Repost-Lists and Stuff

I have noticed:

A tired child will whine and cannot be pleased until he gets a nap.

I always ask “why”. Guess I never grew out of that stage.

News which is bad news can sometimes be a good thing.

Those who matter most are sometimes the ones on your mind not the ones with the same blood you have.

The ones with the same blood are usually the ones on your mind. If not, it is the ones with the same heart.

You can forget your past, your heritage and your childhood, but you cannot make it as though it wasn’t a part of you. It shows up in little ways if you don’t let it show in bigger ways.

My kids sass back to me the same things I sassed back to my parents. Where do you suppose they picked that up??

Having a little less material goods is satisfying when the soul is prospering. Having more material things just equates to junk when your soul is dying.

If you play a piano out of tune every day, it sounds just fine. Pretty soon you sing out of tune.

A lot of things labeled “wrong” have to be addressed within context to get a clearer picture of why it happened.

Traditions can be a good thing. Maybe there is a connotation to religion, to culture, to pride. There is a beauty in doing the same thing your family has been doing for so many generations.

You can say the right prayer at the right time with the right words. So what. You can say “Oh God!” suddenly when your back is against the wall and it is enough.

Adults are often too uptight. We often transfer that stress to our children who then take it out on us. Go figure!

The people you love sometimes don’t write back to you. You love them anyway.

I had not been home for 570 days but when I did get here, my mind told me exactly which roads to take and my feet knew where I wanted to walk. My bed no longer felt familiar. My old jeans did.

HAVE A GREAT DAY! LOVE, RUTH

I Want, I Want. OR do I?

I want a new pickup truck. I want a bigger nicer house. I want a boyfriend. I want a pretty garden, not a weedpatch. I want to work more hours. I want I want I want.
Or....er....um...or do I? Ya know, what we really want, what we are really willing to go for, well, most of us (including me) find a way to make it happen sooner or later. If we really want it, we make a way sooner.
These were my thoughts recently when a friend of mine mentioned "the greatest gift you can give your kids is just to go for it, go for life and do it." Hmm. I get it. I know what he meant. It hit a chord within me.
In the meantime, my Iwants have to wait. What i mean is, I don't Iwant enough to change the current status quo of my life to create it. My house is old but then, well, I know how to manage it-wouldn't it be time and expense and overtime hours to create a bigger, newer house? Oops. Not ready for that. A shiny sexy new pickup truck would be a dream come true.... at the expense of other things we truly do need-so that gets put back into dreamworld awhile. A boyfriend? ha. that isn't up for discussion at this point in time at all. Somewhere next to the shiny red truck. Oh well. A cute clean garden? maybe. A tiller is on my christmas list for myself-on about March-after tax returns. :) And working more hours? Just glad to have a job some days.
I want I want I want? I really just want
-my kids to grow and be strong
-more money coming in than going out
-to be effective and useful at work
-have enough money and sense for healthy foods
-my home to be warm and clean
-my family and tribe to communicate and love each other.

So there you have it. There are my REAL Iwants!

A Few Things I Want to Share with You:

Best and finest memories of Malaysia

1. Saw a huge monitor lizard right there in the drain near KL old central station KTM.
2. Looking down from the bridge on the Klang River by Pejabat Pos Besar, it was so brown, so smelly, so foul. I am happy to say that not long after that the cleanup plan was started and the Klang river in that place now is not nearly as dirty as it was.
3. “It is going to rain. Better take an umbrella.” Well, Waihon thought we could walk to town before the rain started and he told Popo we didn’t want one extra thing to carry. It rained before we could unlock the gate. The best part of this story is the little, girlish giggle I remember from Popo.
4. At KLCS (old Central Station) we were waiting for the very last train home around 11 something. There were not many people there. I notice one man, very unkept, very crazy looking. I think he was homeless. But my heart almost stopped when I realized that this man, who had nothing at all, had an old towel and in it he was carrying a very small kitten which he petted from time to time. I had up to this point not seen such a vivid example of how compassion can live in the human soul. I learned that from a homeless crazy man.
5. Zainun, Marges Uncle and Auntie next door and sister Linda. My neighbors at Taman Nyior.
6. The chicken rice shop just outside Taman Nyior. If I had a little cash, I could walk there with Ellie and Joey in the sling. We usually had just enough to share one serving of chicken rice. Sometimes we had just enough for a little rice and a boiled egg. I think the neighbors thought I was crazy walking in the middle of the day. I think Waihon would have thought it unsafe.
7. The huge, really colorful lizard we met on the way home from the chicken rice shop one day. He reappeared one morning in Marges carporch! She thought he was charmed and wouldn’t dare go out and disturb him. I thought he was wonderful so long as he stayed off my carporch. She laughed at this.
8. The way Eunice would call up and say “You want to go Giant or anywhere? We are coming to fetch you ok? See you then.” When I didn’t know they were coming to fetch us. Ok! Have twenty minutes to clean up and get ready to go out!
9. Soo Hui’s father when he took us out to see the Parilament building (we didn’t have kids yet). He was so quiet, kind and polite.
10. Joanna’s big, round eyes the first time she laid eyes on me. She was four years old. She must have thought I was very strange looking, not brown like everyone else she had ever known. I won her over by playing folk songs on harmonica for her. Waihon wasn’t even with me the first time I met his family; he was in town getting his hair cut to be presentable to his mother! So I focused on the ones I thought might be more accepting-the kids!
11. When the Auntie next door was dying of cancer, she allowed me to help care for her and pray for her. Later was able to share with her family. My mother in law helped me interpret to cantonese what I wanted to tell them.
12. Top of my list of favorite places: Kong Ming, Tops, Curry Leaf, that funny japanese restaurant chain that the food comes out on a conveyor belt. If that isn’t entertaining nothing is. I like the food at Kong Ming best; I like Tops because they give you a lot to eat, I like Curry Leaf for the obvious reason that the friends I always found myself there with were good company.
13. The roti seller in our neighborhood always came around the same time and we would buy roti and then it was time to put the kids to bed. Just around dusk. Became a comfortable routine.
14. The way I would walk to Zainun’s house at the corner in the evening, stay longer than I intended, and then we would walk each other home a couple of times before saying goodnight. Still miss that.
15. I was shocked and amazed when I realized how much effort, thought and love went into Agape Heights. It was a nice place to be. I have never seen such a big bed before (in the first bedroom). And they chose fancy new dishes for the kitchenette. Which I was afraid to use because I didn't want to break them.
16. The kitchen in my house in Nilai…that was probably the nicest thing Waihon had ever done for me, let us build up the kitchen properly. It even has an oven. I miss my smiley mugs.
17. Those really centuries old trees near Allson Klana Seremban. Or were they near the children’s park? You know what I am talking about if you are from the area. Don’t they look amazing like something from Peter Pan’s imagination?

