Worms

A minister decided that a visual demonstration would add emphasis to his Sunday sermon.

Four worms were placed into four separate jars.

The first worm was put into a container of alcohol.

The second worm was put into a container of cigarette smoke.

The third worm was put into a container of chocolate syrup.

The fourth worm was put into a container of good clean soil.

At the conclusion of the sermon, the Minister reported the following results:

The first worm in alcohol -
Dead.

The second worm in cigarette smoke -
Dead .

Third worm in chocolate syrup -
Dead .

Fourth worm in good clean soil -
Alive.

So the Minister asked the congregation:
"What can you learn from this demonstration?"

Maxine was sitting in the back, she quickly raised her hand and said,
"As long as you drink,
smoke and eat chocolate,
you won't have worms!"

Signs & Notices

I saw this McDonald sign on Rt. 10 while we were driving home from apple picking, and just had to take a picture.

Now tell me: Would you try this new item on McDonald's menu???

Below are some other funny signs & notices:

On a Plumbers truck: "We repair what your husband fixed."

On the trucks of a local plumbing company: "Don't sleep with a drip. Call your plumber."

Pizza shop slogan: "7 days without pizza makes one weak."

At a towing company: "We don't charge an arm and a leg. We want tows."

In a non-smoking area: "If we see smoke, we will assume you are on fire and take appropriate action."

On a maternity room door: "Push. Push. Push."

Carnival of the Mundane XXII: Treats and Some Tricks

Carnival of the Mundane XXII is up at Philly Transplant. I LOVE how Sparky (the carnival host) presented the carnival. He threaded all the carnival post titles & author names into an one-act play called "Treats and Some Tricks", in honor of upcoming Halloween I guess. How fun and creative -- two things I love!

Miss Morning Grumpiness

I came across this article on ChinaDaily, titled "It's official: Women are grumpier than men in the morning"!

I got a kick out of reading this artice, based on a recent research by The Sleep Council. A woman from The Sleep Council was quoted as saying, "Men know better than to rub their wives the wrong way in the morning and have their heads bitten off, for 6 in 7 women are in a foul mood after waking up", and they stay grumpy longer (up to 4 hours) than men. In contrast, the survey revealed, a quarter of men never wake up in a bad mood. Wow, that's a significant difference!!!

The survey author speculated that women's Morning Grumpiness comes from restless nights caused by stress & worry, and possibly worsened by the fact that women shoulder most of the morning household chores. Twenty-eight percent of women as opposed to only 5 per cent of men do housekeeping before going to work. What do men do? Obviously they only have to get up and go out. Seventeen percent of men surveyed said it only takes them 10 minutes in the morning to get ready. It's a completely different story for women.

You know the morning mad dash... trying to get your kids AND husband ready for school and work, making sure everyone is fed (including the pets) and dressed, and lunches are packed. If you also work outside of your home, you're probably at the bottom of the priority list. So you probably try to put on your makeup, eat breakfast, listen to news, coordinate childcare arrangements (and who knows what else) while driving to work. Oh, I remember those days. I used to drive 1 1/2 hours (one way) to work for 2 years (we lived in MD and I worked in VA) ..... all through my first pregnancy and the first 10 months of my daughter's life.

I'm SO not a morning person, which makes the morning dash even more challenging. In winter months, I had to leave the house while it was still dark outside, and drove home in the dark too. When it snowed, the commute was even more stressful. That was kinda depressing, SO sleep-deprived and not seeing much daylight. Even though I tried to enjoy my commute by listening to tons of audio books, motivational CDs, and my favorite music, if I have a choice, I would never again choose to spend 3 hours of my day on the road, away from my family. The stress alone is not worth it.

Because of my commuting experience, I have so much more patience and compassion for other commuters, and also more cautious while driving around them. After reading this article, I will be even more careful driving in rush hours or dealing with potentialy grumpy women when I go out in the morning.

After all, I wouldn't want to risk messing with Miss Morning Grumpiness. LOL

What Makes House a Home?

I was reading a post called "What makes house a home?" by Sharon at Your Elegant Bed and Bath. She said, "Home should be a place we can feel at ease and comfortable, even protected if need be. How each of us creates that feel in our homes is an individual thing." In other words, home should be a haven that protects us from the chaos, trials and tribulations from the rest of the world.

Sharon thinks we need to surround ourselves with "things that are important to us, that have an emotional resonance." I totally agree on this. In my own home, I have many items and decorations that represent my own history, cultural heritage, achievements of me, my DH & my children, and of course memories of our family & extended family.

For example, the front of my refrigerator is covered with photos of my children, my parents, friends, extended family, etc. I put them all in various-size clear acrylic picture frames with magnet on the back, so they all look uniform in a sense & stay nicely on the fridge. Some of the photos are from when my kids were babies, some are our family & friends from far away. These photos are a daily reminder of the love and relationships we have with our friends & family. Since all my family live either in other states or in Asia, it's good to have that visual reminder, especially for my kids, of their grandparents, uncles, aunts and cousins.

