Bridal Veil Falls

On Saturday (while I was at the craft fair) DH took DS and had a Father-son bonding day. They went to Bridal Veil falls and a few other places. Apparently it all went well, and DS was a really good boy waiting for DH to take photos (of which there were many) and walking along most of the tracks without assistance. Considering he was up at 4am with the rest of us and didn't go back to sleep like I expected him to I was most impressed and relieved. Apart from his nappy falling out his trouser leg on some steep steps, there were no disasters! LOL!

Dh was pretty pleased with his photos too.

Happy husband + Co-operative son = good.

Here is one of the photos DH took.

27 Weeks

27 weeks

The latest belly pictures. Looking at the photos I have of me pregnant with DS I can say I am larger this time. Must be those lax stomach muscles since I was the same weight to start with both times.

Everything is going well. I did the 1 hour glucose test on Friday, and should hear about the results at my midwife appointment this week. I'm not concerned about it as I've not had any problems before with gestational diabetes. I'm meeting the back up midwife this time; hopefully she will be nice. So far I have escaped the constant heartburn I had with DS which is great. Still having problems with sciatica though. Stretching helps.

3rd Birthday

DS turned 3 on Sunday. I just can hardly believe it's been 3 years since he came into our lives. I remember thinking how strange it was to have another being in the house after being just a couple. I spent ages staring at him in his cot just trying to get into my head the fact he existed, that he is a mixture of DH and I.

He's such a precious gift. Oh of course he knows how to stretch my patience to the limit! If there is anyone who can "press my buttons" it is him! But I tell you ... what they say about mother bears and their offspring applies to humans too. If you hurt my kid - be prepared to die. I can't imagine our life without him now.

There is a lot I could write about him. How today he told me he had a puppy at home that was blue and "covered all over with spots". How he thinks the letter "T" belongs to him because his name starts with "T". When I'm typing he tells me, "Don't touch my name!".

I could go on, but instead I'll share some photos of him and his birthday cake. DS is obsessed with power tools. I asked him if he wanted a digger cake or a chainsaw cake. Mistake #1. Of course he chose the more difficult option! Note to self: When giving choices to children, make sure they are reasonable! LOL! Still I think it turned out fine, and it tasted good too. His look of delight when I showed it to him was reward in itself.

Answering my own Library Week challenge

I'm going to answer my own challenge by posting about the books I've read recently or am reading.

Climbing the mango trees : a memoir of a childhood in India / Madhur Jaffrey. London : Ebury, 2005.

This is Ms Jaffrey's autobiography, at least the first volume anyway. I really enjoyed it. She writes in an engaging manner, and I found the differences in her life growing up very interesting. Don't read this one when you're hungry though... I had to make indian food for most of the week while I was reading it. One part of the book covers her experience of the division of India into Pakistan/India. I never thought much about the affect of Partition on the general population in India. It's not something we study at school here so I've not had much exposure to that time in history in that area. That part of the book made me think a little about how effective it is for outside nations to try and solve the problems of anothers.

The last days of Dogtown: a novel/Diamant, Anita.
New York : Scribner, 2005.

From the author of The Red Tent. I found this one harder to engage with. The story is about the characters from a dying town in "the sticks" and their interactions. It's well written in terms of language and all, but I just found I didn't really engage with it. The characters were interesting and there was sufficient conflict to keep my attention, but at the end of the book I was thinking, "So, what was the point?". Perhaps the plot went over my head. Having said that, I'm now reading another of her books called Good Harbour ( Rockland, MA : Wheeler Pub., 2001) which I'm enjoying much more. It's about the relationship between 2 women. One of them has been diagnosed with breast cancer and is undergoing treatment. There's a few other skeletons lurking around her life too. The other is a writer struggling with writing, her teenage daughter and her marriage. I'm finding it a much more engaging read.

It's Library Week! Toot Toot!

Get Connected for Library Week 2006!

It's Library Week (18th Sept-24th Sept). Do you know where your local library is?

If you have small children you might like to take them along to New Zealand's Biggest Storytime. On Wednesday 20 September 2006, award-winning Margaret Mahy's “Down the Back of the Chair” will be read at libraries all across New Zealand. There is a colouring competition associated with it too. Information can be found here.

