Parents, ugh!

Not my parents, my students' parents!

It's Parent-Teacher Conference time. I spend two weeks trying to schedule parents to come in this week and I give them many chances to change the schedule if it didn't work for them. So it irks me when someone replies back that the date and time worked for them and then they don't show up. So I send home a note the next day and schedule them to come in the following day. The day of I confirm with the student that their parent is coming and yet the parent still does not show up. Do they think I enjoy sitting there? Do they think I like feeling like a prisoner in my classroom because I fear that if I leave to go to the bathroom they might show up. I wish parents would set a better example for their children and honor their appointments!

Fridge: $20

Microwave: $10

Dining table w/ built-in leaf and 6 chairs: $100

2 bookcases: $10

A sofa and loveseat: $60

Shopping on craigslist: priceless

All consuming

Trying to find appliances and furniture for cheap is so draining. We practically live on craigslist, but I do have to say that it's been good to us a couple times. We got a lovely table with a built-in leaf and 6 chairs for $100! What a steal! It's in great condition too. We also got a fridge for $20 (cost to have them bring it over here) and a microwave for $10. Now we're aiming for a washer/dryer and maybe a sofa. I'm hoping we the washer/dryer for free or dirt cheap so hopefully we can splurge on a new sofa. I really want a new sofa, but Ray wants it used. I don't mind it being used as long as it's something I really like, but a new one would be nice.

On another happier note, my TiVo is back!!! Can you believe the doofus mail carrier/UPS whoever brought it-guy just left it on the front porch with the large words "TiVo" prominently displayed?!?!? Luckily the porch isn't quite open so you don't immediately see it unless you're really looking. Someone could've seriously stolen it!

Ongoing annoyance

I hate it when family members plan parties or get-togethers and then invite us a day or two before the date and regardless of whether or not I'm busy I have to go because they're family. It's like they're riding on the fact that people will go because it's family, despite the fact that they are being rude and inconsiderate hosts by not giving us ample time to free up that day. Manners is definitely becoming nonexistent!

Near exhaustion

So on Wednesday Shirley comes to me and proposes that I move out earlier than planned so her sister can move in temporarily while she studies for her bar exam. That means I have to move all my stuff into the garage and live temp. with ray starting Dec. 7th. So I've been packing nonstop since Wed. Thanksgiving evening was spent at my parent's, but that's pretty much it. This weekend has been focused around packing and getting some things for the house that we already know we need. We spent today at Ikea for about 4 hours and then going to Union City to pick up a dining table that we saw off of craigslist. It's still looks really good, it has a built-in leaf, and 6 chairs for $100. what a deal! Good condition too since they're only selling it so they can get a new one. We got back around 4ish, I ate a bit, and then packed up my stuff in storage into smaller boxes so it would be easier to carry. I've finally taken a break and I think I'm done for tonight, unless I have the urge to do something else. I'm exhausted though so that may not happen. My arm's are so tired I don't even wanna type anymore. But that's basically what's been going on. I'm out.

Two words......

........ESCROW, BABY!!!!

I hate waiting!

So Ray and I went to the house on Saturday to finally check it out. It's just as nice as it is online! We also checked out this other property nearby that was somewhat similar. The difference is the 1st choice's price went down! Woo-hoo!! That is great news! Last night Ray and I put in an offer and now we have to wait 'til at least tomorrow night for an answer since that's how long the seller has to decide. Ugh! I hate the waiting! We're trying to reason why he would take our offer.

1. It's been on the market for almost 2 months.
2. It's the holiday season so not very many ppl looking to buy houses.

We're hoping that his desparation to get rid of the house, since it has been almost 2 months, will push him to take our offer. Cross you fingers, pray, do whatever you can to help us!!!!


Aside from all the house hoopla another thing i did this weekend was hang out with my cousins My-Anh and Hung from S. Cali. They were up for family business so my sister and I got a chance to see them on Saturday. We had dinner at Dave 'n Buster's and then took My-Anh to go get her belly button pierced. I've never seen it done before so it was interesting to watch! Unfortunately they had to head back home at 3 a.m. so we couldn't stay out too late. It was nice to see them, though, since I hadn't seen them in over a year!

One step closer.......

.....to our dream house!!!!!!!! Now, I know I've been calling it my dream house and technically it's not my "dream house." More like my dream house within a certain budget, but man is it nice! We just saw that the price went down so we're super excited. We're gonna go see it tomorrow with Tuan and make a final decision. Everything's been approved and ready to go!

It's a very surreal feeling talking to Ray about this. I never imagined something like this ever happening. You kinda get stuck in this mindset of just being a kid and not really moving forward with buying a home or getting married, and now here I am on the cusp of those two major things! It's quite exciting, scary, and sad at the same time. Exciting because it's a new chapter in my life with Ray. Scary because who knows what's ahead. And sad because I'll be leaving Shirley. I haven't quite fully felt the effects of what it will be like without having Shirley around. Lucille put it quite nicely with a F.R.I.E.N.D.S. reference. It's like when Monica and Chandler decided to move in and they had to break the news to Rachel that she had to move out. More effort is definitely going to have to happen so our friendship remains strong despite this change. *sigh* Sometimes I hate change, but I guess it's for the best!

