Ideal

I had one of those really great days yesterday. All spent with Nikki. We had plans to meet up with her grandparents on her father’s side for dim sum. She doesn’t get to see them much and it was a chance to visit with the whole family. Nikki met me in Forest Hills and we went to a restaurant that is near where her grandparents live. They've changed ownerships so many times, I can't remember the name. Nikki's father, his wife, her Aunt Julia, Uncle Ray and cousin, Richie joined us. The food was good and plentiful.

The weather was extremely warm for this time of year and the predicted rain held off. I had asked Nikki if she would be interested in going to IKEA afterwards and she agreed. I only hoped it wouldn’t be a zoo but I figured since Nikki was already out in Queens, we could make this run without her having to come in again in the next few days.

The ride out there was a breeze and although the store was busy, it wasn’t horrible. We found many items to purchase - many on sale. I really wanted their canvas drawer organizers I had picked up the last time I was there and found them very useful.


My Ikea Goodies

I had seen in the Sunday news, Target’s circular and saw that they had a Sony Cyber Shot digital camera on sale. I have had my camera for the longest time…it is a 3.2 mega pixel…that’s how old it is! Target is in the mall right next door to IKEA so I asked Nic if we could just stop in to take a look. The camera looked beautiful and it didn’t show it as on sale but I asked if they had it in stock. They did and at the sale price of $99. I was very happy. We went on to look at clothes since Nikki said she wanted some new sweaters. Target had a large section of clothes at 30-50% off. She found a very flattering dress and dressy top within those racks. On to shoes where we both picked up the same pair of flat boots on sale for $21. I wore them today and found them to be a nice alternative to my ubiquitous Uggs.



After that very successful shopping spree, we headed back home and since it was 6pm, I thought sushi might hit the spot. It did.


YUMMY!!

On the way to the car, I wanted to stop in Duane Reade - I saw their circular offering a “buy one get one free” on hair color but it turned out to be only on certain colors and mine wasn’t part of the deal. Nikki was looking at facial cleansers and lotions and showed me an item that was priced unbelievably. In fact, many of the items in that aisle were priced so that we kept reading the signs to make sure we were seeing it correctly. For example, L’Oreal’s Genesis moisturizer retails at $10.49 but using your Duane Reade card, it would only cost $5.24. Or a St Ives Microderm abrasion wash was $1.99 from $3.99. Other facial scrubs and foot scrubs were $1. We didn’t know what not to buy! We left with bags of goodies.


All this came to $12!

Then Nikki mentioned she was running low on detergent…I happened to have detergent left over from sale days when I was upstate. She was smart to ask me before we left Queens so we stopped at my home first where I picked up Wisk for her and a Cover Girl lip color I was evaluating for Bzz but didn’t really like. Nikki tried it and liked it.

I got Nikki back to the city by 9pm. She gave me a bag of her home made chocolate chip cookies that I got to munch on all the way home. It was, to me…a most perfectly wonderful day.


Me & My Girl

Happy Holidays!!!

I'm too tired from all the festivities to write a long post so I will just post this photo of our beautiful kids on Christmas Day and call it a day!


Xavier Nikki Miranda Kris

And the Envelope, please....

I went for my 3 month follow up test results yesterday. I was anxious, nervous and tried not to feel too confident if in case, the results were not what I expected. When Dr. Tung waved a paper in his hand saying “Here’s your report card and you get an A+”, I felt like a school kid who passed a major exam. And in fact, I did.

I could feel my whole face beaming. And it also showed on the doctor’s face. We were just all smiles in the office. Dr. Tung sat down and started to go over the numbers. Right off the bat, he said "I no longer consider you diabetic and if I just met you at this moment and based on these numbers, Diabetes is not an issue." I sat grinning and shaking my head. WOW!

Then he checked off the other stats which he said were all normal…liver and kidney function, blood count etc. He came to the number I was most concerned with. The last three months I have been able to personally monitor my blood pressure and glucose levels. I had no idea how my cholesterol was doing although that was the only issue I was taking medication for. The doctor wrote down “225” saying that was my LDL from 3 months ago. I think I blanked that out. Because whenever I spoke about my cholesterol with anyone, invariably the person would ask “what was the number?” and I would say…oh…it was high! But I never could remember exactly what it was. Just passing it off as higher than 200. Which if course, could mean anything! But there it was…225. Sigh. But then his pen moved to a number on the page which meant nothing to me since it didn’t look like there was any correlation. The number was 66.2 and the doctor happily said “this is now your number.” OMG! I wanted to jump up and down. I wanted to shout “Hallelujah!” But I just sat still…heart beating fast with excitement.

