Swim, swim, swim

We have been trying to make full use of the pool before it closes for fall and winter. This evening, fortunately, we had the whole pool to ourselves. It was nice.
Probably because the summer holidays are now over and kids have gone back to school.
Jason tried to drown me a few times and made me stand on his shoulders in the deeper end. My screams could be heard a mile away. T'was fun to be a kid again.

Mow away

Remember when I broke the lawn mower and pissed my husband off? Well, last week, I ordered the replacement part which was just one screw for the handles from one the dealers in Albemarle. Ofcourse, shipping charges was 5 times the price of the screw. But with gas prices these days, it was still worth it.
The screw arrived by UPS the next day!! Talk about excellent service. That same morning, I also received an email from their customer service saying that they had shipped me TWO screws out of good customer service. Out of curiosity, I emailed them back to tell them I only received one screw, but that was ok, and thanked them for their prompt service, which perhaps saved my marriage.

They replied the next day :

"Thank you for taking the time to contact our company. We are sorry to hear that you did not receive both parts that were sent to you. We will be glad to forward you two more replacement handle screws as a matter of good customer relations. You can expect to receive this within the next 10 business days."

The very next day, UPS delivered the 2 screws on our doorstep. I was so very impressed. That was super-duper fast. And we spoke nothing but praise for this dealership.

Yesterday, our doorbell rang and UPS left a package on our doorstep. Guess what was in it?
TWO more screws!!
Ok, now I am not only impressed but bewildered. Was our marriage in such need for redemption?

So now we have four extra screws for the lawn mower. Which means I can break the lawn mower FOUR more times.

I win!!

I beat Jason in Empire Rails tonight!!!Woohoo!!!
I am officially not feeling sick anymore :)

Living the evening alone

I finally applied for a library card at the library that is closer to our home. Something that I have been meaning to do for months since we moved to Stallings. The library wasn't as big as the one that I used to go to in Mint Hill, but nevertheless it was nice and cozy. I took my time browsing aisle by aisle as I had the whole evening to myself. Jason has gone to the Panthers game with Brian. I borrowed Dorothea Benton Frank's Sullivan's Island and a DVD, Boys Don't Cry. Another movie that I have yet to watch.

And I feel like making an appie pie now because we have plenty of apples in the fridge. I think I'll do that, and then ride my bike, and come home and plop myself infront of the TV with a nice cool drink, eat some apple pie and watch Boys Don't Cry.

Update : Maybe eating apple pie wasn't such a good idea. I finished half the pie instead of dinner. Now I feel sick in my belly.

Men and their toys

The husband who said he did not need or want anything for his birthday has just splurged on a new amplifier and a PC game. So now he cannot say that his bonus disappeared without nothing to show for it. It did disappear for sure.

And his loving devoted wife will have to take a back seat while the husband devotes his time to his new game.

I guess I should not complain because he is atleast at home instead of hanging out at bars or strip clubs. Though we probably won't be talking much because he doesn't like to be interrupted while he is concentrating on his games. And I'll probably be asleep by the time he finishes playing his games every night.

But after reading the predicament of other victims of avid gamers, I should feel lucky that I am not in that spot. Atleast not yet. And I hope I never have to be.

We could use another weekend like this

Saturday started out pretty good. We went over to my in-law's place to hang out with the kids in the afternoon. Jason brought Cooper a DVD which he had always wanted to watch and he was thrilled. It is always such a joy to watch innocent little faces light up with genuine joy. It just makes you feel like you have done a good deed and redeemed your karma. So after watching that DVD for like 2 hours, Cooper wanted to watch it again right after the movie was over.. and then again.. and again..But Jason and I left right after the movie was over because we wanted to head on to the newly opened REI in Pineville. So I don't know if we drove my in-laws insane by bringing that DVD over to their house.

The REI store was rather impressive. And I recall the one in Alaska was also pretty similar except a little larger. Just too bad we could not afford most of the stuff there or I'll be camping out in our yard tonight.

