Life is precious

Today my uncle passed away.  He was having heart  & kidney issues and the doctors determined he needed triple bypass surgery.  But for some odd reason, the hospital sent him home because they said he was too weak for surgery and needed to strengthen up. Huh? I assume in the US they would have kept him in the hospital under observation until he was strong enough to be operated on since he was in such a delicate condition.  Anyway, my uncle went home and a couple of days later he was comatose so they took him back to the hospital last night and he died this morning.  What the heck happened? In the U.S., a family would sue for malpractice probably. In the Philippines, it seems like it is what it is.  Something isn't taken care of properly and you just deal.  I feel so helpless. I can't even imagine what my dad or his siblings are feeling right now as none of them were there.  We're all here in the U.S. and he was in the Philippines. I don't even know if my dad was able to talk to his bro while he was ill but still alive.  I don't know how to feel.  I wasn't that close to him as I've only visited a handful of times and he was quiet like most of my dad's family is, so it's kind of hard to get to know someone well. But that seems to be the way for most of family.  In the Philippines, you don't need to know someone well - they're still your family.  Anyhow, it's always easy for the one that leaves this world because I believe they are at peace. It's always harder for the people they leave behind.   I just hope my family makes it through alright.  It's their first sibling to pass away.  Not only is it heartbreaking to lose a brother, but it also can make you feel your own mortality.

On another note, one of my cousins became a grandma the same day my uncle passed away.  So I can see the cycle of life continuing...

Organics Recycling

So NYC has started this test program for organics recycling - any food products or paper product that has been contaminated by food can be thrown in the brown recycling bin that they provide.  The organics will be collected at the same time as the other regular recyclables and I assume the waste will be composted.  A city composting program.  Who would have thought?  I thought it would only happen for people with backyards and now me an apartment city dweller can partake in the benefits of composting.  I like the idea of it.  For my apartment building, they dropped off 2 brown recycling bins, and within the bins were little mini bins that each apartment can use to store their organics in.  It does get a bit messy and a bit smelly but I am putting brown paper bags to good use.  As you know, any paper product that has food on it cannot normally be recycled because it is considered contaminated...bacteria and the such.  This new program allows for you to recycle food scraps plus any paper product that has touched food such as a burger wrapper, dirty napkins or a pizza box. I know they rolled out the program in South Slope, Brooklyn.  I'm not sure where else they are testing it out.  I think this is a great concept and I'm glad the mayor decided to try it out to see if it works.  At least I feel I am helping to reduce the waste that I am producing if only by a little bit.  Now the kid's diapers.  That's another story.  Sorry landfills..well until he's finally potty trained..

mess

So it's that time of year when everyone catches a cold because the change in temps from Summer to Fall have finally arrived.  I caught a really nasty cold.  It started Thursday.  I'm not sure if I caught a warped version of my son's runny nose because he wasn't coughing much, but I am coughing up a lung and have a nasty sore throat.  Yesterday I was tired and wanted to just take it easy and lie on the couch.  While I was lying there, my son decided to ransack the entire living room...Cleaning this up was not what I wanted to do when I wasn't feeling so hot.  This picture doesn't even show the pile up of legos he had on the left near the sofa.  I mean really...I had already put away his stuffed animals once that morning, and then this.  I swear sometimes I feel like I'm just a full time maid constantly cleaning up after him.  He hasn't quite gotten the concept of cleaning up.  Or maybe he knows mommy will do it if I just stare at her blankly for a few minutes when she is trying to coax me to help with the mess. 

Monsters on Repeat

So my little one has reached a phase where he wants to watch the same video over and over again.  It reminds me of my sis who made me watch Sound of Music and a Care Bears movie we had on VHS over and over and over again.  His chosen movie is Monsters, Inc.  Sadly I only had 2 cartoons in my dvd collection.  It was Monsters, Inc. vs. Kung Fu Panda and it looks like Monsters, Inc. totally won out.  Kung Fu Panda was a little violent for him anyway as I see how he imitates what he sees on screen.  I'd rather he not try to jump kick me in the face.  I mean this kid is all video'd out.  Not only does he have Monster's Inc on replay but he also still has his roster of youtube cartoons that he likes to watch: Pocoyo, Peppa Pig, Mother Goose Club, Caillou (who I find really whiny and annoying).  I know he really shouldn't watch so much of this stuff.  Maybe I need to be more regimented about what he does.  I mean my hubby's bro only let's his kids watch 10-15 minutes of tv a day.  Now that is regimented.

I made German Apple Cake the other day.  I got the recipe from the below link.
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/German-Apple-Cake-I/Detail.aspx?evt19=1 
I chopped up 3 fairly large apples, used 1/2 a cup of oil, 1 1/2 cup sugar (I used brown sugar for the 1/2 a cup of sugar instead of regular), I also used 3 tsp of cinnamon like one of the commenters suggested instead of the original recipe and I also put it into a bundt pan and it came out pretty darn good.  There was a suggestion to add a caramel sauce but considering every time I bake anything, my son eats it 24/7, I was trying to make this as healthy as possible so I left out any sauce or icing.  My son and my hubby like it, so it's a winner.

I tried a healthier version of carrot cake and also one of apple cake using apple sauce instead of oil but for some reason to me, there was a dirt like aftertaste (not that I eat dirt regularly but it had an aftertaste of how potted soil smells).  When I cooked the above German Apple Cake using oil, there was no trace of that "dirt" like taste.