18. And many more precious memories that I think of usually around…3 am…..especially when I’ve had too much kopi O…..so funny me, when I was in M’sia, I spent so much time thinking of MN…

Thinking About that Black Stuff

I copy/pasted a portion of the article "Cutting Out Coffee" from www.lifescript.com, which I think is a nice website. Check this out:

Cutting Out Coffee
Monday, July 21, 2008Are you a one-cup-a-day kinda guy or more like a nine-cups-a-day kinda gal? Coffee is as much a part of the average adult’s morning routine as brushing their teeth. B ut how good is it really for you? Find out if it’s time for you to give up that cup ‘o joe. Plus: Try our 14-day plan for quitting caffeine, without experiencing withdrawals…

The aroma of a fresh brewed cup of coffee or the taste of a freshly pulled shot of espresso is enough to get anyone out of bed on time, even on a dreary, cold morning. Coffee is truly a comfort “food.” But while some studies suggest that coffee is practically a health elixir with its abundance of antioxidants, others highlight the negative side-effects that caffeine has on our bodies.

The pros: In 2007 alone, studies concluded that caffeine supplements eased post-workout muscle pain and the combination of caffeine and exercise can reduce the risk of skin cancer. Other findings said three or more daily cups of coffee may aid memory in older women, and drinking five or more cups a day can help prevent Alzheimer’s disease.
The cons: In March 2007, the American Psychiatric Association said more than 250 milligrams of caffeine daily may cause insomnia, irregular heartbeat, muscle spasms, and the inability to concentrate. Other studies indicate that an afternoon power nap is more effective than caffeine at boosting energy levels and improving alertness. And most recently, in January 2008, the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology said that drinking two cups of coffee a day doubles the risk of miscarriage in pregnant women. (See related article: Is Coffee Crashing Your Diet?)

The research can be confusing, and so can the actual caffeine content of your favorite pick-me-up – coffee, soda or otherwise. You might be surprised at how much your drink of choice actually contains:
Grande (16 oz) Starbucks drip coffee = 330 milligrams
Grande (16 oz) Starbucks caffè latte = 150 milligrams
1 can (8.3 oz) Red Bull = 80 milligrams
Single shot (1 oz) espresso = 75 milligrams
Tall (12 oz) Starbucks Tazo Chai Iced Tea Latte = 75 milligrams
12 oz Mountain Dew = 54 milligrams
8 oz brewed green tea = 30-50 milligrams
8 oz brewed black tea = 47 milligrams
12 oz Diet Coke = 47 milligrams
12 oz Coca-Cola Classic = 35 milligrams
For a little less kick, check out these options:
16 oz Snapple Iced Tea = 18 milligrams
12 oz Nestea, sweetened or unsweetened = 17 milligrams
8 oz Hot cocoa = 14 milligrams
12 oz Lipton Brisk Iced Tea, lemon flavored = 10 milligrams
8 oz decaffeinated coffee, brewed = 2 milligrams
8 oz decaffeinated black tea = 2 milligrams

Even some foods and medications contain caffeine, so check those labels:
NoDoz Maximum Strength, 1 tablet = 200 milligrams
Excedrin, Extra Strength, 2 tablets = 130 milligrams
Haagen-Dazs Coffee Ice Cream, 1/2 cup = 100 milligrams
Hershey’s Special Dark Chocolate Bar, 1.45 oz = 18 milligrams
Hershey’s Chocolate Bar, 1.55 oz = 9 milligrams

So will I be cutting out coffee?? Doubtful. But maybe, when you get up to so many cups a day your not keeping track it is time to cut down.... we'll see...