GOOD DAY

TODAY WAS A GOOD DAY FOR MANY REASONS:
1. I finally got a job plus it’s in my home-town! I will save on gas $$.
2. It’s my husband’s b-day, he’s 36- woo hoo!
3. I am an Auntie again! Danica Jane ___________ is 7 lbs, 2 ounces- woo hoo!
4. My Mom is a proud “Lola” again (Grandma in Tagalog)
5. My sister-in-law’s delivery only took 5 hours this time instead of 39 hours like last time (2nd deliveries are always easier than the first- so-i’ve-heard, but Thank God for induction).
6. My brother is a proud Daddy again!
7. My Dad would be so proud if he was alive today but I am POSITIVE he already knows:) According to his only Grandson he would be a proud “Poppa”.

Cheers to All!!!!!

Interesting Links I think you should read

Hey All- here are some interesting links that you should browse. Besides the links, I had put in parenthesis some interesting thoughts about the links too. Happy READING.

http://ohp.parks.ca.gov/default.asp?page_id=21381 (California Historical Landmarks)

http://www.helpthehoneybee.com/ (Haagen Dazs wants to help the bees)

http://www.carlsjr.com/menu/ (go under DESSERTS and look at the Chocolate Cake- the best damn fast food chocolate cake you can get for $1.29)

http://www.thewjf.com (WJF is coming back to Vegas- Dec 17th -23rd, 2008)

http://candy-crate.stores.yahoo.net/ (Nostalgic Candy Online Store at it’s finest- hello MaryJanes, Bit o Honey, wax juice bottles, gummy coke bottles, wax lips- all from my childhood late 70’s early 80’s)

http://www.glorybee.com/glorybee/Index.html (Glory Bee supplies- this is where I got all my honey sticks (lemon) at a great price. Check out the clearance section).

http://www.bahamabreeze.com/recipes/appetizers/black_bean_soup.asp (Bahama Breeze’s- the best black bean soup that I have ever encountered. I even made this recipe at home- See this link and make it at home- it’s the best).

http://www.streetsoflondon.net/ (Streets of London in both Sacramento and Folsom has some really tasty mashed potatoes. Of course my Mom’s mashed are the best, Boston Market’s is the 2nd best and Streets of London has the 3rd best mashed potatoes. All these mashed potatoes are different- my Mom uses cream cheese, butter and whole milk. Boston Market uses fresh potatoes butter and 2% milk and Streets of London is all about the beef broth that makes their potatoes so Tasty)!

http://www.towercafe.com/ (I am missing my strawberry rhubarb crisp, my Pomme Frittes and Poi Pias)!

http://www.applehill.com/ (I want to go to Apple Hill again with my friends- Juli, Gina and Riggs- time to buy more honey sticks, eat some crisps, eat some apples to get “regular”- tee hee and drink some wine). Late September early October is the time to go. Hopefully I will have a job by then.

http://www.hangarone.com/ (My old boss before my latest boss told me to check out this place in early 2007, I have still yet to go. But first, I will need to find a designated driver).

http://www.cinemawest.com/liv.html (Livermore, CA- newest Cinema since mid 2006 is a great cinema for a booming city).

hoping

I’m hoping that my friend Jennifer will write more in her blog (at least on a weekly basis).

9.5

9.5 is the length of time it took my husband and I to drive home yesterday from Henderson, NV. It seems like a long time and it probably would have been a longer drive if I was driving a longer distance. My husband drove more than 7 hours, such a trooper. I would have driven longer if we weren’t towing a trailer with a piece of furniture and a motorcycle on it. The Jeep’s trailer is really easy to tow unless the last boat that I towed when I was 19 (what a mess).
Next time my husband and I drive to Henderson, it will fly by so much faster (6.5 – 7 hours).

