Cleaned Garage

Today Dee came by to help clean up our garage.
We still have a lot of boxes of stuff left over from the yard sale, and wanted to organize & toss out some of the stuff.

We tossed out about 4-5 boxes of stuff, consolidated a bunch more... and lessened the pile by 1/3.

Tomorrow, we raid the storage shed & put away some of the yard sale stuff inside.

I hope we can have another yard sale once the rainy season ends.

iPhone Generation

We went to OC to visit the in-laws.
じゅるる's brother Yuu-chan & his family were in town.

We took a photo w/ niece Lee-chan.
It was cute b/c she was being shy the whole day, but as soon as we said "let's take a picture"... she ran over & sat down on my lap.

After we took the pictures, Lee-chan went over to the camera to look at the LCD screen. And she kept touching it, and Yuu-chan explained that she thinks you can scan through photos by swishing your finger on the screen... like an iPhone.

I guess they taught a 1 year 4 month old to view photos on an iPhone. Teehee.

Bed Arrived

Our new bed arrived today.
It's a lot taller (?) than our last bed.

Either our old bed was getting low b/c the springs had to support じゅるる's weight for the last 10 years... or this bed is on the tall side. I vote w/ the former.

We had already bought a mattress protector at Target, and got queen sized sheets as one of our Xmas gifts from じゅるる parents, so we're all set to go. (Blankets & pillows stay the same for now)

We just have to go buy a box for Popo to sleep in (she'll go in the middle).

Ards & Sasami Bday Dinner (No Show)

Today, Ards planned a get together for her b-day & Sasami's b-day.
It was at Manna in Culver City...

But じゅるる was stuck in a studio until 8pm, and the dinner started at 8pm... and it would have taken 30-40 mins to drive back to Culver City.

By the time じゅるる got back to the apartment, it was 8:30pm... and I was still feeling sick, so we couldn't leave Burbank until 9:30pm. So I missed the dinner. *shiku shiku*

Not that I could eat BBQ meat... and I can't eat much at an all-you-can-eat place right now... But one day, I'll go. Revenge!

Ichigo Goes to ER

First things first.
Ichigo is okay.

Now for the details.
Ichigo went down to the garage to toss out some trash. And she saw some boxes that fell over near the front of my car, so she was walking towards it when she slipped on the smooth concrete floor. And landed on her butt... and then hit her head... all in a puddle in the garage.

Neither of us were with her, so she got up and came back upstairs.
But she had a HUGE bump on her head!

We made her change.
Told her we'll take her to the ER, but she resisted at first.
But we took her anyway.

There was no line at the ER, so they let us in pretty quickly.
But we had to wait a while to see a doctor. Saw two nurses before that, though.

The doc said she looked okay, but we went ahead and took a CT scan.
Everything looked fine, they said. Whew.

We got back around 1am, so we were in the ER for about 3 hours.

Since she hit her butt real hard, she decided to take couple days off from work.

And we had to keep waking her up every 3 hours, b/c that's what you're supposed to do w/ someone with a head injury.

It goes without saying that Ichigo, Koge & I slept all day the next day.

Bed Hunting

We decided that we need a bigger bed.

じゅるる had a full size bed, which is currently at the new apartment.

I also have a full size bed, which is currently being occupied by Koge.

Plus じゅるる's bed is really old.
Like 11 years old.
So it's time for a new bed.

Although we would love to have a king size bed, it would never ever fit in the tiny bedrooms of WLA. So we'll be settling for a queen. It's not that much bigger than a full, but it'll be a little more room.

We first went to Sit & Sleep around New Year's.
The prices were around $1000. Hm, so-so.

Couple days later, we went to Easy Life.
Well, they sell furniture... but also sell some mattresses too.
All of the bed frames were too bulky (the headboards are really tall!). But the mattresses were a little bit cheaper. They also had a cute & tiny couch and chaise set, but it comes w/ a non-matching side chair & ottoman/table. Very strange.

We also stopped by Leeds, but all the mattresses were pricey.

Sometime later, we went to IKEA looking for bed frames... but none of them looked that good. They all either looked like hospital beds (metal ones) or white (wood ones). They can't have darker colors?

Anyway, we saw a TV ad for The Mattress Store.
They were having some big sale or something... so we decided to go check it out, just in case. They had signs on the beds, but the sales guy quoted $200 less than the "red tag" price. Really?

So we bought one.
They'll deliver next weekend.
And haul away the old one.

And because it's a Serta, they gave us a sheep ^__^
It's a girl sheep, so it'll be Popo's first plushie, I guess.

Shiz Can't Cook Series: Mushroom Ume Soup Pasta

I found a recipe online for mushroom ume-soup pasta, so I decided to make it.

Well, じゅるる was feeling sick.
So I figured I should make dinner, you know?
Cuz he makes it all the time, you know?

And there was a lot of mushrooms at Koge Haus.

So the recipe calls for this:
1. Boil pasta, but keep it half done.
It'll continue to cook in the soup portion that'll be made in steps 2-4.

2. Meanwhile, pan fry mushrooms in butter.
It doesn't seem to matter what mushrooms to use, so I used giant oyster mushrooms, shimeji(?), and enoki. I tossed in enoki last, b/c I figured it'll cook faster than the other mushrooms.

3. Once the mushrooms are done, pour in a can of chicken broth.
Add half a teaspoon of soy sauce & mirin.
I messed up on this part. The recipe calls for 1/2 a teaspoon for every serving... and well, we were making 2-3 servings.

4. Toss in umeboshi that's been seeded & chopped up.
It's about 2-3 umeboshi for every serving. Since じゅるる doesn't like umeboshi, I only used 3 umeboshi, but I personally would have liked a bit more in there.

5. Toss in the half boiled pasta & let the pasta soak up the chicken broth soup.

Ta-dah!


We sprinkled nori on top.
I believe you can add garlic, but I can't handle garlic right now...

It doesn't have a lot of color, so I guess you can add greens too. Like spinach or green onions or parsley.

Came out pretty decently... but like I said, it wasn't salty enough.
But once the pasta soaked up more of the soup, it was a little bit better. Maybe I needed to let it sit for another 5-10 minutes.

Next time, more umeboshi.
Just for me.

Roomba Adventures: Stuck Under TV

Ards & Sasami gave us a Roomba from our registry.
Thank you, girls!

We finally set it up earlier this year, and it's set up to run on Monday mornings.

Today, we noticed that the Roomba (we haven't given it a name yet... any ideas?) wasn't in the charging dock.

Last week, it got stuck behind the couch.
Got tangled on the power cord of the electric screwdriver that was plugged into the wall.

So we look around the room... calling out "Roomba"... although it's not gonna answer.

But we couldn't find it anywhere.

Until I look under the TV stand.
And there it was... stuck.

I guess there's a piece on the Roomba that sticks out & it doesn't fit under the TV stand. Although it was able to get under w/ the piece to get stuck down there...

Well, it needs time to learn the area.
Although we're planning to move it upstairs, since I don't want to carry the regular vacuum cleaner upstairs.

じゅるる (who reads manuals) said the Roomba can talk too.
In multiple languages.
But we haven't figured it out yet.

More Roomba adventures to come...?