Oooh, New Techy Toy!

I have decided; we NEED a new cordless phone in our place. Especially since Kay is now a tweenager and is constantly babbling on the ONLY cordless phone we have in the place. Sometimes she talks so long that the battery dies and we have no access to the landline until it charges up. Also, I would like to replace the crappy corded phone we have in my bedroom with a new phone. It’s so crappy; it makes static noises when you are using it. WTF? It’s a CORDED phone, how does it get staticky? Dunno… I wanted to purchase a second Siemens cordless phone, similar to the one we have but more updated because it’s awesome. I discovered the other day that I could take it outside and have clarity while talking or listening, no static. Wow! Kay has taken the phone into the laundry room which is pretty much underground and no problems. On numerous occasions, we accidentally dropped the phone and it’s never failed us yet. Except for a few minor scratches here and there, it’s in almost perfect condition. Plus the BONUS of this phone, the technology and adversity of the Seimens phones built and made like a cellular phone with menus on the screen. One of the reasons why I purchased the Seimens phone is it reminded me of my own cellphone. Today, at lunch, I headed over to London Drugs and Future Shop and I noticed neither carried the Seimens cordless phones. I inquired with a salesperson at LD and he stated that Seimens no longer distributes their cordless phones to the North American market. WHAT?!?! No way, I love their phones and I could do with any one of these. Yes, I do recall paying quite a bit of money for my old cordless but it is worth every penny. I might have to get R to look into purchasing one for me the next time he is in Europe or maybe in Taiwan I'm sure they sell them there. Right? :) So I ended up with a Panasonic 5.8 GHZ without the answering machine, which doesn’t seem too bad but not my Seimens phone. I’ll test it out and see how it does. This one seems to have shock and water resistance so I might have to switch the phones around and keep this one in the living area. Kay is prone to dropping and eating while on the phone.

My Weekend...

… consists of chauffering my Mother and Daughter around.

Saturday
I spent the day driving Kay and her friend, C around the city for C’s chinese/swimming lessons. After C finished her lessons, I dropped them off at C’s house and headed over to R’s place to check his mail. I decided to head over to Zellers to pick up some miscellanous items for myself. During the day, the weather was somewhat rainy and with slight flurries (wet snow) but as day turned into evening, it became very cold and the flurries turned into freezing rain. C’s Mom, E, invited me out for dinner, a thank you for the weekends I’ve been driving her daughter around. The Girls wanted to go to this very popular pasta restaurant in their neighborhood and E has never been nor does she know how to order pasta. This place is known for their notorious line-ups. As luck would have it, I became the choosen one (E worked until 7.30pm so it was decided that I would head over to the restaurant to line up). At 7.00pm, I was in the line up. There were already 20 people ahead of me. Apparently, it was a birthday night, two larger groups in front and the rest two’s and four’s. I waited 50 minutes for a table when they finally called my name. But guess what, I couldn’t have it because my party was not there yet. Apparently, there is a rule … damn. E was running late at work so by the time they ended up at the restaurant, it was 8.15pm. Luckily, we were able to get a table at that moment they all arrived, thank goodness! I WAS STARVING! I didn’t have lunch, saving my tummy for the yummy pasta, and it is definetly worth the wait. If you are ever in the area, starving for pasta and willing to stand in a line up for an hour or so in rain or shine, go check out Anton’s Pasta on Hastings, Burnaby.

Sunday
Headed over to my Mom’s house to visit Grandma and Mom as I do every weekend, the dutiful daughter I am. My Grandma had a couple of appointments with different sellers who were selling their Toyota Corollas. One of them was located in Burnaby by Middlegate Mall but we agreed to meet somewhere in the middle which we decided was the parking lot in the Old Orchard Mall. This seller’s asking price was a little bit higher than the others but the condition of his car was fairly new. Mom decided to make an offer, about $2,000 less than what they were asking, but they declined the offer and were not willing to budge in price. Oh well, too bad for them. We then headed over to Army & Navy to browse their weekly deals. I wanted to get my weekly grocery shopping done but time was cut short when Mom realized she needed to head home for her MJ game. Grandma made dinner for us and after dinner, I sat and chatted with Grandma for about an hour. I left by 7.30ish because I needed to pick Kay up from C’s and it was getting late for a school/work night. I was pretty tired by the time I picked Kay up and decided agaisnt going grocery shopping, headed home to get ready for bed. I guess I can wait until Monday night to get my grocery shopping done.