If you don't have kids then my challenges to you are:
1. Get connected to a new author! Visit the public library and take out a book by an author you've never read before. If you are unsure about which one to try, most public libraries have a Who else writes like: a reader's guide to fiction authors or a publication similar. You could also be guided by the genre stickers on a book's spine. OR - be brave and ask a librarian. You might be pleasantly surprised.
2. Get connected to your library's web presence! Visit your library's online catalogue from the safety of your own home. Did you know you can check your account this way? Or even place a hold on a book that is out or at another branch?
3. Get connected to your community! Libraries aren't just about books. Most public libraries have access to the databases Fundview and Breakout. If you are looking for funding for a community project, or a scholarship for studying then check out these databases. They can help you connect with some very useful sources of funding.
4. Get connected to other people via your reading! Write a review about the book you are reading or have recently read and post about it on your blog. Many people like to read what another has recommended. If you like the sound of someone else's book, then go and get it out of the library. Libraries have more than books though. Visit the video/DVD section, the music selection, the talking book collection too.

My parents have just bought a new house. One of the comments they made about it was

"Those people haven't a book in the house! We're going to put in a wall to floor bookshelf in the family room once we're in".

This made me sad. So many other pursuits and sources of entertainment take up people's time now. Many folks just don't connect with books or their libraries. In our family it has always been a major past time to read. Up until we were in our mid-teens we would regularly go to the library as a family, usually once a week, and often on a Friday night. I don't mean to sound pompous about this. But I do think reading, books and libraries are Good Things.

I'm so glad DS is turning into a keen book fan like myself and DH. Boys are often tricky to "get into books". But I think it is worth persevering with them for a number of reasons.

• Firstly, we're still very much a "reading" culture when it comes to studying at school and most tertiary courses. If you're not able to cope with that, you can be compromised.
• Secondly, as a form of quiet relaxation and escapism, reading is something that can be a lifeline in a busy, noisy world. Sure - boys (and everyone really) need to be active, out and about. Other forms of entertainment have their place and value. But there is value in the skill of taking time to be quiet and read, contemplate and relax. It doesn't have to be fiction. Boys often prefer real life stuff like biographies or non-fiction treatises on travel, technology, animals and so on.

Eventful past few days

This month is normally a busy one for me. Check out the line up:

• Father's Day 3rd Sept
  
• Youngest sister's birthday 3rd Sept
• Middle sister's birthday 10th Sept
• SIL's birthday 14th Sept
• DS's birthday 17th Sept
• 23rd Sept Pirongia Craft show where I'm helping a friend with a stall, and also making some things to sell at it
• KS dessert recipe swap deadline 30th Sept *done, done, done!
  
• plus have to make a tag book for my uber-boss who's retiring (Oct 6, but need to do it this month)

So you see why I didn't want another baby in Sept.

To make life more exciting, DS woke up last Wednesday with a spotty face and torso. He's had a cold and cough but no fever. I immediately went into chicken-pox-alert-mode and made an appointment with the Dr. By the time the appt time came (12 o'clock) the spots had gone, with the exception of one suspicious one under his arm. The poor Dr. of course couldn't definitely say if it was chicky pox. So we went home none the wiser, and I rang daycare to alert them to the potential.

As it turns out, I was worried all for nothing and now feel like the boy who cried wolf. DS buzzed around doing his normal nearly 3-yr-old stuff. No fever. No spots.

The problem is, I've never had it. I've been exposed a number of times, but Mr Varicella hasn't ever caught me. Being pregnant I had no desire to be a victim now so I got sent for a blood test. Just as well it was a false alarm because the results say I have no antibodies. So guess who'll be getting a jab once this baby is born!

Things that make me happy

Plum blossoms on our tree. The absence of bees is a bit of concern though. Might have to get out there with my soft bristle paint brush and pretend I've a stripy abdomen and pollinate some flowers!

More flowers indicating spring - this time broad beans...
















DS's portrait of me!


My picture of him!

Creativity & the myth of talent

DH is a keen photographer, particularly of landscapes. You can see some of his work here.

He is a regular listener of the podcasts produced by Craig M. Tanner of the Radiant Vista website. Recent episodes of the podcasts (#13 & #14) have been discussing a more philosophical aspect of photography and this sparked a conversation with DH and I about creativity. This is something I'm interested in on a number of levels.

