Just My Rambling

Have you been watching the Olympics? Well, I have spending my nights glued to the television. My favorite events are swimming and gymnastics. What are yours? Now that everyone is having the Olympic fever, it is a good time to give your friends the Olympic Visa Gift Card from GiftCardLab. I am sure that your friends will appreciate them especially the Michael Phelps Gift Card. I would not mind getting some for myself as a souvenir.

Last week, we had a super hot week. It was in the 90s the whole week and since we have no air-conditioning in our house, we spend a lot of time at the mall. Most of the houses here do not have central air-conditioning because usually we don’t need it. We only hit 90s probably one or 2 weeks every year. Some people buy portable a/c but so far, I haven’t succumb to the temptation yet since I know that I won’t use it much.

True enough, the heat didn’t last very long. The temperature has plunged down to the low 60s and even 50s this week! I really feel that the weather here is just like a yo-yo. You’ll never know what the weather’s going to be like tomorrow. I hope it will be good next week because we are off to Oregon for a vacation!!

I was trying to clear up all my assignments before the weekend when I realized that I have 4 posts dated 080808. Then a thought came to me, why don’t I write 8 posts on 080808 just for fun!! But then I started yawning and I am getting sleepy, so I guess that’s not going to happen. Oh well!! I wonder if anyone did it? Can you tell I am rambling?? Too much photo processing will do that to a person. I am in the middle of sorting out my 800 photos from my Alaskan cruise!

Help!!! I can’t seem to open my food blog. I keep getting the message “Internet Explorer cannot open the internet site. Operation aborted” Anyone else getting that message? Thousand apologies if you are trying to access my food blog. I am still trying to figure out the problem. :(  Anyone have a solution?

Yesterday morning, I woke up to discover that there was no power in my house. I think this is the first power outage we’ve had since we moved in 1 1/2 years ago. It feels kinda strange having no power. Do you ever realized how crippled we are without power? No TV, no computer, no microwave, no oven, no hot water, no heater, no telephone (the cordless ones) and even my garage door doesn’t work!! I had to figure out how to open the garage door manually so that I can get my car out!! Luckily the power came back a few hours later.

For the past few days, I have been sitting in front of my laptop. Nope, not working on my blogs but I have been trying to sort out my thousands of photos!! It’s been a month since I got back from my cruise and I haven’t even gotten around to organizing those photos yet. Hopefully I will get to them soon. Anyway, I have a backache now because I have been sitting on my very uncomfortable office chair for too long. I think it will be a good idea to take a break for a couple of days before continuing my photo organizing. Maybe some new office furniture might help too!

Last night when it was time for Lil’ C to go to bed, I realized that the sky is almost dark at 9 pm already. For the past 2 months, the sky did not turn dark till 10 pm. I guess it’s a sign that summer is drawing closer to its end and fall is just around the corner. Time sure passes fast when you are having fun. This summer has been a crazy one with lots of travelling and visitors. One more month to go! We have one more trip to Oregon in late Aug and hopefully we can squeeze in another camping trip somehow. Then it will be back to school for Lil’ C and more personal time for Mommy??  

Seriously do you read the books before letting your kids read them?  When Lil’ C was reading the baby & toddler books, the books were never a problem since I had to read to her, so I know what is the content about. But now that she has started reading chapter books on her own, I am having a hard time keeping up with her. Usually I try to glance through the books before she borrows them from the library but since the books are pretty long, I don’t go through every page.  

Frankly, it didn’t really bother me too much until last month when I bought some books for her. These books are very popular in the elementary schools and is on the recommended list of reading. So I thought they should be ok but I got a little worried when I read one of the books. There were a lot of words in there that I would not want Lil’ C to learn!! The main character of the books is supposed to be a bratty little girl so there are lots of negative words coming out of her mouth. I don’t plan to shelter her from all negative words but to me, 3 1/2 is still a little young. Maybe in a few more years when she has a better understanding of what is fictional and what is reality. So in the meantime, these books have been hidden away.

For now, I guess I will read through the books first before giving them to Lil’ C.  It will take up some of my time but at least I will feel better knowing that these books are mommy-approved.

After being here for a month, my parents are leaving tomorrow. They’ll be with my sister for another week before heading home to Malaysia. I have been busy trying to sort out the hundreds of photos that we took during our cruise and local trips and printing them out for my parents. Frankly I love taking photos but sorting through them is a pain especially since it is so easy to take a few hundred photos with a DSLR. Don’t you agree?

Anyway, I have been psyching Lil’ C up for her grandparent’s departure. Hopefully she won’t cry tomorrow. It’s moments like this that I wonder why I am living so far away from home. I always feel bad for Lil’ C that she only gets to see her grandparents once in a blue moon. I have been trying to go home every year since she was born but I am not sure how long more I can sustain this trend financially!! It’s so expensive to go home every year especially with the increasing airfare every year.

After a few days of rest, I am finally feeling better. Surprisingly I managed to lose that extra weight that I gained on the cruise. Looks like I don’t have to eat those fat burners after all. I guess it is because I was not munching on junk food all the time. Instead, I just took naps & rested. A week of mom’s cooking and dad’s babysitting duties really do work wonders. How I wish my parents would stay longer so that I can get a little more rest but they will be leaving in a couple of days. Sigh..