Kids Bliss

One's life has been drastically changed.  Lifestyles are adjusted; challenges have been coped; sacrifices are just being a part of it; ego and selfishness are getting faded; freedom is being revoked and most of the time one's struggling to get alone time or a break;  Feel like 24-hours a day is not enough for a day and tiredness and exhausts usually ends one's day, just to name a few.

If all or some of the above are hitting you?  Then, congratulations for your promotion and welcome to the parenthood :)

For instance, here are a few examples from myself:

Staying up late and cruising before computer or TV or whatever thing one like to do at home beyond midnight becomes a thing in the past.

Someone who hated to be waken up during the sound sleep have to get up countless times during the nights, especially when those little ones get sick.  At times, it involves cleaning up their puke and changing bed sheets during midnight or at dawn.

Someone who is so sensitive about dirt and disgusting stuff finds herself changing their diapers or having to wait and clean them up at the restrooms right in the middle of the meal.

Going out becomes a challenge and a hassle because it requires one to bring diapers, formula, jackets, stroller, extra clothes and so on and on.  A lot of the times, finding oneself feeding or changing diapers to that cute little one often at the shopping center.  Or chasing those little toddlers where one is running to the east and another towards the west instead of shopping.

Getting up late on Saturdays' mornings at the cost of a huge pile of messes everywhere around the house due to the outcome of their play.

Having to clean their stuff up from the dining table right before almost every meal becomes a routine of one's life.

Finding markers, marks, hand or foot prints on the wall of one's brand new house or a brand new expensive genuine leather couch or other expensive furniture in the house will no longer make one upset or have one to forget about what meltdown moments mean become pretty usual.

One can't keep up cleaning her car just because the back row of one's car where their car seats are and where they sit literally becomes a trash yard.

Put aside Pleasures, Eternity, No. 5 or Red Door or any other favorite perfumes one likes.  One often finds that baby puke is the defaulted fragrance you got.

One doesn't get any of her pick anymore for any outdoor places, restaurants or even the vacation spots. Family-friendly ones are by default. Period.

You give the designer bags up for their enrichment classes tuition fee or a piano or an ice skating shoes for them.

And so on and on and on...

Familiar some or all of the above?  Welcome to my world!!

But here is the good news...

The love flowing between you to them or from them to you alone keeps one's life perfect and wonderful.

You live your life for them and they are absolutely the meanings of it. They are the reasons which make your world spinning.


Your life goals and definitions are more refined because that incredible power of love you're getting is pushing you to work harder for a better life of your family.  This is what you come home for everyday even on the worst day.

You will never feel alone.  Never, ever and forever!!!

Those little noises and laughter make your life so colorful.  At times, their accomplishments and achievements make you a proud mama and brings nothing but ecstasy.

They make your heart so warm with those cute little gestures.

I broke with the exhaust and a meltdown moment just the other day so I went into our bedroom to get a timeout to calm myself down.  Soon after that I felt an extremely soft touch on my forehead by a soft and warm hand.  Apparently, the touch was so gentle and careful not to wake me up.  Wondering it might have been him who came and comforted me.  To my surprise, it was Sophie.  I saw her little face was loaded with lots of concerns for me.  Then she tried to reach to the dresser next to our bed for a glass of water she  brought with her and asked me to drink.  At the same time she gave me a gentle kiss on my face!  Oh my!! Can you feel my heart was melting?

Not long ago, I was coughing and getting sick.  Michelle rushed towards me and climbed over me in no time. Then she started patting my back to make me relieve from my cough.  Apparently, she learned that from me when I did it to her every time she was coughing hard.  Her little hand reached my forehead to feel my temperature.  And she ran to grab a glass of water for me.  At the same time she brought the blanket and tried to cover me up with it.  Oh my goodness!  Can you imagine how cute and sweet it was?  I was just so speechless!

No exact words to express how I felt yet I was so touched and ecstatic by both of their gestures.  It's just so priceless!

Whenever you shed your tears, those little extra pairs of hands are always there to help you wipe it.  How's soothing!! Parenting is such a rewarding experience and it makes you feel like everything you've done for them seems so worth it.

