Oh tomatoes!

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!

A Semi-Casual Father's Day

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!

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

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 year of party favors!

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! 

Backyard Patio Upgrade

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!?

Babies can wear leg warmers

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!

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!!!

Got the sniffles? Wipe them in style!

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

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.

I am a fabric junky!

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.

Projects Completed: Mei Tai Carrier and Cowl Neck Scarf

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......