Tuesday, January 31

End of January

This month has flown by but for the past few days I feel as if I've at least caught up and am only overwhelmed by current issues.

It's not so much drowning but more floundering? Okay, it's not nearly as terrible as it sounds. I guess I'm trying to say that we're more or less back to normal/typical daily stress, lol.

So I took a look at how I felt at the beginning of the month. Things didn't get much better until the past few days so I'm still in a very tentative state. Part of me feels that if I let my guard down and fully enjoy the good fortune that has come our way, that life will just backhand me hard for getting cheeky. Sigh.

I've done a pretty good job keeping up with the makeover in the room with a few worrisome spots. However, with a free weekend, I'm sure it'll all be taken care of quickly. I'm still working on making a habit of developing (in a reasonable sense) and accomplishing my daily to-do list but have done pretty well when we don't consider the unexpected surprises life tends to throw. In that way, I've managed to surprise myself. XD

Still haven't found a comfortable balance between schoolwork, chores, work, and um... more work. Just trying to make ends meet with on-call jobs. However, I've been keeping up more than ever. "Ever" being in recently recalled memory and that doesn't necessary mean a whole lot, lol.

Oye, I must be much more delirious than I thought given how goofy and disjointed my thoughts are... I just wanted to sum up that so far so good, all things considered, doing better than expected but I'm on the brink of being overwhelmed completely (I'm sure), I still need to scrapbook about January but I did start making a list of events that will be included in the layout, and I only have 350 pictures left to edit online! Woohoo! That means I've done over 1000 (not including the ones I've deleted for whatever reason) so it means a lot to me. After that big step I have the big choice of tackling the task of relinking or fixing the picture links here on the blog OR starting to tackle the epic summer family scrapbook again. I took a break when I realized how screwed up my online picture storage was here. Or rather I freaked out and couldn't focus on anything else for at least two days and then kept on going.

If I'm going to get some sleep tonight, I need to stop thinking about that crossroad right now. : )

Monday, January 30

LAES

While I haven't become brave enough to vlog just yet, heck I hardly ever video chat anymore (even though I should because it's fun), I wanted to answer Landon Austin's Epic Survey.



1. Phone Call or Text?

I think I prefer phone call. It goes faster even though I've a quick typist. Except times when I do things like write "typer" instead. Sigh. I don't do calls as often as I'd like because of limited minutes but am still an avid texter.

2. Least favorite subject in school?

He said history and I am still terrible at the subject, but I liked trying to learn about it. Maybe because it was closely tied to Social Studies and that still fascinates me. What subject I liked the least was English. I don't enjoy being told how to interpret literature or how to think. I did love reading, getting ideas, and writing though. *Looks around blog...* Oh yeah, still do.

3. Favorite memory from when you were 13?

Wow. This was a turbulent year for me. I'm sure it is for many people, but it was in the midst of my severe depression until I started seeking help the following year. I was in eighth grade and what I immediately recall were the notebooks that a group of friends and I kept. We would rant, ramble, and vent in one notebook and pass it around to everyone else in the circle until it was filled and then start a new one. I actually was able to hold onto two of them all these years. After the mini-reunion we had last year, I let two of the girls have at them to take a walk down memory lane. We were so unabashedly angsty, it's hilarious. I'm sure we'd still feel the same about a lot of these situations but it's just really funny how we expressed it back then. Oh the colorful inks... gel pens were big then too.

4. Favorite game when you were a kid?

I loved Monopoly. I don't think I've ever won a game and I don't even remember finishing one as a kid. Something about all the colors and structure that appeal to me, I guess. I loved the Rube Goldberg device game of Mousetrap. That was friggin' awesome. I played a lot of card games like Goldfish to keep my sanity while waiting in lines at theme parks and for the grown-ups to finish eating and talking during holiday dinners too.

5. What scared you the most when you were young?

Bad guys. The type you hear about on the news. My family always warned me and I'm not the most spatial thinker so I often lack common sense awareness of my surroundings. Getting lost sucked too. And my folks. Nothing like using fear tactics to scare your kid straight or threaten to be severely disappointed at the hint of failure for an Asian child.

6. First crush?

I remember having two "boyfriends" in my first first grade class right before I moved down to Florida. The first one that was actually a full-out crush was this boy that was in the majority of my classes in Elementary school. Very guy next door, eventually became friends with his baby sister in high school. Don't think I ever told him and probably never will. I cried at lunchtime once when someone teased about it and told him. I don't think he believed them since we were decent friends back then. I'm actually friends with the both of them on Facebook. Yeah... that's as far as I'm going to go with that. XD

Well, yay. What an interesting mix of memories. Now I'm not sure how I feel about anything. So many emotions! Lol.

Sunday, January 29

The Pity Factor

Earlier this morning, kitty was being pretty active and wondering what his human-grandma and human-stepmom (me) were doing bustling around the house. She and I were getting ready for potential guests and he had to trot back and forth to keep an eye on the crazy womenfolk.

Everything seemed fine and dandy when he settled in for his usual mid-morning nap until he suddenly got sick on the floor. >_< For the rest of the day he was under the weather and a bit whiny. Poor thing. He really did milk it though. He got super fresh food, refills on his fresh water, any water from the tap that he wanted, tons of attention and pets from everyone, and even a treat when he was feeling better.

Then, he tried to eat some dirt and leaves from every plant in the house. FMIL has a green thumb so there are quite a bit to choose from. We keep the ones that look pretty, are non-native, and are not great for pets in rooms they are not allowed in and keep the doors shut at all times. Supervising a wise kitty is difficult with their ninja ways though and we didn't think potting soil was the best.

So with enough pleading and leading us around the house, we came to the conclusion that he didn't feel 100% better but was just milking the attention at that point. Also taking this chance to campaign hardcore to take a field trip outside. Well, we weren't having any of that. Lol. That's where the line was drawn but that didn't stop him from begging and he hardly ever begs.

It almost got to the point where he was beginning to act uncharacteristically naughty, so his dad (the SO) and I decided to head out and grab him some pet grass from the store because I keep forgetting to start a new batch since the lawn I made has finally died out. It will tide us over for the next few days until my batch sprouts.

Kitty was so incredibly happy that he could do little more than to continuously thank me with rubs and head smashes to the face with tons of purring as he rubbed-marked and licked the grass. He's so sweet and hilarious. He then went to go thank his dad and grandma and every piece of furniture in between. So loved. So humbling. XD

As always since his health scare a year ago, every time he doesn't seem at 100%, it worries the junk out of me. Still keeping vigilant but he seems to be doing much better now with some yummy new grass in his arsenal.

