Monday 24 October 2011

Let's cook!

Lately I've been pretty bored with the meals I've been cooking. The kids like what they like and don't really like to experiment with different flavors, ie. VEGGIES! Yes, it is my fault for not exposing them to a variety of foods but when I do try something different, I get a lot of "ews" and "what does it taste like" etc., they don't even want to try the food and then I get stuck with trying to shovel down leftovers (which is not exactly great for my expanding waistline) or throwing food out (which I totally feel guilty about).

Well, I've decided that things are going to have to change around here. Watching cooking on tv or flipping through recipe books, we are really missing out on a lot of food. I have this huge recipe book with 365 main courses and I see tons of stuff I would like to eat. I've also been checking out some cooking websites and blogs, bookmarking what looks yummy but also easy to make.
Last night, I made quiche.


I quite enjoyed it! Though I think it could have used a bit more salt, it was overall pretty good. The girls liked it, but the boys didn't touch it. 2 out of 4 isn't too bad. Oh well, will keep trying.

*kids notes*:
Deon's favourite phrases at the moment :"Me sitty on you lap", "lemme be play DS", "where's Dizzy (Dare)?" -loving how he totally looks up to his big brother.
Ling lost a contact lens and it hasn't even been a week since she got them! It fell out and she didn't know it. UGH!
Jazzy simply likes candy and hanging out with me.
Dare is growing taller everyday and enjoys checking his height against mine. Yes, I think I will be the SHORTEST in the family!

Sunday 23 October 2011

Time to sew

It's time to sew. I've got a pile of fabric that needs to be sewn. I've started tackling that pile by making some reusable shopping bags. I have various shopping bags from various grocery stores and though they are functional, they are not very pretty. So I used one of them as pattern and this is what I came up with.

I used bias tape around the edges for some colour. I'm thinking of making some with piping around the edges also (ahem, pardon the loose threads. yeah, yeah whatever).
Another bag I made was out of an Ikea pillow cover. The cover was not matching my current decor anywhere in the house but I liked the pattern enough to place it in my ever growing "keep" pile - yes, it's the hoarder in me that can't always let go of stuff.

The way I've sewn the zipper was inspired by this dress from etsy:
http://www.etsy.com/listing/71992135/mixed-media-dress-custom-color-size

Ah, yes, it's always great to say you've completed something on your days off. Planning on making more and will share hopefully soon...

Thursday 20 October 2011

a little project

Just sharing a little project I did the other day. I had this decal that I picked up at the dollar store sometime last year. When I got it, it had lost it's stickiness-I suppose that's why it was only $2. I thought it would be such a waste to throw out cause I really like the print on it. So I decided to cut out the pattern and finally use it. I've been meaning to put some sort of art work above my stove because it just looks so bare.

I traced the pattern onto some contact paper, cut it out, stuck it to the wall and then voila! Instant art!


I was originally thinking of tracing and then painting the pattern on the wall but I'm actually quite pleased with results of the contact paper. If I get bored of it, all I gotta do is peel it off!

One project done, a million more to go...

Sunday 16 October 2011

Rude

The other day I was at the bank to pay my phone bill and I had an unpleasant experience with one of the tellers there. Whenever I get served by her I get this negative vibe and I'm not sure if it's me or that she is generally like that. Anyways, I went up to the counter and told her that I wanted to pay my bill.I hand over my ID and my bank card. I don't usually fill out a deposit form because I just don't, the tellers seem to have no problems filling out the forms for me when I go. Well, this teller seemed irritated that I didn't have one filled out and so she whipped one out and pretty much flung it at me. Rude! So I proceed to fill it out as much as I can and then pass it back to her. I filled out in the "incorrect spot" and so she started to correct me but then filled out the rest herself. When the transaction is over, she doesn't stamp the receipt to indicate that it's been paid (lazy?) and then throws my ID and bank card back at me, kind of like when you're dealing a set of playing cards. And I'm like thinking 'what was that?' Rude! I wanted to say something about her behaviour but me being the non-confrontational type just walked away and left it at that. But I did turn around to look at her name tag so that I could report her Rude! behaviour. I don't why I didn't say anything right away. It's always after the fact that I think of what I should have said to put someone their place. I think I need more practice. HAHAHA! I'd rather not experience those situations on a regular basis just to get the 'practice'.
I was going to call the branch manager but until now, I haven't. I probably won't. I think next time I'm at the bank waiting in line and she's serving, I will just pass and tell the person behind me that I will wait for the next teller because I don't like her and make it obvious that I refuse to be served by her.

