Crazy Chinese Woman

The spouse wants to turn the basement into a home theatre after Christmas when the store isn’t so busy – and although I don’t know much about it – I won’t stop him from doing what he wants – for he sure earned it.  He had been working hard this year – and been saving some money for some Energy speakers and a bigger plasma tv.   As for me and the children – we are not too fussy about the sound systems – as long as we can hear sounds – it’s fine with us – but the spouse – now he has other ideas of course.  He cannot use the speakers from the tv itself – it has to be external speakers – and as long as I have known him – he has always had external speakers for his home.  I let him do what he wants – because he does it himself and never asked for help.

So you think your kid is a natural born musician but you don’t want to spend a lot of money buying all the above instruments  – and I don’t blame you too.  But if they are under $100 – why not right?  for all you know – they may be the next Jesse James or Eric Clapton -  and these are Mahar guitars and musical instruments made in India/Pakistan – not expensive but remember – only for beginners – for the finishing quality I read isn’t that fantastic.

If you are looking for some unique jewelry for the girlfriend this Christmas – look no further – Miss Atomic has them for you online.  Made from antique brass and with music on her mind – this piece is pretty neat right?  So if you have a girlfriend who loves music and a big tom boyish yet so beautiful – you may want to consider getting this for her.  $21 – not a bad buy at all.

Retro-inspired fireplaces like that are so interesting isn’t it.  Runs on clean burning ethanol,  puts out a toasty 5,800 BTUs and is safe for indoor or outdoor use.  Could be the answer for people like us with no fireplace at home and has cold winter nights and days.  A bit pricey but you don’t have to do any major renovation to keep warm – plus if you have power company like ours here – it would be definitely a great investment on days when you don’t have any heat at all.

Why do I say that?  because this is not your ordinary alarm clock !  this one jumps out of your night stand and rolls around your bedroom – so that you have to get up and hit the snooze button  – and not let you fall asleep again.   Pretty neat right?  you can play your favorite MP3 music or use the built in microphone to record some crazy get up shouting to wake you up or the kids -  I bet that would be crazy funny!   And who say you can show tough love with a little bit of charm!

This Tocky alarm clock is at $44.99 – from Nanda homes

For less than $40 – you can buy a desktop football machine – just for fun.  It’s small I have to tell you -and needs to be on a table – or a flat surface.  But one can always have hours of fun – with a smaller kid – great for a birthday or Christmas present and great for those who don’t have a basement to put their real fooseball table in. I want one of those is located in UK, Wales – so you luck in if you are in UK – but of course, I’m sure they will send anything if you pay for shipping.

Lovely, little Lavender pouches in real kimono cloth – hand sewn with dried Nova Scotia lavender buds in them.  Lavender is said to be soothing not only for yourself but great for your surrounding.  I’m putting mine that I received this morning under my pillow and buying some more of it soon.  You can buy them online at $3.75 each from the Ikebana Store in Halifax, Nova Scotia.   Personally, I’m in loved with the store – the owners are awesome folks!

It rains a lot here in Canada especially in the fall – even in the early winter – it rains a lot too – and I had been looking for the right kind of rain boots like forever.  I went to Walmart – I tried online but can’t find anything i liked.  Either the color is wrong – or they don’t have my size or the ones I tried at Walmart wasn’t comfy.  But I just found this online for $32.99 !!!  price pretty reasonable  – unfortunately, they only ship to a USA address – so I have no choice but to mail it to a friend in the states and then get her to mail it back to me.  A bit troublesome but what can I do right?  At times like these I wished i lived in the states instead of Canada.  For those who loved this stomping boots – check out Zulily.com.

So all these years Barbie had never come out with anything exciting during Halloween – but not this year – this year you can get your daughter the Count Dracula Barbie Doll for $150 from Barbie Collector – shipping only $1.  For the Barbie die hard fan – I’m sure you will get it – but for my lil’ brat – I doubt she wants one.

