Glass etching

I have decided to blog this to make sure I remember how... because I am sure I have done etching before but can't remember much about it!  I think I used a glass cleaner then but that's all!

Anyway, this was not a hard project, easier if you have one of those cricket machine.  Here's for people who don't.

Materials:

Pyrex or any glassware you want to etch
Exacto knife
Contact paper
Pencil/pen
Stencil
Armour Etch(cream in cylinder shaped white container with blue label) sold at the craft store.  This bottle is kind of spendy so I recommend you use coupon :)

1. Wash the glassware. If there's a dirt stain where you want to etch, the spot will prevent it from getting the perfect design you wish to have.  Decide the design you want to have. 

2. Cut the contact paper according to the size of the stencil with the design.  You want to make it a little bigger than actual stencil.  It is permanently etched if you make a mistake...  Then put the contact paper on the glassware.  Make sure no bubbles!  It might mess up your design :) 

I did mine on the side of Pyrex.

3. Tape the stencil on top of the contact paper. Make sure stencil is not going anywhere.

4. Trace it with a pencil.  Oh... the cars pencil!

5. Now trace it with exacto knife.  In this picture, it shows that I tried doing it with stencil on, but it is much easier to do without.  Tracing it with a pencil is an extra step but worth it :)  Walk around a few times if it gets too much.  Well, that's what I had to do... haha

 Now this shows what it looks like after cutting the design out

6. Put the etching cream on.  Make sure not to miss any spot:)  Also, be careful not to accidentally spill it somewhere else.  It is permanent and will etch the glass away. 

7. Wait for 5-10min or longer.  Take the contact paper out and wash it off. 
*Point to consider.  Since I put it on the side, I needed to hold it on the side and waited for the whole time.  I did one on the side previous to this and failed horribly.  I just put the bottom down and let it drizzle...  Now our last name has a nice drooling mark! 
*If you have a cut or anything of the nature on your finger, this will hurt when you wash it off.  Don't touch. 

All done!  Here's the finished project.  Doesn't it look nice?  Perfect for Christmas present.

Eternal Family

Gee, I can tell I am really getting old!  I am constantly having to fix my typing nowadays.  I am typing the second letter before the first letter, or third letter before the second etc.  Cannot be happening to me!  haha

Well, back to the title.  Those of you who know me know this but, I belong to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, commonly known as Mormons.  I was 16 when I first heard about the church and started taking lessons.

One of the things that the missionaries were excited to tell me about was this.  Eternal Family.
They looked very happy and delighted that they could share this with me.  My reaction?  "So what?". 
I never really thought of that because to me, family was the group of people who lived together and had
obligation somewhat to take care of each other in time of need.  We did our own thing and when things
required permission from parents, I would talk to my parents about things.  They were pretty much just there
but out of my life in many aspects, as much as I was to them or- so it seemed.

But now I have my own family, I yearn to stay with them for a long, long time even to eternity.
I want to do my best so that we can stay together, even though I struggle with my weaknesses constantly. 

Then, a thought came to me.  Does everyone in the family feel the same way?  Am I doing enough things so that everyone, each one of us in the family desire for the eternal family?  Then I freaked out because I was not sure. 

So, that's my goal now.  I want to create the home setting where everyone who lives and enters the house will feel comfortable to the extent they feel "eternity" somehow.  I want each one of us to feel and desire this feeling among the family to last forever.  I want us to feel peace at home.  And by doing this, I hope I will have the desire to have eternal family with my family I was born in someday.

What do you do so everyone in your family have desire to have eternal family with current family?      

Talents

As some or most of you know, I belong to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.  And by now, many of you are singing the primary song "I belong to the church of..." haha.

I just wanted to share some thought on the lesson we have had in Relief Society or Sunday School so I will remember how I felt and get some insights from you-whatever they may be.  No unkind comments, please :) 

Last week, no maybe the week before, we learned about Talents.  When I used to hear the talents, I thought of a big accomplishment that people were making, or getting trophy playing sports, arts, etc.  Any kind of recognition people get in public start with talent.  That's what I used to think. 

I was so wrong!  Talents have to be something that are recognized on the stage or by any media or anything.  It could be some personality traits that we have.  If we all have talents and that have to be recognized in public somehow, that would be a mess... maybe the best talent is the one that is shown when nobody sees it shared. 

I tried finding the list of talents people have spiritually but couldn't find it.  Oh well.
Talents can be something we never knew we had until people point out for us.
Also, talents can be something that could be seen as a weakness. 

Here is my story. 
I have this 14 yrs old son who is quiet.  He is content and likes working alone and likes reading books.
When he was in 5th grade, the teacher gave him a certificate that says "most quiet".
When he read that to us, we all laughed...  it's not because he is louder at home.  When being quiet poises negative meaning in this society, it sounded a little sarcastic to get an award for that.  To be honest, I felt disappointed in the teacher. 

Then there's this 6th grade teacher.  She always said positive things about each kids and somehow knew how to bring out the best in the kids.  It must be because she really believed in them.  On the certificate he got from this teacher said "most focused". 

This case, I believe the latter teacher has a talent to see and find good in people.  And also, my son has a talent to stay focused.  He really does. 

It's just how we look at it. 

I believe talent and weakness go back to back at times.  If we don't do anything to overcome the weaknesses,  those talents cannot be developed until it happens.  Just like the movie King's Speech. 
He needed to overcome his stuttering problems before he could function and be the great tacer is

I hope we all can find talents we possess and develop them to the fullest with help from above. 

