Here is a duck and a flower

This duck is a little messed up. There is a choice whether to make it specific or not. And when the wrong choice is made, the duck is messed up.
This flower is a different choice. So it is continous.
Oh well, try till we perfect it.
Having fun..... he heeeheeee

After a hard day's work !

This is what we get after a hard day's work. Thanks to my computer wiz son who loans me his pc. And we were able to work the machine to do its job. I was getting frustrated as it wouldn't do what it was supposed to do. Thinking maybe we have to return the product to the seller.
Fortunately, during my sleepless night thinking and praying about this embroidery machine,( Ya, I usually do the praying in the night ) we were able to find the problem and solve it. Whew , that was tedious ! God gave me the patience.
Now we get it to embroider this pattern. So as we go we learn....and try to improve on this product. We also read a lot of problems that people have with this machine. I guess it is a matter of whether we can handle the first part of the frustration.
Looks like we will be able to handle it.
Wish us happiness playing with this new toy.

Singer Futura CE 200

Ahhhhh, this is the embroidery machine that I will be buying now.
Someone was selling it for a reasonable price.
We are going to check it out tomorrow. And
if it is true that I will like it, then I am going to buy it.
I will pray that God will show me if this is the one.
Will tell you about it tomorrow.
Announcement !
Yay, I got it !!!!!!
And at a reasonable price too..
Thank You, Jesus !

Hope to get this one

Guess I have to settle with this one since the others from Walmart are not ideal enough.
Found this at Ebay. It is called the PE 700
Have been bidding for the whole day now and it is going very slowly.
Help....those who knows how to do this thing.

Here they come again

The Kabocha pumpkin is here again. So far this is the largest one. I should not count the eggs before they are hatched. Due to the fact that not all baby kabochas will become kabocha adults.
Just cross my fingers and wait and see.

A brand new pump

Searching the web is often very helpful when you need to find something that no one seems to have. The result of the search for a pool pump is this...ta da ! A brand new pump for the pool for a very reasonable price. In the past, we have found some on Craig's list, used and the prices were phenomenal as well. Now we can have a good pump and hopefully it'll keep the pool clean with only half the electrical consumption.
Hurray !

YIKS!

Yiks and double yiks ! This critter like roaches scares the life out of me.
What is it doing on my garden gloves? And why of all places my garden gloves!
Its big bulging eyes are so scary. I was afraid that it might jump on me when I shot this picture.
Ewe, please someone take this critter off my glove !

Fennel

Do you know that Fennel is a herb, vegetable and also a spice?
It is a very good herb/ spice/ vegetable to add in your soup. And it's loaded with disease-stomping antioxidants.

It is not only aromatic, it is also an antioxidant powerhouse. It also may help hinder foodborne bacteria like E. coli, Salmonella, and certain strains of Staphylococcus.
Mmmm, we should try this wonderful vegetable, herb or spice.
More and more wonderful natural ways to keep us strong and healthy.
Happy trying !

Seaweeds

Have you ever wonder why when you see those bulb like sea weeds you have the urge to pop them? Oh, I love to pop those seaweeds. It gives you a satisfaction when they popped. So weird !
I also wonder how seaweeds are processed and become consumable products. Should say too that they tasted pretty good. If anyone knows how the process is done and where we can observe the progress, please inform me. I would love to watch it in production.

BIRDS !!!!!

An Alfred Hitchcock movie replay? Oh, I was so excited to see so many birds flying at the same time. Have tried several times to take their pictures but my camera suddenly became malfunction. ( I love this camera...but sometimes it refuses to function ) Finally managed to capture this one. So disappointed that I couldn't capture them when they were flying together in a big group.
So beautiful to see them flying overhead. Was afraid that one might have the urge to poo.... If you should be so lucky to get a mid air bird poo.... then you got to try the lottery.

Trip to San Juan Capistrano

On our way home, we decided to drive down to San Juan Capistrano. We have read about this place of interest but have never really been there. So this is an exciting trip to make there..for me. To enter the Mission to recapture history, we need to pay a hefty $9 each to get in. Being the thriftiest of thriftiness, we all decided that there is nothing interesting to see inside. So we decided to walk around the little town.
The trading post is a very interesting place to go to. There are lots of Indian arts and crafts and everything related to the Indian tribes, unknowingly I started humming along a familiar chinese music playing overhead. Queer little shop. But it is interesting to see all the stuffs they have inside for sale. Make sure you bring a lot of money if you like Indian arts and crafts...cuz they are quite pricey even after a good 50 percent discount. Enjoy !

