I was the secretary on our floor today. It was so much fun, and it's a nice change. I may do it again tomorrow. I signed up extra this weekend because we are going to Minneapolis next week, and I need to make some extra cash for it. I'm so looking forward to it. It's always fun going to see my frieng Wing. It's my chance to get in touch with my asian culture.

Couple days ago Peter let Orlando out, something I have told him not to because we don't have invisible fence. Although Orlando always came back in the past, this time he was gone for couple of days. I was getting worried because the night he was gone there was a big thunder storm and the temperature was going to drop into the 20s the next few days. Last night Peter was whistling in the backyard. Suddently we heard a meow coming from somewhere, but we couldn't tell where. Peter ran around the house and down the street, still no sight of Orlando. Then Peter whistled again, and the meow became more constant this time. We followed the sound and finally we realized the sound was coming from our neighbor's garage. Peter knocked on the neighbor's door, and an old man came out. Peter told him our cat was trapped in his garage, and the old man went back inside to put on his shoes. It took him nearly 10 minutes, and it took him another 10 minutes to walk to the garage and open its door. I had already went back to our house because it was freezing out. 20 minutes later, Orlando was home sweet home. Later Peter told me the old man sounded a little upset that we let out cat ran around free. He said there's a leash law here and that "This may smells like a free country, but it's not." Haha... We also found out why they always park on the street. Their garage is filled with old junk, and their driveway is already taken up by old junk cars. If junk equals old memories, they sure have a lot of them. Anyway, I'm glad our sweet Orlando is finally home, unfortunately, there will be no more adventure for him.

Work sucked this past weekend. First I had some really heavy patients that required totaly care. My back was so sore after work. Then I had a doctor trying to do things his way and not follow the hospital protocol. He also tried to blame the nurses for what happened. What-ever!

I love spring, the air, flowers blooming, and birds singing. Schroeder has been enjoying the weather as well. We are able to let him out most of the day. He's made friends with our neighbor's kids. At first Schroeder was a little afraid of them, even though they were on the other side of the fence. Schroeder would get close to the fence when the kids were not looking, then the kids saw him and tried to pat him, he ran away. The kids would throw sticks to our yard trying to get the dog's attention, but Schroeder didn't care. Finally Schroeder realized they were all right and started licking the kids. When our pastor's kids were over here today, the little boy Owen was extremely scared of the dog. He was screaming bloody murder and telling the dog to "GO AWAY! GO AWAY!". Haha... It was a funny scene. The girls on the other hand were having so much fun playing with the dog. Even baby Monica was patting the dog.

So March Madness has begun, and that's all I have to say about it. We have big plans this weekend. Mark's birthday on Firday, and Uncle Phil is coming from Texas to hang out and watch the games with us. Hope everyone has a great week and weekend.

Look at these tiny feet. A premature baby born at 22 weeks is being released from the hospital. Even though the doctors were not optimistic at first are now amazed by the progress this little baby is making. I wish people can look at this and think twice about abortion. Whether they want to face the truth or not, abortion is the killing of an actual human life. Even the littlest feet like these can still kick. Thanks to the Lord for bringing this miracle baby to her family.

I came down with a terrible cold right after Peter got well from his. I blamed him of course. At least he was taking good care of me while I was sick. I was at the end of my cold last night when I went to the Phantom of the Opera. I brought extra kleenex. It was so cold out, luckily we didn't have to walk too far from our parking spot to the civic center. Yesterday I kept having a feeling that I was going to miss the show. When I was checking online to see where we could park, I noticed the show time was actually 6:30 not 7:30. It was 6 already, so Peter and I had to rush out the last minute. We made it there on time with five minutes to spare actually. I always loved the music of the Phantom of the Opera and always wanted to see it. This is my first musical experience, and I really enjoyed it. It would have been more enjoyable though if I wasn't sick. I would love to see it again.


We also rented The Illusionist last night. It was good I think. I remember there were two magician movies last year around the same time, this one and The Prestige. We saw the latter one in the theater and it was equally entertaining.

It seems like there's a big chance of snow again tonight. Are you kidding me?

Poor Peter was sick the last couple days. He's so cute with his red nose though. I'm glad he's all better now because I'm going to take him to see the Phantom of the Opera with me this sunday. It's my Valentine's gift. I bought the tickets for me for him. I'm really excited.

We have satellite again, woo-hoo! I forgot how clear the picture is. We had antena for the past year, and I spent majority of my tv watching time manipulating. Now I can finally enjoy the tv watching experience. We even got some Hong Kong channels. I feel a little more closer to home now.

We did our tax return couple weeks ago, and we have to pay even more this year. I hate the IRS.

Another week of freezing cold weather. Record lows in many places, what's going on? I wanna stay in my warm bed and never come out again.

Today I went to an old local shopping mall. There wasn't much there. It was actually quite depressing. The 80s music and the empty shops, a carrousel without any rider besides the old man that operates it was cleaning the seats, it reminded me a lot of the mall in Traverse City. I hate shopping with the crowds, but places like this killed my shopping mood. By the way, has anyone tried the Breyer's double churned ice-cream? The texture is similar to gelato, very smooth and dense. I'm going to make myself a brownie with Breyer's double churned vanilla ice-cream tonight. Sounds good?

Fudge! Got disconnected in the middle of blogging. Don't you hate that? So here I am have to rewrite everything.

I had a rough week last week, made a couple mistakes at work, though not life threathening, but I felt terrible about it. I could't let it go for a few days. I know we are all human and are not perfect, but I need to be super extra careful.