:) That's all from me right now. I spent the day finishing a few things on my to-do list and resting a bit by working on my online photo storage again. More than 800 done and the last of the duplicates deleted! Yay!

Saturday, January 28

Hostess

Besides the fact that the title makes me really want some sort of cream-filled cupcake... I want to put it out there that I think I'm a pretty darn good hostess. I love doing parties, from prepping to making sure everyone is taken care of throughout. However, you can't be much of a host or hostess when there are no guests.

Yeah, today was my first workshop of the year and only one guest was able to make it. It actually ended up being okay because FMIL and I were able to dote upon her and we all had a lot of fun free-styling the two projects I put together. We were able to take our time and explore new techniques which is sometimes difficult with a large group. Plenty of yummy snacks for us too. :P

I made the comment earlier today saying thank goodness this wasn't something like homecoming or prom because I would have been devastated back in the day. While I was disappointed that this didn't work out well, we managed to make the very best of the situation. It was just another moment that I realized how much I've grown as a person. Especially in terms of confidence and I'm pretty proud of myself for that.

I totally understand that life happens and a get-together like this is a luxury. I have no idea how people manage to throw parties though. I haven't had a terribly amount of luck yet but maybe if I keep trying and refining this craft, once a grand one comes together, I'll be an expert. It's probably for the best because party food can be pretty expensive and I like to go all-out but really cannot afford to for now.

Another silver lining is that FMIL and I discussed it this morning and we're both game to try for turning this into a two day event so if anyone can make it tomorrow at the same time, we'll be ready. Chances are we'll have another one sometime next month because there is such a great promotion going on for people who like to stock up or get free stuff.

Candies, quiches, raspberries, and homemade Chex mix. Yum! I just had to mention the snacks because I enjoy being a hungry, hungry hippo.

Lol.

Friday, January 27

Cozy Gifts

The school that I volunteer and work at has an annual Spaghetti Dinner & Raffle. It's coming up next Friday. Families and staff donate the ingredients for the dinner, volunteer to cook it, donate items to go into baskets that are often themed by classroom, and then come to enjoy a warm meal and have fun entering a raffle for the items. All to raise money for the school, of course.

Last year, FMIL's classroom chose scrapbooking as their theme and the donations went all out. Stickers of all sorts, markers, pens, albums, papers, and more. This year, I've volunteered to help wrap up all of these donations and FMIL's volunteered (like she does every year) to take a shift in cooking and/or serving the dinner. The classroom has donated more food items while she and I contributed some knit and crochet projects to the classroom basket. It has a warm, cozy, and snuggly sort of theme between what we put in, girl scout cookies that have come into season, evaporated milk, and I think there's a themed storybook that's being hunted down. I think it's a cute concept.

These were from my gift stash that I was starting to build a few weeks ago but I can share them now that I know they are going to a new home! That and I remembered to take pictures this time. :P

Lime Scarf!
It looks the same from the front to the back.

Cuteness!

Pepperoni Pizza Scarf!
The numerous pepperonis are in different spots on the back.

Cupcake Hat!
This one FMIL actually made and the yarn has iridescent glitter on it.

These are all from the same book and when the current craziness dies down a little, I'm going to make a new scarf to add to my gift stash. I cannot wait! I hope that whomever wins this basket has fun with these items.

Thursday, January 26

Tech Gift & Curse

Struggling a bit with balancing my projects again. This are coming up at work-school that have mixed around the schedule I had set out for myself for homework-school. I guess I should get used to being that flexible. I'm pretty sure that's the nice way of putting it, lol.

Just a quick update before I get back into that. My arts and crafts workshop is this weekend so I'm very excited about that. The big annual promotional event has started and there's quite a bit of free stuff involved if you want to check that out (My Other Blog). So I'm getting enough projects and samples created for that while doing my homework (halfway through this class already!) and working on a classroom website.

There's going to be a district computer makeover soon (theoretically) with tons of upgrades but Mr. Tech at our school and I have our skeptical doubts about how quickly and comprehensively the new changes will be for our school. So we're making out own plans for backing up and creating the websites for each and all of the teachers just in case. It would be kind of lame to be proud to be a somewhat tech-savvy school and have the teachers unable to make any changes to their websites for the rest of the school year. Yeah.

So, I'm working on a prototype website that we'll test out. By trying to stick to the very basics, I'm creating webpages from my old version Microsoft Office (the school will actually end up with a newer version than mine!) and that includes each subsection page. I'll end up uploading them to the district's server for storage that will still work throughout this revamp and... then we hope that everything will be dandy. It won't, but that's the goal. :P Oh, and creating all the links too.

Next week there's Groundhog's Day (can you believe we've already made it past 100 days of school this year as of this week?), the annual Spaghetti Dinner and Raffle that I volunteered to help prepare for, the SO's birthday, and then the Superbowl. Fun fun!

Technology is really a double-edged sword. It's a blessing and a curse. On one hand it is so much fun, convenient, easy, and quick. Then... it makes you want to hurt things. So many things. Yet, we can't seem to stop. So, here I go!

Wednesday, January 25

Clean Slate

Not in reference to removing drama from my life (that's an ongoing process, lol) but the fact that I'm paying attention to more and more beauty advice on YouTube. I have no idea what I'm doing when it comes to make-up and have made it up as I go with sub-par results. Same goes with skincare and haircare. I don't do much more than some form of soap and water.

Well, little by little, I want to learn how to take care of myself more. Starting from the most prominent and part of myself that I'm the least familiar with/ confident of: my face. I have struggled with bad acne since I hit puberty. Or puberty hit me. Hard. Combine that with almost non-existent self worth and thick glasses for most of my life and I came to the realization in the past five years that I was unfamiliar with my own face. I didn't recognize myself, avoided mirrors and pictures as well as walked with my head down.

Thank goodness that I'm growing out of that. It's taken tons of conscious effort, seeking help, and learning about myself. Now that I've gotten to know myself and have grown much more comfortable being me, I want to start working hard on becoming the best me. Blah, blah, blah, insert the spiel about being the only me there is in the world. :P

Anyways, I'm starting with improving my skin on my face. One of the times that I went to visit my folks, my mom let me know that one of our favorite moisturizers was back in a much more attainable and modern form. I loved the smell when my mother used it when she would get ready and she put some on me on special occasions. I absolutely adore it and I'm still using it:


I guess they don't go by "Oil of Olay" but that's understandable I suppose. This is from their Regenerist product line- Deep Hydration Regeneration Cream. I love the smell, it's that light pink texture like I always remembered it, and my skin feels so silky smooth moments after I put it on. So I've had this but I'm getting better about using it more consistently because it's the desert. Lol.

