Archive for "Life"
New Year’s Eve at the Huntees
Posted on January 14, 2021 by Ching under Events, Games, Life.
Since large gatherings are kind of frowned upon right now, Brian and I didn’t really have any New Year’s Eve plans. We were prepared to spend the evening at home in our pajamas but got invited to join the Dills and the Huntees which, me being the social animal that I am, I gladly invited on our behalf.
Their son Cody and his wife Molly were there too. Mama Dill and Gronk joined the fun as well. Below is a picture of group playing Pick Your Poison, which is a cross between Cards Against Humanity and Would You Rather?
The game was a bit more complex than Cards Against Humanity and you had to keep score using pen and paper because it wasn’t just one point per round. You could score a different number of points based on certain scenarios and each person would get their own score. Anyway, there are nuances of the game that can be a bit much specially after you’ve had a few drinks.
Speaking of drinks, I decided to get the December Shaker and Spoon box (Rums of Origin 3) for our friends this year so I brought my drink kit to the Huntees that night and we made some more drinks.
This is a picture of the Abukado Colada drink, which would have turned out much better had we read the instructions on how to properly use the can of coconut milk that was provided. It still tasted fine to me but everyone else was weird about it.
Each Shaker and Spoon box comes with recipe cards like this one. We should have read the one for Abukado Colada thoroughly before making it. LOL. Kiss of the Oceans is the other drink that we made that night. When you follow the directions and measurements, it doesn’t make very much. That’s probably a good thing because it’s quite strong. Of the three recipes they sent, this one was the strongest.
We didn’t stay at the Huntees very late. After a couple of drinks and a round of Pick Your Poison, we pretty much had to go — because, you know, we have that thing that we do at midnight on NYE every year.
Thank you so much to the Dills and Huntees for including us in their NYE festivities, and to the Huntees for being such wonderful hosts. I really enjoyed hanging out (which I’ve really missed doing since this pandemic started). It was tons better than just sitting at home and staring at Brian. LOL.
Until next time. GNG.
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Changes at Home
Posted on January 8, 2021 by Ching under Home Ownership, Life.
We rearranged some furniture over Christmas break. Brian has been trying to talk me into doing this forever but I’ve always refused because it leaves the rest of our main floor living room quite barren. We used to have just the one chair here with the ottoman. We always either fight over who gets to sit in the chair (it’s a coveted spot in the winter because it’s right in front of the fireplace and literally the warmest spot in our entire house) or both uncomfortably squeeze in it.
I’d thought about buying a chair and a half specifically for this spot so we wouldn’t have to use our loveseat but our furniture is so old that they don’t make it anymore. And, I didn’t want to buy something that didn’t match because we all know how that goes — you end up replacing everything to match that one thing that you just got and it ends up costing you a fortune.
Brian and I are getting too fat to squeeze in the chair together so I finally caved and agreed to relocate the loveseat to the hearth and the chair to the living room. That’s all we swapped. We did have to reorient the furniture, though. Instead of placing the loveseat at an angle like the chair was before, we placed it parallel to the fireplace. We’ve spent so much time in this part of the house since we rearranged and it’s been so much nice that we both wondered why we waited so long to do this.
Brian, the girls, and I are totally loving it. I think we will keep the house this way until the day we move, remodel, or replace all of our furniture — whichever comes first. Until next time. GNG.
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We Both Got COVID and Survived
Posted on December 23, 2020 by Ching under Health, Life.
Besides the mandatory stay at home order earlier this year which I strictly followed, I pretty much continued to play pickleball with my normal play groups and teach my Zumba classes (once the gyms reopened). We weren’t going to parties or anything like that but I continued to pursue all of my favorite activities, including playing bingo at Chicken N Pickle on Sundays. Anyway, I was just thinking to myself, “Wow! I can’t believe I got through the whole year without getting COVID.” Well, the universe responded, “Not so fast, Chingy!”
I was feeling pretty lucky for not having contracted the virus but also wondered if I was one of those lucky people who had already had it but just didn’t have any symptoms. I’ve known a few people like that. One of them being Brian’s grandmother. She got COVID around the end of October and didn’t have any noticeable symptoms at all. Also, I’ve had some friends who were positive for the antibodies which meant they’d had COVID already and just didn’t realize it. I always thought I would be one of these lucky people until the day I started exhibiting symptoms and was proven completely wrong.
