Happy Birthday, Gahee!!

Gahee is now 21 - the way Americans count age; but 22 the way Koreans count age.  Nevertheless, it seems to be a nice birthday weekend.

Friday evening we went to Addison's in Columbia MO for her birthday dinner.

Below....all three young ladies fit into a large booth. (Lucky them!)    We learned that all three are Libras, according to their birth dates.  So we'll have 3 birthday dinners to enjoy within 4-5 weeks.

                                                            George and Jenny  Sept. 23, 2011 - The two of us sort of fit into a  large booth.  It's a good thing it wasn't any smaller!

On Saturday, Gahee had lunch with a friend, and today, Sunday, she'll be going out to dinner with friends.

Gahee loves pumpkin pie, so this morning I made some pumpkin bread, instead.  It's cooling in the kitchen as I write. 

Birthdays often seem to focus on food, and we have two more coming up in the near future - Vy's and Anh's.
I'm going to need to put in some extra exercise time!!

But for now, it's a special day for Gahee, and we extend to her all good wishes and much happiness in the year ahead.

Ants Are Loving Our Cozy Kitchen

We are experiencing the usual fall visit from ants.  With cooler weather now, they prefer being indoors where there are plenty of crumbs, spills, and dirty dishes.  They must love it.  We hate it...and I'm trying to avoid using chemicals in the kitchen.  My sister-in-law suggested sprinkling cinnamon around....but I don't want to deal with that mess, either.

This morning there were more than the usual few ants I've seen recently.  Last night someone wisely took the one leftover caramel apple and put it out on the deck.  There was a huge ant party going on in the plastic conatiner.  The jar of honey escaped their invasion, but just narrowly, and about 20 ants were scurrying around looking for snacks.  ugh!

After I wiped the counter, I sent an email to everyone in the house reminding them to rinse everything and wipe up after themselves.  With five of us going in and out of the kitchen...well, it's easy to leave crumbs and spills behind...and husband, George, is notorious for "not seeing" his leftover messes.  

Gahee and Jenny Meet Pilates

It's all Rose's fault.  She's another instructor at the community college where I teach and she mentioned that her roommate signed them both up for Free 2 Be Fit classes at a local church.  Turns out the church is very close to where we live, so I mentioned this to Gahee.  This past Monday we attended our first pilates class.....and it hurt!   It was fun, though.

We received a friendly greeting and were asked if we had ever attended a pilates class before. 

"No."

"Well, you'll need to take some Aleve when you get home."   I told Gahee that Aleve was a pain medicine...like ibuprophen.

The instruction was excellent, the participants had all been doing pilates for a while, and Gahee and I felt like fools.  She's young and very slim.  I'm the opposite; yet there we were both flailing our arms and legs around, trying not to laugh too loudly because everyone else was very concentrated with their efforts to move and hold arms and legs in painful positions as instructed.

About 10 minutes into the class I found myself thinking, "How much longer do we have?"

About 15 minutes into the class I found myself thinking, "Yoga doesn't hurt this much."

About 20 minutes into the class I found myself grunting, groaning, and sighing as I modified the required movements to accommodate my being so out of shape.

There were a few times when I saw myself doing movements better than Gahee.  She may be petite and young, but I did some leg circle movements better than she did.  Of course, we both watched in amazement as an older woman, who walked in with a limp when she joined the group, made leg circles and held ab poses as if she were a member of the U.S. Olympic team.  She was inspiring and intimidating.

We took pain medicine when we got home...and for the past several days I've felt some slight pain in my thigh muscles and stomach muscles.  That tells me I at least worked something other than my fat.

There are three programs to choose from:  pilates, zumba, and weight training.  Saturday morning I'll attend a zumba class.  I looked it up on YouTube....looks like fun! .... and less painful than pilates.  I'll just have to be careful with my weak right knee.  Don't know if Gahee will join me or not, but I'm going.   Also want to try out the weight training class.  I'm quite interested in that and I think Gahee might be, also.
 
And yes....I'll go back to pilates and do whatever I can manage....while wondering, "Are we almost done?"

Gahee Tutors Jenny in How to Use an iPod

Ok....I'm not a smartphone user.  I very much enjoy the simplicity of basic cell phone.  I don't even text.  But I've been curious about the potential conveniece of having a simple iPod.    I'll probably end up being one of those folks who keeps a basic cell phone AND carries a modest size tablet around, but until then, I'll have an iPod to play with.

Anyway....Gahee's friend wanted to sell her iPod.  The price was good for a 4th generation model, so I bought it.  Last night Gahee tried to show me some of the features and how to use them.  It was a frustrating session because I was so awkward with such a small device.  There were times when Gahee and I were laughing so hard we were crying. 

I was sitting there poking letters with my index finger...and missing most of them.  Then I would try to use my thumbs like everyone else in the world....but that was a disaster.  I felt like I was having to learn to walk and talk all over again.... in a different language....very, very slowly.

"You'll get used to it," Gahee encouraged me.  All I did was scowl at her....and then we would laugh.

I'm certain I will enjoy it for listening to music...checking email.... reading the news....etc.
It's my learning device.  Thank goodness I'll have a tutor close by.   Actually, I  have three.  Using an iPod/iPhone is second nature to all three of our student guests.

Vi and Ahn Do The Tiger Walk

It's part of MU's tradition....new students listen to welcoming remarks from university officials and then run/walk through the old columns that were once part of the original administration building destroyed  by fire many, many years ago.  They are greeted by MU alumni and other members of the MU community with Tiger Tracks ice cream...and then they enjoy a concert by Marching Mizzou.

The event was a great way for new students to be officially welcomed to MU, and it was nice to see several international students participating.  We met a transfer student from China and learned that he walked not far from where we live all the way to the quad on campus....in suffering heat...just because he wanted to be a part of the Tiger Walk.  Of course, we gave him a ride home.

Below are a couple photos from the event:

The columns - before 6,000 new students passed through them.:

Anh and Vi - official MU Tigers :

 

Marching Mizzou peforms on the MU quad after the Tiger Walk:

Vi and Anh watching Marching Mizzou perform: