“I will give thanks to
the LORD with my whole heart; I will recount all of your wonderful deeds” (Psalm 9:1).
31 December 2022
I'm penning early because going to be a great day for football and it's going to get busy later in the day. Dang it was cold and in the 20s this morning. We went out this morning to the Jewels to buy flowers, cookies and a small Tiramisu cake to take to Sandy's party. I'm not sure why I was taken by the frost on the rooftops, grass and the cars parked overnight on the driveways, after all, its winter. Nice, we found a porterhouse steak that was marked down for under ten bucks, that is going to make for a fine New Year Day meal. I was happy to finally have my morning coffee and hot oatmeal when we got back from the grocery store. Mama washed the 100 percent cotton flannel shirt I got for Christmas from Alex. Initially I thought it was going to be too large, but it shrunk to a perfect fit. I was planning to wear it as a comfort shirt to wear around the house, but It fits like a tailor made shirt. I have a new year’s resolution in mind, but we know how most resolutions pan out over time. I plan to watch the Fiesta Bowl: #2 Michigan Wolverines vs #3 TCU Horned Frogs! This is gonna be a good one. Peach Bowl: #1 Georgia Bulldogs vs #4 Ohio Buckeyes! Thinking I'm way too old to watch the entire game. Well, I wasn't planning to watch the Sugar Bowl, but mama wanted to watch the game so here we are, "Roll Tide!" Can you believe how long we have been dealing with the coronavirus?
30 December 2022
Even though I went to bed a little bit earlier last night, it was still way pass the usual time I get ready to go to bed to sleep. However, I am making progress to get going back to my normal routine. For sure, I don't have desire to need to celebrate the new year exactly at midnight. Interesting oatmeal concoction I made this morning. I had it with pineapple and a splash of hot sauce and imagined it to have a hot sweet and sour taste. Eh, I can take it or leave it. After breakfast we went to the Sam's Club pharmacy and on the way back, we stopped at the Chinese supermarket for some fresh vegetables. Mmm, we couldn't walk out of the store without buying a joong to snack on. It was much cooler today than yesterday, but I'm thrilled we are still above freezing and was able to get in a short walk. Congratulations to the Fighting Irish 2022 Gator Bowl Champions. Albeit Notre Dame had a shaky start, the defense was eventually able to counter South Carolina’s razzle dazzle trick plays and come from behind. Although there were a few bone headed plays called by Notre Dame, I think it was a solid win against SEC team. We had a late dinner; I made us pork chops with a scalloped potato side. Thankful for the day.
29 December 2022
Well, I got up and out of bed 30 minutes earlier. Wow, I knew it was warming up, but I didn't expect all the snow to completely thaw overnight. Talk about a winter day in the upper 50s for most of the day, was a blessing. We went out to pick a package from Old Navy. On the way to Alex's we picked up a Chinese carryout for our lunchtime meal. It was good have a chance to visit Soo again while she is here in town. The kids facetimed this evening. Wow, Peyton is talking so much now. Her vocabulary and sentence structure is remarkable. Wow, she was singing along with a toy microphone the ABC song.
28 December 2022
I’m posting early so that I can toss a frozen pizza in the over and get ready for the Liberty Bowl and the go to bed a little bit earlier. Man, my internal clock has been messed up from staying up late on Sunday night. I need to gradually go to bed earlier so that I can wake up earlier because I'm missing out on some daylight. I am so happy that it got above freezing. I think it is possible that by the end of tomorrow all the snow may be melted. I installed YouTube TV on my tablet and will give it a trial go. We are trying to install it on our TVs but our smart tv are hand me downs and may be too old. Hopefully it can work with Ruko.
27 December 2022
The first thing I did this morning was reach for my phone and looked at the weather app and shook my head. The current temperature read 6 °F. I am hoping that the forecast calling for above freezing temperatures for tomorrow and the remainder of the week is accurate. We went out to drop off gensing that Fawn made yesterday to Fawn's sister Jean and then went to drop some off to Alex and aunt Soo. We stayed for lunch at Alex's and had dumpling soup. It was amazing how comfortable I was out and about dress properly for weather. I was layered up in my thermal underwear and don my new winter hat and coat gifted to me for Christmas. I really like the thermal hat with the visor and ear flap and the coat was light and wasn't bulky and kept me warm even in this really cold temperature. I was happy to get to see Soo again while she is here for the holidays. She may end up staying here longer, because flights are being canceled due to the poor weather conditions across the country. I love watching SEC bowl games. I'm rooting for all of them except for except for the Gator Bowl. Their W-L bowl stats are impressive, but they’re off to a bad start (0-2), going down in flames at the Las Vegas Bowl and Gasparilla Bowl. I will be cheering for Arkansas in the Liberty Bowl tomorrow. I am grateful for our Father's love begotten, Christ Jesus.
26 December 2022
We got home really late last night. Not only was it the latest I stayed up in a long while, this morning was the latest I got out of bed, everything is relative. I normally like getting up early to maximize my daylight. I can hardly wait to see the day become noticeably longer and warmer and anewed, this hunkering down is getting old. I saw we got light a dusting of overnight snow. Clearly having no desire to eat anything with my morning coffee was a clear sign that I ate way more than I should have yesterday at the family gathering, but that was obvious to me last night. The Lord provided for my needs with thoughtful Christmas gifts from my children, I am truly blessed. We went back to staying indoors today and mama made a pot of ginseng tea. I must be getting use to the bitter taste. There aren’t too many days remaining this year. Just like last year, I am fearful on whether or not something will go wrong with my attempt to merge the two journal pages together for the year. God willing, I also will have to refresh my memory on how to create a new page for my 2023 journal entries and link it. As 2023 approaches prayers for increase wisdom and humility.
25 December 2022
Joy to the world! "For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord" (Luke 2:11). Merry Christmas! Albeit was still very cold outside this morning, it was fitting that the sun was out shining bright in a cloudless sky when we made our way to the Baker Square for a couple of their signature pies. I made us an omelet with bell peppers, onions and tomatoes. I wish there was more stuff in our refrigerator to make a righteous omelet, but you can't always get what you want. Regardless, the omelet was still cery tasty. Breakfast anytime of the day is my favorite meal. Albeit I routinely eat either oatmeal or cold cereal, I really like eggs, ham, bacon, sausage links, pancakes, waffles french toast, toast, english muffins, sausage and biscuits, country fried steak, hash browns, corned beef hash, etc, etc... the list just goes on and on and I haven't even mention Cantonese dim sum. It is rare for me to watch nfl football outside of the playoffs and the super bowl in a long while. If I do, I tend to fall asleep in a very short time. Today, I watched the last ten minutes of fourth quarter and Packers ot field goal win over the Dolphins. We went to Fawn's brother's house for a family Christmas party. I didn't go nuts over all the good eats, but I also didn't refrain from enjoying them either. The bad thing is, I ate some things that were most definitely a no-no. Lol, they had the Buccaneers vs Cardinal game on last night, I sat a watched it for a few minutes and started dosing off so I had to walk away or I would have been out cold doing zzzs. Albeit the Christmas parties are smaller and are limited, it is less tense with fewer people. It was the first time I played the 24 math game. It's kind of fun playing with the kids. I especially enjoyed my time with Peyton. I was so moved whenever she took my hand and took me to the playroom. I am so delighted that see that her motor and communication skills continues to develop so rapidly. Today was a great day celebrating the birth of our Lord and Savior, Chris Jesus with our family.
24 December 2022
Mmm, I was so glad this morning that I save a little bit of the mapo tofu sauce to toss in my bowl of oatmeal, the favor and heat was spot on. It was nice to look out the window and enjoy the sun, can't say that about the snow on the roof tops and ground though. We are blessed with the best neighbors ever, they tended to the snow our sidewalk and driveway in subzero weather. They are like family, we watched our kids grow up together. I read an inspirational muse by a friend on Facebook that led me to a muse of my own about how God places people in our path on our journey back to Eden. My muse starts with my earliest childhood memories of being blessed with loving parents, my Grandmother and siblings. I think it was amazing growing up that I went to a non denominational evangelical church and Sunday school well into my teenage years with more unbelief than believe. During the confirmation years in a decision theology environment I chose not to be baptized white everyone else made a decision for Christ. When I met my wife, I started to Church with her family. Strange that I sat in Lutheran pews for over 16 years before coming to faith and receiving God's gift of Baptism. I thank God for my children and am grateful that they turned out the way they did, despite all of my shortcomings. I think it is amazing that God would entrust his children to someone with the likes of me. Our Lord continues to shower us with gifts; our grandkids are truly our crown. I can't thank and praise God enough for showering us with grace upon grace. Mary's Song of Praise: The Magnificat, comes to mind. And Mary said, “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant. For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed; for he who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is his name. And his mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation” (Luke 1:46-50). "Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee; blessed art thou amongst women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus." It is hard to believe that we have been hunkered down for three days now. It’s way too cold to be outdoors for these old bones. I worry a little about the pipes freezing and busting overnight because the water doesn’t run in the wee hours, so we crank up heat a few extra degrees before going to bed. This prolonged subzero weather is for the birds. I did another five five on the elliptical today, good for me! Oh no, not again! I have a friend whose now had a covid household three years in a row around Christmastide. That is not a holiday tradition one wants to start. Lord, heal our infirmities.
23 December 2022
O Emmanuel... Come to save us, Lord our God! Dang, woke to the sound of the howling winds. I looked at the weather app and it was minus nine degrees Fahrenheit. I felt grateful this morning for this day... among other things. The temperature remained subzero the entire day and we are expecting to be in the deep freeze until midweek. Just the short time outside to take out the garbage and get the mail was enough to freeze my tootsies off. I'm not a fan of a having white Christmas, but this snow isn't going anywhere for a while. Last night we were talking about how high last month's natural gas bill was, but we reluctantly raised the thermostat up a few notches. Just to get a little exercise, I got up off my butt for five five minute goes on the elliptical! There are very few vegetable dishes that I like as a meal, stir fried cabbage with carrots and onions is one of them. Years ago, I would have never fathomed the amount of meat that I have cut back on. Clearly like most Americans, we tend to routinely eat way more than meat than the recommended healthy portion. We got the recipe the for steamed gai loong from my Sue. I hope they will turn out as delicious as the one she gifted us the other day. I am thankful for the our daily provisions, God is good.
22 December 2022
O King of the nations… Come and save us all. So much for looking at the weather forecast last night before going to bed. I went to bed early last night thinking that I had to clear the sidewalk for the kids to go to school this morning, but we didn't get the expected overnight snow. I'm debating whether that was a good thing or not. Does that mean less snow or does that mean delayed snowfall. One good outcome is the garage got collected. I looked at the weather app again this morning and the revised forecast called for the snowfall to begin at noon, but it actually we began to come down at 10. How naive of me think that my expectations of a weather app bold enough with the name Accuweather could better. With that said, it's better than nothing. I had my first go at the snow about two o’clock. It was only about an inch and was really light and fluffy and was a piece of cake. My plan was to go out every two hours and tend to and stay on top of the snow. It was about four o’clock when I went out again and there was about two inches this time around and was very light like before. I was able to get all the snow off my deck out back and about half the driveway before I just gave up because of the cold. It dropped down to 5 ºF and just too cold to do the needed. It’s supposed to be around eight degrees below zero when we wake tomorrow and remain subzero the entire day. Prayers for the safety of all for good health.
21 December 2022
O Dayspring, splendor of light everlasting... Come and enlighten those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death. Last night I heard an oldie after I penned my journal entry, Touch Me - Doors, or ot would have been the song of the day. Well, the pendulum starts swinging the other way now and the days will gradually become longer. We were up early to go grocery shopping so that I could do a big cook so that Alex can have food to cook and have a few prepared meals for the next few days. With auntie Soo flew in and will be staying with him for the holidays. I steamed us a dim sum brunch and made char sui rice noodle soup and ribeye steak and stir fried bok choy side for dinner. It was a good eating day. I made a pot of oatmeal, Mapo tofu and stuffed hamburgers as their prepare meals and we got plenty of fruit and there is spinach to make salad to hunker down. We'll probably see them on Saturday, if the weather permits. Who knows, the predicted blizzard may even fizzle out and we can spent more time with Soo. For sure this isn't ideal weather, but I think it'll be ok for Christmas eve and Christmas day. I stayed behind to watch Nala while Alex and mama went to the Airport. Well, I didn't exactly watched Nala, I watched the movie, Father Stu, on Netflix. I love Mark Wahlberg and Mel Gibson movies and he didn't disappoint. We're so happy that Fawn's sister made the trip to spend Christmas with us and the family. Prayers for Jennifer and the babies as she begins her month long night shift rotation working the newborn icu at the hospital. I just checked the forecast again and now the snow is expected to start falling overnight now instead of tomorrow afternoon. Talk about a moving target, It was initially forecasted to begin Thursday evening. Thanks be to God for our joyous day with family and good eats. I got to get ready for bed and rest up for the shoveling task ahead of me. May the Lord give me the rest and the strength and the wisdom to know my physical limitations.
20 December 2022
O Key of David and scepter of the house of Israel... Come and rescue the prisoners who are in darkness and the shadow of death. Dang, we got a county winter storm watch alert: beginning Thursday evening and ending on Saturday. We can expect subzero temperatures and a ton of snow to drop. I'm hoping the forecasters are wrong on both counts. Not good, normally I can fall asleep rather quickly in bed, but it took me a while to fall asleep last night because of the sound of the howling winds. We were up early and out the door this morning. My cousin's wife called last night and said that she was going to stop by our house to bring some Chinese dim sum and the diakon and dumpling soup that she made after stopping by my sister's. That was so thoughtful of her to be so mindful of us. That was perfect because we were going to call to go by her place to drop off gifts for her grandskids. We decided to go my sister's house to drop off our gifts for our little cousins, because she always seem to have a hard time finding our house and get lost in our subdivision. Lol, she needs to learn how to use the Google Maps app. It's sad that our kid's kid aren't experiencing the large family gathering like we had and our kids had playing with all the cousins and getting to bond and know them well. We drove down 75th street and we were thrilled to see that the road construction was finally completed. Talk about cream, they sure knew how to milk the heck out of the job. I am grateful for the gift of family. It is so nice to be out and about. This string a sunny days is a true blessing. Gloom and doom skies and the darkness of short days is undesirable for sure. We have to make the most of it before the expected winter storm moves un and causes havoc. Since Alex is on vacation this week and we were out, we went to his house to share the delicious soup. We bought a new carbon steel wok to leave at Alex's to use there, so we put the heat on it to season that bad boy. Man, his high btu stove did an awesome job. It's an uphill battle to fight off the urge to eat all the different good holiday treats and foods. There is no way to get in enough exercise to offset the calories, so I do my best to resist the glutinous temptations of overindulgence. Thankfully, my gos on the elliptical to strengthen my heart, lungs and muscles should help with some of the unwanted holiday calories. Surprisingly, so far so good. I'm not interested in losing any weight, but don't want to gain any. The goal is to get into and stay in shape. I don't expect doritos but losing the pear shape would be nice. I'm grateful for the blessings of the day. It's been months since my cousin Jimmy and his wife. I got to see brother Bill and son Alex. This pandemic has allowed me to see precious moments that were once taken for granted. Anyway off to bed, we have a big day ahead of us tomorrow. Prayers for save travel in the face of the approaching winter storm.
19 December 2022
O Root of Jesse… Come quickly to deliver us. Dang, it was cold last night. I like to dress comfortably in the house, so I asked mama to kick the thermostat up a notch. I think it was cold in the house because we were away all day and so there was no stovetop residual heat in the house from me cooking. It was another sunny day and was pretty much the same temperaturewise today, but thankfully without the wind. Albeit it was still cold out, at least the coldness was bearable. Layering up with thermal clothing is a must. We were are the Fox Valley Mall and got in a 30 minute mall walk. There were a few more people in the mall today, but there weren't enough people about to be concerned over. Actually, I thought there would be more people off from work this week and out shopping, but that was clearly not the case. It was a little tough to do any more than a walk at a slow leisurely pace while walking with my pair of non slip shoes on. For sure I need to be keep up with several gos on the elliptical and doing some resistance training or I’ll end up gaining weight again, more importantly I need to be working on being as physically fit as possible. We were out longer than I anticipated and was glad that we had a package of belVita breakfast biscuits and bottled water. The problem with the cranberry orange is that I can't stop at one. Lol, Alex called and wanted to know if we would go with him to the Chinese supermarket to get the ingredients to make the dumpling dough. He was happy that we already went this morning and got all the needed. Clearly Alex thought his aunt's recipe to make gai loong dumplings was a keeper too.
