Doggie Bucket List

Well, after writing my version of "The Bucket List", the girls insisted that they do one. So, here are their lists:

June

Things I have done in my doggie lifetime

Made snow angels

Ate snow

Barked at people and dogs

Dug holes in mom's backyard

Swam in a creek

Swam in our doggie pool

Howl like a wolf

Tore up mom's carpet. That was fun!

Played hide-and-seek with mom and dad

Chased ducks

Went camping

Played in a lake with Samantha

Climbed on the picnic table

Samantha

Things I have done in my doggie lifetime

Barked at nothing

Made snow angels
Ate snow
Dug holes in mom's backyard
Swam in a creek
Swam in our doggie pool
Played fetch
Chased ducks
Went camping
Played in a lake with June

Swam in a lake

Chewed up sticks and branches

Digging for rocks in a lake

Things we would like to do before we go to the Rainbow Bridge:

Swim in the ocean

Have a big piece of T-bone steak

Swim in a bigger doggie pool

Have unlimited amounts of milkbones

We would like to dog-tag our doggie friends to do this list(if they are not too busy sniffing around or sleeping on their human's bed): Kodak, Travis & Riley, Kane, Gus & Waldo

Thank you for reading our lists. Lots of licks and kisses and sniffes to you all.

Tails Wag,

Samantha & June

The Bucket List

The Bucket List is a comedy-drama starting Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman. The movie is about 2 terminally ill men going on a road trip with a wish list of things to do before they "kick the bucket".

Just recently, my friend Lacy tagged me in facebook reagarding "The Bucket List". In the facebook bucket list version, you put an X next to a list of things that you have done during your lifetime. I did that list in facebook but I'm changing it a bit here. Here's my version of "The Busket List":

Things I have done during my lifetime:

Skipped school

Cried myself to sleep

Sang Karaoke

Paid for a meal with coins only (It was probably at McDonald's or Burger King, sorry, I'm not proud)

"Ding-dong ditched" someone

Done something I told myself I wouldn't

Made prank phone calls

Laughed until some kind of beverage came out of my nose or elsewhere

Caught a snowflake on my tongue

Blown bubbles

Gone to the movies

Given someone a gift without them knowing it was from you (Secret Santa does not count)

Lay down outside at night and admired the stars while listening to the crickets

Been to Washington

Been to Maine

Been to California

Been down Bourbon Street in New Orleans (Many times!)

Been down Bourbon Street in New Orleans for Mardi Gras ("Laissez Les Bon Temps Roulez")

Seen the Statue of Liberty

Been to the Grand Canyon

Been to Disneyland ---or Disney World

Traveled by train

Traveled by motorcycle

Been deep sea fishing (Awesome time!)

Gone snowmobiling

Lived in more than one country

Been on a plane

Been lost

Swam in the ocean

Seen whales in the ocean

Been to Niagara Falls

Been to Canada

Made snowangels

Been to a Major League Baseball game (Atlanta Braves vs NY Mets)

Things I would like to do before I "kick the bucket":

Skydiving

Swim with the dolphins

Visit Italy

Take a cruise to Alaska and do some fishing

Go to Yellowstone

Take a cross-country camping trip

What about you? Do you have a list of things that you would like to do before you "kick the bucket"? You are welcome to share this list by leaving me a comment. Or if you perfer, consider yourself "tagged" to do this at your blog!

My Favorite Things

"Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens

Bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens

Brown paper packages tied up with strings

These are a few of my favorite things"

The Sound of Music - My Favorite Things

Watching hubby sleep so soundly

The sound of my dogs snoring

My dogs napping or playing

Tomato sauce simmering

Fresh-picked tomatoes

Watching campfire

The smell of basil

Untouched snow

Snow falling

Sunflowers

Chocolate

Camping

...

These are a few of my favorite simple things

How about you? Please share with me your simple pleasure.

Did You Know? (Answers to your questions)

Did you know that I have been in the United States for 14 year?

Did you know that the last time I went back to Malaysia to visit my family was in 1997? (This is for Warren)

Did you know that I moved from the warm, music saturated South to the frozen north because I came with a certain person whom I'm no longer with? (This is for the cold-hating Southerner Julie)

Did you know that I do not teach piano anymore? (This is also for the cold-hating Southerner Julie)

Did you know that the average price for a gallon of gas up here nowadays is $2.03? (Here's your answer Warren)

Did you know that hubby and I met at a party? (For Warren & Lena)

Did you know that I do not really know how to cook Malaysian food? (For JP & Mrs. JP)

Did you know that I do know a few blogs that have lots of Malaysian recipes and mouth-watering photos (Rasa Malaysia, Little Corner of Mine)? (Also for JP & Mrs. JP)

Did you know that Samantha was my Christmas gift from hubby (Find out more)? (For Lena)

Did you know that June was adopted on Thanksgiving day (Find out more)? (Also for Lena)

Did you know that if I get a chance I will get my butt to Georgia to visit? (Ya, you Lacy)

And this concludes our "Did You Know" session. Have a wonderful weekend!

How did I get here?

Many of you have asked this same question: "How did you end up here in the US from Malaysia?" Are you sure you want the truth? You can't handle the truth!


I am a Mail-Ordered Bride. That's it.



Ha ha! Gotcha!!! I've been wanting to say that.
Ok, here's the truth:

In Aug. 1995(2 years after I graduated from high school), I left Malaysia, flew across the Pacific Ocean and landed in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. I went there to attend Louisiana State University(LSU - Geaux Tigers!). I majored in Piano Pedagogy.

In Sept. 1999 I graduated from LSU and moved to upstate NY and got a job and I have been here ever since.

That's how/why I came to the US from Malaysia. Not mail-ordered, not smuggled, not sold, not illegal. There, happy now?
Since we are on the topic of asking questions, here's your chance to ask me other questions and I will try to answer them in a future post.

Nostalgic

I have never purchase from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds before so I had decided to request a catalog. When it came, I was so excited. As I flipped through the catalog, I saw quite a few things that I have eaten(quite regularly) when I was growing up in Malaysia. These really brought back some memories. If you have a copy of that catalog, you've probably seen them:

Asian Winged Beans (Mom used to slice them thin and stir-fry them with dried shrimp and sambal)

Red Malabar Spinach (I remember growing these next to the fence at my parent's house and we would just go outside and pick some when mom needed them)

Roselle (I remembered making tea with dried roselle)
Jicama (It's a type of tuber, you can eat it fresh or cooked. It's the main ingredient in one of my favorite dish: Popiah)Bitter Gourds (They are called bitter gourds for a reason, they are bitter! Mom likes to stir-fry them with eggs)Also in the catalog are green long beans, Malaysian dark red eggplant, Boy Choy and Chinese Kale. These are common vegetable found in Malaysia.

If you have a Johnny's Selected Seeds catalog, you would have seen these: Vietnamese Fuzzy Gourd, aslo known as Winter Melon. Mom used to stir-fry these or make winter melon soup.

There you have it, a trip down my childhood memory lane.

Helpless

Believe it or not I have never been to an animal shelter before until this past weekend. Just like I had mentioned in my previous post, we brought 2 50Lbs bags of dog food and 1 50Lbs bag of cat food to the humane society on Saturday. Since I have never been to an animal shelter before, I have decided to go inside(in spite of warning from my co-worker) and take a look at the dogs and cats. As soon as we walked in, we saw this yellow lab who was so happy to see us and so were the other dogs. It really broke my heart to see these helpless animal in there. My eyes started to get watery as we walked to each cage and greet each dog then we went to see the cats. I tried my very best to hold my tears because there were other people there. I cried all the way home, feeling very helpless...

I have thought about volunteering for rescue groups before but I am too weak. I know I probably would not be able to handle it especially if it's an abused case. Or I may end up in prison because I would probably do something bad to the abusers.

Maybe one day....