That’s pretty much the exciting weekend I had…. Hope you all had a great weekend…..

TGIF

It has been a long week….. I am so glad this week is OVER. Although, I won’t get much chance to rest this weekend due to the chauffeuring I will be doing, at least I won’t be chained to my cubicle.

Two Golds, Two Silvers, One Doh!

Canada's Men's Hockey Team LOSES... wtf? A bunch of Professional NHL players making millions of dollars can't cut it? Surprise, surprise.... but HEY! The Canadian Ladies made us Proud! TWO GOLDS & TWO SILVERS... WOOHOO!! :)

Studen LED Conference

Kay had her Student LED Conference tonight and she tried to sneak out of it by saying I didn’t have to attend this conference. The last couple of years, Teachers set appointment times for the children and their parents to come in throughout the afternoon/evening. But this year, it is an open house and no scheduled time slots which I find makes it hard to speak to the Teacher if you need to. After dinner, we headed over to the school and Kay introduced me to her schoolwork / projects. She had a folder of current homework/tests/projects and she showed me around the classroom about what they had done and what they are learning. I found out how disorganized Kay can be and after seeing her tests, I told her she needs to be more prepared during her study time. She seems to be doing just average when I know she can do better. We now have to organize her time after school and I told her no more TV or computer after school. She’s not too pleased with the idea but that’s that. She can’t be sneaking the computer around me (she comes home on her own after school) because I told her I can check to see if she has been online. Now, she comes home and she has to spend an hour or so on her homework and she must practice her violin and read before turning the TV or computer on. After showing me around and showing me her school work, I wanted to speak to the Teacher but she was busy with another student/his parents so Kay tried to sneak me out by dodging the Teacher. The Teacher noticed we were leaving and told me she needed to speak to me before we left. Basically, she told me Kay was struggling a little bit at her math, multiplying double digits. The VSB gave the school a little bit of funding and the funding was distributed amongst the classes. Her Teacher used the funds to hire a tutor for some of the students who were having problems in the class. Kay was one of the students sent to the tutor for help. The tutor found that if Kay applied her time and was shown the right direction, Kay would not have any troubles with math. Basically it comes down to Kay being a little lazy, if she applied herself, she would catch on. Now she must complete all her math corrections for homework and Teacher thinks she will do fine but if she continues to have problems, I may need to send her to an after school tutor.

11x17 Mechanical Drawings

Sorting out 1,100 11x17 mechanical drawings for the Mechanical & I&C Department. The Printing House printed them off the disc and collated them in a box for me to sort. It has taken me 3 hours and I just reached the halfway mark (by eye). Last Friday, I received this request, there were no clear instructions on how these needed to be sorted. All the drawings I have are for the Mech Isometrics Drawings for backcharges I suppose. I started sorting the drawings numerically (each drawing has a 18 number title) and numerically in revisions (basically ONE HUGE ASS PILE). Half way through my first half, I found out that I am suppose to seperate the revisions and sort them all numerically! AAAHHH!! I will be doing this ALL DAY..... these were suppose to be done this morning BUT it ain't happening....

Darn Blogger!

CRAP, I had written a really long post last night about my Brother's B'day dinner with photos but Blogger lost it! Now I need to re-write that post all over again. I don't have access to my photos at work so I guess I will post it later in the evening....

DAMN....

My Baby Brother's 27th B'day!

*Note: I typed up a long post earlier but Blogger had a problem and I lost my original post. This one is going to be kept short. Thank you.*

Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to yoooooooou!!