18 December 2022
O Adonai and ruler of the house of Israel... Come with an outstretched arm and redeem us. I woke up as happy as can be this morning, because I was excited to to gather and celebrate Christmas while making old and new memories with my siblings and family. We were saddened that Andrea and Rob were under the weather and couldn't make it with our grandkids, but we were glad that Alex was able to make it there. I would of loved seeing Isaac and Peyton spend time playing with and getting to know their cousin Norah. It's difficult having Jennifer live elsewhere, but we are happy that she is pursuing her dreams and forging ahead. I'm so glad old children routinely call their mama, almost on a daily basis. Facetiming with all our children is truly a blessing. I remember the notion of video calls was all but a dream. It’s hard to believe that we got another overnight dusking of snow. At least it was only about a quarter inch of the fluff. I didn't realize it until we were ready to leave and looked out the rear window and noticed it on the deck or I wound have shoveled it off, I hope I don't end up regretting not attending to it. What a beautiful sun filled day. It’s sad that it is so close to the shortest day of the year. More sad is how deceiving the sun was in the windy cold, brr. How cold is it? It was in the 20s. How windy was it? Windy enough to have single digits with the wind chills factored in and funny to see snow flurries when there were only a few clouds at a distance. Thanks be to God for UV sun shade clip ons. I always feel nostalgic around the holidays, so recreating taste memories by making Chinese pastries "tay" brings back fond childhood memories. These times with my siblings together with my family create newer joyful memories. This aspect of food and sitting a table breaking bread with love ones is a relished gift from God. Whenever or not our children will relish their Cantonese heritage remains to be seen. I was happy to see that Alex was interested enough to go to the party early and learn how to make gai long dumplings. My vocabulary in Cantonese is very limited as well as being able to cook Cantonese dishes. This was our first go at making gai long dumplings! It was a fun experience for us to recreate our fond childhood memories. Clearly we need to work on our pleating skills, but the tay and filling was pretty tasty. I'm thankful that my sister is good at making tay and for our family time poetically waxing over making Cantonese dim sum dishes. Thanks be to God for the gift of family. Nancy made a beautiful slow cooker pot roast for our Christmas meal. I find it difficult to be patient and have something cook for a long time, found that out when Isaac allowed me to cook his prize Thanksgiving turkey that he won in a race last year. I always wanted to cook a turkey and I am grateful to my grandson to present me an opportunity to do so. I was musing about holidays and special dates, but never understood the need to celebrate any occasion on a exact date. In my mind and stressing one's self out to do so is beyond me, but judging by what a lot people put themselves through, especially flying during the holidays is truly remarkable. Afterwards, we went to our neighbor's home to celebrate Emma's 80th birthday! She is in town for the holidays. The song of the day is, That’ll Be the Day – Buddy Holly & The Crickets. I picked this song because it came on, it was a fun song when I was a little kid. We only just kept singing, “that’ll be the day” over and over, what can I say? It was an awesome day that was filled with God's Glory.
17 December 2022
O Holy Wisdom… Come and teach us the way of prudence. Déjà vu, more overnight snow, it's like Ground Hog Day! I'm glad this time around we only got about a half inch of snow, but I did need to go out to shovel the snow especially the deck and around the sump pump discharge hose out back. We listened to classical music this morning and the background music was so peaceful and good for the soul. I made us fried carrots, cabbage and onions for lunch. I should have given the cabbage a shredded cut like I did last time, it was have tasted much better. Fried cabbage wasn't a very filling lunch so tossed a DiGiorno frozen pizza in the oven mid afternoon to carry us over until supper by then I wasn't hungry anymore, so I had a bowl of cold cereal with blueberries. "This was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah: “He took our illnesses and bore our diseases" (Matthew 8:17). I'm certain that during the cold winter months our immune system tend to weaken our ability to fight off respiratory viruses and diseases. Prayers for health and healing. May our Lord take our infirmities and bare our illnesses.
16 December 2022
Oh my! Mercy me, I looked at the weather forecast this morning and all I see is cold and colder. It looks like we will be below freezing for the remainder of the year. I even saw subzero temperatures forecasted ahead of us, not good. Well, it had to snow sooner or later. I am thankful for the advancements in thermal clothing and to be healthy enough to be able shovel it. Luckily the two inches of snow we that fell was somewhat fluffy so it wasn't too bad. It's good to be retired and tend to the task without a window of time to getrdun. Having a safe and warm house to call your home is an incredible blessing. Thanks be to God for shelter. We stayed around the house all day today. It felt good doing light resistance training and getting on the elliptical three times today. I didn't push any of the exercises but felt the need to move. Happy haircut, mama did a great job cutting my hair. There is something about getting a haircut that make me feel good afterwards. My brother called me to let me know that the Stagg Bowl was on beween my graduate school alma mater North Central and Mount Union. I'm not able to see the game, so I did the next best thing and listened to the live audio broadcast. Whoo hoo, congratulations to the NCAA Division III Champions, North Central Cardinals for their 28-21 Stagg Bowl victory over Mount Union. It's Friday! I can hardly wait to spend time this weekend with my siblings and family. My sister is going to teach us how to make "gai loong." I'm sure that is going to kindle back fond childhood memories. Our mom could make enough of this traditional Toisanese fried dumplings. It's my understanding that it a very popular street food where my parents lived in China. I loved it when we use to made "joong" and "cheong fun" during the holidays before the pandemic at my sister's house. It's is awesome that she can make a few of our childhood favorites that our mom used to make. Making these dishes is very laborious and now I can truly appreciate the love by our parents that was put into preparing the wonderful food from our Lords bounty that was put before us. I was musing about gifts from God and living in the best of times. There was a time when I thought that my parents and siblings were the best possible gift from God. Then I met my wife to be and my heart was full. It was soon after, that I joined her on our journey back to Eden. Along the way we were bless with children and now crowed with grandchildren. The kids called and facetimed us, our cup overflows with grace upon grace. Our Lord's love endures forever. I got into a conversation with one of my Facebook friends about the price of regular gas finally trending back down but the price of the high octane premium gas is still a dollar more per gallon than regular. I'm just glad that our turbocharged engine doesn't require the high octane premium gas. Even with the price of gas finally coming down, one is way off better with the $/mi with an EV and EVs are becoming more attractive with the rollout of V4 superchargers. I always thought that all those changing stations in the parking lots in town was a big waste of time, but now surprisingly folks are using them. On time will tell if the ev car batteries will hold up in the cold midwest winters. I could be wrong, but I think this transition will take place faster than most folks envisioned. With that said, I don't see us getting one with our days being numbered. But I've learned to never ever say never. Talk about Facebook friends another one of my friends mention an old song called, Toyland, and I’ve being humming the Doris Day rendition most of the day. I made us napa soup with linguine noodles for lunch, (fusion?) Anyway, soup is good for the soul, especially on cold winter days like today. And Fawn fished up the steak while I finished the last of the barbecue drumsticks for dinner. Because I pen whatever comes to mind, it is clear to me I often have food on my mind. What can I say, I love talking about food, loving reading recipes and watching cooking shows on top of cook and enjoying delicious food. Anyway, enough yapping. It’s been a long day and I am grateful for this peaceful and tranquil day. May the Lord keep us through the night and secure our hearts and thoughts in holy reverence.
15 December 2022
"The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shone" (Isaiah 9:2). We are less than a week away from the winter solstice and it is noticeable how short the days have become. As the winter solstice and the celebration of Christmas approaches, I give thanks that unto us a light has dawned. We had a nice peaceful morning over coffee and looking at recent pictures and videos of our kids and grandkids. Each passing year has been a blessing, "It's a Wonderful Life!" God is faithful and Good. We went to Alex's for lunch and this time we remembered to bring a brick. I'm surprised that Fawn seems to be able to find ribeye steaks on sale, but I suppose if you go to as many grocery stores as we do looking for the deals on fresh fruits and vegetables, you're able to do just that. I made us rice noodle soup to go with the steak and had scalloped potatoes for the side dish. Albeit, I'm not a health food nut, I have been eating a lot more fruits and vegetables lately and able to maintain a healthy weight. Since Fawn a pickup at the JCPenney in the Fox Valley Mall, I was able to do a 20 minute mall walk. It's been a while since I've done that there. It's not clear to me if there weren't many people in the mall because it is a weekday morning or is there are only two anchor stores remaining there. I think that department stores in general are numbered. Naturally, I gassed up the car on the way to Alex's. I know I talk about gas prices a lot, but it's a good thing to see the price of it continuing to go downward. I was able to get it this week for $2.889 a gallon. Am I overly optimistic or just plain old naive to be hoping the price of every day consumer goods to follow suit? It started snowing mid afternoon today, but so far the temperature has been above freezing so thankfully there hasn't been any accumulation. Nice, Fawn showed me great photographs of Jennifer and RJ on their vacation/visit to Honolulu to visit RJ parents who resides there. Prayers for health and recovery. We went to Oahu and Maui for our honeymoon and thought it was most beautiful. I never could figure out how folks can afford to live there, but somehow people are able to do just that. Our baby girl is growing up and no longer looks like a teenager. Sigh, I’m on my laptop and I just got a popup notification about a Windows update that will require a restart. I don’t get on my laptop that often, but whenever I do, it seems to need an update for this or that, nuts. I would have never guessed that when we bought the elliptical for Jennifer for her rehabilitation when she tore both her ACLs playing tennis in high school, that I would be using the cardio machine. I knew that I would be using the elliptical more during the winter months. Wow, I just came across, Dream Lover – Dion, I have heard this song in ages. That is why I like having my ear buds on playing oldies while penning my journal entries. LOL, the hits by Dion & the Belmonts is making me bob my head and tapping my feet. I just looked at the weather app for tomorrow’s forecast. It looks like tomorrow will be in the 20s all day so I just peeked out the window and there was only snow on the grass. I hope that street will get salted asap. Prayers for safe driving condition. Hmm, that brought to mind about a noticeable surge in reckless driving this past year. Thank you Lord for the blessings of the day, for health and healing and for comfort in our sufferings, struggles, and sorrows.
14 December 2022
I woke to the sound of pouring rain in the middle of my night, but thankfully I was able to instantly fall back asleep. Waking to another gloom and doom looking sky wasn't what I was looking forward to, but it is what it is. It's a blessing that we are still getting rain instead of snow, but my concern is that the temperature doesn't drop and the roadways become iced over and dangerously slick. I looked at the weather app and the temperatures seem to be thankfully remaining above freezing. I’m praying that the forecasters are correct. I went out early to mama's haircut appointment, too bad I wasn't able to walk while she was getting her hair clipped because of the rain. I'm glad she had the first appointment of the day, because I was sitting in a cold car and she was in and out relatively quick. OK, enough grumpy talk about the cold and damp weather we are having... besides, I did get to sit in the car and meditate while listening to sacred music play list on my phone. I was glad to get back home and enjoy a nice hot cup of coffee. I forgot to mention that our new coffee maker seems to make a hotter pot than our previous one. It kind of reminds me of drinking piping hot coffee from McDonald's. With all this rain, it’s crazy how the sump pump has been working overtime, in December no less. After lunch we went over to Alex's to let Nala out to do her business and dropped off the char sui and some barbecue drumsticks for Alex to have for his supper. Sigh, we forgot to bring another brick to Alex’s house keep Nala from digging in the ground in his back yard. I only remember when she was at it again. It could be my imagination, but the leftover barbecue drumstick chicken I had for lunch seemed juicier and more flavorful today than yesterday. Hmm, it sadden me to see, "Let's Go Brandon" christmas gift wrapping paper advertised on Facebook, no thank you, Christ First! I was able to get to go in on the elliptical and I know that isn't nearly enough exercise for the day, but some days are like that. I diced up the last of the teriyaki chicken and diced up some of the char ribs and made us fried rice for dinner. I'm clueless why a lot of folks claim that you need cold day old rice to make the dish. I scooped my rice hot right out of the electric rice cooked and had no problem making the dish. Thanks be to God for Jennifer’s safe travel. I’m always apprehensive whenever family members fly on an airplane.
13 December 2022
Happy second birthday Peyton! Aren't grandkids the best? Albeit, I’m more than a little bit bias, I think we have the great kids on the planet. Over morning coffee, I was complaining about the about the cold dreary day ahead of us. Mama put my head on right and said that I should be grateful that we were given another day. Of course she was right, thanks we to God. We went out for groceries at Mariano's and Jewels. We are blessed that these two grocery stores are across the street from each other and are so close to our home. Brr, albeit it was pretty much the same temperaturewise, the windchill made it horrid. I was so glad it is a weekday and that we were out the door early enough to be able to walk inside the stores. I made char sui ribs and good old fashion American oven baked barbecue drumsticks. The house was nice and toasty and smelled wonderful, life is good. The char sui ribs didn't come out as juicy and tender as with the pork shoulder butt. I'm not sure I would try making that again, but it I do, it'll need to be done differently to somehow make the meat more tender. The highlight of the day was fametimiming with all the kids and singing happy birthday to Peyton. I best stop penning and get ready for bed, because we need to be up early tomorrow morning.
12 December 2022
Albeit I like my oatmeal sweet or savory, I tend to favor savory whenever there is a little something meaty. I shredded a couple of bite size pieces of leftover teriyaki chicken and tossed in my oatmeal with a couple dashes of hot sauce, so good. Savory oatmeal taste similar to jook. While out and about, I picked up more hand lotion. Crazy that we have to use it all year round now, because I continue use alcohol base hand sanitizer whenever we are out. Now that it's winter again, my hands are so very dry. It was instant relief once I applied the lotion on my hands. It's been a long while since we been to downtown Naperville. Albeit I didn't go to the riverwalk, I still enjoyed a nice leisurely walk. It makes a world of difference being out and about when there is little to no wind blowing. I think that taking a nice peaceful outdoor walk listening to sacred music is so good for one's well being. I just looked at the ten day forecast and it looks like starting this weekend we will dip below freezing and stay there with overnight lows in the single digit., not good. Today's good eat was spaghetti. We took the sauce out of the freezer a couple days ago and today was the first opportunity to have it once it was defrosted, delicious.
11 December 2022
Mmm, I made a fresh pot of oatmeal. Then I scooped a teaspoon of the hamburger peas and a couple splashes of Cholula hot sauce to make my bowl of oatmeal savory. Clearly it doesn't take much to make me a happy camper. I got on the elliptical four times today, good for me. We had a package of chicken tenderloin and since there was plenty of the Colombian chicken sauce, I boiled half of it and tossed it in the sauce, mmm. I made teriyaki chicken with the other half of the package, but it's not a good using boneless chicken thighs. For dinner I made us beef tomato pepper. I got a complaint about the dish from mama last time, so I was really happy that it turned out good this time around. Lord, come and save us.