They completes the definition of love and love is always just in the air around you.

Their love, their touches, their kisses, their companies are just sweeter than any sweet in the world.  Can't ask more.  Really!!

They are the hope of your life and it's one of the essential reasons to keep your life going.  Just seeing those little ones who are a part of your flesh and got your blood running inside them alone can make you feel so amazing!!

You pamper them today and I believe they will pamper you back when you grow older and become needy. I've been seeing lots of examples around me for such returns even though I'm not counting on or expecting them for any paybacks or returns.

Just like my late beloved little aunt who was a single told me, "You get the freedom for whatever you want to do and suffer it when you grow older as there's no offspring or anyone who can actually devote and take care of you when you're really in need.  Or you could sacrifice your freedom now but get the fruitful returns when you grow old."  She added that "I recommend you to get married and have a family instead of suffering from being loner which becomes more and more obvious as you grow older".

Her words become more and more making sense as I'm experiencing it.  One of my coworkers who is a divorced mom always comes and share her joys whenever she gets the care and whenever her son tells her that how he would protect and take care of her for the rest of her life once he's grown up and got a job.  I absolutely can feel the sweetness she's consuming!

There's no doubt about a huge difference between "Life with kids" and "Life without kids".  Either one has pain and gain.  Everyone has their own choices and preferences and I of course have no offense for those who continued to enjoy their lives of being single and alone.  However, I got my own pick and it can't be happier with my choice.

Love and family is the most precious item I've got and I'm nothing without them.  There got pain and countless sacrifices but I personally feel they are nothing compared to the gain.  The bliss my kids bring to my life is the essential euphoric medical intake for both of my hubby and me which compensates our exhausts and such and also recharges our busy life to keep it going.  They are our biggest motivators who make our worlds go around.  It's just so rewarding and life is good and sweet.  That's all I gotta say!!!! :D

"New" Syndrome

You've got a new stuff, especially it's really expensive or pricey.  You're so thrilled to have or own it.  At the same time, you've overloaded concerns about it.  You treasure it so much that you are extra cautious while using it as you want to keep it as close as brand new condition.  In case anything happens to it, you'll protect it with everything within your power.  You'd rather get your hands or your feet or any part of your body hurt instead of letting anything happen to it :P

Sometimes, you're kind of hesitant when you let others to use it.  Under unavoidable circumstances, when you let others to use it, you're loaded with tons of worries as if they might break it.  When they don't treasure and use it the way you would, it will make you so miserable.  At times, without even being aware of yourself you have already confronted others or show your upset with your opinion as if they commit a crime to you.

Oh yeah!  You will get past with all these miseries at one point but you're at hype at the very beginning of your ownership :D

If all or some of those coincide with one of your experiences, welcome to my world!  You have so-called "New" syndrome: a syndrome we get for "New" stuff where we extremely treasure.  LOL :P

Every once in a while, I get this "New" syndrome.  When we just got our brand new house, we (especially I) were initially so reluctant to pin a needle on the wall even though I wanted to hang some pictures or paintings on the wall :P  Believe it or not!  It took us quite a couple of months to finally come to a decision to pin a hole on the wall :P

My uncle told me a story that one of his friends even slap his kids' hands whenever they try to put them on the wall as he was afraid of leaving some dirty marks on it.  Oh NO!!!!  It was just way too much.  I guess I can't beat him :P

But check this out though!  When we just got our cars, they were brand new of course.  I was initially really reluctant to set a foot on it as I was concerned of making the brand new carpets dirty.  And when I close the door, I would try as gentle as possible.  When I heard his action to shutting the door was louder than mine, I would start complaining him for slamming the doors.  At that point, I was even hesitant to drive it to long distance as I didn't want to increase mileage of my car :P

With that said, I got some better stories than mine though.  One of my previous coworkers would only drive his car for "to-and-fro" short commute from his house to the office.  For any vacation or long distance drive, he would rent a car to save mileage on his car.  :P  My hubby was like "Why so?  I don't get it!!!" when he heard about it.

And another good one here: my big boss in Singapore once let us sit in his Toyota Camry for a group lunch.  When we'd got to the destination, he told us not to come out yet. Then he jumped out of his car and rushed to the door and open it for us.  I was the last one to come out so I thought I should close it.  You didn't want to let your boss close the door for you, didn't you?  So I pushed the door (gently) and it didn't even close properly.  He was like "Oh, NO, NO!!!! Slowly!!  Slowly!!! You're hurting my car door!!"  "WOWWW!!!!"  and "OMG!!!!"  Those were all I could say.  LOL :P

Well, owning a car in Singapore back then was really costly.  Public transportation in Singapore is so good so the government made it so pricey to own a car to save the limited parking issue on the island.  Therefore, if you own a car, even a Toyota Corolla, you're something in Singapore.  Owning a Camry is up to another level and it makes one a proud owner so I can't really blame him of course :D

Have your ever run into a situation when one of your precious belongings is dropping?  You'll try to catch or save it all you can.  For some cases, you might save it but your hand or you leg or a part of your body ends up getting hurt.  But right at that moment, the instance response from our brain was just to save it all you can at all cost.  If you couldn't for some reasons, it'll just ruin your day or your mood.  I'm in no doubt fall into that category of course :P

He always tries to tell or explain me to shun myself from that so-called "New Syndrome".  He said that those were just simply the material illusions and none of them are much more precious than ourselves.  He asked me whether those materialistic things are much more important or whether loved ones and others around us are more important?  Protecting them by hurting oneself or hurting the feelings of loved ones or others around us, does it really worth it?

Well, all his words apparently really make sense.  I get it.  But as you know, good things are hard to follow and it takes time :P  To change one's mindset and mentality need time and practice.  I'm getting there and I'm much more better now than where I used to be before.

One of my new year's resolutions is to get away with "New" syndrome.  Happy New Year everyone and hope you're also free from "New" syndrome if any!!! :)

Holly Jolly Christmas

Jolly Old Saint Nicholas,

Lean your ear this way;

Don't you tell a single soul

What I'm going to say,

Christmas Eve is coming soon;

Now you dear old man,

Whisper what you'll bring to me;

Tell me if you can.

...

Those are the lyrics from one of the Christmas carol pieces Sophie has been practising on her piano.

It was so funny last night that Sophie rushed inside the house in the quest of surprised presents from Santa as soon as we got back home from our vacation.  When she couldn't locate any, she felt extremely upset, and went inside the closet in their room, closing those sliding mirror closet doors and sat down in that dark corner with a sad face wearing a huge disappointment.

When I tried to comfort her with presents we got for them, it didn't do it of course as they weren't from Santa she pouted.

I didn't think that it would be such a big deal so I didn't wrap and prepare the gifts and secretly leave them at a corner of our house (since we didn't plan to decorate Christmas tree this year due to the limited space in our current place) before our vacation.  My bad!!

Being a non-Christian and coming from a country where Christmas is not widely celebrated (it held at least true until when I was there), it was so amazing to learn about the beliefs of Santa's existence by kids in this country at the beginning.  What Christmas to me back then was that it was merely something which was celebrated by my Christians neighbors.  Even when I was in Singapore, I visited Orchard Road and enjoyed staring at those beautiful vast Christmas decorations every year and it was nothing more than that for me.

I used to think that Santa doesn't have anything to do with me until when girls starting to learn about Santa at their preschools and make me leave a cup of milk with a cookie under the Christmas tree on Christmas Eve.  And I learnt to secretly take a bite of cookie while girls were falling into asleep to convince them that Santa really came and left presents for them on that night in our house :D

Apparently, I'm getting there but there's always rooms for improvements, don't you think? :P

Once there got this famous news here that a teacher was in trouble for breaking the news to her students during the class that Santa was fake.  Not only parents of the students of the teacher, but also almost all parents nationwide got furious after hearing the news.  Even my boss back then had a very upset conversation with others in the office including me by blaming the teacher for being so clueless.

All those young kids who are small enough to buy the idea of Santa's existence, St. Nick or Mr. C is really there making a list of nice and naughty to make sure whom to be given presents and whom would be excluded from his list.  And on Christmas Even, Santa will be visiting kids all over the world on his flying raindeers and is sneaking into house to house via chimney to leave the presents to good and well-behaved kids.  And every kid is so concerned of not getting a gift from Santa.

It was so funny when Sophie was so concerned how Santa would come into our house back in Sacramento which doesn't come with chimney.  I had to convince her that modern houses don't have chimneys and Santa would use the garage for those which don't have one.

To me, it wasn't until recently which I learnt that St. Nicholas who is a Greek Christian bishop who likes to secretly leave money or presents the poor kids on Christmas Eve is somehow linked as a Santa.  Thanks to Wikipedia! :P

Well, I'm learning more and more as you see :D  And for Sophie & Michelle, we're now celebrating Christmas every year just like everyone else here.  Christmas is such a huge festival and celebration over here for family time, reunion and get-together, just like what Chinese Lunar New Year is for Chinese.

Girls told me that Christmas is one of their favorite holidays.  Perhaps what they really love is presents they got by then I guess, LOL :P

About last night's incident for Sophie's big disappointment (Michelle is easygoing and she was disappointed too but wasn't as bad as her big sister), I was lucky enough to cover it up for my bad.  Am I being such an ignorant mom who didn't take serious for the fact that any kid here is so much concerned of not getting a present from Santa because they don't like to be regarded as bad kids?

Well, I of course got my own excuses just like everyone else.  :P  Sophie even asked me before our trip whether Santa actually exists and Christmas gifts actually come from Santa or from us?  I didn't really say "Yes" or "No" and my answer was really vague.  But I thought she was smart enough to figure the truth out at that early age :P

Anyway, my lucky helper is that they sometimes didn't behave during the trip (Oh, yeah! When they become bored after sitting long hours in the car, I learnt from my experiences that naughty and misbehaved kids are unavoidable :P) so I had to threaten them that Santa might retract his presents to them due to their mischief.

I think Sophie buys it and the same goes to Michelle for breaking iPad during the trip.  Probably that's why she was easier than her big sister last night as she knows her guilt.

Oh, well, I guess that there's always one good thing out of all madness or bad, right?  I just hope that girls will behave better from now on so that they won't be excluded from Santa's list for presents next year :P  At the same time, the lesson learnt for me is that secret presents on Christmas Eve are so important and it's a "must-do" on my list from next year on (until they are old enough to take the truth about Santa) :D

Other than that, we really got a good white Christmas on San Jacinto Mountain until the evening and a family movie time at home after getting back home.  And Sophie ended the night beautifully by playing Christmas Carols on her piano for us (Yes! Her big disappointment didn't last that long.  Thanks God!  :P). And it's holiday too, yeah? :D

Merry Christmas everyone (or perhaps Happy Boxing Day?  :P) and I hope everyone had a nice Christmas too!

If you have a clean soul and no evil wills then you'll have a good life!

While I was getting my tea in the kitchen earlier, I heard the conversation between two of my coworkers about other coworkers pissing them off at times.  Suddenly, one of them pointed to me and said that "She's always so pleasant and it's a big assets."  It's hard to do you know he added.  Well, I'm really flattered for his compliment of course :D

And just earlier, My aunt and I happened to talk about people's "jealousy".  

So, these two points which come onto my mind today becomes this blog post of course.

I'm a big believer that "If you have a clean soul and no evil wills then you'll get a good fate".

However, we as human beings at times deviate from it and misbehaves from time to time.  It's even unavoidable for some religious monks so it's very obvious that it's harder for ordinary human beings like us to practise and stick with it.

A lot of times, "gossips" are very common among us as human beings.  And what's interesting even more is that those gossips are mainly rooted from one's so-called jealousy in my opinion.

It's so easy to cause jealousy to those who aren't doing as good as those who are doing so well or much better than them.  When one in such mode, happiness apparently is out of question.  

And the next thing you know is that they either might trip you and pull you down.  Any mistakes you made or any misfortune you gotwill be monitored by them and you will be their victim under exaggerated bad-fouled gossips before you even know it.  

