A Photo Album Warning!

 

The blog has been pretty quiet because I've been obsessed with removing pictures from old photo albums and placing them in acid-free albums.  Back in the 70's and 80's, they came out with these self adhesive photo albums and I had put all my photos I had taken in the 70's and some in the 80's in these types of albums.

It was a huge mistake. When we had our sprinkler system problem and the basement was sprayed with water, it sprayed onto these albums.  As I dried them off and looked inside for the first time in years, I noticed that quite a few of the photos had faded.  I tried to remove a picture from a page and it was glued tight to the page.  Now, they photos had been placed in the album in 1976 but I had thought they were safe.  I  WAS WRONG.

I ordered a bunch of acid-free photo albums and have spent the last two months removing what I could from the self adhesive albums and placing them in the new albums.  It's been a mess.  A lot of the photos I was unable to retrieve or they were too faded to save. 

I also had boxes and boxes of photos still in the envelopes from the developer.  So since I was already deep into this mission, I organized these photos and also placed them in acid-free albums.  I had no idea when I started what a huge job this would be and how much time it would take.

I also divided the pictures into three piles: Rocketman and me, Laura and Luke.  I put the photos into each pile and then put the photos into albums.  I did this to make it easier on the kids when we are gone.  I have albums, marked with their names, and it will make it very easy to divide up the pictures. I've done it for them already.

So if you have any of those old photo albums, please consider switching to a different photo album that doesn't use that adhesive backing.  I don't know how bad it would have been if I had waited a couple more decades to do this.

Now, I think about all the photos on the computer.  We got our first digital camera in 2002 or 2003 and I want prints made out of all those digital photos.  We are talking thousands of photos.  I haven't started that project yet because quite frankly, I am still recovering from this one.  But you may ask, why would you want to do that?  I'm the kind of girl that likes to sit with a big photo album and look and pictures page by page not on a computer screen.  I also think, "what will happen with this digital photos when I'm gone?" I may start this project one year at a time.  Also, I have no idea how much it will cost to have the photos printed by someone.  I also need to find a better place to store all these photos safely too.  Oy!

Thankful Thursday

Today I'm thankful for Rocketman, who has wrapped this "girly" Korean scarf to battle subzero temperatures to snow blow our driveway before work.  When I saw him come in last month with this scarf wrapped around his head after snow blowing our driveway, I laughed as I told him that it was a women's scarf that I had bought when we lived in Korea. 

He said it was the least "girly" scarf in our winter box filled of hats, scarves and gloves. So after he left for work I took the box down from the closet and dumped everything out onto the floor looking for the masculine scarves I just knew were in there.  I found two very thin, masculine dress scarves. They would not have kept the biting wind off of Rocketman's neck.

I immediately ordered some beautiful and soft merino yarn to knit Rocketman a warm and masculine scarf.  So next time we need to snow blow and Rocketman is home, you won't find any pompoms anywhere in sight.  But I'm thankful that until the scarf is done, he doesn't mind wearing pompoms when the need warrants.

Maedeup Monday!

This Maedeup Monday! I'm offering some of the jewelry featured in my maedeup book "Elegant Knotted Jewelry."  I've put several pieces up on Ebay.  The book was written and each piece of jewelry made while we were living in South Korea.  I have so many, many memories of how that book came together and this is your chance to get a little piece of Korea.

 

We went to a Russian restaurant Saturday night for my best friend's Mom's birthday.  It's called Moscow on the Hill in St. Paul and I was a little worried about what kind of food I would find.  I'm not what you call an adventurous eater.  But the minute Rocketman and I walked in the front door, we fell in love with the ambiance and sounds of an accordion playing.

 

We started with the Appetite Tasting Platter which had all sorts of things and flavors I had never tasted before.  It was delicious.  For my entree, I ordered Siberian Pelmeni which was meat dumplings served with sour cream and vinegar.  I didn't pour any vinegar on the dumplings because they were so perfectly delicious without it.  But of course, the sour cream sent the taste over the top.

 

Rocketman ordered Babushka Stew which had melt-in-your-mouth pork and a side of mashed potatoes.  He would have moaned through the entire meal if we were not in public. Dessert was plates of their "White Russian" Tiramisu, Dark Chocolate Mousse and Napoleon. I was in a food induced coma by the end of the night.