It really works! Diet, exercise, will power…aggressive life-style changes. I knew the medication was going to work wonders on me with my low tolerance of any medication and alcohol. But I don’t think even I thought it would be this huge. I know the doctor was very surprised saying it surpassed all his expectations.
He even said I could possibly get off any medication if I was able to keep this up. Another WOW!

I floated out of the office. The doctor said to hang my report on the fridge with an A+ on it. I said I was going to email everyone which I did. I just had to share my news. Elation was not anything close to what I was feeling.

But I know I am not cured. I know it’s a daily conscious effort to maintain my health and keep everything under control. I am so grateful for the people in my life that has supported me during this transitional period with discreet advice, gentle prodding and enthusiastic encouragement to get me to where I am today. Without Winnie, Kathy, Daniel & Nikki to name a few, this experience wouldn’t have been as manageable or as satisfying. I am so looking forward to an absolutely fantastic New Year! Now back to the treadmill!

No Good Deed Goes....

I have been busy and then sick so haven’t had the strength or time to do a new posting but finally I am back on my feet and have things flitting through my mind. Unfortunately they just keep flitting by so I can’t remember what I should write about.



I was watching The View the other day where Whoopi Goldberg was searching for a particular Gingerbread cookie. The one she has loved for years was baked by a woman who passed away. Because she has a TV show, she had access to bakers around the states to send her samples to try. She wanted it chewy, not crisp…not too tart, not too sweet and with raisins. She found the one she was looking for. It made me want some gingerbread even though I know one bite would be enough for me.

This led me to remember the year I was in 9th grade. My girlfriend, Andra and I decided it would be a fine idea to bake gingerbread men for the class. Never mind that we never attempted to bake much less bake gingerbread cookies! Listen, how hard could it be? Ha!

We should have known as soon as we set out to buy the ingredients. Honestly I don’t remember where we even got a recipe. There was no internet in those days. But of course, there must have been cookbooks and libraries. In any case, one of the ingredients that totally stumped us was molasses. Molasses? What the heck was that and better still…where would we get it in Chinatown? Plenty of anise star, five spice powder and ginger root. But molasses? No can find. Not important! We’ll just substitute honey. Close enough.

Saturday came and Andra came to my house and we rolled up our sleeves and figured this would be a Norman Rockwell moment. Two chicks laughing and baking some pretty mean cookies. I was able to get the cutest gingerbread man cookie cutter. Where? I couldn’t tell you but I have it to this day.

It was messy. As I have said, I am not a baker and hate working with flour. Forget about adding other things like eggs and god knows what else. It was the blind leading the blind but I have to admit, the end product looked pretty good. The aroma was enticing. The Men looked so cute and uniformed. We were pretty happy with ourselves and couldn’t wait to present our thoughtful gift to the class and bask in their appreciation.

Somehow by Monday, probably on Sunday, the Men became hard as rock! (That dreaded honey!) When I brought them into class and passed them out to the other kids, no teeth could penetrate the “tough cookie”. Instead the boys, considerate and sympathetic as always, played hockey with them. Suffice it to say, that was the first and last time I saw Andra cry as our gingerbread men went flying across the floor.

I personally thought it was kind of funny and despite the outcome, it did bond Andra and I and we still speak of it till this day. But I haven’t ever had the desire to bake gingerbread again or even buy it. But if you gave me one, I would happily take a bite.

Publishing Nikki

When Nikki was very young - (pre-kindergarten) - she loved to make her own books. Little scraps of paper stapled or taped together and then written and drawn in. I was smart enough to save them. When I look through them, I think how clever and creative she is...then and now.


Nikki - the almost Poet

(from The Little Book of Nursury Rhymes and more by Nicole Woo)

Old Mother Huburd
went to the cuburd
to get her poor dog a bone
When she got to the cuburd
The cuburd was bare
So the poor dog had nothing



But this is my all time favorite book of hers:


I love my mom..................I like to go on vacshins with my mom

We like to go shooping. I love going shooping

We love E chada!

