A Second Chance of Life.

As most of you know, I work as a Registered Respiratory Therapist. Since the summer, we have been hit with the H1N1 and I have to admit that at times, I would get scared of this H1N1 epidemic because of how fast it can affect your body and sometimes cause the patient to deteriorate quickly and/or expire.

In September, we had a patient come into our ER. I remember working this night and my friend/coworker, " No Fear" was working the ER. I think I had the floors that night. Anyways, she was just in disbelief how a patient that was experiencing the usual flu-cold symptoms comes in with extreme weakness, shortness of breath and lungs that appear so shot on the xray that we were already wondering if he was even going to make it the next few days.

This patient was in our hospital for 30 days. We aggressively treated him respiratory wise by placing him on all kinds of machines in order to assist him with his illness. Some of these machines we don't often use at our hospital, so it was quite the adrenaline rush at times to have to monitor these machines on a patient.

Well, fortunately, the patient survived and wanted to personally thank the staff in the ICU that cared for him. What better way to do it than by bringing in with him a news crew! Two of my coworkers are in here. One of them being our Clinical Coordinator who had absolutely no clue that she was being filmed. Odd because there's like a huge camera in your face. Haha.

Anyways, I'd just thought I'd post this touching story as I am just so happy that this patient was able to pull through and spend the holidays with his family in his own home and get a second chance to live!

Please click here to view this special occasion.

Turkey Day is fast approaching.

Last year, since we just purchased our first home and got married that year, we figured, why not host a Thanksgiving mealat our house. I didn't realize how much work goes into hosting a Thanksgiving feast. Like, I REALLY didn't realize. So much cooking and cleaning and good Lord, the post cleaning and the impaction of your refrigerator. Good God! How does one stay sane?

During the week of, we did a lot of cutting and cleaning. It didn't help much either that I had to work majority of that week,too! The night before, the hubs and I prepped the turkey with the whole brining method and hoping for the best that it turns out ok. It was our first time preparing and cooking a turkey and so you can say we were a bit nervous of what the outcome would be since, afterall, it is the main star of the meal!

This year, Thanksgiving is "thankfully" at my parents house. It's usually is and has been for many, many years at their house. Phew! Took the pressure off of us. Plus, I'm glad it's back at their house as their house is a midway point for everyone. Poor family last year had to endure a 3 hour drive up to Sacramento at a snail pace. I handed them a beer once they came through the door as they looked like they needed one.

I can't wait to see my family as it's always quite the fun event. We drink, play games, watch tv, sing karaoke, talk, gossip, and just pretty much lounge and enjoy each others company.

Where's Thanksgiving for you this year? Will you be hosting it at your house? Are you making any entrees, appetizers, desserts for Thanksgiving?

The Weekend.

This past weekend was a semi- eventful weekend.

It was raining on Friday but it didn't stop me from going out shopping. I remember seeing an advertisement in the Sunday paper a week ago for World Market. They were selling mugs that replicated the to-go mugs for $7.99. I've always wanted one of those mugs and nearly bought the one that sells at Paper Source for $20.

So, off I went to WM in search of those mugs. They had a solid a red and green ones and a odd looking plaid one. If only the plaid one was in much better colors, like umm, Burberry plaid colors? Right? That would make a pretty delicious looking cup. I should write to WM and let them know this.

I snagged one for myself and two more for Christmas presents. Wanting them to be used year round, I got all green mugs even though I loved the red mug. I'm a sucker for the red cups at Starbucks. But, I knew getting the green mug would be the perfect call.

The mugs are porceline and have a silicone top. It's also dishwasher and microwaveable safe. Love that!!!!

On Saturday, I ran my very first 10K race. If you are at all interested, you can read about it here. Slept pretty much majority of the day once I got home from the race which made Saturday a big fat dunce. Oh wells, there's always Sunday right?

Well, Sunday I woke up to make a heaping pot of Colombian coffee and enjoyed it in one of my newest mugs, a San Francisco mug. I found out that Starbucks puts out each year a series of collection mugs for cities. You can only purchase them in those designated cities. So far, I've collected Sacramento, San Francisco, and most recently because the hubs visited Chicago for a speech, I got Chicago! They also have state mugs, too! Ofcourse, I have the California one already.

Ran a lot of errands on Sunday. After running the 10K on Saturday, I've realized that I am in super dire need of outdoor winter running clothes. So, we headed to the Nike outlets and I guess it was meant to be because they were having a pretty good sale! Additional 30% off all the clearance items as well as some other items around the store which so happen to be the items that I really liked. Score!

