Saturday, January 31, 2009

Photo 27/365

Another card to use up my scraps. The stickers at the bottom were so old, I had to glue them on.

Photo 26/365

What I made for lunch (tortellini and sausage soup with Swiss chard from the garden). The problem with making a nice lunch is figuring out what to do for dinner.

Friday, January 30, 2009

Photo 25/365

Why we couldn't get reception last night. Yes, we still use rabbit ears and haven't joined the cable or fiber optics crowd.

$2.03

Down a bit. Better than nothing.

Monday, January 26, 2009

Gung Hay Fat Choy!


Happy Chinese New Year to you! May this coming year be filled with prosperity and health for you and your family.

Sunday, January 25, 2009

Photo 24/365

Happy birthday girls! And it looks like G can't wait for cake either, lol.

Photo 23/365

I had to take a picture of the crowd waiting to get into CHA. I'm glad I was already inside. The guys in suits on the right are security/crowd control/big guys to keep buyers out until the CHA show opened.

Photo 22/365

Bad pic, but you take the bad with the good, right? There were bagpipers to open CHA. I LOVE bagpipers. By the way, I'd like bagpipers at my funeral, or at least bagpiper music. Not a lot, just a song or two.

Saturday, January 24, 2009

Almost caught up

I finally finished posting all the photos I took this month. Actually, I should say I've finished posting all the photos I wanted for my 365 project. So I'm caught up in terms of the photos, just not in the number of photos. As I said in my original post, I hope to post 365 photos. So I think that multiple of an event will be what gets me up to 365.

The photos are pretty much in the order I took them, they're just not always posted on the day I took them.

Photo 21/365

Miss E didn't want anything to do with me after she woke up from her (3 hour!) nap and I took her binkie away. Hey, mom said binkie is only for naptime and I always obey the mom.

Photo 21/365

I love Target clearance! I always browse the end caps for sale items and I found this KI kit, regularly $24.99. It was marked down to $17.48, not that great of a discount. It was the only one on the shelf, whereas before Christmas, two shelves on the end cap were filled with them. On a hunch, I took it over to the price scanner and almost started hyperventilating. Okay, that's an exaggeration. But at $6.24, I couldn't pass it up. Let's just ignore the fact that I've got waaaay too much stuff and I'm trying to destash. It's an addiction, I tell ya.

Photo 20/365

This is why it is so difficult for me to prune roses in January. But my master gardener friend said I had to so I did. I filled a vase with the buds I cut off

Photo 19/365

Yum! I love these! They are one of my favorite candies. We bought these after Christmas for 75% off. I figured they taste the same after Christmas as before. Or maybe even better since I got them on sale.

Photo 18/365

I made a bunch of cards for cardsforheros.org to use up my scraps. Unfortunately, I still have tons of paper to use up. My goal is to fill a priority mail box. I have a long ways to go.

Photo 17/365 Garden


I just love how the garden looks and smells after the rain.

Photo 16/365 Webkinz

My new friend, Roar. Thanks S!

Photo 15/365

Winter melon soup. I didn't like it, partly because the stock wasn't clear. That's because I used a different brand of stock and also didn't skim the chicken scum since it was cooked in the crockpot while I was at work. But Mr. Fix-it liked it better than any other version I ever made so I guess it was a success.

Thursday, January 22, 2009

Photo 14/365

Bank statements and cancelled checks from eight years ago. I hope I don't need them. They're worm food now.

Photo 13/386


Some of my make-up purchases for the wedding. It will probably be another year before I use them again.

Facebook, yes or no?

I received an invitation to Facebook and am finally tempted to join. My SIL asked so the potential exists I'd see more pics of the kids. But I'd have to overcome my fear of social networking sites, my need for privacy. I need to think about this some more.

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Photos 11-12/365


Mr. Fix-it made pizza for dinner. Yum!

(Two pizzas, two photos. That's one way to try and catch up with the photos, lol.)

Photo 10/365

Winter melon. Mom usually grows barrel-shaped ones (like watermelon), so these are unusual to me. I stuck my foot in the photo so you could see how big they are.

Photo 9/365

mojito pie, made by a friend.

Photo 8/365 D&S

The happy bride and groom to be at their rehersal dinner.

Photo 7/365

Not my flowers. They were sent to my coworker from her husband for her birthday. It was a nice surprise for her since he usually doesn't do things like this.

Photo 6/365

No, this isn't an alien, it is white fungus that I was preparing for soup.

(Boy, I'm gonna be happy when I hit the double digits and even happier when I get caught up with posting photos.)

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Photo 5/365 Salsa chicken

Ingredients: skinless chicken thighs (Mr. Fix-it took off the skin and I saved it to make stock), jarred salsa, chopped onion.

Ddirections: chop onion, mix with salsa, pour over chicken, cover and bake at 325 degrees till done (45 minutes or so). We ate it over rice (you know how I like my rice), but it would be good shredded in tortillas or even without any starch.

Next time I think I'll saute the onion first. They were a little undercooked for my taste. Other than that, this was a winner. Super simple and didn't take any time at all.

(With photos like these, I'll never be able to make a living as a food photographer, lol.)

Photo 4/365

When we got back from vacation, there weren't any suicide tomatoes. It turns out they just wanted to wait until we got home, sigh.

Photos 1-3/365 Catalina

I'm finally getting around to doing my version of a photo a day, week, whatever. My version is to post 365 photos this year. Since I don't want to start yet another blog, all the photos will be here. My ground rules are multiple photos from a day are okay. All the photos have to be taken by me or have me in the photo. And with that, here we go!

We went to Catalina for a little vacation. Both our companies were shut down for the holidays and I was determined to go somewhere, anywhere, lol. Since I had never been to Catalina, Mr. Fix-it suggested it and even though our trip coincided with new year's, we still got a good deal on our hotel.

Catalina is famous for their tile (well, their old tile), but there's tile everywhere so of course I had to take some photos. If the weather had been warmer, I would have considered renting a kayak, but since I was wearing multiple layers, a coat, and scarf, it was a little too cold for me to go out in the water. And last, but not least, I was amused by these sea gulls drinking from the fountain. Who knows how clean that water was since the drinking fountain didn't drain.

CHA this weekend

The Craft and Hobby Association trade show is this weekend. It will be interesting to see how crowded the show is, who's there, and who's not there. Already there have been announcements of major magazines shutting down, people being laid off, and whole companies folding. All this right before the show.

I've been watching the sneak peaks on the various scrapbook boards and I must say that most of the releases from established companies are not doing it for me. Maybe because I've already got such a huge stash? But I am excited about a couple of new companies. One of them is Bella Blvd. Take a peek! The designer used to work for one of my favorite companies. I love the clean lines and bright colors in her papers. I wish them lots of sales at the show.

Monday, January 19, 2009

$2.09

Ouch! I should have filled up this weekend, but I was too lazy to. So I ended up paying four cents more a gallon by waiting. Add that to this weekend's $80 in groceries and I'm feeling poor.

Friday, January 16, 2009

How to look skinny

Tuck in your shirt and wear pants that are one size too big. A cinched belt completes the look. At least that's what's working for me today, lol.

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Project 365, POTD

With the new year, the blogosphere is buzzing with new projects. The one that seems to be resonating the most with scrapbookers and photographers (yes, they are related) is the concept of taking a photo a day. The purpose is to capture the everyday moments in your life, improve your photography skills, share with your friends, clog the information superhighway with more crap (opps, that last one just slipped in, sorry). But hey, not wanting to miss out on being part of the crowd, I am going to attempt to take (and post) 365 photos this year. Of course, I'm already way behind. Stay tuned.

Chinese fire drill

That's what Mr. Fix-it called it when we were visiting my dad. As soon as he stopped the car, everyone would hop out and one person helped dad out of the car, one person grabbed his walker, one person helped whoever was stuck in the back seat, and one person grabbed whatever we forgot in the car, and one person walked ahead and opened the door. And since there weren't that many people in the car, someone would have to do double duty.

(Yes, I know it is a pejorative term, but I thought it was apt.)

Monday, January 12, 2009

No more dieting!

The wedding is over, family photos are done, so I don't have to worry about looking "not thin" any more (I was afraid if I said fat, some of you would be over to give me a slap upside the head). Woo hoo! Chocolate, here I come! Well, not really. I still have those pesky five pounds from a few years ago hanging around my middle and I still want to get rid of them.

