Cuddling by the fireplace

I think that Houston's plan for weather is to plan on rarity. Snow? It only snows once every few years. Why plan for something that happens so rare? Hurricanes, well, they only hit us hard every 20 years (they hit every few years, but not bad). Hard freeze, we'll deal as it happens. So, having done nothing to prepare for the cold, our heater dying in the midst of the rare freezing temperatures was fun. AC/heater guys are all booked up, or charging way high prices. At the store, the electric blankets, space heaters, fire logs are all sold out. Pretty much typical Houston though- people freak out when hard weather comes because it comes so rarely and no one knows what to do. We also determined our electric blanket was broken. :)

With our heat out, we are now cuddling beside our fire place for warmth and sleeping under piles of blankets in one bed. Lots of fun. Oh- to fix the heater, we are just doing it ourselves. Should save abut $400. Of course, step one last night takes my brother 15 minutes. It took us 2 hours, sending pics to my brother and him on the phone the whole time. :)

Bin finally got her Princess Tiana polly pocket doll set (she wanted for Christmas but we couldn't find out, then wanted for birthday). It was sold out, tried to buy online and since I refuse to pay $36 for a $16 toy, we put in an order with amazon to be delivered as soon as possible. We were then at Target (which online is still sold out) and lo and behold, there is was. Little girl held on to that toy with an iron grip. I told her she would get the toy just as soon as it came out (since amazon ordered already) and she saw that doll and she was not letting go. Luckily amazon lets you cancel anytime before they ship. And Target was in this case as cheap as amazon. :)

As we sit watching Little Bill, and Bin plays with her Tiana and Naveen dolls, I think she has an actual chance at the whole post-racial thing. The first president she will be able to remember will be a black man. Her tv shows are all integrated, her school is integrated and we all like to pretend race doesn't matter. And so for her, hopefully, race will not matter.

Happy Birthday Bin!

We got ice cream cones shaped like clowns and gave her presents. :) Try to write more later.

About bloody time

The title pretty much sums up my view on this. This is a link click on me!

Shoe Day

Since Bin is more German then Chinese, it is only fitting that we celebrate everyone's favorite holiday Shoe Day! More traditionally minded people call this St. Nick's Day. We put our shoes out and Santa fills them with candy. Bin also got a Strawberry Shortcake doll in each shoe. Apparently, Santa's definition of good is pretty loose. Though we did learn from Dora that even Swiper is on the good list. She was very excited over those little dolls. The funniest part though was a few days later, we were driving home and she said she wanted halloween again. I explained that Halloween was over and now it was Christmas time. She looked up in confusion "We get to have Christmas again." Of course, Peter was very upset. I am confusing her about Christmas. He is way into the making a perfect Christmas for a 3 year old. If we spent Christmas somewhere with snow, he would be out there making reindeer prints on Christmas morning.

Speaking of snow, Bin loves it! She keeps asking if I can make it snow again. I don't control the weather. I will someday but not yet.

Why Fantasy?

As I discussed my nano project with people, I got to enjoy my share of “you are writing fantasy?” Why?” “What’s the appeal?” “So you are writing for teenage boys?” I associate online with enough fantasy writer’s to know that this is a required right of passage for every speculative fiction write (if you answer that you write speculative fiction, you get to confuse the stupider of your naysayer’s, which is always fun). Though to be honest, I think speculative fiction is a better description of the genre. Somehow, in our society we have reached this place where speculative fiction is bad fiction. Novels that should be placed in this genre are considered mainstream if they are good enough. By removing the best selling, most meaningful works of speculative fiction (1984, Brave New World, Handmaid’s Tale) are taken away, it is no wonder that the genre is considered trash. With the great works not counting, it is difficult for the good to balance out the bad in the genre.
The mostly minor, unintentional slams to my chosen genre left me thinking a lot about the works of literature that have most affected my life. As I considered books that have meant something to, have helped me grow as a person, most of them are speculative fiction. And so, as my defense of fantasy, I am going to give short descriptions of the fantasy that has impacted my life. Next time: Chronicles of Narnia.


More in line with this blog, new pics on snapfish. Old pics will be moved soon, so if you want copies of pics, I would suggest you get them soon, before the next time I load pics. Though since nothing interesting is coming up, that may be for a while. Or she may do something super cute tomorrow. :)

Hello! Goodbye!

