I picked up my camera to get a picture of the snow today (yes, snow) and it wouldn't turn on. I swapped out the battery and did get it to power on, but it wouldn't do anything else. I took it down to Abolins (local camera shop), and the guy there said he'd never seen anything like it. He's going to pull the back off and see if anything's loose, and if not he'll send it in to Canon and get an estimate. So I am camera-less. This will definitely limit my designing options for a while.
And we just found out a couple of days ago that Doug only has one class this quarter. He had two lined up, and was trying to pick up a third somewhere else, but not having any luck. (I guess enrollment is down?) Then we learned that they'd had to give one of his classes to somebody else, since one of the full-time faculty had a class canceled, so they made it up from the part-time pool. So Doug will be looking for some other kind of work. If anyone knows of anything in the area, we'd appreciate any suggestions!
Friday, March 28, 2008
Cousin Squidge and Cousin Pudge
Challenge #7 of the Amazing Digi Scrapping Race was a real doozy. I think just about everybody, upon first reading the requirements, experienced something of a sinking feeling. It was a "number crunch" challenge with two parts. I chose to do the first part, "messy," using one paper, two ribbons, three buttons, four glitter doodles, five frames, six pictures, seven alphas, eight flowers, nine staples, and ten random elements, all from one designer. I used all my own stuff, and had to make a few things on the spot for this challenge. Fortunately we could use the same element more than once to make up the required number.
(full credits here)
This was really a challenge. Definitely not my usual style, but it was fun. (Doug was looking at it and said, "This is going to be really busy, isn't it?") The hardest thing was the title. I spent a bit too long on that. I made a paper bag flower that I was really pleased with (it matches the frames). It's going in the April mega kit.
The title requires some explanation. We invented the word "squidge" to describe what Kate would do when she was kind of fussy and squirmy. (Sometimes we call her Squidgeon, or Squidgit.) These pictures were taken three years ago, when we were visiting my family in Ohio. My sister Betsey has this cute little dog, Angie, who is her "baby," so she decided that Kate and Angie were cousins. Hence Cousin Squidge and Cousin Pudge. (Angie has gotten a bit snappish in her old age, so these may be the only pictures we ever get of the two of them together!)
I worked on this one for a few of days, got it done with about an hour to spare before the deadline, and then threw together a layout for challenge #8 in about twenty minutes. Fortunately this one was a lot easier!
A memorable vacation experience, one-word title, black and white photos, journaling incorporating song lyrics, and no travel-related embellishments. Easy, yes? It certainly could have been more elaborate, but it was nice to be able to go minimalist on this one.
So I successfully completed the challenges for the week, but, sadly, I lost my partner. Karin was having internet problems and didn't get hers done. I'm teaming up with somebody else who also lost her partner. I was thinking about just dropping out, since I've got a big project that I'm trying to get finished in the next week or so, but I guess I'll stick with it.
(full credits here)
This was really a challenge. Definitely not my usual style, but it was fun. (Doug was looking at it and said, "This is going to be really busy, isn't it?") The hardest thing was the title. I spent a bit too long on that. I made a paper bag flower that I was really pleased with (it matches the frames). It's going in the April mega kit.
The title requires some explanation. We invented the word "squidge" to describe what Kate would do when she was kind of fussy and squirmy. (Sometimes we call her Squidgeon, or Squidgit.) These pictures were taken three years ago, when we were visiting my family in Ohio. My sister Betsey has this cute little dog, Angie, who is her "baby," so she decided that Kate and Angie were cousins. Hence Cousin Squidge and Cousin Pudge. (Angie has gotten a bit snappish in her old age, so these may be the only pictures we ever get of the two of them together!)
I worked on this one for a few of days, got it done with about an hour to spare before the deadline, and then threw together a layout for challenge #8 in about twenty minutes. Fortunately this one was a lot easier!
A memorable vacation experience, one-word title, black and white photos, journaling incorporating song lyrics, and no travel-related embellishments. Easy, yes? It certainly could have been more elaborate, but it was nice to be able to go minimalist on this one.
So I successfully completed the challenges for the week, but, sadly, I lost my partner. Karin was having internet problems and didn't get hers done. I'm teaming up with somebody else who also lost her partner. I was thinking about just dropping out, since I've got a big project that I'm trying to get finished in the next week or so, but I guess I'll stick with it.
Thursday, March 27, 2008
Tagged
I've been tagged by Laura Call. The Calls are moving out of our ward. Waaah! We will miss them.