Decided the other night to try a facial cleanser and/or scrub and I was aiming at trying a few items from the Aveeno line but then I saw this:


It used to be called their Dual-Action Cleanser + Pore Scrub but now is their Pore Minimizing Cleanser + Scrub. There's some logic in my head that I should keep with the same brand at least in the beginning. I've tried it twice now after getting it yesterday and omg! My skin feels so nice and baby soft and I don't think I'm even using it properly yet. XD I having a little trouble adding enough water to make it really foam up. My face feels heavenly after using both and I keep petting my cheek but know that I shouldn't because I'm just getting junk back in there. So far, I highly recommend them. I feel clean and soft so we'll if I feel any different after using it more.

Soon, I'll get brave enough to try to techniques for applying my makeup. That should be a boatload of fun!

Tuesday, January 24

A Thank You

I found this song, loved the lyrics, and adore the band.

I posted it to send the message to my friends, especially some very special individuals. Also wanted to post it here too for you guys here and as a thank you for listening to me rant almost endlessly.


Thank you and

Monday, January 23

Year of the Dragon!

Happy New Year! Chúc Mừng Năm Mới!

I'd go into more about the holiday, you have the internet and can get to it faster than I can with my mind right now. I am wiped!

I was still feeling the effects of the past two days of caffeine overload when I woke up this morning. Got dressed in the Chinese-style traditional dress, complete with heels, grabbed my gear, and headed into school-work. I initially planned to definitely go to three classrooms expecting to stop by or be asked by a few more.

Well, I ended up doing mini presentations in every single classroom at the school. It was interesting picking my brain to tailor my spiel for preschoolers through fifth graders. I also had nothing but bring the materials and the concept of showing them to the kids in mind until I started opening my big fat mouth in the first classroom.

I brought the other dress, the packs of lucky red envelopes, pictures of my family wearing their versions of the outfit, the round paper lantern, my brothers big red Kung Fu fan, and a fragile wooden fan with a fragrant smell. I have ideas of what I would change (like preparing my info ahead of time XD) for next time already.

I talked about the zodiac animals, what year it was, about various new year celebrations and traditions, and answered various question the kids had while looking at the items that I brought. They did so well with handling the objects, paying attention, thinking things through, and asking pretty darn good questions. I was very proud of them all and it was so well worth the effort. Sharing is caring and it seemed that it was informative and fun for kids and adults. So many faces lit up learning and ugh. Maybe this is just another sign that I'm heading in the right direction in terms of a career.

Here's to happiness, health, and wealth while celebrating the new and honoring the past.

Sunday, January 22

Dragon Dinner

It's almost the Chinese/ Vietnamese/ Lunar New Year!


That's tomorrow. :D

Tonight was my big (for a cooking noob) special dinner and we had four guests join us at the household. Everyone seemed to find what they liked and we have plenty of ingredients left over after people took some home. It wasn't too hard to put together time-wise because we wanted everything toasty warm/ fresh and we've been keeping up fairly well with keeping the house tidy what with the holidays and all.

The menu was as follows for spring rolls: rice vermicelli (noodles), basil (I couldn't find Thai basil, but organic), cilantro, mint and spearmint (both organic), sliced Chinese sausage, fried eggs, boiled pork shoulder, shrimp, shredded carrots, lettuce, and sliced cucumbers. There was a Hoisin dipping sauce and soy sauce. Eventually we pulled out some sweet dried shredded pork to try.


I also demonstrated (after making few a head of time) some fried prawn-flavored chips. They start off looking like little plastic chips and fluff up within seconds. I'll try to upload the video I took soon. I also had egg roll cookies, candies that have little flowers on the wrapper (I have no idea what they are called XD), and moon cake crackers (also unsure about the name) for deserts along with some fresh fruit that was brought. Oh! I made limeade too. That's just funny into and upon itself but that's a different story.

At one point I had my shrimp chips and some dried shredded squid out too but decided we had enough food. Kitty loooved the bag of squid. I have footage of him poking at it but never getting through and his dad teasing him about it. So silly. It's funny how I don't often like seafood let alone eat it but I have all of these snacks that I grew up with loving. Who knows?

The instructions that I found online said to quickly dip the rice paper into warm water and quickly place the meat(s) of choice, noodles, herbs, and then vegetables ending with lettuce leaving room on the sides. Start making your roll by fold in the sides and then rolling from the lettuce on the bottom upward. The fast you move, the less sticky your paper gets and the less likely it will tear. Another way to avoid it breaking apart is to not overload them.

Well... many of us decided to change the laws of physics and tradition and made giant burrito size-wonton shaped spring "rolls". It worked and sometime required a fork and knife. We had fun trying a bit of everything and deciding which combo was our personal favorite.

One of my little battery-powered lanterns hanging in the corner by the dinner table. So adorable.

Oh! I finally got around to ironing one of the traditional dresses and taking pictures of them. They are called áo dài.

 Traditional style.
Chinese-influenced style

Worn with long pants (often white) that are so draping and flowing they look like part of a dress. I can only fit into the latter and may try to wear it to school tomorrow as I make my rounds in the classrooms to add more tangible aspect to the cultural lessons many of them are having this week. Wish me luck!

Saturday, January 21

Breezy

We've had absolutely great weather for the past few days and there actually hasn't been much of a breeze. Which is makes it even more lovely, in my opinion.

Anyways, sorry if I seem like a complete spaz today. I knew I had a lot of prep to do for tomorrow and New Year's on top of making sure my homework for the week was done and out of the way so I caffeinated myself to high heck. I'm tired but wired.

Wanted to share one of the crafting goodies I got in the mail the other day. I usually wait a few days after I've posted SU! related stuff on my other blog first before showing off here but I am just too darn excited to wait!

It's one of their top sellers: Beautiful Wings Stampin' Up! Embosslits Die. Mouthful for such a tiny thing it's smaller than the palm of my hand. About 2x3 inches. It's a flat little folder that does the texture and cuts out the five adorable butterflies all at once. I use it through my Cuttlebug because that's just the device I have on hand. Beautiful stuff. Tried it out on some of the current In Colors:
 Calypso Coral, Wisteria Wonder, Concord Crush (dark purple), and Blushing Bride (pink).
Island Indigo, Pool Party (aqua), Lucky Limeade, and Peach Parfait.

Stunning, right? I'm going to go through so many of my scraps. I even found three lockable and stackable clear plastic containers that I'm going to store them in. So sweet, elegant, and easy. That's all I have for now, I have to rest up for tomorrow.

Friday, January 20

Girly

My brain decided not to join the party that was the day today.