As I immerse myself in NaNoWriMo, I have pretty much abandoned this blog for November. Also, I have been lazy about putting up pics, videos, etc. We had a good camping trip, where we took a canoe on the lake, with the dogs in the boat. I have pics and video from tumbling (watch bin not do as she was told :)). And I have lots of random musings and stories. And yet none of it is getting posted or discussed. Instead thousands and thousands of words are being written about a warrior and a pacificst monk, traveling across a fantasy country, attacked by demons at every turn. Their lofty quest is to find the holy scriptures and return them to their country, so that their countrymen's hearts and minds will be elevated to goodness and all will find enlightenment. As they travel, they are joined by a disgraced courtier, an aspiring monk who is not sure that is truly her path, and a demon searching for redemption.

So, while I briefly popped my head out of my fantasy world, don't expect more until November is over. And then you can enjoy my first planned blog series- A defense of speculative fiction: Fantasy and Sci Fi that has influenced me. Along those lines, no the book I am writing does not have teenage boys as its target audience. The target audience is (as it is for all my writing) me.

Happy Halloween!

Not the best pic, but the best we could get. :)

Boo at Zoo

We went to the zoo yesterday. Bin is not that big a fan of zoos. Outside of the zoo is a train and she spent much of her time asking when we were going on the train (there is a video of her on the train in facebook). She did like the pumpkin patch, but she is a little obsessed with pumpkins right now. She liked that random people gave her candy, but I wish they had had a few more trick or treat stations (they had 5, each one giving 3 pieces- mostly the small size tootsie rolls). She also liked the fountains and the splash park at the zoo. Of the animals, she ignored most. She did like the elephants a lot. She wanted to stay there a long time and she kept saying "Mommy, take a picture! " She wanted to ride an elephant and didn't get why the zoo wouldn't let her. This is probably my fault. At Ren Fest last year she rode an elephant and when they have ads for this year's festival, they show elephant rides, which I have told her we will do that when we go. Lately she has been playing with her stuffed elephants a lot (Kai-lan has an elephant friend so that might be the origin of her interest). They complement each other on their ears, which I think is so funny. We did get her a small stuffed elephant, so now she has two baby elephants and three big stuffed elephants.

She also liked the giraffes. Giraffes must be easy to breed, because they have lots of baby giraffes. Bin likes baby things. Tangent: we were doing some basic maintenance on the deck and hammering things. Cutie helped her hammer and she asked to do it herself. Cutie told her it was too big for her. "Can I have a baby hammer?"



We are watching Pride and Prejudice as I blog and Bin was mostly ignoring the movie, until we get the scene with colin firth in the bath tub. Suddenly she is all attention. Other times we have watched this movie, she has behaved in the same manner. I guess I should be glad she has good taste atleast. I let a friend borrow Sense and Sensibility. Bin was very upset that we could not watch "mommy's orange movie." Now, she has found some soda cans and they are going to the park.

Another story: She found a bunch of her old teething rings. She asked me- which one do you like? I said the blue one. She said "No, that's for daddy." So, then I answered "the purple and orange one". She said- no it's orange just like me! (she was wearing an orange outfit.) She then put it on her head and said "Now I'm king!".


Bin has been in tumbling classes. I took one pic and then the camera ran out of batteries. She does not like the little gym outfit, but I do. She laughs and giggles throughout the class and then comes out and tells me she hates it. She also doesn't really listen- like they were doing some little routines (2 steps, jump, 2 steps, jump) and she just does her own thing. She also won't do a saumersault. She wants people to flip her around, not her to do it. But she does great with the bars and tumbling and decent on the balance beam. :) I really like her in tumbling though and am planning on keeping her in the class. If I can't get in through the Parks and Rec, I'll have to pay the higher amount and go through the gym. But atleast for now, that is a priority. I liked the idea of karate, but she most places want 5 year olds at least and right now bin says she doesn't want to do that (of course, that doesn't mean much).

One of Bin's teachers pointed out that Bin seems to recognize her name when written. On one of her crafts, her name was written (as Elizabeth- even though I told the school she prefers Bin Bin, they still call her Elizabeth). I pointed to it and asked her what it says. She shouted "BIN BIN YIP!!" So, not at all what it says, but similar meaning. :) Cutie was shocked that she knows her last name.

I have shirts!

Bin is now dressing herself. Sometimes, she comes up with interesting outfits- like five shirts. :)

And here is her sick and miserable, sleeping on the messy coffee table. She put her nap mat on the table and then slept there.

Bin's Birthday

For people who will be in phx while I am in phx, any feelings about birthday celebration? I plan to celebrate in Houston on the actual day, but not sure if others would like to have a party for her. Let me know your thoughts! The current schedule, two posts down, does not have a party, but if people want one it can be added.