1. For myself, I would like to increase my creativity levels in my scrapbooking and ultimately in the form of art. I have plans to take up painting or some form of fine art some time in the future.
2. For my professional life. Creativity in the workplace is something I feel passionate about and would like to see more of, experience more of and initiate more of.
3. To support my husband. DH is a creative person but his natural tendancies to depression and self-criticism often stifle his ability to move or progress.
4. For my son & unborn child. Children are naturally creative and I'd like to encourage it. One of the reasons is that I see it as a great motivator in education and learning, which is something else I'm passionate about.

What is creativity? Is it something we are born with? Is it something we can cultivate?

I think there are people who have a natural talent for certain activities including creative things. But I also think it's possible to cultivate creativity or at least encourage it. I find that I have times when I don't feel creative at all. Sometimes it's because I'm afraid of my own inability to acheive what I see in my mind.

In the podcasts, Tanner goes through a "creativity ritual" that he believes will enable photographers to get more creative. It's interesting to note that one part of the ritual is to create a journal, and to write down a mission statement to guide the photographer through this process. He does get quite evangelical in these podcasts (edited to add: and some of it is IMO a bit woo woo), but they are interesting to listen to, and I think they are quite relevant to people who want to be more creative in their chosen hobby.

He's also written an article called The Myth of Talent.
In it he talks about the process he went through to become a professional photographer. Much of what he says is also relevant to people who want to become more creative.

Long term, committed, practice powered by the purpose of love leads to amazing
transformations. The bumbling beginner becomes the exalted expert. The trapped anddepressed become the liberated and empowered. So why do we so easily buy into thelimiting mythical idea about talent being nothing but a birthright?

I like this concept that by being productive, I will be able to be more creative ultimately.

He also refers to an article from Psychology Today.
I found much of this article useful. One quote I particularly liked was:

People often fall back in their efforts because they are afraid of making mistakes, which can be embarrassing, even humiliating. But if you take no chances and make no mistakes, you fail to learn, let alone do anything unusual or innovative.

Research suggests that creative people make more mistakes than their less imaginative peers. They are less proficient-it's just that they make more attempts than most others. They spin out more ideas, come up with more possibilities, generate more schemes. They win some; they lose some.

Other quotes I like from this article:

Playfulness and humour encourage creativity.

And:

What we see every day becomes ordinary to us. People, sights, sounds, and smells seem to disappear from our awareness. They lose their distinctiveness. One way of dealing with this is to invent a brand-new pattern, a fresh way of seeing the commonplace.

o Begin with something as basic as water. The idea is to notice the number of times a day you come in contact with it and the extraordinary number of ways it appears in your life: from a hot shower or the delicate beads of mist on the leaves outside your window to the ice cubes clinking in your glass.

This technique of taking things out of their ordinary context and creating a new pattern for them is a way of making the familiar strange and opening them to a fresh and creative approach.

What do you think?

I like to move it move it!

Hee hee - can't resist these guys when I'm at the zoo. We went last weekend and a good time was had by all. Funnily enough DS was mostly fascinated by the rats at the children's zoo, but he did like the other animals as well. It's a shame that there were no tigers (coming this month) because he's very keen on them. He pretends to be one frequently. DH took a great pic of the new cheetahs which DS has now claimed and insisted it was put up on the wall in his room.

NB: Flickr seems to be playing up and won't display pics. Hopefully that will be fixed soon.

List all the things you like to do when you are alone

Another one from Alison...

1. Read
2. "Beauty treatments" - you know the sort of thing... moisturise all parts, pluck eyebrows, nails dadedah
3. Scrap or some sort of craft
3. Sleep
4. Have a bath

Sometimes cleaning the house is best done alone. Though I can't say I "like" to do that.

Fresh Spring Rolls

Some of the things I've craved this pregnancy are forbidden. Like smoked salmon sushi, blue cheese, and soft boiled eggs. But thankfully, some of my cravings are not on the banned list. We'll draw a veil over the naughty ones like coke flavoured lollies, nutella & peanut butter together on a teaspoon (aaarghdon'tlookatthecalories!!!) and cinnamon doughnuts. Actually that last one is, I confess, not really a pregnancy related one. *blush*

ANYWAY - on to the point of the post!