Hiking with a purpose

Ok, so I meant to blog this almost a week ago but I kept forgetting. And with all the house distractions it wasn't getting done!
Anyways, I wanted to talk about Orienteering. What's that, you say? Well, imagine the reality show, "Amazing Race," and that will give you a general idea of Orienteering. Ray had heard about this before and he had me check it out online and so we decided to go to our first Orienteering activity last Saturday, the 12th. It's usually held at different locations so this time it was at the Golden Gate Park in SF. We signed up for the beginner's course and was given a map of the park with the checkpoints for the beginners. We also had a card that we would mark when we got to each checkpoint. Next to the checkpoint on the card there would be 3 random pictures (i.e. dog, star, cup) When you get to that certain checkpoint, one of those pictures will be on the sign and you have to circle it on your card to prove you were there. So basically, you have to get through all the checkpoints in the fastest time. To ensure no one follows another group, each team leaves at different times. It quite fun to do. You run around and follow the map and clues. We even tried the advanced beginners, which had 4 more checkpoints, and I got to see parts of the park that I didn't before. We had quite a workout that day! Anyways, I highly recommend to others. Check it out. baoc.org, I believe. The next one won't be for a while, but anyone wanting to join us and form a team or we can compete against one another just let me know!

A sea of sickness

I swear, everywhere I turn at work people are getting sick. It's freaking me out! I had 3 kids out this week, one of them just came today, but that leaves 2 that have been out for a total of 4 days. It's freaking me out! I'm popping Airborne like crazy, drinking lotsa water, and just generally taking care of myself, but you never know!

ugh

Trying to buy a house is so stressful.......Shirley, if a miracle happens and Ray and I get pre-approved and our dream house is still on the market we may possibly have the house by the end of this year. Is that enough time for you to prepare? Not living with my Shirley......such a scary thought....

Our dream home

Nov. 13th:
So Ray and I are planning to buy a place of our own by next summer so we've been going to a lot of Open Houses and talking to my friend about realty advice. On the whim this afternoon we decided to go to an Open House, which turned out to be a condo (we don't like condos) and as we were leaving that neighborhood we saw some more Open Houses and decided to swing by those ones too. Well, let me tell you, we found our dream home. Right when we stepped into that house I got the "feeling." I absolutely loved it and Ray feels the same way. It's a decent-priced 2-story, 3 bdrm, 2.5 bathroom, hardwood floors, spacious living area, vaulted ceilings, jacuzzi, nice area.....man! We love it! We love it so much Ray decided we should go for it. Now, since we're not pre-approved for a loan yet I'm afraid we won't get the house, even though it's been on the market for 3 weeks, which is a pretty long time. We're going to talk to my friend, maybe to my cousin, and to Rick's broker and start the ball rolling. Ray decided that with all the advice my friend gave us, we probably don't have to wait 'til summer when his parents sell the house to get ours. If we find what we absolutely love before that we should just go for it! So, cross your fingers and everything else for us!!!

Intimate Scorpio Dinner

Saturday night, Nov. 12th
Tonight was the 5th Annual Scorpio Dinner. Even though it was a lot smaller than usual (thanks to our absent-mindedness of the holiday weekend) it was still pretty fun. People present were Ray, Ly, John, Justin, his gf, and Tiffany. We had a drink at Gordon Biersch, hung out a bit, and then headed over to Buca di Beppo. We had amazing bruschetta, salad, linguine frutti del mare, macaroni de la rosa, and tiramisu. Johnny and I had our birthday tequila shot and my sister got me a shot of something that didn't taste good. Surprisingly I was feeling fine. John, Johnny's roommate, was another story! He was so plastered! He couldn't stop talking even when no one was listening! It was so funny. I got Johnny a gift card to EB Games and he got me a cue stick + case. The stick is reallyl nice! The handle is red with a gold dragon on it. Just what I wanted if I were to get a cue stick! Thanks, Johnny!

A productive day

Today was Veteran's Day, which meant no school for teachers and students. Sounds nice doesn't it? Not so. For those who think teachers just work until 3:00 and they're done for the day are so ignorant. Although I was able to sleep in and then have a nice lunch with Mary I spent 4 hours in the afternoon with Shirley at Shoreline Billiards (her 2nd job) working on report cards. Were we BBQ-ing? No. Were we shopping? No. Were we just couch tators? HELL NO. Shirley was working at her 2ND JOB while we worked on stuff for our 1st job. So I hope this gives some ignorant folks a sliver of insight into the fact that we are constantly working outside of the classroom AND WE DON'T GET PAID FOR IT!

Watermelon Margaritas + Shirley= ..........

