Timely Tuesday - Volunteer day

If you remember from  previous blog, I have mentioned that I volunteer at the Senior Centre with my mother in law.  Yesterday, I gave the aprons to the ladies and our boss and they all love it.  They all wore it and we ask the one and only male volunteer to take our photo. Notice that they are all wearing long sleeve sweater and pants, while I am wearing a sleeveless dress and my sandals.

Sylvia(v), Erin(boss), Barb(v), Annette(v) and me(v)

Most of you have probably heard what I do during volunteer day.  But yesterday since our supervisor was away, I was tasked to do some of the duties.  No, it's not a promotion, it's just an extra or other job. I took some photos to show the table set up, the meals, etc.

Dinner Table, Coffee and Tea Table, Trays with lunch plate

Once the table is set up and the trays  were ready, I took the temperature of the food, both hot and cold. Then just before noon, the milk and juice is served.  The whole lunch menu is published at the beginning of the month.  Here's what lunch look liked yesterday.

Rotini Noodles, Veal Scallopini, Corn, Italian Vegetables

You are probably wondering, whaaat, no dessert. Not really sure why, but most days there's fresh fruit or freshly baked cookies.  While checking the menu for the month, I noticed they will be serving Chicken Adobo (Filipino dish) on March 23.  I was curious if it is better than my adobo.  My sister will get a chuckle out of this because she knows I can't make that dish as yummy as she makes it.  Jeff likes my adobo but he has to otherwise he will have to make his own dinner.

It takes a total of 2.5 hours from set up to clean up but the satisfaction of being a volunteer is so much more than the free lunch, meeting the seniors of the community, the compliments and appreciation received. It's all about helping your community and belonging.

Maybe Monday - Memory of G

Memory - is what is left when something happens and does not completely unhappen.  A few days ago, I received a photo of a baseball card from No Guts No Glory.  

This was one of my son's baseball card when he was 9 yrs. old.  He also had another one where he was wearing a green uniform.  It is very interesting to read that his favorite team was the OAKLAND A's.  If he was still with us, he would have visited me and maybe I would take him to watch the game.  I remember taking him and his friend Andrew to a Blue Jay game.

Last week when Apple released the Ipad2, I wondered if I would have received a phone call from my son, asking me to line up so I could get him one of this new item from Apple.  The year before he died, while I was visiting Jeff, he had asked me to go the Apple store and buy him something - I think it was some sort of a hard drive - all I remember was it was white and a little heavy - it was called Time Capsule.

 A couple of days ago, I saw again a commercial on TV about this best cruise ever.  As you may recall from previous blog that he loved music and concerts.  My mind wondered again if he was still alive, I could have probably convinced him to go with me, he would meet me in Florida and we can both join this cruise.  See the line up and you will know why he would have gone.  

                                                 VH1 Best Cruise Ever 2011
Get ready to rock the deck, because VH1 and Sixthman are teaming up once again to bring you the ultimate music lover’s getaway – the VH1 Best Cruise Ever!
Set sail April 28 – May 2, 2011, from Tampa to Cozumel onboard the Carnival Inspiration and you’ll experience non-stop rock from VH1 faves Train, Lifehouse, Colbie Caillat, The Script and more than a dozen other bands, including Alpha Rev, Civil Twilight, Crowfield, The Daylights, Hope, Mat Kearney, Matt Wertz, Nikki Jean,  One eskimO, Ryan Star, SafetySuit, Thriving Ivory and late-night favorites, Trailer Park Ninjas! As you float through the Caribbean, you’ll also enjoy VH1-themed activities and contests – plus the chance to hang with your favorite artists! Did we mention you’ll be doing all of this onboard a full-service cruise ship with multiple pools, bars, restaurants, 24-hour room service and a full casino?

