Maedeup Monday and a Giveaway!

I haven't had a "Maedeup Monday" for a long time so this post was long overdue.  I was organizing my craftroom when I found some garakji maedeups that were probably meant for earrings at some point.  I also had a stash of beadpens and my mind thought that these would go together and they do.  It took only minutes to put together and I love the results.

I also haven't done a giveaway for a long time so I'm going to remedy that also.  Just leave a comment here on this blogpost and you will be eligible to win the beadpen.  I will choose the winner this Friday at 10:00 CST.

Rocketman is taking a little rest today.  He spent the weekend painting one of our bathrooms.  I want to remove all the wallpaper in the house and paint.  So all we (or I should say he) has left to do is the master bedroom, downstairs bathroom and kitchen.  I removed the wallpaper but that's only a small part of the job.  He washes the walls twice, fills the holes and paints the walls twice.  It will take awhile to complete all of this work but I'm loving the blue paint in the bathroom.  I'll post a picture when it's finished.

I've been spending a lot of time in the yard, pulling weeds and trimming trees and bushes.  It's amazing how wild the yard got while we were in South Korea. 

Hanging with My Peeps

Last Saturday I participated in the Korean Heritage House Market at White Bear High School, North Campus.  It was so good to see everyone and it felt like I was back in Korea.  I had a table where I showed a few things I had made last year in Korea and I also had some items for sale.

Rocketman went along to help out also to partake in the Korean lunch.  It included some delicious kimchi.

Everyone loved the Korean miniatures and many were hoping I would have a class on it.  I was sorry to disappoint them with a no but I told them that when they go back to Korea for a visit, I could see if I could arrange a class with my talented miniature teacher.

                                                               It was a great turnout.

                 This reminded me so much of the picture taking I had seen in Korea by Koreans. 

                                                       How about this cutie patootie!

It was like being with family with lots of hugs and smiles.  It was just what the doctor ordered.  It's a great organization and they even have a hanji crew who are passionate about hanji.  They have classes all summer long and I am planning on attending a few if my schedule allows.  Here is a link to their website.

I had an interesting thing happen at my doctor's office this week.  I went in for a checkup and blood workup.  It was my first since our return from South Korea.  I've had lots of blood tests and I'm fine with them as long as I don't watch or look at the vials of blood.  I get lightheaded and have fainted before if I watch so I make sure my eyes are closed and my head is turned.

The blood draw was uneventful and the six (I know, I was surprised too) tubes were taken and labeled.  I started to get my coat on when the nurse told me to look at each tube and see that my name is on each one.  I told her that I trusted her and would rather not.  She told me that it was a new rule that the patient must look at every vial after the blood draw and double check the name.  I had already told her about how I can react to having blood drawn. 

I again told her that I didn't care and didn't want to look but she wasn't budging.  I know it was her job so I glanced at them and asked if that was good enough to which she asked if I saw my name on each vial.  I told her I did and that was the end of it.

I think it's a ridiculous rule and I wonder when the nonsense will stop.  I'm sure something must have happened to precipitate this but I sometimes feel like the lawyers run the country.  I just hope I don't have to have any blood tests for a good long time.

I Miss Korean Food

 I shot these photos shortly before we left South Korea.  It is from the food court at Home Plus and it just gives you an idea of all the food choices. 

These samples are made of plastic and are common in restaurant windows throughout Korea.  I've always thought it would be a great job to make these plastic foods.  There are always new restaurants popping up.

Around the lunch and dinner hour, you would find these cases packed with Koreans deciding on what they wanted to eat.  Many times it would be Rocketman and me trying to decide what we wanted.

Rocketman would order by number in Korean.  Most of the time he we get it right but the cashier seemed to prefer he write the numbers down on a piece of paper.  We would take our slips with our numbers on them, find a seat and wait for our numbers to appear.

The menu changes from time to time but you could always find the basics like kimchi jjigae and mandu guk.  You sure could not beat the prices.  You got a lot of food for a great price.

I also started a blog for my family recipes.  I've been having fun putting it together.  I hope you like it. 

Louie and the Vet

Louie is truly a fraidy cat..  He hides when anyone comes to the door.  He hides for days when we have company only coming out when everyone is asleep.  He's pretty much a homebody with ventures on our deck to watch the birds.

He hates the car which always means a trip to the vet. He has some very unpleasant memories.  Skip the next picture if you have a tender stomach.

 When we got Louie, he had a leg that was just a stump.  It would catch on the floor and leave blood everywhere.  We consulted with our vet and he said the best thing to do was remove that leg at the him.  Louie did great after surgery and was his old self after a couple of days.

Yesterday was the day for Louie to go to the vet for shots and a checkup.  He is hard to trick and I had to put his collar (which he will never wear) and lease in the car the day before as to not freak him out.

When time came to go, he knew something was up so the only way I could get him to come to me was to sing Barry Manilow's "I Write The Songs."  He comes every time.  I grabbed him and out to the car we went.  He immediately started that angry meow which is a few keys below his normal meow.

I climbed in and off we went.  He was not happy and we got to the vet in one piece.  It was late in the day and I was shocked to find two other yellow tabby kitties waiting.  Usually, we are the only ones.  Louie sat on my lap with his head buried into my arm, ears back.  One of the other kitties was with a mom and two boys.  He was twice the size of Louie and sat very patiently for his turn.  The other tabby was being dropped off and he went back first.

I've never heard such cat screaming in all my life.  Louie just buried his head further in my arm.  The other cat didn't move.  The owner came out with blood dripping from each arm saying his cat had never done that before.  The staff patched him up with bandaids as much as they could and the second kitty went back.

Then a new older vet I had never seen before came for Louie.  We went into the exam room and that's where things got really strange.  As the doctor examined Louie, Louie did not move at all.  It was like he was in shock.  The doctor was really surprised to and decided to clean plaque from his back teeth.  He had needed this done for some time but it would require anesthesia and a big bill. 

As he was working on Louie and the plaque was flying, he stopped and called all the staff in to see what was going on.  They had NEVER seen a cat act like that.  It was like he was unconscious.  He just laid there limp as they worked on him.

He was give two shots to which I flinched but he didn't move a muscle.  Then the vet picked him up and looked at him and didn't want to let him go.  He said that in all his years he had never seen anything like it.  I had told him that Louie usually tries to get away and off the table but he had never acted like that before.

He handed Louie back to me and we went out to the waiting room to pay.  I put Louie down to get out my checkbook and he laid flat out there in the middle of the waiting room.  All of the sudden the family came out with their cat in a bag and the staff saying they were so sorry.  They all had tears in their eyes.  They almost stepped on Louie and he didn't budge an inch.  I felt so badly for them.

I paid my bill, thankly that Louie was fine and returned home.  Louie is still avoiding me and holding a grudge.  We will see how long that lasts and for what happened to him at the vet, I'm still clueless.

Mother's Day 2012

My Mother's Day actually started on Saturday to my surprise.  We walked into Donatelli's as we do every Saturday only to be surprised by our daughter and her family.  Noah ran up to me and gave me a huge hug and this card that he made himself.

 Baby Ezra had just starting walking and I got to see him walk (mummy style with his hands out in front of him) all around the restaurant.  It was a fantastic surprise.  We had a great lunch and I had no idea although Rocketman had known in advance.

For Mother's Day I had heard on the internet about this Korean whole-in-the-wall restaurant that supposedly had terrific authentic Korean food.  As you can tell by my blog, I've been missing Korea something fierce so I thought it would be a great place to try on Mother's Day.

 Unfortunity, we had arrived just after a huge party of over 20 people.  They had ordered ahead and we were dying as we saw all the delicious smelling food come out.  The waitress apologized for the delay and we were happy to wait.

                                                              This is their menu.

 We decided on kimchi jjigae and galbi.  They asked if we wanted the kimchi jjigae hot and we told them we wanted it Korean style, HOT. 

The decor is nothing special but they did have a huge television streaming Korean shows.  I loved that.

Banchan!!!  Oh, how I missed you.  I was disappointed in the kimchi only because it was American style and not very spicy.

           The kimchi jjigae came just like it would in Korea and it was hot and spicy just like in Korea.

The galbi was very different than Korea.  It didn't come with any lettuce to wrap it or other condiments but the flavor was delicious.  We asked if they had kimbap even though it wasn't on the menu and they didn't. 

We will definitely go back and next time, I'll ask if they have Korean spicy kimchi, no more of that American kind.  We can take the spice.

Rocketman also hung my bojagi I had made in Korea.  It is in my craftroom and you wouldn't believe how beautiful it is with the light coming through.  I hung it on a north facing window so it won't get any direct sunlight.  I don't think it would be a good idea to hang it where it would get sunlight.

The weather was perfect and it was a wonderful Mother's Day.  I hope you enjoyed your day as well.

It's Coming Along

My bojagi project is coming along.  Sometimes housework like laundry and ironing get into my quilting time.  Now that the grass is also growing I mowed the lawn for the first time in over a year.

 Apparently, I didn't take to it as I did to driving after a year's absence.  Rocketman came home and looked at the backyard with a puzzled look then went immediately to the mower.  I do admit the back did not look like the front.  Where was this stripping coming from? 

It turns out that when I went around the shed a little to close, I knocked the height level on one side of the mower from a 5 to a 2.  Rocketman fixed the mower and time and some rain will fix the lawn.  Oyyyy.
 I have a small garden where I grown raspberries and other things.  Our son did not weed the garden while we were gone and it was filled with weeds.  This is what it looked like after a filled a huge recycle bag.  I was sore and tired after an afternoon of weeding.

Does anyone know if this is basil.  I did plant some when we were back in 2010 but I didn't know basil was an annual plant.  I didn't pull it out just in case and I was also exhausted.  I don't want to use it if it's a weed that would be totally gross.