Thursday 6 October 2011

books



My pile of unread books is slowly starting to grow and now I'm thinking "Am I even going to have time to read these?" Over the last couple months I have started I think three or four books and maybe read 50 pages in and then not finish. I guess none of them have captured my interest until now. I am currently reading The Seamstress by Frances de Pontes Peebles. It's a 656 page book (I'm on page 150) and I'm really enjoying it. I love how it's based on a different time and a different place and feels...

(quick interruption: deon has made his way onto my lap and is saying "i want ba on kul dot com (bionicle.com) I just love his baby talk and I know I must savor this time because everyday his speech becomes clearer and clearer and pretty soon I won't be hearing his "language". This reminds me that I must pick up a videotape for my old but reliable camcorder.)

...like such an escape from the real world -which I do need once in a while in my usually chaotic life.

In other news, this book is amazing!!!


I picked it up at the book signing event held at the Anthropologie store last saturday. So glad I was able to meet the author, Grace Bonney, and have a signed copy of this amazing book. After reading the Introduction and sifting through the book, I am totally inspired. Being the super shy person I am, I didn't ask to have my picture taken with her which would have been a nice keepsake of the event. Oh well, next time...

Wednesday 28 September 2011

the GREEN door

Over the summer we painted the exterior of our house. It was long overdue. A fresh coat of paint truly does make a difference. I am totally pleased with the results. What hadn't been painted up until yesterday was the front door. I love a door colour that contrasts with the rest of the house, it just looks better. The colour of the house is yellow (gone is the blah cream box). After much thought, I decided to paint the door green. I visualized using a bright apple green but ended up with something slightly darker. The shade is called Calypso Green by CIL. I really love the results.


Saturday 24 September 2011

Fall is upon us

Almost the end of September already. This month has really flown by quickly. The last couple of days have been quite lovely in terms of weather. I love it when you go outside and it feels like your inside. Oh so comfy. I wish the weather was like that all the time. Going in and out of the house without any change in body temperature whatsoever. Does a place like that even exist? If so, someone out there please tell me where cause I wanna be there! I love the fall because I love seeing the leaves change in colour. It's such a cozy season. But i do dread the winter, so gray and cold. Hopefully we'll have a mild one. NO SNOW please!!!
I am so excited for the Design*Sponge book tour that's coming to Vancouver next week!!! And I can't wait to step into an Anthropologie store. For years, I've received their catalogues and now I'm finally going to see their products in person. It's gonna be a great day!!!

Monday 19 September 2011

catching up

well, i'm back...AGAIN!!! i've decided to take this blogging a bit more seriously and try and update more regularly (promises, promises!). my cousins were over yesterday for our first ever scrapbook club meeting and they were really encouraging me to start a blog because i have too much stuff (finished and unfinished projects) that i should be sharing with the world wide web. whenever i am on the computer, that's all i do, check out, or rather drool, over other people's blogs. hmmm, wouldn't it be something for people to be drooling over mine? maybe not drooling in the the literal sense but you know what i mean. i guess a better word would be "inspired" by my blog. i think it would be nice. anyways, the scrapbook club was lovely and all 3 of us enjoyed ourselves. i have a ton of supplies, too much for one person to work with and so i invited them to help reduce my piles. i think it was quite overwhelming because there was just a lot to choose from. i don't have that much stuff but it was more than they expected? i don't have a separate craft room so all this stuff i've accumulated is in random places around my place. so hopefully we'll have monthly club meeting. i love being creative and i love it even more when others love being CREATIVE with me.

kids notes: jazzy finally learned how to ride her bike on the last day of summer vacation (labour day).YAY!!! after so much practice, she finally did it we're all so proud of her. and she's so proud of herself, you can totally see it when she's cruising around the driveway.
dare also finally learned to tie his shoelaces. after years of using velcro shoes, it was time to tie laces. and guess who assisted in teaching him...jazzy!
deon is still my little busy body chattering away constantly and that is no exaggeration.
ling is also busy still doing her hair. i'm so glad she finally figured out how to manage her curls and she's really good at it too. ahhh, i remember high school and how hair was everything.

