whale of a time

Just some presents... the shirt for Owen (and similar for Kellen) for Christmas. Brian, of course is the artist, did a pretty awesome job really on both the whale and squid. He did the whale again for Henry's birthday present.

Some cute Karate pants with a whale on the bum and fish on the legs... Modeled by G. I love the fabric, though haven't found a use for this... it goes perfectly on the pants :)

Great breakfasts

Great breakfasts.... these are great not because they are complicated, unusual or anything other than mine ... for long periods of time... breakfasts that I would start nearly every day with. I love breakfast, it is by far my favorite meal of the day. I would rather go out for breakfast than almost any other meal. My breakfast choices have been accused of being "boring"... though I like to think of myself as dedicated. I enjoy a hearty breakfast... make a good beginning. I like to know how my day will start, what I will savor and they are always full of flavor, warmth, love. I love breakfast.

In New York, and heck, it may have (and likely) started when I moved away from home and any college meal plan, I would start my day with an egg fried over medium (or with my Dad's method of steaming a fried egg... with a splash of water under a lid until the top is just set) in a tortilla with some cheese... salsa if I was feeling crazy! This staple lasted me a long long time.

I am trying to remember what I ate after we moved back to California, but can't remember exactly, maybe I just stuck with this awesome way to start the day, though in SD I had a year or so with fresh squeezed OJ after Ry got me an OJEX. I also converted to oatmeal with some sort of dried fruit for a while after visiting Brian's folks and Renee made a really great oatmeal with currents. I think I like dried apricots (in the boiling water for the oatmeal so they soften a bit) the best. Oatmeal definitely made a good, hearty stand for a few years...

Summers in Bodega and after we moved out there I would eat two slices of Wild Flour bread (crusty, flavorful, delish wheat bread) smeared with Bodega goat cheese... one slice with jam as well and a cuppa Taylor Maid coffee. I have used an at home "espresso" machine... a pretty good krups machine since college. After moving to Portland, I had to make my own bread... so used the 5 minutes a day bread for a good 2 years. After we got chickens my two slices turned into one slice with goat cheese (nothing as good as bodega goat.... miss it much) and a poached egg fresh from our coop... so good, nothing beats a fresh poached egg.... and one with goat cheese and homemade jam... Oregon is great for fresh berries and we have used them to make an abundance of jam... mmm. BUT... our chickens started... well, stopped laying eggs. We haven't changed them out yet so still only the very rare egg. What to do? I have made a dramatic switch the past year... Granola. I have never been a cold-breakfast kind of gal, but homemade granola, soy milk, frozen berries in the microwave for 1 min to warm it up on cold winter mornings... topped with a big dollop of plain whole-milk yogurt. My coffee has even changed... a pour-over for breakfast (Aeropress later in the day... also a great coffee).

I'll see about gathering pictures sometime, but was just pondering food (maybe it's all of the"gourmet diary of a foodie" episodes I've been watching or this appropo exhibit...http://www.jonhuck.com/breakfast/index.htm (what would your picture show??) via a perfect article by http://chocolateandzucchini.com/archives/2008/04/on_hotel_breakfasts_and_how_not_to_have_them.php... ... not that I have to dodge hotel breakfasts much these days), wishing I had a cookie instead of the really lousy cupcakes I made for poor Owen's birthday.... I should stick to cakes or pies.

Some holiday crafting

Lots of crafting and homamade goodness this year... I went for the easier things that I could make more of rather than fewer more complicated items.

Peg bears for the youngest set.

Pattern was from One yard wonders, I made Owen & Grace a pair (and Alice too) a while ago, but decided to go with soft flannel for the winter group. Brian helped a ton by cutting out the stamp and cutting most of the fabric for me while I sewed... with the help cutting they went together much more quickly! Thanks! Like the stamp? Owen helped make the fabric that we put on the bear bags. I like the idea of going towards reusable fabric gift bags for at least family gift exchanges, but I am not all the way there yet... how do you know what sizes to make? Anyhow, they were cute, soft, stuffed with cotton from Knittin' kitten so they were a little more dense.