So while I was working on finishing my homework for this week, I somehow found two girls on YouTube with totally different styles and I was fascinated with watching their videos from the first video of each that I saw.

They are some of the top females: JennaMarbles and MichellePham. The former is a raunchy real-talk vlogger and the latter is a beauty guru. Very different ends of the spectrum but so far I have adored it all.

I think why I've hesitated subscribing to many females on YT has been partly due to... the potential of getting jealous because I'll find myself comparing myself to how they have chosen to present themselves online? We're programmed to compete and that leads to an awful lot of judging. Jenna actually made a video about the subject.

There are studies coming out now that say there's a correlation between the number of friends you have on FB and how sad you are. This would be due to how people do their best to portray their lives as much more glamorous online and when you compare your lives to theirs it gets depressing. I'm no better. Even with this blog. I'm not as blatant or crass as I tend to be at times or as ridiculous (hard to believe huh?). Sometimes that helps me practice reigning in my anger when all I want to do is rant to the world but overall I've been pretty good about at least leaving myself subtle hints about the details behind the events so I can remember exactly what made me feel this way.

I'm not sure where I'm going with this. I'm very tired and tomorrow I need to finish up my assignments, grocery shop for the special dinner, and clean like a madwoman. Joy. :P

Thursday, January 19

Taxing

Not a terribly witty title by any stretch of the imagination. :P

I'm in the midst of trying to catch up on my homework so I can catch up on my sleep. I haven't fallen behind per say, but I'm not keeping up with the schedule that I set for myself in order to minimize my stress this weekend when I want to dedicate most of my energy towards making a special dinner that won't kill or severely maim all of the people we care about in the area. XD You know, the little things like that.

T_T I really am tired though. It seems that big changes are on the horizon and it could really be a good thing for everyone involved. We'll see.

Where was I? Oh yes. I've been mentioned oh-so-appetizing financial happenings. I've finished prepping what I could for filing my taxes once I get about two more forms in the mail. I didn't keep track of quite a few things. :( An example is the fact that I make little donations at the places that I shop the most and frequently. Haven't kept record of that.

In changing that since it's the beginning of the year, I'm starting to save up all of my receipts but I didn't necessarily want to show up with a shoebox of crumpled register tape, so I jumped at an idea that SO suggested- an accordion expandable file folder. Found one with 13 sections, have typed up and printed labels for the months, and organized into it what receipts I've already accumulated. I'm just terribly pleased with organization and colors no matter what the subject matter I guess.


I got the folder because it was the only one there that had  13 sections and not 6 or 7... that and I didn't want to risk putting this off. When I took a closer look inside, I was pleasantly surprised.

Riding this wave, I brushed off my Quicken and manually entered in my financial information from the middle of December. So not too far, but ugh. Of course, balancing out everything was a pain but it's done. Even entered in a few of my recurring payments. I should probably enter in my student loans though... >_> Eh, it's all a good habit to get back into. No matter how depressing the numbers are. Mhm, I'll just keep telling myself that.

Alright, need to get back to the grind, but I will

Wednesday, January 18

Seeing Red

I have a few ideas of what to post today.

Maybe talking about my new budget-tax-financial organizational system. Mostly because I'm really enjoying my new accordion file folder.

Or about the craft goods that arrived in the mail today. The results have been absolutely beautiful with little to no effort from me.

Instead, I have been so filled with rage for the past few hours that I couldn't even calm down enough to read from my textbook or continue testing out my new toy. If I was tired before, I'm now exhausted.

The breaking point is drawing near and who knows what damage I'll leave in my wake let alone what would be salvageable. I'm the type that once I go over the edge, I don't hold back and in the end and aftermath, I'm too prideful and stubborn to regret any of it. Plus, it takes so long and so much to get to that point that not too many people blame me for my everlasting wrath.

This goes against my goals that I've been talking about and confirms my fore-warnings.

The only thing that I have been able to do is love upon the kitty, discuss my feelings with the SO, and sing my heart and/or cry my eyes out to music and music videos online.

I found a super touching video earlier and need to share it with you soon. Tears. So many tears even before I was set off today.

The good things in life really are free and grounding. And just good. Love and the joy of music.

Heh, I didn't think I'd get to a better state of mind before heading off to bed. I really have grown up. Just a little. :P

Thanks for hanging in there.

Tuesday, January 17

Planned Planthood

So guess who finally took a closer look at when her new seeds want to be planted?  Yeah...

This year's crop (so far) has included last year's cherry tomatoes, the various herbs, and leaf lettuce on top of hoping that the Bird's Eye chilies and jalapeños pull through the winter. We're going to try some Big Boy Tomatoes, Serrano Chilies, and Poblano Chilies to go better with dishes that we've deemed appetizing enough to try. Thanks, public television.

I realized that although I've started up many of the herbs and lettuce again in individual pots indoors (hooray for utilizing my original gardening corner!), there has not been nearly enough sunlight for them to flourish properly. Sigh, I am never going to get this quite right.

Also learned that I can actually safely start up the cherry tomatoes again. You know, instead of in June. >_<

This is theoretically a good time to start my leaf lettuce and jalapeños indoors to get them sturdy enough to put outdoors but the lettuce started to take off and then stopped while I'm crossing my fingers about the latter.

It was a little bit of a battle to try to figure which growth zone our city was in. The USDA scale primarily seems to focus on average minimum temperatures of a region and rates a plant's hardiness or ability to withstand those temperatures. That would make us a Zone 9 (10 with subsections). On another hand, the local university had a different scale that took into account our states varying altitudes and what that does to our temperatures and sunlight (as well as our increased alkaline soils) and rates our particular city as a Mid-Altitude Desert area between 2,000-4,000 ft in elevation and therefore a Zone 4 (out of 5). I tended to believe them more, lol. Apparently, there's also a great resource called Sunset Magazine but I'm under the impression that they also have regional guide books as well, that rated us as a Zone 12 but I have no other idea of what that entails. :P

Regardless, this new information combined with the tiny and somewhat vague seed packet maps helped me figure out nice times to start my plants indoors. Now if I could only make it more sunny. Did I really just wish for more sun in a place that has sun 360 days of the year? Oye, I am so going to pay for that one. I think if we keeping living in the desert, I would love to build a little greenhouse one day. Or, you know, have a plant-growing lamp. FMIL and I went to one of the local hydroponic stores over the summer and the equipment is out of my price range right now for it being one of many of my hobbies. That would be so cool to try though. Technology and gadgets and nature and being nearly fool-proof... XD Sounds perfect for me.

