[E|C] Dinner!

今日晚餐

芭樂石榴沙拉 ＋ 柚子醋醬油

豆腐義大利麵 

義大利麵醬有家我爸自己種的有幾番茄喔！

豆腐我有先用蒜頭煎過

Today's Dinner

Guava Pomegranate Salad with Yuzu Ponzu sauce

Tofu Spaghetti

I used some of the tomatoes that my dad planted!

I panfried the tofu with garlic first before I added them into the sauce

[E] Falling Brach

After long rain and strong wind, there's a huge tree branch in our yard. I am glad that our dogs weren't outside when that happened.

[E|C] Another Project for the Dogs

既然昨天釘了個給狗狗用的墊子，乾脆今天也來把外頭那個暫時用磚頭墊高的東西給換了！唯一美中不足的是～我居然忘了先漆室外漆才釘...好險狗兒們不會嫌棄我這回沒上漆...其實上漆是要為了上木頭在室外可以持久一點，不過，老公說，就算沒漆也不會一下就爛了XD

早知道就早點做這兩個小小的projects了，這樣也好看多了!

話說，今天天氣好涼爽。在下了超過二十四小時的雨後終於又天晴了！

After 24 hours of rain, we have a nice 60 degree Sunday. Since we replaced the step inside the sunroom for our dogs yesterday, we decided to replace the ugly brick outside of the sunroom today. The only thing I forgot to do before we nailed the wood together is PAINTING...we still have the outdoor paint left in our garage from building the doggy ramp...and I supposed to remember that...but...OH WELL~ I am glad that the dogs don't care about how it looks...and I don't think the wood would rot so fast anyway.

[C]紅棗薑湯

好冷好冷，隨便煮了紅棗薑湯來喝一下...話說這紅棗是阿伯種的，我爸曬乾又烤的。

今年的天氣好怪，我在這住了八年，還沒有一個夏天這麼涼、雨下的又多...真的很怪啊！而且感覺八月跟九月天氣對調了...還有啊明明上星期熱到我等公車快昏倒，從昨天半夜到現在一直在又冷又下雨的。好怪好怪好怪...這是地球暖化造就的怪天氣嗎？！大家要持續接約能源、多做環保啊！不然這樣下去還得了？！

[E|C] Projects for Our Pets

裝了這個狗狗們已經好一陣子了，因為我家狗兒都是短腿，工人在裝時卻裝得有點太高，我們一直以來就偷拿我家貓咪的一個抓箱來這裡給狗當墊子XD

終於在今天下雨天，我們去買了木片隨意釘了個四英吋高的墊子...因為我們會在上面放舊衣服以便下雨或下雪天使用，所以也不用特地噴漆，就這樣放在門口，五分中就做好了。話說，去年我們做的狗狗斜坡，今年還是毅力不搖~施工有用心，貨真價實啊...哈哈！

This is an easy project that we've been dragging to do it. Our dogs are so short and the sunroom worker installed the doggy door slightly too high for our dogs to comfortable walk in and out, so we used to put an old cat scratch box by the doggy door for them to step on (and yes, we stole Kat Boss's scratch box for the dogs, and it's all One USA Unit's idea...fine...it was my idea). We've been using that scratch box for a while and we finally went to Home Depot and got a piece of 2 x 6 x 10 wood and quickly made a more permanent stand. Miss Basset Hound loves it; Mr. Dachshund hates rain...since it's raining now, he doesn't want to test out the new feature. We are not going to paint this one since we are going to always throw an old T-shirt on it anyway. 

[E|C] Thanks!

My favorite song this week: 

especially this part of the song:

"多勇敢 不再回頭看 燈火輝煌 到燈火闌珊 愛在人為 還是命運安排 我感謝 曾被善待"

I am not strong enough to look back
No matter love is man-made or determined by faith, I appreciate the past

"時間不能摧毀只能改變 我哭了 也懂了"
I can't stop the time so I have to make a change in my life
I cry when I learn to accept this fact

"眼淚無害 回憶是我的財產 這幸福的...悲哀..."

Tears has no harm and memory is my only wealth
I finally feel the grief in this happiness

[E|C] Another One?!

Ouch!
I am hoping tomorrow will be better!

笑一笑，明天會更好!

