Busy, Turning 42 and spending time at NUH

First, we had another overnight trip to the hospital. Kiera had another bout of "asthma" which required her to head off to the hospital for a night of nebulizer treatments. She was doing fine, but over the day it got harder and harder for her to breath. He O2 saturation rate went down to around 94/95 so they checked her in. It was 1am before we got upstairs... the doctors were really trying to send her home... and once we hit the room, she was out. It was another hour of processing intake for me....and then every hour they came in to give her meds/check something/fiddle. The best news is the next morning she was fine, as if it never happened and we were able to send her home.

CHA is looming, only 2 weeks. I have most of the big items (except for the catalog) done and now it is just wrapping up what was a long and busy months worth of prep. For the most part everything must be done by Saturday as Faye gets on the plane for a fun vacation before the show... and I finish up the rest of the work.

Oh, and I turned 42. Hard to think of myself as middle aged... but I guess it is creaping up :-) Well a 6 and 4 year old keep me young that is for sure!

Peace~

Happy New Year

The year 2007 has come to a close and as I sit here on the second day of 2008, I think about the pledges I made last year...and failed... and what I can do better for the coming year.

We just moved houses, and our goal is that we don't have to move again for a very long time. I was temped the other day to buy a new table for our outdoor patio, so that we could dine outdoors. I thought better of it for two reasons, first, I should save the money that it would cost to purchase it new when second hand ones are plentiful and don't involve additional deforestation.

I have also purchased new furnature for other parts of the house, including a new Kitchen island, a desk for my office and a TV console. While I would have loved to buy teak, I really don't like the fact that most teak harvested today is not done sustainably and is often done by way of illegal logging. So, while I felt a little bit like Edward Norton's character in the fight club, it was all IKEA for me. I appriciate the fact that IKEA at least tries to work enviromentally and packs goods flat, uses renewable resources, charges for plastic bags... and is consitantly ranked one of the world's most environmental companies. Ok, heritage quality probably not, but at least I can feel good about the purchase.

One of the good things that I strive to do is to work continullly on sourcing local produce and food, eating within the season, purchasing more organic and eating less meat. My gift from my husband for Christmas (in addition to the furnature) was a copy of Jamie at Home, Jamie Oliver's new book on eating fresh grown, seasonal food. While not totally applicable for life in the tropics, inspirational it is. Oh, and did I tell you... since I now have a real patio... a place to grow... I have started some cilantro and basil and will go get myself some peppers, brinjal(that's eggplant for the US folk) and a PAPAYA tree. I can't wait to walk out to the patio and pick my own fruit!

So, no promises, no pledges, just an honest post from someone who is always conflicted, always striving and always learning.

Peace on earth and to you.

Happy New Year!

K

Pictures of the New Place

I have posted pictures of Christmas and the new place (a work in progress I tell you) on flickr, and a few are here as well.

So far we really like Dairy Farm. We met the upstairs neighbors and they are great. They have 2 boys that are about Declan and Kieras age. The house is slowly shaping up, but we are still minus an oven and a TV console... for example.

Had a fun day at the Thieves Market down on Weld Road yesterday and I will post some pictures of it later today!

In the meantime, here are pictures of the place and Santa's visit~






More on Flickr

A Year in Review-Travel

I thought I would write down some thoughts about the year. Give myself a bit of perspective, when I look back, on the crazy wild ride that has been the year.

First, the travel

I went to LA in January 2007 to attend CHA Winter 2007. I then joined my family in Baja Mexico for a week in February.

The last week of February I traveled to KL Malaysia for trainings, and then in mid March I went to Hong Kong.

In April I stayed home, which was nice, because in May I went to Bangkok Thailand and Shanghai.

June found me back in Malaysia, July I was in Shanghai.

August we went to Hong Kong Disney as a family and I flew to Korea for work.

September, I flew to Portland for a day, then on to Dallas for the first two weeks of October.

November I was in Shanghai and Cambodia, cancelled a trip to KL and December finds me in Taiwan for the first time this year.

So, that is 9 countries (excluding Singapore). And to think I barlely kept my "gold status" this year.

Sore Arms, Too Much and Moves

Nothing like a move to remind you of your goals to simplify. We honestly believed we had done a good job at keeping our stuff to a minimim. But, we were wrong. Boxes and Boxes. Stuff and more "STUFF". It seemed to be sort of like tribbles, the more they got together, the more stuff seemed to reproduce. I guess the big question is what can we and should we get rid of. Truth be told, we have a family of 5. 3 adults and two kids. There are 5 beds (plus a guest bed) a home office and a home business. Kids toys and clothes. Jeff and my clothes. Books, dishes, cooking stuff and cookbooks. Other than pictures and scrapbooking stuff we don't have much else, but it ended up being three truck loads (20 foot trucks but still 3).

What I wonder is really how much is enough, how much do we need, what if anything could we get rid of? How much stuff do I need? Can I pair down even more? We did a fairly decent run to Salvation Army before the move started. As we unpack, I am going to go through it all again. I am sure there is a thought here about the need for comfort and pleasures. The need to know that I have pretty china and crystal to use for holidays and dinner parties. The comforts of home if you will.

Are those old vinyl couches, that I just got slipcovers for (thanks Dad and Lin)good enough to keep? We don't have a TV, so can we find one used? We just bought our new bed and new guest bed from a "show" home so while they are "never used" they are hardly new. Where do you draw the line between frugality, simplicity, recyling and the desire for good pretty things?

No answers, just questions, and typed with a sore arm from moving...