NaNoWriMo here I come

We’re in October now and I’ve realized I’m not doing entirely well on my 2010 goals.  Determined to accomplish something this year and inspired by my friend Irena, I’ve decided to participate in National Novel Writing Month – NaNoWriMo, in November. NaNoWriMo is is a novel-writing program for everyone who has thought fleetingly about writing a novel but has been scared away by the time and effort involved. So, staring November 1 and wrapping up on November 30, participants are aspired to write 50,000 words or about 175 pages novel.  It doesn’t have to be completed. It doesn’t have to...
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Table for 2 and that’s just fine

We’re child-free by choice. We don’t hate kids.  And we make great auntie and uncle.  We just like to play with them and hand them off to the parents at the end of the day. We adore Brandon’s two nieces age 8 and 11.  We can hardly wait to hang out with Aurora and James’ 2-year-old Dresden and baby Chloe.  Olaina and Justin’s Ella is still too little to play with but we didn’t mind hanging out with her too. I’m quite sure the fact that they are relations–or practically relations, our tolerance and patience for them are a lot...
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Raised to be kind

OakMonster.com - Kindness

I went online to shop for an item I needed for the kitchen that I couldn’t seem to find in the stores.  [ETA – It was a bacon dripping jar to save the yumminess for later use.]  My friend David was the one who inspired me to get one of these, but he himself does not have one. When I tweeted him that I bought him something, he was quite surprised.  Another friend chimed in asking it was because his birthday was in a couple of months. Nope. I don’t need an occasion to buy a friend something. This notion...
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Wrapped up in the World Cup

Oh yes. The tradition is back. First of, in this blog, soccer will be called by its proper name of football.  Thank you. You know, I’m not an all-the-time football fan.  But every time the Olympics and the World Cup come around, I’m all into it all over again. It’s a family tradition that I just can’t shake. Having grown up with 2 older brothers, it’s not difficult to get roped into the spirit of all of the teams.  Frankly, I remember watching enough games but I still don’t know who’s who.  All I know is that since Sunday’s color...
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Universal Alignment

A lot has happened since I got back from Costa Rica.  As I was coming to grip with how to take life a little bit easier, this shit went down in Bangkok. “How Did Thailand Come to This?” indeed.  (And this report is pretty accurate and surprisingly unbiased.) My family home is literally in the war zone.  I mean, they had been since the Red Shirts camped out not 200 meters down the street.  Everyone is safe now, but my dad and brother, my uncle and his family, and our family maid were more or less held hostage by all...
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Meatless Tuesday: Week 8

Holy CRAP! It’s all ready been a week?! My god. Am I a bad blogger! But I promise to have something much more entertaining than my weekly food journal in a day or two. For now, on to Meatless Tuesday. * Breakfast: Open faced “grilled cheese” sandwich: one slice of 7-grain bread, buttered, topped with slices of one whole vine-ripen tomato, sprinkled with Nature’s Seasons seasoning blend, and a few slices of snack-sized cheddar cheese, toasted in the toaster oven until the cheese is melted. A mug of full-leaf oolong tea. Mid-morning snack: 2 whole grain crackers (they’re like 2.5...
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