I've also got a new (at least to me) favorite Korean song thanks to Ask a Korean:

Lee Seon-Hee "J"

She's one heck of a singer

Kraving Kimchi!

Yes, people, this is a poor, poor me post.  I have been without kimchi in my house for four months now.  I miss it like an old friend.  My Korean kimchi refrigerator was always full of kimchi.  There is something about Korean kimchi, it's just not the same as U.S. kimchi.  Maybe it's the ingredients, maybe it's the prep, maybe it's Lock n Lock kimchi containers that are perfect for kimchi storage. 

In Korea, I was never without kimchi.  Here is a list of all the Koreans who helped to keep my kimchi refrigerator full:

1.  Mr. Choi's (my 76 year old yoga buddy) wife
2.  Nan Young (chilbo teacher)
3.  KJ (hanji teacher)
4.  Shim (fellow hanji student)
5.  Mi-Sun's (our Nolboo waitress)
6.  Young-Su (friend of Nan Young who owned the restaurant next to chilbo)
7.  The owner of the miniature shop

I also know for a fact that if I was ever in need of kimchi I could count on anyone even a stranger to provide me with kimchi.  Maybe it's not only the kimchi I am missing but Korean jeong.  Sigh.

Hellena's Visit

Our Korean friend Hellena arrived on Sunday and we were sooo excited to show her Minnesota.  Rocketman had to work on Monday but was taking the rest of the week off so we decided to head to the Outlet Mall for some major shopping.  Coach Outlet was a huge hit.  In Korea, Coach purses run about double what they are here in the States then add the outlet prices and you have a steal.  While in the outlet store we saw a group from China speaking Manderin.  Hellena understood what they were saying and they were remarking about all the beautiful purses.  I wasn't planning on doing a lot of spending but I ended up with some deals too good to pass up.

Hellena said that Koreans also love North Face and Columbia.  Prices are very high for those desirable brands.  The outlet mall had a Columbia store and Hellena found quite a few things there at great prices.

We came home with the trunk full and smiles on our faces.  We were also very tired.

                                       Here's Hellena looking at all the things she bought.

She loved, loved, loved our deck.  She found it a perfect place to do her nails.  The weather all week was fantastic.  It stormed at night and was beautiful every day.  The temperatures were perfect, not too hot or cold.

We also had to take her to the Mall of America.  This photo is of Hellena, Rocketman and my sister, Wendy, would went along with us.  Rocketman even found something that fit which was hard because of how tall he is.
 
 We ate at Bubba Gump and I had the Shrimp in the Broth.  It was heavenly.  Everyone enjoyed their lunch.

 We also had to visit my favorite store, The Afternoon.  It has all kind of unique knicknacks.

 When we arrived home from the mall, I got a call from our daughter asking if we could watch the little guy, Ezra, for the morning.  He had come home with a fever and couldn't go to daycare the next day.  Our son-in-law would be home around lunchtime but I needed to be there at 7 am so she could get to work on time. 

I thought I would go myself but both Hellena and Rocketman said they wanted to go too.  We left at 6 am and arrived in plenty of time.  We also watched Noah for about an hour until it was time for him to go to school.  He loved Hellena.

                   She was wonderful with him as they were constructing something out of Legos.

 He's Rocketman with fever guy.  He had just cut his two upper front teeth and the source of the fever.

He fell in love with Hellena too.  It got to be Ezra's morning naptime and he was tired so I took him upstairs to lay down.  I came back down to an alarmed Hellena.  She wondered why I didn't stay up there with him.  She said that Korean moms stay with their babies, rubbing their backs until they fall asleep.  She was really upset and I told her that this is how we do it here.  Her sister has a 4 and 5 year old and she sleeps with the kids every night.

 Her last day at our house, we visited Stillwater which is a big tourist attraction and a beautiful place to see the St. Croix River.  This is the Stillwater Lift Bridge.

                                                      Again, the day was perfect.

        As I said before, Hellena LOVED our deck and one afternoon I looked outside to this sight.

Here's a closer view.  I had given her some of my old Oprah magazines and she made good use of them.

The week went by entirely too fast and it was hard to say goodbye.  She left Saturday morning for Incheon and oh how I wanted to be on that flight with her.  Her suitcase and carry-on bag were stuffed with presents and also things she had bought for herself. 

She really changed the way I looked at my life right now and I'm forever grateful for that.  I returned to our house after being away 3 out of the last 5 years.  Almost every room needs to be painted (wallpaper removed) and we desperately need new carpet and flooring for the kitchen.  I'm holding off because we need to repaint first.  I was bummed at the state of our house.

But Hellena made it seem like we live in a mansion.  She loved the lawn and wished she could mow the lawn.  The weeds she saw in the rocks were in a chore but a chance to be out in fresh air.  She spent more time on our deck than I had in a year but that will change now.

Now, I'm thankful for what will have and little by little the work will get done but in the meantime I will enjoy and be grateful for the life I have.  Thank you Hellena and we miss you terribly!