50 books, late summer update

Another year, another list.   50 still seems to be my magic number, so I'm sticking with it.  I started the year with a re-read, which is a bit surprising since I've been so good about reading new (to me) books.

I started with Herland because of David Brin's Glory Season.  He got some of his ideas from Herland, so I thought I'd refresh my memory.  Do not read the sequel, it's not as good.

I feel good about the list so far.  There are some "hard" books, some easy, and some middle of the road.

January
1 Herland - Charlotte Perkins Gilman
2 Ocean at the End of the Lane - Neil Gaiman
3 With her in Ourland - Charlotte Perkins Gilman

February
4 In the Mothers’ Land - Elisabeth Vonarburg (translated by Jane Brierley)
5 Forbidden - Ted Dekker/Tosca Lee
6 The Silent City - Elisabeth Vonarburg (translated by Jane Brierley)

March
7 The Broken Dragon - Irene Radford
8 The Summer Before - Ann M. Martin
9 Number the Stars - Lois Lowry
10 The Shadowhunter Codex - Cassandra Clare
11 Love Medicine - Louise Erdrich
April
12 Startide Rising - David Brin
13 Panic - Lauren Oliver
14 Fantastical Ramblings - Irene Radford
15 The Birthday Ball - Lois Lowry
16 Twins - Caroline Cooney
17 The Graveyard Book - Neil Gaiman
18 The Terrorist - Caroline Cooney
May
19 Chicory Up - Irene Radford
20 Find a Stranger, Say Goodbye, Lois Lowry
21 The Spindlers - Lauren Oliver
22 Guardian of the Balance - Irene Radford
23 The Goddess Test - Aimee Carter
24 The Goddess Hunt - Aimee Carter
June
25 Liesl & Po - Lauren Oliver
26 The Goddess Interrupted - Aimee Carter
27 The Goddess Inheritance - Aimee Carter
July
28 Mortal - Ted Dekker/Tosca Lee
29 Odd and the Frost Giants - Neil Gaiman
30 Sneak - Evan Angler
31 A Corner of the Universe - Ann M. Martin
32 The Same Stuff as Stars - Katherine Paterson
August
33 Storm - Evan Angler
34 Orange is the New Black - Piper Kerman

Sabrina's Barn Raising Quilt, finally

Clockwise from top left: Zest, Surf's up, Mango Tango

I needed to start a new project for vacation, as my son’s Barn Raising Quilt just needed to be sewn together and I didn’t want to take it with us.  I’ve been collecting STR Lightweight minis for a few years with the intent of eventually knitting my daughter a blankie out of them.  With mine finished and Elias’ almost done, I decided it was time.

I grabbed a few of the brightest minis and put them in my carry-on (the rest went in my checked bag).

On the airplane, I had a few moments to wind the mini into a ball and start a square.  The first mini I pulled out was “Surf’s Up,” I got a chuckle because we were going to Maui.  The next mini I pulled out a few days later was “Mango Tango.”  I instantly decided that the squares I knit on vacation were all going to be Hawaiian vacation themed.

After Mango Tango, I knit “Zest” because of all the citrus trees in Hawaii.  Then there was “Cockcrow” because we stay at my mother-in-law’s house and there are usually confused roosters crowing throughout the night and day (surprisingly, this year there weren’t any, the neighbors must of got rid of them).  

Next is a bit obscure.  One of our favorite cold treats is this dessert item found at Maui Mall.  It’s called Guri Guri, but pronounced “goodie goodie.”  I was surprised when I pulled out a mini called “Goodie Goodie”!  It was like Blue Moon Fiber Arts knew I would need these and named them appropriately! 

After that luck, I pulled out “Dragon Dance.”  The one Chinese restaurant we would always go to on Maui was called Dragon Dragon.  It closed earlier in the year and we were super bummed.  But I still knit a square in honor of it!

And lastly, on the way home I worked on “Twitterpated” because traveling with a 2 year old is just nuts.

(I feel like I'm missing one or two, I'll update when I figure it out)

Secret Housewarming Gift

I'm finally getting around to blogging about this wreath I made my brother and sister-in-law for their housewarming present.  What can I say, I'm busy!

$7 housewarming present!  It's not the price, but the thought that counts, right?  I wish I had time to make a little plaque with their last name on it.

