Bitter sweet

Ending of a semester is bitter sweet, the months and months of trying and staying on track hoping everything goes smoothly is now coming to a close. Now my own life starts into trying to figure out if coming back next semester to UW Sheboygan will continue. I’ve had my reservations if I’m on the right track to be the person I want to be when I grow up.  Maybe and maybe not. I know there are plenty of options out there.  I’ve decided to take the fall semester off and focus on my family, with the addition of our family coming in August or September, I need to prepare for a life and view what’s important.

The different paths of the future are endless and the journey seems to have just begun with my life. Yes, summer is approaching and ‘family time’ is needed with my son, my husband and me. I can always put school on hold and enjoy making memories but having a career is more important for my family’s future. We have to do what we have to to make sure everyone is getting taken care of and hopefully, I’ll get taken care of later in life.

I’ve come to a conclusion that I will not be continuing with UW Sheboygan and instead will be transferring to LTC in the Spring of 2013. I have taken a different approach to make sure I can start a career and come back for B.A. I’ve met and adored some new people I’ve met in my journey at UW Sheboygan but every good thing must end. Until I complete my Associates in Radiography through LTC, I won’t be returning to see the faces I’ve encountered here.

In life, in general, is a tough cruel world but making the best of what we have is all we can do. Or if any good would come, like a winning lottery ticket, I will have to make the best of what I have and mostly, what I don’t have. I just hope everyone takes the opportunity to think things through and really focus on what life’s all about. The hardest things are pushing your happiness aside and do what’s best for your family!

So until then, Happy Summer everyone!

Wedding

Weddings are the most amazing yet stressful thing anyone can plan! I was asked to be a brides maid in my sister-in-law’s wedding for this coming April. Deep inside, I’ve never had to really plan a wedding before.  My husband and I went to the courthouse to legalize our marriage and had a quick reception for close family at my parents’ house, so there was no dress, no DJ, or no first dance. I feel a little saddened that I never took the opportunity to just plan a wedding and make memories.  I’m also the type of person that LOVES to plan weddings, birthday parties or just even get-togethers. I love to cook so I normally prep all the appetizers and get party favors.

So when my sister-in-law asked me, I had already started to plan to hire a DJ, and get someone to do the hair for the wedding. It seems I might be over my head with the whole planning, but I love to do it!

So with the whole wedding going on, what really goes into planning a wedding? How much do decent weddings cost now-a-days? I’m glad it’s not me planning the wedding and I think that was one reason why I never had a wedding of my own.  It’s the money you must fork up to make sure you make memories and make sure your guests have a great time.

Is it really worth the stress and the headaches to plan a wedding that will only last a day? So until I start to really get into the wedding mode of helping out my sister-in-law/bride, I might have to eat my own words of seeing how easy planning a wedding might be.  We’ll see!

Sushi!

When you think of sushi, what do you think of? What types of word comes to mind?  I hear all the time from people who have never tried sushi before, they tell me, it’s gross, nasty, and how can you eat that?!  Well, people have a miss-conception of sushi.  As Alton Brown from the Food Network said in his show, Good Eats, sushi is defined as rolled up rice, not a piece of fish on rice.

I admit, when I tried sushi the first time, I hated it, it was one of the worst things I’ve put in my mouth.  Of course, I’ve always hated seafood, like tuna, salmon, and white fish, but I had to try it.  Someone once told me that you are ignorant if you don’t understand something and make judgment on it.  That always stuck in my head, and I knew I had to try sushi for the first time.

The first time I tried sushi was at this local Sheboygan restaurant called Grotto’s.  I had a California roll with crab meat, avocado, cucumber wrapped in rice and nori.  When I took my first bit, it smelled like the crab meat was pulled out of Lake Michigan and thrown together in a second.  I literally threw my food up at the restaurant because the smell was too strong for me to even taste the sushi.

Until I went to California on a visit, was I able to get a good taste of sushi in the land of possibilities!  I had gone to a restaurant called Koji’s, right in the middle of the Hollywood strip.  I can’t remember the name of the roll I had but it was nothing like I had when I went to Grotto’s.  Cucumber, avocado, rice, onions was wrapped in rice, around the sushi, they had wrapped a thin seared steak on it.  I had dipped that in soy sauce with a little wasabi paste, and boy was that DELISH!!!  Finally, sushi was no longer a battle of just trying, it now is more of trying to find or even make sushi the way I like it, my own! Yum!