tan & fun

Initially when I drove out here this past Monday, I was in dire need of getting my arms and legs some color. I guess you can say that I achieved that without even trying. My arms have gotten tan not only from the drive here but just being outside for an hour here or there. Same with my legs- woo hoo! Like my husband always says “tan fat is better than white fat” HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
Tuesday morning, I played American Mah Jongg with my Mom’s group of friends. I won 2 games and we walled 3 times. My Mom was worn out from walking in the morning with her neighbor. It was 85 degrees by 6 am. They left for a walk at 5:15 am and it’s 85 by 6 am- that is insane. My Mom was worn out and tired probably from a mild case of heat exhaustion so that is why she didn’t join me for Mah Jongg. Tuesday night, my friend Jennifer and I got to enjoy some food at the Melting Pot. We had 3 bowls of cheese- YES, AS I SAY AGAIN- 3 BOWLS OF CHEESE!!!! Caribbean Cheese, Wisconsin Trio and the classic Cheddar all with carrots, cauliflower, celery, granny smith apples and bread (brown, rosemary and sourdough). Dessert was the Banana’s Foster which is so good. Unfortunately, the server chick put too much caramel and brown sugar in the mix so it was a little sweet. If it’s made just right it tastes like banana bread mix prior to baking. So, good you can lick the bowl. After The Melting Pot with my friend Jennifer, I went to Walmart to buy my Mom some card making materials. She happened to be at Walmart too. So, we shopped together. She was buying 8 individual cards each at $2.99 which is $24. So, I bought her some materials for 8 cards which included stickers, scrap card stock and a pack of 8 ready to make cards with envelopes (just needs creativity and some embellishments). My Mom has the different scissors, a straight edge cutter and a corner cutter already at the house. So, the materials for the 8 cards and the stickers only cost $12. Later on in the evening, I showed her the basics for making cards and the rest is your imagination and the effort to make the cards. Making 8 cards at one time took just under an hour but the great thing about making cards is that you make a card and you’re done. Unlike making a complete scrapbook, which is sooo time consuming and can take up to 6 months to complete one. I know, I am unemployed but I just don’t have time for that.
Wednesday afternoon was about running errands, picking up around the house, finding the appliances, the serveware and to finalize the menu. Mom and her neighbor went to Costco to pick up the bulk food and I stayed behind. Later on in the evening, I walked myself over to my Mom’s other neighbors (Diane and John) to play an evening of Scrabble. I have been practicing Scrabble by playing online with this trial on Mac games. Even though John always demolishes us, I came 2nd out of 4 games and my score was relatively closer to John’s which is quite an accomplishment. With scrabble starting at 8 pm, we finished up at midnight. John and Diane are one of the few neighbors besides my Mom’s friend Marlene and my Mom that stay up past 9 pm. The rest are early birds- early to bed and early in the morning.
Thursday we went to grocery store and then we tried to find room in the refrigerator. The block party that my Mom and Marlene are having Saturday (today) is to accommodate 44 people. (My Mom hasn’t had a block party in 3 years. My Dad has been sick for the past 3 years. Every month, one of the neighbors has the block party and everyone has to take a turn. My Mom is overdue and her neighbors are so nice to allow my Mom to wait). So, the frig’s are packed full of goodies. The rest of the day we just rested. We need to rest and preserve our energy for the evening’s Las Vegas Show “Jubilee”. The tickets say “topless extravaganza” which is funny. The costumes are lavish, the dancing is great, the singing is good, the in between acts are good. There was a really good juggler who juggled 3 balls, used silicone balls (6) and bounced them on this large scale piano that was lying on the stage floor. He bounced them off the piano and he played some really good songs. Finally, he had this ladder looking concoction but instead of climbing the ladder and juggling, the illusion behind the ladder is that it’s not a ladder at all. Instead it has plexiglass in between the steps on the inside and he bounced the balls all around, sometimes to 5 balls and all his routines except for the piano routine was choreographed to music. He didn’t make any mistakes and how could he, he ended right when the music ended. Impressive, even for me. Another in between act was this hot acrobatic Russian guy with this amazingly hot body and he had to be a gymnast in order to execute the moves using the hanging material from the rope that came down. So Amazing! I saw this at the Las Vegas Show “Bittten” at the Stratosphere, Wynn’s ” La Reve” had this act too. I have seen it one other place but I can’t remember. There was also this trio of drummers from Argentina and they performed this poi type using rope and there were these ping pong type balls at the end that snapped as they whipped the ropes on the stage floor. The moves are like poi as they swing these rope like things around their bodies. I think I have seen this show at the Riviera “Splash”, but I am not sure. All in all between “Jubilee”, eating at the Sidewalk Cafe’ for dinner and winning my $60 back at Bally’s the evening was quite fun- you never thought I could have so much fun hanging out with my Mom and her 10 lady friends.
Friday- ran more errands, went to Sam’s club, went to the grocery store, got my Dad’s truck washed and cleaned, bought my Mom a b-day card (b-day on Monday June 23rd) and cleaned house. AT 8:20 pm, I left the house and headed by myself over to Green Valley Ranch in Henderson, NV to go gamble, and purchase my movie ticket early before the mad rush on a Friday night. Jennifer and I went to see “The Happening” with Mark Wahlberg. I thought it was a very good movie while Jennifer was a bit bored. I like suspense thrillers but this was lagging on the excitement a bit- at least for her it was. I wasn’t bored at all, it wasn’t even slow for me. M. Night Shyamalan never really blatantly shows the creature, image, thing right in front of your face- it’s all about the haunt, the feeling, the sensation, the music, the anticipation. I enjoy all of M. Night Shyamalan’s movies. Although in the movie “Signs” he does show the alien and in the movie “The Village” he did show the creature that was haunting the village. I can’t believe that “The Village” got such bad reviews, I thought it was a really good movie.
So, today is the day of the big block party. My husband arrived this morning and I am very happy to see him. He drove 9 hours with his jeep and trailer to bring my Mom- my old desk and take back my Dad’s motorcycle, helmets, gear and buffet cabinet. So, my Aunt Jo (Mom’s sister) and my friend Jennifer are coming to the party too for today’s festivities. The food is BBQ style but I think everyone will be well fed. It’s actually a progressive party. Therefore at 3 pm the appetizers and cocktails start at 3 pm over at Marlene’s house and by 4:30 pm the guests wander over to my Mom’s house (backyards connected) for the BBQ. Besides the temperature rising to 110 today, we should still have fun with A/C in the house and loads and loads of dessert. Jennifer, be prepared to eat some good food and good dessert (a Carrot Cake was just dropped off- even made by a Bakery). I know you like Carrot Cake. Wear something comfortable.

