November 24, 2005:

Wishing everybody a very Happy Thanksgiving!  As usual, we cooked up a feast this year and now we're beyond stuffed.  I made the usual yummy fare (see previous post) and we've got plenty of leftovers to last us all weekend.  I couldn't decide on what new dish to make for the meal until I stumbled onto a recipe for, get this, "Turkey Congee".  It's the perfect homage to my frugal Chinesy side (I can't just let a perfectly nice turkey carcass go to waste, right?!?!). heheh... I'll let you know how it turns out...  :)  Happy Gobble Day to everyone!!! 

November 17, 2005:

Yay, midterms are over!!!  After feeling stressed out all weekend, I don't have to worry about tests again until finals week and then I'll start worrying all over again.  Heheh.  On top of that, I think I caught whatever bug DJ had this past weekend.  My head hurts and I have a nagging cough.  The only consolation is that the kids haven't caught it, yet.  Nothing else is going on at the moment, other than planning for Thanksgiving dinner next week.  Hm, I have a week to plan something yummy.  I always do the traditional turkey, mashed potatoes, cornbread stuffing, green bean casserole, sweet potato yams and cranberry sauce.  This year, I want to add a new dish to the dinner menu but I haven't got a clue.  We'll see...  talking about food's making me hungry, must go eat something... :-P

Oh, and I updated the chibbles' page... They can cook, they can clean, and they're totally stylin'... heheh!  Seriously, what more can you ask for from a dude?! (Their future wives can thank me later.)

November 10, 2005:

It's a short school week for the boys since the teachers had their in-service day today and no school on  Friday because of Veteran's Day.  I, on the other hand, had to go to class today.  Luckily, DJ was able to take time off from work to watch the boys while I went to school.  The boys and DJ had tons of fun doing yard work, going to Mickey D's for lunch and playing X-box games all afternoon.  :-)

Here are some pics from the last month's award's banquet for the Little League...  :-)

November 5, 2005:

Oh, and as promised, here are some cool pictures from Halloween...

November 4, 2005:

I wouldn't say I'm accident-prone but I do get myself into scrapes every now and then.  I've sprained my ankle more times than you can count, sliced my ring finger open playing with a cleaver I wasn't supposed to be playing with (sorry, mom), gotten skewered while "fencing" with a sharp curtain rod (thanks, DJ, heheh), been stung in the face by a not-so-friendly @#$#%!$ bee/wasp/yellowjacket, gotten hit by a motorcycle on the way to class, and this past summer I was involved in my first serious car accident.  Thankfully, I survived 'em all.  <knock on wood> Well, I can add a new injury to this ever-growing list.  Would ya believe I got a paper-cut...on my eyeball???  Yeah, so I was in a hurry and was trying on a couple pairs of sunglasses at the store (I lost my pair of sunglasses somewhere) when I inadvertently flipped the price tag inward and gauged my eyeball with the sharp corner of the tag.  I winced in pain and when I looked in the mirror I could see a tiny drop of blood oozed from the sclera (the white part of the eyeball).  This almost reminds me of the time my brother accidentally poked himself in the cornea with a sharp metal nail file.  Ugh.  There's something about eye injuries that make people feel queasy... dunno why... anyhoo, click here if you wanna be grossed out...

November 3, 2005:

Last night I had the distinct honor and privilege of meeting my absolute favorite literary author of all time, AMY TAN!  I've read every single one of her books from The Joy Luck Club to the Bonesetter's Daughter.  I have most of her literary works at home including one of her children's books, The Chinese Siamese Cat.  She was in Portland for one rainy night to do a book signing and to read from her most recent publication, Saving Fish from Drowning.  Before she read an excerpt from latest endeavor, she talked about how her mother's voice was the predominate inspiration for the main character.  I just sat there in awe.  She was so eloquent and poised.  One thing that struck me to the core was her discussion of how one's personal belief system can influence their intentions and how their intentions impact their behaviors towards others.  These behaviors in turn will govern one's actions and ultimately, these actions will result in a particular set of consequences.  Whether one believes these consequences to be positive or negative is fundamentally determined by each individual's personal belief system.  I was so impressed with her demeanor and candor.  She even cracked a few self-deprecating jokes as well.  It was an utterly amazing experience.  I haven't had a chance to read her new book yet but from the description she gave, I know I'm going to enjoy it.  :-)