People become really quite remarkable when they start thinking that they can do things. When they believe in themselves they have the first secret of success. ~ Norman Vincent Peale

Thursday, January 31, 2008

Chinese New Year

Happy Chinese New Year to all! Chinese New Year starts on February 7th this year.
At Necessitae, we had a special stocking for the festivities. There were so many beautiful things stocked, and still some left.

I decided to make some skirts this time around. I worked from sun up to sun down on these!

This one was made using an Alexander Henry fabric that I have been in love with since the day it arrived. I was saving it for something special, but never could decide what. It's even more beautiful in person. This is oneof my all time favorite fabrics ever.




This one was made out of a cute fabric that I got a while back. It has chopsticks and fortune cookies all over it! Emily is convinced that if she wears hers to the Chinese restaurant, they will give her extra fortune cookies. We'll see how that works.




I also made two diapers. This first one was hand dyed by me in shades of pink. The dye job is better in person, of course. The fabric is organic bamboo velour.




And then this one that is made with my favorite knit that I'm saving for Emily. She doesn't like pink so much, so I can't seem to talk her into letting me make something out of it for her. I'm still hoping.



But enough about me! There were so many things stocked that I fell in love with!
We all know my love for Naturally Luxe products.
Look at this beauty that had my name written all over it. I didn't even get on the computer before it was gone, though.



Made By Maria made a bag with my name all over it too!



And one with Emily's name all over it.


I think the girl on this one looks like my sister.

I would do just about anything to have these hand knit slippers by Kimberly R


I am completely amazed at this necklace!


Okay, that bead is hand made! By a person! She makes them and sells them. Isn't that incredible?

A hand made journal by Becky's Paper Creations



Yarn from Mosaic Moon



A set by Sweet Mama Small Sugar



Little dolls from Where's Waldorf



And so much more, I don't even have time to write about all of them! Check out for yourself if you like.
http://www.necessitae.com/allstores.php

And a huge thank you to Maria for compiling this fact writeup on Chinese New Year!