She made many of these "Mommy" books including packets of coupons for hugs, massages and "anything you want"! I am planning to redeem them soon! They don't have any expiration dates! YAY! Best coupons ever!

Baked Goods...So Good!

Kathy has always been a avid baker. She was baking bread at an early age and I used to love her peach shortcake and lemon meringue pie. Through the years, her contribution to holiday dinners were her home-made swirl dinner rolls and her baked desserts. This year she made a pumpkin cheesecake and a pumpkin roll. Delicious!

I can’t bake. I hate baking. I hate all that measuring and for some reason, I have an aversion to working with flour. I like to cook. Let me simmer, saute, stew or stir-fry. I rarely use my oven. But I love desserts! So I rely on my sister Kathy for the home-made stuff.

But now my own daughter is whipping up baked concoctions. And she is pretty darn good! The first time I tasted something she made from scratch was a couple of years ago when I had dinner at her new apartment. She baked a delectable and moist coconut & pineapple cake. Wow!

This year she announced she was also bringing along dessert for Thanksgiving. She made individual apple pies which were so cute:


Photo courtesy of Nicole W.

But because of my diabetes issue, she made a separate medium sized pie with less sugar for me. I just had half of it tonight and it was absolutely wonderful. I didn’t miss the sugar at all. Kudos to both Kathy & Nikki…it made a nice ending to a great Thanksgiving!


Nikki's pie, Kathy's pumpkin roll & cheesecake

Sleep Is Over-rated!

Black Friday. Did I really want to wake up at 4am and get to Old Navy so I can be one of the first 50-200 into the store to qualify for their MP3 giveaway? As Sarah Palin would say “You Betcha“!!

Whenever I know I need to get up early for something, my body wakes me up every hour on the hour to remind me. So before the alarm could go off at 4am, I was up. I actually debated for one second before washing my face and brushing my teeth. Once I did that…my one closed eye was opened and I was committed. I was out of the house by 4:15.

I had originally thought I would just sauntered to the Old Navy near my home. Yeah-right. It was dark, cold and if I got to the store and it was packed…the walk home would have been torturous. I got in my car. Thank goodness I did. As I got closer to the area where ON is situated, I could already see throngs of people on the street. To get to ON, you need to use an escalator which wasn’t assessable yet because of the hour. But there were at least 100 people already winding their way from the escalator to the end of the block and possibly further back since I couldn’t see that far! I kept driving.

I headed instead to the ON I actually prefer. It took me 10 minutes to get there since there was no traffic on the road. As I pulled into their parking lot, I could see there were about a dozen people in line. Now, this was more like it! I stood behind the 12th person and it was 4:30. The store was empty, lit up and all the clothes were neatly displayed ready for us on the outside to start rummaging through.

Thankfully, the weather was not bad. There was a chill in the air but I was prepared and had dressed warmly. I even brought along a book to read. At 10 minutes to, someone came out of the store and handed out the requisite bracelets. I clutched mine in hand. My inner self was jumping for joy. Another dozen people showed up behind me. I think the reason for the low turnout is because this store is not close to a subway. You need to get there by bus or car. Better for me.

They did have good deals especially on their fleece wear which I needed for my walking exercise during the winter season. Once browsing was done, I went to the check-out line. I handed in my bracelet and was rewarded with my treasure. The Samsung “Pebble” MP3 player in a sleek black. Back in my PJ’s by 6am. Sure, I could have stayed sleeping in my nice warm bed and just gone to the store and pay $40for it but then I wouldn’t get this euphoric rush of getting something for nothing! Woo-Hoo!

Wish List

Times have changed. A few years ago, I was doing extremely well in my business. In a sense, money was no object. I bought whatever I wanted and gave to family and friends generously. These days, I think twice about an item in the 99 cent store! What is this world coming to?

So I have been day-dreaming and making a list of the things I would get if I hit the lottery or something equally good in lining the pockets.

1. A brand new car. A BMW..convertible!



2. Redo my whole apartment….paint, redo floors, reconfigure my closet, new carpeting…new furniture.
3. Forget the redoing of the apartment….get a whole new apartment - Manhattan penthouse.


