Life, Love, and Everything in Between...

The Ceej and his cars

2009-12-10T16:29:00.001-08:00

The Ceej-ling has a new obsession. Its this thing he has about arranging things. I have no idea where he gets it from cuz neither myself of his daddy is even remotely organized in any way. I find it interesting how kids learn so quickly then figure out to do things even better as time goes on.

First he did this.

Then he did this.

I am such a proud mother!

My son, the artist!

2009-11-13T12:38:00.000-08:00

This week, our Ceej started "school". It was a big step for me to do this because I felt that he was okay to be home with me all day. But something was missing...you know, the interaction with children, the group experience, and spending time with other people besides me. All these things I can't teach him at home. Our neighbor down the street has graciously been able to take him in 2 times a week temporarily to see how he'll do. He's the youngest amongst all the other kids and they do curriculum there daily so he's not just playing all day. I want him to learn! I want him to be a genius by the ripe age of 2.

Other kids at "school" were trying to teach him how to color with crayons. So I tested him at home to see how well he would do.
So, what do you think? Future graphic designer? Painter? Art teacher? I'm dreaming too early... he's only 18 months old.

It's been a while

2009-11-04T15:50:00.001-08:00

Yes, I know. The last time I've posted up anything on this blog was at the end of summer. Its been busy! I'll get back into it soon...

Just need to:
Get better sleep
Cook some healthier foods
Fix our front and back yard. The flowers are dying and need to be replaced.

Smiles!

Oh tomatoes!

2009-08-12T12:16:00.000-07:00

Its been a really really busy summer for me. So busy that many of my eco living ways were thrown out the door (temporarily, I hope). It's really not that convenient trying to be green. I have recently eaten many packaged foods (more fast food than normal too) and I haven't cloth diapered in close to 2 months. Plus my hopes in starting a compost pile has dwindled, perhaps next year I'll get around to it. But somehow I found a little time to try to grow something...

As some of you have seen in one of my past post (see here), you would prob remember that I recently took a stab at gardening. Oh boy, I'm so embarrassed to admit that I'm absolutely terrible at it! Its my second season of attempting it too. Last year was a horrible year where I tried to grow some zucchini. I didn't know this but zucchini can over take your yard in an instant. The leaves which shade the fruit are really huge and in a matter of weeks can block other plants if its not situated in a good spot.

Anyways, my mom and father in law convinced me to try again. This time with tomatoes. Everyone told me that "oh its easy!" or "all you have to do is water it". Um, well...let's just say that what happened last year had repeated itself. While other people I know growing tomatoes have already harvested large amounts, mine just started to turn from green to a pale pink. I'd say I have to wait at least a couple more weeks for my harvest to ripen. Apart from growing tomatoes, there's green beans somewhere in the mix. Its just a mess out there. The plants hit my legs while I'm trying to water them every morning.

On a brighter note, the Ceej has started walking. Within a matter of weeks, he looked from being a baby into a full on toddler. Actually, he looks like a total kid now.

Also, yesterday I saw Julie & Julia. The best movie of the summer, fo sho!

It's hotter in Arizona

2009-07-12T14:05:00.000-07:00

Yeah, that's so obvious. I went from it being in the 90's last week here in San Jo and went into a oven in Arizona as it was 110 degrees there. Man, good thing there's lots of AC everywhere I go. It was a fun trip, just a little short. Thomas was on missions and I had a few days to do nothing so I took this opportunity to visit my very good friend, Erin Li/Dayala.

Sorry about the bad picture quality of these pictures. It was taken by my terrible Red Easy Share Kodak Camera.

Ready to fly! He did great! No crying or fussing, just a lot of curiosity.

Had to hit up Chik-fi-la. Love this place! They had free breaky the whole entire week, featuring something different everyday. Ofcourse I felt bad just getting the free items so we ordered some other things. When I ordered coffee, they had 3 different roast for me to choose from. Beat that, Mc D's! Anyways another thing I noticed is that Chik-fi-la is very "Christian". They close on Sundays and they play Christian music over the loud speakers. So I guess you somewhat get indoctrinated while eating your chicken sandwich.

