Thing a day, week two

I’m behind in my postings for thing a day. You can always see my current/all thing a days by clicking here. I  left off at day 7 so here is days 8 through 14 (any pattern links can be found at my thing a day posts).
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day 8, a brooch made as an extra for a swap.
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Day 9, the start of a toddler messenger bag for Sienna’s friend, Emma.
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day 10, stamping resin beads. This was a lot of fun. Next time I think it’s better to stamp using a real dark ink. It will show better on the ears. (extra photo at TAD)
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Day 11, a Zakka cat pillow using a pattern from Stitching magazine, fall 2009, for a swap. More photos at TAD.
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Day 12, a felt snowman that Sienna couldn’t wait to get her hands on. I let her play with it before I sent it to my swap partner. More photos at TAD. I also finished Emma’s bag!
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Day 13, a sock bat for a swap. My first sock creature. The eyes glow in the dark.
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Day 14! Valentine whoopie pies with a cream cheese filling. Quite yummy (‘despite how it looks’ according to Yves!)

Snow Day 2!

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So that big mega snowstorm they were predicting a couple of weeks ago (the 10th) actually did happen! It actually started Tuesday night around 10 pm and didn’t really stop until about midnight Wednesday (there were a few times it actually did stop snowing but then it started up again.) I think we might have gotten about 13 inches? Yves was excited to finally be able to use the snowblower. Most everyone got off of work and Yves almost had to go in later that night for a special event that eventually got canceled. Yay! The day before the snowstorm, me and Sienna rushed around trying to find a snowsuit. No luck. I tried BRU, Target and S&D kids. As a last resort I bought what I thought were kind of waterproof spring pants that I figured I’d layer on top of pants and leggings on Sienna.The snow soaked right through. Oh well. I felt so bad. My dad spent the night from Tuesday through to Thursday and my mother stayed home. Well, what a delightful time we had with my dad. So nice and relaxing without the tension of my mother’s presence. After about 10-15 minutes in the snow, Sienna was ready to go in and have hot cocoa. After everyone finished shoveling snow, I made popcorn (big thanks to Geneva for showing me about making popcorn on the stove top. I’m never buying microwave popcorn again!) and we all watched 101 Dalmations.

Did I tell you that Sienna likes making snow angels?
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Grandpa showing Sienna how to properly shovel snow
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Sienna loves to help!
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She was pouting a little bit. I didn’t make her go inside, she wanted to and I think she was pouting because even though she didn’t want to go inside, she was cold and wet and knew it was best to go inside.
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Skippy seemed to enjoy the snow, except for the salty bits
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Toddler Dim Sum

My SAHM friends and I have been talking about going to dim sum and we finally decided to do it 2 Fridays ago. I asked my parents to come so they can better translate and tell us about the dishes. There seems to be less English speaking in Brooklyn’s Chinatown than there is in Manhattan’s Chinatown, or so it seems in my mind. We met at East Harbor Restaurant at 11:30. There was 10 of us. It wasn’t too crowded. We got the standard stuff we usually get and a couple of different things. Everyone was more than willing to try everything…except the chicken feet. It was the very last dish and I actually wouldn’t have ordered it except my parents misunderstood and ordered it when they saw it. I was joking that I hadn’t seen the chicken feet and that I usually try to make the newbies eat it (I actually don’t mind it, it’s all about the sauce baby!). It was actually really tasty as it just came right out of the kitchen. The kids all liked looking at the fish tank. Everyone had a good time!

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Poor chicken feet! No one wants to suck on them…except me!

Happy Year of the Tiger!

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Chinese (Lunar) New Year fell on the 14th of February this year, aka Valentine’s day. We didn’t do much celebrating for Valentine’s day and I’m ok with that. I don’t know, I guess as I get older, it’s not a big deal to me. Yves is a great husband every day of the year (some days are better than others, of course! LOL) and I guess if you have a hard time showing affection, Valentine’s day is an easy way to show it. Yves doesn’t have that problem! I also think it is way too commercialized but I won’t get into that. It is, however, the anniversary of when Yves asked me to marry him! We didn’t celebrate that either but I did help Sienna pick out a card and a small box of candy. Normally, I would help her make a card but we were in the store and I found this card where you can record a greeting. I thought Yves would love to have a recording of Sienna saying something. He can bring it to work! So Friday I rehearsed with Sienna and helped record her saying “Happy Valentines Day, I love you Daddy.” It worked out well but she spilled the beans as soon as Yves came home. She kept repeating the phrase to him and I kept telling her to shush and we have to wait until Sunday. LOL

Anyway, this post is about Chinese New Year! It’s really hard to get a photo of my mother smiling. I had to tell her to smile! So I’m glad I got this photo, which is why I put it up top there. My family’s tradition is that we celebrate with a big dinner on the eve of the New Year (I don’t know any other Asian families that do that!) and then on the actual day, have lunch together. Here are some of the dishes.
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Fried Rice (made for Yves)
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Vermicelli with dried shrimp (one of my favorites and it only comes out during New Year)
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Yves favorite (as well as Sienna’s!), chinese sausage and roast pork (sorry for the bad photo)
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Turnips (not a favorite)
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Chinese Broccoli
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Abalone, another favorite of mine that only comes out once a year. My mother likes to tell me how expensive it is. Last year it was about $30 for a 12 oz can. Not sure how much it went up this year.
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Traditional chicken
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My view of the table. See that bowl of rice there on the far end? That’s for my brother Kenny. LOL. He always has a place setting even though he is never here for Chinese New Year. Made rational by some weird superstition of my mother’s.
Here is the dishes on the actual day, pretty much the same.
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Offerings for the Buddha
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The Buddha blessing station (aka fire hazard according to Yves)
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More chinese sausage and roast pork!
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MMMM! My favorite and apparently has become a Sienna favorite! Shrimp chips! My dad bought these on a whim because he saw them at the chinese bakery. It’s a rare treat as I only eat these at banquets.

January swaps

I had a busy month of swaps in January! I had fun doing them all!

Be My Valentine, Stitch and Bitch Embroidery Group (make 1 finished valentine theme stitch project)
I sewed her a shopping tote (pattern from a new bag book I got) and used the heart pattern from Badbirds. I received a cute heart wall hanging from my partner.
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Fake Fabric Food. I made a T-bone steak for my 2 partners. I received fish n chips and a valentine cookie from my 2 partners.
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Various heart ornament swaps
Crafting Queens group:
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What Does Your Heart Say?
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These 2 heart patterns from Orange Flower sketchbook but I don’t see it on her site anymore.
Handmade Heavenlies group:
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Made using my sizzix!

Japanese Magazine/book Inspiration swap in the Zakka group. My partner likes eyeballs with wings.
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Hand Carved Swap. My partner likes the Japanese characters Monokuro boo
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One of my favorite swaps, Wacky, Silly and Unusual Holidays, February.
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February 20 is Love Your Pet day (pattern from the long thread)
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A heart brooch for Valentine’s day. The other 2 holidays I chose were the 7th, send a card to a friend day and the 23rd International Dog Biscuit day (I printed out some homemade biscuit recipes and included a cookie cutter)

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Crocheted a heart bookmark (Crochet Spot) to include as an extra in one of the packages.

From the stitch and bitch embroidery group, Weekender Embroidered dish towel. The Love pattern is from Floss Box, the cupcakes from Lolly chops and the heart from an embroidery pattern book. (Notice that pink gingham yet again? It’s one of Sienna’s old receiving blankets I’m reusing!)
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An extra to include, a crocheted flower brooch (I used a thicker cotton yarn). Pattern from goodknits.
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Handmade Harajuku swap in the Harajuku girls group. Make 3 handmade items!
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My partner likes Miffy. Pattern from This and That.
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Pucca keychains made using Tim Holtz’s fragment charms. I was delighted there was an official Pucca website with images to use!
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Hello Kitty magnets printed on magnet paper and topped with Diamond Glaze. I didn’t like how the diamond glaze came out so  printed out some more without putting the glaze on.

And last but not least! Sweet Treats in the Crochet Cuties and Amigurumis group!
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A chocolate cake from my Tasty Crochet book. It came out pretty big!!

Say Cheese!

Peter asked me back in early December if I would crochet him a set of cheeses for his cheese fiend friends, Nate & Mari for a Christmas present. He didn’t mind that he would get them way after Christmas and I gave it to him early February! These patterns are from Eternal Sunshine’s Etsy shop, a talented crocheter and fellow Brooklynite! While these guys don’t look as nice and polished as ES’s, I’m pretty happy with them. They’ve got character! I laughed out loud after putting on the gouda’s red rind. I called it a pompadour while Pete was calling it an afro. The jarlsberg was actually a knit pattern with a crochet rind but since I can’t knit (yet), I followed the gouda pattern and then glued felt dots on it for the holes. I think I did a good improvisation even tho the rind is on crooked. It just looks like he had a wild night. 😉

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Group shot! Mozzarella, Gouda, Jarlsberg, Bleu Cheese, Tetilla, Valencay, Colby Jack and Epoisses
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You can’t really see the eyes from this photo but it’s there!
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Here’s a picture that Mari sent me of the cheeses on their sofa. They love them!
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Snow Day!

Last Saturday there was a big snowstorm a coming! It was expected to be at least 6 inches, if not more. I don’t know about other areas but we only got a measly 3 inches, if that! It was quite windy so there was snow drifts. Yves was disappointed he couldn’t take out the snow blower. He’ll get another chance tomorrow as they say a real blizzard is coming! At least 12 inches! We’ll see! Anyway, Sienna “helped” Yves do some shoveling, we all walked Skippy and played just a bit in the snow. Sienna doesn’t have a snowsuit anymore (I can’t find the one she wore last year so I must have given it away!) so she got cold pretty fast. Then we went inside and all had hot cocoa. We tried to get Sienna to take a nap but she didn’t want to, nor has she for the past couple of days. Sigh. Yves changed her crib into a toddler bed the Saturday before so I suppose she is enjoying the freedom of going in and out of her bed. (Although she did take a nap on Sunday after a fun playtime at the indoor playground in Park Slope).

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This is how Sienna “helps” her dad shovel snow. HA!
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She did a real great job walking Skippy! Only dropped his leash a couple of times.
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I was trying to get her to go all the way on the snow but I suppose it was probably a good thing she didn’t.
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One of her snow Angels.
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She gobbled down her cocoa and wanted some marshmallows on the table (even tho there were some in her mug)
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A close up of her cocoa mouth!

You can see another video of Sienna walking Skippy on my flickr page here

Snow Angels from Lisa on Vimeo.

Thing a day, week one

I joined thing a day this year for the 2nd time. Thing a day is in it’s 4th year. I don’t remember which other year I joined but I do remember that I didn’t post a thing to it! I vowed not to do that this year and am going to really commit to posting something daily. I don’t really have a problem being creative daily but I do get lazy to download the photos and post something daily. Anyway, you can follow my things a day at my posterous site daily but I plan to do a weekly follow up my this blog. Any links for the patterns will be found on my thing a day posts. Here is the first week!
Valentine Matchboxes
Rachel was hosting a craft night at Etsy labs on the 1st and I went out to support her. She was demonstrating altered matchboxes and the theme was Valentine’s day. These are what I made. Super cute! She wrote a re-cap on the swap bot blog and you can see photos of me there too! 😉
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Sunday I went to Heather’s meetup where she was doing Old Hollywood cards. I don’t stamp much lately but I thought these would be fun and useful to have. There were 4 designs and I didn’t get to finish 2 of the designs so I made sure I had all the components and finished them at home (the last row) on the 2nd.
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Day 3. I joined an Ugly Doll swap in the Felt and Stuff group so these are the pieces all cut out. The hand stitching was done later that night in front of the TV.
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Day 4. The Ugly Doll is finished (notice one of the eyes is different! I lost the button so had to replace it. I actually like this one better) This doesn’t really count as a thing-a-day since it’s just finishing up yesterday’s. I also crocheted this little flower brooch. I made it look fancy by putting it in a jewelry box on top of a necklace. This is the 2nd time I made this pattern. The first one I used a thicker cotton yarn. I sent that in a swap.
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Day 5, a fabric origami basket from a pattern online. Doesn’t look as nice as the original but cute.
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Day 6, acrylic magnets. I used Tim Holtz’s fragments, print outs of some of my favorite holga shots, diamond glaze and some E6000 for the magnets.
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Day 7, personalized hair clips for a friend’s daughter. She’s turning 4 and has nice thick hair so I thought she might like this. The 2nd shot is just to show the type of clip I used since the clips off to the side in the first photo is not the same. Not sure if I will use those.

Whew! I did the first week! I’m proud of myself for being diligent in my posts.  I hope I can keep this up for the rest of the month!!

The Last Little Gym

The last week of January was the last class of the winter semester of the Little Gym. We opted not to join again. I am happy to say that Sienna was in a great mood for the last class! I was worried there for a bit because the previous 2 classes she was quite moody and did not want to do anything and would cry at a drop of a hat. I guess it could also do with the fact that the month of December and January was a bit crazy with the holidays and doctor appts so our schedule was off (but I also learned that Pisces are moody, oh yay! I thought Cancers were moody-which is what I am, so poor Yves!)  Sometimes she is really great at class and is first in line to do the skill of the week. Well, she didn’t actually do that this time but she did do all the skills! It was nice to leave the Little Gym on a good note.

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All Smiles!
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Miss Josephine and Miss Winne. Of course my battery died when they had Sienna look up and wave to me!
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Wheelbarrow on the high beam followed by a forward roll.
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Rolling over the donut
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Getting her ribbon
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Bubbles
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An attempt at a group shot! HA!

Back to Nobu!

The last week of January was Winter Restaurant Week 2010 and I met up with Pete for our usual lunch. It was a rainy and windy day and if I remember correctly so was our last outing for RW 2009! We went back to our favorite place, Nobu, as it never disappoints. Well, maybe we jinxed it! It wasn’t terrible but there were aspects of the lunch we wished were better. Peter went off the usual RW menu and picked a special sushi plate. According to the waiter, it was an assortment of fish of the season and some exotic fish. I stayed on the RW menu because I was looking forward to the Rock Shrimp Tempura appetizer, which as usual was delicious. For the main dish, I picked the sushi plate, which was different than Pete’s dish but when it came, they looked very similar. Pete was disappointed in his. He said it was good but not what he was hoping for. I enjoyed my dish (with an added snow crab sushi) but then remembered that I did prefer their cooked dishes! Next time I should re-read my previous blog posts so I can remember this! That’s the reason I started this blog, to help me remember! LOL. Anyway, my disappointment came at dessert. It was a tofu cheesecake with carmelized pears. It was tasty but uh, come on! TOFU cheesecake? That sounds like something I would make at home to keep healthy! HA!
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I gobbled up my Rock Shrimp Tempura so fast I forgot to take a before shot! LOL
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My dish with the added snow crab
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Pete’s dish with his added sea urchin
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dessert.

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