Friday 29 July 2011

The concert



Whoa!!! I didn't realize it's been that long since I last posted! Not that much has really happened but then again I could have documented a few random moments that I may have wanted to remember but now I have forgotten! Oh well, I'll try and recall what I can.
This is birthday week for the girls. Nicole turned 15 on thursday and Jazzy turned 8 yesterday. For Nicole, I took her to her very first ever concert to see Katy Perry. I bought the concert tickets a few months ago and the day finally arrived to go. Nicole was counting down the days til July 19. On that day, we headed downtown via skytrain and our first stop was my favorite store , Dressew! Gosh, I really love it there. My head gets full of ideas when I enter that place. However, I know I have no time to really start something new because I have so many unfinished projects at home. I try to keep my budget within 10 bucks when I go there because I really have to stop adding more stuff to what I already have. Walked away with a whole bunch of embroidery floss (friendship bracelets!) and some beads to make some sort of jewelry. I was happy with my purchases.

Then we got hungry! It was around 4:30pm and the concert wasn't to start til 7:30pm so we had plenty of time to grab a bite to eat. But where??? Walking through downtown, we couldn't figure out what we wanted. So we kept walking and walking and walking, it seemed like forever. We eventually landed in Yaletown and settled for Earl's. It was such a lovely evening, the weather was perfect, and I mean really PERFECT! We took a table on the patio, which was a great choice. Why eat inside, it was was so dark in there, almost cavelike. We ordered. I had a chicken quesedilla and Ling ( Nicole's nickname) had a caesar salad. Ling looks older than she really is and it was funny when the waitress was explaining the drink (alcoholic) specials. She had no clue that Ling was under age. Anyways, we both just had water. By 6:30pm we left the restaurant and headed for Rogers Arena. The lineup was already forming. It didn't take long to finally enter the building. At the gate, the security checked our bags. I had been carrying a zoom lens and was told that I wasn't allowed to use it in the building. Say what??? I was thinking to myself WHY NOT??? I'm not the confrontational type so i didn't cause a scene. They had security escort me towards the check-in area to leave my lens there and then pick up after the show. But halfway there the security dude said to just keep it in my bag otherwise it will get confiscated. So the paranoid in me didn't pull it out for fear of losing it however towards the end of the concert I did pull it out discreetly and used it to take a few shots. I was so nervous but no one noticed. Thank god!!! Anyways the concert was great. Katy is such a great entertainer. Although her lyrics/messages are questionable, her music is quite catchy that you can't help but sing along.Loved the whole theme of the concert, the design, the costumes were awesome.One of my favorites she performed was Firework. They even had fireworks! Our seats were not bad but it would have been nice to be a little closer. But our binoculars worked great! I'm so glad Ling had such a great time.She took a ton of pictures and she truly enjoyed herself. Hope to have many more events like these to go to together and next time I'll take Jazzy along with us.

Saturday 18 June 2011

Clutter

   Yes, I am finally back!!! Not that anyone was really paying attention anyways,hahaha!
I've been forgetting that I even have this blog so that is why there hasn't been any action going on.
But speaking of action, my favorite city has been attacked by some dumb people!I don't even want to post a photo of what the city went through the other day. It's totally disappointing. However, there was a bright side and that was how the city came together to help clean up the mess left behinds by those idiots.Thinking about heading downtown sometime to check out the damage.