Today, my Little Brother turned 27 but every year we celebrate his 19th ;-) At his request, we made dinner reservations at the Korean BBQ House in Richmond. It is an All You Can Eat for $17.95 a person (adult, seniors/children discounted) and boy can he eat! He ate enough to cover all of us but he doesn't gain any weight over it, skinny as a chopstick! My Grandma bought him a mango birthday cake and we had to drive all the way out to Kerrisdale to pick it up. But it was worth it! I asked my Grandma to order me a Chocolate Cake from Michele Cake Shop for my birthday in August. She gets a discount of 10% because she's a senior. Sweeeeeet... the chocolate cake is covered with Chocolate Covered Cream Puffs... mmmmmmm.... cream puffs.... I think my Brother enjoyed himself as it was a quiet night, the night before his friends took him out clubbing and I think he was a little hungover today. We opted not to buy him a birthday gift instead we gave him the universal gift of COLD HARD CASH. Which he seemed to love :) Happy Birthday!
For more birthday photos, go HERE. For more photos of the yummy cake, go HERE.

Today, I put about 60 km (40 miles) on my car because we took my Grandma around the city to look for a new car. She can't decide which car she wants but she knows she doesn't want a Acura or Honda but she like the new Toyota Corolla or a Mercedes Benz C class. All her friends own a Benz or BMW and she feels left out but I think she will end up buying a new Corolla. She's quite comfortable with the car.

My trip around the city: West side of Vancouver (where I live) to East side of Vancouver (Mom's house) to West west side of Vancouver (Kerrisdale, for dim sum / pick up cake) to Richmond (Automall) to Northwest side of Vancouver, close to downtown (Broadway/Burrad - Grnaville) to North Burnaby (pick up Kay) to East side of Vancouver (Mom's house) to Richmond (Dinner with Brother) to West side of Vancouver (home) = 60 + kms. What a day!

Saturday Night Movie....

....KICKED ASS!! This movie was awesome! Lots of action, blood, vampires, a sex scene (very HOT), gruesome werewolves, and of course lots of darkness and gore. But I regret not renting the first one to refresh my memory on the storyline before going to see this one. I became a little confused during the movie on why the bad guy was the bad guy and how Scott Speedman's character became a hybrid. Totally worth watching and if you take my word for it, please go rent the first one before going to see Underworld Evolution.

**BONUS** Kate Beckinsale and Scott Speedman so very HOT HOT HOT!!

Big sis's new pup!

My sister in HK sent me an email yesterday with a photo of her new pup!

MAC

Today at lunch, I went over to the Robson MAC store to pick up a foundation and a lipglass. If you go to any Bay MAC counter, you can never get the attention of any makeup artist because the beauty counters are understaffed which means you could be waiting for a good 30 minutes before you can get your product or ask a question. Therefore, I headed over to the Robson store because it is a store (not a counter) carrying all the product lines with an endless supply of each product. Also, this store is constantly buzzing with people and yet, there are 3 make up artist to every customer (ok maybe I am exaggerating but that is how it seems). Walking into the store, a girl named Jen, came up to me within seconds and she was very helpful and I loved her hair, she's very cool. She tested a few different shades, found the right shade for my face and although, I wanted pick up a "Oh Baby!" lipgloss (my everyday lip colour), I ended up with a new limited time product called chromeglass. The colour is a neutral coral with pearl which is not anything like my usual beige-brown colours. It's a nice colour for my skin tone and it is lighter than my usual lipcolour choice. In a mad rush to head back to the office, I ended up with $180.00 worth of stuff because I was due to relieve the receptionist for her lunch. At first, I thought the bill was $108.00, which isn't too bad (yes, I am an idiot, never paying attention to the amounts when using my debit card) but when I reached the office, I did a quick look at the receipt and nearly had a stroke! $180.00!!! Now, I'm not saying that it isn't worth it because yes, they are awesome make up products but I can't go and spend $180.00 on stuff that I don't need. I love my MAC make up and have been using MAC since I was a teenager but I really did not need a new make up brush (at $50.50, my local drugstore sells them at $15.00), a creme lipliner (at $16.00, I have not ever used a lipliner with my lipsticks or gloss) and a sheer pressed power (at $24.00, I hate the feeling of TOO MUCH on my face). With the senses and reasonability coming back to me, after I left the office, I returned the extras and I felt bad but my bank account was much happier. I'm addicted to MAC and shoes and LVs but only in baby steps....

Mardi Gras!