We also headed to the Pheonix Children's Museum. I remember taking this picture and saying/thinking something like "hurry hurry, its freakin' hot!". Poor Ceej, his legs are burning up. Anyways, fun place and better than the San Jose Children's Discovery Museum. A lot of hands on fun and great kids art displays mixed into the building's design.

Lots of stroller parking everywhere. Its needed...

This is Ceej's favorite! Its all these swimming noodles tied up on the ceiling that cover part of the top floor. Kids just run in and out of it and laugh with glee.

Ceej "butting" into other kids and mommy reading time. He likes to butt into everything nowadays.

This was prob my most fave thing in Pheonix. Erin and I were looking around for something local, special and different. We found the Urban Cookie. The owner (as seen here) is describing to us everything that he makes and the ingredients, etc. Nice guy, makes me jealous a little because he seems like he really enjoys what he does. We bought a bunch of cookies and found my favorite which was a pineapple coconut cookie. Good stuff!

Erin nicely posing next to the vanilla lemon cupcake. The frosting is nice and light, not heavy like Sprinkles cupcakes.

Night times consisted of sitting inside, cooling off, and swimming.
Last but not least, Erin and her hubs, Ryan celebrated three years of marriage. I totally forgot that it was that same week we visited! Oops... bad on me. I should've known! I was in their wedding too. Anyways, Erin got three pairs of jordan's to represent each year together. Inside joke. Har.

A Tent for Toddler

2009-06-23T12:11:00.000-07:00

Yeah, I don't really know what I was thinking when I purchased this at Ikea the other day. It didn't look THIS big at the store! Why in the world does a toddler need a tent anyways??? Our living room has been officially taken over....

A Semi-Casual Father's Day

2009-06-23T11:58:00.000-07:00

I couldn't resist not making this for father's day! Thomas loved it! In a time of recession, this does fit the bill. It only cost me about $3.50 and an hour of labor. Thanks for being a great daddy to the Ceej-ling! Love you!

This B.o.b. is fast!

2009-06-09T17:06:00.001-07:00

This is Ceej's new ride. It's flippin' awesome!

Art by a 2 year old

2009-06-09T16:41:00.000-07:00

I love watching my niece do her everyday things. She's so expressive and simple-minded. Everything she does is full of excitement, wonder, and glee.

New chicken, new plants, and a new purse for me

2009-06-09T16:25:00.000-07:00

This is what's been goin' down in my town...

If you know me, I heart Mojitos. Its pretty much the only drink I can make at home mainly because I have this huge abundance of mint in my backyard. The other day I had an epiphany. If I love mojitos so much, why don't I just make chicken with the same ingredients!!! It worked! So so good that even the Ceej and my neice gobbled it up!

After thinking long and hard, I decided that growing my own vegetables isn't most economical thing to do. You don't save a whole lot of money growing your own because you spend so much time taking care of it. Besides, the local farmers depend on us to survive! Plus I really don't have the land to raise a variety of vegetables. But somehow I got talked into it (by my own mother and father in law). Let's see how it grows. Give me a few weeks and I'll give you an update. Got tomatoes (2 types) and green beans coming...crossing my fingers that they don't die too early before I get a little crop.

Last by not least, I finally got around to sewing something for myself. I had about a year of sewing a lot of gifts and things related to cloth diapering. I deserve it! Especially since this fabric only cost me less than $2 and less than 2 hours of labor.

The Ching's Reunite!

2009-05-21T22:52:00.000-07:00

Finally! The Ching's regroup for a family photo shoot! The husbands were busy at work but at least most of us were able to make it! Thank you to our friend Calvina for helping us!

Love how Miriya is busy peeling a cutie here.

See more here: Calvina Photography

Too cute for words and too cute to eat!

2009-05-21T12:34:00.000-07:00

Oh well, I ate it anyways (in celebration of Kris Allen's win on American Idol)!

Great job sister's at the Joint on making these cup cake lollipops! Delish! See more cupcake lollipops on Dozen Flours.

