my sewing box

I bring my sewing box to work with me. I have a friend that teasingly tells me I'm such a sewing nerd.

Yeah. I guess I am.

oh waiter!

Oh, waiter!!

Is it obvious that she is used to being in a restaurant?

One of the thing we enjoy doing together as a family, is sharing a meal. Seriously, I'm amazed that we don't weigh 500 lbs each with the frequency of our restaurant visits.

We don't feed the kids unhealthy stuff, but they get to try different sorts of cuisine when we go out. They both love Japanese Agedashi tofu, rice, carrots, fish and all sorts of fruit. Though I must say that they have not been deprived life's special treats (Oreoes, Nutella, salted pretzels, french fries and pizza).

Food is good. :)

Plato is depressed!

Handsome, isn't he?

Meet Plato. My first child. He's a 5 year old sable-red colored Siberian Husky. He weighs around 50lbs and is the handsomest dog around. Well, until this past Wednesday. We were battling with awful ticks and the vet finally said that it was time that he get... *sigh* shaved. We'd done baths, the drops between the shoulders, sprays, a shot and a collar. We scrubbed his area, doused it with some strong toxin, and nothing.  They're horribly smart and persistent little bugs.

He won't even look at me!!

And now, our Kuya (Tagalog for "big brother") is depressed! He hides under the driver's bed, shivers at my touch. Gone is the cocky look as he watches us take our bags from the car. Sniffing, as if to inspect the bags for potential edibles. His happy little trot, his attempts to get into the kitchen or zip out the gate to terrorize the security guards, all gone. He still eats his meals and treats though, I'm thankful for that.

I hope that he returns to his normal naughty self soon. Say a little prayer for him please?

shots

Ty was scheduled for a shot and I packed a prize bag for him. I was worried he'd kick and scream like some other kids, traumatizing himself and (I admit it) scaring me. I told him ahead of time that we were headed to Dr. Pia's. He likes her, she's great with kids. He asked if he was sick, and I told him, "No, but you will be getting a shot today."

Quiet.

"Then we go to the toy store after?"

I told him that we cold, but only if he didn't fight nurse Steph when she gave him the shot. He nodded.

As our turn came near,  I knew he was anxious. So I distracted him with the prize bag. In it was a Hotwheels car, a pack of Thomas bandages, a few gummy bear vitamins (he doesn't know they're good for him) and a little coloring book.

As you can tell, he picked the bandage.

He was so brave! He asked to hug me, and I told him to squeeze me if it hurt.

He barely had time to squeeze, it was over so quickly. :)

marker love

These came in my school order box. If the picture isn't very clear, they are a pack of washable "multicultural" markers from Crayola.

One things my students learn is that people are not all the same color. And that's ok!

wonderful

This just put me over the edge. I love it!

sunday naptime

Almost every Sunday, when my little family is tired and sleepy from savouring the weekend, we nap. All in a row, one cuddled into the next.

I'm not at all sure when this started, if we'd nap before our daughter was born, but I like this.

Except, today I'm not sleepy. Both kids are sick and I have a tendency to sit up and watch to make sure they're still breathing. Dreary me.

sideline

I was recently approached by a mom of a homeschooler. She wanted her daughter and her homeschool friends to take a creative writing class/workshop. I was thrilled.

I spent the next week putting together a program to present to the moms in the group. I did my research and planned it all out. I worked out the price for each class, and worked it out again after they asked for a lower price. I had a big meeting with two of the moms over merienda and I found out I had to work on vocabulary, grammar, communication skills, and do assessment. I stuck by my guns on my fee (it was seriously reasonable) and even accepted that I'd have come up with all the materials myself. The meeting ended on very positive terms. I went home, did more research, planned more classes. Made a budget for materials. Excited.

Yesterday, they sent me an email.

No, we won't do the class.

POO.

work... or is it?

Perhaps it isn't proper to say that I'm writing this while at work. I sit here, watching over my three 2nd grade students as they create booklets about their religions and I can't help but love my job.

I teach a class called World Religions to 1st to 5th grade students. An amazing class that I wish I could have taken when I was in grade school. Everyday, I'm astounded by what we discuss. Can you imagine going through the intricacies of the 5 Pillars of Islam with a 6 year old? Or debatingthe importance of separation of church and state with a 5th grader? I do that everyday.

Yesterday, my 1st graders and I tried to make our own butter after we read the story of when Krishna, as a child, stole the butter that his mother had made. Hilarious! The kids were jumping around, shaking their little bottles of cream while I played music on my laptop. They loved having sweet buttery toast as I read them another story.

We read Noah's Ark too. My Hindu students really enjoyed it. One of them evenlikened it to God "flushing the toilet on the bad people who were not on the boat." Love it.

a frustrating begining

So I have all these blog entries running around my head, begging to be typed down. Ty holds my hand and begs for me to play with him. He's so sweet and I can't say no.

And yet again, I'm off to play trains.

My little Mimi

Last April, I came across Mimi Kirchner's Hand-Sewn Felt Doll on The Purl Bee blog. I fell in love! How darling are these little ladies? I printed out the template and went out to find felt.

Now, I need to explain the felt situation here in the Philippines. This type of material seems to only come out of storage right before the holiday season. and only in bright red or green. I went to several shops and only one of them carried felt. After digging through the rolls of felt that they had, I found a few yards of non-holiday colors. But the elusive people colors (flesh, tan, beige) escaped me.

After months of scouring the shops, my suki (the person I buy from regularly) at Carolina's in Glorietta 5 proudly showed me a huge roll cream felt that had just come in. They were not going to put it out on the shop floor, but since I'd been so persistent, they brought it out. I was flattered, but embarassed since I only bought a few yards of the stuff.

Finally, I'd assembled all the colors I needed.

But I found myself looking at the pattern, and looking again. Terrified of that first *snip.*

Don't get me wrong, it's a very simple and straighforward pattern. There is a step-by-step photo tutorial too. I just didn't know if I could do it. But after being teased by our yaya that I was just hoarding supplies and did weren't make anything, I just went ahead and DID it.  as the kids napped one afternoon (about 2 weeks later) I pinned, I traced, I cut and there I was... sitting on the floor with a complete set of doll parts around me. No excuses. I had to make it.

I started with an arm, as it seemed the easiest to do. Then the head, and then the legs. I grew confident and embroidered the face. My confidence waned after three attempts. I just could not get the mouth right. So I repeated the entire head. The second time around was easier, as I embroidered the face before stitching around the head.

The rest came farily easily. Connect here, stuff there, sew shut and connect parts! Sorry, no pictures of this as it did go fast!

Here is little Mimi, sitting on the shelf in my classroom.

The dress was the most difficult part, really. I had a hard time deciding how to decorate it. It was, after all, the only part of the doll that I could really design. I'm still pretty stumped, but I put a turquoise running stitch around the hem and the collar. I'll add a belt one of these days. And embroider some flowers too.

Some of my co-teachers saw me making felt food the other night as I waited for parents to come in for PTCs (I'm not going to BS and call it by it's official name). They asked me to bring in Mimi, and that's why she's in my classroom. :)

introductions

I guess an introduction is in order. My name is Nikka, and I live in the Philippines. I'm also a wife, mom of two teacher and frustrated crafter/artist.


Let's just see where this takes me.