(Picture was taken on the 28th and unrelated to subject.)
Ate out twice today. Lunch with C and L. I couldn't believe my nose. It's now confirmed that L stinks like urine. (Every time he's around, so it's not just me. I hope C didn't think it was me.) Extremely repulsive. Not sure if he's aware of it but I don't think it's appropriate for me to tell him. It just annoys the heck out of me that he keeps invading my personal space.
Came home and tidy up the broom closet. I simply wanted to put the new light bulbs in there but there was no room left. It reminds me why I keep procrastinating the big cleanup. Dug up a bunch of junk, including salvaged electronic wires, nylon ropes, a pair of binoculars and a travailing iron from the 70's (could possible be sold as vintage?), a big box containing a small wind charm (re-gifted from cousin B), a pair of luggage locks (pretty much useless now), two boxes of old staples, a pack of felt table leg pads and possibly curtain rings, and a slide box filled with metal wire shapes that looks somewhat curtain-related. Oh, and a bunch of loose vacuum-cleaner parts (may be useless as we've discarded the machine itself), old shower head, old thermostat, and old battery-operated suction cup fan. All threw into that shelf randomly. Looks like a partial result from dad's "reorganization". Yup, this house is a huge snow mountain. Touch it and it will avalanches. That's why I don't.
From 2011 December. It's T&T brand and on sale for $1.50 or so. The sampling was so good, I bought a box last month. (Each box contains 2.) I think they're over frozen. At least more frozen than the sample. The pancake part felt a bit unfresh. (Nope, it doesn't expire until next September.... hey wait a sec! It lasts for 10 months???? That's wrong!!!) The strawberry ice-cream taste is dominant yet still let the pancake taste show through. The red bean filling was definitely over-frozen, which makes the texture icy. I was hungry too, yet it didn't taste that good. It fails as both pancake and ice-cream. Even fails as ice-cream sandwich. Overall, I don't know what went wrong, but it should be better then this.
Thank God for chiropractor day. I've been in another dimension. No energy. Couldn't think. Extremely slow. Not alert. I don't think I should drive, but no choice. Replying C's mail made me late for almost an hour. OK the vampire too. Didn't do anything else and went straight home afterwards. Low energy. Kept dosing off at the desk. Once again, didn't set up A's hand-me-down monitor.
Could not get out of bed easily. Aching all over. It has to be the front door light bulb changing yesterday. Had to deal with the vampire too. Then mom seemed to subconsciously shackled me down with a full dinner dish-washing plus alpha. Sigh... There's plenty of food in the fridge yet she went to buy a lunch box. Of course lots of left-overs. And she put everything on plates and bowls so I had to transfer them to glass Tupperware. There weren't enough so I had to do some juggling and ended up having to wash double the amount. By the time I met A, it was 3:30. I had dinner appointment at 5. Sigh... (T_T)
Thanks A for taking me there. I'm glad it's so much closer this year. The stadium is a much better venue too. We no longer have to worry about seating like last time. It's covered too. However, $10 admission is too expensive. Don't the venders pay rent for the venue? (I suspect the money went largely to the unnecessary nicely printed admission tickets and food tickets.) There seemed to be fewer non-food venders too. The weather was awesome and felt like summer. I got all sweaty just form walking there. We stayed from 2:30 to 4:40, then went to Costco for both me and mom's prescriptions. Brother said their fees are cheaper and worth the drive. However, the lady told me right off that the prescriptions will only be ready after 1:30 tomorrow. Oh well, no choice. Have to leave empty-handed and go back again.
Then we went to Superstore to pick up mom's Ensure which are on-sale. A got groceries. Who would expect the box of salad leak? It left a puddle of garlic-vinegar-smelling liquid in my shopping bag. (T_T)
(No photo today. This is from the 20th.)
Mrs. May 's Fruit Rounds Whole Strawberries, from 2011 December. The strawberry is freeze-dried. As I took the first bite, I tend to inhale a little to reduce crumbs, but ended up inhaling some powdery strawberry. Of course I chocked. Not a big deal, though.
(Photo is taken today but unrelated to subject. Just want a record of that bottle.)
