House

Sometimes I take for granted some simple things

Comes Summer, Fall, Winter, and Spring

The roof, the heat, the shelter I live in

The security I got used too, all comforting

Last night I awoke not from the smoke

From a deep sleep, my slumber suddenly broke

The fume, overwhelming, gave me an ache

In my head, that is, I could not take

I was nauseous too, as I went downstairs

I saw my teen spray painting by the furnace

It is winter night so it’s on too

I caught her in time, we could have . . . whew

The house could have blown up, but it did not

We are alive, so I thank God

We have a house, though not a lot

We are all safe and that’s enough

(And just in case you wonder . . . a “fine” scolding, my daughter got)

Birthday Delights

(I will keep this short as I have two long reports to write for school and it is already 5:30 pm on a Sunday).

To write this post

Is exciting at most

Because here I disclose

Blessings that arose

It was my birthday yesterday

And although I had a cold

My discomfort was controlled

And out of bed, I rolled

To eat food that I like

Sushi, ice cream delights

To receive flowers full of life

Are worth a snow day's drive

What more, I got to go

To the steam room

Away from snow

Look at me

Sitting as if . . .

I was meditating

Does it show?

Happy Birthday Week

Sushi and Cake for Monday
Day 1 of my birthday week
Just for me

It’s my happy birth week!

Is there such a thing? 

Oh yeah, I say, to you

Nothing wrong with celebrating

Celebrating my survival

Despite the challenges of parenting

Sometimes, I wonder

Should I help, should I not?

With their adulting, that is

That may be quite a lot?

They are able to work

And weak, they are not

They can earn like their mom

Pay their bills (most of them)

Not delay and what not

Things like reminding them to get up

To make it to work

Not be tardy or miss 

Their ride and miss work

Or make sure to make

College education a priority

So, they don’t end up on the mercy

To live on charity

Or be a burden to me

Or to our society

Fill-In Sunday

I believe I can deal with procrastination.

I need to go "Marie Kondo" my desk to reduce distraction.

It does not do good to lose my attention.

(And do other things that just cost me tension).

I find self-caring to be a walk in the park

(Well, not really)

But when I get started self-caring gives me this spark

It opens my eyes, I can see in the dark

I can fight my anxiety and put it in a halt!

          It is a late morning for me getting up from a late evening from doing homework last night. I should say from the early morning because I went to bed past midnight. Part of me is thinking, "what am I doing?" I decided to go back to college to advance my degree. It has been a year now, and here I am still going. I am two subjects away from going up a level. Doing school work gets my mind off the stressful situations around me--family, work--which I love. 

          I made instant Pho and added ground meat. My friends would be shocked, as I switched to non-meat diet since last May but it is veggie meat :) so it's okay. I plan to do some work after this blog post entry, then go to church. I will go to the gym for an hour workout, longer than my usual and try to do about 10,000 steps of the treadmill and other machines. Yesterday, I only did 8,000 :( because I buried my head doing homework and it is just not easy marching in place as I type while my head was covered with books and papers. Can you imagine?

          Good Sunday to you all! May your day be restful or productive or both. 

February Reasons to be Merry

Ice cream cake, black rice pudding, Eggs Benedict from our favorite restaurant.

Hello, hello, I'm glad I'm here

My presence is back in the blogosphere

I thought why not, it gives me cheer

Writing good thoughts sets aside my fears

As you see here, I post a lot about food

It is one of the things that sure boost my mood

I had ice cream cake shaped like a heart, you see

Breakfast and lunch times with my sweetheart and me

Pad Thai noodles, black rice pudding

Eggs Benedict in front of the wall art

Seafood curry, spicy soup while we look

At salt-and-pepper-cow-so-cute 

A valentine day with my special dude

With flowers, rose plant, and, yes, more food

Even sitting in the gym massage chair

Made me feel, "Oh, so good."

In a more serious note, I feel grateful for the grace we received

For the safety from a hit and run accident

My daughter's safe, we're relieved

We are thankful that this morning the thief was caught

Breaking in my daughter's car right in the lot

In our neighborhood

I am thankful for yoga, therapy, and support 

For the gym on these cold days

And exercise there where it's not cold

I am thankful to be reminded to write a blog post

As I'd rather be writing my gratitude here

Highlighting the good and getting them exposed

Busy Thankful Post

I am thankful for various things in my life but too busy to write much.

Here's my picture collage for the week, however late. I miss you all.

Not Grateful for Bad Furnace Services

       
 This kind of post does not usually belong to my gratitude site, but I owe it to my neighbors not be fooled by furnace service owner, Jon, from Champion Heating Cooling and Plumbing in Westminister, Colorado. Do not trust his 90-day no breakdown warranty.

          Here it is.