Hand warmers!

I have been collecting felted sweaters and finally found something that I could use them for!

There was some wool, some cashmere wool blends (my favs) and some cashmere (a little stretchy... instead of for the kids, I ended up keeping those). Appliquéd on some felt stars/hearts/flowers and voila! For the wee tiniest set, I kept the fingers closed, but they can be snipped open as they get bigger.

Some little ornaments with some sculpty...(http://tinyhappy.typepad.com/tiny_happy/2010/11/cream-clay.html) I made the ones with leaves (the wee sage leaves turned out particularly nicely)

Owen used other household items and chose the hot pink :)

We used these on some baskets for teachers, family and friends... that I somehow failed to photograph... they were cute from http://ayumills.blogspot.com/2008/05/tutorial-fabric-basket.html (without the patchwork) and were filled with ornaments, homemade jam and homemade soap (also with a cute stamp I forgot to photograph... one of these days I'll post the homemade soap info... I need to keep track of the good recipe I finally found and what has worked and what I need to work on... but its nice stuff) and tissue holders (http://www.sewmamasew.com/blog2/december2010/JCasaSMSProjectDec.pdf) in some They were fun to make and full of a mis-mash of things that I know how to make.

Brian and I finally got together and made some hula hoops based on the model and advice from the woman from whom I bought Owen's a few months ago...

for the same price we made 8 and probably could have made 10 in an evening. Anyhow... easy peasy and loads of fun for kids and grown-ups. We used 100 psi 3/4 inch tubing with some connection (male-male) bits purchased at home depot.

Sealed the connection with black electrical tape and then made a bunch of spirals with colored electrical tape. I think that the thicker stuff holds up substantially better than the thinner multipack I got.... and hear gaffers tape is really the way to go.

Owen is surprisingly good at this.

Mom also made really cute SANTA bingo cards that we used only barely, but also a great game for large groups of friendlies. We basically had a bingo style card each square had some fact... we had to go around and fill in the card by getting people to fill in one square that was true for them... that sounds confusing, but for example: one of the 25 squares would say "spent the night on a park bench" and we would have to ask everyone if they had done that... eventually you would find out that Uncle Steve spent the night on a park bench on a youthful trip to Europe after missing a train or something, and he would sign that square (each person can only sign one). Some of them were pretty targeted, some were random (turns out nobody really doesn't like chocolate). It was a fun way to chat with everyone!

on display

MONSTERS! A cool activity with the graduate group here and http://www.citizens-of-the-universe.com/monsters/index.htm James, the monster guru. Owen actually did most of the scupting... I was the "welder", responsible for smoothing the pieces onto the body. Pretty awesome outcome!

Otherwise, I got my act together for a little offrenda this year.

I don't have all my pictures of loved ones in order yet, but with we made sugar skulls with Val (and Owen and Joaquin, but their attention waned after a bit), and I have some pictures and some other personal items that remind me of my dear ancestors, how strange to consider them ancestors now,

is that right if I knew and loved them in life? Anyhow, I think it is a lovely practice to remember those who have died, and I like to remember how they have shaped me and my family,

what they taught me, recall memories near to my heart. Additionally, it is fun, bright and has a celebratory air,

which I also appreciate, I feel like it is a sincere heartfelt celebration of life. In brief, very brief, just one out of many memories:

Grandpa Jerry: a smile that can make you famous... reminds me to do so more and to more people

Grandma Jean: this may be old-fashioned, but to be a loving and supportive wife and mother. also.. I don't care if you wrap it in bacon, I still don't like liver :)

Tai-goon: to be brave, to take your son to a new country start a new life, life simply... he also taught me to make won-tons when I was a kid

Tai-pa: I understand that we share particularly dexterous toes, and talk about brave... she brought her daughter to this country alone and as I was told, through a river following the glowing cigarette of a coyote (or chinese equivalent) at a distance.

