Life with the Two Crazy Dogs

…was going by too quickly for me.  I have been slacking a lot on my blog and let alone Facebook.  I am not doing much with Wordsraper either.  Wordscraper is the other version of Scrabulous.  Scrabulous was taken down for a few days due to some patented legal stuff going on between the creators of Scrabulous and Hasbro, the owners of Scrabble.  So the Scrabulous creators worked on re-designing Scrabulous and it became Wordscraper.  It still works the same but with this new application, the person starting the new game is able to create their own rules.

Simmie came over this weekend which was really nice.  A nice break from my every weekend crap I do i.e. cleaning, bathe the boys, dusting and all the fun stuff that needs to be cleaned.  She and I chatted till midnight.  If I wasn’t yawning my head out, I would have stayed up with her and continued on our chitter-chatter.  Our malaysian accents/slang were flying out from our mouths.  DB said the dining room was flooded with Malaysian accents, the Manglish.  Of course la, two Malaysians, hang out together, that is the only time to practice our Manglish, ma!!  Good thing he is cool enough to speak to me with all the la’s too the next day .

Both Simmie and I went to Eden Prairie’s  Costcos, a very nice place compare to Sams.  Sams is getting to be so filthy and very “chaap”.  I was comparing the prices between the two places of the items I usually buy.  Some of the items are cheaper and some a little tad bit more.  What I like is at Costcos, there are more organic stuff and best of all there’s Caribou’s Obsidian coffee beans.  I told DB about Costcos carrying Caribou Obsidian, he was wild about getting it from there.  It is cheaper by the pound.  And yes, Simmie got me a membership card, she being the primary cardholder.  She is just so SUHWEET!!!  Thanks, Simmie!  I can see me going to Costco in the coming weeks.

And from Costco’s we went to Albertville Outlet mall which was on the way to St Cloud for Simmie.  It was my first time to the outlet mall.  It is a great place to shop.  I almost went into each and every store, look see, look see.  The only two stores I bought anything was Banana Republic, a pair of shorts and Aeropostles.  Aero is the only place now I can find pants that fit me.  Yep, I needed new pants, coz my size pants went up.  I blamed it on having an office job, sitting 8 hours a day, widening the butt.  I have to say I didn’t pretty good with this shopping trip.  The prices at the outlet are factory prices.  Going into the Coach and Nine West stores was definitely a will-power challenger.  I so wanted to get a Coach bag or a wallet.  The price for a handbag is $108 and the wallet thingy is $39.  Where can you find such great prices?  Nope, didn’t get anything in there.  Same with Nine West.  Always love their shoes and boots.  Nope didn’t get one and good thing they ran out of the size I want.  If not I would have bought the pair of boots.

And that’s the weekend which brings the start of the work week again……  I need a vacation.  can’t wait for this coming weekend.  I will have to take a trip to St Paul to visit the State Fair.  It ends Sept 4 on Labor Day.  Fair food here I come.

Last Sunday I was not going to do much except walk the boys and then chill out watching NASCAR in the afternoon.  But that was not the case.  I went out to meet up with Corrine and we hooked up with Tammy and we had a girls outing.  We went to the mall to look for  Birkenstock shoes at Comfort Shoes store but no luck.  Corrine was looking for a close toe shoes and I was looking for something where I can were to work, not sandals or slippers.  There were a lot of other brands on sale.  They were very reasonable priced but I didn’t get any.  I think I have enough of shoes for the right now.

Our next stop was at The Galleria in Edina.  We had our lunch at a health foods restaurant.  It’s call Earth Food, I think.  The food is just so-so, not much to much to my liking.  While we were at the mall, I was looking for some kind of stand for the pot of plant I have right now sitting in the entryway.  I saw a lot of wind chimes in the pottery store, too which I wanted to get one but the prices are meant for the higher income folks.  Could not find the stand, we head out to Crate and Barrell where Corrine looked for curtains.  This store is another one of my favorites but I can never buy anything from there.