4. Upgrade all electronics. Flat Screen TV,PC,iPod,cell phone,camera..etc.

5. Season Tickets to the Yankees...seats this close to A-Rod which I did get to experience courtesy of my sister, Evelyn.

Hi A-Rod!! Yoo-Hoo!!




6. Front row tickets to my favorite concerts - 5th row center on Broadway


7. Weekly appointments for a massage, bi-weekly for manicures & monthly for facials & hair



8. Tummy tuck with recuperation time at a 5 star Caribbean resort



9. Louis Vuitton Bags


10. New wardrobe for my smaller self - Ha!


Sigh…nice dreams but all possibly attainable. I already got what I really wanted for Christmas. Nikki landed a steady job and that is priceless!

Who's that Girl?

You see these 2 photos? When I was very young, these two photos were in my mother’s photo album. The size of both pictures is 2x2 so it is pretty tiny. I recognized my mother right away but who the heck was the little girl in the party dress with the dolly? I became extremely envious. This little girl with my mother…who looked very happy to be with her. Harumph!

For the longest time I wondered. But I never asked. I think I was too scared to hear the answer. Finally a few years ago…just a few years!…while perusing the album, I casually asked my mother who this imp was? Even as an adult, I was nervous and insecure! My mother peered closely at the photos? "Who? This little girl? Why…it’s you, of course!" Me???? I was floored. All this time. I could have been admiring “me” instead of resenting “her”. Sigh…..but now with scanners, (a wonderful thing)…I am able to “blow” up these pictures and really see it for the first time!

Out of the Mouths of Babes

I am most definitely a “potions and lotions” kind of a girl. From a very early age, I love make-up. An early recollection is smearing my mom’s bright red lipstick all over my lips when I was 2 or 3 years old. Then during the pre-teens, having my girlfriend, Susie sneak cosmetics to me…eye shadow & mascara. The funny things is I don’t know why I thought I had to secretly get this stash because my mother never forbid it.

I can’t remember a time when I didn’t have make up. I always had the usual,- eyes, cheeks and lips done. It was years later that I added foundation and concealer to my repertoire. Now it’s all about the lotions, most specifically the anti-aging kind. And there is a huge selection to choose from and I am constantly looking for that “fountain of youth”. But this is nothing new.

About 17 years ago, before all the many anti-agents of today - Andra started to sell Nu-Skin and had come to see me to show me the products. I know she really wanted to recruit me but I already had a business and was not looking to add more to my plate. I did purchase an array of items from cleansers to masques to moisturizers. I was very intrigued about a “face-lifting” masque that was to make me look years younger. Nikki was about 6 years old and she was excited for me. I chose a quiet Sunday afternoon to make magic. I applied the concoction on my face and as it dried, I could feel the tightening and couldn’t even move my mouth. My God…it was really working! Nikki watched this with great interest and even gave me a foot massage during the 30 minute wait. When the half hour was up, she and I ran to the bathroom where I washed off the mask. We both looked intently in the mirror - I turning my face side to side to get the full impact. Nikki broke the silence by exclaiming “Wow-you do look younger! You look like my sister!”

I laughed and agreed. Then I told her to help me clean up. And she retorted “Yeah, you look like my sister but you still sound like my mom!”

My girl & I........................... First Day of Kindergarten

First Day of 3rd Grade?

Make Room for Turkey

I’m getting ready for our annual Thanksgiving dinner. I don’t remember how it came about but I’m in charge of the turkey. My mom always says she doesn’t know how to cook a turkey but I ask her every year what the temperature the oven should be and for how long should the turkey roast. She has it written down in her recipe book. I guess she means she doesn’t know how to make the stuffing which is part of my duties. Kathy makes the rolls and dessert. Mom makes the sweet potatoes and a vegetable or two. Sometimes she also makes her wonderful potato pancakes - latkes. Now that Nikki and Kris are grown, they make the mash potatoes and whatever else they want. This year, Nikki wants to make a dessert also. I’m usually responsible in getting the gravy and cranberry sauce.



