Shadow Villa

Relocation ...

2007-05-25T09:54:00.000-05:00

This blog will no longer be updated.
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How to ... ... ...?

2006-09-14T13:19:00.000-05:00

How to WHAT???
How to Remove a Hickey? **???

Yep, my eyes is perfectly right, they didn't play any trick on me. It's well and truly "How to remove a hickey"? that I'm reading on my personalized Google homepage's "How to of the day".

Now see, the "How to of the Day" is kinda like a treasure box full of how-to jewels. If you have any "how to" questions that have been bothering you, the wikiHow is THE place you should be. Well, you could hop on the wikiHow site looking for some how-to's even if you don't have any how-to questions. heheheheeee....

They have (just about) everything, anything ... millions, literally, millions of how-to on their site. Some of them are practical (like "How to remove a hickey? you ask? =)), some are 2-part practical with 8-part hilarious - - - like this one: How to sleep comfortably on a hot night? or this one: How to have a perfect back to school makeover?

Tho'... there are some other Wiki how-to's that I question the virtuouness:
How to be a mean girl?
How to become the queen bee of your whole entire school?

Life for the youngster, the teenagers is complicated enough, I don't think we need such information to complicate it further more! Do we??

Mistaken a man for a bird???

2006-02-14T10:49:00.000-06:00

I guess most of you had learned about the story of the vp Cheney shot a man on the face on a quail hunting trip in Sth Texas on Saturday. It was already Sunday pm when I first read about the news on Reuters. It's no news about hunters shooting their hunting companions on a deer or duck hunting. BUT ... it's the first I heard of on a quail hunting trip! I can't help but laughed at it when I heard about it again on CNN news. I told my hubby that the media will sure have a field day on Monday. Hahhh... and they did!

img src: reuters.com

This is the one that I first learned about the shooting @reuters.com:
Cheney accidentally shoots hunting companion: CNN

This is good!! Have a read ... it's gonna make you laugh! =))
TV joke writers take shots at Cheney

Junk Dumping Ground

2006-02-12T22:54:00.000-06:00

{{{Ahhhhh...}}} *pulling hair*

Our home has becomes the official dumping ground of my MIL. It's awfully frustrating having to pick up after her, specially if she doesn't live here. How? You ask.

OK... this is how she does it. For example, she would pick up some freebies (ie. posters, brochures, cheapo keychains, deodorant samples, etc) from some fairs or festival events ... then dump them at our place when she comes to visit. The most annoying thing is she didn't even ask if we would like to have them or if any of those are any useful to us. She just dumped them on the dinning table or coffee table. This is what happened 2wks ago. First I thought she'd forgotten to take them with her when she left. But my hubby, knowing his mother, told me she didn't forget those stuffs are for us.

me: For us? You sure?
hubby: Yes.
me: But ... but but I didn't hear she say anything or ask if we would like to keep them.
hubby: No, she didn't. But this is her way of leaving stuff for her family.
me: Huh? How? How does she know without asking. Maybe we don't need or don't like any of those.
hubby: ... ... ... ... ... ... *speechless*
me: Anyway... I'm telling you I don't need any of those. I'm going to give them back to her.

And... that was what I did when she was here 2 days later.
In a way, I'm trying to tell her this is how you'll be treated if this is how you treat others**. If you want others to R-E-S-P-E-C-T you, first learn how to respect others. It's a 2-way street!! Mmmm... most importantly, I want to send her a message that our house is not some junkyard and we're not hobos or beggars who live by her disposal. Even if we're we deserve more respect that this!

**background info:
She returned a jigsaw puzzle CD that we gave her as a gift a while ago. Don't get me wrong, I've no problem with others returning the gifts if they (for whatever reason) don't want it or don't like it. It's ok if she just came out and said she doesn't like it or she doesn't even have to tell us why she's returning the gift to us but at least has the guts to tell us she's doesn't want the gift. But NO! She just slipped the CD in a plastic bag among other things when she visited us a few days later.

Lunar New Year Celebration

2006-01-30T19:47:00.000-06:00

Today is the 2nd day of the Lunar New Year. Had the guests over (just the in-laws and the brother's family) on Saturday, which was the new year's eve, for a family dinner together (a Lunar New Year tradition).

Original plan for Saturday was to get up early, something like 8am, to get things rolling. But but but ... we didn't go to bed until around 4am the night before so I snoozed until around 9am. Hubby went to pick up the car from the garage and me at home prepared to get sweaty and dirty in the kitchen. Listed and priotized what tasks to do in the am and what to be done just before the guests arrive. Everything went according to plan (phew~~~)... until ... the phone rang (~1:45pm)... it was the brother asking if it's ok that they come an hour early.

