Slow living 2012

I am linking up with Christine over at Slow living essentials to set myself some goals for this year. Here are my goals:

1. Declutter - I want to declutter one room in our house and use it as a play room for my son.
2. Make soap-I have been meaning to make soap since last year. I caught the bug after reading Rhonda's post on soap making.
3. Gradually introduce my 2yrs and 8month old son to preschool.
4. Get some crafting done. I have developed an intense liking of crochet and bag making. I must finish the crochet bolero I am working on, for my niece.
5. Make another quilt. I've only done the one and have wanted to do one since. But never created the time.
6. Get used to giving handmade gifts instead of convenient, expensive store bought ones.
7. Make some handmade gifts and give to some of my dear friends. (Charmalie, Wathsala)
8. Increase my saving.
9. Reduce my expenses. I have drastically cutdown on my expenses since last October and am keeping it up.
10. Somehow revive my interest in oil painting and do at least one painting this year.
11. Do some serious gardening.

In my work life:
1. I want towrap up my research on Leishmaniasis and get confirme in my post.
2. I want to find innovative ways of conducting small group discussions for undrgraduates. I think I came up with one suggestion today which was taken up by our staff enthusiastically! It was to give students teaching aids at the class. Our first discusion will be on transmission of helminths and we will give samples of clay soil, sand, etc and talk about helminths (worms) transmitted from such an environ. Also give them a slepper and ask them what type of helminth transmission can be prevented by the simple act of using footwear. etc.

I thought I would also list the things I have achieve in 2011 so that I read them and know that I have achieved quite a bit (and smile :-)

1. I have started to record every expense I make in a book.
2. I have started to follow the envelope method of money management.
3. I have cut down on my credit card buying.
4. Minimised on buying toys on impulse for my son and have started to make things like this:
Diver in a bottle
Shadow makers
Bottletop stamps

5. I am more into do with what you have and go without buying new.
6. I have also reduced my consumption of chicken. Its something I've always wanted to do. I eat more fish now and also make things with veggies and surprisingly find they are great!

That seems about it. Thanks Christine for your inspiration!

Crafting in the new year

I made a table runner in January. These are all scrap material. It is quilted.

Then I found this great tutorial for making a clutch purse using metal frames. We had an old handbag and I got the frame from that. My first attempt I used pliers and it was horribly disappointing. Removed and googled a bit and came up with this:

And I made this! Isn't it So GREAT???? Thanks Lisa! I got some glue on the fabric cos I was so in a hurry to get the fabric in the frame before my son woke up from his nap. But I did the whole thing from finding fabric to finishing in 2 hours flat! It is my new fave handbag!! By the way the material is from a ari jacket pice and is silk.

I had a lovely time making it. Take care.

I am thankful..

I am thankful ,

for the way my son's face lights up when he sees I have come home from "campus".

for my parents for so many things I cannot begin to mention.

for Chuty , my sis, for always supporting me.

for my brother for caring.

for Puwa, for being so peaceful to share a room with.

for Lilly, for never letting us down.

for always having a safe place to retreat to, whatever harsh way, life may have treated me.

for having the strength in me to just carry on inspite of everything.

A lovely poem..

I read this somewhere when I was a teenager and thought how comforted one would feel.



Death is nothing at all


Death is nothing at all
I have only slipped away into the next room
I am I and you are you
Whatever we were to each other
That we are still
Call me by my own familiar name
Speak to me in the easy way you always used
Put no difference into your tone
Wear no forced air of solemnity or sorrow
Laugh as we always laughed
At the little jokes we always enjoyed together
Play, smile, think of me, pray for me
Let my name be ever the household word that it always was
Let it be spoken without effort
Without the ghost of a shadow in it
Life means all that it ever was
There is absolute unbroken continuity
What is death but a negligible accident?
Why should I be out of mind
Because I am out of sight?
I am waiting for you for an interval
Somewhere very near
Just around the corner
All is well.
Nothing is past; nothing is lost
One brief moment and all will be as it was before
How we shall laugh at the trouble of parting when we meet again!

Canon Henry Scott-Holland, Canon of St Paul's Cathedral (1847 - 1918)

Some things from the past...

