Bucket in the Bathroom

Yesterday at work, a 5th grade boy from Philippine came to our office for language test. During the testing, he asked me where the bathroom is. I walked him to the restroom and waited outside. After awhile, I heard him flushing the toilet. But he didn't come out. So I waited and wondered what was taking him so long. Then I heard him flushing the toilet again for the second time. Still, he didn't come out.

I was thinking maybe I should ask someone, a guy, to go into men's room to check on him. Then he opened the restroom door just a little bit and asked me, "where is the bucket?" I said, "what do you need a bucket for?"

Silence for a few seconds and it was a little awkward, a little embarrassing.

The boy said, "to wash my butt."

Errrrr.... how does this work?!?!?!
I said, "I don't have a bucket..........."

He shut the door and probably did what he had to do.

So, I googled it and found this on youtube. In Philippine, you need buckets in the bathroom, in order for you to scoop the water to wash hands, flush toilet, or I guess, wash your butt.

老闆娘

爸爸媽媽下個月要去以色列旅行
有些去過的人就建議要帶飽暖又輕便的外套, 還說可以去全統買
所以今天就帶媽媽到了全統看看
沒想到裡面的店都快倒光了吧
只剩下兩家有在賣衣服的, 而且都是50%的廣告
仔細一看標價, 每件衣服都是兩三百以上, 是的, 我說的是美金
覺得很誇張, 誇張到了極點....看不出是什麼高級貨

我們到的時候, 除了老闆娘之外還有一位太太在買衣服
老闆娘和顧客太太在聊店裡賣的衣服的質料....

以下就是我親耳聽到的對話

老闆娘：唉呦, 你穿這看起來好看啊～
太太：我很喜歡這件衣服的質料
老闆娘：你好年輕喔～你看起來才二十幾歲！
（這時我已經覺得很誇張, 因為這位太太真的看起來少說也是上了年紀的中年婦女）
太太：我已經48歲了～
老闆娘：完全看不出來ㄟ！！因為你的身材, 你的穿著, 你的臉蛋, 還有你的髮型...看起來真的只有二十幾歲
（這位太太已經拿出卡來刷了....還拿出ID)
太太：你看我ID, 已經48歲了
老闆娘：我-的-媽-呀！！真的看不出來～～～～

對, 這位老闆娘真的可以再誇張一點..............

蝦仁干貝煎

今天中午回去吃飯

沒想到媽媽竟然親手做了“蝦仁干貝煎“給我們大家吃～～～

原來是媽嗎昨天看電視學到的
連配的醬都是親手特製的, 真的很好吃！！！不輸給店裡賣的喔～

媽媽說下次要試做“肉圓“...好～非常期待～

Mission Inn, Riverside

The sun is finally out after a week long heavy rain. Refreshing, love the fresh breeze. It's southern Cal again with warm sunshine and blue sky. We couldn't wait to get out and take a look of the mountains. We immediately decided to have a day trip to the nearby Mt. Baldy to play snow. We took out our snow gears and put on our thermals and snow pants. FYI, we quit snowboarding. We were gonna just "see" snow, "play" snow, and take pictures. We were all excited and off we went.

Surprisingly, Mt. Baldy is so close by, maybe just 20 minutes away from our place. But the traffic was terrible once we got to the bottom of the mountain. Well, we were just like others, all thought the same. We all wanted to see the snow but the problem was that the cars were not even moving. Couldn't imagine how long it will take us to go up there, so we made a U-turn and came back home.

We still wanted to enjoy the beautiful weather for the rest of the day and we headed to the city of Riverside, to visit the historical landmark, Mission Inn.

Mission Inn is a historical hotel with early California mission style setting. The adobe bricks make it very unique, vintage, antique... The outdoor courtyard in the middle of the hotel is beautiful, a great place to have a date or afternoon tea, or just for some photos. =)

Praise the Lord for a very enjoyable day.

DIY Shoe Rack

Recycle. Reuse. Rethink.

Hubby made this shoe rack with unwanted headboards and empty shoe boxes. Great Job!!! Now those shoes look very organized. THANKS!!!!

If we have more shoes, we just need to stack more boxes and more boards. Time to buy new shoes! =P

Kids Sunday School

Praise the Lord for the opportunity to help out the first & second grades kids Sunday school the past Sunday. It was quite interesting. Kids have great memory. They actually know and able to learn more than we think.

The Bible story is from Luke 4:14-21, about Jesus teaching in the synagogue, reading the scroll of the prophet Isaiah.