Eh, I just went and thinned out the sprouts that I have. The more I think about it, the more I'm getting excited again about this new gardening venture. I guess a lot of my enthusiasm had waned with the winter weather coming in. Why on earth would I find it easier to go out in +100 degree weather to dig a trench than to walk out wrapped in a fluffy robe nursing a mug of hot chocolate to water the plants? Just all sorts of backwards. Sleeping when you're all toasty is lovely though.

Now I'm pining to be back in bed. Genius work, lol. Gotta go do something productive.

Monday, January 16

Angels

Hi hi!

Well, we did go to the botanical garden today, but only for lunch. Dreary weather had made its way here late yesterday afternoon and began to continuously rain lightly. While a little rain doesn't really hurt, our friends had been driving and walking nearly nonstop for the past few days all over the northern part of the state such as the Painted Desert. So, missing out on a walk through the park was not terrible.

We had lovely conversation over lunch and shared pictures. They had pictures to show of their recent travels and adventures while my folks had sent me pictures of themselves to show and I printed out recent pictures of the front and back yards of their newly renovated home.

These two great ladies had the SO and I do something really interesting at the end of the visit. They had a new deck of angel cards (one has had them for years, but recently retired that deck and started to give some of the pieces away as gifts) and we decided to pull three of each. I'm often very open to taking leaps in exploring spirituality in a healthy manner so felt that number was right. Our two friends had already pulled about five each recently and had them written down. The SO and I alternated picking cards, shared which we got as we went, wrote them down, and talked about them.

Personally, I pulled: "Exploration", "Balance", and "Forgiveness". We discussed if we had recently accomplished any of our lessons/ concepts or whether we knew why they were pulled. I totally understand why I pulled mine. With how accurate my various readings have been lately, I'm kind of ruing the universe for being so blatant, lol. You...*shakes fists*. 

I've had quite the wanderlust since I moved out of my folks' home to go to college and it's only gotten stronger in the past two years. I feel that with where I'm at in my life right now, it's a great time for me to travel and explore our country. A few years of living in different states could be a great experience and then we can settle down in a place that we know for sure is right for the family we want to start. I just even like the concept of exploring one's own town. Hence my occasional spontaneous walks to nowhere. Now if I could just learn how to find my way back home on my own, we'd be set. XD

How much more can I talk about streamlining and finding a balance in my life between all of my projects and responsibilities this year? Even you guys know why I would get that kind of sign, lol. That's what I'm trying to be all about. Heck, that's what most of us should try being all about!

Forgiveness. You all would know about this too. The past few months I have been so angry at so many things. I keep saying that I'm a vindictive person but not many people have seen it or believe me. I don't really forget nor do I really forgive. What I have done is to forgive enough to give someone another chance or to be civil with them, but they should never think I'm fully past what has been done. I'm not sure if I ever will be because if I forgot history or habits, they are doomed to happen again and well, "Fool me once and shame on you- fool me twice and shame on me." I don't think my ultimate action is necessarily a bad way to go, but I have not reached that point yet with current happenings. Maybe that's what the card was referring.

I really should have brought my Animal Medicine Cards. These dear ladies would have been so great to learn about on that level. It was probably for the best though because we didn't have a terrible amount of time to casually visit.

All in all, it was a really pleasant time and I don't have the pictures I thought I was going to have to show. :P We almost forgot to take a picture (it's been two years since we were last all together!) until one of them ran after us in the parking lot. Shame on all of us for almost letting that chance slip by, lol.

I hope you have had a wonderful long weekend and have been able to celebrate the gifts of equality and peace (no one is saying that they're perfect, but we have it pretty darn good in many respects) with genuinely good company.

Sunday, January 15

Pre-Post

It's a super weird feeling to have posts scheduled to go live on my other blog.

Must be a combination of having enough material to fill posts and being used to doing this the day of here. I've made sixteen and a half cards lately (not sure if I'm going to finish that last one. It's not turning out the way I wanted) and that includes two sets of five. Even managed to get them all photographed, uploaded to my computer, renamed, and watermarked. Weird. What is this person I'm becoming? Maybe I shouldn't question it a terrible amount and jinx it. :P

What I have started to slack on is cleaning up as I go. At least when it comes to crafting. Especially when I know I'm going to be working on a particular project over the next few days... Yeah, I'm not going to take a picture of the dining table I've commandeered. No, we don't use it often with our schedules. It is littered with card stock, adhesives, stamps, ink pads, catalogs, homework, and documents I need for doing my taxes this year. Oye, lol.

I forget from time to time that I'm terrible at stamping. XD As craft-oriented as I can be, I merely have my enthusiasm going for me. Stamping and painting are two things that I have learned that as much as I enjoy the concept of, I am really not good at them. I've read up on tons of tips and watched numerous tutorials and I can only get mediocre results. Eh, I have plenty of other things that I can manage, ha ha.

Feeling a headache develop at the thought of clearing this all up tonight. Well, that's what I get for being a madwoman. That's okay though, I think I have enough projects made to last me for a while. It'll be nice to have a flat surface for at least a week until I get the final attendance numbers for my workshop and need to prepare the materials. Maybe I can use this need to clear everything as incentive towards starting back on another task. Hmm... what to choose from?

Oye, what is going on with my mindset? It's a mixture of cockiness and flippancy. I'm pretty sure those are words... I guess it's just the side of the bed that I woke up on today. Fortunately, it was peaceful enough around here that I was able to channel that energy into being productive. Yay, me!

Bah. I need to get these table done and get to bed early for our brunch date tomorrow across town.

Saturday, January 14

What A View

Can I just say that my blog has gotten 4700 views as of today?

Whoa. Lol.

I got a package from my mom yesterday and they are forever amusing. I had been expecting it but it came super fast in preparation with the upcoming Lunar/ Asian New Year.

I'm volunteering to bring in various cultural objects for the kids to see in person in various classrooms throughout that week. My mom sent me two traditional dresses, one in a Vietnamese style and one in a more Chinese style. For kicks, I tried on both. Or attempted to, rather. I had quite a few of those "Wow. Well, I used to fit into this in high school..." moments. >_< Often, these dresses are tailored made to our bodies, but sometimes the seamstresses overseas don't believe our proportions and take creative license, lol. They often did not understand how my Vietnamese-American hips were that size and especially compared to my mother's measurements. :P It has been a scream through the years.

Of course, I hadn't exactly planned to wear them to show anyone, but I wanted to see if I could should the whim struck me. One of the dresses is definitely a show-piece. Lol. I still think it'll be interesting for the kids to see and possibly feel (they are various silks after all) on top of the lanterns I hope to bring.