[E] To the Credit Card Theft

Someone was using my credit card shopping for her skincare products...almost $600...I spent/wasted some time to deal with this crap...and accidentally found out the lady's name is "Christy Goldman" - well, I do not know the exact spelling. Anyway, whoever that is, I hope one day you think about this and realize that this is not an okay thing to do. I was hoping to have an relaxing Friday after dealing with my family death and lots of other things during this week...because of your un-cool action, this happened to me:

I woke up in the morning and saw the email notification of an almost $600 transaction.
I logged into my account and found out there's another $25 fraud transaction.
I called the credit card company and disputed the charges, and they deactivate my account.
I was at work and being me as usual, still smile and laugh...and eventually I felt like I needed to get something I like for lunch to make the day go better. There's a little Taiwanese restaurant by my work...I didn't drive to work today so I checked the bus schedule and took the bus down and hoped to get my favorite pork chop rice. I got off at the stop, walked about 50 feet, and all the sudden I think of - I do not have cash with me and my card is deactivated. I walked back to the bus stop and headed back to work without eating...and you know what?! I still had a smile and say hi to people around me - my theory is this

這些人又沒欠我，我憑什麼臭臉對他們 。

These people do not owe me anything, I do not have the right to act rudely.

Was I upset? Yes, I was.
Do I think you should use your own money to buy things? Yes, I do.
Am I mad at you? No, I am not...I don't know what causes you made bad choices, and I sincerely hope that one day you have a chance to restart your life.

* I drew this last year...just saw it while I was trying to choose a photo to go with this blog and I think this is perfect...love will continue to lead the way :)

[E|C] Won an Umbrella

*貼心提醒：中文還是在英文後喔！

In addition to all other free fun goodies, I won an umbrella at Employees Appreciation Day!! Yay...so happy...I've been wanting to get an extra umbrella to leave it in my car for a while and I never actually got it...and now I don't need to buy one anymore!!! So happy ~ especially that I am the kind of person that's usually not lucky enough to win any prices :)

[E] Fall is Here

I saw this on my way back home - a cute yellow leaf quietly sitting on the sidewalk. Fall is here, even though the weather has been very weird this year. We had a cool summer and a relatively hot fall.

[E|C] Goodbye, Half of my September!

*中文在英文後*

September has been crazy. We drove over 20 hours in three days to travel to/from CA, and One USA Unit also traveled back to Kansas with me. It was a pleasure to visit family and friends. Right before we left for KS, my parents told me they are traveling back to Taiwan...I knew something must be wrong and unfortunately I was right - my uncle passed away all the sudden at age 59. This makes me think of a lot of things...

My grandpa passed away in the middle of my second semester in college. I gave myself two days to get over the fact that I couldn't be able to make it back home to say the last goodbye.

I've missed tons of family reunions, best friends and cousins' weddings, my closest cousin's band performances and his graduation, child births, b-day parties, death...there's time I run through some memories in my head and do my "what if" scenarios...

I hardly call anyone, I do email, but unfortunately not everyone does email...and I haven't learned to chat with people through phone...I guess this is kind of sad that I miss out the chances to connect with many people who I love and care about. 

To family/friend that I didn't get you say the last goodbye - as a lousy person I've been and left many things behind back home, you've been in my thoughts many times. I've missed you and will continue missing you. R.I.P.

已經九月了...從我開始寫這一篇到現在，又過了半個月。這十五天來，發生了很多事，其中包括

我們三天內開了二十多小時來回加州探望親友，託我爸媽的福，這是我在2007年後再度拜訪，也謝謝親友們熱情招待。

我和大白又花了三天回我大學念書的地方探望我很久一直想探望的朋友，上次見面是2008年五月。

令我最驚訝和難過的是，就是聽到親戚過世的消息了。我過去十二年不常回台灣，念書時沒錢回去、工作時沒時間回去，就算回台灣十天，也沒辦法見到很多人。人在這種狀況下會變得很勇敢或是某些人會覺得我很無情，卻不知道我常常在夜深人靜的時候慢慢地回想過去在台灣的生活、默默的想著自己得到的與錯過的...人生如果能重來一次，其實我也不確定我會不會再有勇氣背著許多的不諒解，自己在太平洋的另一端努力的生存著。

我想對我終究沒緣再見一面的人說:我不是一個很懂社交的人、嘴也不甜，但...曾經,你出現在我也挽懷念家鄉的思緒裡...一路好走!

[E|C] Painting

My old coworker, Giraffe, and I went to a Paint Nite event. It was very fun!!!!! The teacher was great, the venue was clean, and we are very talented lololol ha ha

I think we should do this more often - maybe we will take our husbands with us next time!

跟以前同事一起去畫了水彩畫！真是太好玩了！除了小時候在學校有畫過水彩畫，之後都沒畫過了呢！美國某些地區近期開始了一種畫畫的活動，付了費在網站上可以選你喜歡的畫風和老師，你跟其他人在當地的餐廳由老師帶著畫畫，真的是很讚啊！