We had a birthday lunch for my nephew Chris at Le Cheval in Walnut Creek.
Afterwards, me and my Mom went to the Concord Seafood City to see how it compares to the Vallejo one. It actually seems smaller.
Monthly Archives: December 2009
Christmas Paper Fight
Christmas Shopping Continues…
I finally got up off my butt and started the majority of my Christmas shopping. I went to Daly City, because there was a place that I think would sell some printed Pacquiao shirt that my nephews would like. I did see some through their window, but they were already close when I got there around 7pm… so I proceeded to go to Tanforan Mall.
It wasn’t as busy as I thought it would be at the Mall. I found several other gifts there, which was good, but I still have tons more to buy.
One weird thing that happened when I was there was that a cute Filipino guy walking towards me bumped my bag with his, smiled then said "Bag 5!"… I think he meant it kinda like "High 5", but with shopping bags… hehe… it was weird, but I must say that he was cute and adorable and made me smile :)
Clingie’s Second Ootheca (Egg Sack)
I woke up to find that my pet Praying Mantis, Clingie laid another ootheca (egg sack) last night. I took out the first one and placed it outside because I didn’t want them to hatch until the spring. I was kinda surprised that she had another ootheca. I wonder if the eggs were fertilized and were just inside her, or if they are not fertilized… similar to how hens will lay eggs even if they are fertilized.
Later in the afternoon, me and my Mom went shopping. Went to Costco and got food for Christmas. They went to Island Pacific… Then afterwards ate at Subway… or as my Mom would call it "Footlong".
Holiday Work Party + Snowflake Ornaments + Christmas Tree Decorating
We had our Holiday Party at work. It was pretty low keyed, but I like it better that way. We played a game where we were supposed to guess who the person was in the childhood photo. It was pretty difficult, but I got 9 correct out of 17. Afterwards we did our White Elephant Gift Exchange. I ended up scoring four Lundberg Studios glass flower ornaments!
After work, my friends Howie and Bill wanted me to come over to get my Christmas gift. They said that I need to get it "before" Christmas… because I should "use" it before then… so I first met them all including Mikey (who was in town) for dinner at China Gourmet. Afterwards, we went back to their place and hung out. I noticed Mikey also had a nice DSLR camera, we I asked if I can play with it and compare it with mine.
Howie and Bill gave me a clay pot bowl. I think it’s one that you can cook asian clay pot dishes in… and they also gave me some beautiful wooden snowflake ornaments, which was similar to some that saw at the Castro that I really liked.
I guess this kinda got me into the holiday spirit… When I got home, I finally decorated the Christmas tree. (This was the latest that I think we ever decorated the tree.) My brother bought it about a week ago, but I just didn’t have time (and help) to being down the ornaments from the attic. My brother brought the stuff down last night and left the indoor decorations in the living room, but nobody likes to decorate the tree, so I usually end up doing it.
I had an idea to take time lapse photos of the tree decorated.
LED Grow Lights – DIY Project?
I’ve noticed more and more LED holiday lights (like these or these) for sale and had an idea. I wonder if those LED mini lights can be used to create a grow light for my overwintering plants. Here are some other question I have and need to do some research on:
– Are the holiday mini lights enough light? How much do I need?
– Are they the correct light spectrum? Do I need to get reds, blues, whites?
– Will they really use less energy than my current fluorescent ones?
– Where is a good source of lights? Hopefully, there will be some left at the After-Christmas sales.
– Has anyone here use any LED grow lights and how well did they work?
I’ll have to do more research, but here are some initial findings:
☉How to Make LED Grow Light Panels
☉DIY Your Own LED Light Grow Box Today!
☉Hydroponic DIY – How to Make an LED Plant Growing Box!
☉Cheap LED Light and Grow Box
Amigurumi
Last night, I was watching a knitting/crocheting show (I think it was called Knitting Daily)… They had a segment where they crocheted these cute Japanese-style dolls called Amigurumi. This may be a perfect first crocheting project, since I bought a Learn How to Crochet kit a few weeks ago.
Here are some links I want to jot down for reference:
☉ How to crochet Japanese amigurumi dolls using single crochet
☉mom & pop design: not your grandma’s crocheting
☉Curls of Sunshine – New Free Amigurumi Owl Crochet Pattern
☉An Introduction to Amigurumi
☉Birds of a Feather « BitterSweet
Livingetc India
Two of my photos were published in the December 2009 issue of Livingetc India.