I play in a couple of pickleball leagues at Chicken N Pickle and, much to my friend Steve’s displeasure, everyone is pretty casual about the whole COVID thing. Naturally, we don’t wear masks while we are playing and sometimes we are pretty casual about putting our masks back on because we’re usually eating or drinking. And, throughout all of this, there’s a lot of socializing that happens. I mean, we’re not hugging on each other but we are chatting and visiting like normal.
Anyway, on Wednesday, December 2, my friend Brooke had another friend fill in for her for our competitive women’s doubles league because she wasn’t feeling well. I texted her the next day to see how she was feeling and that’s when I found out that she tested positive for COVID. Then I’m thinking, I’m not feeling great either and started to wonder if I had it too because we were together at bingo the Sunday prior. Anyway, I was due at the doctor’s office the next day on Friday morning so they could draw my blood and complete my lab work before my annual physical the following Friday, December 11. Brian reminded me that the doctor’s office couldn’t see if I have any symptoms or if I’ve been exposed to someone positive for COVID. I’m like, “Let’s see what they say. Also, if there’s a chance I have COVID then they really need to see me because I want to be tested.”
Sure enough they couldn’t draw my blood because the area where they do the lab work is kind of an open area and they can’t risk me infecting other patients. The nurse did say that our doctor could see us later in the in the afternoon for COVID tests. My symptoms were pretty mild at this point — just fever and body aches — and Brian didn’t have any symptoms yet but I insisted they test him as well because I was pretty sure if I had it then I’d given it to him already.
My symptoms started out pretty mild on Thursday and then getting a bit worse on Friday. They were so mild at first that I actually contemplated still playing pickleball with my normal Friday night play group and then having a poker tournament at our house on Saturday night. However, I didn’t want to responsible for infecting other people so on Thursday I pulled the trigger and let my pickleball friends know that I wouldn’t be able to play for the next two Fridays. One of my friends in the group, Chris, immediately replied with “Where are you playing instead?” Assuming that I was playing elsewhere and that’s why I wasn’t playing with them. I explained that I was exposed to another friend who tested positive for COVID and could potentially have it so I’m quarantining. And then my other friend Kimberly started freaking out because we sat together while we ate dinner after league on Wednesday night and she was worried that I might have given it to her. That’s the scary thing with this virus. You don’t know when you have it because sometimes the symptoms are so mild or they start much later so, unless you’re completely isolated, there is a huge risk of contracting it from someone.
Besides pulling the plug on the poker game, I had to let my friend Quinton know about the situation because he was originally going to stay with us on Saturday night. He was coming into town to play in the inaugural pickleball invitational tournament at Chicken N Pickle, staying for the poker tournament, and then spending the night at our house before heading back home. Anyway, since we canceled the poker tournament due to potential COVID exposure, I figured he probably wouldn’t want to stay with us that Saturday night. That was the other bummer about the COVID thing. I was going to spend Saturday at Chicken N Pickle, watching the pickleball tournament and livestreaming for those at home but I couldn’t do that because (a) I had to quarantine and not expose anyone else to the virus I potentially had, and (b) I was feeling really sick by Saturday and could barely function so I really couldn’t even if I wanted to.
Speaking of foiled plans, I also notified my friend Lauren right away about our situation because she was visiting and was going to stay with us Wednesday, December 9, through Sunday, December 13. If we had COVID then she couldn’t be around us. And, even if we did test negative, we would still be in the middle of our 14-day quarantine period because the symptoms sometimes do not manifest right away. Anyway, we had pickleball and dinner plans and all of that stuff that now had to be scrapped because, not only was I not feeling well, but I was potentially sick with a virus that could be fatal to some people.
So Friday afternoon we get tested by our family physician. Check out the video above of Dr. Hane doing the test on me and also on Brian, who was a big baby about it. Brian, because he doesn’t really have any of the symptoms yet, is convinced he doesn’t have it so we social distance at home by sleeping in two different rooms and also, whenever we watched movies, we sat on opposite ends of the couch. This goes on from Friday night to Sunday night when we finally get a phone call about our test results.
