I’m going to be a bed potato

V got me a Roku for Christmas and I love it! It’s hooked up to the TV in the bedroom so I predict 2012 will consist of more time spent in bed watching Roku channels. In addition to the free channels I installed (TED, Crackle, Comedy Time), we have a Netflix account and an Amazon Instant account so I have lots of content available to me!

As much as I love the Roku, I don’t think it’s a good fit for everyone. I can’t imagine that it would be as useful to someone who doesn’t have Netflix, Amazon and/or Hulu Plus. Roku does offer Crackle which has free movies but the selection is pretty slim.

If you do have a subscription to a streaming service, the Roku is great if you don’t have a spare computer that you can set up as an HTPC. Before buying the Roku, V tried to set up his old laptop as an HTPC but the video card just wasn’t good enough.

I hope Comcast doesn’t cap my bandwidth, I’m going to be streaming a lot more content from now now on!

2012 Resolutions

This week I finalized my 2012 Resolutions.

1) Reduce artificial sugar intake. My skin has been freaking out and I think it might be related to the copious amounts of sweets I’ve been ingesting. I’m not going to cut out sweets completely but I will aim to have three treats or less a week.

2) Act on my goal to incorporate more cardio exercise in my lifestyle. V and I agreed to start running together but we still haven’t gone! We even have our running shoes and everything! So far, I’ve managed to get on the treadmill twice (an hour each time) but that’s over two months.

3) Keep up my routine of going to the Dailey Method four times a week. I’ve managed to do this in the last three months!

4) Try adding kale to my smoothies to increase daily veggie intake. I’ve read that it’s tasteless in smoothies, I hope that’s true.

Congrats to Ro!

A good friend, Ro, gave birth two days ago. all through her pregnancy, I’ve peppered her with stupid questions and requests (intentionally and ignorantly). I don’t have a lot of pregnant, close friends (current count – zero) so she got the full brunt of my curiosity.

She’s very patient with me but at some point, I should probably stop with questions such as:

Me: How was labor?

Ro: Labor was awesome *sarcasm*

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Me: Who’s the cuter newborn, baby 1 or baby 2?

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Me: Can you blog about cervical exams? What are they and why do neo-hippy moms decline them?

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Me: Do you have incontinence problems after giving birth? And have you recovered?

Baking fail

The goal: Brazo de Mercedes, a traditional Filipino dessert

My reality.

First date…with the housekeeper

After a long search, we have found THE ONE. We finally have a housekeeper! Her name is Lupe and she is amazeballs.

About three months ago, V and I finally accepted that we were terrible at maintaining even a modicum of tidiness at our apartment. We’re both just too busy and lazy. Since we’re still trying to live frugally, it took us a while to find someone we could afford. But we finally found one and she came this past week for the first time.

First, I had to “clean” the place a bit so she could clean. We had unfolded/unhung laundry in the living room, unwashed clothes spewing out of suitcases on the floor, scraps of wrapping paper, ribbon and other crafting materials strewn about the house. I pretty much threw everything in the bedroom to clear up the spaces I wanted her to work on.

She doesn’t speak English and I don’t speak Spanish so I pretty much just pointed out the problem areas, took out my cleaning materials and let her do her thing. I would sneak a peek once in a while and I realized something – her way of cleaning is so much more superior to mine. She was doing things that we would never ever do on a regular basis. I’m going to share the list of things with you even though you might judge us for it. These may be things that everyone else but us does. But it’s okay, we excel in other areas of life. In fact, watching our housekeeper has shown me that it’s worth it to spend money on an expert who will do the job excellently than attempt to do it myself poorly.

Lupe’s amazing list of cleaning feats:

• take food out of the pantry/cabinet and wipe down each shelf. Confession – I saw spilled panko in those shelves a few weeks ago and did not clean it. I’m so gross, I know.
• wash the dish drainer
• wipe down the tops of the cabinet
• wipe down cabinet doors
• clean behind the toaster oven. clean the crumb catcher.
• remove discoloration in the bathtub with ammonia. I don’t even know what form ammonia cleaner comes in. What is ammonia and why is it better than bleach?

But just so you don’t think we’re cave people, I should tell you about some of the cleaning-related things we do on a regular basis:

• do laundry
• disinfect the toilet
• spray down the shower after each use
• disinfect kitchen surfaces

Hmm, that list seems pretty short…maybe we are cave people.

Thoughts on wedding planning

Several friends (as defined by Facebook) have recently become engaged. Since I’m not a position to give them wedding advice directly, I’ll just share it on my blog.

Wedding Planning Tips

• Set your budget first and commit to it. Without a budget ceiling, your costs will grow unfettered.

