Dave is an “extra” kind of person. He has a double of everything in his home. From double locks, double razors and double packs of toilet paper to double cartons of milk, double toothpastes and double oven toasters.
For Dave, nothing beats being prepared. In case something happens to the first item, there is still an extra one. For example, there was that time when Dave was reading a book and he accidentally spilled coffee on it. It was soaked through. And though it was Dave’s favourite book, he wasn’t worried about ruining that copy for he had an extra one, coffee stain free.
Dave also has double portable power generators in case the other one breaks down when the electricity hasn’t come back on yet. Most people would think Dave is a weird kind of guy, crazy even. But to his friends, Dave is just a regular guy, albeit overly cautious and obsessive compulsive at most.
Owning double items of everything has its advantages too. Dave never runs out of anything and he doesn’t ever want to. Just the other day, Dave bought two extra bottles of Listerine just because he kept spilling it when he brushed his teeth. Dave is an “extra” extraordinary kind of guy.
Susan Wong was my best friend. She is perky, bubbly and a bit of a rebel. Susan Wong was half Chinese and half American. She was born in Hong Kong and has moved to America when she was two years old.
Susan Wong is a really talented girl. She could play the piano and dance really well. She was quite the popular girl at school but it never got to her head. She was still as kind and down to earth as ever. When Susan bought me to their house one day, she took me to her room and we gave each other a makeover. She groomed my hair using a ceramic hair straightener while I painted her fingernails red.
Susan Wong’s family transferred to another country five years after that makeover session. Her father has been accepted for a job there and so they moved. I never saw her after that. But I occasionally receive postcards and letters from her. I also write to her whenever I can until one day, the last letter that I sent came back. It seems that Susan Wong’s family has moved again.
It has been exactly 25 years now since I last saw Susan Wong. I really miss her.
It was a great night and what a waste it would be to spend it indoors. The stars were out and the air was chilly so I lit up our outdoor fire place to keep myself warm.
I grabbed my shawl and curled up in a cosy chair and pulled it nearer to the fire. I was warm and snug as a bug in a rug. It was perfect. I looked up at the sky and found no clouds. There were a million shining stars and they looked really lovely. I love hearing the crickets, frogs and those other insects which make beautiful sounds during night time.
I love staying outside on the patio when the weather is perfect just like tonight. I would just gaze out into the sky and blank out. It is so relaxing not having to think about anything stressful or pressuring and just forget about everything. Sometimes, a few of my friends would hang out and we would play cards and board games all night. Having a cold glass of wine or two relieves tension and stress as well.
I wish the weather would be like this forever. How I love chilling in the outdoors.
I was browsing through a lot of old pictures in my personal computer and it really brought back a lot of good memories.
There were a bunch of photos taken during one of my white water rafting trips. The shots were exquisitely taken for the view was given a lot of justice. I almost fell of the floor falling when I saw one picture where I slid off the rocks while trekking towards the white water river.
The most precious photo collection I have is the scanned baby photographs of my parents, my sisters and me. This is the only old photographs left of us since our old house burned down. I have several back-up copies of these photos as well as printed ones to make sure that I will not lose any of them ever.
My photograph collection means a lot to me. They are a sort of evidence of the way I lived my life and they showcase all the people I have met, the places I have seen and the things that I have done. I have to expand my personal computer’s memory just to accommodate more pictures. I can’t wait to document my life ahead of me with more picture perfect photographs.
Aunt Beth is my mom’s cousin and I like her a lot. When I was still a little girl, she would brush my hair a hundred times while telling me stories about her childhood. Aunt Beth was a strict but a kind woman.
Baking was my Aunt Beth’s favourite thing to do. Every time she would drop by the house, she always brings freshly baked goodies like chocolate brownies, pumpkin pie and gingerbread. I personally love all the birthday cakes that she has given me for my birthdays. They were all beautifully decorated and really tasty.
Now that I am a grown woman, I still keep in touch with my Aunt Beth. In fact, I contacted her just last week to ask her about several cake decorating tips she can offer me as well as the ingredients for a delicious minced pie.
Aunt Beth is now 75 years old. She moves and talks a bit slower now but she is still the same kind and bubbly person I knew. She even scolds me every time I would tell her what I have been doing the past days. Aunt Beth will always be a part of my life and I love her very much.
When I have free time, I do a lot of arts and crafts. Oftentimes, you will find me underneath a lot of yarn trying to knit a baby bootie or examining a piece of pattern for a cross stitching project. I also do a lot of jigsaw puzzles as well as crocheting. Scrapbooking also interest me and I have made several scrapbooks.
