Itchy and Scratchy just had an egg! You know what this means! ...well, since we don't want any more birds, the expert, Mr. Egg Patrol Person, is on the move! Before today ends, Mr. EPP will boil it. After he drops me off at the airport, he's going to go home and take care of the matter. First, he will create some diversion to get Itchy & Scratchy's attention. Once Itchy & Scratchy are away from their egg, Mr. EPP will immediate grab a hold of that egg and bring it into the kitchen and boil it. Then after the egg cools down, he will return the egg to the birds. Poor Itchy & Scratchy...they think they are infertile.

What if there's another egg tomorrow? How will Mr. EPP know which egg hasn't been boiled? Trust me, Mr. EPP knows.

I cannot believe that of all the different things that that he could say to answer the question, "what do you think of audrey", he picked "lazy"!!!! Sure, I had once mentioned that I prefer 1-story houses because I don't like stairs, I like to sleep in on weekends (who doesn't?), and I don't like to drive because I enjoy sleeping on the road, but do these things warrant "laziness" as the first choice? Who puts home cook meals (which takes me 1.5 hours to make) on the table after work to ensure that we eat healthy stuff? OK, maybe because of the 1 or 2 days that we have to eat left over or take out because I'm too tired after work makes me lazy. Or maybe I'm lazy because I made it his job to set up the tables and load dishes into the dish washer? hmm... Who makes him breakfast (homemade cereal bar, muffins, and sometimes egg sandwiches/egg burrito) and sometimes packs him sandwiches for lunch? None other than me! Oh, maybe because I don't do it everyday so that why he thinks I'm lazy? What does he expect, wonder woman? It's not like I don't have a day job. Oh, by the way, the toilet magically stays clean too. Must be because he flushes it everytime after use so that's why it's clean. hmm.... Maybe I should show him what "lazy" really means.

If there's gonna be a major earthquake anytime soon...alan and I are going to die...die from thirst!!! Why is that? Well..let's see....nope...no bottled water anywhere...and nope..no more brita filters...I am currently drinking tap water.....I guess I'll go buy some water tomorrow..since I've been pumping (no no..no not pumping for milk) my arms (15 lb dumbbells) to tone them up for the wedding, I might as well use these new muscles to pick up some kirkland bottled water from costco. Guess I can't depend on Alan for this task! Hmm..I guess if a major earthquake does hit us between now and before I go to costco tomorrow...if it comes to it, I guess we can drink water from the toilet tank...or steal some water from our neighbors... :)

I've gotten a lot of inquries regarding Itchy's big toe. Itchy's really happy that so many people care about her. I feel that I should give an update on Itchy's toe. Itchy showed me her big toe today, it is still there but I don't know for how long. I hope it won't fall off. I'm crossing my fingers. A week ago, it looks like it was healing, but today, it looks inflamed again. Speaking of toes...my toes are hurting...and that's because Alan's got 2 left feet! Yup, he's got 2 left feet alright. Alan and I just finished practicing dancing (or if you can see us, it's really practicing stomping) for the wedding. Boy, I tell ya, I can't wait till the wedding is over so that we don't have to practice dancing. Both Alan and I can't dance! Very frustrating. I guess it's not fair to say that Alan's got 2 left feet without adding that I got 2 right feet and 3 hands! The 2 of us together....when we dance I somehow keep kneeing him and then smacking him (when I try do turns) and then in return, he somehow is always stomping on my toes...my poor toes. I guess Itchy and I can sit next to each other and commiserate.

Ever wonder why you tend to pee a lot after you had some beer, wine, or hard liquor? And if you think you're the only one...hehe..you're not... This is because alcohol reduces the production of the hormone (antidiuretic hormone) that keeps you from making too much urine. You continue to pee a lot as long as there is alcohol in your bloood..thus losing lots of liquid, vitamins, and minerals....so...hehe..next time you drink alcoholic beverages, remember to drink lots of water as well..and if you can, carry some vitamin with you :P...

