No More Plastic

The kids have graduated to big boy/girl glasses. I am excited to say that they have graduated from their plastic cups. I hated those cups! Good riddance! I cant wait for the day that we can start using our china daily! =o)

Friends Meeting Place

This past Saturday was the memorial service for my snowbird friend. It was my first time ever at a Quaker Church and I was not surprised at the comfort and peace that I felt at the gathering. Despite my hesitancy at being awkward and very late, I was instantly enveloped in warmth and friendship. I missed most of the memorial but was still glad to have been able to make it. Outside by the entrance, C had put pictures of her and T through the years and it was heart warming to notice that the twinkle in his eyes and the laughter in his face did not change at all throughout time but just the graying of his hair. This picture, which was my memory of him is my most favorite picture of the bunch.

Doggie Dreams

Who do you think is the artist of this pitcher?

According to T: Made from 2 rectangles of clay,the clay was formed into the shape of a pitcher and a handle was molded onto the main body.

Decorations were then made from other smaller clay pieces. The decorations are: a doghouse, a dog, a bone, a bowl, a paw on a mound of dirt, a soccer ball and paws lining up on the handle.


If you want to compare it to her brother's, you can see his here

The Dove

Yesterday I had lunch with a snowbird friend that just lost a dear loved one. This is the first time that I am seeing her without him. The reunion was strange for me because I didnt know what to say and it was very different seeing her alone. I had met them together and have always ever seen her with him. I remember fondly some of our times together as a trio eating lunch at the plaza. As usual, during our initial reunion, we catch each other up on what has happened within the past year and both of us tried to be optimistic about life and the future and of moving on. Of course, conversations about the kids came up and as we talked about death and life, I shared the story of Spikey and the peace that he brought to my family's life.

Two summers ago, I, actually we, lost our beloved Buster(click here). Buster was my baby before the kids and even before S1 ever came along. Buster was my closest and my most dearest friend. Buster's passing hit all of us hard and specifically T who until now tells me, "I never said goodbye to him, Mommy." The void that he left us was so wide and so deep that it was hard to be at home and even harder seeing Roxy who has never gotten over his disappearance. S1 and I knew that we needed right away to get another dog. 1. To have company for Roxy and 2. to fill the void. After looking through online adds and pictures and more pictures of many, many puppies, we decided to drive an hour away to see a dog that we liked online.

On the way out of the city, we stopped by Pet Rescue which was right before the highway exit. Because of an adoption fair that was going on that weekend, the place was almost empty except for the animals that were sick and being treated . Inside one of the cages near the corner was a black lab mix who was being de-wormed. He was lying there calmly watching us with his sad eyes.


Both T and S2 had a list of requirements for their new dog to be. T's main requirement was that the new puppy had to have "floppy ears" and S2's was that the new dog had to lick him all over the face! Here's the picture of what happened when we asked to meet and hold Spikey.

So needless to say, that was as far as we traveled on that day!

Spikey is so different from Buster, having his own crazy personality and having such silly antics.

We are actually all glad of the difference since nothing will replace dear old Bus.

However, just recently, we have been noticing alot of Buster's idiosyncrasies reflected in Spikey. Of course, I noticed this early on and now the kids are seeing it more and more too. So just recently, T tells me "Mommy, I think that Spikey has Buster's spirit!" I told her that "I think so too! I think that Buster had a hand in guiding us to Pet Rescue that day and had chosen Spikey for us." T then thinks about it and then nods her head and says to me. "Mommy, that's why Spikey has a dove on his chest right by his heart! The dove's color is white just like Buster's color. Spikey was the one chosen to bring peace to all of us!"

Yes, he was! =o) <3


(To my snowbird friend, if you are reading this, I hope that your dove will come soon.)

Chamber Ensemble of the Shanghai Chinese Orchestra

One of the things that I really love about working in Student Affairs is the opportunity to meet people whom I would normally never get to meet and actually converse with them! Today I am excited to have heard and met some of the members of the Shanghai Chinese Orchestra along with their Director!

