Gift Yarn; Purlescence

I received this super nice skein from Ally of AllyB...that's Me! this week. Ally is responsible for leading me to Fiber Arts Friday, after we met and got to know each other in the pug group on Ravelry. This is a skein of her hand spun, corriedale plied with kid mohair and silk. I can't say enough how much I love this yarn, it's lofty and smooth, with just the right amount of irregularity. It will become something very nice to wear I'm sure.

Last week I had some time to kill while running errands around town, so I treated myself with a visit with one of the yarn shops in the area, Purlescence Yarns in Sunnyvale. I haven't been to this shop for couple of years, and they have moved since my last visit. Now they have a much larger store front, which is very well lit, and there is enough room to lay out all the spinning wheels and looms.

Better view of the wheels on the shelf.

Today is my husband's birthday and our wedding anniversary. Never get tired of seeing our younger selves!

Happy Fiber Arts Friday! Join the party on Andrea's blog and leave me a comment!

Celebrations

Fifty years ago today this little boy was born in South Carolina.

Seventeen years ago today this little girl became a pretty young bride.

Today the man and the woman are Together, happily ever after.

Where We Met

Under the Hoover tower, in Stanford University.

It was my first year in the US. I was working three jobs, after my mom lost her job at Hoover, and my brother just arrived with no English and no identity. A professor that couldn't find employment in this new country and a banker turned dishwasher in a Chinese restaurant. I had a full time job as a customer service clerk at a Chinese PC distributor. On Saturdays I went to various flee markets with my mom to sell her beaded jewelry and assorted Chinese crafts. A Chinese woman working for Thomas Sowell at Hoover needed someone to pick up some odds and ends office work for her, and I was the lucky one. She even let me work in her office on weekends. So every Sunday I went to work in one of the Hoover buildings, behind those trees on the left hand side of the tower in the picture.

On the day we met, I came out of the office, Bill was waiting on a bench on the right hand side of the tower. Although we talked on the phone a few times, enough for him to be interested in me, I had no idea what to expect. It was July and he was wearing a gray suit jacket. If it's anywhere else in the valley he'd look totally out of place, but on Stanford campus, under the Hoover tower, in the orange sunset, he looked perfectly proper, and ... gentlemanly. There was something very foreign and yet vaguely familiar about this man; and somewhere deep in my mind, I know he was the one.

Movies and TV Show

DVDs from the libraries: 1. Much Ado about Nothing: Shakespearen comedy made into movie, with big names like Emma Thompson, Denzel Washington, Keanu Reeves. Great entertainment value and lots of pretty faces to look at. 2. Marie Antoinette: Got it to see the pugs. Director Sofia Coppola has bay area connection. Kirsten Dunst is beautiful, and the costumes are gorgeous. I share Ms. Antoinette's sentiment about the poor: "Let them eat cake." (Turns out she didn't say that, but I agree nonetheless.) 3. Persuasion: A new adaptation of Jane Austin's novel by a UK director. Very good and very Jane Austin. Sometimes it begs you to scream: "People, speak your mind already!" 4. As Good As It Gets: We used to have a pug mix Precious that looked similar to the Brussels Griffon in the movie, and that's why we went to see the movie when it first came out over ten years ago. Jack Nicholson, Helen Hunt and Cuba Gooding, Jr. are great, but I still watched the movie for the dog. 5. The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio: First book I read with the bookclub, but this is another case of movie ruining the book. So bad I couldn't finish it. 6. Nora: James Joyce biography of sort. Another movie to portray artists (writers and poets included) as disgusting bastards that are full of foul language, engage in violent graphic sex acts and should require many hours of anger management classes. I don't believe it. TV Show: Boston Legal: We "discovered" the show only couple of months ago, and we have been watching the current season (final season) while catching up the previous seasons on other channels. A quote from Wikipedia: "According to Nielsen Media Research, Boston Legal draws the richest viewing audience on television, based on the concentration of high income viewers in its young adult audience (Adult 18–49 index w/$100k+ annual income)" The main character, Alan Shore, speaks for the common sense and justice in life. He is portrayed as a successful lawyer, winning just about any case, too bad reality would be a defeat. Still makes you feel good to hear someone argue for the ultimate truth and justice. Alan is by far a hero, he can be greedy and slimy, and he pursues sex like a real man. He can be good when he tries, which is better than most. The other night Bill commented that Alan Shore thinks like him. I know there is a reason why I like this character. The Finale was last night. I didn't like it. I didn't like the show ending, didn't like two heterosexual sexual guys getting married, and really didn't like the way they portrayed Chinese. They couldn't even get the accent right. If the "big Chinese" is buying out an American firm, they wouldn't spell the name Chang (it would be Zhang, if they are trying to use one of the most common sur names in China). On the other hand, I wouldn't want my company to be bought by the Chinese either, so things like this bothers me.