My very very good friend, Socabutterfly, is heading out to Trinidad to party and celebrate Mardi Gras! How lucky is she? I would love to go away and party it up in the sun and the people.

There are many events happening around town to celebrate this day. I would like to go and enjoy the night away but I never seem to have enough time on the weekend to enjoy such pleasures. Maybe one day.

SocaB is leaving (with her friend, Shel) tomorrow for Houston to pick up a couple more of their friends and then Sunday, she is flying off to Trinidad. How exicting, can't wait to hear and see the pics!

Xerox photocopies....

I have been photocoping a document since 9.52am this morning... OH.MY.GOD. when will it ever end??

*****

Update @ 4.15pm. It does NOT end, I had to delete the rest of the job because it's the end of my day. Can you believe the photocopier wasn't even close to finishing my job. I basically babysat the photocopier for the whole day because you can't trust your copies to go smoothly. I should have sent the print job to the Printing House. 48 copies of 160 page document = 7680 pages but the machine only printed about 25 full copies = 4000 pages only. UGH!!!! Tomorrow morning will be more PHOTOCOPING....

New Condo Developments

Oooh, I would LOVE to live HERE....

*****

or HERE, a little more practical and affordable....

*****

or HERE, same area .....

*****

any one of these condos would be great!

Growing Up, Too Fast!

Last night as I layed beside my little girl, we were having our chat before bedtime, catching up on the day's activities. This is the time she tells me about her day, what's going at school, exciting news, how she is feeling, what she learned or just plain girl-bitch about friends or girls who pretend to be friends with her. We ended up on a topic about this girl, let's call her "Egg", and how these two seem to have alternating conflicts. Now, I ONLY get the one sided story, Kay's side, but Egg seems to have some self esteem issues. Egg is new to the city, she's born in another country, her English is not that good and she carries quite an accent. Everything must seem new to her. She also seems to be trying very hard to be a part of their group, siding with whomever she feels she wants to be friends with. I am sure she is a nice girl with a nice family. But Kay and Egg seem to always get into these little minor conflicts. This is not the first, second or third time she has moaned about Egg. But last night, she lashed out at Egg, saying she was a stupid girl. Now, WE have taught her to be respectful of others and normally, Kay doesn't speak like this. But I guess something else must have happened and this time Kay just lost her emotions. I told her she shouldn't speak this way of her and even if she and others talk about each other behind their back, Kay shouldn't. I explained this is how rumors begin and it's not nice to talk about someone because karma always comes back around. Would she like it if she found out someone else was talking bad about her? Kay has always been a very sensitive girl and she started to get upset with me. I didn't feel that I was lecturing her, although she stated that I was and got more upset. I told her that she shouldn't stoop to the levels of others because she should have more respect for herself and other people. Sometimes, people are just like that and she will meet many over her lifetime but she needs to learn how to deal. At our house, we have a rule, never go to bed upset or angry with each other but last night, I could not convince her otherwise and we ended up going to bed upset. More she than I.

I know it's hard, she's a girl and she's dealing with alot on her plate, like turning into a teenager and other happenings in her life. I am no longer the "cool mom" but the mom who lectures. *sigh* I remember like it was yesterday, when she and her little friends thought I was the coolest mom in the whole wide world :)

Also, coming back to memory are the days of growing up, the changes my body went through, my emotions, my self esteem, and *sarcastic* the FUN days of highschool.... I, as the parent, really am trying to deal with her changes. It's an exciting time and a difficult time for both parent and child. Some days are better than others but I do see the dramatic and drastic changes going through my little Kay *sniff sniff*

But I do hope, in the end, that everything we taught her will stay with her (even if it's in the back of her mind) and although at this moment she is still upset with me and feels she cannot confide in me, my door is forever opened to her, she just needs to step in.....

*SIGH* It's hard being a parent of a tweenage daughter. Much harder than I anticipated.....

PS *sun shining* This morning, Kay seemed to have forgotten or maybe pretend to have forgotten, our conversation last night. We gave each other a kiss and said our goodbyes and she wished me a great day. I hope she will feel much better after hanging out with her girlfriends for the day (they have a Pro-D day).... that's another post for another time... (she's now heading out to the MALL with her friends and I am so worried but like I said another post for another day.....)

