
Friday, March 30, 2007
Ghost in the Toilet

Saturday, March 24, 2007
Why no Posts
'
Okay that said, I want to share with you an incredible article I found on-line. Some background. Malaysia is notorious for pirating DVD's. I think this country ranks 3rd worldwide behind Russia and China for pirating. Well, this article was such a bad show for Malaysia, that they wouldn't even print it in the paper. Read it and see http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2007/03/22/1174153233642.html
Friday, February 23, 2007
Chinese New Year Penang Style

This picture was in the Malaysia Star Newspaper last Tuesday. My friend Jill next to me loves everything Chinese. As you can see her home is beautifully decorated with bamboo, and various pictures. Well she had a friend at the paper who wanted to do a photo op with her. The Title of the article was "American Twist to CNY" (Chinese New Year). They needed some extra bodies to toss the "Yee Sam" , a traditional raw fish salad served at CNY. We are all tossing with chopsticks in our very traditional Chinese clothes. Jill has lived in Penang for 5 years and 5 years in Singapore before that. She takes Mandarin, and she practices Feng Shui and Qigong (a mental practice). The lady in the pink with the boy is my friend Karen from Florida. She is LDS too and a great sounding board for me. I like this picture because it makes me look really skinny. I got tons of calls from friends saying I looked so thin.
Chinese New Year in Penang is celebrated the full 15 days. They start out by cleaning and sweeping everysingle corner of the house. Then the broom won't be touched for fear of sweeping out the good luck! In America we are used to eating Manarin oranges from the can. Here in Penang they are in great abundance in the fresh variety. They are given to hosts as good luck gifts in 2's or 4's. Also all unmarried children, guards, drivers etc. are given an Ang Pow. An Ang Pow or Hong Bow is a little red envelope filled with money. Red is Luck, Gold Prosperity. The Chinese are very superstitious and love the word Auspicious adj: encouraging, favorable, luck prosperous etc.. There are dozens of Chinese superstitions around this time of year, and we are having a blast getting in on the fun. We will probably always celebrate Chinese New Year as a major holiday now for the rest of our lives. Gong Xi Fa Cai !
Wednesday, February 07, 2007
Thipusam in Penang
I can live there."
Monday, January 22, 2007
College Minx Update

Monday, January 15, 2007
Cambodian Christmas






Sunday, December 17, 2006
Woman on the Verge

Thursday, December 14, 2006
Tales of a Traveler I
Sunday, December 10, 2006
Most Excellent YW in Excellence
Can you tell one of my favorite colors is orange! I love Choice and Accountability. I was especially thrilled that all of the Young Women are working on Personal Progress at some level. When we first came here most of them didn't even know about the program. I am signing off lots of Experiences monthly now from all of the girls.


Friday, December 08, 2006
Minx One and Minx 2

Jordan and Malaina, college coed's .... BYU coed's no less. Sorry but those lame dumb jokes about "how can you tell a BYU coed is walking behind you ...because you can hear her knuckles dragging" don't apply to these girls. Dave also said "Why are there no swimming pools at BYU?" Answer: "Too many harpoonings". (Isn't he bad?) Aren't relevant here either.
I love the way my girls depend on each other for moral support and friendship. I truly believe they are best friends.
Blogged by Blogger