I uploaded some pictures of some of my past endeavours a long time ago but failed to publish the post.So here they are:

These are goody bags I made from scratch for my son's first birthday. I printed out the animals on different coloured photocopy paper and cut out segments and pasted to make a final colourful picture. For example I cut out the duckies beak and wing and pasted on the orange duckie printout.

This is the knitted elephant that I again made for myson. It took a lot of concentrated knitting to do this. But the final product was well worth it. Its from this site




This is the cake I decorated for my niece's second birthday.



This is a baby bag I sewed for my son and me. He is wearing a pixie hood knitted by my mother.


A picture of the elephant again. I think he turned out really cute!




And this is a cake I iced for my husban's 30th birthday. It had butter icing and the sides were done with a cashew nut nougat. It was delish.

This is the amigurumi turtle I knit for my son. This is the link.

That's all from the past. I bought a silicone chocolate mould tray (rose mould) yesterday. I want to make candy and chocolate and give as gifts to my friends and relatives. I will post about it soon. I am so exited about this! Have a lovely weekend!

On my mind

Bagels anyone?

I made bagels for breakfast and they turned out lovely! They were melt in the mouth soft. Light and airy. I am realtively new to baking and the few times I have made buns/rolls, they have come out "ok". Not great or super. Nothing to rave about.

But these bagels....Out of this world...

So I thought I would share the recipe. It is from a book called Breads and Baking edited by Gina Stear. (Quick and easy, proven recipes)

Bagels:

450g plain flour

2tbsp sunflower oil (I used olive oil)

1 1/2tsp salt
250ml tepid water

2tsp easy blend yeast
2 medium eggs

1tsp clear honey (I used bee's honey)

To finish: 1tbsp castor sugar, a beaten egg

Pre heat oven to 200 Celcius degrees 15minutes before baking.

Sift flour and salt into a large bowl. Stir in yeast, make a well in the centre. In a separate bowl, whisk eggs with honey and oil and add to the dry ingredients along with the tepid water and mix to form a soft dough (I used a little less water)

Knead dough on lightly floured surface for 10minutes until smooth and elastic.

Put dough in a bowl, cover with plastic wrap and leave in a warm place till doubled in size (about 45mins)

Briefly knead dough to knock out air. Divide into 12 (I divided into 16), form each into 20.5cm/8inch rolls, curve into a ring and pinch edges to seal (do this properly otherwise the ring breaks in the next steps)

Put rings on oiled baking sheets and cover with oiled plastic wrap and leave to rise in a warm place for about 20 mins or till puffy.

Here are mine, rising in the morning sun:

Add castor sugar to a large saucepan of water. Bring to boil, drop bagels, one at a time and poach for 15 SECONDS. (This is where if you have not sealed your rings properly, they come away and they cannot be sealed afterwards. Happened to me, but it does not detract from their heavenly softness)

Lift out with a slotted spoon and return to baking tray.

Brush the bagels with a beaten egg and sprinkle with poppy seeds (I sprinkled sugar).

Bake in a pre heated oven for about 12-15 minutes or till golden brown. Transfer to wire rack and serve when cool (we ate it hot from the oven with a dollop of butter....)

Mine are ready to come out of oven:

My soft soft bagels...

We had these for breakfast. I started getting the ingredients around 6.30am and the bagels were ready to eat by 8am. The poaching bit takes extra effort but it is totally worth it. I don't think I'll make bread rolls again. Bagels it will be..

Linking with Rhonda at Down to Earth.

Handy Medicine tote

So You Think You Can Sew?

I thought I would enter in this online competition that Mommy by day and crafter by night is hosting. I actually stumbled upon this competition after reading about it in Pleased as Punch blog. So I thank Rachel from the bottom of my heart for enlightening us.

I am an ardent crafter and I love sewing very much. I am a working mother of a two and a half year old son and while I work , both sets of grandparents take turns caring for him. So I do a lot of traveling and needed a bag to take his and my medicines/ creams etc from place to place. I googled a pattern but couldn't find one to my satisfaction and so decided to create one from scratch. This is the result:

This is the inside of the bag. It has a place to slip my son's thermometer in, on the under side of the lid. And a pocket which carries vitamin supplements, Oral Rehydration Solutions etc.

It measures a handy 14cm x 21cm with a height of 21cm. I have been using this for about 6months now and wonder how I ever managed without it.

Hope my creation is crafty enough to enter the competition!