disney in Burbank so we were able to get in with his pass for free.  Our annual passes don’t work on Saturday.  Basically, we just want to meet up and at that place, we can get Brandon occupied while I could have some time to chit chat with my friend.  Brandon gave me a hard tim ein the morning before we left.  I was trying to get ready his lunch to bring along while he was throwing a tantrum that he wanted to go NOW!  Now means NOW!  He needs to learn about being patient. 

On Sunday, we went to Target in Manhattan Beach then headed to Whole Food Market to walk around.  Before we went back home, we stopped at Manhattan Village Mall to check out what latest Halloween Costume some of the stores have.  Didn’t see any good sales yet, so we didn’t buy any.  After Brandon’s afternoo nap, we drove up to Santa Monica to visit friends - my ex-landlord and his wife.  Came home around 5pm and made dinner at home.  Brandon seems to enjoy meals at home much better than we dining at the restaurant.

Now that Monday is here, our weekday routine begins all over again!

Yes, I am done with Moonlight Resonance.  Sorry about my mistake.  My cousin told me that the last episode was 41 but actually it ended at episode 40.  It is indeed one of the best tvb dramas I’ve seen for the longest time.  I haven’t seen Heart of Greed yet, I may go back and watch it later at megavideo dot com.  As for now, I am watching Legends of Demigods at MegaVideo.  Starring Linda Chung (Chung Ka-Yan), Benny Chan (Chan Ho-Man) and Sunny Chan (Chan Kam-Hung).  It is a goo chong drama depicting the immortals and evil spirits.  I am watching episode 11 now, the final is 22.

Linda Chung has been in a lot of dramas I’ve been watching including Moonlight Resonance and A Journey Called Life and now this Legend of the Demigods.  She is one of the most popular actress now in TVB.  You will also get to see her in the upcoming TVB drama The Gem of Life.

Looking through some older pictures, I found a folder name ‘From JY Camera’. I was viewing them as if it was my first time looking checking them out. I have probably browsed through them rather quickly then forgot about them. My brother actually spent 5 weeks in United States. He was in NY and Boston for 10 days.

When he was in LA, we filled up most of our weekends. We visited Disneyland, California Adventure, Downtown Disney, The Flower Fields, Los Angeles Zoo, Getty Museums in Santa Monica and Malibu, the beach and more.

Here are some of the picture I found in the folder which has me in them. As you may know, you probably seldom see my picture here because I was behind the camera most of the time. But when my brother was here, he used his camera and snapped away some pictures of me and Brandon.

I finished watching Episode 36 and still waiting for Moonlight Resonance Episode 37 & 38 in Cantonese version.  If you can’t wait for the Canto version and don’t mind the Mandarin version, you can find the above two episodes here. 

It is not that I don’t understand Mandarin.  I do.  But I don’t feel like watching a Cantonese drama in Mandarin is fun.  Just doesn’t feel the kick of the voice dubbing.  So I rather wait.  I think I read somewhere that Episode 41 is the final and will be shown this Sunday in Hong Kong.  I still have only 5 more to go to find out how this drama ends.  I can’t wait to see how the happy ending comes about.  Are you as eager as I am to find out too?

This year’s Realtor® Expo will be held in Long Beach Convention Center from October 14 to October 16. This is the state’s largest real estate trade show. There will be a lot of activities and events such as seminars, luncheons and talks besides the trade show. I have yet decided if I am able to attend. Since it falls on weekdays, Tuesday to Thursday, I will need someone to baby sit my boy for a few hours so I can visit the Expo.

I haven’t been to any of the Realtor® Expo since I started this business 5 years ago. They move the location around California State. It has been held in San Francisco, San Diego, Los Angeles and Long Beach. May be I can ask my husband to take a few hours off from his work to baby sit the boy while I attend it this year. May be I can trade his time with the Business Promotional Items I get from the exhibitors at the show.

My mother in law always ask me to search online to see if there is any cure for diabetes or method to lower her blood sugar level. She herself always read magazines and books that provide information and latest test and medicine to this health issue. I remember she used buy a lot of eggplants, slice thinly, dehydrate them and use the dried eggplants to make tea. She confirms that they help with her blood sugar level. Lately, she has been eating the Chinese fungus soup which she made in batch and can last her for a few days. Besides all these food she takes, she does exercise too. She will try to walk for at least an hour a day on her treadmill. She is also looking into Diabetic Socks so she can use them during her exercise sessions.  If you know of any other methods that may help, please leave your comment here so I can share it with her.  Thank you.

