Vacation Video Blogging

Here is my first attempt at a video blog. I had made one video that was great but the resolution was too high and I rambled on so it was almost 400MB and was going to take 20 hours or more to upload. So it was time for a second take. Sorry if I talk too fast and if you can't see the projects. I had to keep the file small. I hope you enjoy it. And here are the projects I mentioned in the vlog. First the stuffed gnomes. They turned out really cute but doing them in miniature size was actually pretty difficult. I may make them again full sized. I especially loved Mr. Gnomes unibrow! And the cute shirts. Not perfect by any means but pretty darn good for my first try. I took a while to get use to using my machine in this way (totally free hand). Next time I may try playing around with the tension to see if my stitches are less wobbly. I used the flash so you could see the stitches a little better.

And as for my Christmas journal, it really only took about 40min on the computer to print out the photos and lists and throw it all together. Here are the contents:
-A recount of how we spent Christmas 07 (great for when I go to scrapbook it)
-Favorite recipes
-Ideas I saw or though of for 2008.
-Gifts given and received. This is great for follow-up gifts next year and not accidentally repeating anything.
-An updated card list
-Photos of Christmas decorations with notes and ideas for next year.
-2007 Christmas card and ideas for the 2008 card.
-All pages have space for more ideas.
My goal is to keep this on the bookshelf so I can add to it any time I want and so I can start preparing for Christmas early which helps me reduce stress.

Christmas Party / Greg's Birthday

We hosted a Christmas party for our communion team from church on the night of Greg's birthday. Greg doesn't like any fuss on his birthday so he was really excited for this party. He said it was great because we were having a big party on his birthday but no one was going to know it was his birthday! No pressure! I did end up spilling the beans during dessert and everyone sang to him but that was about all. It was a really nice time with about 12 people from our team. We visited, snacked, and played some board games. It was our first big party in Sunnyside and the apartment was a great spot for entertaining. My good friend Jin was at the party and was my right hand lady in the kitchen. She took some photos that night and was nice enough to send them to me. Thanks Jin and HELLO!Mingling in the kitchen.Some of the communion team ladies.Lots of yummy desserts!
Singing to Greg. Happy Birthday Baby!

I'm on vacation!

Just as the holiday madness was calming down and December was promising to be a great end to the year, a new project was tossed in my lap at work. They have decided to move our lab up one floor and gave me about 3 weeks to coordinate it all. Plus they are moving 3 labs into our old space which I was asked to help coordinate too. Needless to say I have been extremely busy the last 2 weeks. Add my nasty cold to the mix and I didn't do much else. But today I start 11 straight days away from work. I am so excited! Today we did NOTHING but lounge around, watch Twin Peaks on DVD and take a nap. We had Thai take-out for dinner and are now settling in for more tv and lounging. A perfect start to my vacation.

The Winning Photo

Almost all of my Christmas cards are out in the mail so I guess it is time to show the photo we ended up using this year for our Christmas cards. Remember that it was taken in the cemetery!We are having our first snow storm of the winter right now. They expect 2-4 inches of snow. Have a great day!

Christmas Cards Part 1

Sorry for not posting yesterday. Greg gave me his stupid cold so I have been feeling pretty lousy for a couple days. I did manage to make about 80 Christmas cards last weekend. My card design this year was very simple and was copied directly from the Dec issue of CK (a BH card of course). I made 3 batches of cards:This one was sent out to my BSF group. I shot a photo of my bible and our lesson (instead of a photo of Greg and I). I got this idea from Jeanine Hemminger who gave me a similar type photo many years ago when she was in my BSF group.This next card when out to our communion team. I shot this photo of the Lord's Supper on stage one Sunday last summer after we set it up. We are having our team over next Saturday for a party and will be giving out most of the cards then.

I haven't sent out all our friends and family cards yet but will show that one to you soon. All cards featured a photo, a scrap of Christmas paper, and some paint stamping.

Outtakes

We had a really nice and productive weekend. Well, I did. Greg was sick with a cold so he was productive at napping, sneezing, whining and making me wait on him. Just kidding, he got a lot done too in between the afore mentioned activities!

