"Will you accept this rose?"

COVID-19 - School Closure - Day 35

Today during our daily stroll... we hung door hangers that we created the past few days.  Door hangers that bear a simple message of "Hi! I'm here for you.  Call me if you need anything."  A small gesture. A bit of creativity.  In the name of bringing His light into this neighborhood. 

Making the door hangers was challenging.  Didn't have a lot of materials at home.  And if I'm giving out something.. I don't want it to be half-@$$ed.

Hanging the door hangers were awkward.  Especially in this time of social distancing and minimizing sharing of anything... ANYTHING.  I didn't want to offend anyone.  

Later today.. as the kids and I were in the front yard planting our tomato plants... one of our neighbors came by with a smile on his face and thanked us for such a sweet gesture.  And in return... he gifted us with this....  (I'm actually kinda impressed with my own camera skills here)

Apparently this is called a "Rock-n-Rose."  Don't remember the last time (or the first time) I received a flower.  Hmmm....  But, 老實講， 掛幾個door hanger有幾難姐？

I need a new movie...

COVID-19 - School Closure - Day 34

Ok... enough is enough. This isn't phunny anymore. Starting in the second year of his life sentence, it took Andy Dufresne nearly 17 years to tunnel his way to freedom.  Digging with that little rock hammer bit by bit....

Well holy mother of Warden.... the broken pipe (it was a PVC pipe, heh) was so deep in the ground, I was only able to saw with 2 inches of clearance and not damage the adjacent pipe.  Would've been better off flossing with a metallic string. 

Under that stinken ginormous root was the other side of the broken pipe with just enough space for my knuckles to get in there so I can use sand paper to smooth out the pipe for the ultimate reattachment surgery.

As I was on my knees... almost in a prayer position...  I was just waiting for the voice of an opera singer to start blaring on Pandora. Instead... it was "Ooops! I did it again."  

Literally.... "Ah sh*t...."

COVID-19 - School Closure - Day 33

Maybe I should've picked a different movie analogy... but dog-gone it... the prophecy has come true.

I found a broken pipe under ground!!! It wasn't me and my pickaxe... or a rock. It was the stupid root from that giant tree! It's coo... just a minor setback. As I always tell the kids... 小小苦楚等於激勵. We can get past this... and when we do... I'm gonna get me some firewood!!

Missing out...

COVID-19 - School Closure - Day 32

Not so often... but more than I can remember... during 家庭時間 prior to going to bed... SW and NN will say the best part of their day is Bah-B watching a movie with them.  I try... sometimes... but it's just so easy to hide in my room and "work" whenever I get 2 hours of silence.

Twice... I've sat through horrid movies with SW.  

The first time... we walked out of the theater and I felt like crap cuz I wasted two hours of our time.  I even apologized to him for such a horrible movie.  But he was as happy as a clam.  Such a positive attitude... he said, "This wasn't the best Pokemon movie, but I liked it!"  And he still brings up that day I picked him up from coding and had Pizza my Heart for dinner while 家姐 went camping. 

Another time... I picked a piece of garbage on Netflix.  I suggested we stop the movie and pick something else.  But he insisted we kept going.  "I want to watch the whole thing - Bah B is here."  

Tonight... I watched The Croods - a movie I wouldn't be caught dead watching if it wasn't recommended by someone.  I remember the kids watching this a while back...   It's an amazing movie.  Beautifully animated. Heart-wrenching storyline.  Loads of jokes and laughter.  And there I sat... all by myself... in the lonely darkness.  When I could have watched this movie with the fam and shared with them one more happy memory.  Instead... I only have regrets.

Forget regrets or life is yours to miss.  Forget life... and all you have left are regrets.  

The Shaws-HANK Redemption 2020

COVID-19 - School Closure - Day 31

The rock hammer hidden in the book of Exodus led to Andy's redemption...

And today... as I sat in my yard.. "sat and drank [water] with the sun on our shoulders and felt like free men."

I look on the ground and see my pickaxe.  Once again, I'm embarking on redoing my yard, this time the backyard - a war-torn travesty that has seen more abundant days. 

After an hour or two of backbreaking digging and toiling... doubt start drifting in my head again.  Why can't I just pay someone to do this????  And that's when I find this... 

The strikes of my axe broke it into 3 pieces... but it's the carcass of a carrot that SW planted years ago when we tried (and failed) to plant a supposedly undie-able tomato plant.  If a carrot can survive... grow... almost flourish... then there's hope in this future vegetable garden afterall.   

ShawHANK Redemption 2020.... here we go!!!  Gotta be careful and not hammer through any sewage pipes...

Blast from the Past

COVID-19 - School Closure - Day 29

Following up on roller blading yesterday... the kids officially started Spring Break, so we've loosened up on the home restrictions and allowed them to turn the Wii on.  But the games we have are limited to Wii Sports, Super Smash Brothers and Cooking Mama.  And NN isn't at all interested in Lego Star Wars.  So I bust out with an old skool early 2000 game on the PS2 - Tak - the Great Juju Challenge!!

The graphics suck.  The game play is so-so.  The premise is really elementary.  But the kids love it.  They laugh so hard when it's time to laugh.  And of course, they get into squabbles and arguments when they run into roadblocks.

If they're good... I'll bust out with Dance Dance Revolution next week!! OH YEAH!!