I am about 9/10 of the way to moving this blog to a new location. I have had a really hard time with the photo upload tool. I am not terribly computer challenged either. So I just think it should be more reliable. Before I do move, I would like to get any opinions of the Blogger Beta with the Google enhancements. Also, if anyone has suggestions as to improving my luck with uploading, I'd like to hear about it.
I don't care about formating, of even really with the looks or asthetics of the blog page. I just expect it to be dependable.
Wednesday, November 29, 2006
Christmas List
This is a cute getting to know you list that a friend sent. I think it will be perfect to use here.
1. Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate? Hot Chocolate
2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree? Our Santa just complains about the cost. When the kids were little we rarely wrapped.
3. Colored lights on tree/house or white? Colored tree, white house. Only if Dave puts them up.
4. Do you hang mistletoe? no. We just kiss everyone at random.
5. When do you put your decorations up? first week of December. Take em down the 26th.
6. What is your favorite holiday dish (excluding dessert)? Homemade Tamales
7. Favorite Holiday memory as a child? Traveling home via Federal Ave. in Denver and listening to the radio updates of Santa sightings. I was so excited to get home and go to sleep.
8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa? I think my brother told me when I was about 10
9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? Yes, when I have bought presents, my kids like money.
10. How do you decorate your Christmas Tree? I have about 5 different tree decoration sets. A homespun crafty, chili pepper, blue, cranberry and brass , and a kids decorations set. I rotate, Just like Marie Osmond.
11. Snow! Love it or Dread it? Snow IS CHRISTMAS!!!
12. Can you ice skate? I used to be able to, not sure if I could any more
13. Do you remember your favorite gift? 50$ my brother gave Dave and I when we were starving students. That was so touching!
14. What's the most important thing about the Holidays for you? God sent his Son to save the world.
15. What is your favorite Holiday dessert? Pumpkin pie, hands down, no discussion.
16. What is your favorite holiday tradition? Making hundreds of Tamales as a family, then eating them until we burst. Then feeling that satisfaction of passing on a tradition to my kids.
17.What tops your tree? An angel or star depending on the year.
18. Which do you prefer giving or receiving? Giving
19. What is your favorite Christmas Song? O Come All Ye Faithful. I always get the warm fuzzies and a burst of Christmas joy.
20. Candy Canes yuk or yum? yum! Only if they are peppermint!
Thursday, November 02, 2006
Cockroach Hysteria

Okay, we got two new fish. When Christina and I lifted off the aquarium top, we saw a dark red cockroach scatter into the filter/pump area. We were astounded with the size of this monster. I think it has been living in the aquarium top, living off the moisture and slime for 2 years. It had to be at least 2 years old!! It was just a smidgen smaller than the one at left.
since our man Dave is in India for the week, we called Willis Stebbins our 10th grade neighbor on the 13th floor to come up and help us kill it . He came and took one look at it and was floored by its size. He was not going near that thing. So we called Danny Sullivan, the buildings resident bug afficionado up to kill this thing. This is a 12 year old boy who collects scorpions, centipedes, and even had a small cockroach friend. Even he said, "Too big." So here we were; no one wanted to deal with it, but there is no way I could sleep knowing it was there. The fate of this bad boy fell in my hands. This insect was in a location where it was impossible to smash with a shoe or newspaper, the only way to get it was to manually kill it.
As we were all screaming and freaking out; I took a pair of scissors and bravely manuvered it into a position where I could wack off its head. Do you know what kind of courage this took? That cockroach could have easily run up the blade of the scissors and scattered up my arm and into my open screaming mouth!! I closed my eyes, guessed as to the location of the insect and quick as a cat, snipped that head right off.
Mercifully the body and head fell into the water where it continued to jiggle and squiggle for an obscene amount of time. Even its guts where leaching out into the water. It was so insanely gross that the fish wouldn't go near it. So Christina and Willis fished it out with the skimmer and Willis disposed of it for us. I have yet to work up the nerve to pick up the scissors and sterilize them with rubbing alchohol. I would rather deal with a rat than a cockroach. We live on the 27th floor! Our aquarium is in the office! That cockroach came with the stupid aquarium over 2 years ago from the dealer!!! AGGH!!!