Basically, those jealous people will celebrate and cheerful for your failures and mistakes.  But you'll be confronted for any of your success and anything better you got than them.  Those are unpleasant things 

 to me really!  I have two "S" words for such unpleasantness: "Sad" first of all and "sick" second of all.  It's just not so unhealthy.

I of course have been victims of those evil wills every now and then. I got so many stories but I guess there's no point to waste everyone time including mine upon them :)

And I have came across a lot of people who only want to regard you as a family, relative or friend when you're doing so well.  If not, you will feel like you don't even exist in their eyes.  It's really disgusting to me!

As I grow older, I don't want to hold any grudges toward anyone who did wrong to me.  I used to feel the growing of heat of those grudges inside me.  It was really hot and burning me every once in a while.  I was merely one of their jealous victims and why would I burn myself for somebody else's faults or wrongdoings?  

When "forget" or "forgive" couldn't be a solution, "neglect" or "ignore" are the resolutions I adopted.  I feel much happier that way.  I just believe those people one day will go to the places where they deserve.  They don't need any of the punishment or revenge from me.

With all those said, I'm not saying that I myself is a perfectionist.  At least, I don't commit those jealousy crimes either physically or verbally :)  I'm still one of the human beings.  Every human has sins and every once in a while none of us is free from such sinful acts. 

However, I usually thrive myself to live up to this motto of my life: "If I have a clean soul and no evil wills then I'll have a good fate". Whenever I feel like I'm falling into the crack, remembering my life motto will keep me back on track.  I think it's really important because it's one of the important factors which make us pleasant and desirable!!!

In the pursuit of alone time

As a kid I used to be really envious of those successful grown ups with super busy schedule for some reasons :)  I still remember that I used to pretend play like I'm a director or an executive who was so busy that she didn't even have time for her lunch or dinner at times. 

Little did I know that Buddha would grant my wish one day, not being a director or an executive but a super busy working mom :P 

As I've already mentioned in several other blogs, struggling between a full-time job and trying to fulfill the housewife and mom role usually leaves me as a very exhausting one who got very little or almost no energy at the end of the day.  I couldn't even remember that there got how many nights that I fall into asleep before girls had fallen asleep while I was putting them asleep. :D

I find out that I'm not alone when other moms shared the exact same thing with me during Thanksgiving party at Michelle's preschool.  Regardless of stay-home moms or working ones, we as moms got the exact same topmost wish list.  Guess what?  It is to have own little personal time at the end of each day of course.

Well, didn't I just mention earlier that I barely got enough energy just to go and sleep by the time those little ones go to bed?  You heard me right.  Then, stretching out the last chunk of energy to its max possibility for the pleasure of one's personal free time aka so-called independence time of mine is the one and only solution as one could imagine of course :P

It was all good until my heavy eyes and tiring body are softly killing me at work the next day.  Then, I would swear to myself that I wouldn't stay up late for the night again but "it depends" is the only promise as good as I could make to myself I guess. 

Why?  Whenever the overwhelming desire for having my own little personal time re-appears, the vow I had made earlier could nowhere be found.  Just like that the same pattern repeats and life goes on... :P

Enjoying tiny little spare time out of exhaust or having fun with tiredness for the lost independence I'm trying to claim or just feeding my minds to quench the thirst of independence or whatever you name it.  It really satisfies one for that time being no matter what payoff I gotta make.  I'm sure that there got so many of us as busy parents in the same boat hear me well. 

Hmmm... I don't think we should be guilty for trying to pursue own spare time and pleasure every once in a while as I do believe that parents need time outs too.  I don't think I have heart to leave him alone with girls for mom getaway for a short break or timeout.  But I could become desperate for the pursuit of alone time at times.  "Desperate mom the alone time seeker" is the title for me?  You name it and I'll take it :P

Unbreakable Invisible Ties

 

Courtesy of Google and credit goes to the original graphic designer of this lovely picture

I was prompted with an opportunity at work to go to a conference at Las Vegas.  It's a really good opportunity for me to get exposure to the latest technologies and trends but the fact that I need to stay away from my family for a couple of days was really holding me back.  It was quite a bit of a "go-or-no-go" mentality battle for me.