On Saturday I dragged him out for our annual Christmas photo shoot. This year we made a wonderful compromise. I got my photo shoot and he got to do it in a location he likes... The Cemetery! Hear that Tiff! We don't have a yard anymore, there aren't any nice parks around us, and we waited too long to go far off on location so we headed to our local cemetery. It happens to be a really big one with lots of really old crypts, monuments, and great architecture. Of course I can't share the winning Christmas photo with you just yet but I can share some of the shots that didn't make it onto our Christmas cards this year!
This is a classic Greg shot. Every pose he suggested had us surrounded by headstones. Not really very festive! We didn't use any of those.This shot and the first one were pretty typical. Find a big crypt or mausoleum and shoot by the front door. This one had great oxidized doors and was huge (see last photo) but the light was way too bright by this time and in this shot I didn't get into position fast enough before the camera fired. The first photo may have worked but I would have had to crop out those headstones on the right that sneaked into view.I loved the vines on this really old stone crypt wall but thought this photo was a little gloomy. Not our best expressions either.Greg loved this old iron cross in one of the doorways so we snapped a shot. Would be a good easter photo maybe.One of the really large structures we shot around. There were lots more potential places to take photos but there were many people visiting graves that day and one large funeral going on and we didn't want to offend anyone so we stayed away from those areas. Cemeteries really are nice places to visit. They are quiet, interesting to look at, and often have park areas and water features to enjoy.

After the photo shoot my buddy Peh came over and I edited my photos and we worked on Christmas cards together while watching Pride and Prejudice. It was so much fun to sit up in my studio and chat and work. More about my cards later.

The big push - Weekend plans

My goal is to have the bulk of my Christmas stuff done this weekend. All shopping done. All gifts wrapped and shipped by Monday. All Christmas cards made. I know, I dream big. Some things are 90% done and others 0% done.

Wish me luck!

Christmas Decor Part 2

Second Issue: What happened to the fire place?!
Our old apartment had a fireplace and more importantly a mantle. Much of my Christmas decorating centered around that mantle and fireplace. The new apartment has a staircase so that became the place for the mantle decorations. My garlands were easily adaptable and fit the space marvelously (hard to see but it is greenery and berries). The angel candles obviously couldn't go on the stairs so they ended up on the table instead. The other thing I used to do was frame each years Christmas photo in a small frame ornament and hang it on the mantle garland. We also hung our stockings on the mantle in the old place. I ended up hanging the stockings and the photos on the stairs and it turned out pretty good. Although I do miss my fake crackling fire!

More small details:
We hung our advent calendar and a wreath near the back door. I like this because you can see the calendar from the living room but the decorations are still spread throughout the house.

Another wreath on the front door. It is on the inside. The way our doors are set up there can't be a wreath on the outside of our door because the main front door would brush into it all the time. Therefor this wreath faces into our house.

A little tree by the phone.
Other decor not shown includes:
I had gold stars that hang by gold ribbon in the window of our old living room (5 windows). Well we still have 5 windows in this place, 2 upstairs and 3 down so I hung my gold stars in each one (love it!). They never photograph well unfortunately. We also have electric candles in 2 of the windows. I think I may be 5 single candles and place them in each of the windows. There are also some more little trees in the bedroom and the craft room. That is about it I think. Merry Christmas!

Christmas Decor Part 1

I love Christmas and Christmas decorations. I especially love my Christmas tree and its lights. As this is the first year we are celebrating Christmas in our new apartment I have been challenged to make all my Christmas decorations fit into the new space without having to buy a ton of new stuff.

First issue: Where to put the tree?
We had a few options but it is really important to me to be able to sit near the tree and its lights. We ended up putting the tree between the living room and dining room. As you can see it is too tall to fit IN the doorway so we moved it slightly into the dining room (there is less furniture in there and more room) but tucked it slightly into the corner (hard to tell from this angle). It is perfect. Plus it can be seen through the front windows from there. Here it is fully decorated and under the tree you can see a big green square. That is the album I made last year about the tree's ornaments.

Now for a couple smaller details:

My angel candlesticks, which are out all year got updated with red candles and moved onto the table where they are more visible. The little trees are from the Rafiki store at BSF headquarters. The other item is from Greg's parent's first Christmas as a married couple away from home. They sent it to us on our first Christmas. I need to find some new candles for it.

We set up our nativity on the sideboard. This year I put out a palm tree for fun (we have all kinds of weird "Bethlehem Village" things that were given to use but I like to stick with just the basics).

A couple horses from Greg's childhood are sitting in front of the TV. They used to sit on the ground in front of our old fireplace.

More tomorrow!

Early Christmas Gift

Greg and I had a very nice weekend. Probably the most relaxing weekend we have had in several months. We got a few things done but managed to have time to just sit and relax. Not to mention everything in the apartment is currently WORKING properly which helps too!

I had the opportunity to do a little baking this weekend. We had some leftover pizza dough from the previous 2 nights dinners so I made some cinnamon rolls with caramel sauce. There wasn't a lot of dough just enough for 6 mini rolls. Boy were they good and so easy to make since the dough was done. They hit the spot!

And well, since we like to eat stuff like in the picture above we decided to buy a treadmill this weekend. Now my wrapping paper room is also a home gym. We took my mom's very wise advice and found this one on Craig's list for a fraction of the cost of a new one. It was really hard to get upstairs but luckily our basement neighbor is a young fit guy who helped Greg haul it up the stairs. We have already had a couple good workouts. Hopefully this will help keep the holiday weight gain to a minimum.

Gnomes Everywhere

Here is another little project I am working on based on a pattern I bought here. I have scaled these down to 25% of the original size to see if they will make good ornaments. I hope to have them finished this weekend.

I am also hoping to get our Christmas photo taken this weekend so I can start getting my cards done. Plus I have a couple more gifts to find and then I am done shopping for the year!

More Christmas cheer next week!

More home additions

A couple more additions to the house lately. We found a simple hanging wine rack for the kitchen ($10 at IKEA) which frees up more counter space.

And we hung our old mirror downstairs so that I can check myself out before leaving the house without having to run upstairs. This is particularly handy since we keep all our shoes (or shall I say my shoes since Greg doesn't have very many shoes!) downstairs. The mirror is across from the kitchen and it makes the room seem so much bigger. I love having a full length mirror downstairs.

Easy Christmas Decor Project

I finished putting these cuties together last night while Greg was working on mixed tapes (I mean CDs). This is a REALLY simple project. I originally saw it in the current Making Memories Christmas idea book as a way to use up scrapbook paper. Well you don't need to be a scrapbooker to make these.
The supplies you need are simple:

• Foam tree forms. I got mine at Michael's for a couple bucks each.

• Paper cut into 1"x4" strips. I used my wrapping paper for this year, super cheap from IKEA.

• T-shaped pins. I got these at Michael's too. They help hold the paper flush to the foam form but honestly I ran out right at the end of tree #2 and regular pins worked fine too.

You loop the paper strip in half and then pin it to the tree form. Overlap and alternate colors (if using more than 1) all the way to the top. At the top I wrapped paper into a little circle and pinned it town to cover the layer below and I topped my trees with gnomes. My theme this year in my gift wrap is gnomes and these guys are my gift tags I picked up at IKEA.

I am keeping these in my craft room/office. I have a tree of some kind in every room of the house. I am also thinking of making a wreath the same way for the craft room door.

Bedroom Haven

Greg and I finally managed to finish setting up our bedroom. You saw the paint job a couple weekends back. Well the curtains are up and this weekend we hung all our pictures and a new mirror.The photos don't do it justice but the curtains and pillows match and are a slightly darker hue than the blue stripe on the wall. We are going for turqoise accents (sheets and tray on the dresser). It looks best in natural light but I can't take photos with the blinds up or it will wash everything out.There are a few things that need to be touched up but for the most part this room is done. I find it so much more soothing with the muted colors. Since we have been married our bedroom has always pulled double duty. It has been a bedroom and a library and an office and a storage space. This is the first time our bedroom is just a bedroom so I wanted to make it a peaceful place to be. Mission accomplished.

Thanksgiving Dinner - Recap

As you may have read in the comments our neighbor who was caught in the explosion died. It is very unfortunate but I am thankful they pulled her out of the house alive and perhaps she got to speak to her loved ones before she passed. Here is another article in the Times that quotes me. Apparently I was also on 1010WINS, a local radio station. I hope they didn't make me sound like an idiot.

Now onto the Thanksgiving recap. We didn't sleep well the night of the explosion but mostly because of loud generators out on the street where the gas company was working. In the morning the generators were still on so it was very loud in the house. Our street was also still closed to non-residents and we had no heat. Our furnace couldn't be turned on because of a bad valve. We weren't sure if we were going to be able to have Thanksgiving at our place but I had all the food so I figured I should start cooking and we would figure it out later. We made plans with our guests to bring the food to their house if things didn't improve. All day long firemen and gas company guys were in and out of our house taking readings and checking the inside environment. Levels were all normal. The neighborhood was still crawling with reporters but thankfully the police tape kept them off our front porch.

First up was the Turkey. Unfortunately I was mixing the Seitan dough when the stranger knocked on my door so it ended up sitting on the counter until 11:30pm and then I threw it in the fridge until morning. Lets just say it didn't work out. We ditched the turkey. I have photos but they are on the other camera. Although I doubt you want to see a nasty looking glob of fake meat. It was pretty gross.