10 years ago I was:
I had to pull out my journal for this one. We were in St. John's, Newfoundland, where Doug was going to grad school. I was working at the Dominion grocery store and teaching early morning Seminary (we'd just finished Helaman and had a Jeopardy game with Korean candy for prizes). The night before we'd been to a benefit concert at the Ship Inn where Doug and I performed "Huntin' for Deer" (our very own creation, to the tune of "Waltzing with Bears"). I attempted to play the guitar and did rather badly, but as I recall no one was really paying much attention to the performances anyway. I told Mikel Koven that his beard made him look like Kenneth Branagh in dim light. The day of the 27th we went out and got some boards and cinder blocks and made some shelves in our basement apartment. I started re-reading Shards of Honor.
5 things on my "to do" list today:
1. lunch (check)
2. visiting teaching--got canceled, so I'm going to go play with Kate outside
3. laundry (check)
4. scrap?
5. I think we might go to Chevy's for dinner.
Things I would do if I became a billionaire:
Buy houses for my siblings, and travel a lot. Travel travel travel.
5 of my Secret Bad Habits:
1. I tend to be rather self-centered. (Maybe it's an artistic thing, I don't know.)
2. I spend ridiculous amounts of time and energy on things that aren't really important, and get by doing the bare minimum for other things that are important.
3. I'm a real flake sometimes. There are things I've said I would do for people that I still haven't done.
4. My house is a mess.
5. As it says over in the sidebar, I spend way too much time on the computer.
5 Places I've Lived:
1. Fairborn, Ohio--my family moved there when I was ten, and they're still living in that house.
2. Provo, Utah--I loved watching the light on the mountains
3. Korea--I lived in a variety of places, on my mission and teaching English with Doug. Dying to go back!
4. St, John's, Newfoundland, in a basement apartment for $275 a month. It had a nice big kitchen but no electrical outlets in the bathroom.
5. Tacoma, WA--we're on our third apartment here, all in the same zip code
5 Jobs I've Had:
1. One of my first jobs was at Taco Bell
2. data entry at AT&T
3. shrub pruner on the BYU grounds crew (that was so fun. Best job ever).
4. English teacher in Korea
5. grocery store cashier in Newfoundland
5 things that most people don't know about me:
1. I still have flying dreams sometimes. Fun.
2. I crave stability and spontaneity. It's a bit of a conundrum.
3. I enjoy doing things with people but I'm not good at initiating it. Sometimes I feel rather socially insecure. Not as much as I used to, but it's still there.
4. There are people that I very much regret not keeping in touch with.
5. I have stories in my head, and have sporadically gone through periods where I did a lot of writing, but I don't really know if I'll ever get them down properly.
10 years ago I was:
I had to pull out my journal for this one. We were in St. John's, Newfoundland, where Doug was going to grad school. I was working at the Dominion grocery store and teaching early morning Seminary (we'd just finished Helaman and had a Jeopardy game with Korean candy for prizes). The night before we'd been to a benefit concert at the Ship Inn where Doug and I performed "Huntin' for Deer" (our very own creation, to the tune of "Waltzing with Bears"). I attempted to play the guitar and did rather badly, but as I recall no one was really paying much attention to the performances anyway. I told Mikel Koven that his beard made him look like Kenneth Branagh in dim light. The day of the 27th we went out and got some boards and cinder blocks and made some shelves in our basement apartment. I started re-reading Shards of Honor.
5 things on my "to do" list today:
1. lunch (check)
2. visiting teaching--got canceled, so I'm going to go play with Kate outside
3. laundry (check)
4. scrap?
5. I think we might go to Chevy's for dinner.
Things I would do if I became a billionaire:
Buy houses for my siblings, and travel a lot. Travel travel travel.
5 of my Secret Bad Habits:
1. I tend to be rather self-centered. (Maybe it's an artistic thing, I don't know.)
2. I spend ridiculous amounts of time and energy on things that aren't really important, and get by doing the bare minimum for other things that are important.
3. I'm a real flake sometimes. There are things I've said I would do for people that I still haven't done.
4. My house is a mess.
5. As it says over in the sidebar, I spend way too much time on the computer.
5 Places I've Lived:
1. Fairborn, Ohio--my family moved there when I was ten, and they're still living in that house.
2. Provo, Utah--I loved watching the light on the mountains
3. Korea--I lived in a variety of places, on my mission and teaching English with Doug. Dying to go back!
4. St, John's, Newfoundland, in a basement apartment for $275 a month. It had a nice big kitchen but no electrical outlets in the bathroom.