I thought I would just skip it but he signaled the green light and thus I finally made the call for my attendance of the conference.  I broke the news to Sophie and she broke her tears.  Here are her words: "Mama, I really don't want you to go to Las Vegas.  I want you to be with me always.  If you go, I will go also.  I won't let you go all by yourself."  Oh, my!!!! It was such a touchy feely mommy and Sophie's moment.  After the thorough explanation to her that I would be going away just for a few days and I would be back, she felt better.

I was more hesitate to share this news with little Michelle as she attaches to me so much.  She expressed the same concern as Sophie and thought that I would be going away for a long time or would not come back.  She also mentioned that she didn't want me to go away even for a day.  Oh, my God!  I knew she would say that.  But at least she didn't shed her tears like Sophie and I was so glad that.  Seeing their tears really hurts me!  She used to cry a lot when she couldn't find me beside her in the bed in the morning when I often needed to head to work early.

SIGH!!!!!  $%&***@###$$$$%

Do you know what "Family" stand for?
F- Father
A- And
M- Mother
I- I
L- Love
Y- You

I got it from one of the forwarded emails from a friend long long ago.  The meaning of each letter just so makes sense.  How amazing it's that someone lay it out for such a meaningfulness!!

If love is some sort of string then it's one which is soft and gentle enough to touch and move one's heart.  Yet it's one of the strongest and unbreakable ones which can tie the hearts of all of us as family members forever.  Really, love and family they are inseperable and they indeed are unbrekable invisible ties!

Beauty of Sisterhood

As a kid, I always wonder what it'll be like having a loving and caring big sister!

Just the other day, we were joking to girls that if Sophie didn't listen to us, she would end up staying with grand parents back in China for some period of time.  To my big surprise, it wasn't Sophie who was scared and shocked. Instead, it was little Michelle who immediately started to cry and yell so anxiously that she wouldn't let her big sister go.  At the same time, she was begging us to let her big sister stay together with her as always.

I was so amazed and touched by a 4-year old's response and love for her big sister.  It was one of the cutest and sweetest things of sisterhood.  How lovely and sweet!  At the same time, I can't be happier for the love and attachment they have for each other.

When Michelle was first sent to the preschool at the age of 2, she cried so hard everyday for coping with new environment: new teachers, new school, new friends, etc.  I was told by girls' preschool teacher that Sophie usually came to Michelle's side (as she's in Pre-K side and Michelle's at Toddler side), stayed, kept company, comforted her little sister all the time.  All of her teachers praised her for being a very good caring big sister!

Even though the rocky and distant relationship I got with my big brother, I never want that it'll be the case for my girls.  We used to be very close and he used to a very loving and caring big bro until things started to flip him over.  Or may be it was him who started to flip things around him.  Either way, when things started not to work out for us, I started to mourn for a big sister who is willing to share every inside out with me and who literally is my best friend in this world.

I'm so glad that girls are naturally and instinctually embracing the blessings of sisterhood they're getting.  I can't be happier for their lovely gestures, mutual love and care towards each other.  This is sweeter than any sweet in the world!  Keep it up, girls!  Let this precious love glow all the way through!

"A sister is a gift to the heart, a friend to the spirit, a golden thread to the meaning of life."

"Having a sister is like having a best friend you can't get rid of. You know whatever you do, they'll still be there."

"What's the good of news if you haven't a sister to share it?" ~ Jenny DeVries

Come, Come, Come and Sing!

Sophie got her very first singing recital from her After School about two weeks ago.  I've been  meaning to write a post for her but was getting so busy and haven't accomplished it yet as I wish. Well, I gotta admit that procrastination plays part of it too since I was lazy to copy over the pictures and video clips from the phone to the computer so that I could upload some to my post :)

As an excited mom for my girl's first recital, I prepared to charge all batteries of my camera, my video camera, my phone and whatever device I can use to take or record her performances.  Electronic recording gadgets overloading.... :P

Everything was in order and we were off to go the venue where she would be performing her recital only to find out that my camera got the missing battery which I apparently forgot to put it back after charging.  Ahhhhh...  What's a failure!

