I have posted in my other blog that I was feeling the ‘blues’ as of lately. I don’t normally feel that way so it’s something I’m not used to. I was able to get over it quickly by doing some much needed yard work in the backyard. After going through that feeling again early this week, I came up with a conclusion that I’m probably burnt out from work. The husband I guess was also feeling that way because I remember him telling me that he wants to go on a short vacation…somewhere away from home. So I am now thinking that yes, we probably should go somewhere soon. It doesn’t have to be out of the country or out of state. We can just go somewhere near and find something that will be fun. But what? Video game tournaments , maybe? The husband used to play video games a lot but due to his busy work schedule, he hasn’t played in a while.

Orlando is just a couple hours away from where we are right now. So when I learned about Otronicon @ Orlando Science Center, I had this bright idea that maybe we can take a short trip and see what Otronicon has to offer. I went to the website and found that the event has various activities for families, young and old. Visitors also get the chance to witness a Haolo wedding of a couple who met while gaming. Cool, huh? I may just convince the husband to take us there during the week of January 16 through the 20th and attend the event. This is what we may need to recharge…


 

Christmas shopping is about to be at its peak. In a lot of places, roads leading to the different shopping centers are probably packed. I don’t drive so it’s not really a big concern to me on weekdays. We already got a lot of the gifts we’re giving to friends and family but I still have some in my list that I need to get as soon as possible. Honestly, the gifts that I have not bought yet mostly the ones that I need to send overseas. Unless I am planning in spending a fortune in shipping, the items wouldn’t make it on time there for Christmas…but I already told my family that. They know that I don’t drive so I can’t just hop in the car to shop.

Because of my inability to drive, I have become a big time online shopper. I should say, a ‘hesitant’ online shopper because I still have this fear that someone might steal my identity. But I don't have a lot of choices so last year, most of the gifts I sent overseas were bought online. This is what I am doing again this year. I already got what my sister and sisters in law, two of my brothers and their kids what they want. He is a security guard in the Philippines for the last 20 years or so. He asked me to get him a couple of nice holsters for his gun at work because the one he has is already falling apart. He does not own a gun but he has one at work and he has to wear it everytime he’s on duty. So I’m finding one that he can use for work. I just have to find out what kind of gun he has at work. I should have asked him that when I last spoke with him. I guess I’m really getting old because I forget a lot of things now. Sigh…

It's a 'saga' now because there seems to be no end in sight as far as the dry leaves in our back yard go. I posted about it not too long ago and I thought I'd take pictures of what I have to look at [and pick up] almost everyday....during the fall season.

To give you a brief idea what I'm talking about....it's the dry leaves from our NEIGHBOR's oak tree. I wouldn't mind picking [or raking the leaves] if the tree is ours or if I see our neighbors raking their leaves regularly...like at least once a week. But nope...they only clean their backyard full of dry leaves once a month I think.

So here's a picture of our neighbor's backyard...[shhh!I took a picture without their knowledge of course]...see all the leaves on the ground??? They've been there for at least 2 weeks.



Here's part of our backyard after we picked up the leaves. We just got in from doing that but I decided to stop when the wind started blowing. For every dry leaf I picked up, 3 or more would come flying into our yards! UGHHHHHH......


So that's the conclusion [I hope] of my 'vent' about the eyesore right in our backyard.

...that's how I would describe our house. It’s been about 6 months since we moved in here. When we moved in we only brought our beds and our bedroom furniture with us. We didn’t have a decent dining table and we didn’t have living room furniture but an easy chair. We do the dining set and the couch now and we still have a lot of things that we need to buy but they can wait. For now, we are thinking of the outside of the house, well more like the exterior of the house. We have two things on top of the list for that…exterior shutters and gutters. For the gutters, we already contacted a local installer and he came to measure to give us an estimate of the cost. For the shutters, we are still in the process of looking for the ones we like. I may have just found the perfect place to get them though, Larson Shutter Company. I have yet to show to the husband the website where we can place our orders online but with all the choices they offer, I can almost feel that he’s going to be very pleased with my latest ‘find’. Hopefully, we can order before the year ends so we can avail of the free shipping offer. Yeah!

As the little one would say: Putting up the Christmas Tree is the best part of Christmas.... until the next 'exciting' event of course....

The Christmas tree is finally up! The little one wouldn't leave me alone so I decided to forgo work and spend the day putting it up...[cleaning before, during and after of course]and now the tree is finally up. Yay! We thought of getting a new, bigger tree this year as this is our first Christmas in this house BUT...there are other things, more important things of course, we need to buy first so a new, bigger tree would have to wait.

We don't have any color scheme when it comes to our tree [or Christmas decor for that matter]. We are using the ornaments that we already have and we bought whatever the little one wanted...not all, just some.

She put the ornaments herself except for the garland around and the small nativity under the tree. Dad said it looks good. I have to agree considering a 6-year old decorated it....

Here's her fruit of labor...with the 'laborer'....

O.J. Simpson is going to spend years in jail for hotel armed robbery. I can just imagine how the family of his ex-wife Nicole must feel now that he is finally in jail. It may not be for the murder of their daughter and her friend but knowing that this guy is going to jail for years must have given them some kind of vindication.

The guy thought he's above the law when he decided to barge in to someone else's room to 'retrieve' what he believes are his...sports memorabilia, etc. Now that he's going to jail, he's apologetic for what he did. Yeah right!

This somehow brought back memories to me personally. We were scammed by a home builder back in 2004, us and 100+ other families actually. We thought that we will never see justice but we did when the crooked builder was jailed, tried and finally found guilty of grand theft. He was sentenced 20 years in prison. He may not spend that many years in jail but it's good to know HE IS IN JAIL now and will be there for a few more years at least.

The weather here today is quite nice. It’s not too cold or too hot. In other words, it’s perfect for a day out. When I say ‘day out’ I meant the backyard…LOL! So the little one and I went to the backyard for a couple of hours to pick up some dry leaved and pull some weeds. In between her picking up leaves, the little one was also busy checking out the neighbors’ yard. She’s fascinated with our next door neighbor’s Christmas decorations which they started putting up last weekend. While we’re outside, their dog also came out. She was thrilled seeing the neighbor’s dog. She’s been bugging us about getting her a pet for a few months now. We haven’t said no but we haven’t said yes either. Meaning…we’re still thinking about it.

 We all know that most 6 year olds are not the most responsible pet owners so we want to start her with a pet that don’t need walking or cleaning up much. We may just buy saltwater fish for her since it will be easier to take care…I think. One fish we’re considering in buying is a clown fish just like the one in the movie Finding Nemo…like this one.


 I guess we need to start thinking about getting an aquarium and other stuff that go with it like a live coral as well as fish food, cleaning stuff for the aquarium, a table to put it, etc. Hmm…now I’m not quite sure if we should get her a fish or not. Oh well, we still have to talk about it but at least I found a great place to get a saltwater fish as well as everything we will need if and when we decide to finally give in to the little one’s request of having a pet.