Biggest Water Melon in 1983

Friday, 16 December 2011

Wow - a replica of the watermelon that held the 1983 Guinness World Record! We happened to be at the store - Conrad Farms, Inc. 7400 East 151 Street, Bixby, Oklahoma. What I like about this store is that they have all kinds of nuts, but we only bought almonds (inshell $2.79/lb), pecans (inshell $4.59/lb) and hazelnuts (inshell $3.69/lb) And I love nuts!

50 and 75 Cents Movies

Tuesday, 15 November 2011

A friend told me about 50 cts movies on Tuesdays. I googled for the location and only found 75 cts movies on Tuesdays at Cinemark Movies 8, 6808 South Memorial Drive, Tulsa, OK 74133. I thought that was it, and that maybe the price has increased.

75 cts is great! We got to see the following shows at Cinemark Movies 8:
(1) Source Code (28 June 2011)
(2) Priest (5 July 2011)
(3) Thor (12 July 2011)
(4) Rio (19 July 2011)
(5) Pirates of the Caribbean (9 August 2011)
(6) X-men: First Class (16 August 2011)
(7) Mr. Popper's Penguin (23 August 2011)
(8) Super 8 (30 August 2011)
(9) Zoo Keeper (6 September 2011)
(10) Captain America (4 October 2011)

50 cts is better! Thanks to the same friend again. She phoned me one Tuesday night couple of weeks ago, asking if I would like to go with her to the 50 cts movie, but I did not get her message in time. When I returned her call, she had already attended the movie and I asked her what cinema she went to.

Super Saver Cinema, 5970 East 31st Street, Tulsa, OK, movies on Tuesdays are 50 cts! We went to our 1st show there today!
(1) Smurfs (15 November 2011)

75 cts is good. 50 cts is better!

I have never attended so many movies at the cinema in 10 months. 14 movies since the 7 January 2011. I love it!

When I was a little girl, me and my 2 brothers would follow our parents to the cinema. We entered free. There were 3 different sections/seatings in the cinema: 1.50, 1.00 and 0.50. My parents bought the 50 cts tickets. It tickles me to think that I was able to attend 50 cts movie just like what my mum had!

I found this site w.r.t. the pricing after that - http://www.tulsapeople.com/Tulsa-People/February-2009/Cheap-Thrills-Entertainment/

Online Games

Monday, 1 August 2011

When there is noone to play table games with you, try online games! They are free if you can live with interruptions of advertisements. I can live with that. It gives me the break to do something quickly (about 2 mins) instead of sitting in front of the screen continuously. There won't be any interrruptions if you upgrade to paid members.

My addiction to online games started the 30 January 2010. Must be so bored and restless so I searched for scrabble. Don't know why I went for that game first instead of upwords which I find more challenging. Maybe because it is simplier.

There are other games on the www.pogo.com as well. There are many games. I have played poppit, word whomp, 1st class solitaire, Yatzee Party but I am now stuck to the scrabble. A dictionary and a 2-letter word is available for use as well.

I found Sudoku online as well, but I hardly visit the site now.

Sometime in June 2011, the scrabble website or my computer system kept shutting me off when I was playing. And I landed with another online game site. I don't play at casinos so this is great - slot machines. This does not require as much brain work as the scrabble. And this is a great place to help people. What happen is you enter a room and there could be 4 others playing. The maximum no. of people in a public room is 5 people. And the best way for everyone to score and be happy is to help each other. You don't help anyone in the scrabble room. You play to win. In this www.winster.com - SlotSocial - the more you help and cooperate in the room, everyone is a winner.

Someday I am going to check out this game online. I like this game too.


I met nice people and nasty people while playing scrabble and slot machine online.

In a 2 players scrabble room, one guy kept making remarks that I was toooooooooo slow. He went on and on and I was irritated. However I kept quiet and walked out of the room.

Then there was one time, in a 2 players scrabble room. The person icon was a female, the name was a female, but from the remarks (sexual) I believe he was a male. I kept quiet and walked out of the room.

The scrabble website is not functioning as designed. Even though you choose to play in a room of 3 or 4 players, you are likely to land up in a room of 2. It is safer in a room of 3 or more. That way, people usually don't make unpleasant remarks.

One time I was in a 4 players scrabble room, one guy made some sexual remarks to the remaining 3 players (female). We warned him to stop or we would report him. He did stop and then he walked out of the room.