  

Monday

I bite my tongue when I feel I need to stop the tears from coming.  What do you do?

Due to the recent change around me, well I am not going to write about it in detail on the public blog like this, but I feel like I need to take a really big breath and just hold it for a while. 

That is my Monday. 

So today was that day.  And after deciding to be happier, I made my favorite bread from childhood.

Bread filled with custard cream.  



It doesn't quite taste like I remember but well, of course it tastes better when someone else makes it, right?  I managed to eat 3 of them.  I love custard cream.  Not as rich as the vanilla pudding, but more like England custard cream, light but eggy and slightly sweet.  I love this as a filling for cream puffs, too.  Since I found the recipe to make it in microwave, I don't have to worry about it being lumpy or rough.  I am overeating!

I think next Monday, I will try diving- like this...

or this...

  

Haha!  My baby well, toddler was stuck like that for a little.  I needed to take a pic before he got out!  

And his big brother was stuck like that for about 10 min.  Just kidding... 

Happy Monday everyone.  Oh, it's just about over! 

Monument (poem)

This is one of the poems I like.  I have read and shared it many times because it helps me put the perspectives in the right place.  I thought I would share it here, too.   

The Monument

God,

Before He sent his children to earth

Gave each of them

A very carefully selected package

Of problems,

These,

He promised, smiling,

Are yours alone, No one else may have the blessings

These problems will bring you.

And only you

Have the special talents and abilities

That will be needed

To make these problems

Your servants.

Now go down to your birth

And to your forgetfulness,

Know that I love you beyond measure.

These problems that I give you

Are a symbol of that love.

These monuments you make of your life

With the help of your problems

Will be a symbol of your

Love for me.

Your Father.

This helps me realize that the trials are there so we can grow stronger, and so we will be prepared for whatever may come our way later.  It is just simply amazing when we cannot see the whole picture ourselves yet but the Lord can and will guide us through.   Love this!  :)

Healthy and better?? cooking...

So.  After tasting my friend's spinach smoothie and another spinach smoothie at the meeting on Healthy food (both were yummy, not the one w/tabasco!!), I was finally motivated enough to make my own. 
Here's what it is.

I liked it.  Maybe because I had a cold and couldn't taste anything.  haha  Anyway.  I put a handful of spinach(tip on how to freeze spinach, go here), one apple, and one banana.  Kids all had some and said it tasted like banana juice.  Great.  Maybe I will add some blueberries or something to make it more brown looking.  Is it more appetizing green or brown??  I don't know. 

I was talking to my mom on the phone and this is what she taught me.

They have this 8 categories they try to have dish from.  Kind of like acronym is used and here's the list.

Beans, Sesame seed, Dairy, Sea weed, Vegetable, Fish(meat), Mushroom, Potato group

She was trying to make every meal out of those 8 categories- at least she was trying hard to take one from each a day.  Forget it.  Here's my thought.

*Beans-I barely eat beans.  I guess Tofu will do some days. 

*Sesame seed??-  Sprinkle on rice.  I should eat more sesame seed dressing. 

*Dairy- we eat too much of (we like cheese),

*Sea weed- hmmmm...  time for sea weed salad!  (anyone wants to try it??  I really like it and is good with sesame seed dressings). 

*Veggie- we need to eat more of so the kids don't have a problem, 

*Fish(meat)- we are trying to eat less of,

*Mushroom- I like the small dried shiitake mushrooms my mom sent me.  They get reconstituted really fast so it's convinient when I make noodles. But mushrooms everyday??  My kids hate them... is it worth hearing them whine??

*Potato kind- well... french fries for snack everyday! (just kidding)  

Needless to say, I am trying to eat better and this is the list I am going to follow as close as I can(or believe)!  

Happy eating everyone!  

Crafty

Recently I have been feeling a little more crafty than I had been so I started to look for something I can make.  This year, my theme is to use what I already have so I started looking in the craft room.

I found wooden wreath and some fake flowers so I decided to make a valentine wreath.

This is what I made.

Valentine's Day wreath!!!

I don't care if there's an unneeded space between H and a or some typo... haha!  I LOVE this and put it on my front door.  Yay for me!  So basically, I took the flower and leaves out of the stems and inserted to the wreath.  When I knew for sure where each one should go, I used glue gun to secure them into places.  Very easy.  I am going to look some more to see what I can make with what I already have :) 

New Year meal

A HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

This is what I do for New Year. I don't really miss my family in Christmas but I do around new year.


In Japan, we do a lot to get prepared for new year. We deep clean the house, go shopping and cook for a long time so we don't have to cook or clean for about 3 days when new year rolls in. We have a special meal called Osechi and supposedly, each dish has some meaning to it.


Here we have egg, cucumber, shrimp, Edamame, deep fried chicken, salmon wrapped in seaweed, and fish cake

Ozouni... soup with mochi (pounded sweet rice)Carrot(notice the flower shape??), shiitake mushroom, Nappa cabbage, and daikon raddish

This is what we had + a bowl of rice. This year it was earlier (because I woke up early) and ate around 9am. I didn't really cook after that-Enough cooking for one day already! I added the jigglers (jello) this year and it was a success. The kids LOVED helping me cut the shapes out!

Year of rabbit... I hope we will always "hop" right back no matter what ;)