For this wreath, I used one of the flying discs, like a frisbee, but with a hole in the center.  I wrapped that with ribbon, secured with packing tape.  Then Sabrina helped me hot glue the slippers to the frame.  I followed up by reinforcing them (because her gluing skills need some work, the trigger is a bit stiff for her fingers).

Next, I took a piece of ribbon and looped it around the bottom of a slipper, and around the back to hang it from (I don't like big bows and wreaths hanging from a giant ribbon.  (perhaps I'll take a picture of how I do these hoops)

After that, I took a lei held in the back and pushed through the whole between the skippers (to cover any of the frame).  Use hot glue to hold it in place. 

The final stage was just gluing the decorations on.  Somethings wouldn't glue where I wanted them (like the dolphin to the shovel) and I had to improvise.  I'm really happy with this and it's still hanging on their door almost 2 months later.

Summer Wreath!

First, I'd like to say that I wish I was good a blogging.  I see lots of excellent crafty blogs that are updated regularly.  I think I've come to the conclusion that I'm just not that kind of person.  And I accept that.

Second, I was very crafty last night!  I made a super secret project for a housewarming present for my brother and sister-in-law.  They recently moved back to our home town of Scappoose!  While it's all exciting and stuff, it also is sad because they are now 45 minutes away instead of 15.  Boo!  It also means I'll probably be spending more time out in Columbia County.

Since I can't show that picture until tomorrow, I've shown you the summer wreath I made last year.  It had fallen off the wall and the kids pulled pieces off.  Since I had the glue gun out, I fixed it up with some new do-dads from the Dollar Tree.

And here's how it looked at the beginning of last summer:

Through out the summer I had added a few more little pieces. but that's the gist of what it was.  I guess I need to take a better picture of the new version.

You can find some of my inspirations on my So Wreathie Pintrest board. (they're towards the bottom)

50 books in 1 year: 2013

Another late 50 Books post...

Last year, almost everything I've read was a new to me book.  In fact, I think only 5 books are rereads and 3 of those are ones I've read out loud to Sabrina.

New this year, I'm including audiobooks.  I've never included them before because, well, I don't usually listen to them. They're great for on the train knitting!  But kind of a pain to check them out from the library.

I feel like I'm all over the place with this list, but it's been fun bouncing around from YA to fantasy to sci-fi to some Native American lit.

Goal: Just keeping track, but 50 would be great
January:
1 Castle Roogna - Piers Anthony
2 Dead Until Dark - Charlaine Harris
3 A Dance with Dragons: Dreams and Dust (book 5, part 1) - George RR Martin

February
3a A Dance with Dragons: After the Feast (book 5, part 2) - George RR Martin
4 The Game of Silence - Louise Erdrich
5 Midnighters: The Secret Hour - Scott Westerfeld
6 Midnighters: Touching Darkness - Scott Westerfeld
7 Midnighters: Blue Noon - Scott Westerfeld

March
8 Treasure Island - Robert Louis Stevenson
9 Beezus and Ramon - Beverly Cleary (out loud w/Sabrina)
10 Sundiver - David Brin
11 Peeps - Scott Westerfeld

April
12 So Yesterday - Scott Westerfeld
13 End of Days - Scott Westerfeld
14 Clockwork Angel - Cassandra Clare
15 Clockwork Prince - Cassandra Clare
16 Clockwork Princess - Cassandra Clare

May
17 American Gods - Neil Gaiman
18 Janie Face to Face - Caroline B. Cooney
19 Ramona the Pest - Beverly Cleary (read out loud w/Sabrina)
20 Eye of the Heron - Ursula La Guin
21 Thistle Down - Irene Radford

June
22 Delirium - Lauren Oliver
23 City of Bones - Cassandra Clare
24 The Last Dragonslayer - Jasper Fforde
25 Ramona the Brave - Beverly Cleary (read out loud w/Sabrina)
26 The Antelope Wife - Louise Erdrich
27 City of Ashes - Cassandra Clare
28 Pandemonium - Lauren Oliver

July
29 The Round House - Louise Erdrich
30 Requiem - Lauren Oliver
31 Eragon - Christopher Paolini
32 The Porcupine Year - Louise Erdrich

August
33 Chickadee - Louise Erdrich
34 My Sister Lives on the Mantlepiece - Annabel Pitcher (audiobook, read by David Tennant)
35 City of Glass - Cassandra Clare
36 Maniac Magee - Jerry Spinelli
37 Stardust - Neil Gaiman

September
38 Eldest - Christopher Paolini
39 Hounding the Moon - P.R. Frost (Irene Radford)
40 City of Fallen Angels - Cassandra Clare
41 Thimble Summer - Elizabeth Enright
42 Moon in the Mirror - P.R. Frost (Irene Radford)

October
43 Faery Moon - P.R. Frost (Irene Radford)
44 Silver: Return to Treasure Island - Andrew Motion (audiobook read by David Tennant)
45 The Silent Dragon - Irene Radford
46 The Song of the Quarkbeast - Jasper Fforde
47 Forest Moon Rising - P.R. Frost (Irene Radford)
48 City of Lost Souls - Casandra Clare

November
49 Luka and the Fire of Life - Salman Rushdie

December
50 Neverwhere - Neil Gaiman
51 Glory Season - David Brin

When good projects go wrong, day 2.

I'm pretty sure I used a size 8 needle for this blanket...  And the new yarn is also from stash, but I'm 150% this is acrylic.  Like, bad acrylic.  Like, bought but never used acrylic.

Last night, I used a size 4 circular needle to pick up the bottom stitches (because, unlike most people, I don't bind off my sections when doing a log cabin, I just keep the stitches live till I come back around with the next color... so I had live stitches already, it was a plus for this part of the project, not so nice when I had to catch each one as I cut out the felt.).



After making sure I was starting at the right side, I knit across.  The last stitch in each row was knit together with the "live" stitch on the side so I won't have to seam up the sides when I am done. You can see in the above picture that the right side is not very nice looking.  I didn't notice that my knit 2 together on the wrong side was creating that weird bumpy thing until I was mostly done.  I am so not ripping it out and knitting it again.  The left side looks lovely, so it's just going to stay.  Maybe after washing it will look better?



The next step will be to pick up the stitches across the bottom of the next section.  I plan on doing a 3 needle bind off on the back side.  I hope it works!

50 books in 1 year: 2012 (really late update!)

(I composed this post in October... sheduled it to post automatically at 8:00 two days later... and I guess it didn't)

I finailly did it!  Actually, I went over!

Goal:50
Total:53
January:
1 Farmer Boy - Laura Ingalls Wilder
2 Little Men - Louisa May Alcott

February
3 Jo’s Boys - Louisa May Alcott
4 Pride & Prejudice - Jane Austin
5 A Wizard of Earthsea - Ursula Le Guin
6 Northanger Abbey - Jane Austin
7 Tales from Planet Earth - Arthur C. Clark

March
 8 City of Masks - Mary Hoffman
9 Messenger - Lois Lowry
10 A Larger Universe - Gillaspy, James
11 The Black Pearl - Scott O’Dell
12 A Spell for Chameleon - Piers Anthony

April
13 City of Stars - Mary Hoffman
14 Game of Thrones - George R. R. Martin
15 Island of the Blue Dolphin - Scott O’Dell
16 Mr. Popper’s Penguins - Richard Atwater

May
17 Tom Sawyer - Mark Twain
18 The Borrowers - Mary Norton
19 The Borrowers Afield - Mary Norton
20 City of Flowers - Mary Hoffman
21 The Borrowers Afloat - Mary Norton
22 The Borrowers Aloft - Mary Norton
23 Before I Fall - Lauren Oliver
24 The Borrowers Avenged - Mary Norton
25 City of Secrets - Mary Hoffman

June
26 City of Ships - Mary Hoffman
27 Things Fall Apart - Chinua Achebe
28 The Plague of Doves - Louise Erdrich

July
29 A Clash of Kings - George R. R. Martin
30 Earth - David Brin

August
31 The Source of Magic - Piers Anthony
32 Storm Glass - Maria V. Snyder
33 Gossamer - Lois Lowry

September
34 I am the Messenger - Markus Zusak
35 Otherness - David Brin
36 Confessions Of An Ugly Stepsister - Gregory Maguire
37 Mirror Mirror - Gregory Maguire
38 Lincoln’s Dreams - Connie Willis

October
39 A Storm of Swords- George R.R. Martin
40 Sea Glass - Maria M. Snyder
41 Spy Glass - Maria M. Snyder
42 Pippi Goes on Board - Astrid Lindgren  (out loud with Sabrina)
43 Troubadour - Mary Hoffman
44 Swipe - Evan Angler
45 City of Swords - Mary Hoffman
46 The Golden Compass - Philip Pullman

November
47 The Face on the Milk Carton - Caroline B. Cooney
48 The Willoughbys - Lois Lowry
49 A Feast for Crows- George R.R. Martin

December
50 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
51 Whatever Happened to Janie? - Caroline B. Cooney
52 The Voice On The Radio - Caroline B. Cooney
53 What Janie Found - Caroline B. Cooney

Year in review:  I read a lot of young adult books, but I also read a lot of books for the first time this year.  Usually 75% of what I read is books I've already read before.  I'd like to blame the library.  I keep finding more and more books to read.  And I'd like to blame my coworker who gives me "must reads" all the time.  I'm extremely happy to finally have met my goal last year.

In the future: Well, that's right now and a post for another day.

When good projects go wrong...

Or, fixing a mistake

A long time ago, I knit Sabrina a baby blanket.  Not just any blanket; an Oregon Ducks log cabin!  So awesome!



Or not so awesome...  I used scraps from my stash.  I thought they were all acrylic.  I really did.  Months later, or even a year later, I noticed some pulling in of one section.  Uh-oh!  Wool.  100% wool. 

Fast forward another 4 years.



I've been thinking about this blanket every time I see it.  It's been washed.  And washed.  And washed.  Every time, I think about cutting the felted section out, picking the stitches up, and re knitting that section.  Really?  I didn't do it. 

Until last night.  Richard was folding clothes and came across the blanket.  The deformed blanket that my daughter loves.  He says, "Can't you fix it?"  and I immediately accepted the challenge.  I picked out a new green, found a darning needle, some extra yarn in a light color and some very sharp scissors. 



2 hours later:



It was late.  I was tired.  I may have snipped a stitch I shouldn't have, so I'll have to fix that as well.  Tonight, I'm going to try to re-knit it.

Sweet Steampunk 16 Party

The first time Keylie made an apperance on my blog, she looked like this:

(she's the bigger one!)

I can't believe she's 16!

For her birthday, my SIL Erin and I threw her a steampunk party!  Thank goodness for Pinterest!  I knew of steampunk (thank you anime and Back to the Future 3), but I had never gotten into it.  We were totally overwhelmed at first.

This was one of my projects:

For the full effect:

I got the ides from several different places, but mainly ruffled streamers from Cupcakes & Cutlery.

Between the two of us we come up with some pretty awesome stuff!  Our Aunt T and cousin Katie seriously helped us pull it all together in the hours leading up to the party.

Here's some more pictures:

I made her a surprise birthday cake, she was trying to be all cutesy... until she saw the inside!

 

 

Close up with my cake pops in the background:

To be continued...

(there is just too many things I want to mention)

ps. I was hoping to be able to pin from the pictures here, but I guess I need to figure that out better.  I got it so I can pin from flickr, but they won't pin while on the blog... (still working on it...)

a post In where I catch up

Let's be honest here.  It's been over a year since my last post.  Well over a year.  Does anybody even read blogs anymore?

I'm finding myself wanting/needing to share some things.  So here I am.  I debated starting all over, new blog, new focus, new everything.  Well, I can't decide on a name.  My most creative idea was "aimee's wonderful crazy" and the one I was going to go with was "a-chan knits & stuff".  Not real original.  Dropping the knit for my name?  Hmmm, that's still my main craft these days.  But I've been doing so much more!  From baking to wreaths to party planning and sewing, oh my!

I suppose we can get reacquainted now.  Sabrina is 5 and just started kindergarten.  I don't know how that happened.  But she adores school. 



Elias is turning 2 on Halloween!  My baby is not a baby anymore!



Coming soon (if I don't forget...):

Keylie's sweet steampunk 16 party
Some knitting projects
My birthday camping trip to Crater Lake that I forced my family to take with me.
50 books in 1 year updates (last year's complete list and this year's read so far list)
Some of my wreath projects

Stay tuned!

Perler bead bowl

Perler bead bowl, originally uploaded by a-chan.

I found this project on Pinterest, where else? It's pretty self explanitory, but the directions were in Dutch so I googled "perler bead bowl" and got a bunch of hits.  The one I kind of followed was this one.  This was easy enough for Sabrina to help me with, but I still had to help get the beads in a single layer.

Some tips I found around the net:

The oven temp does not have be be exactly at 400F.  I did a different batch at 300F and it worked just the same.

Use a butter knife or plastic scraper to get the beads out of the bowl. 

Use any dish that can go in the oven for different shapes and sizes.  I used a small IKEA baking dish for mine, Sabrina used a Pampered Chef small glass measuring bowl.  My second one was a cheap silicone dish in the shape of a heart.     

50 books in 1 year, 6 month update

Well, the year is about half over and I'm over half way there!  Yes, some are easy books, but some are long books, too!  And a lot are ones I've never read before.  I'm loving my Kindle Fire, it makes reading during my pumping breaks super easy.  Plus, if I finish a book while I'm at work or on the train, I always have a back-up loaded just in case.



Every couple of years I go through a Ray Bradbury stage.  I'm thinking of doing it again this year in honor of his death; maybe in October.  I was going to do the same for Arthur C. Clark but I got distrackted with other things (he has been dead for several years). 

I just started Clash of Kings, I hope it doesn't take me the rest of the month to read.  But at least I'm in a good spot in my list.

January
1   Farmer Boy - Laura Ingalls Wilder
2   Little Men - Louisa May Alcott

February
3   Jo's Boys - Louisa May Alcott
4   Pride & Prejudice - Jane Austin
5   A Wizard of Earthsea - Ursula Le Guin
6   Northanger Abbey - Jane Austin
7   Tales from Planet Earth - Arthur C. Clark
 
March
8   City of Masks - Mary Hoffman
9   Messenger - Lois Lowry
10 A Larger Universe - Gillaspy, James
11 The Black Pearl - Scott O'Dell
12 A Spell for Chameleon - Piers Anthony
 
April
13 City of Stars - Mary Hoffman
14 Game of Thrones - George R. R. Martin
15 Island of the Blue Dolphin - Scott O'Dell
16 Mr. Popper's Penguins -
 
May
17 Tom Sawyer - Mark Twain
18 The Borrowers - Mary Norton
19 The Borrowers Afield - Mary Norton
20 City of Flowers - Mary Hoffman
21 The Borrowers Afloat - Mary Norton
22 The Borrowers Aloft - Mary Norton
23 Before I Fall -
24 The Borrowers Avenged - Mary Norton
25 City of Secrets - Mary Hoffman
 
June
26 City of Ships - Mary Hoffman
27 Things Fall Apart -
28 The Plague of Doves - Louise Erdrich

Currently reading: Clash of Kings - George R. R. Martin
Queue: City of Swords - Mary Hoffman (released Aug?)

Old meme

I found this old meme in my "draft" and thought I would publish it.  I've updated it, I've read a few more of the books in the 3 years since I originally did it.

Instructions:

1) Look at the list and put an 'x' after those you have read.
2) Add a '+' to the ones you LOVE.
3) Star (*) those you plan on reading.
4) put ? on the ones you've never heard of.
5) Tally your total at the bottom.


1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane AustenX
2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien X+
3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte BronteX
4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling X+
5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee X
6 The Bible X (a lot of it, not front to back, though)
7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte *
8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell *
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman *
10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens *
11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott X+
12 Tess of the D'Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy ?
13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare
15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien X+
17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks
18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
19 The Time Traveller's Wife - Audrey Niffenegger X+
20 Middlemarch - George Eliot
21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell
22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald X
23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens ?
24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
25 The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy X
26 Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck X+
29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll X+
30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame X
31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy ?
32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis X+
34 Emma - Jane Austen *
35 Persuasion - Jane Austen *
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis X+
37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
38 Captain Corelli's Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne X
41 Animal Farm - George Orwell
42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez ?
44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving ?
45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins ?
46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery X+
47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy ?
48 The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood ?
49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding
50 Atonement - Ian McEwan
51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel
52 Dune - Frank Herbert *
53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen *
55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth ?
56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon ?
57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens X
58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley *
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon ?
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck X
62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt ?
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac
67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
68 Bridget Jones's Diary - Helen Fielding
69 Midnight's Children - Salman Rushdie *
70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville
71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
72 Dracula - Bram Stoker *
73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett X+
74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson ?
75 Ulysses - James Joyce X
76 The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome ?
78 Germinal - Emile Zola ?
79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
80 Possession - AS Byatt
81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens X
82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell ?
83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker
84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flauber
86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry ?
87 Charlotte's Web - EB White X
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Alborn
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton ?
91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad X
92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery X
93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks ?
94 Watership Down - Richard Adams
95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute ?
97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare X
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl X+
100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo


Total read: 27
Total loved: 12
Total planning to read: 11
Total never heard of: 13

Hmm... anything else?

I'm trying to come up with some things to bring me up to date with the blog.



We went to Hawaii again (seems to be a yearly event). And look!



My mom came with us! It was her first time in Hawaii in like 30 years. It was fun to share our "life" in Hawaii with her.



Sabrina & Nana:



The reason for our trip, Richard's cousin (Don) graduated from high school!



This is the tradition in Hawaii. Everyone piles leis on the graduate. It was kind of fun to watch. Someone holds a sign up with the graduate's picture/name so everyone can see where they are.

We didn't plan it this way, but our nephew (Alexander Pono, AJ for short... Alex Jr.) was born 2 weeks before we got there. We all had colds, so we had to wait a week before we could go see him. Isn't he cute? He's already crawling! I can't wait to see him this summer (if/when we go).





It's not a trip to Maui without doing some touristy things.



Like the Atlantis submarine (first time for this!). Sabrina was just barely tall enough.

My mom's gotta work on her shaka:



Uncle Alex took us to the high school's field to play with his dog (Kala).



And of course we spent time at the beach.



Shave ice at our new fave stand Ululani's



If you're ever on Maui, this is the shave ice to get! They make most of their own syrups (their webpage says it's now 100%) and they use Roselani's ice cream. Yum! Plus, they started in Portland (who knew, right?) We found out because I was wearing my Blazer shirt one day when we got shave ice and had a good conversation with the owner.

I take so many pictures, it's hard to choose which ones I like the best. Our first morning there, we took my mom up to Haleakala since it's like one of the #1 THINGS TO DO.



I really need to clean my camera (I'm a little scared and apparently camera shops won't do it). This is my fave, some people don't get it:



I guess that's all for now, I didn't realize how long this would get when I started!

50 books in one year, 2011 follow-up

When I last left this blog, I was professing how this was the year I was going to make my goal of 50 books. I didn't. But I've come to live with that. With knitting, working full time, and now having two kids... well, it just wasn't a practical goal. This year, my goal is 30 books. I think I can do it, maybe even more. I got a Kindle Fire so I can read while on my pumping breaks. I've already finished my first book of the year and most of the way through with a second.

Anyways, my last years list looks like this:

January
1 Gone-Away Lake - Elizabeth Enright
2 Return to Gone-Away Lake - Elizabeth Enright
3 The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Perilous Journey - Trenton Lee Stewart
4 The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Prisoners Dilemma - Trenton Lee Stewart
February
5 The Stranger - Alburt Camus
March
6 The Glass Dragon - Irene Radford
7 The Perfect Princess - Irene Radford
8 The Loneliest Magician - Irene Radford
9 The Wizard’s Treasure - Irene Radford
10 Marionette’s, Inc. - Ray Bradbury
11 Harmony - C.F. Bentley/Irene Radford
April
12 Enigma - C.F. Bentley/Irene Radford
May
13 The Postman - David Brin
14-28. OZ series - L. Frank Baum
December
29. Little Women - Louisa May Alcott

Not too bad, I guess. This year I'm going to try to read more books I've never read before. I'll still be doing some re-reading. I really want to make my way through LOTRs again and the Earthsea series.
This year's list:
January
1. Farmer Boy
2. Little Men
Currently reading: Jo's Boys

Rapunzel, let down your golden hair!

Sabrina loves Tangled. She had been saying that she would be Rapunzel for months. So I bought the pattern (which was over my head since I don't do much sewing). With the help of my aunt and friend, I dumbed down the pattern a bit. It's a pattern for Princess Rapunzel, not the Rapunzel you see in most of the movie.

If you read the post before this, you know I finished it with literally hours to spare.

She loves it and that's all that really matters. I got this light pink cord to lace the front up, but it won't stay tied. I finally replaced it with some white ribbon (since she's wearing the dress at least once a week, my mom even let her wear it to church). I might get some better matching ribbon eventually, but she doesn't seem to care.

If I ever make Rapunzel hair again, I'm going to do it differently. The pattern is wrong in it's measurements, so I wasted a skein of yarn trying to figure it out... cheap yarn, I should say.

Sadly, Elias didn't get a costume. I wanted to buy one, but Richard said no since he wasn't suppose to be here until November. Next time, I won't listen (not like I'd want next time to be another Halloween baby, 2 scorpios in the house are plenty).

The best Halloween ever!

Elias Alanui Yago
10/31/2011, 7:09am
6lbs 9oz, 19" long

Let's see how short I can make this labor story. I don't know who will even see this, so I'll go shorter than on ravelry, but longer than Facebook.

I was working on Sabrina's Rapunzel costume until 12am. I didn't have any notable contractions, I'd been having small ones off and on for a week or so. Mostly just Braxton Hicks. Anyways, at midnight I decided I was done enough with the dress for her to wear it trick or treating and we could finish up some last minute things in the morning. I had purposefully taken Halloween off so we could have a fun day, making caramel apples and doing crafts. My last thought as I was drifting off to sleep was "I guess I won't be having a Halloween baby after all." (since my labor with Sabrina was over 25 hrs).

I woke up 2 hours later in active labor. Richard was sleeping downstairs, but I waited an hour before I went down there. I thought it was going to be a false alarm. I called my mom at 3 something because she lives 45 minutes away and she was going to come and stay with Bina. I called the advice nurse, who told me to drink 4 glasses of water and take a warm bath "to see if it stops" (I told her I was having very painful contractions, but she didn't believe me because I was talking to her through them). My mom got there after 5, she told me I could ignore the advice nurse, but to sip water and take a shower. I knew something was wrong as soon as I got it the shower. If I moved, I would have another contraction. So I got out, slowly.

I laid on the couch for awhile, my mom trying to tell me to get up and walk through them. (oh boy, this is getting long, sorry!) I told her I couldn't. Richard and her were talking and I yelled at them to stop talking. Then I said, we need to go, this isn't right. My mom gave in. She thought I was being a wuss, but I told her that the worse thing that would happen would be that they'd send me home if I wasn't ready.

I knew this labor was different than my first. I have a very high pain tolerance, but I was crying through contractions. Part way down the road I realized we forgot the camera... I said "screw the camera."

The walk down the hall to labor and delivery is a long one. I had multiple contractions, having to lean against the wall. The receptionist called down the hall "do you want a wheelchair" "No, I'm fine." Once we got there, she did a quick and dirty check-in, cuz she realized I was on the verge of having the baby. I kind of felt like I was going to have him right there. They got me into triage, sent me to the bathroom to empty my bladder and get the gown on. I thought I was having the baby on the toilet, so I called Richard in to help me. We had to get the triage nurse to help me into the gown. As soon as I was down on the bed, I wanted them to check me. But first, they had to take my vitals. grr, I felt like I needed to push already.

In walks my midwife (thank goodness she was there already!) and says "Let's check you" I was at an 8. The triage nurse was talking to me about pain meds, but my midwife cut her off and told me that she had to be honest with me, there was no time for meds .They didn't let me get off the triage bed, they wheeled it down to the delivery room. She checked again (since I sounded pushy) and I was at a 10 and free to push. It's funny how you can go from an 8 to a 10 in the few minutes it took to get to the delivery room.

They put my iv in between pushes. He was out within 5, 30 minutes after I arrived at the hospital. I tore, rather badly. I was glad they put the iv in, so they gave me something for the pain while they sewed me back up (that took a long time).

(oh boy, I think this is longer than my story on Ravelry. Maybe I should have just cut and pasted it)

That's my 5 hour labor story. Lesson learned? Don't listen to the advice nurse.

My mom didn't believe Richard when he called her at 7:30 to announce Elias' arrival. Richard promptly send pictures to facebook and no body could believe he was here already, especially since they all read my post the night before about finishing the dress.

Sabrina got to come and see her brother immediately and she also got to go trick or treating with her cousins.

I feel so lucky to have a Halloween baby. I made jokes the whole pregnancy about how cool it would be (my due date was 11/12).

50 books in one year, take 3

I'm gonna try again this year!

Goal 50
So far 4

January:
1 Gone-Away Lake - Elizabeth Enright
2 Return to Gone-Away Lake - Elizabeth Enright
3 The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Perilous Journey - Trenton Lee Stewart
4 The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Prisoners Dilemma - Trenton Lee Stewart

Currently Reading: nothing :c

Queue: Kiln People - David Brin, The Postman - David Brin

Gone-Away Lake and Return to Gone-Away Lake are old favorites I like to re-read every couple of years. There's actually a picture in Return to Gone-Away Lake that I want to have a tattoo of some day. These were fast reads, but very creative. I was in love with these books before I realized she wrote other (more popular) books, but these are still my faves of hers.

The Mysterious Benedict Society books are #2 & #3 in the series. This was my first time through them and I truely love them already. I'm just sad I have to return them to my mom. I'll probably end up buying the whole series.

Next up is either Kiln People or The Postman... I'm leaning towards The Postman since it's a shorter book. I already almost drowned with The Mysterious Benedict Society since those books are so long. I need to remember to read both long and short books this year. Too many long books will take too long (since I still need time to knit and clean and stuff). Too many short books will make me think I'm cheating.

How Portlandia! (or I've been told)

So I found a recipe for homemade lotion while I was browsing my blog reader. I wasn't looking for one, but it jumped out to me on another knitting blog (go figure, right?).

I hate buying lotion, it seems so wasteful and expensive, especially since we have slather Sabrina with Cetaphil every night (it goes on coupon at Costco this month, fyi). I haven't been buying my own lotion for awhile. Last Christmas we got Bath & Bodyworks baskets from work and I had to return everything since their stuff gives me migranes. yuck! They do have 2 unscented lotions, but they're expensive and I'm almost out of the two bottles I got from my return (I returned a whole basket of stuff and was only able to get 2 bottles of unscented. Why is unscented so much more than their regular stuff?)

Okay, I'm off my rant about B&BW. Back to the lotion. The recipe is here at the ReadyMade Blog. I haven't poked around too much more than the lotion, but I hope the rest of the site is just as good.

This lotion was fast to make! And free for me! I didn't have any beeswax, so I asked a coworker who makes candles where I could get some. She pointed me to Ruhl Bee Supply in Gladstone, but I wasn't going to be able to get there soon, so she gave me a chunk from her stash. AWESOME coworker of the month award!

My lotion is semi-local because Ruhl sells only local beeswax. The second local ingredient is good ol' Portland tap water. The recipe calls for filtered water, but I would have had to open a new filter cartridge and find the Brita pitcher (for those of you who don't live in Portland, we have some of the best tap water in the country, serious! We don't need to filter our water!).

The only ingredient that's not local is the olive oil.... Yes, only 3 ingredients!

Friday night I really wanted to make the lotion, so I scoured Home Goods and Ross for a cheap, small grater for the beeswax. I didn't find what I was looking for at Home Goods (really? no small grater?). I did find one at Ross for $3, score! I also found a jump rope and a cute new dress for Sabrina, all under my $15 limit.

Back to the lotion (again. sorry). From what I had read about this lotion, some people weren't having any luck and I didn't have high hopes for my first try. After the blending step I still had some water and it just wasn't blending. I ended up draining some off before I jarred it.

For my jars, I found a lonely jelly canning jar and an old baby food jar (that was housing some pumpkin seeds for next year). You're suppose to wait for the lotion to cool down before putting the lids on, but my lotion was already pretty cool. I waited anyways... but we didn't wait to try it!

I love this stuff. Sometimes it smells more like beeswax and sometimes like olive oil. Other people have said it smells "natural." I've used some on Sabrina a couple of times and she hasn't had any reactions to it yet, so YAY!

I don't have any pictures :( I tried to take on with my camera phone, but it just looks funny.