Talent Show/Pumpkin Painting/Indoor Gardening!!

It's was a well pack Sat morning (Oct 10). We attended a Primary Talent Show at church, then went pumpking painting at the Y, out to dinner and celebrate Johnny's birthday (10/11) at the hotel across the KOP mall.

Evan's talent show picture at the church when he was doing the bike tricks. He went so fast that I was not able to snap a good picture of him.

Then, we went to the Y and paint pumkins with Jady and the kids. Jady had so much fun that she did not even want to leave.

Went home, clean the house, and out to dinner in celebration of Johnny's birthday. We did not go out on his actual birthday because it fell on Sunday this year! The dinner was awesome and everyone in the family seemed to have a great time.

After dinner, we spent about half an hour at the mall. We saw this AeroGXXX for a great value of $50 instead of $129 at JCPXXX. That's exactly what I asked my husband for my birthday!!! So, Johnny got the system and set it up running as soon as we got home. (It's funny that we don't give surprised gift anymore.... Johnny and I don't like the idea of returning birthday gift that was given by our spouse.)

sure, you don't have to wait until your birthday though
On Fri, Oct 2, 2009 at 2:01 PM, Pauline XXX paulinexxxxxx@xxxx.com wrote:
hun, i really want this for my birthday!!!

http://www.herbkits.com/medicinal.htm

Evan's Second Week of Middle School

Evan came home with a detention slip that needed to be signed and returned. Why? This kid has been forgotten to bring his completed homework twice, and work folder back to school once. We told him to put his homework back into his backpack after our checking every night, and yet he chose to ignore our warnings and left it on his table. What's more??? He lost his new gym uniform... How? He claimed he has put them in the locker and they were gone the next day. Ahuh..... Should I forget that he has a habit of leaving his drawer open when he is done picking his clothes??? Evan, Evan, Evan........ I just hope these are all the bad news I heard from him.

Of course, I was totally mad at some point, but my wish is that he would be learning from all the mistakes right from the beginning. I know I am "Ah Q", but thinking positive is really impoartant in this situation. So, I sat down and wrote a thank you note to his teacher, Ms. Henry for thanking her follow through with my son, and not letting him get away with his consequences.... got to print the email out and put it in his book! :)

Choice of Herbs and Pots

I love herbs and especially fond of cilantro, chives, mint and basil. These herbs are not only flavorful, but also had tons of medicinal properties.

http://www.liveandfeel.com/medicinalplants/basil.html

So, I have decided to grow my own herb garden this Winter.... had been out shopping for a big ceramic pot for awhile, but did not have much success. They are either too small or out of my budget. Sometime last week, I went to TJXXX and found this beautiful huge ceramic pot for $10 at the clearance section. It was so beautiful that I couldn't take my hands off of it. The only problem was that the color of the flowers on the pot doesn't match the house decor. So, I spent about two hours putting a coat of dark chocolate paint on it. I am just thrilled with the turn out.


After the painting, I mix up some soil with potting mix, and the fertilizer (all organic), and planted three of my favorite herbs, cilantro, chives, and basil. I am hoping to see something real soon!!!

By far, I've found the following website has the best forum on home gardening. The people there are very helpful with questions regarding seeding, watering and harvesting any individual plant.

http://www.gardenweb.com/

General Conference

It was the 179th Seminannual General Conference on Sat (10/3) and Sun (10/4). There were so many good talks by church leaders, but the one that stays in my mind the most was from President Monson titled, "What have I done for someone today??"

We often forgot about others when we are busy or so focus on ourselves, and that's not how life should be. There is nothing we will bring with us when we pass on, but only good works and deeds. I just love our prophet, President Monson. I had a book of him full of stories about his work and ministry, and the people who he associated with or make a difference in life. It's just amazing to me how the Lord had prepared a man to be his servant since their early age.

Here is his talk: http://lds.org/conference/talk/display/0,5232,23-1-1117-27,00.html

There is also a website of all the talks on both days. I would like to figure out how to attached the video on my blog, but for now they are available online.

http://lds.org/conference/sessions/display/0,5239,23-1-1117,00.html

Acupuncture Session

It was Evan's first time to the acupuncture last Sat (9/26). I bet it did scare him at the beginning, but he is now all fine and not having any stuffy nose. So, it's all convincing to him that acupuncture dose work!!! I believe Jeannie might need another session. We will have to decide when they are done with the herbal medicine. In fact, those medicine have been working great. The kids appetide has been improving; and they tend to eat more.