That was 10 years ago

2009-05-17T13:37:00.000-07:00

Recently a friend reminded me that my 10 year high school reunion was coming up! I can't believe it! Am I really THAT old? Where has the time gone? Often I think that I haven't done enough in the past 10 years since high school but once I think a little harder, a lot has happened!

Like the puffy feathers in my senior picture? Does pro image even exist anymore?

Time to let the hair go

2009-05-11T22:04:00.000-07:00

I love his hair. Its what makes him different and stand out from the crowd of other Chinese babies. But it was getting really hot and he'd be sweaty all the time. I agreed with my hubs that it was time to let the hair go.

Prepping him to get his hair cut. This is how he looked before.

During the hair cut, we had to bribe him with lots of snacks. Eventually that didn't work and it turned into a cry fest.

But finally it was all over. Now he looks so clean cut, so fresh, so ready to go out to town. Looks like an engineer.

The year of party favors!

2009-05-08T22:42:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow we're having another party at our place. This time we are celebrating my nephew's one month birthday, my neice's 2nd birthday, CJ's first birthday (again!), 2 cousins graduating from college, and Mother's day. Phew...! Anyways, preppin' for that is a lot of work. Parties always need party favors, right? So I've made a handful of different party favors at all sorts of events this year. I'm getting a little more desperate on what things to make. I want something easy, cheap, fun, and most of things being edible. Please give me some ideas!

A question for my readers...if there are any out there!

2009-05-05T16:38:00.000-07:00

Does anyone know how to pick a ripe pineapple?

Backyard Patio Upgrade

2009-04-30T14:05:00.000-07:00

Finally got around to making some nice pillows for the backyard patio. It took me about a year of living here to decide that this is what it needed. I look around to buy some pillows but I didn't see any nice neutral ones that were priced right. So I just sewed some up- ended up being about 5 bucks for materials each and about an hour of labor for all three. Makes me smile looking at our backyard now! Next up is possibly a garden!?

Mother of One!

2009-04-29T21:10:00.000-07:00

The Ceej turns 1 today. This time last year I was laboring like crazy. Push, push, push...

I love this kid. As crazy as he is, he brings joy into my life. Happy Birthday! Mama and Dada/baba love you!

Before

After

My husband is my guitar hero

2009-04-27T12:12:00.001-07:00

Look at him go! Doing two things at once.

No special occasion, its just good.

2009-04-27T11:53:00.000-07:00

Last Chinese New Year we had a friend bring over a huge pot of black sesame paste. I didn't like it a whole lot but the Ceej absolutely loved it! I did recently made some pre-frozen black sesame rice ball desserts from the local Chinese market and offered it to him. The evidence is on his face. Its a hit! Our kid likes Chinese desserts! I didn't like it growing up but I've grown to enjoy it over the past few years. Next up is red bean!

Front Yard Surprise

2009-04-23T22:14:00.001-07:00

With lots of rain, sunshine, and patience, our front yard finally looks decent! Our last owner planted some rose bushes that just started blooming this spring. Love it!

Slurpies and Wii means Spring Break!

2009-04-16T17:39:00.000-07:00

Through the years working as youth ministers, I have seen many groups come and go. I've seen kids grow tall, voice change, different hair styles, baggy jeans go to skinny, etc. But for some reason as I get older, I feel like the kids start youth group at a younger age (as in maturity). It's still fun and rewarding.

Even though we have a baby, we've still had a handful of sleep overs at our place. We have one today. Right now as I type the boys are playing Ghost Squad on Wii and making "nut" shots. I'm making chili dogs and fries for dinner. Last sleep over I made tacos. Boys prefer heart attack foods while girls prefer healthy light alternatives such as pita and hummus.

Tonite they will sleep late and watch "scary" PG-13 movies. I will be sewing and painting my toes while I wait for the night to be over.

No Facebook, Yes to Twitter!

2009-04-15T11:26:00.000-07:00

See, this is what mojitos do to you! I had 2 small glasses of this refreshing drink yesterday while playing some Boogie Wii game and my cousin somehow convinced me to join.

I've said no to Facebook because I knew that it would eat up many hours of my day as my youth at Church say its one of their greatest things that stopping them from focusing on God. But I figured that Twitter won't be as time consuming. Follow me here if you like!