Eat-out day with brother's gang. It's so cold, I had to dress like early winter. Mom gave brother a hair cut so I got to talk to M. Glad that she finally found out why her hands had been shaking. Not a single doctor she's seen in the past 5 years suspected overactive thyroid because she's on the chubby side. But now she's lost 10 pounds, and on medications. Hope she'd be back to normal soon.
Thought I left my receipts in brother's car, but found them in my bag. Good. Don't have to delay the bead pricing.
From 2011 November. Haha not really junk food, but still food. It was on sale so we gave it a try. Our regular Taiwanese brand is $7 and this one was on sale at $5. (Regular would be a buck more.) Seems like "you get what you pay for" is true in this case. The content is consisted of cheaper type of rice. Testes pretty much the same as the other one, though.
Sis-in-law's b-day. Brother's gang came after church and we ate the birthday cake and some buns for lunch. Since I didn't write anything down right away, most of the activities were forgotten. (Well, mainly shopping.) Turns out there were a few families of brother's church friends meeting at the buffet restaurant. The food was delicious at an awesome price. However, they got rid of the birthday person eats for free deal. Someone had a coupon and we got an equally good deal too.
Gotta buy some US dollars for tomorrow's shopping, plus pick up sis-in-law's birthday cake. Pizza at A's, then kidnapped him to Richmond. Got coffee beans, currency exchange, some grocery at Osaka, and beer and a liquor store. A hair salon in the same corner mall was broken-in earlier, and has not been cleaned up yet.
(Picture taken on the 16th and unrelated to subject.)
From 2011 November. Only the blueberry type was available at Costco until now. Thanks A for these!
Mom's eye appointment today near Lougheed mall. I also have chiropractor but I set it later, hoping I could make it. The day went well. The drive took 40 minutes, longer than what Google says. We got there at around 1:20, over an hour early. Normally, I'd go to the mall first, but knowing mom, she's gonna be overly worried, so we went to the clinic first. Amazingly, there was no one in line. The nurses let us have our appointment right away. It's just taking measurements. Even more simple then getting glasses prescriptions. 15 minutes later, we were out. Then of course we gotta make use of this long drive, and see the mall. Bought some batteries, and some junk. Ate afternoon snack at A&W. Their sirloin mini burger is back and as good. Perfect portion to share with mom. On our way back, we pass in front of dad's nursing home, so I went in with mom's orange. (She brought along a peeled orange besides water. She seems to think she's starve if she doesn't do so.) Was going to stay for 10 minutes, but got caught by a nurse who wouldn't stop chatting. So I ended up spending half-an-hour. Oh dear, I would be late for chiropractor! They close at 5 today (so I was told) and I must not be late. After dropping mom off, I rushed to the clinic, and was 5 minutes late. (Know myself, 5 minutes is considered doing well!) There were 2 parties in front. By the time I finished, there were 3 more parties in the waiting area. So... was I lied to? Can't blame them, though... I don't even trust myself especially about time.
Thanks neighbour Mrs. S. Mom and I ran into them in LD and gave them a ride, then Mrs. S gave me one of her huge chocolate bars. I took it along to the last cross-border shopping trip with brother's gang, but everyone brought food and it came back unopened.
Mom's been way too eager to go see dad so today she finally went... despite a few left-over cough. Brother drove her to and back, picking up some grocery on the way. Mom complained about the bakery bread I bought yesterday being too flaky, so she pick up another loaf today. She also gave dad a haircut and a shave. I guess things are back to normal.
Mom is still not completely recovered, so we didn't go out. Instead, I picked up half a chicken for take-out, plus some pastry at the bakery. Dropped off an egg tart at dad's, and got him to talk to mom through my cell phone. To my surprise, Stone was there. My theory of her only show up to greet new people falls apart.
Got up late and didn't meet A until he finished shopping at Aberdeen. He seemed super happy. That was good. (Although a bit alarming that his mood-swing is so big.) Had afternoon snack at Aoyama, then headed to M to pick up his PC case. He got the store to price match, so all of a sudden a monitor was added to my trunk. I barely had enough room, but thank God, we didn't have to put anything in the back seat. I couldn't believe I forgot to check out the dollar store and XS Cargo right next to M. I'm glad that those stools are not sold out. After that, Costco. A didn't buy that much but the bill went over $100! Yikes!!!!! Had junk food for dinner at A's. Tried to cook him some oatmeal, but the eggs must be old. He couldn't finish it.
