I've noticed that buttons seem to be all the rage right now!  All the teens are wearing them on their bags and straps and stuff.  I remember way back in the 80s when buttons were cool... and then they stopped being cool so I threw them all away.  Now I wish I had kept all those big purple "BOOK-IT" buttons from Pizza Hut! They had this special reading program where you'd get a button and a free personal pan pizza for reading books!  (Then I think they got sued or something for kids getting fat, so that program ended.)

My to-do list for tonight consists of:

• cook
• bake
• clean
  
• laundry
• sew
• iron
  

It's so stereotypically domesticated.  I'm not quite sure how I feel about that yet.

My nephew Philip is getting cuter every day! The last time we saw him, he was Jabba - a cute lil' blob... but now he is talking and looking around and smiling! I can't wait to go back and see him.

So since Philip is my parents' first grandchild, they're love him so much and get very excited to see any pictures or videos of him since they live so far away. Ken received these emails from my parents.

When I first discovered mymomisafob.com, I spent hours and hours reading through every entry.  I thought they were all hilarious, but when I showed them to my mom, she didn't get what was so funny -- she thought all the comments that the moms made were perfectly logical and normal. 

My email to my mom:

Mom, check out http://www.mymomisafob.com -- it's hilarious!  This one is my favorite so far... it's totally something you would say!



(Note: "feckless" = "freckles")

I just joined a teleconference at work, and when the automated operator asked me to "please state your name," I said, "Beverly Ho... LAM!"

She then proceeded to announce my arrival to a roomful of managers as "Beverly Ho... LAM! has joined the conference."

Can't believe I still do this after almost 3 years!

We have this huge 10 lb. bag of carrots in the garage (it won't even fit in our fridge) that we've been trying to use up for ages.  So I decided to make carrot cake, since I've been meaning to try it for a while and it's one of Tony's favorites.

Ironically, just the day before, Charysse was helping me grate some cheese, and I warned her: "Make sure you don't grate your finger!  I've done it before and it ain't fun."  And of course, I ended up grating my knuckle hard the next day.  I mean, there was a chunk of flesh missing off my knuckle.  Luckily, no blood or flesh got into the carrots (I think, haha) -- I immediately ran my bloody knuckle under water and bandaged it up tight so I could finish my carrot cake.  Needless to say, it turned out great -- very moist and loose, and our Urbana houseguests consumed it happily, potential fingers and all.

Over the weekend, I accidentally put my BlackBerry through the wash.  Yes, the entire 40-minute normal cycle for dark clothes.  I checked all of the pokcets like I normally do, but at the last minute I decided to throw in one past pair of pants without checking, and the BlackBerry just happened to be in it.  I didn't even realize it was gone until I was emptying the washer and putting clothes into the dryer... and there it was, sitting all alone at the bottom, nice and clean, still in the leather case.

Needless to say, it doesn't work anymore.  I was hopeful that it would after I dried it out in the sun for a few days (and especially after Dave Cheng's phone-in-toilet success story!).  I blow-dried it and even followed Andrew Lee's recommendation of putting it in a rice bin for a few days!  But alas... nothing seems to work.

I told my manager what happened (it's a company phone), and fortunately, this was his response:

---

Sent: Monday, January 18, 2010 12:59 PM
To: Lam, Beverly W
Subject: Re: Blackberry

Hi Bev. Lol. :). Yes order a new one. And expect some teasing :). Ted

AME Program Manager
Sent via BlackBerry

---

Whew!  Guess this means I get an upgrade!  BlackBerry BOLD, here I come!  Woohoo!  Now if only our company supported the iPhone...:P  I'd have to "wash" my phone more often then.

Exactly seven years ago, I walked uncertainly into the gym of CGC for the first time. Louis Chieng had invited me to open-gym volleyball there, and since I had just moved to St. Louis and didn't know anyone except Louis, I thought, why not? I hardly noticed a guy on the other team, kind of awkward-looking in outdated clothes with weird hair. Who would've thought that 7 years later, I'd be married to this wonderful man? :)

It's funny how God, in his infinite sovereignty, orchestrates every detail of our lives to work out. Even though he has proven himself time and time again, we still have trouble trusting that the omnipotent, omniscient, omni-present God has a plan for us, not to harm us but to prosper us -- plans to give us hope and a future. If we would just call upon him and seek him with all of our hearts, we'll find him and he will deliver us! Isn't that amazing?

¹¹ "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. ¹² Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. ¹³ You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart."

-Jeremiah 29:11-13