There was also a card with photos of my family from the past year all dressed up to show our family friends who haven't seen my folks in years. Well, my mom because she hasn't had the chance to travel much at all.

My mom also thought it would be fun to add to my collection of lucky red envelopes. They have often gotten prettier and fancier through the years.Traditionally, kids get these envelopes as good luck and well wishes for the new year. The kick is that the gift is money! :D Oh yes, this holiday rocks, lol. During a dragon or lion dance, special demonstrators-dancers-martial artists-performers are underneath an intricate costume as the legs of this mythical creature being escorted through the celebration. The envelopes and other gifts are offered to the beast to receive its blessings for the upcoming year. Here are some pictures! (Yay!)

 
 
I don't know what any of them say because I'm a different kind of Asian. :D


This holiday has become really tough for me since moving out, I guess because it's a unique event within my family and I couldn't find it elsewhere. I often get very homesick and I've found that it helps to try to create my own (really lame) home-made celebration and share it with anyone around me who's willing to humor me. It's often been my best friend and I throughout our college years ordering some Chinese food, trying to add some of our own, decorating the apartment with anything my mom sends us-what we can find in the stores-and what we can print off of the internet (ha!), and dressing up to sit at a little table in the dorm/ apartment and gorge ourselves.

This year will be my biggest attempt yet and my poor mother was incredulous when I told her what it would intake as I begged for any advice and information she could offer me over the phone. She's an amazing cook and dinner hostess. Not to mention efficient as all get out. People think I'm effective... I'm a complete dingbat compared to my mother! Maybe it's a good thing that they have no idea, LOL. Nearly a dozen people to cook for and it has to be fresh. You better believe there's going to be a post about it afterwards.

She also included a box of latex gloves because I had mentioned I was doing a lot of spring cleaning and she's well aware of how much a mess I can make. It's funny because I've been using up a lot of the pairs from the last box she randomly sent me too. It's scary how well she knows me/ life.

Another thing I asked for (and often do) was glittery nail polish. My mom can find great deals on high-quality name that I love. I made the mistake of grabbing three bottles myself at a beauty supply store and I gawked at the price. Never again. She could have gotten all three for less than the price I paid for one. Ugh. Anyways, this was the result of me doing an inventory of my little collection and trying out a few pastels and chalky neutrals over the holidays with disappointing results. It seemed to wash out with my skin tone and was a bit too neutral for the effort I was putting into the process. Here is what she got me!

 OPI's "Crown Me Already!" (with huge silver glitter swimming in tiny silver glitter) & 
"It's My Year" (a red-tinted purple with bi-color shimmer that can look gold or red, depending on the lighting).
 
Essie's "Jamaica Me Crazy" (shimmery metallic rosy magenta color),
"Carnival" (clear with silver rainbow glitter), and
"Smooth Sailing" (shimmery periwinkle).

I'm trying to improve my picture-taking, organization, more uploading, and editing skills. What do you think? The first two are the same bottles but I'm experimenting with lighting. I am loving them and can't wait to add them to my inventory!

^_^ That was fun to write about and share after a day of working on homework and tax-related junk. Giving my brain a break and going "Oooh, pretty!" Lol, my poor SO humored me when I wanted to show off my little haul and at the end he remarked that I really needed a girlfriend. It's tragically true but I'm also working on that too this year.

Friday, January 13

Food Coma

I believe I mentioned that I had been called into work today. It's been a little while with winter break and all. Needless to say (and given my sleep habits/schedule) I got no sleep last night. Alright, I'm pretty sure I got a solid hour in. I have no idea why I couldn't seem to fall asleep. I've had no caffeine for about three days now and have gotten sleepy at appropriate times... but anywho, coffee was a must to get me alert enough to get through the day.

It was a pretty laid back class because it is the Friday before a long weekend for the students so that was a blessing. There was an assembly mid-morning that featured some of the local state university's wheelchair athletes. We had most of the classes attend and it was such a cool demonstration and I am very proud of our kids for being very naturally (with some good training) open-minded, accepting, and curious in a positive manner.

My top three moments (in no particular order and it was hard to choose) were when the two rugby players smashed into each other to demonstrate how tough their sports wheelchairs were for their particular activity. They were really like tanks and it made one of the most satisfying heavy plastic against heavy plastic *THUNK*s ever. And they bashed into each other pretty decently. The kids loved it too.

During a quick "Q&A" session towards the end, one little boy was called upon to ask his question and the only thing he said was, "You guys rock!" There was a hearty cheer and round of applause from everyone in agreement.

At the end of the assembly, the main presenter, the coach of the wheelchair-basketball team, announced that every child in attendance that desired to, was going to be able to try out a wheelchair in a short relay race. They had so much fun, it was definitely an eye-opener for many of the kids, and in the end they were more curious as to how it felt rather than competing.

I was very proud of the kids, impressed with the presenters, and the faculty wholeheartedly voted for this demonstration to be an annual event. Nearly all of the students and staff acknowledged knowing someone in a wheelchair. That even surprised me a little, but it shouldn't. It was a shame that when the event was originally organized, it was to also help our small school's three wheelchair users. However, two were siblings that recently suddenly moved and the other had been absent all week! I have had the honor of having the opportunity to work with all three of these students in a relatively short time and they are just... feisty. Lol. I think they would have especially enjoyed the battering ram rugby players. XD

Our little school was also featured on the evening news tonight on two stations because a military father had just returned from a year-long deployment in a war zone last night and he surprised his little first-grade daughter today. It was incredibly touching, of course. He was there with other family members, she had no idea he was back, but we had all known it was coming, and when she and her class came back in from lunchtime... he was waiting for her with open arms. Ugh. The tears. I'm tearing up now, it never fails to instantly get to me. That's reason enough alone to never want to go to war, as vengeful of a person I can be, how could you tear apart love like that?

Sorry that I'm a bit more wishy-washy than usual. After FMIL and I got a little settled down and freshened up, we did make it to our monthly Ladies' Night get-together with a few friends at the Italian restaurant. The happy hour prices were so good, the food was great, and it did make up for the somewhat prolonged wait. We have been looking forward to this evening for at least a week, but pining about it for pretty much the entire month. Next month's location has already been picked out, lol. However, I have been in such a food coma since leaving the past few hours have just flown by and I'm not sure what I've done. Or it could be my sleep deprivation. You know. :P

I should probably go to sleep now but I'll probably stubbornly attempt to start a few more paper-crafting projects, accept that it hurts to be conscious, and then drag my sorry butt to bed. :)

Thursday, January 12

Switching

Sigh. I realized that although I wrote yesterday's post in time, it never published. *Eye twitch*

Kitty and I have not been very good at switching it up with our schedules today and when we have, we've spazzed out on high-alert for no apparent reason.

