Monday, May 28, 2007

Painting your house and make it a Home for Pennies




Ok, so you want to remodel/redecorate your house, or you just bought a new home and you're tired of the white walls that stare back at you each night, but you don't really have the money to hire an interior designer to make your home to look like one of the rich and famous. So what can you do? Well, you can go to your nearest home improvement stores like Home Depot or Lowe's and get yourself a few cans of paint and get those design juices flowing and before you know it, you can transform your living from white walls to a warm welcome home:








Jon and I learned a few tips along the way on how to paint like the pros. Well, we did have some problems with bleeding edges in the living room, which was the first one we did (see pics above), but with the family room and our master bedroom, there was much improvement. Jon discovered this little tool, what we call the "edger," and instead of painting with a brush, he applied paint directly onto the edger (thickly) and that used the edger to apply paint on all the walls. This seemed to work better and was less messy than using a brush and also saved a lot of paint from getting trapped in the brush and thus wasted.

Picking paint colors will probably take another post to discuss (the choices were overwhelming!), but we decided that our goal was to achieve a relaxed and warm home so we picked natural/ neutral tones for our rooms and are pleased with the results. We bought all our paint at Home Depot for their Behr brand (Lowe's American Tradition was a close second, but HD was a few dollar cheaper for equally good paint). For our living room, we used Behr's Satin paint in this color called "Promenade." For our family room, we used Behr's Satin again in "Pecan Sandie." For the master bedroom, we used Behr's Satin yet again (basically, we did not want flat paint for any room because it feels rough to the touch) and chose "Gypsy magic."

Overall, we were successful with this home improvement project and highly suggest any of you wanting to spruce up your home or add some color and personality to your place to try painting your house because it is one of the easiest and least expensive way to make your house a home.

joy

Thursday, May 24, 2007

Italian mini-cars: good for the environment, and good for your pocket book too!

A friend send me pictures of these cars that are from Italy (or driven in Italy). They sure would save us Americans tons of gas and also alleviate a lot of the parking problems


前面兩輪,後面一輪的小汽車 (2 front wheels, 1 back wheel)



大約與機車一般大小 (these mini-cars are about the size of a moped)



前面一輪,後面兩輪的小汽車 (1 front wheel, 2 back wheels)


前輪還可以鎖起來 (the front wheel can even be locked!)

飆車中的小汽車 (they can zoom zoom zooooooooooooommm too!)

正常的四輪小汽車,但卻不是SMART
(here's one with 4 wheels like a normal car, but it's not the SMART by Mercedes)


What do you think about all these cool cars?

Wednesday, May 23, 2007

Akeelah and the Bee (movie review by Jon Popcorn)



***** (share with your loved ones, pass on to friends!)

This is a very touching story for kids and adults. Primary themes are anything can be achieved with teamwork. The story is of a girl living in the poor suburbs of LA who lost her father at an early age but learned to spell. She first rejects the coach who offers to help her and tries to make it through the regional spelling bee on her own. After barely squeaking through she realizes that she needs the coach’s help. In time she learns words as the whole community helps her learn words through the 5000 flash cards her coach made up for her.




The movie was so good that I won’t spoil the ending for you. It suffices to say this would make an awesome family movie and is perfect for encouraging children. I give it a 5 star and a highly recommendation to all of you who read this blog.


Aladdin (movie review by Jon Popcorn)



***** (family fun for everyone!)

One of the most popular Disney animated children's movies; Aladdin is still one of the best stories on the screen. Although inaccurate with the real legend of Aladdin, the story is very engrossing. The movie follows the tail of a thief in the desert city of Agrabah, ruled by its Sultan and his princess daughter. While Aladdin struggles daily to steal enough to live, the Sultan is struggling with getting his daughter married before the law forces him to choose a husband for her. Meanwhile the sultan's evil dark wizard and adviser, Jafar, sees the sultan's predicament as an opportunity to seize power by having the sultan choose him as the princess's husband. He also seeks an ancient relic, a lamp, within which a powerful genie is imprisoned. With the genie he hopes to become the most powerful being in the universe as well as marry the princess. To do this however, he finds that he must find a thief who is destined to be able to enter the ancient halls and retrieve the lamp.