10 December 2022
After morning coffee we went to the Jewels to buy grounded beef to make hamburger peas and for chicken drumsticks that were on sale for the unbelievable price of 69 cents a pound. It was great be able to find a marked down ribeye steak package and several packages of ground beef marked down by 30 percent during these inflationary times. We stopped by Target on the way to Alex's to buy eggs that were on sale $2.99 a dozen. That's the lowest it has been in a long while. Despite finding all these groceries on sale, to put things in perspective, eggs were about a year ago. Most grocery items have more than doubled since in the last two years. I can let it go that things are so bad under Biden. I wish he would just step down. I have to believe that the Harris can do a heck of a lot better. Besides it being a Saturday, I guess I'll have to wait until the holiday season is over before I'll be able to walk indoors again. There are way too many people out and about shopping in the big box stores. That's fine with me because I'm more focused on doing more cardio on the elliptical for now. We went to Alex's for a visit and bring him some of the Colombian chicken and to make us lunch. As much as I enjoy going to his house and make and enjoy lunch with him on a weekday, he has to work, so it is pretty much an eat and go during his lunch break. A slow and more relaxing time with him for a couple of hours on a weekend is more blessed. Mmm, I fried up the ribeye steak for our lunch. It’s ashamed that I have to limit my red meat consumption, because I really like the way I make a Hong Kong style steak. I made hamburger peas for him to eat at another time. Nala was happy that I made her a plain hamburger patty. I also made char sui chow fun for him too and took half of it home for our supper. The cooking goes so fast in his kitchen. I love these modern kitchens with an fancy high btu stove. On the way home we stopped at a Hallmark store, so I had an opportunity to walk around the parking lot, do some step ups and run in place. We had a good day and thank God for his blessing, his love endures forever.
9 December 2022
I woke early dawn to the sound of the pouring rain and had to look at the weather app to make sure that we are not expecting any freezing temperatures to come about before doing the happy dance. Getting rain in mid December is a heck of a lot better than having with the snow. We ended up just hanging around the house all day, so I was able to hit the elliptical four times today and got a lot of good cardio workout doing intervals without overly stressing my heart. I can't see myself doing HIIT or strenuous workouts, but I am focus on gradually strengthening my heart and increasing my lung capacity. I had mixed feelings yesterday about Brittney Griner's impeding prisoner exchange return, but now that she is safely back here on American soil, I am happy for her. I stand to Flag and for our National Anthem despite her many historical blemishes; there is no other nation I rather live in. Francis Scott Key like some of his contemporaries before him are problematic and do not represent the words for which our nation stands for. I just think the divisive way she and other athletes have chosen to protest only create noise instead of a conversation. Mmm, Sandy dropped by this afternoon and gifted us her signature Colombian Chicken dish, it made for a super delicious dinner. Every once in a while I come across a pop song that I like, Never Gonna Give You Up - Rick Astley. The verse of the day is, “Restore us, O God; let your face shine, that we may be saved!” (Psalm 80:3). Help us, O Lord, to always be mindful of the gifts we receive from your bountiful hands and to restore our lives to your praise and glory.
8 December 2022
I can hardly believe that I stayed up so late last night and when I finally went up to bed, it took me a while to fall asleep. Normally, I'm in bed relatively early and can fall asleep in a very short time. Michael Mayer... I should have seen that coming. Albeit he will not be playing in the Gator Bowl and will most likely be selected in the first round in April. We got a call this morning from my sister about the change of plan on cooking food instead of ordering food with my brother and sister for our holiday meal. It’s crazy how covid-19 has made large gatherings impossible. We are real looking forward to getting there early and learning how to make "gai loong"! I also have great joy in my heart whenever we get a call from family or friends, I especially love hearing from my brother, or my kids and grandkids. The gift of family overwhelms me. Prayers for good health and blessings to all my family and friends. "The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace" (Numbers 6:22-27). Finally, on the way to Alex's we pulled into the gas station and got gas for $297.9 a gallon! I took a bone-in pork chop and shredded the pork and tossed it a large pot along with the store bought mini wontons to make us a napa and silken tofu soup for lunch. Chirp, chirp, this was perhaps the best soup I ever made, delicious! We went full Canto with multiple dishes. I made beef with peapods, lap cheong and steamed rice. Now that's what I call a meal. I love cook on Alex's high btu stove, the water comes to a boil so quickly and stir frying with wok hay is sweet. Surprise, surprise, previously mama always got Alex's hand me down phone, but the kids gifted her with a brand new phone. Alex helped her move her sim card and migrate all her data over from her old phone to the new one. I asked what is different between the two phones and learned that mama needed a new phone because the old phone was too old and couldn't be updated. I swear, we have the greatest kids and grandkids in the world, we are truly blessed. When we got back home, I got ambitious and raked the leaves in front of our house. I'm sure all our neighbors appreciated that, because this is the first year our street looked pretty awesome. I think it is because of the above normal temperatures we have been having and without any hindering snow on the ground. I had a bowl of soup and made myself a salad for dinner and Fawn had a little leftover beef with peapods. After supper, it was just a peaceful and relaxing evening. I think it is important to take time and remind ourselves that there is much to be grateful for because our Lord showers us endless gifts. After all, everything that we have is a gift from God. It is very arrogant and self centered to believe that we have achieved everything on our own. Thanks be to God for all his inexpressible gift and mercies.
7 December 2022
Sitting and enjoying our morning coffee made it a slow morning get out the door, but we eventually head out to the Sam's Club to pick up our meds from the pharmacy. I only time to do a couple of laps. It was just as well, because there were more people around than I liked. Social distancing is out the window and we are amongst the last of people who still mask up in public. On the way home we stopped off at JCPenney to pick up a tee shirt for Isaac that Fawn ordered online. I’m actually surprised that that store is still around, because we hardly shop there anymore. The last stop was to Park and Shop for Chinese groceries since it was nearby. Talk about being blesses, I glad that we only made a few stops because my idea of staving is an hour late for a meal. Lunch was simple, Fawn ate her leftover Mexican from the other day and I made myself a salad. I'm glad I made it a point to hop on the elliptical twice today. I remember when I first started using Jennifer's elliptical machine as a way to burn a lot of calories in a short time. I was so heavy and out of shape that I was only able to go at a very slow pace for a very short amount of time. Now I am more interested in boosting my stamina and cardio capacity by strengthening my heart and lungs. I really need to be in good physical shape to be able to shovel the snow manually this winter again. I made Fawn Cantonese style tomato egg and made myself a green pepper and onion omelet for dinner. I just realized that I went totally meatless today, interesting. I’m slow and behind the news, because I try to avoid news outlets as much as possible. Fleetwood Mac is one of my all time favorite band and Christine McVie passed away last week. RIP, Songbird. Awake us, O Lord, that we may receive your Son with joy.
6 December 2022
Thanks be to God for another day. I was totally surprised to wake up this morning without any soreness or even a stiff arm from yesterday's shot. I was bored did resistance training with the dumbbells twice in the morning and the afternoon. It's strange that I only use 5, 10 and 15 pounds pairs now and gave up on the pair of 20 dumbbells earlier this year and gave them to Alex. I can't even remember why I decided to stop working out with the pair of 20 pound dumbbells. We stay indoors today and just hung out around the house, so I got the elliptical twice this morning. Too bad I'm not disciplined enough to hop on the elliptical every day. I wish I was, because I know the cardio workout is far superior to walking. I enjoy taking leisurely walks but that isn't the case during the winter months. I can see me going into winter mood more and more as we move deeper into the season. I can hardly wait until we are done with winter and we are just at the early stage of it. It was a relaxing morning playing classical music in the background. Mmm, I always love it whenever Fawn make us salad, because she always go all out with whatever fruits are in the refrigerator along with an iceberg lettuce and hard boiled eggs, so good. I especially like the fresh pineapples, because lately Fawn has been buying whole fresh pineapples and cutting it up herself. I was bored in the afternoon, so I had two more gos on the elliptical as well as with the dumbbells. Mmm, mama came up with a great idea to have me make the both for the store bought frozen mini wonton she got from the supermarket. I toss in some bok choy vegetables and my homemade char sui and it ended nice soup for dinner. I was musing about the controversy of divinity of the Son in the Trinity and the use of the Greek terms homoousios and homoiousios. Homoousios is the term used by the Council of Nicea that means “same substance.” So it means that the Son is one substance with the Father and is fully Divine. Homoiousios is the term used by the Arians and other heresies that means “of similar substance.” I also mused about my sister Mary; it is hard to believe that it has been 13 years ago since she passed away. At times I am still sad that she is gone but will cherish the memories of as my big sister. The day is almost over and I am rejoicing in the Lord and am forever grateful for what he has done and is doing in my life.
5 December 2022
I got pretty excited this morning that Notre Dame will be going to the Gator Bowl and will take on a closely ranked SEC team. It looks like South Carolina is a great match up. I was surprised that there is talk about Tyler Buchner because I thought he was out for the season with a shoulder injury. Albeit there is always hope of winning a bowl game even with Pyne leaving ND, the chance greatly increases if Buchner in the game and if he plays up to the high expectations that most had of him at the start of the season. If he does get to start, it'll be a 2nd chance for him, not too players get opportunities like that. #GoIrish We went to the Sam's Club Pharmacy to get out 3rd and final hepatitis shot. We had no warning that the final shot was a very high dosage, so it initially stung like heck and was painful for about 15 minutes and then it was painless. I have no clue what my arm will feel like tomorrow morning. So I think getting our shingles shots the early next year will complete all the shots thing for a while. It was much of a walk doing the indoor perimeter thing, but getting 30 minutes in is better than nothing. Good thing we have Jennifer's elliptical and me getting up every hour or so to do a little walking in place has been helpful. Surprisingly, we got a couple hours of unexpected sunshine this morning before the gloom and doom looking sky moved in. I'm not sure why I all of a sudden had a taste for Mexican food out of the blue. We have done that in a long while. So we went a little out of the way home to the Front Street Cantina in downtown Naperville to pick up a couple orders of shredded enchiladas to for our lunch. The portion was large enough that we ate half of it for lunch and the other half we had for our dinner. Mmm, it was the best idea I had in a while. American style Mexican, Italian and Chinese food is among my favorite cuisines. I actually think every country have at least a couple dishes I would enjoy. One of the best things about living in the Naperville area is that there is the diversity of spices and ingredients that can be found in the supermarkets as well as the many different restaurants cuisines.
4 December 2022
We were out the door super early to pick up the Mulan birthday cake and ice cream. I couldn't win, it was rather cold at the crack of dawn, so I went for the Bronson look to keep my head warm. But the bad thing was that the sun is low to the horizon this time of year and my baseball cap with the visor would have been better suited to keep the sun out of my eyes while driving. Thanks be to God for protective UV clip on sunglass lens. I was happy to see the sunshine because it's my understanding that it will be a while before we will see it again. We are expecting participation several times this week and I'm hoping it will be warm enough that it will be in the form of rain and not freeze over. I was happy to see that the gas prices are continuing to drop during these self inflicted inflationary times. We got gas near Alex's house for $3.099 a gallon. Breakfast was sweet, oatmeal, muffins, french toast, scrambled eggs and breakfast sausage links. Later, I steamed the frozen dim sum, shui mai, har gow and bean curd rolls. Although my best wasn't very good, I did try to curb the day's gluttony. It was great playing with our grandkids. I'm finding it so joyful to actually be talking with Peyton. The word grandpa was music to my ears. Albeit I'm in better shape than I have been in many years, Isaac had be huffing and puffing. I feel bad that there were a few things he wanted to do with me, but I wasn't able to do, like go in a tent with him with because I was fearful that I wouldn't be able to get back up off the ground. Alex has a nice uncluttered play space in his basement that is ideal for Isaac to like his imagination run freely. I hope the kids had a fun visit, I sure did. Rob was kind enough to bless me with a neck, back and shoulder massage. I not much into professional football but I did catch the last 5 minutes of the Packers vs Bears game. Looks like Aaron Rodgers still owns the Chicago Bears. Sigh, I wish I didn’t turn on the car radio on the way home. It’s so annoying to hear the names Biden and Trump and something to do with 2024. I think our nation is doomed if it comes down these two again in 2024. It’s not clear to me what’s going on any why the msm was giving this news blurb. I went way over the meat quota that I set for myself so I just made myself a carrot, green pepper and onion stir fry for dinner. I was listening to music on YouTube and came across, I'll Never Fall in Love Again - Tom Jones. He was one of my favorite singers from yesteryears. The verse of the day is, Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life" (John 8:12). We view darkness in many ways. It comes as no surprise to me that the days are short this time year and Christ, the Light of the World, comes to us and brings us light. We tend to view the darkness in the world as evil. The darkness plagues our hearts and our sinful ways deceive us. May the Light of the World light illuminate our hearts.
3 December 2022
Sigh… my machine was running slow and I had to reboot it just to get it to act right. Brr, all that sunshine we got today was so deceiving, we are back into the 20s again. Are you kidding me? People never seem to amaze me, I saw a person out and about just wearing shorts and tee shirt like it was a summer day. I was taken by surprise that mama wanted to go to Party City and prep for a Peyton's birthday party at Alex's. She even had me do a cook. I made char sui gon chow, stuffed hamburgers for the kids. I didn't mind, I love the btu output from his stove. Alex had some leftover Cantonese noodle, so I sliced us some char sui and made soup to go with the noodles for lunch. After lunch I did the cook. PI watched the final two episodes of season five of Cobra Kai and thought season finale was outstanding. Now I'm thinking that this season finale would be a good way to end the series without jeopardizing to ruin the show. We also got to watch the SEC Championship game between LSU and Georgia on Alex's big screen tv. Alex's house has a lot of windows and I the sunlight was good for my soul. Mmm, love making the frozen pot stickers. I personally think they taste better the one that are made in the restaurants. And they were to as game time snack and hamburger sandwiches. It's too bad I have to cut down on the red meat, because I could have gone for a big stuffed pub hamburger like the one I made for Alex and Fawn. Mine was like the kid meal size I made for Isaac and Peyton. Man, did LSU take a beating from Georgia. I'm predicting that the Dawgs will go on to win the CFP National Championship again this year. The verse for the day is, Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst" (John 6:35). I always seem to talk a lot about food and can’t get enough of reading recipes and watching cooking video. I know there is a lot going on about food during the holiday season, but there is another hunger in us, in our soul, that I believe hungers to know and longs to be with our Creator. Today was filled with many blessings and spending the entire day with our son was most notable. Thanks be to God for the gift of family. Going to relax and watch the game between Michigan and Purdue before going to bed. We got to get up early tomorrow morning for a big day ahead of us. Looks like it’ll be another sunny day and will be above freezing, so that’ll be nice. I’m so excited and can hardly wait to celebrate Peyton. That young lady owns me.
2 December 2022
Mmm, the morning started off with thanksgiving and a nice hot cup of coffee. Albeit it was gloomy looking, it was a warmer morning than it has been in a while. It was already in the low 40s when we stepped out the house. I'm not sure if it made it into the forecasted low 50 this afternoon. I just knew it that I would be easily getting a ten thousand steps day in when I stepped out the door this morning. We went out to do a little grocery shopping for our family gathering this weekend. The plan is to celebrate Peyton's 2nd birthday a little early. She is such a blessing and I thank God for her. The must stop was the Jewels by our house to order a special birthday cake for our princess. I think Jewels and Mariano's are the two best places to order a cake at a reasonable price. I know like the breakfast I whip them up whenever t they come down and visit us. Wow, what is going with the price of eggs? Every time we buy them, the price jump up a lot, Inflationary Joe has to go. Eggs was about $1.50 a dozen a year ago for a dozen, now it’s cost about $4.20 a dozen. I turned the leftover stir fried cabbage into a cold plate of what I'm calling kimchee and had it for a late lunch. It really isn't but mixing in chili garlic sauce made it kind of sort of? Mmm, mama took out two portions of lasagna from a tray of lasagna that Sandy made and gifted us a while back. It made for a delicious dinner. Looks like Drew Pyne is leaving Notre Dame, I hope Steve Angeli gets the nod for the upcoming bowl game. #GoIrish I looked at more video and photos and downloaded them onto the laptop. I’m still so amazed that all these photo and videos are captured from a handy hand held phone device. I really wished we had this technology when our kids were little. I know I complain a lot like a grumpy old man, but the reality is, I actually just making noise and am truly grateful for each and every day.
1 December 2022
Mama made coffee with our new Mr Coffee 5 cup coffee maker. I'm glad she was able to figure out how much more grounds was needed to make 20 percent more coffee. It's a new day and a new month and meteorological winter is officially here and the plan is to stay warm as possible. Of all the four seasons, winter is undoubtedly the worst. It brings grey skies and blows in bone chilling coldness. Today was an exception, be had a blue sky most of the day. Albeit made it in the mid 30s this afternoon, the temperatures this morning were just as cold as it was yesterday. I was able to do a morning walk because there was hardly any wind. It makes a world of difference when the sun is out. I tend to muse about Christ as the light of the world. There is no way to get ten thousand steps in unless the weather gets a lot warmer, but at least I am able to get in at or near the seven thousand steps recommended for my age. We went out to Alex's and made us mapo tofu and a nice pot of rice noodle soup with char sui and bok choy for lunch to go with the leftover fried rice from last night's dinner. I stopped for gas on the way over to Alex's and we were able to get gas for $3.299 a gallon this week! This is the lowest price I paid for gas in almost two whole years. I know more than a few of you told me we were able to buy it for $2.99 a gallon, but not in Naperville. I think it's crazy that gas prices are all over the map. While at Alex's, I watched two more episodes of Cobra Kai, so I have two episodes left to finish season 5. What a joy, the kids facetimed us and it made my day complete. I think Andrea and Rob are bringing our grandkids down for a visit this weekend. I just looked at the weather forecast for tomorrow and I was surprised to see that it is suppose to make it to around 50 degrees. I thought for sure we wouldn't see anything remotely close to that warm again this year. Hopefully I’ll be able to get in a decent outdoor walk. May the Lord keep us healthy and heal our infirmities.30 November 2022
Brr, cold cold cold. Yeah, it's sure is tough to accumulate to freezing temperatures. The temperature was only in the 20s with a nasty looking dark grey looking sky and the wind howling on this last day of November. I was shaking my head knowing that it gets a lot colder than today during the winter months. In my mind it’s a blessing whenever we don't have to deal with the harsh reality of the winter's snow and slick roadways. There was a time when I was much heavier and was content to just stay home and be a couch potato, but nowadays I like to get out f the house in the a.m. whenever I possibly can. We went to the Chinese supermarket for fresh vegetables and groceries. We finally finished all the leftovers today and make us fried cabbage and char sui fried rice for our dinner. Some folks are projecting that Notre Dame will be taking on a SEC football team at the Gator Bowl. I would love to see that come to past. I am clueless who would come on top because this year ND has a very confusing team. It seems like it will take a solid SEC to play against to even put up a fight. I'm really hoping for a bowl win. It's only a matter of time, right? Patience is a virtue. #GoIrish I'm getting into the habit of looking at the weather forecast for the next day every time before getting to bed, just to see it it is going to rain or snow. The highlight of my day is when we got a call from Jennifer. She received her post residency match placement! I'm happy for her and will have to wait until she makes her announcement as to where. Anyway... I'm calling it a day and am grateful for this day and each and every day our Lord blesses us with.
29 November 2022
Now that the malls and stores are opened early for the Christmas season shoppers, we bundled up and headed out to the Oakbrook Center right after breakfast. Albeit, the sky was well over 95 percent overcast, the clouds were for the most part translucent and the whenever the sun popped out, it was most welcomed. Considering we are nearing the end of November, I'm calling is a beautiful late autumn day. It eventually worked its way up into the upper 50s and the dark clouds moved in. It didn't bother me though, because we were done being out and about by the noon time hour. It is rare that I am outdoors in the afternoon except for doing yard work around the house. I was surprised that I only got in about 8,800 steps in this morning, because we were out the door earlier this morning than yesterday. Anyway, I did get in another ten thousand steps in for the day. We gifted ourselves a new bare boned Mr. Coffee coffee maker. I say it was way overdue. We could never comprehend the need for all those bells and whistles on a coffee maker. This bought back fond memories of my parents aluminum coffee pot where they threw the coffee grounds it and poured the coffee out through a strainer. I have a grin on my face because I haven't cooked a meal since Thanksgiving day and there is still a ton on leftovers in the refrigerator. I especially like the grilled carrots and just had to call my niece to get the recipe for, The Publicans Barbecue Carrots. I just looked at the weather forecast for tomorrow and it looks like the temperature are going to take a nose dive overnight into the teens and will stay below freezing all. The above normal temperatures couldn’t last forever, in fact it is a safe bet that we will sure have a string on below normal temperature days ahead of us. Thanks be God for our food and clothing and shelter, but more importantly for our Lord and Savior, Christ Jesus.
28 November 2022
I'm not much into watching professional nfl football games so I went up to bed early last night and relaxed with classical music softly playing in the background. Despite getting plenty of rest, I opted to just lie in bed under the covers to stay warm. The overnight frost made it seemed so very cold. I layered up, thermal underwear and all and got in a nice walk. It is nice that I can dress warm enough and still be comfortable when the temperature is above freezing. There was plenty of sunshine and it did eventually make it into the mid 40s. I think it's better to get out and about even for a short period of time, rather than to be coped up indoors all day. I was a walking fool this morning and was able to get in my ten thousand steps day in just the morning time alone. It was glad that I was able to do that before the dark gray dreary looking clouds moved in and darken the sky. We have so much delicious leftovers in the refrigerator to choose from that it like eating at a buffet. I called my sister Nancy to thank her for making the bean curd soup and just to see how things are going.
27 November 2022
A memory from my Facebook post from two years ago came up, the quote was an awesome start for the day. The story of Jesus is to be proclaimed and celebrated. Some will hear and rejoice, some will remain indifferent, some will become hostile. The story will not always be accepted, but it must be told. - Henri Nouwen (1932-1996). I just had to post this on my homepage. Today is the beginning of the Advent season, may we all use this time to reflect on the glory of our Savior. Mmm, I was expecting Fawn to bring back a plate of food back from Natalie's party, because Natalie said she would make sure that I would. But last night Fawn brought back a huge box of food that must have been a lot of everything. There was so much food that it was hard to pick with to start in on, but since it was breakfast time, I opted for the jook with the Chinese fry fritters. I have no porridge preference; both oatmeal and jook taste delicious. I was thinking about the char sui Fawn had me make for the party. That says a lot about how much I improved from my attempt on making Cantonese style char sui. Albeit the char sui still remains fusion, the favor profile transformed to an acceptable ABC char sui. I think last night that three of the four quarters the Irish went toe to toe with the Trojans. Their slow start in the first quarter cost them big time. And the Irish defense was no match against Caleb Williams. I hope ND will be playing a rank team in a bowl game. I made myself a Thanksgiving plate along with my sister's delicious bean curd soup for lunch and yes, I learned my lesson from my Thanksgiving day foolishness of over indulgence. I gave mused about the origin of our Thanksgiving holiday and am pretty sure the way it was packaged in kid friendly way we all was introduced to the history of it wasn't the complete story. But for harvest of God's bounty, we give him thanks. It will be a huge leap from my unbelief when I am fully able to thank God in all circumstances. Lord, "I believe; help my unbelief!” The kids facetimed us and we were so happy that they got back home safely from their Disney World vacation. It was so exciting to hear all about the magical time there along with all the videos and photos. Today was a day of much needed rest, both mentally and physically. I thank God for the time to prepare for the Nativity of Christ at Christmas and the expected return of Christ in the Second Coming.
26 November 2022
Its halftime and #13 Notre Dame is down 17-7 to #5 USC. The defense is having a hard time getting to Caleb Williams. I hope the Fighting Irish will put up a better fight the second half. Just for kicks and grins, I got on the scale this morning and was happy to see that I dropped off a hair over pound of that Thanksgiving turkey. So that one day diet seemed to have paid off and I can go back to eating normal and feel that I all is well. I 'm still clueless on how to lose the flab around my waist and stay around the same weight if there is no way to target body fat. Guess I'll just keep focusing on stepping up the core exercises and see what happens. We were out the door before eight o'clock and stopped off at Target and Kohl's. Well that went quick; I'm guessing Fawn did the Black Friday online shopping thing to be getting a boat load of stuff all ready for pick up. That wasn't the end of it, because we were expecting a delivery from FedEx, USPS and UPS. My brother Bill picked up Fawn to go to Natalie's party, so I had the house and day to myself. Because the delivery drivers don't always ring the doorbell, my assignment was to check the porch every thirty minutes for packages. I sat an alarm to go off every thirty minutes to check the porch so that I wouldn't forget. It worked out pretty good, because that forced me to get up a check and then walk in place to get my cardio exercise in. It was nice to get in another ten thousand steps day in. I’m glad all of the package got delivered. I made myself some good comfort food. Sliced char sui, fried egg, stir fried lettuce with oyster sauce, and steamed rice. I sliced char sui and put in a hamburger bun with some hoisin sauce and nuked it in the microwave. Mmm, it actually came very close to tasting like a baked char sui bao. Prayers for healing and safe travel. Anyway, back to the game…
25 November 2022
Naturally, one of the first things I did was to do hop on the scale this morning and I weighed in at 2.2 pounds heavier than I did four days ago, I’m an idiot. Losing back the few pounds is not the issue; the problem is the strain that I placed on my kidneys from overeating. Albeit I got up around the same time as usually do, I didn't breakfast until about 10:30. And I reduced my calorie intake with a super small turkey dinner with fixings portion from yesterday's Thanksgiving feast for lunch, it's the price I had to pay for my over indulgence last night. I am thankful that my diabetes and high blood pressure are under control. We didn't go out and about today, so I did walked in place exercises and got on the elliptical multiple times throughout the day. Mid afternoon I put the eight pounds of pork shoulder that I marinated overnight in the oven and made some of the char sui that Fawn wanted to bring to Natalie's party tomorrow. Funny, that I never reheated char sui before so when Fawn asked me how she should reheat the char sui tomorrow, I was totally clueless. So I presented the question as a post on my Cantonese Food Recipes Facebook Group. I always added the cooked char to a dish, like a stir fry, fried rice, gon chow or soup. I added a few slices of the char sui to the remainder on the leftovers and we had that for supper. I'm really happy how the char sui looked and tasted. I logged on the laptop and ran the virus scan while I was cooking the char sui. I swear the full scan was so slow and seemed like it taking forever. I can hardly wait until tomorrow night when #13 Notre Dame will take on #5 USC. Would it be something if the Fighting Irish could take down a top 10 team in their final game of the regular season. "And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him" (Colossians 3:17). Everything we say and do is to be offered as a gift of thanksgiving to God with Jesus' name, power, and honor attached! This makes all of life our worship and thanksgiving to God. The highlight of my day was receiving Thanksgiving well wishes from my friend Dave. We had a lot of catching up to do, because we haven't spoken to each for several months because of with illness. Prayers for comfort, health and recovery. Time to wrap this journal entry up and go get ready for bed, because we’ll be getting up early and need to be out and about doing errand and what nots before folks start heading to the store.
24 November 2022
Happy Thanksgiving! The day started out good, we broke open a new bag of coffee grounds. This made me think of blessings in general. I not sure it is true, but I think my first blessing this morning is that we woke up this morning. But for sure, the greatest blessing ever was our deliverance from the grip of sin found in Christ Jesus. After morning coffee, I logged in my laptop and downloaded almost all of the photos I had on my phone onto the laptop for storage. I made Fawn a fried egg sandwich for lunch. Since we still had a hard boiled egg in the refrigerator, I opted to make myself an egg salad sandwich. We just wanted something light for lunch before heading out to Henry and Heather's home for a small family Thanksgiving dinner. I tried my best to limit myself to a single serving, but failed and went for a small second helping. Naturally, I overindulged and began to feel uncomfortable and tire. Ever year I'm left wondering why I am so foolish. It was really good to see Mary again in good spirit. The forecast called for rain, but thankfully that never came to past.
23 November 2022
We woke up super early and managed to be out the house by 7 a.m. to go to get Fawn's semi-annual dental appointment. I got in a nice long walk while she was in the office getting her teeth cleaned. From there, it was easy for me to get my ten thousand steps in for the day. From the dental office we stopped briefly at the Blain's Farm and Fleet and Kolh’s and for gas all on the way to Alex's. I was stunned that I just got gas was for $3.629 a gallon. I am so use to super high gas prices that I actually thought that was a very good price for a gallon of regular 87 octane tier one gas. The old Adam in me wants say more, but why needlessly work yourself into a frenzy. I'm in a Thanksgiving mood and like to keep it that way. Once again morning walk was outstanding. Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I had a thought just now, but why work myself up. We found a beautiful ribeye steak that was marked down the other day and I pan seared it up at Alex's for our lunch. It's too bad that I've cut back on my red meat consumption, because that bad boy was pretty tasty. Alex had leftover some macaroni and cheese that was a he made from a Cracker Barrel poach kit that we ate as a side dish with the steak. After lunch, we watched Alex replaced his damaged Moen kitchen faucet hose. He did the needed like a pro and we gave him an A plus! Alex put Cobra Kai on for me and I got to catch a few more episodes. Alex was right; the show did get much better than the first three episodes of season five. I got a boat load of photos sent to me of our grandkids and they look so happy. I hope this holiday brings Andrea and Rob some joy and rest. It's clear to me that I'll be download them to my laptop tomorrow morning. Thanks be to God for he is good.
22 November 2022
“Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy" (Psalm 103:2-4). I love this thanksgiving prayer. We went out the door relatively early to buy a pork shoulder butt to make char sui for this weekend's family gathering that Fawn is going to with my brother. I'm not comfortable going into the city with all the violence there. It is nice that one of the protocols in for everyone to take a covid test on the day of the party, so that's a good thing. I find if fascinating that I am more concerned about the violence in Chicago than catching covid-19. I was all bundled up and got in a nice outdoor walk. Fawn keeps mentioning that I walk very slow, so I picked up the pace slightly, but it was still a nice leisurely pace. I figure that I get enough cardio on the elliptical every day. What has been nice is that I force myself to get up off my butt about every hour or so and walk in place now whenever I sit around at home. We did a matinee watching, Top Gun Maverick. I always thought the original movie, Top Gun, was a great movie. What is a word for greater than great? Mmm, contributed to the awesome salad we had for dinner. This one had a ton of stuff mixed in; iceberg lettuce, strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, pineapples and croutons. My contribution to the salad diced teriyaki chicken thighs, so tasty. Anyway, off to bed, need to be out the door super early again tomorrow.
21 November 2022
Brr, cold cold cold. Yeah, it's sure is tough to accumulate to freezing temperatures. The temperature was only in the 20s with a nasty looking dark grey looking sky and the wind howling on this last day of November. I was shaking my head knowing that it gets a lot colder than today during the winter months. In my mind it’s a blessing whenever we don't have to deal with the harsh reality of the winter's snow and slick roadways. There was a time when I was much heavier and was content to just stay home and be a couch potato, but nowadays I like to get out f the house in the a.m. whenever I possibly can. We went to the Chinese supermarket for fresh vegetables and groceries. We finally finished all the leftovers today and make us fried cabbage and char sui fried rice for our dinner. Some folks are projecting that Notre Dame will be taking on a SEC football team at the Gator Bowl. I would love to see that come to past. I am clueless who would come on top because this year ND has a very confusing team. It seems like it will take a solid SEC to play against to even put up a fight. I'm really hoping for a bowl win. It's only a matter of time, right? Patience is a virtue. #GoIrish I'm getting into the habit of looking at the weather forecast for the next day every time before getting to bed, just to see it it is going to rain or snow. The highlight of my day is when we got a call from Jennifer. She received her post residency match placement! I'm happy for her and will have to wait until she makes her announcement as to where. Anyway... I'm calling it a day and am grateful for this day and each and every day our Lord blesses us with.
29 November 2022
Now that the malls and stores are opened early for the Christmas season shoppers, we bundled up and headed out to the Oakbrook Center right after breakfast. Albeit, the sky was well over 95 percent overcast, the clouds were for the most part translucent and the whenever the sun popped out, it was most welcomed. Considering we are nearing the end of November, I'm calling is a beautiful late autumn day. It eventually worked its way up into the upper 50s and the dark clouds moved in. It didn't bother me though, because we were done being out and about by the noon time hour. It is rare that I am outdoors in the afternoon except for doing yard work around the house. I was surprised that I only got in about 8,800 steps in this morning, because we were out the door earlier this morning than yesterday. Anyway, I did get in another ten thousand steps in for the day. We gifted ourselves a new bare boned Mr. Coffee coffee maker. I say it was way overdue. We could never comprehend the need for all those bells and whistles on a coffee maker. This bought back fond memories of my parents aluminum coffee pot where they threw the coffee grounds it and poured the coffee out through a strainer. I have a grin on my face because I haven't cooked a meal since Thanksgiving day and there is still a ton on leftovers in the refrigerator. I especially like the grilled carrots and just had to call my niece to get the recipe for, The Publicans Barbecue Carrots. I just looked at the weather forecast for tomorrow and it looks like the temperature are going to take a nose dive overnight into the teens and will stay below freezing all. The above normal temperatures couldn’t last forever, in fact it is a safe bet that we will sure have a string on below normal temperature days ahead of us. Thanks be God for our food and clothing and shelter, but more importantly for our Lord and Savior, Christ Jesus.
