Friday night, I was at a party. It was nice and festive. There were more children than adults, the ratio of children to adult each table was about 6 to 2. In fact, our table was most likely the only table with the most adults, 6 adults and 4 children, two sat in chair while two sat on parents’ laps. Continue reading “A Christmas Party” →
I can hardly believe it. Thanksgiving has come and gone this year and Christmas is coming in a month and 2016 in less than 5 weeks! This year feels like it’s just breezed by. It was just 12 weeks ago that I began school and now, I’m two weeks away from finals. Continue reading “The Best Thanksgiving” →
I hope everyone is enjoying your turkey and hopefully, I am as well by the time this post goes live. I have been invited by one of mom’s friends to her house for Thanksgiving meal this year. That’s why I’m writing this post early. Continue reading “Happy Thanksgiving!” →
Good morning! Happy 4th of July from my hammock to everyone in the U.S. Continue reading “Happy 4th of July!” →
Just a short interpretation post I published last Father’s Day. Enjoy and Happy Father’s Day, everyone! 🙂
What is Father’s Day? What is this day about?
Honestly, to me, it’s just another ordinary Sunday. I don’t think I’ve ever experienced a proper Father’s Day even with my step-father. I guess we just never been the traditional type but then what’s true definition of traditional?
In the past 15 years or so, even when my step-dad was in our lives, my mom was constantly on double-duty. Then after my parents separated, my mom’s double-duty as dad became more prominent than ever before. She cooks, cleans, mows the lawns, plucks the weeds, and even joins the army, doing activities people at her age should not be doing like climbing ropes and going through rugged training.
So what is Father’s Day, really? Other than the obvious answer that it’s a day all about dad, traditional barbecue, and the great sales at home improvement stores and department stores, what is it all…
View original post 102 more words
Well, technically, it’s still eve here in the U.S.. In China, it’s Chinese New Year. This year is the year of the goat and I was born in the year of goat. As I mentioned in previous posts, my mom said I’m bound to be unlucky this year and guess what, I’m off to a painful start already. This morning, I was woke by a sharp pain in my back. Not again! Continue reading “Off to a Painful Start” →
I think this has been an okay Christmas. Other than the fact that it’s been snowing all day and my mother’s constant nudging to make me go outside with my aunt, it’s been all right. Continue reading “Merry Christmas!” →
I have been trying to write a post all day today but for some reason, I haven’t been able to finish it. This morning, I woke up, washed my bedding (finally!), and had breakfast. Then I went back up to my room, trying to write something about the prompt today but somehow, I was feeling rather frustrated and uninspired. I mean, it’s not that difficult of a prompt but at the present moment, this is my third and possibly fourth attempt at writing anything today.
My first attempt was kind of awful, talked about how I’ve grown to somewhat fear the end-of-year holidays. I’m not sure if anyone wants to hear anything that negative today.
My second attempt was a list of my love and hate for the holidays. That list was going successfully until my mother interrupted and said she wanted to go out. I’ve been stuck at home all day and thought that was the culprit for my lack of inspiration. So I accepted and we all went out. First, it was to the air force base to pick up my mother’s medicine as well as to get some groceries but then it turned into a 30-mile road trip to Morgan, Utah, a rural little town just beyond the canyons.
It’s a beautiful town, quiet and serene. The moment we exited I-84, my mother saw the sign to East Canyon State Park and immediately wanted to go similar to a child wanting candy. Am I the only mature one in the family?
The sign said the park is just 12 miles north. So northward we went. The road was narrow and twisty like riding a slow boring endless roller coaster. My mother’s patience was running short and after 5 minutes or so, she began to wonder if we’ve gotten lost. No, we haven’t. I began to doubt too but on the other hand, I was sure we were on the right route.
When we reached mile post 7, my mother decided to turn back. “I’ll bet you anything that the park is when you reach mile post 12.” I told her but as usual, no one listened to me. So after 40 minutes or so, we’re home.
To be honest, I enjoyed Morgan, it seemed like one of those places I like to see myself living when I finally move out of my mother’s house. It’s quiet, quaint, and just rural enough for my taste. Best of all, there are no planes!
Anyway, I’ve returned to my computer to try to compose my daily post again. When I finally got two paragraphs done, I was interrupted again! Now what?!
I went downstairs to find out what my mother had wanted. Apparently, she suddenly want my aunt and I to play Santa and deliver all the presents to all neighbors, ugh, one of the things I dislike about the holidays. Every year, it’s always me who had to deliver presents and never get anything as nice or anything at all in return.
I just came back a few minutes ago, delivering presents to one of our tenants. My face as well as my hands and legs are still freezing cold and I’m feeling a tad dizzy. I need to go see a doctor soon to make sure I’m still as healthy as I used to be. But for the rest of today, I have no wish to go anywhere else. I wish to rest a bit in my room while waiting for a little inspiration to struck. Until then, I think I’ll leave you with the list from my second attempt at the prompt.
Things I love about the end-of-year holidays:
Things I dislike about the holidays:
I made a pumpkin pie yesterday! It’s the first one I made in 4 years. Read about it to see how it turned out! It’s beautiful, isn’t it?
So on Tuesday night, my mother came home announcing her office at work was having some kind of get-together on Thursday and they had asked her to bring something. She didn’t know what until she got home. A pie, she insisted. But where can she get it? She didn’t want to drive 20 miles to Costco. So instead, she requested me to make one.
Fine, one Pumpkin Pie pronto.