Valentine's Day

This is the second year in a row that R is not in Vancouver to celebrate Valentine's Day with Kay and I. But that's ok, really, because Valentine's Day is a Hallmark Holiday. Besides the past year we celebrated it earlier and if we celebrate in late this year, that's good too. Celebrating Valentine's in May means the weather will be nicer (maybe the sun will comeout) and we won't have to worry about not getting a reservation at our fave. restaurant :)

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!! XOXOXOXO

PS. V-day gifts photos to come.....

We made Sweet N Sour Pork as our Valentine Meal... keeping it red :) Yum yum!

Erin at 27 weeks....

Wow look her tummy! Twenty seven weeks..... only 13 more weeks to go!!!

ICBC Graveyard

Sunday is the day I visit with my Mom and Grandma. Today, we needed to make a trip to ICBC because my Grandma's car was sitting on their lot, ready to be written off. ICBC guy, Tim, gave my Grandma a call this morning and asked her to come down to remove any wanted belongings in the car. I am assuming it's a write off because if ICBC were to fix her car, the cost to fix it is more than the current value of her little Toyota. The "graveyard" is a huge lot that holds all the damaged cars from ICBC claims, it's way out in Coquitlam, very close to the huge IKEA. Tim, ICBC guy, gave us a tour around the lot and I could not believe all the cars that we saw and the stories behind them. I think it would be great if they held tours for the elementary kids and highschool kids. Let the kids see with their own eyes, what kind of damage a car can have when accidents happen. Maybe it scare the shit out of them so they will think twice when speeding on the streets. Some of these trashed cars looked so horrendous, I couldn't even imagine what sort of accident happen to put the cars in that shape. But it was really interesting and too bad Kay missed it because I think she would have enjoyed this trip.

Oh, I guess I forgot to mention that my Grandma got into a little accident last week, I think it was either on Wednesday or Thursday. As you are probably aware of the not so good week I had last week, which means I didn't really post much on my blog. But here's the story: She was driving down Granville Street in the "parking lane" (this lane is open during rush hour) and some IDIOT making a left turn from Granville onto 62nd Avenue, didn't make sure all THREE LANES were cleared before pushing the gas pedal. He hit my Grandma hard enough to cause her passenger to have a mini anxiety attack and she was sent to the hospital. Keep in mind, my Grandma is over 80 and her friend is even older. Now, I know this accident could have been prevented because if it was either my Mom or I, we could have avoided the accident and let the guy go with some excessive swearing and finger / fist tossing. But my little Grandma drives with her eyes focuses on what is in front of her and the car, plus her reflexes aren't as keen as they once were. But the IDIOT should have made sure that the lane was clear before stepping on the gas. IDIOT! Anyways, my Grandma is fine, no pain, a little bit of shock but no immediate injuries. Thank GOD.

Now, she wants to start looking at a new car. She has been itching to buy a new car since most of her friends have purchased new BMWs or Mercedes. My Grandma couldn't justify buying a new car when her car was in such good shape. We are now trying to convince her to buy a used car (just a couple of years older) because then she only has to pay one tax and if she scratches it up while parking, it won't hurt so much. I know, it's my Grandma's money and she is the one who is driving. But I really believe she shouldn't be on the road anymore and if I had more time, I would insist on driving - actually no I wouldn't. My Grandma is quite independent and stresses the fact that she can do everything BY HERSELF. AND DON'T YOU DARE ARGUE WITH HER. Or she will be pissed.

After our trip, we headed back to Vancouver to pick up the weekly groceries and a little bit of shopping for ourselves, really just spending some time away from the house. We dropped Grandma back to the house and Mom and I headed out on our way. Mom needs space from Grandma, she lives with her and deals with her on a daily basis and I know it can get quite frustrating and tiring. I don't really understand how Mom feels because I only see my Mom once a week and I find that is more than enough time. But I do know the feeling of having no time for yourself because some weekends, that's how I feel when I am with Mom both Saturday and Sunday. My Mom uses the day to stress about Grandma but we also catch up on other family business, like how my sister in HK is doing, how other family members are doing and life in general. From the terrible events that have happen, Mom and Grandma are having a bad start to the Chinese New Year. Both have had the feeling of bad luck looming over them since the start of the new year. Although, I've had a bad start as well, I am not that superstitious and I am sure things will smooth out after the month is over.