• You may fight with your fiance/e more often than normal. Wedding planning is stressful, even if you’re not a ‘zilla. Also, don’t be a ‘zilla.

• The reward for your labors is not the wedding, it’s the honeymoon. Plan an awesome honeymoon so you have something to look forward to when you’re tired of wedding planning.

• If the person you’re marrying comes from a culture with different wedding traditions/expectations, have two weddings. Seriously. We had a Cambodian reception and a Filipino/Western reception and we avoided a lot of potential conflicts  over the venue, food, music, attire, etc. You’ll also get to wear more clothes!

I had six or seven outfit changes for our Cambodian reception.

• What matters the most to you as a couple? Good food? Photography? Videography? Music? Decor? Unless you have an unlimited budget, you have to prioritize. Allocate your budget according to your priorities.

Looking back on 2011

2011 has been a good year. I already wrote about some of the major changes in our life in a previous post so I thought I’d recap 2011 a little differently.

January

I planned to adopt my sister's cat but my mom decided to to adopt him instead. Unfortunately, Shadow passed away from anemia in October. He was a good cat.

February

Hosted our annual Super Bowl party. I used felt to create a table cloth that looked like a football field.

March

I visited London and Edinburgh. I spent time with one of my best friends and even met up with a classmate from Montessori school!

Time to hit the slopes!

V and I bought season tickets to Heavenly this year, I can’t wait to go snowboarding! I missed the entire season last year due to a series of unfortunate events and I’m determined to make up for lost time. I’m hoping that all the thigh work we do at the Dailey Method will pay off.

We’ve been going to the south shore for several years now and we have our routine down pat.

breakfast: usually McDonald’s. This is usually the only time we eat fast food. It’s hard to have a decent breakfast when you have to wake up six hours earlier than usual on a weekend. We usually combine this with a gas stop.

lunch: I don’t like buying food at the lodge. It doesn’t taste good and it’s overpriced. I usually bring a peanut butter sandwich from home. Sometimes we bring cheese, fruit and breakfast bars. V likes to bring tuna and crackers too.

dinner: V likes getting the prime rib dinner at Lakeside Inn. I’m not into prime rib, but their other menu items are good too.

post-dinner: hot tub! Before going to bed, I usually have to apply Bengay all over my sore muscles.

Then on our way back home, we usually stop at our favorite cheap sushi place in Davis.

What’s in your freezer?

For a household of two, we have a surprising amount of food (among other stuff). I have a love/hate relationship with  our freezer. It’s always stocked with goodies but it’s so well-stocked, it’s tough to find specific items.  It’s arranged like a tetris-jenga pile and I don’t have the patience to dismantle and put it back together.   I leave that task to V.

We try to eat through our frozen supply but we always end up filling it back up again. Last night, as I took pesto out of the freezer, I took a mental note of what’s in our freezer so we can share and compare.

What’s in our freezer?

• fruit for smoothies – strawberries, blueberries, pineapple, banana, peaches
• flax seed – also for smoothies

We always have smoothie ingredients on hand.

Squabbles with V

V and I are both pretty laid back and yelling-averse so as a result, we don’t fight frequently. We fight so infrequently that I’m able to view our squabbles somewhat fondly. Consider this a list of things I’m thankful for. I’ve also inserted some tips that might be helpful for couples or roommates who want to eliminate some squabble triggers.

Things we don’t fight about that other couples seem to*:

• The toilet seat – Unlike many women, I don’t believe that the toilet seat’s natural position is down. I think it’s a toss-up. between up and down. And unlike many men, V is really good about putting the toilet seat down.  But key to our non-fighting over this issue is that we actually keep the lid down on the toilet seat 99.9% of the time. We do this for two reasons. One, most toilets spray a mist of water during a flush. Keeping the lid down prevents fecal mist from landing on other bathroom surfaces. Two, home staging experts recommend it. Apparently, it makes bathrooms look more appealing. In sum, less poopy, more pretty.

Up or down?

• Asking for directions when lost – A GPS device solves this problem. Plus I freely admit that I have a poor sense of direction, I let V take the reigns on this one.
• The TV remote – DVR solves this problem plus we hardly watch live TV anymore (can’t stand commercials). We also have a core set of TV shows that we both like (e.g., Modern Family, Parks & Recreation, New Girl) so we have common ground. I’ve also learned to nap through football.
• Where to spend the holidays – V’s family prefers Thanksgiving over Christmas while my family prefers Christmas over Thanksgiving. Plus both of our families are in the Bay Area, we can easily party-hop if necessary. Unfortunately, I don’t have any advice for couples who struggle with this.

On the flip side, here’s what we do squabble about: