Wednesday, September 30, 2009

handiwork

A big believer in this!

Check out the New Dream Blog... an insightful look at handwork and our current society.






We’ve come to think of the homemade and handmade as having some kind of
mystique: as if only our grandmothers or a special class of craftsy people can
mend a hem or can some jam. Our hands have an inferiority complex. In reality,
there is no exclusive society that allows in only the dextrous: those of us who
are rather clumsy can still knead dough, top-and-tail beans, and weed a
garden.


Whole post here


I believe that the basic instinct of our lives is to get in touch with those things that matter to us, some of us are connected by smells-sights-sounds- others are connected by touch. I could never let go of printed books for the tactile nature, nor could i give up my quilts.

Speaking of Handiwork, a few pictures of the Class I just did at Scrappingville in Kuala Lumpur.


Nilla sewing away!











Sam's stitchin'










Sharon's finished page



More pictures here

Monday, September 28, 2009

Weighty Issues

Been on a bit of a binge recently. Lots of travel, lots of entertaining, lots of food -and wine. All in all not a bad thing, except for the weight. I feel over full, stuffed, poached and well done. A pork roast overdone, one glass of red wine too many, and one more business dinner (tonight) to go too.

One of the things I took for granted in Oregon was the availability of fresh seasonal produce. Seasons don't exist here in SE Asia, not really, which has its pluses and minuses. I miss eating seasonally though. I miss summers filled with Corn on the cob, canning peaches and making pickled green beans. I miss so much about home (food and wine being a big part!) I do like living in the Asian tropics however for the constant availablity of yummy fruit, fresh chickens and fresh eggs, and fresh green chinese veggies. Those are all in the positive side for sure!

Well, back to the weighty issue, I have been eating too much, drinking too much and generally not taking care of my health as good as I should. In order to get back on track I intend to go back to eating locally when possible, eating whole foods (almost exclusively-save my soy milk in my chai) and cutting out the joy of my life pure processed sugar... WHAT.... NO SUGAR???




Now now, let's not be too rash young lady.... sugar is GOOD, and in minimal amounts (like in dark chocolate) can be good for you, so I am going to cut out HFCS first (that's high fructose corn syrup). Which should I stick to my guns about whole foods should not be too hard. Hard part comes in the soda/cokes I drink and those sweet sweet goodies known as candy bars, but i need to; i worked hard to lose the extra weight I gained after I had the kids, I am generally happy with where I ended up, but always felt to be at the peak of where I should be I have about 10 more pounds to go.





So, starting tomorrow after my last dinner I go whole foods. I am taking baby steps, the next step is to get this old butt back into the pool for some real swimming, but baby steps my friends... baby steps....besides, sugar is far easier to give up than my glass of Wine!

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Recharge- mental and physical

The last two months, my normally crazed life has been on full heat. My work is going overboard with billable hours in the 230+ for two months running. My business has also been busy, preparing and teaching scrapbooking classes in Malaysia. We have also had birthdays, start of school and lots of mommy travel. it is all good, but stressful and hard on the family.

D has started to struggle with writing, well let me rephrase, the struggle has always been there but now it is really manifesting in tantrums and inability to complete his work. Some of this may be a self esteem issue, some may be linked to his language problems ( I am assuming here) but it is frustrating for him and heartbreaking for me when I can 't be there to help. K on the other hand is dealing with the normal 6 year old strife of having ghost stories being shared among friends and sleepless nights thereafter. again, the travel I have been doing leaves me away during these times and it kills me to know that Jeff is having to be a super dad and do this without me.

I am near the point of crashing though, I can feel it. A big key is my lack of focus. I am scattered all over, I am stiff and sore physically, I am tired and run down, I cry over the silliest things (like not having a pair of shorts to wear last Sunday). I have three more weeks before we run away for a short vacation. I am trying my best to make it to the trip well and healthy, happy and content. I do not want to spend my whole vacation crabby and out of sorts.

What I am doing is trying to re-connect with those things i find important. I am slowing down where i can, taking time for myself, working and reading things that make me feel better. I am designing a plan for my life that includes healthy choices from diet and exercise to spiritual and emotional health as well. I am still working on the details, but I am going to start to swim again and meditate every morning.

Baby steps, yes for sure, but as the often quoted Gandhi stated ....
"Be the change you want to see in the world"

Until I can be the change, I am still looking forward to this

Friday, September 04, 2009

Classes, Taking and Teaching-Falling into a routine

School is in. The kids are getting settled into the first and second grade. Both have terrific teachers and as always we are very impressed with the Singapore American School. Class has also started for me. I am taking two fun online scrapbooking classes, one with Big Picture-taught by Cathy Zielske (me the abridged version) and the second from Shimelle (learn something new every day)

Both are very different classes, one is more about me. Creating my history in an A-Z format. This has started by carrying around a little notebook and alphabeting random bits of information about myself. So far, I am seeing alot of notes about songs that stick in my head and the memories associated with each of those songs. I love the idea of getting down all of the nitty gritty details about my life, the things I desire, the things I have done, the things I still want to do. A very cool class in deed.



So on to the teaching. I have been creating three very cool classes for the next two months in Malaysia. All of them are scrapbooking classes and you can find out more about the first two over here on this blog. I have one more thing to do before I can tell you about the third class, but it will be fun!




Finally, I am in the throughs of reorganization. Who needs spring cleaning when it is all about fall for me. Get rid of tons of stuff, recycling a bunch of papers (still on an dream of a paperless office!) Organizing all of my craft supplies. The key is to get them all organized and put them all away when I am done! Baby steps. Baby Steps.










So, this is what the office looked like then.










This is what it looks like now. I know it doesn't seem LOTS better, but look at this other side!















The other side of the office. Rather than a "loft/bed desk" we now have two desks.






this is what still has to be sorted and purged...




A box of stuff.








these are the stacks left on the bed in the guest room.

 
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