Am reading till the Jojo part. So far its quite interesting. Can't wait till my new book shelves arrives from Ikea!!
Thursday, January 24, 2008
A new book...
after a year of not buying books!!! I really (REALLY) miss reading books. Not that I don't read no, its reading for Owen; Ladybird books of Mother Goose and jack & the Bean Stalk etc. So the very recent and 1st purchase of the year is....
Am reading till the Jojo part. So far its quite interesting. Can't wait till my new book shelves arrives from Ikea!!
Am reading till the Jojo part. So far its quite interesting. Can't wait till my new book shelves arrives from Ikea!!
Sunday, January 20, 2008
What work!
Hi all! See I can stand!
I know, I know. I haven't been blogging lately. Was side tracked by Owen, stitching a new curtain and organising a steamboat/Chinese fondue party just yesterday for hub's friend. Owen's doing great now. He's getting more mobile by the day. Its just really amazing to see how babies learn stuff just like that!!! He's now crawling super fast, learning to stand and cruise at the same time. now the cruise part, I think he'll have to sharpen it up a little bit more. He keeps letting go of whatever he can get to hold himself steady, to "free stand"! Its really scary, coz he's fallen so many times and mostly to his head area. But thank goodness he almost always falls onto the carpet! So now, he's getting to know the "art of NOT falling" on his head but his bum (cushioned by diapers!). Now I understand why mum said I was a handful!! Hmm.... May be I tend to get into more trouble than sis?
Can you see my teeth? Owen with cheeky smile...
As for the stitching part, sad to say I've only done less than half on my 1st piece of curtain ever since 3 weeks ago! :(( But still I can foresee that I'm not going to leave it as a WIP for long. In fact, I've planned or shall we say drawn up a list of things to do/stitch this year. It will be:
- My kitchen curtains.
- The gold & yellow on red Chinese calligraphy: prosperity.
- A gift for my secret partner: Birthday gift exchange.
- Joan Elliot's "Home is where your honey is".
- My other WIP which turned into an UFO: the 9 Koi....
My WIP curtain. Still on 1st piece.
So you see, I don't think I'll have time to watch another no brainer HK VCD/DVD (which SIL so kindly lend me in case of boredom). In fact out of 25 movies, I've only seen 2 of them and almost fell asleep.... Seriously, I don't think I'm ever bored. There's always something to do; keep all 4 eyes on Owen, stitching, some bakin' & cookin', browsing on-line shops and only when I have time read blogs & blogging.
A close up. Design from De Fil en Aiguille mag issue 21
About the Chinese fondue. Actually one of hubs friend will be having a stomach reducing operation soon. Once its done, he won't be able to eat normal food, just really small and liquidise foods. Why stomach reduction, coz this guy is huge. I mean he is big and he doesn't wear a jacket during winter even outside coz he's always HOT. This guy sweats during the coldest months.... He's been telling us that he really needs to get it done. I think so too, for obvious reasons; he's health is suffering
Anyways, preparing food for 2 big guys, 3 adults and 3 kids alone is a "field day" for me. Especially when you have a crying 7 month old and a husband who is glued to the TV due to Australia Open (tennis) is double.... That's why I was telling hubs, the next time we are only allowed to have max twice a year for gatherings of this kind if it involves me cooking/preparing food and doing the cleaning up alone. Its not that I don't like doing it but I really hate it when he leaves almost everything to me and then expect me to do things at the very last minute!! Men, when they aren't in the food business is totally useless & clueless....
Tuesday, January 08, 2008
To start off the year
For the start of 2008, I would like to post this article which was emailed to me just moments ago. Although a little on the sentimental side of things but its so true isn't it? We're so "driven" by material things that we sometimes forget to stop and smell the roses.
Food for Thought to start the Year
by Anna Quindlen
This was a speech made by Pulitzer Prize-winning author , Anna Quindlen at the graduation ceremony of an American university where she was awarded an Honorary PhD.
"I'm a novelist. My work is human nature. Real life is all I know. Don't ever confuse the two , your life and your work. You will walk out of here this afternoon with only one thing that no one else has. There will be hundreds of people out there with your same degree: there will be thousands of people doing what you want to do for a living. But you will be the only person alive who has sole custody of your life. Your particular life. Your entire life. Not just your life at a desk , or your life on a bus , or in a car , or at the computer. Not just the life of your mind , but the life of your heart. Not just your bank accounts but also your soul.
People don't talk about the soul very much anymore. It's so much easier to write a resume than to craft a spirit. But a resume is cold comfort on a winter's night , or when you're sad , or broke , or lonely , or when you've received your test results and they're not so good.
Here is my resume: I am a good mother to three children. I have tried never to let my work stand in the way of being a good parent. I no longer consider myself the centre of the universe. I show up.
I listen. I try to laugh. I am a good friend to my husband. I have tried to make marriage vows mean what they say. I am a good friend to my friends and they to me.