The rest of the food turned out great. At about 2pm all of a sudden the generators our front stopped and it was quiet. Greg and I looked at each other and immediately ran up to the bedroom for a quick nap while there was peace and quiet. When we got up they had opened the street up fully so we called our guests and had them come over. The heat was still out but with the kitchen going strong and was keeping the house warm.

Our dear friends John and Aimee came over (with some really delicious potatoes by the way) and brought their neighbor Andrew who we know well. We enjoyed some yummy appetizers including some really stinky cheese (this was not a vegan thanksgiving). I was really pleased with the way everything turned out and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves a great deal. After dinner we played a few games and then enjoyed 2 rounds of dessert. The creme brulee turned out good but I put a little too much sugar on the top and had a hard time melting it with the brulee torch. Andrew brought us a couple pies to try which were also very yummy.

It ended up being a really nice day and we had much to be thankful for.

Thanksgiving Week Post 5

A news blurb about the incident.

Thanksgiving Week Post 4 - A Day to Remember

Today was a scary day. I was cooking away in my kitchen listening to music. The doorbell rang and a strange woman was standing at my door. She said that there was a really strong gas smell outside my house. I was sort of confused by her statement so she said it again and I leaned out my door to smell the air (there was no gas smell inside my house). Sure enough there was a strong gas odor. She said it was so strong that it made her dizzy so I stepped outside and sure enough she was right. She suggested maybe we should do something so I told her I would call ConEd (the gas company) and shut the door. I tried to find the number for ConEd but couldn't so I called 911. I shut off my oven, turned off my thermostat, grabbed my coat and went outside to wait for the fire department. The smell was so strong I had to wait across the street.
About 4 firetrucks came to my house to investigate. I talked with the firemen and explained what happened. They ended up breaking into the basement apartment below mine and found it full of gas. They said there was a leak on the street so they shut off my gas main and the one on the street. The smell decreased but didn't go away completely. The firemen slowly left as ConEd showed up and took over. I went back inside to put food away and regroup. My basement neighbor found a locksmith to fix his broken-in door. I was sitting at my dining room table on the phone with NetFlix discussing with them how I received a mailer with no DVD in it when all of a sudden THERE WAS A LOUD EXPLOSION AND THE ENTIRE HOUSE SHOOK! I saw my neighbor and the locksmith run out the front of the building so I ran out my back door. There was glass all over the back drive. I ran around to the front of the house (with the NetFlix operator blabbing something about a free DVD for my trouble). Then I saw that there was black smoke pouring out of the house 2 doors down. The fire department was already back and trying to get in to the house to put out the fire. It was a gas explosion 2 doors down. I could have been killed. If they hadn't aired out the basement apartment in my building it could have blown too. I was shaking and called Greg who was almost home. That is when I found out there was a woman in the apartment that exploded. I prayed they would get to her fast. They pulled her out just as Greg got home. They brought her up the sidewalk and past us. Her skin was burned and falling off her body but she was alive. She is in critical condition last I heard with burns on 90% of her body. I cried.At that point everything went nuts. There were over 35 emergency vehicles on our street and in our neighborhood. Firemen, police, EMT, EMS, auxiliary police, hazmat, anti-terrorism squad, community resource teams, red cross, and coned. They evacuated all the buildings on our block and pushed us back farther and farther from our homes. They couldn't find the leak. The reports came and tried to interview us. I refused to be on camera but a lot of people said things that weren't really accurate. Greg and I went to a nearby restaurant to use the bathroom, eat, talk and wait. We went back to the police line and waited for info. I ran out of the house with no coat, no wallet, no phone, just my house phone which didn't work that far from my house. We were both pretty cold. Eventually we found out the red cross had set up a disaster area for the residents who were evacuated. It was warm there. We spent several hours in PS199 (grade school). We met many of our neighbors, very nice people. We ate snacks and drank hot cocoa. Our city councilmen came and talked to us and kept us updated. We arranged a place to sleep with a friend just in case. Around 10pm they came and told us we could go back home. We had to be escorted home by a police officer. Luckily I had left my doors unlocked when I ran out because they broke down every door on the block that was locked checking for fire and to air them out. The fire commissioner came to talk to me because he found out the 911 call came from my house. He was very nice. I explained to him all about my tofu turkey I was making when this all happened. We are home now but we can't sleep. Good thing since ConEd is still outside jackhammering the street and working to get our gas back on. I am wearing a red cross blanket because it is very cold in here.I am so thankful to be alive today. Greg and I agree that it doesn't matter tomorrow if our table cloth matches our napkins or if the tofu turkey turns out. We really just want to be together and thank God for so many blessings. Please pray for the woman 2 doors down in the hospital tonight that she will be well taken care of and would recover. And say an extra prayer of blessing on the woman who knocked on my door. She didn't have to and if she didn't it could have been much worse.