back in Henderson yet again

So, I drive my Mom back to Henderson today. I had forgotten that the drive is soooooo long. The 2.5 hours on I-5 from 580 E, to I-5 to Hwy 46 is not fun. After visiting my Dad at the cemetery one last time for my Mom (she doesn’t know when she will make it back there in 2008 since gas prices are so amazing crazy). Going to the cemetery really broke up the I-5 drive a bit.
Driving with my arm on the window seal the last leg of the trip. The window was already hot and the temp outside was 108 degrees. My arm got fried, not completely burning, peeling type of fry but to where it left a tan line where my watch was and to cause a slight rash (raised skin that is itchy). I am just happy it’s not 114 out there (YET)!!!
Went inside my Mom’s house, unpacked my clothes so it won’t wrinkle and took a nice 2 hour nap. I really missed my parents house, the smell of their house, the pictures of my Dad that I made for my Mom and my Mom’s neighbors.
This week will be fun. I just know it!!

The sun just drains the energy right out of you

Today is Father’s Day! It is a sad day if you know what happened to my Father back in February. So, my Mom and I drove to my father’s grave today and hung out for at least an hour before my brother and his family showed up. I provided my Mom with a lawn chair and myself with a lawn chair. The sun comes out and blares down on us so I provide my Mom with a large golf umbrella (larger than the standard umbrella). We eat cherries, talk to him, pray, cry, and just “Be” with him as much as we can control.
We drove back home in time for me to get ready for our family Father’s Day get together. On the way home, I drank a bunch of water and didn’t realize how much the sun had got me earlier in the day. How did I know this? I drank 2 bottles of water and I didn’t need to go pee when I got home. Dehydrated, huh?
On the road again to my Family get together. They have a pool but I have not swam in front of my family since I was in my teens. It’s just not a thing to do anymore even though I long for it sometimes. The food was good, the company was good, the drinks were good but I was sluggish the whole time. I just wanted to take a nap, but I was a trooper and sat near my Mom most of the day- chatted with the Aunt’s, visited with my 2nd cousins and just hung out.
I hate feeling groggy.

SATURDAY

Today is Saturday and I still have to make a card for our friend’s daughter’s graduation party at 2 pm. The gift is already wrapped, now just the gift. I hate it when I procrastinate and wait until the last minute to do shit. Oh well, sometimes it takes minutes for me to bust out a homemade card. Other times, I have the card stock sitting in front of me and I am staring at it completely uninspired. I finished making my Dad’s father’s day card. It’s super cute. I’m putting it on his gravestone tomorrow. His plot finally has grass on it. So, my homemade card will not blow away- I taped on two popsicle stick type sticks to the back of the card to hold it into the ground. It should work.
I should only stay at this grad party until 4 pm. At 4:30 pm, My Mom and I are leaving for Walnut Creek to attend my cousin’s Open House (1 yr. Anniversary) of his music studio called Under the Sun Studios or www.utsstudios.com. I will only stay for at least 1.5 hours to check out his place, visit with many of my family members that will be there and to eat some Filipino food that his Mom is making all night long. At 7 pm, I need to depart and head over to my Mah Jongg game. We only play once a month and I would like to play more often. I will throw it out there that we need to play more and maybe more people will be inclined to do so. Hope! Hope!

