Category: All About Me
Last thing I made in 2011, is a rice krispies treats (made with all natural marshmallows, not jet puffs)! We haven’t made this in forever because Wholefoods don’t have rice cereal that are similar enough to Kellogg’s Rice Krispies, and Trader Joe’s don’t have natural marshmallows. This means that it requires nothing short of divine miracle for the two necessary ingredients to ever meet in our kitchen.
Todd has been obsessed with little sandwiches made with freshly baked dinner rolls. Luckily for both of us, I really like making little breads.
First bread of 2012! It turned out nicely, I’ll take it as auspicious sign for the new year 
…And what you don’t see is the batch I screwed up few days ago (first bread FAIL since the first try!). I think that it had to do with overly happy yeast which pouffed up the bread uncontrollably in the oven making it look scary, AND I forgot to set a timer, so it was completely under cooked.
And reflection on 2011?? Well, part of it, I’m sure glad is over. The not-so-fun bits started moving along once we met the right lawyer, a business accountant, and health insurance broker (when did our life get so complicated?). So much paper work and frustrating process! Doing things the “right way” takes a lot of time and effort. But a lot of 2011 was wonderful. Living in Portland. Learning new things like baking and practicing hand-sewing. Contemplating and working towards life we want to live it, and remembering to enjoy the process. And Lucian. I know he was born at the end of 2010 technically, but with him, our not-so-little-anymore family feels complete. I think that Immi, Ashland and Lucian enjoy each others’ company a whole lot and from my perspective, balances each other out. There wasn’t a day in 2011 that I didn’t have something to smile or laugh about. …So with that, 2012, here we come! My new year resolution? Same as every year — work hard, play a lot, eat well, stay healthy, enjoy life. Addition of “sleep more” would be nice, but that’s a wish, not a resolution…
The reason for my more-or-less absence online is that I got really sick around Sunday before last one. I think at that point, I hadn’t felt quite *right* for few days, and then while having this picnic, I started feeling really quite ill. After that, it was a down hill — by Monday, I felt like if I just closed my eyes I just might never wake up, ever. I had no idea what was wrong with me I thought I was having allergy or something. But then I developed a fever which I figured means I have some sort of infection, so I went to see a doctor on Tuesday. As it turns out, I managed to get staph infection “somewhere” in my body (that’s the official diagnosis…exact location inconclusive) and by the time I was in the doctor’s office, I has very very low blood pressure and high heart rate. He told me to take an ambulance to ER — I told him I’ll just go home and drink lots of water (I thought I might survive infection, but that I would not survive ambulance/ER for various reasons). I’m glad I got medical attention before any permanent damage was done and the infection responded well to antibiotics (and lots of water and probiotic foods). At this point, 1.5 weeks later, infection is probably all gone (the doctor gave me extra 3 days of antibiotics to make sure so I still have to take them 2 more days) but it seems to be taking some time for my body to recover from shock it went through for few days. Hopefully I will get back into swing of things soon.
That which fails to kill me will make me stronger right?
March is National Craft Month, apparently (who makes these things official?) which is serendipitous since it’s always been MY craft month being my birthday month. It’s not that my birthday is special at this point in my life, but hey, what good is a birthday if it’s not a good excuse to do something nice for myself so… I got for myself this box to organize my embroidery floss in!! It’s actually a vintage slide organizer, but it’s completely perfect for my purpose and I’m so very happy with it!!!
My mom sent me a package a short while ago and in it was this cutest little box of chocolates. I’ve seen many beautiful chocolates, but I totally adore these! Japan isn’t known for chocolates specifically, but like every thing else from there, it’s very yummy. I’ve been missing Japan lately.
Also in the package were some Japanese craft books (quilting, jewelry making, sewing by hand…) and I read quite carefully on bits about hand quilting technique. As it turns out, technique is important because my quilting stitches are getting better already (though much improvement is still desired) and I can do them a lot more comfortably and faster too. Who knew that thimbles are actually useful!
Really big pale pink stitches are basting threads (it’s temporarily keeping together top fabric, batting and bottom fabric) which will be taken out at the end. My mom also sent me these from Japan. There isn’t such a thing as “basting thread” in US apparently, even though it’s such a necessary item in sewing! Basically it’s a cotton thread that rips out really easily. I think that it’s far easier to handle then having million pins in my WIPs.
We’ve been really busy around here (we’ll show you what we’ve been up to in a bit!) and when we do take a small break, it’s usually for the kids… Which means “ME” time for me got a bit pushed aside. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a very happy stay-at-home mom and grateful that I get to spend entire day with my kids. But as much as they are completely fabulous human beings, they are NOISY — it’s nice to have just a bit of silence where I don’t have to mind anyone but myself. We aren’t any less busy now, but none of us can afford to have a loony mom/spouse …so 2 hours just for me, hopefully more or less on weekly basis (we used to do this before we got really really busy, and it does wonders for my entire rest of the week!). This evening, I went to a bookstore and had a cup of coffee while browsing jewelry design and knitting books and magazines.
Todd said that they had a really good sushi time WITHOUT me! I think that Immi and Ashland really enjoy having some daddy-time.
Immi is content playing in her room by herself and Ashland & Lucian are both napping so I’m spending precious few moments of quiet getting acquainted with Paulina Tarot — the newest addition to my tarot collection.
I’ve been collecting and learning tarot since early teens and it’s something I find myself going back to even though there are times I don’t even think about it for a while. Paulina Tarot is not just very pretty but also quite insightful, I think that it will become my new favorite.
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