6 Quirky Things About Me . . .

Sardonicnell tagged me this meme a while back but since I haven’t been “blogging” I’m now only getting to this.

The rules: Link to the person that tagged you. Post the rules on your blog. Share six unimportant things/habits/quirks about your self. Tag 6 random people at the end of your post by linking to their blogs. Let these random people know that they are tagged by leaving comments in their blog. Let your tagger know when your entry is up.

Here are the 6 list of quirky things about me . . . what is “quirky?” Hee! Hee! OK . . . “QUIRKY” as defined means a peculiar behavior, which I know I have more than 6 but we’ll just list down what comes to mind:

1. I have a fetish for storage containers. . . not just your regular Rubbermaid or Tupperware ones, but those nice clear plastics one can find at The Container Store.

2. When we go camping, all of our stuffs are neatly packed inside those plastic bins and labeled as such to make it easier to unload. I also have a “welcome” mat in front of our tent. (I know I named 2 but these are related to camping.)

3. When I pack our lunches, the sandwiches, cookies, etc. all have to be neatly in its plastic bags. I always always wrap the sandwiches in wax paper first before putting them inside the plastic bags.

4. Speaking of plastic, I do not, I repeat, I do not like eating on plastic plates. I’ll eat on them if I have to but I do not own any plastic plates or those heavy plastic ones used for picnics. To me, the food always taste better on glass or stoneware.

5. I also have a thing for “pretty” platters. Although I have several, if I see a new platter that I like, I’d go out and buy it. To me presentation is so important. It must be the Martha in me. Ha! Ha!

6. Now the last one has to do with our dog, Toby. I know he is a dog and dogs do get dirty and muddy but when there is muddy area on the dog park, I would pick Toby up so that he wouldn’t get dirty. When the area is mud free, I’d put him down. I know that’s anal, but heck . . . that’s part of my quirkiness! Just the thought of having Toby getting inside the car with muddy feet and often times he sits on my lap so I have to avoid the muddy paths.

Note:  I just realized after reading this (Numbers 1-5)  list that I definitely have something for “plastic” .  What can that possibly mean?  Ha! Ha!

Salvadorian Quesadillas

• 1 cup flour
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup sour cream
• 4 oz. parmesan cheese (grated)
• 3 eggs
• 1 stick butter
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• sesame seeds

MIx butter and sugar until creamy. Add eggs one at a time. Sift flour and baking powder. Add to sugar mixture little by little. Add sour cream, parmesan cheese . . . mixing well. Grease 9″ spring pan or baking dish with butter. (I use the floured baking spray.) Add mixture evenly. Sprinkle with sesame seeds. Bake in preheated oven at 350 degrees for 40 to 60 minutes.

Note: If using an oblong pan or jelly roll pan, you’ll need to double the ingredients as show in my picture.

At home today . . . and yesterday . . .

Two days ago I had a bout with vertigo. I was on the computer at work when I started feeling dizzy. At first I thought it would subside but as minutes past, my dizziness got even worse. They ended up calling the EMT/paramedics but first the campus police came along with the fire department. Right before they came though, I was feeling very very naeseous (if you know what I mean). Well, eventually the EMT/paramedics came and whisked me on the gurney and off I went straight to the ER. Bril had come with me (love you Bril!) in the ambulance. Moments later, the hubs came too. After spending several hours and monitoring my vitals, they discharged me at around 4′ish in the afternoon. The hubs had already taken Bril back to work by then. The verdict was what I thought I had . . . “vertigo.” The last bout I had with vertigo was at least 10 years ago but I remember that one was worse because I had the sensation that the room was spinning endlessly in circles. Tomorrow I have an appointment with my doctor and probably my neurologist. We shall see . . . Right now the hubs is taking Toby out for his morning stroll while here I am at the lap top. This is still resting for me although I do have a pounding headache now. Arghhh! Believe it or not I actually baked (for the first time) this Salvadorian Quesadilla cake this morning . . . that was before my friggen headache. We’ll see how it turns out.

Yesterday was my first day being home after my ER episode. The hubs and I quickly went to Mi Pueblo to get a few things for this week’s dinner and since we were already there, I ended up getting my veggies and fruits instead of going to Farmer Joe’s. In turns out that I am low on potassium too so I’ve loaded up with bananas. Since I had time to actually make dinner (from scratch), I made chicken menudo (instead of pork this time). As I was preparing the dinner, I get a knock on the door . . . it was Bean and Father “G” . . . Father “G” had insisted to Bean that he wanted to “surprise” me. Boy was I surprised. Luckily I was up and about and not feeling miserable. Anyhoo, they ended up staying for dinner. It was nice that they came over to visit and was glad that what I had prepared would work out.

Happy Birthday Nanay!