Then we head on over to Brian and Sophie's to play a game of Eurorails. That was fun but as the clock ticked past midnight, we started feeling tired and sleepy so we called it a night.
Gone were the days where I could chat and party till the wee hours without even having to stifle a yawn. Guess age must be catching up. Or I'm just out of practise.

Sunday was rather productive. We didn't overwork ourselves but we didn't laze the day away either. We bought 10 bags of river rocks and laid them around the trees and flower bed and pulled out some weeds. We also did some brief shopping at Walgreens and Circuit City for some necessities. After dinner, Jason and I played a game of British Rails until it was time to watch 4400 on TV.
Having a good weekend might make it a little easier to welcome the Monday. Hmm.. maybe.

Feeling smug

I go through phases of moods and finding little hobbies that I devote 100% of my attention to for short periods of time. And then I get bored with it and stop doing it altogether until something triggers my interest again. Like scrapbooking.
Two weeks ago, I was making Christmas gift tags all week. I know, I know it's waaayyy too early for Christmas but I was in the mood!!
Last week, I was making pot holders till the top of my left thumb got all scratched up.
This week, I started messing around with the template of my blog. I learnt more about HTMLs from Mr Google and all that mumbo jumbo in one week than I ever did in my 4 years in college. Ofcourse I did mess up my original template and could not get my margins or alignment right. It's still not perfect yet but perhaps I'll keep trying to fix it (or mess it up even more) while I am still in the "mood". But I am pretty proud of myself right now eventhough I am all cockeyed from looking at all those HTMLs. A technobimbo has her moments of pride once in awhile. As what William Pearson would say “the smug look of a toad breakfasting on fat marsh flies”.

He crosses his legs

Trouble has found a new favorite spot to sleep in the afternoons. Underneath my desk.
Here's a picture of him half asleep with his hind legs crossed.

Someone is a year older today

So we went over to my in-law's house for dinner tonight. My mom-in-law always makes the best meals (and I did not just say that because she might be reading this). I will let Jason tell you what he got for his birthday so he won't accuse me for stealing all his lines. But I have to just say that we will be able to buy more river rocks for the garden soon.

Happy Birthday, honey!!

It's Jason's birthday tomorrow. Everybody wish him a Happy Birthday!
I had the honor of pissing my hubby off a day before his birthday. I mowed the grass! You know how he hates me mowing his lawn. Well, not only did I mow his lawn, but I also lost one of the screws from the handle of the lawnmower. It fell off while I was mowing. I did managed to find the knob on the grass but the screw was nowhere to be seen. I spent 30 minutes looking for it but no luck. Without that darn screw, the handles are broken and it won't be possible to mow the grass. So husband is pissed that I broke his lawn mower.
I tried looking for the parts online but it is only available through their appointed dealers. And none of the dealers are near our house. (And I don't think eBay has it either)
Sorry hon!
Good news is... you don't have to mow the grass for awhile.. and you won't have to hear me grumble about it :)
Happy Birthday!!

Back from the mountains

(Jason beat me to this posting)
Because of the rain, we ditched our initial plans of pitching our tent on Flintrock Campgrounds and opted to rent a 100 year old cottage here in Linville Falls. It was really cool (yes, literally too). The smell of chestnut wood greeted us as we entered this cute little cottage decorated in antique country decor.
On Saturday, we drove to Linville caverns, Blowing Rock, Boone and Valle Crucis. The drive around the mountains reminded me of Frasers Hill - narrow curly bends with portruding rocks with awesome views of the Blue Ridge and Appalachian mountains all around us. The weather was damp and foggy because it had rained all day but it was still beautiful.

Jason was pretty pleased that there was Satellite TV in the cottage so he could watch his Panthers game on Saturday night. So while the game was on, Mom-in-law taught me how to make pot holders.
On Sunday, we drove up to Grandfather mountain and walked across the mile high swinging bridge and saw some adorable black bears, a cougar, otters, a bald eagle and some deers in their environmental habitats.