5. Tacoma, WA--we're on our third apartment here, all in the same zip code
5 Jobs I've Had:
1. One of my first jobs was at Taco Bell
2. data entry at AT&T
3. shrub pruner on the BYU grounds crew (that was so fun. Best job ever).
4. English teacher in Korea
5. grocery store cashier in Newfoundland
5 things that most people don't know about me:
1. I still have flying dreams sometimes. Fun.
2. I crave stability and spontaneity. It's a bit of a conundrum.
3. I enjoy doing things with people but I'm not good at initiating it. Sometimes I feel rather socially insecure. Not as much as I used to, but it's still there.
4. There are people that I very much regret not keeping in touch with.
5. I have stories in my head, and have sporadically gone through periods where I did a lot of writing, but I don't really know if I'll ever get them down properly.
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Easter Morn
This was the first year that Kate really understood the egg hunt thing. She was all excited about it. When I told her the night before that we were going to go outside and find eggs and put them in her basket, she kept asking, "Is it morning?"
The morning was rainy. Kate wore this cute dress that her Aunt Barb made, but you can't see much of it under the coat.
We had a few plastic eggs scattered around, some with little treats in them. I managed to snap a few photos as Kate dashed around in the drizzle.
It was a good thing we went outside, because Doug noticed that we had a very flat tire. He had enough time to get the spare on before we had to leave for church.
Kate wanted to look for eggs again, so we went inside and played find-the-eggs a few times while Doug changed the tire. I've discovered that Kate is really bad at looking for things. Even with the eggs out in plain sight, she had a hard time finding them. Maybe if we play find-the-eggs more often it'll be good practice for when she loses something.
After church we went over to Rebecca's house and ate bacon lentil soup and had an exciting game of Settlers of Catan. (Rebecca won, but it was really close.) She had some more eggs for Kate, too. We had an egg-filled day.
(I've had to edit this post about five times. And I just realized I titled it "Eater Morn." Oy.)
The morning was rainy. Kate wore this cute dress that her Aunt Barb made, but you can't see much of it under the coat.
We had a few plastic eggs scattered around, some with little treats in them. I managed to snap a few photos as Kate dashed around in the drizzle.
It was a good thing we went outside, because Doug noticed that we had a very flat tire. He had enough time to get the spare on before we had to leave for church.Kate wanted to look for eggs again, so we went inside and played find-the-eggs a few times while Doug changed the tire. I've discovered that Kate is really bad at looking for things. Even with the eggs out in plain sight, she had a hard time finding them. Maybe if we play find-the-eggs more often it'll be good practice for when she loses something.
After church we went over to Rebecca's house and ate bacon lentil soup and had an exciting game of Settlers of Catan. (Rebecca won, but it was really close.) She had some more eggs for Kate, too. We had an egg-filled day.
(I've had to edit this post about five times. And I just realized I titled it "Eater Morn." Oy.)
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Wearin' o' the green (and a whale)
I understand that on the Catholic liturgical calendar, St. Patrick's day was moved to Friday the 14th (or possibly Saturday in some diocese) because Easter is so early this year and no feast days can be held during Holy Week. But, not being Catholic, I put a green shirt on Kate on Monday. That was our only nod to the holiday.
My sister Barb just sent us a dress that she made for Kate (pink!) along with a book of kids' crafts. Kate has been enjoying looking through it and asking to make things. (It goes like this: "What's this, Mama?" "Those are paper animals." "We can make paper animals?") So Doug made her a whale. It's a jointed whale, with brads (which may be called paper fasteners or split pins, depending on where you are). I donated a piece of watercolor paper that was left over from an earlier experiment.
We went outside to take pictures. It was a little chillier than I was thinking (and windy!) and Kate hasn't quite got the hang of "show me your whale" for the camera.
I like the effect of the watercolor. Kind of an Eric Carle thing going on there.
My sister Barb just sent us a dress that she made for Kate (pink!) along with a book of kids' crafts. Kate has been enjoying looking through it and asking to make things. (It goes like this: "What's this, Mama?" "Those are paper animals." "We can make paper animals?") So Doug made her a whale. It's a jointed whale, with brads (which may be called paper fasteners or split pins, depending on where you are). I donated a piece of watercolor paper that was left over from an earlier experiment.
We went outside to take pictures. It was a little chillier than I was thinking (and windy!) and Kate hasn't quite got the hang of "show me your whale" for the camera.
I like the effect of the watercolor. Kind of an Eric Carle thing going on there.
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Rice Cooker and Spin-A-Lift
More from The Amazing Digi Scrapping Race! Challenge #5 was to scrap an interview with an inanimate object, so I decided to do our rice cooker, Lucky. We got Lucky in Korea almost twelve years ago, and he's still going strong!
(You can click on the picture to see it bigger.) 보시다시피 means "as you can see." Heh.
Challenge #6 was over at Sweet Shoppe Designs, where they do something called Spin-A-Lift. This is where you take somebody else's layout and rotate or flip it, and then use that composition to create a new layout. For this challenge one team member had to pick a layout from the other team member's gallery to rotate and scraplift, but also reverse the original subject matter. I used this layout of Karin's:
This is her daughter swimming. So I rotated the design clockwise and made a page about Kate not swimming.
(credits here)
Kate keeps looking at this photo and talking about going to the swimming pool. Maybe she doesn't remember how much she hated it. I guess we'll try again this summer.
(You can click on the picture to see it bigger.) 보시다시피 means "as you can see." Heh.
Challenge #6 was over at Sweet Shoppe Designs, where they do something called Spin-A-Lift. This is where you take somebody else's layout and rotate or flip it, and then use that composition to create a new layout. For this challenge one team member had to pick a layout from the other team member's gallery to rotate and scraplift, but also reverse the original subject matter. I used this layout of Karin's:
This is her daughter swimming. So I rotated the design clockwise and made a page about Kate not swimming.
(credits here)
Kate keeps looking at this photo and talking about going to the swimming pool. Maybe she doesn't remember how much she hated it. I guess we'll try again this summer.
Monday, March 17, 2008
Friday, March 14, 2008
Thursday, March 13, 2008
Sunday, March 09, 2008
Pussy Willows and a Tantrum
There are a couple of big pussy willow trees behind our complex. I wanted to get some pictures before they blew, but when Kate and I went outside with the camera, most of them looked like this:
There were some branches that still had the soft fuzzy catkins.
Kate was having a good time with a teasel and a stick, and even wanted to sit down in the grass and take pictures. Her nose was running and I only had a teeny piece of tissue in my coat pocket, which quickly came to the end of its usefulness, so I suggested to Kate that we go back inside briefly to get some more tissue.
Well, you would have thought I'd just told her we were going to wash her hair, feed her brussel sprouts, and beat her repeatedly. She ran away from me screaming, "No! No! I want to stay outside! Aaaaaaaaaaaaagggghhhhhhh!" Kate has a very piercing scream that we get to hear frequently. I ran after her and scooped her up, and carried her back to our apartment, where we got Doug to bring us some tissue at the back door.
Challenge #4 of the Amazing Digi-Scrapping Race was to do a layout with "spill it" journaling, and I decided this incident would be the perfect topic, especially since I had a cute picture of Kate taken just before she went nuts. (Challenge #3 ended up being optional, and I didn't do it, since it was an all-about-me layout and I already have one of those.)
(credits here.) This was my first attempt at the "tucking stuff in around the edges" technique that's so popular in digi-scrapping. I don't know if I've quite got the hang of it.
I've been working on a set of paper bag frames that have been a lot of fun (and considerably less time-consuming than a lot of the stuff I do). They should be done some time this week, hopefully.
There were some branches that still had the soft fuzzy catkins.
Kate was having a good time with a teasel and a stick, and even wanted to sit down in the grass and take pictures. Her nose was running and I only had a teeny piece of tissue in my coat pocket, which quickly came to the end of its usefulness, so I suggested to Kate that we go back inside briefly to get some more tissue.
Well, you would have thought I'd just told her we were going to wash her hair, feed her brussel sprouts, and beat her repeatedly. She ran away from me screaming, "No! No! I want to stay outside! Aaaaaaaaaaaaagggghhhhhhh!" Kate has a very piercing scream that we get to hear frequently. I ran after her and scooped her up, and carried her back to our apartment, where we got Doug to bring us some tissue at the back door.
Challenge #4 of the Amazing Digi-Scrapping Race was to do a layout with "spill it" journaling, and I decided this incident would be the perfect topic, especially since I had a cute picture of Kate taken just before she went nuts. (Challenge #3 ended up being optional, and I didn't do it, since it was an all-about-me layout and I already have one of those.)
(credits here.) This was my first attempt at the "tucking stuff in around the edges" technique that's so popular in digi-scrapping. I don't know if I've quite got the hang of it.
I've been working on a set of paper bag frames that have been a lot of fun (and considerably less time-consuming than a lot of the stuff I do). They should be done some time this week, hopefully.
Wednesday, March 05, 2008
Kids these days....
We were at Target on Monday and ran across this--a 50-pack of Play-Doh. Yep, that's fifty different colors. Why, back when I was a young 'un, we had to mix our own Play-Doh colors. And we liked it.
Tuesday, March 04, 2008
Paper animals
Recently we pulled out some brightly-colored cardstock that I'd bought for some paper piecing years ago. I thought it would be great for making some paper animals for Kate. I used to make things like this a lot, back in elementary school. (My desk was always a mess, and I went through a lot of glue.) We decided on a lion and a tiger.
I use my ruler to draw out patterns for boxes, complete with tabs for gluing.
Curious little hands. (Kate was "helping.")
I did the heads over again because I didn't like the first version.
The legs took a while. There are eight of them, and I put a little slant on top, which was a bit complicated.
The finished product.
And the back view. (Maybe I should make a bear to go with them. Oh my!)
I told Kate she could play with them after I took pictures. I don't expect them to last long.
Making animals out of paper boxes is a time-honored family tradition. Here's an old picture I dug up of Betsey with one of her creations. It's an Appaloosa uni-pegasus.
Saturday, March 01, 2008
Collaboration
The second challenge in the Amazing Digi Scrapping Race was to create a layout with our partner. I was trying to come up with something that Karin and I could both scrap about, and thought that Ernie, our site ogre, would be a great subject.
I put together this basic idea and sent it to Karin:
Karin added a background and some other cool stuff and sent it back, and then I tweaked it just a little more and we called it done. Here's our final product:
This was a fun challenge!
I put together this basic idea and sent it to Karin:
Karin added a background and some other cool stuff and sent it back, and then I tweaked it just a little more and we called it done. Here's our final product:
This was a fun challenge!
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Another Year Older
Yep, yesterday was my birthday. I've had a lot going on lately, putting stuff together for the March mega kit, and I've also started making a book for somebody (it's a surprise), which is going to take a while. And then there's the digi scrapping race. And having a sale for my birthday, and making the ad. And a few visiting teaching appointments squeezed in there (yeah, it's the end of the month). So if I haven't been posting much the past couple of weeks, that's why.
I wanted to get a picture with Kate, but she was in a bad mood most of the day. I finally got her to go outside and paint letters on the porch with me, and Doug snapped a couple shots. This was the best we could do.
We went out for Korean food for dinner. We stopped by the grocery store to get some kim (laver seaweed) first, and then went to the restaurant. This was the kind of pre-cut kim that's in little individual packages with maybe ten sheets in each one, and Kate snarfed down two of the packages before we even got our food. She's had kim before but I'd never seen her eat it in volume like that. Maybe she was just hungry.
My mom sent me Stardust on DVD for my birthday (thanks, Mom!) and everybody called and sang, of course. (Betsey really outdid herself this time. It was a truly astonishing performance.) Doug ordered something for me but it hasn't come yet. I know what it is, though, so it's not a surprise. Okay, it's a Wacom 6D art pen for my tablet.
And--surprise!--I got a summons for jury duty. I checked the box that said "I am a parent without child care" and sent it back. I did go in for jury duty back when I was pregnant with Kate, which was an interesting experience. I only had to report three or four times, and didn't get picked for the jury. I got a lot of reading and crocheting done.
It's getting warmer! Hooray! And the pussy willow tree behind our complex is budding. I must get pictures.
I wanted to get a picture with Kate, but she was in a bad mood most of the day. I finally got her to go outside and paint letters on the porch with me, and Doug snapped a couple shots. This was the best we could do.
We went out for Korean food for dinner. We stopped by the grocery store to get some kim (laver seaweed) first, and then went to the restaurant. This was the kind of pre-cut kim that's in little individual packages with maybe ten sheets in each one, and Kate snarfed down two of the packages before we even got our food. She's had kim before but I'd never seen her eat it in volume like that. Maybe she was just hungry.
My mom sent me Stardust on DVD for my birthday (thanks, Mom!) and everybody called and sang, of course. (Betsey really outdid herself this time. It was a truly astonishing performance.) Doug ordered something for me but it hasn't come yet. I know what it is, though, so it's not a surprise. Okay, it's a Wacom 6D art pen for my tablet.
And--surprise!--I got a summons for jury duty. I checked the box that said "I am a parent without child care" and sent it back. I did go in for jury duty back when I was pregnant with Kate, which was an interesting experience. I only had to report three or four times, and didn't get picked for the jury. I got a lot of reading and crocheting done.
It's getting warmer! Hooray! And the pussy willow tree behind our complex is budding. I must get pictures.
The Amazing Digi Scrapping Race
Season three of the Amazing Digi Scrapping Race is on! I didn't participate in the first two seasons, but sort of watched from the sidelines, so I thought this time I'd join in the fun! I have teamed up with Karin (in Australia) who is also a designer at NDISB (Karin M Designs). Teams go around to different sites and participate in challenges and win cool prizes, and hopefully have lots of fun in the process. I've been spending way more time designing than actually scrapping, so I figured this would be a good way to exercise those scrapping muscles.
Challenge #1 was to create a layout with this sketch, featuring our "favorite person or animal to scrap about," using our favorite color, and using a favorite element three times. Here's my layout:
I don't really have a favorite color. I like color. I find myself mostly drawn to greens, browns, golds, and dark reds. And I also have a lot of pink in my world these days. I struggled with the background for this a bit, but it works.
That white line frame was a last-minute addition. I was finishing this up last night, and looking at it and thinking, "That needs something else." So I took a crayon and drew a line and scanned it. If anyone wants the line you can grab it here (right-click and "save as").
When I was looking for a partner, I mentioned that I might be rather flaky. Karin said she'd flake with me. So we came up with the name "The Discombobulatorium" for our team. Karin made us a team blog and this cool blinkie:
For the next challenge we get to create a layout together. That should be interesting!
Challenge #1 was to create a layout with this sketch, featuring our "favorite person or animal to scrap about," using our favorite color, and using a favorite element three times. Here's my layout:
I don't really have a favorite color. I like color. I find myself mostly drawn to greens, browns, golds, and dark reds. And I also have a lot of pink in my world these days. I struggled with the background for this a bit, but it works.
That white line frame was a last-minute addition. I was finishing this up last night, and looking at it and thinking, "That needs something else." So I took a crayon and drew a line and scanned it. If anyone wants the line you can grab it here (right-click and "save as").
When I was looking for a partner, I mentioned that I might be rather flaky. Karin said she'd flake with me. So we came up with the name "The Discombobulatorium" for our team. Karin made us a team blog and this cool blinkie:
For the next challenge we get to create a layout together. That should be interesting!
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Framing Eddie
This is what I got Doug for his birthday--a frame for his brass rubbing of Edward the Black Prince. He did this rubbing back before we got married, at a traveling exhibit in Provo, and he's been carting it around with him for years.
Eddie went to Newfoundland with us, and resided in the living room in a poorly-fitting frame (with no glass) that he would periodically fall out of. We'd walk by and discover Eddie leaning out of his frame, bowed down and trying to touch his toes. We'd straighten him up and say, "We really have to get a proper frame one of these days."
When I started designing, I told Doug that I would get Eddie framed for him. It took a while. We did take Eddie over to Artco once, to look into framing there. That seemed prohibitively expensive. (We like Eddie, but I don't know that we like him that much.) Then Rebecca told us about a local guy who does framing out of his house, so we went to see him. We decided to go with this thin black frame, which I think sets it off nicely. You can't see it in the picture, but it has some nice detailing around the edges. So we brought Eddie back home and stuck him on the wall.
I imagine Eddie is pleased, after all these years, to be properly framed and hung.
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Happy Birthday Doug!
Yesterday was Doug's birthday! We went down to the Indian buffet in Lakewood for lunch, and then went to the park. It was a beautiful day--the most sunshine we've seen for quite a while.
My family did the calling-and-singing (badly) thing--except for Barb and Kyle, who decided to buck tradition and sing nicely. Kate seemed rather bemused by the whole thing. ("Who are these people and why do they keep calling and singing Happy Birthday? And why do they sound like drowning cats?") When we sang to Barb (it was her birthday too) I asked Kate if she wanted to join in, but she didn't. She's recently learned the "Do as I'm doing" song--perhaps we should work on Happy Birthday next.
Monday, February 11, 2008
Seven for Monday
A few largely-unrelated things that I have nowhere else to post about:
1. The Primary thing isn't going so well. Kate hasn't been staying more than a few minutes before she wants to come back to the nursery to be with me. The past two weeks she didn't go to Primary at all. (I'm sure the only reason she wants to come in the nursery is because I'm there.) But she's little. There's time.
2. This afternoon we took Kate to Odyssey and spent two hours crawling through tunnels and ball pits. My knees are killing me.
3. Mpix is now carrying standouts. I am so pleased. I was looking for something like this a while back and couldn't find what I wanted. Just the thing for picture walls.
4. I asked Kate today if she would like to go swimming some time, and she said, "But I don't swim!"
5. I just happened to see that today is Mo Willem's birthday. Happy birthday, Mr. Willems!
6. Kate has apparently decided that pigeons say "honk." I have no idea where she got that from. I'm sure I never told her pigeons honk.
7. The Great South Gate in Seoul (Nam Dae Mun), Korea's National Treasure #1, was destroyed in a fire yesterday. A suspect has confessed to arson. So, so sad. At the time we were in Korea the gate wasn't open to the public, but we went past it many times. What a tragedy and a crime.
1. The Primary thing isn't going so well. Kate hasn't been staying more than a few minutes before she wants to come back to the nursery to be with me. The past two weeks she didn't go to Primary at all. (I'm sure the only reason she wants to come in the nursery is because I'm there.) But she's little. There's time.
2. This afternoon we took Kate to Odyssey and spent two hours crawling through tunnels and ball pits. My knees are killing me.
3. Mpix is now carrying standouts. I am so pleased. I was looking for something like this a while back and couldn't find what I wanted. Just the thing for picture walls.
4. I asked Kate today if she would like to go swimming some time, and she said, "But I don't swim!"
5. I just happened to see that today is Mo Willem's birthday. Happy birthday, Mr. Willems!
6. Kate has apparently decided that pigeons say "honk." I have no idea where she got that from. I'm sure I never told her pigeons honk.
7. The Great South Gate in Seoul (Nam Dae Mun), Korea's National Treasure #1, was destroyed in a fire yesterday. A suspect has confessed to arson. So, so sad. At the time we were in Korea the gate wasn't open to the public, but we went past it many times. What a tragedy and a crime.
Friday, February 08, 2008
Eating your age
Kimberly in China recently posted on her blog about the Chinese age system. The year that you're born is your first year, and your age goes up at each new year. (They do celebrate their birthdays but they don't get older on their birthdays.) They do it the same way in Korea, and there's also a food tradition involved.
Dduk (sounds a lot like "duck," with what's called a "tense" d at the beginning) is rice cake made with glutinous rice flour. It comes in a lot of different forms. One form is little white oval-shaped pieces, that are cooked in soup called dduk guk. This is the traditional dish for the lunar new year in Korea. They say that when you eat dduk guk on the lunar new year, you get a year older. They call it eating age. (This of course leads to the expected jokes, like "So if I don't eat it I won't get any older?" and "What happens if I have two bowls?")
So yesterday I made dduk guk, and I thought I'd share the recipe here.
You probably won't be able to find dduk outside of a Korean grocery store, but if you're lucky enough to have one in the area, this is what it looks like. (Packaging varies.) The stores around here keep it near the produce section.
Other ingredients are:
beef (thinly sliced, if you can get it)
beef broth
garlic
green onion
soup soy sauce (called 국간장, or regular soy sauce in a pinch)
sesame oil
black pepper
eggs
I have this cookbook called A Korean Mother's Cooking Notes
that explains how to boil some beef brisket with garlic and green onion for two hours. I didn't do that. I just used a carton of beef broth from the store and added a little more water.
Put the broth on to boil with little of the garlic and some of the green onion, and a couple tablespoons of the soup soy sauce.
Cut up your beef into thin strips, mix with garlic, a little sesame oil, a little soy sauce (this is actually supposed to be regular soy sauce, not soup soy sauce), some of the green onion (probably mostly the white bits), and black pepper, and stir fry it. (This all a "to taste" kind of thing. I put in lots of garlic. And lots of black pepper.)
Beat up the egg and add the rest of the green onion (mostly green bits). The book just calls for one egg, but I used three. My sister Betsey likes to use a lot of egg, too.
Rinse the dduk. This is supposed to keep the slices from dissolving in the soup. I'm not sure how it does that, but I guess it works.
Drop dduk slices into boiling beef broth. When the slices float to the top (which doesn't take long), turn the heat off, then add the egg mixture and stir it so the egg cooks in stringy bits.
Put in the stir-fried meat. (This can be added earlier, if you want.) Add a little more sesame oil to the soup, if you like it.
My dduk guk is thicker than what you'll generally see in Korean restaurants. It turned out really well. This batch was particularly tasty. I think it was the beef broth and all the garlic, and the dduk was a really good consistency, too. (It's easy to overcook, and then it gets slimy.) Kate was not impressed, though. I got her to taste the broth a little, and she said it was good, but she wasn't interested in actually eating it. Apparently I have been remiss in my food-acclimatization duties.
Dduk (sounds a lot like "duck," with what's called a "tense" d at the beginning) is rice cake made with glutinous rice flour. It comes in a lot of different forms. One form is little white oval-shaped pieces, that are cooked in soup called dduk guk. This is the traditional dish for the lunar new year in Korea. They say that when you eat dduk guk on the lunar new year, you get a year older. They call it eating age. (This of course leads to the expected jokes, like "So if I don't eat it I won't get any older?" and "What happens if I have two bowls?")
So yesterday I made dduk guk, and I thought I'd share the recipe here.
You probably won't be able to find dduk outside of a Korean grocery store, but if you're lucky enough to have one in the area, this is what it looks like. (Packaging varies.) The stores around here keep it near the produce section.
Other ingredients are:
beef (thinly sliced, if you can get it)
beef broth
garlic
green onion
soup soy sauce (called 국간장, or regular soy sauce in a pinch)
sesame oil
black pepper
eggs
I have this cookbook called A Korean Mother's Cooking Notes
that explains how to boil some beef brisket with garlic and green onion for two hours. I didn't do that. I just used a carton of beef broth from the store and added a little more water. Put the broth on to boil with little of the garlic and some of the green onion, and a couple tablespoons of the soup soy sauce.
Cut up your beef into thin strips, mix with garlic, a little sesame oil, a little soy sauce (this is actually supposed to be regular soy sauce, not soup soy sauce), some of the green onion (probably mostly the white bits), and black pepper, and stir fry it. (This all a "to taste" kind of thing. I put in lots of garlic. And lots of black pepper.)
Beat up the egg and add the rest of the green onion (mostly green bits). The book just calls for one egg, but I used three. My sister Betsey likes to use a lot of egg, too.
Rinse the dduk. This is supposed to keep the slices from dissolving in the soup. I'm not sure how it does that, but I guess it works.
Drop dduk slices into boiling beef broth. When the slices float to the top (which doesn't take long), turn the heat off, then add the egg mixture and stir it so the egg cooks in stringy bits.
Put in the stir-fried meat. (This can be added earlier, if you want.) Add a little more sesame oil to the soup, if you like it.
My dduk guk is thicker than what you'll generally see in Korean restaurants. It turned out really well. This batch was particularly tasty. I think it was the beef broth and all the garlic, and the dduk was a really good consistency, too. (It's easy to overcook, and then it gets slimy.) Kate was not impressed, though. I got her to taste the broth a little, and she said it was good, but she wasn't interested in actually eating it. Apparently I have been remiss in my food-acclimatization duties.
Wednesday, February 06, 2008
새해복 많이 받으세요!
That's what they say in Korea--"Receive many New Year's blessings." This is a picture of Kate at a recent ward activity. We have activities every month at church (usually), generally with some kind of theme, and they like to do a Chinese New Year themed dinner around this time of year. I think it's kind of too bad to focus exclusively on China, when there are other cultures that celebrate the holiday as well (especially since we do have Korean and Japanese members in the ward). We have been insinuating Korean foods into the Chinese dinner since we've been here. This year I'd been busy working on design stuff and didn't have time to prepare anything, so we just went down to Paldo World in Lakewood and picked up a few things.
This is the year of the earth rat. Our friend Scott was born in an earth rat year. He's been through the whole cycle and will be turning 60 this year. We'll have to throw him a rat-themed bash. We can watch Ratatouille. (I googled "rat-themed party," out of curiosity, and came up with a story about rat-themed panties. I don't think Scott wants any of those.)
They had these little dragon decoration things on the tables. Kate spent the entire time we were there playing with them. (You can see she's got her coat on--the heat had been off earlier and it was very cold in the building!) We're probably going to be flying somewhere this summer (either to Ohio or possibly California), so we've been keeping an eye out for things that occupy Kate's attention. The dragons were certainly a hit. I'm not sure if it was the dragon-ness or the accordian-effects of the honeycombed tissue paper that she especially liked. We ended up bringing a couple of them home. Maybe if we put them away they'll be new and exciting again by then, and she can play with them all the way to Ohio.
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