28 November 2022
I'm not much into watching professional nfl football games so I went up to bed early last night and relaxed with classical music softly playing in the background. Despite getting plenty of rest, I opted to just lie in bed under the covers to stay warm. The overnight frost made it seemed so very cold. I layered up, thermal underwear and all and got in a nice walk. It is nice that I can dress warm enough and still be comfortable when the temperature is above freezing. There was plenty of sunshine and it did eventually make it into the mid 40s. I think it's better to get out and about even for a short period of time, rather than to be coped up indoors all day. I was a walking fool this morning and was able to get in my ten thousand steps day in just the morning time alone. It was glad that I was able to do that before the dark gray dreary looking clouds moved in and darken the sky. We have so much delicious leftovers in the refrigerator to choose from that it like eating at a buffet. I called my sister Nancy to thank her for making the bean curd soup and just to see how things are going.
27 November 2022
A memory from my Facebook post from two years ago came up, the quote was an awesome start for the day. The story of Jesus is to be proclaimed and celebrated. Some will hear and rejoice, some will remain indifferent, some will become hostile. The story will not always be accepted, but it must be told. - Henri Nouwen (1932-1996). I just had to post this on my homepage. Today is the beginning of the Advent season, may we all use this time to reflect on the glory of our Savior. Mmm, I was expecting Fawn to bring back a plate of food back from Natalie's party, because Natalie said she would make sure that I would. But last night Fawn brought back a huge box of food that must have been a lot of everything. There was so much food that it was hard to pick with to start in on, but since it was breakfast time, I opted for the jook with the Chinese fry fritters. I have no porridge preference; both oatmeal and jook taste delicious. I was thinking about the char sui Fawn had me make for the party. That says a lot about how much I improved from my attempt on making Cantonese style char sui. Albeit the char sui still remains fusion, the favor profile transformed to an acceptable ABC char sui. I think last night that three of the four quarters the Irish went toe to toe with the Trojans. Their slow start in the first quarter cost them big time. And the Irish defense was no match against Caleb Williams. I hope ND will be playing a rank team in a bowl game. I made myself a Thanksgiving plate along with my sister's delicious bean curd soup for lunch and yes, I learned my lesson from my Thanksgiving day foolishness of over indulgence. I gave mused about the origin of our Thanksgiving holiday and am pretty sure the way it was packaged in kid friendly way we all was introduced to the history of it wasn't the complete story. But for harvest of God's bounty, we give him thanks. It will be a huge leap from my unbelief when I am fully able to thank God in all circumstances. Lord, "I believe; help my unbelief!” The kids facetimed us and we were so happy that they got back home safely from their Disney World vacation. It was so exciting to hear all about the magical time there along with all the videos and photos. Today was a day of much needed rest, both mentally and physically. I thank God for the time to prepare for the Nativity of Christ at Christmas and the expected return of Christ in the Second Coming.
26 November 2022
Its halftime and #13 Notre Dame is down 17-7 to #5 USC. The defense is having a hard time getting to Caleb Williams. I hope the Fighting Irish will put up a better fight the second half. Just for kicks and grins, I got on the scale this morning and was happy to see that I dropped off a hair over pound of that Thanksgiving turkey. So that one day diet seemed to have paid off and I can go back to eating normal and feel that I all is well. I 'm still clueless on how to lose the flab around my waist and stay around the same weight if there is no way to target body fat. Guess I'll just keep focusing on stepping up the core exercises and see what happens. We were out the door before eight o'clock and stopped off at Target and Kohl's. Well that went quick; I'm guessing Fawn did the Black Friday online shopping thing to be getting a boat load of stuff all ready for pick up. That wasn't the end of it, because we were expecting a delivery from FedEx, USPS and UPS. My brother Bill picked up Fawn to go to Natalie's party, so I had the house and day to myself. Because the delivery drivers don't always ring the doorbell, my assignment was to check the porch every thirty minutes for packages. I sat an alarm to go off every thirty minutes to check the porch so that I wouldn't forget. It worked out pretty good, because that forced me to get up a check and then walk in place to get my cardio exercise in. It was nice to get in another ten thousand steps day in. I’m glad all of the package got delivered. I made myself some good comfort food. Sliced char sui, fried egg, stir fried lettuce with oyster sauce, and steamed rice. I sliced char sui and put in a hamburger bun with some hoisin sauce and nuked it in the microwave. Mmm, it actually came very close to tasting like a baked char sui bao. Prayers for healing and safe travel. Anyway, back to the game…
25 November 2022
Naturally, one of the first things I did was to do hop on the scale this morning and I weighed in at 2.2 pounds heavier than I did four days ago, I’m an idiot. Losing back the few pounds is not the issue; the problem is the strain that I placed on my kidneys from overeating. Albeit I got up around the same time as usually do, I didn't breakfast until about 10:30. And I reduced my calorie intake with a super small turkey dinner with fixings portion from yesterday's Thanksgiving feast for lunch, it's the price I had to pay for my over indulgence last night. I am thankful that my diabetes and high blood pressure are under control. We didn't go out and about today, so I did walked in place exercises and got on the elliptical multiple times throughout the day. Mid afternoon I put the eight pounds of pork shoulder that I marinated overnight in the oven and made some of the char sui that Fawn wanted to bring to Natalie's party tomorrow. Funny, that I never reheated char sui before so when Fawn asked me how she should reheat the char sui tomorrow, I was totally clueless. So I presented the question as a post on my Cantonese Food Recipes Facebook Group. I always added the cooked char to a dish, like a stir fry, fried rice, gon chow or soup. I added a few slices of the char sui to the remainder on the leftovers and we had that for supper. I'm really happy how the char sui looked and tasted. I logged on the laptop and ran the virus scan while I was cooking the char sui. I swear the full scan was so slow and seemed like it taking forever. I can hardly wait until tomorrow night when #13 Notre Dame will take on #5 USC. Would it be something if the Fighting Irish could take down a top 10 team in their final game of the regular season. "And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him" (Colossians 3:17). Everything we say and do is to be offered as a gift of thanksgiving to God with Jesus' name, power, and honor attached! This makes all of life our worship and thanksgiving to God. The highlight of my day was receiving Thanksgiving well wishes from my friend Dave. We had a lot of catching up to do, because we haven't spoken to each for several months because of with illness. Prayers for comfort, health and recovery. Time to wrap this journal entry up and go get ready for bed, because we’ll be getting up early and need to be out and about doing errand and what nots before folks start heading to the store.
24 November 2022
Happy Thanksgiving! The day started out good, we broke open a new bag of coffee grounds. This made me think of blessings in general. I not sure it is true, but I think my first blessing this morning is that we woke up this morning. But for sure, the greatest blessing ever was our deliverance from the grip of sin found in Christ Jesus. After morning coffee, I logged in my laptop and downloaded almost all of the photos I had on my phone onto the laptop for storage. I made Fawn a fried egg sandwich for lunch. Since we still had a hard boiled egg in the refrigerator, I opted to make myself an egg salad sandwich. We just wanted something light for lunch before heading out to Henry and Heather's home for a small family Thanksgiving dinner. I tried my best to limit myself to a single serving, but failed and went for a small second helping. Naturally, I overindulged and began to feel uncomfortable and tire. Ever year I'm left wondering why I am so foolish. It was really good to see Mary again in good spirit. The forecast called for rain, but thankfully that never came to past.
23 November 2022
We woke up super early and managed to be out the house by 7 a.m. to go to get Fawn's semi-annual dental appointment. I got in a nice long walk while she was in the office getting her teeth cleaned. From there, it was easy for me to get my ten thousand steps in for the day. From the dental office we stopped briefly at the Blain's Farm and Fleet and Kolh’s and for gas all on the way to Alex's. I was stunned that I just got gas was for $3.629 a gallon. I am so use to super high gas prices that I actually thought that was a very good price for a gallon of regular 87 octane tier one gas. The old Adam in me wants say more, but why needlessly work yourself into a frenzy. I'm in a Thanksgiving mood and like to keep it that way. Once again morning walk was outstanding. Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I had a thought just now, but why work myself up. We found a beautiful ribeye steak that was marked down the other day and I pan seared it up at Alex's for our lunch. It's too bad that I've cut back on my red meat consumption, because that bad boy was pretty tasty. Alex had leftover some macaroni and cheese that was a he made from a Cracker Barrel poach kit that we ate as a side dish with the steak. After lunch, we watched Alex replaced his damaged Moen kitchen faucet hose. He did the needed like a pro and we gave him an A plus! Alex put Cobra Kai on for me and I got to catch a few more episodes. Alex was right; the show did get much better than the first three episodes of season five. I got a boat load of photos sent to me of our grandkids and they look so happy. I hope this holiday brings Andrea and Rob some joy and rest. It's clear to me that I'll be download them to my laptop tomorrow morning. Thanks be to God for he is good.
22 November 2022
“Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy" (Psalm 103:2-4). I love this thanksgiving prayer. We went out the door relatively early to buy a pork shoulder butt to make char sui for this weekend's family gathering that Fawn is going to with my brother. I'm not comfortable going into the city with all the violence there. It is nice that one of the protocols in for everyone to take a covid test on the day of the party, so that's a good thing. I find if fascinating that I am more concerned about the violence in Chicago than catching covid-19. I was all bundled up and got in a nice outdoor walk. Fawn keeps mentioning that I walk very slow, so I picked up the pace slightly, but it was still a nice leisurely pace. I figure that I get enough cardio on the elliptical every day. What has been nice is that I force myself to get up off my butt about every hour or so and walk in place now whenever I sit around at home. We did a matinee watching, Top Gun Maverick. I always thought the original movie, Top Gun, was a great movie. What is a word for greater than great? Mmm, contributed to the awesome salad we had for dinner. This one had a ton of stuff mixed in; iceberg lettuce, strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, pineapples and croutons. My contribution to the salad diced teriyaki chicken thighs, so tasty. Anyway, off to bed, need to be out the door super early again tomorrow.
21 November 2022
I woke to the sound of the curbside leaf collection truck working its way through our subdivision. It got above freezing so I wore my regular walking shoes on today. Whoo hoo, I easily got in ten thousand steps. It's amazing how many more steps I could get in wearing a pair of lighter and more flexible shoes. I had an appointment with my nephrologist this afternoon for consultation to review my blood work. Albeit my numbers are slightly higher, he said it comes with aging. That was a great relief because I was previously so apprehensive. I'm happy to be where I am with my weight, but am disappointed that there is still a lot of fat around my waist. The only reason I know that I have slimmed down a lot is by how I swim in my old winter pants, but it is still sad how much of a stomach bulge remains. From what I have read, I just need to be more patient. But I wonder how do I go about reducing my waistline and remain about the same weight. I was set to do some outdoor work on the dryer exhaust vent but we lucked out with the dryer exhaust vent guard. The new one popped right in and that was all she wrote, how cool was that! It was a easy and delicious cook today, all I did was toss fish and chips in the oven along with popcorn shrimp and shrimp spring rolls. Thanks be to God who watches over us. Godspeed and prayers for safe travels during this Thanksgiving week.
20 November 2022
Love it when you can wake up to bright sunny day and enjoy a nice hot cup of coffee. I was sad that my oatmeal boiled over when I reheated it the microwave. But there was joy because the kids FaceTime us while we were having our breakfast. Nothing special to eat, I just made green beans and we had leftovers. All my exercises were done indoor at home. I just walked in place and got on the elliptical and curled 10 pound dumbbells. I guess that is one way to look at a little NFL football. I'm not much on it, but will watch a little during playoffs and Super Bowl. I'm get pretty excited about the upcoming ND game against USC. Win or lose, I hope they play a good game against a very good team. I still can’t get pass that this team lost to the likes of Marshal and Stanford. It was nice of the kids to FaceTime us again this evening. I love the Peyton is starting to learn how to sing the ABC alphabet song. "Thanks be to God for his inexpressible gift!" (2 Corinthians 9:15).
19 November 2022
I wish we got all the needed when we were out yesterday because it was bone chilling cold this morning and mama wanted to shop for fruits and vegetables at Audi. How cold was it? It was in the low 20s when went out the door and the temperature stayed in 20s all day with the windchills in the teens. I know that it will get a lot colder this winter and I hope we will be able to accommodate to it. We are supposed to get a reprieve mid week into the 40s and that will be my short window to replace and chalk the dryer exhaust vent guard. I'm glad that the municipal finally got around to treating the slippery road conditions we had on our roadways yesterday. We have been getting a lot of snow flurries lately, but thankfully nothing has been accumulating on the walkways. It's noticeable on the grass and on our wooden backyard deck. Mama took out a small tub of her spaghetti sauce from the freezer a couple days ago, so I boiled the bowtie noodles and we had that for our lunch. I really notice hot boiling water really warm up and humidify the house during the winter months. I made us stir fried cabbage with onions and garlic as well as mac and cheese for dinner. I love watching college football on Saturdays. We watched the Notre Dame take on Boston College. They owned Boston College the entire game. How about the "D" and how about the team not playing down to the level of their opponents this time around? I think ND is ready to go head to head next week with USC next week. I was thinking about Thanksgiving and Advent just being right around the corner. "Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever" (Psalm 136:1). Giving thanks is not a one day thing nor should it be just before a meal. We have been so richly blessed that thanksgiving for us should be a way of life in response to God the Father who created us, the Son who redeemed us, and to the Spirit who sanctifies us. May this be so.
19 November 2022
I wish we got all the needed when we were out yesterday because it was bone chilling cold this morning and mama wanted to shop for fruits and vegetables at Audi. How cold was it? It was in the low 20s when went out the door and the temperature stayed in 20s all day with the windchills in the teens. I know that it will get a lot colder this winter and I hope we will be able to accommodate to it. We are supposed to get a reprieve mid week into the 40s and that will be my short window to replace and chalk the dryer exhaust vent guard. I'm glad that the municipal finally got around to treating the slippery road conditions we had on our roadways yesterday. We have been getting a lot of snow flurries lately, but thankfully nothing has been accumulating on the walkways. It's noticeable on the grass and on our wooden backyard deck. Mama took out a small tub of her spaghetti sauce from the freezer a couple days ago, so I boiled the bowtie noodles and we had that for our lunch. I really notice hot boiling water really warm up and humidify the house during the winter months. I made us stir fried cabbage with onions and garlic as well as mac and cheese for dinner. I love watching college football on Saturdays. We watched the Notre Dame take on Boston College. They owned Boston College the entire game. How about the "D" and how about the team not playing down to the level of their opponents this time around? I think ND is ready to go head to head next week with USC next week. I was thinking about Thanksgiving and Advent just being right around the corner. "Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever" (Psalm 136:1). Giving thanks is not a one day thing nor should it be just before a meal. We have been so richly blessed that thanksgiving for us should be a way of life in response to God the Father who created us, the Son who redeemed us, and to the Spirit who sanctifies us. May this be so.