Other than blaming to myself, there weren't much I could do :(  And the light setting was so dim and the color appearing in our video camera looked liked sepia or so.  Another under preparation or failure at my end for the gadget we hardly use these days, just because we're lazy to bring it to everywhere even though its small size.  I'm sure that we could have figured something out for the better and more vibrant color recording by it with some advanced testing and preps.  Then, I was given no choice but only stuck with camera/video camera of our iPhones.

And guess what?  Everything tried to go against me on that day.  I rushed to take a seat at the second row so that I would be able to take a good recording of her performance only to find out that I picked the wrong side.  There was a center aisle and seating arrangement rows were on each side of the aisle.  I picked the right hand side of the center aisle's middle seating of the second row.  That's the opposite far end of where Sophie would be standing on the stage.

There were a group of about 10 girls doing the performance altogether and Sophie stood at the leftmost end.  So I was barely able to see her from the place I was sitting.  I asked her to come to rightmost end so that I would get a good picture of her but she just stuck to stay at her position there as it was the position arranged by her teacher she insisted.  What can I say?

There were two other parents sitting on my left hand side who seemed to be parents of one of those 10 girls in Sophie's chorus.  They were also recording their daughter's performance so I was not in a position to get out of my seating and moved to a different seating to get a better view of her.  I didn't want to be a very annoying mom who is super-excited so she would do anything to get a good view or recording of her kids by getting in other people's way or blocking view of someone else, etc.

So, there was nothing I could do other than blaming myself once again for not planning ahead by asking Sophie where she would be standing on the stage so that I could pick a seating with a better angle of view accordingly.  Lesson learnt is to do more planning and preparation next time.  Sigh!!!

Other than those few hiccups, I was really amazed by she and her group's singing.  They did three songs: two Chinese songs and one English song.  I had to say that they did a great job.  She did learn lots of stuff during her singing class.  Most of all, she loves singing and she had fun and enjoyed her class and recital.  That's what it matters most to us.

At the end of the third song, I was clapping my hands so hard to give her a big applaud.  It was just a recital and I could have been more proud if she is to do her individual performance.  Nonetheless, the chorus they did was pretty awesome and cute and it gave me nothing other than a proud mom's ecstasy.  I used to be so anxious for getting on the stage.  Having no stage fright alone makes me so proud of her already.  Well done, girl!  Jia you, Jia you!!

    Pictures and Videos to come..... :P

Work Coma

Almost everyone has heard of food coma, right?  That's what happened to me during holiday festivals such as Thanksgiving and Christmas.  Too much food and thus I got a food coma :P

This year, I stayed away from Black Friday so I was able to preserve my energy.  And we gave up the idea of visiting to Grand Canyon and around.  Sit back, relax and rested so well.  That was the sort of my ideal vacation anyway. 

But guess what?  I was getting the work coma for the whole day for getting back to work after a long break.  After getting such a comfy days at home, it was such a dragging to go back to work.  With heavy eyes, dragging feet, slow hands, semi-frozen brain from holiday, I can't think of anything other than "work coma" to describe myself at work today.  Thanks God!  The work was easy on me today and I couldn't really complain of course. 

Instead of waking myself up from work coma, I'm feeling so ready for another holiday.  Oh, NO!!  Gold please helps!!!!!  Work Coma for real!!  ZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz   :P

My Black Fridays' Shopping Craze

Another Black Friday had just passed.  It's the Friday following the Thanksgiving Day.  And it's the biggest holiday shopping season for shoppers here as tons of one of the best deals are being revealed. 

For my very first year in the States, I just wanted to have an idea of a Black Friday so we went out to look around.  We happened to go to BestBuy which is one of the most crowded places for Black Friday every year.  I still remembered that moment when I was able to grab the last tub of CD R/W discs which comes with about 50 discs for just $1.99 or so.  But when we headed to the cashier to make the payment, the line was about 100m long.  That was the biggest crowd or longest line I've first ever seen in the States.  And yes, we gave up buying it as it didn't worth to wait for hours to check out. 