Chinese New Year Facts

* 2008 is the year of the rat.
* Current year is Year 4706 by the Chinese calendar.
* The holiday usually falls on the second (very rarely third) new moon after the winter solstice.
* People in China believe that as they enter a New Year, they should drop the last year into the silence limbo of the past. Common Chinese New Year Activity includes cleaning the houses from top to bottom, purchasing new clothes, paying off debts, painting their doors and windowpanes, and even getting new haircuts. Traditional Chinese New Year Facts bring forth the essence of new life and new hopes.
* One of the most important characteristics of Chinese New Year Calendar is that it names each of the twelve years after an animal. Tradition says that Lord Buddha had called for all the animals to come to him before he departed from the earth. But only twelve animals came to offer him farewell and as a token Lord Buddha named a year after each of the twelve animals in the order they arrived. According to the popular Chinese myth the animal ruling the year in which a person is born tremendously influences his or her behavior and traits.
* The Spring Festival ceremoniously commences with the practice of offering a sacrifice to the Kitchen God. Kitchen God is a deity sent from Heaven to each house to take charge of family's affairs and make a report on what the family has done in the past year to Heaven annually on the date of the twenty-third. So with the preparations of feeding the Kitchen God, the celebrations of Chinese New Year gets kicked off.
* Traditionally, the celebrations for the Chinese New Year last up to fifteen days. During these days, the Chinese wish each other by saying "Kung Hei Fat Choy" which means having a great fortune, or "Kung Hall Sun Hei", which implies happy New Year. Married couples give red envelopes with lucky money to their kids or relatives of their younger generations instead of giving presents. The money can be used to buy holiday treats.
* The Chinese New Year celebrations are marked by visits to kin, relatives and friends, a practice known as "new-year visits". New clothing is usually worn to signify a New Year. The color red is liberally used in all decorations.
* Traditionally dinner is usually a feast of seafood and dumplings, symbolizing prosperity and good wishes. Chinese New Year Dish includes prawns for liveliness and pleasure, dried oysters for all things good in life, raw fish salad to usher in good luck and prosperity, dumplings boiled in water signifying a long-lost good wish for a family and Fai-hai (Angel Hair), edible hair-like seaweed to bring prosperity for the family.
* Chinese love excitement and merriment and New Year gives them an opportunity to do so. Chinese New Year is characterized by street celebrations which include the performance of lion dance and dragon dance with exploding sound of fire crackers. The loud noise made by the fire crackers signifies the getting rid of sadness or bad events of last year and ushering in a good and prosperous coming year.
* Fu - the Chinese character for 'good luck". People paint signs with this character to hang in their homes and in the streets during Chinese New Year. These signs are painted in the traditional red and gold and are hung upside down. The Chinese word for upside down rhymes with the Chinese word for "arrive", so by hanging the sign upside down, good luck will arrive.
* Chinese New Year starts on the first day of the new year containing a new moon (some sources include New Year's Eve)[citation needed] and ends on the Lantern Festival fourteen days later.
* Alongside the 12-year cycle of the animal zodiac there is a 10-year cycle of heavenly stems. Each of the ten heavenly stems is associated with one of the five elements of Chinese astrology, namely: Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, and Water. The elements are rotated every two years while a yin and yang association alternates every year. The elements are thus distinguished: Yang Wood, Yin Wood, Yang Fire, Yin Fire, etc. These produce a combined cycle that repeats every 60 years. For example, the year of the Yang Fire Rat occurred in 1936 and in 1996, 60 years apart.
* According to legend, in ancient China, the Nián (年) was a man-eating beast from the mountains (in other versions from under the sea), which came out every 12 months somewhere close to winter to prey on humans. The people later believed that the Nian was sensitive to loud noises and the color red, so they scared it away with explosions, fireworks and the liberal use of the color red. These customs led to the first New Year celebrations. Guò nián, which means to celebrate the New Year, literally means the passover of the Nian.
* The period around Chinese New Year is also the time of the largest human migration, when migrant workers in China, as well as overseas Chinese around the world travel home to have reunion dinners with their families on Chinese New Year's eve. More interurban trips are taken in mainland China in this 40-day period than the total population of China.
* The first day is for the welcoming of the deities of the heavens and earth. Most importantly, the first day of Chinese New Year is a time when families visit the oldest and most senior members of their extended family, usually their parents, grandparents or great-grandparents.
* The second day of the Chinese New Year is for married daughters to visit their birth parents.
* The third and fourth day of the Chinese New Year are generally accepted as inappropriate days to visit relatives and friends due to the following schools of thought. People may subscribe to one or both thoughts.
* The third and fourth day of the Chinese New Year are generally accepted as inappropriate days to visit relatives and friends due to the following schools of thought. People may subscribe to one or both thoughts.
1: It is known as "chì kǒu" meaning it is easy to get into arguments, it has been suggested that this is due to the fried food and also visiting family for the first 2 days of New Year.
2: Families who had an immediate kin deceased in the past 3 years will not go house-visiting as a form of respect to the dead. The third day of the New Year is allocated to grave-visiting instead. Some people conclude it is inauspicious to do any house visiting at all.
* On the Fifth day of the New Year in northern China, people eat Jiǎozi (dumplings) on the morning of Po Wu. This is also the birthday of the Chinese god of wealth.
* The seventh day, traditionally known as renri 人日, the common man's birthday, the day when everyone grows one year older.
* The ninth day of the New Year is a day for Chinese to offer prayers to the Jade Emperor of Heaven (天公) in the Taoist Pantheon. This day is especially important to Hokkiens (Min Nan speakers). Come midnight of the eighth day of the new year, the Hokkiens will offer thanks giving prayers to the Emperor of Heaven. Offerings will include sugarcane as it was the sugarcane that had protected the Hokkiens from certain extermination generations ago. Tea is served as a customary protocol for paying respect to an honored person.
* On the fifteenth day of the New Year, a sweet glutinous rice ball brewed in a soup, is eaten this day. Candles are lit outside houses as a way to guide wayward spirits home. This day is celebrated as the Lantern Festival, and families walk the street carrying lighted lanterns.
* Bamboo stems filled with gunpowder that were burnt to create small explosions were once used in ancient China to drive away evil spirits. In modern times, this method has eventually evolved into the use of firecrackers during the festive season.
* Clothing mainly featuring the color red is commonly worn throughout the Chinese New Year because it is believed that red will scare away evil spirits and bad fortune. In addition, people typically wear new clothes from head to toe to symbolize a new beginning in the New Year.

Good luck
* Opening windows and/or doors is considered to bring in the good luck of the new year.
* Switching on the lights for the night is considered good luck to 'scare away' ghosts and spirits of misfortune that may compromise the luck and fortune of the new year.
* Sweets are eaten to ensure the consumer a "sweet" year.
* It is important to have the house completely clean from top to bottom before New Year's Day for good luck in the coming year. (however, as explained below, cleaning the house after New Year's Day is frowned upon)
* Some believe that what happens on the first day of the new year reflects the rest of the year to come. Asians will often gamble at the beginning of the year, hoping to get luck and prosperity.
* Wearing a new pair of slippers that is bought before the new year, because it means to step on the people who gossip about you.
* The night before the new year, bathe yourself in pomelo leaves and some say that you will be healthy for the rest of the new year.

Bad Luck
* Buying a pair of shoes is considered bad luck amongst some Chinese. The word "shoes" is a homophone for the word for "rough" in Cantonese, or "evil" in Mandarin.
* Buying a pair of pants is considered bad luck. The word "pants"(kù) is a homophone for the word for "bitter"(kŭ) in Cantonese. (Although some perceive it to be positive, as the word 'pants'(fu) in Cantonese is also a homophone for the word for "wealth".)
* Washing your hair is also considered to be washing away one's own luck (although modern hygienic concerns take precedence over this tradition)
* Sweeping the floor is usually forbidden on the first day, as it will sweep away the good fortune and luck for the new year.
* Talking about death is inappropriate for the first few days of Chinese New Year, as it is considered inauspicious as well.
* Buying books is bad luck because the word for "book" is a homonym to the word "lose".
* Avoid clothes in black and white, as black is a symbol of bad luck, and white is a traditional funeral color.

In other news, I managed to stock my store as well.

I made some Night Owls!



and a couple of fitted diapers out of Emily's favorite fabric that I have right now



These were made as a Chinese New Year thing. The inside is red, and the outside is bright and colorful.

While I was stocking my stuff for Necessitae, Emily found a bag of poly filling for stuffing pillows. It snowed in our house.

For those who have read through all of this stuff just to find an update on The Beast, here is the update. I am sorry to say that he is not doing very well now. We are hoping that he gets better. Yesterday he was throwing up everything, and several times. I kept trying to get the Cerenia in him, but he would throw it up within seconds, and it was still whole. I did finally get it in him around 9pm. I waited an hour, then went to give him his antibiotics. He ran from me, as he does now, and went on my bed. Once on my bed, I found the morning's antibiotic pill setting there. Somehow, he had not swallowed it and had spit it out when I left the room. We think this is why he was doing so bad, so are hopeful that he will get back on track. We are pretty worried now, though. His quality of life is pretty poor right now. I know it's selfish, but I can't let him go just yet. I don't think he wants to go. I am not sure how one knows when it's time, though. If there are signs? If the dog does something? At the moment, he wants to go hide outside. I have to search for him and bring him back in. sigh. Cross your fingers for us.

TTFN
Ta ta for now!

Wednesday, January 9, 2008

My cleaning and organizing crash course...

I just dug this up from a few years ago and thought it would be good to post it here. If you are like me and have a hard time keeping the house clean and need a list, this is the crash course for you. If you have any questions, ask away and I will do all I can to help.

I find that if you make a list and check things off, you have a greater sense of accomplishment. You look at this long list and realize that in less than two hours it's done.... and it feels great.

Okay... so, my system.

The first step is to make a list of each room in your house. Then, go around your house from room to room and write down everything that you can think of that would need done in that room at any given time. This would include... pick up the floor, clean the ceiling fan, vacuum, dust, etc. If you were to completely get this room clean, what would you do? Write it down for each room.

Now, with your list, divided by room, you want to decide what needs done daily, weekly, monthly, etc. I write a D, W, M by each task.

Now, you can jump on your computer, or stick to pen and paper... whatever you prefer.
When listing my rooms, I assigned each room a day of the week. Example: Kitchen - Monday, Restroom - Tuesday, Master bedroom - Wednesday, etc etc. On some days, you might need to put two rooms. I combine the two easiest rooms and keep the hardest rooms by themselves. I have a small house, so this is pretty easy.
Next, you want to divide your rooms by month. I divided mine into 6 weeks. This is just easier on me, being the busy person that I am and all. ;)
At this point, you want your list divided by daily, weekly, monthly, etc. Naturally, your daily list will be those things that need done every day. Weekly will be things that are done every week, etc.