This is how far apart we were watching Mulan on Friday night.
Normally when I’m sick, Brian exiles me to the guest bedroom on the other side of the house but this time, since my germs were already all over the master bedroom, I got to stay in the master and Brian slept in our upstairs guestroom. Interestingly enough, this would have been the room that Lauren would have slept in during her visit. Anyway, Brian rigged up one of our video cameras to still keep an eye on me even though we’re sleeping apart.
Here’s a picture of us still social distancing on Saturday. Of course, by now I am super sick and Brian is still somewhat okay. We don’t have energy to do much of anything and we can’t really go anywhere because we are quarantining so we just watch movies all day. We watched Peppermint, which was actually pretty good, and The Prom, which Brian immediately regretted agreeing to watch once he realized it was a musical. To be fair, neither of us knew it was a musical. We just saw a short clip (one of the funnier moments in the movie – that’s how they bait you into watching) that was hilarious and we thought we needed something light after Peppermint. Anyway, Brian would rather not have watched that second movie (he’s not really into musicals with a few exceptions) but we survived.
When we finally get our results on Sunday night, I am so relieved. I mean, I felt bad that Brian was sick with COVID too but I was tired of sleeping apart and I was ready to be done with the whole social distancing inside our own house nonsense. Also, I was kind of glad that we were both sick at the same time because then we completed our quarantine in half the time. Had I been sick first and then Brian been sick after me then we would have had to quarantine twice as long. At least when we were done with our quarantine, we were done, and didn’t have to wait for the second round of quarantine to finish. Also, it meant we were in it together.
Oh, another interesting bit I learned during this time is that, when you’re positive, you only have to quarantine for ten days. Our doctor told us that ten days after the onset of our symptoms we were free to resume normal activities because by then we would no longer be shedding the virus and there was no more risk of infecting others. Of course, I’m thinking to myself, I better feel good in ten days because if I’m still feeling achy all over and can’t sustain an upright position for extended period then what’s the point of being free?
On Sunday, December 6, after spending most of the weekend horizontal, I actually feel pretty good and I was like, “Wow! That was it?” I thought I was done — but I was wrong. I woke up Monday and all my symptoms were back with a vengeance. The nice thing is, I’m working from home so I’m not exposing anyone to the virus, and I was in training that week so it wasn’t a tough week. There’s never a good week to be sick but there were worse weeks to be sick. As much as working remotely is a blessing because I didn’t have to quit working, the downside is I think it made my recovery longer. Most of my week was spent sitting at my desk, participating in training, when I really could have benefited from being in bed and resting — which is pretty much what I did every break and every lunch. Most days I didn’t even eat lunch because, not only did I not have the strength or appetite to eat, but it was quite pointless because I couldn’t taste things anyway (unless it was sweet). I lived on pineapple chunks and grapes the week I was sick because that was pretty much all I could taste. I could also taste Pepsi but I did my best to resist because soda isn’t good for you when you’re well and much less when you’re sick.
After the whole Sunday-Monday debacle whenever I had bouts of feeling well I knew not to get too excited because often I would feel better and then I would feel bad again. I was pretty much on this crazy roller coaster of symptoms all week. It wasn’t until Monday, December 14, that I really started to feel better. I didn’t know how I would be so I had subs lined up to teach my Monday and Wednesday Zumba classes that week but I actually starting to feel somewhat normal. Although, on my Monday, day 11, I knew not to get too excited because I had been on this roller coaster and I wasn’t sure if it was just another one of those brief moments of reprieve. I woke up on Tuesday and still felt fine and I was like, “Maybe it is really over?” On Wednesday, I still felt pretty good and so I made the decision to play in the pickleball tournament for my women’s league. That’s another blog on its own though which I will write about next.
Until then, I hope everyone is staying healthy and safe. GNG.
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Mailbox Before and After
Posted on December 22, 2020 by Ching under Life.
Brian and I aren’t really big on getting each other Christmas presents. A few years ago we made the transition to spending on experiences rather than material things so we usually save our money for trips and other things. Our “go to” gift for each other is a couples massage at home with Jamie and Michael. It’s a luxury that we both really enjoy so it’s a gift that we typically give to one another for Christmas, birthdays, anniversaries, and Valentines… in a addition to times when we just have to schedule emergency massages because our bodies need it.