Aladdin turns out to be the one but he also falls for the princess who stowed out of the castle. Wizier springs his trap and succeeds in getting Aladdin to get the lamp but looses the lamp to him. The young thief frees the genie and attempts to win over the hostile princess with the genie's magic.

The movie is a timeless tale I enjoyed seeing many times as it reminds us of the happy endings we all seek in our daily difficulties. I give it a 5 star rating.

Airforce One with Harrison Ford (movie review by Jon Popcorn)


* (one star, don't bother)

I do not recommend this movie as it was not very little in the way of
entertainment value unless women are dying to see Harrison Ford. The
movie centers around Harrison Ford who plays the US president on a
terrorist commandeered Air Force One and his nearly single-handed
action to defeat them. Many people get shot and has quite a lot of
hand to hand combat scenes which would be loved by more violent movie
lovers. However, I found the content rather bland as it was the basic
Hollywood good guys win and the bad guys lose movie.

The movie also gets an F rating for believability, as there are so
many security protocols for the president of the United State's plane
for anything like this to occur. Its violence involving a popular
children's figure also makes it ill advised for a family's movie
night. It would probably keep your toddlers up with nightmares.

Agent Cody Banks 1 & 2 (movie review by Jon)



**** (good enough to rent)

"That's the problem with you kids! You're all grown up! –Derek


This movie is Hollywood's attempt to tone down the very popular James Bond movies to a younger crowd. However, the very real martial arts choreography and high-tech weapons have given some younger children nightmares. This aside the movies are very amusing as it follows Cody Banks and his fellow young CIA recruits as they dodge parential and peer suspicions to fulfill their top-secret missions.

For secret agent gadget lovers these movie have plenty of them. From directional microphones in the form of retainers to hilarious self-playing violins and clarinets, the movie pushes the envelope on how small things can be made.

Monday, May 21, 2007

Watching TV online for FREE!

Another way I've been living within a tight budget and still having a good time is to watch TV on the internet. The proliferation of TV shows available online has been a wonderful thing. Afterall, I usually don't have time to watch TV at scheduled periods of time, say, every Thursday night at 9pm for Grey's Anatomy or every Wednesday night at 10pm for LOST. I often forget to catch shows when I have to remember to watch them at set times and sometimes things come up so that I can't get myself in front of the tube right when I need to. I know a lot of people subscribe to TIVO or Comcast On Demand, but if the point is to live simply, live cheaply, save a lot, so I can travel more, retire earlier, and give out of my savings, then I am going to avoid any outlay of money as much as possible, especially if the same services or similar entertainment can be obtained for free! So I was delighted when a year or so ago ABC rolled out their version of on-demand TV where several shows including my favorite at the time, Alias, was available for viewing soon after a new episode has aired each week. I was able to watch all of the current season of Alias last season, and when Alias ended, there was still Grey's Anatomy which I continue to follow every week. ABC offers many more shows now than they did when they first started. Pretty much all of their prime-time shows are available. LOST is a really good show that I did not follow until recently when a coworker with whom I eat lunch regularly got me interested and I spent one weekend watching like 6 episodes to catch up on the plot she was describing to me. What a great thing this online TV phenomenon has become! NBC has started showing their shows online as well. Although my experience is that their portal is not as good as ABC's.
Finally, there seems to be other private companies coming onboard to provide online TV viewing services for a fee or for free besides the network companies. Read more about sources of free TV online here.

Enjoy!

joy

traveling on a budget

Taiwan, Isla Formosa

So I really love to travel. If I didn't have to have a job (for which I'm grateful, but would love to work just part-time if financially possible), I'd be traveling all the time. As a 20-something, it makes sense to travel while I'm single, with just a few responsibilities, and a relatively adventurous spirit to travel "the rugged way" and so I have traveled quite a bit in the last few years since I graduated from college. Although I am not Taiwanese, I have this passion for Taiwan. I love that beautiful Island of Formosa!