Here is an example of my daily..

Daily

Kitchen
Clean off counters
Get new towel
Unload dishwasher
Wipe down counters
Clean sink
Pick up floor
Sweep
Keep dishes washed and loaded in dishwasher

Dining
Pick up floor
Sweep

Living Room
Pick up floor
Clean off couch
Sweep

Den
Pick up floor
Sweep

Emily’s Room
Pick up and organize toys
Fold blankets

Restroom
Pick up floor
Clean off counters
Wipe down toilets (with boys, this is one of those things you really have to do daily)

Hall and Laundry
Pick up hall
Sweep
Wash clothes
Fold laundry

Master Bedroom
Pick up floor
Fold blankets


Once you have your daily stuff typed out (I did it on the computer, so I'm giving instructions that way) you want to save it.

Then, do the weekly... just list everything that you put a W by, and do Monthly... same way, each on a seperate sheet.

At this point, you want to add your weekly and monthly into the list, so that you have a checklist each day. This is how I did mine...

Take your weekly stuff and divide it up by your 7 days (or 6 if you want a day of rest, etc). This way, your work is divided up, and you are not overwhelmed one day a week. Here is an example of mine...

Weekly

Monday –
Kitchen
Wipe front of appliances
Wipe inside of microwave
Mop

Tuesday-
Dining
Clean off table
Wipe table off w/cleaner (it's a wood table, so every now and then I remove the cloth and wipe it with wood cleaner)
Wipe front of pantry off

Wednesday-
Living Room
Clean off entertainment center
Sweep under couch
Clean under couch cushions
Thursday-
Emily’s Room
Vacuum
Make bed
Wash blankets and sheets

Friday-
Restroom
Wash toilet
Scrubbath
Empty garbage
Check TP supply

Hall and Laundry
Check cat food and water

Saturday-
Our Bedroom
Check Air filter
Wash blankets and sheets

Sunday-
Den
Take out garbage (garbage man comes monday morning)
Mop


Okay, so once that is done, you want to divide your monthly. I ended up dividing mine into 6 weeks. I put week one as my kitchen and dining (dining room stays pretty clean), week two den, week 3 livingroom, week 4 restroom and laundry room, week 5 Emily's room, and week 6 master bedroom.

Here is my example...

Monthly

Week 1
Kitchen
Clean inside of fridge
Deep clean stove (burner pans, knobs, etc)

Dining
Organize pantry

Week 2
Den
Organize fabric shelves
Organize book shelves
Organize desk
De-lint sewing machines

Week 3
Living Room
Wash couch cushions
Clean blinds
Clean windows
Clean door

Week 4
Restroom
Organize drawers
Organize cabinet
Wash mirror

Laundry
Clean and wipe off washer and dryer
Clean inside of washer

Week 5
Emily’s room
Clean blinds
Organize drawers

Week 6
Master bedroom
Wash windows
Clean blinds
Clean windowsills

Okay, so now you want to put your lists together. I divided each monthly chore daily, so that on week 6, for example, one day I might wash the windows, the next day clean the blinds, and the next wipe down the windowsills. (you'll notice that each of these tasks takes a few minutes, so not a long time at all)

I forgot to put wash ceiling fans and dust, etc. I write them in on my lists so far, but will go in and update it in word. This is week one. I did 6 weekly lists. If anybody wants to see all 6 of my lists, let me know and I can either post them or email them to you. If this doesn't make sense, but you want to give it a try, let me know... I can explain better. I have a hard time explaining things sometimes. But, your goal is to go through each room and finish its tasks each day. Put a checkmark by each task as it is completed. It is amazing how fast it goes too! Now, what I did, just to get into the routine is spend two weeks just doing your daily list.... then move on to the full thing once you are in the swing of it with just the daily list. The kids can pick some things on the list and complete them too. They actually enjoy picking what they will do, and adding to the checkmarks of completed tasks... it gives them a sense of accomplishment like it does you.


Just for my own fun, I printed my lists on pretty paper and put them in those page protecters that are clear in a pretty binder. I write my checkmarks on the page protecter, so I am not having to print over and over and waste paper. I love having my pretty lists!