We took a trip to the commissary up at the Air Force Base and gathered the ingredients.
Yesterday, during my small break in between work, I went into chef mode and worked on the pie. The last pumpkin pie I made was more than four years ago, Thanksgiving eve, 2010, when a blizzard hit and I was snowed-in from school. My attempt…
View original post 422 more words
So full! I’ve just came back from a morning of Black Friday shopping and cleaning and a traditional Thanksgiving meal. This year has to be the first time I managed to get something from the Black Friday sale. I got two pairs of boots for formal wear. Finally! Yay!
Anyway, we just got home from a fantastic meal at our neighbor’s and I am so very full right now which makes it a great time to write a post to burn off some of the calories. 🙂
So, leftover sandwich, that’s the name for the daily prompt today. Well, that’s just the thing, I don’t have leftovers. For me, it’s always delete or post. There are no drafts floating around my dashboard. But to be honest, in my opinion, none of my posts feels complete to me. So, in a way, all the posts are still sort of a draft to me.
For example, in yesterday’s post, a few hours after I published it while we were saying thanks as a family around the hotpot, I realized that I left a major paragraph in my post.
I was too busy thanking my aunt that I forgot to also thank my readers and loyal followers because without you, I would had quit a long time ago just like I quit everything else. Also I like to thank all the visitors around the globe because without you visiting this site, it would had died some times back. So thank you all.
And if there’s a picture I want to share but never got to, it would be this one…
Auntie Ying, after all this time, I realized I never thanked you for all the things you’ve done for me during the past two months. You lightened my load a lot to the point that I am able to concentrate on my studying and not worry about chores. Continue reading “Thank you!” →
In the U.S. or probably the world, most people knows that only one holiday exist in July for the U.S., the 4th of July or Independence Day. What most people also didn’t know is that in Utah, there is also Pioneer Day, which is July 24th. It commemorates the settlement of the first Mormon pioneer.
So while everyone else in the U.S. is only allowed fireworks three days before and after the 4th of July, in Utah, it is also allowed three days before and after the 24th of July. My neighbors from two streets over have already been shooting fireworks into the sky two nights ago which makes the view outside my bedroom window spectacular.
So be safe playing with fireworks and have a festive 4th of July.
As I leave you to enjoy the holiday, I want to show you this video that me and mom watched this morning at breakfast.
Spring Cleaning, that was how I spent my Memorial Day. I didn’t do it all at once though. Like those drawers, I haven’t got to them yet, sadly. All I did was clean the floors which thankfully, I didn’t have to clean the whole thing.
My mom dragged me out of my room and downstairs so I could begin cleaning the living room while my mom moved everything out of the shoe closet. The floor was seriously dusty, dust bunnies literally blew across the floor. I guess that’s what happens when you have to turn on the heat six months out of the year, dust accumulates in the vents and ducts and out it goes onto the floor.
We finally turned off the heat tonight, though. I feel so relieved to finally be able to open my window ’cause it feels so hot and stuffy with everything closed. And of course, my mom has zero patience when it comes to slow moving work. She wants me to clean but she wants it fast. Well, you can only have one of those, either slow and clean or fast and dirty.
I wasn’t even done with the living room when she took over. Then she almost flew through the house, cleaning at the speed of superman, colliding into every furniture I could think of.
My mother used to be a housekeeper when she first came to the U.S. and a housekeeper needs to clean everyday at a record rate. The house she worked for just so happened to be owned by a family of slop. So I can imagine how she became the clean freak as she is today. I’ll bet if there’s a Olympic event for cleaning, she’d be the first to win it. 🙂
Anyway, she didn’t let me mess with her cleaning but while she went out to change the water, I took the sweet opportunity to snap some pictures. I know, it’s stupid but she tends to make me watch her while she cleans so I can learn how to do in the future. I would never get it anyways. Cleaning is cleaning.
She finished the job in half of the time it usually takes me although I am still questioning if her efforts is the same as mine. I opened the window to blow dry the floor while taking another chance to snap more pictures. Then it was done, it was all the cleaning we can manage, I can at least for today. It is hard to imagine that before my neighbor introduced me to the Swiffer mop, I actually used a cloth, got down on two knees, and scrubbed the floor clean like Cinderella.
Can you believe this year is over already? It seemed like not long ago it was summer and then it was spring and it was winter again. Where has the time gone? Last year, I thought 2012 was going by fast already but I think 2013 went by even quicker. I guess that’s what happens when you’re going to school and working at the same time.
I’m hardly home these days comparing to the beginning of this year and last year. On Mondays and Wednesdays, I start work at around 8:15 and I would go until 7 at night. Then on Tuesdays and Thursdays, I attend my only class this semester. On Fridays, I either work or I don’t. To be honest, between homework and things screaming for my attention, I really would just like to stay home that one weekday to take care of my stuff and not my boss’s. But hey, if I don’t work, how am I supposed to pay off my debts.
So I guess I’m ending the year with some left-over tasks to complete but who doesn’t. However, what I’m looking forward to the most is that I get to spend this Christmas at home without being bothered by my students and especially the Li’s, who will be far away. Since New Year is not far off, my new year resolution would be pass all my classes and graduate.
What are you most looking forward to this holidays? I would like to hear from you!
Every year between Thanksgiving and Christmas, there’s always hardly anything to watch on TV. Continue reading “Annual Christmas TV Programs: What’s not to Like?” →
Continue reading “Traditional Chinese New Year Delicacy” →
This is Another Story