Electronics

Music is such a big thing in this world right now in society that it’s hard to get away from now a days.  Many people bring their iPod, nanos, mp3 players, and yes, even boom boxes to where they go.  I had gone shopping with my little sister this past weekend to get a prom dress for her and when we arrived at the malls in Milwaukee, it seemed though everyone had some type of headset on to listen to music as they were mall walking or shopping.  I personally have not invested in one but I had bought one for my husband for his birthday a few years back.  I admit, I somewhat live under a rock so it’s different for me to sit there or walk to places with an iPod strapped onto my arm or in my hands.

Even working out, people take music as their inspiration.  I can say, I  don’t work out at the gym like I should but when I hear people talk about their trips to the gym, that’s what they have to live by in order to get through the reps or the walks they’re doing.

Society has an image of using things like an iPod to get through things like getting through life with it.  Younger kids are now prone to have one as they do things, like chores, or just sitting in their room to just listen to music.  Whether it’s to get though a heart break, or to dance, or even just to do homework. 

When I was growing up, I never really had things like that to help me through some things kids today go through.  I wonder, can they ever survive without electronics and have a healthy life like I did?   One can only imagine what music does to you but will society ever accept the fact that iPods, nanos, or mp3 players might not be gone one day like 8-tracks?  Only time will tell where we and society might lead to, until then, I’ll just have to sit back and still wonder, what will happen when things don’t exist anymore!?

Tacos!

Tacos tacos tacos, I am in love with tacos! I’ve searched around Sheboygan for the best tacos and I finally realized I have a favorite place just for tacos!  I love food and my favorite food of all times is tacos.  I’ve tried tacos from Taco Bell, Guadalajara’s, La Conquistadora, and even El Comino.  But my all time favorite place to get the best tacos, I believe, is from El Durango’s on Indiana Avenue in Sheboygan.  I don’t know if it’s how the meat is prepared or if it’s the hot sauce that gets me to fall in love with it, but overall, it is the best tacos in town!

To me, tacos have to be prepared with the minimal toppings.  This doesn’t mean that the tacos are on flour tortillas and with lettuce, tomatoes, and sour cream.  Instead, a real taco means there is meat, unseasoned with taco seasoning, chopped up cilantro and white onions.  Of course, and my favorite, a slice of avocado right on top!  That just screams, eat me!

I have to admit, I would love to be a food critic one day, but for now, I think I can be my own critic of the food in my own town.  Dreaming of opening up a restaurant of my own is one of my goals in life.  I feel that food really does feed the soul and when you cook and have people fall in love with it like I’ve fallen in love with El Durango’s tacos, which just means you’ve found what you’ve been searching for.

So if you would ever have a craving for tacos, take a trip to El Durango’s and have a chicken taco with everything on it, and as a must, you have to have some hot sauce on top of it, trust me, the taco will melt in your mouth!

What to be when I grow up

Growing up, I think almost every kid kind of knows what they want to bed when they grow up.  Well, in my case, I’m still trying to figure that out myself.  I knew at a young age, I’d either wanted to be a Chef and own my own restaurant, or a teacher.  Still, at almost 30 years old, I still have no clue to which direction I should gear my life towards.  I’ve been in ‘college’ for about four years now, but due to circumstances in my life, I couldn’t attend full time and here we are.  Still hoping and praying I’d be done soon so I can move on.

Growing up, I know I love food and I love to cook, but my question to myself was, do I really want to be a Chef as a career or do I really need to buckle down and find a career and maybe cooking would be a hobby instead?  Still trying to figure out what I want to do when I grow up is still a hard task if you are 18 and just graduated from high school or a 30 year old, like me.  It’s hard to swallow the ‘real world’ and I’m still trying to make good choices to have a good life.

Even though, I’m married with a family, it takes a toll in my life just trying to go through every day trying to understand what I want to do in life.  Yes, by all means, I would have loved to win that big Mega Millions this past week and make everything ok but my hopeful dreams may need to be on hold until that winning lottery ticket is in my pocket. 

Although life in general is a surprise, I have to take it by the balls and just roll with it.  I sometimes feel I want to give up and work in factory all my life, because it sounds easier than working hard towards my goals feels too much of a reach then reality.  Having a family and especially kids, change my perspective of what really matters in my life.  I think to myself, I need to set a great example for them and make sure they see how hard I work so they can see that life doesn’t come on a silver platter.  Only I can make a difference in my life and change what my parents weren’t fortunate enough to give me.

Now the question is, what should I be when I grow up?  That’s still a lingering question but hopefully something will help guide me to what I’m meant to do and be in like…..Hopefully soon!

Sliders

Netflix is a great way to watch movies, TV episodes, and TV series with a click of a video game counsel or a DVD player with WIFI built in.  When I was on bed rest, all I did was watch shows and movies after shows and movies.  The best show my husband got me into is a show called Sliders.  Jerry O’Connell stars in the 90’s show, along with Sabrina Lloyd, Cleavant Derricks, and John Rhys-Davies.  Even though I only really got into the first four seasons, they were the main characters that had great roles in the show.