Catching the waves

See how the wave is building up here. You can almost tell if it was going to be a hugh one.
Here it comes crashing in. And no matter what happens, you will automatically release a loud shrill when you see the waves approaching.








All ends in white suds like these. So bubbly and so white. It is fun catching waves....on shore.
Won't try to catch it out there....too dangerous for me.

They could have been friends

Here is Sebastian with his bone. At the beach we were neighbor to this dog that looks exactly like Sebastian. She is 8 years old. Such a cute dog. She behaves so well and is never barky. When she sees her owner coming, she picks up the toy fish and started making a whining sound. She will wait for her owner to notice her before she puts the fish down , all the time wagging her tail. She waits for her food and sits quietly. I managed to hand her some dog food while her owner waited for her food to arrive. She gobbled everything from my hand. She looks exactly like Sebastian and I am sure that she and Sebastian will get along very well.

Doheny Beach

Here we are at Doheny Beach, Ca. Here is where our friends took us to relax and enjoy each other's company.
This is a very beautiful beach. People do not go crazy over here. Everyone obeys the rules on this beach. By certain time, all must be quiet and all generators must be turned off. There is no crazy music or parties. It is a place where people truly come to relax. Most of the time we spent in sleeping and eating. On the 2nd day, we took some walks on the beach and neighboring parks. Unfortunately, we didn't get to go too far becuz dogs are not allowed there in the parks that we wanted to go. The walks on the beach was beautiful. Mrs Pitts and I tried to catch the highest tides that came in. A couple of times we were drenched knee down becuz the waves were huge. And then during one of the high waves, we spotted a seal. He looks like he is wearing a rubber diving suit. We could see its skin shimmering in the sunlight. It was an amazing thing to watch it come so near to shore. A little girl about 12 or 13 was kicking sand by the shore when she suddenly saw the seal approaching her. She let out a shrilly scream and ran upwards to where her parents were sunbathing. Later she realized that it was a seal and came calmly back down to watch it swim away. It was hilarious and we had a good laugh. It was fun catching the waves and getting our feet wet.

A solemn thought.

Well, just sitting here doing my stuffs when this thought came to mind. I was thinking maybe I am wasting my time loving and teaching someone else's children. Many a time... I realized that my sincere love and care showered on this little one is being taken for granted. Many a time, I feel that the love is not reciprocated. And it hurts. Don't love me 100 percent, but give me some loyalty. That is what I want from it all...but am disappointed many times.
People who don't know my situation and what I am talking about, I apologize. Sooner or later, I realized, the little one will be taken away from me. As it is, her absence is getting more and more frequent. There is a big part of me that is treating her as my very own. But a little part of me realize that she is not truly mine. It gets depressing sometimes...no loyalty, not appreciated.
Now a plea to those who understand. Give me one of my own. So I can shower all my love and care on the precious one. When I say my own, I don't mean "my" own. Well, you know what I mean. At least the precious one won't be loving me one minute and treating me like a stranger another minute. And my effort of teaching and training will not be wasted.
Plus I get to hear him or her call me grandma. That will be a dream come true.

The trip..count down !

Camping in an RV is something we have not done before. Tomorrow we will be camping at some beach area in an RV. Today, we get to put our stuffs in the RV getting ready to go tomorrow.
It is kind of exciting. But we are kind of apprehensive about the activities that we will be doing there. As we will be hitched by the ocean, that means we won't be moving or driving anywhere.(we are not pulling any cars behind) We are just wondering if we will be just staying in the RV or we get to go places. But there is no need to wonder. We shall find out tomorrow. We already have tomorrow's lunch ready. We have lots of fruits and vegetables. Chinese chess, a book game: spot the differences, books to read, etc. If not then we will just go for a hike...plenty of things to do. Still not so clear as to where we will be, but it won't be in San Diego. (Just found out, we are going to Dana Point.)
Got a hat to shield from the sun. Oh, better remember my sunblock too. Eva bought me a new pair of sunglasses. So I am very prepared now. Oh yes, my faithful camera has been given juices. So it'll do its job then.
Want to know how the camping went, read about it when we come home.
Meanwhile, you guys have a good one.

Tea Drinking

Don't know how much of a tea drinker you are. But I just read another article about tea drinking. Do you know that tea is good for us? I prefer those without caffeine. Anyways, here are why you should drink tea. 1) They are tummy tuckers. Especially the green tea...according to the study.
2) They give you a youthful glow on your skin.
3) They help with our immune system.
Catechins in tea help our hearts too. And they boost metabolism. Burn fuels.
Do you know why chinese people look younger than their age? They drink a lot of tea. And why most chinese people are slimmer? They drink hot tea after each meal...at least, the older generations did that. It seems that tea washes away the fats that were in the foods. Therefore, no fats remain in the body.
Our body will destroy the catechins in the tea. But a squeeze of lemon will preserve it.
Mmmm lemon tea is plenty fine.
Next time you think of not drinking tea, think of this.