I think I might have found the perfect gift for my spouse – a leather and cashmere glove for Christmas!  I have been looking for something like that for him because he needs his gloves to be thin enough to be able to drive in the cold winter but yet – can keep his hands warm when he is out walking.  Big gloves are great for the warmth but it leaves your fingers hard to move and do things.  Love the colors and the way it is made and we all know that cashmere can keep one’s hand really warm – I love it ! and only for $39 – now that’s a steal !   I figured you all have a hard time finding  gifts for husband during special occasion – so I thought I would share this with all of you ladies out there.  Check it out yourself – because I found some really good stuff here.

While we had our Thanksgiving dinner in Canada last week, our friends and family in USA will be having it in November – and I choose to send thank you gifts during Thanksgiving rather than Christmas because I think it is more meaningful.  Thankful that they are our family and friends – and it’s so easy now – because I can get cookies delivered to your doorstep just with a few clicks of the mouse.  Many years ago, I had to plan to send things way ahead of time and postage will cost me a bomb.   But now that I can send cookies, fruit baskets, cakes and chocolate online for a very reasonable price – and no hassle – I do that every year – no excuse.  Why?  because i want to show my friends and family in the States that I am thinking of them and that I love them and am grateful for having them in my life.  In fact, i’m sending out one to my boss in the States and in Spain.

So the kids are coming over for a sleepover to watch the new release of the Green Lantern this Friday – yes ! it comes out this coming Friday and it’s a good thing they have the Big Agnes Sleeping Bags with them for the sleepover – else we will need to get some.   You see we weren’t expecting company – but the kid invited her cousins over for the Green Lantern movie.  We had said no sleepovers for friends yet – but we didn’t specify no cousins too – her reasoning – so we quickly called the moms up – to see if they had sleeping bags that they could bring along for the sleepover.  The kid is excited and already planning what to feed the cousins and the sitting arrangement for the sleepover and a movie.

Now why didn’t they make something like this when my kid was younger – that way, she can go for rides with her dolly – and not have us tie the poor dolly to the front of her tricycle since the tricycle is too small to have a basket.  Plus it’s a great way to teach your kid to share with the neighbor’s kid – for both kid can jump on the tricycle and ride together but I’m sure they will also fight as to who is to be in the front – unless the other kid is younger and don’t know any better (like my daughter liked to say) – hahaha!! anyhow – this tricycle made for 2 is at $299 – way to expensive in my opinion – but if parents wants to have the siblings play together and entertain themselves it would be a great investment.   I like that the rubber wheels are thicker than the usual tricycle – but I guess it had to be made this way for stability.  One can buy this tricycle at Hammacher and Schlemmer.

Thanksgiving is this weekend – Sunday – and we are heading out to the in-laws for supper of course – but what do one give to the in-laws for Thanksgiving?  I can’t give them a fruit basket – coz’  they have a huge garden had plant their own fruits and veggies.  I can’t just buy a bottle of wine – coz’ the mother-in-law doesn’t drink wine – or scotch.  What can I give that both person can use?   Any suggestions?  Isn’t it good breeding that you bring a gift when you are invited to supper?  Wines are pretty cheap in this part of the world and you can get a bottle of good wine under $20 – and I know the MIL likes candles – but so generic right?  I know !  i should give them a leg of ham?  flowers?  nah ! not flowers that’s for sure – but chocolate – you can never go wrong right?  Hmmmm—!! i think i will head to bulk barn and make a basket of chocolate and decorate it – what do you think?  yup! that’s what I’m going to do !  a tin of chocolate mixture.

The spouse’s cousin invited us to Kitchener in October to see America’s Legend Tony Bennett – and knowing that I grew up watching Tony Bennett sing – that was so nice of him.   Tony Bennett who has earned his first number-one album at the age of 85. “Duets 2” has sold 179,000 copies its first week out, according to his label.  Tony is the oldest living act to hit number one on the Billboard album chart.  The previous record holder was Bob Dylan, who was 67 when “Together Through Life” debuted at number one in 2009.

Tony Bennett’s show in Kitchener is at Center in the Square at 7.30pm on 26 October and tickets were said to go for at least $120 – so I’ve decided to get some Dutch Masters as a gift for the cousin to reciprocate – and also because I know he like cigars a lot.  And since I can get them so cheap and good – why not right?  no one refuses a gift of cigar – because they think I must have spent a lot of money for them.  Little do they know that I have my little secret place to get them at a good price.

