Little people, pregnant inquiries

Here's how my conversations with my mom has been going since 2010:

Me:  Hi mom!  Watcha doing today?  Plans?
Mom:  No plans really.  Are you pregnant?
Me:  Uh... no.
Mom:  Well when you gonna get pregnant?  You're not getting younger you know.  What are you waiting for?  You know you'll never be ready so just do it already.
Me:  First you tell me, "You better not have any kids" when I got married.  Now you tell me to pop them out.  Then you tell me I'm old.  I just go by the age I look now so I'm at least 23.  :D
Mom:  sigh ...

My mom isn't the only one that asks me.  I have a few friends that are excited to see me blow up like a ballon.  Why?  What's the fascination?  One of my friends thinks that there's a fascination with skinny people getting pregnant.  She went through the same thing in her network.  Everyone was so amazed at how much weight she did or did not gain and how round she got.  It's pregnancy!  You get round and then the baby pops out and then you're not so round... or you still are.  I think people just want to see me fat because I've always been petite.  You know, I want to see myself 1.5 inches taller.  Darn that scoliosis!

Also, I've noticed... you get more "advice" when you're looking into pregnancy.  Some are welcomed and some are "meh."  People!  We're all different.  Now let me enjoy my year of freedom before my kid ruins it...  I mean rules it.

Legit reasons to crave buffet

After a weekend of working out (aka Summer Fest) all I can think of is some good food. Buffet does not come to mind... usually ever. But like I said, I had a weekend of working out so I could do some eating. My extended family has frequently visited this one Chinese buffet called V Star. They raved about the fried crab that was "just like mom and dad's". No one cooks like my mom and dad. You know the spicy fish sauce (nuoc cham) that you eat at every Vietnamese restaurant? Yeah, it tastes like watered down fish sauce to me. There's no flavor and it's not spicy, not like my mom's. So no, no one can cook like my parents.

After having to turn down two really tempting invitations to eat crawfish this weekend I was really itching for some crab and crawfish. So I called my sister and I met her family at V Star to really chow down.

freshly made crawfish

fried crab

The crawfish ranged from small to large but there were quite a few large sized ones. It was flavored with lemon and spices but not too spicy. The fried crab was more like salt toasted crab (or maybe it really was). It was pretty good. Dad doesn't do crab where the shell is really soft and the flavor was just right, not too salty and not bland but still not the kind of flavor that dad makes. I checked with my parents and they confirmed the crab is not soft shell crab but it is softer than the usual. The three adults ate more than our money's worth. Of course they have other things like the usual Chinese crab puff rangoon, sushi, mussels, shrimp with jalapeno, stuff crab shells, etc. And to top it off, the bathroom was nice, clean and big. THANK YOU V STAR STAFF!

V Star women's bathroom

I hardly ever crave buffet mainly because I can not stand seeing people pile enough food for five people onto a plate that was meant for one. It's not even that I can't stand seeing this but more that I get disgusted by sitting down to eat my one person plate full of food next to a person or people who are eating piles of random food for five on their one person plate. Or it's just because they're too lazy to get up again. And if I see this and get disgusted I tend to stop eating and therefore waste my money's worth for the buffet. Reasons why I like sitting in corners at buffets. But for the crab and crawfish like this... for $10.50 for dinner? I'll ask for a corner seat.

V Star

6969 Gulf Freeway, Ste 350

Houston, TX 77087

713-645-8885

Running away from white

For years I've had to look at this all white-ish colors in my bathroom. The walls are a faint tan, the counter/sink is off white and the cabinets are bright white. WHY? I ask you would you paint the bathroom all about the same color? And then I ask myself, WHY have you lived with this poor decision for so long? White is a fine color. I love white. At least it matches almost everything. I actually have a lot of things that are white but things... they are a changing. It's time to add color! Bring in BOLD.

years of white insanity

dark red conquers the bathroom

And so confirms my sucky skills of photography. But at least I've successfully run away from all white... at least for now. I can't say the rest of my crib is white-take-over free. With my historical pace it will be another few years until I reach full color potential. Plus I can't say I'm the most decisive when it comes to my style. So, now I leave you with some random photos of Suga and Toefuh to show you a little bit of their life with the FUHs.

bird's eye view (Suga = min pin = black dog aka big sis aka Old Lady)

ground view (Toefuh = tan dog aka chaweenie aka little brother aka the big stinker)

Emergency escapes analyzed

I speak of a topic that's socially not acceptable: bathrooms. While you silently spend a few minutes to yourself, this time is your most vulnerable. But what if this would become one's safe place during an emergency? There's definitely one on each floor of my building but who would ever think of using it as a safe spot at work? (Points finger at herself.)

#3 Beware of bathrooms via Zombieland

Beware is true when there are more than one stall but finding one with one stall that locks? Oh yea! That one stall locking bathroom is golden. If anything, at least I could survive on water and I had a place I could go. The door is made of steel and I can't see any obvious weaknesses. The ceiling is all cement. Maybe escaping through the ceiling would have been ideal but at least I won't have to worry about zombies falling through the sky. If anything I'm only 1.5 floors and a stairway away from the vending snack and drink machine. Or just a few steps away from the cubes where I know there's a lot of stashed snacks in desks. If I needed a weapon there's a couple of pipes I could try my best to jack from the wall or some steel vents I could reshape into a sword from the bathroom.

But if not for zombies this bathroom would still be great in times of hurricanes too. Actually when Hurricane Ike hit, there were quite a few people who took refuge at the building. It at least continuously had a/c, electricity, phone and internet which is more than what most Heights, Sugar Land or The Woodlands had. If I was out and about the only other place that could stand anything more would be Kelvin Arms's bank vault. But in terms of 2012 and if the world were to flood, well, then... I need another option.

Baby Fuh project begins

I'm a planner. Especially if I get excited about something, I think about it a lot. I'll do a lot of research so I know what I should expect. And so begins my official research on babies and pregnancy and preparation for a wonderful two person family life gone to three (or four). Here's hoping anyways. And no, people, I am not pregnant, not now anyways. Calm down, don't get excited. I'm not ready for people to give me dirty looks because I'll look like a 16, 17 or 18 year old girl that got knocked up by her careless boyfriend who looks at least 10 or 15 years her senior. Trust me, I'm sure it will happen. Why can't people tell Asian faces and age by now? Oh and while I'm on a rant, could people stop telling me that I'm small? I actually do know that I am small or maybe I have that toy dog complex where I think I'm bigger than I actually am. Maybe. And I'm watching "The Godfather" for my first time and the DVD is so messed up. Thanks Netflix. End rant.

I've heard a lot of things about how you can increase your chances of conceiving, increase the probability of having a boy or a girl. I'd love to know how I can increase the chances of having twins but I don't think Edwin can handle that kind of news. My sister tells me about the Chinese Gender Calendar. It tells you if you will conceive a boy or girl depending on your age and month of conception. I figure my chances of conceiving a boy are looking bright and sunny. Boys take care of their mom. I want a girl also, of course, but she's going to have two big boys looking after her. With that, I think I'll feel much safer having a girl.

Well actually, one more thing I have been looking at... strollers. I've always fancied the tandem stroller like the Joovy Caboose for it's longevity for when I have two kids but this Stokke Xplory seems pretty slick too. With that, we launch the "Baby Fuh" project.