Grass Shack Designs

The Beach

Born and raised in Hawaii, most would think I spent alot of time at the beach.  As a teen, my friends and I paid 25 cents to ride the bus to the Ala Moana center with a quick walk to the beach.  There, we would swim and sit on the breakers and watch the surfers while getting splashed by the waves.  Other than my teen years, I have to say most locals didn't spend much time at the beach unless you were  an avid surfer.

Now that we live on the East coast, it is very enticing to go to the beach, especially when you leave snow, ice and darkness.  Now that the opportunity arises, you would think that we would be at the beach daily.  Well, that's not the case.  It seems more important to spend time with family.  There are days when we do go to the beach.

The closest nice beach is 15 minutes away at Kailua.  The beach is beautiful and the sand and hills are so much fun to dig in.  It's fun to watch the wind surfers, kite surfers, kayakers and canoe paddlers.

We have been here alot until the arrival of...

Yes, the dreaded Portugese Man of War, a small, bubble-like jellyfish that occasionally blows in during windy or stormy days.  The Commander and the boy next door were also stung at the same time by honey bees on the sand. 

That brought us to search for another beach.  Hanauma bay is beautiful and the fish swim right up to you.  But during windy days, the water is too murky to see the fish and turtles.

Then there's Makapu'u beach...

The wind and waves were too strong, with a mean, killer undertow. 

The flags were out and take a look at the coconut trees, boy was it windy!  I've never seen so much white water in my life. 

Well, back to the house to see what Grandma and Grandpa are up to.

Family Traditions

Every year, at the end of December, my family pounds mochi.  Mochi is steamed sweet rice pounded in a stone bowl called an usu.  We obtained our usu from my grandmother in Kauai.  It was sitting under her house so my parents crated and shipped it (for $8) to Oahu and somehow brought to our home.  Since then, my father fashioned 2 mallets out of guava wood. 

The rice is mashed with the mallet then pounded (with one or two people) to a smooth consistency.  Once the desired consistency is obtained, the rice is removed to a tray covered with potato starch or katakuriko to prevent sticking,  then cut into smaller pieces.  These pieces are either reshaped to smooth flat discs or filled with sweetened adzuki beans, called an.

My brothers and I like the plain mochi, fried with soy sauce.  On New Years, the first meal should include mochi, preferably ozoni, or mochi soup.  This is for good luck through the year.  My children were not raised on it and had it for the first time 2 years ago.  Lovey tried it (for the good luck) and the Commander, well, he spit his good luck out in the trash can.

That's my mother's expert hands quickly filling the mochi.

Yesterday we pounded two five pound batches.  Today, we pounded one batch for my Auntie and cousin.  Tomorrow, the neighbor will pound 2 baches.  That's a lot of pounding, but we won't be pounding it for another year.  Off to eat some fried mochi!  Yum! 

Familiar Places

Being away from home and viewing life in an immature self-centered way  than when I was growing up makes me see things in a different light when I come home to visit. 

Here's our mailbox.  I love the colors!  How about all the impatients - they would never survive in freezing Pennsylvania now.  Gotta love all the University of Hawaii stickers!  Go Warriors!

One of the vegetable gardens in the back yard.  In June, this bed held cigar flowers. 

This is a shelf in my old bedroom.  There are some of my younger brother's pottery and some of my college books and other things from my childhood.  I love that piggy bank.

Finally Time to Breathe and Relax

The last month and a half has been a whirlwind of activities, close to the breaking point.  There was a craft fair, Santa's Workshop at school, another karate test, Christmas, lack of hot water, the Christmas tree or no tree dilema, and finally, packing.  Packing for...

Yes, well worth it.  A trip home to Hawaii with the biggest worry, getting a photo and sending out 115 cards for Christmas.  Hopefully they will reach the East Coast before then.  It's good to be home. 

Here the kids are tethered by boogie boards at the beach. 

More photos to come.

Halloween Bags

Yes, this is a little late.  So, on Halloween, a few hours before blast-off I put a couple of bags together for my kids. 

They are reversible, candy corn fabric on one side and black bottomweight on the other.  I was thrilled when the Commander was willing to use it, though only on the black side. 

It also helps to tell who's loot belongs to who.

This past weekend I also had another of my timeshare dogs, Sandy.  She had a litle surgery to remove a cyst on her neck.  She still has stitches and staples there and has to wear the dreaded cone.  Of course there were comments that the other dogs would laugh at her on her walk with that cone on.  So her crafty owner cut the top of a knit hat and it works wonders.

Catalog Reduction

Here I was thinking that I was doing well recycling catalogs that come in the mail.  Until I found Catalog Choice which helps you opt out of catalogs.  Awesome site.  Text directly from their site:

You benefit by reducing mailbox clutter, and the amount of time you spend sifting through unwanted mail.

Your participation benefits merchants, lowering their cost of distribution and helping them better target their market.

Your participation as a member of the Catalog Choice community collectively promotes the use of best practices in the direct mailing industry.

Your participation as a member of the Catalog Choice community will collectively make a huge positive impact on our environment, as together we reduce the energy consumed, the carbon emissions, and the lost forests resulting from the current annual production and discarding of more than 19 billion paper catalogs.

So far I have entered 11 catalogs.  I am excited by this because there are times I feel the need to peruse every catalog that comes in my mailbox. 

Changing of the Bulbs

I am slowly switching my incandescent light bulbs to compact flourescent lightbulbs (CFL).  I just joined the One Billion Bulbs site, found a group and logged in my 4 bulbs.  I will save $15.49 this year, more than paying for the new bulbs.  I will also save 203.56 lbs. of CO2. 

Here's a calculator:

www.OneBillionBulbs.com

My group stats:

Helloooooo

Hmmm, over a month... not good, not good at all.  Let's see, not much sewing going on.  Well, we did do our church's annual craft fair.  So the sewing room looked like this:

And this:

We made some good sales but to be honest, I really don't like the selling part of it.  It makes me uncomfortable.  I just want to give it away.  I do craft fairs because Lovey enjoys it.  She is much more assertive and comfortable with selling.  But the main reason is because I think it teaches my kids a good lesson in life, you work, you get money.  Well, I hope it sinks into their heads!

Tutu Frog

Look at this cutie!  Lovey takes an occasional sewing class and this is what she was working on.

Slopers and Knits

I started an online group project of making slopers and working with knit fabrics.  Taking apart a knit tank top and drawing a sloper was quick and fun.

Sewing the ribbed knit was quick. 

Several important lessons I learned was:

1)  Never sew dark fabrics at night with inadequate lighting.

2) There is a right and wrong side to some ribbed knits (this has 10% spandex).

With those in mind, here's what I encountered.  After it was finished, I tried it on.  Well, I sewed the neck and armhole bands on right side but the body of the top was the wrong side of the fabric.  You can't really tell if it's not stretched.  But once it's stretched, the body appears shiny as the little spandex fibers show.  Soooo, being that this is a fitted tank top, it looks like a sausage casing when worn. 

Another thing I encountered that was frustrating was the hem.  I hate that look.  I purchased a twin needle and was not able to master it.  The right side of the needle kept skipping.  I rethreaded it and also replaced the bobbin to no avail.  So, being that this top was destined for a pajama top, I just used a stretch stitch to finish the bottom.   I had planned to use the twin needle to topstitch the neck and arm bands, but why bother.