Things I learned living in Texas .

1. A possum is a flat animal that sleeps in the middle of the road.

2. There are 5,000 types of snakes and 4,998 of them live in Texas.

3. There are 10,000 types of spiders. All 10,000 of them live in Texas, plus a couple no one's seen before.

4. If it grows, it'll stick ya. If it crawls, it'll bite cha.

5. 'Onced' and 'Twiced' are words.

6. It is not a shopping cart, it is a buggy!

7. 'Jaw-P?' means 'Did ya'll go to the bathroom?'

8. People actually grow and eat okra.

9. 'Fixinto' is one word.

10. There is no such thing as 'lunch'. There is only dinner and then there is supper.

11. Iced tea is appropriate for all meals, and you start drinking it when you're two.

12. Backwards and forwards means 'I know everything about you.'

13. The word 'jeet' is actually a phrase meaning 'Did you eat?'

14. You don't have to wear a watch, because it doesn't matter what time it is, you work until you're done or it's too dark to see.

15. You don't PUSH buttons, you MASH EM.

16. 'No, Chew?' is a common response to the question 'Did you bring any beer?'

17. You measure distance in minutes.

18. You switch from heat to A/C in the same day.

19. All the festivals across the state are named after a fruit, vegetable, grain, insect or animal.

20. You know what a 'DAWG' is.

21. You carry jumper cables in your car --- for your OWN car.

22. You only own four spices: salt, pepper, Tabasco and Ketchup.

23. The local papers cover national and international news on one page, but require 6 pages for local high school sports and gossip.

24. You think that the first day of deer season is a national holiday.

25. You find 100 degrees Fahrenheit 'a bit warm'.

26. You know all four seasons: almost summer, summer, still summer, and Christmas.

27. Going to Wal-Mart is a favorite past time known as 'goin' Wal-Martin' or 'off to Wally World'.

28. You describe the first cool snap (below 70 degrees) as good chicken stew weather.

29. Fried catfish is the other white meat.

30. We don't need no dang Driver's Ed. If our mama says we can drive, we can drive, dag-nabbit.

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My family in the Philippines just received the balikbayan box that I sent to them last June 16. It took six weeks before they got it this time. Last time that I sent, it only took 5 weeks. I even called the lady whom I sent it yesterday because I was already wondering why it took so long to reach my family this time. But last night, my sister e-mailed me and she told me the box just arrived there. I'm so glad they got it finally. So as usual, we were online a while ago and I've seen them in the webcam while they were opening the box. My hubby and I were talking to them and they were all so happy after everybody got their share. I was also busy taking photos while they were busy digging in the box. Their webcam was not so clear so the photos are not that clear. So here are the pics of my family that I took a while ago while chatting with them.

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An incredible love story has come out of China recently and managed to touch the world. It is a story of a man and an older woman who ran off to live and love each other in peace for over half a century.


The 70-year-old Chinese man who hand-carved over 6,000 stairs up a mountain for his 80-year-old wife has passed away in the cave which has been the couple's home for the last 50 years.

Over 50 years ago, Liu Guojiang a 19 year-old boy, fell in love with a 29 year-old widowed mother named Xu Chaoqin..


In a twist worthy of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, friends and relatives criticized the relationship because of the age difference and the fact that Xu already had children.


At that time, it was unacceptable and immoral for a young man to love an older woman.. To avoid the market gossip and the scorn of their communities, the couple decided to elope and lived in a cave in JiangjinCountyin Southern ChongQing Municipality.


In the beginning, life was harsh as they had nothing, no electricity or even food. They had to eat grass and roots they found in the mountain, and Liu made a kerosene lamp that they used to light up their lives.

Xu felt that she had tied Liu down and repeatedly asked him, 'Are you regretful? Liu always replied, 'As long as we are industrious, life will improve.'

In the second year of living in the mountain, Liu began and continued for over 50 years, to hand-carve the steps so that his wife could get down the mountain easily.

Half a century later in 2001, a group of adventurers were exploring the forest and were surprised to find the elderly couple and the over 6,000 hand-carved steps. Liu MingSheng, one of their seven children said, 'My parents loved each other so much, they have lived in seclusion for over 50 years and never been apart a single day. He hand carved more than 6,000 steps over the years for my mother's convenience, although she doesn't go down the mountain that much.'


The couple had lived in peace for over 50 years until last week. Liu, now 72 years, returned from his daily farm work and collapsed. Xu sat and prayed with her husband as he passed away in her arms. So in love with Xu, was Liu, that no one was able to release the grip he had on his wife's hand even after he had passed away.



'You promised me you'll take care of me, you'll always be with me until the day I died, now you left before me, how am I going to live without you?'

Xu spent days softly repeating this sent ence and touching her husband's black coffin with tears rolling down her cheeks.

In 2006, their story became one of the top 10 love stories from China, collected by the Chinese Women Weekly. The local government has decided to preserve the love ladder and the place they lived as a museum, so this love story can live forever.

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As I've written in my other blog My Online Journal, I bought a new desktop PC yesterday. It's a lot better using it for a long period of time rather my laptop. It has a wider LCD flat screen monitor. This afternoon after coming home from church and ate our lunch, my hubby went to Wal Mart to buy some things that we need. I didn't go because it's too hot out there. When my hubby came home, he showed me the web cam that he bought for my PC. I never thought that he will buy because all I knew is that he will just go and buy bread and grapes. He knew that I always chat with my siblings in the Philippines using my laptop with built-in webcam. Since I am now using my desktop and parked my laptop in the mean time, my hubby thought that I needed to have a webcam with built-in microphone so I can talk with my siblings. That's so sweet of my hubby. He also love talking to my siblings in the webcam and we just talked to them yesterday using my laptop. I have to be updated with what's going on there with them. My sister-in-law will be giving birth to their first baby anytime soon.

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A guy who lives at Lake Conroe (50 miles north of Houston ) saw a ball bouncing around kind of strange in the lake and went to investigate. It turned out to be a flathead catfish who had obviously tried to swallow a basketball which became stuck in its mouth!!

The fish was totally exhausted from trying to dive, but unable to because the ball would always bring him back up to the surface. The guy tried numerous times to get the ball out, but was unsuccessful. He finally had his wife cut the ball in order to deflate it and release the hungry catfish.

You probably wouldn't have believed this, if you hadn't seen the following pictures...

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Cheers for me!!! I'm so happy that I won the first prize by joining Juliana's contest. This is the first contest that I won since I became a blogger. My effort paid off. Since the start I was really determined to win the top prize. I had a great time reading her posts and making comments in her 3 blogs. She's a good writer and I learned a lot about her. If you have time, visit her blogs and read her posts. She'll be having another contest soon.

Here's her post announcing the winners:

It’s time to celebrate! The actual date of my blog anniversary was not such a day worthy of any celebration because of the mishap. The perfect time to celebrate is today, as I’m also announcing the winners of my first ever contest.

Lisa L. - $100
Mari - $55
AiDiSan - $40
Heidi - $30
Rocks - $25

To all my blogger friends who participated in the contest, thank you very much for your participation. I hope you’ll join me again in the future. I will be glad to have you again. This is definitely not the last contest; there will be more to come.

To the winners, please leave me your PayPal accounts so I know where to send the prizes to. Remember, comments are being moderated, so you need not worry about your accounts getting published.

Cheers!!!!

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