I also have a photo of my "sponsored child" Tran Ly who lives in Vietnam, and whom I've sponsored through Child Reach since she was a baby. Ly is almost 12 now (5 months older than my own daughter LK), and I picked her back then partially because she was so close in age with my LK and in a way I felt like I was adopting a "sister" for my LK. I hope someday we will be able to visit Ly and her family in Vietnam, and let the "sisters" meet each other. :-)

By the way, Sharon's blog offers new ideas and trends for home decorating or remodeling. She also likes to find new ideas for "green" living. Check out her blog.

Surfingmama Carnival #3: Deceit, Prowling Women, Stirrup Queens and More

Surfingmama Carnival #3 is up at Surfingmama today. Check out the fabulous collections of articles that's "Stuff that matters. For Mums".

HER Connection

Taking good care of your physical health is an important aspect of Intensive Self-Care. Don't forget to get your annual physical including a Pap smear and the HPV test (HPV is a virus that's been linked to cervical cancer). If you are a woman age 40 or older, you probably know you should take annual mammogram too.

October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. You can get all the information about breast cancer as well as how to get involved with National Breast Cancer Awareness Month at their website.

If you or someone you know have metastatic breast cancer, here is a useful resource I came across today.

Living day-to-day with and managing HER2+ metastatic breast cancer can be challenging. However, with some knowledge and support, you can face breast cancer head-on and HER connection is a program designed to help you do just that.

The HER connection program will provide you with resources you need to help you understand more about your disease. Enroll now to receive important information about your condition, your options, and how to partner with your healthcare team. In addition, you will receive a complimentary music CD "Healing Sounds". You will also receive a personalized Doctor Discussion Guide to print out, with essential information, including:

• Descriptions of the specialists who may be part of your healthcare team
• Explanations of the roles and responsibilities of these different team members
• Questions on a range of issues you may want to ask the different members of your team as you confront metastatic breast cancer

The HER connection program makes it easy for you to get reliable information about HER2+ metastatic breast cancer, as well as tips for coping with your emotional and physical symptoms. Simply visit HER connection to get started.

Take good care of yourself. You are irreplaceable.

Carnival of Kid Comedy, week 29

Carnival of Kid Comedy, week 29 is up at Why Homeschool. I also submitted a post More on "The Older Women Are On The Prowl". There are many interesting stories about funny things kids say & do. We all know how hysterical our kids can be. :-)

Go over there and check it out! Happy Reading!

Southern Summer Revisited

I was reading Southern Eye for a Northern Guy by Heather at Everything Under the Moon. It's part II of a series of four articles about the Southern four seasons, written for people from "the North" I suppose, and this article is about summer.

Ah, this brought back so many memories.... We moved from Delaware to southeast Texas at the end of May, 1998. If you know the Southern weather, as described by Heather's article, the summer begins EARLY in the South. When we landed in Texas at the end of May, we found ourselves in the 90 degrees heat and almost 100% humidity!!! We were overpowered by the incredible hot air when we walked out of the small airplane. My first thought was, OMG, my makeup is melting on my face! LOL

I grew up in Taiwan, which is a tiny little island in the Pacific Ocean, right next to Mainland China. We have subtropical weather, meaning hot & humid all year round. You would think that I would feel "right at home" when we moved to Texas. Ironically, I've never really liked the heat & humidity in Taiwan, especially in summer. For one thing, I have oily skin, and the combination of heat, humidity, sweat, dirt, etc. is a surefire formula for never-ending breakouts. When you started to have full-bloom acne at the tender age of 10, it's nothing but tragic!

It always amazed me, how these Southern ladies could keep their makeup & pantyhoses on all through summer -- in addition to their incredible big hair. I guess that takes true skills, which I didn't master and probably never will. Oh well. LOL!

We kinda got used to the heat & humidity in Texas after a while, but we NEVER got over the bugs. As Heather explains, "as nature has it, humidity breeds life. As a result, Southern Summers are over-run by large bugs. The further south you go, the larger the bugs. That is a scientific fact."

Yes, that IS an unfortunate scientific fact for people living in Taiwan and in the South. It gives me goose bumps, even now, to think about the giantic bugs we encountered in Texas..... the relentless mosquitos and fire ants. My son (4-month-old back then) was (and still is) very allergic to mosquito bites, yet all the mosquitos seemed to love his baby skin tremendously. Every time he got a mosquito bite, it would swell up and become a blister! Poor baby always got several blisters on him. None of the over-the-counter creams would help. The only thing that helped him was a prescription cream that his pediatrician gave us, which cost $50 every time we filled the prescription!! As you can see, the little mosquitos cost us a fortune. :-(

The fire ants were another major headache. They were vicious and they were EVERYWHERE! Once I stepped right into a fire ant hill in my own backyard, which we were unaware of. I was talking to a neighbor and backing up, without noticing where I was heading.... Hundreds of fireants climbed up my leg within seconds!!! It was a scary and painful experience. However, I was grateful that it was me, not one of my babies, who stepped into the ant hill!