18 November 2022
We had to get up early to go for my dental appointment. Earlier in the week I had my teeth cleaned and I had my dentist take a look at a filling that didn't quite feel right, today I had to go in to have some repair done on it. Man, it was bone chilling cold. It was a good think that we left early too, because the roadways were slick as can be. I was kind of surprised, because Naperville usually is on top of it. I made more rice noodle soup today for lunch. It was also a great way to heat up and humidify the house. Although being a Fighting Irish Football fan, it is hard to believe that the College Football Playoff Committee moved out team up from #20 to #18 after last week second half performance. I guess the CFP likes a win regardless of the team they play and the margin. I really think they will need to win big tomorrow against Boston College if they want any chance of going head to head in the following week with #7 USC. #GoIrish
17 November 2022
Brr, yep, I think that'll be on my mind for a least the next three to four months. I'm officially calling it winter! Its days like today you can easily appreciate our Lord's bounty from the get go like a hot cup of coffee and a warm bowl of oatmeal from the get go. The blessings didn't stop there; Fawn made us a salad to go with the rice noodle soup I made us with char sui and bok choy for lunch! There is nothing like a hearty bowl of soup to warm the soul on cold days. Layered up and went to the Sam's Club for our meds and to do a little shopping in the Oswego area. It was so cold out with the wind blowing. I did all my walking inside the big box stores, but it was difficult walking with my non slip winter shoes instead of my light and comfortable Sketches walking shoes. My hands have been dry from using hand sanitizer for the last two years, but they are super dried out during the winter months now and l can't keep enough hand cream on them to keep them moisturized. We were able to find gas for $3.949 a gallon. I told myself to curb to wasting my time complaining and dwelling on the high gas prices and everything else because it is what it is and will most likely be like that for the next two years. I still have one outstanding outdoor diy to do. A couple weeks ago when I cleaned the dryer vent, I noticed that plastic pest guard was cracking. The new unit arrived today via UPS. It looks like the mid part of next week will be above freezing and I can replace and chalk the new part. I can't believe that it'll be Thanksgiving next week already, gobble gobble. I’m thankful for our clothing, food and shelter.
16 November 2022
Déjà vu weatherwise, if was going to snow, it was exactly what I was hoping and praying for. We thankful that Alex came to pick us up dropped us back off at the car dealership. Mmm, the sui mai, har gow and bean curd rolls dim sum! Who would of ever thought that I would be content with temperature as long as it above freezing. Hmm, my minced pork patty wasn't all that. Clearly leaving out the water chestnuts was a no-no. The day ended with facetiming with the kids, joy. Love it that Peyton is singing songs now, magical! I love how articulate Isaac is when you ask him questions. Funny how he all of a sudden went into a, show and tell, explaining details about Pokemon! Got to look the little man.
15 November 2022
I was up early and was thankful I didn't need to dig out the driveway this morning for my dental appointment. There was accumulation of snow on the grass and on the cars that were parked overnight on the driveways. Strange how we take some things for granted and fail to initially thank God for him mercies and for his blessings for the day ahead of us. Albeit it snowed most of day, the snow did not accumulate on the driveway and sidewalk because the temperature stayed above freezing. My brother Bill and sister Nancy went into the city this morning and was nice of enough to buy frozen dim sum for us from Chinatown, so we stopped by to get it from him. It worked out great because we had to stop by the nearby Social Security Administration Office to drop a form. I made us Cantonese minced pork meat patty this afternoon and bought some over for Alex. We also brought the frozen dim sum to his house because he has plenty of freezer space and we has to go there to let Nala out to go do her business. We have an appointment to drop our off tomorrow because of a recall and Alex will pick us up when we will drop off the car. The plan is to steam them bad boys tomorrow at his place and have it for breakfast. Man O man, am I looking forward to that. It is suppose to continue snowing until sometime tomorrow late afternoon, but I’m hoping that if it does it will be like today because I am not ready for winter.
14 November 2022
It was another cold brisk day. It was one of days that I wish that I could have just stayed indoors but I had an appointment to have some blood work. Besides we are supposed to be getting some snowfall and I had to buy our 80 pounds of driveway salt for the season. I hope that the forecasters are wrong about the overnight forecast and that snowfall will hold off until later in the day because I have a dental appointment to have my teeth cleaned first thing in the morning. Talk about procrastinating, it's my understanding that there may be some snowfall heading our way, so I started up the lawnmower for the last time this year. I underestimated the amount of gas that was still in tank and ended up mowing the front yard and back. Mmm, I made us rice noodle soup for supper, good stuff.
13 November 2022
It was cold again in the 30s all day again. I looked at the ten day forecast and it look like were settling in for winter. There was even measurable snow in the forecast. I better not procrastinate and buy driveway salt tomorrow. I was prepared to go out with my winter apparel today. Albeit there was still a lot of food for breakfast, I did cut back a whole lot and only made French toast, scrambled eggs and breakfast sausage links. Lunch was pretty awesome; mama went all out on the salad to start things off. I made us three whole inch thick ribeye steaks and sweet potatoes. Alex had some leftover meatballs with barbecue sauce and macaroni and cheese. Thanks be to God for great food and conversation. There was plenty of leftover food on top of the food I made yesterday for them to eat later in the week. Yes, Rob gave me a much needed neck and shoulder massage! I didn't get to play with the grandkids very long, Fawn and Andrea took them to the Barnes and Noble Bookstore to buy them books. Andrea sent me a couple of videos she took today on her phone of Peyton climbing all over me and trying to scare me. Today was truly a blessing; it always is whenever we are blessed with family time. I got in the first three episodes of season 5 of Cobra Kai. So far, I’m not feeling it. I’m hoping it gets better as the season progresses.
12 November 2022
Dang, it's cold outside. Looks like with a high level of certainty, we had our last temperatures in the 70s for the year and the harsh coldness of winter is beginning to settle in. It only stayed in the 30s all day, I actually think it's time to store the fall jackets and take out my winter coat. I suppose it won't be long before we will be seeing driveway salt in the stores. We learned last night that Andrea and Rob are coming down this weekend with the kids, so we got up early to go to do buy some groceries. I got to relax and watch Notre Dame football. The Irish had a great first half, but were less than impressive on the second half. When it is said and done, it seem that they only play football at the same level as their opponent. I plan to cook breakfast and lunch, to celebrate our time together with thanksgivings. I've been doing a huge overkill with breakfast and eating poorly, so at minimum the plan is to lose the bacon. The plan is to kill the fatten cow for lunch to have along with one of mama's super creative salads. I know the little man likes to eat steak. I made stuffed hamburgers and hot dog fried rice today for kids to take home and and have something to eat during the week.
11 November 2022
Thanks be to God for this day. With respect, honor and gratitude, thank you veterans. Talk about a huge temperature nose dive. The song, What a Difference a Day Make, always comes to mind whenever a huge temperature swing comes about. It was in the mid 70s yesterday and now it's below freezing before going to bed. Brr, put on my thermal underwear and layered up before we headed out this morning to the Romeoville area. I'm not sure how the traffic is alleviated off Weber Road with the strange crisscrossing by I-55. It’s a little confusing. The exact thing was done on Route 59 over I-88 a few years ago. I guess that is our state's solution to alleviate traffic congestion. We hit plenty of big box stores in Romeoville, so I took my walk indoors at Kohl’s, Blaine's Farm and Fleet, and the Super Walmart. Wow, they just finished their remodeling and was holding their grand reopening celebration ceremony. Not only was the store huge, it was impressively clean and the aisles were nice a wide as well as clutter free. Mmm, mama made us salad for lunch.
10 November 2022
Wow, wow, wow, when I woke up this morning, it was already in the 60s. We were out the door early to run a few errands all over the place. I think it is amazing that mama has already begun Christmas gift shopping. We always seem shopping for toys all year round, because we are blessed with grandchildren and so many great nieces and nephews. I find it amazing that we even have a nephew and niece the same age as our grandkids. We stopped for gas and paid $4.299 a gallon. I guess I should stop whining about the high prices of everything, because it seems like nobody really care, judging by the way people are voting. I had no doubt in my mind that it was going to be another effortless ten thousand steps day today, I get it now. You just have to be out and about doing stuff and not sitting on your butt all day long. I don't see reaching ten thousand steps during the winter months, but I get it. I read that the average American walks 3,000 to 4,000 steps a day. I am routinely walking way more than that, so I don't feel bad. Anyway, I go with the saying, "A man got to know his limitations." I hopped on the scale this morning was continue to be surprised that I am still losing weight. I only decided to weigh myself this morning a day early because I made an unhealthy choice eating yesterday. I'm at about the weight where I need to be, so I just l should start eating a little more. But that would mean I would start feel stuffed all the time. It's crazy all the calories that junk food snacks must have. This confirms mu understanding that weight loss is around 80% what you put into your body and 20% what you sweat off. I'm glad the weather was so nice today because I had outdoor chores that needed attending to. I had to swap out the sump pump discharge hose. Albeit it ain't pretty, I run out a bigger diameter hose during the winter months because the smaller one tends to ice over. It was a good time to climb up the ladder to clear the dryer duct and remove the leaves from the gutters and the downspouts. Thanks be to God for antihistamine eye drops and nasal sprays. Doing outdoor chores with all these dead leaves around is tough on seasonal allergies.
9 November 2022
The curbside leaf collection swept down our street early this morning. The job they did was rather disappointing and I hope that the final leaf collection scheduled three weeks from now will show improvement. This morning's walk wasn't as nice as yesterday because there was very little sunlight shining through the translucent sky. So much for healthy eating, I tossed popcorn shrimp and French fries in the oven and we had it for lunch. I swear that the Lawrence's Fish and Shrimp hot sauce is the best hot sauce for seafood ever. It was crazy how it became cloudless in the afternoon and warmed up instantly into the low 70s at the blink of an eye. While being out and about in the afternoon, I got in a second walk and managed to get in another ten thousand steps day in! At least I got that part right. I actually can’t believe I ate a regular portion of fried shrimp and French fries for lunch. At force myself to eat only a half portion of steamed tilapia for dinner.
8 November 2022
I woke to the sound of the leaf collection truck making its way through our subdivision. It was a beautiful sun filled day and we headed to the Oakbrook Center to walk and shop at the outdoor mall. What was I thinking? This outdoor plaza is by far more aesthetically pleasing than any other mall that I am aware of. I'm glad that we were done before the mall got totally crowded. Clearly, the schools must of been closed because folks flocked to the mall with their kids on election day (holiday??). So much for empty malls on a weekday. I easily got in my ten thousand steps just walking around the huge mall. It was a good eating day; I made us a char sui with peapods stir fry and a Cantonese steamed tilapia dish. Whoo hoo, The CFP committee ranked Notre Dame #20! Albeit I think ND still needs to win their last 3 remaining games, their next big game will be on November 26th against #8 USC. I'm more worried about Navy and Boston College, because we all know how this team plays against unranked teams.
7 November 2022
I started to pen something about Donald Trump, but ended up deleting it. I just wish that guy would just shut his face and fade away. It’s not clear to me if Trump or Biden irks me more whenever either one of them open their mouth. We were up pre dawn and out the door by 5 a.m. to spend the day with our grandson Isaac because the school had a teacher's administrative day and it was closed to the students. Isaac was so active that I barely had time for morning coffee before doing a Star War reenactment battle. Wow, Isaac is only 5 years old in kindergarten and the school issue the kids a chromebook laptop as a learning tool. It is amazing that kindergarteners are being taught computer skill and are learning by playing educational games that teaches reading, spelling and number skills. The best part of the day was when my heart was pounding with pride when Isaac read to me from his kindergarten binder I was so happy and impressed and I gave him two thumbs up. Talk about a super active boy, we went from playing UNO to doing a 64 piece Marvel jigsaw puzzle. It didn't surprise me how quickly he can put the puzzle together, because he was always good at doing puzzles at a very early age. Peyton is exactly the very same way, she is 2 years old and doing simple wooden numbers and alphabet puzzles. Isaac is a hoot, when his mama asked him, "What did you do all day?" He replied, "I baby sat grandpa." I really like it in Rob and Andrea's house as well in Alex's because their houses have a lot of windows that allows the light in. The sunlight gives me a sense of well being. The days are getting noticeably shorter, so the light becomes more precious. Grandkids are the best; the day went by too fast. Thanks be to God the safe travel, for this day and for the gift of family.
6 November 2022
I'm glad that when I woke up this morning I no longer had a sore arm this morning! Albeit it was still a little windy, it was by far a much better day weatherwise. I was especially happy to see the sun was out. It was fun going around the house turning all the clock back an hour. I did a big cook today. I made Cantonese pan fried noodles and stir fried char sui with pea pods and bok choy for Andrea and I made hot dog fried rice and beef gon chow ngau ho for Isaac. They both know all about chowing down on Cantonese comfort food. My afternoon meal was a long and drawn out small sample of everything I cooked! I was musing about November 8th and the election results. It blows my mind that there may be cases that it could take days to count even the election ballots in the age of super computers. Sigh... American Idol can count votes faster. Anyway, I'm more interested to see on Tuesday this week's official top 25 college football playoff rankings. I'm predicting that Notre Dame will be on the list. But they will have to win all their remaining games to remotely even have a chance stay on it. I stayed indoors all day so the only exercise I got was hopping on the elliptical. Mmm, mama made us one of her salad for dinner, so good. Anyway, time to relax and then go to bed, because we need to wake up super early tomorrow morning. Thanks be to God who for his love and grants us this day.
5 November 2022
Talk about having a rough night, going to bed and falling asleep wasn't an easy task. The howling wind and the overnight torrential downpour beating on our roof didn't help the cause either. Basically, I got a little off and on sleep throughout the night. I ended up waking up 4 times during the middle of the night. The real odd thing about this latest covid shot is that my arm was stiffer and sore last night than when I woke up this morning. We went over to my sister Nancy's house for lunch. It was good to see my brother Bill as well as our niece and nephew. Out great niece Norah is a real cutie pie. It’s funny how she initially clung on to her dad until she got use to us. Mmm, My sister made dim sum and oxtail soup. It was so sad that I had to limit myself to only one piece, because it was so delicious. We had a great time visiting, there's nothing like great food and conversation. Thanks be to God for the gift of family. I went meatless for dinner and just made myself stir fry garlic cabbage and onion and watched Notre Dame blow out #4 Clemson. That left me in good cheer before bringing the day to a close.
4 November 2022
Dang, good thing I saw the wind advisory this morning when I looked at the weather app. The temperature was in the mid 60's this morning; it seemed rather cool because of the wind chill factor. Albeit we were very hesitant, we reluctantly went to the Sam's Club pharmacy to get yet another covid shot on our own accord, if that makes any sense at all. It is weird that this time around my arm feels sore and stiff on the day of the shot. A hot shower only offered temporary relief for a couple hours. I hope it doesn't feel worse tomorrow. Well at least there are no other side effects. We have been working on overcoming our covid-19 anxieties and are continuing to cautiously progress. Grandma must really love to spoil her Isaac; she had me drive to the Blain's Farm and Fleet in Romeoville to look for another specific lightsaber. I'm learning that there so many different ones. Clearly, those franchise movies producers also know how to market their movie toy merchandise too. Too bad we weren't able to find the one she sought after. Mmm, mama made us fancy garden salads and I added some teriyaki chicken to it to add some protein to it. I've been eating a lot of salad lately and feel that I maybe cutting too much. Whenever we buy meat like flank steak or chicken thighs I always cut the meat up to bite size pieces and Fawn portions the meat into plastic freezer bags for each meal. It is amazing how much we have reduced the meat portion size this past year. From the portion of chicken and beef today, I could tell there was yet another slight reduction. Albeit, the price of groceries continues to soar, the smaller portions are made because of health reasons. May our Lord watch over us, keep us healthy and heal our infirmities.
3 November 2022
I initially thought that I woke up to the sound of the hollowing wind, but soon realized that it was the garbage recycling trucks making its way through our subdivision. We were up early and out the door early because Fawn had the first doctor's appointment of the day. I think that it was for her annual physical. I was surprised that I was only able to do a thirty minute walk before needing to stop for a break. I enjoy the solitude while taking a walk on Bay Scott Circle. Afterwards we went to the Chinese supermarket and bought some rice noodles to make Gon chow ngau ho for Isaac. While shopping at the store I wished I didn't noticed that they had some char sui boa for sale, because they weren't all that. That was so disappointing. We went over to Alex and I made us a rice noodle soup with char sui and bok choy for lunch. Whoa, on the way we stopped for gas and it was $4.499 a gallon. Those 15 million barrels of oil didn't lower the price of gas very long. Thanks Joe. It just dawned on me that no wonder about the seven EVs that saw at the Meijer using the superchargers. Normally there is lucky be a single car there whenever I'm there. I could be wrong, but I don't think EVs are suitable for the cold harsh midwest winters. I can hardly wait until this election cycle is over because of all the worthless political ads we receive through the mail and hear and see through the media. It was hard to believe that it made it into the mid 70s. It had to be somewhere near the record high temperature for this date. So much for trying to eat healthy, I ate a single slice of pepperoni pizza and a small salad for dinner. I'm over the moon, because we got to FaceTime with all the kids together and thank God for this special blessing.