Bagged by Frisky

Frisky the ever so cute Chihuahua, who's mom blogs at Yawn Over, wants me to fess up:

1. What was I doing 10 years ago? 10 years ago, the Tuesday morning after Father's Day, we found out I was pregnant with Henry, our first and ever child. I put in a test at Kaiser the day before, after feeling "off" the whole weekend, and told Bill to wait for the result with me in the morning. I wanted to wait for the hospital to do the test, for someone to officially tell me "Yes, you are not dreaming. You are pregnant." The wait was anxious but I wanted to prolong it before my world turned upside down. Bill held my hand while I called the advice nurse line. The nurse was matter of fact, "The test result is positive. You are pregnant." No congratulations, not even a smile in the voice. Oh my heart leaped and we didn't know what to say to each other. We held on to the news to each other for the next seven weeks. It was a delicious secret we shared only with each other, while the small bud grew and grew. Thank you for bringing back the most wonderful memory, Jennifer!

2. What are 5 things on my TO-DO list for today? Today is a rather dull day compare to last week and earlier this week while I worked and ran around like mad. The next few days will be rather eventful:
a) my birthday is tomorrow, my friend at work is taking me out to lunch and our little family will go out to dinner;
b) I'm taking Friday off (and refuse to work the weekend to catch up!), Henry and I will go to Monterrey Bay Aquarium and then have dinner with my mom;
c) we'll celebrate Father's day on Saturday by taking Henry's Dad to Stanford Shopping Center and the restaurant of his choice;
d) Henry will be starting his first summer camp next Monday and it will be quite a juggle on his parents' schedules;
e) our UFO group meeting is next Wednesday night.

3. Snacks I enjoy: In my desk drawer right now: pistachio, raisins, walnuts, and on my desk, a pear and an apple. Guess that tells you what I'd like myself to eat, then again, if you have chocolate I'd trade all of these for a box of truffles.

4. Things I would do if I were a billionaire: return my street back to a working ranch. We live in a new development that was a ranch for many years. If I have the money, I'd buy out all the other neighbors, let them live in the houses for however long they want, but in the end, tear down the houses and rebuild the ranch. The ranch will serve as education facility for local schools.

5. Places I have lived: Beijing (China), Jiangxi province (China), Guangzhou (China), Palo Alto (CA), Santa Clara (CA), San Jose (CA).

6. Jobs I have had: dog groomer, office clerk at Hoover Institution, library clerk at Hoover library, vendor in various flea markets, shop clerk at The Knitting Room, telemarketing sales girl at a Chinese PC distributor.

I will tag some of my mom-friends, because I want to read your answers to question #1: Sarah, Lesley, Zelda, Cindy, and Jocelyn.

Bobby White Paw

Our first entry for Dogs on Thursday

Trinket has two white toes on the right front foot which we used to address as "the white paw". In the early days when he enjoyed the singleton puppyhood we took him everywhere in his crate. Often times he'd go to sleep in the car when we came back, and we asked him to show us the white paw to be released. He'd bang on the crate, and we'd open the car door, open the crate, and the little pup would jump straight into our arms.

Five Things about me

I've been tagged by Andrew (To Love, Honor and Dismay) to write five things people don't know about me. Let me give it a try:

1. I'm Chinese, as in, I was born, raised and educated in China. I'm fluent in Mandarin, can understand Cantonese, Hakanese and some other smaller dialects. As a student I enjoyed Chinese classics more than any other subject, in turn my Chinese language is beyond grad school level while my formal Chinese education ended at high school. Since I learned most things in Chinese, sometimes I have to mentally translate them into English, such as the name of the planets, medication and math concepts. Occasionally English words get messed up in my head. Last night I asked for pumpkin mousse (chocolate mousse or pumpkin pie?); and this morning I asked Henry how many slides of cheese he wanted on his sandwich.

2. I met my husband through a dating service. This was mentioned on my blog before, but it's so much fun to talk about it here again. Bill's version has much more details. The joke in our family is everyone came with a contract except for Henry who came with no dollar amount or return policy. Bill and our former rescue dog Macie (a West Highland While Terrier, a lovely girl we had for three years) are, shall we say, the cheapest, at $25 a piece. I remain the priciest acquisition, at $500.

3. I have amblyopia (commonly known as lazy eye) and strabismus in my right eye, and only have color with almost no vision. I need to be about three feet in front of the big eye chart to see the biggest letter on top. Unbeknownst to most people, lazy eye is not an eye disease, but a neurological disease. My eyes send two imagines to the brain and the brain only accepts one. Gradually the brain elliminates the second image. In my eyes, the world IS flat. On the other hand my eyes are not in perfect shape either. I'm very far sighted in both eyes, so I started needing reading glasses at twenty seven. At the time I was the youngest in a forty five people group, and one of the only ones toting a pair of reading glasses around on my neck.

4. I studied Shakespeare's sonnets in college, on my own, and also enjoyed Elizabeth Barrett Browning's Sonnets from the Portuguese. Chinese literature is 90% poetry which is all about rhythm and rhyme. Novels and essays only exist in recent history (that's about 500 years in China). Sonnet is closest form of English literature to Chinese poetry. I learned to write poems in second grade, in Chinese of course; and never wrote poems in English -- never wrote much else in English for that matter, other than emails and now blog. Most of my writings were lost when I moved to the US.

5. I don't know how to swim, despite many hours of lessons in my childhood.

There are quite a few more in my list, but this is supposed to be five things, so I'll stop.