From 2011 November. I think there was a low fat version but this box was the last one left. (They were on sale.) I was hungry when I ate them, so they automatically tasted good. The cheese is strong and with a bite. A bit on the salty side, but I was having a salt craving so it was perfect. Don't think the low fat version would taste this good.
The appointment was at 2:15 but I was told to get there earlier for paperwork, so I tried to give it an extra 15 minutes... Didn't know the actual clinic was one floor below. Only managed to have 10 minutes for paper work. Before I knew it, it was 2:35!!!! Aaaarrrrgggghhh!!!!!!!! The doctor didn't look too friendly. He speaks fast, and seemed to just run down a list of questions. At the end he prescribed anti-depressant. Heavy dosage too. I'm super worried.
(Picture was taken on the 3rd and unrelated to subject.)
Mom still has some cough so it's better to stay home. I went to see dad instead. Managed to catch him at dinner time. As usual, he's got spit all around him at the dining table. The staff praise him for feeding himself. Well, comparing to other residents there, he's not that bad. Except for spitting, taking things apart, flushing things down the toilet, refusing diapers while incontinent.
From 2011 November. With the last one tasting bad, I hope this one would be better. And it didn't disappoint me. It's sweetness is just right. Texture was quite loose and crumbly, though. Which makes it very messy. It's edible but not really my cup of tea.
Woke up by brother. Turns out mom phoned him last night asking him to see dad... despite asking me to do the same. Does she not trust me?
Picked A up from the airport, took Pinky pictures of all the chocolate bars he brought back. Wish I had more Pinkys on me. Went grocery-shopping with him, came back and made some crapes for dinner. Sifting the flour didn't help. Ended up squishing the lumps with the back of a spoon. Kind of works. Still made a mess by burning the crape and left tough burnt-on black patches on the fry pan.
(Photo is taken on another day and unrelated to subject.)
From 2011 November. On sale at Shopper's $2 a box. When I cut open the inner bag, I could smell the chocolate. The cookies are very black and kind of bitter. However, the filling still tastes like icing. All of this kind of cookies have icing-like filling and this is no exception. I think the bitterness helps neutralize the sweetness of the filling. Wait till I read the ingredient list...
Mom, not me. She cancelled lunch with aunt L's gang and I took her to see the doctor in the afternoon. Parking was not smooth. 3 circles and still no empty spot. Didn't know meters can display a "card only" sign. Lost a quarter before noticing. Tried to set up the pay-by-phone thing, but wasn't comfortable sending my credit card info over the cell phone. Luckily the 4th circle yielded a spot right in front of the clinic. Mom was done too, so I didn't even need to go upstairs to pick her up.
After all these time, uncle and aunt Y finally got over a long cold and could visit dad. Aunt Y made some dumplings with super stinky veggie so we didn't eat any at the nursing home. (Dad would want to eat them all. We did give him a few, though.) Uncle and aunt Y had to leave first. Me and mom stayed until dad finished lunch. The original plan was to eat those dumplings at Metrotown's food court and then go to mom's appointment. However, the container was tipped upside-down, and the soup spilled all over the shopping bag. Moreover, the forks seemed to be unclean. I couldn't bring myself to eat any.
So, it's cataract all right. The doctor said it's the right time for surgery too and mom agreed. Not before one more test, though, at his other office. That doctor is super busy. Which means he's good, but I hope he has enough time for every patient and doesn't screw up.
Mom brought home all of dad's pants to add draw-strings. (As a device to prevent him from tearing up his diapers.) I just cannot understand why she insists of making draw-strings from scrap fabric. Yet she'd complain about being jailed in front of the sewing machine, and has no time to work on the back yard. So! I went to Dressew to get some ready-to-use ones. She still tried to stop me up to the moment I left.
Brother wanted me to lend niece G some pen nibs. I haven't touched them for year, so I checked them out to see if they're still usable. Then I remember I no longer have any ink. Oh well, at least I could make sure they're clean... and they were not as clean as I thought. Some have rusted too. Nonetheless, I also lend niece an old art book with pen nib instructions. Hope that helps.
MC
