So in 2014, I'm gonna write more.

Yes I said it, I wrote it and I'm gonna do it. There are far too many things I've learned over the past year or so not to share them. And I'm not just talking blogging. I'm looking to write more in my journals too, taking notes on life and the like. My memory is just too poor to not take note of things. 

And so 2014, I'm looking forward to you. 

We're moving to Texas

My sisters, cousin and I were talking the other day about well, the world and its inequalities. My cousin brought up the topic of overpopulation and the overpopulation myth, so I looked it up and am shocked. SHOCKED. It is APPALLING how much I did not know about this.

Just look at this graphic:

Do some research. Remove the veil from your eyes and look into it. Seriously. Do it.

Nails

My hands are a disaster right now. My skin is so try, it feels like velcro. As do my heels. I think my hands might feel worse than my heels do. We've been quite busy in the past few weeks and so the skin on my hands and feet have not been my first priority...nor high up there on the list.

Anyway, when summer packed up its things and went on vacation, my pretty nails, fingers and toes, packed up and went for some R&R. They have been polishless since, and have been given some time to breathe. Much needed, if you ask me, judging from how they looked after self-mani/pedicure after self-mani/pedicure. (Who has the time and money to keep going to get these things done? Not me!)

And so now, after Thanksgiving weekend and cooking up a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner with my family, which also included even more hand washing, I'm staring at my hands, both dry, and now still a bit covered with butternut squash juices (you know how it sticks to your hands like glue, only it doesn't peel off), and wishing that my nails were pretty. But then again, my nail broke last week, pretty low down, and nothing, NOTHING, can make it look pretty. So, I'm waiting for that to grow back and my hands to feel moisture again.

My feet? Well, who knows if I'll ever let those guys see the light of day anymore. Just kidding. I'm working on it.

Excuse my hiatus...

I've been on Pinterest for a month.

Seriously.

But not seriously, I've been up to other things too, like parenting an evergrowing infant, putting together birth announcements, finally putting together albums for our wedding and honeymoon and family yearbooks, dealing with a broken computer now being repaired, toilet training, etc., etc.

I am, however, catching up on my Grateful posts and drafting my 30s posts and whatever other posts I've been meaning to write but never got to. I'll be back, I promise!!

Being grateful - 20120610

I am grateful for forgiveness.

Sometimes you meet ignorant and silly people, and sometimes those people aren't the nicest to you and do horrible things. It's a good thing that you can forgive these people and it's also a good thing if you can teach them a thing or two, in a nice way.

Being grateful - 20120609

I am grateful for gracious losers.

If you know any Filipinos, you know that Manny Pacquiao lost a fight today. I didn't watch it, but apparently he didn't actually lose it. He only lost it because they said he did, but his fighting didn't say so. Way to represent, Ninong!

Being grateful - 20120607

I am grateful for apple pie a la mode. Regardless of the quality of pie or quality of a la mode. Delicious.

Being grateful - 20120605

I am grateful for Pinterest.

Okay, back to pinning.

I've decided to finally join Pinterest

The thing that scares me most is not how much I'll be glued to it (although that is a scary thing too!) but how much more work this means for me...because I'm going to want to do every.single.thing I pin.

Now to wait for my invitation.

Being grateful - 20120530

I am grateful for Krazy Glue.

It fixed this:

There's a reason why I'm picky about what I use in the kitchen

The eco-safe kitchen

Being grateful - 20120526

I am grateful for Asian grocery stores.

Don't you love how you can find foods there that can't be found elsewhere? And don't you love how some of them are delicious and some of them are, well, kinda, weird? And don't you love that some smell good and some just stink? I have yet to full on smell a durian. And taste one too. I also love how organized and neat some of them are.

I am also grateful for seasonal haircuts.

D-nut got what-will-be-his-annual head shave today. (I make him sound like he's a sheep who got sheared. Oops.) He looks so cute. And even more like his Poppa.

