Mom Visits April 2009!

Mo-oove Like A Ninja. Hiyaaahhh!!!

When I see a mountain of shirts before me, I wish: that they would magically fold themselves up in a nice neat pile and put themselves away in the drawers.


Of course, that will never happen. Inevitably, they. have. to. be. folded. One by goddamned one.


Today, ah but today.

Even as the pile of laundry sits there, mocking me.

I don't look away. I fix my stare right on it and say,

You don't scare me anymore. I now hold a secret weapon. *play ninja music*








Praise the Japanese.


This just makes my day.



:D

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Description

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******



I guess there had had to be a way to deal with our womanly woes before Whisper.




..

A Guide to Underwater Photography.

My hubs made this website! :D

It's awesome! There is so much in it: Underwater composition, technique, cameras, lenses, pretty photos of all the wet and weird!

Even if you don't dive, check out this page to see all the nice photos by great underwater photographers and find out how they did it!


And here's the Facebook page to mingle!



:

April 8, 2009

My hubby went out on 'an errand' and came home with these :)

Happy April 8th Anniversary to you too Sweetie, I have never been happier than these years with you,

Love, wifey


***
26 Beach Cafe

To my sweetheart, my soulmate, my light and laughter, my safe haven, my northern star,

I love you.



**

TV Dinners

I luuuuu-rve my bistro bowls :D


**

Singapore and CNY 09/ Anilao diving

Lots of family, friends and critters!

Dive trip to Anilao, Philippines.

Happy (Ox)picious Niu(Cow) Year! :))



**

Hokkien Song to make Ah Ma laugh! Me too! :o))

Translation with X-referencing!:

If I had a million dollars,
My life would have no worries (3-letter acronyms of various taxes in Singapore)

If I didn't tell, nobody knows,
But if I did, it's so embarrassing
That I'm already so old, (condoms)
but haven't sat in a plane before

Slave at work for so many years,(from kungfu kid to grandmaster with long white beard)
No car, no house and no lover
Others get married, start business
Become rich and powerful, proud (wealthy man puffing cigar with money)

If I had a million dollars (see the snickering Austin Powers)
I wanna take planes,
I wanna travel the world
Sun tan in Hawaii
Eat Sushi in Japan

If I had a million dollars
I wanna buy car and house
Eat all the delicacies in the world,
And who's the lucky one
to be my girl (ugly girl with LOTR ring)

If I had a million dollars,
If you need money
Open your mouth (hippo) Ask me don't be shy! (loan shark)

- guitar plays..for too long - man sleeping)

If I didn't tell, nobody knows,
But if I did, it's so embarrassing
That I'm already so old, (spanking)
but haven't sat in a plane before

If I had a million dollars
I wanna travel the world,
Italy drink coffee, I wanna eat spaghetti
I'll buy a car and house
I'll buy shops and collect rent (brothel)
Very free - no need to work
Bring my dog for a walk.



****


I like how I've actually heard these various words or phrases from Ah Ma. She used to tell me that I 'you sei gai' , which means 'tour the world'. They actually sound quite cheem to me, like you know, authentic Hokkien from Fujian.. although I must admit my Hokkien is not quite up to par.

And I think I remember her saying saying 'spaghetti' once, the exact way it's said in the song!

Mousey the Little Trooper

A month ago, we finally had the vet remove Mousey's bladder stone, and she made it through! She's our oldest guinea pig at 5.5 years, that's like 70 years in human years I reckon.

We've always had doubts putting her through surgery, having had no luck with surgeries in the past with Snowey, Fluffer and Tobey. We crossed our fingers and hoped that the stone could somehow be passed out in due course. But Mousey's bladder stone just kept getting bigger and bigger until in the end she was squeaking and in so much pain, we bit our lips and decided to go ahead with it.

We gave her more lettuce, more blueberries and more cuddles the night before, and dropped her off at the vet's in the mornig.

It was a big relief to get the call from the vet that afternoon: the surgery went well, and it was the biggest stone the vet's ever seen in a little piggy. Nasty.

So now Mousey's home and recovering, still hurts a little but she chomps away as much as she can and pees and poops more than ever! Such a little trooper! Yay Mousey!

Update: Now she's eating pellets on her own, and chasing any other piggy in sight!

Mousey

BeBe

and we finally named this one: Fudge-pie, or Fudgie :)

**

What's on your Face?

Quote of the day:


'What's that socialising thing they do on the computer now... MyFace??'