Pretzel Sticks

I was scratching my head to come up with some healthy snacks for the YW. There was not a whole lot that I could make when it comes to snacks since I hate baking.

So, I ended up getting a big bucket of pretzel sticks from Cosxxx, and spent a few hours dipping them in chocolate. They tasted good to me, and especially Jady... she probably ate fifteen of them before I ran out of chocolate.

Well, things don't always turn out the way I want. When Jeannie and Evan got home after school, I asked them to taste some samples becasue I used a different kind of chocolate this time, and they both preferred the ones that I made last time. Because of that, I decided to make another batch of pretzels with a new recipe using brown sugar, egg white and cinnamon.

Don't know what I was thinking... trying to come up with something I never tried on a busy Wed. night. Anyway, Johnny came home around 6:00pm when the pretzels were still in the oven (took about an hour to bake). Dinner was not even prepared at that point. I was exhausted by then after working the whole afternoon and not getting anywhere. I talked to myself what I did was so not worth it!!! Then, a thought came to my mind... "Well, if the pretzels turn out good, then I can mass production and use this recipe for Christmas treats!" My day had changed completely from that moment on. I actually looked forward to see how the pretzels turned out and started to appreciate my new adventure.

At the end, the pretzels turn out great. My whole family admit it! :) And I was able to feed them before heading to church. What had I learned from this experience?

1) Simplify my life... Do not overdo when I can't afford the time.
2) Be optimistic even when facing challenges. Be faithful and hopeful!
3) Lastly, yet the most important things is to be in tune with the spirit. Sometimes, we just need to set back and relax, and let the spirit works on us to bring back peace and harmony into our lives when troubled.

Busy Week (Sept 23-28)

We had a crazy week again since Wed. I think the kids had been sleep deprived since Wed. We got home after church (YW activity and the cubscout) around 9:00pm and helped the kids with homework. It was probably 11:00pm when we sent them to bed. Then on Thursday night, we attended Jeannie's school open house. This kid is taking two AP courses (Bio and Euro), as well as other honors classes this semester. We wanted to meet with her teachers and make sure she is not killing herself. Once again, she went to bed around 11:00pm because dad needed to check her math homework when we were done with the Open House around 9:00pm.

Jeannie always wanted to play sports for the school. Although she did not make it to the school tennis team, she came home about a week ago and expressed interest of joining the school ice hockey club. The team practices and have games on every Sat. from Sept to March. It was a 4-hour commitment and the fees was more than US$1,400 excluding the gears and uniform (which is another $1,000+). Thank goodness that she decided to withdraw after finding out the cost and fees for the club.

Waking up at 5:00am everyday and taking full loaded courses... I just pray that her health would not be jeopardized by the overloaded schedule. The kids started having allergy, both having stuffy nose, and sore throat for Jeannie. I hope she did not get Swine flu like one of her best friends.

On Sat (Sept 26), we took Evna and Jeannie for an acupunture session. It was Evan's first time ever to the acupunturist. According to the Dr., Jeannie has better health than Evan, so Evan ended up having more needles poked into his body - one on each elbow, four on the back, one on each side behind the ears, and two on the lower back. I don't think Evan enjoy it at all. Hopefully, we don't have to go back next week! The Dr. gave them some herbal medicine as part of the treatment, and if their situation doesn't improve in a week, the kids will have to see her a second session. I was totally exhasted by the time we got home, but had to get to the stake center for the General Relief Society broadcast. I especially enjoyed the talk by Sister Thompson. It was a great evening.

Then on Sunday, we got to the church half an hour early because the Young Women were performing a song during sacrament meeting. I also taught the YW a lesson on Raising Above Peer Pressure during the third hour. Church wasn't done for the day. We rushed home, grabbed something to eat while I baked cookies for the visiting teachers and home teachers. Their appointments were scheduled back to back and we were not done until 6:00pm.

Thank goodness, the kids had Monday off, and they got some rest before Sister Cook and the missionary came over for Family Home Evening. It was the start of our busy week again...