Judah's 1st Birthday

Judah turned one on February 25th so we had a little family birthday party for him. Of course we did the Korean tol because it's so much fun to see what they choose. He immediately went for the bowl of rice which means he will never be hungry. Our tol consisted of: computer mouse (he will be a gamer which is a highly respected job in Korea), ruler (I forgot), bowl of rice (never be hungry), money (will be wealthy), pencil (will be a scholar), ball (professional player) and string (will have a long life). His mama wasn't surprised at all he went for the rice. Right now he is all about food.

 Judah and mama helping to blow out that candle.

                                             He loved the rocking horse we got him.

His brothers loved the cupcakes. 

 

And so did Judah. It was a great time and we all marveled at how fast the year had past.

 

Maedeup Monday!

I made a lot of maedeup bracelets and necklaces while taking care of my mom. I have a lot of them listed for sale in my Etsy Shop. It just doesn't seem like there are enough hours in the day to get all the things done I want to do. Right now I am working on some bojagi (Korean quilting) projects and I'll share that in another post.

On the new deck front, the only contractor to come out and bid gave us a great bid. It was a lot lower than Rocketman thought we would have to pay so we are going to go with him. I never heard back from the other contractors and now I don't care. We are not sure about when it will happen. The contractor mentioned he is booked out to June but we really aren't concerned about when just that we want it done this year.

April is going to be a busy month for me. I signed up for painting classes at White Bear Center for the Arts. I can't wait!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

 

 

This is one of the projects that was not included in my booklet "All Covered Up!" but is perfect for today.  If you would like to pick up a copy of that booklet, you can find it in my Etsy Shop. It has lots of great projects at a great price.

Spring has finally appeared with warmer temperatures here in Minnesota. We need a new deck especially since a couple of the cement footings were pushed up during the brutal winter of 2013-2014 making our entire deck crooked. Because of the cost of home repairs, we've had to prioritize the list.  Last year was the year of the new cement driveway and this year we decided is the year of the new deck. You would think I would have a plethora of contractors eager for the job but you would be wrong. So far, I have had one no right off the bat and two that were kinda "Umph, I'm sooo busy..."

But today was a banner day, a deck contractor actually came out to our home and is giving us a bid. Hallelujah! You would think this is getting to be prime time for deck builders and they would be excited for the opportunity. Rocketman and I are really perplexed with the attitude I'd been getting just trying to get a bid.

I'm hoping the guy today comes in with a good bid because he was really nice and seemed like he would love the job. Go figure. He also has great ratings.

Busy Couple of Days

 

Yesterday I spent the day babysitting the two youngest grandboys. They live the opposite side of the Twin Cities from us so I like to get over there before rush hour which means I'm on the road by 6:30am. I'm not a fan of heavy traffic these days mainly because of all the texting while driving I've seen.

 

Ezra had a really cool game from Kiwi Crates and we played that for quite awhile while I also kept an eye of little Judah. Ezra loved this game and he was really good at it. Both boys were so good and momma came home a little early from work so I could miss the Friday night traffic. I would have stayed for dinner but I had an all day class the next day and I wanted to get prepared for it and a little rested up. 

 The all day class was another sumi-e class with Susan Frame at the White Bear Center for the Art. The subject for the class was the iris. There are several ways to paint one and we went over two. These are the best of my paintings.

I had not practiced my sumi-e since the last class last fall. I always want to make time at least a couple times a week to paint but it never seems to happen. I am also taking an on-line year long class with Wyanne Thompson and I have been doing some watercolor paintings for that but still not enough. But my goal is still to make time for both. I love and enjoy it so much but it seems that cooking, wash and ironing, and other crafts get in the way. So I'll just keep on keeping on as long as it works for me.

You've Never Too Old to Learn Something New

When I was at my parent's house for those few weeks, I thought there really wasn't anything I could still learn from my mom and vice versa but I was so wrong. For instance, the photo above is the original pattern that my mom uses to knit Christmas stockings for every member of our family. She told me that when Judah was born that would be her last stocking and she would be turning the pattern and the knitting needles over to me. I'm the logical one to take over since I do some knitting although never anything too complicated.

But while I was home, she wanted me to cast on the stitches needed to start a stocking. I questioned her on it since there are no new family members and there were none in the foreseeable future. Well, she isn't ready to give up that pattern and her knitting needles quite yet. She decided to knit some stockings ahead of time and leave the name blank. I could then use yarn to cross-stitch names as they entered the family. I'm still perplexed that she wanted to do this because she really seemed stressed out about making Judah's and that she didn't want to make another one again. But I can see it would be hard for her to give it up. She's has been making them since the early 1960's and why stop now.

 

My mother is too cheap to buy angora yarn which you should use for the patterns so when she needed me to get some yarn for her at a local yarn shop, I bought a bunch of angora. And yes, the price was dear but she was so happy I did it for her. I'm also not sure why she wants me to cast on for her but I did it for Judah's and I'll keep doing it as long as she is making them.

She doesn't wind the skein of yarns when she is using them so I asked her if I could because that's the way I do it. As she saw me winding the eight skeins, she asked to do one too and then got upset because she thought mine looked better because my ball was more round. Who cares! In case you are wondering, mine is on the left and mom's is on the right.

Now to the things we both learned. I hate, hate, hate when you get to the end of a roll of toilet paper. I saw my mom doing this at her house and I thought it was a great idea so I did it at my house. Great idea!

After her surgery, she spent the day sitting in an upright rocking chair but it was hard for her at first to hold up the paper, go through the mail... so I grabbed a throw pillow and placed it on her lap to raise everything up a little. She loved it!

After dinner one night I asked, "Mom, where's the Saran Wrap? It's not with the tin foil and wax paper. "Becky, it's in the refrigerator." I had to ask her twice and sure enough that's where it was. She says it works better when it's chilled. I didn't notice any difference but I'm not going to tell her that and I kept it in the refrigerator.

My mom and dad put all the silverware together in the dishwasher. All the forks, knives and spoons are together. It makes unloading a lot easier. Why didn't I think of that?

Another thing my dad wanted me to do was to warm up the dishes in the microwave before you eat. It was really great to eat on a warm plate.

One huge change, well at least to me, my dad now lets you take a shower in the bathroom! We were never allowed to up until the last few months. Since 1973 when we moved in, you had to take a shower in the basement bathroom. It was also where my bedroom was so there was no problem and I also am not a fan of baths anyway. But I couldn't do it. My dad tried and tried to get me to shower upstairs and I just couldn't. Some things you just can't change:)

Maedeup Monday!

I spent a lot of time on at my mom's working on maedeup projects. Before a trip anywhere, I sketch out ideas for necklaces and bracelets, cut the cording I need with findings and place it all into Ziplock sandwich bags. At any one time, I can have 10-50 bags ready to go. My belief is to always be prepared with crafting projects. They go everywhere with me from babysitting the grandkids (I can craft only when they are sleeping) to trips. Books are also something I bring everywhere and always too many. My daughter and my grandson have also inherited this book trait.

These are some bracelet that I just listed in my Etsy Shop. I'll share more in the coming weeks as I get them photographed and listed.

My son also got engaged to a lovely girl this week. A fall wedding is tentatively planned and I want to make them a quilt, so I've been pouring over quilt patterns and asking Amber what she likes. She will be choosing the pattern and color scheme. The only quilting I've been doing lately is Korean bojagi which is all hand-stitched, whereas my American quilting will be machine quilted.