I've trimmed down my online blog photo storage down to +1300 with about 645 edited. I'm about halfway through! Woohoo! Then I have to go back and fix links and such in every post in my blog since the very beginning. Oh boy, am I looking forward to that leg of the journey. :P

The best news about that is I'm using up less than 45% of my allotted free storage space so I can definitely kick it up with safely posting photos here again! On that note, I don't have any to share yet. XD I'm about to start working on some paper-crafting ideas for an upcoming workshop... I hope I don't hit a crafter's block. >_<

This weekend should produce some fun pictures or at least memories. Tomorrow, I have been called into work so I can get quite a few things done at school, then FMIL and I come home and need to get ready for our friend's monthly ladies' night-happy hour. It's at a local Italian restaurant that I've been wanting to try and just haven't gotten around to doing so yet. The weekend is probably going involve me starting to go crazy with preparing samples and materials for the upcoming workshop and on Monday (Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day), the SO and I are going to meet traveling family friends across town at a botanical garden for a nice lunch and walk.

Should probably stop procrastinating and get to work, lol.

Wednesday, January 11

Bonding

Is it odd that one of the activities the SO and I do to spend time with each other to bond is play video games?

When we realize we haven't done something together besides exist (which is nice in its own familiar and comforting way), we'll turn to a screen. In many ways, plugging into technology does remove interpersonal social interaction that we as a society need, but I think in some cases, it really can bring people closer together.

We're not hardcore gamers. I love food, sleeping, and crafting too much. Plus, I lack the innate skills of  hand-eye coordination and strategizing to ever become actually good at any game- electronic or not. We're just goofs with stubborn streaks and open-minds. It's also how we met and became friends several years ago.

Granted, because of how different our thought processes are, we often aggravate each other but it's just another venue that we realize that we're going to eventually come to the same conclusion or learn something new. I can feel the residual blood vessel-throbbing in my temple now as I recall many a time we drove each other nuts in game.

I am a weird cookie though. I'm satisfied with watching others play video games and I get just as much entertainment. Maybe it's part of my way of accepting I'll never be as coordinated, lol.

It's a delicate line to tread because there seem to be many more horror stories about becoming a widow(er) to technology but I think we have found a careful balance. Mostly. It is also very handy to have someone who understands the obsession/ hobby because when he can't pay attention because of a boss fight, I'm fine with waiting a few minutes or saying what I need to say in a way that he can absorb and vice versa.

That and I'm a terrible potty-mouth when I'm working on something intense, like killings scores of baddies or you know, beating a pinata with a shovel, or something. >_>

Lol, that's all from me today.

Tuesday, January 10

Modern Twists

I've pretty much been up to the same old stuff but can report that I'm a third of the way through editing all of my blog pictures!

There are roughly over 1400 images (not including about a hundred duplicates) and I may trash a few more along the way. It sounds like a lot but it's just really tedious and I have so many more photos on my external hard drive, so that's just a sizable dent.

Anyways, I share some music I had been listening to yesterday and mentioned that I haven't fallen in love with anything new in a while. Well, I found something today and think it's amazing!

Hear me out. It's a group of young Australians who are classically trained musicians. They like to do covers of modern pop and R&B songs. A perfect combination of two of my musical loves.

I found out about the group through a new collaboration cover video they did with the R&B group, AHMIR:

I also love how they mention a ton of other YouTubers in their personal rap. I'm already subscribed to most of them!

My favorite video from Aston? I'm torn between their classical cover of La Roux's "Bulletproof":

... and their video of Coldplay's "Viva la Vida"!

They also recently did a fan-supported epic music-story video dedicated to Lady Gaga's music called "Monster Symphony." I'm just going to post the link instead because the cinematography had my heart pounding. I'm a wimp when it comes to suspense and related theatrics, lol.

Back to editing!

Monday, January 9

Musical Interlude

Okay, that's a title I'm pretty sure that I've used before but it's there and done, lol.

I'm at a bit of a loss as to what to blog about today and working on developing a headache, but then I realized that I haven't shared a music video list in a little while!

There haven't been too many songs that I've really loved lately, I've been reverting back older favorites instead. However, here are a few that I greatly enjoy.

Alex Goot's Mash-Up Cover of Katy Perry's "The One That Got Away" and Kings of Leon's "Use Somebody"
- - - - -
Elise Lieberth's Cover of Breathe Carolina's "Blackout"
- - - - -
Tiffany Alvord & Megan Nicole's Cover off Taylor Swift's "Safe and Sound" feat. The Civil Wars. This song is from the upcoming movie The Hunger Games based on the books of the same name.
- - - - -
Emily Elbert's original song "Michaelangelo". So haunting and insightful.
- - - - -
My Current Obsession! Adele's "Set Fire To The Rain"
- - - - -
Yay! I hope that you enjoy these!

Sunday, January 8

Hanging Halo


First off, if you're looking back at some older entries and notice some broken/ missing pictures, it's because I'm painstakingly fixing my online image storage problem.

This means logging onto Picasa, making sure that needless duplicates of images are deleted, cramming the albums full of files so that I have a minimal number of them sitting there, and going through each photo to resize it from +1000 pixels wide to something much more reasonable.

Some time, down the road, I'll go back to all of my older entries and makes sure that the appropriate remaining copy of the picture is linked to this blog. That should be a ton of fun too with my +400 posts. :D I'm nearly certifiably insane for doing this.


This way, I'll regain most of my free allotted storage space. Oof. I've uploaded over a thousand pictures and I do admit that I went way overboard with the pictures and detailed sagas about my gardening. Trust me when I type that it won't happen this year.

Did I also mention that this picture storage is shared across any blog I post on or may create? Oh joy.

That's on top of everything else I've been up to lately. >_< I have a new class starting tomorrow in my quest to become a certified teacher! I am very nervous with a hint of excited to get back on that journey after sorting out a couple of issues. This will put my new resolve towards time management to task. Okay, that just doubled my nervousness. Good job, me.

New topic! XD

The subject of today's post is about... well... my garden. D'oh! The herb planter has been reduced to one plant of each type and lately, the Dill has gone absolutely berserk. This is closely followed by the my Parsley and Cilantro, which look so much alike. I've tried to trim them from time to time in an attempt to tame them and they pretty much just laughed in my face and exploded.

So, I took my new thinning shears and chopped off a few of the more unruly sprigs and brought them in and placed them on large paper towels after a quick rinse. I have no idea whether they are um... ripe(?) enough to use but at that size, they can be used for something! Lol.

