A Blog about life and living through my life experience and perspective. I am a writer, singer/songwriter childhood savant musician...Trying to find my niche and stake my place in society...
This is a snack box that I keep full for Zoe and Howard's work and school snacks. This is stored on top of the fridge. It is separate from my pantry because it's sole purpose is to hold snacks that are for packing in a lunch box or backpack lol. This way it is accessible and nothing gets tossed around and crumbly. I have had this snack box for years. One of my better ideas I suppose.
My quest for organization is always in the forefront of my desire. Staying organized is always the challenge!
As you can see, it's still 5:00 all of the time at my house! I haven't looked into to seeing where this old family clock, that I inherited, can be fixed. So as you can see, I still have some procrastination to overcome. That and I guess it doesn't really bother me that it's always 5:00 at my house! After all don't they always say "It's 5:00 somewhere ! " To that I reply, "Yes it is, at my house!"
Praying For Time
Click the arrow on my pic and the YouTube video should play.
This is where my day begins and ends... At 6:30 AM, I just made and assembled breakfast and lunch
for my husbands work day. Along with a cup of coffee, I set out his medication. He gulps that down with the water I poured in a glass and he's out the door. Lunch box and cup of coffee to go in tow. It's Friday so I've done this part of my job for the week.
I will be grocery shopping for the weekend in a few hours. I have the ingredients for one of our meals that I will put into my new pressure cooker. Yet again QVC caught our attention with this great new kitchen tool and their easy pay plan!
This is an 8 quart pressure cooker. It can also slow cook.
They have a great way of marketing that really appeals to the middle class. Easy pay makes things affordable when you are on a budget! I have used this a few times now. I look forward to trying this recipe. I hope it is as good as it sounds! I like that this product came with several recipe cards that encourage you to use the product! I will purchase a cookbook as well because if you read my blog, you know that I love and collect cookbooks!
Looks rather simple! Served with basmati rice, this could be a winner right?!
Although this is what I do for a job and trust me, I work it just as a job... This is not all there is for me. Career homemaking is not all I aspire to do. The other side of me wants very much to do this!!
Lover Boy written by Rick Davies of Supertramp!
I don't know why at 53 I'm still trying to do this but I just need to. It keeps me sane. Much to the bane of my husband and probably this embarrasses my kids. It is my way of speaking out and trying to be heard. My own sense of individualism! My YouTube and SoundCloud channel remind me that I am a individual in my own right with hopes and dreams of my own! That's about all this does for me.
I'm obviously not good enough to get anywhere with this. I am in fact, the butt of my husbands jokes for trying to get somewhere with this. He reminds me often that I am not anywhere but here where I reside. " Don't quit your day job ". Ugh, how I wish I could prove him wrong! It isn't for lack of trying ...
This is what you get when Vietnamese New Year and Valentine's Day collide!
It's almost Vietnamese New Year also known as Tet. This weekend celebrations will be taking place in various locations throughout Phoenix. The closest to us being @ the Mekong Center in Mesa, AZ.
If we find some interesting, note able celebrations I'll take pics and post them.
My husband probably misses the big celebrations and hoopla of the Bay Area. He lived in and has a lot of family in San Jose. His large Vietnamese family would get together and have all night parties to celebrate.
I'm sure he must really miss his family. He tells me about celebrations as a child in Vietnam. The food the special lanterns, the street fair vendors. He speaks sometimes about the war and how he and his family would hide. Mostly he tells me about how his family downplayed what was actually
happening there in the war. He had an interesting upbringing there in Vietnam. His mother was an Olympic athlete in Asia. She was a tennis star. They lived a life of luxury with servants and a driver lol. He came to live in the states when he was about 13. His Mom married a Colonel in the U.S.
Army who later adopted Howard and his siblings. He spoke Vietnamese and French as a child. He told me that it took him a long time to learn English. I have noticed a great difference in his speech in the 14 years that I've known him! He is so
Americanized now. It's amazing.
The cultural differences between us are many. So many rules about status, expectation, respect. Hard to tell if that is cultural or just within his thinking. It's always been hard to feel as if I measure up. No room for being comfortable, always feeling as if I have to jump through hoops. Many times my self esteem has taken a hit. Never feeling as if I am good enough. See, I'm much more laid back in ways. Critical... If something is good it could always be better. From the meals that I cook to how I look...it could always be better. As I said, not sure if this is cultural or just his thinking. I've learned to except
this but, it's been hard at times. I am learning that what another person thinks and feels about you isn't a true indication of worth. Make your own worth! Create your own self esteem! No one can take it, you have to make it for yourself! If nothing else, being married to him has made me a lot tougher.
More confident and feisty... Push and I will push back harder.
Now maybe you will understand my need to be heard and fulfill something within my spirit? I so wanted to achieve some degree of success in my own right. Disappointing as I have yet to achieve anything other than personal satisfaction in the execution of this songwriting effort.
Something More Than Nothing. Click on the arrow to view my YouTube video.
The upside to this is that our daughter has flourished academically. He is not nearly as critical with her and she receives a lot of praise for her academic achievement! He's very proud of her. I'm grateful that she has a strong desire to be successful. She took the school district gifted test recently. She was found to be gifted in math. She is already taking honors classes so not much will change for her course selection. She has been identified as "gifted" now. Can't wait to see what she ends up doing with this intelligence.
I bought this when my kids were small lol. Now, I read it to my G-Kids.