Jesus came to......
preach good news to the poor.
proclaim freedom for the prisoners.
recover the sight for the blind.
release the oppressed.
proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.

I asked the kids why they come to church. They gave me the answers like, "to worship God, to learn more about God, to get close to God, and to think of God...." I'm very impressed with these 6 and 7-year-old kids. I thought they would say that they come to church to see friends, to play, to eat lunch...haha =)

We then made our own scrolls with Bible verses, played a game to give out prizes, and ended with prayers.

A 7-year-old girl asked me, "why did Pastor Will mary you?" I said, "why? you have to ask him!" Then she asked again, "why did you marry Pastor Will?" I answered, "because I love him!" I don't know if that's the answer she's looking for, but I'm sure she is curious about Will and me, as a couple.

Butter Fingers

Today, I accidentally dropped a plate in the kitchen while taking the dishes from the dining table to the sink. The plate broke into tons of little pieces. I didn't get hurt, but, I spent some time cleaning and wiping the kitchen floor.

Lesson learned. Don't try to take too many plates at the same time. It's okay to walk a few more times from the dining table to the sink.

Butter fingers. I actually chipped two plates and one mug while washing the dishes since I got married. And today I broke one even before it reached to the sink. A little frustrating. Clumsy? Careless? I'll be extra careful next time when I handle the plates and cups, and I'll start shopping for more plates. haha =)

Here are some photos of the homemade dinners from last week:
Ribeye steak with broccoliHoney glazed chicken drumsticks with ceasar salad & sweet corn

QT

My spirit. My heart. My body.

One of my new year resolutions for last year was to finish reading the entire Bible once. And I didn't reach my goal. I think it happened the year before last year too. For the past two years, a group of us signed up the GetPassage Bible reading site to follow its reading schedule and to keep each other accountable.

In year 2008, we started from Old Testament and 14 people joined in the beginning of the year, only 2 people actually finished reading the Bible once. Last year, we started with New Testament and with 13 people signed up, also only two people did it at the end. I had an average of 75% completion....errr....but that leaves me some room to improve.

It's just too much distractions and temptations that stop us to be closer to God. It's so easy to watch TV for hours, play games for hours, surf on the web for hours, go shopping for hours, check our facebook for hours, take a nap for hours....but, not to spend some quiet time before the Lord on a daily basis.

So here I am, writing this to remind myself and to encourage you.

Let's draw near to God in a fresh and exciting way.

Let's cultivate a strong and intimate relationship with God and become more like Him.
Let's have a meaningful daily devotional life.
Let's have a deeper and more meaningful faith.
Let's glorify God and uphold His truths.
Let's keep God first in our hearts.
Let's stay spiritually strong.

Let's open our Bibles and have some conversations with Jesus.

BJ's + Pinkberry

If you like BJ's pizza, they now have "Holiday Party for Two for only $19.95." This special is good thru January 8th, which is tomorrow. It comes with two salads or soups, and a medium pizza to share , and a pizookie for dessert. We ordered one set of the special and two appetizers.

Here's the happy Hsien Family. Zech is sooooo cute, so is Zoya! His bib says "This is what HANDSOME looks like!"

Erin & I enjoying the great beginnings of Thai Shrimp Lettuce Wraps & Avocado Egg Rolls.

For the pizza, we did half and half of BJ's Favorite & Mediterranean. For dessert, we had BJ's famous Pizookie, also half and half of chocolate chunk & white chocolate macadamia nut. Zoya is ready to dig in....huge scoops of ice cream! YUM!

After dinner, we took Erin to the Shoppes. The Christmas tree and lights are still up. Since Erin hasn't been to the famous/popular Pinkberry, we went there just for her. Yes, we always have more rooms for more desserts. Unfortunately, Erin doesn't really like yogurt and she found the frozen yogurt somehow very disgusting..... haha

It was a great night eating out and hanging out together.

Teriyaki + Miso Soup

2010 is a great start, a new beginning. I believe it's going to be a fruitful journey.

Two weeks winter break was gone before I knew it. It seems like we didn't have enough time to really "relax" or go on any trips, and it felt like we were busier than usual, but we enjoyed spending time with our families and friends. Many fun gatherings and tasteful feasts were basically what we had over our Christmas and New Year holidays.

Will got a few bottles of teriyaki sauce as gifts over Christmas and they "inspired" me to make some teriyaki chicken last night. It was the first official homemade dinner of year 2010. I made it as combo plate so we wouldn't eat too much!

Menu:
Miso Soup with onion & organic white mushrooms
Combo Plate: Teriyaki Chicken + Broccoli + Avocado over Tofu + brown rice