So even though I was born in Hong Kong, I've only been back to visit once in over 15 years since my family immigrated to the US. In contrast, I've been to Taiwan 3 times in the last 5 years! That's how much I enjoy that place and the people. It also helps that I have several close Taiwanse friends there whom I met when they were in the US for graduate studies. So I would visit them every chance I get and also get my fix for Taiwanese foods, shopping, sightseeing, and just being there. There's no place like Taiwan!

Here's a few more pictures to whet your appetite for that little known place that really should be much more popular than people give credit. I will write more and share about my past travels there in future posts. But for now, and without further adieu, several scenes from Taiwan:

Afternoon Tea -- Taiwanese style

Traditional Taiwanese candy and cookies for tea time.

A soup-noodle dish readily available almost anywhere in Taiwan, this one from the food plaza at a mall in Tainan. Very tasty and inexpensive! =)


live well,
joy

Sunday, May 20, 2007

A Cinderella Story (Rolling out the Movie Reviews by Jon Popcorn)

Today we begin to roll out movie reviews from our guest writer, Jon, my boyfriend. He loves to watch movies and has a good eye for blockbusters as well as a nose to sniff out the ones that are not worth the bother. So without further adieu, let's bring out the first of many movie reviews. You can use the tags on the right side of this blog to find all of the movie reviews. We aren't professional movie critics, but we think our tastes will be much closer and more useful to you than Ebert's since these movie reviews are by the everyday movie lovers for each one of you movie lovers!

Remember to pass the popcorn!



***** (worth buying)

A Cinderella Story

“Never let the fear of striking out keep you from playing the game.”

A Cinderella Story is a nicely done twist on the story of Cinderella. Hillary Duff plays a high school overachiever, Sam, who lost her father to the Loma Prieta earthquake. Cell phones replace the classic glass slipper, as she seeks to find her email Prince Charming.


But her two bad girl step-sisters look to derail her as she finds her Prince Charming to be none other than the most popular boy in her high school. Jealousies flare as girls seek to win over the boy of their dreams and their Prince Charming attempts to unravel the mystery of the lost cell phone.


This is truly a movie teenage girls can relate to and enjoy. However it’s entertainment value should not be underestimated. This is a very enjoyable movie for all those who enjoy a happy ending.


Landscaping a Backyard on a Budget (a Tale of Bricks)

So this site is officially lifting off now. I've been too busy to set up all the logistics of this blog, but now everything is pretty much set to go with only minor modifications. I hope you'll enjoy reading this blog as much as I will enjoy just documenting, observing, and commenting on the amusing and mundane aspects of life as a Californian. And no I definitely do not fall into any Baywatch stereotypes, so all readers can relax. ;)

In any case this weekend has been a very full and fulfilling one. Saturday Jon and I went to this local brick factory to see if we can find any deals. Apparently there is this one day a year only "open to the public" clearance sale held by this large factory that manufactures bricks/pavestones, etc. that I very serendipitously found out about while driving to work every morning because there was this big banner. Anyhow, since Jon and I have been working on our backyard (technically his, since we aren't married yet, but he very lovingly reminds me that it's our house), pulling out all the weeds in that overtaken backyard and putting in sand (that's for another post with pictures, I promise), we are now ready for pavestones to be put in. So we've been going to Lowe's and HD at least every other weekend and looking at prices and trying to figure out how we will transport several dozen bricks/pavers at a time back and forth and back and forth every weekend when we begin to put pavers down in his small Saturn S-1 and/or my Toyota Camry (oh, the pain of not having a SUV or a truck like the rest of America ;), NOT!) Still, we felt we'll somehow managed, but I had dreaded the prospect of spending the whole summer going to HD everyday to buy a few more bricks until the 540 feet of ground gets paved.

So imagine my joy yesterday when at the "Brick Factory" when we saw that pallets of nice bricks were going for 10-15 cents per brick! It was like I was 5 again and opening presents on Christmas morning! We got there a little later (the sale was only from 8-2) almost around noon and the selection was not very good anymore, but still we managed to get 3 pallets (525 bricks per pallet for those who are numbers-oriented :D) of the "Folsom gold" color and 2 pallets of a grey color one. The total price (including 5 wood pallets that cost $10 deposit/pallet going out and $8/ea back when we return them) came out to only about $330! Fantastic deal! I could've imagined a better way to spend a Saturday morning. I really was saying a prayer of thanks to God at this point. Wow!