From there we were looking for another shoe store call The Good Feet Store, but instead we found a French pastry shop, Patrick’s Cafe.  Dang, the desserts were to die for.  I first tasted them during my birthday where Simmie bought some cakes and pastries for us.  The cheesecake was delicious.  Mhmmm, I might go again this weekend?  Maybe.

Happy Memorial day to all whatever that’s left of the day.  It was a three-day weekend for me and it sure didn’t seem like three days.  The days went by so fast.  Yesterday, Sunday, several tornados hit the Midwest.  There was one fatal touched down in Hugo, MN, which is about 55 miles north of where I am.  A child died in that tornado.  Saw the pictures in the news, it is horrifying to see the pictures let alone if you are there to experience it. 

When the storm hit Hugo we (DB, SD BF and I) were getting ready for our dinner of ribs and corn on the cob.  We had the TV in the dining room on to NASCAR Coca Cola 600 (Channel 9) and the TV in the executive office to another local channel where we can watch the weather alert.  Yesterday was the first 80 degree temperature for the year.   We had a thunderstorm the night before, the morning was cool and muggy and when the sun came out, it was just utterly disgusting.  I hate humidity.  No wonder we had bad weather for that day - warm front colliding with the cold front.  Over at our end, all we had was wind and clouds which soon disappeared to clear skies and cool right down around 6 p.m.  

The crabapple tree flowering.  They were really pretty but after yesterdays strong winds, they are all gone. 

Yeah, SD’s baby is still not ready yet.  I sure feel bad for her being so uncomfortable and miserable.  Today is the actual due date.  Tomorrow is the appointment with her doc.  Hopefully he will induce her this week.  My BIL became a grandpa on yesterday.  Her daughter gave birth to a baby boy name Hunter.  I think he was 7 pounds some thing.  Can’t remember the details.  All of us are now waiting SD to pop! 

Today, I was all rested, took the boys out for their walk and baked some granola bars.  Thanks, Gertrude for the recipe.  DB said it’s better than the ones by Nature Valley or Kashi.  Mhmm, I can see this is gonna be an every or every other week thing with different kinds of fruits, nuts and grains.  Then I made a chiffon cake.  What a disaster that was, but still had to keep it in the container.  Can’t waste food, right?  The cake tast good but it hardly rise!!! 

It’s a holiday so there are sales in every store and departmental store you go to.  I have one thing in mind to get since Friday.  It is the new flip flops call FitFlop.  In actual fact, Barb from Little Chumsy’s blog wrote a review on this new wonder flip flops where it supposely stimulate your muscles when you are wearing it.  My boss bought a pair which she loves it.  She said it gives her a better posture when wearing the fitflops.  It also suppose to tone your calfs and thighs muscles and your glutes, too, I think.  In addition, those who have problems with their joints, heels will benefit from this sandals. 

So, I went to Macy’s yesterday afternoon, which is around my neighborhood to get a pair, but na -da.  I have to go to Southdale in Edina.  I went this afternoon, found them but too bad ithey are a little big for my extremely skinny feet.  The length and arch works good but where the strap is way too loose.  In other words, it did not fit snugly.  Very disappointed.  When I tried it on, walked around them I noticed I have better posture, my right heel was not hurting and my knees were pain free. 

Since I couldn’t get what I wanted, I should have left the store, right?  But no, dear me had to walk the shoe section and looked at other shoes on display showing 50%, 60% and if I use the Macy’s card, I will get another 30% off.  Good deal, huh?  Yes it was.  I found a pair of Clark’s instead.  It was 50% off and since I don’t have a Macy’s card, I paid $41+ for the pair of shoes.  I didn’t want to apply for the Macy’s card now but will later when my credit score is more stable.

Here is my Clark’s sandals I bought today. I think it’s the same as my mom’s? Not sure but I’m sure my sis can confirm that and I will be hearing a load from her. She is the queen of “Chaat” this and that.  Another reason why I didn’t take any picture of the disaster chiffon cake!