If I am feeling a bit high-tech, I make a lot of videos including makeup application and how to make ice cream video. I also compile a few mp3s for a music video, make animated gifs or restore an old picture using Photoshop.
At times when I just want to laze around my home, I just curl up on my favourite chair and read a good book while sipping a hot cup of cocoa. I also love watching movies so DVD marathons are always on my to do list every week.
Hanging out with my friends is one of my favourite pastimes too. We would just hang out, talk, eat good food and drink cold beer or great wine. When I would want to be alone, I just lock myself in my bedroom, lie in my bed and just hide under the sheets.
I am quite the busy bee. Albeit I am just at home, I am currently up to my head with chores. I am done dusting and cleaning the living room as well as washing the dishes. I immediately proceeded to cleaning the bathroom. Nothing releases stress more than when you’re scrubbing scum from the toilet bowl. You can target all your pressures to that hard to remove water spot on the bathroom tile.
After the bathroom, cleaning and tidying my room is next. I still have to come up with effective shoe storage ideas and fast. It seems that my collection of footwear has multiplied overnight. Well, okay, not overnight but they sure have multiplied and I have no idea where to put them all.
When I’m done cleaning my room, I still have a big pile of laundry to tackle. I also need to sort a lot of mails and then take a few recyclables to the shop. Later in the afternoon, I still have a lot of errands to run including getting my mother a Bundt cake that she requested and fetching a friend at the airport.
I am pooped but I am still raring to go and finish everything.
I have a grandmother named Grandma Molly. She is 75 years old but still as strong as a horse. Grandma Molly is my mother’s mother and they quite resemble each other really well.
I grew up visiting Grandma Molly every weekend for she lives in the same town as we do. As soon as I step into her kitchen, I could smell the delicious scent of chocolate chip cookies and apple pies being made. It was pure heaven. Grandma Molly loved to cook. She would slave over a hot stove for hours just to prepare a wonderful feast for us. Grandma Molly would whip up an amazingly delicious ratatouille in minutes. This dish made me love vegetables. An amazing feat, if I say so myself.
Grandma Molly’s kitchen is such as sight to see. It was filled with colourful plates and vases. The kitchen lighting design was outrageous and it was put up by Grandma Molly’s husband, Grandpa Cruz. The kitchen was always warm and welcoming and as a child I was deeply comforted by the atmosphere.
Up to this day, Grandma Molly is still cooking wonderful meals and baking delicious goodies. Though we don’t visit her every weekend, we always make sure we drop by as often as we can.
Frozen yogurt is a wonderful alternative to the fattening ice cream. Like its rival, it is available in different varieties of flavours too. Frozen yogurt may have live cultures that help keep the body healthy. It can be sweet or sour, depending on the person’s preference.
I personally love frozen yogurt because it is low calorie. There are also fat and sugar free frozen yogurts available. I started enjoying this frozen delight when I had my tonsils removed. I wanted to eat ice cream but the doctor advised me to try frozen yogurt instead. I needed to lose a bit of weight at that time too. I also discovered that it is great at preventing certain infections like the urinary tract and yeast infections. This is because of the billions of live cultures found in yogurt.
With this wonderful dessert, I can have my daily dose of sweet without the added calories and fats. I particularly enjoy my frozen yogurt with real fruit like strawberry, mango and kiwi. I also like to top plain yogurt with Oreo bits and M&Ms.
Two of my ultimate favourite frozen yogurt brands are Red Mango and Pinkberry. Although, I enjoy homemade frozen and soft serve yogurts as well.
When Claire found out that her favourite appliance store was giving out discounts on selected Plasma TVs, she immediately headed out to check it out. Claire finally saved enough money to buy herself a plasma TV. She had been waiting for the right time to buy it and now she has finally got one.
As soon as she got home, she realized that she doesn’t have a plasma TV floor stand to put her brand new TV. Before she headed out to buy one, Claire first went online to check her options. She found several websites offering stylish and durable plasma TV floor stands.
Claire decided on a particular plasma TV floor stand to avoid placing her brand new plasma TV on the floor. The stand that Claire chose doesn’t require any assembly as she doesn’t have the tools or the skills to set up one. Claire has chosen a traditional hardwood stand that has ample storage and display space for her other multimedia gadgets like speakers, DVD player, Xbox 360 and Playstation 3.
When her stand was delivered, she immediately set up her high technology plasma T. She then invited some friends over to watch various blockbuster movies and enjoy a large bucket of popcorn.
Polar Planet | August 9th, 2009