Welcome Ox Year 2009

25th Jan 2009 -the eve of Chinese New Year (Lunar Calendar), my family all gathered together for our family reunion dinner - a tradition observed in the Chinese culture.

Our fare is steamboat in herbal soup. This year, we held our dinner in my eldest sister's new home . Usually, we either had it in my parent's home or we will eat out in restaurants. I like to eat in at home - this way, we can really be ourselves and make as much noise as we can.... The crabs were yummy....... so were the prawns and fish and fishballs and noodles and....everything!

I sat at the further end table. Somehow, due to lower power or whatever, our table's steamboat pot took a very long time to boil compared to the other table's pot. My brother, holding on to his chopsticks, was looking real hungry indeed. My nieces (in blue and pink), couldnt wait any longer, made a smart move by asking their father to scoop some food from his table to them.

My brother is laughing now. The soup has finally boiled ... My mom looked over to make sure we do ok. Trouble with steamboat was, if the food was not cooked properly, the suffering after the event would be rather unpleasant......

HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR.........THE OX HAS ARRIVED.....

My family.....3 generations...

1st and 2nd generations....all arranged according to age.

1st and 3rd generations......missing here was Jacky Chong, who only arrived the next day.

I invited two missionaries (Elder Duron & Elder Bickmore) serving in Sitiawan to my home to give my dad and mom a healing blessing. Sitiawan is an hour's drive away from my home. Later, I kicked myself for I did not ask the elders to share a message with my family and my extended families. It was such a good opportunity as most of them were at home that day. It only hit me when my 2nd sister asked me why I didnt ask the elders to teach (after they had left!!). My 2nd sister belonged to the Methodist denomination. I hope another opportunity will arise. Notwithstanding this, I am grateful that the elders and this brother made their way to my home and exercise their priesthood authority when called upon.

At night, we had fun lighting up fireworks.

Bad news are abounding around the current state of economy. I dont know what lies ahead.......but I know of Elder Wirthlin's counsel to us as his mom had counselled him.............Come what may, love it.

Happy New Year!!

Flashback photos - Ward Temple Trip - Perth - Oct 2004

I received a digital photo frame in a photo contest, and was looking thro' all my old photos to put into the frame. It could contain 999 photos! I selected 500plus photos, so there are still more space to fit new photos in. Anyway, I found these old photos and they brought back many happy memories....there is just this simple joy as we play at the beach.....

(From Left - Sue Brown, Hieu, Me, Gigi) - My first ocean.

(Laurie and Gigi - Thanks for the pose! I love this photo.) Feeding the seagulls.....(i think!) since I can see a speck of something thrown at them by Laurie. I could just remember that there were flocks of seagulls surrounding us.....and I was kept busy hoping to take a good shot with my camera - if only the gulls could keep still while my camera find its focus!

(From left - Son of Schroedter, Lauire, Daughter of Schroedter, Bishop Schroedter and wife, Hieu, Sue Brown (back), Me, Gigi (back), Sister Hazelbarth, Brother Hazelbarth). Outside the Perth temple, after (or before) my endowment.

Perth Temple.

My crochet history......

In October 2006, I heard about a service project started by Sister Sandy Semeski (no idea how that should be spelt! - lady in red blouse) in the church - to make preemie beanies ( little hats for premature babies). Sisters (members and non members included) gather for an hour and a half, two nights in a month, to crochet preemie beanies. Hundreds (by now would be thousands) were made and donated to hospitals in the Philippines, Cambodia, etc. I decided to join them eventhough I dont know how to crochet.

I learnt from the sisters in this class. It was difficult at the start. The dark green beanie was my first beanie attempt - it wasnt exactly great, but it was accepted into the collection box (ha ha). The rest of the pretty little beanies were made by the sisters....

My second attempt....this little pink one. I think I did improve, right?

After that, I was totally 'hooked'. I crochet at every available time I have - at the bus-stops while waiting for my buses, in the bus if I can get a seat (and didnt turn dizzy from the bus movement), in MRTs even while standing (well, MRT didnt shake that much).....I just kept going...

And I learnt more patterns from the sisters, and I created some patterns on my own..(just trial and error by mixing different stiches - there was one that I created which was really nice, and one sister asked me how I did it, I had to say - "I dont know" - as I didnt record my trial and errors and it was completed quite a while ago before I submit them..... :-)

With the knowledge I learnt from the sisters, I put them to use for my family. This was in Feb 2007 - my youngest niece, Hannah Lee. I was amazed how large her head was, because in comparison to a preemie beanie, I took a long time to finish this one!

Another niece got a different style hat from me....by now, I have learnt how to read patterns from books and follow them...

My mum wanted to go to Japan, so she got a gift from me too....although I am not sure this beanie get to see the Japan's daylight, because my mum said she looked like a sick person (those who lost their hairs) wearing this beanie...hmmmm.

From here, I moved on to scarfs....Due to the warm weather here, they don't get to be used at all. So this year, the scarfs are used as decorations for the base of my Christmas tree (see 2008 Christmas tree picture in previous post).

2007 efforts slowed down ...and somehow in late 2008, my interest in crochet was revived again. I found some affordable cotton threads in the Philippines. I bought quite a lot home - the seller was very happy at my purchase!. I think that could last me a while.

#1 (choker) and #3 (bookmarks) were made from these Philippines threads. They made simple Christmas presents to friends and colleagues. I have started a small doily...(not completed yet).

My other accomplishments - (Dec 2008) #2 a corsage as requested by a colleague (acrylic yarn); #5 - an abandoned shopping bag project, turned into a small bag (gave up midway!) - somehow acrylic yarns dont do well being made into a bag.

#6 (2007) - My crochet skills saved the day - the foam covers on my headphones were torn - without them, it is painful to put the headphones against my ears. The shops don't sell "one pair" of covers, you had to buy 3 pairs or 6 pairs in a set - so that they could sell at higher prices, but why would I want so many pairs? A stroke of genius struck me...ha ha...I tried crochet the covers, and it worked - it was thick enough and soft that it was gentle on my ears...yippee! (though I wished now that I have used some softer colors for it...that orange was way bright!!) # 7 was also a self-created little bag to put moth-balls in my bookshelf, so that the mothballs didnt get all over the place or touched my books....

(2008) #4 - my current project -a bag - (the green yarn in my ribbon basket) - I have made one side of the bag - need to do one more side before I can see whether this project could turn out successful - this time, I used the more expensive cotton yarn - it surely made a difference - I like the feel of the crocheted fabric, very much better than acrylic....well, more report on it once I complete it (fingers crossed).

Happy New Year!