Not much else happened after that, I had with dinner with them and as soon as I finished up, I needed to go to C's place to pick up Kay. She slept over at C's again. I spoke to E about C next week because I will be picking C up from Chinese School and dropping her off to her swimming lessons. E will be working p/t at the Hospital for the next three weeks and I offered to chauffeur her daughter around, I might as well since I will be heading out that way anyways because Kay and C see each other almost every weekend. As soon as Kay is old enough to take the bus, she is taking the transit to see her friend. My whole weekend is about chauffeuring my Daughter and Mother around. Maybe next weekend, I will have more time for myself. I doubt it but hey, I can keep hoping......

Saturday Chillin

Tonight, I hung out with my best friend V and his girlfriend M. I haven't seen my bf in a long time and it was nice to get together to catch up. We hooked up earlier in the afternoon and did some shopping (Best Buy to look at electronics and Canadian Tire to look at home stuff). We grabbed a drink and appys at Cactus Club and we chatted about life, work and family. After drinks, M rang V's cellphone because she was ready to be picked up, she was studying somewhere dowtown. I needed to head over to LD to pick up some items and we decided to head to the Granville LD because that's where M was going to wait for us. I didn't want to intrude on their Saturday night but they wanted to hang out some more and maybe catch a movie. We decided to head back to my place for dinner (I made dinner cuz I love cooking for friends, dish I made=chestnuts with chinese mushrooms with braised chicken) and voted for a foreign film called Old Boy. This was a very interesting movie and the story was gripping. Lots of twisted parts and unexpected outcomes. Def. worth watching but be warned, it's not for the ones with weak stomachs because it's a pretty twisted story.

Week from Hell + PMS

This has been the week from hell. At first I thought, it was the bad vibes carried over from last week. Because the last 5 days I have been in a terrible mood. Every little thing pissed me off, little things that normally I can forget about or let go. Another thought was maybe my week has been so stressed because I didn't get a chance to relax over the weekend. AND THEN, I realized it's that time of the month again and usually, I can get a grip on my emotions but not this week. I just let it go, no holding back (one day, I almost broke down and cried). On Wednesday, I finally realized it was PMS and I made sure to give off a vibe to my coworkers not to talk to me For Whatever Reason. I was quiet, not really smiling, not being talkative and down right just avoided people all morning. I think they got the hint because people started dropping off work at my desk (attached with a yellow sticky of instructions) when I wasn't around. Anyways, I'm glad to know that the WHOLE WORLD isn't going crazy because I really thought it was!!! So glad it's the end of the week.....

Sometimes, we just have to let go. We have our moments and this week was mine. It's strange because the women in the office have been in this "mood" for the last two weeks. I guess it's just going around really bad this month ....

When I'm in a bad mood, I love to go shopping. It brings much happiness and joy to me. Especially shopping at my favorite stores. Yesterday at lunch, I decided to get out of the office for some air (it's been a beautiful week in Vancouver unlike my mood) and to "window shop" at Holt Renfrew (one of my fave. stores) for a gift for R, I ended up just shopping. I could not help it, I found something really nice and perfect for R. I wish I could post a pic because it's so fabulous but I don't want to ruin the surprise! Pics to come in the near future.... I cannot wait for the new HR to open at Pacific Centre. The new HR is going to be huge and hopefully an expanded selection of designers with more merchandise and selection. The store right now is quite small compared to HR in Toronto, Ontario.