 

After a quick rinse, FMIL suggested that I tie them together and hang them upside down to dry so I got the idea to use an embroidery hoop to suspend them from a ceiling fan we're not really using over the winter. I'm not sure how the kitties are going to resist, lol.
 
Every time you walk past to go into the back yard, you're greeting by the distinct scent of dill. :P Those flowers at the bottom are two of FMIL's African Violets. She can grow them like a fiend.

I suppose I should add to my to-do list the task of looking up recipes that use up dill. XD We're going to have plenty of it this year.

That's all from me today! I'm going to go slice up my 12x12 patterned paper into the storage-friendly size of 8.5x11. Sigh, lol.

Saturday, January 7

Those Summer Days

When I hit a creative block with the paper crafting projects last night and my personal scrapbook the night before, I resolved to tackle head on the major scrapbooking project I've had shelved for the past few months.

My mother saw my scrapbook from our trip to Texas and thought it would be nice to have something like it for the summer of a bunch of her nieces, nephews, and children visiting her over this past summer.

I have to compare notes and memories with my state-born cousin and my brother after gathering all of the pictures I could from the times that I wasn't physically there for (thank you, FB-stalking) and it's been pretty... interesting. Lol.

As I was logging onto FB to send a message to my cousin, she logged onto Skype (an instant messenger) and I greeted her with: "COUSIN! I require your assistance!" XD I think I'm hilarious. This was after a morning of texting pages upon pages back and forth with my brother.

At the "end" of the day, I have at least three pages of typed notes from those two and a half months and I'm scribbling more details in as I continue to chat with both. I am a stickler for details but it's worth it in the end. At least, for a project like this, lol.

My next big step will be to pour over what pictures I was able to digitally gather from different cameras and figure out a system to sort them out. After sorting them out, I'll have to then decide which I would want to use in the scrapbook. That doesn't even mean all of those will make the cut. Sigh. I suppose every scrapbooker has to go through these steps but I'm sure there's a better way. Unfortunately, I highly doubt that said methods would work for me because I'm neurotic like that. :P

Around that point, I'll probably do a few rough sketches to figure out an estimate of how many pages each event will need.

... And now I'm dreading figuring out layouts. I can't seem to just plug into layout maps that are all over the internet. I insist on developing a layout by taking my cues from the photos I have and really want to use. I can't imagine doing it any other way with how my brain works, but maybe someday I'll be brave enough to try!

I need to get back to it now but

Friday, January 6

Inked

Hm.

I don't know how much I'm liking this schedule thing. XD

As part of my goal to get myself onto some sort of track as opposed to constantly wandering the off-beaten path, I've tried to work on different tasks for specific amounts of time.

Digi-scrap for at least 35 minutes but no more than 2 hours a day because I have one big book to make for my family, one small personal booklet, and then there's that whole goal of scrapping a layout once a month thing. If I know I want to blog or scrap about something, I take specific pictures and make detailed notes (that include times and names). It's very a tedious process to muddle through.

There's doing research. I could spend my entire lifetime just look up techniques and ideas but what's the point if I never use them? Or retain them on my own, for that matter. I'm not allowed to avidly research anything for more than 45 minutes. By that time my eyes feel like they are going to melt out of my skull or I want to bash my head into a wall after chucking my laptop out a window. Don't deny it, technology can make you feel the same way too, lol.

Spending time with the SO, spending time in the garden, spending time tidying up and/or cleaning, spending time making something around the house better, spending time to blog, spending time to work on my crafting business, and the biggest kicker about these has been making sure I clean up immediately afterwards no matter how tired I am.

No more letting unfinished projects pile up until they fall over in a heap of... who knows what.

Another big thing I'm trying to change about my habits is limiting myself to a maximum of three major projects at a time. I'm not allowed to start any new ones. Right now I'm focusing a lot of time on digital scrapbooking, my Stampin' Up! crafting, and putting the finishing touches on my new room layout. Well, working on a blog in some form. What I'm not starting up is a cute scarf that I want to crochet really badly because it's a string of buttered toast. Weird concept but seriously adorable. It's kind of killing me to reign my whims in. >_<

So here I am, after forcing myself to stop looking up ideas and procrastinating to sit down and make something. Unfortunately, when I wing crafting, I take ages to create an idea. However, it was a good attempt and I'm sitting here with ink and adhesive all over my fingers and four cards made. They are nothing special but it's good to make a habit out of stocking up on some sort of project to post about on my other blog.

I don't think I've discussed it for a while because I like to keep my personal stuff (this blog) from my work stuff (the other blog). However, there have been exciting things in the works. It's almost done. I've redone tags, updated more, there are exciting promotions starting up this month, refined links, and have been working with my amazing friend Dana (check out her Facebook fanpage here: daynuh designs) to create a new banner, icons, and signature.

I'll be posting the projects I've been working on that are related to SU! there a few days before posting them here (if I decide to share them at all!) so, if you like looking at those projects, please check out my Stampin' Up! blog.

I'm working on learning how to take better and more consistent photos of my work too so another way that the site will visually improve. As always, please let me know if you have any crafty questions! If I don't already know, then I can sure as heck try to find out the answer!

:( I should probably start cleaning up my paper mess now. I just swiped a patterned paper scrap off of my elbow that I didn't realize was there.

Oh! Sidenote. The cake pops where delivered and a success today. I'm still a little surprised and greatly amused by the fact that I was actually hired for something food related. No, I have not missed my calling. Make no mistake about that! XD

Mmk,

Thursday, January 5

A Brief Moment

A brief moment of silence for my cherry tomato plants. They are no longer.

Yesterday, we came to the consensus that it was probably best to let these annuals go for the winter and I'll start another plant or two in mid-spring (like I'm supposed to). The top younger leaves looked almost black from possible frost damage, there were still a handful of small tomatoes trying to make a last ditch effort to grow, and the bottom branches were all pretty yellow and dead.

So, out I went with my new shears and trimmer to hack Phineas, Ferb, and Perry the cherry tomato plants into itty-bitty pieces. I took out a clump of roots, put some of the plant matter back into the pots, and the rest of it went into a shallow ditch I had dug underneath where the pots were kept. Just trying to replenish a few nutrients into the old soil. What else am I going to do with it all? Lol.

Sigh. I miss them already... :( But they shall be reincarnated in a few months and hopefully, I can be much better about starting my seeds off at the appropriate times to ensure a much more sensible harvest season. Crossing me fingers that I don't somehow forget or something crazy happens that takes up all of my spare time. Ooo, I might have just jinxed that. I hope not. I'm pretty sure I'm making it worse...

Alright! I think I'll just stop myself and finish up those cake pops.
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