This was a much needed vacation and the mountains never fails to provide a sense of peaceful tranquility. We had a great time.



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I got my gear in my pack, I got my pack on my back

We will be away from civilisation for the next two days. A camping we will go. Woohooo!! We're off to Blowing Rock, Boone and Grandfather Mountain and we'll be pitching our tent somewhere near the Blue Ridge Parkway.

Mr Weatherman says it's gonna rain tomorrow night. Fun..fun..fun..

Will give y'all updates when we get home.. lest we get eaten up by some wild beast.

The similiarities

I moved 15,696km (9753 miles)(8475 nautical miles) to North Carolina and guess what I found so strikingly similar?

The Melaka state flag ----------The North Carolina State flag

The Malaysia flag-------------------------The U.S flag

Stallings Family Night

We went to the Stallings Town Park on Saturday for the Annual "Family Night at The Park" affair. Since moving to Stallings, we have been making it a point to familiarize ourselves with the neighborhood, which isn't very hard to do since Stallings is a really small little town. So we drove to the Park which was just 1 mile down the road. (Yes, we live in a very tiny town). The band was already playing on stage, balloons everywhere and people at the booths giving out freebies. I got myself a t-shirt. I think they were only giving out t-shirts to kids but since I am so small, I guess I qualify for one.
There were also lots of rides and fun stuff for the kids. But the thing that attracted me most was the Funnel Cake booth. Ooohh.. nothing is better than funnel cakes straight out from the fryer.. yumm!!! And Jason got himself a hotdog.

We met our neighbors, R.C and Betty, and chatted with them for a bit, and then went on home. That was pretty fun actually. I kinda like this little town we live in.

Donde?

I'll have to learn some Spanish soon :)

You Belong in Barcelona

When it comes to Europe, you don't want to decide between culture and fun. You want art by day and a big party by night. Barcelona is ideal for you. You can check out some Picasso, eat some tapas, take a siesta, and then dance all night!

What European City Do You Belong In?

They are indeed coming here!!

My parents got their B2 Non-immigrant visitors visas approved yesterday. Yayyy!!!
I spent all afternoon pacing the floor, feeling anxious and worried about their interview with the immigration officers at the US Embassy. I've heard too many people get denied their tourist visas for no good reason. A lady who was interviewed before my parents got denied. She was also going to visit her daughter. The immigration officers think or feel that one would overstay in the U.S and not want to leave. So they are very sticky when it comes to this. You need to prove to them that you are coming back to Malaysia. Ways to prove this would be to show you have strong ties in Malaysia like :
1) You have a job that you need to come home to (My parents are retired)
2) You have kids in Malaysia (I am an only child and I am not in Malaysia)
3) Properties in Malaysia( ok, so maybe them having a house helps)

Also, if you have been to the U.S before and showed them that you did return legally, that helps. So the officer was quite pleased to hear that my dad was in the U.S in the early 70's doing his studies in NJ for 2 months.

If only these people knew how hard it was to persuade my dad to just come for a visit. I had to bargain and bribe him just so he would agree to stay for more than 2 weeks. That too he feels it's too long. My dad is a homebody who loves the comfort of his home. I know it's not that he doesn't want to come see me, but he just does not enjoy the hassle of flying 30 odd hours. And I totally understand. My mom, on the other hand, is the adventurous one.

So, do they think he would actually overstay? I think not.

Now I'm going to stock up on books for him to read, Mad magazines and Burger King's whoppers. That's the bribe that I promised him.

Our wonderful jar

I made a job jar tonight :)
Remember when I was so bored last weekend that I almost died of comatose? Well, hopefully that won't happen again this weekend or ever again.
So I'm filling our job jar with things to do. Yes, notice I said OUR job jar. Oh Jason will be so happy..haha. His evil mean wife will make his weekends oh-so-interesting with lotsa things to do. Things he loves so much.. like mowing grass, washing the bathrooms, yard work, folding laundry.. etc.. you know, "fun" stuff like that. :)