I have been wanted to write about this since we returned from our KL trip. I put on an extra 6-7 pounds just for that 5 weeks trip. We had 4 meals a day, sometimes 5. Breakfast, lunch, tea, dinner and supper. My aunty fed us all very well. I never thought I would come back to LA and found myself weighing more than before since I’ve been climbing stairs many many times a day. But that was not enough exercise to compromise with the food I ate. And thanks to all the sugary and carbohydrate food I took, I gained the 7 pounds. Honestly, I ate a lot but not as much as I wanted to. LOL … I could’ve gained more weight if I didn’t control my appetite.

And since my return to LA, I’ve been watching what I eat. Unfortunately, the 6-7 pounds is going to stick with me. I can’t get back down to my pre-KL weight. *sigh* I don’t think I have enough motivation for weight loss as I constantly craving for sugary food like cookies and cakes after lunch and dinner. I tried to substitute it with fruits but the craving is always still there. Some days are better than others but the pounds are not going away anyhow.

I may need to try Skyler Madison Center for Well Being Nirvana Diet if my weigh increases.  For those living in Manhattan and Westchester New York area, you are in luck.  Skyler Madison Nirvana Diet can be done in person if you live nearby their center.  For those others, you can still call in by phone.  Their main concern is correcting the issues by approaching the mind.  That is one reason why this center also called as the ’spa for the mind’.  With this approach, it helps to generate new energy to fight with the old habits.  If you haven’t this method of diet, you should.  It might be much better than just counting points.

I did a BillsIQ Quiz couple minutes ago and I scored 95%. There are five categories - Credit, Debt, Budget, Wealth and Life Plan. Each category has 5 questions. You finished the 5 questions, you go on to the next category. Just because it is a multiple choice quiz, I could only choose the available answers as closely as to my real answer. And my final score came up to 95% which is quite high.

I know why I miss scoring higher as I do not frequently check my credit history, which is a must. It is recommended to run a credit report for yourself once a year to see if there are any fraudulent incidents. We will never know if anyone stole our identity by using our names and social security for their own use. I need to look into ordering or may be signing myself up credit monitoring for this purpose. Otherwise, I pretty much know my answers to the quiz were on the right track.

Many American need Debt help. Not too many people know how to manage their finance properly. Lucky for us, we only have the mortgage payment. Our cars were paid off.  But we also need to start thinking about starting a college fund for my boy. Although he is only two and a half but in no time he will be heading out to college. And college is a big expense.  We need have a fund ready for him and make it available at the time he is starting college. 

I’ve been chasing episodes after episodes of this latest TVB Drama - Moonlight Resonance. I really have to thank Crazy Chinese Woman for sharing with me the first streaming video link at CrunchyRoll. There were a few missing episodes here and there until I found another link to watch them at Megavideo. The streaming links are in very high quality, you won’t see the mosaic boxes moving around. In two weeks, I was able to catch up until the most current airing episodes - episode 28th.

A brief introduction to this drama. The cast includes Louise Lee (Lei See Kei), Susanna Kwan (sang the theme song), Har Yu, Michelle Yim (Mai Suet), Lee Heung Kum, Moses Chan (Chan Ho), Raymond Lam (Lam Fung), Tavia Yeung (Yeung Yi), Chris Lai (Lai Lok Yi) and more. Drama mainly revolves between two families with their children names ‘Ka Hou Yuet Yuen Heng Chung Chau’. This is a very famous phrase to celebrate the mooncake festival. Direct translation is ‘Family Good Moon Round Celebrates Mooncake Festival’ which means Mooncake Festival is all about everyone in a family gathering together underneath the big round moon for the celebration.

The father (Har Yu) whom is an expert in making mooncake was forced to divorce the mother (Louise Lee) by the mistress, Ah Hung (Michelle Yim). The children were separated. The mother has the 2nd son, 3rd and 5th daughter. While the eldest son, 4th and youngest son went with the Father. Ah Hung has a daughter from a previous relationship.

The father and Ah Hung intentionally used the mother’s mooncake bakery’s name and the business expanded and became one of the top bakery in Hong Kong. While the mother’s bakery has less and less business, but she didn’t give up. Her second son gave up his study to help her in the bakery. Hmmm … If I continue being so detail, I don’t think it is going to be a brief introduction anymore. Anyway … the drama is moving along and it seems the father will end up being together with the mother again with the help of the children as well as the paternal grandmother. Along the way, there will be many bumps and gossips. It is not going to be easy. I really envy how the children are very reunited as one and all of them listens well to their mother.

Let me tell you, you will never have enough of the story behind this drama. I can’t wait for the continuing episodes for this week. At the moment, I can say, I really hate Ah Sa (Susanna Kwan) who is the mother’s sister, and her daugher whom seem to be nice in a way just to get part of the family fortune. These two people have no shame of the worst things they do to get what they want. It is this kind of people that I don’t miss to see around this world and hope not to see any of them at all.