          Lousy service, unprofessional, fiery furnace service owner/sole serviceman for his business who refused to honor the 90-day warranty of his own work and could not handle customer questioning and complaint. Jon from Champion Heating Cooling and Plumbing LLC in Colorado charged me twice for the same service 87-days apart. This owner of Champion Heating and Plumbing and sole technician first came out to fix my furnace in November 2015 to address a no heat service call. He charged me for furnace inspection, no heat service call, and evap coil cleaning. He recommended monthly filter change with 20x25x1 filter. I trusted him being the pro and had been replacing with that size ever since. I did not like his attitude being arrogant at that time. But he did get my furnace working.

        In October 2018, the same problem arose, "system tipping on high limit." I called the furnace business with magnet ad attached to my furnace mistakenly thinking that was the business I used prior to 2015 because I did not want to use the same service as 2015. That was my fault. I later found out that he was the same person/serviceman. I was desperate with a cold house at that time, so I used his service. Again he serviced the furnace with a 15-minute service call and evac cleaning with a 90-day no breakdown guarantee. Surprisingly, 87 days later, my heater broke down. He refused to honor his own handwritten warranty on top of the printed warranty on the service order invoice. I insisted on the guarantee. He got upset, was shaking, and called me a Pitbull. This is witnessed by my boyfriend, and my boyfriend told him to leave.

        This angry Champion Heating Cooling Plumbing technician and the owner still charged me for the repeat (same) services. My furnace is still not working, and I had to hire somebody else, so I do not have to use portable heaters. I was nervous writing this review but other consumers have to be aware. The serviceman insisted my furnace still works. My house is cold without the use of portable heaters as the heat keeps turning off by itself before it reaches 71 degrees where I have the thermostat set at. Also, the size of the filter he told me to get is wrong. It fell down because it was too small so it was his fault that I had the wrong size. My furnace was running without a filter. And then he changed what he wrote on the invoice about the size 20x25x1. He now said I need to order a customized size of 22x25x1 that is not available premade. He again placed the wrong size in my filter too small which I paid for and taped it to place which he did not do before so it will not drop out of place.

      There is good news. My furnace is working now after hiring another technician from a company that has been around in my area since 1956. After three an a half hours of coil cleaning (again), the right size/grade filter and other work like turning the high-limit switch right side up (it was backward),  my house is 71-73 degrees warm again, not 59. I paid $100 less with no fake "discounts" compared to what Champion Heating charged me for two visits of 1 hour combined. I should have checked Better Business Bureau (BBB) first to check for furnace business standing, reviews, and complaints last October 2018. Both businesses are mentioned there. One good, one bad. Guess which is which?

When Exercise Pays

Hello, hello fellow TToTers
I haven't forgotten to be thankful
It's just that the past month my schedule was full
You see, I again went back to school
To say, it's easy, that's just plain bull...

I have many things on my gratitude list
To share my joy, I can't resist
My dog, Velvet had a tumor removed
No cancer, cone removed
She's much improved

To make it fair, Snowball's pic is here
He's also cute, he made it clear
He's on my exercise discs to say, "mom, dear"
Stop exercising, stay off your gear

I have to thank our spring challenge
My family gained strength with exercise
And with participation fees we earned funds for college
Benefitting students with grades above-average

Of course, after workouts I thank God
For the food and energy He provides us
And for the people I get to invite
To share the grace with a company is a delight

Birthday 47 Gratitude

It is my birthday and I am thankful for

Some ten, not four

Or maybe more

Who's keeping score?

Not me for sure

But here I go

I am thankful for:

1. Gluten-free birthday cake from Whole Foods store
2. A pill organizer my daughter is actually using
3. Old picture of my son playing
4. A convenient place for car washing
5. An outdoor place for dog walking
6. A fave restaurant for birthday feasting
7. A selfie of me and daughter smiling
8. The church that inspires me to keep praying
9. A spring wellness challenge I'm participating
10. A silly shirt my daughter thinks is annoying 

(Sometimes parents should annoy their teens too!)

I turned 47 yesterday. My week is not over celebrating

Have a good weekend.

Please Save Me from "F"

It's February

It's a great time to be

Freely writing and word finding

Fun words for you to see

As often, the visual me

Have to find some inspirations

To add for considerations

To help with my creation

A flower collage seems like a good fit

With my daughter above 

Donning our fuschia knits

Below it is us sharing some food

To  the right are some flowers
That help boost my mood

And lastly, it's Snowball

Our furball who's small

He may not be that tall

But he sure can growl

------------------

From here I will stop

And boldly, I ask

If you're 65 and up

Will you help me out?

Please answer some questions

For around four minutes

I'll compensate you for  your time

(As you save me from getting an F)

For my college class online.