Meanwhile at the slot machine room, I was called a bitch. Icons for players are all the same. By the name, I believed he was a male. He didn't like the way I played so he called me a bitch. I didn't walked out this time. I played with the others and ignore him. He walked out the room eventually.

Then recently I came across a guy (whom I will call XXX here), in the slot machine room. In this game, if you see a player needing something you give yours to him/her, if you don't need it. I saw he had something I needed (which he can let go instead of spinning it away) so I asked from him. He refused, stating that he would trade if what he gets is what he needed. I know he didn't require what I was giving away in exchange for what I wanted. I remarked to XXX that he was selfish.

It happened during that session there was a host. XXX asked for something that the hose had. The host said to XXX that she wouldn't give to him what he wanted because he was selfish to other players. After a while, the host walked out of the room. I think she did not want to play with XXX in the same room. And then XXX walked out too. I enjoyed the rest of the session.

All kinds of people out there, in front of the screens, playing these online games. I am thinking it could be anyone - young, old, friendly, nasty, helpful, kind, selfish, etc. etc. or it could even be your neighbor next door. Who knows!

Another Year Younger!

Monday, 25 July 2011

Today I am a year younger? There is no such thing as a year younger. Silly old lady! Cannot deny or hide the visibility of silver strains of hair appearing on the head. Dyeing can temporarily help to conceal them but they will continue to appear. In reality, I am a year older today. Who wants to grow older? It is inevitable. It is part of life. My foremothers went through the change. It is my turn now. I have to learn to grow old gracefully. If feels old to be addressed as grandma. My heart don't feel that old!

I purposely don't reveal my birthday on the Facebook. I know if I do, there will be birthday wishes on the wall. Not surprisingly there are only a few handful of friends and the people who are closest to me, my husband, my children and my only sister remembered. And that is good enough for me. They are the people who really care and love me unconditionally.

Mike came home and surprised me with a birthday card, a bouquet of chrysanthemum flowers and a birthday cake! I had told him over and over again that I don't care much for material things, so he didn't tell me what he was going to do. I appreciate him for his presents, thoughts, kindness, gestures and most of all his love for me.






We had invited the missionaries to join us tonight for dinner. Nothing fancy. I had prepared ham hock and navy beans soup tonight for the 6 of us. I am glad we all liked it. My new recipe of ham hock and navy beans soup, using smoked ham hocks, smoked sausage, hot dogs, rotissiere chicken, onions, garlic, celery, carrots and navy beans. I had used 2 lbs of navy beans and this is what was left.

Mike baked biscuits to go with the beans soup.

Mike also brought back home Rocky Road ice cream to eat with the birthday cake. The ice cream is too sweet for my taste bud and so is the cake frosting.

My company for the occasion - Elder Wilson, Elder Saykhu, Mike, Elder Sorensen and Elder Virgin.

Coupons

Sunday, 24 July 2011

Felt like rambling today about couponing! It is exciting, fun and cost saving!

Started off with 2 x $1.00 off coupon for 1/2 gallon Blue Bell ice cream on the 12 February 2011. In that store it was sold for $3.99 and so we got it for $2.99 each. I have seen stores selling for $4.99 and even $5.99.



Then I learnt about the double manufacturer's coupons (up to and including $1.00 face value) at Harps for a week each month on the 3rd Wednesday. Our 1st experience was on the 21 February 2011 whereby we paid $6.57 for $10.57 of products. So that was $4.00 saving. Not much but better than none. We haven't been there since the 13 April 2011. This is a once a month event and only on a particular week, so it doesn't suit our schedule. Also, I haven't come to the stage that I have lots and lots of coupons. I read about organising your coupons in a binder, etc. I saw shoppers looking into their coupons binder at Harps. They are what we call extreme couponers.

On my 1st double coupon experience at Harps, the cashier gave me the address of MoneySavingQueen website to look out for savings. Interesting what you can get, but you have to check everyday or else you might miss out on something you want.

Good thing I saw the 22 July 2011 posting of Arby's $0.64 sandwich with the purchase of a drink coupon. But the coupon was only valid on the 23 July 2011, their 47th anniversary. And since Arby is close to where we intend to shop for groceries yesterday, I printed the coupon. I don't care for beef but Mike does. And you know what? I only realised from the receipt that they minus $3.19 for the classic roasted beef sandwich and no indication of $0.64 charge. We only paid for the small 22 oz Dr. Pepper Diet drink $1.59 and $0.14 Tax. I phoned the store and told them that I owe them $0.64. They said not to worry about it. So that was a blessing.

I love the freebies, but they go quickly. So far, I have received freebies of Nexxus hair products, Aveeno hair products, Emergen-C vitamin drinks, Purex laundry detergent and I don't remember what else. And the freebies usually come with coupons.

Have you ever try Cobalt cheese? Sometime last month, I got to use a coupon for that product. I had that coupon for a few months and each time I went to the cheese section of any store, I did not see the product and the size mentioned in the coupon. Luckily it was still valid when I saw it last month. Instead of paying $2.12, we paid $1.37. That was good, since it was only 8 oz and I have not tasted it before. And then I read about $1/1 printable coupon but it was gone by the time I found it. And then I read that it was an award-winning cheese. No wonder they stand out from all the cheese I have eaten. At least for me. So I wrote to Cabot a snail mail since that is the only contact address in their website. And guess what? They sent me 4 coupons of 50 cents off any Cabot product. And the coupons are good until the December-31-2011!

Now, Mike prefers the Heinz Reduced Sugar tomato ketchup and I have only seen them in the 14 oz bottle. I am not particular about brand, so long as they taste tomato. And Heinz is not cheap either. So I emailed them. And guess what? They sent us 3 Reduced Sugar Tomato Ketchup coupons 50 cents off. We had exhausted the 3 coupons on the 6 May 2011. We paid total of $5.34 instead of $6.84 for 3 bottles. We also received coupons for other Heinz products and gave them away as we don't use those products. So that was good!

I was so happy when I came across the $2.00 discount coupon for rotisserie chicken as well as 8-piece fried chicken. And you can print them again and again till the offer expires 31 December 2011. I saw them on the website for meat and poultry printable coupons and deals. We used our 1st $2.00 off coupon for the rotisserie chicken on the 23 June 2011 and to date we have used 5 coupons. And we used our 1st $2.00 off coupon for the 8-pc fried chicken on the 28 June 2011 and to date we have used 3 coupons. Since they are for Tyson chicken, they are available in Walmart Deli department. However, we noticed that the prices in Walmart Neighborhood Market is $2 more than Walmart Supercenter, so we buy from the later. After coupon, we paid $2.98 instead of $4.98 for the rotissiere chicken and $3.88 instead of $5.88 for the 8-pc fried chicken. Yay!

Sometime last month, we found the rotissiere chicken too salty! We like the rotissiere chicken for the past years and we enjoy it until this particular purchase. So I emailed Marketside, the company of the Deli products, voiced our grievance and suggested the lowering of sodium for health reasons. And guess what? They sent me a Walmart Certificate amounting to $7.00 towards any one (1) marketside product. Yay! I haven't use it yet. The coupon expires 2 January 2012! This the biggest $ coupon, for food, I got so far.

Searching for coupons on the internet takes time. Since I am not earning, I take that my way of working to cut spending. If you are lucky, you come across them in time before they are gone. From time to time, I find coupons that I could use from the weekly paper advertisements that come into our snail mail box.

I received a surprise coupon a few days ago - $15 off my next electronics or accessories purchase of $50 or more at Dell. It was a timely surprise. We are running out of black ink cartridges.

Recently I found discount coupons for visits to places of interest. That thrilled me. We used the 1st of these coupons yesterday at the Tulsa Air and Space Museum. We paid a total of $18 instead of $22 because of that.

I think I have enough of ramblings today. I am thrill to find coupons! Hope you too!

Daring or Bold Jumping Spider

Thursday, 2 June 2011

I am not interested in spiders. And picking them up with my bare fingers is a NO NO! Accidentally, I picked up a spider about 9:40 am today!

My eyesight are not perfect. It looked like a piece of black thing on the glued floor carpet, below the computer desk. It was where my feet would be if I sit down at that desk. Can't make out what black thing it was even. Didn't look nearer to see what it really was. I took for granted it was trash and that I have to pick it up and throw it into the trash bin. I bend down and picked it up with my right fingers, and immediately threw it down. The black thing was moving!

I saw it crawling away on the Persian carpet but couldn't find it, after coming back with an empty container. Felt the middle finger of my right hand tinkling like it was pinned by a few needles. Didn't think about washing my hand except to apply "Kum Peng" Relief Liniment (as insects bites was listed as one of the application). Even though I knew it was not an insect I did not have any other medication available.

I was worried because of the things I have read about spider bites so I went to our apartment complex office. I asked if I could sit there for a time, just in case something went wrong with me. I was thinking of the worse scenario of being bitten by a poisonous spider and my body's reaction to it!

The office manager poured hydrogen peroxide over my hand, wiped my finger with an antibacterial towelette and applied antibiotic ointment. Even though she did not think I have been bitten because there was no bite marks, she gave me a packet of the towelettte and a packet of the ointment to take home and to apply after lunch. She also gave me a "Catchmaster" sticker and if it catches spiders or other bugs, to report back to her. She would send their pest controller to our apartment.

Back home, I tried again to look for the spider, underneath the Persian carpet, thinking that was where it went. Instead I saw it on the top of the Persian carpet, around the place where I had thrown it and saw it crawled away. It was a dead spider! I must have walked over it. The Persian carpet is dark and the spider is dark too. I had the house shoes on when I picked up the live spider.

From the internet, it looked like Phidippus audax - black with small white triangle on its back and the bright metallic blue chelicerae.

The tinkling feeling on the finger had disappeared after a few hours. I am alright. Poor spider, I didn't mean to kill you. It was a common jumping spider in North America. And I read somewhere that it eats insects and other spiders.

Cinema Gift Card

Saturday, 30 April 2011

Thank, Merri, for the cinema gift card. It was her 2010 Christmas present to us. Mike & I got to attend 3 movies out of it.

We saw "Season of the Witch" on the 7 January and "True Grit" on the 17 January. This morning we watched "Paul".



We thought we would get $1 balance but instead we have to pay $1 more.
The ticket cost $1 more starting last Saturday! It was $4 before.

Double Checking

Tuesday, 8 March 2011

It is time to check the electricity bill online! They usually appear on the 8th of the month.

It hasn't. Instead I got a shock to see that I had paid $3.10 less of the $76.38 electricity bill for the month of February. That mistake means 5 cts (1.5%) penalty charge since it is due the 1 March.

I wondered how come I made this kind of silly mistake. Luckily it is only 5 cts penalty charge. I am usually very careful! And I haven’t log in the website since I checked the last month's bill! I guess the 8 February winter storm got me mentally!

Happy International Women's Day to me! It probably happens to other women as well!

Three Celebrations in One

Thursday, 17 February 2011

Happy Chap Goh Mei (Wikipedia spell it Meh) - Hokkien dialect meaning 15th Night. Today is the 15th day of the new Lunar Year and the end of the celebration. Usually the evening starts with a special dinner, may not be as grand, as the Chinese New Year's Eve dinner with loved ones. There would be a lantern procession in town. This lantern possession is different from the Mid-Autumn festival (Mooncake Festival). The Chap Goh Mei lantern procession see beautifully decorated floats, built by organisations and companies, lion dances, etc. The difference is that on the night of the Mid-Autumn Festival, little children are allowed to carry a lighted lantern and walked outside the home, together with their older siblings or their parents. And they loved it.


Here I would like to share with you how my year of the Rabbit was so far.....

A delightful surprise gift on Saturday, 5th February 2011, in our mail box - a Chinese New Year card together with an Ang Pow - Teochew dialect meaning red packet - containing $20. I never imagine.



We had to postpone our Chinese New Year's Eve dinner (Wednesday, 2nd February 2011) because of the blizzard on the 1st February! Travelling is out of the question, for our guests.

While we were stuck at home in the cold winter day, I imagined my children visiting their relatives, enjoying the fellowshipping, feasting and the festival atmosphere. This is the time of the year that nothing is more meaningful than to be with your family loved ones, not just one but as many as possible.

Having guests to join us is good because it instills the desire for me to cook. As I get older, I get lazier cooking! I wouldn't be lazy if I have my children to cook for as well.

For this year's celebration, I bought Mandarin tangerines instead of the valencia oranges. It is the only closest similarity to the Mandarin oranges, that I am used to for this festive season. I think Mandarin tangerine is smaller in size but the skin is quite similar to the Mandarin orange. I thought Mandarin tangerines have the same Chinese New Year symbol as any oranges but not quite. Tangerines, sound as "luck" in Chinese, therefore are symbolic of good luck while the oranges, sound as "wealth" in Chinese, therefore are symbolic of wealth.