Today would have been Nanay’s 86th birthday. My neice (SA) sent me via an email about “mothers” this morning which I thought could not have come at a more “appropriate” time . . .

Your Mother is always with you.
She’s the whisper of the leaves as you walk down the street.
She’s the smell of certain foods you remember, flowers you pick
and perfume that she wore.
She’s the cool hand on your brow when you’re not feeling well.
She’s your breath in the air on a cold winter’s day.
She is the sound of the rain that lulls you to sleep, the colors of a
rainbow, she is Christmas morning.
Your Mother lives inside your laughter.
And she’s crystallized in every tear drop.
A mother shows every emotion……….. happiness, sadness, fear,
jealousy, love, hate, anger, helplessness, excitement, joy, sorrow…..and all
the while, hoping and praying you  will only know the good feelings in life.
She’s the place you came from, your first home, and she’s the map you
follow with every step you take.
She’s your first love, your first friend, even your first enemy.
But nothing on earth can separate you. Not time, not space…….not
even death!

Hello again . . .

Gosh . . . the last time I made an entry was a little over a month ago. The wordpress format looks so different. Anyhoo, today is AC’s 15th birthday. I’m at work taking a break so instead of checking my Flickr’, I thought I’d get back into the swing of blogging. This is only going to be a short entry because like I said, I’m only taking my morning breaK. This morning, KV called to wish AC a happy birthday then it dawned on me that I plumb forgot to call KV to wish her a happy birthday. How could I have forgotten my best friend’s birthday especially since we’ve been friends for 30 years!!! My bad! So KV if you are reading this, check later on Flickr . . . I have something for you there. Well, gotta get back to work.

I’m back . . .

I decided that I’m going to try to continue with my blogging.  I thought about giving it up all together mainly because I’ve been so “into” my flickr lately . . . it’s not just uploading my pictures but making comments to all the wonderful “friends” I have met through Flickr.  They are just a great bunch of people from all over the world. I figure I can find a few minutes or so in my schedule to blog whatever it is that I want to write about . . . so there, I’m back.  I also know there are several friends of mine out there (and you know who you are) that find my “blog” amusing.  Ha! Ha!  You know what . . . I just rec’d a text and it was sent to my number by mistake.  It said:  “Wasup Eden - - 2800 - - i love my babii.”  Hmmm . . . maybe I should reply, huh?  I could just imagine the person waiting for that reply from Eden.  Hee! Hee!  The one he’ll never get and that person will be mad at Eden for not responding.  Sounds like one of those AT&T Cingular commercials.  Oh well, gotta get dinner started . . . By the way . . . since it’s been a while I last blog, “WordPress” had changed their format . . . not that you guys need to know . . .   Dang . . . now I have to get used to it . . . where are the categories so I can file this post under?  ;-)  Later . . .

Another “meaning” of Good Friday . . .

Aside from today being “Good Friday,” this “day” will always remind me that it was on a Good Friday back in 2000 that Nanay had a quadruple by-pass.  Eight years has passed and it’ll be 3 years come September that she left us.  I remember the pain that she went through after the surgery. . . recovering from it was the hardest for her considering at that time Nanay was 78 years old.  Just before she had her surgery, Nanay was starting to “snap” out of her depression, not completely but she showed some improvement;  however, days and weeks that followed the surgery, Nanay started slipping back into her depression.  It was during this period of my life that “life” became difficult for not just me but my family.  Eventually we “learned” to deal and cope with Nanay’s illness but it did take a toll on everyone around her.  Nanay would have been 86 years old next month.

Stay home weekend . . .

Yesterday I decided to do some “Spring” cleaning so I tackled the kitchen. We have this baker’s rack that somehow accumulates all sorts of non-food items, i.e. rubik’s cube, the hubs’ tiger balm cream, etc. That was my biggest chore in the kitchen was to “declutter” that area. Anyhoo, we stayed home all day yesterday . . . felt “yucky” with the cleaning that I did so I ended up taking a shower at 8:00 p.m. It would have taken me maybe an hour or so to declutter but I’m so good at dilly-dallying that it took me longer. Well, it felt good after getting rid of things that didn’t belong on the baker’s rack and also cleaned out the cabinet where we keep the cereal, cookies, etc. Since I was home all day yesterday I did some baking (blueberry coffee cake) and in the afternoon, I made some mango pudding. Moving forward to today . . . the hubs and I got up early so we decided to attend the 9:00 a.m. mass. JP had to go to work and AC was still asleep. AC would have gone but we would have been late if we were to wait for her to get ready. Today was Palm Sunday so they held the opening prayers outside until it was time to go in. Although the sun was out, the air was nippy. After eating lunch at home, the hubs, AC and I took Toby to this dog park at Point Isabel in Richmond. This was our first time at this dog park. This area is not fenced in but there’s trails to walk your dog either off the leash. We kept Toby on the leash because we were unsure as to how Toby would be “off-leash.” While I walked Toby to mingle with other dogs, the hubs and AC played catch (baseball). AC is on the varsity soft-ball at school so she likes to practice when she has a chance. After the dog park, we quickly made a detour to Target. I later went to Safeway and Farmer Joe’s for our weekly groceries. . . . tomorrow I’ll probably do Trader Joe’s. So . . . . that was that. Hope ya’ll had a great weekend. There too darn short!!