It was wonderful hearing how they all started with their instruments and some of their likes and dislikes apart from their music. I watched in awe as they produced the most beautiful of sounds in what looked to me to be archaic-like instruments compared to the modern ones that we are used to seeing and hearing.

If their concert is even half as good as their solo performances, then you should take every opportunity to go and see them! (For those of you that do not know me, I am the one to the very right)

The Dog who cried wolf!

Roxy kept us up again last night. She has been doing this now every night for the past month. She wants to be let out every 2 or so hours and when you do, she stands out there and sniffs the air. It has become quite trying and she did it again last night. But this time, we stood our ground. We ignored her and said no. She didn't like it at all and was quite vocal about it. We ignored her and kept trying to sleep.
THIS WAS NOT A GOOD IDEA! BAD CALL on our part. We woke up this morning to piles and trails of very unpleasant STUFF all over the house! =o( Thankfully enough she was smart enough to avoid the rugs and went mostly on the tiled areas. For the past couple of hours now I've been mopping and re-mopping the floors with clorox. S1 tells me that it's clean enough. My "all things in my home must be sanitary" paranoia thinks that I've got to keep mopping... so I sent S1 to get me more clorox! ;o/

All Pimped Up!

Yup! He's definitely gone berserk! His long awaited for Christmas present finally came and he was sooooo excited to clean the car and get it all pimped up! S1 has certifiably gone cuckoo.... told you all my husband is nuts! =o)

K Manor

So I am feeling really lazy tonite knowing that I have to clean because a butt load of guests are coming tomorrow. I also have soooooo much sewing to catch up on and yet I sit here lazily going between blog reads, pinterest, facebook and finally this post. So to continue with procrastination, let me tell you a little more about me and our house which the family have christened "K Manor".

I have been asked by many what I have done with my Bachelor of Design Degree from the College of Architecture at UF... and the answer is my house! I am proud to say that I have designed and drawn every single nook and cranny of our house including personally picking and purchasing every single fixture and appliance from the toilets to the handles of our kitchen cabinets. The house is English Manor in style and we have tried our best (as budget allows) to try and get it to look as old as possible.

In keeping with the old English style, I wanted the cozy rooms but with an honest intent on making the most of the windows and sustainability. I think that our open layout works well and if it weren't for S1's need to live like he was in Antarctica, our energy bill would be minimal, even living here in Florida!

Our builder was a great sport but thought that I was crazy because of all the custom design requirements! Not wanting to have any square rooms, there is only one room in the entire house that has all its walls having a ninety degree angle. The rest of the house have rooms and closets that have a play with angles with the main areas having a hexagonal layout.

The builder had a difficult time contracting with a truss engineer because nobody wanted to take on the work. But the trouble was all worth it for us, as it accomplished the look we wanted, with a wonderful elevation design and an impressive roofing system. I just wish we could afford the slate tile roof! =o(

The house is situated on almost 3 acres and I did alot of site studies on how the house is placed to make the most of the sun paths, and the placement of the windows. Wherever one stands, besides two of the upstairs bedrooms facing the street, all views into the house are totally private where window treatments are not needed.

The house is still a work in progress, but it is a happy home having hosted so many celebrations with guests exceeding in the hundreds!... and we've only been here 3 years!

Stay tuned for more posts of K Manor in the future. I will also learn to organize all my house posts in this blog eventually! This picture was taken 2 months after we moved in for our Christmas card!

Thank you!!

Today in my Etsy I had my 25th sale...shortly followed by my 26th! =o) I would like to thank everyone that has been supportive of my shop, my blogsite and all the rest of you that leave comments on my facebook accounts. I surely wish that you would leave comments on the actual blogsite instead though! But nonetheless, it has been fun sewing and crafting with the kids. I wish that I wasnt so tired coming home from work to allow me more crafting time but alas, I will just keep hoping that I will get the winning lotto one day....