My health goals this year are to walk more, eat more fruit, and eat more vegetarian meals. Pretty reasonable and doable, right? Still, if you want help keep me on track, don't send chocolate, but do send encouragement.

Sunday, January 11, 2009

Christmas presents

This is how a certain family member wraps Christmas. Mom (she didn't wrap these, she's much neater than this) has saved every ribbon, every piece of tissue paper, and every bit of wrapping paper that has ever come into the house. So every year, this person uses Mom's stash and "wraps" our presents. And after we've unwrapped our gifts, all the wrappings go back into the stash for future use. I'm not sure what else to say about this, other than my family is weird (and frugal!), but we all get a kick out it.

Waaay behind on blogging

I'm finally back to the old grind or I will be tomorrow. We're back from the wedding, so no more out of town trips, no excuses for not posting. I've stuff from Christmas to post still so if it seems like I'm behind the times with my posts and photos, I'm just trying to get caught up.

Friday, January 09, 2009

Taking out the garbage, finally

We finally were able to take out the garbage can (and recycling can and green waste can) this week. We were out of town for the previous two pick up days and didn't have enough stuff to put out the week before that. So it was a month's worth of stuff. Granted, we were gone for a week of that, but still I'm pretty proud of the fact we don't produce much garbage in our household. The garbage can was less than half full (it is a HUGE 95 gallon can) and the recycle can was about half full. Back when we had regular garbage cans, we'd rarely filled our 32 gallon can. The only reason we took it out every week was it was stored in the garage and we didn't want it to stink in the summer. These huge cans are stored outside and in the winter, we take them out every other week.

I'm not sure why we're producing less garbage lately. Maybe because we're buying less? I'm not consciously buying less, but I am trying to spend less money which amounts to the same thing.

Tuesday, January 06, 2009

The gluttony continues

Yesterday was my first day back in the office after two weeks off (where I ate lots of Chinese food and restaurant food, if you recall, and before that it was cookies, Sees candy and Thanksgiving). I came back to more Sees candy (Toffee-ettes, yum), pineapple cakes from Taiwan, plus other assorted candy. Today we had more Sees candy and fresh pastries. I resisted the candy, but couldn't resist the pastries especially since they were still warm.

Monday, January 05, 2009

Playing dress up

My nephew's getting married soon so I spent the past couple months sort of trying to lose weight so it would balance out the five pounds the camera adds in photos. I didn't put a lot of effort into it, but at least I didn't gain any weight.

I did decide to get serious about finding a dress. I tried on a couple dozen dresses at various stores and nothing fit, looked right, was in the right price range, so it was a frustrating experience. I can squeeze into a dress I already own and hopefully the shoes I have still fit. Guess I should check that out.

A couple weeks ago, I thought I'd wax my legs and then do some touch ups before the wedding. That was an adventure. It isn't like I haven't done it before, but this is the first time I spilled wax all over the counter, the floor, oh, and me. No matter what I tried, I just ended up getting more and more things stuck to me so I panicked and called my esthetician friend. Ever try dialing a phone with your fingers glued together? I opted not to hold the phone for fear I might glue the phone to my hair so I shouted to her over speaker phone. Or maybe I was just raising my voice in panic. Thank goodness she was available to talk. Since the oil and soap I tried didn't do any good and I didn't have anyone to send to the store (there was no way I could drive), she suggested paint thinner. Great, I'm going to kill myself with toxic fumes...I hope my nephew appreciates this. I'm sure Mr. Fix-it was shaking his head when I called him and asked if we had any paint thinner (I looked, but couldn't find it). Guess he knew better than to ask any questions. I did read all the warnings and open the windows (even though it was freezing), then proceeded to remove the gobs of wax from me. Then I worked on the counter and floor. The good news is once the wax cooled, it was pretty easy to chip away. The bad thing is sometimes it would chip away in tiny pieces and fly all over the kitchen and I'm still finding bits...when something sticks to them. And no, I never finished waxing my legs.