This year, in addition to our couples massage, we also got much needed tangible gift. Our next door neighbor recently moved their mailbox from our shared post to a free-standing brick one which then made our already dilapidated mailbox look completely off balance. We ended up asking the same contractor to come back the following weekend to also make us a brick mailbox. Thankfully, he was available and did a fantastic job. He also did some minor repairs on the rest of our brickwork around for just a little bit more. The darn earthquakes have been taking a toll.
Anyway, this is our big Christmas gift for each other this year — a new mailbox for our house. Doesn’t it look awesome?
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The Winter Soldier
Posted on September 30, 2020 by Ching under Confessions, Life.
I had some friends from pickleball over one night and, when we went down to the basement, Jen T was like, “Is that Pat on your wall?” I burst into a fit of laughter because of my sheer and utter nerdiness. Why, yes, it is Patrick Smith (and also Jocelyn Devilliers). What do you guys think of it? The poster was an early birthday present from my friend Matt Mayfield and, being a fan girl through and through, I had to frame and hang it.
Here are a couple of pictures that Matt took of the guys signing the poster, which proves the authenticity of their signatures.
I actually saw these photos posted on Facebook and, at the time, had no idea that the poster was for me. Matt said he would give me one but I thought he was just joking. I didn’t realize he was serious. I happened to be at Chicken N Pickle the Tuesday before Pat’s birthday when Matt came over and surprised me with the poster. I thought it was ironic that I was getting a present when it wasn’t even my birthday but I guess it’s in honor of Pat’s birthday. Besides, any reason to get (or give) a present is as good an excuse as any.
Anyway, Pat and I are friendly but we aren’t close friends. Our relationship is mostly fan girl to pickleball idol but I still felt compelled to do something nice for him for his birthday. Karen had this brilliant idea to get fan shirts made. It was perfect timing too because that previous weekend Lauren McLaughlin (of Live with Lauren fame) christened Pat with his official pickleball nickname – the Winter Solider. Karen gave me free reign on the t-shirt design so I decided to embrace his new nickname and hashtag by putting it on our fan shirts. I pictured something like the “I <3 NY" shirts but with #WinterSoldier underneath it and Nicole with Simply Charming Designs executed on this vision perfectly.
Karen and I gleefully wore our “I <3 PAT SMI" fan shirts to pickleball during Pat's birthday weekend proving, without a doubt, that we are his biggest fans.
Karen, who is an amazing cook, also baked a delicious cheesecake for Pat on his birthday. We got to enjoy it on Saturday evening and then she brought him a slice the next day. Karen makes such delicious food. So far I’ve had her lasagna (twice), peach pie, Dutch baby pancakes, and cheesecake, and I have enjoyed all of it.
Anyway, Lauren saw the fan shirts we made and she wanted one too but she wanted a tank top instead of a t-shirt. I got these very special white ones made for the two of us and sent hers as a gift to show my appreciation for the very awesome nickname that she gave to Pat. I can’t wait to see her wear hers! There’s an APP tournament coming up that it will be perfect for — the Cincinnati Pickleball Open coming up in a couple of weeks will be hosted by Jocelyn Devilliers and Patrick Smith. Lauren will be one of the commentators for that event so I’m hoping to see her wear her shirt then. I won’t be there in person but I’ll wear mine at home to show my support. At least we can twin from afar.
Speaking of showing support, I got a couple of other shirts made for me and Karen for the weekend of the Cincinnati Open. We got blue shirts this time because it’s Pat’s favorite color. I’m so excited to wear these shirts because I think they turned out great. Also, Nicole got them done early enough that we can even wear them this weekend for the Texas Open, which Jay and Pat are playing in together.
Besides the Texas Open, the Wichita Fall-Out pickleball tournament is also happening this weekend. It sucks that they’re happening at the same time because I know some people really wanted to be able to play in both tournaments and had to make some difficult choices (can’t be in two places at once). Anyway, I’m glad that tournaments are happening again. One of these days I’ll be able to play in one. Until then, GNG.
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