Zion and Bryce Canyons, Utah

A couple of weeks after, we loaded the car and drove through the desert, past Las Vegas(there's a big toy castle in Las Vegas!) and into the Red State. We spent 2 nights each in Zion and Bryce. I loved the clean, easy camping and the spectacular views in the canyons.

The first day we unwittingly did an 11 mile hike, and barely made it to the bus before it got pitch dark. And though we had kept our spirits and optimism up, it would have been most unpleasant if we had had to spend the night out there in t-shirts and shorts.

Not withstanding that, the trip was a lot of fun - we hiked through the trails, woke up for a beautiful sunrise, took photos of everything from mountains to rocks to water, stalked mule deer, chased after pronghorns, visited an amazing wildlife museum, saw some elk locking horns and a couple of great bisons, and a cow with the most massive horns I've ever imagined, and even hitched a ride in the back of a convertible driving up Zion.

*******

In my girl scout days, we pitched a tent with stakes, rope and a square of tarp, cooked our food over twig fires and did our business with a shovel behind the bushes.

Boy am I glad camping now is much more evolved. YAY for pop-up tents, flushable toilets and hot water showers!!

As I have also learnt, a plain steaming pot of instant noodles is great comfort food when you're out camping, so is a jar of Nutella :D

Some photos for now

********

Pantanal, Brazil

Back in September:

Awesome trip, loadsa fun in a stick-drive, and wa-aay too much doodoo everywhere

http://scottpenny.smugmug.com/Pantanal,%20Brazil

Natalie Comes To Visit!

When I was back in Singapore last year, I spied Natalie behind the pharmacy counter at a drugstore. We exchanged emails.

Back in junior college, we were in the canoeing/db team together. Those were happy, splashy, fit days of abs and biceps.

Now that Natalie is in California waiting to start on her new job, she comes to stay with me for a week while Scott is away diving in the Philippines. Why has he gone diving without me, I'm asked. I can drive, and I have the car and my credit card - I'll be fine, I say ;)

Me and my partner-in-crime, we tore through town and raided the malls, combed through the bargains and rung up the register with a vengeance. We huffed and puffed up the mountains, lamenting our soft thighs and weak lungs. We more happily padded barefoot down the beaches and sunned ourselves silly. We yakked through it all and late into the night til we fell asleep.

We had many shared and unshared memories to talk about, more than 10 years of catching up to do. It was all very comforting and very heart-warming and I couldn't have asked for better company.

Thanks Natalie! I'm so glad you came to visit! :D

more photos in title link

To All My Friends For Your Kiddos :)

Don't Forget To Flush

Aboard the Sea Bass yesterday, as divers waited for the head (i.e. toilet, on a boat):

"What's taking him so long, is he fixing on his pee valve?"

"Yeah, it's a pain"

"I know a guy who sells them cheap, for like $20, but they're not balanced, so water could go up the valve while you're descending."

"I'd rather just pay for a balanced one, you don't want critters swimming up the valve either you know..."

"So, how do you women do it in that drysuit underwater?"

"(She)'s got something similar to the valve."

"(She) uses one of those gadgets, what do you call'em? (everyone else: "the She-wee") so it's like a female p***s you hold up against you, do it standing up. You can just throw it in the purse and carry it around."

"Yeh, but she also has a zip at the crotch, so she doesn't have to undress to do it"

...

"I just hold, cut my dive short, come up and strip down quick"

...

and She Who Dived In A Wetsuit shrugged it and said:


"I flush."


*************


We had beautiful clear, cobalt blue water at Farnsworth yesterday. I call it Farnsworth Blue.

On a great boat with a group of wonderful funny people, that made the trip all the merrier.

Torpedo Ray aka Electric Ray

Dana brought me a raspberry chocolate cake for my birthday, and cuppy cakes with little sea creatures on it - Woot! love the crabby!

More photos by hubs

BeBe popped a baby!

Hubby gives each of our 3 girls a piece of cucumber, and we set out to the store for some dinner.

30 minutes later, we come back home, and I go to give them a piece of tomato.

Bebe was sitting way in the back of the cage, it was dark there, and I reached in with the tomato for her. There's a little dark something in front of her, I half-wondered what it was and prodded it without thinking.

And suddenly there was a flash of what looked like an eye, and then something scrambled away!

I gasped and I scrambled away.

"SWEETIE!! THERE'S AN EXTRA PIGGY IN THE CAGE!!" I ran out of the room to fetch the hubs, shrieking like I was struck with leprosy. At this point, I wildly imagined that the piggy had jumped in through the open window and somehow into the cage right where it sat.