How many toes does a lovie have? 10? 8? 7? 6? Well,...a lovie is born with 8 toes; 4 toes on each foot, 2 in the front and 2 in the back. 2 in the front and 2 in the back so that they can perch and grab stuff. For some reason, I have a hard time remembering that or maybe it's wishful thinking. If I were to answer the question yesterday, I would say, 10, just like us! And if I were to think that out loud, Alan would probably *bonk* me in the head. So, yes, most lovies have 8 toes..but if you look at Itchy closely in the picture, you'll see that Itchy only has 7 toes. She had her left big toe amputated early this year because she broke it. And, poor Itchy ... she recently injured her big toe on her right foot... and might even lose it. Dr. Freeman said that this time, it's not broken but the blood vessel was affected and that there's a 50/50 chance that it will heal if not all of the blood supply is cut off. If not, it will eventually fall off. Oh no! Itchy's going to only have 6 toes!!!!!...she's going to have a hard time perching or even playing with her toys :( .... if only she had 10 toes to start with, then losing 2 won't be such a big deal.

Since last November, my contacts (Gas Permeable) had been bothering me. My eyes would be red from the discomfort, and they would pop out easily (my contacts that is..no, not my eyeballs) or even get dislodged. I was thinking..hmm..maybe I've developed some allergies or something. It wasn't like that when I first got them. I went to see my optomestrist and ha-ha-ha I've been wearing my left contact on my right eye and my right contact on my left eye..silly me! I don't even remember when I made the switch. My optometrist said, "Audrey, you've been putting them on the wrong side! The curvature on each eye is slightly different. That is why they didn't fit right. Green, second letter is "r", "r" for right, so the green lense is for your right eye. Blue, second letter is "l", "l" for left, so the blue lense is for your left eye. Remember that." Wow, what a neat little association trick!!! I don't remember being told that before. Or perhaps I wasn't listening before because I would remember these things, I'm good with associations! For example, All Dogs Eat Kidneys is a good little association trick I used to help me remember that vitamins A,D,E, and K are fat-soluable and that taking too much of any of them over the daily recommendated amount is harmful.

Alan kept eating all my bananas!!!! Last week, we bought some bananas. Instead of eating my bananas, I set them aside so I could make Almond Banana Bread. The recipe calls for overly ripe bananas. But every time Alan saw a ripe banana, he would eat it. So...I didn't have enough ingredients today to make my Almond Banana Bread! This was not an isolated incident, it happens all the time. Well, I can't get mad at Alan for eating my bananas, after all bananas are a good source of potassium and potassium is a mineral that counteracts the effects of too much sodium in your diet. Looks like I'll have to hide my bananas if I want to bake some banana bread or buy more bananas. Alan's doing everything he can to keep his sodium at the right level. A ripe banana lying there is asking to be eaten by Alan.

An adequate amount of sodium is very important to sustain a healthy body. We need to eat food that is high in potassium and calcium and low in sodium. To add to this confusion of how much sodium is too much or how little sodium is too little; we also need to be smart about where our sodium come from. As you may or may not know there is such a thing as good sodium and bad sodium. The goal is to sustain a healthy body with good sodium. Good sodium occurs naturally and is not refined. Try to stay away from refined sources of sodium such as commercial table salt or products (processed food) that use table salt whenever possible. Table salt is stripped of most of its minerals and is chemically cleaned, bleached, and treated with anticaking agents. How disgusting is that? And when we consume it, it collects and builds up in our body causing problems.

Here is a shortened list of healthier salts and alternatives from Anne Louise Gittleman's "Get The Salt Out - 501 Simple Ways To Cut The Salt Out Of Any Diet."

Instead of commercial table salt, use the following instead:

· Commercial sea salt

· Unrefined sea salt

· Unrefined rock salt (Real Salt)

· Seasame salt

· Herbal salt

· Kelp

· Kombu

· Lite-sodium soy sauce or tamari sauce

I burnt my soup...again..*sigh*. Alan, who had been looking forward to my low-sodium soup was very disappointed. He asked me, "why do you always do that"? Well, ..because I'm forgetful? I have been preoccupied....with...salt! I have been counting the total mg of salt per serving for everything that I make.

Ever since Alan measured his blood pressure and found that his pressure is higher than what it used to be (higher but definitely not bad), he has been obsessed with how much sodium he consumes and that has rubbed off on me. I picked up a book called "get the Salt out" by Ann Louise Gittleman, M.S., C.N.S from the library and started reading it to Alan during our commute to work.