I love fresh spring rolls. There are lots of versions of these. I first had them in a Vietnamese restaurant in Melbourne on the recommendation of my friend C. It was love at first bite. I then tried them again at an excellent Thai restaurant, Mekong Neua in Kingsland. I was keen to make them myself so looked up the recipe somewhere.

Making these is easy but a little fiddly and time consuming. This doesn't bother me. I find such cooking quite meditative or soothing. There is something satisfying about spending the time and effort to create it. It's the same reason I like to make gnocchi or chinese dumplings from scratch.

This is my version. It makes about 20-22 rolls depending on how much filling you have.

Fresh Spring Rolls

• 500g chicken tenderloins
• 2 star anise
• knob of ginger
• 2-3 cloves of garlic
• soy sauce
• water
• mirin/sake/chinese cooking wine

Peel the garlic and ginger and chop coarsely. Place the chicken, garlic, ginger, star anise into a pot. Add water to cover the chicken and slosh in some soy sauce. How much depends on how dark the soy sauce, and how strong you like the flavour. Add a dash or two of the mirin/sake/chinese cooking wine. Bring to the boil and check to see if the chicken is cooked. Once cooked, drain and leave to cool.

• Packet of rice "galettes" as they are called on the packet. I get them from my local chinese supermarket. I get the round ones, but they have square ones as well. They are normally near the noodles.
• 1/3 of 1/2 a cabbage head
• mung beans
• 1 large carrot
• chopped mint (use Vietnamese mint if you can find it)
• chopped fresh coriander (not everyone likes this so just have the mint if you're one of those people)

Slice the cabbage and carrot very finely - julienne is the term here. If you have a mandoline or nifty Bamix grater then you'll find it handy here. I have to make do with a sharp knife.
Thinly slice the chicken. Boil the kettle so you have some hot water.

Now - the librarian in me forces me to set up my work station like this.

• Put the cabbage in one pile and the carrot in another on a plate.
• Plate 1: Fill with hot water from the kettle (I use a bread & butter plate)
  
• Plate 2: Dampen with water but don't fill it (I use a bread & butter plate)
• On the chopping board: A pile of chopped herbs and another separate pile of sliced chicken.
• In it's bag close by: the mung beans & the rice galettes

The construction process

1. Take one rice galette and place it in Plate 1. Leave to soften which will take maybe 1-2 mins. It will go clear when it's soft.
2. Slide the softened galette off Plate 1 and place it nicely on Plate 2. Put another galette on to soak in Plate 1 while you fill the first one.
3. Place 2 slices of chicken in the middle of the galette lying horizontally. Then add pinches of cabbage, herbs and mung beans. Then add 2-3 carrot sticks.
4. Fold the sides of the galette over the filling. The vertical lines in the diagram below demonstrate which bits to fold over.




5. Now fold the top edge of the galette over the filling and roll the package over the final remaining exposed rice galette so you have a kind of cigar shape cylinder.

Continue constructing others until you've got enough rolls for your needs.


Dipping Sauce

• Juice of 2 small limes
• 2-3 Tablespoons of fish sauce
• 1 tsp grated palm sugar (or brown sugar)
• finely chopped fresh coriander & mint
• finely chopped fresh chilli (if desired)
• 1/4 tsp finely chopped garlic
• 1/4 tsp finely chopped ginger

Mix all the ingredients together. Taste and see if the balance between salt/sour/sweet is to your taste; add more lime juice/fish sauce/sugar.

In case you are wondering, yes, DS loves these and eats them with gusto just like me. He doesn't like the filling by itself but when it's wrapped up and dipped in the sauce it somehow magically becomes yummy! ;-) Even though he tells me "I not like mungo beans".

P.S. The filling can be different. The Vietnamese one I had used shredded pork. I make vegetarian ones with marinaded tofu or egg omlette with black seasame seeds. You could use prawns or even thinly sliced beef. Many people use bean vermicelli noodles as a filling too.

Part 3: Keeping up with the blogs you read

In my last post I tried to explain how you can keep up with blogs that you read. In this post I'm going to show you how to use Bloglines (a web-based news aggregator) to subscribe to the blogs you read.

1. Go to Bloglines.

2. Create an account. This is free. Use an id/password that you can remember. You'll be sent a validation email that you need to reply to before your account is activated. 'Tis a matter of a moment...