風之刀

COVID-19 - School Closure - Day 28

90年代、無綫出了一套由城城同少芬飾演的劇集「風之刀。」
同期、我跟著旱冰鞋熱潮買了一對on sale 的 Rollerblades -Spirit Blades. 我就幫它取中文名：風之刀。 這廿載期間、「刀」出鞘的機會不過於10次。適逢期時、在居家避疫、每天跟公主、太子到外散步。 風之刀、竟再現江湖！

只可惜多、年沒有悉心保養的「刀」、今天出鞘、竟然弄碎了。

Rate of Consumption

COVID-19 - School Closure - Day 26

Just realized we've used up a third of our rice bucket which was filled about a week ago.  A stroke of panic immediately set in.  The only difference from prior to SIP is we'd eat out a few times a week.  Our grocery bills are amazingly expensive! Power and water bills are probably shooting up.  But with not eating out and eliminating gas...  is it a wash??

Amazing Race - Family Edition

COVID-19 - School Closure - Day 25

For the past week... I've been running the Amazing Race at home.  Coming up with challenges for the kids to do in a race against each other.  The challenges range from mental challenges, facetiming friends and family, physical challenges like doing 50 pushups or bouncing a ping pong ball 50x using your left hand, scavenger hunts and any sort of weird stuff I can think of.

The first night... NN blew SW away.  I set the rules...win or lose, you don't boast and you don't cry.  Poor baby had to hold his tears in when he lost.  So I ended the night by saying "This is not an elimination round."  Immediately he was beaming with a smile... but that resulted in me coming up with 2nd night.   And I said SW can recruit Joyce to be on her team, but he had to incur a time penalty.  This time, I purposely chose challenges that SW should win and NN would have trouble with. But NN blew past all those challenges and came in first again.  Night three... I felt guilty for playing favoritism so I only allowed Joyce to join in on 1 challenge.  Surprisingly... one of the challenges was to draw a picture and for some reason, NN spent a lot of time on her masterpiece when all I needed were some chicken scratch allowing SW to catch up and win that leg of the race.   This set up a 4th and final night.

Was running out of ideas... but really... how can you run out of ideas when there's so many things you can do around the house.  Tie your thumbs to do something.  Walk around with a book on your head.  Hit 5 HR's in Wii Sports.   In the end... NN came in first.  SW didn't get to finish his challenges cuz he had a zoom call.

But what's amazing about all this is... how loving NN can really be.  She'll wait for SW.  She'll encourage him.  Figure stuff out with him.  Yes... she's competitive.  Yes... she hates losing.  Yes... she wants to win.  But deep down... she loves her little brother.  So who really wins in this amazing race???

So thankful for siblings.  So thankful I, too, had a sibling growing up.  Mmmm hmmmm...

Obsession

COVID-19 - School Closure - Day 22

For the past week... I've been utterly obsessed and addicted to untangling a ball of yarn.  That's right... a friggin ball of yarn!!

There were times I thought about the bible verse, it's harder for a camel to go through a needle's eye, cuz that's definitely how it felt.  There were loops that were so small... so tight... I couldn't pull and yank.

There were times the pieces of yarn were stripped and all there was left were bare string!!!  And when the bare strings get tied together it's nearly impossible to untie.

There were times I wondered if I was pulling it to emancipate? or pulling to further incarcerate.

There were times I needed to stretch out the different arms and legs of the star... to which I used my knees, my feet. and even my toes to keep things straight.

My eyes were out of focus.  My neck was stiff.  My back was hurting. My finger nails were aching.

Tuesday night / Wednesday morning... I was up till 4AM.
Wednesday night... I was up till 12.
Thursday night... I was too tired and gave up around 11.
Friday night... I didn't sleep at all.  Even though I promised Joyce I wouldn't work on it.  I had Netflix on in the background and just kept tugging, unraveling, picking, pulling.  Before I knew it... the sky went from black to blue.  I started to hear birds chirping.  Friday came and went... it was Saturday.

I knew I was gonna get in trouble... so around 6:50AM, I snuck back into bed before the kids woke up.  I initially was gonna take a 45 minute nap.  Ended up waking up around 11:30.  Boy was I tired....

And what did I do when I woke up??? Made lunch.... and then went back at it.  Hahaha... I even hired NN to be a partner cuz my knees and toes just weren't enough to spread things out.  And then.... at around 2PM... this adventure that I set out on that unassuming Tuesday night... came to an end.  How dumb can I get????  HA!!

Well well well... look what we have here... 

It's real. This is real.

COVID-19 - School Closure - Day 19

Went to get some gas yesterday (yes yes.. I don't have an EV) and wandered into the mini mart to grab a bottle of soda.  Been drinking water the past 2 weeks and really just wanted something different.  When it came down to it... there was really just one choice. 

1985 - We've Got a Taste for You
1985 - America's Real Choice
1986 - Red, White & You
1986 - Catch the Wave
1987 - When Coca-Cola is a Part of Your Life, You Can't Beat the Feeling
1988 - You Can't Beat the Feeling
1989 - Official Soft Drink of Summer
1990 - You Can't Beat the Real Thing
1993 - Always Coca-Cola
2000 - Coca-Cola. Enjoy
2001 - Life Tastes Good
2003 - Coca-Cola... Real
2005 - Make It Real
2006 - The Coke Side of Life
2009 - Open Happiness
2016 - Taste the Feeling

In other news... stayed up till 4AM last night trying to untangle a ball of yarn.  And I'm still not done!!