joycelau319's Xanga

Where Am I?

Fri, 02 Jan 2009 07:00:16 GMT

(image source)

You can now visit me....us at http://joyceandnorm.wordpress.com!!

Or http://www.momaroo.com/mamajoyjoy
(please add/friend me over there. thanks!)

Hope to see you there!

(image source)

Quality Time with Family

Thu, 01 Jan 2009 20:17:37 GMT

(image source)

Okay, so I'm still here...I'm just wrapping things up, so please come back to find out where I will be this year. This year...2009!!! Now I have to teach Melody to say 2009 instead of 2008. Great.

So if you know our family, you know we love to do two things:
1) eat
2) play board games

We have so many board games (card games, any other type of games), it's crazy. You can play a different one each time you come visit any of the collective family members. It has been a little more challenging in recent years to get together to do this because we have kids now and everyone's schedule is different due to work. Hopefully, we can find more time to do this in 2009 because goshdarnit, those days were fun. Melody also got a great board game for Christmas (which I think I like better than she does), so that would be great to include her in a game that she can actually play.

This post was written for jessicaknows.com about More Quality Time with Family in 2009.

Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Tue, 30 Dec 2008 19:45:45 GMT

Only 2 days left....

You can see me over at momaroo. Another entry was featured on their frontpage again.

http://www.momaroo.com/mamajoyjoy

http://weblog.momaroo.com/momaroo/687553432/advice-needed-preparing-the-big-sister-for-baby-2.html

Our Week in Photos (12/21-12/26)

Mon, 29 Dec 2008 00:26:31 GMT

I think this might be the last one... It's not all the photos because a lot of the ones that we took for our Christmas festivities are on Norm's camera, and I have yet to post any from his camera...so if it seems that some weeks are lacking in photos, that's why.

A church friend's mom invited some of us out to lunch at Mayflower Seafood Restaurant in Union City. We sat next to the fish.

Norm's family came over for dinner at Ice Creamery, and Stephen and Kristi was taking a flight out from Oakland Airport, so they stayed a bit to play Fireball Island.

Melody making her snowman craft.

Goodies from our neighbors...plus they gave Melody a gift too. How nice!

Girlfriend thinks she's all that...hehe...in her sweatshirt and sweatpants....haha and Princess shoes

We went to see Christmas lights. I was sad because the house that's usually all decked out, didn't decorate this year. Well, it's been a few years since I've been there. Maybe the owners moved. Or they're older now and don't want to get up on the roof. It was superlighted up when we went the previous years, and there was caution tape because people would walk through the neighborhood to see all the decorated houses. Sorry my camera doesn't capture such great photos at night. The last one is one of our neighbor's house. Oh, and these were taken from inside our car because it was sprinkling that night.

Melody made a road.

Joyce To Sort

Sat, 27 Dec 2008 21:49:03 GMT

My "to sort" folder in my photos section is overloaded, so you'll have to be patient.

We've been eating a lot more than we had intended.

I can't believe the year is almost over...and then the BIG reveal...okay, it's not that big, but it'll be a change. Weird how all of a sudden, I've had an increase in readership...since my entry about not staying with xanga.

I think I have to sort myself out a little as well as the photos folder...eh.

Have a great rest of the weekend.

Merry Christmas

Thu, 25 Dec 2008 06:59:17 GMT

Our neighbors baked different kinds of cookies and banana bread for us yesterday. Hooray!

We went out to see Christmas lights tonight.

Heading out to SF for Christmas lunch.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Food Scraps

Mon, 22 Dec 2008 11:06:01 GMT

(image source)

So I've been back and forth on keeping my food scraps in a bin. You can't put the plastic bags in the compost bin, but that's what I use to keep the food scraps bin "clean". Sometimes we don't have old cartons on hand to use for the food scraps. I do use brown bags from time to time, but the food leaks through. Sometimes it is just easier to toss stuff into the food scraps bin than to put it in the trash. Other times if I do happen to have some moldy food, I just toss it out in the original package, which is usually plastic.

This will be my "green" goal for 2009. I will put any food scraps into the bin to be composted. If you come visit me, and I don't have a place for the scraps, feel free to call me on it. And if anyone has a good solution on how to make it easy to do this, let me know.

I like the guides that we "city" give us about recycling. http://www.cvsan.org/recycling.htm And I'm glad that they are starting to take all plastics in the recycling instead of just certain numbers.