Of course Sunday is still one of the days when I think of him a lot as well as missing him too.  One of the precious moment that happened while he was still living with me was one evening while I was just sitting in our couch, he came out of his room and he sort of lay down his head on my lap like a little boy wanting to be loved.  It was very special because if you think of a 26 year old son who is about 5'10" trying to fit in a small couch with me sitting on it.  It was the way he looked and how he did not really say anything - I always wondered if maybe he wanted to tell me something but he couldn't.  Maybe I should have asked.  Maybe I should have noticed something.  But it's all too late now and all I have is the memory of G.

 

Silly Sunday - Lady Bug and Dalmatians

What does Lady Bug have in common with Dalmatians?  Nothing really until it becomes part of the nail art for the week.  A few days ago my daughter suggested that I paint my toe nails with the Dalmatian Dogs design.  So yesterday afternoon while Jeff was taking a nap, I thought it would be a good time to do my pedicure and painted my toes with the requested design by my daughter.  On my previous blog, I did mention about not being comfortable with showing my toes, but since my nail art looked great, I would like to show this.  My mother in law gave me a nice green nail polish last week and she thought it would be great for my lady bug design.  After dinner, I decided to do my manicure and painted the lady bug design on the green nail polish. It did not take me long to do it, but the drying process took longer because of the details of the lady bug.  I might as well share all the other nail art designs that I have done.  

There are other designs that I have tried but sometimes I forget to take photos of my creation.  I have received several compliments from women that notices my nail art on my toes.  The great benefits of doing it yourself is that you save money and if you did not like the design, I can remove them and do a different one.

Sorry Saturday - Disappointed

Slept in and almost forgot to publish today's blog.  Last night we went out with Nikki and Juan to a nice restaurant downtown San Jose called FAHRENHEIT.  A little disappointed with this one because of the following: 

• the receptionist was a little disorganized and just a little rude.  She checked the book for our reservation and then there were other patrons that arrived and started talking to them, socializing, and she made us wait for longer than we should, and all she was waiting for was more MENU and DRINK list.  First impression went out the window for me. 
• our waiter did not arrived for a few minutes but at least he was pleasant.  we order our drinks and it took a while before he came back, so we thought we should order.
• the waiter came back and advised Jeff and Juan that they ran out of PRAWNS and they will substitute it with small shrimp. By this time they just want their meal.  I think the Chef should have told someone on the floor once the are out of Prawns so they can tell the patrons.
• when our meals arrived, I took photos but they were a bit blurry, sorry no photos. It does not matter because their presentation was not exciting. All our meals were plated with the same wilted green veggies - actually not sure what it was. I ordered the OSSO BUCCO - a little salty. I have never had this type of meal so I was excited to see what it was all about.  Not impressed at all. I made a comment to our friends that other restaurant would have used different veggies specially between seafood and red meat.
• we did not have dessert and thought about leaving, but they started playing music so it was OK but we eventually had to move to the bar area because they were folding our table to make room for dancing later - it was 1000 pm.  Our waiter told us we can seat in one area for a while but it was reserve for someone and we would have to move when they arrive.  We decided to just sit/stand in the bar and ordered one more drink. That took a while and my friend's Margarita came in a tall glass not the proper glass for a Margarita. 

My friend felt bad about choosing the restaurant but she was disappointed too specially her meal as she was looking forward to having a great dinner. She had been there before and the food was great.  She told me to do a review on my blog.  I seem to recall the receptionist saying that they just changed their menu and their website has not been updated. She didn't know what she was talking about.   http://fahrenheitsj.com/menu/dinner/

Our food did not have some of the things they describe on the menu.  Even with all of the above, we still had a great time with our friends and we invited them back to the house for my special coffee and some of my home made treats.  Next get together will be some home cooked Filipino meal at the CPB&B.

The one thing that was good was the red wine I ordered.