At least this pair of sandals does not hurt my right heel.

It’s been ages since I last wrote a post that is not paid.   Last weekend was a goner but it was so worth it.  It was a well spent Friday and Saturday at work at my PT job.  Simmie came down to the cities and put up a night at our place.  As usual she and I went for our dim sum fix at Jun Bo, ate till I could not eat anymore.  The funny thing happened was David, Corrine’s son said on Saturday he wants me to go dim sum-ing with him on Sunday.  He told me his mom will call me on Sunday and I will meet them for lunch.

Simmie and I just got to Jun Bo, Corrine called me and I told her I just got there.  She said she is too tired to go out after her accupuncture.  So I told her just tell him I ain’t going.  He called me later to let me know he is not coming and call to say Hi.  Sweet kid.  Twenty minutes later, both mother and son showed up.  He was so darn happy gotta eat dim sum and see me.  Corrine says he likes to play with me and I have been his card buddy for a while now and had to put up with his so call “beatings”, his soccer and reading to him.

Anyways, on Sunday I told Corrine Simmie and I will be joining her and her family plus Tammy and her hubby for dinner in Minneapolis.  I drove myself to Minneapolis to Cafe Levain on Chicago Avenue.  As usual, I got lost since I took a different turn and drove to Lord knows where.  Simmie called me and came to my rescue.  Well, she was already there at the restaurant waiting for me.  I was 30 blocks away from the restaurant.  No wonder I hate driving to Minneapolis.  When we finally got there, I was relieved but pissed of at myself with piss poor sense of direction.

Dinner was good.  The chef at the restaurant, Adam knows Corrine very well.  He goes to her restaurant every Monday.  He cooked us a special meal which was so darn good and the bill came out to be an awsome one too.  There were seven courses and for the 8 and minus 1 half way through the meal, the entire bill came to $50.00  Adam gave us a very special discount.

This morning I Googled up Simmie’s college so I can read up on the concert she will be performing this weekend and during her Euro trip.  I then told DB I want to go to St Cloud for the concert on Friday, he was not too keen about me driving to St Cloud on my own.  Then I asked him if he wanna come along, his reply: Not really but I guess I have to.  When I came home I told him I can follow a friend to St Cloud and return the same night.  He said I have already starting my weekend a repeat of last.  And he said it with sarcasm too.  Son of a bitch.  Whatever.  Looks like I might not be going to please the man.

I didn’t even feel I had the weekend off.  It went by super duper fast.  Working half a day on Saturday definitely makes the weekend flew by in a hurry.  Like i said before, DB has been doing  a lot of stuff that makes my life a lot easier.  I think I’m getting spoiled by him.  He does the laundry, groceries, vacumn (actually we split this chore), feed the boys, and more that I don’t even know what. 

I was going to make curry last night, but didn’t. DB was making quiche and by the time the boys and I got back from our walk, we all wanted to eat dinner.  Then I got hooked to the Star Wars movies on Spike channel.  It has been a million moons ago since I last saw Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi.  SD came over with Chase and of course I went ga-ga over the pup.  That poor fella is kinda afraid of Cooper.  Cooper bit him again couple of weeks ago which left a bigger scar on his snout.   He is not even a year old, he already has 3 scars on him.   Sorry, Simmie, I didn’t call you back as I had promised.  I was going to work on my paid posts, that didn’t work out either.  I’m so behind with everything I wanna do.

Oh, and I was over at Corrine’s to get my pants altered and we can’t wait for our trip to Vegas.  I paid my airfare and will be spending a few hundred more for our activities in Sin City.  I’m hoping our tax refunds will be deposited to our account soon.  We have a pretty good return this tax year, way to go DB. 