**The photo at the top (daytime) was the first time the fire department came. At that time the whole thing was sort of a strange funny thing that was happening. The other photos are from after we got back in. I wish I had an areal shot of all the emergency vehicles. It was amazing all the response. By the time I got back to my camera it was just big digging and crane equipment. There is a guard outside watching the basement until my neighbor gets back (they are guarding all the doors they broke-in until the residents return). They think we will get our gas back really soon.

Thanksgiving Week Post 3 - The Mouse Trap

This morning I walked into the kitchen flipped on the light and found a mouse sitting peacefully in the middle of my kitchen floor on a rug (his back to me). I screeched and stepped back out of the kitchen my heart racing. Then it dawned on me that the mouse didn't move despite my noise and the light coming on so I peeked back at him and he was still there . I just can't bring myself to stomp on a mouse (plus I had no shoes on) so I grabbed the closest thing, a container and put it over him. Only then did he move. Then I carefully slipped the lid under and trapped him inside so I could lift him up, take him outside and toss him out. I know, they can find their way back but honestly this poor little guy was dying anyway. He kind of laid there after I tossed him before running off to hide. I threw out the container immediately.Yesterday Greg found a giant water bug (fancy name for roach!) in the bathroom and the same thing happened. It was listless and didn't run away. He smashed it with a book. We are pretty sure someone in an adjoining apartment or building has been spraying or using poison and now the poisoned critters are coming to our home to spend their final days in comfort. I hate that about poison. The pests die in the walls and in hiding places and then you can't figure out where the strange smell is coming from. This happened to us in the Bronx when our neighbor used poison and a poisoned mouse finally died under our fridge. We couldn't figure out where the smell was coming from and then one day it went away. Until we got a new fridge and found the petrified remains under the old fridge. So today I had to go out and buy traps. Good old spring traps. Not poison or horrible glue traps. We prefer a quick death but hopefully these were isolated incidences.

***Update: We put out traps last night and sure enough this morning we found one trap sprung and licked clean! Apparently we have at least 1 really smart mouse.

Thanksgiving Week Post 2

We realized this last weekend that we were hosting Thanksgiving Dinner in a few days and we hadn't decided what to cook or bought any food. So Saturday I poured over all my recipes and finally came up with a menu:
Homemade Seitan Turkey
Sausage Stuffing
Gravy
Potato dish (brought by a guest)
Sweet potato dish (brought by another guest)
Cranberry Relish
Green beans with caramelized onions
Arugula Salad with beets, citrus, and goat cheese
Dinner rolls
Pumpkin Creme Brulee for desert

I also came up with a schedule for when to cook what. I am taking Wed off from work and will be able to prep or make many of these things the day before Thanksgiving so that I won't be running around like a mad woman that day. I hope it all works out. I have never made the seitan turkey or creme brulee before. Wish me luck!

Thanksgiving Week Post 1

I am going to try and post every day this week. I know, I am already a day late so I will post twice today. For starters I was tagged by my pal Tiff to share 7 things you may not know about me:

1. Many years ago I was an avid salsa dancer. My pal Katie and I went salsa dancing every week and even took a few classes. We were really pretty good and were "regulars" at China Harbor!
2. I make my bed every morning. I love slipping into a made bed at night. This was not always the case as I was never a bed maker as a kid or in college. Some things you don't appreciate until you are older.
3. I walk the same exact route every day. I cross the streets in the same places, I wait for the train in the exact same spots, I go the same way to and from home, and when I drive I use the same routes/lanes/turns. In NYC with so much to see and do I still prefer my comfortable and well known routes.
4. I am addicted to M&Ms right now. I don' t know why as I am normally not a big chocolate person. My candy obsessions change regularly but right now it is all about original plain M&Ms.
5. I am obsessed with cleaning my ears with Q-Tips. I think I picked this up from my mom who has to clean hers a lot because she wears hearing aids and they can cause moisture build-up. I have Q-tips stored in every room of my house and even in my desk drawer at work! I actually have very fond memories of laying on the couch while my mom cleaned my ears out as a kid.
6. In college I worked at a music store in the mall and was fired from my job for talking on the phone (at least that is the excuse they gave me). It was totally humiliating but I wouldn't have gotten my great job as a nurse's aid in a hospital if it hadn't happened.
7. I have a glass eye. Just kidding. I can't think of a 7th interesting thing. This was really hard as it seems I have divulged a lot on this blog! I tag.....no one because no one else I know has a blog. Oh well.