2 November 2022
Yes, I love it when I get up early and am able to get in my exercises before breakfast and attending to my daily cardio. I think it is good to continually mix things up. My reward for getting up early was that I got to break open a new bag of coffee grounds, what a wonderful aroma. I topped my oatmeal with fresh raspberries this morning, that is favorite fruit so far. I have been topping it with blueberries, blackberries strawberries too. I use to eat it savory with a dash of hot sauce and or with a protein, but for the past month or so I have tried to cut but on having so much animal protein. Albeit I love the taste and smell of burnt meat, continuing to being such a huge carnivore is no long a option for me healthwise. It was another drop dead day much like yesterday, so we took a drive out to the Aurora Outlet Mall. It is win win, mama gets to do a shop and walk and I get to enjoy a nice outdoor walk. I like taking walks at the outlet mall, the Oakbrook Center and the Bolingbrook Promenade on the weekdays when it there are relatively few people who are out and about, but I would have to say that the piped in music at the outlet mall is a hit or miss. Sometimes the volume is too loud and other times the music selection is horrid. Yes sir, it was an easy ten thousand steps day. Whoo hoo, that’s three days in a row, good for me. The weather these past few days remind me of the San Francisco bay area weatherwise, where it tends to be cool in the a.m. and then significantly warms up to an awesomely mild day. Mmm, I can eat salads every day, so long as Fawn makes the salad, so good. I am thankful for God’s bounty and blessings.
1 November 2022
Whoo hoo, it could be me, but it seems to be a tad unseasonably warm for this time of year. Clearly I dressed way too warm for my walk and had to lose my jacket very quickly. The sun was shining was bright as can be to a cloudless sky and the temperature was super nice today hovering somewhere near 70 degrees. I just looked at the weather forecast and we are expecting the temperatures to be in the low to mid 70s for the next two days! Whenever the weather is this nice, I have a good chance of getting in a nice long outdoor walk. Whoo hoo, I got in another back to back ten thousand steps day. Now that halloween is over, we can now turn our attention to the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays. We took a drive out to the Blain’s Farm and Fleet in Montgomery, that store is like a huge one stop and shop. I made us a meatless vegetable stir fry with cabbage, carrots, garlic and green onions. Time to relax and listen the Chicago… they have so many great hits.31 October 2022
It was good to get out and about after staying home all day yesterday. We went out groceries and what nots. And most importantly, we went and stopped in the polling place to vote. We are so blessed to live in a country where we are privileged to be able to elect our governing officials. It is not clear to me if people actually take the time to prayerfully research the candidates’ positions beit in the primary party election or the full election. We found that many of candidates this election cycle avoided saying anything on substance. I got in a decent walk this morning despite there being a light drizzle at times. It felt good to get my ten thousand steps in because it somehow easily came about. Grr, I got frustrated because I missed a call from Fawn while I was taking a walk. My phone ringer was set to mute and I am still clueless how that came about again. It’s crazy how another month just flew by so quickly. We had fun facetiming with the grandkids, they are both a hoot. Funny, that Andrea always takes out her Christmas tree on the 31st. I’m not sure if it has been a month or not since I began trying to eat a little healthier and cutting out junk food snacks, but so far I don’t seem to feel any different. However, I did lose back about eight pounds of the weight I gained during the summer months when we feasting on the big breakfast family gatherings on Saturday mornings when Andrea and Rob would bring Isaac and Peyton down to visit. One good thing is that I don’t have the urge to snack on junk food anymore.
30 October 2022
Happy haircut! I've said it before and I'll say it again, "I always feel better after getting a haircut." Fawn always does a great job clipping my hair. The fresh strawberries went well in the oatmeal this morning. Mmm, the salad Fawn made us for lunch was delicious. She made it with an iceberg lettuce, strawberries and blueberries, parmesan cheese. I also noticed that she removed the egg yolk from my hard boiled egg. I'm so glad I did an internet search on different ways to cook carrot because I came across a carrot and green onion. All I needed was the image and I was good to go to make myself a simple tasty snack. This is so much better tasting than to simply boiling it. It too tasteless and I don’t want to season it salt and butter. I made us one of my favorite nostalgic meals that is so flavorful, Cantonese soft scrambled eggs with char sui, comfort at its finest! I had a very relaxing day and even got in a couple more episodes of Cobra Kai. I hate Halloween and I’m not looking forward for the sound of the doorbell ringing tomorrow, stupidest holiday ever.
29 October 2022
It was an awesome Saturday afternoon that we had with the kids. I whipped us up a big hearty lunch. The little man knows how to eat; he had me fire up a couple ribeye steaks. And I made stir fried char sui with peapods and a chicken with green beans stir fry to go with the Cantonese pan fried noodles. Alex helped out and made mac and cheese for Peyton. It was fun playing Star Wars with Isaac, but swinging the lightsabers for so long, tired me out. It was nice of Rob to work out the kinks in my shoulders and neck with a much needed massage. My day became complete when we were all together and Jennifer joined us on FaceTime. Fawn made a Caesar salad for dinner with an iceberg lettuce instead of romaine. There is something about romaine lettuce that causes it to be recalled for one thing or another. I think it is best to stop eating it all together. I gave muse to marriage and divorce today and was reminded about married people in the Church are icons of the Church and that divorce is contrary to God’s will. I started to pen about my muse in my typical stream of consciousness writing, but ended up deleting it. I am saddened that divorce has become common place in our society and that the topic should not be taken lightly. I know little about what causes people to fall out of love and end up getting divorced. I’m blessed to be in love with and married to a most beautiful godly women. In my mind, as long as we put Christ first, we are following God’s design of marriage as a unity between spouses and him. I’m planning to watch two episodes of Cobra Kai in a little bit before getting ready for bed, because I only have until Thursday to return the dvd. Funny how I think the acting is not very good, but that I’m hooked on the show because I think the writers are very good. Whoo hoo, a big win for Notre Dame against #16 Syracuse! Next weekend the Fighting Irish will be taking on #5 Clemson and another chance to prove themselves. Anyway, I am grateful for the blessing of the day, God is good. All the time!
28 October 2022
We got up super early this morning and hopped on the scale for my weekly weigh in. I am still losing some weight, but there are signs that it is slowing down. It's not clear to me if it is because I ate pizza this week. It was weird to have breakfast and our morning coffee pre dawn. We were out the door by seven o'clock to go to Alex's to let the furnace technician in. On the way over we stopped at the Walmart and bought a package of boneless pork shoulder to make char sui. We were going to buy eggs, but no way were we going to pay $3.51 for a dozen large eggs. We stopped at the gas station for a fill up. Gas was $3.879 a gallon, so it looks like cutting loose the 15M barrels of oil from our reserves is having more than a few pennies impact on the high price of gasoline the Biden is responsible for causing. Mmm, the char sui came out very good despite only being in the marinate for a couple hours. I had mine with a little bit of rice while Fawn and Alex opted having their char sui in their instant ramen noodle soup. I had myself a Caesar salad for dinner. The plan is to sit down and relax and watch the first episode of season 4 of Cobra Kai as soon as I am done penning with this Journal entry. I am so happy learn that Andrea and Rob are going to some event at Cantigny tomorrow and are going to stop by afterwards with the kids for a visit. There is nothing like the joy of spending time with your children and your grandkids. Thanks be God for the blessing of the day.
27 October 2022
Here we go again waking to the howling wind and below freezing temperatures. Thankfully we are expecting the temp to be back in the mid 60s this weekend. I've been tossing in fruit with my oatmeal lately, but this morning I had my oatmeal with a splash of Cholula hot sauce. I haven't done that in a while, so good. That and the hot coffee was a morning blessing. The technician came this morning give the furnace its annual maintenance and tune-up. I thank God for our shelter with central heating and air conditioning. I looked at my pedometer to log how many steps I did for yesterday. If I knew that I was over nine thousand steps last night, I would have got up off my butt a few more times. After the furnace left we went out to a few stores and to America’s Best to pick up Alex’s contacts since we are going to his place tomorrow to let the furnace technician in his home to do the annual maintenance and tune-up. Albeit was only in the mid 50s, I did my walk outdoors today and was able to get over ten thousand steps in for the day. I just realized that it is almost Halloween; I really don’t care for this holiday. Because of covid, the last two years I just left the porch lights off and ignored the door bell and will do likewise this year again. Today I am most grateful to be under the care of a faithful and most learned teacher of Christ.
26 October 2022
Talk about a nose dive temperaturewise, it was only in the 40s when we were out and about this morning. I tried to do an outdoor walk, but it was way too windy and ended up having to take my walk in the big box stores. Good thing it was early and on a weekday. I was able to get a lot of steps in at the target and Meijer while Fawn was shopping. Too bad, because there was plenty of sunshine. Déjà vu when it came to eating, the only difference was that I had my oatmeal with blueberries. It was a salad for lunch and a slice of pizza for dinner. I spend the couple hour looks over ballot and did the research on the candidates and referendums to be an informed voter.
25 October 2022
It was the gloomiest day this fall that just rained and rained and rained. Since I stayed indoors all day, I tried to get in some exercise. I did some resistance training and even got on the elliptical four times as well as walked in place several times. I ate up the last of the raspberries with my oatmeal this morning and I made myself an iceberg lettuce salad with grapes and blueberries. I got hungry again within a couple of hours, so I at the last of the leftover chicken with zucchini and mushroom dish. So much for the healthy eating, I ate frozen pizza for dinner and a cookie for dessert. Now I need to regroup. I downloaded the sample ballot and plan to start my research on the candidates and referendums on the ballot. I’m so happy the kids called and facetimed us, my day is complete.
24 October 2022
I’m not sure why I'm being lazy and not logging in daily here to pen my journal entries. I've been using the notepad on my phone just to jot a few things down and to cut and paste it here. I was up early and got my exercises in before breakfast. Mmm, I thought about topping my oatmeal with a little bit of the minced chicken to make it savory, but then opted for sweet and topped it with raspberries. We stopped by Jean's to drop off some of the ginseng Fawn made yesterday on the way to Alex's. Albeit we didn't need gas, I did look at the price of it at the gas station as I drove by it on the way there and it was $4.099 a gallon. Looks like the 15M barrels of oil is having some effect on lowing the high gas prices that he has caused. This is still a far cry from what it was before he took office and is only temporary. I made Alex's his beloved beef with peapods for our lunch. The peapods that Fawn bought from the Jewels were the best I've seen in a while. We also bought over the napa soup to reheat with our lunch. It made me think about my parents and how we used to have s bowl of soup at the start of every meal growing up. There was an overcast most of the day, but the temperature was in the mid 70s. The mild temperature made for a pleasant outdoor walk. I'm surprised that I didn't get ten thousand steps in. Clearly I must of been walking around at a leisurely pace. I think that these past four days have been outstanding. It looks like we will be back to our normal autumn like weather tomorrow. I thank God for blessing my siblings and me with loving parents. My children were lucky to have strong God fearing women for their mother because there were quite a few times I was less than a role model. I am amazed how well they all turned out despite of having me for their father.
10/23
It was another outstanding day in the mid 70s. I'm continuing to eat good healthy food; I made us a chicken stir fry with zucchini and mushrooms for lunch. Mmm, I made us a steamed Cantonese minced chicken patty for dinner. I love the taste of steamed meat patties. I got that dish down pat. Fawn made ginseng, in the past it's rare that I wound drink it, but I drank it that couple times she has made it.
10/22
I was so glad that I racked the leaves curbside yesterday because the city came down our street early this morning and collected it. We were up early and out the by 7:30 door this morning for Fawn haircut. She always makes herself the first appointment of the day. Today was an awesome day weatherwise that made it into the upper 70s and got in a decent walk before climbing up the ladder to clean out the rain gutters and downspouts. I took the hand pruner and did the trim to the bushes. I was able to weed whack three sides of the perimeter of the backyard before running out of trimmer line. Afterwards it was time to relax and enjoy College football! Naturally I watched the Notre Dame vs UNLV game. Even with the 44 to 21 victory, I think this team is an average team. I hope they can prove me wrong next week against Syracuse and against Clemson the following week. I made us a medium sized pot of napa and tofu soup using pork bones.
10/21
I went to bed a little early and today was the first time I was up and out of bed pre dawn. I was able to do a little resistance training and do a little leaf racking out front before heading out to the Sam's Club pharmacy for our meds and to do a little shopping for what nots in the Oswego area. The weather today was super nice and I got in a leisurely outdoor walk. We ate yesterday's leftovers for lunch and l made us beef with tomato, peppers and onions. I am somewhat surprised that I am still losing weight each week. All this good eating and cutting out the junk food is paying off. Saturday, Sunday and Monday are all supposed to be just as nice!
20 October 2022
It's crazy that the first thing I do is look at the hourly weather forecast for the day to dress accordingly. It was below freezing again, 29 degrees. Albeit the day started a hair colder than yesterday and was still quite nippy in the morning, it was a heck of lot warmer than yesterday as the day progressed and the temperature soared into the mid 60s. Yesterday I was thinking that we call this weekend an Indian summer. We head out the door early this morning and went to the Sam's Club pharmacy for our med and ran a few errands in the Oswego area before heading over to Alex's for lunch. I stopped for gas and it was $4.199 a gallon. With the Saudi oil reducing their oil production, Biden is being forced to release some of the US oil reserves. Crazy how the US has gone from a exporter of oil to now begging other countries for oil, thanks Joe. I made us mapo tofu, hamburger peas for lunch. Since I had access to Alex's awesome kitchen, after lunch I made chicken and broccoli and took it home for our dinner. I thought that dish tasted OK, but I was disappointed that I over cooked the broccoli. Whoo hoo, miracles can happen, I got in ten thousand steps again, that makes it two days in a row. I read a quote from the Dessert Fathers that had to do with living quite lives. That is something that I need to work on. "Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit" (Psalm 51:12). Psalm 51, is one of my favorite psalms. There was a time when I thought that I had lost the joy of salvation. I failed to accept the forgiveness given to me though grace that God has given me and allowed myself to only see the darkness that surrounded me. I finished watching season 3 of Cobra Kai and placed a hold for season 4. I think the writers are so good and it is so hard to keep from binge watch the episodes. Nice, got to stop penning and join in the FaceTime call… We just got off facetiming will Rob, Andrea and our grandkids. Words can not express the joy in our hearts whenever any of our kids call or get together to call us. What a great way to close the day, God is good and his love endures forever. Prayers for the healing of all our infirmities.
19 October 2022
It was 30 degrees out when we were up this morning. Albeit was still another cold day, we bundled up and headed out to the Geneva Commons and to the Aurora Outlet Mall. I was all layered up and had my thermals on and was able to do a comfortable outdoor walk. I was able to be a walking fool and got the most steps in since I started recording the number of steps on my pedometer on 9/30. I got in 9.2K this a.m. at the mall alone. Sigh, I'm glad Fawn had me go to the Geneva Commons first and she most of her shopping there because they were surprisingly blasting heavy music at the outlet mall. I’m glad we went to worship at the Divine Service tonight. we haven’t been going as often as we should.