(Note: The following may contain information related to health or healthy living. Read at your own discretion. If you are experiencing health problems, please go see a doctor, as the suggestions or tips provided cannot be substituted for medical attention. )

The FDA recommends a daily maximum of 2400 mg of sodium. If you eat like most Americans do, you are probably consuming well over that amount. One of the many health conditions linked to having too much sodium in your body is high blood pressure (hypertension) and this is what Alan is worried about.

How much sodium we need depends on who we are (our genetic make up, age, weight, disease, environment, level of physical activity, illnesses, and diet). If you are curious as to how much sodium you should have, ask your doctor to perform a simple nutrient analysis blood test for you when you get your next physical. The book recommends that if your sodium level is between 137 and 144, you'll do well to stay within 2000 mg of sodium per day, if it's above 144, it is best to eliminate unnecessary sodium sources on top of your diet, and if it's below 137, you may need to increase your sodium intake. Be sure to discuss your result with your doctor and get recommendations from her/him.

If you're eating an apple a day to keep the doctor away. Maybe you should consider doubling it to 2 apples a day. Why? Because according to some dude at the University of Texas at Austin, fruits and vegetables are not as rich in vitamin as they used to be. Up to a 30% decrease in protein, calcium, vitamin C, phosphorus, iron and riboflavin from before. This is all due to farmers using new techniques to increase their output, which results in fruits and vegetables spending less time absorbing nutrients from the soil and less time soaking up the sun. So, if you normally save some space for fruit during dinner, you might want to save some extra space.

Do you know that two-thirds of American adults are overweight and that half of these are obese? By overweight, it means having a body mass index (BMI) of 25 or greater and by obese, it means having a BMI of 30 or greater. (You can calculate your BMI at www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/dnpa/bmi/calc-bmi.htm.) Two-thirds! According to Eat, Drink, and Be Healthy: The Harvard Medical School Guide to Healthy Eating, "3 aspects of weight -- BMI, waist size, and weight gained after one's early twenties -- are linked to chances of having or dying from heart disease, strokes and other cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, and several types of cancer, plus suffering from arthritis, infertility, gallstones, asthma, and even snoring". Now, that is scary! Alan was right about taking a walk. We should all take a walk after we eat, even if it's 9 PM!

What is causing our waistline to expand like that? It's our lifestyle! We spend on average 8 hours at our cubes or desks and then another hour or 2 (depending on where you live) in our cars commuting. We treat ourselves to all sorts of fast food and junk. (Yikes, I had a Sausage McMuffin and a hash brown for breakfast this morning!) And then, when we finally have some time to ourselves, guess what we do? We watch TV! ...*sigh*...

Yup, these are my plants. And yes, they look very sad. I'm very disappointed with myself. How did this happen? It must be because of the winter. Ya right! The truth is, I had forgotten about them and had neglected them for 2 months or so.

When I set out to get them last September, I had said to Alan, "It will be different this time and that my plants will not die." I wanted to prove to Alan that my thumbs are not black and that these pots are not burial grounds to anything I plant! Well...so much for that. Better luck next life!

I think that Alan has been pms-ing. For no reasons lately, he wanted to take a walk with me around the block at some strange time like 9 PM and when I said "no, I rather just read/browse/watch TV", he made a "hmph" face. Who walks around the block at 9 PM?!!! Then he got upset and demanded that I work on my journal page. Men are so strange!

86 days till the big day! No wonder I've been having strange dreams. Recently, I dreamt that I was at my wedding and I couldn't find Alan's wedding band, my shoes, and my wedding gown. Almost everything, according to my dream, I forgot to bring with me. Yikes! What a horrible nightmare. I better start making a list of things to bring to LA with me for the wedding.

I went to a funeral today. Besides my grandfather's funeral from over 20 years ago on the other side of the Pacific, I've never been to a funeral before. I was too young then to remember much of it. So, this was really my first experience.

He was Alan's uncle. I've never met him but it didn't stop me from crying. He died at 70, very much alone, in the bedroom that he rented, never married and had no kids. Did he live his life as he had imagined he would? Was he able to fulfill his childhood dreams? Was his story complete or did it end abruptly with unfinished thoughts? I am a realist and without being told his story, I need not ask. The truth speaks for itself. Deep down I knew the answer and that made me cry.