The girlfriends in the States are all talking about the Kindle Fire – which is going on sale at $199 but darn!  it’s not for those living in Canada!  what a bummer!  but as expected – since we had to get our Kindle last year during Christmas thru’ a friend in the US and then got her to mail it to us.   Suxs! for us Canadians right?  but those in the USA – you can pre-order yours now and get yours mailed to you for free in November 2011.

So what is this Kindle Fire you asked – well – it’s supposed to work just like the iPad but it’s more like the Blackberry tablet but this Kindle Fire does not have a camera in it – so if you need a camera on your tablets than this is not for you.  But you never know when the camera would be included right?  like most new gadgets – we try not to buy the very first ones – because of all the bugs – that comes with it.  So i’m glad actually that it is not currently in Canada or will be anytime soon.  But yes – you can check your emails thru’ this Kindle Fire, read books, watch a movie or popular tv shows etc, etc.   So if you are on a budget – this is for you.

While the east celebrates a newborn in a different way -  grandmothers celebrating your newborn are pretty similar here in the West.  I remembered my mom buying for my nephew and nieces gold anklets with a bell on them -  and here in the  West – they also buy love lockets for their grandchildren as well.  Well, most grandmothers or grandparents give jewelry – but not my kid’s grandparents – I think they are the practical type and don’t believed in giving jewelry?  but my mother did send a piece of jewelry for my kid – so that was nice.So what did your parent’s in law give to your kids when they were born?  pray tell – for it’s interesting to know.  My girlfriend from Australia just had a baby girl and her mother-in-law gave her newborn a bracelet with a bell on it – it was the prettiest and cutest bracelet  – I loved it so much.  When I become a grandmother – I too would like to give jewelry to my grandkids and start them young.

Many of you may not know this – but some of us – needs to travel on a train for an hour to work and another hour back home.  Reading on the Kindle is what some of you may do – but I catch up on my chinese shows and drama on Youtube – therefore,  my acer laptop computers are the best investment I’ve made  – for it’s small and easy to carry and I plugged in my earphones on the train – not disturbing anyone – and catch up on my favorite chinese tvb drama and the train ride doesn’t seems so long.

I can’t type when I’m on the train – so the only thing I do – is watch my dramas and tv shows – I think by doing that makes my train ride a bit more bearable.  Some people who rides on the train with me – tells me – I get lost in my show – therefore, when I am done work – and going home – I rather not take the same train – as my co-workers – I rather go alone – and be left alone – instead of making some polite chat.   I see many people doing the same thing as myself these days on the train – and am very happy that even on the train – I’m able to get wi-fi on them. So if you take long rides like I do – invest in an acer laptop – you won’t regret it – it fits perfectly into my Louis Vuitton Neverfull bag.

The kids loved these game lapel pin and I’m out to get some for her summer day camp kids – as a reward when they are good in camp.  I remembered the first one that my kid bought and she loved it so much and wanted to get some for her friends too and we did buy a few for her friends.  These days – she collects them wherever we travel and she have them all in her book bag – her friends are so fascinated with the game pins that I decided that this is what I want to get for her summer camp friends too – they too can start a collection like I did when I was a kid.   I remembered I used to collect all sorts when I was a kid – and I treasured each one of them and had a story to tell to my friends.  I’m sure my kid is doing the same thing too – with hers.

This summer my daughter tried her first roasted marshmallow – from an outdoor fire pit that belongs to our neighbor.  Thank you Mr & Mrs F – for being so kind to her and sharing a giant marshmallow each time you have a roasted marshmallow.  My kid loved it so much – that we decided to get an outdoor fire pit too  – so this weekend it will be a roasting of giant marshmallow and a movie night.  Try it sometime – it’s awfully fun – and a outdoor fire pit is great to have for the summer.   And yes – you can get giant marshmallows here in any grocery stores.   I’ve always wanted an outdoor fire pit – so now there is more reasons to get it.