18 October 2022
I still can't believe how cold it is and now we can be facing freezing temperatures overnight. I'm now looking forward for the warmer weather that is heading our way. I made us beef and peapods for lunch and couldn't help but to notice that Fawn has reduced our meat portion size. We buy flank steak from the Sam's Club and slice the meat and pre package the portions before freezing. Albeit the cost of meat and groceries in general is out of control during these inflationary times, the high cost of meat isn't why we are eating less meat, it's because we are shooting for a healthy balance diet. I ate leftover fish and carrots for dinner. I know my journal entries have been looking like a food journal for some time, but it helps me a lot. I think the best thing I done this past week was to abstain snacking on junk food and opting for fruit and yogurt instead. We watched the Illinois Governor Debate hosted by WGN-TV and thought the format and questions were outstanding. The debate didn't change my mind whatsoever, JB needs to go, but that outcome will highly be unlikely.
17 October 2022
I woke to the sound of the howling winds. Dang, it's thermal underwear time. The high temp of the day was in the low 40s and the wind chill only added to discomfort. The fresh pot of oatmeal hit the spot. Mmm, good eating, I made us Cantonese steamed tilapia fillets for lunch and it was also a good way to warm up the house at the same time! Since Alex took a few days off, head to his place to help him out with the last of his yard maintenance. Rob help him mow him grass yesterday and I help Alex removed a few of his unwanted shrubs, gotrdun. This yard is looking pretty good. It's my understanding that we are supposed to have gorgeous weather this weekend; I hope that forecast doesn't change. I still need to swap out the sump pump discharge hose to the larger one for winter and I was thinking about climbing up the ladder to clean out the roof gutters. We'll see how thing goes this weekend.
16 October 2022
We were up early and out the door to go to Alex’s. The fall colors are absolutely stunning. I was struck by how the tree at the corner of our block, popped. The leaves on were like a neon red color. We stopped at the Walmart to buy breakfast sausage links and for spinach. While mama was in the store, I walked in the parking lot. It is a new day and a chance for a new start. I initially was thinking about my 30 day journey experiment, but now I'm musing about coram Deo and the new man. Anyway for breakfast, I made bacon and the sausage links and reheated the hash browns. Alex made the scrambled eggs. It was great that he even made me some fluffy scrambled egg whites to go with my toast. We had mama's spaghetti for lunch. The best part of the day was when I got to play stacking cups with Peyton. It is nice that she is starting to use phrases instead of just words when she is speaking to you now. I also had fun playing with the lightsabers with Issac. Rob gave me a much needed neck and shoulder massage. Andrea was holding a book and I just assumed that it was hers, so I asked her, What are you reading?" Lol, she was holding on of Peyton's book. I got in another short walk, but to get me over six thousand steps for the day. I finish off the last of the melon soup for dinner. I am grateful for the time I had with my family, for our Lord’s grace and mercies. His love endures forever.
15 October 2022
Because it's the weekend, we were out the door early this morning to buy groceries before most other folks were out and about. We needed to buy the needed for our feast. There is nothing as joyous like gathering and celebrating family at the table. It was pretty nippy this morning and required putting on a pair of gloves. It was in the upper 30s when we were out and about, so I took my walk indoors. I don't care for the cooler autumn days at all. The high temp of the day are now only in the mid 50s. I made us a small pot of hairy melon soup with the remainder of the huge melon the Peggy grew in her garden and gifted us for lunch before starting on the big cook. I started with making my stuffed hamburgers for the kids to eat later in the week and then browned the remainder of the ground beef for mama's spaghetti sauce and for the chili. It turns out that I didn't need to make a meatless chili so that made things a lot less complicated. I then made the hash brown potatoes and boil the spaghetti noodles and called it a day. I was expecting good things from the Fighting Irish against Stanford, but they disappointed. I'm glad I didn't sit through that fiasco and were out celebrating Mauri, Anna and Sonia's birthday. The family style trays of food from Olive Garden made for fine dinner. However I was disappointed with myself for indulging myself with the Italian sausage and with the meatballs. I'll need to regroup and move forward.
14 October 2022
I just knew that there would be noticeable weight losses during this week’s weigh in. I have to agree that routinely eating better food choices makes a big difference. It was a beautiful brisk autumn morning that required layering up and a light jacket. I was able to get in a decent walk. All the fall colors stood out against the cloudless sky. I took a nice long walk this morning and was able to get in over ten thousand for the day. The only reason I was able to get my 10K in was because of Fawn's idea about using the pedometer and penning the readings in a book. It actually motivates me not to sit down on my butt for long periods of time in the house. I had my usual oatmeal this morning. We went over to watch Nala while Alex went for a doctor's appointment. Jennifer called while we were at Alex’s, it was one of those rare moments where I got to have a conversation with her. Usually she spends most her time talking with her mama. While we were there, I made us beef with bok choy and teriyaki chicken for lunch. I really like cooking in his kitchen, because his kitchen is spacious and modern. I was surprised that I was able to help Alex rearrange stuff around his house. I made myself a large salad for dinner and Fawn had leftovers. Nice, Andrea and Rob called this evening and it looks like we are going to gather this weekend at Alex’s. Even though I plan to still cook a big breakfast feast with the likes of sausage and bacon, I’ll be abstaining for the food fest and will eat something reasonable. Sounds like mama’s making her spaghetti for lunch and I’ll be making my chili the day before. The chili should be interesting process that will involve meatless chili, meat chili with no beans, and my classic homemade chili versions. I had to renew the dvd for another week because I haven’t had the time to see the last four episodes of season 3. Thank you Heavenly Father for this day. Guard, O Lord, my heart, soul and mind from the evil one.
13 October 2022
I woke up this morning well rested and without any soreness or stiffness in my arm and was able to resume resistance training with the dumbbells. I managed to eat pretty healthy all day. I ate oatmeal for breakfast, soup and salad for lunch, snacked on fruits, and had teriyaki chicken for dinner. I don’t have a specific weight loss goal, but do expect with the elimination of all junk food snacks for my diet. Albeit there should be some notable loss, the goal is to really avoid certain food and to make healthier choices. Lord, help me make good choice from your bounty.
12 October 2022
Albeit I didn't hear any thunder claps, I did hear a lot of rumbling and the sound of the pouring rain overnight. The torrential downpour knocked a lot of the leaves off our tree. I didn't feel any pain when I got my flu shot yesterday. But when I woke up this morning, my arm was a little sore and a little stiff. I got in a short walk before the rain moved in again, two dreary days now in a row. I was happy to see that the sun broke back out in the afternoon and I was able to get a nice second walk in. After having a bowl of the hairy melon soup for lunch we went to Alex's, he had to go in the office for work today so we went to his home to let Nala out. I decided to do an experiment and go on a healthier diet for a month to see if I can improve my numbers and will feel better. One main thing I will do is completely eliminate the junk food and processed meat, so far so good on day one. This is going to be a tough month ahead of me for sure. I limited myself to a single episode of Cobra Kai today. Looking back, I have to say that it was pretty foolish of me to have binge watched so many episodes in one sitting yesterday. It was crazy how tempting it is to play one episode after another. "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths" (Proverbs 3:5-6). It is so easy to call on God when things get tough, but when things are going well, we tend forget to acknowledge that all the blessings we received come because of his grace. In my joy and success, I need to learn to acknowledge him and not trust on my own wisdom and strength when things appear to be going well! Thanks be to God for his grace and mercies.
11 October 2022
This morning we went to the Sam's Club to get our annual flu shot. It is rather sad that we need so many different shots to protect us from that and that. Next month we're up for our final hepatitis shot and then we need to decide whether to take the untested third covid-19 vaccine. We have been in the weird time of the year when we need to wear a light jacket in the morning and then it becomes nice later in the day. According to the ten day forecast, things are about to change and much cooler weather is expected. Whoo hoo, I got in my third ten thousand plus steps day! I’m not sure why Fawn wants me to jot down the number of steps I do a day. We stopped at Panda Express on the way back home for a takeout meal. We like to split the three entrée meal because it is a lot of food. It is not clear to me how often we will be going there moving on because I fill out survey to get the third entrée for free, but now you will have only place another order for the two entrée meal within twenty one days to get the third entrée for free. The dark clouds move in this afternoon and it began to rain. Now I'm glad I got all the mowing done yesterday. I finally got around to making soup with the huge hairy gourd the Peggy gifted us a little over a week ago for supper. It was so good, that I helped myself to a second bowl of it. I binged watched the first five episodes of season three of Cobra Kai. I swear that show is addicting. "Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your heart before him; God is a refuge for us" (Psalm 62:8). We are by nature sinful and unclean.
10 October 2022
Mmm, fresh raspberries with my oatmeal this morning! Now that's a winning combination. Whenever I have oatmeal with a fruit, it is usually with blueberries, this is a good change up. However, I would opt for a savory bowl given the choice. Regardless, the choices with oatmeal are endlessly good. After getting in close to three thousand steps in this morning, we went to Alex's and I made us teriyaki chicken, hamburger peas, mapo tofu and a Chinese sausage for lunch. It was like eating at a buffet with a little of this and a little of that. Chirp chirp, even I thought it was an awesome lunch. On the way there l had to stop of gas. I am at the point that "grr" seems not to be good enough of an onomatopoeia expression. The cheapest regular tier one gas that I was willing to put in my car was $4.499 a gallon. I know there are several reasons for the recent gas price spikes, but in my mind the buck stops at Joe and this congress. Why are we foolishly willing to continuing reelect these ... candidates? OK, now I feel better getting the rant of day off my chest. I finally got around to mowing the grass and yes, it was way over due. I clueless on how many steps are involved in doing the yardwork, but I'm saying that I did enough physical exercise for the day.
9 October 2022
We went to Jim's memorial service. I thought it was a very good informal gathering to celebrate Jim's faith journey and Christ's light in the world.
8 October 2022
I finally logged in to pen/publish a journal entry. I actually still have been penning my entries all week using the Samsung Note App on my phone, but didn’t bother stop and take the time to log in to publish them. We actually had a busy week, but it was a good one none the less. Its half time, so I only a short time to make an entry and to append cut and paste the entries from earlier in the week. Notre Dame had an awesome first half against #16 BYU. If we can hang on to the lead against this ranked team, we stand a good chance to get back in the TOP 25. We made our annual phone call to Eric to catch up and to offer him happy birthday well wishes. I changed it up today and did four 5 minutes gos on the elliptical. Other than that, we pretty much kicked back and had a relaxing day. I am grateful for all the blessing of this past week. God’s love endures forever.
10/1
I got up a little early so that I could get a little jump on my morning exercises, because just before going to bed, Fawn conducted a surprise audit on the pedometer. I would like to do a minimum of 7K steps every day supplemented with gos on the elliptical. I really like the idea of tracking the number steps instead of time. I forgot to mention that I got gas while we out and about yesterday and this time it didn't shock me that I had to pay $4.099 a gallon. Albeit, I still blame Biden for the high gas prices, this last huge spike was caused by Hurricane Ian wreaking havoc. Today was another huge leap for us as far as for covid. This was the second time we ate at a restaurant since the onset of the covid-19 pandemic. The first time was about a year or so ago when our niece came from California for a visit and we went out for dim sum at MingHin. Albeit the restaurant is extremely big and spacious, it turned out to be a little nerve wracking despite only a few people were dining at the restaurant at the time. We didn't go to our nephew's wedding early this year because didn't really want to be a crowd. Today we accepted his invitation to a much smaller outdoor patio post wedding family gathering at the LaBarra Italian Restaurant for lunch. I am glad that we felt comfortable enough to join in on the celebration. Sadly, the only our time we were able to see family was at funerals. I am sure that I am not ready to do indoor dining. Afterwards we went over to Alex's to feed Nala and let out and watch her for a hours. Mmm, my sister-in-law gifted us lo bak go and we had that for dinner. I don't know why it is called a turnip cake in English, when diakon is technically a radish. I saw a video of Isaac completing the length of playground monkey bars. Not bad, considering he is only five years old. Wow, I already know the young man can out run the kids in his age group, but now this! I am happy to see him developing mentally and physically. There is nothing quite like the joy that our grandkids brings us.
10/2
I’ve been stepping in place most of the day just to get in a little over 7K steps. It is my understanding that walking in place is just as effective actually walking.
10/3
We were out the early this morning for my initial dental appointment with our new dentist to replace a filling that fell out. Our old dentist finally got around to retiring. Alex is away on another business trip, so we spent time at Alex's to sit Nala. Lol, I actually enjoy spending time there and think of it a getaway vacation spot. If I had a do over, I would have a house with more windows, because I really enjoy having the well lit room. Boy oh boy, the weather is so nice and it is expected to remain that way until Thursday when the rain is expected to move in. Then the temperature will drop and cool down again, until then we'll enjoy the mild temps in the lower 70s. I suspect we will be doing a lot a driving around so I gassed up the car and not liking it at $4.069 a gallon. I made us a kung pao stir fry, celery, onions and pea pods. I love the crunch from the peanuts on this dish. I usually like chicken with dish, but Fawn always have me make this dish meatless.
10/4
Ahhh, I love the 5 cups coffee maker at Alex's, we only have a 4 cup one. Just having the few extra ounces of coffee makes all the difference. I think it is weird that Mr. Coffee considers a cup to be only 5 ounces. Mmm, made us spinach, green pepper and onions egg omelets for lunch! Yikes, now Agh, I'm so glad we stopped off for gas yesterday, we drove by the filling station we got gas from yesterday and it spiked another 53¢ a gallon to $4.599. I only got in 6,568 steps yesterday, so I made an extra effort to get in a decent walk this morning. Normally, I enjoy going for a morning, but all the fun is deflated when you keep looking at the pedometer to see where you are at with your step count. Albeit at the time of this journal entry, I'm at 10,775. I am certain that the goal of routinely walking 10 thousand steps a day is way too ambitious for me. It will be interesting to see tomorrow morning what was the final total steps I did for today. I was planning on doing more trimming back on the patio border plants; they are still way too high and wide. But then Nala became mischievous and started digging a big hole under the fence, sigh. Good thing I noticed, because she would have gotten out of the back yard. Anyway, carrying a 40 pound bag of topsoil to the backyard proved to be a challenge for me, but I got it back there a back filled the hole. I just put a couple of bricks on top of the dirt for now to keep her from digging there for now. I tried to start trimming back one of the plants, but was too winded and just gave up. We stopped by Sandy's this morning while were out and about and pickup her infamous Columbian Chicken dish that she made yesterday. It made for a delicious and hearty dinner. Man, we always love it she makes that dish and her lasagna and are mindful of us. Her recipe for these two dishes in particular, is out of this world!
10/5
I ended up with 11,423 steps yesterday. I'm giving up on trying to meet a daily number of steps goal and will only record the number of steps as an incentive to just get my butt up and keep from sitting around long periods of time. Anyway I got in over 6,000 steps sofar. I worked on pruning back the patio border plants. It is a much bigger of an undertaking than I anticipated. It is going to take me a ton of gos to get to all the needed. I made us chicken and pea pods for lunch. I've have been doing a lot better at what I have been eating. Whenever I eat rice, I only have the smallest portion. But now I am eating my Chinese without any rice with my meals whatsoever more and more. The autumn colors are really starting to come in and it won't be long now before the leaves begin to fall off the trees. Dinner was exceptional; I made teriyaki chicken for Fawn and the boiled chicken with ginger and green onion sauce and had it with a boiled carrot side.
10/6
It was an exceptionally beautiful morning. In fact today was an outstanding day before the rain moved in on us in the early evening. I enjoyed the outdoors and got in a little more pruning on the patio border plants. Today was the last day that was forecasted in the 70s. We are expecting it to drop into the 50s moving forward. There is still more pruning that needs to be done. But that will have to wait until another day. I fill two 30 gallon paper yard waste bags and it looks like I'll need to fill one more before I complete the needed in the backyard. We went and got another fillup today because we got a long drive ahead of us tomorrow and gas is by far the cheapest in the area in Plainfield. I got in a short walk and then opted to take a nap with the seat leaned back in the car while Fawn went the Target. Thanks be to God that Alex's plane arrived back safely early this evening. I made my Italian sausage with penne and spinach dish as well as some with spaghetti noodles in it to celebrate Alex's safe return of our supper. What can you say, you got to make do with what you have on hand. I made plenty so that I could have extra to bring up tomorrow when we go spend a day watching Isaac. The kid is a hoot and I wonder what activities he has in stored for us.
10/7