I thought Sliders was one of the best television sci-fi shows out there, even though the show was only aired in various parts of the world once season five came along.  Jerry’s character was Quinn Mallory, he was a physics graduate who developed a vortex to see if his theory that other universes exists.  He succeeded and along the way, his friends, were accidently sucked into the vortex as well. 

What was interesting was during the shows, I thought to myself, what would the world be like if we went through the same thing? If every day you woke up, and it’s still the same day, same year, but the outcome is different.  For instance, in one of the episodes I remember was when Quinn and his friends warped into a world where Kromagg’s (alien looking creatures but walked and talked like humans) ruled the world and humans were the ones being caged and treated like animals and second class citizens.  What if one day you woke up and women were captured to breed Kromagg’s babies, or if one day you woke up, the world that you remember like homes, buildings, schools, and people didn’t exist?

I may sound like a dork talking about this show but sometimes we really need to think of what’s going to happen in the future.  Yes, that may be a long shot where Kromagg’s will rule the world but maybe it won’t be Kromagg’s, maybe it’ll be apes, who knows!

All I know is, Sliders was a great show, I loved Jerry’s character Quinn so much, my husband and I named our son Quinn.  I hope in the future, they continue or even make a movie of the show again, I know I’d be one of the first ones in line to see it, and hopefully Jerry stars in it! That would be amazing!

Meatloaf

One of my passions in life is to cook.  As a little girl, I’ve always cooked for my parents when they came home on their lunch breaks and I remember my sisters laughing at me because I tend to narrate my cooking just like I saw on TV.  I’ve always loved to look at recipes and tweak it so it’ll be how I love it.  For example, I’ve always loved meatloaf and I’ve looked at the thousands of recipes out there on what goes in the meatloaf.  I’ve heard the weird herbs and spices that are thrown in and I wonder if people really like their meatloaf herby. 

The way I make my meatloaf is with a pound of ground beef, an egg, bread crumbs, salsa, with salt and pepper to taste.  Some people may think and ask me, “salsa?”  Yes, salsa, I figured that there are already onions, green peppers and tomatoes in it that I really don’t need ketchup.  Basically, I’m killing three birds with one stone.  If I’m feeling a little ambitious that day, I sometimes lay strips of bacon on top of the loaf for that extra crunch and flavor. 

My husband and I had a date night this past weekend and we went to a family restaurant.  He ordered the meatloaf with mash potatoes.  Bless his heart, he told me that my meatloaf is way better than that seven dollars meal we just purchased.  Either he loves me that much or he’s really telling me the truth.  Whatever the case may be, meatloaf is such a universal meal anyone can make and depending on your acquired taste, you can make it as unique or as plain as you’d like. 

With meatloaf being such an easy thing to make for supper, I do veer towards this meal most nights due to my busy schedule; you mix it together, put it in a baking dish and set it at 350 degrees for about an hour.  It’s as easy as pie!

Maybe next time you start on a recipe or an original dish, think about the many different ways you can surprise yourself in adding or taking something out of the dish to make it yours or to make it unique!

Reality TV Whore

I admit, I am such a reality TV whore!  I have such a busy life with my family, school and work, I really don’t have time to socialize or catch up with friends.  The only time I get to myself and being able to watch TV is when my son goes to bed and I have about two hours before I have to hit the sack.  I tend to not be home most nights until 9pm or so after class and work, so it’s only fitting that I DVR all my shows ahead of time.  My husband hates that I watch all my shows when he’s home, but again, that’s my only ‘me’ time.  It does sound sad that I rely on TV to see reality in different aspects than to deal with reality.  I try to stay away from people because of the drama and the unnecessary talks that come with it.  Watching other people go through the drama and the backstabbing makes me happy that I don’t have to worry about people like that. 

Some of my favorite shows I’m obsessed with are: Jersey Shore, American Idol, Big Rich Texas, Lizard Licking Towing, and Mob Wives.  Those are just a few from the top of my head but if you were to actually look at my DVR history, I think there are about 10-15 reality shows I have ready to record when the new season starts.  It does sound sad after I put this on paper, I’d never thought I’d be that person, but I guess it comes with being a parent and a work/school mom. 

With reality TV being such a big part of my life, it’s hard and sad to say that I do live under a rock when it does come with friends and to be outside my “mommy” role. I do want to get out and stop sitting on the couch for happiness but it’s hard when it’s midnight and everyone’s in bed. It’s not like I try to do that, but I suppose, it just became part of my routine. 