Today was a stressful day at the office, there was some miscommunication on deadlines and I was working on something that was going to be sent out for Monday not TODAY. Because of this minor~MAJOR~ miscommunication, I put off all my current paperwork which was just as important as what I was working on today, I ended up staying at the office later to finish. Damn, I am not to pleased and damn tired. Thankfully, I did manage sneak out away from my desk for 30 minutes at lunch to "window shop" at one of my fave. designers. I am in love with this purse. In case the link doesn't work, here's a photo:

and I love this one too:

These pieces are like works of art. So very beautiful and all handmade in France (yes, I checked inside the purse to be sure)..... yes, these little things really make me happy. R knows me so well :) I hope to see one for my birthday? Or just because, there doesn't have to be an occasion to receive a gift like this, right??? ;)

PS. I bought a beautiful gift for Valentine's Day (although, R won't be here to celebrate it with me) ... BOY, R IS SO SPOILED.... but you totally deserve it :) xoxoxo

Sunny Sunday

Today's post was going to be about Super Bowl Sunday with pictures of my BGFJ's party.....

But instead, I will tell you about the day I had with ...... Mom and Tween Daughter.....

Today was a beautiful day to go shopping in Chinatown unlike yesterday but my plans for the day did not follow through with Mom. She ended up forgetting about the facial appointment she had and a second appointment with her rental tenant. This means our afternoon in Chinatown would be cancelled. But I didn't get anything done yesterday which meant I still had to go with or without her. I think she would have rather me wait for her but I couldn't because I needed to leave for Richmond around 3.30pm to pick up Kay. Since Mom could not make it, she asked me to pick her up some grocery items for her. It was a nice day and it was nice to have some alone time although, I ended up buying a lot of items and it would have been nice to have a few extra hands. Among the items I purchased was a brand new wok! I'm so excited to use the wok! They have so many sizes and I could not decide but I ended up with a large on just in case I need to cook for 6 or 8 people :) After walking Chinatown, I headed home to drop off my groceries and had some more me time in my quiet living room. Then I headed over to Richmond to pick up Kay from her party, I was carpooling so I had two very hyper kids in my car! Dropping him off and we headed over to my Mom's. We went over to LD and did some shopping. Headed back to my mom's for dinner and stayed to chat. My Grandma was going to be home around 10ish and as it was getting late, my guilt wore off and we had to head home as it's a school/work night.

I need to learn to say NO and have some me time. My Brother never spends any time with my Mom and Grandma. I guess I am the Daughter and I should help out whenever I can which is my weekends. Some days I wish I live in another country or continent.

G.U.I.L.T.

Why and How do parents (well, just my Mom) have the power to guilt you into something without them having to actually say it?? AND..... What sort of thought process do our tweenagers go through before asking their parents to drop everything and focus on them and only them? Thankfully, I only have one to deal with at the moment because I have no idea how I would handle two of them!

Okok, I know the answers to these questions but seriously, how does my Mom do it? AND ... what kind of energy does Kay think I am on? I would love to have ONE weekend to myself, doing whatever I want to do without either of them! And NOW, I feel guilty and bad for wanting this and thinking this.....

Okok, I am here to VENT so if you don't want to hear any of it, turn away from this page.

Kay, my tweenage daughter, is a real social butterfly. She always has her weekend planned and that is fine with me as long as she keeps track of all her activities. But this weekend, she had a mix up and double booked herself on Sunday. Which means she could only attend one of the activities and not both. She needs to make a decision. Wanting to attend both, she expected me to drop everything and chauffeur her around to both. Yes, she could end up at both places but that would consist of me waking up early on Sunday, driving all over the city, and canceling my other plans. No, I said, you double booked yourself, you have to decide which one is more important which means you need to make the decision. She finally decided on one and that was that. But she was a little bit upset most of the day because her plans were cancelled. I ended up buying her an apple pie and we rented a couple of chick flicks.... it wasn't a too bad night after all.....