Poor Sebastian

Why is he looking so pooped? Ahem, we should whisper this....come closer and listen carefully... Sebastian has just gone for the "snip, snip". He had it done today. Therefore, he is still groggy from the anesthesia. On the brighter side, he won't be humping his pillow as much now.
Also he has lost a lot of weight. He is now 112 instead of 127 lbs. Yeah, Sebastian!!! All these dieting worked for him. But the vet wants him to target his weight to 95 lbs. More work for him to do to reach that target.
We are cheering him on and we know he will be able to accomplish that. For all who are going on a diet, remember how Sebastian does it. He eats once a day now, I think. And he takes long walks faithfully. Maybe he will be an inspiration for all of you/ us...weight watchers.

Hats

If you are a hat person, you may want to go to Burlington Coat Factory to check out the hats over there. They have hats for all seasons. And I found this hat at the children's department. I am not a hat person but only need it to shield my face from the sun this weekend.
Can you guess the price of this hat? Hah, you will not be able to guess it. But if you know where i come from, you may just have guessed it. Yes, it is only 99 cts !
It was on sale. And i never buy anything higher than 99cts if i can help it: ie, depending on the reason for the purchase.
But this hat will fit me just right for the coming event.

Front gate

After inhaling lots and lots of spray paint, and suffer much pain on my trigger finger, I think the front gate looks better now. Although there are some touch ups to do..minor. But I feel better with the new face lift.
This is the day after, I can feel the effect of the strains on my wrist muscles and on both my pointers. Cannot imagine that spraying can give such pain ! Imagine those taggers... they must have hurt each time they do graffitis.
Also the bench outside gets a face lift too today.
Btw, the "new pool pump " is not a successful attempt. But something was done to the old one. Hopefully it is working now and no back flow will happen.

My new reading glasses

So happy with my new reading glasses. They make me read better and I love everything about it.
The box is the color I wanted and red is also a nice color for me.
So thank you, my dear brother. You are great !
Btw, if anyone needs new glasses and like them good quality and yet affordable, let me know.
I know of a good source to get you good and affordable glasses. He heeeeee...

Pump, pump, old pump

We were supposed to do house cleaning today...mainly the back patio. I spray painted the gates and he is doing the pool pump. The pool pump is doing the "backflowing" business. So he is converting a new pump actually an old pump.. to a new pump to correct the trouble.
Hopefully, he is successful in correcting it.
Becuz of the back flow, erego, the green stuffs.

House cleaning??

We suddenly decided that today is house cleaning day. For me, house cleaning day can also mean doing some painting. That is exactly what I did today. Spray painted two security gates and some odds and ends pieces in the house.
Don't worry, they are all in white. And it looks better now. I hate those rusty, dirty gates and they were an eye sore to me. Now at least, they look clean and white.
Above is an art I did to reward those children in my class. I hope they treasured them and kept them in remembrance of me.

Big sister

Here is big sister practicing to be a sister.
When the time comes for her to be a real sister,
she will be ready to help mommy out.
After all, practice makes perfect.
A day at a time. By November, she will be a perfect little helper.

Lover of trains

She is such a train lover. She has been longing to ride on this train. We finally gave her the ride. Such glee ! Such laughter !.
It is pleasing to see her laughing so heartily when she is on the train.
Someday, if possible, we would like to take her for a real train ride so she can laugh throughout the ride.

Joint pain?

Do you have joint pains? Hard to walk up stairs or up and on bridges or just simply walking? Ha, here is a natural remedy for you. No, I am not selling any medications.
Eat fresh pineapples. Pineapples have something called the bromelain that can reduce white blood cells migration to the inflamed sites. I love pineapples. They are so delicious and now to know that they are good for joint pains...mmm, I will be going crazy with it.
It is a pick me up for your joints. Now you can dump all your joint pain drugs and try this natural fruit. Isn't this wonderful?
God knows what is good for us when He created pineapples.