Of course after writing this blog on a Sunday night, I keep a schedule in my head to see which shows are on tonight and after I get my homework and paper done, I need to sit in front of the TV to get some reality in before I have withdrawals! 

Worst Cooks in America

As I’m trying to get some school work done tonight, I have the television on, I know it’s not the best way to do homework, but I have it on.  The show Worst Cooks in America is on and I can’t stop laughing at the show and some of these people.  The show is a Food Network show hosted by Bobby Flay and Anne Burrell.  The purpose of the show is to train and teach these individuals how to cook and use certain cooking methods to make them a better cook at home.  All I can say is “Oh my word”!  Some of these contestants cannot handle a knife, there’s this one contestant that was running with his knife.  All I can do is shake my head!

Do these people have people in their lives that can cook? How do these people really survive if they can’t make a meal? Do they just go to the fast food joint down the street or do they really just settle and eat what normal cooking people think is horrible food?

I was born into a culture and a lifestyle where woman needs to cook, and to cook great food.  It’s always been put in my head that being a wife and a mother, I must learn how to cook and feed my family and especially my husband.  Even though I married outside my race, I still have it imbedded in my head that I have to be a great wife and make sure my husband never goes hungry.  Before I married, I made traditional Hmong food for my family but I always watched American cooking shows that showed me something new and different to try with my family.  Nowadays, I cook both American and Hmong foods and bless my husband’s heart, he loves it either way!

First Trimester

                Being nauseated, hungry, and moody all at the same time really sucks.  Being in the first trimester of any pregnancy is hard to coup with.  Granted, being pregnant is one of the most amazing feelings you could ever go through in life, but sometimes, the side effects suck.

                When I found out I was pregnant, luckily, I wasn’t like most women who were be hugging the toilet every morning like a bad hangover.  I really didn’t realize I was pregnant until I missed two of my periods.  I was one of the lucky ones who didn’t have the bad morning sicknesses. 

                Now being hungry is another thing.  I’m always hungry and I’m hungry for everything.  As soon as anyone mentions something of any type of food, my eyes widen and I get the biggest craving! In my pregnancy’s, I’ve had the biggest, I mean, the biggest craving for Mexican food.  I think about it all the time and I’m constantly asking my husband to go and get me some food or take me out to get some Mexican food.  The weirdest thing I’ve ever eaten, I think, is a hot dog rolled up in a corn tortilla with hot sauce drizzled on it.  I was in heaven that day!

                With all the other side effects of being pregnant, peeing non-stop on the hour, every hour throughout the night is no fun task.  When you’re in a deep sleep, dreaming about Paul Walker, you jolt awake with a pain from your bladder, basically telling you, you must empty it, asap!!  Let alone tossing and turning all night long while trying to sleep, I barely get to sleep, I now have to get up every hour to use the bathroom.  Boy am I tired in the mornings, I feel like a truck run’s me over every night and I’ve been awake all night long.  Pregnancy is no fun sometimes but after nine months or maybe sooner, it’s all worth is at the end!

Facebook randoms

Facebook Statuses

As anyone and everyone know, Facebook is a world known used networking site that 40% of internet users in the world has an account for (CNN).   I have to admit, I am one of those users who actually go on Facebook at least once a day or even five times a day, depending on my boredom and checking up on postings. IPhones, Android phones, and even I pads are connected to the world by a touch of a button making it easy for anyone to be on Facebook at all times. 

                I am a Facebook user that uses Facebook to connect with friends and families I haven’t seen or talked to in a long time, maybe since high school or since childhood. It’s a great way for me to find lost family members who I’ve never met and maybe also stalk a girl I may not care for too much, so I’m certainly guilty of all of that, and I think everyone is too.

                What I think is so ridiculous is when some of my Facebook friends, is when they update their status five different times in an hour, like really?!  Do you really have that many issues that you have to post everything you’ve done in the past hour, really?! That irritates the living soul out of me, and I wonder why I’m still Facebook friends with them in the first place, and why I continue to keep them as ‘friends’. I really don’t need to know that your ex-baby daddy isn’t paying for child support but you went out all weekend and splurged your whole paycheck on getting wasted. Every time they post a status, it’s always saying something about how their life sucks because ‘Life’ happens with their children and spouse.  I really just shake my head with some of these postings but yet, I’m still ‘friends’ with them. How does that work? I mean, isn’t there a life outside of ‘your’ world, instead of sitting on Facebook and changing your status?

                I guess I can always ignore it or ‘hide’ their postings but what fun is it to really pick on these people and laugh about their situation or laugh at how idiotic they are for doing what they’re doing? Oh how social networking can help and irritate me at the same time.