Good, Good and Good!

So, this past weekend was filled with lots of good eating, good mingling and good company. Friday was my brother in Law’s rehearsal dinner at Stacey’s at Waterford in Pleasanton. The appetizers consisted of spring rolls, crab cakes and an antipasta platter of assorted cheeses (brie, bleu, smoke gouda, and 2 various cheese logs covered in red pepper flakes, basil and ground pepper) and assorted crackers. Liberty wine was served- Cabernet and Chardonnay. To my surprise the wine was really good. I normally do not drink a lot of cabernet wine but I had at least 5 glasses. 4 that I can remember There were 3 options for dinner: Steak, Salmon or Veggie Dish. I had the steak dish which I can’t remember what cut it was but it was served in a light mushroom demiglace sauce (very good), green beans with melted parmesean cheese and really good mash potatoes which had lots of butter and cream in it Dessert was a creamy and rich slice of cheesecake with a strawberry reduction. The dinner was all so good and I stuffed myself silly and I couldn’t wait to slip into my elastic waist yoga pants at home
Saturday the wedding was not until 6 pm. So, since my husband and I have relatives staying with us until Tuesday morning, we showed them the downtown area in Livermore. My husband’s cousins are from Burleson, Texas. After a while, I felt like I was starting to sound like them. Some of his other relatives not staying with us are from Granbury, Texas and Wynne, Arkansas. We walked around the downtown area and came across my favorite little restaurant in Livermore- Bruno’s Italian Eatery. So, all 9 of us crammed around a table of 6 and enjoyed some yummy pizza. All of them except my husband joked about my veggie pizza that I so wanted while all of them raved and were excited to receive their all meat pizza. I don’t really care for an all meat pizza consisting of canadian bacon, ham, sausage, pepperoni. I just pictured a deep well of oil floating on the top. This reminds me of when my brother worked at Round table when they came out with the deep dish meat lovers delight and the river of oil that floated on the top and how it took more than 16 napkins to soak up the 1/4 inch of oil floating (very disgusting). So, my yummy veggie pizza consisted of mozzarella cheese, marinara sauce, feta cheese, spinach, sun dried tomatoes and roasted garlic (whole gloves). After the pizza came and everyone saw how delicious my pizza looked, at least 4 meat lovers had a slice and complimented the flavor combination. They assume veggie will be lots of vegetables such as gourds, mushrooms, etc. Nope it can consist of lots of yummy cheeses and various flavors. So Good!
The dinner at the wedding was really good too. Spinach Salad, Caprese Salad or Ceasar Salad were the starters, followed by some really good bread and real butter (not whipped), followed by some of the greatest mashed potatoes which you could tell they used cream cheese, cream and butter, followed by some salmon, mixed sauteed vegetables and some prime rib served with au Jus and creamy horseradish. I had seconds on the spinach salad, bread and mashed potatoes. I enjoyed my dinner with champagne, 2 coronas, a glass of white, a glass of red.
Since the wedding was less than 5 miles from our house, my friend Sheli drove us to the wedding. We took a taxi back so we could have a cocktail or two.
Such a “good” weekend.

on a smaller note

So, my previous post discusses the 3x that I had visited/eaten at Tower Cafe’ in Sacramento. There are always a little place you like to visit frequently to eat at that is local in your home town. Well, I particularly like Bruno’s Italian eatery in Livermore.
My Mom drove into Livermore today. In order to stay away from traffic, we made a pit stop at Bruno’s and we ate some of our favorites: Angel Hair Alla Paisano (angel hair pasta, olive oil, garlic, sun dried tomatos, and fresh basil) and we split a Spinachio Salad- Spinach salad, crumbled feta cheese, bits of bacon with a bacon vinagarette dressing. Both dishes go well together.
So, on a smaller note, Bruno’s is not a Tower Cafe’ but it’s something that I can eat at, at least once a week