Wedding Expo 08

Sunday 09/14/08. This wedding show was held in Costa Mesa. This was my first experience being involved in a wedding expo. The last time I went to a wedding show was as a visitor with my daughter. To be a participant in the expo is a different feeling altogether. It was interesting to see all sorts of couples. It was just exciting to meet so many people. All races, creeds and religions. Most of them were very friendly and we had fun joking with each other.
By the way, this was our booth. It was very well decorated and many were interested in the designs that were exhibited there. Some even talk about using our designs for their wedding. Some thought that we were a candy bar for weddings. Suppose that this is a new trend now. We have liquor bars, fondue bars, salad bars, and now candy bars.
We had very good results at the end of the day, and we were both pooped.

Happy New Parents

Here is Andy and his lovely wife, Melissa, enjoying opening gifts given by their love ones and friends.
This new baby is going to have tons of new clothings to wear and toys to play.
Don't forget the abundance of bibs... whew, I hope she doesn't need to use them all.
We want to wish Melissa an easy delivery on that special day when the baby arrives, and Andy a good helper during her labor. ( Let her scratch, pinch or punch you, Andy if she has to.... )
We wish you both happy parenting and don't forget the advices that experienced people gave you that day !

Two love birds

What a beautiful lake for a pair of beautiful love birds !
A beautiful lake in Irvine. This is another place of interest that I have never heard of until last week. But this is an exclusive interesting place where only the residents or people with a "special card" or ID can go in.
There is a wade pool /swimming pool for children and on the other side is this big lake where you get to canoe, go on paddle boats or the funny bicycle boats.
A nice place to relax and enjoy.
Also there is a "pool house or club house" where you can celebrate Birthdays, Baby showers and all that. What a cool place to be in .

My bundle of joy !

Here is my bundle of joy! Ya, they are not babies but my vegetables from my garden.
The kabocha pumpkin is the last of the batch that was recently mentioned.
The guavas are slowly ripening and they are indeed delicious.
The serrano chillies are so deliciously hot. Unfortunately, my tongue is not allowing me to enjoy them as much as i used to.
Oh, and the tomatoes ! They seem to be an everlasting plant. I thought they would have been all dead and gone by now. Yet, new branches are coming out from the dead branches. What a long living tomatoes. Oh well, if we are blessed there is nothing to stop the blessing. And I am just thankful !

Baby blanket

Here is another of the baby quilt that I have knitted the " make up as you go pattern".
This will be for a baby boy. Will it be for my own grandchild or someone's.....that is the question....just like the to be or not to be question.
Anyways, hope that some beautiful baby will be able to make use of this little blanket.

My own design

Inspiration had taken over me while crocheting this baby blanket. It is a 'make up as you go' kind of pattern. I am satisfied with it. It turns out quite pretty. After the work is done, it kind of make me want to keep it to myself instead of giving it away. Have you ever done that?
Well, let me see whose lovely baby will inherit this baby blanket.

A step up

From a ice cream eating, messy face to a sophisticated young lady.
From rag to riches...just kidding. She totally enjoyed the Blue Bunny chocolate coated "no sugar" raspberry ice cream. So do I. It is such a delicious ice cream. No sugar ! And the raspberry is so yummy inside.
This little one loves sunglasses. Everywhere she goes, when she spots a sunglasses rack, she has to try them on. So vain ! But she looks good in almost every sunglasses. Wish all sunglasses make me look good too...but that is just a dream.
I just think she is so cute !

Sigh of relief !

Sometimes I wonder why we meet " odd" people. Among the many people we met, this one in particular caused me some "pain".
This one though almost 80 is still very alert, active and demanding. The last straw with her was when she accused me of not cleaning her oven which I had worked very hard on the other day. One thing that will ruffle my feathers is being falsely accused. That can break my whole being ! For the past few days, I have heard insinuations about her missing stuffs which I totally ignored becuz my conscience is clear. Anyways, she called to inform that she had found those things that she claimed she had lost. And she does forget where she places her stuffs. But to have worked so hard on her old old oven and made it look like new is a different story.
I was ready to go to war with her this morning should this subject pop up.
In the night, I had a talk with God. And had told Him that I am ready to speak my peace, but was impressed to leave all to Him. So i submitted.
And this morning, instead of being unappreciative, she was the total opposite ! She praised our work and appreciated us. I thought she was someone else in disguise.
No mention of the oven and no confrontation.
God knows. He can settle any dispute. I don't have to do anything. So I am thankful and relieved.

Remedy for puffy eyes

Here are some ways to help puffy eyes to be less puffy..
Use teabags... After you made your tea, use the teabag and place them on your eyes for 10 mins.
Or you can use cucumber slices, strawberries mashed, apple slices, potato slices, yogurt, water and witch hazel pads and iced teaspoon. Place one of these on the eyes and relaxed.
That will take away puffiness. Must try that one day. No harm trying natural remedy.
Enjoy the treatment !