..........a whole lotta fun! Thursday night was comedy night at Rooster T Feathers in Sunnyvale with Winnie, Marie, Johnny, Xuanthao, Shirley, Eddie, and Ray. The comics were so-so. The headliner really sucked. He was so not funny. The second guy was the funniest out of all of them and that's saying a lot! It was Thurs. so it was $3 margarita night! Shirley and I had a watermelon margarita but that's where the similarities end! Ray and I shared a grilled chick. nachos plate for dinner, whereas the margarita was Shirley's dinner. You can imagine how things went. As she mentions in her blog, it brought back toyko tea memories, but this one was not as bad! And that is all I will say about that!

The journey towards recovery

I feel like a recovering drug addict who is trying to stay clean but others are wary of whether or not I have turned a new leaf so they still treat me like a druggie. I don't know how to convince people that I'm stronger when they've decided that "Once a druggie, always a druggie" is going to be their attitude and that colors their perspective on me and influences their decisions about me.

Birthday dinner

Tuesday, Nov. 8th
S was so nice. She made a birthday dinner for me, J, and L. The meal included spicy tom yum soup (or at least I think it's tom yum!), pad thai, green beans, and curry chicken with rice. We topped it off with some 2 buck Chuck Cabernet and a mango jello as our "cake." RL ended up coming over earlier than planned and I felt bad because I knew she was making this dinner for US not him. But I was also confused as to why RR was there when I was under the impression it was suppose to be dinner for the birthday babies and Shirley. Either way, I felt bad during the second half of the dinner when RL came, but I didn't have a backup plan to fix it. S, if you read this I am so sorry for messing up the dinner. I really appreciate your thoughtfulness and the care you put into this dinner.

I Heart Holidays

I love holidays. Particularly Fall/Winter holidays. There's just something about the warm fuzzy feelings that you get around this time of the year. I love the holiday music, the hot cocoa, the trees, the decorations. AND I love that I can get cute holiday decorations at the dollar store and cute decorations at Walgreens for 99 cents! I think I've gone overboard this year. I'll just have to wait 'til I put it all out to see if I have too much decorations. I think this year I'll even buy a little tree to spruce up the house.

Trang's evening of NOT fun.....

It's funny to say but I had a shitty hour and a half just now. I had a staff mtg. today (which wasn't the shitty part) and afterwards Marie and I talked a bit in my car. Apparently we have similar concerns over certain things so I was glad to talk to her and feel like someone's going through the same thing as I am. (1st shitty thing) I left for home at 5:30 and I was suppose to meet with Shirley to go to Hometown Buffet with her class so I was going to call and say I was running late. My phone died. (2nd shitty thing). So I just decided to get there as soon as possible, but of course there was traffic + an accident. (3rd shitty thing.) I didn't get home 'til 6:15 and of course Shirley was already gone. I had to put some food in the fridge so I rushed out of my car to do that and I tripped over some metal frames. Because of that I cut the bottom of my foot really bad so I went to bandage it up and figured I'd just limp around Hometown. That was until I put pressure on that spot and it hurt like hell and I knew I wouldn't survive. (4th shitty thing.) So once my phone had some juice in it I called Shirley to explain. Ray's here and he re-bandaged my foot since it was at such an awkward angle I didn't do a good job of cleaning and such.

Trang and Ray's Day 'O Fun!

Saturday, Nov. 5th:
Today was such a busy day. We started out the day with some Jamba Juice. Yum yum! I always get Orange Dream Machine with some boost. I love orange and cream stuff so I always have this! Believe me, I've tried almost all the flavors so this is the one I'm stickin' to!
Anyways, after we got our jamba we headed to the Tech. We spent about 1 1/2 hours in the Game On! exhibit. I really like Monkey Ball. I like it so much that Ray got it on Ebay for me. Woo-hoo!!! After the Tech we stopped by the post office to ship off TiVo. TiVo is a bit sick right now so we have to trade it in. I'm very sad for our loss.....

After the post office we went to my parent's for some lunch. We then went to 2 open houses. The townhouse we saw was really cute and affordable. Too bad it's not up for sale next summer! We then went back to the Tech around 3:45 to watch an IMAX. We had some time so we stopped at Game On! again. I chatted a bit with Veronica and Tara. We then saw Magnificent Desolation. It was ok. I preferred Blue Planet.

After the IMAX we met up with the Caringellas for dinner at Giorgio's. Did you know that if you turn a restaurant booster seat upside down you can lay a baby car seat on it pretty securely? I never knew that. An interesting thing we learned. We all shared 2 medium pizzas with 4 different styles. It was pretty good.

Happy Birthday to me!

Actually it was yesterday. Just regular run-of-the-mill day. One of my kids gave me a faux Gucci purse and another gave me a half sheet of stickers. It was very cute. Went to my parent's afterwork for the usual cake. My sister got a banana walnut cake at Euro Delights. It was very good. Ray took me to Kazoo in J-town. The sushi was pretty good (based on my standards). We shared a sushi boat that you can also call a bento box, but it comes in a boat. It was really cool. We also had a rainbow roll and dragon roll. Very yummy!