Good weather calls for a good guava mojito!

2009-04-12T14:35:00.000-07:00

Beautiful. Refreshing. Relaxing. I want to be on a island sipping my cares away...but sipping this at home is good too.

Things that make me go "yum"!

2009-04-09T12:16:00.000-07:00

I have nothing to post about. Really, I don't. But today I realized that I do like this combination: coffee and hummus (with crackers). It's 12 noon and I don't feel like eating lunch but this sure taste good as a snack before lunch.

Almost 28. I'll be 30 in less than 2 years. Sigh.

Jumpin' at our house!

2009-04-04T15:33:00.000-07:00

This weekend our neighbor, "gladiator" Ali turned 40. Her party was so big that it overflowed onto our house. We should of just celebrated CJ's 1st birthday today too.

Pretty clips in minutes!

2009-04-03T18:01:00.000-07:00

I'm on a roll this week on diy projects. I made some other things that I'm dying to post but according to my mom, she says its "too personal". You can look here to get a good idea of what I've made. I must say, very comfortable. Enough said.

Anyways, I saw these being sold on Etsy and I didn't want to pay money for them. So I just made them myself for pennies. I had a lot of scrap material lying around, but not enough buttons to use for decorating. Oh well, the buttons are cute but not neccesary. A good tutorial on these clips can be found here. It took only a few minutes each to complete them.

The Best Small Investment Made in 2009, So Far..

2009-04-01T12:01:00.000-07:00

I would say I'm a creature of habit. Once I do something repeatedly for about a week or so I have the habit down to keep doing it. I used to think my parents were nuts to have coffee every morning but I have caught on. Coffee is great. There is something very soothing about the aroma of it. It's comforting.

So the other day I was at my friend Janet's house for brunch. She whipped out this thing that I've never seen before and told me that it was a single cup coffee filter. This was an ingenious idea! Whoever thought of this is amazing! No longer will I need to run my coffee maker to make one small cup of coffee. Plus, this Melitta Ready Set Joe Single Cup Coffee Maker only cost me $2.40 at Bed Bath Beyond (I used a 20% off coupon that I get in the mail every so often).

This is by far the best small purchase I have made this year. Tell me about yours if you have one!

Happy 99 or 100 years to my Grandma!

2009-03-30T22:10:00.000-07:00

Not sure how old she is and she doesn't even know either! Anyways, Happy Birthday to my Po Po. What joy she brings to us every year! :)

Can you find the Ceej in the picture?

A Dip with No Name

2009-03-30T21:46:00.000-07:00

We love chips and dip in our household! :) We usually have some type of hummus or salsa somewhere in the fridge. We didn't have any dip in our house today so I decided to make one. At first it was something like a spinach dip, then it turned into something else as I got carried away. Please help me out with naming this dip!

8 oz. light sour cream
1/2 cup defrosted spinach
1/4 fresh lemon juice
1/2 mashed avocado
1/2 cup imitation crab
1/4 cup of orange sauce from La Victoria's
Dash of Pepper
Dash of dried dill
Dash of paprika
couple chopped mint leaves

It's almost time for a hair cut!

2009-03-23T18:39:00.000-07:00

Babies can wear leg warmers

2009-03-20T22:52:00.000-07:00

Yes, its cute on babies! Not too cute on adults though.

Today I made my second pair of baby leg warmers (aka Baby Legs). I could never justify paying $12+ for one pair so I made my own. I saw a DIY tutorial here. It only cost me $1.97 for the socks and about 5 minutes of picture taking to get a decent picture of the Ceej in them. He's too active to even get one good shot of him nowadays. Growing up too fast!

Spring time means babies!

2009-03-19T18:17:00.001-07:00

I love Spring time! The weather becomes nice and breezy. The fruit selection gets better. And babies are poppin' out! I'm excited to have more of Ceej's friends coming out to play! :) Here are the first of many hand sewn gifts for friends to enjoy!

Burp Clothes. Every baby needs these. They spit up all over the place, esp. in the first 3 months. This one time I found spit up in my hair. Gross.

This laundry bag makes me happy. Its so bright and cheery. It makes me want to do laundry!!!