%*&!$#(*&_^@ WHAT??? Coming AN HOUR early? That means they'll be here at around 3pm instead of 4pm (on the invitation). Mannn... I'm truly not impressed. There's nothing I can do about it, but I'm not impressed!! It's easier for them to decide to come an hour early but have they thought of with their early arrival, the hosts will have to keep them entertained instead of being able to get things ready as what hosts planned to do mostly??!!

So, for the next hour or so I was scrambling and tumbling in the kitchen. I started complaining to the hubby about their punctuality manner - - - arriving an hour early messed up my schedule of what to do first/later and when to do them. He tried to calm me down as I was getting antsy and agitated, he said:

"I told them it's ok to come early, but I didn't say I'm going to let them in straightaway."
"Look... it's totally their right and freedom to come early, yet it's our right and decision whether to let them in."

Hahahahahahahaha...

Conclusions:
- Yes, the guests did arrive early and no, we didn't let them out in the cold. It'd be rude!! >!<
- Snacks & Starter and dinner were served on time, and went well in our perspective. ^.^
- Only one little imperfection tho', one of the couples were giving each other cold looks throughout the entire gathering. "_"
- Other than that ... everybody had a great time celebrating the arrival of a lunar new year! ^m^

Can I wear this to bed too?

2006-01-25T18:22:00.000-06:00

pic src: http://www.tennisaustralia.com.au

Yes this is what Miss Sharapova wore in court (played compatriot Petrova on Jan 24 and Henin-Hardenne on Jan 26) at the Australian Open.

This is probably one of the ugliest tennis dress I've ever seen!!! YEAP! Even uglier than what the Williams sisters wear in court. I couldn't make up exactly what the dress is - - - is it a tennis dress? or a dance gown? For some reason, I keep on seeing Elizabeth Bennet (in Pride and Prejudice mini-series by BBC, played by Jennifer Ehle) everytime the camera focused on her. Except, Sharapova's tennis dress is: 1) a lot shorter and 2) has spaghetti strings instead of the short/long sleeves that Elizabeth Bennet wore.

When I asked my husband what he sees in Sharapova's tennis dress. He said it looks like one of the nighties I wear to bed. Hooo Hooo Hooo ... now that's a bit harsh!! He said, maybe she hit the snooze button that morning and slept in. Didn't realized about the time and had to rush out to the court without changing into "something more appropriate".

Personally, I couldn't stand watching (or listening to) Sharapova plays, the noise that she makes is just pure irritating! My husband (the harsh Sharapova critic) said watching her plays is like watching a porn movie - the revealing dress and the yelling/screaming she makes everytime she hits the ball are perfect ingredients for porn movie!!

The one on the front left is Elizabeth Bennet.
img src:http://orion.it.luc.edu/

Coffee & Chocolates

2006-01-22T15:58:00.000-06:00

This is for those who enjoy coffee (or addicted to coffee, rather) and love chocolates (or chocoholic, =)) ! I used to buy and eat this very often - - - the chocolate coated coffee beans (whole bean, mind you) when I lived in NZ. Can buy them at the regular supermarket. But after searching high and low, I haven't seen anything like this here in the States. Quite disappointing, really!

Then, one day when we're out grocery shopping at our local supermarket, I saw this little boxes labelled "Milk Chocolates Coffee Beans" I knew straightaway it's what I've been looking for. I can't remember the exact price, but I think it's somewhere around $3. If you enjoy coffee as much as chocolates, you really should try this. It is really really NICE!!

New Year's Eve Discovery

2006-01-11T01:16:00.000-06:00

Made this discovery as we're on the way to my husband's brother's place in the NW of Houston for a new year family gathering. About 5mins from the destination ... right in front of the traffic lights (it was red light) ... I yelled out "Piccomolo" followed by "Italian Ice Cream"!!! Mannn... as always, my high pitchrd voice (and loud too! mind you!!) shocked my husband who was fully concentrated on the traffic in front of and beside us. When he heard his dear wife yelled out "Italian Ice Cream" he reacted with a quick swing to the left lane (almost thrown me outta the car in the process!!!) so he can turn into Piccomolo when the light went green.

That whole a minute and a half of waiting for the light to turn green was as long as it can be. I can hardly content the excitement for being trapped in the car.