I had important domestic chores the better part of last week. Getting Zoe enrolled into highschool for next year! We attended the open house @ Desert Vista last night for the upcoming freshman class. The class, I should mention of 2020! Even though that is only 4 years away, it sounds so futuristic!
Holy cow, time is flying! The school is prestigious here in AZ. A lot of affluent attend. I have been forewarned about the affluent atmosphere here. The mere size of the collective student body is overwhelming! This highschool is huge! High ranking in honors and standing within the state and the nation. I have concerns that Zoe will kind of disappear into the crowd. It appears to be a very competitive spirit there. We shall see!
I have had the cold from hell since about Thursday. It has made getting all of these things like taxes
and paper trail organization a challenge. A nasty head cold with eyes watering, ears buzzing and a nose that is raw and chapped from blowing it so much. I'm on the upside of it today yay!
Today, I will be taking time out in private to think about and light a candle for my Dad. He died a
year ago today, on Groundhog Day. Dad being from Pennsylvania would often comment on Punxsutawney Phil (the name of the Groundhog). He was always interested in the outcome of the
shadow business lol. Did he or didn't he see his shadow? It was always a topic of conversation on this, Groundhog Day.
I always thought it cute that this educated man with a Masters' in Organic Chemistry from Cornell University, a pioneer in the plastics industry, this literal rocket scientist, would give a damn about a groundhog seeing or not seeing his shadow lol!! It was just something he always remarked about... He lived in Pennsylvania and Ohio for most of his life and I suppose by Feb. 2, you would be wishing that winter was over!
When you live in AZ as I have the past 11 years, you count the days until the heat comes back. This is our spring and we savor every nice, moderate day we can get!
Thinking of you today Dad! You were always larger than life to me and I loved your quirky isms!
This is a pic of my pantry before I clean it! First of all, don't judge lol. In my defense, I am a home cook that cooks a lot! Who among us that cooks a lot can live with a pantry this small?! I have a heck of a time keeping organized when this is all that I have to work with! I have gone off about this before in a previous blog post. This frustrates me no end! I now have a 13 year old digging around in here for snacks to further complicate my organization. I will take the time it takes to clean this to listen to some music. Supertramp CD's come to mind for this occasion! That should keep me focused enough to stand here, drag everything out, wipe the shelves down and then put most of it back in
there. Ugh! I'm telling you this is one bane of my existence that I am forced to face two or three times a year now! Fortunately I have the musical genius of Roger Hodgson and Rick Davies to keep me company while I forge ahead and dig into this chaos!
My kitchen is obviously not the reason that I bought this house 11 years ago now. The yard is what
sold me this property.
I don't have any ideas for a better storage solution here...do you? This is on the agenda this morning!
Finished!
Better?? At least stuff won't fall out on your toes when you open the cabinet doors!
Here are some pics of my tiny working kitchen. I work in it every day! I'm not complaining! It's functional just tiny for what I'm trying to do in here!
The appliances aren't even that old...I bought them just 11 years ago now.
View from the pantry lol.
Coffee&Tea Station (this I like having in my kitchen)!
Kitchen table, dog kennel and a place for my cookbooks ...oh and my Chinaware . I suppose I shouldn't complain right? This works!
They always say pick your battles and today this was the battle I chose. I won this round!
This may be my next cleaning project, it looks like the seasons threw up in here lol!
Yesterday, I decided that I wanted go check out the iMovie app on my new iPad. I was hoping to find that I could edit my music videos and repost them to YouTube. I can't tell you how many times I have wished for help in the production end of what I've been doing. I really enjoy creating the content. Not the whole production of it! I have yet to find a generous, forgiving and true camera lense. I always marvel at how fat I come across in my videos lol. I am not fat! If you were to see me in person you would be surprised to find that I am curvy but not fat! I know that I must not be getting the camera right when I'm sitting. Who knows but when I watch my own videos, they drive me nuts! Give me the talent end not the production end... God, I wish that I was good enough to have people for that! Stage me, direct me and for Heavens sake, make me look good, because I can lol!
Anyway, in playing with my app I came up with a Cat Video. I think that it turned out pretty well for a first attempt.
Here is the YouTube Link if you are at all interested in my little home movie...
The rest of life has been full of domestic chores. Getting the tax stuff together and done, gathering records to get Zoe enrolled in high school. All the administrative stuff that keeps the household going lol.
I just learned on Friday that my Dad's wife has cancer. Dad passed away last Feb. so his wife is all alone. She moved back to Ohio in August, to be close to her family. My sister and I encouraged her to do so. She is really missing my Dad. Even though we were never close, I can't help but feel so sad for her plight! I'm sure that she is scared, lonely and just plain feeling left. Awwwww!
Her situation is grave as her cancer has metastasized throughout many organs, lymph nodes and maybe even her brain. Ugh cancer!
They haven't come up with a course of treatment yet as she is battling pneumonia as well. She herself
called to tell me the news. I don't like helpless, it makes me angry when I can't fix things! Things like this, I have no answer for. Another one of those life lessons about acceptance of the things that you can't change!
Here is the YouTube video for my newest addition. One step closer to that CD's worth of originals! I had fun beyond fun writing this little 50 second addition to Who Controls The Stars! I hope you will take a min to listen! Just click on the arrow on the pic of me and it should play!
Have a great Saturday! Give someone you love a kiss!