I’ve been on the look-out for the sales. Last year, Kathy and I teamed up to try to make the $300 purchase allowed for a free turkey at Shop Rite. We made it. This year we tried again but it seems harder to reach that number. And then lo and behold, this week, I see that Stop & Shop is offering Shady Farm for 59 cents a pound with no minimum purchase. And I have a $1 coupon. I am so there. The only problem…room in the freezer or the fridge. Fridge would not be too much of a problem. Freezer another story and if I buy the turkey now, I would have to keep it in the freezer.

So I sacrificed myself. I am trying to eat a low sugar, low carb and low sodium diet…yeah…I know…lovely. But when I looked in my freezer today to gauge how much room I can make, I noticed a box of Aunt Jemima’s Griddle Cakes that I haven’t touched since my diabetes diagnosis. There was only one in there. I did my 10,000 steps this morning. So I ate it. Now I’ve made room…for maybe a drumstick.

Get 'em While They're Free!!

I don’t know why but when I see a “free” offer, I must get it! Recently Kathy told me about an offer from Target for a free reusable Target bag. The requirements were to exchange 5 of their plastic bags and there was a special pre-paid postage envelope in People Magazine to send them . Well…I shop in Target all the time!!! This should be a snap. But of course, I found only one bag in the house. Nikki had just made a purchase there so I had another. I needed 3 more. I went to Target. I browsed the $1 aisle. Found a stamp set that as a “scrapper” - I could use. As I went to the registers, I passed a check-out counter that was un-manned. I took a bag. I checked out (and the stamp set ended up being 50 cents!) - had another bag and then on the way out…took another one from another register. I had my five. I was thrilled…THRILLED! Brother.

At the same time, there was another offer from Promise for their reusable bag. Two UPCs were required from their SuperShots. I happened to have gotten a pack but had already thrown away the UPC!! I did have coupons for the product so purchased 2 more packs and sent away for my bag. Yay! Uh-huh...


A few years ago, there was a promotion at Stop & Shop, buy 10! of the new Energy Saving light bulbs (but they were at a fabulous sale of $1 a piece) and get 3 of their reusable bags. The funny thing was when I checked-out , I completely forgot I should make use of the bags!! By the way, I replaced 3 of my bulbs with the Energy Saving ones and they are still going strong!

This past summer, Shop Rite offered their reusable bag on a minimum purchase which, of course I made. I had to…it was for a free bag!



And except for using the bags at Shop Rite and that is because they have an incentive of a 5 cent rebate if you use a reusable bag, I don’t remember to bring the bags to any of the other stores I shop in! Shame on me! I have become a collector of reusable bags!

Right now, I’m working on an Energizer offer….a cosmetic bag with the purchase of 3 packs of assorted batteries. I have 2 so far. After all…I could always use another cosmetic bag…especially if it’s free! Wink!

Sisters, Sisters and more Sisters

I have one daughter, Nicole (Nikki) but she has many “sisters” which I am grateful for. Both my sisters have daughters and my nieces, Kristina and Miranda are close to Nikki. I love their relationships. Kristina is 4 months older than Nikki and their rapport delights Kathy and myself. Their banter is light-hearted and sometimes quite edgy but it all comes out of knowing each other and growing up together since birth.


Nikki & Kris

Miranda is 14 years younger than Nikki and you would think there wouldn’t be much in common. But from an early age, Nikki has always shown maternal instincts. Children normally gravitate towards her - sometimes whether she likes it or not. So it's no surprise that Miranda is Nikki’s "kid sister" and there couldn’t be a more loving fun twosome. Nikki took Miranda shopping on Sunday and it appears as if they had a pretty wild time.


Nikki & Miranda.............Shopping...........................At Yankee Stadium

Nikki has a god-sister, Isabel who is 8 years old. Nikki doesn’t get to see her as much since Izzy lives in Virginia but when they do see each other…it’s pretty wonderful.


Nikki & Izzy

And then of course, there’s Ginger. Another very special “sister”. Ginger is a big part of our family. She is too smart and cute for words!


Nikki & Ginger

So I am fortunate that Nikki has all these "sisters" in her life because growing up with sisters is such a special thing. There is nothing like it. I ought to know.
Here are my own fabulous sisters and me!


Kathy, Me & Evelyn............Kathy,Evelyn & Me