I made the quickest dash into the shop as soon as my husband parked the car. The rest ... I ... errr... can't remember. The only memory I have of that afternoon was we bought a box of ice-cream combo (5 flavors: honestly I can only remember 3/5 flavors that we picked: cookies&cappucino , mango & peach, and peanut butter) for everybody and 2 scoops (1 flavor each: pistachio and almond&caramel, I think) on a waffle cone for the two of us, just the two of us. =)

We've decided that the next time we see a Piccomolo, we're gonna buy a tub of 5-flavor combo for ourself, too!

Look at the blue sunny sky! It's a perfect ice cream day.

Piccomolo Italian Ice Cream
12914 F.M. 1960 Rd. W. Ste.A
Houston, Tx 77388
www.piccomolo.com

My Christmas Present

2006-01-10T00:45:00.000-06:00

Mannn ... I know it's a little bald, but I don't think there's anybody out there who gets a Christmas present as big & mobile as the one I got from my sweetie husband.

Way way before Christmas ... I had been whinning about needing a more spacious kitchen for the stuff that had started to pile up on one of the corners. For that we'd been shopping around for a shelf to store my kitchen precious & treasures and his "junks" (heheheheee...) but we can't seen to find one that we like - - - it's either too tall or too short, or we miraculously found one of the height that we want but it can't fit into where we wanna put it. All in all, it'd been a long hunting process for, what we thought, a simple kitchen shelf.

Anyhoo... about 1.5wks before Christmas ... he decided to build one himself. This way we could have it the way we want it to be. So... the Saturday before Christmas eve, we went to Lowe's to buy all the materials needed for building the shelf. After that ... he worked pretty much day&night on it. Every morning, way before I was up, he's already out and about working on the shelf; and every night I pretty much had to drag his butt to bed or he would still be working, well into the wee hour!

After a week of hard work - measuring, sawing, drilling, and hammering, on top of everythingelse ... we finally have a kitchen shelf that we like in term of design and size. Obviously, I knew he's building the shelf, so there's no surprise there. What surprised me was what I saw being engraved on!! Look!!

left: actual engraving
right: charcoal trace on the engraved characters

He engraved "Hanzi" characters (or mandarin characters) saying: From Oxie To Piggie (note: oxie is him and piggie is me). Originally he was gonna engrave "A Christmas Present From Oxie To Piggie" ... but one character would take him 30 ~ 45mins to do (or a lilttle longer for more complicated characters ... amazing, isn't it?!) which means, the whole clause would take him at least 6hrs to finish! I stopped him from any further engraving when I found out how long each character took him. I told him if he wants, he could add the characters later. Mmmm... he actually suggested that maybe he'll find a way to add a removable plate onto where the engraving was being done on ... this way ... he could customize it to say: "A Birthday Present From Oxie To Piggie" or "A Valentine's Day Present From Oxie To Piggie", etc. Of course... he got a kick on the behind for that! =))

note1:
The engraving was done on a "real-time basis" ... meaning ... no tracing or writing on the wood before carving. So ... if an extra stroke was mistakenly carved, that was it!! It's truly work of a professional!

note2: My husband used to carve stone stamps as a hobby. I guess that's why the engraving on the shelf was piece of cake to him.

Christmas Eve Luncheon

2005-12-30T00:41:00.000-06:00

The family - the in-laws, husband's bro's family, and us got together for a Christmas eve luncheon on the 24th at a Cantonese restaurant for dimsum. After that everyone came back to our place for an afternoon of fun (some played games on the pc, surfed the net on the other, played mahjong, or just plain chit-chatting and nibbling).

It was another good on all grounds family gathering. Mmmm... come to think of it, maybe my expectation of the family gathering is getting lower and lower or else why would I be so pleased by just a simple gathering?? Uhhh??

Anyway, just wanting to show off a pic of my toenails (painted specially for the holidays) taken by my husband as we're getting the car after a very satisfying luncheon. Yeap... that was his shadow!! =))

Kong's still the King!!

2005-12-29T20:58:00.000-06:00

img src: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0360717/photogallery-ss-0

Went to the King Kong movie this afternoon ... had been wanting to go since its release but didn't really wanna sit in a room full of people. So ... we waited patiently, tried very hard to, for about ~ 2 wks to go to see Kong.

Anyway... let's talk about the movie, shall we? First, I wanna say "Salute', Peter Jackson". I mean, is he great or IS HE GREAT? Maybe I shouldn't be so full of myself, but somehow I feel very proud of my fellow New Zealander!! First LOTR (which shocked almost the whole world) and now KK?! Wooow!!