We eventually moved back to the East Coast due to my husband's job. I can tell you that, although I miss our big house, our good friends, crawfish & all the yummy cajun food, I can TOTALLY live without the Texas weather and bugs!!! I so much prefer the four seasons in NJ. And even though winter is a little cold for me, that also means it's too cold for the mosquitos, and that's something to be grateful for.

Even a Warrior Princess needs a break

A month ago, when I returned from my first Kung Fu tournament with two gold medals, one of my Tai Chi Sword classmates greeted me with "Ah, here comes our W.P.!!"

I gave him an innocent, puzzled look: "What is W.P.?"

"Warrior Princess", he said.

Ah, he is soooo sweet. I was very flattered.

However, I don't feel like a Warrior Princess these days. The past two weeks I haven't been able to sleep well at all due to (what my doctor speculated to be) allergy-induced asthma. During the day I feel OK, but when the night comes I would gradually become unable to breathe. I also have a cold, which makes everything worse. As a result, I could barely sleep.

Back in April, I had a similar episode for more than a week, and that's why my doctor gave me an inhaler for emergencies. For the past 6 months, I've only had to use the inhaler for 3-4 times. But last week, I was using it 1-3 times every night! I often had to sit up on the bed, and ended up waking up sore all over. My chiropractor did some special treatment for me, and it seemed to help. I was able to go without the inhaler for several days (yay!) but the last two nights I had to use it again.

The lack of sleep is really getting to me. I feel like I'm in a fog. I haven't gone to Kung Fu or sword class, or done any exercise (except yoga) for two weeks now. Just too exhausted.

Last night I was supposed to go to a friend's party, but I totally forgot. When she called to see if I was coming, I felt a moment of guilt, but decided to tell her "sorry, I can't make it". She seemed very disappointed. I'm sure she'd understand. She is a good friend.

I decided to go to bed early instead. It was really early for me (10pm), but I decided that I really needed to rest. As a coach, I always stress the importance of Intensive Self-Care, and this is my turn to take care of myself. I've got to walk the talk, right? Besides, it's weekend, and nobody needs to get up early tomorow morning for school or for work anyway.

Even a Warrior Princess needs a break now and then.

Guess how long I slept last night? 12 hours!!! I woke up a few times, but fell back to sleep. I guess my body really needed the rest. In any case, I'm very glad I took care of myself. :-)

More on "The Older Women Are On The Prowl"

I've received several comments and emails about my post "The Older Women Are On The Prowl" at The Carnival of Family Life two weeks ago. I really appreciate it. Sorry if you have stopped by & couldn't leave a comment on my blog. There's something wrong with Blogger's comment function. I tried to leave comments on someone's blogs today and Blogger wouldn't let me, either. :-(

Back to the subject. I was very tickled by all the comments & emails telling me how their own little girls (preschoolers and kindergarteners, mostly) are SO into their "boyfriends", even though most of them obviously don't know what it means to have a boyfriend. Some have even picked out their future husband already!

WOW, obviously our little girls are SO much more "advanced" than their counterparts in the "relationship game"!

That reminds me of a "Friends" episode (I LOVE that show! Don't you?) that showed a "wedding planning scrapbook" that Monica had compiled back in the 4th grade! Hmmmm, I don't recall being interested in wedding planning when I was in elementary school.

My LK wasn't into boys at all when she was in preschool, or kindergarten, or elementary school. She started middle school this year, so things might change soon (although I'm hoping for later than sooner). HOWEVER, I did remember vividly a conversation I had with another mom from her kindergarten class. She said that her son had a HUGE crush on LK, adding that he had "always preferred Asian girls". I remember he is Irish-American, blue eyes, fair skin, quite a good-looking boy. Now, I'm flattered that he liked my LK so much, but, we're talking about a 5-year-old boy here, and he's already had his mind set on an Asian bride! His mom and I had a really good laugh!

How hysterical is that?!!!!!

Going with the Flow

Holly at Holly's Corner wrote about navigating her life as a river that keeps flowing & changing directions. It keeps you on your toes with all the curves and bends.

The thing is, the river of life is always flowing. Sometimes it's simply impossible to go upstream. You only get to live this life once. There is no use crying over the spilled milk. All we can do is to focus on the present moment, and look forward.

Things change. People change. Even our own values, priorities, preferences change over time too. Sometimes you have to give up the "steering wheel" and just go with the flow.

