Welcome Wednesday - My new laptop

Do you recall my Sunday post? Remember how I was giving my Jeff a hard time?  Well, I came home after golf on Monday and there it was.  A big box with a card and a flower from our garden.  Of course I felt awful because I did not get him a gift for our anniversary, although I gave him a card that I created.  So even though I know what was in the box, I was still excited to see what it's like since I only had a preview on line. First of all it was very very light.  It looked sharp and very elegant and classy because it's black with a bit of shine.  If you know Jeff really well, you would know that he would be more excited than me when it comes to techie toys.  He got the laptop plugged and started in no time.  Because it has the windows 10 operating system, he advised me that there are a few things that might be different from my previous computer.  In no time, it was all set up and it was time for me to check it out.  There were a few things that I still wanted him to install and he did.  By the end of the evening, I was all set to try my new laptop.  The key board had the nice touch and makes typing so light.  The colors are vibrant and the different icons on the window menu are so cool.  Today for the first time I am doing this post on my new ASUS notebook PC.

After a couple of days, I am loving it because it's fast and truly there's nothing that is difficult about Windows 10.  Of course, I don't use it for a lot of things.  Basically to check my emails, do some blogging, every now and again use Skype, and maybe a little bit of surfing the web.  Almost forgot one cute feature, I have these mini post it notes that I can use as reminders.  

Marriage Monday - It's our 8th year

Eight years ago today we got married at Monte Carlo Hotel in Las Vegas.  When we first started going out, we thought that we were fine with being in a long distance relationship.  After five years of that I guess Jeff had a thought, he wanted a full time wife around his home.  The rest is history.  Let me share with you the story that my sister wrote about our relationship and today is a perfect day to reminisce.  I am happy to report that we are still together, enjoying life, growing old together and looking forward to many more years of happy together.

 

 

By the way, guess what I got for a combine gift for mother's day and anniversary gift?  A new computer.  Yeah!  See I told you Jeff is a generous husband.  I can't wait to use it but first Jeff has to install whatever operating system it needs, etc. blah blah blah.  But I love it.

Sorry Sunday - "You are not my mom" says Jeff

Happy Mother's day to all my family, friends, followers and readers.  Today is your day to celebrate the one day a year when we don't do anything.  Well, at least that's how I want to spend my mother's day.  After I move here, each year I would ask Jeff what I want for mother's day.  His response is always the same "You are not my mom".  So the first couple of years I felt a little sad but then I realize what he meant.  I am not even the mother of his only son.  This year I was thinking of boycotting mother's day.  Jeff thought I was upset that I was not going to get a card or gift nor taken out for dinner.  He suggested that he will take his mother for dinner and I could come along if I want.  Maybe it would be nice to be asked what I wanted to do, but this line keeps ringing in my mind, "you are no my mom".  This year I thought of writing a poem titled "You are not my mom".    

Happy mother's day to me, who is a mother, a wife and a friend

A mother who cooks, does the laundry and even knows how to mend.
The wife who understands, who is patient and always attend,
To all the needs of husband and children to the bitter end. 

 "You are not my mom" is the response that I always get
When I wanted a gift or a treat I thought I deserve and yet
Don't get me wrong Jeff is a generous man but his ways are set
But I guess I get it, I am not his mother and I won't forget it.

 To all the mothers who are like me, I hope you enjoy this post, the flowers and the cake.

Separately Saturday - Succulents and Orchids

Bragging is not my style but when it comes to my Orchid plant, I cannot help it but brag because it is very difficult for me to accept that I actually kept it alive.  Not only alive but it has given me five beautiful flowers.  Although I have to give credit to Jeff who does the watering of our indoor plants, I am the one who talks to it and takes photos and ensure that it does not get moved as it seems to love it's location.  Now that the all the buds have opened into beautiful orchids, all I need to do is show it, share it, and hopefully give my readers something to enjoy, that is if you are into plants.  

This past weekend, we decided to check Home Depot for some more succulents.  If you remember a few years ago, we planted lots of beautiful annuals in the back yard only to find out after a few days that the squirrels ate the flowers and ruined the rest of the plants.  I told Jeff that we won't be planting anymore of those types and we resorted to succulents.  With the drought, etc. it seems this was the way to go.  We bought new ones and transferred the smaller ones which we planted separately but have now all been rejoined with others.  They are now in two big pots which makes it easier for watering.

Talking about plants vs squirrels, today Jeff saw two squirrels wandering in our two garden box checking out the most recent plant that Jeff just put in.  They were all vegetable plants like yellow squash, cucumber, eggplant,  basil, tomatoes, peppers and watermelon.  I hope that they won't back.  Last year when Jeff planted something similar, these squirrels ruined most of them by digging the plants they can't eat and snipping all the leaves of the ones they like.  I don't know how anyone can think of them as cute when all they do is ruin plants and flowers for us.  This is the reason why I cannot get excited about gardening.  Damn squirrels.

 

Flaky Friday - New favorite recipes

As most of you know, I am not good at baking cookies, but I love trying out new recipe specially those one that starts with use a cake mix box.  I have tried at least three different recipe and they all came out perfect.  The first one I tried using the Yellow Cake Mix and just adding butter, nuts and chocolate chips.  The second one I tried using the Dark Chocolate Mix and making them into brownies.  The third and most recent one is the Red Velvet Cake Mix which turned into a RVC Crinkle cookies.  It was easy to make and the result is crispy on the outside and moist in the inside.  The fourth one is not from a cake mix but a recipe I found from Pinterest called chocolate chips cookie bar.  Again, easy recipe to follow and so yummy.  BTW being a diabetic, I am always trying to find new recipe that has less sugar or where I can adjust the recipe without ruining the results.  So far I have made a lot of stuff by using half of the sugar the recipe calls for without any issue.  Even though I don't like baking cookies and prefers making bars or other quick breads or cake, I now have a few favorites which also includes some pies.  

 

What the cup Wednesday - thought it was a cafe?

When you see a new restaurant in your neighborhood with a name "what the cup", how can you not check it out.  At first we thought it was going to be a coffee shop but when I saw the bowl on their logo, I new it would be some sort of noodle place.  Sure enough it was a Ramen

place.  The day we check it out was after we already had lunch at the Pho place right next door.  We asked our friend who lives around the area of this particular restaurant and he said it was pretty good although his wife thinks it's a little too salty.  Now that we have all the info, we can make our decision.  Jeff is not a fan of ramen and I try to stay away from too salty foods.  I guess we won't be trying this particular one and just say "WHAT THE CUP?"  Now that I have covered the topic of the day, I wanted to share more photos of  foods we have recently tried. 

Oxtail, dirty rice and plantain from Backayard (downtown San Jose)

Appetizer plate from Oros Thai Restaurant around our area

The well known Pad Thai from Oros as well.

 

Succulent Sunday - The perfect plant

First day of May.  My favorite month.  Summer is almost here. It's time to check out the Nursery for some new plants specially succulents.  With the drought that they keep insisting we are experiencing, even though all our water barrels are full, succulents are fun and easy to grow. Some of the plants have done so well and of course one or two are struggling.  This month I want to add more to my succulents collection.  As much as flowering plants are pretty and colorful, I find it harder to take care off and the bad experience from a few years ago makes me think it's not worth the time and money.  There are a few big pots that I will use for my new variety of succulents.  For now, check out the few that I have.  

They might be small, but they are my survivors.

This one is definitely getting too much sun.

The little plant has been struggling ever since the beginning.

This is the healthiest of all the jade plants and it all started from a small clipping from my MIL's jade.