I'll tag Lesley, Sarah, Jocelyn, Cris and Larissa.

The Good Husband's Guide

Since we all had the pleasure of reading The Good Wife's Guide, I created the male version to match it. I'm not brave enough like Cindy to announce that I can use a wife, I'll settle with a husband for now.

The Good Husband's Guide (Copyright 2006)

1. Be home on time for dinner. If your wife says dinner at 6, be sure you arrange your day so you are ready to sit down at dinner table prior to that. If you are late, apologize ahead of time, and explain how such thing will not happen again.

2. Your wife probably took great care to plan ahead for this delicious and healthy meal. Show your appreciation. Thank her for making your favorite dish. Thank her for thinking in your best interest to make you a healthy meal.

3. Prepare yourself. Use your commute time to rest up so you are refreshed upon arriving home. Fix up your suit so every button and zipper is in the right place. You’ve been with a lot of work-weary people, don’t bring them home.

4. Be pleasant and show your happiness to be home. Pay attention to her, notice how she looks (does she have your favorite sweater on? That must be to please you.) and ask her about her day. Show support for her ideas and opinions, after all there are lots of idiots in the world and she might have encountered a couple in the day. It is your duty to protect her from everything bad and ugly.

5. Clear away the clutter. To start off, don’t leave any clutter around. If your wife has cleaned the house, show your appreciation for her effort by offering to hire a maid.

6. Children and dogs tend to leave messes around, be sure to pick up after them. Run you hand on table and counters and make sure the spilled juice is wiped up. Supervise the children to clean up after themselves when they are old enough. Their future wives will appreciate that.

7. Know your wife’s preferred temperature, and make sure the house is not too cold in the winter or too hot in the summer. This may require an understanding of the operation of a thermometer, take pains to learn to use it. After all, a comfortable wife is a happy wife.

8. Take care of the children. Make sure their hands are washed, teeth are brushed, hair is combed. Keep track of doctor’s visits. Maintain a good supply of seasonal clothing for children so they are not running around in high water pants and bring shame to your family.

9. Minimized noises. Take pains to set dishes and pots and pans down carefully so as they don’t knock around each other as if an earthquake has occurred.

10. Listen to your wife. You might have a dozen important things to tell her, but the moment of arrival is not the time. Let her talk first – remember, her topics of conversation are more important than yours, especially if they concern your children.

11. Make the evening hers. Never complain if dinner is late, instead do your share of the work and make her her favorite dish. Wish her a good time if she goes out for entertainment.

12. Your goal: make sure your home is a place of peace, order and tranquility where your family can relax and connect.

13. Hold the complains and solve the problems.

14. Make her a comfortable spot in the living room with her favorite books, perfect lighting the way she likes and a cup of her favorite tea. Offer her a massage with the sole purpose of helping her relax.

15. Learn to make the bed her way. Remember how she likes her pillow and cover arranged. Learn when and how to change sheets. Try to understand the science of laundry.

16. Don’t question her actions or judgment. Believe in her. Remember, she’s the lady of the house and will always be fair and truthful. You have no right to question her.

17. A good husband knows his place – his home.

The Trinket T

This is Trinket, aka, the other dog, the guru, the baby dog, knuckle head, gazilla, mouse, dear, silly goose. He's my sweet baboo, our first born, our practice child before the real one, the reluctant big brother to the pug. Trinket is part Chihuahua and part fox terrier, more precisely, a mutt, and a runt of the litter. He also has unmentionable names related to his heritage. Here is what dad says about Trinket: http://billkeys.blogspot.com/2006/04/guru.html Trinket was born under the care of a dog rescue lady named Cathy Thomas. As a family tradition, our dogs carry their original last name, so we have Trinket Thomas and Bucky Butters. Love the rhyme. Trinket is neurotic. He's often scared, anxious, or simply weired. Fourth of July and New Years Eve are his worst nightmare, when all the firecrackers go off our little pup wishes he's moving to the North Pole. Trinket is our home grown security system, my cuddle bunny, the neutral third party in an arguement. He gives dad "the look" when he's being questioned, before slinking away with his tail tucked between the legs. If a dog has unconditioning love for his human, our love for Trinket is to infinity and beyond.

My Version of the How We Met Story

It was actually quite simple, because I was very young and very naive. Three weeks after I arrived in this country, I filled out one of those little postage paid postcard that came in the mail. It had my address on it and was addressed to "Resident", they must mean for me to answer those questions, plus I thought the idea of meeting some new friends wouldn't hurt. Less than a week later Together started calling me, and eventually they talked me into signing up. They charged me $25, a confidential deal approved by their big boss. I wasn't too thrilled with the guys they sent me; to make a long story short, by the time my husband-to-be called me at work one day, I already gave up on Together and determined never go out with anyone from that place. How he talked me into changing my mind, I don't remember, but we are all glad he did. He can still talk me into just about anything when he tries.

The How We Met Story

I promised the husband that I'd explain this story before linking his blog with mine. So here we go: http://billkeys.blogspot.com/2006/03/matchmaking-journal.html our How We Met Story written from the guy's perspective.