Chinese New Year dinner is only once a year so I decided to cook different from my usual. Thanks to the internet, there are lots of recipes to choose from.

(1) Sweet and Sour Pork (the healthier way) - I don't like the popular way of the pork being coated with batter and deep fried. What I would omit next time, with this recipe, is the cornstarch. I don't like starchy dishes.



(2) Braised Chicken Feet in Soya Sauce

This is interesting. I converted the weight of the meat from gms into lbs wrongly. The recipe calls for 600g of fresh chicken feet. I had 1.5 lbs. So that is okay for the recipe. BUT my mind was stuck with 1 lb = 1000g! And so I ended up using 3 times the light and dark soya sauce, the spices and other ingredients. No wonder it turned out to be salty.

My common sense should have realised that there was something wrong with the amount of ingredients I was using for that amount of meat, but I was determined to follow the recipe diligently. I am sure the chicken feet would taste great if I hadn't mistook the weight. I thought maybe the recipe is meant to be salty, as they are eaten with the rice. I have my own style of cooking the chicken feet. No specific amount of soya sauce. It depends how I want my dish to turn out.

I think Mike and our guests were being polite when they said the chicken feet tasted just fine OR maybe they have salty tongues! I used some of the left-overs in my vegetable soup today, and it was delicious since the chicken feet were already salted.

They said that eating chicken feet is good for our joints because they are full of collagen. That is why the sauce is succulent when we cook them slowly for a long time. The sauce is like a gelatin when it is cooled down. That is why there is no flour needed to thicken the chicken feet sauce!




(3) Stir-fried Prawns in Tomato Sauce
Again this recipe calls for gms in prawns and I regarded the 1.09 lbs I had as 1.09 kg! After the end result of the chicken feet, I decided not to follow the seasoning part anymore. I did, however used 4 times the amount of tomatoes and spring onions, but that was okay. I liked the dish! Next time I am going to omit the potato flour so that it is not starchy.



(4) Stir-fried Kung Pao Chicken - I like this dish. No problem with this as the meat was in ounces.


(5) Beef - Broccoli Stir Fry - this is a tricky recipe. It calls for a small chuck roast and no weight. It turns out alright except that I had too much water. And I would omit the cornstarch next time.


(6) Baked Snapper with Black Bean Sauce
I used the black bean sauce recipe from the 'Easy Baked Salmon with Bake Bean Sauce'

Traditionally the fish should be served whole for Chinese New Year to symbolise prosperity. I cut off the fins because they pricked my hands and the tail was cut because I can't get the whole fish in my baking tray. I guess I wouldn't prosper this Rabbit year.

I was however disappointed that Mike dumped the black bean sauce that the fish was sitting and marinating in. I had asked him to help put the tray of fish into the oven. He said the sauce would make the fish soggy and he didn't like soggy fish. He is a good cook. He has his own way of cooking. He forgot I was the cook this time, and he should have asked me :( Lesson learnt: be clear in our instructions, don't assume people know.

Luckily it turned out alright. The fish had been marinated. I would have used whatever remaining sauce in the tray, after baking, and pour over the fish.




Well, since the dinner was held on Wednesday 16 February, we decided to consider it the Chinese New Year's Eve Dinner (2nd February), the Saint Valentine's Day (14th February) as well as the Chap Goh Mei aka Chinese Valentine's Day (17th February).

Mike gave me a card, a limoge box and a balloon for St. Valentine's day.



The celebration of the new Lunar Chinese New Year of the Rabbit has passed.

Wishing everyone Happiness, Joy, Health, Success, Innovation, Safety, Serenity, Peace, Love, Blessings, Generosity, Wisdom and may your dreams come true.

Beauty in the Eyes of the Beholder

Monday, 7 February 2011

I saw this guy with his long pleated hair at a grocery store. To me, minus the beard, I thought he looked like the famous American actor Brat Pritt. I knew this guy definitely wasn't.

I don't see men with that length of hair. I believe the Sikhs have longer hair because they don't cut their hair, roll them on top of their head and covered them with turbans.

This guy told me that he stopped cutting his hair since the 80's and hadn't comb his hair since the 90's.

I wondered what happened if he caught lice! I wondered how his companion can stand it. It would smell, from sweat, in the hot and humid weather.