Being grateful - 20120525

I am grateful for hanging out.

We hung out with Brother today. It was nice. I feel like every time we hang out at his place, I'm baking, and usually to fill an order, but today we just hung out. It was nice. We ate at one of our fave Filipino diners and then headed over to his place, which is just up the street.

Being grateful - 20120524

I am grateful for friendly waitresses.

We ate at Montana's tonight. We haven't been there in aaaaaaaaaaaaages. As in, before we had kids. Wow, that feels like forevers ago. We introduced D-nut to the Despicable Me 2 trailer and he's been singing his own version of the song ever since, several times a day, and very loudly. He did not shy away from doing it at dinner tonight. It was nice that everyone around us at the restaurant found it endearing and complimented him on his nice voice (strange that that song brings out a good voice?)

Our waitress, in particular, was awesome. Some wait staff aren't very good with kids, and it's a shame. She wasn't like that at all. In fact, of all the good wait staff we've had with D around, she was the best. She was really amused by him and encouraged him every time she passed us. D really liked her too and kept trying to get her attention when she was nearby and would even talk to her after she had walked away. We gave her a good tip.

Being grateful - 20120520

I am grateful for fireworks.

We introduced D-nut to Sparklers today, in the spirit of Victoria Day. And, just as expected, he was SOOOOO excited! We lit a few and put them in the ground and he loved it. We also saw some fireworks up in the sky and he liked those too. WyGuy slept inside the whole time. So excited to have the two boys up and about and do this for both of them some day soon. :)

Being grateful - 20120516

I am grateful for good news from my doctor.

I had my first appointment after delivering today. It was good. First, I'm okay to go for running again. Second, I'm back to my pre-pregnancy weight. Pre-pregnancy body is another story, which also makes the green light to run a good thing.

Being grateful - 20120504

I am grateful for clean cars.

As an early birthday gift to myself, I cleaned the interior of our car. I decided to do this before yesterday's fiasco, by the way.

After dinner, after Mr.S was home already, I backed the car out of the driveway and cleaned it. No more crumbs. No more dirt. No more dust. No more stray wrappers. No more receipts. No more clutter. All clean. All tidy.

Now to tackle the outside one of these days when rain isn't in the forecast every day...

Make your Toms different

I just found out about this guy's idea. It's so cool. Now, if I can just find my Toms somewhere...

OMPFC

It's finally coming to Canada.

Holy, double pan-fried noodles, Batman.

P.F. Chang's Coming to the Shops at Don Mills

(Thanks, SAM, for sharing! I'm so happy...and so is Mr.S!)

Being grateful - 20120420

I am grateful for turn arounds.

Let me explain what this is first. You're having a bad day, and you purposefully and willfully turn it around into a good day. It's an active choice and decision and it's hard to do at first, but when you've done it enough times and have had good practice and results, it's easy to do.

I had a long To Do list today, where all the items were past due. For example, I went to apply for a new passport today. My last one expired...in OCTOBER. Anyway, I needed to apply, not renew, because I wanted to update my last name on it.

Because of all the things on my mind about all the things I had to do today, my mind was everywhere. That caused me to make trips back home while on the road because of things I forgot and also caused Brother, my guarantor on my application, to go back home to give me his passport number because I forgot to put it on the form...in NOVEMBER, even after asking him for it several times. I had just deleted the text he sent with that info from NOVEMBER because I thought I should clear out some space on my phone. Anyway, after many, many wrongs, I found myself crying twice in public, once where a man was doing that try-not-to-look-but-can't-help-it-because-he-feels-bad thing. Ugh.

Anyway, it turned around. Mr.S reminded me that I could do that. People were no longer walking through the handicapped doors and instead were pressing the button for me and W in stroller. Lines weren't too long. D was okay and having a fun time with my parents. There were no issues with my passport application. W's hearing was fine. Chatted with random strangers. I finally changed my address on my license.

I got things done today. It was nice.