The hubs stared at me with eyes stretched wide, in his 'No-Way!' manner, went "Whaaa?" and then marched right into the bedroom.



.."I told you!"




We adopted Bebe from an official rescue that had screened it for pregnancy, but I guess some things are hard to tell. Bebe got a little chubby, especially over the last week, but it never occurred to us that she could actually be pregnant. We just thought she was getting lotsa good stuff to eat.

This is the loveliest surprise, and boy are we glad that it was a normal, healthy labour and delivery for Bebe. And she is being such a good mommy too, always cleaning the baby and laying still for it to feed.

Sigh, happiness comes in such surprising ways.

Hubby diving the Oil Rigs

photos by Mikey B.

31

Just when I stamped a label on the hubs, he goes out and proves me wrong.

I was at work on Friday, when I called him during a break to say hello, and what does he tell me?

He tells me he's out shopping.

For my birthday(the next day) present no less, but make no mistake about it - the hubs is out. Shopping.

Not a targeted-purchase operation, not a hunger driven grocery cart pile-up, not a necessary 30-sec stop, but a true searching, looking escapade.

Sure I wished sometimes he'd just be my company when I shop, which he does too, but I never expected that he would venture out at it alone.

I love my hubby, he does everything and would do anything to make sure I'm always happy :)

In the end, just as even the most avid shoppers do once in a while, he aborted the mission when he remembered me delighting in a pretty charm bracelet a week ago (I hadn't meant it to be a hint on a birthday present at all then).

At once, he reclaimed his hunter-gatherer instinct and set out to secure the item of desire.

Target acquired~

I absolutely love it!!

How happy for a woman to get something so chirpily frivolous for her birthday, even at 31 ;)

Thank you sweetie!


Charms, beads, and lovely jewelry all handmade by Judy Carlson. Thank you Judy! :D

~
For my birthday, we biked down to Manhattan Beach for the day in beautiful sunny weather, and even met a group of bikers on the way - one of them had ribbons all over her helmet and a big birthday smiley with a party hat on the back of her jersey - I guess it's her birthday too!

Finally got back home and then a quick splash in our little pool in the courtyard to cool off. Ahhhh, I always liked that last bit the best. :)




31 and never happier :)

The Anti-Retail Man

Walking along the Promenade yesterday, we strode along a young couple on vacation from England (I presumed from the invariable bright pink of tourists in Santa Monica, and from their accent). We come to a stop at the light.

Across the street was the Victoria Secret store of sexy lingerie fame, that women adore in all its Pinkness. To the left was a pizza stop. At the crossroads of a fledging relationship, the guy gives a grimace.

"Oh I know that look, it's the but-I-don't-wanna-go-shopping look." chimes my jolly-wolly hubby to them.

The guy shoots us a look of self-pity and moans "We've been at it for 3 hours."

To which the hubs heartily dispenses some empathy and oft-executed advice

"Oh I totally understand. There's a Borders right down the block - make a dash for it."


How's that for instant camaraderie.

How Long Can You Hold Your Breath?

After a nice long sleep-in on my day off, hubs and I took off to Malibu for some freediving. There was a little bit of surf, not too much, but enough for me to feel wooozey after about 75 minutes. We went right through the mass of kelp, got tangled a bit, but without scuba equipment, it was much easier to get out and get through.

Looking down snorkelling was like looking through a haze, but once you dive right in, the water column clears up and there are beautiful sights - the bright green sea gras swaying back and forth with the surges, red algae, kelp forests, schools of baby perch darting about, rock fish, kelp bass hanging out, a couple big guitarfish cruising by, silvery baitfish everywhere, giant kelpfish playing hide and seek.

As I was taking a breath at the surface, I spotted a harbour seal about 60 feet away, doing the same and checking me out for a bit. Through my foggy mask, I thought it was hubs, albeit strangely grey and spotted, until the real McCoy bobbed up right in front of the imposter, just as it ducked, splashed, and dived down under1 ~ Whaa..???

Freediving was a lot of fun - much lighter, streamlined, thereby faster, and quieter without the bubbling(you hold your breath and dive under for as long as you can). You can sneak up on fish and get up closer, that's what the hunters and photographers( like hubby) do. But really, I just think there's a lot more freedom of movement and speed, you feel like a mermaid!

case in point: Feeling and looking like a mermaid are two very different things.