I appreciate your continued support, and your help in marketing me!

Happy Valentine's Day!

S1 and S2 had a Valentine's pizza dinner baking for us when we got home. Underneath all that chewy mozzarella, lies lots of pepperoni, ham and mushroom. Do you see cupid's arrow?? It's made with bacon! Yum!

Cockadooddledoooooo!!!

I got a most wonderful surprise from my bro-in-law yesterday and I LOVE it!!! I have never been into decorative ceramic animals of any kind but the crowing rooster has ALWAYS reminded me of my Lola's(grandma)house in the province. No matter where I am, when I hear the "cockadoodledoo" of any rooster, my thoughts go back to my very early childhood running around in my Lola's house and yard. I knew that I just had to have one of them to bring back and preserve this memory in my home. I mentioned this to L, who loves scavenging for good deals like myself, to grab me one if he finds...and he did!!! =o) Rooster is over a foot wide and almost 2 feet tall!! I know that his final home is right smack in the middle of my island counter. His colors are sooo beautiful and match my kitchen and adjacent family room so well! (more pics to follow AFTER I clean the counter! ;oP)

I've also been making more of my decorative pillows since I found out that my embroidery machine is STILL not working. This is after paying over $125 to get it fixed! I am not a happy camper! Here are the pillows of which I just put in my Etsy!


Have a blessed Sunday everyone!

Time's Up!

The Valentine Giveaway is OVER! It is unfortunate that only 4 were interested. =o( The winning comment.... (drum roll please....) is Cortland! I hope that your mom will enjoy them!!!! Congratulations and thank you to all that participated!

Valentine Give-away!

I wanted to do a give-away for Valentine's Day. All you need to do is to leave a comment by noon EST tomorrow, February 8, telling me why this pair of heart earrings should belong to you! I will choose among those who comment soon after and try to mail the earrings to you in time for Valentine's Day. Good luck! I cant wait to read your comments!

New Rug

Well I finally got rid of the old under the sink rug and changed it with this darker jewel toned one. I didn't think I'd like it as much but I think that it goes better with the theme. I made the curtains rather quickly when we first moved in and didn't realize how awful it looks! Project #1 of must do things. Project #2 of must do things is to repot some of the window plants. I LOVE the tall long stemmed plant that is growing like the magic beanstalk but need to research what it is first so that I can properly transplant and propagate it. Project #3 is to tile the window ledge. I really love the plants there and the plants seem to love it there too. Only problem is the wood of the ledge doesn't like it too much.

By the way, our kitchen counters are really never this neat. I have double deep commercial sinks and I pushed everything in it to take this picture!

Brunch at Grandma's and Jaja's

One thing that I can always count on seeing over at the K1 house are flowers.
Mom K had them everywhere!




She had the buffet table laid out with her china!


Typical of S2, he was already eating before all the food was even out!

...and of course T was doing what she normally does...

Here's some of the yummy food!

What a blessed Sunday morning! Only one missing was S1. =o(

New Fave!

I found a new blog site to follow Simple Details and have been immersed in her posts for a couple of hours now.... AMAZING and so inspirational! I was going to start from her most recent post and work backwards but then felt as if I was missing a whole lot of information. It was like reading a book and starting at the last page....so, click, click, click and I found her very first post. Thanks to Addicted 2 Decorating for introducing me!!

Unfortunately, all this excitement has been severely diminished by the feeling of "not being good enough". I quickly realized that I've been blogging for almost a whole year longer and I dont have any hits or followers! =o( So I am hoping that it's only because of my lack of "technology know how" and not knowing how to put my blog "out there" and not because my posts aren't interesting enough.... (this is about the time you're supposed to say, "well let me leave a comment so she doesn't think all this...." LOL! I guess I've just added another goal for myself this year, huh?