Tuesday, October 10, 2006
Planes, Trains and Automobiles
to Singapore. We elected to fly into Johor Baru. A state in Malaysia just over the border and across a narrow strait of water. Our trip into Singapore was a success! We saved tons of money and we just had a bit of inconvience at the border. We had a taxi take us straight to the hotel. Our hotel was located right on Orchard Drive just above the MRT subway system. We gorged ourselves on Burger King burgers, and visited one of the worlds best zoos. We shopped at amazing stores, like Zara, Tang's, Chanel, Dolce and Gabbana, Cartier. We stocked up on books at Borders, and even made a trip into Little India. We had the chance to watch General Conference with other Singapore residents too. We went to the Mandarin Hotel and sat in the Grand Ballroom that the stake rented for that very purpose.
When the time came to go back home to Penang little did we know what was in store for us. We awoke at 6:00 am to get ready for our 9:30 flight. Keep in mind the Johor Baru airport is only about 45 minutes away. We asked the good folks at the Marriott to arrange a taxi for us to drop us at the airport. The average person would assume that since we arrived by taxi we could leave by taxi. However, our first mistake was to assume. I mean, ASSUME Malaysia would keep things as simple as Singapore did. Ha!
- Marriott folks kept us waiting for taxi arrangements for 30 minutes. We finally went out and caught our own.
- The driver was a Chinese Joe Pesci-like character who couldn't stop talking and laughing and making fun of everything Malaysian. Very irritating at 7:30 am.
- We got to the Checkpoint and had to walk about 1/2 a mile 8:00.
- Then we had to wait in line at the checkpoint. Go through the border, and try to find the correct bus to drive us to the Malaysian border checkpoint.
- We waited for the correct bus and lucky for us it arrived about 15 minutes after we arrived, and we still had our EZ-Link bus passes with us left over from the MRT subway.
- We got off the bus and walked the wrong way because we followed the sign that said "imbarcation cards this way". Next time we will ignore the info. signs and just follow the crowd. By now it is 8:30. Our plane leaves at 9:20.
- We found a taxi driver and followed him to his car about 100 yards away. Traffic around the checkpoint was quite heavy.
- He drove very fast, and we began to relax a bit realizing we just might make our plane. Then we hit a traffic jam that went on for miles and miles. Parking lot slow.
- We then realized that it would be a miracle if we didnt' miss our plane. We got to the airport at 9:10. They would not let us board the plane. The next plane with AirAsia wouldn't leave until the next day. Dave went to buy tickets from Malaysia Air but that flight didn't leave until 3:50. We decided to get tickets for Tiny and I to Penang, leaving at 10:30 with AirAsia and Dave would wait til 3:50 to fly to Kuala Lumpur to pick up our car that was waiting for us at the Hotel we stayed at the day before we flew into Singapore.
- Only AirAsia could not process our credit cards of which we tried 3 before giving up. Dave said he was ready to start swearing like Steve Martin did in the "Planes, Trains and Automobiles" when he wanted to rent a car to get home. He gave up trying AirAsia, and just went over to Malaysia Air and bought 3 tickets to KL.
- We made ourselves a fixture at the "Coffee Bean" we were the guests who would not leave. We plugged in our lap tops and palm pilots and sat there for 6 hours, occasionally buying things to keep them from kicking us out.
- We got on the plane and went uneventfully to KL and took the train in to our hotel. Got lost at the huge train station, but painfully made it back alive to the car. We had the hotel give us very detailed instructions on how to get back to the North-South Expressway.
- Sadly we got lost the minute we left the driveway. We ended up in downtown Kuala Lumpur at the height of rush hour. Luckily it was still daylight and it only took us an hour to navigate ourselves out of the hole we dug.
- We drove up to Ipoh and had terrific Nasi Kandar for dinner about 9:00 and then drove into our parking space at home about 10:45.
All and all Singapore was great fun. A beautiful big city that will be fun to return to again and again. Next time around though, I think I'll save some money and take the expensive flight directly to Singapore.
Wednesday, October 04, 2006
The Funtastic Night Market

