Outdoor Golf season

The outdoor golf season is finally back on!!

The driving range at the golf club has finally reopened - with some new shade! So nice to be hitting off grass again!  And can't wait to get back on the golf course!

And we are off moving things back into the storage at the club after months of indoor kids' clinics. Thank goodness for the truck!

And this year will mark a special occasion when I tee off for the US Senior Women's Open Qualifier - as a 50 year old. Yikes!!

And for this prep (and also for Charlie's Drive, Chip, and Putt prep), I bought a couple of books.  Here's one of them - hope to get through it before the event (on 6/17):

The other book is also by Pia Nilsson and Lynn Marriot called Make Every Shot Count.  It's too bad I never had a chance to work with these 2 women during my time at Arizona State University. I believe they are still working with the golf team there.  Oh well, we'll have to figure it out on our own! :-D

Update - Graham's collarbone

Graham is finally cleared! His collarbone has finally healed - and he's so excited to restart PE again at school.  Here again is the before photo (from November, right before Thanksgiving):

And from his last X-ray on 3/18 - no more break!

So does anyone want to predict Graham's 4th collarbone break?! LOL!!

Plantings at school (Mar 9)

It's been so cold and frozen recently that it's been difficult to plant anything at school. And can't believe it's going to be my last year volunteering to do this.  One last planting in Spring and that's it.  

I went to school to check on the Valentine's planting and all the planters were bare!  The ladies in the office said that they had just seen in. OMG, did someone throw it all away?? Well, there was only one way to find out. Oh yeah,... dumpster diving! 

Okay, I was actually quite tempted to get into the dumpster. But thankfully I was able to reach the bag with a golf club ;-P

There are still no flowers at the nursery. So we're stuck with some fake ones for now:

Trying to make it work!

Not too shabby??

Bought some fake butterflies too. I'm glad these didn't blow away in the strong winds!

This will have to do for now:

The weather has been still so weird lately.  It was so nice this past Sunday and Monday. But after today, we're down into the 40s tomorrow, with the low of 37F.  AND... it's going to be raining these next 4 days. Sheesh!!

Charlie, the Chef

For whatever reason, Charlie is starting to cook and bake a little more recently.  Maybe it's a good thing that I'm too busy these days to do it?! Charlie actually made mozzarella cheese from scratch!

I'm just glad no one got sick.  Ha ha!

Honestly, it actually wasn't bad.

And then, he finds something else online.  Looks like that big jug of heavy cream from Costco is coming in handy. Ha!

This actually turned out pretty yummy. Charlie toasted some white bread, spread the whipped cream on top, added the blueberries, and topped it sugar:

And then, one day one my way home, Charlie says that he has made banana bread. What?! At least they left me a slice of it!

The banana bread was actually really good!  MOOOIST...! Adding the chocolate chips was a nice touch too.  Well done, Charlie! :-)

In the meantime, we are almost always still looking for that next great dish - including trips to IHOP. Yeahhh, it's been a while and they have milkshakes again. Yay!! But can you believe the amount of food?!

Tres leches pancakes. Are you kidding me??! It's like a dessert:

Graham's dinner definitely looks like dessert:

Charlie, on the other hand - had waffles and fried chicken. My arteries are just tightening up. Ha ha!

Oh, by the way - Charlie also made some sort of orange creme brulee the other night. I hope he continues this streak of discovery!

Random photos

Never a dull moment in this household - this tank is so weird. It never did leak but then I put some blue cleaning tablet thing and then the water starting leaking out from the tank. And recently, it started leaking again! I bought some new rubber seals and it didn't even need that. I just tightened up the screw and that seems to be ok now. The bucket will remain there for a while, just in case!

Nothing like a late night ramen meal. I added some green beans and also dumped an egg in there. Yummm... reminds me of those late nights my late dad would have. Miss him!

These two boys, always on their phone after a meal! Maybe we should also file that lawsuit!!

I sewed up Graham's flannel pajama pants. And then, a few days later, he said that there's another hole. Except he didn't realize there was a HUGE hole on the back of it.  Looks like I'm going to just use it as scrap fabric at this one. LOL!

More sunrises and sunsets every Sunday during my work schedule:

Of course, the sun is right in my line of sight - sometimes blinding! Did catch a good one tonight:

I can't believe it's getting cold again.  This new beige hoodie is working out really well though:

One or two nice days and then, bam! SNOW!!

Definitely no golf today!  And this pole is mocking me every time is snows. I almost hit it the last time on a really snowy day!

I'll still trying my best to get some more workouts in with the GolfForever Swing Trainer/program. I'm not sure why it's been so difficult recently, especially when there hasn't been too much going on.  Here's a recent exercise - it's in fast-forward, so be sure to do it at your own pace. Feel free to implement it into your routine!