 

We were serenaded my the accordion player and with a tip, you could request a song.  The staff even sang Happy Birthday to the birthday girl in Russian and it was such a beautiful song, I want to use it instead of our version.  I don't remember the last time we had such a great time out with dear friends.

It made me miss Korea so much more because that was a regular event over there. 

 

I definitely want to bring my parents to Moscow on the Hill next time they come up to visit.  Rocketman agreed.  Who would have thought I would LOVE Russia food!

 

 

 

Happy Valentine's Day 2013!!!!

Happy Valentine's Day Everyone!!!  I spent the morning snow blowing the couple of inches we received overnight and topped the morning off with a slippery drive to CVS Pharmacy to get poor Rocketman some cough drops.  He's had this cold for a month now and it seems to be getting worse.
The little polymer clay bear I made is sitting on a stack of buttons to give you an idea of how small he is.

Our daughter, Laura, is being featured on featured today on the blog, "Liberating Working Moms."  We are so proud of her.  Check it out here.

Maedeup Monday!

I'm not one to participate in anything where "juried" is mentioned anywhere especially when it comes to my crafting.  I'm a work-in-progress kinda girl and being judged on my creations is difficult for me and something I tend to avoid.  But when I heard a call out for necklaces for one of those beautiful Lark 500 series books something told me to submit some maedeup and I listened to that voice and submitted these two pieces.

My intention was the possibility of seeing maedeup in a U.S. book other than my own. I am a really big fan of Lark and the books they publish.  They are gorgeous!  Rocketman did the photography and I was all over him that it had to be good, this was for Lark Books for goodness sakes.  I submitted the photos last summer and this week I received an email congratulating me that one of the necklaces made it into the book.

 

Right now, I have no idea which necklace is was.  The first necklace features beads made by Heather Powers of Humblebeads.  I simply adore her beads and I have been an avid buyer for years.  The second necklace is especially precious to me because it features a chilbo (Korean enameling) piece made by my Korean chilbo teacher, Nan-Young.  She would get a huge kick to see one of her pieces in a U.S. book.

 

The book is available for pre-order on Amazon right now.  It is called Showcase 500 Art Necklaces and will be out July 2, 2013. 

 

Both necklaces contain more complex maedeup knots and reminded me that I really need to do a book on these more complex knots.  My dream is to write a book along with a video demoing the knots.  Some like the photo step by steps whiles others prefer the video step by steps.  The only thing holding me back is Rocketman and the time he would also need to devote to the photography.  But I do think I will try to do it this year.

Wisconsin Dells - 2013

Last weekend, Rocketman and I along with grandson, Noah, headed east to the Dells for a wet weekend at Chula Vista Resort to meet up with our daughter and the rest of her family.  Our room was huge (1500 sq. ft) with two large bedrooms and two bathrooms and a kitchen.  I brought a ton of food (too much for the short stay but one can never have TOO much food) and we only ate out one meal. 

It was wonderful to spend time with Laura and her family.  I grabbed my camera when I caught little Ezra doing this. 

Did I mention we had our own hot tub right in the living room?  How cool is that! I didn't bring the camera to the waterpark although many did.  I was worried with all the splashing it would get ruined.

Rocketman and I have been hitting the treadmill daily to keep in shape for our vacation back in South Korea in a few months.  Here we thought we were doing pretty good until the water park at Chula Vista.  We got home Sunday afternoon, barely able to unload the car(we sent all the extra food home with the kids) and were couch potatoes the rest of the the day.

Monday, we found ourselves still in the same boat.  Poor Rocketman had to return to work and I did manage to make dinner that day but that was about it.  We definitely need to kick it up a notch in order to manage all the stairs, walking and running that we do in South Korea. 

Maedeup Monday!

I made these burlap gift bags and embellished them using some dongsimgyeol maedeup knots that I had made previously.  I also added a square of ramie from my bojagi (Korean quilting) stash.  The buttons are also from Korea.  I have them listed in my Etsy shop for sale.

 

The dongsimgyeol maedeup is a very special knot.  Brides in Korea commonly wore it as a symbol of loyalty and good luck.  The knot signified that the couple would be of the same temperament and there would be harmony between the two.  It is also commonly known as the one mind and good luck knot.

 

Of course, Louie had to come over to see what was going on.