And after that incident, I kept a distance from Black Friday and I felt it was not my cup of tea. A few more years of Black Friday quietly passed by me. 

It was until when we pulled a trigger for our brand new house.  It was when I was thinking to load our new house with new stuff, I started to flip the coin and was getting to start falling in love with Black Friday.  We got tons of good deals during then and it was a very fruitful Black Friday. 

Since then my Black Friday shopping madness had been unfolded.  Whenever it's approaching to Black Friday, I'm always excited by monitoring and digging deals.  Every year, I got a pretty long wish list or To-buy list.  While I still couldn't beat those who tent at BestBuy a day or two before sales start in the cold winter weather so that they could grab those limited quantity door busters before they are gone, I have my own judgement so I usually head out to the place where I can handle the crowd.

I still remember that dawn when I would be hunting down the deals by myself for the first time in my whole life for that early in the morning.  He needed to stay home to take care of the girls.  It was still dark outside and I was kind of scared that I would be robbed or stopped by bad guys on the way to the shopping center.  But my determination to deals hunting and my love of shopping embraced my braveness so I went out for shopping alone anyway.

To my surprise, when I got to the shopping center, it was all bright everywhere.  And when I entered the store, all shopping carts and bags were gone.  Oh, yeah!  It was so silly of me who was so scared with own thoughts or imagination that it would be really deserted just by being myself alone or with a few other people who would be waiting in the dark outside the store to get its door opened.  I learnt that when it says the door will open at 4:00am I should be there by around 3:00am so that at least I would be able to get a shopping cart :D

Just like that, Black Friday has been giving me excitement before it comes and satisfaction after it has gone.  :P

Another remarkable Black Friday was I had gone wild shopping since the mid night.  Going in and out of one shop to another and hopping from one shopping mall to another, my shopping craze just went on and on.  By the afternoon, I became no exhausted providing that no sleep was taken for Thanksgiving night.  And it took me not only Friday evening but also the whole following Saturday to make all the sleep deprivation up.  And my long weekend was simply gone just like that.  Since then I made up my mind that I would not repeat such hysteria again.

My this year's shopping resolution is not to buy anything which I would not need no matter how good the deal is.  Plus, I don't really have much desire for Black Friday shopping craze this year.  And the good thing about this year is that most of the big retailer like Walmart, Target and BestBuy started out their sale as soon as it hit 12:00am mid night of Wednesday, which was considered to be the first minute of Thanksgiving day.  Most of the deals were available online and I managed to get almost everything I needed via online.

When I saw Black Friday shopping frenzies via the evening news of this year's Black Friday, I was so glad that I didn't even have any possibility of one of those victims.  I just feel like it's just not so worth to risk your life or pick a fight or argument with someone else just to save some $$$. 

I did Saturday and Sunday shopping and it was equally fruitful as well.  I think most of the retailers are getting smarter in the sense that they keep most of Black Friday's deals ongoing so that people who do not like to beat the crowd like me also got a chance to grab some good deals.  This way they will have a higher sales volume as well.  I called it as an equally fruitful holiday shopping as I got one Coach bag, one Michael Kors bag, one Ann Taylor sweater, some stuff from Victoria Secret's and winter clothing for girls from Macys.  And most of my holiday gifts shopping were done as well.  Most of all, I'm glad that I didn't buy any junk this year.  Bingo!

And I really like Cyber Monday as well.  Online shopping is much easier and I personally prefer it a lot.  Just need to be careful to stick with reputable sites or retailers to prevent oneself from Identity Theft.  The only downside of Cyber Monday is that most of all are back to work and I couldn't get the most out of it, LOL :P  Hmmm.... How I wish that Cyber Monday should be stipulated as one of the holidays too.  Well, that's just my wish list.  May be that's what I gonna ask from Santa this year and wish that Santa will really grant my wish.  Only if I'm a few decades younger and believe in the existence of Santa like all of those kids here though :P