Trip to Feed My Starving Children (Mar 5)

I love how the school organized a trip to volunteer at the Feed My Starving Children warehouse - to help pack food.  We've done this one other time and it was great to be able to do it again.

As this is in a food packing facility, we need to make sure we get all that hair intact within those hair nets. And that includes Bobby's beard. Ha ha!

Fun crowd today!

Graham's mustache is definitely more noticeable!

Can't believe this kid is going to be 16 years old this summer. Yikes! And we were finally able to sign him up for Driver's Ed for this summer too. No wonder I'm getting more grey hair each year!! 

Charlie's golf swing

I had an assignment with my LPGA teaching certificate and it was having to analyze a golf swing.  And so, instead of using a random stranger's swing, I had Charlie volunteer :-)

Here's his swing in slow motion:

Face-on

Down-the-line

If only Charlie would listen a bit more, his swing could be so much more efficient! Oh well, I suppose in time, he will appreciate what he could learn from his mother.  Ha!

We did sign him up for the Drive, Chip, and Putt golf tournament for 2026. So we'll see how it goes. He is motivated though, so we have that going for him!

Maybe if he practiced as hard as he does his practice butterfly knife!

I have to say, it is pretty impressive :-)

Happy Chinese New Year (Feb 17)

Gong Xi Fa Cai to the Year of the Horse!  I guess the first thing I really think of is actually my dad, because he was a "Horse" - born in 1942.  He would have been 84 this year.  

Trying to clean up house is always such a task before the New Year.  I managed to do a little bit and frantically trying to get some decor up too. Ha!

I may have to buy some new decor for next year - just to mix it up a little bit from the decor that I've been using for the last 3 years. Ha ha!

I love this one, but unfortunately, it did not stay up by the front door!

I thought a red light would be fun too.  LOL!

These light bulbs are pretty cool.  You can change it to almost every color, all from your phone!

I bought the boys 2 new t-shirts for the New Year.  This one is super funny and cute for Graham - it's a Horse eating noodles.  Ha ha!

And Charlie's shirt is lion (of the Lion Dance) as all of the 12 Zodiac signs:

Didn't get a chance to cook any noodles at home, but I think ramen these days count :-)

Plus, Charlie really LOVES the sesame balls at this restaurant!

My friend was away in FL, so Bobby and I helped out at her golf studio.  Lunch date with Bobby!

The mural in the background may look familiar.  Yes, it's the one that I did :-D

Lunch date #2!

Thankfully, CNY last for 15 days.  I think it was only by about the 12th day, we were able to finally make some dumplings.

Teaching Charlie how to mix up the meat here.  "Back in the day",... I probably would have used my bare hands. But these days, I'd rather just glove-up. Ha!

And normally, we would put cabbage and onions and garlic into the minced pork. But with these boys, it's just straight pork with some salt and soy sauce, and a touch of sesame oil.  That's it!

Looking for the secret ingredient.  Can you figure it out?? :-)

Still looking pretty good for a once-a-year activity.  I told the boys I've been wrapping dumplings since I was a kid - it's like riding a bicycle. LOL!!

Thumbs up from Graham!

My grandmother used to make the dumpling skin.  However, these days, I would just purchase frozen ones.  I've never really learned how to make them fresh.  Maybe one day, when I'm retired. Ha ha!

YUM...!!  And yup, that is a meal in itself.  We ate all 2lbs of pork dumplings!

Boys' wrapping skills are getting better.  Not a single dumpling filling came out of the wrapper.  Nicely done, Graham and Charlie!

We also did the ceremonial "ang pow" or red packets for the boys.  They have to wish us a Happy Chinese New Year (Xing Nian Kuai Le) before they can get these money-filled red packets:

Figured we'd try and keep up with some other Chinese traditions too during this holiday.  A little bit of fun with a dice game and some quarters ;-)

I just want the record to show that Mommy was the winner in this game. He he!

My aunts were talking about soy milk during this time and for whatever reason, my sister decided to buy me a grinder and boiling combo thermos:

And Graham was so sweet to make me some soy milk from soy beans.  A little bit of sugar and ta da! Yummy soy milk!  It's probably so much cheaper than what we buy in the stores.  Perhaps we just need to buy quality soy beans from now on.  Almost like making our own ice-cream.  You should have seen the big bottle of heavy cream I bought recently.  My waistline is not going to be happy. LOL!!

No pineapple tarts this year.  Maybe later in the year.  Somehow I've been rather busy with all that's been going on with my golf lessons.  And now I just started with my LPGA TEP (teaching certificate) as well.  I haven't been very active in getting more business for painting murals and/or working on my kokedamas (plants in moss balls).  I suppose, in time, like everything else!! ;-P