Here's the link: Survey
As of now, 2/14/2018, 5pm MST, I got enough participants. So thank you guys for reading.

Join the fun ABC Wednesday group!

New Year, New Gratitude

They are not really new

Just to be true

They are common gratitude

I had from last year

My cute dog Velvet

Is still here to give joy

She does not have to do anything

Like play tricks with her toy

Just laying down comfy

With toys that are fluffy

As she's looking so comfy

She is kinda funny

I am thankful for Fitbit

It inspires me, I admit it

I may not push as hard to get fit

If I am without it

It's a constant reminder

I have on my wrist

I am thankful for my bike

With a Kindle holder

I can read as I pedal

And stay in when it's colder

I am thankful for candles

I used with my prayers

I found that they make

The experience a little deeper

There is something about flames

That calms my brain

It eases some pain

And lesses some strain

I am thankful for abundance of food

Paul and I don't gamble

But we splurge on food

We like to sample

It's a simple pleasure to try different dishes

Japanese, Mexican, Chinese

Cooked and prepared by others

(No need to wash the dishes)

Oh there is something new I am thankful for

It's this cool eye pillow

I bought from FSA store

It relieves my eyes that are sore

And reduces puffiness

I use it sometimes

It feels good, also,  on my head

Happy Thanksgiving

At Into The Fire ceramic painting studio with helpful staff, Arvada

The Christmas season is here! 

Wait, it is Thanksgiving week here in the U.S. Some streets are already decorated with Christmas lights. I am not ready yet. 

"Can we put the Christmas tree up?"

"Not yet. Let's wait until this weekend," I told my daughter.

We have a small foil tree that literally takes only five minutes to put up and decorate, ready with its light and all. Anyway, it does not matter. It is too early to put a tree up.

I feel hurried. 

Can I take the time to be thankful first?

Of course, I can. It is the Thanksgiving week, anyway . .  .It will be Thanksgiving Thursday before the Black Friday Christmas shopping event. 

Moving on, I am thankful for:

1. The freedom I get to enjoy in America. "God Bless America, my home sweet home."
2. The approaching year to give me a chance to start anew. I want to be more productive. I already started a new planner, ditching an old one, and using two guidebooks for gratitude. I am excited about 2018.
3. Teens staying home and being good. 
4. Look at me painting ceramics with my daughter.
5. Food on the table; most I got on sale. 
6. Early turkey and ham? Oh, yeah!
7. A stable job.
8. Financial room to increase my retirement savings contribution by one percent. Baby steps!
9. A little pampering I get to enjoy with my daughter, relaxing yoga, for 10-11 dollars per class in one of the top 5 yoga studio in my area. That's a good deal!
10. The weekly (or twice weekly) acupuncture continues to benefit me medically, and my insurance reimburses me for it. 

That is it for now. I may not have ten pictures this week but I am indeed thankful.

Have a good week. 

Smile!

Join us! 

Times of Gratitude

It has been a good week, not perfect but good. Hey, I'm here and have the energy and time to post. My theme this week is -- you guessed it. Time!

This week I went to a co-worker's retirement party and enjoyed some nursing cake too. Levell retired after serving the hospital as a nurse for over 30 years. We met at the brewery and the place was packed with mostly her friends and coworkers. I kissed her goodbye and she had this tears of joy and maybe sadness as well that she is leaving. God bless her.

A walk in the park around the lake is great with dog Velvet and best when my daughter tags along too even though she stays on the concrete with her skateboard. Going back, she offered to hold V's leash. Velvet ran pulling her. It was funny to look at. Velvet seemed to really like pulling my daughter like pulling a kid on a sled. We had a great time.

I finally tried acupuncture that I had been dreading to do to alleviate some aches, anxiety, stress, and overactive bladder. My daughter tried it too and she took that picture with the paper-fan decor on the wall. She is still afraid of needles and has not tried the therapy again. I, however, like it and already had my session for the fourth time. My symptoms are fading. I also checked my tongue just now and the teeth marks on the sides disappeared which suggests I do not grind my teeth in my sleep anymore.

It is colder now, so my vegetables outside are dying except for the kale. My daughter took some potted vegetable plants indoors. Look at this pepper plant surviving.

I donated one hour of my vacation time to charity being run at work and they gave me a color-changing cube alarm clock in return. I love it. The color-changing is supposed to help boost mood.

I thank the daylight savings time today for the extra hour of sleep. Fall back!

My favorite chocolate is on sale!

I recently refinanced my home and replaced my 11-year old gas-hustling van with a new economy car Jetta. My daughter is posing  ala-The-Price-is-Right model. 

I thank my dogs for forcing encouraging me to walk. Look at Snowball waiting at the front door. How could I not make time?

Post and read more about gratitude 

with the Ttot group!