ooh-la-la

You wouldn't believe, I watched Ratatouille again. Yes, I love that little chef of a rat called Remy. Well, for one thing, I love cooking and for another, I wish I could be like him coming out of the woodwork to become a famous chef in Paris, just like that, oooh-la-la (LOL)!

Okay, I could go on and on about what I'd do if I were indeed a famous chef in Paris with my own restaurant, la di la di da but it's a hot afternoon and my eyes are droopy right now. Maybe after I doze off on my keyboard, I'll have a whole dream to blog about, oui?

settled

It's the second week of school and we're just getting used to the routine. Of course, my taxi runs are on and my pda phone has been set up with all the alarms to remind me who to pick up/drop off next.

I'm trying to piece together a schedule of what day/time the lion dances are going to be at the malls so we can go check them out. I love lion dances.

That's about the only thing I look forward to during Chinese New Year aside from the mandarin oranges and lazy afternoons of doing nothing at home.

not much to buy

Ack, Chinese New Year is in 2 weeks... and counting, and I haven't done a thing. We bought some new clothes during Christmas but those aren't even for CNY. We bought them simply because the sales were on and that's about it.

I haven't planned the reunion dinner menu. I'm still trying to decide if we should have the reunion dinner at a restaurant and get fleeced in the process, or slave over the stove to cook up the meal myself.

I went groceries today but didn't buy any CNY goodies or mandarins. I suppose I will eventually get some tins of cookies and stuff. We don't decorate our house with those dingly red thingies so I don't even look at those.

So it looks like it's gonna be easy-peasy shopping again. No stress (LOL).

coins? what coins?

I can't say I know a lot about coins but I do find them interesting. I used to be a stamp collector when I was still in school but I was never really a very enthusiastic one. So I guess collecting stuff isn't quite in my blood.

But I know of people who are ardent coin collectors and have sizeable collections of certified coins to pass along to their children. I guess it'd be great if their kids too love to collect coins but can you imagine if they aren't?

They probably won't give their collections a second look and just find a quick way to dispose of them and reap the monetary rewards.

That would be a real shame since ardent collectors would typically jump through hoops to get their hands on rare coins, and to have their precious collections passed onto someone who doesn't appreciate their value and history would be such a crying shame.

moving custom

There's this old Chinese custom that you shouldn't move house in the new year. If you do, then you're setting yourself up to be unsettled the whole year and probably have to be moving again and again pretty soon.

The Chinese believe in staying put being a sign of stability in a person's life. If you have to keep moving, it means you're unsettled not only in life but also in other areas of your life. Apparently not something ideal if you want a stable life, stable relationships, etc.

The Year of the Ox officially starts on January 26, the first day of the lunar new year. So technically it's still not the new year yet till two weeks' time so you're still okay to move between now and then (LOL).

Yes, I can lots of home renovations and remodeling going on right now and people getting ready to move in before the 26th of this month.

I wonder if Chinese around the world observe this belief. It'll be interesting to find out. I'll have to check with my friend who lives in the US. If they do, the boston moving company will be heavily booked right now to assist people with their moves.

first day

It looks like today is the real start of the new year. The kids go back to school and college and so the madness starts all over again!

Traffic is crazy today and despite all of my planning to pick up the kids on time, I was late. It's really stressful sitting in a jam when I know the kids are waiting for me at school.

I'm all tired out. I really need to get to bed early because tomorrow is another day and the story repeats itself. This whole week is going to be pretty busy until everyone settles down.