This post was written for jessicaknows.com about Being More Green for 2009.

Our Week in Photos (12/13-12/19)

Fri, 19 Dec 2008 19:11:28 GMT

Welcome Company Girls! If you would like to comment, you can just click on the comment "anonymous" button instead of signing up for an account. We're having S'mores Hot Chocolate over here today. Come on in from the cold.

Special Playtime Storytime - The Fratello Marionettes "The North Pole Review" Puppet Show
She really enjoyed seeing Miss Penny (the librarian from when I was a kid...and no, she hasn't aged that much), the Hi-Fi Sisters (the hula-dancing mice puppets), and the free book she got afterwards (Winter in White: A Mini Pop-up Treat).

We went to the park after that. I thought we'd stay for 10 minutes, but I touched the structure and it was FREEZING!!

She has loved playing Norm's old game from the 80s - Fireball Island. Apparently, it was the #1 game of 1986? and is worth $100+ on ebay.

Baby Sam plays the drum!!

Family Holiday Party at Norm's work
1) Picking up her gift
2) The balloon man
3) Caricature by Marc Richard (almost didn't make it, we were 2nd to last in line)

Another holiday puppet show at the Main branch...Melody got the Otter Pop, but we got there really late so we didn't want to wait to take a photo with Santa and the gift

Melody with her caricature...not sure which one is better...haha

Building Blocks...again, Norm's blocks from when he was a kid

Walking with Daddy's slippers

My little brother is graduating from college today!!! Yippeeeeee! I'll share more later....

Where I'm Going

Thu, 18 Dec 2008 23:21:50 GMT

The end of the year is nearing and as I said before I'm probably going to end my relationship with xanga (kinda...). Something is in the works but I'll let you know about that later.

For awhile now I have also been over at Momaroo which is one of Xanga's group blogs. Some of my entries are the exact same as the ones that I have posted here, but there are others that are more "mommy" related. Really, I have no idea who reads this site, only that I get about 700 footprints on average each week. I don't know if that's a lot or a little, but I suppose it means there someone still reading what I write.

I'm pretty much "anonymous" at Momaroo, so if you do plan to continue reading my daily ramblings from that site, please refrain from using family member names. I also don't refer to our personal website on there. I go by the moniker mamajoyjoy. I actually have a featured entry on the frontpage today. I guess the entry was recommended by a reader. It actually wasn't an exciting entry either.

So go and visit me at www.momaroo.com/mamajoyjoy and sub/friend me to continue reading about my adventures...or nonadventures...

And if you are a reader who doesn't have a xanga, fret not I'll let you know what else is in store. Don't forget you can comment "anonymously" to let me know you are out there stalking me...hehehe See my old entry about that by clicking-->here Thanks! Have a great night!

Out in the City

Wed, 17 Dec 2008 22:18:21 GMT

Well, we made it out to SF alive! No, nothing happened, I just never really left my heart here. I was born here, had some good times here, spent my newlywed days here, but even on the most boring of streets, it seems that this city just has too much going on for me. I'm a real homebody, and if I could, I'd spend my days reading. What a nerd! I know! I'd make fun of me too. I love what SF has to offer. We're really hoping to one day do reviews of the restaurants we've eaten at because there are tons of great eats out here. And I think Dine About Town 2009 is right around the corner too!!! Anyone up to trying any restaurants? Prix fixe menus are the best because I'm a horrible decision maker. There is lots to do, and LOTS of culture, and other interesting things and people.

I'm close enough to trek out anytime, and I'm happy with that. Norm loves to play tour guide too, and there's always new places to discover, so if there are visitors in the area, we'll take your round the town. I like my little garden in my little home in our little neighborhood. Nowhere else where I would want to grow my little family. Come visit us anytime!...because our kitchen is not so little...we'll cook up a feast for you!...okay, maybe you need to help a bit. Thanks.

Oh, btw, we're out here to go to Ubisoft's family holiday party...which should be starting soon, but Melody is still taking her nap. We missed storytime this morning...only staying for 10 minutes or so, but there's a special puppet show tonight, so hopefully Melody will enjoy that...if we make it there on time after dinner. She didn't get her stamp from Miss Tina, which is what she waits for all week long, and they're not having storytime next week because of the holiday. Grandma Pat did give her a holiday rubber duck though.

(image source)