My Mom and I spent the afternoon going over to this girl's place to check out all her DVDs from China, apparently she has many "series" from China and were selling them at a reasonable price. Cheaper than renting them from a store. This afternoon, I wanted to go to Chinatown to pick up some groceries and other items, my Mom said we wouldn't be at this girl's place for too long, we ended up spending most of the afternoon there, by the time we were ready to go, my Mom needed to head back over to her house because she had a MJ game. While my Mom and I were together (Kay opted to stay with my Grandma), she told me she was going to be alone on Sunday because Grandma had MJ / dinner plans. Asked if I "wanted" to go over there for dinner? Maybe spend the afternoon shopping in Chinatown (like we were suppose to today) and then heading over to Richmond (Daiso because I would have to go there around 3.30pm to pick up Kay). I had plans to head over to my BGF,JF's Super Bowl Sunday Party with my BF,VC which we spoke about on Friday and although, I am not a HUGE football fan, it's all about the eating, drinking and hanging out with your friends, relaxing and chillin.... ugh... I said to my Mom "sure, no problem".... My BF,VC called after my Mom asked me and I didn't want to say anything in front of her so when I told him to go on ahead without me, he sounded somewhat surprised (we spoke and confirmed plans on Friday night). Even though, I didn't get any of my required items done today because I spent an afternoon hanging out at some chick's place looking a DVDs that I can't read or understand. It really was not a great day to go to Chinatown, it was pouring rain and huge winds. I guess that was the silver lining for the day......

Surprise!

Ok Ok I finally went and bought your Simpson's Collector's Edition DVD set. HAPPY NOW?? I don't want to hear another word about it! Thank you.

Fine Print: I am not going to courier this gift, you can get it the next time in Vancouver, I'm sure you can wait until April.... :)

Off Week

This week has been a really off week for me. It started out on Monday where things were just not going right for me. Then, the last two days, I've been mis interrupting my FMPM's instructions and due to the miscommunication or misunderstanding (which ever sounds like it’s NOT my fault), I mishandled some emails and letters that went out. Not a HUGE DEAL (or a major screw up) but from now on before I send anything out, I will triple check with my FMPM. Yesterday, later in the afternoon, I ended up snapping at the CPM because he was in my face the whole afternoon about his stuff! Ugh... I had switchboard duty at lunch, which meant I wasn’t at my desk for an hour! He gave me his stuff right before lunch, I mean literally minutes before my lunch break and then expected me to do it right after I got back from lunch. Seriously, I would have started it but I couldn’t, I was on switchboard duty and I had no access to my computer. When I finished and headed back to my desk, he was tailing me and asked if I was doing his stuff. I was burning some information for him (I needed to make up 8 discs) and my computer can only go so fast. I was catching up on other things while the discs were burning. But he basically told me to drop everything and work on his discs. I WAS WORKING on his DISCS but I can only do so much while the discs are burning, RIGHT??!!?? I snapped at him and waved him out of my cubicle. He told me his items were TOP PRIORITY and the other stuff can wait. The reason why he is rushing me is because we have a courier deadline at 3:30pm and by the time I ended back to my desk and started working on stuff, it was close to 3:00pm. But before I could get to his stuff, I was at the Xerox machine for 30 minutes, photocopying a document that also had to go out by courier. Aaaah… I just snapped at him when he came back to push me on his stuff. I was already running around like a MAD WOMAN all afternoon, trying to catch all the deadlines and he has this way of getting to me. Don’t get me wrong, CPM is a very nice and fun guy but when it comes down to his work, he’s messy, disorganized, and last minute, which drives me insane! I am a neat and organized freak. I even organize my panties in my dresser!! So when I walk into his office and see the paperwork all over the place and boxes and boxes of stuff right by his door, it drives me INSANE. Thank goodness I sit on the other side of the office from him…..

What a week but thankfully it’s almost the end of the week. I decided I need to leave early tomorrow. My FMPM gave me the OK to leave at 2:30pm on Friday…Thank goodness…. An early start to the weekend…..

On Play |>

A few days ago, I went over to check out the new HMV store (used to be Virgin Records) on Burrad and Robson Street to pick up a couple of CDs. Jamie Foxx's " Unpredictable" and MJB's "Breakthrough". These CDs were better priced at HMV compared to Best Buy or Future Shop which surprised me because I normally pick up all my music from FS. I have to say, I am really liking them both! I also think this is one of MJB's best albums yet!

Rain Gear

In the month of January, we had 29 days of rain of the 31 days. Vancouver beat it's old record of the most rain in January set in 1992? or 1996? I can't remember which year. I think I need to seriously invest in some rain gear. I love these Burberry Boots and I have been trying to give my self a reason to purchase such an extravagant pair of boots. I think I got one.... 29 / 31 days of RAIN? What better reason than that? Tell me.....