Without them , there would be nothing to say to you today , because I would be a cardboard cut out. But I call them on the phone , and I meet them for lunch. I would be rotten , at best mediocre at my job if those other things were not true.
You cannot be really first rate at your work if your work is all you are. So here's what I wanted to tell you today: Get a life. A real life , not a manic pursuit of the next promotion , the bigger pay cheque , the larger house.
Do you think you'd care so very much about those things if you blew an aneurysm one afternoon , or found a lump in your breast? Get a life in which you notice the smell of salt water pushing itself on a breeze at the seaside , a life in which you stop and watch how a red-tailed hawk circles over the water , or the way a baby scowls with concentration when she tries to pick up a sweet with her thumb and first finger.
Get a life in which you are not alone. Find people you love , and who love you. And remember that love is not leisure , it is work. Pick up the phone. Send an email. Write a letter. Get a life in which you are generous. And realize that life is the best thing ever , and that you have no business taking it for granted. Care so deeply about its goodness that you want to spread it around. Take money you would have spent on beer and give it to charity. Work in a soup kitchen. Be a big brother or sister. All of you want to do well. But if you do not do good too , then doing well will never be enough.
It is so easy to waste our lives , our days , our hours , and our minutes. It is so easy to take for granted the color of our kids' eyes , the way the melody in a symphony rises and falls and disappears and rises again. It is so easy to exist instead of to live.
I learned to live many years ago. I learned to love the journey , not the destination. I learned that it is not a dress rehearsal , and that today is the only guarantee you get. I learned to look at all the good in the world and try to give some of it back because I believed in it , completely and utterly. And I tried to do that , in part , by telling others what I had learned.
By telling them this:Consider the lilies of the field. Look at the fuzz on a baby's ear. Read in the back yard with the sun on your face. Learn to be happy. And think of life as a terminal illness , because if you do , you will live it with joy and passion as it ought to be lived".
by Anna Quindlen
This was a speech made by Pulitzer Prize-winning author , Anna Quindlen at the graduation ceremony of an American university where she was awarded an Honorary PhD.
"I'm a novelist. My work is human nature. Real life is all I know. Don't ever confuse the two , your life and your work. You will walk out of here this afternoon with only one thing that no one else has. There will be hundreds of people out there with your same degree: there will be thousands of people doing what you want to do for a living. But you will be the only person alive who has sole custody of your life. Your particular life. Your entire life. Not just your life at a desk , or your life on a bus , or in a car , or at the computer. Not just the life of your mind , but the life of your heart. Not just your bank accounts but also your soul.
People don't talk about the soul very much anymore. It's so much easier to write a resume than to craft a spirit. But a resume is cold comfort on a winter's night , or when you're sad , or broke , or lonely , or when you've received your test results and they're not so good.
Here is my resume: I am a good mother to three children. I have tried never to let my work stand in the way of being a good parent. I no longer consider myself the centre of the universe. I show up.
I listen. I try to laugh. I am a good friend to my husband. I have tried to make marriage vows mean what they say. I am a good friend to my friends and they to me.
Without them , there would be nothing to say to you today , because I would be a cardboard cut out. But I call them on the phone , and I meet them for lunch. I would be rotten , at best mediocre at my job if those other things were not true.
You cannot be really first rate at your work if your work is all you are. So here's what I wanted to tell you today: Get a life. A real life , not a manic pursuit of the next promotion , the bigger pay cheque , the larger house.
Do you think you'd care so very much about those things if you blew an aneurysm one afternoon , or found a lump in your breast? Get a life in which you notice the smell of salt water pushing itself on a breeze at the seaside , a life in which you stop and watch how a red-tailed hawk circles over the water , or the way a baby scowls with concentration when she tries to pick up a sweet with her thumb and first finger.
Get a life in which you are not alone. Find people you love , and who love you. And remember that love is not leisure , it is work. Pick up the phone. Send an email. Write a letter. Get a life in which you are generous. And realize that life is the best thing ever , and that you have no business taking it for granted. Care so deeply about its goodness that you want to spread it around. Take money you would have spent on beer and give it to charity. Work in a soup kitchen. Be a big brother or sister. All of you want to do well. But if you do not do good too , then doing well will never be enough.
It is so easy to waste our lives , our days , our hours , and our minutes. It is so easy to take for granted the color of our kids' eyes , the way the melody in a symphony rises and falls and disappears and rises again. It is so easy to exist instead of to live.
I learned to live many years ago. I learned to love the journey , not the destination. I learned that it is not a dress rehearsal , and that today is the only guarantee you get. I learned to look at all the good in the world and try to give some of it back because I believed in it , completely and utterly. And I tried to do that , in part , by telling others what I had learned.
By telling them this:Consider the lilies of the field. Look at the fuzz on a baby's ear. Read in the back yard with the sun on your face. Learn to be happy. And think of life as a terminal illness , because if you do , you will live it with joy and passion as it ought to be lived".
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)