I've seen the original 1933 King Kong, but seeing this remake by PJ ... mannn... they've added more emotion, more life and humour to Kong. More importantly, what's different from the original is Kong's been humanized in this 2005 release. In our eyes (my husband & I), we saw a little kid in Kong ... how he played with Ann Darrow when he first captured her (and she tried to escape) but instead he annoyed her (as he shuffled her around; picked her up and dropped her on the ground, repeatedly) but still found it humourous.

And and and ... after he rescured Darrow and battled & killed the T-Rexes, as they're resting on a block facing the sunset (ie. the pic below), he pretended to be mad at her. All in all ... they've showed Kong's many personalities and sides of wild, love, tenderness, jealousy, anger, and protectiveness. In this movie, you'll see that Kong is no creature nor beast of the wild, he's more human than the human!!

img src: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0360717/photogallery-ss-0

Of course, there are these strings of awesome and spectacular actions - Kong's battles with the T-Rexes & GIGANTIC bats; people being chased and crushed by dinasours; creepy creatures and insects pryed on and killed human; how Kong was captured by the group led by Denham and Cpt Englehorn and... the famous fight scenes on the Empire State Building.

Ahhh... there are so many things that worth mentioning about KK 2005, you really just have to see the movie to see them all. It's an awesome awesome movie - - - it makes you laugh; it makes you cry; it makes you wonder why a wild creature could react like human, like you and me, if not more.

Christmas Day Stroll

2005-12-29T20:57:00.000-06:00

*pic locale: Bayou between N and S Braeswood Blvd where we took the stroll. Look at the blue sky!!

Went to have a stroll along the bayou (not too far where we live) on Christmas day.
It was such a beautiful day - - - temperature was below 70F the whole morning ... making it a perfect stroll day for me. Quite surprisingly, we saw many families also out for a Christmas day stroll ... I thought we'd be one of the few people out there taking a stroll considering it was the day after a hard night of partying, drinking games and hangover, etc, you know. =))

The whole loop took a little over an hour (to and back) ... felt really refreshing! Later, I told my husband that I've decided for him and our future children that we'll make the Christmas day stroll our family ritual. Good that he didn't have second opinion about it and actually thought it's an excellent idea. Or else ... I might be taking the Christmas day stroll all by myself next year. =((

Lost & Found

2005-12-28T11:56:00.000-06:00

Santa is all dressed up and ready to get into action!

The centerpiece: whitish, bold, and all lighted up

Christmas is clearly well over and behind us. But thought I'd share some pics taken at our local grocery store just before Christmas. I was really taken by the Christmas tree centerpiece. Somehow it looks to me like the tree was dancing: the branches were the hands, moving, waving, making swift moves...
Or... I could be imagining things; seeing things that don't exist. =}

There's a story behind these pictures ... as I was admiring the festivity decoration and the nice looking and warmth feeling gift baskets (there was this basket which has a bag of nut & chocies cookies and a vacuum packed ground coffee with a mug - mannn... I almost wanted to get it for myself). Anyway... let's get into the heart of the story ... as my husband was queuing up at the checkout, I told him I'm going to nose around and take pictures of the Christmas deco'.

The nosing around and picture taking took about 5 ~ 8mins, max. When I was done, I turned around and looked at the checkout counter where I left him ... but he wasn't there!! For a second I thought he was playing and hiding behind me ... so I turned around and around and around (getting dizzy there - - - just to make sure he wasn't there). But ... he truly wasn't there - behind my back!!!

Then it clicked to me, ahhh... he must have done at the checkout. But but but ... how could it be that he didn't see me???!!! I was right there at the merchandise where he has to walk pass to get out. So... with all the puzzle in me, I decided to find him at the front and guess who I saw looking conpuzzled (confused & puzzled) and kinda worried and was looking high and low for something that he'd lost. That was my husband!! =) For some reason I found it real funny with his worried and conpuzzled face ... I called out and ran to him .... and said "You lost me, sweetie!! You lost me!" He was smiling but I can't stop laughing seeing his face admitting what I just said - he actually thought that he really did lose me there!!

Mannn... I was hysterical all the way walking up to the car. =))

This is a picture of my husband ('s forehead =)) tried to duck away from my camera.

Interesting Metaphors

2005-12-19T20:07:00.000-06:00

Had dinner with the in-laws on Saturday ... it was a last minute thing so we decided to go to a buffet place - quick & easy (foodwise) plus it's only 5mins drive from where they live.

As usual, my father-in-law was quiet and minding his own business; while my mother-in-law was very energetic. It was a typical get-together dinner - - - eating and chatting. It's when I eavesdropped, unintentional of course, on what was said at the table across us that made the evening interesting. Judging from their conversation, the couple was clearly a son and his mother.