George Costanza’s 10 Commandments for Working Hard . . .

1 - Never walk without a document in your hands.
People with documents in their hands look like hardworking employees heading for important meetings. People with nothing in their hands look like they’re heading for the cafeteria. People with a newspaper in their hand look like they’re heading for the toilet. Above all, make sure you carry loads of stuff home with you at night, thus generating the false impression that you work longer hours than you do.

2 - Use computers to look busy.
Any time you use a computer, it looks like “work” to the casual observer. You can send and receive personal e-mail, chat, and generally have a blast without doing anything remotely related to work. These aren’t exactly the societal benefits that the proponents of the computer revolution would like to talk about but they’re not bad either. When you get caught by your boss — and you will get caught — your best defence is to claim you’re teaching yourself to use new software, thus saving valuable training dollars.

3 - Keep a messy desk.
Top management can get away with a clean desk. For the rest of us, it looks like we’re not working hard enough. Build huge piles of documents around your workspace. To the observer, last year’s work looks the same as today’s work; it’s volume that counts. Pile them high and wide. If you know somebody is coming to your cubicle, bury the document you’ll need halfway down in an existing stack and rummage for it when he/she arrives.

4 - Use voice mail.
Never answer your phone if you have voice mail. People don’t call you just because they want to give you something for nothing — they call because they want you to do work for them. That’s no way to live. Screen all your calls through voice mail. If somebody leaves a voice-mail message for you and it sounds like impending work, respond during lunch hour when you know they’re not there — it looks like you’re hardworking and conscientious even though you’re being a devious weasel.

5 - Look impatient & annoyed.
One should also always try to look impatient and annoyed to give your bosses the impression that you are always busy.

6 - Leave the office late.
Always leave the office late, especially when the boss is still around. You could read magazines and storybooks that you always wanted to read but have no time until late before leaving. Make sure you walk past the boss’ room on your way out. Send important e-mail at unearthly hours (e.g. 9:35 p.m., 7:05 a.m., etc.) and during public holidays.

7 - Use sighing for effect.
Sigh loudly when there are many people around, giving the impression that you are under extreme pressure.

8 - Opt for the stacking strategy.
It is not enough to pile lots of documents on the table. Put lots of books on the floor etc. (thick computer manuals are the best).

9 - Build your vocabulary.
Read up on some computer magazines and pick out all the jargon and new products. Use the phrases freely when in conversation with bosses. Remember; they don’t have to understand what you say, but you sure sound impressive.

10 - Don’t get caught.
MOST IMPORTANT: Don’t forward this page’s URL to your boss by mistake!

It’s time to get some new eye wear!!!

I had my eye exam over 6 months ago and I have yet to get new “prescriptions” . . . I’ve been blind as a bat since then and have difficulty reading my magazines. (Arnel . . . if you’re reading this . . . that’s why I don’t read any books kasi I’m “bulag!” Ha! Ha!) At lunch time today, I took the hubs’ eye wear to the optometry clinic to get repaired because good ol’ Toby got a hold of them. Luckily only one of the plastic nose piece came off and well, the right lens kept “popping” out too. While waiting for them to repair his eye wear, I had fun trying on different eye wear and even took a couple of pictures of the ones that I like. I was “eyeing” (get it! ha! ha!) two pairs both from Escada. It wasn’t necessarily the “brand” but I liked the shape of them. One had somewhat of a “bling” to it and the frame was wired vs. the hard frame. The other was similar to the ones I’m wearing now . . . my Hugo Boss. They said I’m eligible to have another free eye exam and since I haven’t used my “eye-glass” allowance I could apply the $130.00 towards any pair of glasses that I wanted (plus the free transitional lens). The Hugo Boss that I got years ago threw me back almost 400.00 buckaroos. Being that was my first eye glass, I guess I didn’t know what to expect. Now I know better . . . the way I “trash” my eye wear around. . . I’m surprise my Hugo’s are still holding up. Well, the next step would be to make an appointment for my eye exam. I should have made the appointment while I was already down there but I like to “complicate” my life. Ha! Ha! Nah . . I just didn’t know when I’d want to go for my eye exam . . . soon though because I’m telling ya . . . I CANNOT READ!