   Anyway, back to business! I have been fighting clutter for as long as I know and have really been struggling to get things in order. Being the pack rat, hoarder, "collector" of stuff plus four kids running around this place, it has truly been a challenge. Working part-time, I don't know where all my days off go. I don't seem to feel that I have accomplished anything because the time just flies past me and before I know it, monday night is already here (I work tuesdays and wednesdays). I've tried making to do lists but I don't even refer back to them. I've tried to "mentally" schedule chores for the week and that sure doesn't work (remember my mentioning that my memory is not exactly the best at recalling stuff). So I thought I should make things easier and just try and get at least 1-2 things accomplished per day during the week. For example, thursday is sleep day. I managed to get at least 3 hours of sleep in the morning thanks to hubby watching mr. terrible 2. It was just enough rest to recover from the night shift but not waste my first day off. Not enough sleep equals on cranky lady! I also did a bit of gardening. Planted some pretty flowers in the front yards, flowers that had been waiting at least a week to settle in their new home. And I assembled Ling's bed frame. Hurray, hurray!!! That's 3 things!!! Yes! Okay, so now onto friday. Well, I woke up at like 430 or 5 because someone wanted his "milky". I could go back to sleep again so I got up and started removing all our dvds and putting them in this binder type organizer which holds about 320 discs. No, I don't exactly have that many movies but I found the organizer at best buy for only $19.99 and it was the last one in the store so I picked it up. Why did I decide to do this? Because I wanted to free up some space and I am tired of seeing all these empty kids dvds all over the place. It was driving me crazy! I took out all the movie labels out and tried to keep them alphabetical as much as possible and put them under a pile of books to flatten them out. I managed to get most of them done before the kiddies woke up for school. I collected all the empty covers and some other items to donate and headed over to value village to drop them off. And of course, I browsed through the shop but Fortunately, didn't pick up anything. So that was 2 things for friday! Yes!
Well today is saturday and I am planning on (1) transferring photos from my memory card onto my portable hard drive and (2) tackling the heaps of laundry that is sitting in my hallway waiting to be cleaned (not looking forward to this one but it NEEDS to be done!)and hopefully i can get in (3) planting the rest of the flowers, which I bought yesterday, into the garden.

Kid notes:
Yesterday: Dare and Jazz went on a field trip using the public bus (cause the actually school bus costs something like $800 to use-ridiculous) to the wave pool. They had tons of fun with the waterslides. Ling's last day of school-finals next week. Oh my gosh, I can't believe she's finishing Gr. 9!!! Deon, aka Mr. Terrible is awesomely living up to the terrible 2 reputation. He is now crying and laying down on the floors of public places and attracting wonderful attention to himself. He is also forming sentences and making conversation. Love it! My baby is growing up. I need to videotape his talking because it's so cute.

Saturday 30 April 2011

my princess

Well here I am a week later. After vowing to post more regularly, ie. daily, I have made a reappearance one week later. Better late than never, right? So last week, we did end up heading out to Crystal Mall and of course I didn't leave empty handed. Picked up My Princess, a korean drama. I actually started watching the first 3 episodes online and I liked it so I ended up purchasing it. I suppose I could have saved some money and watched the series online but I really don't enjoy watching "t.v." on the computer. It kind of irritates my eyes. Plus, the episodes are chopped up in parts and it can get annoying after awhile. So in the end I've added another show onto my kdrama shelf. Yes, I do have a growing collection. Hey, it's just like watching a soap opera, only in a different language! I tried to get back into watching american soaps (in high school, I probably followed 4 or 5 at a time), but I don't know, I just couldn't get into the storylines. I've already watched 14 episodes and I have 2 more to go. Hmmm, what should I watch next...

Friday 22 April 2011

a pretty spring day

today i decided start a blog because my memory is not as great as it should be. chatting with my oldest daughter, she was recalling some past moments and i couldn't really remember them. so i thought that starting this blog would be a good way to document random moments and memories. with four kids, so many things go on with them and it would be nice to be able to recall certain events more clearly or just funny moments that happen in our daily lives. hopefully, i will maintain this blog as i am one of those people who start projects but don't finish them. low attention span, distraction, household chores, etc. so many things get in the way before i am actually able to complete a task. so i'm keeping my fingers crossed that i'll be able to do this.
we woke up to such a pretty spring day. hmmm, what to do? even though there is a ton of stuff to do at home, i always feel that if it's a beautiful day weather wise, it's such a waste to spend it at home. so we're thinking of heading to crystal mall, have lunch, possibly get a kdrama and then stop by burnaby village. i suppose i should get off this computer now and get my day started. will be back later if i have anything interesting to report...