Here is week one of my finished product.

Week 1 - Monday

Kitchen
Get new towel
Unload dishwasher
Clean off counters
Wipe down counters
Clean sink
Pick up floor
Sweep
Keep dishes washed and loaded in dishwasher
Wipe front of appliances
Wipe inside of microwave
Mop

Dining
Pick up floor
Sweep

Living Room
Pick up floor

Clean off couch
Sweep

Den
Pick up floor
Sweep

Emily’s Room
Pick up and organize toys (she does this with me)

Restroom
Pick up floor
Clean off counters (I use those sanitizing wipes because it is so fast and easy)

Hall and Laundry
Pick up hall
Sweep
Wash clothes
Fold laundry

Our Bedroom
Pick up floor
Fold blankets


Week 1 - Tuesday

Kitchen
Get new towel
Unload dishwasher
Clean off counters
Wipe down counters
Clean sink
Pick up floor
Sweep
Keep dishes washed and loaded in dishwasher
Deep clean top of stove (burner pans, knobs, etc)

Dining
Pick up floor
Vacuum
Clean off table
Wipe table off w/cleaner
Wipe front of pantry off


Living Room
Pick up floor
Clean Emily’s table
Clean off couch
Vacuum

Den
Pick up floor
Sweep

Emily’s Room
Pick up and organize toys

Restroom
Pick up floor
Clean off counters

Hall and Laundry
Pick up hall
Vacuum hall
Wash clothes
Fold laundry

Our Bedroom
Pick up floor
Fold blankets

Week 1 - Wednesday

Kitchen
Get new towel
Unload dishwasher
Clean off counters
Wipe down counters
Clean and shine sink
Pick up floor
Sweep
Keep dishes washed and loaded in dishwasher


Dining
Pick up floor
Vacuum

Living Room
Pick up floor
Clean Emily’s table
Clean off couch
Vacuum
Clean off entertainment center
Clean under Emily’s table


Den
Pick up floor
Sweep

Emily’s Room
Pick up and organize toys

Restroom
Pick up floor
Clean off counters

Hall and Laundry
Pick up hall
Vacuum hall
Wash clothes
Fold laundry

Our Bedroom
Pick up floor
Fold blankets

Week 1 - Thursday

Kitchen
Get new towel
Unload dishwasher
Clean off counters
Wipe down counters
Clean and shine sink
Pick up floor
Sweep
Keep dishes washed and loaded in dishwasher

Dining
Pick up floor
Vacuum
Organize pantry

Living Room
Pick up floor
Clean Emily’s table
Clean off couch
Vacuum

Den
Pick up floor
Sweep

Emily’s Room
Pick up and organize toys
Vacuum
Make bed
Wash sheets

Restroom
Pick up floor
Clean off counters

Hall and Laundry
Pick up hall
Vacuum hall
Wash clothes
Fold laundry

Our Bedroom
Pick up floor
Fold blankets

Week 1 - Friday

Kitchen
Get new towel
Unload dishwasher
Clean off counters
Wipe down counters
Clean and shine sink
Pick up floor
Sweep
Keep dishes washed and loaded in dishwasher
Clean inside of fridge


Dining
Pick up floor
Vacuum

Living Room
Pick up floor
Clean Emily’s table
Clean off couch
Vacuum

Den
Pick up floor
Sweep

Emily’s Room
Pick up and organize toys

Restroom
Pick up floor
Clean off counters
Wash toilet
Wash bath
Empty garbage
Check TP supply

Hall and Laundry
Pick up hall
Vacuum hall
Wash clothes
Fold laundry
Check cat food and water

Our Bedroom
Pick up floor
Fold blankets

__________________



Here are some of my strange tricks....

I make the bed, then I sleep on top of the made bed and use another blanket. When we get up, I fold that blanket, and my bed is all made. Easy. People have asked how I manage to make the bed every morning... I just chuckle.

I keep a little bottle of dish soap, or cheap shampoo in the shower. While I'm taking a shower, I clean the shower walls and stuff off with the dishsoap and rinse it off while I'm in there.

If you're a stay at home mom, like me, start your "chores" about two hours before hubby arrives home. This way it looks like you worked your ass off all day. (not that we don't)