An update on DB, he is still applying for full time jobs via the web.  So far, no response, not a single one of all the applications he had submitted months ago and just recently.  Really sucks big time.  He said pretty soon he will be flipping burgers at Burger King.   With the unemployment rate going up in Minnesota, it is definitely not helping him at all, plus NWA is merging with Delta, so are there more jobs being laid off in the Eagan NWA hub?  I pray it won’t.

I cannot believe I am so eager to get to work tomorrow.  It’s almost 10, time to snooze.  Why am I so eager???  Because I have to check my department’s out of office calendar to check for the month of May, dates 4-7, if there is anyone else taking vacation for those days.  Yes, baby, I am so excited.

The chance to go to Las Vegas is a dream come true for me.  I want to go to Las Vegas for the longest time. 

I went to work at Satay2Go on Saturday and was asked by Corrine if I want to join her and her family on those dates.  The company her hubby is working is having a conference on those days and family are allowed to come along.  She asked the other lady, Tammy,  working at the restaurant if she wants to come along to accompany her, Tammy said yes but only need another companion to share the hotel room.  DB is just so happy for me, he said yes, go ahead.  But I cannot truly confirm til I get to work tomorrow morning.  

I am hoping, keeping my fingers crossed that those days are open for me.   I’m sure I won’t be going to Vegas with DB….he has no intentions of going to Lost Wages.  Ok, i better get my butt to bed now, we are expecting another blow of spring snow tomorrow with accumulations of 6-7 inches.  Yuck!!

Nicole and I decided to meet up for lunch last Saturday.  The first and the last time we met each other was last summer, I think?  I know it’s been a while and she wasn’t able to meet with Simmie and Leena two weekends ago for my b’day, I thought it would be nice if she could have an afternoon out.  I am just up for anything  during the weekend.  We agreed on Cheesecake Factory since I have not been to this place with its famous cheesecakes.   

We headed to PF Chang’s which is just right next door.  Not much of a wait but the food was good, but tried it once, I won’t go again that kinda of thing.   We shared a lettuce wrap chicken wrap thing, kung pao chicken, and Spore noodle hawker style kinda dish.

After a taste of Chinese, I wanted to get some cheesecake home and headed to the Cheesecake Factory for fattening takeouts.

Next, the wonderful experience of driving to the Asian store, United Noodles.  I have been there several times but each time I have never driven there.  Simmie was the one driving and how she gets there was by different directions.  Got me all confused!  I just gotta say I’m totally useless when it comes to learning new places.

I called Simmie and left  her a message to give us directions how to get to United Noodles while Nicole and I were still in the car on the parking lot at Southdale.   By the time she called we were way passed the exits she wanted us to take.  Here I was talking on the  cellphone while driving 65 - 70 mph on the freeways (35W and 94), and yet when I see someone doing that I bitched at them.  The pot is calling the kettle black!!

We finally got there and many thanks to Simmie.  Don’t know what to do without that girl :) 

By the time Nicole and I were done shopping it was almost 4:30.  We made our way back to Chanhassen and dropped her off.  It was a very nice afternoon.  I wish I can do that every week! 

When I got home SD and BF were there chatting with DB.  They hung around till passed 6:30 p.m.  And we had to puppy sit Chase the next day, Sunday.

The weekend always flys by for me.  Maybe it’s just me.  These days I tend to sleep in during the weekend till7 or 7:30 am.  DB will be awake and up and about at 6.  He will take care of the boys and when it’s 7 am, he will come wake my butt up.  With him not finding a job yet, he is helping around with the house work, but yet I still find that I need more time during the weekends.  WTF??  I do putzed a lot in front of the cranky laptop and P.O.S. computer, alternating between them two POS’s especially when I’m having my morning coffee.  Doing what you wonder?  Log on to Facebook and make my next move on Scrabulous and at the same time sipping on my hot cuppa coffee.  And when the Rifleman is on, my attention diverts to the TV.  No wonder I’m so running out of time in the weekend.  I am a putzo.  Ok, I think I have beat up myself enough.