Lost and Found

Yesterday, we celebrated Jeremy's grandma's 92nd birthday at Oriental Century Palace at Sheppard and Brimley in Scarborough.  At about 8:15pm, Jeremy discovered that he lost his brand new Samsung Galaxy S2 phone that he had just bought a few weeks ago.  He had it in the restaurant earlier and the only place he went to was the men's washroom with our son.  We looked everywhere, under the tables and chairs, he retraced his footsteps to the washroom, we asked the staff if anyone had seen it, we kept on calling it.  Nothing.

Throughout the evening, Jeremy was able to track the phone with the GPS and the phone's hotspot which indicated that the phone was still in the restaurant.  He waited until all the customers had left and the signal was still the strongest close to the kitchen and washroom areas.  There were 2 kitchen staff washing dishes and when Jeremy asked them if they saw a phone, they didn't fess up.  But by 11:30pm, the signal got weak which meant that the phone had left the building.  He was still able to track the GPS signal and saw that the phone moved to Sheppard and Markham Road area.  He came home sans phone and we both thought that the chances were slim that we would get the phone back.

I wasn't able to sleep very well and woke up with a massive headache at 5am.  After breakfast, we went (with both kids in tow) back to the restaurant.  I told the manager that we are suspecting one of his staff took the phone because of how the signal got weak after all the customers had left and the phone moved locations.  He took offense to me accusing his staff without any hard evidence and told me to report it to the police.  He said his staff are honest people, even returning thousands of dollars in cash to a customer once.  He told me that there's closed circuit cameras and I was welcome to view it but I had to wait until the owner came in and he didn't know when she would be in.  I asked him to call her and the owner said she would be back in 45 minutes.  So we waited.  In the mean time, the same manager gave us tea and a plate of cookies for Keith which I thought was really nice, considering the circumstances.

When the owner came in, she was at first reluctant but she became more cooperative.  She asked her daughter to set up the footage for us to watch.  We watched for about 15 minutes and saw the footage of Jeremy and Keith walking past the backdoor to the bathroom.  To our surprise, the next piece of footage was minutes later when the kitchen dishwasher walked past holding a phone that looked like Jeremy's with a white case!

Here's a screen shot of the phone clearly in view

A close-up of the same shot

Watch the video here.

We couldn't believe it.  It's a miracle that the video caught her in the act.  The manager took a look at the video and went inside to talk to the woman.  A few minutes later, he came out with the good news that she is going to get us our phone.

When she came in with our phone, 'she' is a middle aged woman from China, one of the kitchen workers that Jeremy talked to last night.  If I give her the benefit of the doubt, she may not have understood Jeremy's English, broken Chinese and 'phone' hand gestures.  When I asked why she didn't answer the calls, she said she doesn't know how to use the phone which I also believe but it doesn't explain why she didn't tell anyone that she found it in the first place.  The manager then told her that when she finds something, she has to tell someone - this appeared to be a novel concept to her.

In any case, I'm glad we were able to find the phone.  Now I'm ready to ring in the New Year!

Life changing moments

Today, I found out two things, both of which are life changing events.  1) A friend of mine gave birth to her 2nd son 5 weeks early yesterday.  2) Another friend of mine is having twins.

When I think about my life pre-kids, I realize how selfish I was.  But then again, what else was i supposed to do?  I didn't have any one else to think about other than myself so selfishness was the only thing to do.  Now that I have kids, I am definitely not totally unselfish but I have learned how to be a little bit less selfish. The responsibility of taking care of my two kids has really given me a new perspective.  Every time I see my kids do something new or even just watching them sleep, I am in awe that these are two intelligent beings, crafted by God, and entrusted to my husband and I.  That's when I feel so unworthy and humbled to be their mother.  I want to raise them up to have a relationship with God and be contributing members of society.  I want to give them my all.  Having kids has changed my life in a way that my selfish pre-kid self could have never imagine.

Weirdest but best Christmas present yet

I asked Jeremy to install cabinet dampers as my Christmas present this year. I bought one set from Ikea and he installed them successfully yesterday. So I went to Ikea to get 9 more sets so he can install them on to all the cabinets in the kitchen and bathrooms. Can't wait!

Audrey doll from Pottery Barn Kids

I've been looking for a doll for my daughter. This morning, I received an email from Pottery Barn Canada telling me that there's a 20% off sale on all dolls in-store. So I convinced my husband to drive me to Yorkdale during my lunch hour because I knew it was going to be impossible to find a parking spot. As he circled in the parking lot with the kids in the car, I braved the crowds and went into Yorkdale in hopes to get the Audrey doll from Pottery Barn. I was so disappointed to find out that not only was the Audrey doll not in-stock, it doesn't look like any other store has one and the sales associate told me that it looks like it's being discontinued because she wasn't able to see when they would have another shipment. If anyone has any suggestions on how I can get the Audrey doll, please let me know!

Hair cut

My son has come a long way when it comes to getting his hair cut.  When we took him for his first few hair cuts, he would cry like we were torturing him.  He is now 4 years old and today, I took him for a hair cut and I was so proud of him.  He told the hair dresser he wanted "#2 on the top and #1 around the edges".  He even made small talk with the hair dresser.  Here's how the conversation went:

Keith: You know, when I was a baby, I used to cry when I got my hair cut
Hairdresser: Oh, how long ago was that?  2 years?
Keith: Ummm, no.  I think it was 21 years ago.

My little boy is becoming a big boy.  It's incredible.

Toy kitchen or doll house?

It's funny how your perspective changes once you become a parent.  I detest clutter so I used to be very anti-toys.  I think I'm still anti-toys but recently, I've been thinking about buying either a dollhouse or a kitchen for my daughter.  I feel bad for her because she doesn't really have girly toys to play with.  She is constantly playing with my son's Hot Wheels cars.  Not that there's anything wrong with girls playing with cars but I don't want to deprive her of playing with dolls and house either.  It's such a difficult decision because buying a toy kitchen or doll house means that I'm committing to another piece of furniture in the house which will take up space in my living room.  Maybe I'll start small and just buy a tea set or a doll for now so I don't have to make such a big commitment.

Standing up by herself