CABERNET SAUVIGNON | Casa LaPostolle | Rapel Valley | Chile 2006

Frilly Friday - Apron Marathon

As promised on my blog yesterday, I was going to post all the aprons that I have finished sewing.  I spent most of the day sewing and only breaking for meals and bathroom or checking my messages.  Here's my APRON creations.  If you are interested in having one of these, send me a comment with your color of choice.  As I am trying to use some of my old fabrics, designs could vary according to what is left on my inventory.

Erin's Apron

 

 

 

Sylvia's Apron

Barb's Apron

Future Prize for my 2,000 hit

There were a couple of fabrics that were cut out for Baby Bibs, so I ended up sewing it prior to making these 4 aprons. I wanted to test my machine to make sure it's running well and the tensions are set correctly.  These bibs are not special, but it will be great for last minute baby shower gifts.

This is one of the biggest post I have done so far as the photo's are a little bigger. But I wanted to really showcase my sewing talent.  Maybe I can sell the next batch of Aprons on Craiglist or Ebay.

Tension Thursday - Trimmings and Thread

Having read all those words, I am sure you know what I am talking about today.  If not, I can give you a bit more clue. It includes fabric, pattern and thread.  Yeah - SEWING.  That's right, today I will be sewing all day because I couldn't play tennis or golf.  Last Sunday, I made an apron for one of the ladies at the senior centre.  She was our supervisor and I wanted to thank her for giving me all those LUCKY stickers in order for me to collect the last small non stick frying pan that I wanted.  She wore it on Monday and I saw her again on Tuesday before my Spanish class and she was wearing it again.  She must love it then.  Yesterday, Annette and I stopped by at Beverley's Fabric store and there were some really great deals on fabric that I ended up buying a few so I can make aprons for everyone of the volunteers on Monday.  This means I would make 4 aprons in total.  Another project of mime will be making covers for our 3 appliances (blender, food processor and big mixer).  My cousin  had ordered 2 covers for their appliances - I think it's for their coffeemaker and blender - still need to go over to their house to measure.  Since I won't be able to take photos of these projects today, I will most likely post them tomorrow.  For now, I like to share more of the Loteria cards that I have done.  My teacher said I did a great job and he added more words to the list.  Now I have a total of 64 Spanish words and photos to make into tablets or Loteria cards. 

There is a lot more work for this homework, but I really think I can get it done before Tuesday.  All I need to do is do one of the above each day and maybe an extra day to do the 64 flash cards.  Now it's sewing time and I am so excited on all the projects I need to finish.

Wailing Wednesday - Lost cell phone

Early this morning, I woke up wailing and Jeff ask me what my dream was about.  It was about losing my cell phone, more like someone stole it.  When it was returned by the police, it had an evidence tag and the phone was black flip phone with a lot of scratches.  That's when I screamed and said Nooooooooooooh (in my dreams).  In reality it sounded like a wailing/crying in pain.  I am so happy to see my phone plugged to the charger on top of the night stand. 

Yesterday was our first day of Spanish Class.  Annette (my mother-in-law) and I decided to take 10 sessions for a couple of hours and it cost us $10.00 (Senior rate).  We had so much fun even though we are a little behind with the rest of the class.  We learned a lot of words and how to pronounce them properly.  The instructor introduced us to a game called LOTARIA which is like a Bingo game.  He would pick a card with a photo and the Spanish word for the photo. Each of the student would take turns saying the word.  We would then look at our card to see if we have the same photo and mark it using a penny (not a dabber).  I did not win, but Annette did and won a puzzle.  As for homework, I will make a similar Lotaria card using all the new words that we learned with matching pictures.  In addition to the card,  I will also make some flash cards to match these Lotaria cards.  Here's a sample of the prototype.

Now that I have done the Lotaria aka Bingo Card for Spanish Class, tomorrow I will try to attempt to make the flash cards using the same photos shown on the above card.  By next Tuesday, I should have my homework ready.  It will be part of show and tell and hopefully for approval by the Instructor.  As today is chore day, I will have to end for today's blog.