fun, more fun, and - oh.

lots of little bits and pieces to share, but none enough to devote an entire post to. i hereby present monday randomness:

cousin r, my MOH and the teen's ninang (godmother), is in town till today for a friend's wedding. we were lucky enough to meet up with her on thursday afternoon so she could see the teen for a late birthday treat:

we were at santa anita mall, to wander and check out the new promenade section that just opened. i was surprised to find out that it was outdoors, which is pretty but makes for some hot & sweaty shoppin'.

beard papa has their own cute little kiosk/bungalow thingy, with cute little seating between it and the smoothie joint.

it was nice to see r and chat and catch up, and i'm also excited to meet up with her later today to have some dim sum. she's getting as many ethnic eats as she can in one weekend. denver doesn't exactly offer a whole lotta diversity in the food department.

the bean is getting the hang of the coloring thing. she hasn't put the crayolas in her mouth in quite a while, since she discovered that rubbing 'em on paper (and tables) is way more fun.

she found one of my socks under the couch and decided it'd be a great idea to put one on like a glove, and then try to fish crackers out of her snack trap. and then go "shopping," with the dog looking on.

"gawd, mom, do you have to take pictures so stinking close-up? geez."

at the ILs', she has her own set of toys, including a baby doll stroller that she loves to push around. and when she gets tired, she likes to squeeze her own tushie into it and watch tv.

have you seen the jack-in-the-box commercial for their mini sirloin burgers? the one with the midget? i was humming the song as i sat in the drive-thru, waiting for mine. they're really tasty, btw. i just wish i'd known that bacon was an option when i ordered 'em. ah well, next time.

last week was a bit of a zucchinipalooza at the wan house. i made some delicious honey butter zucchini bread (with hand-grated zucchini, yo):

then, i made a zucchini pasta recipe using a rachael ray recipe. it's out of one of her books, so i can't find it online, but if you want it, e-mail me. it's a great veggie recipe, although i couldn't help but sprinkle my own serving (and the hub's) with some bacon bits.

the bean's learning how to use a spoon all by her own self! i handed her a mini yogurt cup and let her go to town. she was mostly successful, but she gets bored using the spoon and tries to take a short cut. cheaters never win, honey.

and, the last bit of randomness. it's truly mind-bottling (i hope you've seen "blades of glory," because if not, you'll just think i'm dumb. well, you might anyway, so that'd just add to it).

remember the bio-dad saga? i hadn't forgotten that they were supposedly planning to move back sometime this year. and i was getting periodic e-mails from his wife - although mostly invitations to join some shitty networking websites that i usually declined. i'll never understand why he always chooses to have his relatives contact me rather than give it the ol' college try himself. anyway, i happened to check my facebook the other day (who am i kidding - i look at that thing practically hourly, thanks to the app on my trusty iPhone) and found an e-mail from her on it. i clicked immediately.

it basically said "we're here," gave an address and phone number, and "hope to see you soon, we're leaving for the homeland on the 28th." [needle scratches off of record]

huh? i literally shook my head and made the scooby-doo noise. so i e-mailed her back to ask if they were coming back after that trip, or if they were going back to stay. this weekend was jam-packed already, and with my new gig starting tomorrow, that didn't really leave much time for a visit.

after a couple more confusing responses, i finally got the story. they've been here for two weeks and have just been "too busy" to contact me any sooner. their kids are going back to the homeland to start college, and so they've decided to stay there for at least two more years. they won't be moving back here after all, but "please stay in touch and give our regards to your family.

yeah, okay. whatever. just another incident to file away in the "super disappointing and yet absolutely not shocking" category.

i'm just going to enjoy my last day as a jobless mofo and move on. happy memorial day indeed.