All Things Light and Shiny

Sometimes, it's nice to step back from all the expensive gadgets and delight in the simpler things. Things that cost little money but still amaze. Over the holidays and birthday season (we have 3 birthdays in the 3 months around the holidays in our family), we got a chance to step back and revel in some of these simple pleasures.



For her birthday, Dova received an Orbeez Light Up Star from one of her friends.  What are these magical shiny balls, you ask?  Orbeez start as tiny beads of superabsorbent polymers, like the stuff found in diapers.



But once hydrated to 100-300 times their size, they become firm but squishy, slippery, shiny, bouncy balls.  They are so much fun to play with, you just can't stop touching them. Dova made a batch of blue, green and clear Orbeez and they are still sitting on our counter.



The intended use for this gift was in the light up star, which even our cat Wysiwyg found enchanting.



At our local senior center, there is a swap table where people donate items. I saw this pyramid-shaped candle cover for $2 and picked it up after a few weeks when I had cash to spare. I wasn't sure if it was part of another set, as it didn't fit over any existing candle jars because of its square footprint. I lit a votive candle inside and put a coaster under it, and it was instantly transformed into a magical pyramid of stars. Beautiful!



After the holidays, we went for half-price ornament shopping and I found this delightful USB Fiber Optic Christmas Tree. The beauty of this mesmerizing device is that we have a power strip full of USB chargers for our various devices on our kitchen counter and we always have a port open for it!



OK, I guess you can't take the gadget geek out of me!

Merry Fishmas!

Adam found this Merry Fishmas chocolate last year, but not the Pocket God kind.

Everyone in our house, including our fish are having a wonderful holiday season! Once upon a time, we had simple 30 gallon aquarium with goldfish. We tried the $8 tropical fish that were all of 1.5 inches long and they died within a few days. So we went for inexpensive feeder goldfish instead, at 27 cents each. Only the finest non-dying fish will do!



We eventually settled on four fish which have lasted 6 years now. We have white and gold colored fish with long and short tails. It was a happy fish family which cost all of $1.08 (never mind the cost of the oversize aquarium).  I cleaned the aquarium every few months (or more) and it was extremely low maintenance.

Over the summer, Nicole of Wyoming Girl *turned* Coastie Wife asked the Boston Parent Bloggers group whether anyone would adopt her goldfish since her family was relocating.  I guess fish are not high on the list of "pets that travel".  Since we had a huge tank for four tiny fish, I gladly offered to take them.



Instantly, we had a full aquarium with nine fish.  These goldfish were the fancy red fantail and black moor (googly-eyed) variety, which actually cost $8 in the store.  Oh my!  Can we handle such exotic fish?



The first couple months went fine. But I noticed that these new fish pooped A LOT. Of course we feed them more because they were bigger, but the poop problem was getting out of hand. After the first time I cleaned aquarium, it fogged up with algae only three weeks afterward, as if Nemo had stopped by to clog the filter.

Finally I broke down and bought a double-sized filter, one for a 30-60 gallon tank, and this wonderful device.


Lee's Ultra GravelVac

I had never heard of a gravel vacuum, but the engineer in me was curious. It took a few tries to get the pump primed (vigorously push the tube up and down in the water a bunch of times until the water jumps over the loop of the tube and starts siphoning). But once it got going, it was a dream come true for finally removing all that poop stuck amidst the gravel. Plumes of poop got sucked up while leaving the gravel clean and white for the first time in years (be thankful I did not video this!).

Sure you can get a fancy vacuum with an electric pump, but the good old-fashioned siphon was so cool. Plus I got to teach Dova a bit of fluid mechanics. To her it was like a magic trick.

We also purchased a simple air pump and tube for the volcano that had sat dormant for months. I didn't have a diffuser, but Doug improvised by using a fuel filter for a chain saw such as this one.


Stens Fuel Filter

Now we have happy bubbles for our Mount Wannahockaloogie.



Having a clean aquarium with happy bubbles sure makes for a Merry Fishmas!

Happiness is a Cardboard Box

With the acquisition of our new chairs, we got perhaps the best present for the kids alongside it. What kid needs beautiful new chairs, when the boxes they came in are even better?



At first, Dova placed all her stuffed animals in it and it became a cozy spot for her and sometimes her mom.



With some stop animation photography, we filmed a Dova-in-the-box sequence.



It was all very civilized until we added a certain big brother. With Adam's and my stuffed animals, the box was filled to brim.  It became a bit octagonal as well.



But the stopped animation photography session was total mayhem. It quickly became screaming-monsters-in-the-box and an indoor tornado. Here's the combined result.



Adam is getting way to big to be causing this sort of chaos, but as long as there's a box big enough, he'll be in it. You just can't take the kid out of the box!



Note: It's been a long time between posts because I have been contemplating what should be post #1200 for some time. Hooray for eight and a half years of blogging and 1200 posts!

Leaf Jumping Ninja, Splits and Zen

No autumn season is complete at our house without a leaf jumping photo session. I tried jumping into the leaf pile once and found that it barely cushioned my landing. So, "leaf jumping" is just an excuse for my kids to blow off their energy and show off for the camera. First, we bring you ninja Adam.