We took Elders Delaney and Giles to the night market in Batu Ferringhi last night. Elder Delany is going home to Australia in a week and he had not been to Penang's greatest night market. The market is situated along the street of a mile long stretch of "hotel" row about 4 miles north of where we live. The market has oodles and oodles of colorful, brashy, tacky, beautiful, noisy, cheap, counterfit and wonderful touristy treasures. You can get any cd, dvd, designer purse, imaginable. There are wonderful batiks, pewter containers, and other local goodies as well just for the bargaining. I came home with 6 new cds and the second season of Numbers. I purchased everything for under 10 dollars. Yes I am a thief. But to my own defense, there are no places to purchase dvd's let alone rent them. So we have to buy them from the bad guys. (how is that for rationalizing??) We met this cute Auntie last night. (in the photo with Dave. ) She had blue eyes like Dave, she spoke very good English and we fell in love with her. Her name is Madam Lim, and she was born and raised here on the Island of Penang. She is part of the reason Penang is the Pearl of the Orient. The rich culture and friendliness of the local people is beyond compare. The Chinese have kept their lovely traditions as is evident in the food, clothing, and celebrations here.
Monday, September 18, 2006
Doughnuts Make You Fat

We cannot get doughnuts in Malaysia. A real cake donut is something we Gaddis' not only crave, but need with every fiber of our bodies. I have been doing some research online to find a do-able recipe, one that will satisfy and put a gut bomb in the tummy with the greatest of ease. Last July, I even bought 2 doughnut gizmos to help me acheive perfection. While these didn't taste like I had hoped, they sure look pretty. I will keep trying cake doughnut recipes until I am satisfied. Until then, I will probably gain lots of weight, testing and testing.
Thursday, September 14, 2006
My Life Surrounded by Girls

Christina turned 14 last Saturday. She invited every single girl in her class to come to have birthday cake and sing Karaoke. Seventeen out of eighteen girls came. It was a bit touchy at first because a handful of these girls are not friends of Christina, in fact they have made her life miserable at times. But, being a kind and thoughtful person, she was adamant that all the girls would get invited. They all came and hatchets were buried. We went over to "Redbox". Redbox is a huge Karaoke club. They have over 60 rooms of all different sizes with excellent equipment in them. Redbox feeds you and waits on you and you sit in the room (ours had a dance floor and huge wall sized screen) and sing your heart out. Thanks girls for the great time!
I would be remiss if I didn't mention the delightful Young Women at church. Can I tell you that the Lord has prepared the most magnificent future leaders possible here in Malaysia! All of these girls speak at least 3 languages, and can write in them as well. They attend early morning seminary and are all working on Personal Progress, and progessing!! I love them so much. The leadership in our branch is wonderful as well. This photo was taken last Sunday the 10 of Sept.
Christina is basically an only child now. Her older sisters are adults living 10,000 miles away. Our life is so full and complete with her. Dave and I love and adore here and we appreciate her desire to make good choices and live righteously. We look at Christina and wonder where the last 14 years went? We savor these last few years with her at home more than you can ever know.
Tuesday, September 05, 2006
Comfort Food ..Thanks Grandma
4 tsp. baking powder
2 tsp. salt
2 T. Crisco
1 1/2 to 1 3/4 cup warm water
Incorporate well the shortening into the dry ingredients with your hands.
Slowly add the warm water until a nice dough forms, not too wet, not too dry.
Knead for 5 minutes.
Divide into nice round golfball sized pieces.
Roll them out nice and thin and round.
Cook them on a medium hot griddle and you have Flour Tortillas.
This is my ultimate idea of comfort food. I don't think I ever was at my grandmother Lucero's house when she didn't have homemade tortillas on hand. Now I make them so seldom it is a shame. I guess other things take my time and I forget the simple things that make me happy. Yesterday I made Chorizo, from my Grandmother's secret recipe that my Mother gave me years ago. I cannot tell you how happy I was today at dinner, scambled eggs with Chorizo and fried potatoes and fresh tortillas! Poor people food that I grew up taking for granted. Eating this simple meal took me back to humble yet sturdy kitchen tables laden with food made with love by strong women who knew how to feed not only the body, but the soul as well. Wow! Now that is comfort.
Tuesday, August 29, 2006
Sugar is the "Gellical" cat of Malaysia


Here is a wonderful comparison of a fat American and a fat Chinese.....cat. The cat above weighs 15 kilos or 31 pounds to westerners. Our cat on the left, Sugar, weighs 11 kilos or 23pounds. People come into our home and they are caught totally off guard by the freakishly fat and very big boned cat. Once the scare factor is over, they are totally enthralled and cannot belive what they are seeing. We had a big party last Christmas and Sugar was the "freak" at the show. We should have charged one dollar a peek, it would have paid for the party. There was a constant stream of people lined up to see her laying on Jordan's bed.
Sugar is totally unlike a Malaysian cat. Malaysian cats are 99% scrawny , short haired and stubby tailed. The gene pool likely has not had very much influx for centuries. Any pure bred cats are kept indoors and well guarded and strays are shooed away . The street cats are on their own to face the harsh realites of life here. Dogs, huge rats, disease , abandonment and humans and all that that entails.
(the clipping of the fat cat from China comes from APpic , taken from the Star Newspaper one year ago)
Monday, August 28, 2006
From Mullet to Magical

Malaina got a wild hair literally a week ago or so. She impulsively got it cut at a really bad place by a really bad hair stylist. She went home nearly in tears and totally disgusted. Long story short, she called my niece Toni and went up to Sandy to get it fixed. It is probably the best haircut she ever had. Not only is it cute as can be, it is easy for her to fix. Shown here is my beautiful 18 year old BYU freshman.
Malaina says "Hat's off to Toni". I agree.