3. Once your account is activated you can start adding feeds. Click on the ADD link (top left corner of the side bar).

4. Enter the URL of the blog you want to subscribe to. At this stage you can create a special folder if you want to organise your blogs a bit, but you can do this at a later stage if you want. Click on the subscribe button.




5. You'll often be given a choice of feeds. Pick one of them. I usually go for the atom version, which is the top one in this picture. Scroll down and click on the subscribe button.












Your newly subscribed feeds will turn up in the side bar.
As you see from my picture, I've organised my feeds into a bunch of different folders. Those folders contain a range of different blogs. The ones in bold have some feeds I haven't read yet. By expanding the folders I can see who has made a new post, and I'll be able to read it by clicking on the name of the blog. The post will be shown in the right hand frame of your browser.






Sometimes I find pictures don't show up in the post. I'm not sure why that is (maybe because I'm using Firefox) but in any case I can click on the Blog Title at the top of the page and go directly to the blog and see the pics.




I hope this series has helped at least one person! :-)

Part 2: Keeping up with your blogs

Aggregators

Freeware for your Desktop
Some of them are free and you can download them to your desktop. I've used FeedReader and found it quite good, though I now have moved on from it.
E.g. FeedReader , RSSReader

Web-based
Some aggregators are web based so you can access them anywhere there is an internet connection.
E.g. Bloglines, Google Reader

I personally use Bloglines now because I work at a number of different computers over the course of my week and I like to be able to read blogs from where I am at the time. (It also means I don't lose the program everytime DH decides to reload Windows or upgrade our motherboard on our home computer...).

Browser Based
There are 2 internet browsers (that I am aware of) that can deal with RSS feeds.

1) Firefox is an internet browser based on code produced by Mozilla. I use Firefox almost exclusively because I like many of it's features. Firefox uses "Live Bookmarks " to capture RSS feeds. If you use Firefox, each time you visit an RSS enabled site you will see a little orange cube to the left of the URL.



By clicking on the cube you can add the live bookmark to your Favourite folder. Once the bookmark is added, you'll see the new posts to a blog by placing the mouse over that bookmark.

2) The other internet browser is Flock. Flock is based on the same code used to make Firefox, but has a few interesting features particularly relevant to the social networking aspect of the web. It is still in a beta version. If you use Flock, you can click on that orange cube thingy, and it will automatically add the RSS feed to a side bar in your internet browser.

Email Client Based
I'm only aware of one email program that deals with RSS feeds, but I am happy to be enlightened to more!
Thunderbird is Firefox's email client and easily reads feeds. Thus you can have your email, RSS feeds and newsgroups all in one place.

Congratulations if you have made it this far! Moving on to using an RSS Reader.

Part 1: Keeping up with the blogs you read

Okay - sometimes I just can't help my inner teacher coming out. I'd like to make your life easier. I hope I can explain this via a post when I'm used to demonstrating this in a classroom. If you know all this... feel free to let your eyes glaze over.

This post is a heads up to my fellow scrapping blog readers. I've noticed as I read your posts that some of you use bookmarks or links on the blog side bar to browse around and read everyone's blogs. That's cool. But let me show you an easier way! ;-)

RSS Feeds

Have you heard of RSS? RSS stands for "really simple syndication". Well, that's one of the interpretations so we'll go with it. It is a type of file format called XML. That probably means very little to most people but that's okay - your computer can read it and that is all that matters. What is more relevant is what it can do for you.

Sites such as newspapers, some discussion forums, news communities and blogs use RSS (or a similar thing called Atom) to help their readers keep up with the ever changing content on their site. Instead of visiting many different blogs (or sites) each day, you can subscribe to an RSS or Atom feed, and get all the new content from one place. This can save you time and will also mean you don't miss a post from a blog.

To do this, you need to use an RSS aggregator (sometimes called news aggregators). This is just a little program that captures all your subscribed feeds and displays them for you in a nice organised format. It's a little like getting an email everytime something new is updated, but much better because a) you don't just get the alert, you get the content and b) you don't end up getting bombarded with emails. It periodically checks for new posts from the blogs you read and groups them according to your choice.

There are a number of different aggregators out there. See my next post for the next installment.

Do you have a dog?

One of our students who is doing a Bachelor of Applied Animal Technology is doing a research project on dog training techniques and is looking for dog owners to complete a brief survey online. Go to www.nzdogsurvey.co.nz if you want to take part.