I got two pairs of micro fit/dri fit pants, two long sleeve dri fit shirts and a headband to keep my little ears warm for $2.49! I've never worn a ear warmer before and I'm not sure how to wear them, so I tried it out in front of my bathroom mirror. I think I need to fiddle with this warmer, yes?

Afterwards, we headed to another WM location because I wanted to see if they had another pattern for those mugs in which they didn't have at the first WM location that I went to. Boo, they sold out on all of the mugs. Couldn't believe it. So, I ended up just mosing around and found these lick- your- lips hot chocolate flavors! They are $1.99 each and I think, that is, if they taste as good as they sound, I am going to include them with the mugs I bought.

Weekend Roundup.

Super busy weekend this past weekend. I was able to switch shifts with a coworker to get Saturday off so that I could host and watch Manny Pacquiao kick Cotto's bootay!!!! It sure was a great fight and glad that it lasted 12 whole rounds. It's really true that when Pacquiao fights, the Philippines stops. Every single Filipino is watching the fight, literally. Not to mention, constantly updating their Facebook while watching the fight. Hilarious comments!

Hosting a family gathering is no joke. While I enjoy having the family over and noshing on good, the cleanup is always the aftermath of it all. Dam, there was so many dishes and pots and pans to clean. Ugh. I'm still trying to clean up the mess we made.

Parents brought over a couple of succulent plants for me. I decided to display them in the front of the house. So pretty! I love succulent plants. The best part, you don't have to water them as often. Hopefully, I kill them even with the lack of watering that they need.






Target boots came in last night. While I like the way they look, I am not liking the shortness of them. They fit just above my ankle. Wish they were just a little bit higher. Should have purchased the taller ones. But, I'm going to give them a whirl out on the streets or play with them with various outfits and decide if I want to keep them or not. They are comfy, though!

Maybe I should just get the UGGS. Ugh, dammit!!!!

Cooking and Days Off.

When I am on my 7 days off from work, it's the time me and the hubs cooks and sometimes try different recipes for the first time. I think after living together for a year, I've developed a system when he cooks. I try to clean up as much as I can when he cooks. I'm basically his assistant per say. I remember in the beginning of us living together, I was wide eyed with the amount of mess he makes in one sitting while cooking. So, now, I just bite my lip (at least I try to at times!) and just clean up as he cooks. I sometimes, pray that he'll just adapt to this way of cooking and cleaning through the years.

Anyways, this week we tried two new recipe's. There was a sale on the sirloin beef at the local market and the hubs brings home 4 pounds worth of the meat. Ugh.

We decide to try out Sandra Lee's Crispy Orange Beef with Broccoli. I've never made a Sandra Lee recipe before, although I've watched her show countless times on the Food Network. Whenever I watch her show, I always think to myself, " why couldn't I think of that?" She never fails to come up with clever way to come up with recipes and this Crispy Orange Beef with Broccoli is one that doesn't disappoint! Its definitely a "fake out" of Chinese food and easily satisfies your craving for Chinese food in my opinion. We loved, err I loved it so much that we made it two nights in a row!

No picture was taken of our meal, but trust me, it was really good.

Last night, we tried a Thai Peanut Turkey Burger. After reading about this delicious recipe on KimberlyMichelle's blog, I made sure to bookmark the recipe and try it. The picture isn't mines, but is taken from the website of A Good Appetite.

It sure was good. The hub was trying to figure out what the flavors reminded him of. After a few bites, he realized that it reminded him of a gyoza dumpling sans the yummy wrapper. Just the inside of the gyoza. I suspect it has to do with the fresh ginger I grated in it. Maybe, I put too much?

Do you and your husband cook often? Who does the majority of the cooking in your household? Do you like to experiment with different recipes?

Too Cute for Words.

I'm a honest to God, cross my heart, true sucker when it comes to little details. So, when I saw this on How About Orange, I smiled warmly. How can you not?


It's an easily attainable detail to do. She uses a plastic lid that she got from her local deli and cut out the words using an exacto-knife. Hmmmm, I still have a lid from the potato salad I bought from our grocery store. What shall I write?

A Steal of a Bargain.

I've been digging the knit boots by UGG for a few years now. But, I just can't seem to muster myself to prop down the $139 for them. I already have two pairs of UGGS that I barely use. I think I'm traumatized from them a bit because the last time I wore them, I was watching a movie and suddenly in the middle of the movie, I became extremely hot. Like hot enough to take off my boots. Thank goodness that your feet doesn't sweat in UGGS, but still. I felt weird taking my boots off in a movie theater. Don't worry. I didn't lay my naked feet on the floor. I put them on top of my boots.