Listen (or... ummmm... read) to their conversation below:
(S = the son; M = the mother)

S: So ... how's everything lately?
M: Mmm... you know same old same old.
S: Do you and dad go out much?
M: Yeah ... I do when I have my activities to attend to. While ... your dad, ah, hopeless.
S: How so?
M: He just stays at home and glues himself to the computer.
S: Well... that's the way he prefers to spend his time, getting news and info from the net.
M: NONSENSE!! Those news or info that he got from the internet or printed media are useless and outdated.
It's readily written, printed, and distributed ... it's old, it's dead!
While those that I got are lively, hot from the oven info from the mouth of such and such.

There I was, only a few feet away, listening to the conversation and felt absolutely rediculed. I remember I had something in my mouth - a bite of chicken or fish or something, and I tried soooo hard not to burst out laughing at what's being said about lively vs dead news; printed media/internet vs hear say. My husband clearly had heard the conversation too, as when we looked at each other he had a BIG "Huhhh? You gotta be kidding me" written on his face.

Color of Autumn

2005-12-14T02:36:00.000-06:00

Ahhh ... it's nice to have some color for a change!

Christmas Pressies

2005-12-11T02:54:00.000-06:00

My oh my ... am I prepared or what?! I've had all the Christmas pressies to be sent overseas sorted, wrapped, and individualled labelled. All that's left to do is to print the mailing label and postage and wait for the USPS guy to come and pick it up.

The ONLY thing I forgot to do was taking pics of the goodies ... so there will be no pics to post for "what I bought for whom".

13 more days to Christmas eve!!!

Just Being Christmasie

2005-12-07T22:36:00.000-06:00

I saw that this has been going around in the blog community ... being as festive as I can be, so why not?!

*The Holiday Ten*

Instructions: Copy & paste the questions to your blog with YOUR OWN answers.

1. What is your favorite holiday movie?
The Ghost from Christmas Past.

2. What is your favorite holiday song (title and artist)?
Silent Night.

3. What’s the best holiday gift you were ever given, and why?
Mmmm... I don't think I ever have a so called "The best holiday gift". Everyday is a gift!!

4. Do you have a special someone to kiss at the stroke of midnight on New Year’s?
Certainly!!!

5. Name of your favorite reindeer?
Comet - - - it sounds magical!!

6. Favorite Holiday food?
All the desserts that I can eat.

7. Snow day — cuddle by the fire, or hand me a snowball?
Cuddle by the fire first, then snowball for a bit, then cuddle by the fire! =))
Shame it doesn't snow the part of the country where we live!! =((

8. What was your New Year’s resolution for this year? Did you stick to it?
Didn't have one.

9. Is there really a Santa Claus?
Sure, or else where could all the presents come from all these years?

10. Present, or stocking stuffer?
Present!!! Present!!! Present!!!

Can you smell it?

2005-12-07T11:23:00.000-06:00

Went to our niece and nephew's annual Christmas piano recital last Saturday afternoon. Gosh ... I was really impressed! About 1/2 of the kids who were performing were under the age of 10 and they played beautifully (much better than I do, =} )!!

After about an hour of beautiful music, we were invited to another room for some refreshments and catching up. There were lotz of snacks - - - cookies, chips & dip ... yummy yummy yum yum.

After last week, I think I can truly smell the holiday - roll on Christmas & New Year!!

Good on all grounds

2005-12-04T22:31:00.000-06:00

Well well well... it's already the last month of year 2005.

Had a pretty good (better than expected in all grounds) ThanksGiving gathering with my husband's family. Originally, we're gonna have the dinner at our place on the 24th (I even had the full menu thought up, 3wks in advance!!) ... but on VERY last notice (due to a rather silly reason, both my husband and I thought so) was decided to have the gathering at my in-laws'.

Considering and judging on previous experiences and everything else, it was a pretty good gathering on all grounds!! My husband and I were very impressed. The only downer was I had a head-splitting headache 1/4 way thru' the gathering. But hey, I still managed to squeeze thru' a few gamecube games with my niece and nephew. heeeheeeheee...

Excused ourselves and went home at around 10pm for I can no longer take any of the torturing headache.

Excellent

2005-11-07T10:33:00.000-06:00

Wooow...
Finally my blogger works!!
I just successfully edited the post with a pic that failed to upload when I first published it.

ps. look! pic has been added to the first post below. =))

That's a first!

2005-10-23T22:13:00.000-05:00

My first post ... originally, thought I share a pic of my african violet with everyone...

But but but... for some reason there's some problems with the uploading/publishing.

Mmmm... will need to dig deeper why that happens.