Woof!

Belly at 22 weeks

Belly at 22 weeks

Well - kind of between 21 to 22 weeks depending on which calculator you use!

Some growth there compared with the 14 week one. DS insisted on being in the picture :-)

Getting more movement happening now. On Sunday I saw a kick from the outside which always makes me laugh to see! Alien belly is baaaaaack!

So is pregnancy brain. I did an online order at Woolworths the other day since we were having visitors and I had to tidy up the bombsite.. er, house. I nearly managed to order 6 kgs of chicken tenderloins (about $70.00). Luckily I wondered why my total was so high before I put it through the checkout...

20 Weeks Ultrasound

20 weeks Ultrasound

Here's baby at 20 weeks. Everything is measuring on track which is a great reassurance. We did try and find out what flavour the baby is, but the tech wasn't 100% sure so I'm not committing myself to anything though we have some suspicions! Baby had it's legs very close together so it wasn't easy to see anything.

Shame really - I was intending to do some shopping! Well I still did, but for me this time. I had some birthday money so I bought myself some boots. It's been years since I had a pair of boots! ;-) I also got 2 new maternity bras - why do they make them so boring? I am going to have to make a trek to Mummy's Tummy in Ponsonby because they stock the HOTmilk brand of maternity bra.

Anyway, I'm halfway through this pregnancy. I haven't really "popped" yet though you can tell I'm pregnant for sure. I'm feeling well and I'm so glad I haven't had the heartburn like I did with DS - long may that last.

Powder Everywhere

Powder Everywhere

I thought DS was a little quiet and investigating I discovered this!
The sponge mop is his attempt to clean up the mess.

Oh well, I suppose my vaccuum cleaner smells nice now.

My Stash of Cloth Nappies

Nappies

Not everyone gets excited about this kind of picture. I'm trying to decide if I need more cloth nappies for the new baby. This is what I have in my stash.

I guess some people think it's crazy to use cloth in this age of disposable. But I like to use them for a number of reasons.

Firstly, there is the waste aspect. If I use disposables, the number of garbage bags I put out each Monday increases. I also find it mildly disgusting that I'm putting such stuff into the local Refuse Transfer Station instead of the sewerage system. I like to keep the amount of waste our household produces to a minimum, so doing things like composting our vege waste and using cloth nappies makes me feel virtuous.

Secondly, there is the cost factor. It costs me around $20.00 a week to buy disposable nappies. The initial outlay to buy cloth seems a little daunting, but if you work out how much you spend per year for disposables it does work out cheaper. Admittedly, you do have to factor in the washing costs. I use EcoStore washing powder which is possibly the most expensive one, but in my defense, it lasts me a lot longer than when I used Persil Sensitive because the scoop is smaller. When DS was a baby, I washed one load of washing every other day. That consisted of nappies, baby clothes and a few adult clothes, towels etc. I still think that cloth is cheaper even when the washing factor is added in.

Thirdly, there is the cute factor! I find it fun to make them out of funky fabrics. I've used blue stars, aeroplanes and even strawberry fabrics for the nappies I've sewn. Snazzipants produce some very cute prints (the cow print for example).

I'm not a disposable Nazi though. I intend to use them for the first week or so until the baby finishes passing meconium. I will probably use them at night for a while, because newborns are such heavy wetters. DS is still not potty trained and daycare is not keen on cloth, so he's mainly in 'sposies. This is a problem I am keen to resolve before the new baby comes. I shall have to take a week off in order to concentrate on that project!

First snow

First snow

The single photo we took of DS in the snow for the first time. Unfortunately, it isn't the best one of him.

We pointed out the mountain as we approached, and talked about the white stuff being snow. "My mountain!" he said. Once we got there and starting slipping about in the snow he wasn't too sure about the strange white stuff. "Cold." was his main comment as he tried to shake the ice off his gloves. We wanted to make a snowman, but the consistency wasn't that good; too icey, and I couldn't roll any snowball. We did find someone else's snowman, so at least he could say he saw one.

We shall have to go back one day and preferably not on a weekend! Parking was at a premium, the toilets had run out of toilet paper [yuk!], and the whole place just felt crowded and uncomfortable. I suppose it didn't help that we were all coming down with the lurgy.