Holly was saying how 15 years ago she wanted so much to have 5 or more kids, but after years of trying, she ended up adopting two children. When all the other soccer moms were saying how they would like to have more children, she found herself past that stage of her life. She actually appreciates the freedom of going out to eat or do things she likes. "Most especially", She said, "I’m basking in the glory of not having to carry a diaper bag around."

It brought a smile to my face when I read that. Just yesterday, a few moms at our bus stop had the same conversation. One of the moms has 3 girls: 11, 8 and 3. While we were waiting for the afternoon bus, she was busy chasing after her 3-year-old & couldn’t really keep a conversation with the rest of us. Another mom finally commented: “I don’t really miss THAT.” And the rest of us all said “Me either”.

Oh I remember those Wonder Years. How I enjoyed nursing & cuddling my babies, and doing everything for them! But, I also remember how sometimes I went all day without a meal or a shower, and staying up all night caring for a sick child & cleaning up vomits on the carpet. I remember when my ONLY identity was "LK's mom" or "CB's mom". I remember how I rarely got to do anything just for me.

My daughter just turned 11 & my son 8. As much as I love how cute they were when they were little, and as much as I treasure all that time we spent together, I wouldn’t trade my hard-earned freedom for the diaper bag again (no matter how fashionable they are made now). LOL!

Yup, my river of life is flowing, and I am going with the flow....

Girls Night Out

My friend George sent me this one. OMG, I couldn't stop laughing! LOL

------------------
Two women friends had gone for a girl's night out. Both were very faithful and loving wives, however, they had gotten over-enthusiastic on the Bacardi Breezers. Incredibly drunk and walking home they needed to pee, so they stopped in the cemetery.

One of them had nothing to wipe with so she thought she would take off her panties and use them. Her friend, however was wearing a rather expensive pair of panties and did not want to ruin them. She was lucky enough to squat down next to a grave that had a wreath with a ribbon on it, so she proceeded to wipe with that.

After the girls did their business they proceeded to go home. The next day one of the women's husbands was concerned that his normally sweet and innocent wife was still in bed hung over, so he phoned the other husband and said,

"These girl nights have got to stop! I'm starting to suspect the worst.... my wife came home with no panties!!"

"That's nothing" said the other husband, "Mine came back with a card stuck to her ass that said.....

'From all of us at the Fire Station. We'll never forget you.'

Why We Need Friends

We all need friends to NOT let us fall sometimes....

BlogJolt: I Need This!!

I've just joined a very unique group (or should I say movement) called eMoms BlogJolt. Every week they choose two members' blogs to be the BlogJolt and all the other members try to create as much links and traffic for these two BlogJolt of the week. Isn't it such an innovative concept and win-win strategy for all bloggers to support one another?!!!

One of the featured blogs of this week is Adornments by Lynn, which features many of unique jewelry pieces designed by Lynn and a variety of articles about her many other interests & reflections on life in general. If you love jewelry, you definitely want to check it out.

While browsing through her blog, I cam across this neat gadget that's a must-have for all bloggers, or whoever works on the computer for insanely long hours and desperately need to "squeeze" in some exercise while at it. Check it out! This could come in handy for you, especially during those LONG, cold winter months ahead of us! :-)

The Older Women Are On The Prowl!

I read this post by Jen at Stay-at-Home Motherdom today, called "The Older Women Are On The Prowl! (Parental Advisory)", and it cracked me up!!!

Jen talked about how her 3-year-old son (a real cutie) has an "older" (4-year-old) girlfriend in his preschool called Flower, who is a little too affectionate toward her son. She is thinking of "locking him in the house until he's 35", and pleading "LADIES, KEEP YOUR GIRLS AWAY!"

My son CB had a similar experience when he was perhaps 3 or 4 years old. He attended a Catholic Montessori preschool back then. At the Chrismas party for parents, I overheard a mom telling the sister how her daughter LOVED my son and talked about him every day at home. I was very skeptical when I heard that. I mean, CB was (still is) a real cutie pie. The sister called him "my handsome boy". However, my son had NEVER mentioned any girls in his class.

When I asked the sister about it, imagine my shock when she confirmed that there were TWO girls fighting over my son every single day -- fighting to sit next to him, and hugging & kissing him all the time!!! Later that semester, when I visited his classroom, I witnessed one of the girls "bear hug" him from behind during Circle Time. I had the same reaction as Jen did -- Aggghhh! LOL!

CB is now 8 1/2 years old. Over the years, there were always a few girls who were friendly with him, but nothing like those two "girlfriends" back in preschool. He kinda prefers to play with "the guys" and his Bionicles now, instead of girls. For now, Mommy is still his "Favorite Girl", and he is my "Funny Valentine". I know, things will change when he gets a little older, but I hope that day will not come too soon.....