So if you're a new homeowner/young couple/single starting out and wanting to create a nice backyard on a budget, or thinking of re-doing/upgrading your existing landscaping in your backyard with pavestones/bricks, I recommend looking into brickyards/local brick factories for these one-day a year clearance sales of 'seconds', samples, and just odds and ends that to the factory are just extras and that they just want to get off their lot/inventory but that to you is a pot of gold! We have yet to set up the delivery of the 5 pallets of bricks, but even adding the estimated cost of about $150, about 1/3 of our backyard would only cost $500 + the sand, weed blanket and labor we put into it. We'll continue to share pics and progress here. Hopefully, as we find out about more deals and ways to "Do it Yourself" on a shoestring budget, we can pass on some things we've learned and learn from all of you too!

Here's a picture of the backyard at this stage (we hired people to do our concrete and did some graveling along the side yard, but the rest of it will be our own sweat and hopefully-no-blood):


Share your backyard adventures!
joy

Sunday, May 13, 2007

my aMusing Mother

Happy Mother's day everyone! With this new blog, I want to introduce myself and also get started on all the random stream of consciousness that's been trapped in this bit o' grey matter of mine.

My name is Joy and I decided to start this blog because I'm one of those people who are always thinking about weird and random things and laughing out loud when I'm alone. Strange, I know. But with this blog, I hope to just to write about things that come to me, non-consequential observations of daily life on this planet, and to inform where I can. Most of all, I hope to get you laughing out loud in front of your laptop with me! Occasionally, my boyfriend, John will join us here as a guest writer. He's a wikipedia buff and loves to share about all kinds of random facts about animals, natural phenomenons, etc. I'm sure you'll get some useful (or usefully show-off-able) knowledge from him.

Anyhow, let me just share something funny that happened yesterday as my boyfriend and I celebrated Mother's day with my mom and dad.

So our tradition is to have dinner the day before Mother's day so as to avoid the crowd on the actual day. My mom's notorious for saying pretty much what's on her mind. So somehow the topic of conversation as our family was driving home after a nice dinner at Fresh Choice, which by the way, has improved in their freshness, variety and overall tastiness of their offerings, got onto this interracial couple that recently joined my parents' church. What ensued turned out to be the highlight of the evening!

Apparently this a new couple started attending my parents' church a few months ago. The wife is Chinese and the husband is black. That combination is quite rare among us Chinese. They have two daughters and the wife stays home to homeschool her kids. Having met quite a few bi-racial children and have confirmed what people have told me that bi-racial people are especially beautiful, I asked my mom whether those two half-black/half-Chinese girls are noticeably mixed. Specifically, I asked her whether that couple's two daughters look Asian? In response, my mom said, "No, they just look black, but their hair is like those poofy dogs.' What are those called again? Poodles, right?"

She had me clutching my buffet-full belly laughing uncontrollably. On the one hand, her off-the-cuff comment was very frank and un-edited. But on the other hand it illustrates well how the older generation of many cultures are still quite entrenched in their mind-set about interracial relationships and also perceptions of other races' and cultures' characteristics. Don't get me wrong, my mom is a very kind-hearted person and has never (and would never) act upon any of her prejudices and stereotypes (and we all have them). But this incident, though funny at one level, demonstrates how norms and rules are still rigid in many cultures. In my culture, it is always considered "best" to marry one's own race and ethnicity. For a Chinese girl like me, the best would be to marry someone Chinese. Then the order of "acceptability" goes something like this: Asian > white > latino/mexican > black. Essentially very similar to many other race and cultures' preferences with a highly positive correlation between what's considered "acceptable" (and even a "good" choice) with less skin pigmentation, if one couldn't manage to fall in love with a person of the exact same background. Very unbelievable for the 21st century in our multicultural melting pot society in the great US of A, right? Yet from what I've heard and witnessed, surprisingly common.

Your thoughts and experiences?