That might have been the pièce de résistance, but I've got one more thing to add. I decided to buy some new makeup (even though I don't normally wear makeup anymore). It has been so long since I bought any new makeup, they don't make the styles or colors I used to use and no one at the counter recognized what I had. Yes, I don't toss my makeup after six months. I had actually kept what I had in case I wanted to buy more. For all the good that did. I went to a couple different counters at the department store with varying results. Do you have any idea how much makeup costs nowadays? A couple items and that's my grocery bill for a week! But it gets better. I decided to try a new line (Estee Lauder) since Shiseido didn't make what I wanted anymore. Now my whole face itches. Was it the makeup? Was it the lotion I tried on afterwards? Why won't I stop itching? Let's hope I look okay tomorrow (and the next day and the next...).

Sunday, January 04, 2009

Oldies music

When we were at S's, her son asked us what kind of music we listen to (probably in hopes of enticing us to play Guitar Hero). I said "Oldies." He asked, "Like the 80s"?

Saturday, January 03, 2009

Back to the old grind

Unpackinging, I hate unpacking, but I better get it done today. Otherwise I won't be able to take care of the next item on my list.

Laundry, not too bad since I did all of our laundry before Christmas and then washed all our travel clothes when we got back.

Grocery shopping, since we were gone for almost two weeks, the fridge was empty. We bought take-out on the way home yesterday since we were starving and I made mac 'n cheese (from a box) for dinner. I jazzed it up with peas and tomatoes and shallots and as I was browning the shallots, I wondered why I don't just learn how to make mac 'n cheese from scratch?

As I made my grocery list, of course, I quickly reverted back to my old self and obsessed over what was on sale, what I had coupons for, and what I'd have time to cook next week. Sigh, I wish saving $ and eating right wasn't soo much work.

Vacuuming, a never-ending task. I wish I could hire a housecleaner.

Taxes, gotta start pulling together the paperwork for this.

Friday, January 02, 2009

Busy, busy, busy

We've been so busy these past few weeks, we've hardly had time to catch our breaths (except for the past few days, more on that later). Work was crazy for both of us trying to get everything done before leaving for the Christmas break. I never got all my Christmas cards out so if you didn't get one, please don't feel slighted. I was happy I was able to get them out to most of the relatives on time. I was hoping Mr. Fix-it would get home early on the 23rd since we were traveling for Christmas, but alas, he came home later than usual.

Here's how our Christmas and the past week went:
Dec. 24, drive across the state, check into hotel, pick up mom, drive to airport and pick up J and B, go out to dinner (Chinese food).

Dec. 25, drive to Uncle B's (a little over an hour), then to the cemetery to visit Auntie M. Have lunch (Asian buffet) with Uncle B, Uncle J, and Cousin E. Visit for a while, then drive back (two hours-traffic sucked). On the way back, stop by Cousin D's. Her whole family was there, along with all our cousins and her parents. Visit for a while then head home. No dinner since we're still full from lunch (although they were having prime rib, one of my favorites and it was hard to pass that up).

Dec. 26th, have lunch and dinner with Dad (Chinese food, of course), visit a little with the rest of the family.

Dec. 27th, have lunch with Dad (dim sum, at least it was a different kind of Chinese food, lol), visit with family, have a traditional Christmas dinner with S and family. It was delicious and when I get a chance, I need to get some recipes from her.

An aside, lest my family is in a rut, we like and some of us crave the style of food we get when we go home for a visit. We ate a different restaurant each time and there were enough leftovers for a couple more meals.

Dec. 28th, head home feeling like there was too much visiting with some people and not enough visiting with others. I thought that Christmas would be less running around since Uncle T is gone, but it seems that whenever time was opened by his absence was filled by something new.

Dec. 29th, catch up on laundry, check in with a few relatives.

Dec. 30 to January 2, vacation! A real vacation!!! We decided to splurge (well, it was a splurge for us) and booked this last week. Nothing like waiting until the last minute. Of course, it took us (well, really, me) two days to even begin to relax. The massage helped, lol. Then it was time to head back home.

We didn't have any mini 2009 calendars (we usually keep one next to the computer) so I decided to make a little calendar to remind us of the fun time we had. I guess you could count it as my foray into digital scrapping. :)

I'm not looking forward to going back to work next week. Sigh. Reality, it sucks.

Thursday, January 01, 2009

Happy New Year!

I hope this year brings you happiness, prosperity, and lots of fun! And if you've already got all three, how about more of the same? We're just relaxing over here. Hope the new year brings more relaxing times for us.