Peter and I have been thinking about joining the church we attend to. We met with our pastor yesterday to discuss the process. We will have few more meetings and to go through the Belgic Confession. For me, I will have to be baptized and also profess my faith first. Although I'm looking forward to it, I'm also very nervous about the baptism. I know it's a big committment, and it's going to be such a profound experience. I pray that God will give me strength and wisdom to go through it.

Recently I have taken up running. I have only been running on treadmill since it's been freezing outside. Although it's still dreadful sometimes, I somehow enjoy it, especially with some good music. Also I started writing a journal. Even though I enjoy blogging, and it's so convenient, some of my thoughts are too personal, and with me changing my blog so often, I don't want to lose some of the important ones (thoughts).

I have not stopped thinking about the movie pan's labyrinth ever since I saw it yesterday. I really enjoyed it and think it's the best movie I have seen since LOTRs. However, I can't seem to get over how depressing it was. A young lonely girl used her imagination to escape the dark cruel world she was living in. Although her fantacy might have kept her happy, I couldn't help to feel sad for her for the fact that she couldn't tell her imaginary world from the real world. Come to think of it, I never had any imaginary friends when I was little. I had great imaginations, but I never had the imaginary and the real mixed up. Maybe the real world we are living in is cruel, cold, and ugly, but we can't keep escaping it. I know my faith gives me hope, and that's not just my imagination.

We went to see Pan's Labyrinth today. We had been anticipating this one for a while. This is not a mere fantacy movie that the TV commercial may portrait it for, it's a very dark fairy tale like movie without a fairy tale ending. It left me feeling depressed. Because of its brutalness and violence, it's definitely not for children. I have not seen anything so imaginative for a long time. This movie is simply brilliant, and it's one that you would want to see it in theater.

On a lighter note, Schroeder got a new jersey and he loves it!

Just saw Children of Men tonight. It got a good storyline, but the ending wasn't satisfying to me. It's still worth to go see in the theater I think.

We taught Schroeder to sit and shake hand today, Yay!

I can't believe how much work it is to have a puppy. You have to potty train them, walk them, feed them, and walk them again.We haven't gotten the routine down yet, so Schroder still has some mishaps here and there. I wish we could put a diaper on him. They do that to monkeys, why not doggies? I took him for a walk yesterday, he's getting better with walking on leash. Someone stopped me on the sidewalk and asked what kind of dog Schroeder is. They thought he's cute. Hee~

Holy crap! It's 2007 already! I can't believe how fast this past year went by. Of course I say that every year ever since I turned 21, don't know why. I decided not to make any resolution this year. I'm just gonna put everything in God's hands. I spent today making truffles, taking down Christmas tree and decorations, and cleaning up the place a bit. The truffles were very easy to make, just a little messy, chocolate covered fingers, yum. They turned out quiet good, except I put a little too much cocoa powder on the outside. They were my gift to Peter. I'm glad he enjoyed them. Also, we finally got some snow on the last day of 2006.

On a different subject, Schroeder may have worms, AHH... We saw something suspicious yesterday. Needless to say, it was pretty gross. I'm going to have to take him to the vet soon. Poor doggie.

I watched A Christmas Story for the first time this Christmas. I recognized the scene where the kid was kicked by Santa down the slide, but never saw the whole movie. Now I see why this is a classic. I think it has just made my favorite movies list.

It's been a very busy week. I don't even know where to begin. It started with the passing of a beloved family member. We will miss him terribly, though we rejoice that he has finally left this ungodly world and went to be with his Lord. The memorial service and funeral could not have gone any better. The funeral was in Kansas, so we stayed down there until today. We got to have the Armstrong Christmas again. Almost everyone was there. We enjoyed it very much. I know I probably have mentioned before, but I am so blessed to have such great family. Life is so unpredictable and only God knows. It still amazes me how I have come half way around the world and to become part of this family. This week, we have become a lot closer I think. I feel like I have finally opened up myself this past week. It's not easy I must say. I have always had a difficult time having a close relationship with others, ever since I have left home and come to America. Maybe it's because of feeling out of place or being distrustful of others. I know I have a tendency to build up a wall. I don't like people to be able to read me, and I try not to show my emotions mostly by appearing to be cold and cynical. I can be a piece of work sometimes. Gosh! Enough about me already. I know this is not what Christmas is all about, but I can't help to get excited about our Christmas gifts this year. I (and Peter) got a Kitchen Aid stand mixer from mom, a very nice serving bowl from Mark, and free puppy from aunt Mary! His name is Schroeder. He's sleeping in his crate next to my feet right now hee =)

We had lunch with our pastor and his family yesterday. It was good food and great time. We always enjoy spending with them. Also baked some thumb print cookies last night. I used chocolate instead of jam. I love the coconut flakes on the outside. I only baked half batch and saved the other half for my work. Here's a picture of them when I made it last time. Umm...

I got Nintendo DS on my Christmas wishlist this year. I wanna play that brain age game. I was also looking at the PSP system, but I like Nintendo DS games better.

Recently I'm into oil diffusers. They are pretty to look at and smell great. Unlike candles, they don't leave any burn marks and safer. I want this Anthousa blossom trio bouquet set. They are kinda pricey though. I found this other diffusers from Target, and I think they are pretty nice too.

I know my last post probably has offened some people, so I deleted it. I was exhausted from work and needed to vent. I didn't mean it to be hurtful, but I know it did hurt some people's feelings. It wasn't meant to be as hateful as it seemed. Although I was only stating the facts, it was porbably too cruel for the general public. I apologize to the people I offened. One thing I learned is never blog when you are tired.

Oh yay, finally got enough sleep last night. There's no excuse for me to be a bitch today then.

I applied for a part-time job at a department store just for fun. I figured since I only work 3 days a week and love to shop, why not work for it. I can get discount and some extra money. I got a call back yesterday but the HR person isn't there today. Will try again tomorrow.