Let's pardy like da Iyish!

2009-03-18T14:16:00.000-07:00

I'm not a fan of corn beef or cabbage really. In fact, I've never even attempted to do anything special for St. Patrick's day because as we all know, I'm not Irish. But this year was different. Thomas mentioned to me that he really likes corn beef so I found a recipe online for Creamy Corn Beef Casserole. I tweaked the recipe a little to my liking and it turned out great!

Just to warn you all, a can of corn beef hash has 24 grams of fat per serving! Talk about heart attack food! Good thing St. Patrick's Day is only once a year!

Ching Baby 3

2009-03-17T11:10:00.000-07:00

My dad frequently likes to number things. Currently he has a handful of laptops which are labeled Ching 1,2,3,4, etc. He also has Canon cameras that are also labeled Ching 1,2,3,4, etc. He also has these vacuum water canisters that are labeled Ching 1,2,3,4,etc. So, this is Ching baby 3. Welcome to the world Isaiah Emmanuel Yeung. Born 6 weeks early at a little over 5 pounds on March 1st, 2009. He's a little peanut but will grow to be bigger than his sister Miriya very soon. This is the 3rd grand child in our family in 20 months!

Got the sniffles? Wipe them in style!

2009-03-12T16:29:00.000-07:00

In Hong Kong, everyone carries little packets of tissues because there's always a shortage of TP in the public bathrooms. Or people are using it to cover the bottom half of their faces because of the overly polluted air. Or to just blow their nose in them. Or to wipe tears from their faces and sauce off thier fingers. You get the point.

Now they can wipe in style! I plan to mail a few back to my family in Hong Kong. Got the awesome and easy tutorial from Skip to My Lou. What great gifts they will be! I made 5 in less than an hour. Sweet! :)

The Ceej and his Stroller Cozy

2009-03-12T16:13:00.000-07:00

Its a common fact that baby items can be expensive. I'm really frugal when it comes to baby things. For one thing they grow out of everything very quickly and secondly, if you can get it cheaper than that's even better! I searched high and low for an adequate stroller cozy that would fit in his Joovy Kooper (btw, which I LOVE and so glad we invested in it!). Nothing seemed to be a good design. Some seemed to bulky and almost hid the baby like the Bundle Me by JJ Cole. Then I looked at WAHM design at Etsy and she came up with this. After looking at that, I thought I could make an even better design for a under $10!

My design has fleece in the inside, serged vertical slots to put the stroller harness through, canvas backing so the blanket does not budge while we're in transit, and velcro on the side for exit and entry. I also added Spiderman decorative fabric which made it fun and attractive to the eye. I've had a few moms compliment me and encourage me to try to make more and sell them. Thanks for the encouragement but I'm not sure if I want my off time to be spent laboring in production. I'll make them when I feel like it.

I'm pretty proud of myself for this one.

Quick trip to the Motherland

2009-03-09T22:15:00.001-07:00

The Motherland...Hong Kong it is! I never thought of going to Hong Kong so soon but it happened. Not really in the way I wanted it to go but yeah, the passing of my Grandma made this trip very oh so bittersweet. Good to see family, sad to see my mama go, and difficult to leave the Ceej and hubs alone. Anyways, not many pics were taken but here are a few to look at.

Breakfast on the streets. That's the way I like it!

Desserts at the MTR (train) station. Wish we had that at our local BART station.

Everyone must wear a SARS mask prior to entering the hospital. It's a little insane but I guess it makes them feel safer.

I did see an American celebrity.

I love this picture. Mixing the old and the new of Hong Kong. You see things like this everywhere.

Last but not least, here's a picture of me with some potted plants somewhere near Central Station. And those are my new glasses that I am wearing.

I am a fabric junky!

2009-03-09T19:24:00.000-07:00

I do have a lot of fabric laying around. Its from all those half done projects that I've worked on over the past 2 years. Every time I go to the fabric store I "oooo" and "ahhh" over the texture, color, and just the way certain fabric makes me feel. I never knew what to do with them when I got home. After browsing through Sew, Mama, Sew!'s Fat Quarter Projects, I felt inspired to make something. So, here it is...finally gonna replace all those dingy towels we've been using for cloth napkins. Please come over and enjoy them with me.

Going "light" green is not THAT hard. What about TP?

2009-03-07T15:38:00.000-08:00

If my son gets wiped with reusable wipes then should I too? That's been a thought of mine for a while. After reading here that EACH individual uses about 24 rolls of toilet paper a year, it made me take a double look at my use. That means since I am about to be 28, I've used at least 672 rolls of TP! Geez, that's prob equivalent to more than 50 trees!

I've already made a few other switches to reduce my consumption of disposable goods. First that went bye bye is CJ's disposable diapers. I'm not on full time cloth diapering with him yet but I'd say that 75% of the time he's at home he uses them. Another thing that went is paper napkins- we just use random towels laying around the house to wipe our mouths and hands. They aren't pretty ones but I'm working on getting some nice cloth napkins. Next to go is maybe toilet paper.

What do you guys think? Should I consider switching to reusable wipes? At least there are cute ones available now sold on Etsy or Wallypop. I could make them too.

picture taken from walkslowlylivewildly.com
You can read more about reusable toilet paper here. Look, it doesnt look too bad huh. One side is for dry wipes, other is in warmer so at least for your #2's, its nice and warm and comfy on your behind. See, your normal toilet paper can't do that! After you are done wiping, then put the dirty wipes in the wet bag where they will be collected til washing day.

Projects Completed: Mei Tai Carrier and Cowl Neck Scarf

2009-02-22T22:50:00.000-08:00

Here it is! After a few days of studying a few pictures and online patterns for the Mei Tai Carrier (or some call it an Asian Baby Carrier), I finally made one myself. Not bad, only took about 2 afternoons to do it. I loosely followed a pattern by Kimber's Ball Baby Overall which had great and easy to follow directions. With this baby carrier, you can carry your baby three different ways- on your back, on the front, or on the hip. I'll get a picture with CJ in it soon.

A few years back I made a scarf for my Dad. He loved it to peices and my mom told me that he kept on wearing it even though the edges were all frayed. So more recently, he asked me to make something like the scarf above. After completing it, he told me he LOVED it and it was exactly what he was looking for: light, easy to travel with, and not needing to wrap it around the neck and instead just pulling it over the head. I liked the one I made for him so much that I made one for myself. I didn't follow a pattern, I just kinda measured and kept count of my stitching. I don't even know what kind of knit stitch I did. I'm glad that I picked up knitting again. I forgot how theuraputic it was.

Ta daaaaa......

The Wii already?

2009-02-22T19:11:00.001-08:00

Like Mommy like son. He learns so quickly.

Snicker doodies

2009-02-21T16:21:00.000-08:00

It's Thomas 32nd Birthday today. So it brings up an opportunity to bake something. I wanted to make snickerdoodles but all the recipes that I saw called for shortening. I hate shortening! It's pretty much fat in a stick. Sick! So I found this low fat recipe that didnt call for it and only asked for 2 tsp. of butter. Got the recipe from Flour-Arrangements. After eating two fo them, I must say that they are pretty good considering they are low fat.

Is it OK to crave Mc D's at weird hours of the night?

2009-02-21T16:12:00.001-08:00

My hubby late at night on thursday briefly saw a Mc D's commercial on TV. Then it hit him at about 1 AM that night that he was dying for a Big Mac. So much so that he was repeated himself numerous times that he really really really wanted a Big Mac. About 11 hours later, he got everything he wanted: 2 big macs, filet of fish, and chic nuggets. There's something about eating Mc D's even though you know its loaded with empty calories and tons of fat. Its a comfort thing. So delish and scrumptious and according to my husband, its the only thing he'll eat when he'sick. The pic above says it all. He's got pure joy written all over his face.

The Start of Something New

2009-02-19T21:17:00.000-08:00

After much consistent persuasion from a few people in my life, I have decided to start a blog. I was meddling around in xanga for a while but I realized that blogspot just looks better for some reason. Anyways, I hope I can keep up with this...let's hope...let's cross our fingers. Its the start of something new! :)