Anyways, on a whim, I decided to check out Target's boots. Lately, they've been having some cute shoes. Guess what I found! Their version of the knit boots. I couldn't believe it. It's called Muk Luks Horizontal Tree and they sell for $44.99. A huge steal, yes?

They also have them in a lower cut which is what I purchased. They sell for $18.99. Even though, they are called "booty slippers," you can still wear them outside as they have a hard surface on the bottom of the shoe.

The only down part is that they don't come other colors. The lower cut comes in just one other color and that is creme. I wished they came in black or grey. But oh wells. I can't complain given the price. Hopefully, when they arrive, I'll instantly like them as I did when I first saw them online. A full post boot report will be posted shortly. I promise.

Backyard is done!

Our backyard is done. Yaaaaay!!!! So happy to be looking outside to trees and plants, instead of dirt and weeds. The even better part, Maddie can go out and do her biznatch-- privately! For a year, we've been taking her outside to the front lawn and I would get embarrassed when people would walk by and see her do this. It's bad enough that our lawn showed it, too! We would have random yellow patches on the lawn.

The stain lady did a really good job. She's a one woman worker and I can't imagine how she does lots that are way bigger than ours alone. Much kudo's to her! Thank you, stain lady. You rock!

This is a picture that is in front of our door. I caught Maddie doing "sprints" back and forth and through the bark causing some of the bark to get loose onto the cement. Oh yeah, also caught her putting her nose in the bark. Luckily, I caught her in time before she got to the tarp to do some serious damage. So, needless, to say, whenever we catch her on the bark, we tell her to get off. Sorry, girl! It's way too early to be messin' up the backyard.

Now, all we need to get now is some patio furniture. Having to wait on that since patio furniture is pretty expensive. It's like shopping for indoor furniture all over again. If you have some places where you can suggest for some reasonably priced patio furniture, send them my way!

Nearly Done!

Today, the landscapers kicked butt! They planted all of the plants and trees and placed the bark in between the greenery. It's looking really good and I'm just loving how its turning out.

Tomorrow, the stain lady will be coming to stain the concrete a brown color. I'm really more excited about this part if anything. I can't wait to see how it turns out!

I took my very first video of our backyard. Eeek, I hate hearing my voice. Maddie makes an appearance, too!

In the Works.

Our postage stamp backyard is slowly coming along. The landscapers started working on it about two weeks ago. Starting with putting in all the drainage. We were and still are a bit worried since our backyard had a bit of a slope. We got mixed reviews from our estimators saying that we should put a small retaining wall because of the slope to no retaining wall is necessary; it's all in the draining placements. Ultimately, we decided to not place a retaining wall and go with placing a proper draining called "decko draining."

The area we are located in is partly known to flood. So far, we haven't experienced any flooding the few times it has rained. Let's hope it stays that way!

Last week, they just slabbed on the salt cod concrete. So far, it looks really good! I can't wait for the acrylic lady to come and stain it with the chocolate brown/light brown colors we chose together. We chose to go with the salt cod concrete because it was more reasonable. What I would give to have either stamped or pavers, but it was just way out of our budget. I guess you can say that the salt cod concrete is a ghetto version of stamped? They place salt all over the concrete for a few days . After a few days, they wash off the salt and BAM, you see all kinds of dibbits in the cement.

Here, we plan on putting lawn. All for Maddie. Parents kept insisting that we get the fake grass. The one that looks and feels like grass. It doesn't look like the Brady Bunch backyard grass or the mini golf turf anymore.

But, I just kept thinking about when she poos and how gross it will be to wash that stuff off. Like, what if it still smells and such? Eww. Plus, since we weren't asking for alot of grass, alot of landscapers won't give you the fake grass or recommend against it because it cost more. So, that basically solved our dilemma.

I can't wait for it all to be finished. I'm hoping that once its all finished, we can throw a little bbq to celebrate and break it in.

The hubs has been doing quite the research on gas grills. Fortunately, we have a gas hookup for a grill, so we don't have to deal with propane stuff.

We found out that all Webers hardly ever go on sale. They are like Apple Mac's. The closest to a good deal we found on Webers was no tax, free delivery and no additional fee to put it together at California Backyards. That's how they compete with the other competitors who sell Webers. It's a good deal and we nearly got one there. So glad that we found out this information as we would have been going through all these stores comparing prices of Webers. As much as we would love to splurge on a Weber, I think we are going to go with Weber's other brand called, Ducane. Its made by Weber and has all the Weber like qualities, has great reviews, but not the price.