Adam took his ninja jump one step further to "crazy sweatshirt swinging ninja kick". Not so stealthy, this ninja.



Dova preferred to perform gymnastics stunts. Her very first split jump was amazing.



Dova got so warm jumping that she changed into shorts and tied up her hair.  I prefer the crazy flying hair myself.



When asked to calm down a bit, we captured these levitating lotus position poses.



Adam reached ultimate zen with his lotus position.



One thing is for certain, you cannot deny the absolute joy on their faces!



Happy Autumn everyone!

Back to Basics Knitting - Scarves

After making complicated sweaters and hats that have never been worn by Dova, we finally decided to stick with simple knitting projects. This way, my twitchy fingers are occupied with easy, mindless knitting and I won't feel so bad when they don't get used.

I knit this "raspberry chocolate ice cream" scarf for Dova last year, and created a matching scarf for her Asian-American Girl Ivy Doll.  They are quite the matching pair!

They look perfect in our new set of bedroom chairs, the first furniture acquisition since having kids, yay!



Since then I've knit a scarf for myself, using a one row lace pattern of: *P1, yo, k2tog; rep from * to end.  It was my first time knitting lace, which took a bit more concentration than Dova's scarfs in straight garter stitch.  As a reward for my efforts, I promised myself this pea coat that I've been eyeing after the scarf was completed.



After Dova took this photograph, I immediately cried, "Agh! Who is that old lady in that photo!?!?"

Maybe the pea coat with hand knitted scarf  isn't the look for me after all!

Disney Take 3

You know your kids are spoiled when... They've gone to Disney World three times in the last six years!  This time we battled the Florida heat in August and lived to write a Haiku Deck about it. Less words, more photos!

Created with Haiku Deck, the free presentation app for iPad

Shaking with the Shakers

Every year, we head out to the Berkshires in western Massachusetts for vacation.  Tanglewood, the summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, is one of my “sacred places”, where I remember visiting as a child and then attending the summer program as a teen.  Oh, the days when I thought I would become a concert pianist!



In subsequent years, we’ve added more Berkshire places which we must visit every year.  Hancock Shaker Village is one.  The first time I learned about the Shaker religious sect, I completely disagreed with their philosophy. Celibacy for a community is simply not a natural human state!  The only way they added members was through conversion, and indenturing and adoption of children.  That is not a sustainable model, especially once children hit adulthood and were free to leave.  Eventually their society died off, but they left beautiful villages to visit and impeccable craftsmanship behind.



Over the years, I got over my indignation of their celibate philosophy.  I opened my mind to the other positive aspects of their society: plowing the earth, sustaining livestock as well as embracing technology (this is where they differ from the Amish).  Just look at this beautiful setting!



The only way I get Adam to visit every year is to give him my DSLR camera.



The one curious aspect of the Shakers is the reason for their name.  They believed that they  needed to “shake” evil spirits away by singing and dancing into a frenzy.  My initial reaction was – of course they need to shake their bodies to get rid off all that sexual tension!  Then again, everyone needs to get out and have a good whole body dance every once in a while.



During a Shaker demonstration, I gladly hopped in to try it out while my family watched embarrassed. Woo hoo, shake it baby!



It’s wonderful to watch volunteers hand quilting a quilt that they raffle off every year.  These volunteers are not Shakers themselves, but carry on their traditions.



Isn’t it beautiful?



Visiting the Shaker village always inspires me to pick up my crafts again.  Dova could help me card wool for knitting.



And Adam can help me with the weaving kit I purchased at their store.



I saw this cross-stitch pattern displayed in their store. 



They were out of kits at the time, so at home, I painstakingly mapped my own version of the pattern in Excel and added a title and a contrasting border.  Contact me if you’d like a copy of the pattern.  I even considered selling the pattern on Etsy, but really, I’m not that craftsy.



Here is my cross stitch so far.



The way the embroidery hoop cut off the words, only the letters “cock shaker villa” is shown of  the words "Hancock Shaker Village”.  Oops!  That’s not what they had in mind.



We’re looking forward to more visits with the Shakers in the future!

PSF - Greetings from Under the Lake

Long time no Photo Story Friday!  Good to be back.

Sure, we have thousands of picture from land and air, but now we can finally have photos from the sea, or lake, in this case.



Dova had a blast performing for our latest gadget.



We even got our friend's dog doing the ol' doggie paddle.



Adam just didn't like looking underwater in the lake (unless baby catfish are involved), but I managed to take this fun still photo.



And this unassuming video produced the lovely underwater portrait of Dova.



Here's the new underwater camera we took these photos and videos with:


Oregon Scientific ATC 9K Full 1080P High Definition Water Resistant Action Camera

No, this is not a review post as I paid cold hard cash (well Groupon dollars anyway) for this camera. The camera has a fixed wide angle lens, which is great for keeping motion shots from being shaky, but not exactly ideal for artful photography.  It's been rugged and fun so far!

Hosted by Cecily and Lolli