Gou-mo: if you are going to learn anything in a new language, learn to give a compliment. I remember she would always say "good-girl" or "good-boy" as appropriate. She was sweet and kind, and would worry about things like making sure I had my purse under control in a restaurant.

Uncle Dudley: so much, to be cheerful, to look in new places for great chow and to relish the discovery! Also... you should be able to tell what kind of wine you have based on the shape of the glass!

Uncle Henry: He was my friend on our trip to China, he was always energetic well into very old age and he attributed it to eating lots of vegetables. He and gou mou had a wonderful pommelo tree that they would risk life and limb to harvest pommelos for us to take home (frail looking tiny elderly people on rickety ladders with sticks trying to knock down large heavy fruit)

Grandma Amo: Brian's grandma was always extremely sweet to me and was a great hugger (she liked them too :).

gumdrop

Voila.... I made furniture! Well, a really big pillow.

This is Amy Butler's Gumdrop Pillow pattern (large) with an Ikea cool undersea fabric (home dec weight - 1 yard). This went together really fast.

Stuffing it was uncertain when we determined it would be about as much as a real piece of furniture to purchase the stuffing... so went to goodwill, got two sleeping bags, bleached the dickens out of them in the wash, dried and stuffed! It makes it pretty firm as well, which is kinda nice.

The kids love it so far. I think its fun.

Otherwise... a crown for princess Grace on her first birthday... happy birthday baby.

(for Grace)

One year ago, right now... I was sitting right here in this chair knitting a red hat for you and watching TV (probably Glee :) thinking that I felt a little weird. You had made walking ridiculous for at least 2 weeks by this point, I could only go places v-e-r-y slowly. Somewhere between 9-10pm I finished your hat, we called Val and Ray to say... maybe tonight was the night, but we would wait and see. Ray told Val that we would call back within the hour and we did. The "weirdness" was coming at regular intervals then started to take my breath a little bit, or more accurately make me very focused so I couldn't talk and I started to pace. Your Dad called the Doctor and called OHSU and they said they were full... full!? They suggested that if we felt like we could wait a few hours and try to call again... we waited about 10 minutes and said...uh nope. We were diverted to Providence. Around 11 or so we packed Owen into the car for an overnight with our friends. By the time we arrived at their house, I couldn't talk to anyone. Your Dad took Owen... still strapped into his carseat, sleepy and grinning like crazy right into their living room, everyone was awake. We made it to the hospital after and walked in through the emergency room, walking still felt... imperative... so I turned down a wheel chair to the unfamiliar maternity wing which turned out to be really really really far away down an extremely empty extremely long hallway. Probably about 2/3 of the way there I was ready to give up, but there was nobody we could ask for help, no wheelchairs in sight so on we went. Finally made it up to the maternity ward just around midnight and were quickly escorted into a room. Hung around getting settled for a few minutes, giving them our information, giving them time to get our records from OHSU... until suddenly it seemed like wearing pants still was probably a bad idea. By the time I got into the gown and crawled into the bed, you were about ready. The nurse had only to check before hollering, literally hollering to get the midwife who ran in, I was hollering too. I just glimpsed at her kind face before she was there to catch you as you splashed into this world. Boy you were fast (faster is better!).

And there you were

wet, hungry, snuggly and beautiful... amazing...

The midwife kept telling me that it was okay to breathe normally... you were here! You took my breath away, you were here and I'd never breathe the same again.

ANOTHER new baby

Seriously folks, its like an epidemic around here.... not that I'm complaining, more cuteness. I pulled together another blanket for Alex Ian... Howdy Alex! Still really like the zig-zag, and I found a cute life-preserver print for the binding (Dad was a navy guy).

It was a little muted in color for me but by the time I got it put together I was really really loving that blue again.Hmm Peacock? or this awesome dusty blue? I'm in love with both.
sweet babies. love'em.